MADrigal's Simulators - Frequently Asked Questions
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V2013.09.30 - 30th September, 2013

site URL: http://www.madrigaldesign.it/sim/

email:    lucantignano@gmail.com

Sections
--------
1. installation
2. sound problems
3. video problems
4. application crashes or works oddly
5. games requests



1. installation
---------------
Q: I can't get the "xyz" simulator to work! It keeps on prompting "Sound folder
   unproperly installed. Read instructions then reinstall."

A: 1. All of my simulators executables search for sound samples into the
      "gamename/sound" subfolder. If the directory isn't found, game can't be
      played.
      Install the game by simply right-clicking on the game icon and then
      selecting the "extract to bla/bla/bla/gamename folder" option from
      WinZip's menu.

   2. Maybe you have no DirectX drivers installed. I've been told that my
      simulators sometimes can't run on Win2000 or WinNT4 if there are no
      DirectX drivers installed. This is due to a sort of problem with the
      fmod.dll sound library.



2. audio problems
-----------------
Q: My computer hangs as soon as I select audio output device, and I have to
   reset it!

A: 1. You may be experiencing some odd uncompatibility issue between fmod.dll
      and your sound card.
      This especially happens with Sound Blaster Live! cards.
      I've been told that there's a way to solve this awful problem: go to the
      "Sound Blaster panel" and lower the "hardware acceleration" spin by one
      level. This should allow the game to run correctly.

   2. You might also try downloading the latest release of the "fmod.dll" from
      http://www.fmod.org


Q: I'm asked to select "DirectSound" or "Windows MM" output. What should I do?

A: DirectSound is faster and more stable if you're running the game in Windows
   95, 98 or ME.  Windows MM is better in case you're using Windows NT4, 2000 or
   XP (since DirectX is emulated by Multimedia devices driver in those OSes).



3. video problems
-----------------
Q: I see uncomplete sprites or I can't see any! Why?

A: 1. This might happen on some video cards (I've been told it from some G200
      and TNT owners) and I suppose it's due to a sort of uncompatibility
      between the 24-bit images (the game background) and the 1-bit images
      (sprites) rendering.
      This sometimes causes solid sprites to become "transparent" or eventually
      transparent sprites to appear as solid (so they hide sprites behind them).
      I still didn't manage to solve this problem, since I have very few
      beta-testers and they all have similar video cards.

   2. Try changing your desktop settings (colour depth to 16, 24 or 32 bits)

   3. Eventually try installing the game on a different PC, and see what
      happens.

   4. Send me an email with a full bug-report.



4. application crashes or works oddly
-------------------------------------
Q: The game sometimes crashes and prompts many error popup messages, such as
   "canvas doesn't allow drawing" or something similar...

A: Even though my games are quite small, they require a certain amount of system
   resources (I don't mean RAM eh!), so I suggest you to execute them after
   shutting all (or almost all) other applications.
   If the system has no more resources when playing... well the game might
   behave quite strangely: disappearing sprites, paused game and so on.
   Sorry for such an inconvenient, but it's mainly due to a few bugs in Delphi
   7, which I use to compile the games.



5. games requests
-----------------
Q: I noticed that you didn't make the simulator of my favourite game, that is
   "Bla bla bla". Why don't you make that simulator?

A: Possible reasons:

   1. I don't have that game in my hands. I can't even think of making a
      simulator of a game I don't have access to or I've never seen before.
      I need at least to play the actual game before starting the simulation
      process, otherwise the simulator won't be accurate at all!
      Also, I can't always afford the expense of buying games to be simulated.
      Since I program "freeware" games, I don't get a single cent from my
      products - and I don't even want to!

   2. ...maybe I'm not interested into that game. =)
      I'm mainly interested into Nintendo, Mattel, Tomy, Gakken, Bandai, Casio,
      VTech and Coleco games.

   3. If you're willing to contribute, you can lend/present me with your
      favourite game, so I will study it and then code the simulator as accurate
      as possible.
