The 3DO Company High Heat(TM) Major League Baseball(R) 2003 March 2002 Version 1.0 Thank you for purchasing the High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 game. We recommend that you read this file to get the most up-to-date information about installing, running, and maximizing performance of the High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 game. This document contains information you might find useful, and we think it will help you to get as much enjoyment out of this game as possible. This game was developed for use with English (United States) versions of Windows. Use of the game on other language versions of Windows may result in errors that can render the game unplayable on your system. Note: The information within this document is accurate as of the date of the release of this product. ...........................Table of Contents........................... 1. Installation 2. System Requirements 3. Gameplay 4. Keyboard Information 5. Multiplayer Information 6. Video Card And Other Hardware Drivers / Direct X(R) 7. Troubleshooting Installation Issues Problems Running the Game General Solutions Windows® 2000 8. GameUpdate (TM) 9. Purchasing 3DO Software 10. Contacting Customer Support ........................... 1. Installation We strongly recommend you close all programs before installing the High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 game (please refer to the Troubleshooting section below for instructions on how to close hidden programs). Insert the High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 CD into the CD-ROM drive. If you have Autoplay enabled, the installation screen appears. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete installation of the High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 game. If you have disabled Autoplay within Windows: Select "Run..." from the Start menu. Left-click on the BROWSE button. Left-click on your CD-ROM drive in the list, then open the "_autorun" folder on the CD, and left-click on the file called "autorun.exe" and press OPEN. Left-click OK to begin installation. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete installation NOTE: Before installing a new version of DirectX, please check to make sure that your sound and video card drivers are compatible with the version that you're about to install, or compatible drivers are at least available from your computer/card manufacturer(s). If you are unsure, please check with your computer manufacturer (or sound and video card manufacturers for custom-built systems). ........................... 2. System Requirements Operating System: Windows(R) 98/Me/XPHome CPU: Pentium(R)200 with MMX required Free Hard Disk Space: 110MB; 300MB recommended Memory: 64MB RAM; 128 recommended CD-ROM Drive: 4X speed or better Video Card: Supports DirectX(R) 8.1* compatible with at least 16MB VRAM Sound Card: DirectX 8.1* compatible 8-bit(16-bit recommended) Peripherals Supported: Keyboard, mouse, all DirectInput-compatible** game pads and joysticks Multiplayer: 56K modem or greater(modem/Internet Play); TCP/IP or IPX(Network Play) * If you already have a later version of DirectX (8.1, 9.0, etc.) installed, your sound and video cards' drivers will need to be compliant with that version. ** Again, compatible with DirectX 8.1 or whichever later version of DirectX is installed in your system. ........................... 3. Gameplay We strongly recommend you close all programs before running the High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 game. Do not remove the CD-ROM while the game is running. Changing Your System to Use Small Fonts - The High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 game will not work properly if your system is set to Large Fonts or Custom Fonts. To change to Small Fonts do the following: - Close all open programs. Changing font size will require that you restart your computer after you have changed your font size. - Right-click on your desktop. Select Properties from the pop-up menu. - Select the Settings tab. - If you are using Windows 98, click on the Advanced... button. Users of Windows 95 may skip this step. - Find the section titled Font Size. - Choose Small Fonts from the selection box in the Font size section. - Left-click Apply and the Close. You will be prompted to restart your computer. Player Editor - The High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 game comes with a Player Editor, which is a powerful tool that you can use to modify existing player stats and ratings as you like. Changing a player's statistics to highly exaggerated values could cause the High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 game to become unstable. Experiment at your own risk. Automatic Baserunning - If you are using the team setting "Automatic Baserunning", baserunners will attempt to steal. Furthermore, you can force them to steal by entering the following keyboard commands before the pitcher begins his wind-up: [Ctrl] + [1] = Hit and Run [Ctrl] + [2] = Steal 2nd [Ctrl] + [3] = Steal 3rd [Ctrl] + [4] = Steal Home (squeeze play) Converting High Heat Baseball 2002 League Files - Save files from the High Heat Baseball 2002 game can be converted into a format compatible with the High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 game. From the Main Menu Bar, select Convert HH2001 Season. Explore your hard drive for the High Heat Baseball 2001 season file you wish to convert, click on the file and press Open. Next you will be prompted to save the file. After doing so, you can continue your season in the High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 game. Consult your game manual for how to continue a season. ........................... 4. Keyboard Information Hot Key Commands: [Esc] During game play, you can press the Esc key to bring up the Pause Menu. [F1] Displays the Pitching Key during game play. [F2] Toggles the batting camera between the seven possible settings. [F3] Replays the location of each pitch relative to the strike zone for the current at bat. [F4] Displays the next 3 batters due up. [F5] Displays the statistics for both the batter and the pitcher. [F6] Toggles displayed statistics between current season, previous season, and career statistics. [F7] Toggles displayed statistic between combined handedness, stats vs. left-handed opponents, stats vs. right-handed opponents, and stats relative to the handedness of the current opponent. [F8] Toggles display of baserunner statistics. [F9] Replays the last pitch and diagrams the ball path as it approaches the strike zone. [F10] Toggles a heads-up display showing the strike zone. [F11] Toggles a heads-up display showing the "actual" strike zone. The actual strike zone may differ from the standard depending upon whether you have the Variable Umpire option enabled. [F12] Toggles the chat window display on or off during network play. [Backspace] Activates the chat window (so you can type messages) during network play. [N] Toggles players' names on and off. [Tab] Toggles the pitch preview feature on and off. ........................... 5. Multiplayer Information The High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 game supports multiplay action over LAN and the following Internet gaming services: GameSpy (http://gamespy.com) When launching the High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 game through one of these on-line services, some of the introductory movies are not shown. Otherwise, after the movie, you will go right into the Game Options dialog, which serves as the connection screen. Once a game is completed you will come back to Game Options after the Box Scores. If you quit a game, you will exit the High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 game and go back to the Internet lobby where you started. If you need to install the software to run these services, double-click on your CD-ROM drive to bring up the High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 AutoRun program. Click the Multiplayer button, and then click the button for the service you wish to install. Once the software has been installed you may launch a mutliplayer game on the service you have installed by either using the shortcuts in your Start Menu or through the AutoRun's Multiplayer screen. If playing in Season mode, the All Star Game is unavailable for net play. NOTE: Batter Walk-Up, Auto Replays, Pitch Preview and Action Camera options described in the user manual are disabled in multiplayer net games. Fielding and batting cameras must be on the same setting for each player. ........................... 6. Video Card And Other Hardware Drivers / DirectX The High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 game operates with DirectX 8.1 compatible video cards with 4+ Mb of VRAM. Some graphics cards that are not fully compatible with DirectX 8.1 require that the High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 game be run in software mode. Video preferences are determined the first time you run the game. The High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 game requires Microsoft DirectX 8.1 to run. You are given the option to install DirectX 8.1 during the installation of the High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 game. NOTE: If you install a later version of DirectX, your sound, video and input device drivers must be updated to be compatible with that new version of DirectX. Please check availability of compatible drivers before updating DirectX. For further information about the latest DirectX drivers please refer to the Microsoft web site at http://www.microsoft.com/directx. Cards or chipsets tested successfully with High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 include: Riva 128 (D3D Renderer only) nVidia(R) TNT nVidia TNT2 nVidia Vanta(tm) nVidia GeForce(tm) 256 nVidia GeForce2 Voodoo(tm) Banshee Voodoo 3 Voodoo 5 ATI Rage Pro ATI Radeon(tm) You can alleviate most video display problems simply by going to you video card manufacturer's website, downloading the latest drivers for your card, and installing them to your computer. ........................... 7. Troubleshooting Installation Issues Problem: The computer freezes during install, or you receive an error message during install. Answers: 1. Your computer may be using an older 16-bit CD-ROM driver. To check if your computer is using an older 16-bit CD-ROM driver: - Right-click on the 'My Computer' icon and select 'Properties'. - Click on the 'Performance' tab. - In the Performance status box, if the File System line says, "Some drivers are using MS-DOS (R) compatibility", you are using a 16-bit CD-ROM driver. If you are using 16-bit CD-ROM drivers: Contact the manufacturer of your CD-ROM drive or the manufacturer of your computer for an updated 32-bit CD-ROM driver. 2. There may not be enough space on your hard drive for temporary files to expand and/or you need to free up resources. To free up Resources: - Close all unnecessary programs running in the Background. (See "Resources and Background Tasks.") - Keep at least 100MB free on the hard drive that the game is installed to, or twice your RAM, whichever is larger. - Delete all files in your C:\Windows\Temp folder, and then empty the Recycle Bin. 3. The CD-ROM drive might be having problems with how it buffers information. To turn off read-ahead on the CD-ROM drive: - Right-click on the 'My Computer' icon and select 'Properties'. - Click on the 'Performance' tab. - Click on the 'File System' button. - Choose the 'CD-ROM' tab at the top. - Change the 'Optimize access pattern for' field to 'No read-ahead'. - Click on 'Apply', then 'OK' and finally click 'Close' (you will be prompted to restart your system). 4. The Autorun or DMA settings on your CD-ROM drive could be interfering with the game installation. Turn off the Autorun and DMA settings on your CD-ROM drive: - Right-click on the 'My Computer' icon and choose 'Properties'. - Click on the 'Device Manager' tab. - Click on the '+' sign next to the CD-ROM line so that it becomes a '-' sign. - Click on the line that appears under the CD-ROM line to highlight it, and then click on the 'Properties' button. - Click on the 'Settings' tab. - Look for the Auto-insert Notification and DMA lines. If there is a check mark in the boxes next to either of these lines, click on the box to remove the check mark. - Click on the 'Apply' button, and then click on the 'OK' button. - When you are asked if you want to restart your system, choose 'Yes'. Problems With Running the Game: - The game does not launch properly: If the game gives an error message, locks the system, blanks out the screen, or simply returns to the desktop with no activity when attempting to launch: A) Resources and Background Tasks, B) Display Settings, and C) Direct X Troubleshooting below. - During normal gameplay, the game crashes and returns to Windows or locks the system: A) Resources and Background Tasks, C) Direct X Troubleshooting, and D) SOFTWARE vs. HARDWARE acceleration below. - The game runs slow or choppy or with blurry graphics: A) Resources and Background Tasks, C) Direct X Troubleshooting, and D) SOFTWARE vs. HARDWARE acceleration below. - Sound skips, repeats, or is garbled: A) Resources and Background Tasks and C) Direct X Troubleshooting below. General Solutions: A) Resources and Background Tasks: Windows may be running any number of background tasks that hog the system resources so that it cannot run your game smoothly. Before you start the game, press the CTRL+ALT+DELETE keys at the same time to bring up the Close Program window. End Task on all programs except Explorer and Systray, then try running the game. If this worked and you are running Windows 98, you'll want to go to the Windows Start menu and click on Run, then type in "MSconfig" and hit Enter. Go to the Startup tab and uncheck everything here except for System Tray. This will disable those programs from loading when the system starts, but you can re-enable them any time by running this program again and re-checking the Startup options. You may also want to run Scandisk and defrag utilities within Windows for basic preventive system maintenance. Consult the Windows help files for more information. B) Display Settings: Many 3DO games require Windows to be set in a certain display mode in order for the game to operate. In your Display Settings (Right-click on the desktop and select "Properties" and the "Settings" tab) make sure that your Colors are set to 16-Bit High Color (maximum) and the screen area is set to 800x600 (minimum). If you are not able to move the slider for your screen area to at least 800x600 pixels, make sure that your monitor type supports this resolution. To do this, click on the "Advanced" button and the "Monitor" tab. If necessary, change the monitor type to "Plug & Play Monitor" under the standard types that Windows offers. "Super VGA 800x600" should also work. If your monitor is already identified as one of these types and you still can't move the slider, your video card may not be capable of supporting a high enough resolution. Consult the video card's manufacturer for more information about supported display modes. C) DirectX Troubleshooting: DirectX: DirectX is a program incorporated into the Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME family that allows various hardware-intensive programs, particularly games, to take direct control of all the hardware components within your system. Nearly all PC games currently on the market make use of DirectX, and Microsoft periodically updates DirectX to allow PC-based games to take advantage of new technologies. A current version of the DirectX installer is always available at in the Download Center. Device Drivers: Many of the hardware components in your computer, such as the video card and the sound card, require software programs called drivers to function properly. Drivers contain vital information about these devices, like the instruction sets the computer uses to call on them. DirectX coordinates these drivers and manages the way that they interface with the Windows environment for running games and programs. How it all works: DirectX interfaces directly with the device drivers to enhance the quality of graphics and sound in multimedia programs. To give a rough idea of how game software works, all the instructions originate from the game and are then passed to DirectX. Then, DirectX gives them to the driver software and the driver software ultimately interprets those commands for the hardware to execute the operation. Because Microsoft periodically updates DirectX, games are usually written for the latest version available and shipped with it. However, when you update your version of DirectX, in order for your hardware to interface with it properly, it is sometimes necessary to obtain updated drivers for your hardware. The hardware manufacturers usually provide updates as a free download. What to do: DirectX includes DXDIAG, a very complete and comprehensive tool for DirectX troubleshooting and settings. To use it, follow these directions: ·Press the 'Start' button on the Windows 95/98/ME-task bar and select 'Run'. ·Type "dxdiag" (do not include the quotes) then click on the 'OK' button. This will run the DirectX Diagnostics Tool. ·To make sure all your files are DirectX compatible, select the 'DirectX Files' tab to ensure that there aren't any exclamation points next to the file names. If you find exclamation points under this tab you will probably need to reinstall DirectX by either reinstalling the game, or visiting and downloading their latest version of the game installer. ·By clicking on the Display and Sound tabs, make sure all of your drivers are DirectX compatible. Select the 'DirectX Drivers' tab and make sure there are no exclamation points next to any of the file names. If you find exclamation points under this tab, you will need to update your drivers by contacting the manufacturer of the hardware through their phone support or through their website. You can get more information on which version of DirectX is supported by your version of the device drivers. Contact either the original manufacturer (such as ATI, Hercules, etc.) of the component, or the maker of the entire system (such as Compaq, Dell, etc.) that uses the component. D) SOFTWARE vs. HARDWARE acceleration The two main methods of processing a game with 3D graphics are known as software rendering and hardware acceleration. Software rendering places the load of the graphics functions on the system's main processor (CPU). Because of the limitations of this mode, the graphics will display with less definition and fewer special effects such as special lighting, shadows, etc. Hardware acceleration uses the video card's built-in processor to do the calculations for special graphics effects, and offers more capabilities for the games graphics. Not all video cards are capable of hardware acceleration, and those that are may support more special graphic features than others. If your game is running poorly in hardware-accelerated mode, your video card may not be able to handle all of the hardware acceleration functions the game has enabled. If applicable, you may need to change the game's graphics settings to software acceleration. Refer to the game manual for more information on how to change this setting within the game. A Note on Windows 2000: Unless otherwise stated on the box, 3DO's games are not supported on Windows 2000 at this time. There are several reasons for this, but the main reason is that in that DirectX is not as smoothly integrated with Windows 2000 as it is in the case of Windows 95/98/ME. As Microsoft has attested on its own website, Windows 2000 is based on the Windows NT code and is aimed mainly at powerful office and networking applications. Alternately, Windows 95/98/ME are comparatively better suited to recreational and multimedia programming. As such, 3DO feels that its resources are better put towards developing and testing on other platforms. We hope you will understand the logic of this decision, and we sincerely thank you for your patience and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. ........................... 8. GameUpdate (TM) GameUpdate is a program that will search the 3DO website for game updates. You must be connected to the Internet for GameUpdate to function. -Connect to the Internet -Go to Start | Programs | 3DO | GameUpdate -Follow the instructions when the GameUpdate window opens Please note: If a newer version of GameUpdate exists, then only the GameUpdate program may be updated. You may need to reboot your system, reconnect to the Internet and run the new version of GameUpdate to update your 3DO game. ........................... 9. Purchasing 3DO Software You can order other 3DO software directly from 3DO through the order webpage at , or you can call the 3DO Direct line at 800-336-3506 (if calling from Canada, please dial 650-385-3187). ........................... 10. Contacting Customer Support For international support issues, please reference the printed materials included with the game or visit www.3DOEurope.com for contact information within your territory. For technical problems or questions within United States or Canada: 3DO Customer Support Website: http://www.3do.com/support (includes an email question form) E-mail: customer-support@3do.com Phone: Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 12 noon and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time, at (650) 385-3193 Fax number: (650) 385-3181 Mailing address: The 3DO Company ATTN: Customer Support 100 Cardinal Way Redwood City, CA 94063 ........................... Copyright 2002 The 3DO Company. All Rights Reserved. 3DO, High Heat, High Heat Baseball, GameUpdate, and their respective logos, are trademarks or registered trademarks of The 3DO Company in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.