Reservoir Dogs README 04/08/06 Version 1.0 ---------------------------------------------------------- Part 1: Things You Should Know ---------------------------------------------------------- Please read through the DirectX section of this document. This section has information that is vital to successfully playing Reservoir Dogs on your system. ---------------------------------------------------------- 1.1 DirectX This game is optimised for Microsoft's DirectX 9.0c. In order for you to play the game, you must have DirectX 9.0c-compliant drivers for your video card and sound card. Please note that although DirectX 9.0c is installed with the game, your video and sound card drivers will not be upgraded to DirectX 9.0c drivers. You will need to obtain the latest DirectX 9.0c drivers from your card manufacturer or PC supplier. These drivers cannot be supplied by Eidos. For NVIDIA based cards please goto www.nvidia.com For ATi based cards please goto www.ati.com ---------------------------------------------------------- 1.2 Memory and Performance While the game will run fine in 256 Mb of RAM, your playing experience will be smoother if you have at least 512 Mb. Regardless of how much memory you have, you can maximize your available memory and increase the overall performance of the game engine by doing the following: * Closing any open windows * Shutting down all other programs, including menu-bar programs like ICQ * Defragmenting your hard drive Eidos recommends that you have no other programs running at all while playing Reservoir Dogs. Other programs, including virus checkers, system utilities and screen savers can use up vital memory when playing games software and may conflict with the game for system resources, potentially resulting in instability. ---------------------------------------------------------- 1.3 Known Issues In case of audio problems, try reducing the hardware acceleration on your sound card. This can be done by opening the Control Panel from the Start Menu. Double-click on "Sounds And Audio Devices" (this may be listed as "Sounds and Multimedia" under earlier versions of Windows). Select Audio and click on the Advanced button in the Sound Playback section. Click on performance. Drag the slider called Hardware Acceleration towards the left. Click on Ok. Try reducing the acceleration a step at a time until the audio problem disappears. Reservoir Dogs supports the audio feature EAX, however it requires the latest drivers to work efficiently. If you are experiencing any issues with the audio, or getting strange performance issues, try disabling the EAX setting within the game configuration utility. Blitz and Eidos Interactive are committed to providing customer support for our games on a continuing basis. In that spirit, there may be a patch for Reservoir Dogs forthcoming; visit the Eidos website for more information. http://www.eidos.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------- Part 2: Technical Issues ---------------------------------------------------------- 2.1 Installation & Set-up System Requirements The minimum system requirements are as follows: OPERATING SYSTEM: Microsoft Windows 2000/XP CPU: Pentium 3 800MHz or Athlon Equivalent RAM: 256Mb or more GRAPHICS: Direct3d hardware accelerated AGP video card 32Mb vRAM with hardware transform and lighting (T&L) and pixel shader 1.1 support. (GeForce 3ti, Radeon 9000) SOUND: Windows 2000/XP-compatible sound card (100% DirectX 9.0c-compatible) DVD ROM: Windows 2000/XP - compatible DVD Rom HARD DRIVE: 2Gb of free space INPUT DEVICES: 100% Windows 2000/XP-compatible mouse and keyboard Graphic Cards Supported GeForce 3Ti GeForce 4Ti (not MX series) GeForce FX series GeForce 6000 series GeForce 7000 series Radeon 9000 series Radeon X series Graphic Cards not Supported GeForce 4 MX Radeon 7500 Intel Extreme Graphics chipset ---------------------------------------------------------- Preparing Your Hard Drive To ensure that your installation is trouble free, you should check to see that your hard drive and file system are both tuned for optimum performance. Windows comes with a utility programs that will help optimise your hard drive performance. You can optimise your hard drive's performance by running a program called Disk Defragmenter.. You can run Disk Defragmenter by clicking on the Start button from the Windows desktop, followed by Programs, then Accessories, then System Tools, and finally Disk Defragmenter. ---------------------------------------------------------- Installing Reservoir Dogs Installing Reservoir Dogs is easy. Simply insert the DVD into your DVD-ROM drive. After a few seconds, the Launch Panel will appear. This program will guide you through the remaining process via onscreen prompts. If at any time you are instructed to restart your computer, do so. In the event the Launch Panel does not appear when you insert the DVD: Double-click on the My Computer icon, then double-click on the DVD-ROM icon, and lastly double-click on the Setup.exe file to bring up the Launch Panel OR: * Click on the Start button. * Choose Run from the pop-up menu. * Type d:\setup in the box provided (where d: designates your DVD-ROM drive letter). * Click on the OK button to begin the install program. You will be prompted to select the path and directory to which you wish to install the game on your hard drive. The default is C:\Program Files\Eidos\Reservoir Dogs You may change this if you wish to. At some point, the Microsoft DirectX 9.0c install prompt will appear if you do not have it on your system already. Please read the on-screen information before selecting an option. You may either choose to install or not install at this time. If the Reservoir Dogs installer detects an active version of DirectX 9.0c on your system, we encourage you to not reinstall DirectX. If the installer does not detect DirectX 9.0c, you must install it before you are able to play Reservoir Dogs (please refer to the next section of this guide before proceeding). ---------------------------------------------------------- Starting/Loading The Game Once the install has finished and you have opted to run the game, the Launch Panel will appear on the screen. The options you choose for graphics and audio will stay selected every time you run the game. Once you are happy with your choices, simply click on the Run button to start the game. You may also: * Click on the Uninstall button to uninstall the game. * Click on the View Readme button to view this readme file. * Click on OK to play the game. * Click on the Exit button to exit the Launch Panel. If you are going to play the game at a later time insert the DVD into the DVD-ROM drive. After a few seconds, the Reservoir Dogs Launch panel should appear on the screen via the AutoPlay feature. Now click on the Run button to start the game. There is also a button present to Exit. In the event the AutoPlay feature does not work, you may click on the My Computer icon and then click on the DVD-ROM icon to bring up the Launch Panel. OR * Click on the Start button. * Choose Programs from the pop-up menu. * Drag your mouse to the right and click on Reservoir Dogs from the list. * Click on Reservoir Dogs from the ensuing pop-up menu. ---------------------------------------------------------- Uninstalling Reservoir Dogs If you need to UNINSTALL Reservoir Dogs, you may do any of the following three things: Insert the Reservoir Dogs DVD into the DVD-ROM drive to activate the AutoPlay feature. This will bring up the Launch Panel. Click on the Uninstall button, then click on the Yes button from the ensuing pop-up panel to uninstall the program. OR * Click on the Start button. * Choose Programs from the pop-up menu. * Drag your mouse to the right and click on Reservoir Dogs from the list. * Click on UninstallShield from the ensuing pop-up menu and follow the onscreen instructions. OR Go to the Control Panel and choose Add/Remove Programs. Click on Reservoir Dogs from the pop-up panel to follow, select the Add/Remove button, and follow the onscreen prompts. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2.2 DVD-ROM Problems Reservoir Dogs requires at least a DVD-ROM drive with 32-bit Windows 2000/XP drivers. I receive a "xxxxxx.xxx not found" error message when installing or running Reservoir Dogs This error message is usually the result of your computer using MS-DOS (16 bit) drivers instead of Windows (32 bit) drivers for your DVD-ROM drive. You can easily check to see if this is causing problems by opening the Control Panel (either click on the My Computer icon or click on the Start button followed by Settings, then Control Panel). In the Control Panel window, double-click on the System icon then click on the Performance tab. You should now see a summary of the performance status of your computer. One of the lines should say "File System: 32-bit" and the last line should say "Your system is configured for optimal performance." If you see a message saying "Drive X is using MS-DOS compatibility mode," then you will need to contact your system vendor to obtain and install 32-bit drivers for your DVD-ROM drive. ---------------------------------------------------------- AutoPlay Issues Why doesn't the AutoPlay feature come up when I insert the Reservoir Dogs DVD into the DVD-ROM drive? This is usually a configuration issue. There are many different ways to enable the AutoPlay functions of Windows. The standard method is described below: 1) Enter the Control Panel from the desktop by clicking on the Start button, followed by Settings, and then Control Panel. 2) Double-click the icon labelled System, usually located alphabetically towards the bottom of the Control Panel window, to bring up the System Properties panel. 3) Click on the tab at the top labelled Device Manager and when the new panel appears, locate the section labelled DVD-ROM and click the Plus (+) sign in front of it. (If there is a minus sign in front, don't click it.) 4) Now double-click the DVD-ROM drive revealed and the DVD-ROM Properties panel will appear. 5) Click on the Settings tab at the top. 6) Towards the middle of the panel, you should see a few checkboxes within the Options section. At the bottom of that section, you should see a checkbox labelled Auto insert notification. 7) Make sure there is a check mark in the box provided and click on the OK button to complete the process. If the game Auto Plays multiple times: Some DVD ROM drives cause Reservoir Dogs to AutoPlay multiple times, which also may result in lack of control within the game. To remedy this problem click on the DVD ROM properties in the System Properties panel and under settings turn off Auto Notification. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2.3 Crashes and Lock-Ups When I start Reservoir Dogs, my mouse cursor disappears and my computer locks-up. Chances are your installed audio card drivers are not compatible with DirectX. The only solution is to get a DirectX 9.0c-compatible driver from your audio card manufacturer. When I start Reservoir Dogs, I receive the following error message: "The application resdogs.exe referenced memory at address xxxx:xxxx that can't be read from." Chances are your installed video card drivers are not compatible with DirectX. The only solution is to get a DirectX 9.0c-compatible driver from your video card manufacturer. The Installer keeps stopping when a certain percentage is complete. There are three likely causes: * You may have run out of free space on your hard drive. Please remove unwanted programs to free up additional space for the game, and then reinstall Reservoir Dogs. * Files are possibly being copied to a corrupted area of your hard drive. If this is so, you'll need to run the scandisk program and make sure to use the Thorough option (see previous). After scandisk has finished running and has informed you that your drive is free of errors, try to re-install. * There may be dust or fingerprints on the DVD-ROM disc itself. Examine the bottom of the disc; if you see any fingerprints or dust, carefully clean the disc using a clean, soft, lint-free cloth by wiping from the centre of the disc (near the hole) towards the outer edge in a straight line. Reservoir Dogs is crashing to the desktop with no error messages. This problem can be caused by several different things. Here's a list of the most common culprits associated with these crashes: * Make sure the DVD-ROM is clean (check for both scratches and smudges on the reading surface of the DVD). * Make sure the game has been installed properly. * Make sure DirectX 9.0c has been installed properly. * Make sure you have the latest drivers for your video card and that they are DirectX 9.0c-compatible. * Make sure you have the latest drivers for your sound card and that they are DirectX 9.0c-compatible. * Make sure Virtual Memory is enabled on your system. * Run Scandisk. * Run Disk Defragmenter. * Clean out old temp (.TMP) files from the C:\WINDOWS\TEMP directory on your hard drive (from Windows Explorer). * Try uninstalling and then reinstalling the game. * Try exiting the game, rebooting your machine, and re-entering the game. Note: That if your system crashes to the desktop while playing Reservoir Dogs, you should probably reboot your computer before starting a new play session. Otherwise, DirectDraw or DirectSound may be in a locked state, and the game will be unable to use your sound or video hardware. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2.4 DirectX-Related Questions DirectX has become the new standard in Windows application development. Nearly all high-performance software will be geared around this technology, so we do not normally recommend that customers attempt to alter its installation on their system Can I Run Without DirectX? I cannot use DirectX on my computer! Is there any other way to run Reservoir Dogs? If you do not have DirectX installed on your computer, you will not be able to run Reservoir Dogs. ---------------------------------------------------------- 2.5 Technical Support If you need further technical assistance after reading the Readme file please do not hesitate to contact us using any of the methods listed below. When contacting us, please be sure to provide us with as much information as possible. Make sure to note the exact type of hardware that you are using in your system, including: your sound card, DVD-ROM drive, amount of RAM present, speed and manufacturer of your processor. Also, make sure to include the title and version of the game, and a detailed description of the problem. It will also help if you prepare by creating a "DXDiag" diagnostic file in Windows before you call us. Simply follow these instructions: * Click on Start * Click on Run * Type dxdiag * Click on OK * Click on the Save Information button and save the file to your computer. When you call our Technical Support line either have this file open or have a printed copy. If you send an e-mail query you may attach the file to the e-mail. ---------------------------------------------------------- Technical Support Contact Details (United Kingdom) Address Wimbledon Bridge House 1 Hartfield Road Wimbledon SW19 3RU E-Mail: customerservice@eidos.co.uk Phone: 0870 9000222 Web: www.eidos.co.uk/support/index.html Note: Hints and tips will not be given out over the Technical Support lines. Alternatively, you may find help with hardware problems on one of the websites maintained by the supplier, some of which are listed below: 3D labs: www.3dlabs.com ATI Technologies: www.ati.com Creative Labs: www.creative.com/worldwide.asp Matrox: www.matrox.com nVIDIA: www.nvidia.com Intel support.intel.com Terratec: www.terratec.net Eidos Interactive maintains a web page with links to all major video and audio card manufacturers, which is a good first stop if you are looking to upgrade your drivers. You can reach this page at: UK: www.eidos.co.uk/support/index.html US: www.eidos.com/support.html