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Although GNBNA is getting rather old in these days of super-modeled 3d-worlds
with 3d-sound and dazzling graphics from 16-32 mb TNT2 and VOODOO3-cards,
the GNBNA surely still have quite a strong position among the connoisseurs.
However, trying to run this old diskette game on a faster computer, you might struggle with problems as the required 800 kb EMS, sound card drivers and if you're having the newer cd-version, your system might reject you with the MSCDEX as failing point. On this page, you can find both links to the SSI-FAQ for this game (ver. 1.2) as well as the update. But we do also supply our own on our system working system files. PLEASE NOTE THAT WE CAN NOT TAKE ANY ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR THESE FILES AND WHATEVER THEY CAN/MAY CAUSE TO YOUR SYSTEM. ALSO NOTE THAT THE FAQS ARE COPYRIGHT OF SSI.
ALL SYSTEM FILES REFERS TO THE DISKETTE VERSION.
TECHNICAL HELP INDEX
System Requirements |
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Prior to run the GNBNA; you need the following:
- 386 SX/33 MHz
- 1,44 MB 3.5" FLOPPY DRIVE
- 640 Kb RAM (2 MB for sound)
- 584 kb Conventional memory
- 800 kb EMS memory
- 20 MB HARD DRIVE
- VGA card
- Mouse
- Monitor
- Sound card; Ad-lib/Sound Blaster/Soundblaster Pro/Roland/etc.
NOTE! WHEN MAKING CHANGES TO THE SYSTEM FILES; ALWAYS
MAKE A BACKUP OF ALL THE SYSTEM FILES BEFORE MAKING ANY CHANGES.
BOOT DISK:
A SAFER WAY IS TO CREATE A SO-CALLED BOOT DISK WITH THE FOLLOWING FILES- Config.sys
- Autoexec.bat
- Himem.sys
- Msdos.sys
- Io.sys
AND MAKE ALL CHANGES TO THE FILES ON THE BOOT DISK. TRIPLE CHECK AND MAKE SURE YOU ARE WOrKING ON THE BOOT DISK!!! WHEN YOU HAVE DONE YOUR CHANGES;
SIMPLY BOOT THE COMPUTER WITH THE DISK IN THE FLOPPY DRIVE. MAKE SURE THE DISK IS VIRUS FREE AND PROPERLY FORMATTED.
COMMON PROBLEMS
EMS MEMORY PROBLEMS
GNBNA requires 724 kb of EMS (Expanded Memory) to run.
Most of todays computer have the so called XMS (eXtended Memory) instead. To turn parts of the XMS into EMS, you'll have to add this line to your config.sys file.It will look like this:
DEVICE=C:\directory where\ the file is\EMM386.EXE RAM 724 or
DEVICE=C:\directory where\ the file is\EMM 386.EXE 724 .This line should be added below the config.sys line
DEVICE=C:\directory where\ the file is\HIMEM.SYS
CONVENTIONAL MEMORY PROBLEMS
GNBNA also requires 584,7 kb of free Conventional memory. This is in many cases a major problem due to the oftenly large numbers of drivers that is loaded into the system memory (RAM) during startup. The conventional memory is always 640 kb., i.e. the first 640 kb of the RAM.A good way to find out what's using memory space and what drivers that are loaded is to type
mem /c | more at the DOS-prompt. This will bring up a list with all loaded drivers and where they are loaded as well as how much space they use.To free up conventional memory; certain drivers loaded in both Config.sys and Autoexec.bat has to be loaded into the so called upper memory.
For this to be possible; the line
DEVICE=C:\directory where\ the file is\HIMEM.SYS
MUST be in the config.sys.When freeing up conventional memory; replace the suffix DEVICE with the DEVICEHIGH in config.sys
and the LOAD with LOADHIGH in Autoexec.bat.
In addition; the line
DOS=HIGH,UMB
frees up some conventional memory as it loads DOS into the upper memory.
Drivers that usually takes a lot of teh conventional memory is
- MSCDEX.EXE (MicroSoft CD-rom EXtension, CD-Rom drive utility)
- Mouse drivers (mouse.com , mouse.sys , different manufacture drivers)
- Sound card drivers
Note that the HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE cant be loaded in the upper memory using DEVICEHIGH.
SOUND CARD PROBLEMS
GNBNA is quite tricky with the sound sometimes. The digital sound effects requires 724 kb of EMS, which means a 640 kb system cannot get any digital sound effects. Also, PCI cards are hard to get working with this game. However; the cd version of GNBNA can handle these.
If we for example takes the SoundBlaster AWE 64, it runs very well with GNBNA, but the later SoundBlaster Live! 256 is almost impossible to get to work perfectly.
(it is possible with some patience, yes...).Especially when using EMS and with extreme conventional memory savings, many sound cards refuses to work properly and the sound set utility have problems to find them.
Check your sound card drivers if there are any drivers that can make the sound card to behave like a SB16 or similar.
Important is also that you set the proper settings such as I/O (In/Out), IRQ(Interrupt ReQuest) and DMA (Direct Memory Access).
MOUSE PROBLEMS
On some systems, the mouse and its drivers means trouble.
Try to use the standard mouse driver; MOUSE.SYS.
This should be loaded in Autoexec.bat; either with LOAD (into conv. memory) or LOADHIGH (upper).
We recommend the use of MOUSE.SYS 'cause it takes lesser memory than the MOUSE.COM or MOUSE.EXE.
SAMPLE SYSTEM FILES
These pre-configured files are generic, and may need modification if your DOS, mouse driver, and memory manager files are not located in their default directories. If the files do not load accordingly, use a text editor (such as DOS 5.0's EDIT) to open the boot disk's CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT in order to correct the paths. **** If you are using Stacker, Superstor or any other disk compression utility, you will also have to add their respective drivers to the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files on the boot disk. Check your utilities documentation for the specific commands. Please be careful when making changes; we recommend you to make a Boot disk.
In these sample files; the Italian text should not be used.
Download SAMPLE CONFIG.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS Makes it possible to fix EMS-memory
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM 724EMM386 emulates the EMS memory.
DOS=HIGH,UMB Loads DOS into the upper memory
LASTDRIVE=G Sets the last system drive letter.
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\display.sys con=(ega,,1) Display driver Country=358,850,C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\country.sys Country settings, in this case Finland.
Download SAMPLE AUTOEXEC.BAT
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6 Sound card settings.
PATH C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\DOS Local catalogue settings
LH C:\LOGITECH\MOUSE\mouse Mouse driver
LH C:\WINDOWS\CTCM Sound Blaster driver - Might differ on your system
mode con codepage prepare=((850) C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\ega.cpi)Keyboard settings
mode con codepage select=850 Same as above
keyb sv,,C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\keyboard.sys Same as above
MEL FATAL ERRORS AND OTHER COMMON ERRORS
This is under development, but until then, visit SSI's new technical support for GNBNA!!!
MEL Fatal Error #3 or 16
The program was unable to locate the sound card for which it was configured. Re-run SOUND.EXE from your Great Naval Battles directory and re-select your sound card. If you still receive the same message, run the configuration software that came with your sound card. For Soundblaster users, that would be TEST-SBC.EXE. Be sure to record the interrupt number and the base port address for use in the sound configuration.Init Count: GR FAIL
This indicates that a mouse driver was not loaded. The game must have a mouse driver loaded in order to run. (Your mouse may run properly with other programs, though the driver may not be loaded.) This is usually done by typing MOUSE at the DOS prompt, but may be different for your mouse. Check your mouse documentation.]Init Count: MX FAIL or MEL FATAL ERROR 7, 12, or 15
This most commonly indicates insufficient memory. The following paragraphs contain data specific to the configuration of your machine's memory
DIFFERENT ERROR MESSAGES
AIL Version Conflict.
Reinstall your game under a different directory name.Undefined Error.
Re-installation may correct this.Timbre Not in GTL File.
Re-installation may correct this.GTL File Not Found.
Re-installation may correct this.Can't Allocate Timbre Memory.
There is insufficient memory to play. Eliminate any non-essential memory resident programs from memory, or use a bootable disk. Consult your DOS manual for instructions on the creation of a system diskette.Can't Allocate Sequence State Tables.
There is insufficient memory to play. Eliminate any non-essential memory resident programs from memory, or use a bootable disk. Consult your DOS manual for instructions on the creation of a system diskette.Driver File Not Found
Re-Installation Should Correct This.Sample File Not Found.
Re-Installation Should Correct This.Can't Allocate Sample Buffer.
There is insufficient memory to play. Eliminate any non-essential memory resident programs from memory, or use a bootable disk. Consult your DOS manual for instructions on the creation of a system diskette.Sound.cfg is Corrupt.
Re-Run SOUND.EXE From Your Game Directory, And Re-Select Your Sound Card. Re-Installation May Also Correct This.Sequence File Not Found.
Re-Installation Should Correct This.Can't Allocate Driver Buffer.
There is insufficient memory to play. Eliminate any non-essential memory resident programs from memory, or use a bootable disk. Consult your DOS manual for instructions on the creation of a system diskette.Sound.cfg File Not Found.
Re-Run SOUND.EXE From Your Game Directory, And Re-Select Your Sound Card. Re-Installation May Also Correct This.GFF File Not Found.
Re-installation should correct this.Unable to Close GFF File.
This may be due to insufficient disk space. Run CHKDSK from your DOS directory to determine free disk space.Unable to Get GFF Chunk Size
Re-installation of the game should correct this.Sample Block File Not Found.
Re-Installation of the game should correct this.File Not Found
Re-Installation of the game should correct this.DSP Driver File Not Found.
Re-Installation of the game should Correct this.Failure to Detect MIDI Sound Card.
Re-Run SOUND.EXE And Check Your Settings. If this fails to correct the problem, run your music cards diagnostic software. This is most often caused by incorrect or conflicting port address setting. Also see SOUND CARD PROBLEMSFailure to Detect DSP Sound Card.
Re-Run SOUND.EXE And Check Your Settings. If this fails to correct the problem, run your sound cards diagnostic software. This is most often caused by incorrect or conflicting interrupt (IRQ) or DMA settings. SOUND CARD PROBLEMSFailure to Allocate Clock Buffer.
There is insufficient memory. Eliminate any non-essential memory resident programs.File I-O Error.
A Disc Error Has Occured.Unable to Initialize the CD rom driver MSCDEX.EXE
Check the Installation of Your CD ROM drive and the Installation of the Driver Mscdex.exe. Common problem with the cd-version of GNBNA. You can try our sample config.sys/autoexec.bat-files.