Red Storm Entertainment TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON README September, 2001 This document contains information specific to TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON that is not included in the manual. Table of Contents 1.General Notes and Troubleshooting 1.1 Installation Notes 1.2 TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON and Laptop Computers 1.3 Multi-Tasking (Alt-Tab) 1.4 Miscellaneous Tips for Making the Game Run Faster 1.5 DirectX Help 1.6 Updating Drivers 1.7 Windows 2000 and XP Notes 1.8 General Gameplay Notes 2.Multiplayer Notes and Troubleshooting 2.1 Supported Network Protocols 2.2 Miscellaneous Tips for the Best Multiplayer Gaming Experience 2.3 MOD Issues 2.4 Setting Up a Dedicated Server 3.Video Card Notes and Troubleshooting 3.1 General Video Card Troubleshooting 3.2 List of Video Cards with Known Issues 4.Audio Notes and Troubleshooting 4.1 General Sound Card Troubleshooting 4.2 If You Have More than One Sound Card Installed on Your Computer 4.3 List of Sound Cards with Known Issues 5.Ghost Recon Game Editor 6.Ubi Soft Technical Support Information ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0 Important Information Companies, products, persons, personalities and/or names mentioned in this product are intended to be purely fictional and in no way deemed to represent real individuals, companies, products or events. Any trademarks that appear herein are owned by their respective owners and are used solely for literary, creative and first amendment purposes in this fictional work of authorship. 1 General Notes and Troubleshooting 1.1 Installation Notes If you choose not to install TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON to the default location (C:\Program Files\Red Storm Entertainment\Ghost Recon), you must install it into a valid folder. You can not install the game to a C:\ or D:\ drive without first creating a folder or directory to install the game into. You must create a folder (i.e. C:\Ghost Recon or D:\Red Storm Entertainment instead of installing directly to C:\ or D:\ without a folder) 1.2 TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON and Laptop Computers TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON was neither developed nor tested for laptop computers. The reason for this is that most video and sound card companies sacrifice DirectX compliance for miniaturization and portability. As such, these manufacturers do not offer drivers that are optimized for Direct3D gaming, which means that, ultimately, you may have limited success in running the game properly. Ubi Soft Technical Support cannot provide support or optimization help with running TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON on laptop systems. If you own a laptop computer that meets all minimum requirements for this game, please make sure that all of your system components - video card, sound card, cd-rom drive, display, etc - are using the most recent drivers. If a company other than your laptop manufacturer makes your sound and video cards, be sure to download the latest drivers from the card's manufacturer for best results. Once your system is updated, use the game's options screen to lower all settings in the sound and video options. Refer to the manual for more information on which settings to turn down or off. If you continue to experience problems, refer to the Troubleshooting Document for more help. 1.3 Multi-Tasking (Alt-Tab) TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON does not support multitasking (pressing ALT+TAB). This should not be an issue, as there should not be any open programs running in the background while playing TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON. For best results, please make sure all open programs are closed before starting TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON -- this includes any programs running in the System Tray beside the clock on the task bar. If you need to return to Windows while in the game, we recommend that you exit by pressing the ESC key, then selecting Quit from the menu to get back to Windows quickly. 1.4 Miscellaneous Tips for Making the Game Run Faster There are certain options you can adjust in the game to allow for faster game play. From the main menu, click on the Options menu. From there you can manipulate the Sound and Graphics options in a trial and error fashion to customize the games detail and graphics levels for best performance on your machine. For Example, a Pentium II 450 just meets the minimum requirements to run the game. With this setup, start the game and go into the options screen immediately. · Turn the detail levels down to low · Uncheck the Show Dead Bodies and Character Smoothing options · Set the screen resolution to 640x480x16 · Set the Z-Buffer Depth to 16 Bit 1.5 DirectX Help If you are having trouble installing and/or playing TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON make sure you have DirectX version 8 or higher installed on your computer. You can install DirectX 8 from the TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON CD by going to the DirectX folder and running DXsetup. The directory path for DX setup is D:\Directx\dxsetup.exe (assuming your CD-Rom drive is D). You can also get the latest version from Microsoft (www.microsoft.com/directx). These webpages can also provide support with common DirectX problems. 1.6 Updating Drivers IMPORTANT: The first step in troubleshooting ANY problem you are experiencing with TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON is to update all drivers for all components in your PC. Most issues reported with Red Storm Entertainment games are related to outdated or incorrectly loaded drivers. If you are not sure which components are in your system, please read through the "Know Your System" section of the Troubleshooting Document. Please visit your sound, video, and 3D card manufacturer's websites for the most recently available drivers. Once you have downloaded and installed these drivers according to the manufacturer's suggestions, download and install DirectX from http://www.microsoft.com/directx. 1.7 Windows 2000 and XP Notes Pressing the Left Shift key five times rapidly in succession in the Windows 2000 and XP operating systems allows the user to access a Windows system utility. If this is done while TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON is running, the game will be minimized to the task bar and the system utility menu will appear on the screen. 1.8 General Gameplay Notes · If you assign soldiers to your teams in the Platoon Setup screen and then open the Options menu, all team assignments will be lost when you close the Options menu and return to Platoon Setup. · Players running in 1600x1200 resolution may find the in-game Command Map is difficult to read due to its small size. · In multiplayer games, if the number of players joining the game is greater than the number of player slots activated by the game server, the "extra" players will be put into observer mode. For example, if the server sets up a game with only two platoons activated (with nine slots on each platoon), and 36 people join the game, 18 of them will enter combat as observers. 2 Multiplayer Notes and Troubleshooting 2.1 Supported Network Protocols TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON supports network play over a properly configured TCP/IP network ONLY. Please refer to the Troubleshooting Document for help with setting up such a network. To actually start a Multiplayer game, please refer to the Multiplayer section of the manual. 2.2 Miscellaneous Tips for the Best Multiplayer Gaming Experience · Make sure the host is the fastest computer participating in the game. If the server is bogged down, it will distinctly affect the gameplay for all players. · More memory improves performance. More than 128MB of RAM in the server improves Multiplayer performance and stability for all players. · The more players in the game, the more bandwidth is required. 2.3 MOD Issues NOTE: Red Storm Entertainment can only provide support for the software we create. For this reason, we will not be able to provide support for third-party modifications. Please do not contact Technical Support for issues relating to these modifications. The first step with troubleshooting MOD related problems is to ensure you have installed the MOD correctly. Check the TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON manual and the site where you downloaded the MOD for proper installation. You may need to remove the MOD and ensure TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON runs correctly without the mod. If you continue to experience problems with TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON after removing the MOD, try uninstalling the game completely and reinstalling TOM CLANCY'S ROGUE GHOST RECON without adding the MOD. A few notes on using MODS: · To fully return the Mods settings to the default state after joining a server, you need to return to the main menu. If you do not return to the main menu, you will enter a new game with the previous MOD settings. 2.4 Setting Up a Dedicated Server If you would like to run a stand-alone multiplayer game server, you can launch a dedicated server by clicking the Launch Dedicated Server icon located in the Ghost Recon Start Menu folder. This will bring up the dedicated server menu, from which you can edit and launch your dedicated server. A few notes on dedicated servers: · The dedicated server is counted in the total number of players in a multiplayer game, so the max number of human players on a dedicated server will be 35 rather than 36. · Enabling the "Allow Remote Access" setting in the multiplayer options screen will allow users playing on a dedicated server to edit the dedicated server settings. If you choose to allow remote access, be sure to set a password under "Remote Access Password" so that only users with the password can edit the server settings. · A computer running a dedicated server cannot also be used to play TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON multiplayer games. 3 Video Card Notes and Troubleshooting 3.1 General Video Card Troubleshooting TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON only supports video cards that have certified DirectX 8 or higher drivers. If you experience problems while you are playing TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON, contact your video card's hardware manufacturer for the latest certified DirectX 8 or higher drivers for your video card. Many manufacturers maintain World Wide Web sites that offer updated drivers and troubleshooting advice for their products. Visit the video card manufacturer's web sites for updated drivers. 3.2 List of Video Cards with Known Issues If you are using any of the video cards listed below, you may experience problems with TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON. Known workarounds, when available, are included below. Please keep in mind that these cards are not supported by TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON. Video cards with known issues when running TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON: · Voodoo 5 A small number of hallways and walls in the game will have a hazy translucent appearance. Smoke from a destroyed tank will be purple in color. · Voodoo 3 While night vision is turned on, textures will not be visible. In-game cinematics (including intro movie) are not viewable. 4 Audio Notes and Troubleshooting 4.1 General Sound Card Troubleshooting If you experience sound-related problems while you are playing TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON, contact your sound card's hardware manufacturer for the latest DirectX 8 or higher certified drivers for your sound card. Many manufacturers maintain web sites that offer updated drivers and troubleshooting advice for their products. 4.2 List of Sound Cards with Known Issues If you are using any of the sound cards listed below, you may experience problems with TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON. Known workarounds, when available, are included below. Sound cards with known issues when running TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON: · Yamaha XG The sound of gunfire will not be audible. All other sounds can be heard. · Creative Labs Sound Blaster Users running the Creative Launcher background application may find that the Creative Launcher menu appears at the top of the screen when the mouse is moved to the top of the screen during gameplay. To avoid this, exit the Creative Launcher application prior to launching TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON. · Creative Labs Sound Blaster PCI512 In the Options menu, under the Sound tab, check the "Use Alternate Cache" option to avoid sound anomalies during gameplay. The game must be exited and restarted for the option to take effect. · Santa Cruz The sound of enemy gunfire drops off considerably when you are 20-30 yards from the enemy. 5 Ghost Recon Game Editor The Ghost Recon Game Editor (igor.exe) is an *unsupported* tool. There is no official technical support available. The user community is the best place to seek further help. The Ghost Recon Game Editor is the program the Red Storm development team used to make all the single and multiplayer missions in the game. We are providing it to you so that you can create new single and multiplayer missions for the game as well as modify the current missions. 6. Ubi Soft Technical Support Information Before contacting Ubi Soft Entertainment's Technical Support Department, we recommend that you first read the Troubleshooting Document, the manual, as well as this readme file for answers to most common problems. For the most recent answers, browse through our FAQ listings, or search our support database at http://www.ubisoft.com/support. Here you will find the most recently updated information since the game's release. If you still need to contact Red Storm Technical Support, see the following ways of contacting us below: Please make sure that your computer meets the minimum system requirements, as our support representatives will be unable to assist customers whose computers do not meet these criteria. Whenever you contact the Technical Support Department, please include the following information: · Complete Product Title (including version number) · Exact error message reported (if any) and a brief description of the problem you're encountering · Processor speed and manufacturer · Amount of RAM · CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive · Sound Card · Video and/or 3D accelerator card · Operating system Contact us over the Internet: Our website contains the most up-to-date Technical Support information available including patches that can be downloaded free-of-charge. We update the Support pages on a daily basis so please check here first for solutions to your problems. http://www.ubisoft.com/support/ Contact us by E-Mail: For fastest response via email, please visit our website at: http://www.ubisoft.com/support/ From this site, you will be able to enter the Ubi Soft Solution Center where you can browse through our listings of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), search our database of known problems and solutions, or, for fastest email response, you can send in a request for personal assistance from a Technical Support Representative. If you don't have access to the World Wide Web, you can contact our Support Department by e-mailing them directly at support@ubisoft.com. Please ensure that you include all of the bulleted information above for your computer when sending email to this email address. Contact us by Phone: You can also contact us by phone by calling (919) 460-9778. Note that this number is for technical assistance only. No hints and tips will be given out over the Technical Support line. When calling our Technical Support line, please make sure you are in front of your computer and have all the necessary information as listed above at hand. Be advised that our Support representatives are available to help you Monday - Friday from 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time). Ubi Soft Entertainment's Tips Line All the hints, tricks and cheats you'll ever need! If you're under 18 years of age, please have your parents' permission before calling. Note that only touch-tone phones may access this service. (900) 288-2583 (CLUE). $.95 per minute Contact us by Standard Mail: If all else fails, you can write us at: Red Storm Entertainment 2000 Aerial Center Suite 110 Morrisville, NC 27560 Attn: Customer Support Please do not send any game returns directly to Red Storm or Ubi Soft as it is our policy that game returns must be dealt with by the retailer or online site where you purchased the product. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- (C)2001 Red Storm Entertainment, Inc. Red Storm, Red Storm Entertainment and the Red Storm Entertainment logo are trademarks of Red Storm Entertainment, Inc. Red Storm Entertainment, Inc. is a Ubi Soft Entertainment company. Ghost Recon and the Ghost Recon logo are trademarks of Red Storm Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved.