The Dig Read Me
1996, LucasArts Entertainment Co.
Version 1.0  February 2, 1996


Topics
Solutions to Common Problems
Compatibility Issues
Performance
Memory
Technical Support


Solutions to Common Problems

When I run The Dig, it claims it doesnt have enough space left to play sounds.
The Dig is probably using up almost every last scrap of memory, and there is no room left over in your system to initialize the Sound Manager.  To fix this, you should make sure you have quit out of any other applications that may be taking up valuable memory.  You might also need to disable some control panels and/or extensions.  These procedures are explained below in the Memory section.

The sound breaks up and stutters during play.
You probably either have virtual memory turned on in the Memory control panel or you are running with a third-party RAM extender utility installed.  In either case, the solution is to disable the offender.  To disable virtual memory, select the Memory control panel and click the Off button in the virtual memory section.  To disable your RAM extender utility, use the Extensions Manager control panel to turn it off before playing.  In either case, you will need to restart your Mac for the changes to take effect.

The sound STILL breaks up and stutters during play.
This means that you have selected a video mode that is too performance-intensive for your system (most often, Graphic Smoothing on a low-end PowerPC machine).  Try choosing a lower quality (but faster) video mode.  See the Performance section, below, for more details.  

The Dig wont let me select Graphic Smoothing.
Graphic Smoothing is only supported on PowerPC machines with at least 8100k free RAM.  If you run The Dig with less than 8100k free RAM remaining, you will not be able to turn on graphic smoothing.  Try quitting other applications and/or disabling extensions and control panels as described in the Not Enough RAM section of The Dig Reference Manual.

I keep getting a message saying the Sound Manager isnt installed.
If you are running system software prior to System 7.5, you will need to install the items located in the Items for your System Folder folder on the The Dig CD.  To do this, select the four icons in the folder (hold down the Shift key and click once on each icon) and drag them to the icon for your System Folder.  The system will automatically place them in the correct locations.  Restart your machine when you've completed the installation.  Note that doing this will replace any currently existing version of the Sound Manager you might have installed.

The system wont let me install the Sound Manager.
Your System Folder protection is probably turned on.  You will need to turn it off before proceeding; after you have copied the files, you can turn the protection back on.  To turn off System Folder protection, use the Performa control panel under systems prior to version 7.5, or the General Controls control panel on System 7.5 or later.


Compatibility Issues

Apple CD-ROM driver versions prior to 5.1.1
Our internal testing has seen occasional lockups on certain configurations when using the Apple CD-ROM driver versions prior to 5.1.1.  The Dig will automatically detect if you are using one of these versions and request that you upgrade to the Apple CD-ROM software version 5.1.1, which is included on the The Dig CD.  Read the file Apple CD--Read Me, located inside the folder CD ROM Software 5.1.1 on the CD, for instructions on how to upgrade.

Virtual Memory
Running The Dig with virtual memory is not recommended.  If your system meets the minimum requirements (8 MB total RAM for 68040 Macintoshes, 16 MB total RAM for Power Macintoshes), you should be able to run The Dig without virtual memory.  See the section on Memory, below, for details on freeing up memory for playing.

Modern Memory Manager
On PowerPC machines, The Dig requires that the Modern Memory Manager be turned ON.  To turn on the Modern Memory Manager, use the Memory control panel, click the On button next to the Modern Memory Manager section, and then restart your system before playing The Dig.

Balloon Help
The Dig does not support Balloon Help, and may have trouble running properly with Balloon Help enabled.  Please make sure you have turned off Balloon Help before running The Dig.


Performance

The Dig features high quality, interactive digital audio and complex full-screen graphics that can sometimes push your computers processor and CD-ROM drive to their limits.  In order to achieve the best gameplay, there are several things you can do to trade off video quality and/or memory for better playing speed.

If you see your performance degrading significantly in any of these areas, you should reduce the video quality during that portion of the game by using a less-demanding choice from the Video menu.

Here is a list of things you can do to increase performance on your system:

 (PowerPC) turn off graphic smoothing.  Although it looks nice, the graphic smoothing option at certain points in the game may tax the processing power of lower-end PowerPC machines.  Switching down to Double Size in the Video menu should make everything run smoothly.

 (68040) use interlaced or small displays.  On slower 68040 machines, the speed at which The Dig can copy data from its buffers to the screen becomes a performance liability.  By switching to Interlaced in the Video menu, you cut down the amount of data to copy by 50%.  Using the Small display mode buys you another 50% reduction.

 increase the disk cache size.  If your system has more than 8MB of total RAM, you can improve access speed to the CD-ROM by increasing the size of the disk cache.  To do this, go into the Memory control panel and click on the up arrow to increase the cache size above the default value of 96k.

 turn off virtual memory.  If you havent done so already, go into the Memory control panel and make sure the virtual memory switch is in the off position.  Although virtual memory may give you more memory space to load The Dig, it has an adverse effect on performance.


Memory

The Dig requires a minimum of 6100k free RAM in order to run (8100k required to use graphic smoothing).  If you have a Macintosh with 8MB of RAM and a lot of extensions or control panels, you may have to work a little to find the 6100k minimum that The Dig requires.

Here are some suggestions for reducing the memory requirements of your system in order to give more leeway to The Dig.  After trying these, look again at the About This Macintosh box to see how close you are to the 6100k minimum.

 disable unnecessary extensions and control panels.  Although the The Dig reference manual mentions this, it is worth repeating here.  Use the Extensions Manager control panel to create a The Dig extension set which includes only those extensions and control panels that are absolutely necessary to run The Dig.  Check out the The Dig reference manual for a detailed explanation of what to do.

 quit all applications before running.  Each application that is running takes up some memory that The Dig could be using.  If youre tight on space, make sure you quit other applications before revving up The Dig.

 reduce the disk cache size and turn off any RAM disks.  In Apples Memory control panel are options for controlling the disk cache size and for creating RAM disks.  If you have created a RAM disk, turn it off and restart your system before running The Dig.  If you really want to push your memory to its max, reducing the disk cache to 96k or less can also help, at the expense of slower disk access.


Technical Support

If you need technical assistance, please don't hesitate to contact us after reading this Read Me file and the The Dig Reference Manual.  For your convenience, if you cannot get through to a representative by phone, you can also fax us or modem into our BBS.  When contacting us, please include as much pertinent information about your computer as you can assemble: make, model, peripherals, RAM and disk size, the version of the system software used for the game, the title and version of the game, and a detailed description of the problem. If you send us a fax, include your name, return fax number with the area code, and a voice phone number so we can contact you.

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