VGB-Max : The Ultimate Front-end for VGB-DOS! * Frequently Asked Questions * If you're having problems getting VGB-Max to run or need something to do during your spare time then read this file. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS A. General 1. "Didn't VGB-Max used to run under Win 3.x?" 2. "Where do I get games/utilities for VGB-DOS?" 3. "Why isn't there a review for game XXXX?" B. Running VGB-Max 1. "Why does it use the default options and not the file from v2.0?" 2. "VGB-Max crashes when it tries to load a specific screen." 3. "Why does it take so long to load on startup?" 4. "What happens if I corrupt or delete some needed files?" 5. "Why didn't VGB-DOS run when I pressed the play button?" 6. "Why does it crash on startup when it tries to load REVIEWS.LST?" C. Playing Games 1. "Why does VGB-DOS freeze when I start or complete a stage?" 2. "Why does VGB-DOS freeze in the middle of stage?" D. Cheat Codes and Effects 1. "I can see the cheats but why can't I select them?" 2. "Why aren't there any cheat codes for game XXXX?" 3. "How come the Game Genie Web Site has cheat codes not in CHEATS.LST?" E. Sound Effects 1. "How come I didn't hear anything when I pressed the test button?" F. Visual and Display 1. "Why don't all of the graphics show? They're just black boxes." 2. "When I ran the game, the colors were all shades of gray. Why?" 3. "How do I change the color tables?" G. ZIP support 1. "Why does it say PKUNZIP.EXE is not found on startup?" 2. "Why does VGB-Max still not read zip files?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. GENERAL QUESTIONS 1. Question: "Didn't VGB-Max used to run under Windows 3.x? If so, how come versions 2.0 and 2.1 did not?" Answer: Versions 2.0 and 2.1 took advantage of 32-bit native code compilation and ActiveX technology, which unfortunately is not supported by older versions of Windows. However version 3.0 has seperate 16 and 32-bit platforms, which are identical except in performance, where the 32-bit version has a clear advantage in speed and loading time, as well as having a much better gif viewer. 2. Question: "Where do I get games/utilities for VGB-DOS?" Answer: The VGB-Max Homepage has one of the web's most comprehensive list's of links to popular Virtual Gameboy emulation sites on the web. Whether it's games, technical information, or anything else concerning Gameboy emulation that your looking for, check out at the VGB-Max Homepage's links. 3. Question: "Why isn't there a review for game XXXX?" Answer: Sometimes it takes a while to figure out the plot of a game. So instead of provideing bad reviews, I just left them out. But I still included some reviews for the most popular games and notes on why some games don't work. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. RUNNING VGB-MAX 1. Question: "Why does it use the default options when I run VGB-Max v3.0 for the first time? Shouldn't it use the options from the same file for earlier versions?" Answer: The VGB-MAX.DAT file is twice as large now as it was for v2.1, and about four times as large as that for VGB-Max v1.02. Making a procedure to upgrade all the new options would take about 50 or 60 kilobytes of program space. I decided that it wasn't worth it for a one-time job. Besides, it only takes a second to remake all the changes, so you really have nothing to fuss about, now do you? :) 2. Question: "Whenever I try to run VGB-Max or load a specific screen, I get a Windows error message and/or my computer halts How do I get VGB-Max to run smoothly again?" Answer: The VGB-Max settings file, VGB-MAX.DAT, has probably been corrupted and has consequently sent bad data to the CPU. Try erasing the file and run VGB-Max again. Of course, you'll have to change back your settings again, but that only takes a minute or two. 3. Question: "How come it takes so long to load VGB-Max?" Answer: VGB-Max does most of it's work during this time. Here's hat it does and the order it does it in: * Reads settings file (VGB-MAX.DAT). If setting file does not exist then defaults are used. * Loads the Search Settings Screen and asks you to enter the search method and directories. This can be turned off by checking the box on the bottom of the screen. * If Searching for ZIP files is enabled on the Advanced Options Screen, VGB-Max checks to see if PKUNZIP.EXE is in the directory. * Searches for VGB-DOS, ROM images, and gifs. This takes a while if you set it to search your whole drive. If VGB-DOS or games are not found then VGB-Max will shutdown automatically. If gifs are not found then VGB-Max will disable the Gif Selection Screen. * Checks validity and retrieves internal cartname for each ROM image found. * Reads GAMES.LST and associates the data inside to any matching ROM images. * Reads ALIAS.LST and removes games that are similar to another game if it has been found. * Reads CHEATS.LST and adds cheat codes and effects for games that have them. * Reads REVIEWS.LST and adds reviews and/or notes to games that have them. * Sorts games and corrects for sequence alphabetization. * Frees any unused memory. You can speed up the loading process by turning off certain loading parameters on the Advanced Options Screen. 4. Question: "I corrupted/deleted one of the files. How will this affect the performance of VGB-Max?" Answer: If the files are corrupted then a bunch of things could go wrong. I couldn't possibly begin to name them all. If you do mess them up and VGB-Max acts strange then reinstall them. If you can't then download a new set form the VGB-Max Homepage at http://www.voy.net/~kdg/VGB-Max.html 5. Question: "I pressed the play button and VGB.EXE (or VGB-DBG.EXE) started but then crashed. What do I do?" Answer: You upgrade your version of VGB-DOS to version .87, that's what you do. The reason VGB-DOS crashed is because it didn't understand the information VGB-Max sent it (wrong option error). VGB-Max only supports version .87 of VGB-DOS. Versions .85 and .86 will still work if the number of interrupts are set to none and Gravis Gamepad button swapping is not used. 6. Question: "Why does it sometimes crash on startup when it tries to load REVIEWS.LST?" Answer: I'd like to know the answer, too. I don't know why it does that but I do know a workaround. Delete the REVIEWS.LST file and run VGB-Max again. It should load smoothly this time, except for an error message saying REVIEWS.LST not found. To get rid of this message each time you run VGB-Max, go to the Advanced Options Screen and uncheck the box beside "Reviews & Notes" under Load. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C. PLAYING GAMES 1. Question: "Sometimes VGB-DOS freezes whenever I start or finish a stage. What makes it do that?" Answer: Emulation for all games is not 100%. VGB-Max warns you about games taht don't emulate well by giving tham a rating of "ERRORS" and telling why in the review. 2. Question: "Sometimes VGB-DOS freezes in the middle of a stage. What's happened now?" Answer: This one was hard to figure out, even though the explanation is simple. VGB-DOS froze becuase it tried to send some sound effect(s) to a non-existant sound card. If your computer does not have a sound card I strongly recommend turning sound off via the Sound Menu. Most games will run fine, even with sound on, but some crash. (Metroid II is infamous for this effect. Just try to pick up missles without a sound card and you can see what happens.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D. CHEAT CODES AND EFFECTS 1. Question: "I can see the cheats but can't select them. The letters are also gray instead of black. How come?" Answer: Cheats have been disabled. Enable them by clicking the option under the Game Menu. 2. Question: "Why aren't there any cheat codes for game XXXX?" Answer: I know it would be great to have every code for every game but Rome wasn't built in a day. However, updated list files are always available at the VGB-Max Homepage. But for the time being you should be happy with the almost 1000 codes you have right now. (Which happens to be a helluva lot more codes than any other front-end offers!) 3. Question: "How come the Galoob Game Genie site has cheat codes not found in CHEATS.LST?" Answer: Because those codes are for games that are not yet identified in GAMES.LST. I thought it would be dumb to include codes that could not be used. (When those games are added to GAMES.LST, their codes, if any, will also be added to CHEATS.LST.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- E. SOUND EFFECTS 1. Question: "Why didn't I hear anything when I pressed the test button on the Sound Properties Screen?" Answer: Could be any of four things at work. First, if you're computer doesn't have a sound card installed, then you won't hear anything. Second, your Windows may be running with sound off. Third, the volume set by VGB-Max or manually could be so low you can't hear it. Fourth, The wav files VGB-Max plays could not be found. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- F. VISUAL AND DISPLAY 1. Question: "Some of the show up as black boxes. Why?" Answer: To tell the truth I don't know exactly why. It must be a hardware problem, since some monitors and systems show all the graphics whereas some leave them out. Sometimes some of the graphics will show but others won't! 2. Question: "When I ran the game, the colors were all shades of gray, even though colors are shown in the color box. How do I get the real colors to show?" Answer: The grayscale color depth has been selected. Activate the full color depth on the Visual Properties Screen to change this. (NOTE: The grayscale color scheme is not the -colorscheme 0 option from earlier versions of VGB-DOS. The -colorscheme option was removed in version .85. VGB-Max's grayscale color scheme just substitutes shades of gray in place of the selected color.) 3. Question: "I don't like the color table for game XXXX. This color should be this and that color should be that. Is there a way to change it?" Answer: Sure is. You can change colors from either within VGB-Max or by permenantly modifying the color table in GAMES.LST. (Read VGB-MAX.DOC to find out how to do these.) I only spent about 5 to 15 minutes making the color table for each game so I expect some of you out there have discovered better color combinations. If you want to contribute a color scheme you that think is better than mine to future releases of VGB-Max then I encourage you to visit the VGB-Max Homepage and send me some feedback. Please don't send your GAMES.LST file unless you've made lots of changes. And don't forget to tell me which games have been modified if you do this! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- G. ZIP SUPPORT 1. Question: "VGB-Max gives an error message on startup telling me it can't find PKUNZIP.EXE. Why not?" Answer: VGB-Max only looks for PKUNZIP.EXE in VGB-Max's own directory. Even if you have PKUNZIP in another directory that VGB-Max searches or in a high memory directory (such as \WINDOWS), VGB-Max won't ralize it's there and will not search ZIP files for games. 2. Question: "PKUNZIP.EXE is in VGB-Max's directory. The error message is gone, but it still does not read ZIP files! What now?" Answer: When VGB-Max can't find PKUNZIP.EXE, it turns off the searching of GB files in ZIP files. To get VGB-Max to search ZIP files again, check the appropriate box on the Advanced Options Screen. Restart VGB-Max and everything should work smoothly.