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The primary fix for a Revelation video problem is to correctly install the proper driver for your video card and Revelation. See Myst IV: Installing Video Drivers With Win XP. A clean boot Revelation install or re-install may also help. See Myst IV: Clean Boot Install/Re-install With Win XP.

If a new video driver and/or a Revelation re-install doesn't help:

1. Since a sound-related problem can sometimes look like a video problem, download and install the latest driver for your sound chipset. The latest driver should be available from your PC or motherboard manufacturer's website, or:
-- a. For Creative Sound Blaster products, start here.
-- b. For Turtle Beach products (Voyetra, etc.), start here.
-- c. For SiS chipsets, start here.
-- d. For AC'97, SoundMAX, etc., chipsets integrated on your motherboard, go to the motherboard or PC manufacturer's website for driver updates.

If you don't know which sound chipset you have, run DxDiag and look under Device on the Sound or Sound1 tab. See [Posting Guidelines] Help! I'm Having Technical Problems and I Don't Know Why!?! under POSTING GUIDELINES - To post a DxDiag report for a how-to on running DxDiag.

2. Revelation may be asking for something your video chipset doesn't want to do, so try some video setting changes. Before changing anything, note what you started with, so that you can go back to those settings if desired. Right-click on a blank area of the Desktop, then:
-- a. Click on Properties in the resulting drop-down menu.
-- b. Click on Settings > Advanced > video card name. You should now be looking at the options or setup menu for your video chipset.
-- d. Mostly, you want to set 'off' as the default, or 'controlled by application'. If there's an Advanced selection button, click on it to see more menu choices. In particular, set:
----- 1. Anisotropic filtering (AF) and antialiasing (AA) 'off' or 'controlled by application'. If AF or AA optimization are choices, set them to 'off' or 'none'.
----- 2. Trilinear optimization to 'off', 'none', or 'controlled by application'.
----- 3. Vertical sync to 'controlled by application', or 'off' if it's initially set to 'controlled by application'.
----- 4. Image setting midway between 'performance' and 'quality'.
-- e. If you change any settings, don't forget to click on Apply or Save. Then exit to the Desktop.
-- f. Play Revelation.

If there are still problems, reset Revelation options as follows.
-- a. Start Revelation, and click on the OPTIONS button (7 o'clock position in button circle on startup menu).
-- b. Click on the AUDIO OPTIONS icon (2nd main icon from left at top of page).
----- 1. Set the Music Frequency slider (bottom slider) at 10, all the way to the left.
-- c. Click on the GRAPHIC OPTIONS icon (right-hand main icon at top of page).
----- 1. Set Game Resolution to 640x480 (slider fully to left).
----- 2. Clear the Immersive Effects check box (left box), Water Effect check box (middle box), and Depth of Field Effect check box (right box) to disable.
-- d. Play Revelation.
-- e. If the game plays properly:
----- 1. Reset the Music Frequency slider to higher values, 25 at a time, and play Revelation between each reset.
----- 2. Re-check the GRAPHIC OPTIONS boxes, one box at a time, and play Revelation between each reset.
----- 3. Set Game Resolution to 800x600 from 640x480, and play Revelation.

3. Reset your virtual memory paging file. Before changing your paging file settings, note what you started with, so that you can go back to those settings if desired. Log into Windows with full Administrator privileges, then:
-- a. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
-- b. In the System Properties dialog box, click the Advanced tab.
-- c. In the Performance pane, click Settings.
-- d. In the Performance Options dialog box, click the Advanced tab.
-- e. In the Virtual memory pane, click Change.
-- f. Under Drive , click the drive that contains the paging file you want to change.
-- g. Under Paging file size for selected drive, click Custom size.
-- h. Change Initial size and Maximum size to the proper value in megabytes.
----- 1. For 256 MB of system RAM, set to 512.
----- 2. For 512 MB of system RAM, set to 1024.
----- 3. For 1024 MB of system RAM, set to 2048.
-- i. Click Set, and then click OK.
-- j. Click OK to close the Performance Options dialog box, and then click OK to close the System Properties dialog box. Close everything back to the Desktop.
-- k. Reboot, and play Revelation.

4. If you have lots of processes and applications running in the background, they could be causing problems with Revelation. Use Windows Task Manager to close everything except for Explorer.exe, Ctfmon.exe, and whatever your hardware needs. DO NOT leave your Internet connection active after doing this, especially if you have only a software firewall. An active connection with no firewall is an open invitation to hackers, who are not your friends!
-- a. Close your Internet connection.
-- b. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del once, and then click on Task Manager.
-- c. Click on the Applications tab.
-- d. Click on the desired application to highlight it.
-- e. Click on End Task.
-- f. Repeat this procedure until all unnecessary background applications are closed, including your anti-virus program and software firewall.
-- g. Click on the Processes tab.
-- h. Click on the desired process to highlight it.
-- i. Click on End Process.
-- j. Repeat this procedure until all unnecessary background processes are closed. If you aren't sure which processes can be safely closed, check out the AnswersThatWork Task List Programs index. The most common tasks are described, and which ones are essential and which can be safely closed are noted.
-- k. WITHOUT rebooting, play Revelation.

5. Run Revelation using Compatibility Mode. See How to use the Program Compatibility Wizard in Windows XP or HOW TO: Use Windows Program Compatibility Mode in Windows XP. Try all of the compatibility options, if necessary.

6. If you're not familiar (or are uncomfortable) with making changes to your system BIOS, don't attempt this step. Otherwise, set these line items in your BIOS, if the BIOS has them, as follows:
-- a. Assign IRQ to VGA - Enabled
-- b. VGA palette snooping - Disabled
-- c. PCI Latency Timer - 128
-- d. Video BIOS Shadowing - Disabled
-- e. Video RAM Shadowing - Disabled
-- f. Uncacheable Speculative Write Combining (USWC) Options - All disabled
-- g. PnP O/S Installed - Enabled
-- h. Video BIOS Cacheable - Disabled
-- i. Video RAM Cacheable - Disabled
-- j. AGP Graphics Aperture - 128 MB (or the next lowest available if 128 MB isn't an option)
-- k. AGP Fast Write - Disabled

Save the changes, reboot, and play Revelation.

Heimdall
Semper ubi sub ubi.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Heimdall G,