School Tycoon Readme

Welcome to School Tycoon. This readme will help you troubleshoot the game if you are having
trouble getting it to run.

Troubleshooting School Tycoon

Problem A: The game won't start, produces an error indicating it failed to initialize direct3d,
freezes up, reboots the system or drops to the desktop.
Problem B: The game runs slow or choppy.
Problem C: The game looks very blurry, or objects glow white and/or flicker.
Problem D: The window constantly scrolls away.
Problem E: The mouse cursor dissappears during play or is invisible.

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Problem A: The game won't start, produces an error indicating it failed to initialize
direct3d, freezes up, reboots the system or drops to the desktop.

Possible Causes:
A1. Hardware acceleration is disabled on your 3D card.
A2. The video card drivers need to be updated. (Most common)
A3. DirectX is not installed properly.
A4. Your system does not meet the minimum hardware requirements.

Solution to A1:
Hardware acceleration must be turned to full, or your system may behave as if it does not have a
3D card. To ensure your hardware acceleration is turned to full, do the following:
1. Right-click on your desktop and select ‘Properties’.
2. Click the ‘Settings’ tab.
3. Click ‘Advanced’.
4. Click the ‘Troubleshooting’ tab.
5. Ensure the Hardware Acceleration slider is set to ‘Full’.

Solution to A2:
To update your video driver, you need to know what video card you have, and then we can point
you to the proper place to get updated video drivers.

To find out what kind of video card you have:

1. Right-click on the desktop and select ‘Properties’.
2. Click the ‘Settings’ tab.
3. Click ‘Advanced’.
4. Click the 'Adapter' tab.

The video adapter type will be displayed. The most common video cards are made by ATI
(Radeon), NVIDIA (Gforce), or Matrox.

To update your video cards, go to the following websites:

ATI video drivers - http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html
NVIDIA Gforce - http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp
Matrox - http://www.matrox.com/mga/support/drivers/home.cfm

If you have a different type of video adapter, search the web for the manufacturer of your video
card.
Once you have downloaded the latest driver for your particular hardware and operating system,
make sure you install it. Most drivers come in the form of a downloadable executable that you
must run. Most of these installations will require you to restart your system.

After updating your video driver, you could find your desktop screen resolution has been reset
(bigger/smaller looking desktop icons). To set this back, do the following:
1. Right-click on your desktop and select ‘Properties’.
2. Click the ‘Settings’ tab.
3. Adjust the ‘Screen area’ resolution slider to an acceptable setting and click ‘Apply’.

Solution to A3:
If the installation program installed DirectX, a full reboot must be performed in order for it to work
properly. Reboot your system, and try the game again. Alternatively, you can download and
install the latest version of DirectX at:
<http://www.microsoft.com/directx>
or
<http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx>

Solution to A4:
The most common shortfall in the system requirements is the 3D video card. This can be difficult
to know for sure, as the names of the video cards can be deceptive. Upgrading your video card is
relatively simple and inexpensive. NVIDIA Gforce and ATI Radeon cards are industry leaders and
are highly recommended. Keep in mind that hardware manufacturers frequently distribute
outdated video drivers, so when installing new hardware, be sure to download the latest drivers
from the manufacturers web site instead of using the ones that come with your card (A2). The
second most common configuration shortfall is free disk space. Make sure you have plenty of free
hard disk space available when running the game. (At least 200 MB).

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Problem B: Game runs slow or choppy.

Possible Causes:
B1. Game detail settings are too high for your machine to handle.
B2. You have walled off buildings or the entrance to your school.

Solution to B1:
In the School Tycoon Main Menu, click 'Settings’. Adjust the music volume to zero, set the detail
to 'Low', select 'High Color', set the screen size to '800x600' and select ‘Vertex Shading'. The
game will run at its fastest at these settings. On many systems the difference between high detail
and medium detail can be very significant, so trying the medium detail option might be
worthwhile.

If the game continues to run slow, even at the start of a new level, upgrading your video card is
the best solution. If the game only runs slow when you have a very large, developed level, then
upgrading your system processor may be the best solution.

Solution to B2:
If the game suddenly becomes choppy, make sure you have not walled off a building or the
entrance to your school. This can cause significant performance problems.

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Problem C: The game looks very blurry, or contains glowing white or flickering objects.
Causes:
C1. Your video card memory is low.

Solution to C1:
From the School Tycoon Main Menu, click 'Settings'. Set the detail to 'Medium' or 'Low', and
select 'Vertex Shading'. The game should now run on video cards with low memory.

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Problem D: The window constantly scrolls away.

Causes:
D1. An uncalibrated joystick or joypad connected to computer.

Solution to D1:
Unplug your joystick, or go to the joystick applet in the Windows Control Panel, and calibrate it.

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Problem E: The mouse cursor dissappears or is invisible.

Causes: Unkown
Solution: While the game is running type 'safemouse' to enable a software mouse cursor.