Known Bugs (and Game-Saving Strategy)
Introduction
Defensive
Game Play
Saving
More Than Five Games
Sending
Saved Games Around The World
Game Hangs at CD Changes
Full Install Still
Asks For CD Changes
Won't Read from The CD
A Missing Cursor
The Lost Long Stick
The Invincible Maitre D'
The RowBot's Black Chest
Panel
Black Lettering Boxes
On The Bomb
Hands Not Emptying
Brain Parts Gone Missing
Introduction
Inevitably, reading some of the gameplay bug descriptions will indicate
to you aspects of the game play that you may not yet know of. We have been
conscious of this and tried not to give too much away, but do be aware
that you might discover something here that might spoil your fun.
A common worry for some gamers is that, when faced with a problem, they
are not sure if it's a bug, or if the game is supposed to be like that.
SST has very few bugs of itself, and here you will find the ones we know
of. You would have to be very unlucky indeed to see all of them!
This page is all about gameplay bugs, not system-based technical bugs.
Apple Mac users should additionally read the Mac Technical Support page,
and PC users might also cast they eyes over the DirectX page first. You
could all check out the Patch page, but please don't imagine a patch will
fix anything more than what it claims to. All these pages you get to from
the main Technical
Support page.
It may be that you will find a new bug, so don't be afraid to ask at
the Forum if this page doesn't help you (we won't bite you) (well, we may
do). Usually it will be a case of another incompleted part of the game
preventing you from doing something just yet. At least one of those 'logical
operators' in the gameplay is a little curious, in my view (you are prevented
from acquiring the nose until you have done something else, which bears
no relation to the nose at all). There is another maddening bug concerning
Krage and an eye which we have not even mentioned here, because to describe
it would itself be a terrible spoiler.
Defensive Game Play
It is a feature of the game that your PET records your progress through
the game. The file containing your saved game can be likened to a snapshot
of your PET. This analogy extends further than you may think because, if
you have a bug (in your PET or anywhere in your game), if you save that
game, you will nearly always save the bug with it! So, if you do come across
a bug, be careful not to save that game.
You have five slots in which to save games. We suggest you use these
cyclically, so you start by using the first slot, play a bit more then
save to the second slot. Then play a bit more and save to the third slot,
and so on. When you have used the fifth slot, then go back to saving in
the first slot. If you get a problem and need to back-up in the gameplay,
you can do it now through five stages. That can be helpful if you did not
realise you had a bug in your game for the past four hours.
If all else fails, you could restart. There is never any normal need
for a restart because the gameplay itself is completely forgiving, but
a saved bug can force this on you. Do not despair: once you know the solutions,
you can replay the whole game in around 20-30 minutes, so even a complete
restart is not desperate.
Saving More Than Five Games
You can extend the number of saved games if you like. Maybe you would like
another set of five so that your little brother or sister can play, or
your wife or husband, whatever. This is possible, requiring you to be just
a little creative with files and folders in the game's installed folder.
Within SST's installed folder is another folder called 'Saved Games'.
In here are up to five pairs of files (the files are created as you save
the games), each pair being for a saved game state. These are named as
follows:
SLOT0.DES
SLOT0.GAM (first slot)
SLOT1.DES
SLOT1.GAM (second slot)
SLOT2.DES
SLOT2.GAM (third slot)
SLOT3.DES
SLOT3.GAM (fourth slot)
SLOT4.DES
SLOT4.GAM (fifth slot)
The first pair are for the first (topmost) game-saved position. It's
a feature of program language software that lists almost always start with
0, rather than 1... don't worry about this. If it helps, just remember
that most programmers are strange people with no friends. The .DES
file is the Description file, a small text file which you could edit directly
if you wished (but not advised). The Description is the name label you
use to describe the saved game. The .GAM file is the one with
all the technical, game-save stuff in it, and that is a binary file which
you cannot edit directly.
To create a second set of five games, in the 'Saved Games' folder just
create a new folder (say with your name on it, TOMMY, MAGGIE,
KEMAL or something) and move (or copy) those existing game files
into that new folder. If you moved the files, you no longer have any saved
games that the SST files can see: a new set can be written and the old
ones will be safe in your own folder. When you want to use them, simply
bring them back into the 'Saved Games' folder. Clearly, they risk overwriting
any files of the same name that have been created since so, if you want
those kept too, you will need some other place to put those.
Sending Games Around The World
You can pass a saved game around the world by sending a .GAM file
as an email attachment. We have done that on this SST Help Site while investigating
gamer's problems, so we know it works!
Back To Contents
Game Hangs
At CD Changes
This is a very common problem affecting both the PC and Mac game versions,
especially the PC version. Unless you have completed a Full Install, at
various stages in the game the software will require you to insert another
CD. Having done so, you then find you are unable to clear the screen requesting
the change of CD, and it never seems to recognise that you have done what
it asked you to do.
The need for the change of CD is a software call put out to DirectX
(PC) or QuickTime (Mac) and is a regular function of the multimedia capabilities
of those standards. For some reason, it does not work properly in SST.
The workaround is very simple: always do a Full Install. If you do not
have sufficient drive space for this, you have a real problem because there
is no other known workaround.
Back To Contents
Full
Install Still Asks For CD Changes
Having done a Full Install it should be possible to play SST on your computer
without ever needing to load the game's CDs into your drive. However, sometimes
when the game reaches a point when, with a Normal Install, a new CD would
be required, the game wrongly calls for that CD to be inserted in your
drive. It seems to be a very rare problem affecting a change to CD#2 only,
and only on the PC, but it may have a wider application.
The workaround is very simple: don't argue with it, just insert the
CD it is asking for. Once the game has 'seen' the CD in the drive it can
usually be removed again..
Back To Contents
Won't Read
From The CD
This is commonly reported and usually is nothing more sinister than a drive
or CD that needs a little cleaning. Also, the track alignment of a CD and
drive is purely mechanical, and the alignment of drives can wander with
age and temperature, so making it difficult for the drive to read the CD.
There are some instances of CD#2 being inadequately burned at manufacture
(PC and Mac) but they should all be out of service now, having been exchanged
by the supplier or manufacturer.
Not all drive manufacturers recommend that their drives be cleaned by
a cleaning CD. They claim it is possible to damage the laser head with
the cleaner CD's brushes. When my drive starts to give reading problems
after about six months of light use, I clean my CD drive using a cleaner
CD. It always improves its performance.
To test your CD and drive, please proceed as follows:
-
Create a new folder called JUNK somewhere on your system (your desktop
is as good as anywhere).
-
Using the PC's Explorer or the Mac's file manager, attempt to copy the
entire CD to that new folder. If it copies OK, there is no problem with
your drive or CD, so a failure to read within the game or its installation
routine suggests a software problem there instead.
-
If the CD will not copy, try copying another CD into that folder. If that
other CD copies OK, then it indicates a problem with the game CD (but read
on). If that other CD does not copy, then it suggests there is a problem
with your drive (that may be a drive failure, drive misalignment, or a
problem with the way your system is managing your drive).
-
If that other CD copies OK, take your suspect game CD to another drive/machine
and try again to copy it (maybe borrow a friend's computer for a few minutes).
If the CD copies OK on that machine then it indicates a problem with your
own drive. If the CD again fails to copy then it looks very much like there
is a problem with the CD itself.
-
On completion, delete the JUNK folder.
Back To Contents
A Missing Cursor
This is an unusual one and seems to affect the PC only. Sometimes, the
cursor will disappear and not return. It's a bug which can be saved with
the game, and which does not affect other saved games, so the recovery
process is to load another saved game.
This is different from the Windows NT problem (SST will never work under
that operating system) which initially reveals itself as a lost cursor
and the inability to move away from the house's computer at the very start
of the game.
Back To Contents
The Lost Long
Stick
We believe affecting the PC only, sometimes the long stick becomes lost
or is seen to freeze on the screen and cannot be returned to your PET.
This is an irrecoverable failure within that game and can be worked
around by restoring from a clean, saved game.
Back To Contents
The Invincible
Maitre D'
This is known on the PC and, although I'm not aware of it ever being reported
on the Mac, it possibly affects that too. However, it must be said that
probably only 1 in 10 of the reports of an invincible Maitre D' have proven
to be really a bug, mostly just being that the gamer was not fighting properly
(or was fighting when the Maitre D' wasn't).
This is an irrecoverable failure within that game and can be worked
around by restoring from a clean, saved game, preferably one where the
Maitre D' is not yet fighting.
Back To Contents
The RowBot's Black Chest Panel
On opening the Rowbot's chest panel, it was a frequent report in the early
days of SST's PC games that all was black in there. This nearly always
could be traced to a problem between the graphics card and the DirectX
installation, and the solution for it was to update DirectX.
This is an irrecoverable failure within that game and can be worked
around by restoring from a clean, saved game.
Back To Contents
Black Lettering Boxes On
The Bomb
This is in the same class as the problem above (Rowbot's
Black Chest Panel) and is a problem noted only on the PC version. We
presume that this, too, is a problem between the system's DirectX drivers
and the graphics card.
This is usually recoverable from within that game simply by moving away
from the bomb's input area and then returning to it. If not, and if a recovered
game does not resolve the problem, suggest you begin by looking at the
DirectX
technical support page.
Back To Contents
Hands Not Emptying
The Maitre D's arms come with filled hands, that is normal. But at some
later stage in the game, you are able to empty them. We know that, on the
PC, sometimes the objects in one or or both of the hands can be emptied
to the PET and seen there as separate items, and yet the PET still shows
filled hands.
This is an irrecoverable failure within that game and can be worked
around by restoring from a clean, saved game.
Back To Contents
Brain Parts
Gone Missing
You know you had one or more brain parts. You are sure you put them into
Titania's head when you visited her earlier but, when you look back there,
you can see only four empty (white) ports... no brain parts. Where are
they?
The chances are, they are where you put them... in Titania's head.
What happens is that when you return to the head after visiting elsewhere
on the ship, the brain parts fail to 'paint' to your screen. But they are
still there. It is a minor programming error in the way that the screen
is composed. The work-around is very simple — just 'grab' the brain quarters
from the head and drag them back into your PET. All of a sudden, they appear!
Although no harm will come to your game by leaving the invisible parts
in the head, it's best if you keep the brain quarters in your PET until
you have all of Titania's parts and are ready to begin her final assembly.
Back To Contents
|
