Blood/Plasma Pack/One Unit Whole Blood FAQ
Installation | Patch Upgrades | Error Messages | Muliplayer Game Errors
Sound Issues | Multiplayer Issues | All Other Problems | Hints/Cheats/Strategy
MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
- CPU: Pentium: 75MHz or better
- Memory: 16MB RAM
- Available Hard-Disk Space: 50MB Shareware, 80MB Full version
- Distribution Media Drive: 4X CD-ROM drive
- Audio System: 100% Sound Blaster Compatible
- Video System: VGA 256-color
- Input Devices: Keyboard, Mouse, Gamepad, Advanced Input
- MS-DOS 6.2 or better
DOS Installation
- Place the CD in your CD-ROM drive (typically drive D:).
- Switch to your CD-ROM drive by typing D: (or the appropriate drive letter) and press <Enter>.
- Type Install, then press <Enter> to start the installation program.
- Follow the on-screen prompts.
Once the game is installed, type Setup from within your Blood directory to
configure the game to your system. If you are unsure of the settings you
should choose, consult your computer or sound card manual for assistance.
If you know you have a sound card and speakers but are unsure of the brand,
select SoundBlaster for both Music and Sound Card.
Windows95 Installation
- Place the CD in your CD-ROM drive (typically drive D:).
- Click on the My Computer icon on your desktop.
- Click on the icon for your CD-ROM drive.
- Double-click the INSTALL icon to start the installation program.
- Follow the on-screen prompts.
Once the game is installed, double click the SETUP icon in your Blood folder
to configure the game. If you are unsure of the settings you should choose,
either consult your computer or sound card manual or right click your
My Computer icon and select the Device Manager tab, which should list the
necessary information. If you know you have a sound card and speakers but
are unsure of the brand, select SoundBlaster for both Music and Sound Card.
If you experience problems running Blood in Windows95, you will have to
restart your computer in MS-DOS mode. Click on the Start button and select
Shut Down. Select Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode? and click OK. When your computer restarts, follow the DOS installation instructions above.
Important!
Windows 3.1 users must exit to DOS before installing Blood. Click File in
The top left hand corner of your Program Manager window, select Exit Windows,
and then click OK. Note that each time you play you'll have to exit Windows
and then switch to the Blood directory (by typing CD\BLOOD and then pressing
[ENTER]).
RUNNING THE GAME:
If you are running the game from DOS:
At the DOS prompt, type "CD\BLOOD [Enter]" (where "Blood" is the directory
that you installed Blood to) and then simply type "Blood [Enter]".
When the game begins you will see a main menu and a demo of the game will
be running in the background. Select "New Game" to start playing Blood.
If you have purchased the One Unit Whole Blood Collection CD, and you want to play the Cryptic Passage levels, simply type "Cryptic" instead of "Blood" at the DOS Prompt.
If you are running the game from Windows'95:
Click on "Start", then on "Monolith Games", then on "Blood", then on the
"Blood" icon to start the game. When the game begins you will see a main
menu and a demo of the game will be running in the background. Select "New
Game" to start playing Blood.
If you have purchased the One Unit Whole Blood Collection CD, just click on the "One Unit Whole Blood" icon to play the original Blood with the Plasma Pack levels included, or the "Cryptic Passage" icon To play the original levels with the Cryptic Passage levels included.
From time to time, Monolith releases patches to Blood to enhance game performance or fix bugs in the game. For the latest upgrade patches for Blood and Blood shareware, please visit the Blood FTP Pages.
Here you can download any of the patches that are currently available, along with installation instructions for each.
UPGRADING BLOOD SPECIAL EDITION TO FULL VERSION
It is possible to update your Blood Special Edition to the Full version,
which includes far more Blood and Gore! To do so, please follow these
simple instructions.
Install Blood special edition using the instructions provided, and run the
setup program to configure the game to your system. When you are finished,
play a quick game of Blood Special Edition, then quit back out to DOS. This
will create a file called Blood.cfg in your Blood directory that contains a
lot of the variables used by the game.
From the DOS prompt, type CD\BLOOD [ENTER]. (If you installed to a different
directory, change to the directory you chose for BLOOD). Then, type EDIT
BLOOD.CFG [ENTER].
A Blue screen will appear. Use your Page Down key to scroll all the way down
to the end of the file. You will see a line of text that says:
AdultContent = 1
Change the line to read:
AdultContent = 0
Once you have done this, save the file by hitting [ALT], then using
the arrow keys, scroll down to SAVE. When SAVE is highlighted, press ENTER.
Then quit out of the EDIT program and back to DOS. Your game will now be
the same as the full version of Blood.
The following are some of the error messages that Blood reports when it encounters a problem with your system, and the recommended solutions to each.
"Blood.ini not found" during installation of "One Unit Whole Blood"
One Unit Whole Blood will only run in Windows '95 or '98. If you are running DOS or Windows 3.1, you may exchange your copy of one unit whole Blood for the original versions of Blood, Blood Plasma Pack, and Cryptic Passage free of charge. The original versions of these games will run just fine in DOS.
If you wish to do this, just send email to tech1@gtinteractive.com that describes your problem, and you will receive a return merchandise authorization (RMA) number and instructions on how to send back your game. If you'd rather leave a message in our voice mailbox, please call (425)-398-3074.
"Invalid sound FX device"
If you have not already run the SETUP utility after installation, do so
now. You need to specify what brand of sound hardware you are using before
Blood can run.
If you are playing from DOS and not Windows '95, you will need to have your sound card drivers loaded in config.sys before playing Blood for your sound
card to work. Also, your BLASTER environment must be set up in Autoexec.bat to match your sound cards current hardware settings.
Once this is done, run Setup again, and set up your sound card to match the values in your SET BLASTER statement. Also, be sure that you have your sound card's IRQ is set to 9 or lower. Blood does not support IRQs of 10 or higher.
"Runtime Error 200"
This can happen for 1 of 2 reasons:
If you have an exceptionally fast computer, such as a Pentium II 350 or 400, you may need to slow it down a bit. There is a free program named "Mo'Slo" that you can download that will slow down your system's processor when you need it to. This program along with instructions on its use can be downloaded free of charge on the World Wide Web at: http://www.hpaa.com/moslo/
If you have an older computer that isn't so fast, there may be other programs loading when you boot your computer that are causing problems with the game. The best way to fix this is to restart your computer with a "Clean boot". For more information on performing a clean boot, please check our DOS General Troubleshooting.
"Not enough free memory to run Blood."
The minimum memory requirement for Blood Shareware is 16 MB of free RAM. If you have 16 MB or more installed on your computer, then you will need to free some up before you can play.
Freeing up memory in Windows 95:
You probably have other applications running on your computer that are using up the memory needed by Blood. The easiest way to free up this memory is to close all of your other applications before you play. If that doesn't work, you may need to play in DOS mode.
Freeing up memory in DOS:
You probably have other programs loading into your computer's memory when your computer boots up. The best way to temporarily remove these programs from memory is to perform a "clean" boot. For more information on performing a clean boot, please check out our DOS General Troubleshooting.
"Low Memory Warning"
This error simply means that you have enough memory to run the game, but Blood would run better if you had more memory free.
If this error reports that you have far less memory than you actually have, then you will need to update your version of Blood to the latest version available. Please see the section labeled Blood Update Patches.
"SRC\db.cpp"
This error usually occurs when you have too many voices selected in the SETUP utility under sound setup. Type "SETUP" in your main blood directory and re-configure your sound card to play fewer voices.
"IPX protocol not detected"
Blood uses the IPX transport protocol for multiplayer games. You must have this protocol installed on your machine and on each machine that will be involved in the game. If you are playing in DOS, make sure that your LSL, network card driver, and IPX protocol are loaded on all network machines before playing a network game. If you do not know how to do this, contact your network administrator or the documentation that came with your network card.
"Out of Sync"
This error occurs when one or more computers in the game have fallen behind the others. When this happens, the net game becomes corrupted and must be restarted.
To reduce the risk of this error occurring again in a local network game, make sure that all of the computers are properly set up on the network, and that all they are all using the same version of the IPX protocol. If you have this trouble during a modem game, set both modems to the same baud rate, and turn off error compression, data compression and flow control on both ends.
If you are running Blood Shareware version 0.99 or 0.99B, you can try the 0.99C patch. This patch is available on our website.
Here are some of the problems that customers have reported relating to sound and music in Blood, and the recommended solutions for each.
"My Sound Card is not listed in SETUP"
Blood requires a Sound Blaster or 100% compatible sound card. If your card is not listed, try selecting "Sound Blaster" and both your music and sound card in the Setup utility, and then use the "Test" options to see if it works. If it doesn't work, and you are running Blood from Windows '95, you may have to find your sound card's settings in the device manager and then enter them into the setup utility. If you are running the game in DOS or Windows '95's DOS mode, you will need to have DOS drivers loaded for your card, and a SET BLASTER statement in your Autoexec.bat file that contains your card's hardware settings. Once this is done, you can enter the values from your SET BLASTER statement into Setup and then try testing sounds and music again.
For more information on creating a SET BLASTER statement in your autoexec.bat file, please see our DOS General Troubleshooting.
"I have a SoundBlaster AWE32 and can't hear any sound effects while playing in DOS".
Make sure that you have run the "SBDIAGNOSE" utility that is included in the AWE32 package. If you have already run this utility, and still can't hear music, run the Blood setup utility again and select "SoundBlaster" as your music card.
"I have a SoundBlaster AWE32 and can't hear sound effects or music in Windows '95".
The normal Windows '95 AWE32 drivers will not work for games like Blood that run in a DOS box. There is a patch available from Creative that will fix this problem. You can download this patch at:
http://www.creaf.com/creative/drivers/sb16awe/95dosapp.exe
"I have a Pro Audio 16 sound card, and can't hear sound effects or music"
We're sorry, but although the Pro Audio 16 is listed in the setup program, it is not
currently supported by Blood.
"I have a Vibra 16 sound card, and Blood runs very slowly."
Try reducing the number of Voices, Mixing Bits, and Mixing Rate in the BLOOD setup utility. This should make the game run at normal speed.
"I have an Aztech sound card and hear no sounds"
To fix this error, you must delete any and all configuration files in your blood directory. Configuration files all end with ".cfg". You should be very careful to ONLY delete the files that end with .cfg or Blood may not run. Once you have done this, turn your computer off, and then wait to turn it on again for at least 30 seconds. This will purge your Aztech card's memory and allow Blood to re-detect it correctly. You can then turn your computer back on and run the SETUP utility again to configure your Aztech card. You should now have sound.
"My DOS machine can't connect to another computer that's running Windows '95".
The Windows'95 Winsock IPX protocol is not compatible with DOS IPX protocols. The 2 games will not see each other. All systems must be running under the same operating system for a network game of Blood to work.
"One or more computers won't connect to the game"
Make sure that all of the computers are properly set up on the network, and that all they are all using the same version of the IPX protocol. Also, change the Setup Network Socket Number setting under "Network Game" in the Setup utility to the same value.
Also check that each computer is set up for the same number of players. If one machine is set for more players than the rest, it will wait forever for the last computer to join while the rest begin playing.
"We can't get our Modems to connect to each other"
If you are using a Plug & Play or Winmodem, and you are playing the game in DOS mode, check your modem's manual to see if there is any way of initializing the card in DOS. These modems were designed to be used in Windows '95 and are usually not initialized until Windows '95 is loaded.
If you know that your modem works in DOS normally, then set both modems to the same baud rate, and turn off error compression, data compression and flow control on both ends. If that doesn't help, try setting the computer that's hosting the game to dial, and vice versa.
"I'm having problems playing Blood on an online service such as Kali or Heat".
If you can't connect to other players while using these services, please contact the technical support department of the service that you use. Our technicians cannot help you to troubleshoot problems with your online gaming service.
"I'm playing Blood online, and the game is running very slowly".
Playing a game on the Internet will rarely be as fast as a local network game. This is due to Internet latency, or lag, and can only be fixed by using a very fast Internet connection. Even if you have a fast connection, someone else in the game may not, and this will slow down the game for everyone.
"I'm playing Blood on a Packard Bell D130 and network game run very slowly".
There is no known solution to this problem. If and when a solution is found, it will be posted in this document.
"Blood locks up, or just plays poorly"
If you are playing Blood in Windows '95, shut down all other applications and then try playing again. If you still get lockups, try running the game in DOS. To do this:
- Click on the Windows '95 Start button
- Click on Shut Down
- Click on Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode
- Follow the instructions in your manual for running the game in DOS
You must have DOS CD-ROM and sound card drivers loaded in order for this to work. If you are not sure how to do this, contact your computer manufacturer for help.
If you are running Blood in DOS, you may need to temporarily remove some of the programs that are loading when you boot your computer. This is called a "clean boot". For more information on performing a clean boot, please check out our DOS General Troubleshooting.
"I can't get my Microsoft Sidewinder joystick or gamepad to work with Blood".
In the Setup utility:
- Select joystick options.
- Configure the buttons to your liking.
- If you want to use the rudder feature, click the Enable Rudder option.
- press the <Esc> key to return to the main menu.
- Select "Setup Advanced Control Options".
- Select "Advanced Joystick Setup".
- Highlight the first option under "Analog Setup".
- Press the <delete> key.
- Do the same for all of the other options in Analog Setup.
- Use the "Digital Settings" to configure your joystick to your liking.
- Press <Esc>.
- Select "Advanced Rudder/Throttle Setup".
- Delete everything under "Analog" and set up the "Digital" section as you did before.
- If you want to use the 4 buttons at the base of your controller, install and use the Microsoft Game Device Profiler software that ships with the Sidewinder.
"I can't run Blood in any of the high resolution modes"
This game supports the VESA VBE standard for Super VGA graphics. Many
Super VGA graphics cards are VESA VBE compatible at the hardware level, requiring no special action on your part to get the game running correctly. If you are having problems running this game with the graphics card in your computer, try the following steps:
If you have the VESA VBE driver that came with your graphics card, then install the driver and try to run the game. If you don't have a VESA driver, you can use a Universal VESA driver such as SciTech's Display Doctor. You can download Display Doctor from SciTech's web page at:
http://www.scitechsoft.com/jddown.html
If you are having problems installing Display Doctor, please contact SciTech.
"How do I run a map I made myself with MapEdit, or one I downloaded from the Internet"?
If you have purchased the original version of Blood, you can tell the game to load your user made map from the SETUP utility. Simply select "Change User Level" and enter the path and filename of your map. If you want to play a user made map in a network or modem game, select "User Level Selection" under the Network game or Modem game option, and then enter the correct path and filename. This filename MUST be the same on all of the computers in the game!
All Other Problems
Please make sure that your system meets the minimum system requirements as listed on the box and at the top of this document. If your system does not meet or exceed the minimum requirements, it will run poorly, or not at all. If you are running the game in Windows '95, shut down all other programs that you may have running on your system prior to playing Blood, or try running the game in DOS mode.
If you have already tried this and cannot find a solution, you may be able to find one in our DOS General Troubleshooting.
© GT Interactive Software Corp., 1997-1999
|