
  #^$%&@!  IT LOCKED UP!  HELP!                           (Updated: 1/20/94)
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Playing multiplayer DOOM over a modem is quite a bit more complex than the
usual two player modem or even network play most people are used to.  The
demand on your computer system, even with 16550 UARTs, is much higher during
a multiplayer modem game than when playing a normal modem game.  If you are
experiencing lockup problems when playing DOOM with APCiDOOM, please read and
try the following solutions:

1) If you lock up before the game begins, someone in the game is taking too
   long to load.  You must be able to load DOOM in under 45 seconds.  If it
   takes you longer than 45 seconds from the time you type "DOOM" on the
   command line until the time you see your player's gun, you need to defrag
   your drive or use a drive cache.  Running DOOM on a compress drive is
   not recommended.

2) If you are using a 16550 UART, or an internal modem, be sure that the UART
   is compatible with DOOM.  Several internal modems and older serial cards
   either use older, faulty 16550 chips or a emulator.  These UARTs often   
   fail when playing data-intensive network games such as DOOM.  Test your 
   UART by playing a three or four player game with players that you know 
   have no hardware problems.  If the game locks up, odds are that your UART
   is not compatible.  NEVER FEAR!  Choose APCiLINK SETUP under the FILE menu
   in APCiDOOM and click on the MORE button.  Remove the "X" from the SCAN 
   FOR BUFFERED UART box.  Click OK to save the change.  Click OK to exit 
   APCiLINK SETUP.  This corrects 99% of the lockup problems.

3) Boot cleanly.  Many "terminate and stay ready" (TSR) programs cause
   problems when playing multiplayer DOOM.  Known troublemakers are
   expanded memory managers, pop-up utilities, and disk compression utilities.
   You can bypass loading most of these programs by holding down your left
   shift key while your system boots.  You may then load any required
   device drivers (such as a mouse or network driver) manually.  Try playing
   DOOM with only your mouse driver loaded.

4) If you continue to lock up after changing your UART setting and removing
   all memory-resident programs, you may need to change your computer's BIOS
   settings.  Not all of the following settings are used by all computers,
   but if you have any of the following options they should be configured as
   shown below:

                 - HIDDEN REFRESH should be off or disabled.
                 - HARDWARE VIDEO SHADOWING should be off or disabled.
                 - TURBO SWITCH(ING) should be off or disabled.
                 - HD1 BLOCK MODE should be off or disabled.

5) Take it apart.  If you're still locking up, it's time to look under the
   hood and see which devices are conflicting with each other.  Common
   hardware problems include:

     - Sound cards should be on IRQ5 or IRQ7.  If your sound card isn't, 
       move it so it is!

     - Nonstandard COM port settings.  Be sure that your serial ports are on
       STANDARD ADDRESSES AND IRQS!  APCiDOOM expects to find the following:

                            Port   Base   IRQ
                            ~~~~   ~~~~~  ~~~~
                            COM1:  0x3F8, IRQ4
                            COM2:  0x2F8, IRQ3
                            COM3:  0x3E8, IRQ4
                            COM4:  0x2E8, IRQ3

     - Too many serial ports in one machine.  Try to remove any unused serial
       ports.  Often, disabling a COM port on a "multifunction" card will not
       remove it entirely from the system.  These "phantom" ports can cause
       conflicts with internal modems installed on the same address and IRQ.

     - IRQ conflicts.  Place your modem on COM1 and your mouse on COM2.  This
       is the most "stable" configuration.  NEVER place your modem and mouse
       on the same IRQ.  In English, if your modem is on an even COM port
       (2 or 4) the mouse better be on an odd port (1 or 3) and vice-versa.

     - Other conflicts.  Pull everything out of your system that isn't needed
       to run DOOM.  Try playing.  If it works, stick something back in and
       try again.  Keep adding cards until you find the one that is causing
       the problem.  Once you find it, be sure that it doesn't use the same
       memory address, IRQ, or DMA channel as another card already in your
       system.  If it does, move it!
       

If you have tried everything in the above list and it still doesn't work, try
borrowing a friends modem or serial card.  If that doesn't work, try playing
on a friends computer with your modem or serial card.

Happy DOOMing!
