Congratulations on  your purchase of ULTIMA VII The Black Gate. The following
describe how  to get  Ultima VII   from  the floppy disks onto your hard disk
drive. Don't  worry if you've never done this before. You can safely stop the
installation process  at any time. You can also re-run the install program at
any time.  If you  have any  trouble installing  the game,  see  the  Trouble
shooting section.

Remember, you may safely quit and start over at any time!


1. Turn on your computer and wait for the DOS prompt.
2. Insert disk 1 into a floppy drive.
3. Type the letter of that drive followed by a colon and hit <Enter>
   (For example, A:<Enter>
4. Type 'INSTALL' and hit <Enter>.
5. Follow the instructions provided by the installation program. For more
   details, see Installation Options, below.



The install  program asks you where to put the program on your hard disk, and
about any  sound cards  you have  in your  computer. Hit <Esc> at any time to
safely cancel the installation process.

1. Choosing a Disk Drive

First, a window appears to tell you which disk drives can contain Ultima VII.
(If no disk drive has at least 21 megabytes available, you cannot install the
game until you free more space). Hit the letter corresponding to the hard
drive of your choice.

2. Creating a Directory

A second  window asks  in which  directory to  put Ultima  VII. If you want a
directory name  other than  'ULTIMA7', backspace  and type  a new  name.  Hit
<Enter> when you have the name you want.

3. Selecting Music and Sound Cards

Next you  are asked about sound cards that might be in your computer. To hear
any part  of Ultima  VII's speech,  sound effects  or music,  you must have a
sound board.  (PC sound  has no  effect.) Use  the up  and down arrow keys to
select among:

ù No sound card
ù Ad Lib
ù Sound Blaster
ù Sound Blaster Pro
ù Roland MT-32 (Select this if you have both Roland and Sound Blaster)

Hit <Enter> when your choice is highlighted.

4. Assigning IRQ and DMA Numbers

(Sound Blaster only)

Only if  you chose  Sound Blaster  or Sound Blaster Pro, you have to tell the
installation program  the 'IRQ'  and 'DMA'  numbers for  your sound  card. If
you're not sure what they are, use the default settings that are suggested by
the installation  program. (See Troubleshooting if you need more information.
If any  difficulties arise  later from  a wrong  setting (such  as silent  or
stuttered speech), you may re-run the installation program at any time.)

5. Confirming your Configuration

Next, a window appears comparing your configuration with that required to run
Ultima VII.  If the  two are  compatible, the  window indicates  such with an
'OK.'
    However,  if your configuration does not match that required by the game,
you may  need to  make some  changes. The  two most  common problems  are not
enough DOS  memory (see  Available Memory)  and incompatible  memory managers
(see Voodoo).  Problem areas  (if any)  are noted with the words 'NOT OK'. If
this happens you have one of two options:

ù If you have EMS, you can let the install program make a 'bootable floppy'
  for you. If this fails, or if you don't have enough memory, you can make
  a bootable  floppy yourself.  A bootable floppy is a  floppy disk with a
  good  configuration on it  (see Making a New Floppy Boot Disk).  Booting
  from this disk lets you avoid changing your system configuration.

ù You  may  alter  your computer's  configuration yourself.  The following
  sections suggest ways  to  do this.  If you are  unfamiliar with DOS, be
  careful about altering your configuration yourself.  Always consult your
  DOS manual before changing your system configuration.


                               VOODOO and 386
                             (OR HIGHER) SYSTEMS

Once again  ORIGIN is  pushing the  edge of  computer  technology,  and  only
processors as powerfull as the 386 are capable of handllng a game as advanced
and complex as Ultima VII. The land of Britainnia is more detailed than ever,
requiring more  and faster  access  to  all  system  memory  Expanded  Memory
Speclfication (EMS) has limitations we have overcorne with Voodoo technology,
and ORIGIN is now able to take full advantage of the power locked inside your
386 or 486 system
   To deliver thc best gaming worlds into this world, ORlGlN has pushed the
limits of game technology. In the future, as the 386 becomes the base model
PC, the EMS standard will go the way of its Predecessor --- still acceptable
for some applications, but not for the best in gaming!
   Here at ORIGIN, we welcome you to the future ...



                                   VOODOO


Ultima VII  uses a  special memory  manager called  'Voodoo.'  This  manager,
created by  ORIGIN, comes  with your  Ultima VII game. Voodoo will run on any
386SX or  higher IBM  PC compatible  computer. It uses extended memory, so it
can co-exist  with the  HIMEM.SYS driver. However, HIMEM.SYS is not necessary
for Voodoo memory to function.
    Expanded Memory (e.g., QEMM, 386 MAX or EMM386). The other popular memory
manager, called  Expanded Memory  (EMS) is not compatible with Voodoo. If you
are using  an expanded  memory manager  (such as QEMM, 386 MAX or EMM386) you
must remove  it to  run Ultima VII. If you do not know how to do this (and if
the following  instructions don't  help you),  please call MlNDSCAPE Customer
Service for assistance .
   If you are familiar with this process, disable the EMS memory manager. The
acceptable minimum  configuration is  an empty  AUTOEXEC.BAT and a CONFIG.SYS
with the lines:

   FILES=20
   BUFFERS=25
   DEVICE=C: \MOUSE\MOUSE.SYS~

    If  you wish  to retain  your original CONFIG.SYS file, refer to your DOS
manual for how to copy it to another file name before making the changes.
    HIMEM.SYS  or XMM.  As mentioned  above, an extended memory manager (XMM)
such as  HIMEM.SYS (which  is  compatible  with  MS-DOS  3.3  or  higher)  is
compatible with Voodoo, and does not require disabling.
   Disk Caches. If you have more than two megabytes of RAM, a disc cache will
improve upon  extended memory and increase the speed of the game. However, if
you have  a disk  caching program  that caches the floppy drive, we recommend
that you disable the floppy caching before installing or running the game.

ù Your mouse driver may be located on another path.
  Replace C:\Mouse with the correct path if necessary.


                              AVAILABLE MEMORY

Your computer  must have  at least  640K of RAM plus one megabyte of extended
memory to  play ULTIMA  VII The  Black Gate.  Regardless of the amount of RAM
your computer  possesses, there  must be  524,000 bytes free to run the game.
Sound and speech options can push this total to 561,144, bytes of DOS memory.
    To  find out how much free RAM your computer has before installation, run
the DOS  program, CHKDSK,  by typing  'CHKDSK' at  the root  directory prompt
(e.g., C:\>CHKDSK).  On some  machines, CHKDSK may be located inside the \DOS
directory. When  you run  the program,  the  last  line  of  the  information
presented tells  you how  much free  RAM there is. For example, the last line
might tell you that the system has 565,239 bytes free.
    If  you have  less than  the required amount of free RAM, you will not be
able to  run the  game until  additional memory  is freed.  If  you  are  not
familiar with this process, please call MINDSCAPE Customer Service.

Freeing Ram
If you are familiar with this process, you can:

ù Remove any TSRs and disk caches from your configuration.
ù Use the DOS=HIGH command in your CONFIG.SYS, if you use DOS 5.0.
ù Remove from your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS start-up files any
  memory-resident programs that are unnecessary for system usage. You can
  alter these files with the text editors included with MS-DOS, called
  Edlin or Edit.

Consult your DOS manual for information on how to do any of these.

Never delete  your AUTOEXEC.BAT  or CONFIG.SYS  files completely, for without
them, your computer will not function.


                                RE-INSTALLING
                                      
At some time you may want to re-install the game (generally, to change or add
a sound card, or to adjust the IRQ/DMA settings). Follow these directions.
(You won't need to use the floppy disks that came with the game; you'll be
re-installing from the data already on your hard disk.)
1. Type the letter of your hard drive followed by a colon and hit <Enter>
   (for example, C:<Enter>
2. Type 'CD' followed by Ultima VII's directory name, then hit <E n t e r> .
   ('C:\ULTlMA7', if you chose the default directory.)
3. Type 'INSTALL' and hit <Enter>.
4. Follow the instructions under Installation Options, above. When you
   re-install the game from the original floppies, you have the opportunity
   to 'delete' the games you have already saved, or 'save' them. Selecting
   the second option will not overwrite any saved games, maintaining them
   for your continued adventuring.


                        MAKING A NEW FLOPPY BOOT DISC

If you  don't want  to reconfigure  your system,  you can make a bootable DOS
system floppy  disk to start your computer prior to play. The install program
might give  you this  option. To  create a bootable floppy yourself, insert a
blank floppy into your A: drive. From the DOS prompt, type:
  FORMAT A: /S <Enter>
When the format is complete and you are back to the DOS prompt, type:

COPY CON A:\CONFIG.SYS <Enter>
FILES=25 <Enter>
BUFFERS=25 <Enter>
DEVICE=
C:\MOUSE\MOUSE.SYS <Enter>
C: <Enter>

    Whenever  you wish  to play  Ultima VII, insert this disk in drive A: and
then turn  your computer  on. From  the DOS prompt, change to your hard drive
(for example,  by typing  C: <Enter>  ) and  run the game as described on the
Reference Card.)


                               TROUBLESHOOTING

Listed here are a few common problems and their solutions.

Speech fails  to work  after playing  for only  a short  while. You  may have
chosen an  incorrect IRQ  setting during installation. See your Sound Blaster
manual for  the correct  setting. Re-install  the game  from you hard disk to
change the IRQ. (See Re-lnstalling.)

Speech skips lines of dialogue. You may have an IRQ conflict. This means that
another card  is operating  on the  same IRQ level (e.g., both the sound card
and the printer are set at '7'). See your Sound Blaster manual to change your
jumper settings.  Then re-install  the game from the hard disk and change the
IRQ to a non-conflicting number. (See Re-Installing.)

Ultima Vll fails to load or run properly.

ù You may not have enough free RAM. Run CHKDSK to determine your computer's
  available RAM. Free up RAM if necessary. (See Available Memory.)
ù You may have a memory resident TSR program that conflicts with the game.
  Boot the computer from a DOS system floppy disk or remove memory-resident
  programs before running the game. (See Voodoo and Making a New Floppy
  Boot Disk.)
. You may need to remove your Expanded Memory Manager. (See Expanded Memory
  in the Voodoo section.)
ù You may have filled all free space on the active disk drive. At the DOS
  prompt (e.g., 'C:'), type 'DIR' to check available hard drive space. This
  lists a directory of your drive's contents and, following the directory,
  states how many bytes are free. Remember, you need at least 21 megabytes
  on your hard drive to load Ultima Vll and 524,000 to 561,144 bytes of
  free RAM to run the game.

The mouse pointer doesn't respond properly. Ultima Vll supports the Microsoft
Mouse and  Microsoft Mouse  Driver, version  7.0. Some other mouse brands may
not be compatible.

The game runs too slowly.

ù Your hard drive may be fragmented. Run an optimization program. See
  your retailer about an optimization program if you don't have one.
ù Your computer may not be fast enough to run the game effectively. The
  minimum configuration is a 16 megahertz 386-based IBM PC or 100 percent
  compatible machine. Some older and/or slower machines may not be powerful
  enough.
ù You may be able to use a disk caching program. If you have 4+ megabytes
  on your machine, a disk caching program can speed up your game. See your
  retailer about such a program.

None of  the above  suggestions seem  to help.  If you cannot solve a problem
with Ultima  VII, please  call MINDSCAPE  Customer Service  at (0444) 831761,
Monday to  Friday, between  9 a.m.  and 4 p.m. Have the following information
ready, if possible:

ù which version of DOS you use,
ù free RAM (from the last line of CHKDSK info),
ù your mouse and mouse driver type,
ù your graphics card,
ù your machine type,
ù your sound board(s),
ù the content of your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files,
ù whether you use Windows, Desqview or a DOS shell.
