


		  Common Questions and Problems	With BassTour

       The  following  represents the most common questions and	problems
       encountered with	BassTour. Before calling or writing  us,  please
       read  the  instruction manual thoroughly. We have found that many
       problems	can be answered	right there.

       [1]
       PROBLEM:	"I cannot make the program scroll to another section  of
		 the lake".

       SOLUTION:  First,  make	sure  the  NUM	LOCK  is not set on your
		  keyboard. Then, be sure  you	are  using  the	 NUMERIC
		  KEYPAD  ARROWS, not the separate cursor control arrows
		  on  101  key enhanced	keyboards. Remember to press the
		  SHIFT	key while you press the	arrow keys.

		  On  many  computers,	in  particular	the  early Tandy
		  machines,  there  was	 an  incompatibility  with   the
		  keyboard.  These  machines  would   not   generate   a
		  different  keycode  when the NUMERIC KEYPAD arrow keys
		  were shifted.	This  problem  occurs  on  some	 'clone'
		  machines  too.  This	can usually be remedied	by using
		  the 2,4,6 and	8 keys in  the	top  row  of  your  MAIN
		  KEYBOARD. Do not use the SHIFT  key  when  using  this
		  method.

       [2]
       PROBLEM:	 "Sometimes  'garbage'  appears when I try to scroll the
		  screen or select a rod or bait".

       SOLUTION: BassTour needs	lots of	FREE memory. Just  because  your
		 computer  has 640k or more of memory does not mean it's
		 all free for BassTour to use. We have found that memory
		 resident programs (TSR'S) are one of the main causes of
		 this problem. Programs	like RAM DISKS,	PRINTER	BUFFERS,
		 KEYBOARD  ENHANCERS  and  MENU	 programs  should not be
		 loaded	before running BassTour. These	programs  occupy
		 memory	 space	even  when  not	 running, thus making it
		 unavailable to	BassTour.

		 Another occasional cause of this  problem  is	lack  of
		 sufficient  memory  on	 your EGA card (if you are using
		 one). Many of the older EGA cards only	had 64k	or  128k
		 of  video memory. They	should have 256k to properly run
		 BassTour.


       [3]
       PROBLEM:	"The program tries to start, but then stops."

       SOLUTION: One of	the main causes	of this	problem	is too many open
		 files.	DOS only allows	15 open	files per process. Check
		 your  CONFIG.SYS  file	 to  be	 sure  it  contains  the
		 following two lines:

				  FILES=20
				  BUFFERS=20

		 BassTour tries	to open	several	files when it starts. It
		 then  assumes	they  were  open for its use. If in fact
		 they were NOT opened, the program may hang waiting  for
		 them  to  be  available.  The two lines described above
		 will help prevent this	from happening.

       [4]
       PROBLEM:	"I cannot save a game to the disk."

       SOLUTION: Many people try to save games (to be played  later)  on
		 the  original	distribution diskette. A saved game uses
		 about 60k of disk space, and the distribution	diskette
		 must have at least that much free if you expect to save
		 a  game.  Also,  make sure you're not in CAST MODE when
		 trying	to save	a game with the	ALT-S key combination.

		 Sometimes, people have	a clock	or some	other  interrupt
		 driven	program	running	at the same time they're running
		 BassTour. Since these programs	use interrupts,	they can
		 'steal'  time	from BassTour. If one of these prrograms
		 decides to 'steal' its	time while BassTour  is	 writing
		 to the	disk, the resultant file may be	damaged. This is
		 because  DOS  itself  is  inherently non-reentrant, and
		 BassTour uses DOS facilities to write to the disk.  See
		 #3 above as well.

       [5]
       PROBLEM:	"I cannot restore a saved game."

       SOLUTION: See #3	and #4 above. Also, make sure ALL files	that are
		 supplied  on your BassTour distribution disk are in the
		 same directory	as  BassTour.EXE.

       [6]
       PROBLEM:	 "BassTour  does  not  always  save  my  record  catches
		  properly!"

       SOLUTION:  See  #3  above.  Also,  some	people thought they were
		  clever, and tried to edit the	LAKERECS.TXT and/or the
		  STRINGER.TXT	files.	 Don't  try  it!  One  misplaced
		  space	or deleted/added line can mess the files up beyond
		  repair.


       [7]
       PROBLEM:	"I get a RUNTIME ERROR 002 then the program stops!"

       SOLUTION: This means  that  BassTour  cannot  open  a  file  it
		 needs.	This can happen	if you do not have all the files
		 that are supplied on the original distribution	diskette
		 in   the   same   directory   as   the	  main	program,
		 BASSTOUR.EXE. It can also happen if you are  missing  a
		 file altogether. Also,	refer to item 3, above.

       [8]
       PROBLEM:	"I get a runtime ERROR 004 then the program stops!"

       SOLUTION: This means that access	to a file needed by BassTour has
		 been denied by	DOS. Make sure there is	no write-protect
		 tab on	your diskette, and see item 3 above.

       [9]
       PROBLEM:	"I have an IBM  PS-2.  The  program  reports  that  it
		 detects a VGA card then stops,	hanging	up my machine".

       SOLUTION: Some models of	PS-2 computers have the	MCGA video mode.
		 This  mode  (320 x 200	x 256 colors) is a subset of the
		 VGA specification. These  computers   report  VGA  when
		 queried by BassTour. BassTour then assumes that since a
		 VGA  card  was	detected, that it should use the maximum
		 screen	resolution it  can,  which  is	640  x	350,  16
		 colors.  You  can  force  BassTour  to	 run  in  either
		 standard CGA mode (320	x 200 x	4 colors) or in	the MCGA
		 mode by using one of these command lines when you start
		 the game:

			   BASSTOUR -C	  (for CGA Mode)
			   BASSTOUR -M	  (for MCGA mode)

       [10]
       QUESTION: "I have a VGA card in my machine, yet the program seems
		  to run in 16 color EGA mode. Why, and	how do I make it
		  utilize the 256 colors of my VGA?"

       ANSWER: See item	9, above. BassTour runs	in the EGA mode	of  your
	       VGA  card.  It  does not	support	true VGA (640 x	480 x 16
	       colors) at this time. You can use the MCGA  mode	 of  VGA
	       (320 x 200 x 256	colors)	as described in	item 9.

       [11]
       QUESTION:  "I  have  a  Tandy  machine that supports 16 color CGA
		   mode. Is there a way	I can run BassTour in this mode,
		   or am I stuck with the four color CGA mode?"

       ANSWER:	No, at least not at this time. The 16 color 'Tandy' mode
		is a non-standard video	mode currently only supported by
		Tandy machines.	I'm afraid you're stuck	 with  good  ol'
		CGA.  Why not upgrade to VGA if	you want great color and
		screen resolution in BassTour?


       [12]
       QUESTION: "Why did you choose such awful colors in CGA mode?  Why
		  not  blue  for the water, brown for land, or something
		  more realistic?"

       ANSWER: We didn't choose those colors! In CGA, we have  a  choice
	       of Palettes (groups of colors), NOT the individual colors
	       within those palettes. If you think these colors	are bad,
	       take  a	look  at  your	CGA card manual	and see	what the
	       alternatives were!

       [13]
       QUESTION: "I have added disks LAKES #1 and LAKES #2 to  BassTour.
		  Having  20  lakes  to	choose from is great, but why do
		  I set	lakes records with such	small fish?  I	find  it
		  annoying  to	wait for the 'Record Fish Ceremony' each
		  time!"

       ANSWER: You won't for long. As supplied, BassTour only has record
	       information for the original six	lakes. When you	add  new
	       lakes, records need to be established for those lakes. At
	       first,  a  one pound fish will be a record. Gradually, as
	       the sizes of the	record	fish  increase,	 record	 setting
	       will occur much less often. Why not just	get it over with
	       quickly and catch an 8 or 10 pound fish right away!



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