DARKLANDS NOTES - August 1st, 1992

HARD DISK SPACE

Darklands requires about 17,500,000 bytes (17.5 MB) of hard disk 
space. This includes about 16 MB of files, plus approximately
another 1.5 MB of temporary storage, first for high speed 
installation, and then reused as temporary file storage during play,
including a reasonable number of saved games.


MEMORY REQUIREMENTS

Currently Darklands requires 595,000 bytes (581K) of main memory, 
plus 65,536 bytes (64K) of EMS memory. If you are uncertain of the 
memory in your machine use the DOS 5.0 command "MEM /C" to view the
entire memory configuration of your computer.

Darklands also requires FILES=20 (or more) in your CONFIG.SYS file.


FAST LOADING COMMANDS

The "DARKLAND /Q" command mentioned in the technical supplement
disables ALL animation routines in the game, not just the initial
animation. This command is intended for hardware configurations 
that have problems with the animations, but which can run the rest 
of the game (see Extended Animation Sequences, below, for details).

To preserve the animations, but quickly bypass the opening sequence,
load normally with DARKLAND, then immediately tap the space bar. 
This bypasses the opening animation, while preserving the later 
defeat and victory animations.


SAVING THE GAME

You can only save Darklands in three spots:
    (a) While staying at a city inn;
    (b) While camping in the countryside;
    (c) While on the travel map of Germany.

At all other times, although "Save" may be allowed, your game status
could be a mixture of present and past situations. The game is still
completely playable. 

We recommend you save Darklands frequently. It is a large and
complex game. Despite extensive testing, certain logic paths could 
produce unintended results. Having a series of recent saved-game 
files is your best protection from such problems.


SAVES\DEFAULT FILE

The SAVES subdirectory includes a file titled "DEFAULT." This file 
must be present in this subdirectory to permit character generation.
If you use DOS commands to copy, clean out, etc. the SAVES files, be
sure to not erase DEFAULT.


CHARACTERS LEAVING BATTLE by STAIRS or LADDERS

If a character uses a ladder or stairway (a "portal") to change 
floors, remember that the character is now inaccessible except 
through the appropriate number key (1 through 5) on the keyboard. 
Please review pages 35-36 of the manual if you're confused.

Also note that "Multiple Portals" is more flexible than the manual
suggests. If all survivors have left the original floor in different
directions, the view shifts to the character who departed last.
However, we still recommend that you rejoin the party immediately, 
since various functions (including group mode) may be confused
by a party split onto various floors.


UNCERTAIN FATES & PRISONERS

Sometimes a character will suffer an uncertain fate. A series of 
"?" symbols appear in the blue character box. Such characters may be 
dead, may be a prisoner in a nearby city, or may have escaped their
fate and be waiting for you at some nearby city inn.

To rescue a prisoner, you must get into the dungeons of the city 
hall. If forced into a fight, you must kill ALL the guards. 
Accomplishing this will free your compatriot.


RETIREMENT

Characters can temporarily retire at any city inn. You can later
return and invite them to rejoin the party once more. However, when
anyone joins an existing party, be they an old friend or someone
new, they come with NO equipment, just their knowledge. Therefore,
before retiring someone, cache their equipment at that inn.


HALL OF FAME

The manual incorrectly stating that Darklands has a Hall of Fame.
This version does not. However, for your information, we expect that 
moderately successful parties will achieve fame in the low hundreds, 
while very successful ones will reach the high hundreds.

Darklands has no specific ending -- you can play forever. However,
if you have defeated Raubritters, dragons, the three different kinds
of problems in mines, and ultimately Baphomet, you have encountered
all the major challenges. Good luck and good adventuring!


EXTENDED ANIMATION SEQUENCES

The opening sequence and two other animations during the game may
have problems with a few hard disk drive controllers. Generally, if
the opening animation runs without problem three or four times, you
should not have any difficulties.

If, however, you do have difficulties, until we can compensate for
these hardware peculiarities, we suggest you load with DARKLAND /Q.
