Help, I'm experiencing a lot of st-st-stuttering sound! How can I fix this?

Ah, yes, this particular problem seems to be affecting a few people. Unfortunately, there's no one obvious solution to the problem, so you're going to have to experiment using the following suggestions:

• First of all, make sure there are no other applications running in the background, such as a virus checker or an MP3 player.

• There might be a problem with your hard disk, like faulty sectors, or fragmentation. Run a thorough error-check on your hard disk in Windows, and de-fragment it. For instructions, consult your Windows help-function.

• Check that you've installed the latest version of DirectX (the version included with your TLJ game CD might be the buggy version 7.0, in which case you should download 8.0 or later from Microsoft!), as well as the most recently updated drivers for your video card, sound card, and CD-ROM drive. Refer to your computer's instruction manual for information on how to update your drivers.

• If you haven't used the maximum allowable installation for the game, try reinstalling using as much hard-disk space as possible. This will also cut down on loading time.

• In the set-up dialogue that appears every time you start the game, click the "Advanced" button. You'll get access to a number of sliders that give you control over how the game handles the sound. Try changing the settings (make a note of what you change before you change it!), and start the game. If you get less stuttering, you're on the right track. Consult the readme.txt file that accompanied the game for more information on what the sliders mean. Keep experimenting.

• If you're using Windows 95, and an AGP video card, please make sure that you've installed the USB update to enable AGP support in Windows. This patch is available from Microsoft. However, if your version of Windows 95 is 95a, you will need to upgrade your operating system to Windows 98, Windows 2000 or Windows: ME. Version 95a does not support AGP.

• You may experience stuttering sound on slow PCs, or with hardware that doesn't meet the minimum requirements. If your computer doesn't comply with the minimum requirements for the game, there may be no other way to fix the problem than to upgrade your hardware. Please contact your PC vendor with any questions regarding upgrading your hardware. Also be aware that the minimum specifications only apply to Intel Pentium processors; if you're using an AMD processor, for example, a higher clock-speed (in other words, a faster processor) may be required to run the game smoothly.

• Don't try this unless you know what you're doing: Go into your BIOS settings (consult your system manual to see how) and set the Video BIOS Shadow to "off".

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Does the game work with Windows 2000?

Yes it does. While TLJ does not work under previous versions of Windows NT, Windows 2000 supports DirectX 7a, so TLJ should work just fine. However, if your version of TLJ was released prior to the North American version, the auto run function may not work correctly. If that's the case, explore the TLJ CD and run the setup.exe file manually. The same may apply to running the game; if the launcher doesn't appear, or if it crashes, try double-clicking the game.exe file in the installed directory to launch the game manually.

We've also noticed that the "smooth edges on screen fonts" function under display properties may cause problems. Disable this if you're experiencing visual glitches.

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I have a Voodoo 2 card, and the game looks terrible. What's wrong?

You're using an incompatible driver. Unfortunately, we can't really tell you which driver to use, since your card may differ from ours (there are lots of different Voodoo 2 cards). Contact the manufacturer to receive the latest drivers for your Voodoo 2 based video-card.

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What can I do if I get an error with CD number (1-4) ?

It is possible that you will have to return the game. However, before returning the game please make sure that there is a problem with your CD(s). A common misunderstanding is that, after choosing Minimum Installation, the installation utility will ask for CD #4 immediately after copying CD #1, and not CD #2. This is supposed to happen! Please follow the on-screen instructions correctly. If, by mistake, you do insert CD #2 at this point, the utility will simply reject the CD. The other three installation sizes require all four CDs.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a manufacturing problem with a small number of the North American CDs. Some discs may be blank, or report read-errors, while others may contain files that are completely unrelated to the game. This is a factory problem, and not a software bug! Contact the place of purchase immediately for a replacement copy of the game. If you bought the game online, you should be able to procure replacement discs from the online vendor. We're sorry, but Funcom can not send you a replacement copy: This is a factory- and distribution-related problem.

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Why does the game keep crashing randomly?

It shouldn't. On most systems, TLJ is very stable. However, there are a couple of things that may make the game unstable. First of all, don't run any other programs while you're playing TLJ - and that includes Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, and various MP3 players. The less memory (RAM) you have in your system, the more important it is to keep your system "clean". Second, make sure there's enough free hard-drive space on your C: drive, because this is usually the drive Windows uses for swapping files to and from memory. You should try to have at least 100MB of free space before attempting to run TLJ.

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What can I do if the video looks choppy?

You may be trying to run high-quality videos on a system that is unable to keep up with the requirements for this option. Go into the Game Settings screen and uncheck the "High Quality Videos" option, then restart the game. If this doesn't work, make sure you're not running any other programs whilst playing TLJ, and that your computer meets the minimum requirements listed on the box.

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The game crashes at the very beginning, right after the bit with the old woman.

Try the following (restart the game after each change, and try playing, before making any further changes): In the Game Settings menu, uncheck the "High Quality Videos" checkbox. In the advanced start-up dialogue, disable hardware 3D acceleration. If you've just played another game prior to playing TLJ, reboot your PC before running TLJ - if the first game used the same video "codec" as TLJ (Bink), there may be a system conflict that can only be resolved by rebooting.

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There are no characters, or just parts and pieces of characters, on-screen, but I can still see the backgrounds. Huh?

If you're using a Voodoo 2 card, see above. If not, try one of the following solutions: In the advanced start-up dialogue, check the "Force Single Buffer" option. In the Game Settings, uncheck the "Shadows" box. If you're still having trouble, try disabling 3D hardware acceleration, again in the advanced start-up dialogue.

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I've installed the game, and tried to run it, but I see absolutely nothing (or at least nothing resembling a game). Can you help me?

We'll certainly try. There may be several reasons why you're having graphics-related problems with TLJ. Try the following suggestions, and contact us if none of these help.

• Disable 3D hardware acceleration in the start-up dialogue (uncheck the box called "Enable 3D acceleration").

• If you've tried to run the game in 32-bit colour depth, set it to 16-bit colour depth (in the start-up dialogue), or vice versa.

• Check if your monitor is set to a proper refresh-rate in 640 by 480 mode, using Window's Display Properties (right-click your desktop, and choose "Properties"), under "Settings".

• Download and install the latest version of DirectX (currently 8.0) from Microsoft.

• Reinstall the latest drivers for your video-card. Some cards require a reinstallation of drivers after updating DirectX.

• Try installing an older set of drivers for your video-card. New drivers are sometimes buggy or incompatible with certain software.

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I get a strange error-message. What's up with that?

If, at any point, you get an error-message which looks like this one (note that the exact name of the .sss file may differ):

File : D:\ra\engine03\DX_Module\VisSmackStream.cpp
Line 487
Error msg : Could not load Smacker Animation
C:\Program Files\TLJ\2d\00\xarc\010d01.sss (SmackOpen() Failed)

...it means that a .sss file (a so-called Smacker animation file) has been corrupted. You will need to fix this. Try the following solutions: Run scandisk (consult Windows help to see how) and have Windows fix any problems found. Manually copy the damaged .sss file from CD #4 to the TLJ directory on your hard-drive, or reinstall TLJ if you don't know how to do that last step. Don't worry; unless you agree to have them removed, your save-games will remain intact.

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When I start the game, I'm told that my soundcard isn't certified for Direct Sound. What gives?

Don't worry. In most cases, you can play anyway. Just ignore the message, and the game should still work fine, although you may experience some skipping sound. If the game still refuses to run, however, there are a few things you should check: Did you install the latest version of DirectX (currently 8.0)? If not, do so now, and then download and install the latest drivers for your soundcard. Some cards require the drivers to be (re)installed after installing DirectX. If you're still having trouble, try contacting the manufacturer of your soundcard - there may be incompatibility issues that we're not aware of. Last but not least, are you certain your soundcard is DirectX certified? If you have an old soundcard, it may not be, and you may have to upgrade to a newer soundcard.

Windows may be using the wrong sound driver, and/or the hardware accleration level may need adjusting. Go to Control Panel -> Sounds and Audio Devices (or Multimedia) and click on the Audio tab. Under the Sound Playback section, set the Default Device to the correct sound driver; if you're not sure which one this is, just experiment. While on the Audio click on the Advanced button under Sound Playback, then click on the Performance tab. Set the Hardware Acceleration level to Full, or try other settings. It may also help to experiment with the Sample Rate Conversion Quality.

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Before writing us asking for technical assistance - with crashes, installation problems, and incompatibility issues - please read through this FAQ as well as the ReadMe.txt file that came with your game CDs. The ReadMe in particular contains lots of helpful information on well-known hardware problems. If you still can't solve the problem, please write us and remember to include information on your computer, installation size, what version you're playing (American, French, Norwegian, etc.), as well as a detailed description of your specific problem. We'll do our very best to provide you with a timely and helpful response!

Does the game work with Windows XP?

Yes, in general it should work on Windows XP. Please note that the game was made for and compatibility tested for Windows 95 and 98.

On issue you may encounter on Windows XP is a "launcher.exe" error when starting the game. If you get this error you can work around it by browsing into the TLJ folder and double-clicking the "game.exe" file to start the game.

If you have problems with running the game on Windows XP you could run it in Windows 95 compatibility mode:

• Right click on the TLJ icon that you start the game from

• Choose Properties, and then Compatibility

• Check the box "Run this program in compatibility mode for Win 95"