README

   I  System Compatibility 
  II  Internet Service Provider 
 III  Updates And Patches 
  IV  Hosting A Game 
   V  Network Performance Tuning 
  VI  Changes from Printed Manual 
 VII  Known Problems 
VIII  Troubleshooting 
  IX  Contacting Sierra 
   X  Technical Support 
  XI  Warranty and Legal Information


Thank you for Purchasing Starsiege TRIBES, the ultimate in first-person squad warfare! 

I: System Compatibility 

These are the minimum requirements needed to run Starsiege TRIBES: 

* Pentium 166, 32 MB RAM with 3D Graphics Accelerator 
* Pentium 200, 32 MB RAM without a Graphics Accelerator 
* Platforms: Windows 95/98, Windows NT 4 with Service Pack 3 
* 160MB Hard Disk space
* Hardware Requirements: LAN Card or minimum 28.8 kps modem, 4x CD ROM 
* 2D Graphics Card: DirectDraw compatible card (minimum SVGA 640x480 @ 256 colors) 
* 3D Graphics Card: 3Dfx Glide compatible 3D accelerator (recommended) 
* Sound Support: DirectSound compatible sound cards 
* Peripheral Support: Mouse, Keyboard 
* Network Support: Internet, TCP/IP, IPX 

TRIBES does not come with an OpenGL driver.  Check the TRIBES website at 
www.tribesplayers.com for the latest OpenGL information. 

TRIBES requires DirectX6 to run properly.  If you already have DirectX6 you may elect
to not re-install it. Should  you decide to install it at a later time, run the dxsetup
program located in the DirectX6 folder on the CD-ROM.

II: Internet Server Provider 

To fully enjoy TRIBES you need to be connected to the Internet via a reliable Internet 
Service Provider (ISP).  If you do not currently have an ISP, install the AT&T WorldNet 
(R) Service provided on the CD-ROM by running the TRIBES setup program. 

III: Updates and Patches 

Running the Auto-Update program from the TRIBES Start menu will check to see if there are 
any patches or updates to the game.  You must be connected to the Internet for this program 
to work correctly.  We also recommend that you check the TRIBES website at 
www.tribesplayers.com for the latest information. 

IV: Hosting A Game 

Hosting a game with more than a few players takes a fair amount of bandwidth. Hosting over 
a 28.8 modem connection is not recommended.  By default, all hosted games are visible only 
to your local network, if you are connected to a LAN.  If you wish to make your server 
visible to the Internet, check the "Register with master server" box in the Options-Network 
page. 

Those of you with faster Internet connections may wish to run dedicated servers.  
Information on how to configure and run a dedicated server is included on our Server Corps 
website at www.tribesplayers.com/tribesplayers/server. 

V:  Network Performance Tuning

If you have a reliable connection to your ISP, but are still experiencing packet loss and 
lag in the game there are a three parameters that you can modify to help tune the game. 
These are packet size, packet rate and packet frame. These values can be changed on the 
Options-Network page. 

Packet rate controls the number of packets per second sent from the server to your client 
game. Packet size controls the approximate size of each packet. So a packet rate of 10 and 
a packet size of 200 means that the server will be transmitting to you an average of 2000 
bytes per second. Reducing the packet rate and size will reduce the amount of data being 
sent to you and can help keep your modem connection from clogging up. 

Packet frame is how often your client sends move information to the server. A slider 
currently controls this. Adjusting the slider to the left decreases the number of packets 
sent. Transmitting too much information on a poor connection can cause packet loss & game 
lag. 

VI: Changes from Printed Manual 

Since the time of the printing of the manual and the shipping of the game, there have been 
some changes made to TRIBES, resulting in information in the manual being out of date.  
These changes are: 

* The Laser Rifle will not function unless you are also carrying an energy pack. 
* There are now two default keys for killing your player (suicide) and dropping the flag 
  that can be set in the Options-General screen.  The defaults are set to CTRL-K to kill your 
  player, CTRL-F to drop the flag if you are carrying it. 
* There is now a check box to turn weather effects on and off in the Options-Graphics page. 
* There is a new slider bar in the Options-Graphics page called "Num. Decals", which 
  controls the number of footprints and bullet holes that appear during the game. 
* Also in the Options-Graphics page, the Shadow Detail Level slider bar has been removed. 
* There is an additional column (Server Type) listed in the Options-Columns page. 
* In the Options-Sound page, you cannot select DirectSound3D and Aureal from the 3D Sound
  menu. 
* In the Demo Screen, a Continuous Play box has been added.  When checked off, a randomly-
  selected demo from the list will begin playing.  When that demo ends, another randomly 
  selected demo shall begin, and so on. 
* Heavy armor is listed as being able to hold four weapons, it can actually hold five.

The TRIBES website at www.tribesplayers.com also contains a corrected HTML version of the 
printed manual. 

VII: Known Problems 

Here is a list of some of the known problems and interactions with other programs. 
* Internet Explorer 5.0 Beta.  There are problems running TRIBES on systems with IE 5.0 
  Beta installed.  Uninstalling IE 5.0 clears these problems up. 
* Gamma correction with Voodoo II and Banshee 3Dfx based cards.  Changing the gamma 
  corrections slider in the game has no immediate effect on these cards.  You must exit 
  and restart the game for your gamma value to take effect. 
* Canopus 3D cards.  At the time of this release, a number of people have experienced 
  problems running TRIBES on these cards using these manufaturer's video drivers. The Glide 
  reference drivers seem to work better.  More information on 3Dfx/Glide drivers can be 
  found in Troubleshooting section.

VIII: Troubleshooting 

We hope that you enjoy playing Starsiege TRIBES. If you are running in any difficulties in 
getting the game to operate to your satisfaction, please read further. If the symptoms of 
the problem obviously point to sound or video issues, concentrate on those sections. 
Otherwise, please spend a couple of minutes reading the entire section. The time you spend 
here may well help you get TRIBES running and will help you to be prepared with information 
that will be helpful if you should need to contact Technical Support. 

Section 1: Notes on Connection 
If you cannot find a game to join, first check that you are connected to your ISP. If you 
are but still cannot connect, check your Filter settings. It is possible that they may be 
set so that no game can meet the criteria entered. 

Section 2: Notes on Sound Problems 
TRIBES uses DirectSound 6.0, which is a part of Microsoft's DirectX programming interface, 
for sound generation. If you are having problems with distorted or no sound, check to make 
sure that your sound card drivers are DirectSound-compliant. To do so, run DXDIAG; it will 
be located in your C:\Program Files\DirectX directory on your hard drive. When running 
DXDIAG, choose the Sound tab. In the upper right corner of the dialog box, look for the 
line that reads "Certified:" If this says "No", then you should check with the manufacturer 
of your system or your sound card to determine if DirectX certified drivers are available. 
If you contact these companies via the Internet, you can usually obtain updated drivers 
free of charge. 

Section 3: Notes on Video Problems 
TRIBES supports hardware 3D video acceleration for 3Dfx-chipset video cards though the 
Glide API when running in full screen mode. When you start the game (or switch to full 
screen mode) you should see the 3Dfx logo to show that you are running with hardware 
acceleration. 

If you are experiencing display problems while in full screen hardware mode, you'll want 
to see if they persist when switching to software mode. Simply hold down the ALT key on the 
keyboard and press ENTER to switch to windows (software accelerated) mode. If the problems 
go away when running in a window, the problem is likely related to the device drivers that 
you are using with your 3D card. Contact the manufacturer of the card to verify that you 
have the most recent driver with the most current version of Glide.  If the problems 
persist, try downloading the latest reference drivers from 3Dfx at 
www.3dfx.com/download/download.html. Should you have trouble connecting or downloading from 
the 3Dfx site, use the drivers located on the CD in the 3Dfx directory.  The drivers on the 
CD are current as of Tuesday, December 8th, 1998. 
  
FILENAME		OS		DESCRIPTION
rkvg.exe		Win95/98	Voodoo Graphics Reference Drivers
oemrushs.exe		Win95/98	Voodoo Rush (Single Board) Reference Drivers
oemrushd.exe		Win95/98	Voodoo Rush (Dual Board) Reference Drivers
vbw95a.exe		Win95		Voodoo Banshee AGP SGRAM
vbw98a.exe		Win98		Voodoo Banshee AGP SGRAM
vbw9xp.exe		Win95/98	Voodoo Banshee PCI
rkv2.exe		Win95/98	Voodoo2 Reference Drivers
nt40vg.exe		NT4.0		Voodoo Graphics Reference Drivers
nt40v2.exe		NT4.0		Voodoo2 Reference Drivers
vbnt4a.zip		NT4.0		Voodoo Banshee AGP/PCI

The latest information on 3Dfx and Glide can be found at www.3dfx.com. 
Copyright (c) 1997 3Dfx Interactive, Inc.  The 3Dfx Interactive logo, Voodoo Graphics and 
Voodoo Rush are trademarks of 3Dfx Interactive. 

If problems occur while running in windowed mode, changing the color depth may help. To 
change to 16-bit color, right-click on your Windows Desktop and choose Properties from the 
pop-up menu that appears. Choose the Settings tab in the dialog box; it should be the one 
furthest to the right. Select the Color pull-down menu and choose 16-bit color; you may 
have to reduce your screen resolution if you are raising the color setting. 

Section 4: Other Troubleshooting 

The following are steps that can be taken to help correct non-game specific issues, such as 
random game crashes or performance problems. 

1. Verify you have sufficient hard drive space to install the program. Go to My Computer 
and right click on the drive to which you will install the game. Select Properties from the 
pop-up menu that appears. You should see a Free Space listing; make sure that it shows that 
you have enough free space to properly install the game. The System Requirements Label on 
the bottom of you product box will have this information.

2. Make sure that all non-vital programs are closed when you run TRIBES. To check what 
programs are active, hold down the CTRL and ALT keys on your keyboard and press the DEL 
key. This will bring up a dialog box called Close Programs. Generally, any program listed 
here besides Explorer and Systray is non-vital and should be closed before running TRIBES. 
To close a program, highlight it and click on the End Task button. You will need to repeat 
this process for each listed program. If a program will not shut down by this method, you 
may have to consult the documentation for that program for instructions on shutting it down.
(Note: This is not a permanent change to your computer. Simply rebooting will re-activate 
all of the programs that you have shut down.)

3. Run a thorough ScanDisk on your hard drive. You can run ScanDisk by clicking on the 
Start button and selecting Programs. Inside the Accessories there will be a System Tools 
group containing ScanDisk. Once you have clicked on ScanDisk, select the drive to scan and 
put the dot in the Thorough option. Then click on the Start button. This will probably 
take at least half an hour and as long as several hours. ScanDisk will locate errors on the 
hard drive and attempt to fix these errors. (Note: Always back up any critical information 
on your system before running Scandisk. If you have errors in the data on your hard drive, 
Scandisk will fix them by deleting the corrupted data. After this deletion occurs, some 
programs on your computer may quit functioning. In this event, you will want to remove and 
reinstall those affected programs. If you need assistance with that process, you will want 
to contact the manufacturer of the particular program.)

4. Try using a boot disk to prevent real mode device drivers from loading. Put a blank, 
high-density diskette in your A: drive. Then, open the My Computer icon from the desktop 
and highlight the icon for Drive A: Right-click on the icon and choose Format. In the 
resulting dialog box, make sure there are checks in the boxes for "Full" and "Copy System 
Files". Click on OK to start the process. Once the disk is formatted, double-click on the 
icon for the C: drive in My Computer. Look for the file called MSDOS.SYS in the list of 
files. If you cannot find it, click on the View menu, choose Options and then the View tab. 
Make sure "Show all files" is checked and "Hide MS DOS file extensions" is not checked. 
Once you've found the MSDOS.SYS file, right-click on it and choose Send To 3 &frac12; 
Floppy (A). You will be prompted to replace an existing file - click on OK. Once you've 
done this, reboot your system with the disk in the A: drive.

5. If you are still having problems at this point, try doing a clean installation of the 
game. Run SETUP from the root directory of your TRIBES CD and choose to uninstall the game. 
Reboot your computer with the boot disk that you created in step 4. Close all programs as 
listed in step 2. Then run SETUP from your TRIBES CD again and reinstall the game.

For further information, see the TRIBES webpage at www.tribesplayers.com.

IX.  Contacting Sierra 
Customer Service, Support, and Sales 
---------------------------------- 
United States 

U.S.A. Sales Phone: (800) 757-7707 
International Sales:  (425) 746-5771 
Hours: Monday-Saturday 7AM to 11 PM CST, 
Sundays 8 AM to 9PM CST 
FAX: (402) 393-3224 
Sierra Direct 
7100 W. Center Rd 
STE 301 
Omaha, NE  68106 

United Kingdom 

Cendant Software International Limited 
Main: (0118) 920-9111 
Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. 
Fax:   (0118) 987-5603 
Disk/CD replacements in the U.K. are £6.00, 
or £7.00 outside the UK. Add "ATTN.: Returns." 
2 Beacontree Plaza, 
Gillette Way, 
Reading, Berkshire 
RG2 0BS United Kingdom 

France 

Cendant Software International Limited 
Phone: (01) 46-01-46-50 
Lundi au Jeudi de 10h à 19h 
Vendredi 10h à 18h 
Fax: (01) 46-30-00-65 
Parc Tertiaire de Meudon 
Immeuble "Le Newton" 
25 rue Jeanne Braconnier 
92366 Meudon La Forêt Cedex 
France 

Germany 

Cendant Software International Limited 
Tel: (0) 6103-99-40-40 
Montag bis Freitag von 9h - 19Uhr 
Fax: (0) 6103-99-40-35 
Robert-Bosh-Str. 32 
D-63303 Dreieich 
Germany 

On-Line Sales 

CompuServe United Kingdom:GO UKSIERRA 
CompuServe France:   GO FRSIERRA 
CompuServe Germany:     GO DESIERRA 
Internet USA:    http://www.sierra.com 
Internet United Kingdom:  http://www.sierra-online.co.uk 
Internet France:     http://www.sierra.fr 
Internet Germany:   http://www.sierra.de 

Disk and or Manual Replacement 

Product Returns: 
Sierra On-Line Returns 
4100 West 190th Street 
Torrance, CA  90504 
Sierra On-Line Fulfillment 
4100 West 190th Street 
Torrance, CA  90504 
NOTE: To replace your disk(s) please send only Disk #1 (or the CD) and copy of your dated 
Receipt, if less then 90 days.  After 90 days please include a $10 handling fee along with 
Disk / CD #1.  For Documentation, please include a $ 5.00 handling fee and a photocopy ONLY 
of disk #1.  Payment should be made at the time of your request.  Sorry, no credit cards. 
* Returns to this address valid in North America only. 

X: Technical Support 

North America 
Sierra On-Line offers a 24-hour automated technical support line with recorded answers to 
the most frequently asked technical questions. To access this service, call (425) 644-4343, 
and follow the recorded instructions to find your specific topic and resolve the issue. If 
this fails to solve your problem, you may still write, or fax us with your questions, or 
contact us via our Web site. 

Sierra On-Line 
Technical Support 
P.O. Box 85006 
Bellevue, WA 98015-8506 
Main: (425) 644-4343 
Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m.- 4:45 p.m.  PST 
Fax:   (425) 644-7697 
http://www.sierra.com 
support@sierra.com 

United Kingdom 

Cendant Software International Limited offers a 24-hour Automated Technical Support line 
with recorded answers to the most frequently asked technical questions. To access this 
service, call (0118) 920-9111, and follow the recorded instructions to find your specific 
topic and resolve the issue. If this fails to solve your problem, you may still write, or 
fax us with your questions, or contact us via our Internet or CompuServe sites. 
Cendant Software International Limited 
2 Beacontree Plaza, 
Gillette Way, 
Reading, Berkshire 
RG2 0BS United Kingdom 
Main: (0118) 920-9111 
Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. 
Fax:   (0118) 987-5603 
http://www.sierra-online.co.uk 

France 

Cendant Software International Limited 
Parc Tertiaire de Meudon 
Immeuble "Le Newton" 
25 rue Jeanne Braconnier 
92366 Meudon La Forêt Cedex 
France 
Téléphone: 01-46-01-46-50 
Lundi au Jeudi de 10h à 19h 
Vendredi de 10h à 18h 
Fax: 01-46-30-00-65 
http://www.sierra.fr 

Germany 

Cendant Software International Limited 
Robert-Bosh-Str. 32 
D-63303 Dreieich 
Deutschland 
Tel: (0) 6103-99-40-40 
Montag bis Freitag von 9 - 19Uhr 
Fax: (0) 6103-99-40-35 
Mailbox: (0) 6103-99-40-35 
http://www.sierra.de 

Spain 

Cendant Software International Limited 
Avenida de Burgos 9 
1&ordm;-OF2 
28036 Madrid 
Spain 
Teléfono: (01) 383-2623 
Lunes a Viernes de 9h30 a 14h y de 15h a 18h30 
Fax: (01) 381-2437 

Italy 
Contattare il vostro distribotore. 

XI:  Warranty and Legal Information 
Sierra's end user license agreement, limited warranty and return policy is set forth in the 
EULA.txt, found on the CD, and is also available during the install of the product. 
Copyright (1998 Sierra On-Line, Inc.) 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
