ENJOYING GABRIEL KNIGHT: THE BEAST WITHIN

If you have encountered problems after installing Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within, or the games seems to run slowly, try implementing some of the suggestions and tips below:

"Out of Memory"

If you received an "Out of memory" error after starting Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within, try creating a boot disk using Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within's handy boot disk creator:

How to create a boot disk
	
A boot disk contains a special set of instructions which allows your computer to free up the maximum amount of memory for running complex applications, such as Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within.  The boot disk creator is specially designed to free up the most memory possible so that you can run the game correctly.

To create a boot disk, follow these steps:

1. Insert a blank floppy disk into your 'A' drive. If your computer has more than one floppy drive bay and you are unsure which drive bay is your 'A' drive, use the following rules of thumb:  Your A drive will usually be the first floppy disk drive to light up when you turn on your computer.  NOTE, in order for the boot disk to work properly, you must create your boot disk for your 'A' drive - it will not work on your 'B' drive.

2. Double-click on the "Sierra" Program Group within Program Manager.

3. Double-click (click the mouse button twice quickly while holding it perfectly still) the "Boot disk" icon in the SIERRA window.

4. Your screen will turn black and have instructions in white text.  Follow the instructions on the screen to create a boot disk.

5. Exit Windows and restart your computer by pressing the "Restart" button on the front of your computer or simulateously pressing "Ctrl"+"Alt"+"Del" keys.  Make sure the newly created boot disk is in the 'A' drive when you restart your computer.

6. at the "C:>" prompt, type: "WIN" and press "Enter"

7. Double-click the Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within icon in the "Sierra" Window and enjoy Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within!

I've created a boot disk but I still get an "Out of Memory" error message

It is possible that you don't have enough physical memory to run Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within. To find out if you have enough memory, try the following:

1. From the "Sierra" Program Group Icon, double-click on the "Setup/Uninstall" icon.

2. From the Setup program's Main Menu, press the "Test Hardware" button.

3. From the "Test Hardware" dialog box, press the "Memory" button. It will run a quick test and display a dialog box which states, "You have XXXX KB of memory available . . .", where XXXX is some number. If this number is not at least 3,192, you do not have enough memory to run Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within. 

You may want to upgrade your computer system by purchasing additional memory.  Computer memory is fairly affordable; it costs about $40 to $50 per megabyte.  Many computer systems come standard with 4 megabytes.  Additional memory is generally purchased in blocks of 4 megabytes, so a minimum upgrade is $160 to $200, plus installation, which is generally $20 to $30.

It is also possible to pass the hardware test and still not have enough memory to run Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within.  The amount of memory actually available to run a specific application depends on many variables, including the version of WindowsÔ you are running, memory shadowing, background programs that remain in memory, and the type of sound card you are using in your system.  If you have run the "Memory" test from the Sierra "Setup/Uninstall" program and still get an "Out of Memory" error message, try and determine if you have enough physical memory by trying the following options.

	1. From Program Manager, double-click on the "Main" folder.

	2. Double-click on the "MS-DOS" icon.

	3. Type "mem" and press "Enter"

You will receive a message on your screen in the following format:

	Memory Type        Total  =   Used  +   Free
	----------------  -------   -------   -------
	Conventional         640K       92K      548K
	Upper                123K      123K        0K
	Reserved             384K      384K        0K
	Extended (XMS)    15,237K   14,213K    1,024K
	----------------  -------   -------   -------
	Total memory    16,384K  14,812K   1,572K

	Total under 1 MB     763K      215K      548K

	Largest executable program size       548K (561,008 bytes)
	Largest free upper memory block         0K       (0 bytes)
	MS-DOS is resident in the high memory area.

Note the first number in the line beginning "Total memory" (the line in bold, italic) in the example above.  If you are running Windows 3.1, this number must be at least 3,700 in order to run Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within.  If you are running Windows 3.11 (also known as Windows for Workgroups) this number must be at least 3,920.  If your machine does not meet these minimum memory requirements you may want to consider purchasing additional memory for your computer. Computer memory is fairly affordable; it costs about $40 to $50 per megabyte.  Many computer systems come standard with 4 megabytes.  Additional memory is generally purchased in blocks of 4 megabytes, so a minimum upgrade is $160 to $200, plus installation, which is generally $20 to $30.

"Sluggish Performance"

Even if you have a fast computer, it may be optimized for running applications such as word processing or spreadsheets, not games.  Games require the most performance from your computer. If you don't think Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within is playing optimally, you may want to try making some of the changes suggested below.

Create a Boot Disk

Even on fast machines with lots a memory, a boot disk can improve performance of our games.  Follow the instructions listed above for creating a boot disk.

Change your Windows Swap File

Depending on your Windows setup, you may or may not have a Swap File set up.  If you do have a Swap File set up, you may want to change it to a more optimal size in order to play Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within.  Changing your Swap File does not change any of the other applications you are running, however it can affect their performance.  Therefore, if you decide to change your Swap File size, you probably will want to note its original size and follow the instructions below to change it back once you are through playing Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within.

	1. Close all Windows applications.

	2. Open the "Main" folder on your Windows desktop.

	3. Double-click on the "Control Panel" icon.

	4. Double-click on the "386 Enhanced" icon.

	5. Click on the "Virtual Memory . . ." button.

	6. Click on the "Change>>" button.

	7. Type "4000" in the "New Size" selection box, under the "New Settings" heading.

	8. Select "Permanent" from the "Type" pull down combination box, if it is available. If "Permanent" is not available, select "Temporary".

	9. Click the "OK" button.

	10. Click the "Restart Now" button.

Windows will restart and take you back to the main Windows desktop.  Try playing Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within again and see if the performance is improved.

I encountered an error message while playing the game

Although our games spend months in testing and are subjected to hundreds of hours of rigorous quality assurance, we can never seem to find all the "bugs" (that's what software engineers call errors).  If you encounter a bug while playing Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within, make sure you exit the game completely, exit Windows completly, and restart your computer before starting the game again.  The reason for this is bugs often leave fragments, or parts of the program, in memory although the computer forgets exactly where or why they are there.  If you simply restart the game, these memory fragments can cause even more bugs to happen.  Exiting Windows and restarting your computer is the only sure fire method for making sure the memory fragments have been erased.

If you encounter the same bug in the same place twice, chances are we made a mistake in our "code", or computer instructions,  and that you are not the only one to encounter that specific bug. The good news is we fix these types of bugs very quickly and are more than happy to send you out a patch disk, which will fix (patch) our mistake in the code.  We take great pride in our games and want you to enjoy them to the fullest.  If you think you might need a patch disk, call our customer service department at 1-800-SIERRA5 (1-800-743-7725) and ask if there is a patch disk available for Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within for the PC.  If there is one available, it will be sent to you free of charge.