     
                              TERRAIN MAKER 
                               Version 1.1   

                       Copyright 1994 Eric Jorgensen


                           TROUBLESHOOTING DOCUMENT
     
Preface notes     

     Command line parameters
          Terrain maker accepts command line parameters that allow
          you to change certain internal options.  Run Terrain maker
          with "-h" on the command line to see what these parameters
          are.  These options can help you get Terrian Maker to work
          and locate possiblle problems.

     SVGADIAG.EXE
          With this package, I have included an executable called SVGADIAG.EXE
          Wether or not Terrain Maker works, please run this program and
          email the output file (SVGAOUT.TXT) back to me.  It contains
          information that can help me to help you as well as make future
          versions of Terrain Maker more robust.  Also, the informtion
          can help me to expose manufactures that ship cards with 
          buggy VESA support.



Here is some troubleshooting information that I have gathered 
over the past few months: 
      
Some heightfields looked "creased" along verticle and horizotal lines. 
          
          You may notice on some of the heigtfields that Terrain
          Maker generates, that the mountains appear to be aligned
          to a grid.  This is called creasing- an unavoidable problem 
          with midpoint-algorythm random landscape generators.  There are 
          complicated, memory-expensive methods for reducing this problem,
          but I did not feel like employing them for this release of
          Terrain Maker.  The best way to fix this problem is to
          lower the smoothness factor.

Terrain Maker Crashes when I run it.
          
          This is most likely a Video hardware problem.  Run the program
          SVGADIAG.EXE.  It will generate a text file that contains
          information that can help me find the problem.  Email this file
          back to me and include a description of the crash in the
          section reserved for comments.  

          Most crashes happen bacause video hardware is not really
          VESA compatable.  I have discovered that some cards claim
          to be compatable with the VESA standard, but they aren't.  Many
          companies recognize this problem, and are quite willing to
          help you update your hardware.

Terrain Maker does not work under Windows.
          
          Terrain Maker does not behave well under Windows.  Exit
          to DOS before you use it.

The mouse leaves ugly, blocky trails.
When I run terrain maker, I see lots of vertical bars.
Terrain Maker reports the wrong ammount of Video Memory.
          
          Your video BIOS is probably old and/or buggy. Call you card maker
          and complain. Also, run SVGADIAG.EXE.

When I press the Pseudo 3D button, Terrain Maker Hangs.
          
          Your video card lied about being able to perform page flipping.
          You can press 'D' to unhang Terrain Maker.  Please run 
          SVGADIAG.EXE and email the output file to me.  


 
