READ ME FIRST!! ACCESS SOFTWARE LINKS TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE Due to the complexities and intense realism of Links-The Challenge of Golf, this troubleshooting guide has been provided to help you to better configure your computer to run the game. GAME REQUIREMENTS Links-The Challenge of Golf requires the following hardware: 1. 640k of Random Access Memory (RAM). Most 80286 systems have a minium of 1 Megabyte of RAM. Links requires more than 530k of the conventional 640k be free. It will make use of EMS or XMS memory to speed up the redraw of the graphics screens. 2. VGA Video Card and Monitor with 256k of RAM on the Video Card. An equivalent resolution of 320 x 200 x 256 colors. 3. It is strongly suggested that the computer have at least an 80286 central processing unit (CPU). The MHz speed of the computer must be at least 10 MHz. 4. Links requires a hard disk. You will need a minimum of 1.7 megabytes free on the hard disk in your computer. The additional courses for Links range from a minimum of 500k to a current maximum of 1.5 megabytes. As new courses are produced this maximum of 1.5 megabytes could double in size. COMMON PROBLEMS Most of the problems experienced by people who play Links-The Challange of Golf involve conflicts in three areas. These areas are sound, memory restrictions and hardware/software incompatiblities. SOUND: Links uses RealSound, Sound Blaster, Adlib, IBM Speech and Msound. The most common sound problem occurs with the Sound Blaster card. When Links was originally released, the configuration file was set to recognize the Sound Blaster card at system interrupt (IRQ) 3. In about January of 1991 the factory default setting of the Sound Blaster was changed to IRQ 7. This new setting of the Sound Blaster card causes Links to lock up the computer when it sends a sound command to the Sound Blaster card. Once the Sound Blaster has been chosen in the Links Sound Option Screen, the default configuration of Links can be modified by exiting Links back to the "C:\LINKS" prompt and running a program called "SETBLAST". The "SETBLAST" program is found in the Links directory. It would also be a good idea to confirm the actual memory I/O and IRQ settings of the Sound Blaster card by running a program named "TEST-SBC" which is found in the Sound Blaster subdirectory on the hard disk. Once the actual settings of the card have been confirmed then the SETBLAST program should be run. This will set the Links configuration to conform to the actual settings of the Sound Blaster card. The second most common sound problem with Links involves the conflict between RealSound and most expanded memory managers. This conflict will cause arbitrary lock ups of the computer. One solution would be to remove or disable the offending memory manager or turn all sounds off within Links. The more reasonable option would be to use a "LINKS BOOT DISK". This is a disk which has been formatted with the DOS system files so it will boot the system. It will also load the HIMEM.SYS file and your mouse driver. This allows Links to use the extended memory on the computer and the mouse. The use of this disk allows you to leave the normal boot-up configuration on your hard disk as is. You can find the step-by-step instructions for making a "LINKS BOOT DISK" later in this document. MEMORY: Your computer has 640k bytes of base, or conventional, memory. There are some programs which you run on your computer that are memory resident, or TSR (Terminate & Stay Resident) programs, and require a certain amount of the base (conventional) memory. Some of these programs are DOS, Windows Device Drivers, DOS Shell, etc. You can find out how much available base memory you have by typing CHKDSK at the root directory. The last number displayed will show the number of bytes free, which are the bytes of available base memory. For Links to run without any sounds requires a minimum of 530k of free RAM after DOS and all TSR (Terminate Stay Resident) programs have been loaded. If you want to run Links with all the sounds 555k of free RAM is required. If an error message appears when you try to load the game, then you can choose between two solutions. The first solution would be to modify the CONFIG.SYS and/or AUTOEXEC.BAT files on your PC's hard disk by removing some, if not all, TSR programs that are loaded into memory at the time your computer boots up. This will hopefully free up enough of the conventional or base memory so Links will run unhindered. If this is an unexceptable solution, then the next best option would be to make a "LINKS BOOT DISK". HARDWARE CONFLICTS Links will run on most computer systems without any conflicts. There are a few exceptions though: COMPAQ The sound must be completely disabled for Links to run on any Compaq brand computers. BSR & Both of these mice are not completely Microsoft compatible. PACKARD Links will run flawlessly until the ball is on the putting green, BELL then the computer will lock up. The easiest solution for this is to replace the BSR/PACKARD BELL mouse driver with an original Microsoft mouse driver. SOFTWARE CONFLICTS Links will run best if you do not use any kind of memory manager like QEMM386, EMM386 etc. The RealSound aspect of the game does not coexist well with expanded memory managers. We feel that, in most of the cases, the best solution for these software problems is to make a "LINKS BOOT DISK". See the sections "STEPS FOR CREATING A LINKS BOOT DISK" at the end of the Trouble Shooting section of the Instruction Manual.  INSTRUCTION MANUAL FOR LINKS-THE CHALLENGE OF GOLF by ACCESS SOFTWARE, INC. INFORMATION ON ADDITIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP COURSES FOR LINKS IS LOCATED IN THE SECTION "CHAMPIONSHIP COURSE DISKS" NEAR THE END OF THIS MANUAL INSTALLING LINKS ON YOUR HARD DRIVE ù LINKS must be installed on a hard drive and requires approximately 1.9 megabytes of free space. LINKS is not copy protected. ù You should use the INSTALL program to load LINKS onto your hard drive. ù INSTALL will create a subdirectory called "LINKS" and copy all files from the floppy disks into the LINKS subdirectory. It then appends the three course files (TORREY1, 2,3) together into one file called TORREY-P.CRS. RUNNING THE INSTALL PROGRAM 1. Insert DISK 1 in the drive you wish to install from. 2. Type the drive letter followed by a colon (:) and press ENTER.(e.g. A:[ENTER] 3. Type INSTALL and press ENTER. 4. Follow the instructions on the screen. ALTERNATE INSTALLATION METHOD If the INSTALL program fails to operate properly, you may install LINKS manually as follows: Step 1. Create a subdirectory called LINKS. Type: MD\LINKS [Enter] Step 2. Copy all files from each disk, in order, into the LINKS directory. a) Type: CD\LINKS [Enter] b) Insert DISK 1 into your A or B drive c) Type: COPY A:*.* [Enter] (use B:*.* for the B drive) d) Repeat step b) & c) above for all remaining disks in order. Step 3. Append the three files called TORREY1, TORREY2, and TORREY3 together into one file called TORREY_P.CRS by doing the following: Type: COPY TORREY? /B TORREY-P.CRS [Enter] Step 4. After making sure LINKS plays correctly, you may delete the three files called TORREY1, TORREY2, and TORREY3. Type: DEL TORREY1 [Enter] (Changing number for the other 2 files) MEMORY USAGE LINKS requires at least 640k to operate. If you have extended or expanded memory, LINKS can use this memory to pre-load course data, graphics and sound. This will save loading time and can significantly increase drawing speed and speed of play. See the section on SYSTEM Setup for more information. USING A KEYBOARD OR JOYSTICK LINKS can be played with a joystick or with keyboard only. If a mouse is not detected, the keyboard is setup to imitate the mouse as follows: 1. Move the mouse cursor using the cursor keys or I,J,L,M. 2. Simulate Left Button using ENTER, 5 or K 3. Simulate Right Button using SPACE or INSERT(Ins) If a mouse is not detected but a joystick is detected, the joystick will be set up to imitate the mouse as follows: 1. Moving the stick will move the cursor arrow. 2. Joystick Left Button = Mouse Left Button. 3. Joystick Right Button = Mouse Right Button. USING A MOUSE A mouse is strongly recommended for use with LINKS. Your mouse driver must be installed before you start LINKS. I. START SECTION - RUNNING LINKS Type: CD\LINKS [ENTER] Type: LINKS [ENTER] The first time you start LINKS, you'll see the Sound/Memory Setup Screen. Select the appropriate sound board, then click [EXIT]. The Title Sequence and Credits will appear. If you wish to bypass the title sequence, press the < SPACE BAR >. MAIN SELECTION SCREEN - After the Title, you will automatically come to the Main Selection Screen. This is essentially your Home Base, and you have several options available: START- Begin a round of golf. PRACTICE- Head to the practice area. RESUME- Resume playing a previously saved game. PLAYERS - Add a new player or modify an existing player's preferences. SYSTEM- Modify your equipment setup specifications. INFO- Review Update Information on this version of LINKS. EXIT- Exit LINKS and return to the DOS prompt. BEGINNING A ROUND OF GOLF While in the Main Selection Screen, move the cursor over the START box and click on the left button. SELECTING THE COURSE - Choose a course from the COURSE LIST, then click [OK]. LINKS comes with one Championship Course, Torrey Pines. Additional courses are available SELECTING THE PLAYERS - Only players whose names are on the GAME LIST will participate in the round about to be played. Players are added to the GAME LIST by choosing (clicking on) names from the PLAYER FILE. With this system, it is only necessary to enter a player's name and preferences once. You can have as many players as you wish in the PLAYER FILE and then select up to 8 to participate in the upcoming round. If your name is not in the PLAYER FILE, click on the ADD box. This will bring up the ADD PLAYER screen. Simply type your name and press ENTER. Notice that your preferences have been highlighted in yellow. If you wish to change them, you can do so by clicking on the appropriate box. (Refer to the PLAYERS Section for more information on ADDING and MODIFYING players and preferences.) When your GAME LIST is complete, click on [OK]. Note: Names can be removed from the GAME LIST by clicking on them. Selecting Number of Holes, Tees and Play Levels The last screen to appear before you tee off is called the READY TO PLAY screen. Here you can choose to play 1.8 holes or the Front or Back 9. You are also given the opportunity to temporarily change your preferences. You can have a different playing level and different tees for this round if you choose. Simply click on the appropriate boxes and when all is READY, click on [OK]. Note: LEVEL refers to either PROfessional, AMateur, or BEGinner. On the PRO level, swing timing is very critical, but you can obtain the greatest distance. AMateur is not as demanding on timing, but your distance is decreased approximately 10%. The BEGinner level is the most forgiving for bad timing, but is about 20% short of the PRO level on distance. The beginners level, which also has no wind effect, was designed for children. Serious golfers should use Amateur or Pro levels. Please refer to the PLAYERS Section for instructions on how to make permanent preference changes. ON THE TEE The course is in great shape, fairways lush and green. You select your driver (ignoring your buddy's wise crack) ... take a practice swing ... and drive one right down the middle! THE SWING PANEL The panel at the lower part of the screen is called the Swing Panel and its various features will be outlined. SWING Clicking on this button will swing the club. The swing must be performed in the following manner to produce a good stroke. Step 1. Move the cursor over the word SWING. Step 2. Press and hold the left mouse button. This starts the swing. Step 3. Release the button when the indicator reaches the top. This sets the power level for the stroke. (A yellow line will mark the point of release.) Step 4. Press the left button again when the indicator reaches the bottom green mark. This is called the snap. If the snap occurs exactly at the green mark, you have hit a perfectly timed shot. (A yellow line will mark the point of your snap.) The swing sequence is PRESS & HOLD - RELEASE - PRESS ADDRESS The Address feature lets you back away from the ball to take practice swings. Click on the left arrow to move away from the ball. Click on the right arrow to address the ball. Note: if you are just beginning to play for the first time, back away and take a few practice swings. MISSING THE MARK If you miss the mark on the Snap, an error is introduced. The further you miss, the greater the error and the worse the shot. On Beginner and Amateur levels, the errors are less severe than on Professional. OVERSWING During the backswing, power level continues to increase until it reaches it's maximum just before the indicator starts back down. If you release the button at this point, you will achieve maximum power and therefore maximum distance. There is a catch, however. The Red Zone at the top of the indicator is called the Overswing area. If you release in this area, be prepared to pay a heavier price if you miss the green mark at the bottom. The higher you reach for that extra power, the more severe the error if you miss the mark. CLUB SELECTION You are allowed 13 clubs plus the putter in your bag. The small window above the word CLUB indicates your current club selection. Click on the left or right arrows to change clubs. Note: Changing clubs has no effect when you are putting. CLUB DISTANCES DRIVER 1 (Dl) 275 yds (Low loft - 9.5 degree loft) DRIVER 2 (D2) 275 yds (High loft - 12 degree loft) 2-WOOD (2W) 260 yds 3-WOOD (3W) 250 yds 4-WOOD (4W) 235 yds 5-WOOD (5W) 215 yds 6-WOOD (6W) 200 yds 7-WOOD (7W) 190 yds 1-IRON (1I) 235 yds 2-IRON (2I) 220 yds 3-IRON (3I) 205 yds 4-IRON (4I) 195 yds 5-IRON (5I) 185 yds 6-IRON (6I) 172 yds 7-IRON (7I) 160 yds 8-IRON (8I) 148 yds 9-IRON (9I) 135 yds Pitching Wedge (PW) 120 yds Sand Wedge (SW) 90 yds Loft Wedge (LW) 70 yds Distances are based on the following: Ball hit from a tee, landing and rolling on fairway, no wind, normal power (Top green mark), perfect Snap, Pro Level. AIMING YOUR SHOT LINKS, automatically aligns you to 2 degrees left of the pin. Even if you have a blind shot (where you can't see the pin) you can be certain that the green is straight in front of you. The DIRECTION you are aiming is indicated by a red and white pole called the Marker. You may control the Marker as follows: To Turn The Marker On And Off, move the cursor into the viewing window and press the right button. To Re-position The Marker, move the cursor arrow to a new location and press the left button. POST-SHOT PANEL OPTIONS - After you have made a shot, the Post Shot Panel will appear. The panel displays information about the shot just made, where the ball came to rest, and who's next to hit. From this point you can choose one of the following options: 1. CONTINUE - Continue on to your next shot or to the next player. 2. MULLIGAN - Play another shot from the same location. (Mulligans are recorded and displayed on the scorecard.) 3. INSTANT REPLAYS FORWARD - View an instant replay of your last shot from above and to the right of the normal position. REVERSE - View an instant replay of your last shot from the reverse angle (looking back towards your hitting position). BALL IN HAZARD If you hit your ball into a hazard, you will be penalized one stroke and will be given two options - REHIT or DROP. REHIT - Places your ball at the point of your last shot. DROP - Places your ball at the point where it crossed into the hazard. LINKS will then allow you to move the ball anywhere you choose. However, the USGA Rules state that you can back up from this point as far as you wish, but it must be a straight line with the pin. NOTE: All brown areas and all water on the course are hazards. BALL OUT OF BOUNDS If your ball lands O.B. (over fences, off the course, etc.), you will be be penalized one stroke and will have to REHIT from the original position. TYPES OF SWINGS You can have up to 6 different types of swings for each club in your bag except the putter. Although the swing types have been pre-defined, you can change any of them at any time during play or practice. You should only make changes if you know what you are doing. (Refer to SETUP Section for more information.) Below is a description of the various types of swings. The swing type is selected by clicking on the appropriate box on the Swing Panel. [D] Draw - A slight hook (ball moves to the left) [S] Straight - A straight shot [F] Fade - A slight slice (Ball moves to the right) [1] Custom shot to be setup by the player. Currently set to Straight. [2] Same as 1 [CHIP] Chip Shot - Straight CHIPPING When you are close enough to CHIP, LINKS will give you that option automatically. Chipping gives you a shorter, more controlled shot. The SWING INDICATOR for the CHIP is different than for FULL SWING. First time players should practice chipping on the Driving Range or Practice Green or use the Mulligan option to practice on the course. PUTTING Once you are on the green, LINKS will select your putter automatically. The putter swing is different than other swings in LINKS. It is not necessary to press the button the second time (at the snap point at the bottom of the Swing Indicator). First time players should go to the Practice Green or use the Mulligan option to practice putting. Use the GRID option to lay a non-obtrusive grid on the green to help you determine an accurate read. ADDITIONAL SWING PANEL OPTIONS - GRID When you click on the GRID box, a light green grid will be placed over the ground to assist in reading the terrain. The GRID can be used anywhere on the course. ROTATE If you find yourself directly behind a tree or other obstruction, you can turn left or right using the ROTATE function. Click on the left or right arrows in the ROTATE Box. The window displays the degrees of rotation relative to the pin direction. When you reach the desired angle, click on the REDRAW Box. TOP VIEW Activating this option will show you a top-view of the current hole and indicate the positions of all players. DROP Clicking on this box will allow you to pick up your ball and move it to a new location. This is called a drop and you will be penalized one stroke unless your ball is on the cart path. LINKS will allow you to move the ball anywhere you choose, but the USGA Rules of Golf state that you must "drop" it within two club lengths of the original spot (but no closer to the hole) or you can back up (straight away from the pin) as far as you want. In the case of the cart path, you must drop within one club length of the edge of the cart path, no closer to the hole. Note: If you hit your ball into a hazard, you will automatically receive a stroke penalty and be given the option to rehit or to take a drop. LIE Clicking on this box will show the current lie of the ball. SETUP Clicking on this box brings up the Swing Setup Panel. Here you are able to adjust swing plane, stance, ball position, and club face. Every club (except the putter) has six swing types (setups) assigned to it (D,S,F,1,2 & CHIP). An explanation of the physics of hitting the ball and ball flight dynamics is outside the scope of this game or manual. We have included these parameters to allow the advanced golfer to make changes that may more closely approximate his own "real" game. IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING, DO NOT CHANGE THESE SETTINGS. If you want to experiment, set up a separate player and go to the driving range. There you will be able to make changes and see their effects. When you're finished, you can delete the experimental player from the Player File. Changing every setup is a significant effort since there are 20 clubs with 6 swing types for each, or 120 settings. (Refer to the heading Types of Swings for more information on the standard default settings.) Note: Stance has no real effect on the ball in LINKS. Open or closed stance was included to help give the player the look and feel of his/her actual setup. WIND INDICATORS The Wind Direction Indicator is the yellow arrow at the far left edge of the Swing Panel. When the arrow is pointing down, the wind is blowing towards you. Just to the right is the Wind Strength Indicator. A full yellow bar represents a wind velocity of approximately 30 mph. Wind fluctuations affect the ball while it is in flight. Note: Beginner Level players are unaffected by wind. OPTIONS PANEL Clicking on the OPTIONS box brings up the Game Options Panel. The following options are available: QUIT GAME Click here to end the game and return to the Main Selection Screen. SAVE GAME Click here to SAVE a game in progress. SOUNDS Click on the sound boxes to switch various sounds on or off. If you have a slow machine, turning the sounds off may help the game play better. DRAWING DETAIL Clicking on these boxes will change the level of detail for drawing the terrain. MAXIMUM detail requires the longest drawing time, but looks the best. We suggest you experiment with the various combinations to find which ones work best for your speed of machine. We suggest MAX, MED, MIN for Close, Mid, Far respectively. If your machine is quite slow, you may try MAX, MIN, MIN or MED, MIN, MIN. If you have a real fast machine, you may want to try MAX, MAX, MED or even MAX, MAX, MAX. EXIT Click here to return to the Swing Panel. OTHER GAME FEATURES - HITTING FROM ROUGH OR SAND Shots hit from the rough or sand will require approximately one extra club to achieve the same distance as those hit from the fairway. Shots from the rough will also have reduced backspin. Shots from the sand have somewhat greater backspin. NEXT PLAYER LINKS shows which player is up next before the scene is drawn so the player can get ready. LINKS uses the Honor System and Who's Farthest Out for tee-off and shot order. SCORECARD AND SCORECARD PRINTOUT At the completion of a hole, all players having finished, LINKS will display the Scorecard for your review. After you've finished playing a round, you'll be given an opportunity to print out your Scorecard. Make sure your printer is plugged into LPTI and that it is on line. SAVING A GAME IN PROGRESS You can save a game in progress and resume playing at a later time. Simply click on the OPTIONS box in the Swing Panel and then select SAVE GAME. To resume a game, choose RESUME from the Main Selection Screen. Note: If you wish to continue play on another machine, you will have to copy the GAME FILE (.GAM) as well as the appropriate PLAYER FILES (.PLR) and COURSE FILE (.CRS) to the other machine. QUITTING A GAME You can terminate play at anytime by clicking on OPTIONS at the Swing Panel and then selecting QUIT GAME. II. PRACTICE SECTION LINKS contains a practice area where you can work on your driving, chipping and putting. Simply follow these steps: 1. Select PRACTICE from the Main Selection Screen. 2. Select the PLAYER that is practicing. The program needs to know which PLAYER FILE to update in case changes are made to swing setups. 3. Select DRIVING RANGE or PUTTING AND CHIPPING GREEN. DRIVING RANGE While at the Range, you have access to all normal swing parameters (i.e. CLUB, ADDRESS, SETUP, SWING types). In addition there are options to do the following: GO TO CHIP AND PUTT Move to the PUTTING AND CHIPPING GREEN. SELECT PLAYER Change the Player that is practicing. CANCEL Return to the Main Selection Screen. PUTTING AND CHIPPING GREEN At the practice green, you also have access to all normal swing parameters. In addition you have the ability to change the pin (hole) position and your practice position. The following options are available: CHANGE POSITION Change the position of the pin or the golfer. Clicking on this box will bring up a TOP VIEW of the practice area with both positions shown as flashing white dots. You can choose CHANGE PIN POSITION or CHANGE PRACTICE POSITION. In either case, a small icon will appear. Simply move the mouse until the icon is in the desired position and press the left button. When you're happy with the new position(s), click on [OK]. Click [CANCEL] if you decide not to make any changes. MOVE TO LAST BALL - Moves you up to the last ball hit and makes that your practice position. Otherwise, you will continue to hit from the same position until you select Change Position as described above. GO TO DRIVING RANGE - Move to the Practice Range. SELECT PLAYER - Change the Player that is practicing. CANCEL - Return to the Main Selection Screen. III. RESUME SECTION This option allows you to resume a game that has been previously saved. (See Saving a Game in Progress.) Clicking on RESUME brings up a list of GAMES ON FILE. Simply select the game you want and click [OK]. Note: if you wish to continue play on another machine, you will have to copy the GAME FILE (.GAM) as well as the appropriate PLAYER FILES (.PLR) and COURSE FILE (.CRS) to the other machine. IV. PLAYERS SECTION This option lets you build and modify your list of potential Players. When a name is added to the list, a file is created for that Player that contains his or her preferences for Level, Tees, and Clubs. Clicking on PLAYERS brings up the Add/Modify Screen. The following options are available: ADD PLAYER Add a Player to the PLAYER LIST. Click here, then type the name of the new Player and press [ENTER]. Notice the standard default preferences that are displayed in yellow. To change these preferences, simply click on the desired box. If you wish to change your selection of clubs, first de- select the ones you don't want, then add the new clubs. MODIFY PLAYER To modify an existing Player's preferences, simply highlight (click on) the name in the PLAYER LIST. The current preferences for that Player will be shown in yellow. You can make changes as described in ADD PLAYER. DELETE PLAYER To delete an existing Player from the list, highlight the players name (click on it), then click on DELETE PLAYER. USE DEFAULT SETTINGS Click on this box to restore all preferences to the default values. Note: This will not return club setups to the default values. If you want to do this, simply delete your current player and create a new player of the same name. Standard club setups are installed when a new player is added. EXIT (ESC) Click here when you're done adding or modifying Players. All changes will be saved to disk when you EXIT. SYSTEM Setup Section This option allows you to set up your system to use various sound boards and to use extended or expanded memory if it is available. SOUND BOARDS If you have one of the listed boards or adapters installed on your system, you can play digitized sound through your board. Simply highlight the appropriate box. Highlight RealSound if you have no board. Note: If your Sound Blaster doesn't work, refer to the Trouble Shooting Section of this manual for instructions on changing the Sound Blaster setup. SOUND OPTIONS If you have a slow machine, you may find that the graphics slow down excessively when sound is playing. If so,you can use SOUND OPTIONS to turn off some or all of the sounds. EXTRA MEMORY LINKS is designed to use extended or expanded memory (if available) for preloading data, graphics, and sound. This will significantly decrease the time it takes to draw the scene. If memory is available for preloading, the memory box will display YES. Otherwise the memory box will display NO. Just because memory is installed in your machine does not mean it is available. If you have extended memory for example, you must have a memory manager. One such manager is called HIMEM.SYS which should be installed in your CONFIG.SYS file. HIMEM is a program from Microsoft and we have included it along with LINKS. If you do not currently have a memory manager, but have more that 640k of memory in your machine, you may want to use HIMEM to manage it. Copy HIMEM.SYS from the LINKS directory to the root directory of your hard drive. Add the following line to your CONFIG.SYS file: DEVICE = C:\HIMEM.SYS (C: is the hard drive letter designation) Now re-boot your computer (CNTRL-ALT-DEL). WARNING: If you are unsure how to modify your CONFIG.SYS file, refer to your DOS manual or obtain some help from someone who knows how to modify the CONFIG.SYS file, otherwise you might mess up your machine's configuration. DISK CACHING If you have Disk Caching software installed on your system, it may already be using some or all of your extra memory. In such a case, LINKS would not be able to use the memory already set up as a cache. You may want to reduce the amount allocated to the cache system and leave it as free memory. LINKS will then be able to use it for pre-loading. V. INFO SECTION Select this option to review current program update information that may not be contained in this manual. VI. EXIT SECTION EXIT and return to DOS. CHAMPIONSHIP COURSE DISKS The challenge of golf lies in the variety of courses and type of terrain you can play. Our LINKS Course Design Team has traveled into the heartland of golf in America to bring you some premier championship courses. FIRESTONE COUNTRY CLUB - Millionaire industrialist Harvey Firestone originally created Firestone in 1928 for his employees. Completely redesigned in 1959 by Robert Trent Jones, Firestone's South Course has become one of the premier stops on the PGA Tour. BAY HILL CLUB - Arnold Palmer and The Bay Hill Club and Lodge annually bring together some of the finest golfers in the world for the Nestle Invitational. Water, unrelenting doglegs and deep bunkers add to the challenge of Bay Hill. PINEHURST COUNTRY CLUB - Pinehurst is recognized as one of the finest golf resorts in the world. Pinehurst #2's championship layout was designed by Donald Ross and is said to be his finest work. Rolling terrain, tree-lined fairways and undulating greens add to the challenge of this beautiful course. HYATT DORADO BEACH - The Hyatt Dorado Beach East Course is one of the world's greatest seaside links. This 6985 yard Par 72 Robert Trent Jones masterpiece is located in one of the most beautiful tropical settings in the Caribbean. From awesome seaside holes to the deep lush jungle, Dorado Beach is incredibly beautiful. BARTON CREEK COUNTRY CLUB - The Tom Fazio Course at Barton Creek is nestled in the famous hill country of central Texas, presents visual splendor of a different type. Fazio exploited Barton Creek's natural beauty integrating ponds, streams and even waterfalls into his design. TROON NORTH COUNTRY CLUB - Troon North is an immaculate oasis poured over the lush Senorian desert in central Arizona. Sandstone pillars and large cactus come into play on a number of fairways. Each hole at Troon is a very private golf experience as the layout doesn't allow views from one hole to another yet it maintains outrageous views of the surrounding area. ...AND MORE CHAMPIONSHIP COURSES TO COME. You can play each of these courses in the comfort of your home or office. LINKS Championship Course have a suggested retail of $24.95. Contact your local software dealer or call ACCESS for more information on these and future championship courses for LINKS. SPECIAL OFFER FOR REGISTERED OWNERS OF LINKS For a limited time, ACCESS Software is making available the LINKS Design Team's home course, Bountiful Golf Club, at the Special Registered User's price of $9.95, a savings of $15 off suggested retail. Nestled in the foothills of the Wasatch mountains with a spectacular view of the Great Salt Lake, Bountiful Golf Club features rolling fairways, a variety of trees and shrubbery and a very challenging course layout. REGISTER TODAY SO YOU WON'T MISS OUT... It's easy to order your copy of the Bountiful Championship Course for only $9.95 or any of the other Championship Course for $24.95. 1. Simply call Access Software's toll-free order number for the U.S. and Canada at 1-800-800-4880 (outside the U.S. call 1-801-359-2900) Visa, MasterCard or American Express accepted. No C.O.D.'s. 2. If you'd prefer, you can mail in a photocopy of your filled out Borland warranty card along with your check or money order to: ACCESS Software, Borland Offer, 4910 West Amelia Earhart Drive, Salt Lake City, UT 84116. Please specify which media you prefer, 5.25" or 3.5". 3. FAX us a copy of your filled out Borland warranty card at 1-801- 359-2968. Our fax is available 24-hours a day. Include your credit card type, card number, expiration date, your signature and what you'd like to order. Once we receive your FAX, we'll ship your order right out. NEW SUPER VGA VERSION OF LINKS COMING JUNE 30, 1992 This all new LINKS 386 Pro version of our popular, award-winning LINKS golf game offers many dramatic improvements that make playing LINKS 386 Pro more enjoyable - and gives you exciting new golfing possibilities! The new LINKS 386 Pro, featuring Harbour Town Golf Links, is the first golf game specifically designed for the graphic capabilities and computing power of your personal 386/486 computer system. SUPER VGA 256-color graphics at 640x400 resolution display breathtaking views of LINKS Championship Courses. Your friends won't believe your computer looks so good. As an registered owner of LINKS you will be entitled to purchase LINKS 386 Pro at the Special Introductory Registered Users price of $39.95 including shipping in the U.S. (International shipping extra.) Register today so you won't miss out on all the golfing possibilities. TROUBLE SHOOTING The following are answers to commonly asked questions about LINKS. If you are experiencing problems not covered in this section, please review the manual thoroughly. Also check the Program Update Information File by selecting INFO from the Main Selection Screen. Hints and other information may be added to this file after this manual is printed. If you're still having trouble, call us and ask for Customer Support. We will do our best to get you back on the course. Call 1-801-298-9077 or CompuServe #70127,766. 1. How can I reduce the time it takes to draw the screen? a) The most beneficial effect will be to add extended memory to your system. Even if you have 250k of free extended memory, you will see a dramatic increase in drawing speed due primarily to preloading of objects, data and sound. One meg of extended memory is relatively inexpensive. Check with you favorite dealer for help in adding memory to your computer. (Note: Refer to the SYSTEM Setup Section for more information.) b) The next beneficial thing you can do is to change the drawing detail. Refer to the DRAWING DETAIL section under OPTIONS for more information. c) Get a faster machine. A 386 25MgHz with 2 or 3 meg of memory (1.3 free extended memory) is a great configuration. Screen redraws should be in the range of 10 seconds or less. 2. My game slows down when sound is playing, what should I do? a) Turn off some of the sounds (Select OPTIONS in Swing Panel or SYSTEM in Main Selection Screen). Options changes are temporary, SYSTEM changes are permanent. b) Get a faster computer. 3. I want to change my player so that I can play from the Blue Tees rather than the Whites. a) When the Ready To Play Screen appears click on the Blue Tee Box for your player. This change will be in effect during the current game only. b) To make a permanent change to your player preferences, select PLAYERS from the Main Selection Screen. Then select your player from the Player List and click on the Blue Tee box. Then click on Exit. The Blue Tee preference will be entered in your permanent Player file. 4. When I try to add more than 13 clubs to my bag in the Player Setup Screen, it won't allow me to do so. 13 clubs plus putter are the maximum allowed. You must de-select a club (by clicking on it) before you can select another. 5. My shots seem to always go to the right (or left) even though I hit the bottom mark on the swing indicator perfectly? a) Make sure you've selected S for straight shot. b) Choose SETUP from the Swing Panel and adjust your swing plane to straight and your club face to square. Do this by clicking on the word SWINGPLANE and on the word CLUBFACE. Note: Club Setup is for the advanced player that is familiar with the physics of golf. Refer to the section on SETUP for more information. 6. My player sometimes stands for a long time after the ball is hit, without moving. What is wrong? Some of the terrain in LINKS is quite steep and often the ball will continue to roll until it reaches a level spot. The player will stand in the follow-thru position until the ball comes to rest. 7. My SOUND BLASTER doesn't work. LINKS assumes the normal default base address and interrupt number for the Sound Blaster setup. (Base address = 220H and interrupt #3). If your Sound Blaster does not work with LINKS, you may have different settings. Refer to your Sound Blaster documentation to determine what your settings are. You may have to run a program called TEST-SBC.EXE which comes with your Sound Blaster. If your settings are different than those shown above, run the utility program called SETBLAST.EXE which comes with LINKS. You will be asked to enter the Base Address and Interrupt Number for your card. Note: If you delete your LINKS.CFG file or anytime you install LINKS, you will have to re-run SETBLAST.EXE. 8. I don't have any sound. Why not? Select OPTIONS from the Swing Panel or SYSTEM from the Main Selection Screen and turn the sounds ON. (Changes made in the Options Panel are for the current round only.) 9. My program keeps crashing. What is wrong? You may have memory problems. Please refer to the Program Update Information in the INFO Section of LINKS for more help. 10. I copied all the files from the program disk to my LINKS directory, but the program won't run. You must use the INSTALL.BAT program to install LINKS onto your hard drive properly. See the first page of this manual for instructions. 11. The INSTALL program doesn't work. Use the Alternate Installation Method outlined at the beginning. STEPS FOR CREATING A LINKS BOOT DISK NOTE: THESE INSTRUCTIONS ASSUME THAT YOUR COMPUTER USES MSDOS 5.0. IF YOUR COMPUTER USES AN OLDER VERSION OF MSDOS OR ANOTHER BRAND OF DOS, THEN CONTACT OUR TECH SUPPORT DEPARTMENT AT THE NUMBER ON THE LAST PAGE OF THIS DOCUMENT. 1) Put a floppy disk into DRIVE A. You must use DRIVE A and not DRIVE B. If you have a low density disk drive, use a low density disk. 2) Go to the DOS directory by typing CD\DOS at the C: prompt. 3) Format the disk by typing: FORMAT A:/S . This copies the COMMAND.COM from DOS and makes the floppy a system disk. If you are using a low density 5.25" diskette then the command would be: FORMAT A:/4/S . If you are using a low density 3.5" diskette then the command would be: FORMAT A:/F:720/S . 4) After the disk has been formatted, type COPY HIMEM.SYS A: . This copies the file necessary to use the extra RAM on your computer to speed up the screen redraws in Links. 5) Return to the C: prompt by typing CD.. at the DOS prompt. 6) If you use a mouse, find out where the mouse driver is located by looking at the CONFIG.SYS file (by typing: TYPE CONFIG.SYS), or at the AUTOEXEC.BAT (by typing: TYPE AUTOEXEC.BAT). Check the file name and extension of the mouse driver (if the driver is located in the CONFIG.SYS, it will usually be MOUSE.SYS; if the driver is in the AUTOEXEC.BAT, it will usually be MOUSE.COM). 7) Once you have determined where the mouse driver is located, go to that directory by typing CD\{NAME OF DIRECTORY}. Then type: COPY MOUSE.COM A: . 8) After copying the mouse driver file to the disk in the A drive, change to the A drive by typing A: at the prompt. 9) At the A: prompt type COPY CON CONFIG.SYS . The cursor will go to the next line on the screen and blink. Type the following lines: FILES=30 BUFFERS=30 DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS DOS=HIGH * DEVICE=MOUSE.SYS * This line is only needed if the mouse driver is a "sys" file. 10) Again at the A: prompt type: COPY CON AUTOEXEC.BAT . The cursor again will go to the next line on the screen and blink. Type the following lines: PROMPT $P$G * MOUSE C: (OR THE DRIVE WHERE LINKS IS FOUND) CD\LINKS (OR THE DIRECTORY PATH FOR LINKS) LINKS * This line is only needed if the mouse driver is a "com" or "exe" file. 11) Now the computer should be rebooted (reset or turned off then on) while leaving the diskette in the A drive. The computer should boot up to DOS, load himem.sys, the mouse driver and go directly to the hard disk and load Links. 12) For those people who are using a disk compression program like STACKER or SUPERSTOR, you will need to include the necessary device statements in the CONFIG.SYS file on the boot disk which will load and mount the STACKER or SUPERSTOR partition. Usually, if you include the same statements found in the CONFIG.SYS file on the hard disk in the CONFIG.SYS on the floppy, the boot disk will function properly. In the Links manual it states that Links should not be run from within Microsoft Windows. Through extensive experience we also strongly recommend that you not run Links from within a menuing system because of these memory requirements. Should you experience any other problems either loading or running Links- The Challenge of Golf or any of the add-on Championship Courses, please contact the Access Software Technical Support Department. You can call us between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday (except Holidays) MST. The number is 1-800-800-4880. If you have suggestions or would like to place an order for any of the add- on courses, please contact the Access Customer Support Department at the same 800 number. Again, all of us at Access Software want to thank you for the support you have given us, and be assured that we will do everything we possibly can to make our software an enjoyable experience for you. PRODUCT WARRANTY NOTICE: Access Software reserves the right to make amendments and/or improvements to the products described in the manual at any time and without notice. The enclosed software product and this manual are copyrighted and all rights are reserved by "Access Software, Incorporated". No part of this manual or any of the accompanying materials may be copied, reproduced, or translated in any form or medium without the prior written consent of Access Software. Access Software warrants to the original consumer purchaser that the diskettes furnished in this product will be free from defects in materials and workmanship (as evidence by your receipt). If any diskettes supplied as part of this product prove to be defective, and provided that the consumer purchaser returns the media to Access Software, Inc. in accordance with the instructions in the following paragraph, Access Software, will replace any defective diskettes free of charge. This warranty is valid for 90 days following the purchase of this product (dated purchase receipt should be retained). To obtain a replacement diskette, please return the diskette only, postage prepaid to Access Software, Inc. at the appropriate address listed on the back page, accompanied by a statement of the defect, a copy of your purchase receipt, your name and return address. DISCLAIMER NOTICE: The software diskettes and documentation are provided "as is". There is no warranty of merchantability, no warranty of fitness for a particular use, and no other warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied regarding the software, diskettes or documentation, except as expressly provided in the preceding paragraph. Accordingly, the entire risk as to the use, results and performance of the software, diskettes and documentation is assumed by the user. In no event will Access Software be liable to any person or organization for any consequential, special or indirect damages resulting from possession, use, or malfunction of this product, including without limitation, damage to property and to the extent permitted by law, damages for personal injury, even if Access Software has been advised of the possibility of any such damages or loss; Under this warranty the user agrees that the liability of Access Software arising out of any kind of legal claim (whether in contract, tort, or otherwise) will not exceed the manufacturers suggested retail price for the use of this product. LINKS-The Challenge of Golf, LINKS Championship Courses, all other elements of the game and manual are trademarks of and copyrighted by Access Software, Inc. 4910West Amelia Earhart Drive, Salt Lake City, UT 84116 Tel. (801)359-2900.