Contact Jack Compatability and Known Issues

[Eliteone]

From the Contract Jack Readme File

 

NOTES ON COMPATIBILITY

==========================

 

FUNCTIONALITY

 

Contract J.A.C.K. is designed to function with Windows®

98/98SE/ME/2000/XP-compatible graphics and sound cards. Drivers

for these devices are provided by Windows® itself or the

respective card manufacturers and may occasionally result in

compatibility problems beyond our control.

 

Contract J.A.C.K. does not support the Windows® 95 operating system since the

application requires proper installation and functionality of DirectX 8.1 or higher.

Microsoft does not provide or support DirectX 8.1 for Windows® 95.

 

If you experience any problems, it is always recommended that you obtain the latest

drivers for your hardware. Driver updates resolve the overwhelming majority of

compatibility issues. Most hardware vendors make their drivers available on their web

site. If you are unsure of a web site URL for a particular hardware vendor, you may

want to try accessing one of the popular Windows® software update sites such as:

 

http://www.windrivers.com

 

Additionally, a brief list of the chipset and board manufacturer web sites appears

below for your reference.

 

SUPPORTED VIDEO CARD CHIPSETS WITH LATEST DRIVER VERSION INFO:

 

NVIDIA

 

Detonator Drivers (WIN 2000/XP): v45.23

Detonator Drivers (WIN 98/98SE/ME) v45.23

GeForce 256 Series

GeForce 2 Series

GeForce 3 Series

GeForce 4 Series

GeForce FX Series

 

ATI

 

Catalyst Drivers (Win XP/2000): v6.14.10.6378

Catalyst Drivers (Win98/ME) v4.14.01.9113

Radeon 7200

Radeon 7500

Radeon 8500

Radeon 9000 (9000 Pro)

Radeon 9500 (9500 Pro)

Radeon 9600 (9600 Pro)

Radeon 9700 (9700 Pro)

Radeon 9800 (9800 Pro)

 

MATROX

 

Parhelia Drivers (Win2000/XP): v1.04.01.003

Parhelia 512

 

WEB LINKS

 

ATI: http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html

Creative: http://www.americas.creative.com/support/w...asp?RD=download

Matrox: http://www.matrox.com/mga/support/drivers/latest/home.cfm

NVIDIA: http://www.nvidia.com

Turtle Beach: http://www.turtlebeach.com/site/kb_ftp/585ftp.asp

 

NOTE: While Intel's 865G integrated chipset does not contain a hardware T&L unit,

it may be possible to play Contract J.A.C.K. on this hardware at low detail.

Please be aware that this is not officially supported, however.

 

 

KNOWN ISSUES

=================

 

Global:

 

Make sure that all applications that are running in the background such as

Virus scanners, Desktop Utilities (menus/toolbars), Media Players, and

chat programs are disabled before running Contract J.A.C.K.

 

Selecting a display resolution that is supported by your video card but

not your monitor will result in a black screen. If this occurs, use

Alt-F4 to quit the application, and then use the display option in the

launcher (ContractJack.exe) to select a resolution supported by

your monitor.

 

Task-switching with ALT-TAB or the Windows® Key back to the desktop while

running the game is not recommended.

 

WINDOWS® 2000/XP:

 

Windows® XP users must have access to the Computer Administrator's account

in order to install and play Contract J.A.C.K..

 

Windows® 2000 users please download the latest service pack before playing.

 

Striking the Shift key five times may cause the 'Sticky Key' feature to

become enabled in Windows® 2000. If this happens, the feature will task

switch to a desktop dialogue box with options related to this feature,

including one to disable it entirely.

 

WINDOWS® 98/ME:

 

If you cannot launch the game after playing previously without first

rebooting your system, then be sure to get the latest critical and

recommended updates for your operating system via Windows® Update.

 

 

GRAPHICS:

 

SYSTEMS WITH VIA CHIPSETS:

Always update the 4 in 1 drivers to avoid possible instability problems

with your graphics card. You can find these here:

 

http://downloads.viaarena.com/drivers/4in1/VIA_4in1_443v.zip

 

ATI RADEON SERIES:

Mouse cursor flickers on screen during game after changing in-game

resolution. Make sure that the latest Radeon Catalyst drivers are

installed. Also going back into the menus and then back into the game will

also correct this issue.

 

Detail textures currently appear washed out and dull on some Radeon cards.

A future update from ATI should correct this. In the meantime, it is

recommended that you turn Detail Textures OFF in the Display options menu

under Performance if this occurs.

 

ATI RADEON 7200:

Textures on very thin polys (such as power lines) may appear to be broken

into small pieces.

 

ATI RADEON 8500:

When the hardware cursor option is enabled, the mouse cursor may appear

black and white or appear corrupted. Also, the position of the cursor may

be slightly off after changing performance options. Try disabling the

hardware cursor from the "Options" Launcher to correct this issue.

 

Some detail brushes such as pictures on walls and blood splats may disappear

when viewed from a distance.

 

Lockups may occur in some cut scenes and during certain gameplay

situations. ATI has fixed this issue with a special driver version. You

can obtain this driver at http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4094.html

 

ATI RADEON 9OOO SERIES:

During cinematics, semi translucent bars may appear at the top and bottom

of the screen. Please make sure that the Texture Quality option under the

ATI Direct 3d settings which can be found under Display Settings is set to

highest.

 

ATI RADEON PRO SERIES:

Textures at the sides and corners of your screen may disappear when you

approach them. Updating to the latest version of ATi's Catalyst driver

will fix this issue.

 

Users of these cards may also encounter a crash after bringing up the

multiplayer join menu more than once, and then remaining on this screen

for a while. This appears to be a driver issue.

 

MATROX PARHELIA 512:

Some very early versions of this card may exhibit missing textures on some

surfaces when weapons are fired or the key chain flashlight is used.

During certain cinematics, shadows on the faces and necks of models will

appear to be very jagged.

 

Frequent lockups may also occur with all driver revisions for this card

prior to v1.01.00.080. Please be sure to update to the latest driver

prior to playing the game.

 

NVIDIA GEFORCE CHIPSETS:

Running the game with outdated drivers may result in crashes during

gameplay. It is highly recommended that you first update to the latest

detonator drivers available before playing. Refer to Section V. for more

information on the latest drivers available.

 

XABRE 400:

Graphical anomalies such as streaks stretching outwards from bullet marks

may occur when using this card. This seems to be a driver problem.

 

UNSUPPORTED VIDEO CARDS:

Any video card that's not equipped with Hardware T&L (Transform and

Lighting) will suffer either poor performance or complete malfunction.

Even though the Matrox Millennium G550 and S3 Savage Chipsets are known to

have T&L support, these cards only support this feature through their

Software and do not meet the minimum requirement of support through

Hardware. Please review Section V. for the supported Video Card Chipsets

list.

 

 

SOUND:

 

GENERAL:

 

If the in-game sounds and dialogue (voices) do not play, or there are

problems with the quality of these sounds, then please try each of the

following steps (in order) before playing again. Note that you should only

try one solution at a time, since trying them all can greatly reduce the

overall sound quality of the game.

 

1. Make sure that you have the latest drivers available for your sound

hardware installed. These can usually be found on the manufacturer's

website.

 

2. From your main installation folder (the Default is C:\Program

Files\Sierra\Contract JACK), double click on the file named

WMFADist.exe, and then follow the on-screen instructions. This will

manually install the audio codec that is required by the game.

 

3. From the in-game sound options menu,change the sound quality option

from high to low, or vice-versa.

 

4. Refer to the sections below for specific troubleshooting information

for your particular sound card.

 

5. From the launcher application, click on the "options" button and

then click on the box next to "Disable Sound Filters".

 

6. From the launcher application, click on the "options" button and

then click on the box next to "Disable Hardware Sound".

 

Please note that since this game uses an MP3 codec for sound, the Nimo

codec pack may cause speech and sound to drop out completely. Please

uninstall the Nimo codec pack before installing Contract J.A.C.K.. If

you have already installed the game, please uninstall both the Nimo codec

pack and the game, and then reinstall the game only.

 

Also, subtitles will not appear in the game if you do not have a

sound card,or if your soundcard is not detected, or if you have disabled

sound completely in the advanced options menu.

 

 

SOUND BLASTER LIVE! SERIES:

 

If you are using DirectX 9.0, you may experience performance problems when

enemy gunfire is heard. This is a driver issue. To fix the problem, lower

your sound hardware acceleration level in the control panel or in the

sound section of the Dxdiag utility.

 

You may experience missing sound effects and speech with older drivers

(v.4.xx). It's highly recommended that you update to the latest series of

drivers (v.5.xx) to correct this issue. You can check your current

driver version as follows:

 

1. Click on the "Run" option from the Windows® start menu.

2. Type "Dxdiag" (Without the quotes) in the command line and press

<Enter>. This will initiate the DirectX Diagnostic Tool Menu.

3. Select the "Sound" tab to see information on your sound hardware.

4. In the right-hand column of this window is your sound card driver

information.

 

SOUND BLASTER PCI 128:

If you’re experiencing speech and audio dropout, please try the following:

Initiate the launcher, click on options, click on the "Disable

Sound Filters" option. Also check on the Creative website and obtain

the latest driver.

 

SOUND BLASTER AUDIGY:

Weapon fire and AI voices may stop playing during heavy firefights. An

updated driver for the Audigy will fix this issue. Also, EAX sound filtering

effects on some weapon sounds may not reset correctly after climbing out of

water or other areas.

 

If you are using an Audigy card under Windows® 98, dialogue and other effects

may get cut short. To fix the problem, select low quality sound in the

performance section of the options menu.

 

HERCULES GAME THEATER XP:

The volume of certain sound effects may seem unnecessarily loud. A future

driver from Hercules may correct this issue.

 

DIAMOND MONSTER SOUND I&II:

Music throughout the game may be muffled when using these cards. Currently

the manufacturer does not supply DirectX 8.1 audio drivers.

 

NVIDIA NFORCE AUDIO:

All aspects of game audio suffer from high-pitched static and popping

noises. An updated driver (V1.13) should correct this problem and can be

found on NVIDIA's website. (www.nvidia.com)

 

TURTLE BEACH SANTA CRUZ:

If sounds seem missing or the volume of certain sounds changes erratically

throughout the game, please install the latest driver (v.4161 or newer)

from the manufacturer's web site. This should correct the problem.

 

AUREAL VORTEX I&II:

The last available drivers for these cards with Vortex chipsets are not

fully Direct 8.1 compatible. Therefore, these cards cannot be supported

in Contract J.A.C.K. Users of these cards may experience muffled

background music, and missing or muffled sound and dialogue.

 

PHILIPS SEISMIC EDGE:

The audio is some levels may sound muffled. Turning down hardware sound

acceleration in Dxdiag should eliminate this problem.

 

ANALOG DEVICES SOUNDMAX:

Systems with built-in SoundMax cards may crash near the start of the first level.

to fix the problem, set the windows setting for hardware sound acceleration to minimum.

 

PERIPHERALS:

 

LOGITECH MICE:

When the scroll wheel is set to a special function in

Mouseware, activating the scroll wheel during gameplay may have

undesired results. Setting the scroll wheel's function to "Middle

Mouse Button" in Mouseware should resolve the issue.