Technical support for Newsdesk Business Africa

For technical support on Newsdesk Business Africa click here

Technical support for Newsdesk Marriage

Issues concerning the playing of the game

Issues concerning the playing of the game are dealt with in the relevant Teachers Guides.

Exploring Marriage with Newsdesk (UK version) Teachers Guide

Required PC specification

Pentium 200MHz processor or greater
32Mb of RAM or higher
Shockwave supported browser
Netscape 4.0 or Internet Explorer 4.0 or greater
VGA display with 256 colours
DirectX
Sound Card
4 x CD-ROM
Windows 9x or higher or NT

For best results

This game will run directly from the CD, but the quality of the integral video will be affected by the speed of the CD drive. Therefore, for best results copy the entire content of the CD onto your hard drive and run it from there, by navigating to the file called "Go".

This game requires a lot of the computer's memory. Therefore, for best results, before playing the game restart your computer (to release all available memory).

NB As with most multimedia products with a large amount of video, we do not recommend playing it on a lap-top computer (unless it can handle video and graphics very well - a few do, but most don't)

Using this game over a network

The game will run over a network - and requires no special installation other than copying the entire content of the CD onto one of the drives on the network. The game can then be played by any computer on the network by navigating to the game, using windows explorer, and double-clicking on the program called "Go.exe". However, we don't recommend this, since the game contains a lot of video and this does not usually run very well over a network.

Using this game on more than one computer

Provided you have purchased the "schools version" which comes complete with the site license, you may use this game on more than one computer at a time.

This can be achieved by following the instructions above (for using the game over a network) for a number of computers on the network at once. However, the quality will be seriously affected by the speed of the network and the number of users. Therefore, for best results...

Because the game uses so much video we strongly recommend that you copy the entire content of the CD onto the hard drive of each computer on which you want the game to run - then, on that computer, navigate to the game, using windows explorer, and double-click on the program called "Go.exe". To simplify this for the user, we suggest that, on each computer, you set up a short-cut that will run that file on their computer.

Known Issues

1. On some lower specification computers, particularly if the player "clicks around" the game too quickly or closes videos before they get to the end or plays for a long time, the game may slow right down or give an error message which closes the program. (This does not occur on higher specification computers). It can l be resolved by exiting and restarting the game, or (if this doesn't solve it) by exiting & restarting the computer before restarting the game.

2. On some lower specification computers, other programs running in the background can interfere with the performance - it may cause the video playback to slow right down and may even lead to an error message which closes the program. (This does not occur on higher specification computers). If this occurs we recommend that you close down other programs, and even restart the computer before playing Newsdesk (to ensure that the computer's memory is as clear as possible).

3. Some configurations of graphics cards interfere with the video playback in the game. This can be resolved by changing the settings on Multimedia Properties (accessed by clicking on your "start" button, followed by "settings" and "control panel") - change "Audio Playback" to "Use any available device".

4. If Newsdesk is played on a computer with a low CD speed this can interfere with the video playback. This can be resolved by copying the entire content of the CD onto your hard drive and running it from there, by navigating to the file called "Go".

5. On some computers the screen save function interferes with the game - such that it slows right down or crashes after the computer has been left and the screen save has operated. This can be resolved by disabling the computer screen saver.

6. If Newsdesk is run on a computer with a minimum specification the sound may not always synchronise with the picture. This does not occur on higher specification computers

7. The green "progress line" on the off-line edit screen only gives a good indication of position along the time-line on high specification computers. On lower specification computers this green line may "lag behind".

8. If the game is played on a computer without a working microphone, and the player clicks on the "record" button in the voice section of the off-line edit screen, the program may hang. This might be resolved by clicking on the "done" button and then going back in to the off-line edit screen, but in some circumstances you will need to exit the program altogether and restart.

9. On a very few computers the game will hang when the user tries to access one of the websites (eg in the research library). This is due to that computer's configuration of web-browser/dial-up. If this occurs we recommend that the user does not click on the link, but copies the web address into their browser and accesses the website directly rather than through the game.

10. On some computers there is an occasional problem in the interviews. Sometimes the cursor does not revert to a "hand" so the user cannot ask another question. This problem is easily solved by clicking on the "done" button, then clicking back into the screen and starting the interview again.

11. On some computers there is an occasional error on the decision list (listing the video clips, stills etc) that is displayed on the screen when the user goes through the door marked "edit". If this happens, simply return to the game, log in, look at the off-line edit screen to ensure that it is in fact how you want it - then go out again through the door marked "edit". This error probably won't occur twice in a row!

12. That's all, we know about. If you know of any others please tell us: tech@ethosgames.com