Technical support for The Quest
Version 2 - released May 2004
Required PC specification
Pentium 300 MHz processor
48 MB of RAM
VGA display with 256 colours (recommended minimum resolution 1024x768)
22 MB free disk space (209 MB for a full install)
DirectX
Sound Card
4 x CD-ROM
Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows ME, Microsoft
Windows 2000 or Microsoft Windows XP
Microsoft Internet Explorer v5.5 or higher (N.B. using the Quest with Internet Explorer v7 requires a patch - see below)
N.B. The Quest does not run properly under Windows Vista.
Compatibility with Internet Explorer 7
There is a problem with the Quest's update system on computers using Internet Explorer version 7. To resolve this problem please download this fix to somewhere on your computer and double-click on the file to install it.
Using The Quest over a network
The Quest v2 can be enabled for a network installation if you have bought the site license.
When we send you your site license we will also send a CD containing the Quest Network Edition (NE). This contains a file called "QuestUpgradeInstaller_21_NE.exe". Please refer to the readme.txt file also on the CD for instructions on how to upgrade to the Network Edition.
If you have already bought a site license then please send us a photocopy or scan of it, together with your name and address (and school name), and we will send you the CD with the Network Edition upgrade on, free of charge. For details of where to send the copy of your license, please see our contact page.
Known Issues
1. The Quest requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 (or later) to be installed on your computer. If the setup program detects that it is not already installed it will ask whether you want it to be installed for you. If your computer currently has Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 installed and you are using the Active Desktop feature then it has been found that some Active Desktop configurations may no longer work correctly.
2. When installing on some machines the installation program may appear to stop when the progress bar reaches 100%. However, it is just taking time to process - be patient and the installation will proceed
3. There have been reports of run-time errors occuring on some machines (particularly those operating under Windows XP). To correct this click here and install the fix
4. Some computers have old copies of video playing software (eg ATI video player). In some circumstances this will interfere with video playback, particularly with the opening and closing videos. To solve this ensure that any video playing software on your computer is either fully up-to-date or removed.
5. If your computer is at the lower end of the required specification you may find that sound & vision in the videos are not in sync. This does not happen with higher specification machines
6. We recommend a screen resolution of 1024x768. If you use a lower resolution you may not see all of the screen content (particularly, for example, on the exit screen - where you will just see the corner of the "exit" button!) If you use a higher resolution some of the screens may not display properly
7. There is an issue with some computers that have had an operating system upgraded to Windows XP without fully uninstalling the old operating system first. There is no work-around for this - we simply recommend full uninstallation of the old operating system before upgrading to Windows XP.
8. If The Quest fails to start and the following message is displayed 'Runtime error "Unable to create FileSystemObject [13] Type Mismatch"' then a component of Microsoft Windows (which is normally installed as part of Internet Explorer) may not be installed on your system. It is available from the Microsoft Web Site as a free download using one of the following links (pick the one which matches your version of Windows):
9. Some users have reported that the recorded date of the last downloaded update for The Quest sometimes gets set to a date in the future, preventing further downloads. If you experience this problem then you can download a Utility Pack for The Quest which includes a separate update program which can be used to download the latest updates and reset the recorded date.
10. On some computers The Quest will simply stop after displaying the initial logo screen. This appears to be the result of timing problem with the playing of the welcome video on certain computer systems. We are still working on a solution to this problem. In the interim, the following workaround should enable The Quest to run. Go to the folder '<quest_installation>\custom' (where '<quest_installation>' is the name of the folder into which The Quest has been installed, by default this will be 'C:\Program Files\Damaris Publishing\The Quest') and locate the file 'welcome.mpg'. Rename this file to 'welcome.bak'. Restart The Quest and it should now run correctly (but without the opening video).
11.
If you see the following error message "16 bit Windows Subsystem c:/windows/system323/autoexec.nt
The system file is not suitable for running MS_DOS and Microsoft Windows applications."
then you may have a corrupted autoexec.nt file. One of the following procedures should resolve this problem:
a) The easiest way to fix this is to get the backup copy from c:\windows\repair and copy it over into c:\windows\system32.
b) Should than not work another option is to find the original Windows installation CD or folder, start a command prompt and type the following:
expand x:\i386\autoexec.nt c:\windows\system32\autoexec.nt (where x: is the CD drive letter or the location of the installation folder).
c) If all this fails then there is a utility called XP_FIX at www.visualtour.com/downloads which fixes the problem.
12. Some users may see the message "Run-time error '35756'" when attempting to download updates for The Quest and the update will fail. This occurs when Microsoft Internet Explorer v7 is installed on the user's system. To fix this problem download and run this patch installer.
13. We have received a report that the Quest's video content does not work on PCs running Windows Vista. We are currently working on a fix for this, which will be available here when it is completed.
IMPORTANT... If you encounter any other problems please do the following:
1. Look for the file called 'quest.trc' - this will normally be in C:\Documents and Settings\Login ID\Application Data\Damaris Publishing\The Quest - where "Logon ID" is the username you use to login to Windows.
2. Send this file to tech@ethosgames.com with a brief description of any error messages you see and what The Quest was doing when the error occurred.
3. Look back here for the solution to that problem. We are committed to solving any bugs as soon as possible