| General
Below are the answers to the most frequent technical questions regarding the game Mia's Science Adventure (Romaine's New Hat). If you cannot find a solution to your problem here, please please use our online support form.
Q: How can I determine what version of the game I have?
A: The version number of your game is printed on each disk, just left of the Copyright information on the edge. The version number starts with a letter "V" and is followed by 2 or 3 digits separated by dots.
Example: V 1.0.1.
Q: How can we play Disk 2?
A: The second disk is really the second half of your Mia game. When your child will have completed the first disk, the game will prompt you to insert disk 2 in order to resume the adventure. As requested, insert disk 2 and click on the Go button displayed on your screen.
Q: How can we save our progress in the game?
A: You can access the save menu by pressing the F3 key on your keyboard. In the save menu screen, all you need to do is click in one of the available game slots. The next time you play, the introduction menu will be changed and you will be able to load back your saved game(s).
Macintosh Specific
Q: I get an error message when trying to install the game under the new Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger). What can I do?
A: If you have the new Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) operating system, you may see an error message saying:
"Not all files have copied properly" or "The program has not been installed"...
If it is the case, you will need to download the updated version of the installation program from the Web page at this address:
http://www.kutoka.com/_en/support_TIGER.html
Just click on the above link to get there.
Q: Can we play the game in Mac OS X?
A: Mia's Science Adventure (Romaine's New Hat) should run normally inside the Classic emulator that ships with Mac OS X 10.2 and above. However, for the game to run adequately, your computer will need to be equipped with a minimum of 256Mb of RAM. Here are the steps to follow in order to play your game:
1. Click on System Preferences... in the Apple menu.
The system preferences panel appears on your screen.
2. Click on Startup Disk in the System row.
The startup disk preferences appear in the panel.
3. Click on the Mac OS 9 folder.
Note: You may need to unlock the setting with an administrative password.
4. Click on the Restart... button.
A confirmation window appears on your screen.
5. Click the Restart button to confirm.
6. Install your Mia game normally once inside Mac OS 9.
After the installation, follow these last few steps to go back to Mac OS X.
1. Click on Startup Disk in the Control Panel submenu of the Apple menu.
The startup disk panel appear on your screen.
2. Click on the Mac OS X folder.
3. Click on the Restart button.
A confirmation window appears on your screen.
4. Click the Restart button to confirm.
Windows Specific
Q: The sound is distorted. What could be wrong?
A: Quicktime 4 does not work well with some sound cards when using the DirectSound output setting. To resolve this problem, we recommend that you download the latest version of the free QuickTime player at this address:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/
If you do not have access to the Internet, follow this procedure:
1. Click on Control Panel in the Start menu.
The Control Panel window is displayed on your screen. By default with Windows XP, the items inside the window will be shown by "Categories". If that is the case, click on Switch to Classic View in the upper left corner of the window. With the other versions of Windows, you are already in classic view by default.
2. Double-click on the QuickTime icon inside the Control Panel window.
A new window named QuickTime Settings appears on your screen.
3. Click on the black triangle just right of About QuickTime to scroll down the list of settings. Click on Sound Out in the list of settings.
4. Select WaveOut as the Playback Device instead of DirectSound.
Note: If you have more than one WaveOut options, select the one named Windows Preferred Device.
5. Close the QuickTime Settings window by clicking on the X button in the upper right corner of the window.
The new settings are not saved. You can start your Mia game the usual way.
Q: Mia's sentences are cut before the end. What could be wrong?
A: Quicktime 4 does not work well with some sound cards when using the DirectSound Audio Hardware Acceleration. To resolve this problem, we recommend that you download the latest version of the free QuickTime player at this address:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/
If you do not have access to the Internet, follow this procedure:
1. Click on Control Panel in the Start menu. (Under Settings with Windows 98, ME, 2000 and directly on the menu with Windows XP)
The Control Panel window is displayed on your screen. By default with Windows XP, the items inside the window will be shown by "Categories". If that is the case, click on Switch to Classic View in the upper left corner of the window. With the other versions of Windows, you are already in classic view.
2. Click on Sound and audio devices (or Sound and Multimedia).
A properties window appears on your sceen.
3. In this window, click on the Audio tab and then click on the Advanced Settings... button of the playback device (the first one at the top).
A second properties window appears on your screen.
4. In this new window, click on the Performance tab.
5. Set the Audio Hardware Acceleration to Standard by sliding the cursor one notch to the left.
6. Click the OK button to save the changes and close the window. You can also close the other windows we have opened.
You can now start your game as usual.
Note: If this modification does not resolve the issue, you will need to set the Audio Hardware Acceleration to None by sliding the cursor completely to the left.
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Windows Specific (continued)
Q: A message tells me "This Application cannot run." when I insert Disk 1 in my CD-ROM drive. I cannot install the game on my Windows XP computer. What can I do?
A: Follow these steps to work around this issue:
1. Click on My Computer in the Start menu.
The My Computer window appears on the screen.
2. With the right mouse button, click on the Mia CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive icon.
A context menu appears on the screen.
3. Click on Open in the menu.
The contents of the Mia disk appears on your screen.
4. With the right mouse button, click on the Install icon (the icon of Mia the mouse).
A context menu appears on the screen.
5. Click on Properties in the menu.
A properties window appears on your screen.
6. Click on the Compatibility tab inside the window.
7. Check the box named "Run this program in compatibility mode for: " and select Windows 2000 or Windows 98 in the list just below.
8. Click on the OK button to save the modification.
The properties window closes. You can now re-insert the disk in your CD-ROM drive to start the installation program.
Q: The installation does not work. I get a "Script Error" under Windows 2000 and XP. Why?
A: Only versions V 1.0.3 (September 2001) and above can be installed on Windows 2000 and XP. All previous versions are incompatibles with a Windows 2000 or XP computer.
However, the problem being related to the installation program only, a manual installation of the game will make it possible to play it normally. If this manual installation does not produce the expected result, contact Kutoka's technical support.
Q: How can we proceed to a manual installation of Mia's Science Adventure (Romaine's New hat) version V 1.0.2?
A: Follow these steps:
1. After inserting Disk 1 in your CD-ROM drive, double-click on My Computer in the Start menu. With Windows 2000, there is a My Computer icon right on your desktop.
A window showing the different drives of your computer ( (A:), (C:), (D:) etc. ) appears on your screen.
2. Locate your CD-ROM drive in this window (has the Mia CD icon in it) and click on it with the right mouse button.
A context menu pops up on the screen.
3. Click on Open with the usual left mouse button.
The contents of Disk 1 is displayed. You see various folders and files.
4. Locate the folder named Mia2_Win (the one with a folder icon) and double-click it to open it.
The contents of the folder is displayed. You see a folder name Mia2.
5. Select the folder named Mia2 with your mouse.
The folder is now highlighed.
6. Click on Copy in the Edit menu of the window. (The window has different menus at the top, such as File, Edit, Help etc.)
7. Naviguate back to the first level in the My Computer window by clicking the Back button twice and then open your (C:) local hard disk by double-cliking it. (This is where we will place the folder we selected at step 5.)
8. Make sure you are at the root of your (C:) drive and click on Paste in the Edit menu of the My Computer window.
A file transfer window appears on your screen. The window goes away when all files have been copied from Disk 1 to your computer. You see the Mia2 folder at the root of your (C:) drive inside the My Computer window.
9. Double-click the Mia2 folder to open it.
The contents of the folder is displayed.
10. Create a shortcut on your desktop by dragging the Mia2 program file (the icon of Mia the mouse) using the right mouse button. Upon releasing the right mouse button where you want the shortcut, click on Create a shortcut here in the context menu that pops up on your screen.
Voila! To start playing, double-click the shortcut that you just created.
Note: You may have to install QuickTime if it is not already installed on your computer. To do it, double-click on the QuickTime folder on Disk 1 and then double-click the QT32 program file. Follow the instructions on the screen.
Q: I have Windows XP and when I insert Disk 2 in my CD-ROM drive, I see a new window appearing on the screen and this puts me back on the desktop. Is this normal?
A: No. If this happens, just close it by clicking the X button in the top right corner of the window. This will put you back inside the full screen game window where you will be able to click on the Go button to continue on the second disk.
Q: I installed the game successfully, however as soon as I try to launch the game by clicking on the "Play" button or on the game shortcut, I get an error message. What's wrong?
A: With certain new Windows XP computers, the game will not be able to switch to 256 color mode on its own. Follow this procedure to resolve this:
1. Click on My Computer in the Start menu.
The My Computer window comes up on your screen.
2. Double-click on the local hard disk (C:).
The contents of the disk appears on your screen.
3. Double-click on the Mia2 folder.
The contents of the folder appears on your screen.
4. Click on the Mia2 icon with the right-mouse button. (the icon shows Mia the mouse).
A context menu shows up on your screen.
5. Click on Properties in the menu.
A properties window appears on the screen.
6. Click on the Compatibility tab in the window.
7. Check the box labelled "Run in 256 color mode" in the Display Properties.
8. Click the OK button to save the new settings.
The properties window closes. You can now start the game the usual way. |
