Letters @~Any letters sent to me that aren't marked 'not for publication' @~and which deal with adventure-related matters will be considered @~for inclusion, maybe being edited in the process. ------------------------------------------------------------------ @~Loads of letters this issue which is great - keep 'em coming! @~First a possible solution for problems with text size in SynWin @~from: Keith W Adam, Edinburgh I am one of those who had encountered the problem of small (absolutely flippin' tiny) text in the articles in SynWin and was certain that the solution you described in the latest edition of the magazine would cure my ailment! To my dismay, no such luck. Having decided to surrender to the apparently inevitable, I moved on to other, more mundane tasks. During this, I encountered some problems with a new old game I was installing (Myst) which decided it did not like the video driver I was using (one which was supplied with my Trident Video Card). In frustration, I reverted to reloading the Windows SVGA driver - and, surprise, surprise, this not only resolved the difficulties with Myst, it sorted out the SynWin text problem as well. Mayhaps, this might be of interest to others in the same situation as I was. Congratulations must go to Alex for SynWin, an excellent invention! @~I was fortunate that I didn't have any problems at all running @~SynWin from the word go. My Windows setup is obviously just @~right for it, though not for SimTower, After Dark and other @~programs. ------------------------------------------------------------------ @~Next a letter from ... Richard Hewison, Luton I read James Judge's fourth RPG instalment with interest. I get the impression that James is a big fan of 'Tag'. Tag co-designed and wrote "Bloodwych" (and the Data Disk), "Legend" (and "Son of the Empire") and he even converted "Captive" to the PC. James did make one small mistake though which I thought I would mention. "Son of the Empire" (the follow up to "Legend") is available for PC and Amiga (and not just PC as stated in the article). James may be interested to know that Tag also wrote "Hexx - Heresy of the Wizard" for Psygnosis about two years ago. This game is actually a subtly altered 'Ultima Underworld' style version of "Bloodwych" for the PC (even though "Bloodwych" was released for the PC back in late 1991!). You can pick it up now for under œ10. The maps and puzzles might be a bit familiar, but it's still quite good to play. Tag is currently writing another game for Sony Interactive (Nee Psygnosis) called "Alpha Storm" which also promises to be a 3D science fiction adventure RPG for the IBM PC. ------------------------------------------------------------------ @~JJ is back ... with a few comments of his own ... From James Judge, East Peckham Dear Sue, Thanks for the last issue of SynTax - great as always! Anyway, here's a letter to reply to a few of the points raised in last issues' letter section and (mainly) to Alex's request for me to shut up once and for all about Dungeon Master. In fact, I think I'll deal with that first of all. Thanks, Alex, for your little hintets on how to write - I'll try to take them on board and incorporate them into my writing style from now on - I'll sweep my opinions under the table and become an unopinionated drone who puts no tongue-in-cheek digs or the faintest glimmer of passion into his articles, if that's the way you'd like it. Anyhow, I'm fed up with the whole thing now. I'm not promising that I'll never mention DM in a negative way again - but I'll try not to go out of my way to slag it off, unless there is a real purpose to the exercise. Oh, and Alex, I hope you read my last RPG guide as I did, in fact, recommend DM over Bloodwych and many other RPGs . Constructive criticism of SynWin. Hey - it's even better being able to use just the keyboard now, thanks Alex. One more little pointer and there'll be no more confusion as to whether I should just continue to install the old Reader program in preference to your funky-with-knobs-on new one. The thing that's putting me off is that every time I load up SynWin I have to either go searching for the SynTax floppy or direct the program through a number of directories to, finally, point it in a runnable direction (as I've put all the issues onto my HDD). This is OK the first time off but for a couple of quick dives into the mag it can be a damned nuisance. Would it be possible to eradicate that by creating a small SYNWIN.INI file which would save your original choice for subsequent loadings? Hope so... Apologies to Jean Childs - I had forgotten all about the teddy bear being reunited with his playmates. Still, what if the owners of the house had become emotionally attached to the thing, huh? How do you think they felt, coming home to find that a complete stranger had been rummaging around their house, peering into their underwear draw , making themselves a cup of tea, using the toilet and not bothering to flush it, leaving the TV on, tracking dirty footprints onto their recently Vaxed carpets and, above all, stealing their sacred teddy bear, who they'd cherished for umpteen years as a member of their own family and hadn't, in fact, placed him under the bed - he'd accidentally fallen off it. Bet you didn't think of that, did you? Oh, and thanks for the hints for DM. As it's such a difficult game, especially that first mummy, I desperately needed the help ;-> And finally... my ethics article was only meant as a joke - to be frank who gives a damn about the monsters - they were put in games to be killed and, by jove, that's what I'm going to do! (Can't get an image of going soft in my old age. ..). All the best, James (the funnier one) PS - Dungeon Master is the wor... . Now, can I say it? Dungeon Master is the b..b..b..b..be..bes....b....best game in the world, ever. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!!!!!!!!!!! Someone strike me down, my nose has just grown ten feet longer and I've come over all guilty... Please God, forgive me! ------------------------------------------------------------------ @~More Win 95 comments from: From Mark Bradshaw, Livingston ...You asked about Windows 95 on a 486DX2-66 with 8 meg of RAM - well this is the configuration my Dad is running with now. He says it is a LOT slower than Windows 3.11 which he had before but it is usable. He uses it with a flat-bed scanner for artwork etc so the PC is not under heavy use - beware for yourself! You might also bear in mind that my Mum's machine, also a 486DX2-66 with 8 meg of RAM, had Windows 95 on it for about a week before it was taken off again. It proved too difficult to get all her games working reliably on it so we scrubbed Win 95 and things are back to normal. Myself - I run it on a Pentium 120mhz with 16 meg of RAM - it's okay but I would prefer to be back with plain DOS: much more reliable! Unfortunately I need to know Win 95 for my job so I have to stick with it. @~It seems to vary very much from one machine to another. I know @~other people running W95 on a 486DX2-66 - even one on a 386 - @~who say it runs fine, no speed problems etc. Maybe it depends on @~TSRs running? I am planning to get another 8 meg of memory so @~maybe that will help. Can't afford a new processor yet ... Sue ------------------------------------------------------------------ @~More on Win95 from Alex van Kaam, The Netherlands 1. Installing Windows 95 It took me 5 hours at a friend's house to install the damn thing. He has a 486 DX2 66 with 8MB. First I installed it over Windows 3.11 and halfway through the whole thing crashed. Next I removed Windows 3.11 and re-installed it clean. Then I tried to install Windows 95 and it was on it in about 30 minutes :) It shows that the best way to install it is over a clean copy of Windows 3.1 or 3.11. Also installing with all components is about 61 mb, you can remove certain things and get it down to about 58 mb but for those 3 mb you gain you can better install the whole thing. 2. CompuServe I heard some rumours from people in MSN who had CompuServe that after installing Windows 95 everything belonging to CompuServe was gone, but as I said, just rumours. ------------------------------------------------------------------ @~I received this Fax from Theo after sending him his prizes for @~guessing Richard's pseudonym. From Theo Clarke, London The nature of my business means that I receive many packages of material for review and comment. For example, your Jiffy bag was just one of three large items today. Its contents, however, were anything but routine and, in this festive season of exciting deliveries, it gave me more pleasure than anything I have received so far this month. Thank you. Dungeon Master is a game that I, unlike most adventurers, have never played but I found the hints book interesting despite this and, even as I type, the Dungeon Master CD is playing in the background. The Future Wars CD was also well-received. I remember playing this game for a magazine review in the late eighties. In those days I used to review several games every month and most of the games are long forgotten. Future Wars is one of the few non-Sierra games that I recall fondly. Finally the Rise of the Robots T-shirt also pleases me. Again, I have not played this game (was it any good?) but I used to print T-shirts and still do the occasional design (most recently I have been selling hand-drawn T-shirts to scuba divers). This is a smart design on a good-quality shirt so it will be stretched across my tummy real soon now! Please pass my thanks to Richard/Roy. @~I'm glad you liked all your prizes, Theo, and congratulations @~once again on behalf of Richard, Roy and myself! @~Theo also had some comments on SynTax. I have been working my way through copies of SynTax dating back as far as #31 and I thought that I would share my thoughts with you. #31 Your response of three single sales and one Oklib's Revenge from a mailing to 50 people is pretty good. Direct mail response levels of 5% are considered to be pretty good and you got 8%. #32 I like to see a full index each issue. #35-36 The Star Wars saga was fascinating. I don't know what Richard's sources were but the results were really entertaining. #36 The PBM article was particularly interesting to me ... PBM is my business ... well, part of my business! The distribution of SynTax articles is really disappointing. Did you track down the leak, I wonder? @~Nope, I've got my suspicions though ... I delight in the tag lines. These things are usually too repetitive but splitting the tags up by letter divided them into easily assimulable entertaining slices. @~Unfortunately I have lost contact with Simon who was sending @~them in so that section has had to stop. How I Started Adventuring is a neat series. I wish that I can remember how I started. I remember Colossal Caves on an IBM mainframe in the seventies. I also remember my father coming home with a Tandy TRS-80. We typed in BASIC programs and, eventually, we bought a Scott Adams adventure. Could it have been called Vampire Island? @~I remember seeing some HP3000 minicomputer games in the early @~80s - Mansion and Warp. Warp was especially good. Anyone know @~if a 'home' version was ever available? ------------------------------------------------------------------ @~Richard had been playing Drearcliff Manor and brought up this @~point in a letter to me. From Richard Batey, Pontypool ...One point the game indirectly brings up is that of Registration. I am 'one of those people' who would like to register their shareware adventures when I finally get to play them but the problem is that most of them are American. I am sure I read an article somewhere giving advice on the best way to send money overseas but cannot find it. Could I call on one of your readers to maybe write an article on the subject which you may like to include in the information section of SynTax. Just a thought. @~Briefly, I always send dollar bills abroad, inside a folded @~letter (so they aren't visible through the envelope) and so far @~haven't had any go astray. I buy the dollars from my building @~society every so often and have sent up to $60 this way. Bank @~drafts are so expensive for sending small amounts (œ6 a draft, I @~believe). The Woolwich building society charge a small amount @~regardless of how much you get. Last time I was charged œ1.50 @~for $120 in mixed $1, $5 and $10 bills; the time before it was @~the same handling charge for $40. For extra security, it is a @~good idea to register the letter though I must admit I have @~always just risked it! Remember to check by writing first that @~the author is still at that address before sending money abroad. ------------------------------------------------------------------ @~Advice needed from ... Bill Commons, Margate I have bought a modem and joined the Internet but so far I am not all that impressed. It is like a great big library with lots of information, rather like reading an encyclopaedia or a newspaper. I haven't found any adventure pages yet but the RPG pages seem to be about online game. @~Can anyone help direct Bill to some suitable sections? I wonder if you can help me? I need a program to use with my PC to access a BBS that uses Viewdata like Micronet. I have always used my BBC with a built in ROM but it seems silly not to use the faster modem that I now have. I have asked a couple of people on the BBS but although they said that they would sort something out, I did not get anything. I have seen commercial progs but they do not give a price and I don't want to spend a lot of money for travel agents' type set up. @~Can anyone help Bill with his quest for Viewdata software? If @~so, let me know and I'll pass on the info. ------------------------------------------------------------------ @~Finally a bit more on Windows 95 From David Froude, Shepperton I find Windows 95 a bit of a pain with regard to DOS usage as the Windows 95 boot does not require an autoexec.bat and I have not yet sorted out how to call up the CD-ROM and sound drivers in the Windows 95 DOS only mode. However in most cases, the boot disks with their menus take me right into the game without clicking between various modes of operation. The next move must be to master the Windows 95 boot up and arrange a menu before all of Windows 95 is loaded. Perhaps there are some experts among your readers in this area. On the whole I like Windows 95 as it is very similar to the Amiga environment and when adventure programs are written for the Windows 95 more I am sure it will be a great step forwards. @~I am hoping for a number of Windows 95 articles in the near @~future from readers who have upgraded to it. Any contributions @~will be welcome. I gather several W95-specific games are on the @~way including Magic The Gathering, and Zork Nemesis. - o -