Payback (Amiga)

Download and install Warp3D v4.2. You can download it by clicking here.

Make sure you have plenty of RAM and BPPCFix running. Also, you should avoid using Exec V44 as it can cause instability problems with some PPC/W3D programs. Finally, make sure you've downloaded the latest update as Update 4 had several bugs that could cause it crash on some machines.

There seems to be a bug in Cybergraphx alpha pre11 which causes lots of software (Payback, Shogo, GLQuake and probably others) to fail. Go back to an earlier version of CGX until a fixed version of CGX is released.

When the PPC version is first run it will need to generate the gouraud shading tables. This will take about ten minutes - if you flick back to the workbench screen by pressing Amiga-M you will be able to see how far through the process the game has got. Also make sure you have downloaded the latest update.

Disable ModePro or any other similar mode promotion utilities.

Voodoo3 has a maximum texture size of 256x256 and Update 4 used textures larger than this. Download the latest update to fix this problem.

This is caused by a bug in the OS3.9 unarc command. You should unarchive the demo using lha instead. To do this, type 'lha x PaybackDemo.lha' in the directory you wish to install the demo to.

This is caused by using Blizkick to install the OS3.5 ROM modules instead of SetPatch. This causes SetPatch (which is automatically called before running Payback) to reset the machine in order to install the ROM updates itself. You can fix this by changing the line in the 'PaybackDemo' script or the 'Payback' script (whichever is appropriate) from 'setpatch >NIL:' to 'setpatch NOROMUPDATE >NIL:'. Alternatively, you can download the fix from here if you've got the demo or here if you've got the full game.

This is caused by a typing mistake in the English language files that were included with the early versions of the demo. This problem does not occur in the full game. Download the latest (fixed) version of the demo here.

The most common reason for this is incorrectly entered device and unit numbers. Remember that the device name should be something like 'atapi.device' - not 'CD0:'. Check that the settings are the same as those on any other software you have that correctly plays audio CDs.

This is caused by entering an incorrect device or unit number on the 'CD Audio Setup' screen. However, if you try to change either of them then you may find that your harddisk is unmounted or the game crashes. To get around this, you should delete Payback's config file (S:Payback.config), run PaybackSetup (to choose a screen) and then run the game. When the game prompts you for your CD drive's device and unit number, make sure you either enter the correct values or click on 'done' without entering anything.

The game uses lowlevel.library to detect and use CD32 pads. Unfortunately, lowlevel.library has a bug that can cause it to be unable to detect CD32 controllers on some 040 and 060 based machines. Download "SetJoyPort" from Aminet to fix the problem. Another possibility is that you're using an automatic mouse/joystick switcher which can stop the program from being able to detect your CD32 pad. Try plugging the CD32 pad directly into your machine to see if that fixes the problem.

This seems to be caused by a program called SlowReset. Disable this and everything should work correctly.

A few things to check:

• Make sure you have at least 15Mb of free fast RAM when you run the game - if you don't then the game will start to use chip RAM which will decrease the framerate significantly.
• Avoid using DBLPAL or DBLNTSC screenmodes - they use up a lot of chip RAM bandwidth, which will slow the game down. If possible you should use PAL or NTSC screenmodes instead (unless you're using a graphics card in which case you should stick to using that).
• If 320x240 is smooth but too blocky for your tastes, but 640x480 is too slow, try setting up an intermediate screenmode such as 480x384.
• Try scaling the screen using the + and - keys. You will need to download a recent version of the game or demo for this to work. This feature is disabled when using hardware rendering.
• Don't bother disabling lens flares if you're trying to speed the game up - it won't make a noticeable difference to the framerate, so you might as well leave them on (unless you don't like them, of course :).
• Turn down the sound volume to 0 on the in-game options screen. This will turn off sound mixing and speed the game up by approximately 30%. You will need to download a recent version of the game or demo for this to work.

One possible reason is a clash with the mroocheck.driver (for using a PC mouse). Disable the driver (mroocheck.driver QUIT) and the game should run without any problems. Also, make sure you have downloaded the latest version of the game or demo as earlier versions can be unstable on some machines.

This was an oversight on my part. Download the fixed version of the game from here or the demo from here.

Unfortunately, the driver software for the Power Flyer and FastATA4000 interfaces locks up the whole machine (rather than just the calling task, which the game is designed to cope with) when the CD track is changed. Since this is not a problem with Payback I am unable to fix it, but you can work around the problem by changing the Playback mode on the CD Audio Setup screen to Continuous (which will reduce the frequency of the problem because the CD track will not be changed every time you switch vehicle) or Off (which will disable CD playback altogether).

Have you got the latest version of lha? Make sure you use this to decompress the demo otherwise you may get problems.

Assuming you have downloaded the latest update, the most likely cause is a clash between the installer (which is the standard commodore installer so I'm not entirely sure why there seems to be a problem on some machines) and some CD drives which can cause some files to be incorrectly copied. Try copying the contents of the 'Payback' subdirectory of your CD to a new directory on your harddisk by hand to fix the problem. The 'Payback.info' file is kept in the 'Icon' subdirectory of the Payback CD.