Message-ID: <lairdo-0204961124140001@u71.activision.com>
Organization: Creative Learning Technologies
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References: <4jmiaf$m5v@shell.one.net> <4jn3ad$jnd@nnrp1.news.primenet.com>
From: lairdo@cltc.com (Laird Malamed)
Subject: Re: Anyone have "Nemesis" yet? Thoughts?
Date: 02 Apr 1996 19:24:08 +0000
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Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
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In article <4jn3ad$jnd@nnrp1.news.primenet.com>, sir-m@primenet.com wrote:


> As a note.  Activision claims you need a 486/66, 8 meg of ram and a 16
> bit soundcard to play the game.  In their documentation they whole
> heartedly endorse Windows95 as the best game platform around and that
> the game is best experienced playing under W95.
> 
> Now, I've got a true 486/50 (not a dx2/50), SoundBlaster Pro (8 bit)
> and 20 meg of ram.
> 
> Under 95 the game was almost impossible to play.  Certain sections I
> couldn't even do anything in because of how slow the game played.
> Now, I've got w95 configured as well as it can be.
> 
> So, I tried it under DOS.  The DOS version runs beautifully on my
> machine.  I've only experienced one voice stutter under DOS, whereas
> under w95 it stuttered continuously.
> 
> Also, note that the packaging claims SoundBlaster Pros are not
> supported.  However Soundblaster Pro drivers come with Zork Nemesis.
> 
> If you buy the game, play it under DOS.  It'll be smoother.


I'm Laird Malamed and I was the technical director on Zork Nemesis.

In terms of your set up, I am glad you are able to run the game with your
486/50.  We do not official support this configuration, but I'm pleased
you are able to run the game - the 20 megs helps a lot.

In terms of the Windows95 endoresement, the windows version contains more
background sounds and animations, so we suggest it because of this. 
However, the DOS version contains every puzzle and story element, so there
is nothing missing from the overall gameplay.

In terms of the 8 bit sound card, we have not tested the majority of 8 bit
cards, but many will work, although they are probably creating a cpu hit
by downsampling our 16 bit audio on the fly.  This is likely the reason
that Win95 is not working for you on your system - DirectSound is not very
goood at this conversion and you may notice poor sound quality (even in
DOS) in general due to this.  We included the SoundBlaster Pro drivers as
part of the standard driver package that we used in the DOS version.

If you any further questions, please let me know.

Laird
