Outcast Options Help

Hi Gang, need help with Outcast. I have the North American version so no patch needed from what I gather. I've installed & it plays just fine. My problem lies in the Options. I've tried to access the options menus but only get as far as the first menu. The first option menu which allows the changing of the mouse buttons, general volume, etc. IN that menu there's buttons along both sides that are supposed to bring you to other options menus, like game settings - the one that turns on the stinkin' subtitles & allows programming of joystick buttons. Those buttons in the menu are lit up but will not "click" or change to another option menu. Any ideas? I really want subtitles & I would like to program some buttons on the joystick.

Love, Jen

Jen

I just loaded in Outcast to see what was what and naturally my Options work just fine. I clicked on one of the icons on the right (I think it was the one on top) and got the screen that let me click for subtitles. Are you clicking on the up and down arrows to the left to change the screens? If that's a dumb question - sorry - not exactly sure why it's not working for you.

Yep clicking away at both the arrows on the left of the "bubble screen menu" & the lit up icon buttons on the right side. They're evident...just not functioning. What is UP with my game. Hmph. I'm not far so I think I'm going to try un & re-installing & see if that doesn't fix it. I'm really needing those subtitles with the alien languages & the heavy accents. I'll be back.... Thanks for checking tho, Syd.

Love, Jen

Ok, back. Didn't fix it.
Did notice one more thing, however....
The menu that pops up when I select Options from the starting main menu contains Mouse Sensitivity, Volume, & Music vs. Sound-effects. None of the things work except OK. If I try to use any of the slider bars the whole menu picks up & moves (like moving a window with the blue bar at the top). Even cancel doesn't work. sigh. I guess I just have to become a VERY good listener. When IN the game I can adjust the volume & whatnot I just cant program joystick keys or get subtitles. Well, at least I can play, right?

Love, Jen

AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!! I spoke too soon. Sure I can play but only for the current session I'm in. My saves wont load. Same deal as the options screen. No active stuff, clicking on the game to load does nothing except pick up the entire menu & move it. HELP!!! This game is WAY too long & involved to play straight thru. Plus I'm sure there's death. I just haven't found it yet. It seems like a yummy game, too. <img border="0" alt="" title="" src="graemlins/cry.gif" /> Why wont my menus work??? <img border="0" alt="" title="" src="graemlins/cry.gif" />

I've reinstalled & rebooted, and closed all TSR's so that ain't it. Any other ideas?

Love, Jen

Try the patch.

Jen, this is a strange glitch I hadn't heard of before. Have you checked the support page for the game? I don't see anything that might help, but you can email their support.

http://www.ina-support.com/faq/outcast_pc.asp

By the way, I recently found that when I tried to play Outcast on my faster 1 gig machine, the Twon-ha won't move. Below 800 mhz, you are probably okay.

Pokey, I combed the site before coming here. Didn't find anything useful & I've emailed support but haven't heard back. I've decided to just move on to another game in the meantime...more woes, now DOS!

Jenny, you are a riot! Maybe I will if tech support doesn't have anything good to tell me, or say anything at all. Watch the patch solve it.

Love, Jen

It might be possible to edit the game manually. I remember it had a lot of .ini files.

The game isn't trying to run off the CD is it? If it tries to change the configuration on the CD or save files to it, it will fail.

About saving ...

Late last night after I'd gone to bed I happened to remember that I had problems saving when I first played Outcast. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with the game. It was because the procedure for saving wasn't quite what I was expecting. There was an extra click on something or an extra Enter that I hadn't done. Maybe I had to click on something and then type in the name and then Enter it. Or there may have been an extra Enter in there.

Also, are you using a joystick? It may be that the game doesn't support your joystick. Have you tried using just the keyboard?

Ok, I've NEARLY got the game working! Atari tech support(formerly Infogrames) has been talking me through various "fixes": ditched the joystick, updating drivers, updating DirectX, disabling TSR's, lowering graphics acceleration, blah blah blah. Nothing worked. Not their fault, they've been very helpful & I've learned a lot!

I still can't get subtitles, nor really use any of the menus, except the "Start New Game" on the main menu, but I discovered that I can save & load from WITHIN the game. I never had a problem saving, it was the loading from the main load menu that wouldn't work. So I just Start New Game every time & my old saves are there for loading from within the game! Yippee!!!! Now if I can just get the playing screen back to full sized. It's only about 3 x 5 notecard sized at the moment.

Just wanted to post incase anyone else had this odd problem.

Love, Jen

Did you try reducing your desktop resolution to 640x480 before starting the game? It sounds like the game might not be working properly with your version of DirectX if it doesn't resize the screen for you automatically.

Jenny, per the Techie at Atari, I downloaded & installed DX-9.1a about a week ago. I still had a big screen. Last night I did the final 2 things he asked. Changed screen size to 640x480 & lowered graphics acceleration to basic. That's when the screen decided to shrink. I'm going to try to undo those things & see if it doesn't fix it. I just wish I would have thought of loading the darn game from within the game loooong ago. Well, at least it's running & I can save...I just need to use a microscope to play at the moment! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Razz]" src="tongue.gif" /> I'll get you my pretty & your little Twon-Ha too!

Love, Jen

Later....ok, I undid the graphics acceleration & the screen size & it brought it up to a nice 5x8 larger notecard size but still not full screen.
I'll keep trying & if anyone has any ideas, please post 'em here!!!

Outcast is unusual in that the highest resolution possible is, I believe, 512x384, and is set in the game menu. It might be defaulting to an even lower resolution and it sounds like it is not being resized to fit your screen.