To assist you in the troubleshooting of your support issue, please complete the following tasks before emailing customer support. These basic troubleshooting techniques will often solve PC game problems without the need for additional support.

Basic Troubleshooting Tips
Make sure that your PC specifications meet the titles requirements. Information about the title can be found either on the side or at the back of every game box or inside the game manual. To ensure that your pc meets the minimum specs, you may open up the Direct X Diagnostic Tool will show enough information to determine if the title is suitable.

To open this program, click on START > RUN > then type DXDIAG and click OK.

Once it is open, it will display a list of tabs that show the system specifications.

The only tabs that contain the necessary information are the SYSTEM, DISPLAY and SOUND tab.

The SYSTEM tab will display the operating system, the amount of memory that is available and the version of DirectX being used as well as the Operating system you are using. Noting the Operating system is important for tech support when applying solutions, installing patches to your PC for games, or updating video and sound drivers for your PC.

The DISPLAY tab is vital to check as it shows information on the particular Video Card being used. It will show what type of card is being used, the amount of memory that the card has and the current driver that is being used.

The SOUND tab will display the type of sound card being used and the current driver being used.

Compatibility

Games that were not designed to run under Windows XP, but that WERE designed to run under Windows 95 or 98 may POSSIBLY work in Windows XP Compatibility mode. This must be handled on a per-application basis:

Find the executable file for the game. This is the actual EXE that is launched to run the game, not the shortcut. This should be located in the folder in which you installed the game.
Right-click on the EXE and select "Properties" from the pop-up menu.
Click the "Compatibility" tab.
In the top third of the window, you will see a checkbox labelled, "Run this program in compatibility mode for…" Check that box.
This will activate a dropdown list with the following options. Select the Operating System you wish XP attempt to emulate when running this program:

Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows NT
Windows 2000

Click "OK" to close the window, and then launch the game normally.

Graphics and Game Crashing

In regards to graphical errors or game crashing while loading and during game-play, it is mainly due to not having the latest video drivers and DirectX. It is also necessary to have the current drivers for your sound card as this has been known to cause games to crash.

Update video drivers in Windows

First determine what type of video card you have. To do this:
Click START
Click RUN
In the box type DXDIAG Click OK. This will bring up the DirectX Diagnostic Tool
When the tool finishes loading, click the DISAPLAY tab.
In the Device section, next to Name is the name of your video card. The Manufacturer is the company that manufactured your video card. To find the latest driver go to the manufacturer's web site. You should have a support section or a driver section where you can find the drivers for the device listed in DXDIAG.

Some of the main videocard manufacturer’s include
Nvidia www.nvidia.com
ATI www.ati.com

Follow the instructions on the manufacturer's web site to download and install the latest drivers. If you can't find a driver or the manufacturer's site, refer to the documentation that came with the video card hardware or your computer for support.

Update Sound drivers in Windows

First determine what type of sound card you have. To do this:
Click START
Click RUN
In the box type DXDIAG Click OK. This will bring up the DirectX Diagnostic Tool
When the tool finishes loading, click the SOUND tab.
In the Device section, next to Name is the name of your video card. The Manufacturer is the company that manufactured your sound card. To find the latest driver go to the manufacturer's web site. You should have a support section or a driver section where you can find the drivers for the device listed in DXDIAG.

Follow the instructions on the manufacturer's web site to download and install the latest drivers. If you can't find a driver or the manufacturer's site, refer to the documentation that came with the hardware for your computer for support.

Update DirectX

To download the latest version of DirectX, please go to www.microsoft.com/directx and follow the instructions from the site.
Please note that once you update Direct X you may need to update your video and sound drivers to enable functionality with newer games.

Closing Applications

Some of the errors that occur during installation are usually having additional programs running the background. The most common issue it that you may have is antivirus software running at the same time. During installation we recommend that you temporarily close extra applications and services.

To temporarily close any extra applications and services running in the background in Windows XP:

1. Hold down the Ctrl+Alt+Delete keys simultaneously on your keyboard.
2. This will bring up the Task Manager. If it brings up Windows Security, click the Task Manager button.
3. Click the Applications tab. This will list programs currently running on your system
4. Hold down the Ctrl key on the keyboard and click each program to highlight it.
5. When all the programs are highlighted, hit the End Task button. If you get any messages that state the program is not responding, hit End Task again.
6. Now click the Processes tab. Click the bar that says User Name to sort the list.
7. Click on any of the processes except EXPLORER and TASKMGR that have your login name in the User Name column. Then click End Process. Click Yes on the Task Manager Warning. Repeat this step to remove all processes that are under your login name except EXPLORER and TASKMGR.
This should temporarily close any conflicting background applications. These applications will start up again when you reboot.

To prevent extra applications and services from loading during startup in Windows XP:
1. Click Start then Run
2. In the box type MSCONFIG and click OK. This will bring up the System Configuration Utility.
3. Click the Startup tab. This displays a list of all non-vital applications and processes that are loaded during startup.
4. Click the Disable All button to uncheck these items.
5. Click OK. When you are prompted to restart, click Yes
Upon reboot, these applications will not start. Try the game with these disabled. If it works, then one of these programs may be conflicting. Open MSCONFIG using the process above and recheck these programs using the process of elimination to determine the conflicting program.

To undo the above changes:
1. Click Start then Run
2. In the box type MSCONFIG and click OK. This will bring up the System Configuration Utility.
3. On the General tab, click the dot next to Normal Startup
4. Click OK. When you are prompted to restart, click Yes
This will restart your computer with all the background applications re-enabled.

Download the latest patches

Game patches are often released for PC games to enable compatibility with new hardware items or to improve performance and functionality of your game software.
To find if you game has a new patch available for it go to the Downloads section of the website or the game product page. If there is a patch available it is highly recommended that you download this patch and install it on your PC immediately.

Running Windows Update

Running Windows Update will maintain your pc with the latest updates from Microsoft to ensure that it is working properly.
To enable Windows Update:

• Click Start
• Click Windows Update
• Follow the on-screen instructions
You can also visit Microsoft's Windows Update site.

Customer Service

For technical support issues, it is imperitive you send us information about your current system so we can assit you with your tech support issue.
To obtain your system specifications please follow the below steps.

- Go to the START menu at the bottom right of the screen.
- Select RUN and type DXDIAG and hit return
- You will see a program come up with the specs of your PC
- Click on the SAVE ALL INFORMATION button and save the file, Dxdiag.txt, to your hard disc.

Please attach this file when sending your email to techsupport.sg@atari.com

Our tech support representatives will endeavour to answer your email enquiry within the next business day.

For any other customer service matters please email sales.sg@atari.com or please call +65 6538 9724