Redguard:Technical Tips

This page contains technical tips for Redguard.

Installation Notes
; Demo Conflicts : Prior to installing the full-version game, uninstall the demo (via the Add/Remove Programs panel in the Control Panel) or the game will not run.
; Game Size: The installed game require roughly 350MB initially, with more space required as you save games. The average save game is 2MB or more, thus, it is advised that extra space be reserved on the hard drive for saves. Running the game without the compact disc will require a further 480MB on which to store the movies. In all, the game can easily take up 500MB to 1GB.
; Registry Entries: The game creates a number of registry entries when installing the game. They are stored in the path HKLM/SOFTWARE/BETHESDA/REDGUARD (HKLM stands for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE).  The specified CD-ROM drive is only used by the Windows options program. Saved in-game settings are registered in the SYSTEM.INI file in the Redguard install directory.

Running Without the CD
Primarily of importance to those with a slow CD-ROM drive, running without the CD will prevent in-game clipping when a movie or animated sequence is rendered. By copying the movies to the hard drive, movie playback and general gameplay speed may be greatly improved. The following details how to do so:
# Reserve 480MB on a drive within your computer. This is the minimum amount of space required to copy all the files from the second CD.
# Create a directory in which the files may be stored. Any name will suffice, so long as you can easily remember it; for instance C:\Redguard\cdrom\.
# Copy the files from the second CD to the directory you created. It is imperative that the empty RedBook sub-directory be copied as well.
# Edit the SYSTEM.INI file in the primary Redguard directory. Find the line animation_drive. It should, by default, point to your current or main CD-ROM drive. Do not change this entry, rather, copy it below such and change that path to match the directory created above. For instance, assuming the directory created was C:Redguard\cdrom\, the SYSTEM.INI file should look like this:   animation_path=h:\ animation_path=C:\Redguard\cdrom\   
# Play the game. While you may continue using the main Redguard startup program to change the game options, you will be unable to run Redguard via such, as the program searches for the CD in the drive, and will not start without such. In lieu of the main startup, you will be required to run either of the PIF files: RG3DFX.PIF or RG.PIF, depending on your system. Do not attempt to directly run the EXE files or your game will be frozen. You may be required to modify the path entries (exactly as above in the INI file) in the PIF files for the game to run properly.
Note: Although this process works, on occasion the dual-path line causes in-game conflicts. To circumvent such, you may need to edit the file each time you play to point to the correct directory.

Screenshots
In-game screenshots may be taken by pressing ALT+F1. Doing so will create a screenshot in bitmap (BMP) format. Windows 95 and 98 users may make use of the Print Screen key to capture images to the clipboard, which may then be pasted to the image editor of your choice.

Redguard saves the number of screenshots taken each time the game is loaded or a save-game resumed, and begins at "1" every time. As such, it is easy to overwrite existing screenshots. For instance, should screenshots be taken, the character perish, a save game be reloaded, and new screenshots be taken, the old images will be overwritten. This may be avoided by exiting the program and saving those screenshots you desire to retain in a separate directory.

Voodoo 3 fix
The game has issues with corrupted in-game textures if you run the game on a Voodoo 3 graphics card. Apparently the XnGine that Redguard uses has issues with this card. The fix for this is to download the Voodoo Banshee drivers, version 1.02.03. Then decompress the drivers, do not install them. Once you have decompressed them, you need to copy over all the decompressed files named glide*.*(all the files starting with the name glide) into the folder you installed Redguard into. If done correctly, the game will run fine, and textures will not be corrupted. To make sure you have the correct version, you can look for the spinning 3dfx logo at the beginning. This is only showed on the driver that works.

See Also