Toonstruck
Setup Walkthrough

by Inferno

System Requirements
* Recommended:
IBM PC Pentium or 100% compatible
16Mb RAM
1Mb SVGA Video Card
4x CD-ROM Drive
16bit Stereo Sound Card

* Minimum:
IBM PC 486/66 or 100% compatible
MS-DOS 5.0 or higher
30Mb free hard disk space
Mouse installed
8Mb RAM
256k SVGA Video Card ( VLB / PCI )
2x CD-ROM Drive
8bit Sound Card

I've been trying to get this game to run properly for the past 2 years on my Windows XP Home Edition (SP1)with incredibly slllooowww video and either nonexistent or brutally choppy audio. However, (there's always a however)  with the help of Colin Snover and Nicht Sehr Gut of Vogons, and my dear internet buddies "krkdnose" of Just Adventure and "metzomagic" of Quandry. While it still isn't perfect, I must say that I'm thoroughly enjoying this game now. I have it running at a respectable rate, and even need my "turbo" program to slow it down for a few of the puzzles. While the audio has a few "pops" in it and occasionally appears to "catch" or "snag" in certain places (usually right before an animated cut scene) I've experienced no crashes. I believe that this game is truly worth all the research and learning I went through from these 4 powerhouse computer techie gurus. 

(and I still didn't have to use DOSBOX,  I know, the day is coming when I'll finally have to use it... but today is NOT that day.) 

Sometimes I wonder if they'll ever know just how much "unknown mentoring" they have taught this little old lady from Texas! Guys, I think all a y'all are just terrific! 

 

 

 

 

To begin with, there's a  lot of things  to gather for this setup. While there aren't any patches per se for ToonStruck, there are a number of utilities that we will need.  Please make sure that you have the following utilities downloaded somewhere to a folder where you can find them easily. I have each of these installed to my Local Disc C drive. 

• Turbo  -  You'll need this later on during certain points in the game

 

• VDMSound 2.0.4 +VDMSound Update 1 + Launchpad.  The setup is based on this version.  Why? Because I'm old and feeble and it works for me. Keep in mind you only need VDMSound 2.0.4 + the VDMSound Update for this game but go ahead and install Launchpad then you will have it for other games that require it as well. 

 

• Visual Fox Pro ODBC Installer  - I don't know why it helps. it just does. 

 

• Uvbe51A  or  UVesa  -  Because you need a vesa driver unless you already have one. 

Install each of these utilities onto your hard drive.  All except for NOLFB.COM  this one we will install into the game folder after we have created it.

.... Ready? Good. 

 

 

Next ... what else?

 

The General Drill.

Within the General Drill,  the important sections to pay attention to are the following for Toonstruck:

• The Acceleration Levels - Mine are set to basic for both Audio & Video.

• File Extensions - These should ALWAYS be showing

• Test your NTVDM & WOW System  - XP's Virtual DOS Machine 

• SP2 Patch - There's a link for the HP DOS Patch. 

• Increase Your Files - Toonstruck is one of those games which needs this.

• The General Drill itself - get those cobwebs out of your system

 

Hmmm, it's gotten pretty large over the last 3 years.  Keep in mind, this is what I  do for my system.  Remember what my specs are and compare them to yours. For example: I have Windows XP Home Edition SP1.  If you have SP2 and haven't used the SP2 fix noted in the General Drill. This game will not run for you. Also it's important to note that this setup is based on a "Pentium" CPU and an nVidia GF2 video card. Although I believe that you may be able to substitute yours later in the CONFIG file. Maybe -- Maybe not, you'll never no until you try.

 

 

 

 

 

...so let's get busy.

 

• Place Toonstruck CD1 into lowest letter value CDROM Drive. Mine is "D"
  

• Click out of the splash screen.
  

• Go To --> Start --> My Computer --> CDROM Drive "D" (or whatever) Right Click --> Choose --> Open.

• Look at what you have on the CD.  Right Click --> INSTALL.BAT -->Select --> Properties --> Compatibility.  Make sure everything is setup as it is in the figure below. 

• Click Apply. Click OK.
  

• Next Right Click on  the .exe files  each in their turn--> DOS4GW.EXE and SETUP.EXE files  and follow the table below.
  

 

Program	Run	Maximized
	Close on exit	unchecked
Memory	Conventional Memory	Total = AUTO Protected mode = checked Initial Environment  =  4096
	Expanded EMS Memory	15360
	Extended XMS Memory	16384 Uses HMA = checked
	MS DOS Protected Mode	DPMI Memory = 16384
Screen	Usage	Full Screen
	Window	Restore settings at startup = checked
	Performance	Fast ROM Emulation Dynamic Memory Allocation
Misc	Foreground	Allow Screensaver  =  unchecked
	Mouse	Exclusive Mode = checked
	Background	Always suspend = checked
	Idle Sensitivity	midway point
	Other	Fast pasting
Compatibility	Compatibility Mode	Check box  & Windows 95
	Display Settings	256 Colors = checked 640X480 Screen Resolution = unchecked Disable Visual Themes
	Input Settings	Turn off Advanced Text  Services for this Program

• Click Apply Click OK

 

 

 

 

 

• Double Click on INSTALL.BAT file.

 

• Use your directional (arrow) keys to toggle between and highlight the commands. Toggle down to Install ToonStruck.  Press Enter and let the game install.  
  

• Next, you need to Configure the sound and  video. 
  

• Sound:  Toggle to "Configure Sound" and then press the "Enter" key.  Select "manual". Toggle up or down until you find  "SoundBlaster" allow the default Port - IRQ and DMA settings. Press "Enter" when complete. Test or don't test ... it doesn't matter. 
  

• Video:  This one is tricky and fairly annoying (but then, this is usually how it goes in Windows XP!)  Select - "Start Video Setup"  - Press Enter- and receive the following warning -->

 

 

• Press Enter and Prepare for the worst!!! (Oh, please ! I'm kidding.) If this does happen ... you don't really have to restart your system ...take a deep breath and keep reading. 

There will be 3 display modes: 640X480 / 640X400 and 320X200  and most likely UniVBE will NOT install properly ... don't worry about this for now ('cos were gonna' fake out the computer anyway. ) The Display Mode which worked on my system was 320x200, but it may take a few tries until you get to this one.  Out of the three, which ever one will let you see the picture of the barn (even it is fuzzy) is the one you will go with for now. 
  

• Toggle to Start Video Setup. Press Enter 
  

• One of three Display Modes will be chosen for you. 640x480 / 640x400 or 320x200 (choose the one which doesn't crash----> more on this below)

 

Press Enter ---> when the warning message appears --> Toggle to "OK" and Press Enter.

Press Enter.  You should hear a "click" and the screen will get larger with this same message. Press Enter again.  You may and most probably will see a Black DOS screen with a disturbing error message at the top: " No SVGA chip detected" or something similar. DO NOT PANIC.  The next screen (and sometimes on the very same screen )       

Press Enter. 
If you get the next possible error message:

 

Still Press Enter 
.... Now you may panic
.... okokok  I'm just kidding
....  Geez Louise!

 The next screen will be an Informational screen telling
 you that ToonStruck will once again try and fix things.  

Press Enter. 

 

or

or

 

• 640x480 or 640x400 = if the program chooses one of these Display Settings  you may receive a black screen - nothing will happen and it will look as through it crashed.
  

 (Not true!)

• Get back to Windows by either pressing the "Windows Key" located on your keyboard in the lower left area in between the Crtl key and the Alt Key. Right click on the minimized "C:\WINDOWS\System32\Cmd." program in the task bar at the bottom of the screen, Select "Close" .  If you don't have this key on your keyboard - Press Alt +TAB (it will have the same effect) See? Your computer didn't really crash .... just the setup program. 
  

• Go back to your open window for your CDROM DRIVE . which is D:\ on your taskbar (minimized... look down... see it?) Just Double Click on it to open it. and Double Click once again on the "INSTALL.BAT" file.   But now toggle to VIDEO SETUP once again (you may have to do this procedure until you get the video mode 320X 200. or which ever one of the three modes allows you to see the Barn) 

        

320x200 - which is the one I had to use. 

• Once you can see the Barn image. Press any key to return to the Video setup.  
  

• Now we have the Query --> Select YES if you can see the image of the barn (even if it is fuzzy)  The next Query will ask if the colors are correct. Select YES for this answer also. Toggle to "Exit the Video Setup". Press Enter. 
  

•  When this is finished,  toggle down to Exit Installation. 
  

• Select Yes for the final Query and Press Enter. 
  

• Before we leave the files on the ToonStruck CD1 make sure that you locate that TOONSTRK.ICO file. This is an ICON file which we will use later to "spiffy-up" a shortcut on your desktop.  So --> locate the file --> TOONSTRK.ICO, which  looks like this -->   Right Click on this .ico file and select --> COPY. 
  

• Close out of this window and go to your game folder. Start--> My
  Computer --> Local Disc "C" --> BURST --> TOONSTRK folder and Right Click anywhere in a blank area and then select PASTE.  Beautiful. 
  

Now, here's where the fun begins!            

 

 

 

• Locate these files --> Right Click on each of these in their turn and select --> Properties. --> Follow  the Table Above for the parameters.
  

• Click Apply Click OK.
  

• Next is the TOONSTRK.BAT file - Right Click --> Properties --> Compatibility--> and follow Fig1 once again.
  

• Click Apply Click OK. 
  

• Right Click once more on this file and Select Send to--> Desktop.

 

 

 

• Now it's time for that NOLFB.zip file I asked you to download. Find it and unzip that sucker right into the Toonstrck Game Folder. Thank you very much!  (C:\BURST\TOONSTRK)
  

• Right Click on the file NOLFB.COM --> Properties --> and follow the Table once again.   
  

• Now since ToonStruck needs to know to start NOLFB.COM just before the game begins we have to tell it to do that. The easiest way is to put that into the TOONSTRK.BAT file. 
  

• Here what we do. Locate the file: TOONSTRK.BAT --> Right Click --> EDIT --> You will see that a Notepad Window will open up. 
  

• Under the sentence -- @echo off  --  Type the following line: NOLFB.COM
  Then Click on File (in the upper left hand corner), Save and then close out of this window.  
    
  

 

 

 

 

• The next thing in our magical bag of tricks is to change the parameters of the game's .CFG file. Locate the "TOONSTRK.CFG" file. Right Click --> Edit --> A Notepad window will open, simply change the parameters for the game using the Table below. When your done editing the "config" file --> Click on --> File (in the upper left hand corner) --> and then Click on Save.

NOTE**  As we will be running this game with VDMSound  it is important to choose "SOUNDBLASTER" I7 D1 P220"  = DIGITAL.  Keep in mind that You may need to alter the rate at which sound gets streamed to your sound card or you may need to select mono sound rather than stereo. The value 'Timer Rate' in the file TOONSTRK.CFG sets the rate at which sound gets streamed. The higher the value the clearer the sound but the slower the game will run overall. The average setting for mono is 60 and for stereo 144. Your machine may need a higher rate so adjust it accordingly. If you are running in stereo mode with a rate of 150 or more and the sound still breaks up, alter the 'Stereo = 1' entry to 'Stereo = 0' and confirm 'Timer Rate = 60' to select mono. 

 

OLD TOONSTRK.CFG	NEW TOONSTRK.CFG
[TOONSTRUCK] CD = D:\  [CD] TransferRate = 0 [CPU] CPUID =Non ValidID  [DIGITAL] DeviceName = Sound Blaster  DeviceIRQ = 5 DeviceDMA = 1 DevicePort = 0x220 DeviceID = 0xe000 DeviceMonoID = 0xe000 Stereo = 0  TimerRate = 60  Flip = 0 [VIDEO] UniVBE = 0 Width = 320 Height = 200 Palettewidth = 8 Linear = 1 640x400N = -1 640x480N = -1	[TOONSTRUCK] CD = D:\  [CD] TransferRate = 2315060 [CPU] CPUID =Pentium  [DIGITAL] DeviceName = Sound Blaster  DeviceIRQ = 7 DeviceDMA = 1 DevicePort = 0x220 DeviceID = 0xe000 DeviceMonoID = 0xe000 Stereo = 1  TimerRate = 144  Flip = 0 [VIDEO] UniVBE = 0 Width = 640 Height = 400 Palettewidth = 8 Linear = 1 640x400N = -1 640x480N = -1

 

 

 

 

 

So........ are we there yet???   No...not quite.

• Now we're finally ready to "Spiffy-up" that shortcut on your Desktop to make it easier to play ToonStruck.
  

• Close out of all windows back to your Desk Top. You should be able to locate the  TOONSTRK.BAT  file  there... see it? Good. Now Right Click on that file--> Select --> Properties --> the SHORTCUT TAB --> Select Run-->Maximized and then click on "CHANGE ICON"   and get 

this error message. Just click OK and ignore what it says.

• Now Click on BROWSE on the new popup window and a larger "Directory Tree Window will open. On the far left side click on My Computer and you will see your "Local Disc "C" in the large part of the window. 
  

• Double Click on Local Disc "C"  and you will see all your folders on your Hard Drive. 
  

 

 

• Locate the folder "BURST" and Double Click.  You should see the Game Folder "TOONSTRK"  . Double Click on TOONSTRK 

• When the Game Folder opens you will finally see what you are searching for, The  TOONSTRK.ICO ! Double Click on the .ico file and it is immediately added to the shortcut. Click OK -- Click Apply-- Click OK.

 

 

You have now been finally driven insane enough by this walkthrough to play this game. 

Right click whenever you're ready Choose Run with VDMS (no musical note!)

Oh yes... I almost forgot! 

NOTE** When you Right Click on your TOONSTRK Shortcut and choose "Run with VDMS (no musical note) you'll recieve what looks as though it is an error message:

 

Ignore this error and press the "Y" key and the game will begin. 

 

If you press the "N" key it will cancel out of the program and you will see this added line: 

 

 

..Inferno

 

 

 

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