Introduction

Black & White is a stunning new, just released, game from Lionhead Studios Ltd, offering unique gameplay & some great new hardware support for features like Hardware T&L. All these new technologies may be a bit too much for some, or then again you may not know how to take advantage of it. Thats what this guide's here for. Read on.

Troubleshooting

Begin by downloading the latest drivers for your Graphics card & Soundcard. This may solve (some) display or audio problems you might encounter. There are links to various manufacturers on the Drivers page.

Install DirectX 8.0A on your system if not already installed. This may fix problems with Display/Sound/Input devices.

If you experience static noise or irregular audio playback, try the following (assuming that installing the latest drivers don’t fix the problems):

If you are having problems running the game (Performance or otherwise) on Windows 2000 then try checking our Windows 2000 Compatibility & Performance guide.

If you experience any lockups & such they might be caused by overclocking, if so try reducing the clock speed of the overclocked device. Black & White can be quite sensitive to overclocking.

Graphics

Black & White can take advantage of the features offered by Graphics cards which have Hardware T&L units, so obviously those who own such capable cards will get the greatest performance from Black & White. You can make your initial graphics customizations before loading Black & White. To do so click on Start, Programs, Lionhead Studios Ltd, then the Setup icon.

Direct3D Driver. This setting is mainly for informational purposes, generally serving to let you know that Direct3D is the games renderer. Should you have multiple graphics cards installed, e.g. GeForce & Voodoo 2, you can use this setting to ensure you are using the preferred graphics card for rendering Black & White, i.e. The GeForce in this example.

Resolution. Selecting a lower resolution can improve performance & maintain a stabler, higher frame rate. Although higher resolutions will look better (sharper & less jagged), they generally run slower. This all depends on how slow/fast your system is of course.

Colour Depth. Select 16 Bit Colour for optimal performance, but reduced visual quality (More apparent banding) or 32 Bit Colour for best visual quality (Less apparent banding), although performance will be reduced – especially on older graphics cards.

Graphics Detail Level. This option allows you to select pre-defined selections for your graphics settings. I’d recommend you ignore this setting altogether & use a Custom setup as described below.

Disable all sound and music. Tick this to setting to disable the in-game audio from playing. This will improve performance significantly, but obviously the game will be completely mute. Leave this setting Unticked to enable the in-game audio being played. You shouldn't have to Tick this setting unless you have a very old soundcard possibly (ISA based).

Disable Internet weather system. This feature is disabled by default. When Unticked this enables local real-world weather in the Single player version of Black & White. This feature has no effect in Multiplayer games. In order to use the Internet weather system you must also have;

A. You must have registered Black & White at www.bwgame.com.

B. You have gone into the Online Game - Find Games on the internet and entered your username & password at least once.

To set your worldwide weather location you'll need to go to www.bwgame.com & follow the appropriate links.

E-Mail settings. Click this button to setup Black & White to receive email during the game.

Check for Internet e-mail. When Ticked should you receive email from Users on your Contact list you will be notified by villagers with their name whenever you receive an email from them. There is no point in doing this if you aren't connected to the Internet while playing the game all the time, or if you only use Outlook Express for email. Much like the Internet Weather System you will also need to have registered Black & White & attempted playing online once.

Use Outlook instead of POP3. Should you be using Microsoft Outlook (Not Express) as your email client then Tick this setting.

POP3 Settings. In the 3 fields listed here enter in the relevant data needed for checking your email. This may be obtained via your Email client in the appropriate Account fields. Now click Ok.

Now select the Custom button.

Use hi-res textures. Tick this setting to enable the use of high resolution textures in Black & White on supported graphics cards. This can significantly improve graphical quality in the game, although performance can be reduced as a result, especially on graphics cards with a low amount of video memory. Untick this setting for optimal performance, albeit it with reduced graphics quality. I'd highly recommend Ticking this setting unless you have a 3dfx Voodoo 3 or earlier, or a graphics card with less than 16MB of Video memory.

Use detail textures. A detail texture is a very small, fine pattern which is faded in as you approach a surface, for example wood grain, or imperfections in stone. Ticking this setting will improve visual quality, although it can cause a performance hit, particularly on older graphics cards. Untick this setting for improved performance, although with reduced visual quality.

Shadows on Landscape. Tick this setting to enable the display of shadows on the terrain in Black & White. Shadows can be cast from different sources so you should only really enable this should you have a fast system/Hardware T&L unit for optimal performance. Leave this setting Unticked for optimal performance.

Reflection of Landscape. Tick this setting to enable the reflection of terrain in the water. Although the effect is quite nice, this can effectively double the rendering requirements of a scene & as such can severely reduce performance in such areas. The screenshots beneath illustrate the Reflection effect enabled & disabled.

Reflections enabled

Reflections disabled

Leave this setting Unticked for optimal performance.

Lighting on Objects. Tick this setting to enable lighting to be drawn on objects, i.e. A models brightness/darkness can change according to the direction of a light source. This will result in more realistic lighting of models in the game, I'd highly recommend Ticking this setting if your graphics cards has an onboard T&L unit. For optimal performance Untick this setting, although objects will be less dynamic appearing as a result.

Shadows on Objects. Tick this setting to enable shadows to be cast on/from objects. This will result in more realistic graphics in the game, I'd highly recommend Ticking this setting if your graphics cards has an onboard T&L unit. For optimal perfirmance Untick this setting, although objects will be less dynamic appearing as a result.

Refelection of objects. Tick this setting to enable the reflection of objects in the water. Although the effect is quite nice, this can effectively double the rendering requirements of a scene (Object will be rendered twice) & as such can reduce performance in such areas, although not as much as with the Reflection of Landscape. Leave this setting Unticked for optimal performance.

Draw Distance. Move this slider to the Right to increase the distance before objects are no longer rendered & vice versa. Moving this slider to the Left can help improve performance, particularly on graphics cards which have low Polygon throughput.

Weather FX. Tick this setting to enable a variety of different weather effects in Black & White. If you Untick this setting you may ignore the 2 settings beneath effectively. This will also improve performance in most cases. Leave this setting Ticked for more graphical variety, particularly if you wish to use the Internet Weather system. I'd recommend leaving this enabled.

Clouds. Ticking this setting enables the rendering of clouds in Black & White. This can enhance graphical quality, although it's more of a gratuitous effect than one which adds to your gameplay. Certainly leave this setting Ticked if you wish to use the Internet Weather system. Untick this setting for optimal performance.

Cloud Shadows. Ticking this setting enables the rendering of shadows beneath clouds in the game. This can enhance graphical realism, although it's more of a gratuitous effect than one which adds to your gameplay. Certainly leave this setting Ticked if you have Clouds Ticked. Untick this setting for optimal performance.

Enable Fogging. Tick this setting to enable the use of fogging in the game. This can greatly improve graphical realism, although will generally reduce performance for most as well. For optimal visual quality leave this setting Ticked, although Untick this setting should you find performance too low. If you intend to enable fogging then you should also use a 32 Bit Colour depth for best visual quality with this effect.

Rain Splashes. This slider controls the amount of splashes caused by rain. Moving this slider to the Right will increase their frequency, & vice versa. Sliding this to the Left can help improve performance as less splashes will be rendered.

Water tiling. This setting controls the LOD (Level Of Detail) used for the ocean in Black & White. Miving this slider to the Right will increase the number of tiles used, resulting in a smoother appearence to the sea, as opposed to the rather grainy/pixelated look which you will find when moving the slider further to the Left. That said, given that you won't really be performing any of your acts over the sea you should only really move this slider to the Right should you have a fast system & can afford the performance drop which can occur.

Shadow Maps. Shadow mapping is a method of creating shadows in an environment. When this setting is Ticked visual quality in the temple will be improved dramatically (More realistic), although on slower systems performance may be reduced. Untick this setting for optimal performance & reduced visual quality.

Villagers in Citadel. Tick this setting to enable the display of Villagers in the Temple. This is another gratuitous effect & serves no real purpose, so I'd recommend leaving this Unticked for optimal performance. I'd recommend leaving this disabled.

Light Glows. Tick this setting to enable glowing light sources, e.g. Light halos from lamps & such. This can enhance the overall visual quality of a scene, although will make performance slower, particularly with Reflections enabled. For improved performance Untick this setting.

Volume Lighting. Tick this setting to enable the use of volumetric lighting in the Temple. This can greatly improve graphical quality in the Temple, although wil generally reduce performance for most as well. For optimal visual quality leave this setting Ticked, although should you find navigating the Temple to be a cumbersome affair as a result Untick this setting.

Reflections. Tick this setting to enable the reflection of objects in the temple on any reflection surface. Although the effect is quite nice, this can effectively double the rendering requirements of a scene & as such can reduce performance in such areas. Leave this setting Unticked for optimal performance.

Click on Ok then the Save & Exit button.

Be sure to take a look at the GeForce, Voodoo3, Voodoo4/5 or Kyro 1/2 Tweak guide for information on how to optimize the performance/visual quality of those cards. These can help you improve image quality/performance even further than in-game tweaks can.

Audio

Load Black & White, select the Options button from the games Main Menu. This will bring you to the Sound Options section beneath.

SFX Volume. Use this slider bar to adjust the volume level for sound effects in the game. Move this slider to the Right to increase the sound effects volume level & vice versa.

Music Volume. Use the slider bar here to set the volume level for Music in the game. Move this slider to the Right to increase the Music volume level & vice versa. Moving this slider to the far Left will effectively mute in-game music.

Video Options. This option allows you to select pre-defined selections for your graphics settings. As before, I’d recommend you ignore this setting altogether & use a Custom setup as described earlier.

Autosave. Tick this setting to enable Black & White to save your game progress at regular intervals, or whenever exiting the game. Untick this setting if you wish to manually save the game in the Temple.

You can learn how to further improve your Audio experience in Operation Flashpoint by taking a look at the Soundcard/Speaker Tweak guide. This'll take you through positioning your Speakers & configuring Soundcard specific tips for other popular Soundcards such as the SoundBlaster Live!, Audigy, Philips PSC70x, Turtle Beach Santa Cruz & Game Theater XP.

Netplay

Currently I have been unable to logon to play the game online, although I will update this section accordingly with the relevant information once I do. This should happen fairly shortly I hope.

Should you have problems with Black & White online, e.g. Never being able to connect with an AOL Internet connection, then you will need to force Black & White into believing a connection to the Internet is available. Right click on your Black & White shortcut, select the Shortcut tab & in the Target field add the following command /FORCEINETCONN, e.g. Your game shortcut may now appear as follows; D:\Black & White\runblack.exe /FORCEINETCONN. Click Apply then Ok for the changes to take effect.

You should take a look at our Modem Tweak guides for Windows 9x, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 2000 & Windows XP or ISDN Tweak guides for Windows 2000 & Windows 9x for how to optimize your Internet connection & reduce ping times further in Multiplayer Castle Wolfenstein Games.

Conclusion

Your Black & White gaming experience should now be greatly improved with better visuals, audio & hopefully minimal performance loss & perhaps even improved network/internet performance. This guide may be updated when new patches become available. Email me if you have any Questions/Comments/Suggestions about this guide.