Help for Solitaire Plus!

Question 1: I bought a new computer or reformatted my drive - how do I reinstall the game?	Download and install the latest trial version available on our download page. After you have installed the trial version, start the game, press the Register button (in the game selection window), and enter your personalized registration code that was provided when you placed your original order. The code entry process is illustrated here. If you lost your registration (license) code, try this link first: https://www.regnow.com/order_lookup.html

Question 2: When I start the game I get an "Illegal System DLL Relocation" error that tells me to contact "the vendor" for a new DLL. What do I do?	Hint: If you type in your credit card number for a new order, you are not following these instructions. Repayment is not required for existing customers to fix this issue. The cause The 3 Apr 2007 update offered by Microsoft (KB925902) for the ANI security exploit broke Solitaire Plus! for PCs version 2.4 and earlier. The game displays a dialog on launch that begins with "The system DLL user32.dll was relocated in memory.." and indicates you should ask "the vendor" for a new DLL (see image below). The fix You have two options: 1. Download and install the latest trial version of Solitaire Plus! (version 2.4.2) to upgrade for free (see Question #3 below on how to download if you do not know how). This change cannot be undone as we will not distribute old copies of the game if you do not like the free upgrade. (OR) 2. Obtain another patch download, 935448, provided by Microsoft: As usual, Microsoft has overcomplicated the solution page. Method 3 on the following page link is probably the simplest approach for most home users: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935448/ Our tests here show this patch for the Microsoft security update corrects the issue on XP SP2 computers, but some customers have reported no success. Please note that all security patches issued by Microsoft are beyond our control, and GamesForOne.com assumes no responsibility for unforeseen or unexpected effects to your computer system.
Click image for full size view

Question 3: How do I download the game?	Click on one of the green download links on the download page. With most browsers, you will see a window pop up asking you if you want to "Open" or "Save" the file. Choose "Save". Your browser should then ask you what folder you want to save the file in. Usually it will default to your Desktop or whatever folder you last saved a file in. It is a good idea to create a special folder (called C:\Downloads, for example) where you save downloaded files. Then you will always know where they are. When this window appears you should also make a note of the name of the file -- you will need to know that to find it later. Your browser will then begin downloading the file. How long this takes depends on the size of the file, the speed of your modem, and the level of internet traffic on the server and the internet. When the file is done downloading, close your browser and sign off your ISP. Start Windows Explorer and go to the folder where you saved the file. Double-click the installer icon (for Solitaire Plus, the name of the icon will be solplus.exe or just solplus). The installer icon will appear as shown at right. Note the little green arrow in the icon which indicates it is the downloaded installer. After the install program runs, you should be able to play the game by clicking on the Start button, Programs (All Programs on XP/Vista), and then finding Solitaire Plus in the list.

Question 4: Why don't all the games play on my computer?	Solitaire Plus requires a minimum of 800x600 display resolution to play all the games. If your display resolution is not adequate, Solitaire Plus will show a dialog box informing you of the minimum necessary video configuration to play the game. Solitaire Plus will not automatically configure your video. You may, however, configure your video and try the game again. Solitaire Plus will guess the best card size for your system the first time it is executed. If you subsequently change your display resolution, you will need to use the Options dialog to select the desired card size. The "small card" preference allows all games to fit on an 800x600 display. Solitaire Plus also provides a "large card" preference which looks great on high-res, high-color displays, but requires at least 1024x768 resolution to play all the games. If you have a 17" monitor or larger, you really should be running 1024x768 or higher to make better use of your display area.

Question 5: What do you mean by display resolution and high-color?	Open the Control Panel under Start \| Settings. Then double-click the Display item to open the display properties dialog. Then select the Settings tab. (OR) Click with the right mouse button on your desktop and select the Properties menu item. Then select the Settings tab. You will see a dialog box which indicates your display resolution (desktop area) and color depth (color palette). Solitaire Plus requires a desktop area of 800 x 600 pixels to play all the games. High-color or better is recommended, but not required. If you decide to modify your display properties, please refer to your video card documentation or other information source. Unfortunately, we cannot offer detailed help for troubleshooting display configuration problems.

Question 6: What do the messages about "canvas does not allow drawing" or "parameter is incorrect" mean? And sometimes my computer just locks-up.	Try the latest version which corrects some problems that may be the source of the errors. If you are still experiencing these errors after installing the latest version and rebooting, please contact us.

Question 7: The game will not start because it cannot find the "HHCTRL.OCX" file.	Solitaire Plus version 1.4 and higher requires that the Microsoft's HTML Help component be installed on your computer regardless of whether you choose to display the HTML Help format or the WinHelp format. If you do not wish to upgrade to 4.0 or later versions of Internet Explorer (which contain the necessary files), then you try downloading and installing the latest standalone Microsoft HTML Help installer. For your convenience, the installer is available from our website at the following URL: ftp://ftp.gamesforone.com/hhupd.exe

Question 8: The help file doesn't display, but instead results in an error.	The cause is most likely that you have selected to show the HTML Help but do not have the required support installed on your computer. Open the Options dialog and select the "Other" tab. Uncheck the "Show HTML Help" option and press OK. The old-style WinHelp should then successfully display when you ask for help. Alternately, you may download the Microsoft HTML Help installer from our website (see the previous question above) to update your HTML Help installation.

Question 9: How do I start a new game? There is no menu in the game windows!	Use the right mouse button to click in a game window. You will see a pop-up menu appear that contains several menu selections including New Game. Solitaire Plus intentionally avoids menus and speed buttons all over the screen in order to maintain a clean, uncluttered layout as well as maximize the space available for game play. Solitaire Plus now includes an optional status bar at the bottom of game windows (illustrated below) that provides speed buttons for common menu selections.

Question 10: What is the difference between "New Game", "Select Game...", and "Restart"?	Selecting "New Game" shuffles and redeals the cards (the game is randomly selected from the first 1 million possible deals). "Select Game..." presents you with a dialog that allows you to enter a specific game number that can be reproduced at any time, including different computers. Each time you deal a specific game, the game number in the "Select Game..." dialog is incremented by one. Selecting "Restart" will restore the initial deal of the cards (no shuffle) for the current game you are playing.

Question 11: How can I change the card backs or game backgrounds to something else?	Click the right mouse button in a game window to get the pop-up menu. Then select Options. A panel will appear with various options including changing the card back and background color. You can use any BMP or JPEG image as a card back or a game background. Images for card backs that are scaled to about the size of the cards (70 W x 115 H pixels) and anti-aliased will look best. Images designed for tiling will look best for backgrounds. Solitaire Plus Version 1.2 or later includes over 100 attractive game backgrounds as a new feature.

Question 12: I don't see the face down cards. What do I do?	Sometimes a selected custom card back image fails to convert properly. In this situation, it is possible for the face down cards to fail to draw. To remedy this, open the Options panel and select one of the three built-in card backs and press "OK". The face down cards should become visible (if the cards are still not visible contact us). You can then retry using a custom image as a card back using the "Browse" button. Please note that PCX image support has been removed as of Solitaire Plus Version 1.2, however the JPEG image support should now be more robust.

Question 13: Where are the rules for the games?	Click the right mouse button to get the pop-up menu in a game window. Then select "Help/Rules..." You may also hit the F1 key at any time to open the Help window. Here are two great books available at your local bookstore if you are really an addict: The Complete Book of Solitaire and Patience Games by Albert H. Morehead & Geoffrey Mott-Smith; Bantam Books. Teach Yourself Card Games for One by David Parlett; NTC Publishing Group.

Question 14: Why don't the cards automatically move to the foundations?	The autoplay feature is activated by clicking with the right mouse button in a game window and selecting the "Autoplay" menu item. The feature is enabled if the menu item is checked. The autoplay feature may be enabled and disabled at will during a game, which is sometimes desirable if the default autoplay action is not what you would prefer to happen. You can also use the undo feature to back up from one or more autoplays. Solitaire Plus intentionally implements an aggressive autoplay (cards are played as soon as available).

Question 15: Sometimes the cards jump to places automatically?	Solitaire Plus implements a "smart-dragging" feature which attempts to guess where the card should go without requiring you to drag the cards over a specific location. The smart dragging can be disabled in the "Other" tab of the Options panel. However, you are encouraged to read the smart-dragging topic included in the Help file which describes in detail how the feature works. Most users who understand the smart-dragging behavior find it very helpful. If you have suggestions about how the smart-dragging can be improved, please forward specifics to us.

Question 16: What do I do when the game expires after the 30 day trial?	Please contact GamesForOne.com and place an order for Solitaire Plus. Upon receipt of an order you will be provided with a registration code that will allow you to continue playing your currently installed copy of Solitaire Plus. If you choose not to order Solitaire Plus, please uninstall the game using the Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs feature. Select "Solitaire Plus" in the list and then press the Remove button.