Brought to you by Christianada Industries...
SEINLINE
The Game About Nothing
A puzzle & «Whose line is it?» PC game on...

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F.A.Q.

1. Why is the text in the game too large for the screen?
2. What is the "Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth" you're talking about in the help file?
3. Is Seinline free?
4. What are the minimum requirements to run the game?
5. What about the episodes where one or two of the four main characters are missing?
6. How do I quit the game? (obsolete since version 2.14)
7. The game is slow.
8. What is Christianada Industries?
9. How do I upload my scores to the website?

1. Why is the text in the game too large for the screen?
Because the font size in your monitor display advanced properties has been changed. Select the small fonts which is the normal font size (100%): 96 pixels per inch (96 dpi).

2. What is the "Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth" you're talking about in the help file?
I edited all the MIDI files in the game and optimized them to sound best with the "Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth". So before starting the game, please select the "Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth" as the MIDI output in:
Start > Settings > Control Panel > Multimedia > MIDI
If you don't see "Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth" as an available instrument, choose any other instrument with the acronym WDM in it. If you don't see it either, cancel and don't change these settings.

MIDI files tell your PC to play sounds from its sound card. Because there are many different sound cards, it's almost impossible to get a MIDI file to sound the same on each PC. But wavetables are a good compromise. They don't sound as good as real synthesizers but a given wavetable will sound the same on all sound cards. If, in addition to selecting the "Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth" as the MIDI output, you also turn off all effects on your sound card, you'll get the same sound as when I edited the MIDI files. Here's an excerpt from http://www.rainbowpcm.com/win_98_tips.html about the "Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth":

Free Wavetable Synthesis (If You're Lucky)
There's a trend in the computer industry to replace the typical PC sound card with digital speakers and microphones that connect to the Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports found on many new PCs. Since the digital speakers won't include synthesizers for playing MIDI files, Windows 98 includes a software wavetable synthesizer (designed with some elements from Roland) that works with audio output devices that have new drivers that follow the Win32 Driver Model. (WDM drivers are designed, among other things, to work with both Windows 98 and future versions of Windows NT.) The Windows 98 wavetable synthesizer works well with 100 MHz or faster Pentium-based systems, though its sound quality isn't as good as the better wavetable sound cards or standalone wavetable players like those from Yamaha.

Windows 98 includes WDM drivers for several sound cards (mostly those using ESS Technology chips), and if your sound card is supported by a WDM driver you can use the wavetable synthesizer. The WDM drivers often aren't installed automatically, though. Right-click on My Computer and select Properties, then click the Device Manager tab. Click the + next to "Sound, video and game controllers" and double-click on the sound card driver (if it doesn't already have a (WDM) in the name). Click the Driver tab and click Update Driver; on the second screen select "Display a list of all the drivers…" You should see a screen that looks like this:

Make sure that "Show compatible hardware" is selected. If you see both WDM and non-WDM drivers on the list, select the WDM driver and click Next to switch to the WDM driver. Once the new driver is installed, restart your system; then open the Control Panel, open Multimedia, click the MIDI tab and select "Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth" in the box.

If you don't see a WDM driver option for your sound card, one may become available later from Microsoft or the sound card's manufacturer if the card is fairly recent. If you have an old 8-bit sound card you may be out of luck. (Fortunately, 16-bit ISA sound cards are shockingly cheap these days – under $20 if you shop carefully – and even a PCI sound card with hardware wavetable synthesis can be had for $40-50, even less on occasion.)

3. Is Seinline free?
You want to pay for a game about nothing? No money. No built-in ads. And this program doesn't connect in any way to the Internet. So how come this game was created? I love Seinfeld!

4. What are the minimum requirements to run the game?
- Pentium III or higher ¹
- Windows 98 or higher ²
- DirectX 5 drivers or higher
- screen resolution of at least 800x600
- at least 65000 colors (16 bits)
- 660MHz CPU ¹ ³
- 16MB RAM

¹ The game could run with less than these requirements but it would probably be too slow.
² There's a mistake on Simtel. Seinline doesn't run on Win 95 and Handheld PC
³ I have a 660MHz CPU, with 6MB of video memory, and I can't even reach the optimal speed of the game with 32 bits color (I have to switch to 16 bits when playing), but Tucows' team who tested the game, put a 200MHz CPU minimum requirement on their site. This is probably the absolute minimum to run the game, but not to reach its intended speed.

Useful links:
Download the latest DirectX drivers from Microsoft (free)
Download freeware FreeRAM XP Pro (great utility!)

5. What about the episodes where one or two of the four main characters are missing?
The missing characters are then replaced in Seinline by a guest star from that episode, and you hit the key associated with the missing character to answer. For instance, in The Trip (1), Elaine is replaced by Helena (the old and disturbed out of work actress), so you press "E" when you identify the hidden quote as an Helena's line. Click on "DATABASE" in the main page and scroll down to the bottom to see all the replacements for these special episodes. The final version of Seinline will display a message specifying who is replacing who when you load one of these episodes.

6. How do I quit the game? (obsolete since version 2.14)
Press Q to quit. All the hotkeys are listed and described in the help screen (press F1 during the game).

7. The game is slow.
First make sure you have the minimum requirements to run the game (FAQ 4), then you can try some or all of these:

  • Close all other running programs that you don't need.
  • Use 16 bits colors instead of 32 bits
  • Restart your computer to clear memory or use a utility like FreeRAM XP Pro

    8. What is Christianada Industries?
    Don't worry. It's just a phony bogus name I made up so you won't think that my entire enterprise is nothing more than a solitary man in a messy apartment.

    9. How do I upload my scores to the website?
    First, you need Seinline 2.17 or later. Click here to download the latest version. To know which version your have, press F1 during the game. To export highscores, press shift-H during the game. A pop-up menu will appear. You can move this menu by clicking anywhere on the screen. You will see your current top 10 scores displayed on the left. If you want a different name for a score, the menu allows you to change it. This change is only for the file in which you export your scores. Afterwards, you will still see the old name when you press H during a game to view the scores. This cannot be changed. Once you're satisfied with the names, go back to the previous menu and export the scores to a file. You will have the option to choose the directory where you want to save the file. If you cancel, the file will be saved in the Seinline directory (most likely: C:\Program Files\Seinline2\). You will see a pop-up message telling you the name of the file (hs_seinline + current time) and its location. Now you're back again to the pop-up menu and you're ready to upload your scores. Make sure you're online and upload. A browser's window will be launched and you'll be taken to the Seinline website. Once there, click 'Browse' and select the file on your HD, then click 'upload'. That's it! The scores are added to the chart immediately. Here's a tip: Once your scores are online, you can backup the file you uploaded and clear the highscore table (F12). This will allow you to make new top ten scores for other episodes and then upload them again, and so on...