SILENT HILL 3

ReadMe Version 1.1

Thank you for purchasing SILENT HILL 3 for PC. This file contains additional information not found in the game manual.

Table of Contents


1)

System Requirements

2)

Installation

3)

Autorun Menu

4)

Begin Playing Silent Hill 3

5)

Uninstall Silent Hill 3

6)

Memory and Performance

7)

Controls

8)

Saved Games

9)

Graphics Cards

10)

Troubleshooting

11)

SILENT HILL 3 Web Sites

12)

Technical Support






1) System Requirements

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Windows XP/ME/2000/98
1 GHz Pentium III or Athlon processor (or equivalent)
256 MB RAM
GeForce3 Ti/Radeon 8500 Video Chipset w/32MB VRAM
DirectX 8.1b (included on CD/DVD)
DirectX 8.1 compliant sound card
4X CD-ROM or 2X DVD-ROM drive
4.7 GB free hard disk space

RECOMMENDED

Windows XP/2000
1.4 GHz Pentium 4 or Athlon processor
512 MB RAM
GeForce4 Ti/Radeon 8500 Video Chipset w/64MB VRAM
8X CD-ROM or 4X DVD-ROM drive

5.2 GB free hard disk space

USB Gamepad controller

NOTE: It may be necessary to update your hardware drivers.

Supported video chipsets:
NVIDIA GeForceFX, GeForce4Ti, GeForce3Ti (GeForce MX series not supported.)
ATI Radeon 9800, 9700, 9600, 9500, 9200, 9100, 9000, 8500
Matrox Parhelia

2) Installation

In order to play SILENT HILL 3, you must first install the program on your computer's hard drive. The SILENT HILL 3 CD/DVD contains an Autorun screen that automatically guides you through the installation process.

1) Insert CD1/DVD into your computer's CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.
2) Once the Autorun screen appears, click INSTALL GAME.
3) Follow the on-screen installation instructions.
4) Insert CD2 - CD5 when prompted, and click OK.



If the Autorun screen does not appear:
1) Double-click on the MY COMPUTER icon on your computer's desktop. On computers running Windows XP, the MY COMPUTER icon can also be found on the START menu.
2) Double-click on the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive showing the SILENT HILL 3 icon.
3) Double-click on Autorun.exe.

Once you have successfully installed the game, you're ready to play!

Note:
Please note that due to the large size of some of the last install files, the progress indicator may pause for a long period of time toward the end of the install process.
Please wait until InstallShield Wizard finishes installation, which may take up to 20 minutes.
Do not reset or turn off your computer.


3) Autorun Menu

The Autorun Menu will appear any time CD1/DVD is inserted in the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive. The menu has several options:

Install Game - Click to install the game. This option is only available if the game is not installed.
Play Game - Begin playing SILENT HILL 3.
Uninstall Game - Remove SILENT HILL 3 from your hard drive.
View Readme - View this readme file for additional information about SILENT HILL 3.
Exit - close the menu.

4) Begin Playing SILENT HILL 3

Now that you've installed the game, there are several ways to begin playing:

1) The Autorun screen will appear each time you insert CD1/DVD into your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive. Click PLAY GAME to run the game.
2) You may also begin the game by clicking on the Windows START button, and selecting Programs>KONAMI>SILENT HILL 3>SILENT HILL 3.
3) If you chose to add a desktop shortcut during installation, double-click the SILENT HILL 3 icon on your desktop.

Note: You will need to have CD1 or the DVD in your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive in order to play SILENT HILL 3.


5) Uninstall SILENT HILL 3

If you need to uninstall SILENT HILL 3, you may do any of the following:

Insert CD1/DVD and select Uninstall Game from the Autorun Menu, or:
Click on the START button, choose Programs, KONAMI, SILENT HILL 3, and select Uninstall or:
Click on the START button, go to Settings, Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs and remove SILENT HILL 3.

6) Memory and Performance

SILENT HILL 3 requires at least 256 MB of RAM and a 1 GHz processor; the performance of the game will improve if you have more RAM and a faster processor. Regardless of your machine specs, you can maximize your available memory and increase the overall performance of the game by doing the following:

Close any open windows.
Shut down all other programs, including system tray programs.
Defragment your hard drive.
Make sure to have additional free space on your hard drive.
If you get a "Not Enough Memory" error when you first start the game, you may need to increase the virtual memory that is available in Windows. If you are running the game under Windows 98/ME, please refer to Microsoft Knowledge Base Article – 259184: “How to Increase the Memory Capability of Your Computer.”



7) Controls

You will be able to play SILENT HILL 3 with a gamepad, joystick, or with the keyboard. The game supports PC gamepads with analog sticks and has vibration (rumble) support. All of the menus have mouse support as well.

By default, the Control Type is set to 3D Type. Pressing Q and E will rotate your character left and right, and pressing W will move your character forward in the direction she is facing. If the Control Type is set to 2D Type, your character will immediately move in the direction you press (W, S, Q and E). The Control Type setting can be found in the Options Menu.

You may change any of the default controls in the Button Config screen, which can be found in the Options Menu.

Default Controls


FUNCTION
KEYBOARD
GAMEPAD

Turn Left
Q
Left

Turn Right
E
Right

Move Forwards
W
Up

Move Backwards
S
Down

Strafe Left
A
Button 7

Strafe Right
D
Button 8

Action
Space/Left Mouse Btn.
Button 2

Cancel
ESC
Button 3

Skip
ESC
Button 9

Pause
ESC
Button 10

Run/Guard
Left Shift
Button 3

Search Mode
Tab
Button 5

Inventory
I
Button 9

Light On/Off
L
Button 4

Map
M
Button 1

Supplies
H
Button 11

Aim Lock
B/Right Mouse Btn.
Button 6

Quick Save
F5


Quick Load
F9



8) Saved Games

If you wish to backup your saved games, make sure to copy the entire SAVEDATA folder, or your saved games will not work properly. Do not delete or copy individual saved game files in the save folder (outside of the menus in the game itself), or you may corrupt your saved games. The SAVEDATA folder can be found at "C:\Program Files\KONAMI\SILENT HILL 3\savedata" by default.

If your saved games are corrupted, and you are having difficulty loading or saving your game, you can delete the entire SAVEDATA folder as a last resort. When you start a new game, a new SAVEDATA folder will be created automatically. However, we do not recommend this, as you will lose all of your previously saved games.

Note:
Save feature may not be available in certain parts of the game such as boss fights.


9) Graphics cards

SILENT HILL 3 requires a graphics card with 3D hardware acceleration and at least 32 MB of VRAM on the card, along with 256 MB or more of system RAM. The drivers for your graphics card must support DirectX 8.1b or higher. If you are having any problems running the game, make sure to update your graphics card drivers.

SILENT HILL 3 officially supports the following graphics chipsets:

NVIDIA GeForceFX, GeForce4Ti, GeForce3Ti (GeForce MX series not supported.)
ATI Radeon 9800, 9700, 9600, 9500, 9200, 9100, 9000, 8500
Matrox Parhelia


ANTI-ALIASING
If your card supports anti-aliasing, do not manually select the anti-aliasing mode within your graphics card settings in Windows. For SILENT HILL 3, you will need to keep the default setting, which allows the application to control the anti-aliasing mode. The default setting for anti-aliasing should be listed as "Allow applications to control the anti-aliasing mode," "Application preference," or something similar. If you manually turn on anti-aliasing, it will cause graphical glitches to appear when running the SILENT HILL 3 program.

KNOWN ISSUES
There are some known issues with the very latest graphics chipsets available. It is likely that most of these known issues will be fixed in future driver releases from the graphic chip manufacturers. We recommend that you keep your graphics card drivers updated, by checking the manufacturer's web site regularly for new drivers. A list of the most common hardware manufacturers' web sites can be found at the end of this document.

If you set Rendering Resolution at 2048 x 2048 on ATI Radeon 9200 or below, graphics corruption may occur. Reducing Rendering Resolution to 2048 x 1024 or below will correct this issue.

ATI Radeon 9800, 9700, 9600, 9500, 9200, 9100, 9000, 8500 - With the latest drivers available at the time this was written, you may experience some flickering on the new ATI Radeon cards. We expect this to be fixed in new driver releases from ATI, so make sure to update your graphic card drivers regularly.



10) Troubleshooting

PROBLEMS LAUNCHING THE GAME
If you are having difficulty launching the game:
1) Close any other applications that are running on your PC, including applications in the system tray.
2) Make sure that DirectX 8.1b or higher is installed on your system.
3) Make sure to update your graphics card drivers to the latest drivers available.

If you continue to have difficulties launching the game, please read through the information listed below:

Q: Do you have a Kenwood multi-beam CD-ROM drive?
These drives can have older firmware which will cause problems reading the CD. If your CD-ROM drive is the Kenwood ICR-412 or Kenwood UCR-401, and the firmware is older than version 132, you will need to upgrade the firmware. The firmware update is available from Kenwood at:
http://www.kenwoodtech.com/

Q: Are real-mode drivers being used for the CD-ROM drive?
Real-mode drivers are not compatible with this software title; please install the latest plug and play drivers for your CD-ROM drive.

Q: Is your sound card a PCI64 using the ES1371 drivers, version 4.05.1127 or 4.05.1129?
Please install the latest drivers for your sound card.

Q: Are you running the game on a Dell 4100/4300 series computer and Windows 2000?
Intel identified a problem with the Intel Ultra ATA storage controller, and has offered an update on their web site.

1) The update to the Intel Application Accelerator program can be found here:
http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/iaa/

2) The latest drivers for the Intel storage controllers can be found here:
http://appsr.intel.com/scripts-df/Product_Filter.asp?ProductID=182

Select the drivers for Windows 2000, download and run the setup program, then reboot.

OTHER KNOWN ISSUES
If you run the game under Windows 98/ME, there may be a delay between the visuals and corresponding sound effects. To correct this issue, reduce Screen Resolution and Rendering Resolution.



11) SILENT HILL 3 Web Sites

Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo

http://www.konamityo.com/sh3/index_e.html



Official Site (Japanese Only)

http://www.sh2003.com/

Konami Global Web Site
http://www.konami.com/

Konami of America
http://www.konami.com/usa/

Konami of Europe
http://www.konami-europe.de/site/sprachen.html

Konami Marketing (Asia)
http://www.konami.com.hk/



12) Technical Support

***For technical support, please refer to the software manual.***

If you are having problems running the game, you may want to try updating your graphic card drivers before calling technical support:

ATI Technologies
http://www.atitech.com/

Creative Labs
http://www.creativelabs.com/

ELSA
http://www.elsa.com/

Matrox
http://www.matrox.com/

NVIDIA
http://www.nvidia.com/