The most likely cause of this is that you have a Voodoo card connected to your monitor. Nightfall uses standard Apple system software for 3D and 2D drawing. When you use a Voodoo chip to draw 3D, it excludes standard 2D Apple features. This means that the cursor disappears, and any 2D drawing (icons, menu bar, movies etc) may not appear while 3D is being drawn. Some games use their own routines to overcome this, while Nightfall stays with the Apple standards.
Fixes
You can still run the game in software on your machines.
Some Apple machines (G3's, iMacs, Performa 6500 and 5500) include a 3D chip with the internal monitor. If you have 2 screens, and one is connected to the internal monitor (or if you plug your screen to the internal connection) you might be able to use your built in 3D by viewing Nightfall on that monitor. The computer manual should tell you how to connect your monitor. Please note that multiple 3D hardware chips/cards in one machine may cause problems. If you experience any 3D problems, you should contact the manufacturers and look on their web sites to check if you need updated drivers.
This error could happen for a couple of reasons, both related to the Nightfall files. Usually, it occurs when you have a copy of Nightfall on your hard disk and you are running this application. The message means that the game is not finding what it needs in the files to play. A way to confirm this is to see if the version on the Nightfall CD gives this error - it should not.
Fixes
The most common reason for the error is that Nightfall is finding the files of the Nightfall Demo, and thinks they are the real game. The demo has much less in it than the full game of Nightfall, so there is not enough to keep going. Do you have the demo still on your hard disk?
If you get rid of the demo, or put the Nightfall 1.1 in a seperate folder with nothing else in there, this might cure the problem. In addition, check if you have any custom add ons - they all exist in a folder called 'Files'. Nightfall may be reading these instead of the whole game. Moving Nightfall into a seperate folder will help here to.
If this still does not fix the problem, it may that the data is being read badly. Check your CD to see if it is dirty, and if so try cleaning it, as specified in 'Read Me Prefs & Problems'.
The audio emits a loud, continuous hiss of static. You can hear the
music and effects too, but they are overlaid with a very loud hiss.
Fixes
Nightfall is very reliable on G3s. However, some non-Apple hardware and software can degrade Nightfall's performance. In addition, worn out and dirty equipment can also degrade performance. The following are therefore more general tips with regard to fixing your machine. If you are interested in dealing with these problems in greater depth please contact representatives of the hardware and software vendors to find if they are aware of any problems and fixes. It may also be worth having your machine maintained and cleaned by a qualified service representative. Some general fixes are listed below.
We recommend reading through the 'Read Me Prefs & Problems' to see if anything
there might be relevant. For example, the stuttering may be caused by a dirty CD. Check your CD to see if it is dirty, and if so try cleaning it as specified in 'Read Me Prefs & Problems'.
A major cause of slow downs is running other applications and non-Apple extensions which take time away from the game. To test whether something is intefering with your system, try running with minimal extensions - e.g. set it back to what you had when you received your Mac from Apple (no add ons - virus checkers, reminder extensions, disk defragmenters, disk doubler, disk backup, CD-ROM speedup utilities etc can slow stuff down) and add only DrawSprocket and SoundSprocket (RAVE should already be there on a G3). If you are running any other applications this can slow the game down and possibly corrupt the sound. Run the game with no other applications apart from the Finder running, preferrably immediately after a reboot.
If the game is still slow and/or the sound is bad, problems may be more obscure. A virus infection may also take time away, and so would non-standard Apple hardware (some cheap RAM add ons). Your CD drive might have dust, and be slowing reads, but you would need a technician to clean it. Also, try and clear space on your hard disk - should have at least 25% of disk space free for optimal performance.
All problems we have had like this generally involve something other than Nightfall slowing the machine down (either non Apple hardware or applications/extensions, or broken Apple hardware, or running several applications at the same time). It is difficult to narrow down hardware causes, but relatively easy to see if it is software. If you need more help, try contacting a local user group or going to the place where you purchased your machine for more information.
Fixes
First please see if Quickdraw 3D (1.5.3 or better) is installed and on, and that your 3D hardware vendor extensions (e.g. ATI, iXMicro) are also installed and on.
If the problem still occurs, it may be that your card has a small amount of RAM, or that the picture is taking up too much memory. Please make sure you monitor switches resolution (when you start a game, the view of the world should go almost across the entire monitor from left to right). In addition, try setting your preferences to Medium quality, and Thousands of colors, as this allows Nightfall to work in less Video memory.
Finally, if the above does not work try contacting your card vendor, to update extensions or ask about issues with that card.
Please note that on some machines (e.g. Rev A iMacs - the first ones sold only in 1998) software may actually look better than the built in 3D hardware.
Fixes
First, check that you are using Nightfall 1.1. If not, try updating to it using the updater available on the Altor Systems web site.
You may have a corrupted file. Try updating with the file fixer. See above for more information.
Finally, the file may not be fixable. You could try starting the level again by using the saved game files in your Nightfall CD. Just choose the appropriate level file, drag it to your hard disk, and open it in Nightfall to start from the beginning of the level.
Fixes
First, check that you are using Nightfall 1.2 or 1.0 by selection the Nightfall icon and selecting "Get Info" from the "File" menu. If you are, try the default version on your CD-ROM - check first to see if the CD-ROM version is 1.1. If it is 1.0, try updating to 1.1 using the updater available on the Altor Systems web site. Note - update to 1.1 ONLY. Please do not use the 1.1->1.2 updater.