We had 4 people at game night last night, and our game czar for the evening picked the Pyramid. I have an old Cardinal edition of the Pyramid home game, but it's drab and clumsy. As they pulled it out, my mind kind of glazed over at the thought of dealing with it. Blech.

Then I remembered the Pyramid CD-ROM, and suggested we try the Party Mode. This was a total blast! It plays pretty much just like the game show, and we were able to position the monitor and swap chairs so that only the cluegiver saw the clues. Worked like a charm.

The only problem is with the clock. We had it set to hard mode, and it still gave us 60 seconds for the main game and 90 seconds for the Winner's Circle-- in each case, a full 30 seconds more than on TV. Actually, the clock seemed to run a little fast, so it was probably less egregious than that. Still, it was too long. We quickly decided to play for 40 "seconds" in the main game, and despite the inelegance of having to watch the clock closely, it worked well.

Anyone know if there's a registry setting or other hidden way to change the duration of the game clock?

- Peter

I believe it was reported here that Hard Mode on the clock was indeed 30/60. Perhaps it is moving faster and the actual time is 30 seconds, but they are displaying 60? It would be easier and more memory-effecient that recording and making graphics that allude to there actually being 30 seconds.

-Jason

QUOTE (JasonA1 @ Oct 2 2003, 12:25 PM)

I believe it was reported here that Hard Mode on the clock was indeed 30/60.

I think you're right, but my copy is in my desk at work, (and I took today off)so I can't check it and say for certain. But I'm almost sure there is a 30-60 setting.

QUOTE

But I'm almost sure there is a 30-60 setting.

I will be most interested to hear how to set this up. I couldn't figure it out.

ITSBRY
itsbry@juno.com

QUOTE (ITSBRY @ Oct 2 2003, 04:13 PM)

I will be most interested to hear how to set this up. I couldn't figure it out.

I will most assuredly post here if I find it! :)

QUOTE

I will most assuredly post here if I find it! :)

Cool! Thanks.

I'm thinkin that whoever posted earlier was right though. I think the clock just runs faster. I popped in the CD a little bit ago and tried both "normal" and "hard" modes and the time displayed was the same, but the "hard" clock did seem to elapse faster. I wasn't anal enough to actually try and time it though. :-D If that is indeed how they set it up, that seems like a really bassackwards way of doing that!

ITSBRY
itsbry@juno.com

QUOTE (ITSBRY @ Oct 2 2003, 06:22 PM)

If that is indeed how they set it up, that seems like a really bassackwards way of doing that!

Well, that's Sierra for you.

This is why you should always buy quality Atari products. ;)

QUOTE

I'm thinkin that whoever posted earlier was right though. I think the clock just runs faster. I popped in the CD a little bit ago and tried both "normal" and "hard" modes and the time displayed was the same, but the "hard" clock did seem to elapse faster. I wasn't anal enough to actually try and time it though.

Consider me anal, then. =D

I timed 48 seconds for 60, and 72 for 90... in short, 4/5 of a second for every "second" displayed in Hard mode.

Why the programmers felt this would be a better solution than just setting the clock for something else, we'll never know.

Of course, playing 30-60 involves letting the other team watch the clock and judge... and I imagine most party mode players let the other team do the judging anyway.

QUOTE (clemon79 @ Oct 2 2003, 05:13 PM)

QUOTE (ITSBRY @ Oct 2 2003, 04:13 PM) I will be most interested to hear how to set this up.  I couldn't figure it out. I will most assuredly post here if I find it! :)

And when yer right, yer right, I got :60/:90 as well (after I got it working on my XP box after downloading an older version of the SMACKW32.DLL file). That's kinda disappointing.