Supaplex Download and Install

Igor - The Time Machine now officially released! If you like Supaplex, you will like Igor - The Time Machine even better. A completely modernized version of a game in the same genre, but an even greater challenge. Download the free demo version today!.

(If you are looking for level editors, or other addons, and you already have the game itself visit the software addon page.)

This page will discuss the following:

1. What is it?
2. Installing Supaplex
3. Playing Supaplex
4. What else you should know

If you want to know what Supaplex is before you download and install it, you can read the "What is it?"-page.

This chapter will explain how to install Supaplex, and the SpeedFix. If you are new to Supaplex, read chapter 2.1. If you already have Supaplex, and just want to install the SpeedFix, read chapter 2.2.

Chapter 2.1 - Supaplex, the game itself

1. Download supaplex.zip (click on the link)
2. Double click the file supaplex.zip, and unzip it to a directory (folder) of your choice. If you get a strange result after double clicking, or Windows tells you it does not know what to do, please visit www.winzip.com and download and install Winzip from there.
3. No additional installation procedures are needed!

To play the game, follow these steps:

1. To play, run the executable spfix63.exe that you can find in the folder where you unzipped supaplex.
2. Note for Windows 95/98/NT users: Although it is recommended that you run Supaplex in a plain DOS environment (not a DOS-box), you can run it under Windows. You should expect a lesser performance and some occasional flashes while playing. It may still be preferred though, if your knowledge of DOS is limited. You can make a shortcut to the game on your desktop like this:
   • Right click the mouse on an empty spot on your desktop.
   • Select the option "new" from the popup menu.
   • Choose option "shortcut" from the sub-menu.
   • Answer the questions Windows asks you:
     • For the "command line", browse to the executable "spfix62.exe".
     • Choose a name for the shortcut as you wish ("Supaplex" would be simple and effective.)
     • For the icon, you can choose the default MS-DOS icon, to remind you that Supaplex is actually a DOS program. You can also choose an icon of your choice, or download some special Supaplex icons for it from the software page.
   • Now RIGHT click on the shortcut you just created, and choose "properties" from the popup menu.
   • Click on the "screen" tab, and click on the "Full screen" option in the "Usage" group.
   • Click on the "misc" tab, turn OFF "Allow screen saver", and turn ON "Always Suspend".
   • If you want, you can also turn on the "Close on exit" option from the "Program" tab, but remember that if you do that, you won't be able to see any error messages from the game when it exits!
   • Please note that you should NEVER switch tasks when you are playing Supaplex. It does some "tricky things" to the computer, and if you do switch tasks, your system might very well hang. If you want to switch tasks safely, FIRST exit the game, THEN switch to another task.
   • Now click on the OK button at the bottom, and your shortcut is ready to be used. Enjoy the game!

To use certain features in Supaplex, you have to use command line options. For more information about this, please refer to the Supaplex FAQ: How do I use command line options in Windows 95?

For more information about which commandline options you can use, you can check out the SpeedFix documentation (the file SPFIX62.DOC) or you can look up the question about what you want to do (e.g. play new levels, record a demo, view a solution, etc.) in the Supaplex FAQ.

Chapter 2.2 - The SpeedFix

1. If you have (just) installed Supaplex via chapter 2.1, you do NOT need to read this chapter, since you will already have the latest version of the SpeedFix.
2. If you already have Supaplex, but not the SpeedFix, you should install the SpeedFix. This chapter will explain how. (Why should I use the SpeedFix?)
3. If you want to install a newer version of the SpeedFix than you currently have installed (when a new version of the SpeedFix is released) you should read this chapter.

I will assume you have downloaded the latest version of the SpeedFix from the software page. If you haven't done that yet, please download it before you continue.

To install the SpeedFix, follow these steps:

1. Unzip the archive spfix63.zip (the number in the filename may be different depending on the version number) to THE SAME DIRECTORY as where you have installed Supaplex.
2. Now you can run the executable. It's named SPFIX63.EXE, but the number "63" may vary depending on which version you have. Please check out which files are in your Supaplex directory to find the correct name of the executable.
3. Windows users who have created a shortcut to Supaplex should change it to run the SpeedFix in stead of the original game (or the old version of the SpeedFix). If you don't know how to do that, you can create a new shortcut, and then delete the old one. For more information on creating a shortcut, check out how to create a shortcut.
4. Please note that you should NOT run SUPAPLEX.EXE anymore, if you still have it. If you don't like the speed at which the SpeedFix runs, please read the Supaplex FAQ "Why is the SpeedFix so slow?" for more information about this.

• Run the game (SPFIX62.EXE) as any program. Press any key when the credits screen appears, to continue. The main menu should now appear.
• First, you should create a new player:
  • Click on the "Create new player" (wouldn't you have guessed...) option near the top left of the screen.
  • Enter your name (up to 8 characters long) and press ENTER.
• Your player is now selected. You can select a level that you want to play from the listbox displayed in the bottom right of the screen. To move up and down the list, click on the lines saying "level list". You can play levels that are displayed in green and yellow.
• Before you start playing the level, you might want to learn a bit about the various objects in the game. You can click on "GFX tutor" in the options list on the top left of the screen. Unfortunately, it doesn't explain much, so maybe you should take a look at the Cast of Characters here.
• If you have chosen the level you want to play, click on the OK button in the middle on the bottom of the screen.
• For information about the keys you can use in the game, please refer to the FAQ: What keys can I use in the game?
• When you have completed the level (or when you were destoyed) the main menu will appear again. You can exit (if you have enough of playing) by pressing ESCAPE. But you don't have to exit:
• In the lower left of the screen, you can see the player list. You can select different players (if there are any) by clicking on the bars above and below this list.

  Above this player list is a box with "rankings". There you can see how you're doing (it only makes sense if there are more players playing, and they have both completed the same levels I guess...)

  In the top right corner of the screen is the Hall of Fame box. It displays the top players who have completed all levels. That means it's usually empty :-)

  Below the Hall of Fame box, there is a line with current player statistics. His/Her total playing time, and the number of the level that is to be played next (the "yellow" colored level).

  Just below the current player info, there is a message line. It sometimes displays useful information. Keep an eye on it.

  In the middle on the bottom of the screen, there are two disks. If you click on them, you can load a data disk. DO NOT USE IT. It does not have a function anymore. If you want to know how you can play other level(set)s, take a look at the Supaplex FAQ.

• SPECIAL TRICKS
  I have a (small) collection of handy tricks you can use on many levels. They will often mean the difference between life and death, so you better get to know them... Read all about them on the Supaplex Tricks page.

  Note that you have to play the levels more or less in the order they are listed. If you can't solve a level, you can skip it. But you can't skip more than three levels at any time (How can I cheat?) If you can't get past a level, and you have no skips left, you can take a look at the solutions for all levels, but you really should try to solve the levels yourself first.

When you get stuck with something (a level, a problem, etc.) please, please take a look at the Supaplex FAQ first, before contacting me about it. There really are a lot of answers in there!

If you like the game, maybe you will also like "Igor". It's a similar game, only much more modern and with a lot more objects. Take a look at the Igor homepage if you are interested.

If you need to contact me, you can take a look at the contact information.