How do I read UHS files once I have downloaded them?

If you have the latest version of the UHS Reader for Windows or UHS Reader for MacOS, you can download and read new hints all from within the UHS Reader. In Windows, use the "Download New Hints" option from the "File" menu of that program to get the latest hints. In MacOS, you will be given the option to check for new hints when starting the program. You do not need to perform any additional steps to view hints you download this way. We recommend this option.

We also make our hints available for download directly from our website. These hints are supplied in the standard PKZIP format. You will need to use a utility to decompress (or "unzip") these files before you can use them with your UHS Reader.

Newer versions of Windows contain built-in support for ZIP files – also known as "compressed folders". If you need an unzipping program, we recommend the PC/Windows shareware programs PKUNZIP or WinZIP. Mac users may want to try the shareware program StuffIt Deluxe. Info-ZIP also provides a number of free unzipping utilities for a wide variety of operating systems. (Please note that these programs are not maintained by us in any way.)

Depending on how your web browser is configured and how you have installed WinZIP (or similar program), when you click on a link to download a UHS file, your browser may do one of two things. It may directly start WinZIP, or it may ask you what program to use to view the file. If you want to, you can tell your browser to use WinZIP, but do not tell your browser to view the link with a UHS Reader. Or if you'd prefer, choose to save the file to disk -- you can then start WinZIP later. In either case, follow the instructions in WinZIP for uncompressing a ZIP file. If you need more help with downloading in general, look here.

If you've installed the UHS Reader for Windows, you can then view the hints by double-clicking on the decompressed file in Windows Explorer. If you're using another version of the UHS Reader, please refer to the instructions within the program that will tell you how to read a UHS file.

When I download the Macintosh UHS Reader, I get a ".hqx" file, and not a self-extracting archive! How do I install the application?

The UHS Reader for MacOS is sent by our server as a BinHex (".hqx") file. Most web browsers will automatically decode ".hqx" files. When the file is decoded, you should get a ".sea" file, which is a self-extracting archive. Simply double-click the self-extracting archive to install the program. If your web browser doesn't automatically decode the file, you'll need a BinHex utility to convert it to Macintosh format. We recommend a shareware utility like HQXer or BinHex, or a commercial application like StuffIt Deluxe.

The Macintosh UHS Reader tells me that it can't open a UHS file that I've downloaded from the UHS web site. What am I doing wrong?

This is likely to happen only if you are downloading hints directly from our website with your web browser. We recommend that you instead use the UHS Reader itself to download new hints, as this will solve many problems caused by downloading and unzipping hint files by hand.

If you do still wish to or must download hints with your browser, first make sure that you have decompressed the .zip file that you have downloaded. Most Macintosh compression utilities provide the option to strip non-Macintosh characters from text files if they originate from a different platform. Since the Macintosh reader uses UHS files in their original format, you must disable this feature to avoid damaging the file. The Mac reader is able to make sense of some, but not all, damaged files, so even if you just receive an error with just some of the files you have downloaded, odds are very good that your decompression utility is causing the problem.

If you are using StuffIt Deluxe to unzip a UHS file, open the StuffIt preferences and set the "Convert files to Macintosh format" option to "Never". If you do not make this change, the UHS file will be corrupted when it is decompressed, and you will have to change your preferences and try to decompress the file again.

Why won't the Macintosh UHS Reader allow me to view the images in the hint file?

The Macintosh reader requires QuickTime 3.0 to view the images. A QuickTime 3.0 installer is available on Apple's website. If you have QuickTime 3.0 installed, it is possible that your decompression utility (e.g., StuffIt Deluxe) is not configured properly and is causing the images within the hint file to become corrupted. This is very likely the case if you are also receiving errors when opening files.

Why do I get a "runtime error 200" when starting UHSDOS?

UHSDOS was written many years ago, and the tools we used to write it do not support faster computers. You will need to run a program like Mo'Slo to slow down your computer before running it. We therefore recommend that you upgrade to the UHS Reader for Windows, unless you are running a game that works only under DOS.

I read your hints for a game, but they don't help me.

Please contact the author of the hint file directly for help.

I need help with a game, but you don't have a hint file for it. Do you know where I can find hints?

All of the hints that we can provide are listed on this site. If there isn't a UHS file for a game, odds are that none of our authors have played it, and we don't maintain archives of non-UHS hint files. See our list of other game-related sites -- at least one of these sites should be able to help you. We are happy to take suggestions for new hint files (as in, "Please write hints for game x") but will not be able to answer specific questions about these games (as in, "How can I solve puzzle x in game y?").