Hints for The Golden Compass on PC

I can’t give a complete walkthrough, because I was only borrowing the game and I
can’t keep it long enough to replay it. But here are a few hints:

SAVING THE GAME
The game is divided into 10 levels (ending in a score screen), each level has multiple
stages (ending in a cut scene) and each stage has multiple check-points.
If you die during the game you go back to your last check-point. However, if you quit the
game you must start at the last stage (cut scene). 
Unfortunately the AUTO-SAVE dose not work properly. (or at least not for me and other
players in the forum). The auto -save may work the first few times, but then it will
suddenly lose your saved game and you will have to start over. (strangely, your journal
progress dose save) If you want to finish the game, you must keep your computer on and
leave the program running in the back ground. (I finish the game in four days, but I was
going for speed, not points)

THE SCORE SCREEN
At the end of each level you will see a ‘score screen’, telling you how
many courage orbs, collectables and symbols Lyra found and how many, points, blood moss,
armor the bear found. Also you will see three circles for symbols. Use the left/right
arrow keys to scroll through them. If you fill the first symbol, you get a bonus question,
if the second symbol is filled, you found all the symbols in that level. (I think?)

 If the third circle has a symbol, you finished the ‘secret mission’ in
that level.  For example, in the last level, Iorek has a choice between saving a
bear’s brother and protecting the flame thrower. You get the third symbol, only if
you save the bear’s brother first and then complete the main task. Always do the
sub-plot task first, you may not be able to return.

Use this three symbols code to open an ‘extra’ . To use this code, exit to
the main menu and select the ‘Extras’ tab,  then open the ‘game
secrets’ tab and use the code on the alethiometer.  The extra menu also has
‘cheats’ you can enter, but I don’t know where to find them.

ANSWERING QUESTIONS
You do not need to know all three symbols to answer the questions. But
‘Focusing’ becomes easier if you have all three correct symbols. Answering
questions wins you ‘insight collectables’ which you can use in the
mini-games.

THE JOURNAL
The journal dose not always show you every page. Sometimes, you have to go all the forward
and then flip all the way back to see everything in notes, questions and symbols pages.
(another bug?)

The journal will fill up with notes and questions as you progress through the game. If you
have blank spots, then you did not talk to the everyone or complete all the side-plots, So
talk to every one, multiple times, before and after finishing a task (such as talking to
the witches council). You do not need to answer all the question to finish the game. Also
play all the deception games.

SYMBOLS
You learn symbols in three ways, finding golden symbol orbs, talking to people and winning
mini-games successfully. A few symbols are in hard to find locations, but you
don’t need them to finish the game.

Two hard to find symbol orbs are in the town of Trollesund. One is in the town, on top of
a very tall crate. Another is found about mid way through ‘Find Iorek’s
Armor’ task, as you try to cross the water. Both require a double sloth swing and
a demon change in mid air.

THE BOLVANGER VENTS
This is the hardest part of the game by far. Use your bird form through out the stage,
because the walkways are narrow. To get past this stage you will need to do three
‘perfect’ long jumps. The first jump is the hardest. 

In the first room, avoid the steam and go to the end of the room. On the back wall is a
4x4 ledge with a fan and a steam vent. You will jump off this ledge towards the left. You
will see a courage orb on the vent you are aiming for. 

Note: there is a ‘yellow powder’ on the next vent shaft, but it is not
worth the risk.

To perform this jump, stand at the edge of the ledge, now jump up and out, wait till you
are completely in the air, then at the very highest point press and hold the soar button.
You must be flying straight, so do not veer to the side hoping to save yourself if you
miss. It will look like you are going to miss, but don’t stop soaring forward,
Lyra will miraculously pull herself up. (from three feet away?)
This jump is hard to do because your reflexes (honed from hours of video games) will want
to hit the soar button too soon. The bad news is that there is no check-point near by, so
if you die in the next room you will have to do the first and second long jumps again.
Because of this, don’t bother trying the jump if you have less than three courage
orbs, just jump off the ledge a few times and start again with a full courage meter.

OTHER DIFFICULT SPORTS
Winning ‘cat and hare’ against the Tanner twins: (they don’t look
like twins?) The goal is to tag the boy,  not to get to the flag pole first, so you can
wait for him to come to you. Ignore all the orbs, you can get them later.

Getting back on the roof after the ‘cat and hare’ game: After you slide
down the roof, do a couple of sloth swings. You will get to a gargoyle’s head.
From here, look up and you will see another sloth swing that gets you back on the roof.

On the ‘gyptian’s ship:
(by the way, they don’t mean ‘Egyptians’, they mean
‘gypsy’s. If they are trying to be politically correct, they should use
the name ‘gypsies’ use for themselves – Roma)

After climbing the smoke stack, you can use the ‘wild cat climb’ to climb
the sail, instead of balancing on the mast.

There are two symbols in the telescope.

Also, talk to everyone, several times and play both rounds of  ‘practice’
mini-games. If you win both games of deception, you will open ‘mini-game set
2’.

Winning the foot race in Trollesund: Use the ‘wild cat dash’.

Fighting the Tank: Your ‘block’ defense dose not work against the tank.
Just keep moving until you can get behind it and push it over.

Fighting witches: Be defensive. You will need to ‘block’ more often then
with other enemies. In the witches cave you don’t need to fight, you can just run
past them. In the fight in the north, you need to stand in front of Lyra most of the time,
using your ‘block’ and only attack when the witches come close.

Flame throwers: Sorry I don’t have any advice, except that Iorek’s
‘block’ doesn’t help, just keep trying!

I hope this helps. It was worth leaving my computer on all week. If you havn’t yet
– read the books or listen to them on tape.

(Oh yeah, Dose any one know what ‘his dark materials’ refers to?)