Microsoft KB Archive/172969

= ActiMates/SideWinder: Configuring Creative Labs Sound Cards =

PSS ID Number: 172969

Article Last Modified on 11/21/2003

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft ActiMates Arthur 1.0
 * Microsoft ActiMates Barney 1.0
 * Microsoft ActiMates D.W. 1.0
 * Microsoft ActiMates PC Pack 1.0
 * Microsoft ActiMates PC Pack 2.0
 * Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback Pro

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This article was previously published under Q172969



SUMMARY
This article describes how to configure Creative Labs sound cards for use with Microsoft ActiMates characters and the ActiMates PC Pack, or the SideWinder Force Feedback Pro joystick.

This information was tested with the following sound card drivers:

Creative Labs
Sound Blaster (original 8 bit), Sound Blaster Pro, Sound Blaster Pro II

Driver version tested: 4.00.95

Date: Default Windows 95 driver

Sound Blaster Value 16

Driver version tested: DX 4.34.20

Date: 4-28-97/2-27-97

Sound Blaster 16 IDE/MKE

Driver version tested: DX 4.34.20

Date: 4-28-97/DX 2-27-97

Sound Blaster Vibra PnP

Driver version tested: 4.34.20

Date: 4-28-97/DX 2-27-97

Sound Blaster 16 PnP

Driver version tested: 4.35.21/DX text version 4.34.20

Date: 3-21-97 (DX 2-27-97)

Sound Blaster 32 PnP

Driver version tested: 4.34.20

Date: 4-28-97/DX 2-27-97

Sound Blaster AWE32 PnP

Driver version tested: 4.34.20

Date: 4-28-97/DX 2-27-97

Sound Blaster AWE 32

Driver version tested: 4.34.20

Date: 4-28-97/DX 2-27-97

Sound Blaster AWE64

Driver version tested: 4.34.20

Date: 4-28-97/DX 2-27-97

PhoneBlaster 14.4

Driver version tested: DX 4.34.20

Date: 4-28-97/2-27-97

PhoneBlaster 28.8

Driver version tested: DX 4.34.20

Date: 4-28-97/2-27-97

PhoneBlaster 33.6

Driver version tested: DX 4.34.20

Date: 4-28-97/2-27-97



Sound Blaster (original 8 bit), Sound Blaster Pro, Sound Blaster Pro II
ActiMates characters do not work with these 8-bit sound cards. These sound cards do not support the full duplex external MIDI that ActiMates requires. If you are using an 8-bit Sound Blaster sound card, you will need to purchase a new sound card before you can use ActiMates characters and the PC Pack Transmitter with your computer.

The SideWinder Force Feedback Pro joystick does work with these sound cards. To add or update the Sound Blaster drivers for use with the joystick, follow these steps:
 * 1) Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
 * 2) Double-click Add New Hardware.
 * 3) Click Next.

NOTE: If you are using Windows 98, click Next, and then click Next.
 * 1) Click Yes, and then click Next. Windows should detect and install the appropriate driver for the installed Sound Blaster card.
 * 2) Click Next. If you receive a message about a hardware conflict, do not start the Hardware Conflict Troubleshooter.
 * 3) Click Finish. If you are prompted to restart the computer, click Yes.

The above cards have jumpers that must be set to match the Windows resource settings listed in Device Manager. If an Input/Output Range or an Interrupt conflict does occur, both the hardware and the software settings may need to be changed.

Sound Blaster Value 16
It is recommended that you obtain Creative's latest driver update for this sound card. It can be obtained from their Web site as a self-extracting executable file called Sbw95up.exe.

You may need to change the settings on your sound card for the devices listed at the top of this article to work properly. Specifically, your sound card's external MIDI port must be enabled.

Use the following steps to make sure your external MIDI port is enabled:  Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel. Double-click Multimedia. On the Advanced or Devices tab, double-click MIDI Devices And Instruments to display the list of MIDI devices connected to your computer. Click the MIDI For External MIDI Port device. (If this device is not listed, click Cancel and skip to Step 8.)

NOTE: If you have two external MIDI devices listed, for example both MIDI for External MIDI Port and MIDI for MPU-401, then your computer has two external MIDI ports. If you enable one of the external MIDI ports and the ActiMates character doesn't work with the ActiMates software, then enable the second external MIDI port and try using the ActiMates character with the ActiMates software again. Click Properties. On the General tab, make sure Use MIDI Features On This Device is selected. Click OK.</li> Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click System.</li> On the Device Manager tab, click View Devices By Type.</li> Double-click Sound, Video And Game Controllers. You should see the following drivers listed:

Creative Sound Blaster 16 Plug and Play

Gameport Joystick

There are several different versions of this line, including:

Creative Sound Blaster 16 or AWE 32

Creative Sound Blaster 16 or AWE 32 Plug and Play

</li> If any other drivers are listed, they do not correspond to this sound card. Either you have a second audio or MIDI port on the computer, or the drivers are improperly loaded.

The important driver is the Creative Sound Blaster 16 driver. This driver controls both the audio and the external MIDI, and must use an Input/Output (I/O) address range of 300-301 or 330-331. If none of these I/O ranges are in use, then you must change the Basic Configuration until one of these I/O ranges is present. If none of the Basic Configurations use this resource, it is likely that another sound card in the system is already using this range. The conflicting sound card may or may not be listed in Device Manager.

The Gameport Joystick driver only controls the joystick, and is not needed for ActiMates characters.</li> Double-click the Creative Sound Blaster 16 driver in the list.</li> On the Resources tab, locate the listing for Input/Output Range in the Resources Settings area. There may be more than one entry. For the external MIDI port to operate correctly, one of the Resource types must have one of the following Setting values.

0300 - 0301

0330 - 0331

NOTE: For the Sound Blaster Value 16 and Phone Blaster 14.4 sound cards, this value must match the external MIDI (or MPU-401) jumper setting on the sound card.</li> If none of these I/O ranges are in use, then you must change the Basic Configuration until one of these I/O ranges is present. You may have to clear the Use Automatic Settings check box to change the Basic Configuration. If none of the Basic Configurations use one the required Input/Output ranges, it is likely that another sound card in the computer is already using this range. The conflicting sound card may or may not be listed in Device Manager.</li> Restart Windows.</li></ol>

Your device should now function properly on this computer.

To add or update the Sound Blaster 16 drivers, use the following steps:
 * 1) Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
 * 2) Double-click Add New Hardware.
 * 3) Click Next.

NOTE: If you are using Windows 98, click Next, and then click Next.
 * 1) Click No, and then click Next.
 * 2) Click Sound, Video And Game Controllers, click Next, and then click Have Disk.
 * 3) Type the path to the location of the updated driver files, and then click OK.
 * 4) Click Creative Sound Blaster 16 or AWE32, and then click OK.
 * 5) Click Next.
 * 6) Click Finish. If you are prompted to restart the computer, click Yes.

To install the gameport joystick driver, repeat the above steps and click Creative Gameport Joystick in the list of drivers presented in Step 7.

This card uses jumper settings to set the DMA Channel, Interrupt Setting, Input/Output Range, and external MPU-401 address. The jumpers must be set to match the Windows resource settings listed in Device Manager. If a resource conflict occurs, both the hardware and the software settings may need to be changed.

Refer to your sound card documentation for the proper jumper settings.

Many of the ActiMates titles include updated drivers for this card on the compact disc. The drivers installed for this card should be at least as recent as the ones on the ActiMates CD-ROM. If not, install the Sound Blaster drivers from the ActiMates CD-ROM. DirectX version 5.0 and later drivers should also work properly with ActiMates titles.

Sound Blaster 16 IDE/MKE
It is recommended that you obtain Creative's latest driver update for this sound card. It can be obtained from their Web site as a self-extracting executable file called Sbw95up.exe.

You may need to change the settings on your sound card for the ActiMates character or the joystick to work properly. Specifically, your sound card's external MIDI port must be enable. Please refer to the Sound Blaster Value 16 section of this article for instructions to enable your external MIDI port.

To add or update the Sound Blaster 16 drivers, use the following steps:
 * 1) Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
 * 2) Double-click Add New Hardware.
 * 3) Click Next.

NOTE: If you are using Windows 98, click Next, and then click Next.
 * 1) Click No, and then click Next.
 * 2) Click Sound, Video And Game Controllers, click Next, and then click Have Disk.
 * 3) Type the path to the location of the updated driver files, and then click OK.
 * 4) Click Creative Sound Blaster 16 or AWE32, and then click OK.
 * 5) Click Next.
 * 6) Click Finish. If you are prompted to restart the computer, click Yes.

To install the Gameport joystick driver, repeat the above steps and click Creative Gameport Joystick in the list of drivers presented in Step 7.

The above cards are completely software configurable. However, there is a version of the Creative Labs Multi-CD card that does use jumpers to set the DMA Channel, Interrupt Setting, and I/O Address Range. The jumpers must be set to match the Windows resource settings listed in Device Manager. If a resource conflict does occur, both the hardware and the software settings may need to be changed.

Refer to your sound card documentation for the proper jumper settings.

Make sure you have the latest version of the drivers for this sound card. The latest version can be obtained from the Creative Labs Web site or a version of the Windows Creative Labs driver that works with ActiMates is included on all ActiMates software titles.

The drivers installed for this sound card should be at least as recent as the ones on the ActiMates CD-ROM. If not, install the Sound Blaster drivers from the ActiMates CD-ROM. DirectX version 5.0 and later drivers should also work properly with ActiMates titles.

Sound Blaster 16 PnP, Sound Blaster Vibra PnP
It is recommended that you obtain Creative's latest driver update for this sound card. It can be obtained from their Web site as a self-extracting executable file called Sbw95up.exe.

You may need to change the settings on your sound card for the ActiMates character or the joystick to work properly. Specifically, your sound card's external MIDI port must be enabled. Please refer to the Sound Blaster Value 16 section of this article for instructions to enable your external MIDI port.

These are both Plug and Play sound cards and Windows should automatically install the correct drivers.

If you install these cards on a legacy (non-Plug and Play) computer, Windows may not detect them. If this happens, you can manually install the drivers by using the following steps:
 * 1) Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
 * 2) Double-click Add New Hardware.
 * 3) Click Next.

NOTE: If you are using Windows 98, click Next, and then click Next.
 * 1) Click No, and then click Next.
 * 2) Click Sound, Video And Game Controllers, click Next, and then click Have Disk.
 * 3) Type the path to where the updated driver files are located, and then click OK.
 * 4) Click Creative Sound Blaster 16 or AWE32, and then click OK.
 * 5) Click Next.
 * 6) Click Finish. If you are prompted to restart the computer, click Yes.

Windows should detect the sound card when you restart the computer. If Windows does not detect the sound card, repeat the above steps but click Yes in step 4 to allow Windows to search for new hardware. This usually forces Windows to install support for the Plug and Play ISA bus and properly detect the sound card. After the drivers are loaded, click Finish. When you are prompted to restart the computer, click Yes.

Make sure you have the latest version to the drivers for this sound card. The latest version can be obtained from the Creative Labs Web site or a version of the Windows Creative Labs driver that works with ActiMates is included on all ActiMates software titles.

The drivers installed for this sound card should be at least as recent as the ones on the ActiMates CD-ROM. If not, install the Sound Blaster drivers from the ActiMates CD-ROM. DirectX version 5.0 and later drivers should also work properly with ActiMates titles.

Sound Blaster 32 PnP, Sound Blaster AWE32 PnP
It is recommended that you obtain Creative's latest driver update for this sound card. It can be obtained from their Web site as a self-extracting executable file called Sbw95up.exe.

You may need to change the settings on your sound card for the ActiMates character or the joystick to work properly. Specifically, your sound card's external MIDI port must be enabled.

Use the following steps to make sure your external MIDI port is enabled: <ol> Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.</li> In Control Panel, double-click Multimedia.</li> On the Advanced or Devices tab, double-click MIDI Devices And Instruments to display the list of MIDI devices connected to your computer.</li> Click the MIDI For External MIDI Port device. (If this device is not listed, click Cancel and skip to Step 8.)

NOTE: If you have two external MIDI devices listed, for example both MIDI for External MIDI Port and MIDI for MPU-401, then your computer has two external MIDI ports. If you enable one of the external MIDI ports and the device doesn't work properly, then enable the second external MIDI port and try using the device again.</li> Click Properties.</li> On the General tab, make sure Use MIDI Features On This Device is selected.</li> Click OK.</li> <li>Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then click System.</li> <li>On the Device Manager tab, click View Devices By Type.</li> <li>Double-click Sound, Video And Game Controllers. You should see the following drivers listed:

Creative Sound Blaster 16 Plug and Play

Creative Advanced Wave Effects Synthesis for AWE 32

Gameport Joystick

There are several different versions of this line, including:

Creative Sound Blaster 16 or AWE 32

Creative Sound Blaster 16 or AWE 32 Plug and Play

</li> <li>If any other drivers are listed, they do not correspond to this sound card. Either you have a second audio or MIDI port on the computer, or the drivers are improperly loaded.

The important driver is the Creative Sound Blaster 16 driver. This driver controls both the audio and the external MIDI, and must use an Input/Output (I/O) address range of 300-301 or 330-331. If none of these I/O ranges are in use, then you must change the Basic Configuration until one of these I/O ranges is present. If none of the Basic Configurations use this resource, it is likely that another sound card in the system is already using this range. The conflicting sound card may or may not be listed in Device Manager.

The Gameport Joystick driver only controls the joystick, and is not needed for ActiMates characters.</li> <li>Double-click the Creative Sound Blaster 16 driver in the list.</li> <li>On the Resources tab, locate the listing for Input/Output Range in the Resources Settings area. There may be more than one entry. For the external MIDI port to operate correctly, one of the Resource types must have one of the following Setting values:

0300 - 0301

0330 - 0331

</li> <li>If none of these I/O ranges are in use, then you must change the Basic Configuration until one of these I/O ranges is present. You may have to clear the Use Automatic Settings check box to change the Basic Configuration. If none of the Basic Configurations use one the required Input/Output ranges, it is likely that another sound card in the computer is already using this range. The conflicting sound card may or may not be listed in Device Manager.</li> <li>Restart Windows.</li></ol>

The device should now function properly on this computer.

These are both Plug and Play sound cards and Windows should automatically install the correct drivers.

If you install these cards on a legacy (non-Plug and Play) computer, Windows may not detect them. If this happens, you can manually install the drivers by using the following steps:


 * 1) Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
 * 2) Double-click Add New Hardware.
 * 3) Click Next.

NOTE: If you are using Windows 98, click Next, and then click Next.
 * 1) Click No, and then click Next.
 * 2) Click Sound, Video And Game Controllers, click Next, and then click Have Disk.
 * 3) Type the path to the location of the updated driver files, and then click OK.
 * 4) Click Creative Sound Blaster 16 or AWE32, and then click OK.
 * 5) Click Next.
 * 6) Click Finish. If you are prompted to restart the computer, click Yes.

Windows should now detect the sound card while restarting. If it does not, repeat the above steps but click Yes in step 4 to allow Windows to search for new hardware. This usually forces Windows to install support for the Plug and Play ISA bus and properly detect the sound card. After the drivers are loaded, click Finish. When you are prompted to restart the computer, click Yes.

Make sure you have the latest version to the drivers for this sound card. The latest version can be obtained from the Creative Labs Web site or a version of the Windows Creative Labs driver that works with ActiMates is included on all ActiMates software titles.

The drivers installed for this sound card should be at least as recent as the ones on the ActiMates CD-ROM. If not, install the Sound Blaster drivers from the ActiMates CD-ROM. DirectX version 5.0 and later drivers should also work properly with ActiMates titles.

Sound Blaster AWE 32
It is recommended that you obtain Creative's latest driver update for this sound card. It can be obtained from their Web site as a self-extracting executable file called Sbw95up.exe.

You may need to change the settings on your sound card for the ActiMates character or the joystick to work properly. Specifically, your sound card's external MIDI port must be enabled. Please refer to "Sound Blaster 32 PnP, Sound Blaster AWE32 PnP" section of this article for instructions to enable your external MIDI port.

To add or update the Sound Blaster AWE 32 drivers, use the following steps:
 * 1) Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
 * 2) Double-click Add New Hardware.
 * 3) Click Next.

NOTE: If you are using Windows 98, click Next, and then click Next.
 * 1) Click No, and then click Next.
 * 2) Click Sound, Video And Game Controllers, click Next, and then click Have Disk.
 * 3) Type the path to the location of the updated driver files, and then click OK.
 * 4) Click Creative Sound Blaster 16 or AWE32, and then click OK.
 * 5) Click Next.
 * 6) Click Finish. If you are prompted to restart the computer, click Yes.

To install the Creative Advanced Wave Effects Synthesis for AWE 32 driver, repeat the above steps and click Creative Advanced Wave Effects Synthesis for AWE 32 in the list of drivers presented in Step 7.

To install the Gameport Joystick driver, use the following steps:
 * 1) Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
 * 2) Double-click Add New Hardware.
 * 3) Click Next, click No, and then click Next.

NOTE: If you are using Windows 98, click Next, click Next, click No, and then click Next.
 * 1) In the Hardware Types list, click Sound, Video And Game Controllers, and then click Next.
 * 2) In the Manufacturers box, click Microsoft.
 * 3) In the Models box, click Gameport Joystick, and then click Next.
 * 4) Click Next. Insert the Windows CD-ROM if you are prompted to.
 * 5) Click Finish. If you are prompted to restart the computer, click Yes.

Make sure you have the latest version to the drivers for this sound card. The latest version can be obtained from the Creative Labs Web site or a version of the Windows Creative Labs driver that works with ActiMates is included on all ActiMates software titles.

The drivers installed for this sound card should be at least as recent as the ones on the ActiMates CD-ROM. If not, install the Sound Blaster drivers from the ActiMates CD-ROM. DirectX version 5.0 and later drivers should also work properly with ActiMates titles.

Sound Blaster AWE64
It is recommended that you obtain Creative's latest driver update for this sound card. It can be obtained from their Web site as a self-extracting executable file called Sbw95up.exe.

You may need to change the settings on your sound card for the ActiMates character or the joystick to work properly. Specifically, your sound card's external MIDI port must be enabled.

Use the following steps to make sure your external MIDI port is enabled: <ol> <li>Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.</li> <li>Double-click Multimedia.</li> <li>On the Advanced or Devices tab, double-click MIDI Devices And Instruments to display the list of MIDI devices connected to your computer.</li> <li>Click the MIDI For External MIDI Port device. (If this device is not listed, click Cancel and skip to Step 8.)

NOTE: If you have two external MIDI devices listed, for example both MIDI for External MIDI Port and MIDI for MPU-401, then your computer has two external MIDI ports. If you enable one of the external MIDI ports and the device still does not work, then enable the second external MIDI port and try using the device again.</li> <li>Click Properties.</li> <li>On the General tab, make sure Use MIDI Features On This Device is selected.</li> <li>Click OK.</li> <li>Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click System.</li> <li>On the Device Manager tab, click View Devices By Type.</li> <li>Double-click Sound, Video And Game Controllers. You should see the following drivers listed:

Creative AWE 64 16-bit Audio (SB 16 Compatible)

Creative AWE 64 WaveTable MIDI (AWE 32 Compatible)

Gameport Joystick

</li> <li>If any other drivers are listed, they do not correspond to this sound card. Either you have a second audio or MIDI port on the computer, or the drivers are improperly loaded.

The important driver is the Creative AWE 64 16-bit Audio driver. This driver controls both the audio and the external MIDI, and must use an Input/Output (I/O) address range of 300-301, 310-311, 320-321, or 330-331. If none of these I/O ranges are in use, then you must change the Basic Configuration until one of these I/O ranges is present. If none of the Basic Configurations use this resource, it is likely that another sound card in the system is already using this range. The conflicting sound card may or may not be listed in Device Manager.

The Gameport Joystick driver only controls the joystick, and is not needed for ActiMates characters.</li> <li>Double-click the Creative AWE 64 16-bit Audio (SB 16 Compatible) driver in the list.</li> <li>On the Resources tab, locate the listing for Input/Output Range in the Resources Settings area. There may be more than one entry. For the external MIDI port to operate correctly, one of the Resource types must have one of the following Setting values.

0300 - 0301

0310 - 0311

0320 - 0321

0330 - 0331

</li> <li>If none of these I/O ranges are in use, then you must change the Basic Configuration until one of these I/O ranges is present. You may have to clear the Use Automatic Settings check box to change the Basic Configuration. If none of the Basic Configurations use one the required Input/Output ranges, it is likely that another sound card in the computer is already using this range. The conflicting sound card may or may not be listed in Device Manager.</li> <li>Restart Windows.</li></ol>

The device should now function properly on this computer.

This is a Plug and Play sound card and Windows should automatically install the correct drivers.

Make sure you have the latest version to the drivers for this sound card. The latest version can be obtained from the Creative Labs Web site or a version of the Windows Creative Labs driver that works with ActiMates is included on all ActiMates software titles.

The drivers installed for this sound card should be at least as recent as the ones on the ActiMates CD-ROM. If not, install the Sound Blaster drivers from the ActiMates CD-ROM. DirectX version 5.0 and later drivers should also work properly with ActiMates titles.

PhoneBlaster 14.4
You may need to change the settings on your sound card for the ActiMates character or the joystick to work properly. Specifically, your sound card's external MIDI port must be enabled. Please refer to the Sound Blaster Value 16 section of this article for instructions to enable your external MIDI port.

To add or update the Phone Blaster 14.4 drivers, use the following steps:
 * 1) Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
 * 2) Double-click Add New Hardware.
 * 3) Click Next.

NOTE: If you are using Windows 98, click Next, and then click Next.
 * 1) Click No, and then click Next.
 * 2) Click Sound, Video And Game Controllers, click Next, and then click Have Disk.
 * 3) Type the path to where the updated driver files are located, and then click OK.
 * 4) Click Creative Sound Blaster 16 or AWE32, and then click OK.
 * 5) Click Next.
 * 6) Click Finish. If you are prompted to restart the computer, click Yes.

To install the gameport joystick driver, repeat the above steps and click Creative Gameport Joystick in the list of drivers presented in Step 7.

The sound portion of this card is based on the Creative Labs SB16/Vibra. This card uses jumper settings to set the DMA Channel, Interrupt Setting, I/O Address Range, and external MPU-401 address. The jumpers must be set to match the Windows resource settings listed in Device Manager. If a resource conflict does occur, both the hardware and the software settings may need to be changed.

Refer to your sound card documentation for the proper jumper settings.

NOTE: Modem software must be installed separately.

Make sure you have the latest version to the drivers for this sound card. The latest version can be obtained from the Creative Labs Web site or a version of the Windows Creative Labs driver that works with ActiMates is included on all ActiMates software titles.

The drivers installed for this sound card should be at least as recent as the ones on the ActiMates CD-ROM. If not, install the Sound Blaster drivers from the ActiMates CD-ROM. DirectX version 5.0 and later drivers should also work properly with ActiMates titles.

PhoneBlaster 28.8, PhoneBlaster 33.6
You may need to change the settings on your sound card for the ActiMates character or the joystick to work properly. Specifically, the sound card's external MIDI port must be enabled. Please refer to the Sound Blaster Value 16 section of this article for instructions to enable your external MIDI port.

These are both Plug and Play sound cards and Windows should automatically install the correct drivers.

The sound portion of these cards is based on the Creative Labs SB16 PnP.

NOTE: Modem software must be installed separately.

Make sure you have the latest version to the drivers for this sound card. The latest version can be obtained from the Creative Labs Web site or a version of the Windows Creative Labs driver that works with ActiMates is included on all ActiMates software titles.

The drivers installed for this sound card should be at least as recent as the ones on the ActiMates CD-ROM. If not, install the Sound Blaster drivers from the ActiMates CD-ROM. DirectX version 5.0 and later drivers should also work properly with ActiMates titles.

The third-party products that are discussed in this article are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.

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