Microsoft KB Archive/129018

500 Nations: README.TXT Contents

PSS ID Number: Q129018 Article last modified on 12-15-1995

1995

WINDOWS

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========================================================= 1995 WINDOWS kbreadme kbref kbmm

= SUMMARY =

The following article contains the text of the README.TXT file found in the root directory of the Microsoft 500 nations CD-ROM.

= MORE INFORMATION =

500 Nations README file Microsoft Corporation April 12, 1995 ___________________________________________

This file contains additional information about 500 Nations not included in the User’s Guide.

To read this file on-screen, use the Page Down and Page Up keys. You can also print the file by choosing the Print command from the File menu in any Windows word processing program. If you open this file in Windows Write, Microsoft Word, or another word processor, it will be easier to read if you select the entire document and format the text in 10-point Courier.

This README file contains important information on the following topics:

Section Description
1 RUNNING IN LOW MEMORY OR RUNNING SLOWLY How to make 500 Nations run on low-memory machines.

2 CD-ROM PROBLEMS Hints on solving problems accessing CD-ROM drives.

3 PRINTING AND COPYING How to print and copy 500 Nations screens.

4 DEMONSTRATION AND MUSEUM MODE How to make 500 automatically and randomly demonstrate all of its Stories.

5 VIDEO DISPLAY PROBLEMS Images don’t display properly or video driver errors.

6 AUDIO PROBLEMS Some common sound problems and how to fix them.

= 1. RUNNING IN LOW MEMORY OR RUNNING SLOWLY =

500 Nations uses your computer’s system memory to display pictures. If you find that 500 Nations runs slowly or if you encounter out-of-memory errors, the program probably doesn’t have enough memory. Consider doing the following to improve your computer’s performance:


 * Close all unnecessary applications.
 * Determine how much total memory your computer has available. At the MS-DOS command prompt, type “mem” and press ENTER. 500 Nations will run best if you have at least 8MB (8192 KB) of total memory. If you do not have at least 4MB of memory, you will not be able to run 500 Nations until you add more memory.
 * 500 Nations needs a minimum of 5 MB free in Windows for best movie performance. To check the amount of free memory Windows has available, start Windows, and from Program Manager pull down the “Help” menu then choose “About Program Manager.”
 * If you are running Windows 3.1, make sure you have a permanent Windows swap file on your hard disk. A swap file of greater than 4MB (4,096K) is recommended. See your Windows documentation for more information.
 * Defragment (“clean up”) your hard disk by running a defragmentation program such as DEFRAG, which comes with MS-DOS version 6 or higher. A disk defragmenter is also included in Windows 95.
 * If you are using more than 256 colors in your monitor display, you may want to lower your video colors to 256. For instructions on how to change your Windows display consult your Windows documentation.

= 2. CD-ROM PROBLEMS =

NOTE: Do not remove the 500 Nations compact disc from your CD-ROM drive while 500 Nations is in the process of playing a sound, movie, or slideshow, or is running in Random mode.

If the 500 Nations program cannot find the data files that it needs from the 500 Nations compact disc, you’ll see a message that asks you to select the drive containing the files. To find the source of the problem, do the following:


 * Make sure the 500 Nations compact disc is correctly inserted into the CD-ROM drive.
 * Make sure that the 500 Nations program is looking for the compact disc on the correct drive. Check to see if the drive letter for your CD-ROM drive has changed. You can use the Windows File Manager to determine which drive letter is assigned to the CD-ROM drive. The Select Drive command in the Disk menu will say “CD-ROM” next to the CD-ROM drive letter.
 * If you have an external CD-ROM drive, make sure that the drive is connected to your computer, plugged in, and turned on. If you still see the error message after checking the points above, check the documentation that came with your CD-ROM drive or contact the company that supplied the drive.
 * Make sure that your CD-ROM drive is MPC-compatible. MPC-compatible drives meet the following criteria:
 * An average seek time of less than one second;
 * A transfer rate of 150KB per second while using less than 40% of the CPU bandwidth.

Check the documentation that came with your CD-ROM drive to make sure it meets these requirements. A CD-ROM drive that does not meet the MPC specifications will exhibit slow performance, audio blips, or interruptions when sound is played.

= 3. PRINTING AND COPYING =

The screens in 500 Nations are large color pictures. Depending on the type of printer you have, printing a picture of the screen may take several minutes. Also, screen resolution and printer resolution are often not the same, so the resulting printout may not match the quality you see on the screen.

You should be able to print grayscale images from 500 Nations. If you have a black and white laser printer you might need to upgrade your printer driver. Call the dealer from whom you bought the printer or the printer manufacturer. It is also possible to print 500 Nations screens in color on a color printer.

Some Dot-matrix printers may not print pictures properly with the “Low / Faster” quality setting in the Print Dialog. On these printers change the quality setting in the Print Dialog to “High / Slower”.

If you attempt to Print while playing a video, you will not be able to print a frame from the video window. You will get a printout of the background screen.

Because the pictures can be quite large, you may have difficulty copying or printing in low-memory conditions. In this case, close all other unnecessary running applications and try again.

If you Copy a picture from 500 Nations, and Paste it into another Windows application, you may encounter Palette problems (the picture will have incorrect colors). This is because some Windows applications (like Write and Paintbrush) don’t support full color palette control. For example, you can get a correct color image by pasting into an application that supports color control such as Paint in Windows 95, or Microsoft Word for Windows.

= 4. DEMONSTRATION AND MUSEUM MODE =

500 Nations has both a demonstration mode, for use in stores, and a museum mode. Both begin an automatic random “slide show” of the 500 Nations pages if you haven’t used the program for a specified number of minutes. Museum mode has special features for standalone operation.

You can select either of these modes by pressing Ctrl+Alt+D after starting 500 Nations.

= 5. VIDEO DISPLAY PROBLEMS =

500 Nations runs in 256-color screen mode. The program will automatically detect which mode you are running and display pictures accordingly. 500 Nations will not run in less than 256-color mode. If your computer is running in 16-color mode, and the video card will support 256 colors, you can run the Windows Setup program to change the video driver. For more information on changing video drivers, check your Windows documentation.

= SPECIFIC VIDEO DRIVER ISSUES =

S3 Drivers: If you have a computer with an S3 video card, and are experiencing video display problems, you should install the latest driver available (currently version 2.41).This driver is included on the 500 Nations CD in the. For details on installing this driver, see your Windows documentation. The 2.41 and 1.32 S3 drivers are designed only to work with the 86C801/805 chip set.

Generic S3 drivers may not be fully compatible with other applications or your PC Configuration. S3 drivers will not be supported by Microsoft or by S3, Inc.

Microsoft Super VGA drivers: If you are not using an S3 video card, and are experiencing video display problems, you should install the latest driver from your video card manufacturer, or install the Microsoft Super VGA driver. The SVGA driver is included on the 500 Nations CD in the directory. For details on installing this driver, see your Windows documentation.

= 500 NATIONS IMAGES APPEAR BLACK AND WHITE =

Some color video cards display 500 Nations images in black and white. This problem can be solved by updating your color video driver. Contact your video card manufacturer for these updated Windows video drivers.

= ATI PROBLEMS =

500 Nations is incompatible with some features of video cards such as the Mach32 chip set running the ATI drivers. For 500 Nations to run on the ATI driver, the “256 color palette” control in the “Advanced features” of the “ATI Control Panel” needs to be set to ON. For more information, see the documentation for your video card.

= 6. AUDIO PROBLEMS =

Audio problems can have many causes. Other applications that play sounds may interrupt sounds in 500 Nations, because your computer cannot play two sounds simultaneously. This is generally a temporary clash that will resolve itself. However, a few applications that play sounds, such as some screen savers, may remove audio capability from all other Windows applications. If you suspect you have such an application, deactivate it or do not run it while running 500 Nations.

= SOUNDS PLAY, BUT NOT VERY WELL =

Sounds that are distorted or “fuzzy” have several possible causes. The most likely one is simply that your speakers are not of high quality. Low frequency sounds may not reproduce well on some equipment.

It is also possible that the software settings on your sound board are causing distortion. For example, if the sound card volume or “WAVE file input” is set to near its maximum, it will produce amplification distortion, just as it would on a stereo system. To find out how to change your sound board settings, check the documentation that came with your sound board.

Your CD-ROM drive should be MPC-compatible. MPC-compatible drives meet the following criteria:


 * 1) An average seek time of less than one second;
 * 2) A transfer rate of 150KB per second while using less than 40% of the CPU bandwidth.

Check the documentation that came with your CD-ROM drive to make sure it meets these requirements. An incompatible CD-ROM drive may work; however, it may produce low-quality audio or cause the sound to be interrupted while playing.

= SOUND DOESN’T PLAY AT ALL =

If you don’t hear any sounds, make sure that the volume is set to an audible level.

If the volume is set to an audible level and you still hear no sounds at all, something may be wrong with your sound board setup. Check to see that the drivers are installed correctly and, if necessary, reinstall them. To determine if the sound drivers are installed, check the Drivers section of the Windows Control Panel. For more information on installing your sound drivers, refer to the documentation that came with your sound card. If you have any problems, contact your sound board manufacturer for assistance.

Please note that 500 Nations requires an MPC-compatible sound board and is not intended to run with drivers which use the PC speaker, such as the unsupported “PC Speaker” driver. Such a driver will in most cases not play any sounds, and if the driver setup option “Enable Interrupts” is not checked, the system may lock up. Check the “Drivers” configuration in your Windows Control Panel. If you have both a sound board and the PC Speaker driver installed, it is recommended that you remove the PC Speaker driver.

= MEDIA VISION CARDS =

A small number of Media Vision sound card drivers (Pro Audio-Spectrum cards) may have problems with sound in 500 Nations. If you have a Media Vision card and do not hear sounds or are having fuzzy, skipping, or other sound problems, you might require updated drivers. You might try changing your DMA setting in Control Panel  Drivers in the Media Vision Wave/MIDI driver to 7. If this does not work contact Media Vision for current driver information.

KBCategory: kbreadme kbref kbmm KBSubcategory: win31 multi media multimedia multi-media

= Additional reference words: kbhowto 1995 =

Keywords : win31 media multi multi-media multimedia Version : 1995 Platform : WINDOWS ============================================================================= Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1995.