Microsoft KB Archive/121033

= MAC Dinosaurs: README Contents =

Article ID: 121033

Article Last Modified on 12/10/1999

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Dinosaurs 1.0 for Macintosh

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This article was previously published under Q121033



Microsoft Dinosaurs Version 1.0 README File
This README file contains information on the following topics:

Section    Description

1.    SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR RUNNING DINOSAURS What you need to run Dinosaurs 2.    SCREEN SIZES AND COLOR CONFIGURATION What makes Dinosaurs look best 3.    SOUND PROBLEMS Common problems playing sounds, and how to fix them 4.    RUNNING IN LOW MEMORY OR RUNNING SLOWLY Make Dinosaurs run on low-memory machines 5.    PRINTING AND COPYING How to print and copy Dinosaurs screens 6.    OVERVIEW MOVIE Running the Overview Movie 7.    DEMONSTRATION MODE How to make Dinosaurs run a slide show

1. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR RUNNING DINOSAURS

To install and run Dinosaurs you need:

-    A Macintosh computer with a Macintosh-compatible color monitor -    System 6.0.7 or later -    4 MB of memory -    1 MB of available hard disk space -    A CD-ROM drive

You can run Dinosaurs directly from the compact disc. To play the movies, certain files must be in your system folder (QuickTime is the most important). You can drag these from the System Files folder on the CD into your System Folder. If Dinosaurs can't find these files, it will prompt you to run the Installer.

The Installer will add any necessary files to your System Folder. It will also copy the Dinosaurs program files to a folder titled "Microsoft Dinosaurs" on your hard disk; this makes the program load a little faster when you start it. The sounds and pictures remain on the CD, so you still need to insert the CD to run Dinosaurs.

2. SCREEN SIZES AND COLOR CONFIGURATION

On startup, Dinosaurs checks your monitor and displays the images as best it can on your Macintosh. If your video mode can be adjusted to make Dinosaurs run better, the program will prompt you to do so.

Dinosaurs will run on any Macintosh compatible color monitor, although the Dinosaur movies look best in "Thousands of colors."

Dinosaurs is not designed to run in black and white.

-- 3. SOUND PROBLEMS --

Sound may be inaudible if the sound level is turned down. To set the sound level, use the Sound control panel, and experiment with the speaker volume setting until you get a comfortable sound level. If you set the sound level to maximum, you may get sound distortion just as you would on a stereo system.

If your Macintosh is running in Virtual Memory mode, you may find that sounds will break-up: when Virtual Memory is turned on, these are sometimes placed on the hard disk rather than into real RAM. For best performance, turn off Virtual Memory. To do this in System 7, bring up the Memory control panel, choose the Virtual Memory Off option, and then restart the computer. Note - Dinosaur movies will not run with Virtual Memory turned on.

Macintosh computers have built-in speakers. The speakers vary in quality and loudness depending on which Macintosh you have.

--- 4. RUNNING IN LOW MEMORY OR RUNNING SLOWLY ---

Dinosaurs should run on any Macintosh with 4 MB of memory.

If Dinosaurs runs slowly or displays out-of-memory messages, it probably does not have enough free memory. Here are some things you can do to help:

-    Run only one application at a time. If other applications are running, close them, then start Dinosaurs again.

-    Try running Dinosaurs in 16 color mode. To do this, reset your video mode in your monitors control panel, then restart Dinosaurs. When Dinosaurs requests to    change your video mode press the Continue button.

-    Reduce the amount of memory being used by your system software. In the Finder, choose About this Macintosh from the Apple menu to see how much memory your computer has and how much is being used by the system. If, for example, the dialog box displays "Total memory 4,096K" and the line underneath displays "System Software  3,500K," this indicates that you have 4 megabytes of RAM, but the Macintosh is using 3.5 of those for its operating system. In this case, there is little unused memory for running applications. Any applications that are running will also be listed in    this box.

You may be able to reduce the amount of memory used by the system. The process for doing this will differ depending on whether you are running a version of System 7 or System 6. In either case, you may have many fonts or DAs (Apple menu items) installed, and could remove those you are not using. For instructions on removing fonts or DAs, refer to your Macintosh documentation. Utilities such as screen savers and desk pictures also occupy RAM. Under System 7, you may have system extensions you do not need, such as printer drivers for printers you don't have. If you remove items like these to free memory, make sure to keep copies somewhere on your hard disk or on a backup disk so that you can re-install them if you need them later.

-    Dinosaurs is pre-set to its preferred memory size. You can change the amount of memory the program uses by choosing Get Info from the File menu in the Finder, and then changing the memory allocation. If you don't have enough memory to launch Dinosaurs, you can set Dinosaurs to use less memory. Be warned that a low memory setting may cause the program to perform poorly. For example, it may not play sounds or display pop-up windows if it runs out of memory. If you allocate Dinosaurs less than 1.8 MB, problems are likely to result.

5. PRINTING AND COPYING

The screens in Dinosaurs are stored and displayed as large color pictures, which are optimized for best screen reproduction rather than for print reproduction. You can, however, print screen images, which will be of the same quality as a screen shot made with a screen- capture function.

Dinosaurs may not print to some low-resolution dot matrix printers, such as the Apple ImageWriter. If you encounter problems printing to a dot matrix printer, you may try copying the image to the clipboard, using the Copy command from the Edit menu, and then pasting the image into another application which supports dot matrix printing, such as MacPaint, or Microsoft Works.

If you have only a black-and-white printer, Dinosaurs will not print very well. Dinosaurs can print better grayscale images--if you have a laser printer, choose the Color/grayscale option for better quality. You can also print in color if you have a color printer. Depending on the type of printer you have, printing a picture may take several minutes. Because the pictures can be quite large, you may have difficulty copying or printing in low-memory conditions. In this case, close all other applications and then try again.

The Print and Copy commands affect only the topmost window.

--- 6. OVERVIEW MOVIE ---

If you have difficulty running the Overview Movie try the following:

Some Macintosh high end video cards do not support 16 colors, on these systems the Overview Movie looks best in Thousands or Millions of colors. Use the monitors control panel to change the video mode.

Some high end video cards require more memory for the Overview Movie to run. If you are experiencing out of memory errors you may change the memory allocation for the Overview Movie. To do this you will need to copy the Overview Movie to your hard disk and increase the preferred memory setting in the Get Info dialog from the Finder's File menu.

Note: To quit the Overview Movie under System 6.0 press "Command Q".

-- 7. DEMONSTRATION MODE --

Dinosaurs has a demonstration mode that begins an automatic random "slide show" when the computer has been idle for a certain period.

To activate demonstration mode, hold down the Shift key while you click the Slideshow button in the Options dialog. This displays a dialog box. Check the "Start random automatically" box and specify the number of idle minutes that must elapse before starting the slide show, then click OK.

The slide show will end automatically as soon as you use Dinosaurs again.

Demonstration mode will remain active until you turn it off: to do this, hold down Shift again and click the Slideshow button in the Options dialog, clear the "Start random automatically" box in the dialog box, and then click OK.

Additional query words: mac 1994multi media multimedia multi-media mmtitles read me

Keywords: KB121033

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