Microsoft KB Archive/118406

Ancient Lands: README.TXT Contents

PSS ID Number: Q118406 Article last modified on 12-14-1995

1.00

WINDOWS

= SUMMARY =

The following information is the contents of the README.TXT file in the root directory of the Ancient Lands CD. The text below remains as released in the README.TXT file, and has not been edited by PSS.

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======================================================== README.TXT =====================================================================

Microsoft Ancient Lands README file Microsoft Corporation June, 1994

This file contains additional information about Ancient Lands 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

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1 DEMONSTRATION MODE How to make Ancient Lands automatically and randomly display articles.

2 MUSEUM MODE Special mode for touch screen displays.

3 RUNNING IN LOW MEMORY OR RUNNING SLOWLY How to make Ancient Lands run on low-memory machines.

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

5 PRINTING AND COPYING How to print and copy screens.

6 GRAPHIC DISPLAY PROBLEMS Information about images that don’t display properly or about video driver errors.

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

8 MSLANDS.INI AND SYSTEM FILES What options are available in MSLANDS.INI and what multimedia system files are needed to run Ancient Lands.

9 RUNNING UNDER MICROSOFT WINDOWS NT Information about playing the movies and about video support.

10 ANCIENT LANDS MOVIES How to run movies in a window or full-screen.

11 REMOVING ANCIENT LANDS How to uninstall all Ancient Lands files from your hard disk.

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==================================================== 1. DEMONSTRATION MODE =================================================================

Ancient Lands has a Demonstration mode which begins an automatic random play of the Ancient Lands pages.

You can select Demonstration mode by pressing CTRL+ALT+D after starting Ancient Lands. This will display a dialog box in which you can click on “Start Demonstration mode” and specify the number of minutes to wait before starting the random play. After Demonstration mode has been selected, Ancient Lands will remain in that mode until you press CTRL+ALT+D again to display the dialog box and change to “Normal operation.”

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==================================================== 2. MUSEUM MODE =================================================================

Ancient Lands has a special mode for touch screen displays. Museum mode is similar to Demonstration mode, but does not allow the program to be exited.

You can select Museum mode by pressing CTRL+ALT+D after starting Ancient Lands. This will display a dialog box in which you can click on “Start Museum mode” and specify the number of minutes to wait before starting the random play. After Museum mode has been selected, Ancient Lands will remain in that mode until you press CTRL+ALT+D again to display the dialog box and change to “Normal operation.”

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==================================================== 3. RUNNING IN LOW MEMORY OR RUNNING SLOWLY =================================================================

Ancient Lands uses your computer’s system memory to display pictures. If you find that Ancient Lands runs slowly or if you encounter out-of-memory errors, Ancient Lands 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 by typing “mem” and pressing ENTER at the DOS prompt. You need a minimum of 4MB (4,000K) of total memory to use Ancient Lands. If you do not have at least 4MB of memory available, you will not be able to run Ancient Lands until you add more memory.
 * Ancient Lands needs a minimum of 5255K 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 in Enhanced mode, set up a permanent Windows swap file on your hard disk. A swap file of greater than 4MB (4,000K) is recommended. See your Windows documentation for more information.
 * Defragment (“clean up”) your hard disk by running a defragmentation program. If you are using MS-DOS 6.0 you can use the DEFRAG utility included in MS-DOS 6.0. See your MS-DOS 6.0 documentation for more information.

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==================================================== 4. CD-ROM PROBLEMS =================================================================

NOTE - Do not remove the Ancient Lands compact disc from your CD-ROM drive while Ancient Lands is in the process of playing a sound or displaying a new picture, or is running in Random mode.

If the Ancient Lands program cannot find the data files that it needs from the Ancient Lands 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 Ancient Lands compact disc is correctly inserted into the CD-ROM drive.   Make sure that the Ancient Lands 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 and/or “Audio blips/Interruptions” when sound is played. 

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==================================================== 5. PRINTING AND COPYING =================================================================

All screens in Ancient Lands 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 Ancient Lands. 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 Ancient Lands screens in color on a color printer.

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.

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==================================================== 6. GRAPHIC DISPLAY PROBLEMS =================================================================

Ancient Lands will run in 16-color or 256-color mode. The program will automatically detect what mode you are running in and display pictures accordingly.

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. This will enhance the image quality of Microsoft Ancient Lands. Check your Windows documentation for information on changing video drivers.

ANCIENT LANDS IMAGES APPEAR BLACK AND WHITE
Some color video cards display Ancient Lands images in black and white. This problem can be solved by updating your video driver. Contact your video card manufacturer for the updated 256-color Windows video drivers.

ATI PROBLEMS
Microsoft Ancient Lands is incompatible with some advanced features used by some video cards such as the Mach32 chip set running the ATI drivers.

For Ancient Lands 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. See your video card documentation for more information.

CIRRUS LOGIC DRIVERS
The Cirrus Logic video driver, v1.32, that shipped with the Compaq ProLinea and Presario (and presumably other systems having these drivers) is incompatible with the VfW 1.1 drivers shipped with Ancient Lands. As a result, during Ancient Lands Setup, your system may crash when profiling your video display. This problem does not occur with the latest versions of the Cirrus Logic video driver, v1.43.

To upgrade your Cirrus Logic video drivers, contact Cirrus Logic product support at:

Cirrus Logic 3100 W. Warren Ave. Freemont, CA 94538 (510) 623-8300

The Cirrus Logic driver products referenced here are manufactured by Cirrus Logic, a vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products’ performance or reliability.

PROBLEMS WITH THE DISPLAY IN ANCIENT LANDS
If you encounter problems displaying images or videos when running Microsoft Ancient Lands, check the currently installed video driver:

1. Run the Windows Setup application. 2. Locate the Display driver item in the application window. If the display driver item is VGA:

* Try running Windows in Standard Mode by typing WIN /S from the DOS prompt. If standard mode Windows works, try starting Windows in the enhanced mode with the following command:

WIN /D:XV

If this solves the problem, make the following modifications to your SYSTEM.INI file in the [386Enh] section:

EMMEXCLUDE=A000-EFFF VIRTUALHDIRQ=OFF If the display driver item is NOT VGA:

1. Run the Windows Setup application. 2. Choose Change System Settings from the Options menu. 3. Change the Display setting to VGA. 4. Choose OK and restart Windows. 5. Run Microsoft Ancient Lands and determine if the display problems still occur. If the problem still exists follow the suggestions described for VGA drivers, above. If the problem is solved, this would indicate that your current video driver selection is experiencing problems rendering images in Ancient Lands. You might want to consider choosing another video driver (if available) provided by your video card manufacturer. To do so, run the Windows Setup application. If the problem persists, contact your video card manufacturer for updated video drivers.

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==================================================== 7. AUDIO PROBLEMS =================================================================

Audio problems can have many causes. Other applications that play sounds may interrupt sounds in Ancient Lands, 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, turn it off or do not run it while running Ancient Lands.

SOUNDS PLAY, BUT NOT VERY WELL
Sounds that are distorted or “fuzzy” have several possible causes. The most likely one is that your speakers are not of high quality.

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 BREAKS IN MOVIES
If your video display is set to 16-color and you are running Ancient Lands from a single-speed CD-ROM drive, you may experience sound breaks in certain movies. Running in 256-color will fix this problem.

SOUND DOESN’T PLAY AT ALL
If you do not 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 Ancient Lands requires an MPC-compatible sound board to be installed 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 crash. 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 un-install the PC Speaker driver.

SOUNDBLASTER CARD PROBLEMS
= Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 and 16ASP sound cards =

Compressed audio clips may fail to play if you are using a Sound Blaster 16 or Sound Blaster 16 ASP sound card. This problem occurs because some computers are unable to use the 16-bit DMA (direct memory access) channel on the Sound Blaster cards.

To correct this problem, switch the HDMA channel to use DMA or 8-bit DMA. You must change this setting in the following two places:

  The Drivers dialog box in the Windows Control Panel -and- </li>  The SBCONFIG.EXE configuration program included with the Sound Blaster cards </li></ul>

To change the settings, follow these steps:

<ol style="list-style-type: decimal;">  Choose the Drivers icon in the Windows Control Panel. </li>  Select the Sound Blaster 16 Wave/Midi driver and choose Setup. </li>  Under the HDMA setting, set the selection to DMA. </li>  Choose OK, and then choose Do Not Restart Now. </li>  Exit Windows. </li>  At the MS-DOS prompt, switch to the SB16 directory and run SBCONFIG.EXE. </li>  Follow the instructions provided by this configuration program. It assists you in selecting and testing the following variables: Variable Select —————————————- Base I/O port Autoscan MidiPort address Autoscan DMA interrupt Current 8-bit DMA Current 16-bit DMA Use 8-bit DMA </li></ol>

After you have finished making these selections, the SBCONFIG program will restart your computer.

<ol start="8" style="list-style-type: decimal;"> Restart Windows.</li></ol>

All compressed audio should now play correctly.

For more information regarding Sound Blaster cards and about this problem, contact Creative Labs technical support at (405) 742-6622.

Sound Blaster is manufactured by Creative Technology Ltd., a vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding this product’s performance or reliability.

= Media Vision Cards =

A small number of Media Vision sound card drivers (Pro Audio - Spectrum cards) may have problems with sound in Ancient Lands. If you have a Media Vision card and do not hear sounds or are having other sound problems, you might require updated drivers. Contact Media Vision for current driver information.

If you are running Microsoft Ancient Lands on an EISA machine and experience “scratchy” audio, try changing the DMA channel on the sound card to DMA 7.

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==================================================== 8. MSLANDS.INI AND SYSTEM FILES =================================================================

The MSLANDS.INI file is installed by Ancient Lands on your hard drive in your Windows directory. This file contains information on the default screen position for the Ancient Lands window (where you last left it), the default drive letter for the Ancient Lands compact disc, and the path to the Ancient Lands data file.

Microsoft Ancient Lands also installs or updates some system files. These files are required to run Ancient Lands correctly. Files installed or updated include: OLE2, Intel Indeo Video, and the Microsoft Sound Mapper Version 2 drivers.

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==================================================== 9. RUNNING UNDER MICROSOFT WINDOWS NT =================================================================

There are two potential problems with Ancient Lands running under Windows NT. First, there is no VGA support for Ancient Lands; if you are running Windows NT you need to be using a VGA+ (256-color) or better display to use Ancient Lands. Second, the AVI movies will not play in Windows NT 3.0 full screen. Change the Ancient Lands Movies setting to run in a window.

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==================================================== 10. ANCIENT LANDS MOVIES ================================================================= The Ancient Lands Movies play full-screen by default. Some video drivers don’t play movies properly full-screen (on a black background). If Ancient Lands detects a problem when playing movies it should switch to playing movies in a window.

If you have problems playing movies full-screen or if you would like to switch between playing movies full-screen or in a window, change the “VideoInWindow” line in your MSLANDS.INI file in your WINDOWS directory as follows:

VideoInWindow=0 (This will make movies play full-screen)

VideoInWindow=1 (This will make movies play in a window)

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=================================================== 11. REMOVING ANCIENT LANDS ================================================================ To remove Ancient Lands files from your hard disk, run SETUP.EXE from the Ancient Lands CD. Choose the “Remove All” option and follow instructions for removing all components of Ancient Lands from your hard disk.

KBCategory: kbreadme kbmm KBSubcategory:

= Additional reference words: kbhowto 1994multi media multimedia multi-media =

Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1995.