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- Known problems (and in some cases, fixes):
-
- Not finding EGA in the detection routine:
- Some older EGA video cards only have 64K of memory, more
- is needed for the high-resolution animation in the FLIX software
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-
- The software must be installed to your hard drive.
- When installing the software, be sure to make a directory to put
- the software into:
- MD FLIX (Make a directory called FLIX, for example)
- CD FLIX (Change to the FLIX directory)
- COPY A:*.* (Copy the floppies to your hard drive)
- When running the software, be sure to change to the directory
- it has been installed into first (CD FLIX).
- You don't have to do the above, but it prevents having a big mess.
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-
- TSR's (Terminate and stay resident programs), that can "pop-up"
- while other things are running can lead to unexpected results...
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-
- GRASPRT.EXE is a DOS program (it is the run-time module for the
- software). It is best to run the software under DOS, not WINDOWS.
- Depending on your WINDOWS version and configuration, you may
- experience problems. For instance, the sound for "Animated Words"
- will be distorted when using the SoundBlaster with Windows 3.1
- using multimedia extensions. You may have better results by running
- windows in standard mode: start windows with WIN /S
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-
- Some of the software is invoked from a batch (.BAT) file.
- This may cause a problem with some menu programs (control not
- returning to the menu after the FLIX program is run).
- There are two possible fixes for this.
-
- The easiest is to use the command CALL (which allows control to
- return to the calling batch file - your menu) to prefix the
- instruction you use in your menu program. For example: use CALL
- SHAPES when running "Animated Shapes" from your menu, not just
- SHAPES.
-
- Another solution would be to bypass the .BAT file used to run the
- FLIX software by using the contents of the .BAT file instead. To
- see what is in the .BAT file use TYPE SHAPES.BAT (for example). In
- this case it would tell you that SHAPES.BAT says GRASPRT SHAPES.
- So instead of telling your menu program to use SHAPES, tell it to
- use GRASPRT SHAPES to run "Animated Shapes".
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-
- "The Animated Memory Game" is invoked with the AMEM.BAT file, not
- AMEN.BAT (AMEM vs. AMEN)
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-
- Digital sound for "Animated Words":
-
- Can't hear the PC speaker very well, or it doesn't sound very good:
- Some PC's have very small speakers located deep inside the cabinet
- - they won't sound very good. The ability to play digitized speech
- through the PC's speaker was not engineered into the design of
- PC's, the ability to do it using RealSound, is going to vary
- significantly depending on your hardware. I licensed RealSound to
- get the best commercial-quality program to perform this trick.
-
- What is the Covox Speech Thing?
- It is a sound device that runs from the printer port (parallel
- port) of your PC. The Disney Sound Source operates in a similar
- manner. I am licensed to use the Disney Sound Source, but that
- support is not available at this time, the GRASP/RealSound sound
- drivers used do not support it and I would need to write my own
- drivers. If the demand for that is great, an upgrade may be
- implemented.
-
- When the program is first run you will be taken through a set-up
- process to determine the type of input device you want to use as
- well as how the sound will be handled. Please be accurate when
- telling the set-up routine what type of equipment (sound cards
- etc.) you have installed. If you have an AdLib or Sound Blaster
- compatible card (but is not a AdLib or Sound Blaster), one or the
- other choice may work. If you experience difficulties, exit to
- DOS, type RESET, and try again. If you need to change your set-up
- (if you install a new sound card, for instance), type RESET to tell
- the program about it.
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-
- Programs that use SETUP. You need to run SETUP first to tell the
- programs about your software (sound devices, input devices, etc.)
- After that the program can be run normally, and you aren't asked for
- this information again. If you need to change your setup
- (if you install a new sound card, for instance), type SETUP to tell
- the program about it.
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-
- I do extensive Beta-testing, but the DOS world is somewhat
- unpredictable, by the time you take a motherboard from manufacturer
- A, and combine it with a video card from B, monitor from C, memory
- from D, software from E, all the combinations become impossible to
- test for....
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-
- Tom Guthery IV, 601 Ranch Road, DelValle TX 78617
-
- (5/10/94)
-