Ancient Lands: README.TXT Contents
  
PSS ID Number: Q118406
Article last modified on 12-14-1995
 
1.00
 
WINDOWS
 

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The information in this article applies to:
 
 - Microsoft Ancient Lands for Windows, version 1.0
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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.
 
=====================================================================
                                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
 
-------   -------------------------------------------------------
   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.
 
=================================================================
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."
 
=================================================================
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."
 
=================================================================
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.
 
=================================================================
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:
     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.  A CD-ROM drive that
   does not meet the MPC specifications will exhibit slow performance
   and/or "Audio blips/Interruptions" when sound is played.
 
=================================================================
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.
 
=================================================================
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.
 
=================================================================
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-
 
 - The SBCONFIG.EXE configuration program included with the
   Sound Blaster cards
 
To change the settings, follow these steps:
 
1. Choose the Drivers icon in the Windows Control Panel.
 
2. Select the Sound Blaster 16 Wave/Midi driver and choose Setup.
 
3. Under the HDMA setting, set the selection to DMA.
 
4. Choose OK, and then choose Do Not Restart Now.
 
5. Exit Windows.
 
6. At the MS-DOS prompt, switch to the SB16 directory and run
   SBCONFIG.EXE.
 
7. 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
 
After you have finished making these selections, the SBCONFIG
program will restart your computer.
 
8. Restart Windows.
 
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.
 
=================================================================
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.
 
=================================================================
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.
 
=================================================================
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)
 
================================================================
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.