Explorapedia Nature 1.0: Contents of README.WRI (124508)

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft Explorapedia Tips

This document contains information that will help you get the most
out of Explorapedia and your system.

To read this file on-screen, use the Page Down and Page Up keys on
your keyboard. You can print the file by choosing the Print command
from the File menu.

Sending suggestions, content enhancements, and errors

If you have suggestions for features you would like to see in future
editions of Explorapedia or comments about the current version,
please send them to:

   Explorapedia Program Manager
   Consumer Division
   Microsoft Corporation
   1 Microsoft Way
   Redmond, WA  98052-6399
   FAX: (425) 936-7329

Comments about errors, comprehensiveness, or validity of information
presented are welcome. Please send these comments by FAX, U.S. mail,
or e-mail.


Table of Contents

Section Description

1. Problems During Setup
2. General Tips
3. Explorapedia and Windows Performance Issues
4. Video Cards and Display Problems
5. Audio Problems
6. CD-ROM Problems
7. Running Explorapedia on Windows NT
8. Mouse/Cursor Function
9. Credit Information


1. Problems During Setup

Because Explorapedia installs system files that may be shared with
other applications, it is best to close other applications before
setting up.

If Setup is interrupted by a loss of power, a power surge, or some
other unexpected incident, restart Microsoft Windows before you run
Setup again.

Refer to your Explorapedia User's Guide to find out about minimum
system requirements.

If you receive the error message "WinG has encountered a problem
with your video display driver. Contact the manufacturer of your
video card to obtain the most recent driver. Your WinG applications
will still run, but at reduced speed,"  it most likely means that
you have old video drivers. Check the documentation that came with
your video card or computer to find out where you can get the latest
video drivers for your system. Refer to "Section 4, Video Cards and
Display Problems" in this document for more information about how
to obtain more recent drivers.


2. General Tips

You can always click the F1 key on your keyboard to get help from Tad.

Using "Find a certain word" is a quick alternative to get to any
topic. Click on Find in the ship or on the Exploratron (or click on
Tad and then click on "Find something"), and then click on "A
certain word" on the list.

Ship's Window--The labels at the top of the ship (which change as
you move the cursor) correspond to the 16 scenes in Explorapedia,
The World of Nature.

Changing audio, scene actions, or color of leap words is easily
accomplished by clicking on the "Settings" button in the ship,
or by clicking on Tad to see a list of options.

There are three ways to establish connections to a Writing or
Painting application:

Click on the notepad or easel in the ship, which provides the most
direct way to connect to the application. OR Click on the
"Settings" button in the ship, and then choose "Connections to
writing or painting programs." OR Click on Tad, and then choose
"Something else," then "Change Settings," and finally "Connections
to writing or painting programs."

Once you've reached the "Stand by. I'll connect you to your program"
bubble, you must next click the "Connect" button.  A dialog box
will appear.  By selecting an executable program (a file with an
.EXE file extension; for example, WRITE.EXE) and clicking OK, you
will establish the connection.  Subsequent clicks on the appropriate
icon will IMMEDIATELY start that application.


3. Explorapedia and Windows Performance Issues

There are several ways to make Explorapedia run faster. Many of the
methods described below are general tips to improve the performance
of any Windows application. Consult your Windows user's guide for
more details.

Microsoft Explorapedia uses your computer's memory (RAM) to display
pictures and play animations and sound. If Explorapedia runs slowly
or you see "out-of-memory" errors, Explorapedia may not have enough
memory. Below are some tips to make the best use of your available
memory.

* Close all applications that you are not using.

* Set up a permanent Windows swap file.

Windows works best when there is hard disk space allocated for
swapping a file into or out of your computer's memory. To set up a
permanent Windows swap file on your hard disk, open Control Panel
(usually in the Main group of Program Manager), and then click 386
Enhanced. Click the Virtual Memory button to see if your current
swap file is temporary or permanent, to check the size of the
current swap file, and to make changes. Windows usually creates a
temporary swap file by default, but if your disk is full or
fragmented, this temporary file may be unavailable. If you can,
make the size of the permanent swap file at least 8192 KB.

Look at the Help menu in Control Panel or in your Windows
documentation for more information.

* Defragment or optimize your hard disk by running a defragmentation
  program.

For example, MS-DOS 6.0 includes a utility called Microsoft Defrag.
Some other popular utilities are PC Tools, Norton Utilities, and
Mace Utilities.

* Add more RAM (memory) to your computer.

You can determine how much memory is available by starting MS-DOS,
typing mem, and pressing ENTER. This starts a program that will
tell you how much memory you have. You need at least 4 megabytes
(sometimes listed as 4096 kilobytes or KB) of RAM, and 8 megabytes
is recommended.

* Add a cache to your CD-ROM drive.

SmartDrive in MS-DOS 6.2 and utilities such as Norton Speedcache+
can significantly improve the performance of CD-ROM products by
helping to eliminate unnecessary seeks and reads. If you have an
older or slow CD-ROM drive, the performance difference is very
noticeable.

* Run Microsoft MemMaker from MS-DOS.

   MS-DOS version 6.0 and later features a utility called
      MemMaker that can increase the amount of low memory
      available to applications. This can improve the performance
      of many Windows applications as well as MS-DOS applications.
      Refer to your MS-DOS user's guide  for more information on
      MemMaker.

For more details on improving performance, consult your Windows
and CD-ROM manuals.


4. Video Cards and Display Problems

Explorapedia does not run in 16-color mode. The standard VGA driver
that comes with Windows and almost all video cards can show only 16
colors. However, unless you have a VGA-only video card or monitor,
you can change your display to 256 colors. Your system may already
have a driver installed that displays 256 colors or more.  For
instructions on how to determine what video driver you have
installed and how to install or change drivers, go to the Help menu
in Windows Setup. To get there, click Windows Setup, usually in the
Main group of Program Manager.

In some situations, Explorapedia may encounter video display
problems when using high-resolution video drivers from various
video-card manufacturers.

There are several things you can do if you encounter problems like
this:

* Obtain updated drivers from your video-card manufacturer

Most problems can be fixed by obtaining new drivers from your
video-card manufacturer. Contact the manufacturer of your video card
to determine if there are newer versions available. The company's
phone number should be in the manuals that came with your video
card or personal computer. Another option for obtaining updated
drivers is the Microsoft Download service, an electronic bulletin
board that can be accessed via a modem at (425) 936-MSDL
(425-936-6735).

* Change to a different display mode

An alternative to obtaining a new or updated display driver is to
change your video mode to a standard video mode, such as 640 x
480 resolution with 256 colors.



5. Audio Problems

The following are some suggested solutions for common problems with
audio in Explorapedia.

--------------------------------------------------
SOUND DOES NOT PLAY AT ALL
--------------------------------------------------

1. Check the volume.

2. If the volume is turned up and you still hear no sounds,
   something may be wrong with your audio card installation. Check
   to see that the audio card software is installed correctly, and
   reinstall it if necessary.

3. If the software is installed correctly, the audio card may need
   to be pressed more securely into its slot or have a jumper
   setting changed.

4. If you have both an audio card and special software that bypasses
   the audio card to play sounds through the PC speaker, we suggest
   you remove or disable the special software (the PC speaker driver).
   Explorapedia requires an MPC-compatible audio card; it is not meant
   to run with just the PC internal speaker or any combination of that
   speaker and special software.

------------------------------------------------------------------
SOUND PLAYS BUT IS DISTORTED OR "FUZZY"
------------------------------------------------------------------

Sound distortion is often caused by sending a higher volume or
amplitude of sound than the speakers are able to handle.  Also, if
the volume control on your audio card is set too high it may cause
distortion from the amplifier on the audio card. Sometimes
lower-quality speakers will distort at a lower volume than better
speakers will (compare a clock radio speaker to a big stereo system;
the stereo speakers can play much louder with no distortion). For
example, if the volume for your audio card or "WAVE file output" is
set to near its maximum it will produce distortion just like a radio
with the volume turned up too high. To learn how to change your
audio-card settings, check the manuals that came with your audio
card. Changing the volume settings is normally done either with a
volume dial on the back of your audio card (in the back of your
computer where the speakers plug in) or with a program that is
often called a "mixer" (usually found in Control Panel in the Main
group). Some audio cards use both types of controls, and they must
both be adjusted.

Another possible cause of distortion is that you are using a 16-bit
sound card set to a lower Direct Memory Access (DMA). Sounds that
appear scratchy while using a low DMA will sound better using a
higher DMA. In the case of the Media Vision Pro Audio 16 sound card,
a DMA setting of 7 will correct any scratchy sounds. To change the
DMA channel, go to Control Panel and choose Drivers. In the Drivers
section, select the sound card driver and then choose Setup. You
should be able to select a higher DMA setting here. If the driver
will not allow you to change the DMA setting, refer to your
sound-card manual.


--------------------------------------------------
SOUND PLAYS BUT HAS SKIPS
--------------------------------------------------

If audio breaks up or skips periodically, it is usually an indication
that the CD-ROM drive does not fully meet the MPC (Multimedia PC)
specification for the Data Transfer Rate. Since Explorapedia requires
a double-speed CD-ROM drive, any audio skipping or breakup should be
minimal. If you are trying to run Explorapedia with a single-speed
drive, you may experience audio loss during videos and animations.

-------------------------------------
SOUNDS ARE CUT OFF
-------------------------------------

Most audio cards can play only one sound at a time; therefore,
other sound-producing applications could interrupt the sounds from
Explorapedia. Some sound-producing applications may take over the
audio capability and prevent other Windows applications from being
able to make sounds. If you suspect you have such an application,
do not run it at the same time as Explorapedia.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
ERROR MESSAGE:  "NO WAVE DEVICE THAT CAN PLAY FILES . . ."
--------------------------------------------------------------------

If you get the error message, "No wave device that can play files in
the current format is installed. Use the drivers option to install
the wave device" when trying to play some sound clips or dialogues,
the Microsoft audio-compression manager and drivers may not be
installed correctly. Run the Explorapedia setup program from the
CD-ROM to correct the problem.


6. CD-ROM Problems

Common solutions to problems with CD-ROM drives

NOTE: Do not remove the Explorapedia compact disc from your CD-ROM
drive while running Explorapedia.

Explorapedia requires a double-speed CD-ROM drive.

If Explorapedia cannot find the data files it needs to run, you
will see an error message prompting you to correct the problem.
To find the source of the problem, do the following:

* Make sure the Explorapedia compact disc is correctly inserted
  into the CD-ROM drive.

* Make sure that the drive is connected to your computer correctly
  and it is functioning in MS-DOS. If you have an external CD-ROM
  drive, make sure the power is turned on. You can test the function
  in MS-DOS by viewing a directory of the drive at an MS-DOS prompt.
  To do this, change to the CD-ROM drive at an MS-DOS prompt, type
  dir, and then press ENTER.

* Make sure that Explorapedia is looking for the compact disc on
  the correct drive. Check that the EXPLORA.INI file is in the
  Windows directory.

If you still see an error message, try running the setup program
from the Explorapedia CD-ROM again.


7. Running Explorapedia on Windows NT

Explorapedia may need to copy some files to your system directory.
In order for Setup to do this, you must be a member of the
Administrator group when you log on. Otherwise, Setup will not be
able to copy these files to your drive. You can check your user
status with the User Manager.

Explorapedia runs well on Windows NT with the following exceptions:

* Explorapedia does not support Windows NT version 3.1. You must
  have Windows NT version 3.5 or later in order to run Explorapedia.

* Playing videos on the TV in Tad's ship will temporarily cause
  the ship to appear in an incorrect color palette. This is a known
  problem. Going to a scene will restore the palette.

* Non-Intel Windows NT machines (i.e., Mips or Alpha processor)
  are not supported.


8. Mouse/Cursor Function

If you find that the mouse cursor jumps around on the screen when
you perform certain actions in Explorapedia, and you are using
Microsoft Intellipoint mouse software, you need to turn off the
"snap-to" option. Open Control Panel (usually found in the Main
group in Program Manager), and choose the Mouse option. Turn off
the "snap-to" option in the Mouse Manager dialog box, and close
Mouse Manager and Control Panel.



9. Credit Information

The following credit information was provided too late to be
included in Explorapedia:


All animations should be credited to Microsoft Animation. Those
missing from the credit screen (which you get from clicking the
Credits button in the ship) are:

Point 1 of Sharks (Sharks)
Point 2 of Water (States of Water)
Point 3 of Sand (Sand Dunes and Storms)
Point 5 of Rabbits and Hares (More Rabbits and Hares)
Point 1 of Grasshoppers and Crickets (Grasshoppers and Crickets)
Point 2 of Fossils (How Fossils Form)
Point 4 of Living Things (Reaction)
Point 1 of Earthquakes (Earthquakes)
Point 4 of Flatfish (Floundering Around)
Point 4 of Penguins (Locomotion)
Point 4 of Wind (Measuring the Wind)
Point 1 of Parrots (Parrots)

Point 3 of Porcupines (Regular Rodent): Photo should be credited
to Jany Sauvanet/Photo Researchers, Inc.

Point 6 of Animals (Animal Senses): Two photos should be credited
to Jerry L. Ferrara/Photo Researchers, Inc. (fennec fox) and Tom
McHugh/Photo Researchers, Inc. (cavefish).

Point 3 of Elephants (Elephant Parts): Photo should be credited to
Tim Davis/Photo Researchers, Inc.

Point 3 of Sun (Solar Storms): Photo should be credited to SS/Photo
Researchers, Inc.

Point 2 of Crabs (Joints and Sections): Photo should be credited to
Gary G. Gibson/Photo Researchers, Inc.

Point 8 of Oceans (Ocean Life): The Whale and the Hatchet Fish
illustrations should be credited to Dorling Kindersley.

Point 1 of Amphibians (Amphibians): The illustration of the three
little frogs on the right side should be credited to Dorling
Kindersley.

Point 2 of Farm Animals (Origins): Credit for Kathi Lamm/Allstock,
Inc. should not be listed under the Farm Animals topic on the
Credits screen; the image is correctly credited on the Credits
screen as being in Point 2 of Dogs.