Copyright: Copyright ©1996 SouthPeak Interactive LLC


Contents

Getting Started

Puzzle Menu

Hints Menu

Options Menu

Help Menu

Troubleshooting


Getting Started

Welcome to Virtual Jigsaw!

Moving Pieces

Before you close this window, take a moment to look at how Virtual Jigsaw holds, moves, and flips pieces. Grab a puzzle piece by moving the cursor over it. The cursor will turn into a hand.  Click and hold your Left Mouse Button and you can drag the piece around the desktop.

Getting a New Piece

You can get a new jigsaw piece by moving your mouse over the piece and grabbing it with the Left Mouse Button. Virtual Jigsaw will also fetch a piece for you. Find an empty spot on the desktop, click the Right Mouse Button, and watch the piece move to your cursor!

Rotating Pieces

When you move the cursor to one of the edges of the puzzle piece, it will change to a pointing hand. Click and hold your Left Mouse Button and rotate the piece. Grab another corner and the piece will rotate around the previous corner. You can use this method to walk (position) a piece into another.

Flipping Pieces

Since Virtual Jigsaw puzzles are two-sided, you'll have to flip pieces (to start puzzles with all pieces face up, go to the Options menu and select Puzzle Features). To flip a jigsaw piece, move the cursor over the piece, then double-click with the Left Mouse Button or single-click with the Right Mouse Button.

Fitting Pieces Together

When two pieces fit together, they are locked with a clicking sound. The pieces may then be moved as a single piece.


Help Menu

The Help Menu

Help Topics

Brings up the file you're looking at now.

History of Jigsaw

Did you know that during the Great Depression people were buying more than 10,000,000 jigsaw puzzles each week?   Or that the puzzle craze was halted by the U.S. Government?

Note: This photo © 1996 by Anne D. Williams.  All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

Take a few minutes and look at this fascinating article – complete with pictures of antique puzzles – on the history of the jigsaw

About

Shows the version number of Virtual Jigsaw, some fine print, and an animated SouthPeak Interactive logo.


Hints Menu

The Hints Menu

Place One Piece (F2)

 Virtual Jigsaw will place pieces for you -- one at a time.

This option can help you out any time. It places one piece for you, which might be all you need to figure out the rest.

But remember, Virtual Jigsaw doesn't look the other way – you'll see this in the message box (above) that comes up after the last piece is placed and the puzzle is completed.

Solve Puzzle (F4)

 Let Virtual Jigsaw solve the puzzle for you.

This option, like Place One Piece, can help you out any time. It can give you a head start or helps you through a logjam.

Once the puzzle is completed, Virtual Jigsaw lets you know exactly how much you did by yourself. Try this: select a puzzle and pick the "Impossible???" option, click OK, then Play. Then choose Hints => Solve Puzzle and watch Virtual Jigsaw go to work! If you're really good at "Mouse-Sync," you can fool your friends and family into thinking that you are solving it.

Show All Pieces Face Up (F7)

This is a good way to start with Virtual Jigsaw, especially at the more difficult levels.


Options Menu

The Options Menu

Sounds (F5)

 Toggle sound on or off.

This option toggles the sound (puzzle shaking, puzzle click, completion sounds, etc.). A check mark means that the sound is on; no check mark means that the sound is off.

Show Box Top (Ctrl-B)

 Show Box Top.

This option shows you the completed picture of the puzzle you are solving. You can move it around the screen by clicking on it and dragging it. If you click twice (or click once with the Right Mouse Button), Virtual Jigsaw shows you the box top for the puzzle on the other side.   You can also change the size of the Box Top by choosing the Zoom Box Top option (Options => Zoom Box Top).

Show Timer (Ctrl-T)

 Show Timer option.

Once you click on play and the pieces are dumped onto your desktop, the timer starts. The Show Timer option is used to display the clock.  You'll see it in the lower right-hand corner.

To stop the clock, select Puzzle => Pause/Resume.

Puzzle Features

 Select Puzzle Features (level of difficulty, etc.)

Use this option to check your level of difficulty (sorry, you can't change it once you've started a puzzle) and other options.  You can change  Show Ghost Puzzle, Start with Pieces Face Up, and Show Puzzle Piece Shadow at any time while solving a puzzle.

Zoom Box Top (Ctrl-Z)

 Zoom Box Top (larger or smaller).

Use this option to make the box top (see Show Box Top) larger or smaller. The larger size is the actual size of the completed puzzle, so you can use it to figure out where things go.


Puzzle Menu

The Puzzle Menu

Select Puzzle (Ctrl-S)

 Select a new puzzle

You can select a new puzzle at any time from the menu bar: Puzzle => Select Puzzle. This brings up the selection dialog. Use the scroll bar to look through all the photos.

Select Puzzle window

Select the Puzzle Front and the Puzzle Back. To set the level of difficulty, click Puzzle Features. To start, click on Play. Virtual Jigsaw will find your puzzle, shake it up, and dump it on your desktop. Good luck!

Puzzle Features

Click on the Puzzle Features button to bring up the Puzzle Features window.

 Puzzle Features Window

Select Puzzle Desktop Color chooses the color of  the surface on which the pieces lie (for a really hard puzzle, try making one side of the puzzle the same color as the desktop!).

 Select Puzzle Desktop Color

Puzzle Complexity offers several levels of difficulty, from Easy to Impossible.

 Choose complexity and additional settings.

Warning: Unless you restore shredded documents for a living, you might want to start with Easy!

Show Ghost Puzzle puts a ghosted image where your puzzle pieces will go. Try this the first time you play Virtual Jigsaw – or every time you try a harder level.

Start with Pieces Face Up is a good way to start the first time you play Virtual Jigsaw, or the first time you move to a higher level of difficulty.

Show Puzzle Piece Shadow puts a dark line around the piece when you select it. If you want to make Virtual Jigsaw pieces look like actual puzzle pieces, choose this option.

Select OK when you are done to invoke your selections. Choose Cancel to cancel your selection.

Play Random Puzzle (Ctrl-P)

 Play Random Puzzle option

This option chooses a puzzle for you. It uses the settings (level of difficulty, start with pieces face up, etc.)  from the previous puzzle.

Replay Puzzle (Ctrl-R)

 Replay Puzzle option

Choose this any time you want to start over with the same puzzle and the same settings (level of difficulty, etc.).  It's a great option for people who want to play against each other and see who has the best time (and fewest hints).

Pause/Resume (F3)

 Pause/Resume option

This option stops the timer – and also hides the puzzle. Click your mouse button, or use F3 to resume.

Set as Wallpaper

 Use Virtual Jigsaw pictures as your Windows 95 wallpaper.

This option lets you replace your current Windows® 95 desktop wallpaper (the background on which your icons lie) with an image from Virtual Jigsaw.

 Preview wallpaper before changing it.

To select a wallpaper image, choose Puzzle => Select Puzzle and select an image for Puzzle Front. Then click on Play.  Virtual Jigsaw loads the image. Once loaded, the image is ready to be wallpaper.  Select Puzzle => Set as Wallpaper.  The Set Desktop Picture window shows you the image that will become your wallpaper. Click on Set Desktop to change your wallpaper (or click on Cancel if you don't want to change your wallpaper).

Changing Wallpaper to Another Virtual Jigsaw Image -- to change your wallpaper to another Virtual Jigsaw image, find the new image and click on Play to load it. Once loaded, the image is ready to be wallpaper. Select Puzzle => Set as Wallpaper. The Set Desktop Picture window shows you the image that will become your wallpaper. Click on Set Desktop to change your wallpaper (or click on Cancel to if you don't want to change your wallpaper).

Changing Wallpaper Back to a Windows® 95 Wallpaper Image -- to go back to another (not Virtual Jigsaw) wallpaper image, close or minimize all applications (programs) so that you can see the wallpaper.  Click on the deskop with the RIGHT Mouse Button and select Properties.

 Changing wallpaper using the  Display Properties window

This brings up the Windows 95 Display Properties window. In the Wallpaper list, you will see "Vjphoto" highlighted. This is your Virtual Jigsaw picture. Select another wallpaper and click on OK. (Note: if you want to remove Vjphoto from your system entirely, it's stored as a bitmap file named "Vjphoto" in your Windows folder.) For more information, see "wallpaper" in Windows Help.

Demonstration

  Demonstration mode.

This mode puts up puzzles and solves them automatically.Be careful: this mode can have a HYPNOTIC effect – do not operate a motor vehicle while watching this demonstration.


Troubleshooting

IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE...

1. Why doesn’t Virtual Jigsaw run on my computer?

Virtual Jigsaw requires that your computer be an IBM compatible 486 or greater, running Windows 95 or Windows NT with these minimum requirements:

- 8 MB RAM

- a mouse

- an SVGA video card with 256 colors (640x480)

- a double-speed (or faster) CD ROM drive

Note:  Virtual Jigsaw does not require a sound card.

Virtual Jigsaw will run best with at least 16 MB of memory and will sound best with a 16-bit sound card.

2. Why does Virtual Jigsaw take so long to load on my computer?

Virtual Jigsaw did not find certain system files on your computer, so it has to access its own copies of these files from the CD, which takes significantly longer.

To remedy this, you can install these system files on your computer by running VJSYSTEM.EXE from your Virtual Jigsaw CDROM:

- open the VJMaster\core folder (if running Master Pieces) or

- open the VJPhoto\core folder (if running Photo Gallery)

- double-click on VJSYSTEM.EXE

This will copy files from the CD to your hard disk, improving load time. If the system files are on your computer already but are out of date, the copy process will NOT replace your files and load time will not change.  You should close any applications that are running before you launch VJSYSTEM.EXE. If any of the files are currently being used by other applications you will not be able to replace them.

3. Why doesn’t Virtual Jigsaw sound better on my computer?

If the volume or the fidelity of the music or other sounds seems inadequate, then you probably need to upgrade the driver for your sound card. Virtual Jigsaw requires 32-bit Windows 95 drivers for sound cards. Here is a list of vendors of popular sound cards with contact information:

Acer America

2641 Orchard Pkwy.

San Jose CA 95134

Corporate Contact: 408-432-6200

Technical Support: 800-445-6495

Technical Support fax: 408-922-2933

www.acer.com

AST Research, Inc.

16215 Alton Pkwy.

PO Box 57005

Irvine CA 92619

Corporate Contact: 714-727-4141

Technical Support: 800-727-1278

Technical Support Fax: 714-727-9355

www.ast.com

Creative Labs

1901 McCarthy Blvd.

Milpitas CA 95035

Corporate Contact: 408-428-6600

Technical Support 405-742-6622

Technical Support Fax: 405-742-6633

www.creativelabs.com

Diamond Multimedia Systems

2880 Junction Ave.

San Jose CA 95134-1922

Corporate Contact: 408-325-7000

Technical Support: 408-325-7100

Technical Support Fax: 408-325-7171

www.diamondmm.com

ENSONIQ Corp.

155 Great Valley Pkwy.

Malvern PA 19355-0735

Corporate Contact: 610-647-3930

Technical Support: 800-942-0096

Technical Support Fax: 800-257-1439

www.ensoniq.com

Everex Systems, Inc.

5020 Brandin Ct

Fremont CA 94538

Corporate Contact: 800-821-0806

Technical Support: 510-498-4411

Technical Support Fax: 510-683-2186

www.everex.com

IBM Corp.

Rt. 100 PO Box 100

Somers NY 10589

Corporate Contact: 800-436-7658

Technical Support: 800-772-2227

www.ibm.com

NEC Technologies, Inc.

1255 Michael dr.

Wood Dale IL 60191

Corporate Contact: 800-366-0476

Technical Support: 800-325-5500

Technical Support Fax: 508-264-8673

www.nec.com

Reveal Computer Products, Inc.

6045 Variel Ave.

Woodland Hills CA 91367

Corporate Contact: 800-326-2222

Technical Support: 818-702-6564

Technical Support Fax: 818-340-9957

www.reveal.com

TeleVideo Systems, Inc.

2345 Harris Way

San Jose CA 95131-1413

Corporate Contact: 800-835-3228

Technical Support: 800-835-3228

www.televideoinc.com

Turtle Beach Systems

52 Grumbacher Rd.

York PA 17402

Corporate Contact: 717-767-0200

Technical Support: 717-764-5265

Technical Support Fax: 717-767-6033

www.tbeach.com

4. Virtual Jigsaw sounds fine; how do I make it LOOK better on my computer?

We recommend running Virtual Jigsaw in High Color or True Color, with a Desktop area of 800 by 600 pixels or greater.

IF YOU ARE STILL PUZZLED...

Please contact SouthPeak Interactive's Technical Support team:

Email: 	VJSupport@southpeak.com

Phone:	 919-677-9775  9 am to 5 pm Eastern time

We will be able to help you more quickly if you have the following information available when you contact us:

- The brand name of  your computer

- The type of CPU and its operating speed (e.g.  486-66mhz;  Pentium-75mhz)

- The operating system and version (e.g.. Windows 95; Windows NT 4.0)

- The amount of RAM in your computer

- The brand name and model of sound card in your computer

- The brand name and model of video card in your computer