VIDEO BLASTER SOFTWARE ====================== 1. PACKAGE CONTENTS The content of the Video Blaster diskette is as follows: Video Blaster Software Disk #1 In the root directory: \VB-HD.EXE - Hard-disk installation program \README.COM - Program to display this README.TXT file \README.TXT - This file \VBSETENV.EXE - Program to set up the VIDEOBLST environment variable \VBSETUP.EXE - DOS program to set up video defaults \VBTEST.EXE - DOS program for testing the Video Blaster card \CLZX.COM - File decompression program \VBLSTDRV.COM - Video Blaster DOS driver \VBSET.EXE - DOS command-line program to control the Video Blaster \VID_ON.BAT - Batch file to turn video on (from DOS) \VID_OFF.BAT - Batch file to turn video off (from DOS) In the \MMPLAY directory: \MMPLAY\MMPLAY.EXE - The multimedia player program \MMPLAY\MMPLAY.CFG - MMPLAY configuration file \MMPLAY\MMVBDEMO.BAT - Sample MMPLAY batch file \MMPLAY\MMVBDEMO.ACT - Sample MMPLAY script \MMPLAY\FLCVESA.DRV - MMPLAY VESA FLC driver \MMPLAY\PCXDRV.DRV - MMPLAY PCX file-load driver \MMPLAY\MMPLAY.CLZ - Compressed file containing animation, voice and music files In the \WINDOWS directory: \WINDOWS\VBWSETUP.EXE - Windows program to set up video defaults \WINDOWS\VIDEOKIT.EXE - Windows program to display video under Windows \WINDOWS\VBSOUND.EXE - Windows program to control the Video Blaster volume levels \WINDOWS\PCVIDEO.DLL - Windows Dynamic Link Library for controlling the Video Card. \WINDOWS\CLJPEG.DLL - Windows Dynamic Link Library for JPEG compression/decompression. \WINDOWS\MCIVBLST.DRV - Video Blaster MCI Overlay driver. \WINDOWS\OVERLAY.WRI - Microsoft Write file documenting the overlay driver functions. 2. MMPLAY support for Autodesk Animator Pro (FLC) files MMPLAY has been extended to support high-resolution Autodesk Animator Pro files, with VGA resolution of 640x480 at 256 colors. A SuperVGA display adaptor that adheres to the Video Electronics Standard Association (VESA) specifications is required to display Autodesk Animator Pro high-resolution files. To make use of this Animator Pro support, you will need to first load into memory the VESA driver provided with your SuperVGA card. Otherwise the MMPLAY will not correctly display the animations and may produce garbage instead. The following are the extensions made: Configuration File: [LoadDriver] section FLCDriver = Type: Boolean Default: OFF Usage: Specifies if the Autodesk Animator Pro file driver (FLCVESA.DRV) needs to be loaded. If FLCDriver is set to OFF, the FLCVESA.DRV driver will not be loaded when MMPLAY starts up. Autodesk Animator Pro file commands in the MMPLAY script files will then have no effect. MMPLAY first searches the MMPLAY directory for FLCVESA.DRV. If it is not found, the current directory will be searched. MMPLAY Script commands: Syntax: .PlayFLCTimes [ ] Description: Play an FLCFile for a number of times specified by . If is not specified, the file will be played only once. Syntax: .PlayFLCLoop Description: Play an FLCFile an infinite number of times until the SYNC condition is met or a key is pressed. 3. MMPLAY support for static PCX picture files MMPLAY has also been extended to support the display of static PCX picture files. Two modes of PCX files are supported: 320x200x256 (FLI) and 640x480x256 (FLC). Note: To display the high-resolution 640x480x256 PCX files, a SuperVGA display adaptor that supports VESA (see note (2) above) is needed. You will need to first load into memory the VESA driver provided with your SuperVGA card. Otherwise the MMPLAY will not correctly display the picture and may produce garbage instead. The following are the extensions made: Configuration File: [LoadDriver] section PCXDriver = Type: Boolean Default: OFF Usage: Specifies if the PCX file-load driver (PCXDRV.DRV) needs to be loaded. If PCXDriver is set to OFF, the PCXDRV.DRV driver will not be loaded when MMPLAY starts up. PCX-support commands in the MMPLAY script files will then have no effect. MMPLAY first searches the MMPLAY directory for PCXDRV.DRV. If it is not found, the current directory will be searched. [ResourcePath] section PicturePath= Type: String Default: Current directory Usage: Specifies the path to locate static picture files. MMPLAY searches this path for the picture files. If a file is not found, the current directory will then be searched. MMPLAY Script commands: Syntax: .LoadPCX [ Xpos Ypos ] Description: Loads a PCX file at the coordinates specified by Xpos and Ypos. The current screen will be cleared before the file is loaded. If Xpos and Ypos are not specified, picture will be loaded starting at the top- left corner of the screen. Note: Xpos and Ypos specify the starting coordinate with respect to the screen mode that is used by the PCX file. Syntax: .ShowPCX [ Xpos Ypos ] Description: Same as LoadPCX above, except that the current screen will NOT be cleared before the file is loaded. This allows you to load multiple PCX files of the same mode into the screen. Note: For this command to be really useful, the PCX files to be loaded together MUST use the same mode, otherwise the screen will be cleared before the load. Also, the files must use the same color palette. If the color palettes are different, the file will be loaded with wrong color information. 4. The following are changes made to the software that have not found their way into the manual: a) The Video Blaster will run at resolutions up to 640x480 only. However, we have provided a 800x600 compatibility feature for users who have 800x600 VGA cards. This feature will allow you to see clean video at 800x600. Note: Total compatibility is not possible, but we have tried to minimise the conflicts as much as we can. We recommend that you not set this feature on unless you really need to work at 800x600 with very clean video display. Please let us know if you find that with the 800x600 feature enabled, you experience difficulty with the video. b) We have included an MCI OVERLAY driver for use with our Video Blaster card. Details about this driver is available in the Microsoft Write file OVERLAY.WRI in the \VBLASTER\WINDOWS directory. Note: JPEG compression/decompression routines provided by ///Fast Electronic GmbH