Digital Themes


NOTICE: This Theme is for non-commercial use only.

Author: Jeffrey W. Johnston
E-Mail: webcoder@digital-themes.com
URL: http://www.digital-themes.com


IMPORTANT #1

ALL of the Digital Themes Themes now require Microsoft's Media Player to be installed. What is Media Player? It is a streaming audio/video process very similar to RealAudio/Video (which is more well-known). Media Player comes into play with the sound clips that we are using. It uses a codec (compression format) named 'ACM Waveform' with the option of 'MPEG Layer-3'. Many other programs use the 'ACM Waveform' but Media Player is one of the few to implement the 'MPEG Layer-3' option. Using this Waveform together with the codec compresses the sound files without losing much quality as other compression codecs cause. This, in turn, enables us to provide you with top quality Themes in a small package.

A simple example is probably welcome....so take the 'Red Baron Start.wav' file. It is now 154KB at 22,050Hz 16-bit Stereo! At the same recording quality but using the normal codec, the file size is 1.4MB! As you can see (and hear), there is no reason not to use this codec. Once you have downloaded and installed Media Player (if necessary), you will more than make up for the time with future Themes from the Digital Themes site.

Click here to find out whether or not you already have Media Player on your system: Sound. If YES....you're good to go. If NO....then click here Media Player to download your copy FREE!

If you have trouble hearing the sounds associated with the Theme then you need to visit our Hints page for detailed instructions on how to overcome Microsoft's latest bug :( Believe me...there is 99% chance that you will need to download the patch for MP3 files so VISIT THE HINTS PAGE AND GET IT!

INSTRUCTIONS

Motorcross Madness 2 History and Thoughts: This is another Microsoft game Theme. Why? Not sure really. It's a pretty good game all-in-all, but it does have some quirks. Namely, cornering and the lag associated with it. I (at the time of this writing) have BOTH a Creative Voodoo 2 (8MB) and Creative Banshee (16MB) boards installed. Doesn't matter. Still get the lag and it's not because of graphics loading. I've played around with various joystick settings and nothing seems to improve the performance. I (at the time of this writing) am using Microsoft's ForceFeedback stick coupled to Creative's Live! sound card...of which both are digital. Any help out there to cut the cornering lag?

SPECIAL NOTE: If you are running Windows95 you MUST use the '.Theme' files located in the 'Win95 Theme' subdirectory. If you are running Windows98 you MUST use the '.Theme' files located in the 'Win98 Theme' subdirectory. 2 reasons for these instructions: #1 is that Win95 cannot understand the new icon placement coding Win98 writes to the '.Theme' file. #2 is that Win98 uses graded colors (2 colors flowing into each other) for the Active and Inactive Title Bars. Win95 does not have this and if you are running Win98 but use the .Theme files for Win95 you will loose this extra visual enhancement.
  1. Unzip the 'mcm2.zip' file to a temp directory or directly to your 'Theme' directory.
  2. Move the directory 'Motorcross Madness 2' (and the 4 subdirectories) to your '\Plus!\Themes\' directory. Your directory structure after doing so will look like this: '......\Plus!\Themes\Motorcross Madness 2\Logos, ScreenSaver, Win95 Theme, Win98 Theme\'.
  3. Move either 1 or all of the 'MCM 2 (high color) 9X.Theme' files to the your '\Plus!\Theme\' directory...DO NOT MOVE ANY OTHER FILES OR ELSE THE THEME WILL NOT BE USABLE. Read the SPECIAL NOTE above again if you're not sure which files to move.
  4. Feel free to delete this file after installing the Theme as well as the example 'XXX.wav' file.
  5. Next, double-click on the screensaver. It will automatically be installed and set up as your default screensaver. After installation please delete the previous 'Mm2.exe' screensaver file as well as the subdirectory is was in.
  6. Next, you're ready to install the 'Startup', 'Waiting' and 'Shutting Down' screens. First you'll want to rename the original files rather than overwrite them so we'll put the extension '.bak' on them as Windows recognizes this as a backup file. Go to your 'C:\' (root directory) and rename the 'Logo.sys' to 'Logo.sys.bak'. Then go to your 'Windows' directory and rename 'Logos.sys' to 'Logos.sys.bak' and 'logow.sys' to 'logow.sys.bak'. Now you'll need to move the respective files in the 'Motorcross Madness 2\Logos\' subdirectory to the directories mentioned above. 'Logo.sys' to 'C:\', and 'Logos.sys' and 'logow.sys' to 'Windows'. Delete the subdirectory as it is empty now.
  7. Finally, go to 'My Computer', 'Control Panel', 'Desktop Themes' and select the just-added Theme.
  8. Now you're set. Enjoy!
  9. Word of Caution: Sometimes Win98 doesn't reset the 'Link Select' cursor correctly so after loading the Theme go to 'Control Panel', 'Mouse' and scroll down till you see the cursor. If it doesn't match the set then browse to the 'C:\Program Files\Plus!\Themes\Motorcross Madness 2\' subdirectory and select the correct cursor.

IMPORTANT #2


Also with this Theme we have provided 3 different wallpaper/Theme schemes: 1024X768, 800X600 and 640X480 for each of the schemes. Please delete the unused '.JPG' and corresponding '.Theme' files so as not to waste disk space...for your benefit :)

IMPORTANT #3


Digital Themes would like to express our thanks to The Theme Doctor for his advice and review of all our themes. Please visit his site for more reviews and downloads of most, if not all, of the BEST Desktop Themes on the 'Net.

Digital Themes would like to thank all of you for supporting us by downloading our Themes. Recently we have moved to a server of our own. We are currently using NT 4.0 Workstation. We would like to use NT Server 4.0 but money is scarce these days. If you know where we can get a used copy of NT Server 4.0 cheaply...well, we'd kill for it! In addition, on average there are 1,500 Themes being downloaded DAILY! To ensure speedy downloading without the cut in quality we have implemented the sound codec mentioned above. This will not only make things faster but will also SAVE YOU MONEY! Mention (or send this file) this codec to your favorite Theme author and ask them to start using it. The only reason we are pushing this is that it SAVES TIME & MOENY FOR EVERYONE!....something each and every one of us wishes we had more of. Well, here's one way to gain a little back without sacrificing anything! Spread the word and get those file sizes smaller.

Enjoy!