miro Computer Products AG 12/06/96 Version 2.00 miroCYSTAL 3D ============ Important hint for DC30 and PCTV users: ======================================= The recent introduction of Microsoft´s DirectX technology has made it possible to use the free memory of a graphics board for an overlay by transferring the video data directly via the PCI bus. In addition, DirectX introduces many new functions which are especially suited for computer games. New technologies, however, may also lead to problems. On some earlier systems the combination of DirectX-3, the optimized miro drivers, and the DC30 board may cause trouble. For this reason, miro has decided to offer two driver concepts: the optimized ones and drivers which have been especially designed for Digital Video applications. For this reason digital Video users (DC20, DC30, PCTV) will find a special Digital Video driver version in the \Disksets\DVEDRV\ directory on the installation CD. This CD contains the following components in addition to the system software miroCRYSTAL 3D: Windows 95 ---------- 1. DirectDraw compatible Display Driver 2. Microsoft DirectX 3. Microsoft DirectVideo 4. Microsoft ActiveMovie 1.0 5. Samples Windows NT 4.0 -------------- 1. DirectDraw compatible Display Treiber Windows NT 3.51 ---------------- 1. Display Driver Windows 3.x ----------- 1. Native S3-Driver 2. S3 Refresh 3. S3 VBE 2.x 4. Galileo Configuration Tool Important information on use with Windows 95: ============================================= miroCRYSTAL 3D is a highly integrated state-of-the-art graphics adapter which includes a 3D Engine. This product offers its full functionality in combination with Microsoft´s "DirectDraw". Because this not supplied with Windows 95, you should first install "DirectX" on your computer. You can install "DirectX" via the selection menu of the CD. After you installed "DirectDraw" with "DirectX", install the miro graphics drivers which offer high refresh rates and and an optimized graphics output. Installing miro graphics drivers and miroWINTOOLS for Windows 95: ================================================================= Note: You can install the miro Windows 95 drivers by using the setup program included on the supplied CD or using "Display Properties" in the Windows Control Panel. These miro Windows 95 drivers can only be used for the miroCRYSTAL 3D graphics board in the single-screen mode. In general, dual-screen modes (Twinface) are not supported!!! Installing miro drivers and miroWINTOOLS: ========================================= You can install the miro Windows95 drivers easily using the SETUP program contained on the CD. Please start Windows 95 and insert the miro CD. The SETUP program starts automatically and offers you all components you can install. The miro drivers and miroWINTOOLS will be copied. Then the "Display Properties" window opens automatically with the "Settings" tab on top. In the "Settings" tab, click the "Change display settings" button. Use the following menu to select the graphics board and the monitor connected to it. When clicking the "Change" button which is located in the line where also the name of the installed driver appears another menu opens where you can select "miroCRYSTAL 3D". Click "apply" to confirm your choice. For your settings to take effect, restart the computer. After restarting the computer you can change the resolution and the number of colors using the Control Panel. or == To install the miro Windows95 drivers, start Windows 95 and open the "Display" icon in the Control Panel. In the "Settings" tab click the "Change Display Type" button. Use the following menu to select the graphics board and the monitor connected to it. By clicking the "Change" button which is located in the line where also the name of the installed driver appears another menu opens. Here you can open the "Disk..." item. Insert the CD including the miro Windows95 drivers into your disk drive and click "Browse" to select your CD-ROM drive. Change to the "DISKSETS\WIN95" directory and click "OK" to confirm. You can now select the "miroCRYSTAL 3D" board. Then, click "Apply" to confirm your choice. For your settings to take effect, restart the computer. After restarting the computer you can change the resolution and the number of colors using the Control Panel. Important hints for the installation: ===================================== 1.) Do not try to use the miro Windows 3.x drivers under Windows 95. If you have done so already or tried to do it, make sure that all old miro Win 3.x drivers and entries in the SYSTEM.INI file have been removed. 2.) If you use a miro monitor or a multifrequency monitor, we recommend you to use the Monitor.inf file provided on this installation CD. Using the Monitor.inf file ensures that you use specially suited monitor parameters. In the "Display Properties Window", select "Change Display Type". Click "Change" to go to the monitor selection window. Click the "Have Disk" button and "Browse" to go to a file selection window. Select the installation CD to change to the installation directory for miroCRYSTAL 3D. The mirodisp.inf and miromon.inf files are automatically entered. Click "OK" to go the miroMONITOR selection list. Select your monitor. Hint: Please do not try to boost your monitor performance by selecting values which exceed the monitor´s characteristics. In doing so, you will damage your monitor. miro does not take on liability in such cases. Please make sure that your Win95\INF directory does not include old OEM*.INF monitor files. This INF subdirectory cannot be listed by typing the DIR command but by typing DIR /a. These INF files are ASCII files which you can view using any editor. Before removing such files make sure that you do not delete the wrong files. If you use the miro monitor files from the original Windows 95 CD, please use the monitor files from this installation CD. 3.) Each time you install graphics drivers Windows creates a new OEM*.INF file in the Win95\INF subdirectory. Windows 95 does not remove, however, the old OEM*.INF files. Please make sure that only the current OEM*.INF files are contained in this directory and remove the old files. In doing so, you can avoid many problems. 4.) With the current Windows 95 version it may happen that Windows 95 starts with an error message (only 16 colors are offered) after installing miroCRYSTAL 3D. In this case, Windows 95 does not recognize the S3 Virge processor. After installing the miro software this will not happen again. If it is however not possible to set the resolution and the number of colors correctly, you may use the miroTool kill3d.exe. This tool resets your computer to the state it was in before the installation of the graphics hardware. After restarting Windows you can install your graphics hardware as described above. Please only use the kill3d.exe program if it is absolutely necessary. It is no substitute for the standard deinstall program which is located in the miroCRYSTAL 3D program group. 5.) If you have to update the drivers or to reinstall the software, remove the old miro software using the deinstall program. Before deinstalling all system files close the miroPINBOARD. LIMITATIONS ========================================================================== In general, this graphics board does not support dual-screen configurations (Twinface) together with other graphics boards!!! miroSCREEN Do not use this tool with fixed-frequency monitors. Do not adjust image sizes and positions which deviate too much from the default settings. Adjust You cannot use miroSCREEN ADJUST together with MPEG or TV output. While miroSCREEN Adjust is enabled, avoid changing the resolution with miroPINBOARD or Windows95. It is not possible to change the image size with miroSCREEN Adjust under VGA2TV. You can, however, adapt the image size to your TV set. Extreme image positions result in distortions. Only use miroSCREEN Adjust in the TV mode if your TV image is not centered correctly. DirectX You will be notified by a DirectX application that the used driver has not been tested with DirectX. When you are requested if you want to replace the driver by a tested one, please answer NO. After having installed games under Windows 95, check if the miro driver is still active after restarting the system. If not, enable or install the driver again. Xing! Player If you want to output an MPEG movie on a TV compatible device, first start MPEG on your computer monitor and then switch to TV output. In addition the hardware acceleration in the XING Setup should be turned off. Do not use the virtual TV screen during playback. AVI & TV If you want to play back an AVI movie in the full-screen mode on TV, enable VGA2TV under DOS. Windows 3.x miroCRYSTAL 3D is the first graphics hardware generation which is adapted with its wide function range to a special system environment that is Windows95 because Windows 95 is the first operating system which integrated the "DirectX" concept. In future, WindowsNT is possibly the next system which integrates "DirectX". For this reason, no Windows 3.x drivers are provided for miroCRYSTAL 3D. In case you need to use Windows 3.x anyway, you can download 3.x drivers via the miroBBS system or the internet. Windows NT see Windows 3.x VGA2TV using VGA2TV (see manual) and switching to the DOS fullscreen box it may appear a wrong char set. Type "mode co80" to get the correct 80x25 text mode. Other limitations ========================================================================= miro Computer Products AG always endeavors to support a wide range of languages. Because not all manufacturers share this opinion, the "ActiveMovie" Player and "DirectX" is only supplied in English.