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PCREADME.TXT
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1995-04-26
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PC ReadMe File - LAUNCH, No. 1
Please read the LAUNCH booklet first for information on how to install
and use LAUNCH. This ReadMe file contains tips and late breaking
information about LAUNCH that is not included in the booklet.
REQUIREMENTS
------------------------
Be sure you have at least 8 MB of RAM.
Be sure you have a 486 processor or better.
Be sure the latest version of QuickTime (tm) for Windows is installed.
Be sure you have a double speed or faster CD-ROM drive.
Be sure you are running Windows 3.1 or later.
INSTALLING QUICKTIME (tm)
---------------------------------------
The included version of QuickTime (tm) for Windows is 2.0.2 (not 2.03 as
stated in the manual).
When installing QuickTime (tm), the installer program may ask you if you
want to remove old versions of QuickTimeÖ. Go ahead and have the
installer delete these old versions. You must do this for the
installation to succeed.
8 AND 16 BIT COLOR
------------------------------
In order to access all the features of LAUNCH your computer must be set
to 8 bit.
NEW FEATURE. At the last minute, we made a 16 bit version of LAUNCH.
You can run it from the folder LAUNCH16. Run the file
LAUNCH16\LAUNCH16.EXE on the CD-ROM. Windows must be set to 16 bit,
which is supported only on some display cards. With the 16 bit version,
all the screens will look better, and the movies will look much better.
Unfortunately, we didn't have time to make everything work in 16 bit.
The following items are disabled in LAUNCH16.EXE:
The DEWARS advertisement
GUMBOVISION
GLIDER 4.0
To run these items, you can start them directly from Windows, or set
your computer to 8 bit, and run LAUNCH.EXE.
PERFORMANCE AND SMARTDRV.EXE
-----------------------------------------------------
In your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, you may have an entry for a utility called
SMARTDRV. This software provides caching for your hard disk and CD-ROM,
and in many cases improves the speed of your computer. But for
QuickTimeÖ movies, it can slow down or disrupt the playback of the
movies. For best results, you should turn off caching for the CD-ROM
with the /U option for SMARTDRV. For example,
C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE /U
If there are other options (such as /X, or /DOUBLE_BUFFER), you should
leave them as they are, and just add the /U option. For example,
C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE /X /U
If you don't have SMARTDRV in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, don't worry about
it! For more information about SMARTDRV, at the DOS prompt, type
HELP SMARTDRV
Information about SMARTDRV in the Windows manual is both out-of-date,
and inaccurate. Use the DOS help for the most up-to-date information.
OTHER PERFORMANCE ISSUES
----------------------------------------------------
If you have any network software running, you should turn it off, as it
will slow down performance of LAUNCH.
We are aware that LAUNCH is not as fast as you might like. We hope to
improve performance in future issues.
To improve your experience of GUMBOVISION, try setting the background
color to White. To do this go the the Smear function in the GUMBOVISION
screen, click on black and change to white.
BUGS AND OTHER PROBLEMS
-------------------------------------------
This is first issue of LAUNCH, and we've worked really hard to make it
bug-proof and fun to use. But there may still be some problems that you
will encounter. If you are having problems, first check to see that
your computer is set up properly and review some of the suggestions in
this README file.
If you are convinced everything is OK with your computer, you may have
discovered a bug or design problem. If so, we'd like to hear about it.
Please send email to
bugs@2launch.com
or a fax to the attention of
LAUNCH Technical Support, 310 576-6070.
Describe the problem in as much detail as you can. Describe where and
how it happened. Include all the details about your computer too (e.g.
486 66DX Gateway Computer model xxx, a, display card, sound card, DOS
version, Windows version). There are so many different combinations of
equipment and software, that it's difficult to know what is going on
without all the information describing a system. Your bug report will
help make future issues better.
If the audio or movies skip or play erratically, be sure to set SMARTDRV
as described above, and make sure all network software is turned off.
Sometimes after using GUMBOVISION, you may have a crash or get a GENERAL
PROTECTION FAULT. Frankly, we're not sure what's going on.
After starting external applications such as
The DEWARS advertisement
GUMBOVISION
GLIDER 4.0
you may see a degradation (pixilization, strange colors, etc.) of the images
in LAUNCH. To fix this, just exit LAUNCH, and restart the magazine.