Isaac Asimov's The Ultimate Robot/Isaac Asimov's The Ultimate Robot (1994)(Microsoft Home).iso/readme.txt

Text File | 1994-10-05 | 24KB | 535 lines

Isaac Asimov's The Ultimate Robot README file
Microsoft Corporation
September 29, 1994

This file contains additional information about Asimov's Ultimate Robot
not included in the User's Guide.

To read this file on-screen, use the Page Down and Page Up keys.
You can also print the file by choosing the Print command from
the File menu in any Windows word processing program.  If you
open this file in Windows Write, Microsoft Word, or another
word processor, it will be easier to read if you select the
entire document and format the text in 10-point Courier.

This README file contains important information on the following
topics:


Section   Description
-------   -------------------------------------------------------

   1      RUNNING IN LOW MEMORY OR RUNNING SLOWLY

   2      CD-ROM PROBLEMS

   3      VIDEO DISPLAY PROBLEMS

      3.1  ATI DRIVERS
      3.2  DELL S3 DRIVERS
      3.3  ORCHID FAHRENHEIT DRIVERS
      3.4  DIAMOND STEALTH DRIVERS
      3.5  HERCULES DYNAMITE DRIVERS
      3.6  TRUEVISION DRIVERS

   4      AUDIO PROBLEMS

   5      TANDY SENSATION SETUP PROBLEMS

   6      KEYBOARD EQUIVALENTS

   7      SCREEN SAVERS

   8      ROBOTOID ASSEMBLY TOOLKIT


=================================================================
1.  RUNNING IN LOW MEMORY OR RUNNING SLOWLY
=================================================================

Asimov uses your computer's system memory to display
pictures.  If you find that Asimov runs slowly or if
you encounter out-of-memory errors, Asimov probably
doesn't have enough memory.  Consider doing the following to
improve your computer's performance:

 * Close all unnecessary applications.

 * Determine how much memory your computer has available by
   typing "mem" and pressing ENTER at the DOS prompt.  You need
   a minimum of 4MB (4,194,304 bytes) of total memory to use
   Asimov.  If you do not have at least 4MB of
   memory, you may not be able to run Asimov until
   you add more memory.

 * If you are running Windows in Enhanced mode, set up a
   permanent Windows swap file on your hard disk.  See your
   Windows User's Guide for more information.

 * Defragment ("clean up") your hard disk by running a
   defragmentation program.


=================================================================
2.  CD-ROM PROBLEMS
=================================================================

NOTE - Do not remove the Asimov compact disc from
your CD-ROM drive while Asimov is in the process of
playing a sound or displaying a new picture.

If the Asimov program cannot find the data files
that it needs from the Asimov compact disc, you'll
see a message that tells you that the correct CD must be
in the drive to continue.  To find the source of the problem,
do the following:

 * Make sure the Asimov compact disc is correctly
   inserted into the CD-ROM drive.

 * Make sure that the Asimov program is looking for the compact
   disc on the correct drive.  Check to see if the drive letter
   for your CD-ROM drive has changed.  You can use the Windows
   File Manager to determine which drive letter is assigned to
   the CD-ROM drive.  The Select Drive command in the Disk menu
   will say "CD-ROM" next to the CD-ROM drive letter.

 * If you have an external CD-ROM drive, make sure the
   drive is connected to your computer, plugged in, and turned
   on.  If you still see the error message after checking the
   points above, check the documentation that came with your
   CD-ROM drive or contact the company that supplied the drive.

 * Make sure that your CD-ROM drive is MPC-compatible. An
   MPC-compatible drive "has an average seek time of less
   than one second and can transfer data from the compact
   disc at 150K per second while using less than 40% of the
   CPU bandwidth."  Check the documentation that came with
   your CD-ROM drive to make sure it meets these requirements.
   An incompatible CD-ROM drive will slow down the performance
   of Asimov.

   NOTE - Asimov's performance will be better with a double-speed
   CD-ROM drive with a 300 K/sec data-transfer rate.



=================================================================
3.  VIDEO DISPLAY PROBLEMS
=================================================================

Asimov is a 256-color application.  In order to view Asimov properly,
you need a video card which supports 256 colors in 640x480 resolution.
If your computer is capable of displaying only 16 colors, you will still
be able to use Asimov, but some things may look very strange.  We highly
recommend that you run Asimov in 256-color mode. If your computer is
running in 16-color mode, and the video card will support 256 colors in
640x480 resolution, you should run Windows Setup to change the screen
driver to see Asimov at its highest image quality.  If you are running in
more than 256 colors, Asimov's performance may be poor.  To avoid possible
problems, you should run Windows Setup to change to a 256-color Windows
display driver.

You may also have problems if you are running Asimov in a high resolution
mode.  If you experience problems with Asimov, try switching your resolution
to a 1024x768 or lower resolution.

Check your Windows documentation for information on changing video drivers.


---------------
3.1 ATI DRIVERS
---------------

Asimov is incompatible with some advanced features used by some video
cards such as the Mach32 chip set running the ATI drivers.  Asimov's
colors, particularly in the Robotoid Assembly Toolkit, may look very
strange if you are running these drivers.

If you are using an ATI video card and one of the "mach" video drivers
(mach8 or mach32) as your Windows display driver*, the Device Bitmaps
setting for the video card must be set to "Off", and the 256 Color Palette
setting must be set to "On". To check/change this setting,
do the following:

   1.    Launch the Mach FlexDesk Control Panel by double-clicking on
    the "mach FlexDesk Control Panel" icon usually found in the
    "mach Utilities" program group in Program Manager.  The "mach
    Utilities" group is created when you run the ATI mach video
    driver setup program.
   2.    Click the "Advanced..." button.
   3.    Make sure "Device Bitmaps" is set to "Off", or set it to
    "Off" if it is not.
   4.    Make sure "256 Color Palette" is set to "On", or set it to
        "On" if it is not.
   5.    Click OK to close the FlexDesk Advanced Settings.
   6.    Click OK to close the FlexDesk Control Panel.

You will need to restart Windows for the changes to take effect.

*You can verify the Windows Display driver selection by launching the
"Windows Setup" icon found in the "Main" program group of the Windows
Program Manager.

For information about ATI video cards or the ATI installation utility
referred to above, contact ATI Technical Support at [phone]

----------------
3.2 Dell Drivers
----------------
If you are having trouble getting Asimov to display properly, you can
try installing the Dell S3 drivers that have been included on the Asimov
CD.  To switch to the driver on the CD, do the following:

1.  Run Windows Setup from the Main group in Windows Program Manager.
2.  In the Options menu, choose Change System Settings...
3.  Click the down arrow to the right of the Display: edit box, and
    select "Other display" from the bottom of the list.
4.  You will be asked to type in the path to the display driver you wish
    to use.  Type the letter of your CD drive followed by a colon and the
    following:  "\asimov\msstp\dell".  If the letter of your CD drive
    is D, you should type D:\ASIMOV\MSSTP\DELL.
5.  A list of possible resolutions will appear.  You should highlight the
    640x480 256 color resolution, and click OK.
6.  The Display: edit box should now say Dell S3 1.32 640x480 256 color.
    Click OK.
7.  You may be told that a driver for this display is already on the
    system.  You should choose to use install the new driver by
    clicking the NEW button.
8.  If you are asked to enter the path for a file which is not on
    the CD, enter the path to you Windows System directory (usually
    C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM) or get the file from your Windows Setup disks.
9.  You will need to restart Windows for the change to take affect.

You may also have problems with the Dell S3 driver if you are running the
Robotoid Assembly Toolkit in 1280x1024 or 800x600 resolution in 16 colors.
Either run Asimov in 256 colors, or switch to a different resolution, such
as 640x480.

Contact your hardware manufacturer for information on acquiring the
latest version of the driver.

-----------------------------
3.3  ORCHID FAHRENHEIT DRIVERS
-----------------------------

You may experience Out of Memory errors in the Robotoid Assembly Toolkit
if you are running the original Orchid Fahrenheit 1280 driver.  The latest
version of this driver, dated 3/14/94,  should fix any problems you find
with the Toolkit.  Contact your hardware manufacturer to obtain the updated
driver.

You may also have problems running the Robotoid Assembly Toolkit if you
are running Orchid Fahrenheit Enhanced VGA drivers.  This problem can also
be solved by updating your driver to the latest version, driver release
v7.10.82 for the Fahrenheit 1280 Plus, Plus VLB,  VA, and VA/VLB boards
using BIOS v3.0.  This driver is NOT appropriate for older Fahrenheit 1280
boards, or for BIOS's older than v3.0.  Contact your hardware manufacturer
to obtain this version of the driver.

-------------------
3.4 DIAMOND STEALTH
-------------------

The Robotoid Assembly Toolkit is incompatible with the current versions
of the Diamond Stealth and Diamond Stealth Pro video drivers.  Contact your
hardware manufacturer for information on acquiring updated versions of these
drivers.

---------------------
3.5 HERCULES DYNAMITE
---------------------

If you are running Hercules Dynamite video drivers, you will find that the
Robotoid Assembly Toolkit runs best in 800x600 resolution.  Consult your
Windows documentation for information on switching your video display mode.

----------------------
3.6 TRUEVISION DRIVERS
----------------------
The Robotoid Assembly Toolkit is incompatible with the current version of
the TrueVision Driver.  Contact you hardware manufacture for information on
acquiring an updated version of this driver.



=================================================================
4.  AUDIO PROBLEMS
=================================================================

Audio problems can have many causes. Other applications that
play sounds may interrupt sounds in Asimov, because your computer
cannot play two sounds simultaneously.  This is generally a temporary
clash that will resolve itself. However, a few applications that play
sounds, such as some screen savers, may remove audio capability from
all other Windows applications. If you suspect you have such an application,
turn it off or do not run it while running Asimov.

------------------------------
SOUNDS PLAY, BUT NOT VERY WELL
------------------------------

Sounds that are distorted or "fuzzy" have several possible
causes.  The most likely one is simply that your speakers are
not of high quality.

It is also possible that the software settings on your sound
board are causing distortion.  For example, if the sound card
volume or "WAVE file input" is set to near its maximum, it will
produce amplification distortion, just as it would on a stereo
system.  To find out how to change your sound board settings,
check the documentation that came with your sound board.

If you notice that the audio is breaking up or skipping while it
plays, you can try increasing the amount of memory that is used
for buffering audio data while sounds are playing.  To do this,
open up the Control Panel window from your Main program group, and
double click on the Drivers icon.  Select MCI Sound, and click the Setup
button to increase the number of seconds which are allocated for
buffering audio.

Your CD-ROM drive should be MPC-compatible.  An MPC-compatible
drive "has an average seek time of less than one second and can
transfer data from the compact disc at 150K per second while
using less than 40% of the CPU bandwidth."  Check the
documentation that came with your CD-ROM drive to make sure it
meets these requirements.  An incompatible CD-ROM drive may work
but give lower-quality sound or cause the sound to be
interrupted while playing.

-------------------------
SOUND DOESN'T PLAY AT ALL
-------------------------

If you don't hear any sounds, make sure that the volume for your
speakers is set to an audible level.

If the volume is set to an audible level and you still hear no
sounds at all, something may be wrong with your sound board
setup.  Check to see that the driver is installed correctly and,
if necessary, reinstall it.  Refer to the documentation that came
with your sound card for more information on installing audio
drivers.

Please note that Asimov requires an MPC-compatible
sound board to be installed and is not intended to run with
drivers which use the PC internal speaker, such as the
unsupported "PC Speaker" driver.  Such a driver will in most
cases not play any sounds, and if the driver setup option
"Enable Interrupts" is not checked, your system may crash.
If you have both a sound board and the PC Speaker driver
installed, it is preferable to un-install the PC Speaker driver.


=================================================================
5.  TANDY SENSATION SETUP PROBLEMS
=================================================================

Most Tandy Sensations use WinMate as their default desktop shell.
WinMate may cause a conflict with the setup procedure and needs to be
disabled by changing the shell= line in the SYSTEM.INI file to read
as follows:

    shell=progman.exe

To change the shell= line in the SYSTEM.INI file:

   1.    From the Windows Accessories group, run Notepad.

   2.    Open the SYSTEM.INI file and comment out the shell= line in the
    [boot] section by typing a semicolon (;) at the beginning of the
    shell= line. This is the line that is loading the Tandy WinMate
    shell.

   3.    Create a new line under the commented shell= line that reads:

    shell=progman.exe

   4.    After saving the changes to the SYSTEM.INI file, exit and
    restart Windows. The WinMate shell will now be disabled and
    your shell will now be Program Manager.

   5.    Run Asimov's  Setup.

Upon completion of Asimov's Setup, you can change your shell
back to the WinMate desktop, if so desired:

   1.    Edit the SYSTEM.INI file again by commenting out the
    "shell=progman.exe" line (adding a semicolon to the beginning
    of the shell=progman.exe line).

   2.    Remove the semicolon (;) in front of the previously commented
    "shell=" line that loads WinMate.


=================================================================
6.  KEYBOARD EQUIVALENTS
=================================================================

Below is a list of a number of keyboard equivalents supported in Asimov
which will help you navigate through the product and perform the tasks
you wish to perform more quickly.

    Ctrl + F = Find
    Ctrl + G = Find again
    Ctrl + P = Print
    Ctrl + C = Copy full screen to clipboard
    Ctrl + T = Copy text to clipboard
    Alt + 1 = Jump to first page of story in Writings
    Alt + N = Next page
    Alt + B = Previous page
    Alt + O = Options menu


=================================================================
7.  SCREEN SAVERS
=================================================================

The Asimov's Ultimate Robot CD-ROM contains a collection of Robotoid Screen
Savers.  The Setup program optionally loads the screen saver data and code
files onto your local hard disc.

  If the screen savers have been loaded, then follow this procedure to have
  robots save your screen:-

  1.  Run the Control Panel program (usually found within the Main group in
      the Program Manager).

  2.  Run the Desktop control panel.

  3.  In the Screen Saver section, click the down arrow next to the box which
      is labeled "Name", and select the "Asimov Robotoids" entry.  (If this
      entry is not visible, then re-run the Setup program on the CD-ROM to
      re-load the screen savers.)

  4.  Click on the button marked "Setup..." to correctly set up the screen
      saver.  In the dialog box that is displayed, click on one of the seven
      radio buttons to select which Robotoid animation will run.

  5.  As with most Windows screen savers, Asimov Robotoids can be password
      protected.  If enabled, then whoever is using the computer must correctly
      type in the password to stop the active screen saver, and return to
      Windows.  To enable this feature, click on the "Password Protected"
      check box in the Setup dialog box, and click on the "Set Password..."
      button.  Uncheck the "Password Protected" check box to disable this
      feature.

  6.  Once you have exited the Setup dialog box (and returned to the Desktop
      control panel), you can have a sneak preview of the screen saver by
      clicking on the Test button.  As soon as you move the mouse, or hit a
      key, then the screen saver will terminate.

  7.  Having set up the Asimov Robotoids screen saver, exit the Desktop
      control panel by clicking on its OK button.  Clicking on the Cancel
      button will cause Windows to revert to the previous screen saver.

  Note that the screen saver code looks for its data files on you hard drive
  in a directory called AURSCRN.  AURSCRN will be a sub-directory of the
  directory in which Asimov is installed, usually C:\ASIMOV.  If AURSCRN or
  its files have been deleted, then the Asimov Robotoids screen saver will
  display a black screen with a message saying it couldn't find the file.
  To re-load the data files (in the correct location), re-run the Setup
  program on the CD-ROM.


  You can also install the Asimov screen savers yourself, without running
  the Setup program.  You might wish to do this if you want to save space
  on your hard drive by only installing the screen savers you wish to
  use.  To install the Asimov screen savers manually, do the following:

  1.  In File Manager, open the \AURSCRN directory found on the Asimov CD.

  2.  Copy the file AURSCRN.SCR into your \WINDOWS directory, which can
      usually be found in C:\WINDOWS.  To copy, use File Manager to open
      a window for both the Asimov CD and you hard drive at the same time,
      click on AURSCRN.SCR, and drag the file to your \WINDOWS directory.

  3.  Create a directory called \AURSCRN in the same place where the Asimov
      program is installed, usually C:\ASIMOV.  To do this, highlight the
      ASIMOV folder in the File Manager by clicking on it once.  Click on
      File, and select "Create Directory...".  When you are asked for a name,
      type AURSCRN and click OK.

  4.  Select the screen savers you wish to install from the \AURSCRN
      directory on the CD, and copy them into the \AURSCRN directory you
      just created on your hard drive.

  5.  If you did NOT install Asimov in a directory called \ASIMOV, then
      you will need to edit the ASIMOV.INI file which can be found in
      your Windows directory on you hard drive (for example, C:\WINDOWS).
      Open ASIMOV.INI in any text editor, such as Notepad or Microsoft Word.
      Add the following line to the end of the file:
      ScreenSavers=<drive>:<dir>, where the <drive> is the letter of your
      hard drive, and <dir> is the name of the directory in which you installed
      Asimov, followed by \AURSCRN.  For example, this line might read
      ScreenSavers=C:\ROBOT\AURSCRN if you installed Asimov in a directory
      called \ROBOT.  If you did install Asimov in the default \ASIMOV directory,
      then you will not need to make any changes to ASIMOV.INI.

  6.  You can now run the screen savers by following the instructions above.
      Remember, however, that you will only be able to run the screen savers
      which you copied onto your hard drive.  You can add or delete files
      from the AURSCRN directory at any time.

  NOTE: Because the Asimov screen savers are 16-bit files, they will not run
        on Windows NT.


=================================================================
7.  ROBOTOID ASSEMBLY TOOLKIT
=================================================================

Because the Toolkit is actually a separate program from the rest of Asimov,
you may notice some changes in your computer when you run the Robotoid
Assembly Toolkit.  Below is a list of the of the things you will notice when
you use the Robotoid Assembly Toolkit, and explanations of what is happening.


1.  Do not remove your CD from the drive while using Asimov's Ultimate Robot.
This is especially important when you are running the Robotoid Assembly Toolkit.
The program needs to access the CD regularly in order to get the data
necessary to run the Toolkit.  If you remove the CD from the drive the Toolkit
will be unable to find the information it needs, and it will be unable to run
properly.

2.  You will notice that the colors on your screen change while the Robotoid
Assembly Toolkit is loading.  This happens because by clicking on Robotoid
Assembly you are starting up a separate application.  You may also notice that
your Windows colors are somewhat distorted while you are using the Robotoid
Assembly Toolkit, but when you click the up arrow to return to the rest of the
application, your screen colors will all return to normal.

NOTE:  If you are using ATI drivers, you may find that the colors for the Robotoid
Assembly Toolkit are always wrong.  The Robotoid Assembly Toolkit should appear in
the same gray as the rest of the product.  If you are experiencing this problem,
you should try updating to different display drivers.  Contact your hardware
manufacturer for information on updating your display drivers.

3.  When the Robotoid Assembly Toolkit is running, you are actually running two
separate programs:  The Toolkit, and Asimov.  A minimized icon for Asimov will
appear at the bottom of the screen while you are using the Toolkit.  Although
this makes it appear that you can switch back and forth between the Toolkit and
the rest of the application, this is not the case.  Asimov will perform exactly
as you would expect one application to perform.

4.  Asimov's Ultimate Robot requires 4MB of memory to run properly.  Even though
Asimov may run successfully in less than 4 MB of memory, you will need 4MB free in
order to run the Robotoid Assembly Toolkit.  If you have problems running the
Toolkit, try freeing more memory by closing down other applications.

5.  The Robotoid Assembly Toolkit is a 256 color application.  You may run into
problems if you try to run in fewer or more colors.  If you are not running in
256-color display mode, use the Windows Setup program in you Main program group
to Change System Settings.  Consult your Windows documentation for more information
on changing your display driver.

6.  You may experience problems running the Robotoid Assembly Toolkit with some
video display drivers.  If you experience Out Of Memory errors or you are unable
to run the Toolkit at all, try updating your video display driver.  Consult section
3 of this document, Video Display Problems, for help with your current display
mode.  Contact your hardware manufacturer for the latest version of your driver.
You can also try running Asimov using a VGA driver.  Although VGA is only a 16-color display
driver, this will allow you to run the Toolkit when your current driver may not.
Consult your Windows documentation for more information on changing your display
driver.