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1997-08-26
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The Psychedelic Screen Saver - Version 3.6
Copyright (C) 1995-1997
All Rights Reserved
http://www.synthesoft.com
This file contains the following information:
OVERVIEW ..............: What is The Psychedelic Screen Saver?
CD/SPECTRUM PRO........: What is it and why do you mention it?
RELEASE NOTES..........: What should I know about version 3.6?
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ...: What do I need in order to run it?
INSTALLATION ..........: How do I install it? / How do I get rid of it?
REGISTRATION ..........: Where can I find info on how to register it?
QUESTIONS/SUPPORT .....: Where can I get help with problems?
UPDATES................: When is the next version due?
OVERVIEW
The Psychedelic Screen Saver generates an endless variety of mesmerizing
patterns. As the patterns materialize on your screen, the colors will shift,
undulate, and generally speaking, look cool. Whether you're into abstract
art, mathematics, or just have a history of mental illness, you'll love
this screen saver.
Version 3.6 of The Psychedelic Screen Saver has been designed to work in
conjunction with CD/Spectrum Pro 3.2 in order to provide stunning visual
effects that synchronize with the sounds from an audio device (like the CD
player in your computer). With many of the module controls you can now
associate a sound frequency, a range of effect, and a sensitivity.
Fluctuations in the amplitude of the frequency will oscillate the control
values within the range of effect.
CD/SPECTRUM PRO
CD/Spectrum Pro is a 32 bit shareware CD-Audio Player with a Graphical
Spectrum Analyzer for Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0. It can be used in
conjunction with The Psychedelic Screen Saver in order to allow the patterns
and the colors generated by the screen saver to be synchronized with sound.
CD/Spectrum Pro has almost every feature you can find on any software CD
player. It supports programmed mode, intro mode, optional taskbar icon
operation, auto-play, auto-exit, auto-eject, artist/track/title database,
etc. It also recognizes CDP files which can save you from typing in all the
track/title information for your CDs. The spectrum analyzer graphically
depicts the frequency spectra of the CD music in real time.
CD/Spectrum Pro is not a part of The Psychedelic Screen Saver, it is a
separate product and must be registered. However, if you register both
CD/Spectrum Pro and The Psychedelic Screen Saver at the same time you can
do it at a reduced price.
See the file "OrderFrm.TXT" for complete information on registration.
PSYCH V3.6 RELEASE NOTES
* Installing The Psychedelic Screen Saver v3.6 will overwrite prior
versions of The Psychedelic Screen Saver. If you've installed a
previous version (2.5 or higher) you may want to backup, rename,
or otherwise save the file "psych.scr" in your \system directory
(on Win95) or \system32 directory (on WinNT). Psych v3.6 is
compatible with your existing saved settings.
* The Psychedelic Screen Saver v3.6 is free to users who have
registered version 3.0 and is available to users who have
registered an earlier version of The Psychedelic Screen Saver as
a $10 upgrade. This fee licenses you for Psych 3.x but not for CD
Spectrum Pro. CD Spectrum Pro is a separate product made by
another ShareWare developer.
* Registering Psych v3.6 gives you a license to use all updates of
The Psychedelic Screen Saver prior to version 4.0 and *ALL*
previous versions.
* You must have a sound card installed (and properly configured) in
your system in order for Psych 3.6 to sync with sound.
* CD Spectrum Pro 3.2 must be running in order for Psych v3.6 to sync
with sound.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Suggested:
* The Psychedelic Screen Saver v3.6 runs quite nicely on a 80486 DX2-66
system. However, if it is being used in conjunction with CD Spectrum
Pro then you'll probably want at least Pentium 90 (or better <g>)
* Microsoft Windows NT or Windows 95
* 256 color display card - While the screen savers should still work in
high/true color modes, you will only get the palette animation effects
in 256 color video modes.
In order to get some of the effects that they use, the screen savers use
a palletized video mode. This means that colors are referenced by index
rather than by RGB value. By using a palletized video mode, the screen
savers can change the RGB value that corresponds to a particular palette
index and the result is that all of the colors on the screen that use
that index are immediately updated. Neither high or true color modes use
a palette, so it is not possible to achieve the effects without manually
updating the entire display. Since updating the entire display is far
too slow, I didn't code the screen savers to do it.
If you have MicrosoftÆs DirectX extensions installed then you can use the
"Display" panel inside the Psychedelic Screen Saver configuration dialog
to set the video mode that the screen saver will run in. The screen saver
can only provide this feature if the DirectX extensions are installed on
your system. You can find out if you have the extensions installed by
selecting the "Display" panel. If there is a message telling you that
they are not installed then you can download them from MicrosoftÆs web
site at: http://www.microsoft.com/directx/
INSTALLATION / REMOVAL
To install the Psychedelic Screen Saver, run the setup program (INSTALL.EXE)
and then follow the directions. If you later decide that you would like to
remove the software from your system, run the un-install program
(UNINSTALL.EXE) that's in the directory you installed to.
REGISTRATION
Registration is easy! The file "ORDERFRM.TXT" contains all the information
you need on how to register "The Psychedelic Screen Saver"
Please refer to LICENSE.TXT for information on the license agreement.
QUESTIONS/SUPPORT
If you have access to the World Wide Web, please take a look on our web site
(http://www.synthesoft.com) where we maintain a "Frequently Asked Questions"
page. The FAQ provides answers to the vast majority of the questions we get
via email. If you can't find the information you need there, send me (Mike
Irvine) email at: psych@synthesoft.com.
UPDATES
I post updates to the software on my web site fairly often. When I'm feeling
particularly creative I may post updates as many as 2 or 3 times a week :-)