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- The Psychedelic Screen Saver - Version 3.6
- Copyright (C) 1995-1997
- All Rights Reserved
- http://www.halcyon.com/pixel/psych.htm
-
-
- 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/msdownload/directx3.htm
-
-
-
- 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, check out the home page for the
- Psychedelic Screen Saver at:
-
- http://www.halcyon.com/pixel/psych.htm
-
- I maintain a "Frequently Asked Questions" page similar to the FAQ.TXT that
- we've included here with the screen saver (but more up to date). The FAQ
- provides answers to the vast majority of the questions I get via email.
-
- If you can't find the information you need in the FAQ.TXT or in the FAQ on
- the web, send me (Mike Irvine) email at pixel@halcyon.com
-
- If you are experiencing a problem, check to see if the problem exists in
- the latest version of the software which can be found on my WWW site.
- If you are still experiencing the problem, email me with a description of
- the behavior and information on your hardware configuration and operating
- system. Please be sure to indicate which version of the the screen saver
- and which version of the operating system you are running.
-
-
-
-
- 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 :-)
-