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This Read Me file contains information on the following topics:
1. Installing Sampler 2
2. General system requirements for running Sampler Disc 2
3. Other important issues for PC Users
4. List of Director 4.04-compatible video and sound cards
5. Running video clips using Sampler Disc 2
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1. Installing Sampler 2
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You require at least 2.5 Mb of space on your hard disk to install Sampler Disc 2. Once you have checked this space is available you should:
1. Insert the disc into your CD-ROM drive.
2. Under Program Manager, choose Run from the File menu.
This Sampler Disc has been created using Macromedia Director (TM) 4.04 for Windows. The recommended PC configuration to run Dorling Kindersley Multimedia's Sampler 2 is as follows:
486SX 25 MHz IBM or compatible PC
8Mb of RAM
Double-speed CD-ROM drive
Sound card, mouse, hard disk
SVGA 256-colour display
Loudspeakers or headphones
Microsoft Windows (TM) 3.1 or later
However, Sampler 2 will run on lower specification machines, but it will run more slowly, and below the speed of the actual titles.
(Most of the titles featured will run on 386 machines with 4Mb of RAM and a single-speed CD-ROM drive. Please check individual box details for the exact specification of each title.)
Users should also be aware that Director requires sound cards, video software drivers and hardware that fully support Windows 3.1 standards. Guidelines on appropriate video and sound cards have been taken from Director 4.04 technical documentation and included in section 4 of this README file.
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3. Other important issues for PC Users
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A. Certain video and sound cards that have NOT been tested by Macromedia may experience problems running the sampler. For example, users with Cirrus cards and older Cirrus drivers may find Dorling Kindersley Multimedia's Sampler 2 crashes or otherwise behaves badly. (Replacing the driver with a newer Cirrus driver or the generic Windows SVGA 256 640x480 colour driver should solve the problem.)
Contact the manufacturer of your particular video or sound card for details of their most up-to-date drivers if you experience any problems. Consult the Windows documentation supplied with your computer for more information on how to change drivers if necessary.
B. For the technically minded, the sound sample rate used for narrations and animations in the sampler is 11.025 KHz. (This is a space-saving requirement.) In the final products the sample rate is 22.050KHz, giving superior audio quality.
C. Sampler 2 uses 256-colour images and will not look its best if your computer is running in 16-colour mode. We strongly recommend that you set your display driver to 256-colour mode if you have not already done so. You can run your Windows setup program to change your display driver. For more information check your Windows documentation. (Users with Windows 3.1.0 may need to obtain the necessary 256 colour drivers from Microsoft.)
4. List of Director 4.04-compatible video and sound cards =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
VIDEO CARDS
Director requires video software drivers and hardware that fully support Windows 3.1 standards. The following video systems have been tested and found to be compatible with Director during authoring and playback. We recommend installing the latest available video ROM and software. Contact the video card manufacturer for information.
Authoring and playback are not limited to these systems. If you experience difficulties with a card that is not on this list, first test it at 640 x 480 resolution with the monitor's color depth set to 8 bit (256 colors). Next, contact the hardware manufacturer to find out if the problem has been addressed with an updated driver.
The following cards have been tested and provide acceptable results for authoring and playback:
Bus Driver
Video card Type Date Rev
ATI Graphics Wonder VLB 3/19/93 2.3
ATI Graphics Xpression VLB 6/13/94 1.1
(See Note 1)
Compaq QVision 1024/I ISA 1/18/94 7.40
Diamond Viper PCI 9/27/93 3.01 (Recommended)
Diamond Viper VLB 9/17/93 2.01
Genoa Windows VGA 24 VLB 8/8/93 1.7
Headland Video 7 RAM II VGA ISA 5/15/92 3.10
Hercules Graphite Pro VLB 12/29/93 2.21 (See Note 2)
IBM XGA-2 MCA 11/12/93 2.11
(See Note 3)
Number Nine 9GXE64 PCI 6/22/94 1.19.04 (Recommended)
Orchid Fahrenheit 1280 ISA 8/10/92 3.0
RasterOps PaintBoard PC ISA 3/25/93 3.10
(See Note 2)
Spider Black Widow VLB 1/20/94 (Recommended)
Trident 8900C ISA 9/23/92 3.10
Trident 9000C ISA 7/8/93 VC4.5(WC1.6)
(See Note 2)
Note 1: Set DeviceBitmaps=OFF in the Windows SYSTEM.INI file [MACH] section after card software installation if using this driver version.
Note 2: Use in 256-colour mode only.
Note 3: This card does not draw extremely wide arcs properly.
The following video cards have been tested and provide acceptable results for playback:
Bus Driver
Video card Type Date Rev
Actix ProStar VL VLB 8/18/93 1.42
(See Note 1)
ATI Graphics Ultra ISA 3/19/93 2.3
ATI Graphics Ultra Plus ISA 4/25/94 2.3
ATI Graphics Ultra Pro VLB 4/25/94 2.3
ATI Graphics Ultra Pro ISA 4/25/94 2.3
Blackship Color DesignerA3 VLB 7/8/93 1.32
Diamond Speed Star Pro ISA 2/17/94 1.08
Diamond Speed Star VGA ISA 4/14/92
Diamond Stealth 24 VLB 6/3/94 3.00
Diamond Stealth Pro VLB 10/6/93
Elite Group GD5426/28 VLB 8/18/93 1.32b
ELSA Winner2000 Pro PCI 6/23/94 1.22
Hercules Dynamite Pro ISA 12/1/93 2.10 (See Note 2)
Hercules Dynamite Pro VLB 12/1/93 3.00
Hercules Graphite Power ISA 4/6/94 2.10
IBM XGA Display MCA 11/12/93 2.11 (See Note 3)
Matrox MGA Power Graphics PCI 3/28/93 1.42
Media Vision ProGraphics 1280 VLB 9/15/93 1.01
Media Vision ProGraphics 1024 VLB 4/15/94 1.5
Mitac MVA-CL5428-1MB VLB 3/15/94 V1.43
Number Nine 9GXe Level 10 ISA 2/9/94 V3.11
(See Note 4)
Number Nine 9GXe Level 11 VLB 2/9/94 3.10.061 (See Notes 4, 5)
Number Nine 9GXe Level 14 VLB 4/7/94 3.15
(See Note 4)
Number Nine 9GXE64 VLB 6/22/94 1.19.04 (Recommended)
Orchid Celsius VLB 10/1/93 1.32 (Recommended)
Orchid Fahrenheit 1280 Plus VLB 3/1/94 rel 7
(See Note 6)
Orchid Fahrenheit VA VLB 4/29/93 5.01
Orchid Kelvin 64 PCI 3/14/94 1.1
Orchid Kelvin 64 VLB 2/23/94 1.21
Orchid ProDesigner IIS ISA 3/1/92 2.0
Paradise WD90c33 VLB 6/28/93 1.2
Standard 1Mb-24X ISA 3/19/93 1.30
STB Horizon VL Pro VLB 6/29/93 1.3
STB Lightspeed PCI 12/1/93 1.1
STB Pegasus VLB 11/29/93 1.3
TrueVision Bravado 8 ISA 1/15/92
Note 1: Driver version 1.53 sometimes freezes when playing certain Director transitions. Driver version 1.42 is recommended.
Note 2: Does not always properly display QuickTime digital video in 16-bit (thousands) and 24-bit (millions).
Note 3: Does not draw extremely wide arcs properly.
Note 4: Sound break-up or distortion may occur during complex transitions.
Note 5: The cursor sometimes disappears when using a large virtual desktop.
Note 6: Video snow appears during some palette transitions.
