README (last modified 10/99)
To start LAUNCH:
Windows 95/98/NT: Click on the
big LAUNCH logo in the Autostart menu or
run D:\Setup.exe (where D: is
your CD-ROM drive)
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* DIRECTX 6.1 Installer
-- IMPORTANT NOTE: DirectX is required (Windows 95/98)
for the game demo to run. The LAUNCH setup program will
run the DirectX installer if DirectX is not detected on
your system. For best results, make sure you have the
latest videocard and soundcard drivers from the
appropriate manufacturers.
For technical support regarding DirectX, please refer to:
http://www.microsoft.com/directx/Resources/support.htm
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1. Tips
- Switch to True Color (24 or 32 bit) display mode for best-looking graphics
and video. (go to Control Panels / Display /
Settings tab / Color palette)
- Connect to your internet provider
before running LAUNCH for content off the web. Be
sure to have Microsoft Internet Explorer
3 (or higher) installed [http://www.microsoft.com/ie].
- Multitasking is not recommended.
(Quit other applications before running LAUNCH
for best performance)
- If you are running LAUNCH in a window and
multitasking, click on the title bar
to return focus to the LAUNCH window.
2. Startup Problems
* Nothing appears
when CD is put into drive
Autoplay may be turned off on your computer. In
this case, please go to "My Computer"
and double-click on the LAUNCH CD-ROM icon
and run "Setup.exe". In
rare cases, the Autoplay screen may be glitched or
fail to load. Make sure you have the latest
Windows video drivers for your specific
video card if this is the case. These can usually be
downloaded from the manufacturer's website.
* "IOS failed
to initilize" error message after installation
This is a rare problem which may occur on early
versions of Windows 95. Solution
from Microsoft support:
1. Boot Windows 95 in Safe mode or to a command
prompt.
2. Perform one of the following two steps:
- Edit the Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files and disable any
references to Smartdrv.exe. To disable a line, type "rem"
(without quotation marks) at the beginning of the line.
- Rename Smartdrv.exe to another name.
3. Restart your computer normally.
* Slow Load Time
Minimum system requirements have increased
slightly starting with issue 15. Slow load times can
be caused by a number of factors or combinations of
system components. Surpassing the following suggested
system requirements (particularly RAM) will improve
performance of LAUNCH. If your computer is near the
minimum requirements, LAUNCH should play but load
times may be slow.
If you receive a "Cannot open START.DXR" or
something similar when starting up LAUNCH, most
likely a component on your system falls below the
minimum requirement.
* Suggested System
Requirements *
Windows 95/98
Pentium 166
24 MB RAM
4X+ CD-ROM drive
16-bit soundcard
For the smoothest LAUNCH experience, a Pentium II-class
computer, 32 MB RAM, and a 24X CD-ROM drive are
highly suggested.
* Installation / Quicktime
4.0
* If you get a system error or general
protection fault while running the installer,
1) turn off any antivirus
software you may have running.
2) delete all files in your C:\Windows\Temp
directory and try again.
It is ok to also have both 16-bit and 32-bit versions
of Quicktime 2 on your system (required for older
versions of LAUNCH). They have been designed to
coexist on the same system with no conflicts.
Older versions of LAUNCH may require older versions
of Quicktime:
LAUNCH 1 - 14: |
Quicktime 2.1.2 (16-bit) |
LAUNCH 15 - 19: |
Quicktime 2.1.2 (32-bit) |
LAUNCH 20 - 30 : |
Quicktime 3.0 / 4.0 |
LAUNCH 31+: |
Quicktime 4.0 |
Note: A Quicktime for Windows program group will
be created.You don't need any of these files to
access LAUNCH. These icons are just there as
part of the Quicktime installation program and may be
used to run Quicktime movies externally, such as ones
that are downloaded from the internet.
Due to a problem with detecting Quicktime, LAUNCH
#20 will only work with Quicktime 3.0 and 3.01.
All other issues should work with any version of
Quicktime 3. If you have 3.02 on your system and
would like to run #20, you'll have to delete the file
c:\windows\system\quicktime.qts and run the Quicktime
installer from issue #20. After viewing issue #20,
you can reinstall Quicktime 3.02 if you wish by
running the installer (included starting with issue #22).
We apologize for this inconvenience.
* General Errors
LAUNCH does not install anything on your system (Windows
95 or later) besides Quicktime and ActiveX Controls,
all content is run off the CD.
* Get the latest video drivers from your video
cards manufacturer, especially if you have an ATI
video card (Windows 95/98, Mac) or STB
Nitro video card.
* Downloaded files and some temporary files are
stored in the C:\Windows\Lnchprfs
directory, please delete these if you are getting
errors running LAUNCH or would like to recover the
hard disk space.
* Re-installing Quicktime may also fix other
errors.
3. Audio/video problems
* Color mode/palette
LAUNCH is optimized for Windows 95/98,
videocard at the true color (24 or 32 bit) setting.
* Windows 95/98 -- To run in 16-bit color, your
video card setting must be set to that color bit-depth.
The ways to switch color bit-depths vary from
computer to computer, usually it is a control panel
installed along with the video card. In Windows 95/98,
go to:
Control Panel -> Display -> Settings
and change the color palette setting to True Color (24 or 32
bit).
* Video glitches
during playback
* Go to Control Panel -> Quicktime ->
Video Settings and switch from Options mode to Safe Mode.
Updated video drivers from the video card
manufacturer may be required.
* No sound in
LAUNCH / general audio problems
1. Make sure WAV volume is turned
up in your mixer (Windows 95/98 - double-click on the
speaker in the bottom right hand corner of the screen)
and that you can play .WAV audio (you should be able
to hear previews in the Sounds control panel).
2. Make sure you have the latest sound
drivers from the manufacturer of your
soundcard installed. Usually they can be downloaded
from the manufacturer's website.
3. You may get better results with sound in LAUNCH by
going to Control Panel -> Quicktime ->
Sound Out and switching from DirectSound to waveOut.
4. There may be a conflict between the Quicktime music synthesizer
and the soundcard's software wavetable emulation. To
remove the Quicktime music synthesizer, go to Control
Panel -> Quicktime -> Music -> Edit List ->
Synthesizer. Choose "No synthesizer"
in the synthesizer list.
5. Soundcards with software wavetable
emulation [most cards do NOT have this
feature] may cause Quicktime audio sync problems.
Please turn off this feature to see if it is causing
the problem. This can be done usually in a soundcard
specific control panel or go to Control Panel ->
System -> Device Manager -> Sound, Video and
Game Controllers and disable this option from there.
4. Technical/Customer Support
Options
* Technical Support
e-mail: techsupport@launch.com
website: http://cdrom.launch.com
Or, you can call the Technical Support helpline at:
310-453-1256 (between 10:00 AM and 8:00
PM (PST) Monday through Friday).
Describe the problem in as much detail as you can,
such as the error message and exact steps taken.
Include all the details about your computer too (e.g.
make/model of computer, model of videocard,
RAM installed, etc.). Your bug report will
help make future issues better.
* Customer Support
Subscriptions/billing: 1-800-2LAUNCH (1-800-252-8624)
For billing/general customer support issues:
e-mail: service@launch.com
Thank you for using LAUNCH, we welcome any suggestions
or comments to mail@launch.com
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