Copyright: ® Aris Entertainment


Help Contents
Contents

Overview of the Game

Introduction

Beginning the Game

The Main Screen

Troubleshooting

Performance Problems

Error Messages

Appendix

Aris Entertainment's Video Cube Series

Other Programs by Aris Entertainment


Introduction

The video cube is an object of unknown (but definitely extra-terrestrial) origin. The six surfaces of the video cube are made up of yet smaller cubes:

On the surface of every smaller cube is a section of a picture (one of six possible pictures per level).

Your objective is to rotate each of the small cubes in such a way that one complete picture is revealed. Then the picture comes alive, and you are presented with another surface of the video cube. Solve all six surfaces, and you move on to the next—and more challenging—level. There are 18 levels in the Video Cube: Space game.

HINT: Avoid solving the same picture twice. You don't gain anything by it, and you waste precious time. If you make this mistake, you'll hear a warning sound instead of seeing a movie.

Video Cube


Beginning the Game

When you first enter the program, the following dialog box appears:

Enter your name in the Player Name text box. The Video Cube program saves the names and results of the ten players who had the highest scores.  You can see the Video Cube hall of fame by selecting the Time and Score display at the bottom of the screen. Choose Play The Game to begin. After an introductory video, you are brought to  the main screen.


The Main Screen

The main screen consists of the items below. Select an item to learn about it.

Related Topics:

Video Cube

Control Panel

Time and Score Box


Video Cube

The six surfaces of the video cube are made up of many smaller cubes:

Using your mouse, you can rotate any small cube in any direction. Just follow these instructions:

Introduction


Control Panel

The number at the top of the Control Panel indicates the level you are on. Every time you solve all six pictures before your time runs out, you move on to the next level. Each level is more challenging than the previous one.

Total Score is your cumulative score for the entire Video Cube session.  This score is updated when each face is solved.

All six pictures you need to solve are shown in miniature below the Total Score. Pictures you've already solved have an X over them.

The six gray buttons that make up the remainder of the Control Panel offer you various options. A button is active (selectable) when the text is on a white background. When the text has a black background, it is inactive (not selectable). Select one of the buttons below to learn about it.

Related Topics:

Play

Pause

Save

Options

Help

Exit


Play

When active, selecting this button brings up the following dialog box.

To play a game that you previously saved, select the appropriate button in the Saved Games box. Select Cancel to go back to the game as you left it.


Pause

When active, selecting this button pauses the game. To continue playing, reselect this button.


Save

This feature allows you to save the game you're playing, so that you can come back to it some time in the future. When active, selecting this button brings up the following dialog box.

You can have up to eight saved games. To save the game you're playing, select a button.  If you select a button that contains a saved game, that game will be overwritten. Enter a title for your game when prompted to do so..

You incur a penalty when you save a game. Saved games get 1000 points deducted from them.

Select Cancel if you decide not to save your game.


Options

When active, selecting this button brings up the following dialog box.

Change the volume of the game's sound effects by adjusting the vertical scroll bars on the left. L indicates the left audio channel, while R indicates the right audio channel. When you select the Lock checkbox, adjusting one scroll bar automatically adjusts the other.

The Player Name text box shows the current player's name.

Selecting Prompt "End Video Cube Game?" causes a dialog box to appear whenever you select the Exit button from the Control Panel.

Selecting the Multi-Spin checkbox allows one cube to rotate while another is rotating. When this checkbox is not selected, you must wait for one cube to complete its rotation before clicking on another.

When the Enable Boss Key (Ctrl-X) checkbox is selected, pressing the Ctrl and X keys at the same time causes the Video Cube to become quickly minimized (Hiding the fact that you were developing hand eye coordination on company time).

When you are done making changes, select the OK button. If you wish to dismiss the dialog box without saving any changes, select the Cancel button.


Help

When active, selecting this button brings up Video Cube Help (the program you're now using).


Exit

When active, selecting this button exits you from the Video Cube: Space program.

You may or may not be warned about quitting the game. This depends upon whether the Prompt "End Video Cube Game?" checkbox in the Video Cube Options dialog box is selected or unselected. See the Options button help screen for more information.


Time and Score Box

The figure on the left is the amount of time remaining in the game. Every time you start a new level, the time is reset. When you get down to the last twenty-five seconds, a warning alarm sounds.  Another alarm will sound when you are about to be destroyed by running out of points. (Hurry).

The figure on the right is the amount of points that get added to your Total Score when you complete the picture you're working on. Points are subtracted every time you rotate a small cube. Points are also subtracted as time passes.

Click one the Time and Score Box presents the Cuber Hall Of Fame similar to the following:


Performance Problems

You don't hear anything

The movies don't play

Sounds or movies break up

General performance is poor


You don't hear anything

1) You may not have an MPC-compatible sound device installed in your computer. Try the following:

•	Check to see whether your audio device's documentation states that it is MPC-compatible and supports waveform audio (.WAV) playback. A few such devices are:

1. Sound Blaster™ and Sound Blaster Pro™

2. Media Vision's Pro Audio Spectrum™ series and ThunderBoard™

3. Ad Lib™ and Ad Lib Gold™

4. ATI's Stereo F/X™

5. Devices that are fully compatible with any of the above.

2) You may not have the correct sound driver installed. Try the following:

•	When you're sure that you have a compatible sound device, check your documentation for the name of the appropriate waveform sound driver. (Note that this driver is different from one you may have installed for your non-Windows programs.) Then check to see whether the driver is installed by running the Windows program called Control Panel (not to be confused with this program's Control Panel). When Control Panel is running, double-click the Drivers icon. If your driver is listed, then it's installed. To check the driver's settings, select it, then click the Setup button.

If your driver is not installed, click the New button to add it. You will need to provide a disk that contains the driver if none of the listed drivers are compatible with your sound device. Such a disk probably came with the device. If it didn't, get one from the device's manufacturer, or the place where you bought it. You will also find several sound drivers on Aris Entertainment's MPC Wizard CD.

3) The driver [MCI] Sound may not be installed on your system. This driver must be installed in addition to the wave audio sound driver mentioned above.

•	Run the Windows program Control Panel, double-click the Drivers icon, click the Add button, and choose [MCI] Sound.

4) You may have other waveform sound programs running that are conflicting with Video Cube: Space. If this is the case, try the following:

•	Exit the other program(s). You can load them again when you're finished using  Video Cube: Space.

5) Microsoft makes available a driver called SPEAKER.DRV that plays back Windows system sounds through the PC's internal speaker without extra sound hardware. As of this writing, SPEAKER.DRV will NOT work with Video Cube: Space.


The movies don't play

In order to play the Video for Windows™ movies on this CD, the generic [MCI] Microsoft AVI Video Driver and the SuperMatch Cinepak™ Codec driver must be installed on your system.

•	To install both drivers on your system, exit Video Cube: Space and go to the Windows Program Manager. Make sure that the Video Cube: Space CD is in your CD-ROM drive. Choose the File menu, choose Run, then type the following:

     D:\SETUP

where D is the letter of your CD-ROM drive. This will re-run the Video Cube: Space installation program. You must allow it to load the proper Video for Windows files. It will not overwrite any Video for Windows drivers on your system if any of them are a later version than the ones on the CD. Re-running the setup program may, however, overwrite any unfinished Video Cube games you might have saved.


Sounds or movies break up

1) Your computer's Central Processing Unit (CPU) may not be fast enough. Video Cube: Space requires at least a 386-class CPU running at a speed of 33 MHz, along with 4 MB of RAM. (A 486DX with 8 MB of RAM is highly suggested.)

Even with this minimum configuration, the movies may have a slow frame rate. Video for Windows™ (the movie display technology used in this game) automatically skips video frames if it cannot display the images fast enough to keep up with the sound. The bitmap graphics display speed of your system greatly affects this program's performance, and CPU speed has a great effect on your graphics display speed.

2) Your CD-ROM drive's data transfer rate may not be compatible with the Windows multimedia standard. Try the following:

•	Check to see whether your CD-ROM drive's documentation states that it is MPC-compatible. An MPC-compatible drive must have a data-transfer rate of 150 kilobytes per second or greater.

3) If you have a single-speed CD-ROM drive (data transfer rate of 150 kb/sec.), then the MSCDEX buffer for your CD-ROM drive may be insufficient. Try the following:

•	When loading the file MSCDEX.EXE, increase its  /M parameter to between 12 and 20. MSCDEX.EXE is probably loaded from your AUTOEXEC.BAT, so go into the latter with a text editor (like Notepad) and make the change. You may want to jot down the original /M setting in case you need to go back to it.

4) If you have a double-speed CD-ROM drive (data transfer rate of 300 kb/sec.) or better, then the MSCDEX buffer for your CD-ROM drive may actually be the cause of your problem. Try the following:

•	When loading the file MSCDEX.EXE, set its  /M parameter to 0. MSCDEX.EXE is probably loaded from your AUTOEXEC.BAT, so go into the latter with a text editor (like Notepad) and make the change. You may want to jot down the original /M setting in case you need to go back to it.

5) The amount of buffer memory that Windows allots for playing waveform audio may be insufficient. Try the following:

•	Run the Windows program called Control Panel (not to be confused with this program's Control Panel), then double-click the Drivers icon. Select the [MCI] Sound driver, then click the Setup button. Change the buffering time to 9 seconds.


General performance is poor

1) Your system may not be optimally tuned for peak Windows performance. Try the following:

•	Read the chapter "Optimizing Windows" in the Windows User's Guide and make any necessary changes to your system.

•	If you have cache RAM, make sure it is enabled. Refer to your computer's manual to learn how to do this.

•	Try loading your video BIOS into RAM. Refer to your computer's manual to learn how to do this.

2) Upgrade your system hardware. Fast graphics performance in Windows—especially when it involves motion video—demands a powerful computer system. The minimum hardware and software requirements for Video Cube: Space are as follows:

•	Windows 3.1 or later;

•	a 386-class central processing unit (CPU) running at 33 MHz;

•	4 megabytes of RAM (at the very least);

•	a VGA monitor with an SVGA video device and at least 512 k video RAM, capable of running in 640 x 480 pixels with 256 colors;

•	an MPC-compatible CD-ROM drive (150 k/sec data transfer rate);

•	an MPC-compatible sound device.

If you only have the minimum requirements you'll be able to play the game, but performance will be slow. The game's performance should improve significantly if you get any of the following:

•	a 486DX 33 MHz CPU or greater;

•	more RAM, if you presently have 4 mb or less;

•	cache RAM, if you have none;

•	an accelerated graphics device, or local bus video;

•	all the above, preferably.


Error Messages

"Windows is running in 16-color mode."

"Windows is running in greater than 256-color mode"

"The Windows display driver you are using is not palette-based."


"Windows is running in 16-color mode."

The Video Cube program can only run with a 256-color palette-based display. The default Windows VGA driver can't be used because it can only display a maximum of 16 colors simultaneously.

Check the documentation that came with your graphics device to make sure it is capable of displaying 256 colors at 640 x 480 pixels. Your device must have a minimum of 512k video RAM to do so.

When you're sure that your device is capable of displaying 256 simultaneous colors at 640 x 480 resolution, you will have to load the appropriate driver. This is usually done in the Windows Setup program, but some drivers come with their own special programs for loading drivers and changing resolutions.

If you don't have the correct 256-color Windows driver already installed on your system, you will have to install one. You'll probably find the correct driver on one of the floppy discs that came with your graphics device. If you can't find the right 256-color driver, try getting one from the graphics device manufacturer, or the place where you bought your device. You will also find many graphics drivers on Aris Entertainment's MPC Wizard CD. Do not use the Video Seven or XGA 256-color drivers that ship with Windows unless you're sure you have a device that is compatible with one of these drivers.


"Windows is running in greater than 256-color mode"

Video Cube: Space can only run in 256-color mode. Even though your current video display mode may be capable of displaying more than 256 colors simultaneously, you must switch to a 256-color display mode.

Graphics display modes are usually changed in the Windows Setup program, but some drivers come with their own special programs for loading drivers and changing color depths.

If you don't have the correct 256-color Windows driver already installed on your system, you will have to install one. You'll probably find the correct driver on one of the floppy discs that came with your graphics device. If you can't find the right 256-color driver, try getting one from the graphics device manufacturer, or the place where you bought your device. You will also find many graphics drivers on Aris Entertainment's MPC Wizard CD. Do not use the Video Seven or XGA 256-color drivers that ship with Windows unless you're sure you have a device that is compatible with one of these drivers.


"The Windows display driver you are using is not palette-based."

As a rule, all 256-color drivers are palette-based. If you received the above error message and you're sure that Windows is running in 256-color mode, then your driver is an exception to this rule. You must load a palette-based 256-color driver.

Graphics drivers are usually loaded in the Windows Setup program, but some drivers come with their own special programs for loading drivers and changing resolutions.

If you don't have the correct 256-color palette-based Windows driver already installed on your system, you will have to install one. You'll probably find the correct driver on one of the floppy discs that came with your graphics device. If you can't find the right 256-color driver, try getting one from the graphics device manufacturer, or the place where you bought your device. You will also find many graphics drivers on Aris Entertainment's MPC Wizard CD. Do not use the Video Seven or XGA 256-color drivers that ship with Windows unless you're sure you have a device that is compatible with one of these drivers.


Aris Entertainment's Video Cube Series

Video Cube: Space is the first in a series of Video Cube games. Stay tuned for more fast-action video adventures from the folks at Aris Entertainment.


Other Programs by Aris Entertainment

Aris Entertainment's Media Clips™ series gives you quality entertainment and content at affordable prices. The finest artists provide their best work for you to use in your multimedia presentations without royalties. Each Media Clips series CD contains 100 high-quality photos and 50 to 100 wave audio sounds. Many also contain motion video clips. Look for these titles at your favorite software dealer:

•	The MPC Wizard™
Get your Multimedia Windows system up and running fast! Diagnostics tests check out your graphics, sound, and CD-ROM performance. Extensive Troubleshooting Tips help you solve your multimedia problems. Includes one of the most comprehensive collections of Windows graphics and sound drivers available anywhere. Also includes The Best of Media Clips,™ featuring images, sounds, and Video for Windows™ movies from our extensive Media Clips series.

•	World View™
Pictures of the earth and other planets from above.  Liftoffs, landings, and other photos and videos from the best of the space program.

•	Full Bloom™
A bouquet of beautiful and exotic flowers from around the world. You'll find 100 images bright and bursting with color, 100 soothing solo piano music clips, and 25 Video for Windows videos of flowers that bloom before your eyes.

•	Deep Voyage™
Journey for 20,000 leagues under the sea! Dive in exotic coral reefs and majestic kelp beds. Deep and uncharted waters come alive with plant and animal life right before your eyes.

•	Tropical Rainforest™
The overwhelming abundance of the world's most exciting natural wonder unfolds before your eyes. Exotic creatures and plants that are found nowhere else on earth come alive as you explore the uncharted regions of the forest.

•	Majestic Places™
Dynamic Mt. Everest, breathtaking Mt. McKinley, the remotest parts of Tibet and other natural wonders along with 100 audio clips of contemporary music.

•	Island Designs™     *Special 2-disc set*
Disc 1 (Vintage Aloha™)  contains playful and rare "antique" Hawaiian shirt patterns from the 1920's through the 1950's, teamed with the best of early Hawaiian music.

Disc 2 (Batik Designs™)  contains alluring and richly-colored fabric designs from exotic Bali, combined with enchanting Balinese drum and xylophone music, and other ambient sounds.

•	Wild Places™
Award-winning natural landscapes and close-ups featuring deserts, rocks, jungles, seascapes, and forests, paired with originally-scored "new age" audio tracks.

•	Jets and Props™     *Special 2-disc set*
Graphic and spectacular photos of civilian and military jet and classic props.  Hundreds of photos and sound clips make this an airshow on a disc!

•	Business Backgrounds™
Business equipment, offices, buildings and situations for use in business presentations.

•	Money, Money, Money!™
Pictures of US and international currency, along with 25 MPC movies of money hot off the press.  One hundred audio tracks, descriptions on each currency, and sound-effects.

Aris products are available at most computer software retail outlets. If you can't find them, contact us. We will provide the name of a dealer near you. If you have any questions about our products, please call or write:

Aris Multimedia Entertainment, Inc.
310 Washington Blvd., Suite 100
Marina Del Rey, CA  90292
voice:	(310) 821-0234
fax:	(310) 821-6463