********************************************************* Compton's 3D World Atlas Deluxe Version 3.2 for Windows 95 ********************************************************* Welcome to Compton's 3D World Atlas Deluxe! We would like to thank you for your purchase. It is our goal to make you a happy and satisfied customer, so we have created this file with useful information and solutions to problems you may encounter. This file contains information that was not available at the time the User's Guide and on-disc help were prepared. It also contains other important information to help you use this product successfully. If you are uncertain how to make a recommended change, please refer to the documentation that came with Windows and/or your computer system. CONTENTS I. Installation Instructions and Suggestions II. Troubleshooting III. Contacting Technical Support IV. Known Problems V. Other Important Information I. Installation Instructions and Suggestions ********************************************************* A. Disk Compression If you are using a disk compression utility, the available hard disk space reported by the installation program may not be accurate. Disk compression utilities can only ESTIMATE available hard disk space. If the installation process is not successful, you may need to free additional hard disk space by removing unneeded files or applications from your hard drive. B. Network Installation This product is designed as a "stand-alone" application and does not support use by multiple users over a network. C. This Product is not designed to run under Windows 3.1 or 3.11. D. Memory Management Windows 95 should manage your "swap" file for you (to accommodate memory needs beyond your available RAM. To verify that Windows 95 is managing your swap file, open the Start menu, choose "Settings," then select "Control Panel." When the Control Panel window appears, double-click on "System" to bring up its dialog box. Select the "Performance" tab. Next click on the "Virtual Memory" button in the lower right-hand corner and verify that Virtual Memory is set to "Let Windows manage my virtual memory settings (recommended)." E. Installation Instructions Compton's suggests that you exit all applications before installing this product. Other programs and drivers during setup may interfere with the installation process. 1. Installation for Windows 95 If the Windows 95 AutoPlay feature is enabled, simply place the atlas CD in the CD-ROM drive. The AutoPlay function automatically offers the option to install the program. Click on "Install" to begin the installation. To change the AutoPlay setting, refer to your Windows 95 documentation or consult the manufacturer. If the CD is already in the CD-ROM drive and you have bypassed the AutoPlay function, follow these steps to begin the installation: Click on "Start" and select "Run." In the "Open" box, type "D:\SETUP.EXE" and press Enter. If your CD-ROM drive is not drive "D", substitute the letter of your CD-ROM drive when you type this statement. For example, if your CD-ROM drive is drive "E", type "E:\SETUP.EXE" and press Enter. When the program has finished installing the files, you are notified that the installation has been completed. Then, whenever you want to use Compton's 3D World Atlas Deluxe, simply insert the CD into the CD-ROM drive andclick on "OK" when asked if you want to run the program. To start the program when the CD is already in your CD-ROM drive, click on "Start," choose "Programs," choose "Compton's Home Library," choose the "Compton's 3D World Atlas Deluxe" folder, and then click on "Compton's 3D World Atlas Deluxe." F. Meeting the Minimum System Requirements The atlas installation program does not automatically determine if your computer system meets the minimum requirements to run the program. Check the list below to make sure that your system meets the minimum system requirements for Compton's 3D World Atlas Deluxe. Computer: 486DX/33 - Pentium recommended Memory: 8MB of RAM - 16MB recommended Free hard disk space: 17MB ** CD-ROM drive: Double-speed - Quad-speed recommended Operating system: Windows 95 Monitor: 256-color SVGA graphics display Sound card: Windows-compatible Mouse Keyboard Printer: Optional; only required for printing functions Internet Browser: Optional; only required for Online functions **Program files occupy up to 4MBof hard disk space. An additional 13MB is required for "swap" space. (consult your Windows documentation for an explanation of "swap" space in Windows 95). II. Troubleshooting ********************************************************* This product has been successfully tested with a wide variety of hardware and peripheral equipment. It should be noted, however, that Microsoft Windows is a "device-independent" operating system that relies on device drivers to communicate with the various devices on your system. Occasionally, issues may occur with one of these drivers. Conflicts with sound cards, video displays, and printers are often resolved by reconfiguring or updating the device drivers supplied by the manufacturers. This product is not designed specifically for compatibility with any particular hardware item. A. Troubleshooting for Windows 95 1. Font Problems/Font Error Messages when Starting the program. The program requires that certain fonts be present on your system to display text correctly. If the program is unable to find the fonts it needs, some text may display poorly or in unreadable fonts. See the section "Program Text Is Illegible or Displays in Wing Ding or Symbol Font" below for additional information. If the program cannot find the proper fonts, you may see one of the following error messages after the introductory screen: --"The following TrueType Fonts were not found: ..." or "The following Fonts were not found: ..." To correct this problem, make a note of the missing font or fonts listed, then exit the atlas program. To resolve the problem, click on the "Start" button, choose "Settings" and then "Control Panel". In the "Control Panel" window, double-click on the "Fonts" folder. Then from the "File" menu choose "Install New Fonts." Then follow the instructions below. Move to the "\WINDOWS\SYSTEM" directory on your hard drive. A list of available fonts should appear; click on the font that was listed as missing in the error message and then click on the "OK" button. Then click on the "Close" or "Cancel" button; there is no need to restart Windows. If no list of fonts appears in "\WINDOWS\SYSTEM," consult your Windows documentation for assistance in loading Windows fonts. 2. Boosting Performance Turning off narration and music will boost performance. To turn off narration and music, click on the "Sounds" option on the program's menu bar and deselect the Sounds option and/or Narration option. A check mark next to the option indicates that the option is turned on. Please note that if narrations are turned off, the narrations to the videos will still be heard. Only the narrations for country postcards and feature introductions are turned off. 3. Program Text Is Illegible or Displays in Wing Ding or Symbol Font Certain Lotus or IBM products, such as Lotus Wordpro, install a font that may interfere with the fonts used by Windows 95. This problem can be resolved by removing the Monotype Sorts Font version 2.0 from your system. To remove the font, click on the Windows 95 "Start" menu, select "Settings", then select "Control Panel." In the resulting window, double-click on the "Fonts" icon. In the resulting list of fonts, find "Monotype Sorts Font" (sometimes listed as "Mtsorts_.ttf") and remove it by dragging it into the Windows 95 Recycle Bin on your desktop. 4. Problems Reading CD If you have trouble with your CD-ROM performance, the problem may be solved by adjusting the cache settings on your CD-ROM drive. To change these settings, click on the Windows 95 "Start" menu, select "Settings," and then select "Control Panel." In the resulting window, double-click on the "System" icon, and then click on the "Performance" tab. Make sure that in the resulting box both "File System" and "Virtual Memory" indicate "32-bit." Click on the "File System ..." button, and then click on the "CD-ROM" tab. Move the slider in the "Supplemental cache size" setting all the way to "Large." Make sure that the contents of the "Optimize access pattern for" box matches the speed of your CD-ROM drive. For example, if you have a double-speed (2X) CD-ROM drive, this box should read "Double-speed drives." When you change these settings, you may have to restart Windows 95 in order for the changes to take effect. Click on "Yes" if you are offered this option. 5. Optimizing Performance To make sure your system is operating at peak graphic abilities, click on the Windows 95 "Start" menu, select "Settings," and then select "Control Panel". In the resulting window, double-click on the "System" icon, and then click on the "Performance" tab. Click on the "Graphics ..." button. In the resulting box, make sure the "Hardware acceleration" slider is set all the way to "Full." To make sure your hard drive is operating to its fullest potential, click on the Windows 95 "Start" menu, select "Settings." and then select "Control Panel." In the resulting window, double-click on the "System" icon, and then click on the "Performance" tab. Click on the "File System ..." button, and then click on the "Hard Disk" tab. Make sure that "Typical role of this machine" reads "Desktop computer." However, due to a bug in Windows 95, selecting "Network Server" may be a better choice if your system has 16MB RAM. Also make sure that the slider bar for "Read-ahead optimization" is all the way to the right at "Full." When you change these settings, you may have to restart Windows 95 in order for the changes to take effect. Click on "Yes" if you are offered this option. 6. Locating Possible Conflicts To find potential harware conflicts that might be causing problems with the atlas, use the Windows 95 Device Manager. Click on the Windows 95 "Start" menu, select "Settings," and then select "Control Panel." In the resulting window, double-click on the "System" icon, and then click on the "Device Manager" tab. In the resulting list, look for yellow warning triangles with an exclamation point (!) in them. If you find any such triangle, click once on the item to highlight it and then click on the "Properties" button. Windows 95 will display a dialog box that explains the status of that device. Consult your Windows 95 or computer system documentation for more information. 7. Working with the Windows 95 Taskbar If you are using the "Always on Top" and/or "Auto Hide" settings for the Windows 95 Taskbar, the Taskbar may obscure some of the atlas interface. To keep the Taskbar from appearing on top of the atlas program, turn off the "Always on Top" and "Auto Hide" settings by clicking on the Windows 95 "Start" button, then "Settings," then "Taskbar." 8. Video or Image Display Problems Compton's 3D World Atlas Deluxe uses your video card in standard, but complicated ways. Sometimes this causes problems with older video drivers. This is true even if the problem doesn't seem to be related to how the program looks. Examples of video driver-related problems are: "Potentially Fatal Error" or "General Protection Fault," especially those that make reference to your video driver (.DRV), movies or photos that are black, colors that don't look right, or even a program crash without an error message. If you are encountering a problem like this, the first step is to upgrade your video driver. To load a new video driver, go to "Display" in the Control Panels. Select "Settings/Change Display Types" and follow the instructions. You may also want to consult your video card manufacturer. If you find that videos in the program are not playing and fail to play independently of the program, you may want to reinstall Video for Windows, which has been provided on this disc. To reinstall it, click on "Start" and select "Run." In the "Open" box, type "D:\INSTALL\VFW\VFWSETUP.EXE" and press Enter. Then follow the onscreen instructions. If your CD-ROM drive is not drive "D", substitute the letter of your CD-ROM drive when you type this statement. For example, if your CD-ROM drive is drive "E", type "E:\INSTALL\VFW\VFWSETUP.EXE" and press Enter. D. Accessing the Internet To get the most out of this product's Internet features, we recommend using Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Internet Explorer, or America Online. Compton's 3D World Atlas Deluxe will detect and launch your browser automatically, but unless one of these three programs is used, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to take you to the proper places on the Internet. Please make sure that your Web browser or online service is properly and completely installed before you attempt to use the program's Internet features. To ensure an automatic connection via your preferred browser, select "Online Preferences" from the 3D World Atlas "Online" menu, then choose "Use ISP." The next time you choose an Online menu item in Compton's 3D World Atlas Deluxe, your browser will be launched automatically. However, you may need to make sure that you have already established an Internet connection via modem prior to selecting an online feature in the program. Consult the documentation that came with your Internet software for more information. Specific details about using America Online. 1. Using America Online To to configure the Program for an AOL connection, select "Online Preferences" from the 3D World Atlas "Online" menu, then choose "Use AOL" and enter you screen name and password. The next time you choose an Online menu item in Compton's 3D World Atlas Deluxe, AOL will be launched automatically. To connect to AOL from the 3D World Atlas CD-ROM, your account name and password must be valid and correctly entered in the programs online preferences. If you experience problems connecting to America Online, we recommend using the same phone number for the first and second phone numbers you choose to log on to America Online. Since Compton's 3D World Atlas Deluxe references only the first phone number, this setup will eliminate problems connecting to America Online using the 3D World Atlas Online menu. If problems persist, we recommend re-installing the AOL software. If you experience any problems installing, connecting to, or downloading files from America Online, please call AOL Technical Support at 1-800-827-3338. 2. Using the "ISP" setting If you wish to use a program other than America Online, such as Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Internet Explorer, to connect to the Internet, you must pick "Use ISP" from the list of online applications in the "Online" section of the menu. Please note: When the online application is set to "Use ISP," the program may not be able to take you directly to Web sites or other Internet features. One option with browsers or services of this type is to copy the Internet address listed in program to the Windows clipboard and then paste it into the proper part of your online application. III. Contacting Technical Support ********************************************************* We are here to assist you with any issues regarding this product. The Learning Company Technical Support Center can be reached via e-mail, U.S. mail, fax, or phone. Support is also available on an electronic bulletin board system. When contacting technical support, please provide as much information as you can about your computer system and the problem you are experiencing. Include your phone number so we can reach you if we need more information. Check our Web site, http://www.learningco.com, for answers to frequently asked questions and other technical support information. E-mail us at support@learningco.com. Reach The Learning Company Bulletin Board System via modem at 423-670-2023. Mail correspondence to: The Learning Company Technical Support Center 9715 Parkside Drive Knoxville, TN 37922 USA Attn: Compton's 3D World Atlas Deluxe Contact us by fax at (423)670-2021. Call (423)670-2022, 24 hours a day, for automated technical support. Call (423)670-2024, 24 hours a day, for fax-on-demand solutions to common problems. Call (423)670-2020 between 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m., Eastern time, Monday through Friday (excluding holidays), to speak to a technical support agent. Please be at your computer when you call. IV. Known Problems ********************************************************* A. Video boards 1. Diamond Speed Star Plus Video Board Diamond no longer supports this video board. If the program does not run properly on your computer, contact Diamond by using the information that came with your computer or video card for information about obtaining an upgrade. 2. Diamond Speed Star Pro Video Board Check the date on your video driver. If it's dated before 2/17/94, you'll need to update the driver. Contact Diamond by using the information that came with your computer or video card for information about obtaining an upgrade. 3. Diamond Stealth 32 Video Board You may notice problems running the program in 24-bit color mode (millions of colors). This is because the program is optimized for 16-bit color mode (thousands of colors). Use the Display control panel to change the display settings to 16-bit or 8-bit (256) color mode. 4. Spider Tarantula Lite Video Board You may notice problems running the program in resolutions of 800 x 600 or 1280 x 1024 while in 8-bit (256) color mode. Updated drivers may resolve these problems. Contact Spider using the information that came with your computer or video card for information about obtaining an upgrade. 5. Paradise Bali Video Board If you are running in 8-bit (256) color mode, you may notice some corruption of the screen graphics. This should only occur if you start the program more than once without restarting your computer. Before starting the program a second time within one session, resart your computer. 6. #9 Imagine 128 Video Board You may experience problems running the program in 32-bit color mode when the screen resolution is set at 1024 x 768 or higher. To resolve the problem, reduce your screen resolution. B. Printer Problems 1. Printing Problem with Line Charts and Ranked Lists Some computers have trouble printing the small flags on the line charts and ranked lists in the Statistics area of the program. If you are experiencing this problem, use the Display control panel to switch to 8-bit (256) color mode and try again. The problem occurs because of an incompatibility between some video drivers and 16-bit (thousands of colors) color mode. The print quality is the same in 8-bit (256) color mode or 16-bit (thousands of colors) color mode. 2. Printer Memory Problems If your printer has less than 3MB of memory installed, you may run out of printer memory when sending multiple or large print jobs to it, (you may see an "Error 20" printer memory overflow message.) This does not mean that the program is incompatible with your printer. Simply wait for one print job to finish before starting another. You can also raise the installed printer memory amount for larger, more complex print jobs, such as some of the highly detailed and colorful globes in the program. C. Other Utilities and Miscellaneous items 1. Office Shortcut Toolbar & Multiple Applications If you notice strange screen colors and palette changes in menu bars and pictures, we recommend that you disable the MS Office Shortcut Toolbar or other applications while running the program. Otherwise, the two active programs may experience a conflict for control over the Windows palette. 2. Rollover tool tips may not work on systems that have an older version of a file called COMCTL32.dll. Contact Microsoft for an updated version of this file. D. Sound Problems 1. Sounds Drop Out If you experience sound dropouts in the program, you may need to increase the buffer setting in the MCI Wave control device. The default is usually 4 seconds, but it may need to be raised to 6-9 seconds. You may experience some slow-down in performance with high buffer settings (8 or 9 seconds). Follow the directions below to change your buffer settings. From the Start menu's "Settings," choose "Control Panel." Open the "Multimedia" control panel. Go to the "Advanced" page and double click on "Media Control Devices." Double-click on "Wave Audio Device (Media Control)" and click on the "Settings" button. This brings up a slider bar that allows you to change the buffer setting. Experiencing other sound problems? The sounds in the Program are compressed using Microsoft's ADPCM format (ADPCM stands for "adaptive digital pulse code modulation"). Playback of these sounds requires a piece of software called a decompressor to be installed on your computer. Most Windows 95 users have support for ADPCM installed automatically during Windows 95 installation. It is possible, however, to skip this step, or to disable the decompressor software after it has been installed. If this is the case, the program will display an error message stating that no device is installed to play .WAV format. Adding the decompressor to your system is simple: 1. Insert your Microsoft Windows 95 CD into the CD drive. If your computer was delivered with Windows 95 already installed, the manufacturer should have sent you a copy of the CD with the computer. If you don't have the CD, contact the retailer that supplied you with your computer. 2. If the Windows installation program does not automatically start, double-click on "Autorun.exe" in the "Autorun" directory on the CD. 3. On the main menu, select "Add/Remove Software." This brings up the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog. 4. Check only the "Multimedia" entry, select that line and click the "Details..." button. 5. Ensure that the "Audio Compression" entry in the pop-up dialog is checked, then click on OK in the pop-up. Then click on OK in the "Add/Remove Programs Properties" dialog. This will perform the installation. 6. If you are prompted to restart Windows 95 in order for your changes to take effect, do so. To check that installation has been successful, perform the following steps: 1. On the "Start" Menu, select Settings and click on the Control Panel entry on the sub-Menu. This brings up the Control Panel window. 2. Double-click the Multimedia icon in the Control Panel. 3. Select the Advanced tab in the dialog and click on the "+" sign by the "Audio Compression Codecs" entry. This shows the decompressors installed in the system, and should contain an entry for "Microsoft ADPCM CODEC." 4. Double-clicking on this brings up a small dialog that allows you to enable and disable the decompressor. Make sure that the "Use this audio codec" entry is checked. V. Other Important Information ********************************************************* A. Reinstalling or Removing Compton's 3D World Atlas Deluxe From the "Start" menu, select "Settings," and then "Control Panel." Then double-click on the "Add/Remove Programs" icon. Follow the instructions in the "Install/Uninstall" section of this readme file to remove the program. Uninstalling the program will not remove any files you may have created yourself, such custom pin files that you have created or downloaded from the Internet. B. Comptons's 3D World Atlas Online: Your WWW Geography Reference Tool The Compton's 3D World Atlas Online web site is a wonderful reference tool for anyone who wants to learn more about our planet. Compton's 3D World Atlas Online is filled with the great international and geographical web links, glossary definitions, and downloadable extras, all of which enhance the already rich content of the Compton's 3D World Atlas Deluxe. Thousands of extra city, regional, and country map links are also available. Compton's 3D World Atlas Online is fully integrated into the Compton's 3D World Atlas Deluxe CD-ROM. From any place in Compton's 3D World Atlas Deluxe, open the "Online" menu and choose one of the menu items (note that the first menu item is customized for each area of Compton's 3D World Atlas Deluxe). You can access Conpton's 3D World Atlas Online with Internet browsers such as those offered by Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and America Online (AOL). Compton's 3D World Atlas Online is also available outside the CD-ROM at http://www.3DAtlas.com. C. Saving Map Pin Lists from the Compton's 3D World Atlas Deluxe CD-ROM Map pin lists cannot be saved unless the asterisk (*) is removed from the default file name entry box. If this character is left in the filename, the program will not be able to save your file. Also, the program will automatically enter a ".pin" extension regardless of the extension that you may have typed.