This file contains the latest updates on Acacia's Revise Series, and will help you if you have problems installing or running the software.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. QuickTime Installation for Windows
2. QuickTime Installation for Macintosh
3. Trouble Shooting
4. Quirks
1. QuickTime Installation for Windows
The Installer for Acacia's Revise (Windows) should also install QuickTime for Windows. If for any reason this fails (or if you cancel before it can install), you can install it manually from the CD. Note that Acacia's Revise must have QuickTime to run (it plays the animations and videos). This version of Acacia's Revise uses 16-bit QuickTime. To manually install Apple's QuickTime, run QTINSTAL.EXE in the "Qtime" Directory in the "PC" directory (D:\PC\QTIME\QTINSTAL.EXE where "D" is the letter of your CD-ROM drive). You should also read the ReadMe file in the Qtime directory. Revise will not run unless QuickTime is successfully installed, and if not, will generate an error message informing you of this.
2. QuickTime Installation for Macintosh
You should not need to install QuickTime for the Mac because they come pre-installed with it. If you want to (maybe the version on the CD (version 2.11) is more recent than the version you have, - although it's not mandatory to have the latest version) then you should install it by copying the relevant extensions to your system folder. You will find these extension files in the "Qtime" folder in the "Mac" folder on the CD (ie. "Revise:Mac:QTime: ... (extensions)). Revise will not run unless QuickTime is successfully installed, and if not, will generate an error message informing you of this.
You may experience problems installing QuickTime if you have an existing version of QuickTime on your system, since when the Mac boots up, it loads these extensions into memory and will not let you overwrite the QT extensions. In order to install QuickTime in this case, you must remove all the existing QuickTime extensions (eg. Apple multimedia Tuner, QuickTime, QuickTime Power Plug, Sound, Sound Manager) from your system folder, and then restart. When your Mac restarts, the removed extensions will not load, so you can install the new ones from the "Revise:Mac:QTime" folder on the CD (Just drag the new ones into the system folder from the CD and they should automatically place themselves into the extensions folder. Remember to restart your computer after you have done this).
Note for PowerMac users:
We have also included a specific Revise projector native to the Power Macs.
You can find this projector in the PowerPC folder within the Subject folder (eg. "Biology") that you install to your hard drive. Simply copy the Revise projector into the Subject folder to use it. Although Macromedia provide this ability to create projectors native to the PowerPC, we have not noticed a significant increase in performance over the "All-Mac-Models" projector, but it's there for you to try.
3. Troubleshooting
What to do if you can't get it to install & run ...
This section lists the types of problems that some users have encountered in the past. It is broken down by issues that effect both Macintosh and Windows; as well as those that are specific to each platform. If you cannot find the answer to your problem here, read section 4., "Quirks" which lists known problems running Director applications, in particular the software and hardware conflicts section. The "Quirks" list has been compiled by the Director developer community and the latest version can be found on the updatestage website at: http://www.updatestage.com/buglist.html.
If you are still stuck, email Acacia's Technical Support at Help@acacia.co.uk. This is by far the best way to receive technical support. Our Technical Support phone number is +44 (0)1730 267-776, BUT AGAIN it is easier & more effective to use email if you can. We check & respond to our email several times per day.
3.1 POTENTIAL PROBLEMS ON PCs:
3.1.1 "LINGO.INI Not found" or "General Protection Fault"
If you see "LINGO.INI Not found" or "General Protection Fault" when trying to run Revise, it is most likely to be caused by your video driver. In fact, most PC support requests turn out to be incompatible video drivers for the board. Some older video drivers should be replaced with their current versions. Particular cards we have discovered cause problems are:
o Cirrus Logic and
o Diamond,
and these cards will function perfectly after the driver is updated.
To check that this is the problem, change your video driver in Windows to the generic Microsoft 640x480 pixels x 256 colours (eg. SVGA). This should typically resolve the problem, and you should then obtain an updated driver from your PC vendor (note: it's often easier to download the new driver from your video-card manufacturer's web-site, which your PC vendor will be able to advise).
3.1.2. PC Installation
The installer used for Acacia's Revise may cause problems on some machines when the monitor is set at more than 256 colours (ie. 16 bit colour, or "thousands" of colours). If installation does cause problems, set your monitor resolution in Windows to 256 colours and attempt installation again.
If your installation fails or if you receive a general protection fault (see 3.1.1.), you may find that you cannot Un-Install, because Windows tells you that the DLL files are in use. If this happens, exit windows, restart it, delete your installed directory, and install again. We suspect that this problem also occurs because of video drivers (as discussed in 3.1.1.) so remedy action as described in 3.1.1. should sort it out.
3.1.3. Memory problems
Make sure that you do not have any other Windows programs running or loaded into memory when you are either installing or running Revise. These will eat up valuable memory which Revise needs and may potentially cause you trouble either by hanging your system or producing random errors. Also ensure that you also do not have any desktop managers running (eg. "Navigator" on Packard Bells, or "Explorer" on Acers, etc.). See section "4. Quirks".
3.2 POTENTIAL PROBLEMS ON MACs:
3.2.1 Emulation Cards
Performance of Acacia's Revise cannot be guaranteed on Windows emulation Hardware or Software.
3.2.2. Memory problems
Make sure that you do not have any programs loaded into memory when you are either installing or running Revise (eg. Symantec AntiVirus for Mac etc.). These will eat up valuable memory which Revise needs and will potentially cause you trouble either by hanging your system, producing random errors or degrading your system's performance.
If your machine is of the minimum memory spec or close to it then make sure that you turn all unnecessary extensions off (and restarting) before running Revise.
3.3 POTENTIAL PROBLEMS ON ALL PLATFORMS:
3.3.1 Fonts
Acacia's Revise 96/97 uses system fonts to display text. If for any reasons these fonts are not installed, your operating system will try to substitute another font which may cause strange looking text or text overflows. Windows and Mac OS computers are normally shipped with these fonts, so unless they have been deleted, there should be no problem.
Macintosh systems require: COURIER and HELVETICA, and
PC's require: ARIAL and COURIER NEW.
If you encounter problems with fonts in Acacia's Revise (for example overflowing text) please consult your system software documentation to ensure the relevant fonts are installed.
3.3.2. Memory and Disk Doublers
The performance of Acacia's Revise cannot be guaranteed with any memory or disk doublers. The use of these with Acacia's Revise may cause a significant reduction in performance.
3.3.3. Video Problems
Firstly, it should be pointed out that the video (eg. in system Help) and animations will look much better when your monitor is set to thousands (16-bit) colour. Not all machines (depending on their graphics card) can do this, but if yours can, you should do it (most machines will be able to display thousands of colours when the resolution is set to 640x480 pixels). The video and animations will play without problem in 256 colours although Apple's quicktime will dither the video which will make it look "grainy". It's mainly an aesthetic issue although animations will be easier to examine in thousands of colours. Note that your monitor's colour depth will only have an effect on QuickTime video and animations.
You may at some stage have video glitches, maybe a frozen frame, a "popping" in the sound, or other quirk. These problems typically only occur on PCs and will vary depending on the sound and graphics cards they are playing on. You will typically find that these glitches disappear when you run it again.
4. Quirks
The Acacia's Revise Series is developed using Macromedia's Director. The community of worldwide developers that develop in Director (including Acacia) use the internet to keep in touch regarding technical problems that their customers encounter. The following notes are a selection of issues as they relate to Acacia's Revise. We would like to thank Updatestage, and you can view a full listing of these notes on http://www.updatestage.com/buglist.html.
4.1. WINDOWS SOFTWARE CONFLICT QUIRKS
Windows Desktop Managers
These programs are either in the Startup folder, or specified in SYSTEM.INI. To get rid of one in SYSTEM.INI, go the the [boot] section. Comment out the line "shell= ..." and substitute it with "shell=progman.exe"
Navigator, Explorer - desktop managers that come installed on Packard Bells (Navigator) and Acers (Explorer). Cause a bogus "cannot find LINGO.INI" message at startup of Director projector.
Fix: remove Navigator or Explorer from startup.
TabWorks - desktop manager that comes with Compaqs. Can cause some Director projectors to crash.
Kids' Desk - Can cause some Director projectors to crash.(Win) (UT50)
PC Tools Desktop - Can cause some Director projectors to crash.(Win) (UT50)
Norton Desktop - Can cause Director in authoring mode to crash when making a projector and can cause some Director projectors to crash when running.(Win) (UT50)
Other commercial Windows software
WinStone, WinBench 95 - In build 490 of Win 95, if the PC Magazine Bench Tests are installed you get a GPF in QTIM.DLL when playing QuickTime. Easiest solution is to get rid of these utilities.
McAfee virus utility - Erroneously reports that MACROMIX.DLL is infected with the SMEG virus. This is because the DLL writes a temporary file to the boot drive when a Director projector starts up. Not a problem with the Win 95 version of McAfee.
If there is a .FON file in your Windows directory named the same name as your Director projector .EXE file, the projector won't launch. This is true for any .EXE, not just Director projectors.
Windows fonts - A very large number of installed fonts, say 200 or more can cause a KRNL386 crash error.
(Windows 95)
If the user clicks while a projector is launching, the movie's palette and the desktop display the wrong colors.
4.2. MACINTOSH SOFTWARE CONFLICT QUIRKS
RAM Doubler 1.6.2 - Director 5.0 will not launch with RAM Doubler loaded on 68040 System 7.1 Mac with 8MB real RAM, complaining it doesn't have enough memory. On the same machine without RAM Doubler loaded, it launches fine. Test machine was LC575. 2 unconfirmed reports (since I can't
even get it to load) of instability on 68040 Macs with RAM Doubler. Not a problem on PowerMacs.
Oscar The Grouch - This shareware program displays an animation of Oscar when you empty the trash. It also turns off one of Director's sound channels.
4.3. HARDWARE QUIRKS
Most PC support problems turn out to be incompatible drivers for the video board. If all else fails, it often works to substitute the generic Microsoft SVGA driver that comes with Windows for Workgroups. You can download it from their BBS at 00-1-206-936-6735.
Cirrus Logic 5426/28 - crash playing Director movies. The IBM Aptiva uses Cirrus Logic cards. Driver version 1.5 fixes this. Cirrus's number is (US) 1-800-764-7200. You can also get the driver from the CompuServe "PC Hardware Forum" in the "Video" library.
IBM 755CE ThinkPad - uses the MWave DSP (Digital Signal Processor) chip for audio. Early drivers were incompatible with WAV or AIF format sounds either imported into Director or played externally. You get a screech and static when trying to play these sounds. There is a driver patch available on IBM's web site.
Workarounds if you can't get the driver fix:
- disable MWave and attach and external sound source
- since Director sounds are the problem, use sound-only QuickTime or MCI calls to play MIDI or
WAV files.
Gregory Saumier-Finch generously posted an additional tech note from IBM that alludes to the fact that the driver update doesn't always work and walks you through configuring the ThinkPad for full SoundBlaster emulation. This unfortunately turns off most of the features of MWAVE including the internal fax.
S3 Vision 964 chip set - crashes on QuickTime and the crash is not fixed by using the Microsoft SVGA drivers. Cards that use this chip set include Diamond Stealth 64 VRAM, #9 GXE64 Pro, Orchid Fahrenheit Pro 64, Paradise Barbados 64. (Note that the other similarly named Stealth cards - Stealth 64 DRAM and Stealth 64 Video VRAM use different chips and do not have this problem.) The #9 BBS phone is 00-1-617-862-7502.
Notebook computers - if you have the power save feature turned on, it spins down the hard drive at the specified time. This will cause sound distortion. Turn power save off for presentations. This goes for Mac or PC notebooks. (UT50)
4.4. DIGITAL VIDEO QUIRKS
Many PC QuickTime display problems turn out to be incompatible drivers for the video board. If all else fails, it often works to substitute the generic Microsoft SVGA driver that comes with Windows for Workgroups. You can download it from their BBS at 00-1-206-936-6735. You can also try editing the [Video] section of QTW.INI. Change it from the default of "Optimize=Hardware" to "Optimize=Driver". If that doesn't work try "Optimize=BMP". Settings other than "Hardware"
causes QuickTime to ignore any advanced acceleration built into the video card, so the display may clear up at the cost of performance. Restart Windows after making these changes.
QuickTime Install
An early beta version of QT2.1 will give an error message regarding DCIMAN.DLL. Fix is to install a more recent version of QT.(Win)
Installing with the video driver set to display at a colordepth greater than 8-bit can cause a "divide-by-zero" error in the installer. If setting the colordepth to 8-bit doesn't work, freeing up conventional memory by stripping down AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS might. (Win)
QuickTime Video
Performance can be affected by a number of hardware issues, the top ones being:
Incompatible video card driver
Incompatible video card chip set
Slow video card
CD ROM drive connected to a SoundBlaster 16 board
Sound board accidentally sharing a DMA channel with another device
Too large a cache set for the CD-ROM
Having virtual memory turned on, or running RAM Doubler will degrade QuickTime performance on the Mac.(Mac)
