Q147834: Macintosh Ancient Lands: Ancient Lands ReadMe Contents
Article: Q147834
Product(s): Microsoft Home Multimedia Titles
Version(s): MACINTOSH:1.0
Operating System(s):
Keyword(s):
Last Modified: 08-NOV-2001
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The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Ancient Lands for the Macintosh, version 1.0
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SUMMARY
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The following article contains a copy of the Ancient Lands ReadMe file located
on the Ancient Lands for the Macintosh compact disc.
MORE INFORMATION
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Microsoft Ancient Lands Read Me:
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This file contains information on the following topics:
1. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR RUNNING MICROSOFT ANCIENT LANDS
- What you need to run Microsoft Ancient Lands.
2. MEMORY USE
- Microsoft Ancient Lands memory usage.
- How to make it run on low-memory machines.
3. PERFORMANCE
- Tips on what to do if Microsoft Ancient Lands is running slowly.
4. SCREEN SIZE AND COLOR CONFIGURATION
- What makes Microsoft Ancient Lands look best.
5. SOUND PROBLEMS
- Common problems playing sounds and how to fix them.
6. PRINTING AND COPYING
- How to print and copy images from Microsoft Ancient Lands.
7. OVERVIEW MOVIE
- Running the Overview Movie.
8. DEMONSTRATION MODE
- How to make Ancient Lands run a slide show.
9. TROUBLESHOOTING
- How to solve problems with certain system configurations.
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1. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR RUNNING MICROSOFT ANCIENT LANDS
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To run Microsoft Ancient Lands you need:
- Any Macintosh computer that supports a 256-color, 640x480 (13-inch)
or higher resolution monitor
- System 7.0 or later
- 4 MB of random-access memory (RAM)
- At least 1 MB of available hard disk space
- A single-speed (150 KB/sec) CD-ROM drive or better
The Installer on the CD will add any necessary files to your System
Folder. It will also copy the Ancient Lands program to a folder titled
"Ancient Lands" on your hard disk; this makes the program load a
little faster when you start it. The sounds and images remain on the
CD, so you will still need to insert the CD to run Ancient Lands.
You can run Microsoft Ancient Lands directly from the CD. However, to
play the movies and hear the sounds, QuickTime 2.0 or later must be
installed in your System Folder. If Ancient Lands can't find these
critical files, it will prompt you to run the Installer. You can also
install QuickTime manually by dragging the files from the System Files
folder on the CD onto your System Folder icon.
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2. MEMORY USE
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Microsoft Ancient Lands should run on any Macintosh with 4 MB of RAM.
However, if 2 MB of memory is not free when you launch Microsoft
Ancient Lands, a warning message may be displayed indicating there is
insufficient memory available.
Most users with 4 MB of RAM will not experience problems, but if your
system software takes up more than about 2 MB you may need to adjust
memory usage to make Microsoft Ancient Lands run properly. Some
general suggestions follow:
- Run only one application at a time. If other applications are
running, close them before re-launching Microsoft Ancient Lands.
- Reduce the amount of memory being used by your system software. To
do this, return to the Finder and select About This Macintosh...
from the Apple menu at the top left corner of your screen. The
Largest Unused Block needs to be greater than 2,048K to run
Microsoft Ancient Lands. If the only item listed in the About This
Macintosh dialog is System Software, and the Largest Unused Block
is less than 2,048K, you need to reduce the amount of memory
consumed by your system software. Refer to your Macintosh
documentation to do this, but some general suggestions follow:
a. Open the Memory Control Panel and check the Disk Cache
setting. For best performance with Microsoft Ancient Lands, set
the cache to 32K.
b. Large numbers of fonts and sounds consume system memory.
Removing those that you aren't using will make more memory
available.
c. Third party system extensions such as screen savers, fax
software, desktop pictures, menu-modifying utilities and other
system enhancements increase the amount of memory consumed by
your system. Removing some or all of these extensions will
increase the amount of memory available to applications. Be
sure that you save anything you remove from your System folder
and place it in a separate folder on your disk so that you can
replace it later.
- Ancient Lands is pre-set to a suggested memory size of 2,048K. You
can change the amount of memory the program uses by clicking on the
Microsoft Ancient Lands icon, choosing Get Info from the File menu,
and then changing the memory allocation. If you don't have enough
memory to launch Ancient Lands, you can set Ancient Lands to use
less memory.
Note: Be warned that a low memory setting may cause the program to
perform poorly. For example, Ancient Lands may not play sounds or
display pop-up windows if it runs out of memory. If you allocate less
than 1,800K, these problems are likely to result.
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3. PERFORMANCE
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If Microsoft Ancient Lands seems to be running slowly or its sounds
seem to be interrupted, there are a number of things which may help:
- If you are running on a Macintosh with low memory you may have
problems. Check the previous section, MEMORY USE.
- If you are using Virtual Memory, you may find that movies and other
sounds are choppy or interrupted. For best performance, turn off
Virtual Memory by opening the Memory Control Panel, turning off
Virtual Memory, and restarting your computer.
- For best performance, turn off File Sharing in the Sharing Setup
Control Panel. Although File Sharing itself should not cause a
problem, any network activity may cause Microsoft Ancient Lands (as
well as other applications) to run more slowly.
- Microsoft Ancient Lands is designed to work properly on a CD-ROM
drive with a 150K/sec or faster transfer rate. A double-speed CD-
ROM drive or one with a faster transfer rate will provide even
better performance in some sections of the product. If your CD-ROM
drive has a sustained transfer rate of less than 150K/sec it may be
not be able to supply audio and video information to the Macintosh
at the speed required. Contact your CD-ROM vendor for information
on improving the performance of slower CD-ROM drives.
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4. SCREEN SIZE AND COLOR CONFIGURATION
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On startup, Ancient Lands checks your monitor and displays the images
as best it can on your Macintosh. If your monitor settings can be
adjusted to make Ancient Lands run better, the program will prompt you
to do so.
Ancient Lands will run on any 256-color, 640x480 (13-inch) or higher
resolution Macintosh compatible monitor, although the movies look and
perform best in "Thousands of colors."
Ancient Lands is not designed to run in black and white, in 16 colors,
or on monitors displaying less than 640x480 pixels (e.g., Color
Classics or 12" monitors).
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5. SOUND PROBLEMS
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Sounds may be inaudible if the sound level is turned down. To set the
sound level, open the Sound control panel, and experiment with the
speaker volume setting until you find a comfortable sound level. If
you set the sound level to maximum, you may get some sound distortion
just as you might on a stereo system. With external speakers, be sure
they are connected properly and turned on; you will generally be able
to adjust sound level with the external speaker volume knob as well as
with the Sound control panel.
If your Macintosh is running with Virtual Memory turned on, you may
find that sounds will break up: when Virtual Memory is turned on,
these are sometimes placed on the hard disk rather than into real RAM.
For best performance, turn off Virtual Memory. To do this in System 7,
open the Memory Control Panel, choose the Virtual Memory Off option,
and then restart the computer.
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6. PRINTING AND COPYING
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The screens in Ancient Lands are stored and displayed as large color
images, which are optimized for best screen reproduction rather than
for print reproduction. You can, however, print screen images, which
will be of the same quality as a screen shot made with a screen-
capture function.
When you print a window from Ancient Lands, it is printed as a bitmap.
If you have only a black-and-white printer, Ancient Lands will not
print very well. Ancient Lands can print better grayscale images--if
you have a laser printer, choose the Color/Grayscale option for better
quality. You can also print in color if you have a color printer.
Depending on the type of printer you have, printing a picture may take
several minutes. Because the pictures can be quite large, you may have
difficulty copying or printing in low-memory conditions. In this case,
quit all other applications and then try again.
The Print and Copy commands affect only the topmost window.
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7. OVERVIEW MOVIE
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If you have difficulty running the Overview Movie try running it in
thousands or millions of colors. If your monitor is capable of
displaying this many colors, use the Monitors Control Panel to change
the color settings.
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8. DEMONSTRATION MODE
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Ancient Lands has a demonstration mode that begins an automatic random
"slide show" when the computer has been idle for a certain period of
time.
To activate demonstration mode, hold down the Shift key while you
click the Slide Show button in the Options dialog. This displays a
dialog box. Check the "Start random automatically" box and specify the
number of idle minutes that must elapse before starting the slide
show, then click OK.
The slide show will end automatically as soon as you use Ancient Lands
again. Demonstration mode will remain active until you turn it off. To
do this, hold down Shift again and click the Slideshow button in the
Options dialog, uncheck the "Start random automatically" box in the
dialog box, and then click OK.
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9. TROUBLESHOOTING
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If you find that sounds do not play at all and you are running Ancient
Lands on a Power PC, check to see if you are running RAM Doubler
version 1.5.1. If you are, then disable RAM Doubler, remove it from
your Extensions Folder (which is in your System Folder), and restart
your computer. Contact the manufacturer of RAM Doubler for information
on updated versions.
If you find that storybook sounds do not play, check to see if you have
File Sharing enabled in the Sharing Setup control panel. If it is,
disable File Sharing and relaunch Microsoft Ancient Lands.
Additional query words: multi media multimedia multi-media mmtitles kbmm
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Keywords :
Technology : kbHWMAC kbOSMAC kbHomeProdSearch kbZNotKeyword kbAncientLandsMac
Version : MACINTOSH:1.0
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