Article: Q149652
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 Dangerous Creatures for the Macintosh, version 1.0
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SUMMARY
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The following article contains a copy of the Microsoft Dangerous Creatures
ReadMe file located on the Dangerous Creatures for the Macintosh compact disc.
MORE INFORMATION
================
Microsoft Dangerous Creatures Version 1.0 README File
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1. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR RUNNING DANGEROUS CREATURES
- What you need to run Dangerous Creatures.
2. SCREEN SIZES AND COLOR CONFIGURATION
- What makes Dangerous Creatures look best.
3. SOUND PROBLEMS
- Common problems playing sounds, and how to fix them.
4. RUNNING IN LOW MEMORY OR RUNNING SLOWLY
- Make Dangerous Creatures run on low-memory machines.
5. PRINTING AND COPYING
- How to print and copy Dangerous Creatures screens.
6. OVERVIEW MOVIE
- Running the Overview Movie.
7. DEMONSTRATION MODE
- How to make Dangerous Creatures run a slide show.
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1. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR RUNNING DANGEROUS CREATURES
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To install and run Dangerous Creatures you need:
- A Macintosh computer that supports a 256-color 13-inch (640x480) or
higher-resolution monitor
- System 7 or later
- 4 MB of memory
- 1 MB of available hard disk space
- A CD-ROM drive
You can run Dangerous Creatures directly from the compact disc. To play the
movies and hear the sounds, certain files must be in your System Folder
(QuickTime version 2.0 is the most important). You can drag these from the
System Files folder on the CD onto your closed System Folder. If Dangerous
Creatures can't find these files, it will prompt you to run the Installer which
is on the CD. You will need to reboot your machine after these files have been
added.
The Installer will add any necessary files to your System Folder. It will also
copy the Dangerous Creatures program files to a folder titled "Dangerous
Creatures" 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 still need to
insert the CD to run Dangerous Creatures.
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2. SCREEN SIZES AND COLOR CONFIGURATION
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On startup, Dangerous Creatures checks your monitor and displays the images as
best it can on your Macintosh. If your monitor settings can be adjusted to make
Dangerous Creatures run better, the program will prompt you to do so.
Dangerous Creatures will run on any 256-color 13-inch (640x480) or higher
Macintosh compatible monitor, although the Dangerous Creature movies look best
in "Thousands of colors."
Dangerous Creatures is not designed to run in black and white, in 16 colors, or
on monitors displaying less than 640x480 pixels (eg., Color Classics or 12"
monitors).
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3. SOUND PROBLEMS
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Sound may be inaudible if the sound level is turned down. To set the sound level,
use the Sound Control Panel, and experiment with the speaker volume setting
until you get a comfortable volume level. If you set the sound level to maximum,
you may get sound distortion just as you would on a stereo.
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.
If you find that sounds do not play at all and you are running Dangerous
Creatures 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.
Macintosh computers have built-in speakers. The speakers vary in quality and
loudness depending on which Macintosh you have. You may also have external
speakers which can help to improve the sound quality for your computer.
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4. RUNNING IN LOW MEMORY OR RUNNING SLOWLY
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Dangerous Creatures should run on any Macintosh with 4 MB of memory. If Dangerous
Creatures runs slowly or displays out-of-memory messages, it probably does not
have enough free memory. Here are some things you can do to help:
- Run only one application at a time. If other applications are running, quit
them, and then start Dangerous Creatures again.
- Reduce the amount of memory being used by your system software. In the
Finder, choose About this Macintosh from the Apple menu to see how much
memory your computer has and how much is being used by the System. If, for
example, the dialog box displays "Total Memory 4,096K" and the line
underneath displays "System Software 3,500K," this indicates that you have 4
megabytes of RAM, but the Macintosh is using 3.5 of those for its operating
system. In this case, there is little unused memory for running applications.
Any applications that are running will also be listed in this box. You may be
able to reduce the amount of memory used by the system. You may have many
fonts installed, and could remove those you are not using. Utilities such as
screen savers and desk pictures also occupy RAM. You may have system
extensions you do not need, which are occupying RAM. If you remove items like
these to free memory, make sure to keep copies somewhere on your hard disk or
on a backup disk so that you can re-install them if you need them later.
- Dangerous Creatures is pre-set to its preferred memory size. You can change
the amount of memory the program uses by clicking on the Microsoft Dangerous
Creatures icon, choosing Get Info from the File menu in the Finder, and then
changing the memory allocation. If you don't have enough memory to launch
Dangerous Creatures, you can set Dangerous Creatures to use less memory. Be
warned that a low memory setting may cause the program to perform poorly. For
example, it may not play sounds or display pop-up windows if it runs out of
memory. If you allocate Dangerous Creatures less than 1.880 MB, these
problems are likely to result.
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5. PRINTING AND COPYING
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The screens in Dangerous Creatures 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.
If you have only a black-and-white printer, Dangerous Creatures will not print
very well. Dangerous Creatures 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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6. 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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7. DEMONSTRATION MODE
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Dangerous Creatures 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 Dangerous Creatures 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.
Additional query words: multi media multimedia multi-media mmtitles kbmm
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Keywords :
Technology : kbHWMAC kbOSMAC kbHomeProdSearch kbZNotKeyword kbDangerousCreaturesMac
Version : MACINTOSH:1.0
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