Q150664: Mastering Visual Basic: README.WRI Content

Article: Q150664
Product(s): Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows
Version(s): 
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbmm
Last Modified: 18-FEB-2002

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The information in this article applies to:

- MSPRESS Mastering Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 ISBN 1-55615-913-7 
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SUMMARY
=======

The following article contains a copy of the information presented in the
Readme.wri file on the Mastering Visual Basic compact disc.

MORE INFORMATION
================

Mastering Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0: README File
-------------------------------------------------

9/21/95
Welcome to Mastering Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0. This file contains
information about Mastering Visual Basic not included in the online Help.

Multimedia technology, with its array of new hardware and software
combinations, can present a variety of potential performance and
configuration problems. This README file contains important and helpful
information on the following topics:

Section     Description
1           Send Us Your Feedback
2           Problems During Setup
3           Removing Mastering Visual Basic
4           Potential Problems Running this Title
5           Labs and Sample Applications
6           Performance Issues
7           Hardware Problems
8           Audio Problems
9           CD-ROM Problems
10          Printing Problems
11          Running under Microsoft Windows NT
12          Running under Microsoft Windows 95
13          Generic Multimedia Information

To read this file on-screen, use the PAGE DOWN and PAGE UP keys. You can
also print the file by choosing the Print command from the File menu in
virtually any Windows-based word processing program.

1     Send Us Your Feedback
We welcome your feedback. Let us know how Mastering Microsoft Visual
Basic 4.0 has helped you gain expertise in creating solutions with
Visual Basic 4.0. You can reach us via any of the following:

Internet:     devtrain@microsoft.com

Mail:         Mastering Series Products
             Microsoft Corporation
             One Microsoft Way
             Redmond, WA 98052-6399

Fax:          (425) 936-7329
             Attn: Mastering Microsoft Visual Basic

Please note that we receive a number of suggestions and comments
regarding Microsoft products and are unable to respond directly to each
one. However, be assured that your recommendations, ideas, and remarks
are recorded and will help shape future versions of our Mastering Series
products.

2     Problems During Setup
The Setup program's default settings will load the Mastering Visual
Basic title to your C: drive. You may assign application files to a
different drive; however, Setup will copy 3 MB of system files to your
WINDOWS\SYSTEM subdirectory.

If you choose to have the Labs and Demos installed during Setup,
approximately 3.5 MB of files will be copied to a set of directories
under the \VB4PRG directory on your C: drive. It is important that
these files remain in this directory structure when you run the labs.

Setup will not complete properly if you remove the Mastering Visual
Basic CD-ROM during Setup, or attempt to start the application before
Setup is complete.

Because Mastering Visual Basic installs system files that may be shared
with other applications, you must shut down other applications,
including Microsoft Office, before running Setup. If you have closed all
other open applications and you encounter problems during Setup, make
sure your system meets the minimum requirements necessary to install
Mastering Visual Basic.

System Requirements
Mastering Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 will run on the following minimal
system; however, performance will improve with more RAM or a faster
CD-ROM drive.

*  Personal computer with a 486DX or higher processor
  running Windows 95, or Microsoft Windows NT
  Workstation 3.51 or later.
*  10 MB of memory (16 MB or more recommended).
*  8 MB of available hard-disk space.
*  MPC2-compatible CD-ROM drive.
*  Super VGA or higher-resolution video adapter capable
  of displaying 256 colors or greater.
*  Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device.
*  MPC2-compatible audio board for audio and video
  instruction.
*  Microsoft Visual Basic, Professional Edition or
  Enterprise Edition, version 4.0 is required to work
  the lab exercises.

3     Removing Mastering Visual Basic
To remove Mastering Visual Basic from your computer, run Setup again and
choose the Remove All option. (This removes only files specific to
Mastering Visual Basic. Shared files installed in the Windows System
directory, such as DLLs, VBXs, OCXs, and DRVs, are not removed.)
You may also need to do the following:

*  Delete the Mastering Visual Basic icon. If you moved
  the icon to a different program group since
  installing the application, Setup will not be able
  to detect the new location of the icon and cannot
  delete it. After running Setup (with Remove All
  selected), go to Program Manager and delete the
  icon(s).
*  Delete the MVB directory. The MVB directory (or the
  directory you specified as the destination directory
  during Setup) will not be removed. If this directory
  is not being used for other files, you can delete it
  by going to File Manager or Explorer, selecting the
  directory, and then pressing Delete.
*  Delete the Lab and Demo directory structure. If you
  had Setup install the Labs and Demos, Remove All
  removes all the files but leaves the directory
  structure. If you haven't added any files to this
  structure, you can delete C:\VB4PRG to remove the
  entire structure.

4     Potential Problems Running this Title
This section describes problems you may experience when running
Mastering Visual Basic.

*  Content: Articles located in the product's Library
  and sample applications are based on pre-released
  versions of Visual Basic 4.0. There may be
  discrepancies between information referenced in
  these sources and in the released version of Visual
  Basic 4.0. Library articles included in this title
  are not edited by the Mastering Visual Basic team.
  You may encounter documentation errors, references
  to page numbers, and formatting problems. Addresses,
  phone numbers, and other contact information
  appearing in this title may have changed since the
  time of publication.
*  Files: Several of the applications in the Files
  section of the Library Technical Reference may
  behave differently on different platforms. In
  particular, graphics may not display in the
  application VB Tips and Tricks 1995, and VB Tip of
  the Day requires that VBRUN300.DLL is in the path.
*  Graphics: This title is designed to run on machines
  capable of displaying 256 colors or more. Though the
  title does run on systems displaying 16 colors,
  there is a noticeable drop in image quality. Some
  large graphics may display out of the window when
  running the title at 640 x 480 resolution. It is
  recommended that you run this application in 800 x
  600 mode or greater.
*  Labs: The labs contain references and pointers to
  the C:\VB4PRG directory. To run the labs without
  modification, they must be in that directory
  structure. If you did not have Setup install them,
  you can run Setup again and select this option.
  Refer to the Labs and Sample Applications section
  for details.
*  Out of Memory Error: An Out of Memory error may
  occur if you re-size the application numerous times
  during a session. If this occurs, restart Mastering
  Visual Basic.
*  Palette Flash:  You may experience a palette flash
  when running videos on particular hardware
  configurations.
*  Printing: The media represented by icons in the text
  area (graphics, sample code, tips, videos, demos,
  and answers) will not print when printing the
  current screen. To print this information, click the
  icon to display the media, then choose Print. If you
  experience problems printing over a network, consult
  your network administrator to make sure your printer
  settings are correct. Solutions for common printing
  problems are described in section 9, "Printing
  Problems."
*  Running under Microsoft Windows 3.1 or Windows for
  Workgroups: While the product will run under Windows
  3.1 and Windows for Workgroups, you will not be able
  to print.
*  Taskbar: Automatic hiding and display of the Windows
  95 Taskbar may not work properly while this
  application is active. If you experience a problem
  with this, Alt+Tab to another application to display
  the Taskbar.
*  Text: If you have set your Windows color scheme to
  display white text on a colored background, you will
  have to change it in order to see anything in the
  Navigation pane, as the background there is forced
  to white.
*  Toolbar: The Content on Top icon on the Toolbar is
  referred to as the Small Size icon in the Tour.
*  Video: The Demonstration and Point of View files
  will run only if you have Microsoft Video for
  Windows installed on your system. Setup will notify
  you if it is not installed, and you can install it
  by running Setup from the VFW directory on the
  Mastering Visual Basic CD-ROM. Performance of video
  clips will vary, depending on the capabilities of
  your system. Switching applications (Alt+Tab) while
  running video files can cause the video to stop. The
  title is designed to run on systems conforming to
  MPC2 specifications. Even with appropriate hardware,
  you may experience long wait times while video files
  are being loaded, and you may have errors in
  video/audio synchronization during playback.
5     Labs and Sample Applications
Mastering Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 provides numerous Lab exercises
that illustrate programming concepts and techniques. These Labs are
listed at the end of each Chapter in the Table of Contents, as well as
in the Library under Labs.

There are project, solution, and demonstration files associated with
each Lab. These are stored on the CD-ROM in the appropriate subdirectory
of the MASTER\MEDIA\VB4PRG directory. If you chose to install the lab
demo applications during Setup, they are also in a subdirectory of the
C:\VB4PRG directory on your hard disk. If you did not install them
during Setup, you can run Setup again to do so.

To work without modification, the files must be in the C:\VB4PRG
directory. For example, some of the labs assume the Northwind database
(NWIND.MDB) is located in C:\VB4PRG. If you move the files to another
directory, you will need to make minor modifications to the lab programs
to specify the correct file locations.

Note: The lab and demo applications provided with Mastering Visual Basic
were tested with the 32-bit version of Visual Basic. Most of these labs
should work with the 16-bit version, but they are not guaranteed to do
so.

Labs
Each chapter has an associated lab. The instructions to complete the lab
assignment are at the end of each chapter. The solution to each lab is
included in the C:\VB4PRG\LABS directory. Some of the labs provide
partial solutions. For example, the solution to Lab 5 is provided as a
starting point to Lab 6. To start Lab 6, open the NWIND.VBP project in
the C:\VB4PRG\LABS\LAB06 directory. To see the solution to Lab 6, open
the NWIND.VBP project in the C:\VB4PRG\LABS\LAB06\SOLUTION directory.

Sample Applications
There are numerous sample applications that illustrate the concepts and
techniques taught in this title. These files can be installed in the
C:\VB4PRG\DEMOS directory during Setup, or by running Setup again.

When working through the chapter, some of the online demonstrations
refer to these sample applications. You can open the application in
the C:\VB4PRG\DEMOS subdirectory and review the code yourself.

6     Performance Issues
There are several ways to make Mastering Visual Basic run faster. Many
of the methods described below are general tips that will improve the
performance of any application under Windows. Consult your Windows
manual for more details.

Mastering Visual Basic uses your computer's random access memory (RAM)
to display pictures and play video and audio. If Mastering Visual Basic
runs slowly or you get error messages saying you are out of memory, you
may not have enough RAM available. Here are some tips to make the best
use of your available memory:

*  Close all applications that you are not using.

*  Set up a permanent Windows swap file.
  Windows works best when there is hard disk space
  allocated for swapping files into or out of your
  computer's memory. To set up a permanent Windows
  swap file on your hard disk, open the Windows
  Control Panel (usually in the Main program group in
  Program Manager), and click the Enhanced icon. Then
  click the Virtual Memory button to see if your
  current swap file is temporary or permanent, to
  check the size of the current swap file, and to make
  changes. Windows usually creates a temporary swap
  file by default, but if your disk is full or
  fragmented, this temporary file can become
  unavailable. If you can, make the size of the
  permanent swap file at least 6096 KB.
  Look at the Help menu of the Windows Control Panel
  or check your Windows documentation for more
  information.

*  Defragment or optimize your hard disk by running a
  defragmentation program. For example, MS-DOS 6.0 and
  later includes a utility called Microsoft Defrag. A
  disk defragmenter is also included in Microsoft
  Windows 95. Some other popular utilities are PC
  Tools, Norton Utilities, and Mace Utilities.

*  Add more RAM (memory) to your computer.
  You can determine how much memory is available by
  starting MS-DOS, typing mem and pressing ENTER. This
     starts a program that will tell you how much memory
  you have.  You need at least 10 MB of RAM, and 16 MB
  is recommended.

*  Add a cache to your CD-ROM drive.
  SmartDrive in MS-DOS 6.2 and utilities such as
  Norton Speedcache+ can significantly improve the
  performance of CD-ROM products by helping eliminate
  unnecessary seeks and reads. If you have an older or
  slow CD-ROM drive, the performance difference can be
  very noticeable. For best performance, the CD-ROM
  drivers should be loaded before you load SmartDrive,
  otherwise SmartDrive won't cache the CD-ROM drive.

*  If you are using more than 256 colors in your video
  display, you may want to lower your video colors to
  256. For instructions on how to change your Windows
  display, consult your Windows documentation.

For more details on improving performance, consult your Windows and
CD-ROM manuals.

7     Hardware Problems
Mastering Visual Basic is designed to run at VGA (640 x 480) resolution
or higher with 256 colors. Though Mastering Visual Basic will run in
16-color mode, there will be a noticeable drop in image quality.

Mastering Visual Basic may encounter display problems when using
accelerated video drivers, video drivers with more than 256 colors,
or high-resolution video drivers. One example of these problems is a
video display with garbled images. Another is a crash occurring when
trying to play a video. There are several things you can do if you
encounter such problems:

1.  Most problems can be fixed by obtaining new drivers
   from your video card manufacturer. Contact the
   manufacturer of your video card to determine if
   newer versions are available. The manufacturer's
   phone number should be in the manuals that came with
   your video card or personal computer. Another option
   for obtaining updated drivers is the Microsoft
   Download service (MSDL), an electronic bulletin
   board that can be accessed by modem at (425) 936-
   MSDL (425-936-6735).

   Drivers provided on MSDL are compressed with the
   PKWare utilities and are in the form of executable
   files (.EXE extension). It is best to download the
   file or files you need into an empty directory on
   your hard disk or a blank formatted floppy. To
   decompress these drivers after downloading them,
   either:

    a)  From Windows File Manager, double-click on the
        filename that you downloaded (e.g., the the
        appropriate file ending in .EXE).

        -or-

    b)  From the DOS prompt, change to the directory the
        containing the downloaded file, type the
        filename, and then press ENTER.

2.  An alternative to obtaining a new or updated display
   driver is to change your video mode to a standard
   video mode, such as 640 x 480 resolution with 256
   colors.

To find out what video driver you are using, go to the Main group in
Program Manager and double-click the Windows Setup icon. To the right
of "Display" you will see the name of the video driver currently in use.
For instructions on how to install or change drivers, click Help (in
Windows Setup).

Cirrus Logic Driver
Cirrus Logic video drivers, v1.32, are incompatible with Video for
Windows 1.1. As a result, you may experience difficulties playing videos.
To update your Cirrus Logic video drivers, contact Cirrus Logic product
support at:

Cirrus Logic
3100 W. Warren Ave.
Freemont, CA 94538
(510) 623-8300

Using the Cirrus Logic driver v1.43, running 640 x 480 resolution at
16.8 million colors will cause the initial images of the Demonstrations
in Mastering Visual Basic to have a white background with horizontal
lines running through them. However, once a Demonstration starts playing,
the video plays correctly.

To correct this initial image problem, change your color setting to 256
colors or change your resolution to something other than 640 x 480.

The Cirrus Logic driver products referenced here are manufactured by
Cirrus Logic, a vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty,
implied or otherwise, regarding these products' performance or
reliability.

Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16/16 ASP
Compressed audio clips may fail to play if you are using a Sound Blaster
16 or Sound Blaster 16 ASP sound card. This problem occurs because some
computers are unable to use the 16-bit DMA (direct memory access)
channel on the Sound Blaster cards.

To correct this problem, switch the HDMA channel to use DMA or 8-bit
DMA. You must change this setting in the following two places:

1.  The Drivers dialog box in the Windows Control Panel.
2.  The SBCONFIG.EXE configuration program included with
   Sound Blaster cards.

To change the settings, follow these steps:

1.  Open the Windows Control Panel.
2.  Double-click the Drivers icon.
3.  Select the Sound Blaster 16 Wave/MIDI driver, and then
   click Setup.
4.  Under the HDMA setting, set the selection to DMA.
5.  Click OK, and then click Do Not Restart Now.
6.  Exit Windows.
7.  At the MS-DOS prompt, change to the SB16 directory and
   run SBCONFIG.EXE.

   Follow the instructions provided by this configuration
   program. It assists you in selecting and testing the
   following variables:

   To test this variable . . .     Select this
   Base I/O port                   Autoscan
   MidiPort address                Autoscan
   DMA interrupt                   Current
   8-bit DMA                       Current
   16-bit DMA                      Use 8-bit DMA

   After you have finished making these selections, the
   SBCONFIG program will restart your computer.
8.  Restart Windows.
   Compressed audio clips should now play correctly. For
   more information about Sound Blaster cards and about
   this problem, contact Creative Labs technical support
   at (405) 742-6622.

   Sound Blaster is manufactured by Creative Technology
   Ltd., a vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no
   warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding this
   product's performance or reliability.

Media Vision Pro Audio Spectrum
Audio clips may sound "scratchy" or distorted when played from the
Media Vision Pro Audio Spectrum. To correct this problem, change the
Media Vision driver DMA setting to 7.

To change the driver settings:

1.  Open the Drivers icon in the Windows Control Panel.
2.  Double-click the Drivers icon.
3.  Select the Media Vision Wave/MIDI/Aux driver, and then
   click Setup.
4.  Under the DMA setting, set the selection to 7.
5.  Click OK, and then click Restart Now.

Audio clips should now play correctly.

For more information, call Media Vision, Inc. technical support at
(800) 638-2807 or (510) 770-9905. On CompuServe, Media Vision can be
reached by typing GO MEDIAVISION at any prompt.
The Pro Audio Spectrum driver products included here are manufactured
by Media Vision, Inc., a vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no
warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products' performance
or reliability.

Turtle Beach Monte Carlo
When using the Turtle Beach Monte Carlo sound card, sounds may play
correctly the first time then fail on subsequent attempts. To correct
this problem, run the Monte Carlo driver utility and change the Setup
to use the Standard drivers and not the V-synth driver. Audio clips
should then play correctly.

For additional information about using the Monte Carlo or Turtle Beach
drivers, consult the documentation from the hardware vendor. For more
information, contact Turtle Beach technical support at (717) 767-0200.

The Turtle Beach driver products included here are manufactured by
Turtle Beach, Inc., a vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no
warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products' performance
or reliability.

S3 V.1.1 Video Drivers
Problems such as random GP faults or crashes may occur on a system
with the S3 video driver version 1.1. To correct these, update to the
most recent S3 driver (V.2.41).

The S3 driver products are manufactured by S3 Inc., a vendor independent
of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these
products' performance or reliability.

Roland Rap-10
When using the Roland Rap-10 sound card you may experience problems
playing compressed audio. To correct this problem, make sure that you
are using Roland Toolworks software version 3.7 or later.

For more information, contact Roland technical support: (213) 685-5141.

The Roland driver products included here are manufactured by Roland,
Inc., a vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or
otherwise, regarding these products' performance or reliability.

Reveal MM Pro 16
Audio pronunciations may fail to play if you are using a Reveal MM Pro
16 sound card. To avoid this problem, disable 16-bit audio by setting
the Reveal MM Pro 16 16-bit DMA channel to None, as follows:

1.  Open the Windows Control Panel.
2.  Double-click the Drivers icon.
3.  Select the MMPRO16 Wave/Midi/Aux driver, and then
   click the Setup button.
4.  Set 16-bit DMA channel to None.

The Reveal driver products referenced here are manufactured by Reveal,
a vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or
otherwise, regarding these products' performance or reliability.

Aztech Labs (AZI)
You may experience problems playing compressed wave audio when using any
of the following Aztech Labs (AZI) sound cards:

*     Multimedia Pro
*     NX Pro 16
*     Sound Galaxy Basic 16
*     Sound Galaxy Pro 16

To resolve this problem try the following:

1.  Add a D=64 parameter at the end of the Device=EMM386
   line in the CONFIG.SYS file. For example, if your
   EMM386.EXE file is in the DOS directory on drive C,
   you would use the following line:
   Device=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE D=64.

2.  Change the DMABufferSize setting in the [386Enh]
   section of the SYSTEM.INI file to "DMABufferSize=064"
   (without the quotation marks). If the line does not
   exist, add it.

3.  Do the following:
   a)  Note the driver listed in the Wave= line in the
       [drivers] section of the SYSTEM.INI file.
   b)  Find the section by that name in the SYSTEM.INI
       file.
       For example, if Wave=mm16.drv, find the [mm16.drv]
       section.
   c)  Add a "SingleModeDMA=True" line (without the
       quotation marks) to this section.
   d)  If the driver in the Control Panel for the
       particular AZI card has separate 8-bit and 16-bit
       DMA settings, try setting the 16-bit to None.

Some 16-bit AZI sound card drivers do not have separate 8-bit and 16-bit
DMA settings. If the problem still persists, you may need a sound driver
update. For more information, contact Aztech Labs technical support at
(800) 886-8879 or Sound Galaxy Support at (510) 623-8988.

The Aztech products discussed here are manufactured by Aztech, a vendor
independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise,
regarding these products' performance or reliability.

Special Note: Using ATI Video Cards
If you are using an ATI video card and a "mach" video driver (mach8 or
mach32) as your Windows display driver, the Device Bitmaps setting for
the video card must be set to Off. To check/change this setting, do the
following:

1.  Double-click the mach FlexDesk Control Panel icon
   (usually found in the mach Utilities program group in
   Program Manager). The mach Utilities group is created
   when you run the ATI mach video driver Setup program.
2.  Click the Advanced Settings button.
3.  Make sure Device Bitmaps is set to Off, or set it to
   Off if it is not. (If the Advanced dialog box has no
   Device Bitmaps setting, read the information below to
   change the setting through your WIN.INI file.)
4.  Click OK to close the FlexDesk Advanced Settings.
5.  Click OK to close the FlexDesk Control Panel.

You will need to restart Windows for the changes to take effect.

If the Advanced dialog box has no Device Bitmaps setting, you need to
alter your WIN.INI file (located in your Windows subdirectory). You can
do this by opening the WIN.INI file in Notepad, which is normally
located in the Accessories group in Program Manager. Place the cursor at
the top of the file and search for "devicebitmap" (without quotation
marks). To search, select Search then Find. You should find a line that
reads "devicebitmap=on". Change it to "devicebitmap=off" and save the
file. You will need to restart Windows for the change to take effect.

*     You can verify the Windows Display driver selection
     by double-clicking the Windows Setup icon found in
     the Main program group of the Windows Program
     Manager.
*     Also, if the ATI Crystal Fonts option is turned on,
     Mastering Visual Basic may not display the correct
     colors. We suggest turning this option off if you
     are running in 256 color mode and are experiencing
     color problems.

For information about ATI video cards or the ATI installation utility
referred to above, contact ATI technical support at (905) 882-2626.

The ATI products discussed here are manufactured by ATI, a vendor
independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise,
regarding these products' performance or reliability.

8     Audio Problems
This section offers solutions to common problems that may occur when
playing audio in Mastering Visual Basic.

Sound does not play at all
If you hear no audio when running the introductions, demonstrations, and
expert point of view videos on Mastering Visual Basic, follow these
steps to locate the problem.

1.  Check the volume setting on the speakers and in your
   audio software.
2.  If the volume is turned up and you still hear no
   sound, something may be wrong with your audio card
   installation. Check to see that the audio card
   software is installed correctly and reinstall it if
   necessary. For further details, see the section below,
   Making Sure the Sound Card Is Installed Properly.
3.  If the software is installed correctly, the audio card
   may need to be pressed more securely into its slot or
   you may need to change a jumper setting on the audio
   card.
4.  If you have both an audio card and special software
   that bypasses the audio card to play sounds through
   the PC speaker, we suggest you remove or disable the
   special software (the PC speaker driver). Mastering
   Visual Basic requires an MPC2-compatible audio card;
   it is not meant to run with the PC internal speaker or
   any combination of that speaker and special software.

Note  Some speakers come with built-in amplifiers. If the speakers do
not have power (by batteries or adapter) and the amplifier is turned on,
you won't hear anything.

Sound plays but is distorted or "fuzzy"
Sound distortion is often caused by sending a higher volume or amplitude
of sound than the speakers are able to handle. Also, if the volume
control on your audio card is set too high, it may cause distortion from
the amplifier on the audio card. Sometimes lower quality speakers will
distort at a lower volume than better speakers will (compare a clock radio
speaker to a big stereo system; the stereo speakers can play much louder
with no distortion). For example, if the volume for your audio card or
"WAVE file output" is set to near its maximum it will produce distortion
just like a radio with the volume turned up too high. To learn how to
change your audio card settings, check the manuals that came with your
audio card. Changing the volume settings is normally done with either a
volume dial on the back of your audio card (in the rear of your computer
where the speakers plug in) or with a program (often called a mixer)
that is usually installed in the Windows Control Panel of the Main
program group. Some audio cards use both types of controls and they
must both be adjusted.

Another possible cause is that you are using a 16-bit sound card set to
a lower Direct Memory Access (DMA) channel. Sounds that are scratchy
while using a low DMA address will sound better using an upper DMA
channel. In the case of the Media Vision Pro Audio 16 sound card, a DMA
setting of 7 will correct any scratchy sounds. To change the DMA
channel, go to the Windows Control Panel and select Drivers. In the
Drivers section, select the sound card driver, and then choose Setup.
You should be able to select a higher DMA setting here. If the driver
will not allow you to change the DMA setting, you may need to refer to
your sound card manual.

Sound plays but skips
Audio that breaks up or skips periodically is usually an indication that
the CD-ROM drive does not fully meet the MPC (Multimedia PC)
specification for the Data Transfer Rate. The MPC-2 specification states
that the CD-ROM drive must be capable of transferring data at a rate of
300 KB per second while utilizing 60 percent or less of the CPU. You can
continue to use your CD-ROM drive to run Mastering Visual Basic, but
will continue to experience choppiness in audio clips.

Sounds are cut off
Most audio cards can play only one sound at a time; therefore, other
sound-producing programs could interrupt the sounds from Mastering
Visual Basic. Some sound- producing programs may take over the audio
capability and prevent other Windows-based programs from being able to
make sounds. If you suspect you have such a program, do not run it at
the same time as Mastering Visual Basic.

Making sure the sound card is installed properly
1.  Verify Port and IRQ settings by looking at the sound
   card and comparing the way the Port and IRQ settings
   are set up with the way that the audio card software
   specifies they be set up. The audio card manual should
   explain how to configure the audio card settings.

2.  Make sure the sound card does not conflict with other
   hardware. This is done by comparing the Setup of the
   audio card with the Setup of other cards in your
   computer. It is important that no two cards try to use
   the same port or IRQ. This is a common source of
   problems when you are getting no sound at all.

3.  If you have a Sound Blaster 16 sound card, and you
   can't hear sounds play, you may have to disable the
   16-bit audio by switching the High DMA channel to
   match the Low DMA channel. Sound Blaster has utilities
   to help you do this. If you need to do this manually,
   you must change the current settings in both the
   AUTOEXEC.BAT and the SYSTEM.INI.

9     CD-ROM Problems
Mastering Visual Basic requires at least a double-speed CD-ROM drive to
function properly. A CD-ROM drive that does not meet the MPC2
specifications will exhibit slow performance, audio blips, or
interruptions when sound is played.

Note  Do not remove the Mastering Visual Basic compact disc from your
CD-ROM drive while running Mastering Visual Basic. Removing the CD-ROM
will cause errors and/or incorrect displays or functionality.

If Mastering Visual Basic cannot find the data files it needs to run,
you will see an error message prompting you to correct the problem.
To find the source of the problem, do the following:

*   Make sure the Mastering Visual Basic compact disc is
   correctly inserted into the CD-ROM drive.

*   Make sure that the drive is connected to your computer
   correctly and that it is functioning in MS-DOS. If you
   have an external CD-ROM drive, make sure the power is
   turned on. You can test the functionality by viewing a
   directory of the drive in MS-DOS or Windows.

*   Make sure that the Mastering Visual Basic program is
   looking for the compact disc on the correct drive.

If you still see an error message after checking the points above,
consult the manuals that came with your CD-ROM drive for information
on how a CD-ROM is to be set up, or contact the company that supplied
the drive.

10     Printing Problems
Screen resolution and printer resolution are often not the same, so the
resulting printout may not match the quality you see on the screen.

If you encounter a general protection fault when you print a topic,
check your printer driver. Switch to a more current version of the
driver, if one is available. Additionally, ensure that the printer is
online and that you can print to it from another application. If the
problem persists, one of the following procedures may solve the problem:

*   In Control Panel, double-click the Fonts icon. Click
   the TrueType button in the Fonts dialog box, and turn
   off the Enable TrueType Fonts option.

*   In Control Panel, choose Setup and Options for your
   printer. Turn off the Color option, and restart
   Windows.

If you are using an HP LaserJet printer, make sure that you have the
most current printer driver or try setting the printer resolution to
300 dpi (graphics may not print properly at 600 dpi).

You should be able to print grayscale images from Mastering Visual
Basic. If you have a black and white laser printer, you may need to
upgrade your printer driver. Call the dealer from whom you bought the
printer or call the printer manufacturer.

Basic Screens in Color on a Color Printer
It is not possible to print a frame from a video you are playing. If you
attempt to do so, the text displayed in the Content pane will be printed.

Because the text areas can be quite large, you may have difficulty
copying or printing in low-memory conditions. In this case, close
all unnecessary applications and try again.

11     Running under Microsoft Windows NT
To run Mastering Visual Basic under Windows NT, Setup may need to copy
some files to your system directory. In order for Setup to do this, you
must be a member of the Administrator group when you log on. Otherwise,
Setup will not be able to copy these files to your drive. You can check
your user status from the User Manager.

Mastering Visual Basic runs well on Windows NT with the following
exceptions:

*   The videos in Mastering Visual Basic will not run on
   Windows NT version 3.5. You must have Windows NT
   version 3.51 or later.

*   Mastering Visual Basic will fail on exit if Run in
   Separate Memory Space is selected in the Properties
   dialog (in Program Manager, select the Mastering
   Visual Basic program icon, click File, and then click
   Properties). The default setting has this option
   turned off so that Mastering Visual Basic will run
   properly.

*   Mastering Visual Basic will not run on non-Intel
   machines running Windows NT.

12     Running under Microsoft Windows 95
If you want to change the display resolution, select Settings and then
Control Panel from the Start button. In the Control Panel, click the
Display icon. Change display attributes on the Settings tab.

13     Generic Multimedia Information
For more information regarding Multimedia PCs (MPCs), MPC titles, and
other general multimedia topics of interest, please contact the MPC
Marketing Council:

Multimedia PC Marketing Council, Inc.
1703 M Street, Suite 700
Washington DC 20036
(202) 452-1600

For information regarding a specific MPC product, contact the
manufacturer of that product.

Additional query words: 1.00 multi media multimedia multi-media mmtitles

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