README.TXT For RealMagic(TM) Version 2.20 -- 1/13/95 ==================================================== Congratulations on your purchase of the RealMagic or RealMagic Lite MPEG multimedia playback controller. This file contains important information not available at the time the manual was printed. Please take time to read through it for the latest updates. Upgrading From an Older Version =============================== The RealMagic 2.20 software release includes several enhancements and new features over previous releases. If you are upgrading from an older version of RealMagic software, the new release will automatically write over the older version (no need to run Uninstall before installing 2.20). If you are installing the new version in the same directory as the previous version, Setup will delete the files that are no longer necessary, while allowing you to keep your current IRQ and DMA settings. New Features and Enhancements: 1. RealMagic CD Station RealMagic CD Station is a new interactive utility for Windows which automatically detects and plays different CD formats. It provides a VCR-like interface in a user-friendly fashion and allows the user to playback different types of CD-ROMs including, audio CDs, Video CDs, CD-i movie CDs, and data CDs. It also allows you to create a playlist of your favorite tracks. 2. Setup under Windows In addition to the standard DOS RealMagic Setup program, a new Windows- based RealMagic Setup utility is now available to allow complete setup under Windows. 3. RealSaver RealSaver is an add-on to the standard Windows screen savers that allows you to play MPEG files from your CD-ROM instead of the traditional animation sequences provided with Windows. 4. Sound Recording Utility for DOS Version 2.20 also includes a new sound recording utility for DOS that allows you to record audio into .WAV files through the new RealMagic board with an Audio-In/Microphone port. Note: This utility will only be installed in systems with the new RealMagic controller. RealMagic Lite and the older RealMagic controllers do not have the Audio-In port required by this feature. Check the original documentation that came with your board for the availability of the Audio-In/Microphone port. 5. Miscellaneous We have made many other enhancements to this new version at the driver level, most of which may not be immediately apparent to you as the user. As an example, we have improved the support for older CD-ROM drives with poor data streaming capabilities. This will eliminate much of the skipping problems you may have experienced with older CD-ROM drives. Help for RealMagic CD Station ============================= Windows On-Line Help is available for the RealMagic CD Station from the Control Menu Box or just press key any time. Pull down the Control Menu Box and select Help!. Then select the topic you want from the list. Improved Error Handling ======================= It is possible that with some hardware configurations, the I/O address, IRQ, and DMA channel scanning done by the SETUP program will cause the system to crash (in almost all cases, this is due to poor resource management of another component). If the progress bar of the testing screen seems to freeze for over a minute, it is most likely that the system has crashed. The SETUP program maintains a status file in the root directory of your boot drive. If the system crashes during the scanning, SETUP will make a note in the status file. When your system reboots, SETUP will automatically load itself and will automatically continue scanning your system, skipping the IRQ, I/O address, or DMA channel test that had caused the system to crash previously. This process may repeat before all of the offending causes are eliminated. If there are no errors, the status file is automatically deleted upon the completion of SETUP. Note: It is possible that if you use a disk caching program other than the Microsoft SMARTDRV (version 4.0 or later), the status file will not be updated if the system crashes. This is most likely to occur for a delayed write type of disk cache program. In such instances, disable the disk write caching program in the CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT file before running SETUP again. SETUP Command Line Options ========================== You can manually disable the scanning of the I/O address, IRQ, DMA channel, and CD-ROM interface. Append one or more of these options after typing SETUP at the DOS prompt: /NOIO -- disables I/O address scanning /NOIRQ -- disables IRQ scanning /NODMA -- disables DMA channel scanning /NOCD -- disables CD-ROM interface scanning For example, "SETUP /NODMA" executes the RealMagic SETUP program without scanning for DMA channels. CD-ROM Interface Detection ========================== (This note DOES NOT apply to RealMagic Lite.) Some models of RealMagic boards include a CD-ROM interface. If you are trying to use the CD-ROM interface on these boards, but SETUP is encountering problems in detecting which CD-ROM interface you have (currently, only Sony SLCD or SCSI are available), you can specify the interface with these command options: /SONY ------- indicates the Sony SLCD interface /SCSI ------- indicates the SCSI CD-ROM interface /WEARNES ---- indicates the Weanes interface /DOLPHIN ---- indicates the Dolphin CD-ROM interface /PHILIPS ---- indicates the Philips CD-ROM interface /PANASONIC -- indicates the Panasonic CD-ROM interface /IDE -------- indicates the IDE CD-ROM interface For example, "SETUP /SCSI" will force the RealMagic SCSI CD-ROM drivers to be installed. Using RealMagic SCSI with Other SCSI Controllers ================================================ (This note applies ONLY to RealMagic with SCSI.) The RealMagic SCSI occupies SCSI ID #7. If you are using the RealMagic SCSI with other SCSI controllers, please make sure there is no SCSI ID conflict. Installing Windows After Installing RealMagic ============================================= (This note DOES NOT apply to RealMagic Lite.) If Windows was not installed when you were installing the RealMagic software, or if you are re-installing Windows after deleting the Windows subdirectory, you will have to re-install the RealMagic software from floppy because two of the files are copied to the Windows subdirectory only. Palette Problems ================ If you are experiencing color palette problems with some of your software programs, such as wrong colors or posterized images, it is most likely that you have a local bus VGA adapter. Some software does not pass the palette information to the feature connector as the palette changes. Since RealMagic gets the palette information from the feature connector, wrong colors will result. During SETUP, if the SETUP program detects that you have a VLB video card, it will install a fix in the FMPDRV.INI file in the RealMagic directory. FMPDRV.INI is a text file that contains all the essential parameters for your RealMagic's operation. Check this text file to make sure the "PaletteFix" parameter is set to "Yes." If the problem persists, try connecting your VGA display directly to your VGA board, in effect bypassing the RealMagic board, when you are using this software. Another possible solution is to connect the two VGA outputs, one from RealMagic and the other from your VGA board, to a VGA signal switch box. This type of device allows you to switch between the RealMagic VGA output and your VGA board output with a flick of a switch. Playing DRAGON'S LAIR ===================== Dragon's Lair requires the RealMagic DOS driver to loaded in memory before it will play. We provide a batch file in the RealMagic directory called DRAGON.BAT that handles all this for you. To play Dragon's Lair, place the CD in your CD-ROM drive and type: CD \REALMAGC and press DRAGON and press Note: the batch file assumes your CD-ROM drive letter is "D". If this is not the case, you will need to use a text editor to modify the batch file. The line which reads: D: should be changed to reflect your CD-ROM's drive letter (e.g. "E:"). Playing THE HORDE ================= You must have RealMagic Software Version 1.10 or later to run the MPEG version of The Horde. If you have the RealMagic Lite, make sure your sound card is 100% SoundBlaster(TM) compatible. Some sound cards, such as the Media Vision ProAudio Spectrum 16(TM) and boards that use the Media Vision PAS 16(TM) chip set, will not work with The Horde (no sound). Crystal Dynamics has provided a fix for this in the form of a new HORDE.EXE. It is available on the Sigma Designs BBS for download. Another sound card, the Sound Galaxy Pro(TM) from Aztech, requires a special command when starting The Horde. Modify the PLAY.BAT file in the \HORDE directory (created by the INSTALL program) to start The Horde with the command line "HORDE /S:SBLASTER" (between FMPLOAD and FMPLOAD /U). Without this command line option, the volume controls of the Sound Galaxy Pro will be set to zero each time you start The Horde. If you use disk caching programs, such as Microsoft SMARTDRV, you MAY experience hanging problems. If you do, try turning off the "write-caching" to the hard drive where The Horde has been installed. For example, if you use SMARTDRV and The Horde is installed on drive C:, use the command SMARTDRV C to turn off "write-caching" on drive C:. RealMagic Interactive MPEG Software =================================== Majority of RealMagic Interactive MPEG compatible software require RealMagic software version 2.01 or later. In most cases, the required version is provided with the software. Always use the latest version of RealMagic software available. RealMagic File Descriptions =========================== The following are the descriptions of the files contained in the RealMagic directory: CDIMOVIE.DRV RealMagic Video CD/CD-I Movie driver DIGITALV.MCI MCI Digital Video translation table DOSMIX.EXE RealMagic Audio Mixer in DOS DPLAYER.EXE Demo CD Player in Windows DRAGON.BAT Batch file for Dragon's Lair DSP.BIN DSP code for audio FIXPAL.EXE Support for high color modes and palettes problems with some VGA boards under Windows. FLYLOGO.EXE Program that displays flying Sigma Designs logo FMPDRV.EXE RealMagic DOS driver FMPDRV.INI Device driver initialization file GROUP.EXE Program to create RealMagic group in Windows IMPEG.DRV RealMagic Windows driver MCIFMP.DRV RealMagic MCI driver MIDIMAP.CFG MIDI Mapper configuration file in Windows MPG.VER Text file contains current version number MPEG.CFG File contains setup configuration information MPGAPP.GRP RealMagic group file for Windows MPGBKGND.TSK Background Task file helps low-level driver MPGCONF.EXE RealMagic Border Adjustment in Windows MPGDEV.SYS RealMagic configuration device driver MPGSCSVR.SCR RealMagic screen saver MPGSND.DRV Sound driver for Windows MPGTEST.BAT Batch file to test MPEG playback MPGVDD.386 Virtual sound device driver for Windows MPGWMIX.EXE RealMagic Audio Mixer in Windows MPU401.DRV MPU-401 emulation driver MSADLIB.DRV FM Synthesizer device driver README.TXT This text file contains updates and technical notes RECORD.EXE DOS recorder program (not for RealMagic Lite) SETUP.EXE RealMagic DOS setup program SETUPLGO.BMP RealMagic bitmap for winsetup.exe SETUPLGO.IMG RealMagic bitmap for setup.exe SSCONFIG.EXE Configuration application for the screen saver TEST.BAT Batch file that allow to run MPEG files TESTFMP.EXE Program to run MPEG files VADLIBD.386 Virtual device driver for FM Synthesizer in Windows VPLAYER.EXE Video CD Player program in DOS WINSETUP.EXE RealMagic Windows setup program WVPLAYER.EXE RealMagic CD Station program WVPLAYER.HLP RealMagic CD Station help file