README.TXT For REALmagic Maxima Pro(TM) Version 2.34m -- 1/20/98 ================================================================ Congratulations on your purchase of the REALmagic Maxima Pro 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. Software Release Notes : ====================== - Modification for a fast "STEP" MCI command. - Modification for repetitive "LOAD" and "UNLOAD" MCI commands leading to "Interrupt not detected" message. - The "WINDOW HANDLE" command will implement the position and the size of the MPEG window before issuing the "PLAY" command. CONTENTS ======== 1 - SOFTWARE INSTALLATION a - NOTES ON SETUP Windows 3.x i - Improved Error Handling ii - Command Line Options b - PnP INSTALLATION Windows 95 i - CHANGING A RESOURCE 2 - BORDER ADJUSTMENT AND CALIBRATION 3 - REALmagic MIXER 4 - FILTER PROGRAM 5 - RUNNING DOS TITLES 6 - ISSUES with PROTECTED MODE 32 bit CDROM DRIVERS 7 - SPECIAL FOR SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS OF MPEG TITLES 8 - REALmagic FILE DESCRIPTIONS 9 - MISCELLANEOUS 1 - SOFTWARE INSTALLATION ===================== NOTE : a - After installation, the resources used by the board such as the I/O address and the IRQ number will be shown in a blue panel at booting time. They can also be seen in the FMPDRV.INI file in the REALmagic directory (usually REALMAGC). b - Calls to "MpegVideo", the MPC standard Windows driver name for MPEG decoders is supported. c - This release installs an OM-1 Compliant DOS driver (OM1DRV.EXE) with the following entry in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file : SET OM1=C:\REALMAGC\OM1DRV.EXE a - NOTES ON SETUP Windows 3.x ============== i - 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). 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, re-run SETUP that 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. ii - Command Line Options -------------------- You can manually disable the scanning of the I/O address, IRQ, and DMA channels. Modify the SETUP command line to look as follows : SETUP /NOTEST Also, if SETUP still crashes while trying to identify the board, you can force the board ID by adding the parameter /RMPRO as follows SETUP /RMPRO You can combine the parameters as follows : SETUP /NOTEST /RMPRO b - PnP INSTALLATION for Windows 95 ---------------------------------- After the hardware installation do the following : 1 - Boot your system. 2 - After the Windows 95 logo display, the system will recognize that a new board was installed (Plug-N-Play feature of the REALmagic Pro board). You will get the window "New Hardware Found" with the REALmagic Pro signature. 3 - Choose the option "Driver from disk provided by hardware manufacturer". 4 - Click OK. 5 - A new window "Install from Disk" will display. Insert the REALmagic Pro diskette in your floppy drive. Make sure the text box specifies the correct drive specifier ( e.g. A:\). Click OK. 6 - The system will start copying all the software to the C:\REALMAGC directory. Then it will return to the desktop. 7 - Click on Start. Choose Run. Type A:\SETPRO.EXE. Click OK. 8 - Reboot the system (Start, Shut Down, Restart System). NOTE : The board will show that it is using a 16-bit DMA channel in Win 95 while it is not. This is due to the use of a DMA channel on other platforms. You can use that same DMA channel for another peripheral, even if it shows a conflict with this board. i - CHANGING A RESOURCE (for Advanced Users) in Windows 95 ------------------- If you wish to change a resource (I/O address or/and IRQ number) assigned by the Plug N Play feature of Win 95, do the following : 1- Start System from the the Control Panel group. 2- Choose Device Manager and double-click on "Sound, video, and game controllers". 3- Double-click on "Sigma Designs REALmagic Pro". 4- Select the tab "Resources". 5- Double-click on the required resource. Click "Change Settings". 6- Modify the settings to the required value. Make sure there is NO conflict specified in the Conflict Information box. Click OK. 7- Edit the file C:\REALMAGC\FMPDRV.INI as follows : - under the [REALMAGIC] section the line Port= for the new I/O Address - under the [MPEG] section the line Interrupt= for the new IRQ. 8- Reboot. 2 - BORDER ADJUSTMENT AND COLOR CALIBRATION ======================================= NOTE : You must set the Border Adjustment and Color Calibration settings to finalize the installation. You need to set the Border Adjustment and Color Calibration only once for each display settings (resolution, number of colors, and refresh rate) under Windows, and run Border Adjustment only one time in the DOS mode. This utility can be called also from the RM Mixer utility. Windows: ------- 1- Start Border Adjust program in the REALmagic group. 2- Use the H-POS and V-POS buttons to align the top left corner of the black and magenta rectangles, then use the H-SIZE buttons to resize the black rectangle to cover exactly the magenta area. This should work for the majority of the VGA boards available. IMPORTANT NOTE : For the following rare cases :- a -If the black area height is HALF the magenta area height, click the button "NI" (non-interlaced) and then "EXIT". Restart "Border Adjust". b -If the black area height is DOUBLE the magenta area height, click the button "I" (interlaced) and then "EXIT". Restart "Border Adjust". It is recommended NOT to use the buttons "NI" and "I" other than the above indicated conditions. 3- Click the Save button to save the settings. 4- If you observe jittering at the right or left edge on the aligned black box, click on the Horizontal Stability "+" and "-" buttons until you get the smoothest sides among the 16 values. 5- Next, click the Auto button to automatically calibrate the color for your VGA card. Color bars will be displayed on the screen followed by a vertical white line flashing in the middle of a black screen. When the Border Adjust program is redisplayed, calibration is complete. - If you are using the SVGA drivers of Windows 3.x, add the following line in the [VGA] section of the file FMPDRV.INI in the REALMAGC directory: SVGA = 1 (If you select manual calibration, then follow the instructions provided on the screen to adjust the colors in three steps.) 6- Click the Done button. DOS: --- 1- At the DOS prompt (in Real Mode MS-DOS FOR Windows 95), type DOSCALIB and press . 2- Repeat step 2 above - aligning the black and magenta borders - (and 4 if necessary - smoothing the jittering) and press Exit. This procedure will repeat THREE times for text and graphics modes. 3 - REALmagic MIXER =============== Besides the volume adjustment for the MPEG audio signal, the RM Mixer has got three additional TV set-like faders for the following : - Fader "B" for Brightness Control - Fader "C" for Contrast Control - Fader "S" for Saturation Control You can adjust these faders while playing an MPEG file for a better control of your setting. There is also a button for "Border Adjust and Calibration". Just click it to activate this utility. 4 - Filter Program ============== This program is a demo feature to show you the difference in having the filtering option or not having it when playing back an MPEG file. For a better display you should have the filter On. "Up" and "Down" refer to upscaling and downscaling. The difference is very clear if you zoom in the video playback using the right button of your mouse to define the area to be zoomed (while in the CD Station application). 5 - RUNNING DOS TITLES (on a Windows 95 system) ================== The way DOS works has slightly changed under Windows 95. In order to optimize performance of DOS MPEG titles, please run the titles in the real mode MS-DOS: 1- Select "Shut Down" from the Taskbar (after quitting Windows applications). 2- Select "Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode". 3- At the DOS prompt after reboot, enter the command for the title, such as : C:\>D: D:\>DOSTITLE 4- To start Windows after exiting from the title, type : c:\>EXIT 6 - ISSUES with PROTECTED MODE 32 bit CDROM DRIVERS: ================================================== If you play VideoCD's in the Protected Mode of the CD-ROM driver (32 bits) and the CD-ROM drive is installed as a slave drive on its own controller (if it is an IDE drive), the playback wll suffer some breaking. Solution : Install the CD-ROM drive as a MASTER drive on a secondary IDE controller, OR use the Real Mode. NOTE : CDi movies (Green Book standard) can be played only in Real Mode. Real Mode is activated by removing the CD-ROM controller from the Device Manager, adding the CD-ROM driver in the CONFIG.SYS, and re-activating the MSCDEX.EXE line that was used before Windows 95 installation. 7 - SPECIAL FOR SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS OF MPEG TITLES ============================================== Version 2.21 of REALmagic drivers is using a new algorithm to reach the best accuracy in Frame Seeking. This might not work for titles developed using earlier versions of REALmagic drivers. To force the driver to use the old algorithm, modify or add the following line in the [MCI] section of the FMPDRV.INI in the REALMAGC directory to be : SeekAccurate=False 8 - REALmagic FILE DESCRIPTIONS =========================== The following are the descriptions of the files contained in the REALmagic directory: CBARS VBS Video BitStream file CDIMOVIE DR_ CD-i/Video CD movie driver CTL3D DLL 3D resource file for the Windows 3.x Setup program DIGITALV MC_ MCI Digital Video translation table DOSCAL EX_ Border adjustment and color calibration program for DOS DOSCALIB BA_ Batch file to run calibration software in DOS DOSMIX EX_ Mixer program for DOS DPLAYER EX_ Demo CD player for Windows DPLAYER IN_ Initialization file for Demo CD player DRAGON BA_ Batch file to run Dragon's Lair using DOS MPEG driver DSP BI_ Audio DSP code EGAVGA BG_ EGA graphics library EMPEGDEC DL_ File for high resolution pictures in MPEG FILTER EX_ Filtering On/Off program FLYLOGO EX_ Test program FMPDRV EX_ MPEG driver for DOS FMPDRV IN_ Initialization file IMPEG DR_ Driver for Windows 95 MCIFMP DR_ MCI driver MPGBKGND TS_ Background Task file to help low-level driver MPGCONF EX_ Border adjustment and color calibration program for Windows MPGDEV SY_ MPEG device driver MPGPIC BI_ MPEG DSP code MPGSCSVR SC_ Screen saver MPGTEST BA_ Batch file to verify hardware installation MPGWMIX EX_ Mixer program for Windows OM1DRV EX_ OM-1 DOS Compliant driver PRO INF Installation information program README TXT Text file containing updates and technical notes REALMAGC GRP Windows group file REBOOT COM Program to reboot the computer RM ID Identification file RMSETUP DLL Setup library RMTESTS DLL Test library SETPRO EXE Program to complete Windows 95 installation SETUP EXE Setup program for Windows 3.x SETUP INI Initialization file for the Setup program SETUPLGO BMP Setup program logo bitmap file SSCONFIG EX_ Screen saver configuration program TEST BA_ Batch file to run DOS MPEG file player TESTFMP EX_ MPEG file player for DOS UNINSTAL EX_ Uninstall Program for Windows 95 UPDATE EXE Update program VGA256 BG_ VGA graphics library VPLAYER EX_ Video CD player for DOS WVPLAYER EX_ CD Station program WVPLAYER HL_ CD Station program help file YUV2RGB DL_ File for High Resolution pictures in MPEG 9 - MISCELLANEOUS ============= 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. Playing DRAGON'S LAIR --------------------- Dragon's Lair requires the REALmagic DOS driver to be 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 ----------------- 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:.