README.TXT For ReelMagic(TM) (Release 1.10) -- 3/1/94 ===================================================== Congratulations on your purchase of the ReelMagic or ReelMagic 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. 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. If you start the SETUP program and the screen shows no activity 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 an error was encountered during the scanning, a note is made in the status file. When the system is rebooted, SETUP is automatically loaded and will automatically skip the IRQ, I/O address, or DMA channel test that had caused the system to crash previously. This process may repeat several times before all of the offending causes are eliminated. If there are no errors, the status file is automatically deleted. 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 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 Example: SETUP /NODMA executes the ReelMagic SETUP program without scanning for DMA channels. Note: If you are using a SCSI adapter for your hard disk drives, we recommend using the /NODMA option when starting SETUP. CD-ROM Interface Detection ========================== (This note DOES NOT apply to ReelMagic Lite.) Some models of ReelMagic 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 Installing Windows After Installing ReelMagic ============================================= (This note DOES NOT apply to ReelMagic Lite.) If Windows was not installed when you were installing the ReelMagic software, or if you are re-installing Windows after deleting the Windows subdirectory, you will have to re-install the ReelMagic software from floppy because two of the files are copied to the Windows subdirectory only. Playing DRAGON'S LAIR ===================== The ReelMagic DOS driver must be loaded before playing Dragon's Lair. A batch file is created in the REELMAGC directory called DRAGON.BAT which handles all this for you. To play Dragon's Lair, place the CD in your CD-ROM drive and type CD \REELMAGC DRAGON 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:"). RETURN TO ZORK ============== You must have ReelMagic software release 1.10 or later to run Return To Zork. The Return To Zork game CD includes ReelMagic software release 1.10. If you have an earlier version of ReelMagic software installed, Return To Zork will automatically run ReelMagic SETUP to install the new version of the software. Playing Philips Digital Video (CD-i) Movies =========================================== If you have purchased the ReelMagic CD-ROM Upgrade Kit, then you have the capability to play Philips Digital Video (CD-i) movies from the CD-ROM drive. The drive we use in our CD-ROM upgrade kit is the Sony CDU33A-01 with firmware version "BC" or later. If you want to play CD-i movies and are purchasing the Sony CDU33A-01 drive separately, make sure it has firmware version "BC" or later. You must also add the statement: "cdimovie=c:\reelmagc\cdimovie.drv" into your Windows SYSTEM.INI file, under the [mci] section, to enable the ReelMagic CD-i movie driver. This will add the additional CD-i Movie device into your Media Player. Select this device and your CD-ROM drive when you want to play a CD-i movie CD. Note: The Sony CDU33A-01 CD-ROM drive is the ONLY drive that is fully compatible with CD-i movie CDs at this time. Palatte Problems ================ If you are experiencing color palatte 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 do not pass the palatte information to the feature connector as the palatte changes. Since ReelMagic gets the palatte information from the feature connector, wrong colors will result. One solution is to connect your VGA display directly to your VGA board, in effect bypassing the ReelMagic board, when you are using these software. Another solution is to connect the two VGA outputs, one from ReelMagic and the other from your VGA board, to a VGA signal switch box. This type of device allows you to switch between the ReelMagic VGA output and your VGA board output with a flick of a switch.