FIRECHESTER *********** User manual ----------- Welcome to 'Firechester', the multi-media CD ROM fire safety and education package for use in Key Stage 3 (11-14 year old) education. This manual has been produced on disc for you to view and print as and when required. CONTENTS 1. System Requirements 1.1 PC 1.2 Speed 1.3 Sound 1.4 Video 1.5 Screen size (resolution) and colours 1.6 Macintosh 2. Installation 2.1. Setting up Firechester 3. Installing Quicktime for Windows 4. Using Firechester 5. Network Notes Copyright 1997 Cheshire Fire Brigade and its licensors. All rights reserved. Every effort has been made to supply complete and accurate information. However, Cheshire Fire Brigade assumes no responsibility for its use, nor for any infringement of the intellectual property rights of third parties which would result from such use. 1. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 1.1 PC computers To run 'Firechester' you will need to be running Microsoft Windows either Windows 3.1; or Windows for Workgroups; or Windows95. Computer:- The basics of a multimedia PC are required to run Firechester. 486 processor (SX 25 or better) 6Mb Ram minimum SVGA monitor Sound Card & speakers (optional) Dual speed CD ROM drive (not required for Network client machines) Mouse 1.2 Speed Speed is the critical issue with 'Firechester'. Some of the animations will slow down on slower PCs, so the faster the PC is capable of running the better. The software is designed to run best in 256 (8-bit) colour and higher resolutions, such as thousands (16-bit) or millions (24 or 32-bit) will cause Firechester to run more slowly. If you are using one of the slower CD drives then remember to wait after you have clicked on a button. Firechester will immediately tell your CD drive to get the files that are needed, but your drive needs time to do this. If you keep clicking then you are storing up a series of commands making it impossible for your CD drive to keep up. This can lead to problems with the sound, and sometimes causes the application to freeze for a period of minutes while it attempts to resolve these difficulties. A Dual speed (or faster) CD ROM is recommended. You may copy the files from the CD onto your hard disk to make Firechester run more quickly, however you will have to evaluate the space requirement against the increase in speed. If you do this you must copy all of the files, not just some of them. Moreover, you must maintain the same directory structure. If you think you have a problem with speed, i.e. animations freeze or are jerky, we have included a program called 3DBENCH on the CD (in the 3DBENCH directory). You will have to run the program from DOS. Once run, it will return a benchmark number for the video system of your PC. If the number is less than 25, then the problem is with the sub-system of your computer and there is little to be done (other than upgrade the computer). 1.3 Sound The computer will need to have (MCI) sound drivers installed (these are the drivers that allow sound to be heard whilst running Windows). This is done through 'Control Panel' in the 'Drivers' section. See your Microsoft Windows manual for correct installation. Although Firechester will run without sound, the program will 'come alive' with that addition and help is given by people speaking throughout Firechester. The only requirement for sound is a Windows compatible sound card and Windows sound drivers to be installed. If you cannot hear any sound then check that the volume is not set to zero in the sound control panel. Check that any external amplifier or powered speakers are turned on. Test to see if you can hear any alert sound, such as a simple beep. 1.4 Video The Firechester CD contains a number of video clips. In order to view the video, a program called Quicktime for Windows will need to be installed onto your computer. See the section under Installation - Quicktime for Windows for more details. 1.5 Screen size (resolution) and colours Firechester is optimised to run in a screen resolution of 640 x 480 pixels and 256 colours. Although it will run in other modes, the minimum number of colours is 256. If you wish to change the resolution your computer is running in, the next section covers that subject in some depth. Note: Firechester will still run if you set the display size larger than 640 by 480, the picture will just appear smaller than it was designed to be. To change screen size (resolution) or number of colours (colour depth) Windows 3.x You will have to run either the screen set up program that came with your video card, or use the Windows Setup program to change screen settings. The Windows Setup program is usually found in the 'Main' program group. Run Windows setup, go to Options in the menu select Change System Settings .. a box will now appear click on the line opposite the Display setting and a selection list will appear. You can select the most appropriate setting from this list. It depends on the video card fitted in your computer, which video modes will be available. However, the most common ones should be available for all video cards. As stated above, Firechester is designed to operate with a screen size (resolution) of 640 x 480 and 256 colours. This option will be available for all video cards, so should be selected. Don't worry if Windows tells you it will have to re-start the computer - this is quite normal when changing the number of available colours! Windows95 To change the display settings (screen colours and resolution), you will have to run 'Control Panel', which is found either by clicking on the icon 'My Computer' or clicking on the 'Start' menu and selecting 'Settings', then click on Control Panel. From the control panel window, double click on DISPLAY and select SETTINGS from the tabs at the top of the window. On the left hand side are the colour settings, the available options are:- 16 color 256 color (8 bit) High color (16 bit) True color (32 bit) To change your current settings, simply select the one you require. To change the screen size (resolution), on the right hand side of the same screen, you will see 'Display area'. Drag the slider to the required settings (640 by 480) and now click on OK. Don't worry if Windows95 tells you it will have to re-start the computer - this is quite normal! 1.6 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS - Macintosh Starting Firechester Insert the firechester CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive. When the disk appears on the desktop, open it and double-click on the Firechester icon. Colour depth Firechester runs in 256 (8-bit) colour. Firechester will switch your Macintosh to 256 colours, and return it to its original colour depth (number of colours) when you quit. Speed Make sure that Firechester is the only software running on your computer. Other software will require some of the computerŐs time, and will slow down Firechester. If you find that Firechester is slow and some of the animations are a bit jerky then remove any unused extensions from the Extensions folder inside your system folder. Then remove any unused control panels from the Control Panels folder and restart your computer. The speed of your CD-ROM drive will have a large effect on how Firechester runs. A double-speed drive is really the slowest drive that should be used. When you click on something in Firechester the drive has to get the information required and this can take time. If you are impatient and click several times you are storing up a series of commands for the computer to execute, and this will cause even more delay and might cause the computer to crash. QuickTime The latest version of QuickTime is included in the install folder on the Firechester disk. Firechester will run without QuickTime, but you will not be able to used the videos. To install QuickTime drag the QuickTime icon from the install folder to your system folder and then restart your computer. 2. INSTALLATION 2.1 Setting up Firechester This section of the manual refers to installing 'Firechester' on a stand alone PC, network issues are discussed in the NETWORK section. Firechester may be run straight from the CD by executing the file FIREC16.EXE for Windows 3.1 (or FIREC32.EXE for Windows95) or by running the SETUP program provided, which will set up a window and install all the required program icons for you to run by double-clicking on them. Using SETUP to install Firechester (Windows 3.x and Windows95) Insert the CD into the CD ROM drive. Go to the File menu and select Run In Windows95, go to the START menu and select Run When the dialogue box appears, select browse Choose the drive letter of your CD ROM drive (usually D) Select the file SETUP.EXE Now click on OK and the SETUP program will run. When the SETUP program has finished, information about the current settings on your computer will be shown. Just click on the tabs to see the section you want. 3. Installation - Quicktime for Windows The Firechester CD contains a number of video clips. In order to view the video, a program called Quicktime for Windows will need to be installed onto your computer. The installation program (Quicktime Setup) icon is installed by the SETUP program described above, to install Quicktime, simply double click on the correct icon. It is important that the correct version of Quicktime is installed:- For Windows 3.x - you should install the 16 bit version For Windows95 - the 32 bit version is required. 4. Using Firechester Once Firechester is installed, double click on the program icon to start it. After the introduction choose 'Teacher's Introduction' from the menu called 'Teacher'. This will provide an animated and spoken guide on using the program. The Menu bar The FILE menu New - clears all records Open - loads previously saved records for a student Save - saves current records Save As - Allows the student to name their file prior to saving Close - Exit the program. Print - Prints current page Change file password - allows the student to set their own protection. The student should 'Open' their own file (if they have already done some work and saved it) when they first start Firechester. Saving their work often is also good practice. The Scenario menu Student Introduction - gives the student a guided tour. Clicking on any of the 'rooms' takes you directly to them. The Options Menu View results - Takes you to the results screen (see below) Pause automatically - some of the activities involve several parts, to pause between the parts, awaiting the user to click to continue, select this option (for example, to pause whilst speech bubbles are on screen, select this option) Control Panel - brings up a control panel (see below) Text Size - selects the size of text viewed in some scenarios. Results Screen -------------- To see the results for a particular scenario - just click in the box. The Control Panel ----------------- You can turn the music and background sounds up and down with this control panel, or mute either by clicking on the buttons at the bottom of this panel. The Teacher menu Teacher introduction - gives the teacher a guided tour Record of achievement - Allows the production of a printed ROA (see below). Change the password (default is Teacher Record of achievement --------------------- To make up a ROA, select which scenario(s) you wish to appear on the certificate. The Name should be automatically be filled in (if the student has saved their file), otherwise you can fill it in. Click on the 'Copy Text' button and the text will be copied into the ROA. If you want a space for the teacher/student to write their own comments then click on the box 'Teacher/Student comments'. Firechester's main screen buttons --------------------------------- The Note Book allows students to make notes as they use the program. They can save and print their notes. The Text Book acts as a 'help desk'. It provides help on what to do in the particular scenario. It also provides example tasks for students. The return arrow - allows you to take one step backwards. 5. Network Notes If you decide to mount Firechester on a network then there are a number of considerations:- Printing from Firechester should be straightforward, providing your network is correctly set up. Users of Firechester can save text from a small notebook, as well as load text into it. They may need guidance as to where they are allowed to save their files. Firechester contains video files. To view these Quicktime is required, either on the Macintosh or Quicktime for Windows. Bear in mind that video can quickly choke a network, and there are sometimes problems playing video across networks. There are no license limitations for the use of Firechester on a network. In view of this, it may be better for all the program files to be copied onto a network hard disk, rather than run from the CD. The access speed of a CD ROM over a network could slow Firechester down too much and it may become unusable.