Readme
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| Microsoft Comic Chat 1.0 Readme
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This document provides information to supplement the Microsoft® Comic Chat™ Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/ie/comichat/default.htm.
Comic Chat is a new kind of graphical chat program, developed at Microsoft. In recent years, a number of graphical chat programs have appeared for online services and the Internet. Comic Chat takes a different approach to other graphical chat programs, by using a visual representation of conversations based on comics conventions. As users type text into Comic Chat, a comic strip unfolds showing the various participants in the conversation as comics characters, and their utterances in word balloons. Inside of each Comic Chat client is a small, fast expert system for comics generation. On the fly, each Comic Chat client automatically determines a number of aspects related to comics generation. These include:
To contact the Comic Chat team with your suggestions, bug reports, or comments please email us at: comichat@microsoft.com. Click Here to Email COMICHAT Now 2. Supported configurations/platforms Microsoft Comic Chat requires the following configuration:
3. Connecting to other IRC Chat rooms If you want to connect to a channel on an IRC chat server that you already know about, you can
do this from the Connect dialog box. Enter the server address, port number, and channel name. For example: Comicsrv1.Microsoft.Com, 6667,
#Comic_Chat. Currently we support the following channels on our servers:
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Q: Will you be updating Comic Chat?
A: We will be updating our Web site frequently. You should check it periodically to find out when new updates are available.
Q: How do I connect to other IRC chat rooms/channels?
A: If you want to connect to an IRC chat room or channel on a new server, click the File menu, and then click New Connection. In the dialog box that comes you will see the Server and Channel entries, and then provide the following information:
- In the Server box, type the IRC server name.
For example, the default entry for Microsoft Comic Chat is ComicSrv1.Microsoft.com. Replace this with the IRC server you are going to connect to.
- In the Channel box, type the channel, preceded by a number sign (#).
For example, the default channel name for Comic Chat is #Comic_Chat. This is where you enter the IRC channel name.
If you want to change to a different existing channel on the same server, click the View menu, and then choose Chat Room List. This will show you all of the rooms that currently are available on that server.
You can change to one of these rooms by double-clicking on the room name, or by clicking the room name and then clicking the Go To button.
Note: If you are running in-place within Internet Explorer you will be able to change channels on the same server, but you will not we able to change servers.
Q: How can I tell what version of Microsoft Comic Chat I am running?
A: If you are running Comic Chat outside of Internet Explorer, click the Help menu, and then click About Microsoft Comic Chat. The version number will be listed at the top of the dialog box. From within Internet Explorer you can chose Microsoft Comic Chat Help from the Help menu, and then select About Microsoft Comic Chat.
Q: Why can't I get access to any Microsoft Comic Chat or IRC chat rooms?
A: If you are accessing the Internet from your corporate network, you will be able to download the Comic Chat program; however, most corporate proxy servers limit access to chat rooms. If you have any questions, please contact your system administrator or use a dial-up analog or ISDN line to access the Internet.
Q: Can I create my own comic characters?
A: At this time, you can use only the characters provided with Microsoft Comic Chat. New characters will be added throughout the beta.
Q: Can I create my own backgrounds?
A: At this time, you can use only the backgrounds provided with Microsoft Comic Chat. Only a limited number of backgrounds are provided with the beta release. More will be added soon.
Q: Why don't all the characters have gestures?
A: In the original Beta 1 release there were some characters who's emotions had not yet been articulated. This has been updated in the latest version such that all the characters should have emotions.
Q: Does Comic Chat run under Windows NT 4.0?
A: Comic Chat currently will run only on Windows 95. Windows NT 4.0 will be supported in the final release.
Q: How does the emotion wheel work?
A: The emotion wheel enables you to manually change your character's emotions. The center of the emotion wheel is neutral emotion. Where there are multiple levels of emotion, the intensity of the emotion increases as the control moves away from the center.
To see a tooltip describing each emotion, rest your mouse pointer over one of the eight faces around the perimeter of the emotion wheel. To change your character's emotions, drag the control (the dark dot in the center of the emotion wheel) from the center of the emotion wheel to the outside.
Q: How can I tell characters apart when there are duplicate characters?
A: Move your mouse pointer over the character and then pause; a tooltip appears that displays the user name and character.
Q: How do I print?
A: On the File menu, click Print. The default printer resolution is set to medium resolution, which is usually 150 dots per inch. This default setting provides a fast printing speed.
If you want to print at a higher resolution, click Properties, and then click the Graphics tab. Change the resolution to 300 or 600 dots per inch. This improves print quality but slows printing speed.
Q: How long will it take me to download Microsoft Comic Chat?
A: Here are some sample speeds with approximate times:
14.4K baud - 13 minutes
19.2K baud - 10 minutes
28.8K baud - 8 minutes
Q: How big is Microsoft Comic Chat to download?
A: The program with its existing artwork is currently 1 MB compressed.
Q: How much space does Microsoft Comic Chat take up?
A: The Comic Chat program with its existing artwork is currently 4 MB. Subsequent artwork and character updates will increase the size of the program.
Q: Can I uninstall Microsoft Comic Chat?
A: Yes. To uninstall Comic Chat, open Control Panel, and then double-click Add/Remove Programs. Select Microsoft Comic Chat from the list.
Q: Why does it say my nickname is in use when I go to another chat room?
A: Nicknames (IDs) must be unique. Your connection will be refused if:
To connect, you can either choose a new nickname or make sure that all Microsoft Comic Chat clients have been closed and then wait a minute and reopen Microsoft Comic Chat.
Q: How do I get more panels to fit across the screen?
A: There are a few things you can try.
Q: What is the difference between Comic Chat and IRC chat?
A: Microsoft Comic Chat is a graphical chat client that can be used like any text chat client on the IRC channel. Not everyone inside the channel (chat room) needs to be using Microsoft Comic Chat for this to work. Text chat users will automatically be assigned a character, so that the entire chat will be graphically represented to the Microsoft Comic Chat client user(s).
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Q: Why do I get an "HTTP 1.0 / 404 Object Not Found" error from the chatroom web page?
A: The name of the room files and the names of the channels on the server were changed. Your browser or your internet service provider may be caching the web pages and you are seeing the old page which links to files which no longer exist. To get around this you can try to refresh the web page and/or clear the local cache if your browser supports caching files.