System Requirements

• Windows™ 3.1 (or Windows™ 95 & 98)
• Multimedia PC with 486/50 or better
• 12 MB RAM (16 MB for Windows 95)
• 2x CD-ROM drive
• 13" VGA color monitor
• 12 MB hard drive space recommended
• 8-bit sound card and speakers
• Pentium™ processor with 16 MB RAM strongly recommended
  

Installation

Windows 95

• Insert the Explore Kilauea Volcano CD.
• Double-click on the CD-ROM drive icon.
• Double-click on SETUP.EXE.
• Follow the instructions in the Setup program.
• Go to the START MENU. Select PROGRAMS, then EXPLORE KILAUEA VOLCANO, and finally EXPLORE KILAUEA.

Windows 3.1x

• Insert the Explore Kilauea Volcano CD.
• Open the FILE MANAGER.
• Choose your CD-ROM drive (usually D:).
• Double-click on SETUP.EXE in the list of files that appear.
• Follow the instructions in the Setup program.
• Go to the PROGRAM MANAGER, then open the EXPLORE KILAUEA VOLCANO program group and double-click on the EXPLORE KILAUEA icon.

Windows NT patch

If you would like to run Explore Kilauea Volcano on Windows NT, here's what you do: Download the .zip file entitled "KILAUEA.ZIP". Unzip the file. Replace the KILAUEA.EXE file in the KILAUEA directory on your internal hard drive with the new downloaded version. That's all you have to do. Download now

User Tips

1. If you are running Explore Kilauea Volcano under WIN95 the drop down menu on the top of your screen may be difficult to read at times. This is not a bug. This occurs because Explore Kilauea Volcano uses the maximum colors available to provide the most photorealistic images possible. If you have difficulty reading the menus roll the mouse over each menu selection individually and it will light up for you to read it and note its state (i.e. - which one is checked or not.)

2. The Explore Kilauea Volcano window is largest and looks best if your monitor is set at 640 x 480 resolution. See Monitor Settings below.

3. If the images appear dark, increase the brightness control on your monitor.

4 . If you are using WINDOWS 3.1.1 and you have not optimized your computer for using multimedia titles, one recommendation is to utilize the DOS utility Memmaker. Exit to DOS and at the c:\ prompt type "MemMaker" and press ENTER. Follow the instructions to optimize your memory. See Hardware Configurationbelow for more inforamtion.

5. Be sure you have at least 2 MB of free RAM, not counting the swap file. Performance will be slow if there isn't sufficient memory.

6. Disable all TSR's, screen savers, and other applications before starting Explore Kilauea Volcano.

7. The swapfile should be twice the amount of your RAM - if you have 12 MB of RAM, your swapfile should be 24 MB. See Hardware Configuration below for more inforamtion.

8. Certain display problems can be resolved by updating your video drivers. Contact your hardware manufacturer. Please see below for detailed inforamation regarding this.

9. For increased performance, mute the ambience in the drop down Sound menu that appears at the top of your screen when you are running Explore Kilauea Volcano.

10. If things seem to be running slowly (i.e. - animations are moving slowly and menu items are lighting up slowly) make sure you have "Normal" checked in the Animation menu.

11. Error "Kilauea caused a general protection fault error in module DIBENG.DLL" Problem with Quicktime installation. Restart the computer.

12. On some machines, the timeline in the Eruptions section is not clickable after clicking the glossary. Timeline works again after clicking "Back".

13. Once you've installed QuickTime, more information regarding QuickTime for Windows can be found in the README file in the QuickTime for Windows Program Group, or at http://quicktime.apple.com/.

Monitor Settings

This product requires a minimum of 256 colors (also known as 8-bit color) at 640 x 480 pixels (Super VGA).

For improved video quality on high end machines, set your monitor to display more colors ("High Color," 16-bit, thousands of colors; or "True Color", 32-bit, millions of colors). This will improve the video image.

Users with less than 12 MB of RAM on their computers may experience best performance using SVGA settings (256 colors at 640 x 480 pixels).

Some Video Drivers will encounter problems with the diverse elements included in this application. Many of these problems are corrected by switching the color depth of your display. If it is set to 8-bit, try 16-bit, or visa-versa.

Changing the Color Depth of your monitor: (you will have to restart your computer after you make any changes):

WINDOWS '95: On the Start Menu, open Settings / Control Panel / Display. Inside the Display Properties window, open Settings. Change the Color Palette to the desired Color Depth ("High Color," 16-bit color; or "True Color," 32-bit color; or 256 colors). Make sure the Display Area is at least 640 x 480 pixels (larger is OK). Close the Display Properties window, restart your computer.

WINDOWS 3.1x: Inside the Main Program Group, double click the Windows Setup icon. Inside the Windows Setup window, select Options / Change System Settings. Inside the Change System Settings window, select a display that uses the Color Depth you desire ("High Color," 16-bit color; or "True Color," 32-bit color; or 256 colors), and has a screen area of at least 640 x 480 pixels (larger is OK). Close all windows, restart your computer.

Troubleshooting

This program is designed to run on as many types of systems as possible. However, there may be occasional problems with incompatible hardware, or software drivers. Refer to this section and the Tips section if you experience any problems with this program.

Performance Tips

1. Be sure Windows is using a display driver that is set to display 256 colors (or more). If your colors look way off, run Windows Setup to install the display driver provided by your video card manufacturer that supports 256 colors.

2. Certain high-resolution video cards may require updated driver software for correct operation of QuickTime for Windows. Contact your video board manufacturer to see if newer driver software is available.

3. Operation will be a little faster, best results are expected, and the video window will be physically largest, if you use 640 x 480 resolution rather than anything higher. If you operate this program in 1024 x 768 resolution, you may find that the "small fonts" driver works better than the "large fonts" driver (or, less frequently, vice versa, depending on who wrote the drivers).

4. If you have problems reading any of your CD-ROMs, check the CD-ROM for any scratches or fingerprints. Use a soft cloth to wipe from the center to the edge. CD-ROMs are more vulnerable to damage than audio CDs, so always place them in the jewel box or CD caddies whenever possible.

5. Video play is improved by caching from the CD-ROM drive. The DOS 6.2 version of Smart Drive includes a CD cache which works well. To use it, start smartdrv.exe from your autoexec.bat and include the following line in your config.sys file: device=c:\\dos\\smartdrv.exe /double_buffer. Consult your DOS manual for more information.

6. The program uses a lot of Windows memory and resources. As with almost any Windows application, not all of these are completely restorable to the system during and following execution. Performance is best when the program is the first and only program running after starting Windows. Therefore, close any non-essential programs or windows prior to use.

7. Color conflicts may be caused by your wallpaper. If the program loads up in the wrong colors, simply quit, set the wallpaper to [none] in Windows|Control-Panel|Desktop and run again.

8. We also recommend some type of CD-ROM caching program such as SMARTDRIVE from DOS 6.2 for better performance during playback. (SMARTDRIVE form DOS 6 and earlier does not support CD-ROM caching).

9. Systems with only 12MB RAM probably require a permanent swap file of at least 9996K to obtain satisfactory response time. This can be accomplished with Control Panel|386|Virtual Memory. The virtual memory manager may claim that Windows will not use any swap file space beyond what is recommended. This is not always true. As a general rule, you can experiment with swap files from twice to three times the amount of real RAM. If you start to experience obviously extended periods of hard disk access bogging down the system ("thrashing"), the swap file should be made smaller. 32-bit disk access speeds things up a little.

10. For this product, a 8-bit (256) color video adapter (or better) is mandatory. These QuickTime for Windows movies have been optimized for 8-bit video. An accelerated graphics card will significantly boost video performance.

11. A "Dynamic Data Link" error is caused by older version of QuickTime conflicting with the new version. To remedy this problem delete all QuickTime files from your hard drive and reinstall the software.

Hardware Configuration

1. Please consult the README.WRI file for information about video and sound card compatibility.

2. An accelerated graphics card will significantly boost video performance.

3. Make sure your CD-ROM drive is configured properly. If your CD-ROM controller/host adapter is capable of DMA transfer, always use the DMA option. Sample "CONFIG.SYS" for Mitsumi CD-ROM drive: device = mtmcde.sys /d:mscd001 /m:32 /i:10 /t:5

Software Configuration

1. "SETUP.EXE" should have changed your "AUTOEXEC.BAT" to show a path declaration to include the new QuickTime driver software. Example: SET PATH=C:\\DOS;C:\\WINDOWS;[ path ]:\\qtw\\bin

2. To optimize playback on your machine, read the QTW.INI file inside your \\WINDOWS directory for more instructions.

3. For optimal performance, use Microsoft CD-ROM driver 2.0 or higher. Edit your "AUTOEXEC.BAT" file to allocate at least 30K drive buffer. Example: MSCDEX /d:mscd001 /m:30

4. If you use Windows For Workgroups, the installation process will append a "/s" switch to MSCDEX.EXE. This will cause problem with the viewer program. Please remove the switch with a text editor and restart the computer.

5. For more detailed instructions on CD-ROM driver software, please consult your CD-ROM owner's manuals.

6. Make sure you are using the most recent versions of HIMEM.SYS, EMM386.EXE, and SMARTDRV.EXE. The copies that came with DOS 6.0 are the most recent, and Windows 3.1 files are better than DOS 5.0 files.

 Your CONFIG.SYS should contain something like the following:

   DOS=HIGH,UMB
   DEVICE=C:\\WINDOWS\\HIMEM.SYS
   DEVICE=C:\\WINDOWS\\EMM386.EXE RAM NOEMS

 Your AUTOEXEC.BAT should contain something like:

   C:\\WINDOWS\\SMARTDRV.EXE 1024 1024
   (if you have 12 MB or more memory)
   C:\\WINDOWS\\SMARTDRV.EXE 1024 512
   (if you have less memory)

Memory Problems

QuickTime for Windows and Windows 3.1 are very memory hungry. The best way to speed up video quality and display is to have at least 12 MB RAM. If you have less, make sure you do not have EMM386 allocating any expanded memory. Also, you should have SMARTDRV using as little memory as possible (512K cache). The biggest performance improvement other than upgrading to a Pentium is to have more memory.

You can also use the 386 enhanced Virtual Memory settings to create a permanent swap file. This seems to improve performance slightly, but more RAM is better.

Additional Information

As with any product, you may need to tweak your system to get optimal performance. The most important considerations are improper configuration of EMM386, giving too much Expanded memory (Windows doesn't need any, but DOS applications do), and simply not enough memory. If you are running Windows with 8 MB RAM, you will see a REAL performance boost by upgrading. Always refer to your system manuals and your component vendors for additional assistance.

For specific questions not covered in the above material, e-mail us at:
support @ fireworkstudios.com


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