README.TXT For RealMagic(TM) Version 2.21 -- 5/15/95
====================================================

Congratulations on your purchase of the RealMagic or RealMagic 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.


Upgrading From an Older Version
===============================

The RealMagic 2.21 software release includes several enhancements and 
new features over previous releases.  If you are upgrading from an 
older version of RealMagic software, the new release will automatically 
write over the older version (no need to run Uninstall before installing 
2.21).  If you are installing the new version in the same directory as 
the previous version, Setup will delete the files that are no longer 
necessary, while allowing you to keep your current IRQ and DMA settings.

New Features and Enhancements:

1. RealMagic CD Station

   RealMagic CD Station is a new interactive utility for Windows which
   automatically detects and plays different CD formats.  It provides a
   VCR-like interface in a user-friendly fashion and allows the user to
   playback different types of CD-ROMs including, audio CDs, Video CDs,
   CD-i movie CDs, and data CDs. It also allows you to create a playlist
   of your favorite tracks.

2. Setup under Windows

   In addition to the standard DOS RealMagic Setup program, a new Windows-
   based RealMagic Setup utility is now available to allow complete setup
   under Windows.

3. RealSaver

   RealSaver is an add-on to the standard Windows screen savers that allows 
   you to play MPEG files from your CD-ROM instead of the traditional 
   animation sequences provided with Windows.

4. Sound Recording Utility for DOS

   Version 2.21 also includes a new sound recording utility for DOS that
   allows you to record audio into .WAV files through the new RealMagic 
   board with an Audio-In/Microphone port.
   
   Note: This utility will only be installed in systems with the new
         RealMagic controller.  RealMagic Lite and the older RealMagic
         controllers do not have the Audio-In port required by this
         feature.  Check the original documentation that came with your
         board for the availability of the Audio-In/Microphone port.

5. Miscellaneous

   We have made many other enhancements to this new version at the 
   driver level, most of which may not be immediately apparent to you 
   as the user.  As an example, we have improved the support for older
   CD-ROM drives with poor data streaming capabilities.  This will
   eliminate much of the skipping problems you may have experienced
   with older CD-ROM drives.
   

Help for RealMagic CD Station
=============================

Windows On-Line Help is available for the RealMagic CD Station from 
the Control Menu Box or just press <F1> key any time.  Pull down 
the Control Menu Box and select Help!. Then select the topic you
want from the list.


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).  If the progress bar of the testing 
screen seems to freeze 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 the system crashes during the
scanning, SETUP will make a note in the status file.  When your system
reboots, SETUP will automatically load itself and 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.


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

For example, "SETUP /NODMA" executes the RealMagic SETUP program
without scanning for DMA channels.


CD-ROM Interface Detection
==========================

(This note DOES NOT apply to RealMagic Lite.)

Some models of RealMagic 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
	/WEARNES ---- indicates the Weanes interface
	/DOLPHIN ---- indicates the Dolphin CD-ROM interface
	/PHILIPS ---- indicates the Philips CD-ROM interface
	/PANASONIC -- indicates the Panasonic CD-ROM interface
	/IDE -------- indicates the IDE CD-ROM interface

For example, "SETUP /SCSI" will force the RealMagic SCSI CD-ROM
drivers to be installed.


Using RealMagic SCSI with Other SCSI Controllers
================================================

(This note applies ONLY to RealMagic with SCSI.)

The RealMagic SCSI occupies SCSI ID #7.  If you are using the
RealMagic SCSI with other SCSI controllers, please make sure
there is no SCSI ID conflict.


Installing Windows After Installing RealMagic
=============================================

(This note DOES NOT apply to RealMagic Lite.)

If Windows was not installed when you were installing the RealMagic
software, or if you are re-installing Windows after deleting the
Windows subdirectory, you will have to re-install the RealMagic
software from floppy because two of the files are copied to the
Windows subdirectory only.


Palette Problems
================

If you are experiencing color palette 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
does not pass the palette information to the feature connector as the
palette changes.  Since RealMagic gets the palette information from
the feature connector, wrong colors will result.

During SETUP, if the SETUP program detects that you have a VLB video
card, it will install a fix in the FMPDRV.INI file in the RealMagic 
directory.  FMPDRV.INI is a text file that contains all the essential
parameters for your RealMagic's operation.  Check this text file to
make sure the "PaletteFix" parameter is set to "Yes."

If the problem persists, try connecting your VGA display directly to 
your VGA board, in effect bypassing the RealMagic board, when you are 
using this software.  Another possible solution is to connect the two 
VGA outputs, one from RealMagic and the other from your VGA board, to 
a VGA signal switch box.  This type of device allows you to switch 
between the RealMagic VGA output and your VGA board output with a flick 
of a switch.


Playing DRAGON'S LAIR
=====================

Dragon's Lair requires the RealMagic DOS driver to 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 <Enter>
	DRAGON and press <Enter>

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
=================

You must have RealMagic Software Version 1.10 or later to run the
MPEG version of The Horde.  If you have the RealMagic Lite, 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:.


RealMagic Interactive MPEG Software
===================================

Majority of RealMagic Interactive MPEG compatible software require
RealMagic software version 2.01 or later.  In most cases, the required
version is provided with the software.  Always use the latest version
of RealMagic software available.


RealMagic File Descriptions
===========================

The following are the descriptions of the files contained in the RealMagic 
directory:

CDIMOVIE.DRV        RealMagic Video CD/CD-I Movie driver
DIGITALV.MCI        MCI Digital Video translation table 
DOSMIX.EXE          RealMagic Audio Mixer in DOS
DPLAYER.EXE         Demo CD Player in Windows
DRAGON.BAT          Batch file for Dragon's Lair
DSP.BIN             Audio DSP code
FIXPAL.EXE          Support for high color modes and palettes problems with 
	some VGA boards under Windows.
FLYLOGO.EXE         Program that displays flying Sigma Designs logo
FMPDRV.EXE          RealMagic DOS driver 
FMPDRV.INI          Device driver initialization file
GROUP.EXE           Program to create RealMagic group in Windows
IMPEG.DRV           RealMagic Windows driver 
MCIFMP.DRV          RealMagic MCI driver
MIDIMAP.CFG         MIDI Mapper configuration file in Windows
MPG.VER             Text file contains current version number
MPEG.CFG            File contains setup configuration information
MPGAPP.GRP          RealMagic group file for Windows
MPGBKGND.TSK        Background Task file helps low-level driver
MPGCONF.EXE         RealMagic Border Adjustment in Windows
MPGDEV.SYS          RealMagic configuration device driver
MPGSCSVR.SCR        RealMagic screen saver
MPGSND.DRV          Sound driver for Windows
MPGTEST.BAT         Batch file to test MPEG playback
MPGVDD.386          Virtual sound device driver for Windows 
MPGVDD.BIN          MPEG microcode
MPGWMIX.EXE         RealMagic Audio Mixer in Windows
MPU401.DRV          MPU-401 emulation driver
MSADLIB.DRV         FM Synthesizer device driver
README.TXT          This text file contains updates and technical notes
RECORD.EXE          DOS recorder program (not for RealMagic Lite)
SETUP.EXE           RealMagic DOS setup program 
SETUPLGO.BMP        RealMagic bitmap for winsetup.exe
SETUPLGO.IMG        RealMagic bitmap for setup.exe
SSCONFIG.EXE        Configuration application for the screen saver
TEST.BAT            Batch file that allow to run MPEG files
TESTFMP.EXE         Program to run MPEG files
VADLIBD.386         Virtual device driver for FM Synthesizer in Windows
VPLAYER.EXE         Video CD Player program in DOS
WINSETUP.EXE        RealMagic Windows setup program 
WVPLAYER.EXE        RealMagic CD Station program
WVPLAYER.HLP        RealMagic CD Station help file





