To begin, insert the INVENTIONS CD into your CD-ROM drive and double click with the left mouse button on the Wizard ICON.

A wizard screen should come up with four choices:

1. SETUP Inventions - INSTALLATION - installs the program
2. PLAY Inventions - begins a new game or resumes a named game
3. RESUME - resumes where you stopped during the last time you played
4. EXIT - exits

Each of these options is discussed below.

INSTALLATION:


 

Click on the SETUP INVENTIONS button to INSTALL it.
When you install Inventions, you will need to make THREE CHOICES from one screen.
THE COMPUTER WILL DEFAULT TO WHAT IT THINKS THE BEST CHOICES ARE FOR YOUR COMPUTER.
The following gives a detailed explanation of these three CHOICES:
CHOICE I. DirectX:
The DirectX drivers create a Microsoft interface that the majority of Window's entertainment and edutainment titles use. ElectroWizard INVENTIONS ships with DirectX Version 5. It will run under most installations of DirectX Version 3.

OPTION 1:
If either DirectX Version 3 or 5 is already installed on your system, it is not usually necessary to re-install it from the INVENTION's CD. If this is true, the computer will leave the DirectX check box empty and say:

""Setup has detected DirectX Version ___.
DirectX does not need to be installed.
Click NEXT to install INVENTIONS."


To install INVENTIONS without installing DirectX 5, leave the "Install DirectX 5" checkbox unchecked and CLICK NEXT.

OPTION 2:

If no version of DirectX is found on your system or if the existing version is too old, the INSTALL DIRECTX checkbox will be checked and there will be a message advising you to install DirectX.

""ElectroWizardª INVENTIONS requires Microsoft DirectX
in order to properly run on your computer,
Click NEXT to install DirectX 5.0 and INVENTIONS."

IF you are installing DIRECTX, you may get this message next:
"Direct X install has detected video drivers which have not been certified by Microsoft, replace existing drivers?"

It is usually best to say NO at this point and see if INVENTIONS works. This will leave in the original video drivers installed with your computer in place. If you have a Diamond Stealth** card, BE SURE TO TRY "NO" FIRST.

If you say YES, Microsoft's video drivers, which may not work as well as your original drivers, will be installed. It is more likely through time that NO is the best answer, but this is still not always the case.

If INVENTIONS does not work when you say NO, re-install and say YES.

CHOICE 2: MPEG VIDEO OPTIONS:
MPEG drivers allow your computer to play MPEG movies. There are videos embedded throughout the product.

(Each "MAKE IT WORK" flag leads straight into an MPEG video. Each "ASSEMBLE" flag leads to an assembly screen with MPEG video hot spots.)

With INVENTIONS you will need to make a choice regarding which MPEG video driver to use:
OPTION 1: The ElectroWizardª CD contains the SoftPEG MPEG player for use with INVENTIONS. It works with almost all video cards. To use these drivers choose:

"USE SoftPEG Driver Included on CD." This is the DEFAULT setting.

OPTION 2: Many computers are shipped with SoftPEG drivers that are tuned to the specific video card in the computer. These SoftPEG drivers generally give better picture quality than the generic driver shipped on the CD. To test if this is true for your machine, click on the "Use Existing MPEG driver" button in the setup dialog.

If the MPEG driver in your system is not a SoftPEG driver, it may or may not work with INVENTIONS. In particular, the ActiveMovie MPEG player will NOT work with INVENTIONS.

The choice you make with the MPEG video driver button only controls which MPEG driver INVENTIONS uses. It does not change the setup for other applications which use MPEG video.

CHOICE 3: SCREEN SIZE
INVENTIONS is designed to run in full screen mode. We recommend that you select the full screen by checking the box. That is the DEFAULT.

If you have problems or difficulties, you can select the Windowed mode, which reduces the screen size. In WINDOWED mode, your computer should be set to 16 bit (32,000 color mode) and a screen resolution greater than 800 x 600.

** Some Diamond Stealth cards have difficulty with the mouse cursor control when running under DIRECTX. You can improve the performance of the mouse cursor by setting the DISPLAY/Advanced Properties/Hardware Acceleration to the 3/4 mark. If this is unclear, call Diamond for technical support.

All copyrights are trademarks of their respective owners.

 

© 1996 - 1999 Norman & Globus, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced, translated, transmitted, framed or stored in a retrieval system for public or private use without the written permission of the publisher.