Apocalypse 5D Sonic User GuideInstalling Apocalypse 5D Sonic The Apocalypse 5D Sonic Display Properties Page The Apocalypse 5D Sonic™ accelerator card from VideoLogic combines the revolutionary PowerVR architecture with the best in 2D acceleration and audio to provide total gameplay performance. The PowerVR PCX2 3D processor from VideoLogic and NEC brings arcade-level performance to a large and constantly growing range of games, and comes with drivers for VideoLogics own PowerSGL™ 3D graphics language, and Microsoft® Direct3D™. Games running on PowerVR provide an incredibly realistic 3D experience, with advanced lighting, fogging, translucency and shadows, all at the highest frame rates. The ET6100 chip from Tseng Laboratories provides lightning-fast 2D acceleration, for your DOS-based games, and your Windows system. Built-in movie acceleration and sophisticated bilinear interpolation provide smooth, full-motion, full-screen playback of your Internet and CD-ROM movies. The ESS/Agogo audio chip delivers high-quality wavetable and 3D positional audio. You can use it to add that extra sound dimension to your games, or become a music producer using the high-quality MIDI mixing software packaged with Apocalypse 5D Sonic. To make you even more productive, the SmartTools suite and Display Properties software, and utilities provided on the Apocalypse CD-ROM, give you control over the appearance and behavior of your Windows system, and enable you to fine-tune PowerVR acceleration. 3D audio 3D positional audio simulates the way in which your ears naturally hear sound, with only two loudspeakers. For example, due to the way the outer ear is shaped, sounds behind you seem less bright than those in front of you. In 3D audio, the sound signal is given these characteristics according to the position of the sound, enabling you to locate it very accurately in three dimensions. Although an illusion, like the perspective of 3D graphics on your flat monitor, it really works! Before you continue System requirements To run Apocalypse 5D you need:
You may find it helpful to have to hand the Windows Users Guide and any other documentation supplied with your PC and computer monitor. The Apocalypse CD-ROM The Apocalypse installer on the Apocalypse CD-ROM installs the drivers, tests the card, and gives you access to other software, and replaces Windows Plug and Play. You can use either method to install the software, but we strongly recommend using the installer. Installation is done in two stages: firstly, from the Apocalypse CD-ROM to install the 2D and 3D graphics software; then from the SonicStorm CD-ROM, to install the audio software. Manually installing software If you want to install the software using Windows Plug and Play, refer to the late-breaking information. Handling the card Like all cards, Apocalypse 5D Sonic can be damaged by electrostatic charges during handling. To minimize the risk, follow these simple guidelines:
Installing Apocalypse 5D Sonic Before installing Apocalypse 5D Sonic Disabling current audio If you have on-board audio, you must disable it before installing Apocalypse 5D Sonic. This is usually done through the BIOS control, which you can access while your computer is booting up. To do this, refer to your computers documentation. Preparing for installation Before installing the card, while running Windows 95, insert the Apocalypse CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive. If your Windows system automatically runs CD-ROMs, the installer will auto-run. If not, run the file autorun.exe in the root directory of the CD-ROM. Follow the on-screen instructions to prepare your computer for installing Apocalypse 5D Sonic. When asked if you want to shut down your computer, click Yes. Leave the CD-ROM in the drive. Installing the hardware Warning: Always switch off your computer before removing the cover and observe the warnings specified in the manufacturers documentation. The diagram below shows
the connectors on the card.
Installing the software We strongly recommend that you install the software using the Apocalypse Installer on the Apocalypse CD-ROM, as it is quicker, easier, and more comprehensive than Windows Plug and Play. If you want to install Apocalypse 5D Sonic using Windows Plug and Play, refer to the late-breaking information. To install the software with the Apocalypse installer:
Installing the audio applications
Upgrading the drivers From time to time, VideoLogic may issue upgrades to the drivers. Instructions on the World Wide Web The latest drivers are always available through the software pages of our web site at http://www.videologic.com, or through ftp at ftp://ftp.videologic.com. Full instructions on finding out which driver version you are running, and downloading and upgrading the drivers, are available through the technical support pages of the web site. Instructions on this CD-ROM If you dont have access to the World Wide Web or would simply prefer to use the instructions on this CD-ROM, full upgrade instructions are available in the late-breaking information. Connecting the audio cables The diagram below shows the audio cable sockets. Line in and out You can connect the stereo 3.5 mm jack to an amplifier, powered speakers, or headphones. Mono mic in You can connect the mono 3.5 mm jack to a dynamic or electret microphone. CD and aux in To connect the CD and aux connectors you need an internal audio cable, part number 62575, which you can order from your supplier. Apocalypse 5D Sonic uses a Molex connector, part number 70543, and a JST connector, part number B4B-PH-K-S. In software, CD in may be listed as aux A. The Apocalypse 5D Sonic Display Properties page After installing the Apocalypse drivers, a new page is added to your Display Properties control panel, called Apocalypse 5D Sonic. The Apocalypse 5D Sonic Display Properties page provides options for turning Direct3D acceleration on and off, and for tuning Apocalypse 5D Sonic behavior. To access the Apocalypse 5D Sonic Display Properties page:
Enable PowerVR HAL This is used to turn on and off the PowerVR Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL). The HAL provides the interface between the PowerVR hardware, and the Direct3D software it is running. Turning off the PowerVR HAL temporarily stops PowerVR from accelerating Direct3D, allowing you to run Direct3D applications or games through software, or through another 3D accelerator. 3D Acceleration This switch is used for systems running an older 2D accelerator. As Apocalypse 5D Sonic gives you the optimal conditions for running PowerVR, this is grayed out. The Advanced page The Apocalypse 5D Sonic Advanced page enables you to optimize Apocalypse 5D Sonic performance and quality for specific applications. It overrides the equivalent settings made by the application when run. Although most applications do not require any advanced settings, you can add, edit or remove your own settings according to the descriptions given below. At the Apocalypse 5D Sonic Display Properties page, click the Advanced button. The following window is displayed: Adding an entry To add an entry to the application list:
Render Overlap - controls the way in which the hardware and software interact when rendering 3D. Turn Render Overlap off if your screen is updating slowly, with symptoms such as menus or dialog boxes not appearing, otherwise leave it on to improve performance. Allow Quads - enables PowerVR to process sets of triangles as single, four-sided objects. Turn this off if there are distorted objects on the screen, or leave it on to improve performance. Dithering - smoothes the transition between areas of different color in 16-bit modes. Turning Dithering on improves image quality, but may reduce frame rates. Automatic MIP Mapping - improves image quality as an object moves into the distance. If textures are missing or corrupted, turn Automatic MIP Mapping off. Use Adaptive when MIP Mapping - turns bilinear filtering on or off for an application. Generally you will get a better display with this feature switched off, so that you are using full bilinear filtering when MIP Mapping. Some games that are not compatible with bilinear filtering might show joins between textures, in which case switching this on will improve the display. Gouraud Specular - gives shiny highlights to an object. If you experience banding or low frame rates, turn Gouraud Specular off. Vertex Fog - makes objects disappear into the distance as if through fog. If you experience banding or low frame rates, turn this off. Table Fog - takes the fog value from a lookup table in PCX2, to render whole fog scenes. Turning this on improves image quality, but may reduce frame rates. Color Key - is used for transparent textures.If the software isnt actually working, or black outlines appear around the edges of objects, try turning Color Key on. Translucency Sort - allows PowerVR to optimize between accuracy (Full), and performance (Fast). If you find an application is running slowly, switch to the intermediate setting, or to Fast. Most applications should be able to run a Full Translucency Sort without affecting frame rates. Override Application Filtering - forces a filtering method for an application. Generally you will get a better display with Bilinear on. Some games that are not compatible with bilinear filtering might show joins between textures, in which case Point Sample will improve the display. Editing an entry To edit an entry on the application list:
Deleting entries Deleting an entry from the list removes its PowerVR Display Properties settings, so that the games own settings are used. To delete entries from the application list:
Resetting entries You can reset an entry to its default PowerVR settings. If you want remove an applications settings completely, delete the settings by following the steps given above. To reset entries on the list:
The SmartTools software is a set of applications that enables you to get the most out of the powerful 2D graphics capabilities of Apocalypse 5D, giving you more control over the appearance and behavior of your Windows desktop. The instructions in this section give you an overview of how SmartTools work. For more detailed instructions, refer to the online help supplied with SmartTools. There are three Smart applications: SmartTools, SmartDisplay and SmartDesktop. SmartTools SmartTools enables you to create toolbars for quicker access to your applications and documents. With SmartTools you can:
SmartDisplay SmartDisplay makes it easier and quicker for you to set up the properties for your monitor. With SmartDisplay you can:
SmartDesktop SmartDesktop controls the size and behavior of your desktop. With SmartDesktop you can:
Using SmartTools With SmartTools, you can customize the toolbars for the other Smart applications and create toolbars of your own. Starting SmartTools To start SmartTools, click the Start button, point to Programs and then VideoLogic SmartTools, then click SmartTools, or click the SmartTools shortcut icon on the Windows 95 desktop. The SmartTools window contains three pages: Toolbar Properties, Customize Toolbars and Customize Hotkeys. Toolbar properties With Toolbar Properties selected, you can:
Customize Toolbars With Customize Toolbars selected, you can:
Assigning hotkeys With Customize Hotkeys selected, you can assign hotkey combinations to the commands that you use most often, using combinations of SHIFT, CTRL and ALT, plus the other keys on the keyboard. Using SmartDisplay SmartDisplay is an application that enables you to select, customize and create display modes for your monitor. If you have never set a display mode before, or if you need help in choosing your settings, you should use the SmartDisplay Settings Wizard. If you are familiar with setting display modes, you should use the Advanced Settings button. Starting SmartDisplay
Setting display modes using the Wizard The Wizard takes you through a step-by-step procedure for setting up a display mode. To use the Wizard:
Setting display modes using the Advanced Settings button This procedure enables you to
choose the settings for your display mode. You should
only To set a display mode:
This takes you to the SmartDisplay Advanced Settings window. This window has five pages:
Using SmartDesktop SmartDesktop is an application which controls the appearance and behavior of your desktop. You can use SmartDesktop to set a virtual desktop, where the desktop size is larger than the display size, and you can change the display size at the touch of a button, enabling you to zoom in and zoom out while you are working. You can use the SmartDesktop Properties page to set properties that control the way SmartDesktop works. The SmartDesktop toolbar Using SmartTools, you can create a toolbar for running SmartDesktop. To create a SmartDesktop toolbar:
The SmartDesktop toolbar appears as follows: Property Sheet accesses the SmartDesktop Display Properties page. Scroll Lock disables scrolling functions. This is useful if you are using a virtual desktop and you want to work on a particular area of the desktop without accidentally moving to other areas. When you have Smart Zoom selected, you can use all the virtual desktop functions. When you zoom in or zoom out with Smart Zoom selected, only the display size changes, the desktop size stays the same. You can also use the functions such as Scroll Lock, Auto Pan, Maximize on Zoom and Maximize on Display to control the way your desktop behaves. If Smart Zoom is not selected, you can only use Zoom In and Zoom Out. Zoom In and Zoom Out are used to change the size of your display. You can click the Zoom In button until the display size reaches the smallest size available (640 x 480). You can click the Zoom Out button until the display size reaches the largest size, which is set in SmartDisplay. You can also use the Zoom Display Fully In and Zoom Display Fully Out functions to zoom directly to the smallest and largest display sizes for your monitor. These functions are available as hot keys and menu items. When Maximize on Zoom is selected, all maximized windows fit the new display size when you zoom in or zoom out. When Maximize in Display is selected, maximized windows fit the display size. When this is not selected, maximized windows fit the desktop size. If you have Auto Pan enabled, and you switch to a window which is currently off-screen (using ALT+TAB, or using the taskbar), the screen scrolls automatically to the window that you selected. The Move Up, Move Down, Move Left and Move Right buttons on the toolbar move to the parts of the desktop which are currently off-screen (when the desktop size is larger than the display size). You can also move to these areas using the mouse. The SmartDesktop Display Properties page The SmartDesktop Display Properties page provides you with an alternative way of setting SmartDesktops characteristics. To open the Display Properties page, click the Display Properties Control Panel and click the SmartDesktop tab. The following page appears: By setting Schemes, you can save different combinations of SmartDesktop settings. Display modes The display modes supported by Apocalypse 5D Sonic are shown below: * 2 MB variant is upgradable to 4 MB. Connectors Line in and out The stereo 3.5 mm jack can be connected to an amplifier, powered speakers, or personal stereo headphones. The connections for the jack plug are as follows: Mono mic in The mono 3.5 mm jack can be used to input signals from a dynamic or electret microphone. The connections for the jack plug are as follows: CD and aux in To connect the CD and aux connectors you need an internal audio cable, part number 62575, which you can order from your supplier. Apocalypse 5D Sonic uses a Molex connector, part number 70543, and a JST connector, part number B4B-PH-K-S. The pin-outs are as follows: Joystick/MIDI This is a combined joystick and MIDI port on a 16-pin header, for connection to a standard 15-pin D connector on an IDC lead. Make sure you connect the port to the card with the red wire and cut-off corner aligned, as shown in the earlier diagram. The pin-outs are as follows: Monitor connector Apocalypse 5D Sonic uses a standard 15-way high density D socket. If your monitor uses a different connector your dealer will be able to supply an adapter. The pin-outs are as follows:
Power and temperature specifications Apocalypse 5D Sonic operates at a nominal power rating of 13.6 watts (19.2 watts max), at temperatures between 10ºC (50ºF) and 50ºC (122ºF). This section provides solutions to problems that may happen when installing or using Apocalypse 5D. For more detailed information, refer to the late-breaking information. Problem: When running an application that uses PowerSGL or Direct3D, the system freezes or restarts. Solution: You may have installed Apocalypse 5D Sonic into a PCI bus slot that does not have bus-mastering capability. Install the card into a slot that supports bus-mastering. Problem: I am not given the D3D Hal option with the D3D demos. Solution: Ensure that you have the DirectX 3a graphics drivers installed, and that your computer is in a display mode of at least 16 bits per pixel (65,536 colors). Problem: When running an application that uses PowerSGL the system restarts. Solution: The display driver may not support buffer flipping. To support flipping the amount of free off-screen memory must be greater than the current on-screen memory. A lower screen resolution may free up sufficient memory. Problem: The Use Hardware Accelerator option within an application is grayed out. Solution: Apocalypse 5D Sonic is not being recognised by your system. Run the diagnostics provided on the Apocalypse installer, on the Apocalypse CD-ROM. Solution: The application is currently set to run in a graphics resolution that cannot be accelerated by Apocalypse 5D Sonic. Setting the applications graphics mode to a lower resolution mode makes the check-box available. Solution: Apocalypse 5D Sonic is not being recognised by your system. If you have sufficient technical knowledge, check that it is in the System Properties Contol Panel, and check the BIOS and IRQ allocations. Otherwise, contact technical support. Problem: After installing Apocalypse 5D Sonic, my PC does not start. Solution: Your old graphics controller or graphics card is still active. Remove the old card or disable your graphics controller, referring to your PCs documentation for instructions on how to do this. Solution: Your Apocalypse 5D Sonic card is not seated properly in your PC. Check that the connectors at the bottom of the card are fitted properly into the PCI slot. In some cases, you may need to move the card into another slot. Problem: My screen is blank (black) when Windows 95 has loaded. Solution: The Hardware Acceleration bar in the Graphics section of the System Properties Performance page has been set to None, and must be changed to Full. Restart your PC in Safe Mode, then display your My Computer group, point at the monitor icon at the top left corner of the group and click the right-hand mouse button to display the context-sensitive menu. Click Properties, then Performance, then Graphics, and then set the bar to Full. Problem: My screen is blank (black), flickering, or corrupted. Solution: You have the wrong monitor type selected in Display Properties, and it cannot support the selected refresh rate. To select the correct monitor type, shut down Windows 95, choosing Restart the computer. (If you cant see the screen, use ALT+F4, down arrow, enter.) When the Starting Windows 95 message appears, press the F8 key and choose Safe Mode. When Windows 95 has started, choose a different monitor in Display Properties, or choose a lower refresh rate. Problem: The application display is corrupted, textures are corrupted or missing, rendering is corrupted, the machine crashes. Solution: These are general 3D rendering problems that might be solved by using the Apocalypse 5D Sonic Display Properties page. Problem: Yellow exclamation marks or red crosses on the sound drivers in Device Manager. Solution: You have not disabled your on-board audio. Disable it, by referring to your computers documentation. Problem: My joystick doesnt work through the joystick port. Solution: The joystick isnt correctly plugged into the port, or the port isnt plugged into Apocalypse 5D Sonic. Check that all the connections are correct. Solution: The joystick isnt calibrated. Click Start, point to Settings, and click Control Panel. Double-click the joystick icon, click the Advanced tab, and highlight the Maestro Gameport Device. Now click the Joystick tab, and double-click an appropriate joystick device. Finally, run the Calibrate and Test sequence. If you have any problems while installing or using Apocalypse 5D, go through the steps below. 1. Check the late-breaking information or the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). 2. Visit our technical support web pages at http://www.videologic.com 3. Contact us online using one of the following services:
3. Contact your original supplier for technical help. 4. Call our customer support group. Try to have details of your system to hand, such as the cards serial number and details of your PC, as this will make it easier for us to help you.
The VideoLogic FaxBack service The FaxBack service provides a listing of VideoLogic products, with summary descriptions and reviews. When you use this service you will be asked to provide your fax number. If calling from outside the USA, Canada and South America your number is 011, your country code, then your fax number. Use the # key when prompted to press the pound sign key. USA, Canada & South
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