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Silver Oaks Publishing, Inc.

 

Product Support and FAQs

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Please review the following Frequently Asked Questions and choose the question that most closely mirrors your problem. If you do not find the answer to your software trouble in the FAQ, please go to our Product Support Question Post Page.

- - - - MAC Technical Issues - - - -

  1. I have the minimum required CPU but Real Life still runs slow.
  2. How do I know how much RAM I have available?
  3. How do I know what version of QuickTime™ is installed on my computer?

- - - - Windows 95/98/NT Technical Issues - - - -

  1. I have the minimum required CPU but Real Life still runs slow.
  2. How do I know how much RAM I have available?
  3. The cursor flashes when I'm watching a movie or listening to a sound clip.
  4. I'm running Windows NT and I sometimes receive an error saying, "there is no disk in the drive".

 

 

 

(Answers to Mac Technical Questions)

I have the minimum required CPU but Real Life still runs slow.

To get the best performance:
Monitor resolution should be set to 640 x 480.
Color depth should be set to 16 bit (65536 or thousands of colors).
Virtual Memory should be turned off.
Quit all other applications that may be running.
If your computer is low on memory, turn off any unnecessary extensions or control panels, and restart your computer before running the application.
If your computer has enough RAM installed, you can allocate more RAM to the Real Life program after it has been installed on your hard drive using the following method:

  1. Select the Real Life application icon on your hard drive.
  2. Click on your "File" menu and select "Get Info".
  3. When the Real Life Info window appears, modify the "Preferred Size" field at the bottom of the window to a higher amount depending upon the RAM you have available.

 

How do I know how much RAM I have available?

It is best to check the amount of available RAM after the computer has been freshly rebooted and before any applications have been run.

  1. Make sure virtual memory is turned off (Apple Menu / Control Panels / Memory)
  2. If virtual memory was turned on, turn it off, then restart the computer.
  3. Select "About This Computer" or "About This Macintosh" (depending on the system version) from the Apple menu.
  4. Look at the number following "Largest Unused Block:" (this is the amount of RAM available to be used by applications). This number should be 8MB (8,000 K) or greater to run this program.

 

How do I know what version of QuickTime™ is installed on my computer?

If you are using Mac OS8.0 or higher:

  1. Click on the Apple menu icon in the upper left corner.
  2. Move the mouse to "Control Panels".
  3. Select "Extensions Manager" from the pop-out menu that appears.
  4. Use the scroll arrow to scroll down to the available "Extensions", and look for the following files:
    1. QuickTime
    2. QuickTime Musical Instruments
    3. QuickTime PowerPlug
    4. QuickTime VR
All of the above files (except "QuickTime VR") should have version numbers of 3.0 or higher in the "Version" column and the on/off box in the left column must be checked.

The "QuickTime VR" file should have a version number of 2.1 or higher. If you don't see these files, QuickTime is not installed. See "Installing QuickTime" in the readme file located on Real Life CD 1

If you are using Mac OS 7.x.x:

  1. Open the System folder.
  2. Open the Extensions folder and look for the following files:
    1. QuickTime
    2. QuickTime Musical Instruments
    3. QuickTime PowerPlug
    4. QuickTime VR
If you don't see these files, QuickTime is not installed. All of the above files should have version numbers of 3.0 or higher (except "QuickTime VR" which should be 2.0.1 or higher). To see the version numbers of these files, select each file by single-clicking on them and selecting "Get Info" from the "File" menu. When the "Info" window appears, look at the version number just above the Comments box. If the version numbers are lower than 3.0 (except "QuickTime VR" which should be 2.1 or higher), QuickTime needs to be installed.

 

 

 

(Answers to Windows 95/98/NT Technical Questions)

I have the minimum required CPU but Real Life still runs slow

To get the best performance:
Quit all other applications that are running.
Monitor resolution should be set to 640 x 480.
Color depth should be set to 16 bit (thousands of colors).
Taskbar clock should be turned off.

 

How do I know how much RAM I have available?

Right click on the "My Computer" icon on your desktop. Select "Properties" from the pop-up menu.
The operating system is listed in the upper section of the "System Properties" window that appears.
The amount of RAM installed in the computer is listed toward the bottom of this window.

 

The cursor flashes when I'm watching a movie or listening to a sound clip.

In some situatioins, the cursor may flash while QuickTime files are running (video or audio). Use the following steps to remedy this:

  1. Click the Windows "Start" button.
  2. Point to "Settings" on the Windows Taskbar and click on "Control Panel".
  3. Double click on the QuickTime 3.0 control panel to open it.
  4. Select "Video Settings" from the drop down menu.
  5. Click "Safe Mode" (GDI Only)

 

I'm running Windows NT and I sometimes receive an error saying, "there is no disk in the drive".

There is an issue with certain configurations of Windows NT computers that have Iomega "Zip" drives. While running the "Real Life" program, when it asks for a CD to be inserted, the system may display an error message saying "there is no disk in the drive". To resolve this problem, insert a formatted zip disk into the zip drive, and click on the "Retry" button.