Dilbert Screen Saver Collection/Intermission 5.0
Release notes

1. The Dilbert Screen Saver Collection modules require 256 colors to display properly.

Changing to 256 color on your computer:

If your computer is not currently set to run 256 colors, then you will need to do the following:  

a. In the Program Manager, double click on the MAIN program group

b. In the MAIN program group double click on the Windows Setup icon

c. In the Windows Setup dialog box, choose OPTIONS from the menu bar, then choose CHANGE SYSTEM SETTINGS

d. In the Change System Settings dialog box, click on the down arrow to the right of the DISPLAY option

e. A listing of drivers will be displayed, choose the 256 color video driver for your video card

f. If this driver has never been installed on your computer before, you will get a prompt asking for one of your Windows install disks.  Insert the proper Windows install disk and follow the prompts.  If you have any questions concerning the installation of the video driver, consult your Windows User's Guide.

** NOTE ** The following information applies to other Delrina screen saver products which can also run with the Intermission engine.  The configuration dialog for "animation" modules also includes check boxes to "Optimize for 16 Colors" and to "Use Real Colors (VGA)".  These options are only applicable if your video drivers or hardware use a palette that differs from the standard Windows VGA palette (most 3rd party video drivers do).  Intermission will default to using the correct palette settings in most cases.  However, some drivers will cause the animation to color incorrectly.  In that case, checking "Optimize for 16 Colors" forces Intermission to use the correct palette.  "Use Real Colors (VGA)" should only be checked when you are using the standard Windows video drivers a) VGA, b) VGA 3.0, or c) Super VGA 800 x 600, 16 colors.  Some video cards will alter the standard palette settings.  Checking "Use Real Colors (VGA)" will correct that problem. 


2. If you are using 8514A video drivers, and experience painting problems with ASA modules the problem should be corrected if you check the "Optimize For 16 Colors" check box in the module configuration dialogs. 


3. If you install the Dilbert Screen Saver Collection and then install Intermission 4.0, The Flintstones Screen Saver Collection, Opus 'n Bill Screen Saver, or The Far Side Screen Saver Collection, you will need to reinstall the Dilbert Screen Saver Collection disks in order for Dilbert modules to run properly.  A number of the files have been updated since these other products were released.


4. If you use the Add button in the Savers dialog box to add the Best of Dilbert module, you will need to manually copy the file IM4_EXP.DLL to your SAVER directory.  This is a support file that is needed by the Best of Dilbert module.


5. Intermission includes an un-install program. Run UNINSTAL.EXE located on Disk 1 if for some reason you need to remove your copy of Intermission.


6. If you use a compressed hard drive (using Stacker or DoubleSpace, or another disk compression utility), some ASA modules will take longer to load than they would from an uncompressed drive.  This occurs once at the beginning of the animation, when the entire file is loaded into memory.  The actual performance of the animation does not suffer.


7. The configuration dialog of many modules includes check boxes to "Skip Songs" and "Skip Sound Effects".  These controls will have no effect on these modules.  "Skip Songs" only applies to those modules that include MIDI sounds, none of the Dilbert Screen Saver Collection modules use MIDI sounds. 


8. Some Intermission ASA modules may require up to three megabytes of free memory in order to play the animation.  Should you not have the required free memory, you will see a message indicating that there is a problem loading the module.  


9. To hear sound in Intermission modules, you need to a) make sure the volume is set in the Intermission Options dialog box and in the Windows Control Panel; and b) either have a sound card and the appropriate drivers, or a PC Speaker Driver installed.  The distribution disks for this product include a PC Speaker driver, as well as drivers for other sound cards.  Remember, that PC speaker drivers (which use your PC's built-in speaker) may cause your machine to pause when sounds are being played.  The wait cursor will freeze.  The sound quality will be marginal. For sound driver installation instructions, refer to your windows documentation.  

Many individual modules also include Configuration dialogs which may contain sound options. 


10. The Intermission engine can function as a Sequencer, randomly picking from the enabled modules.  This feature works when you DO NOT have the "Use Current Saver Only" box checked.  You set the amount of time between modules by sliding the "Change After" control.  


11. There are limitations to Intermission's ability to control *.SCR files.  Because these files are executable files in their own right, they can have a mind of their own.  And, while Intermission will play these files, it has little control over them.  There are exceptions, but most SCR files will run in Intermission without any problems.  


12. The screen saver delay that is set in Windows' Control Panel will take precedence over the one set in Intermission.  If you have Intermission set to time out in 30 minutes, but your screen saver comes on after two minutes, you should disable the Windows Screen Saver (i.e., set to none).  


13. The After Dark Modules, Vertigo and Modern Art have been known to cause memory "leaks".  An After Dark compatible module in the product Inside Sports can cause Intermission to crash.  The Microsoft module DIMMER.SCR may cause problems.  The Flying Windows screen saver which is included in Windows becomes unstable when it is run under Intermission.  As mentioned previously, we have little control over what SCR files do when they are run in Intermission.


14. *.SCR modules run through Intermission will wake instantly when you have "Wake On Dialog Alert" enabled. 


15. By default, Intermission monitors the COM ports in your system for activity and will blank your screen instead of running modules if it detects communications activity.  COM port checking can be individually disabled by including the line "COMx=0" in your ANTSW.INI file under the "[Intermission]" heading.  For example "COM1=0" would disable COM port checking for COM1. You must restart Intermission to update the settings.  If you have a COM port open during installation (if you are using a communications program, or WinFax, for example), the Install program will ask if you want to disable checking of this COM port. If you click yes, Install will add this line to the ANTSW.INI file in the Windows directory.  


16. Notes on using Intermission with Delrina's WinFax Pro.

If the install detects WinFax on your system then it will ask if you would like Intermission to detect faxing activity and add the switch COMx=0 in the antsw.ini file.

If the switch COMx=0 is found in the ANTSW.INI file, the following occurs when you are running Delrina WinFax: 

a. At Intermission startup, Intermission tries to find WinFax.

b. If Intermission cannot locate WinFax, it tries a second time after 15 seconds (in case both programs are in the StartUp group), and Intermission loads first.

c. If Intermission is still unable to locate WinFax, it will try each time the saver is invoked. When WinFax is found, Intermission just blanks the screen the FIRST time. This is to make sure that we aren't blanking in the middle of a Fax transmission.

d. If a WinFax Receive or Transmit happens while Intermission is blanked, Intermission flashes the message sprite "! Faxing" in the upper left corner of the screen.  This is followed by a "! wake up" sprite.  This sprite is also used to tell you how many e-mail and FAX messages you have received while the screen saver module has been running.

e. If Intermission activates while a Fax transmission is happening, it will just turn your screen blank.

f. Setting Intermission up to work with WinFax could cause WinFax to generate a Page Fault in Windows.  In order to avoid this you can either not run the Dilbert Screen Saver Collection while using WinFax or by going into the ANTSW.INI file, located in your Windows directory and removing the COMx=0 line from the Intermission section.  You must restart Intermission after making these changes.


17. You may want, or need, to use the IM-DOS command line switches. The switches are as follows [usage: IM-DOS <options>]:

/H	display help text then exit
/Tn	set timeout to 'n' minutes (0-1080)
/Fn	set fadeout to 'n' percent (0-100)
/J[+|-]	turn fadeout jumping on|off
/ON	enable Intermission for DOS
/OFF	disable Intermission for DOS
/C[+|-]	turn compatibility checks on|off
/R[+|-]	turn reboot disabling on|off
/B	fade using BIOS
/U	uninstall Intermission for DOS


18. If you are using the IM-DOS DOS blanking feature, and run a non-exclusive DOS Box in Windows with the "Blank exclusive DOS boxes" checked, your screen will be blanked by the DOS TSR; if you don't have option selected, your selected Intermission module will blank the screen. 


19. IMSETUP.COM - This file is intended for use by people who are using Intermission for DOS blanking only.  The IMSETUP command line allows you to configure DOS blanking.  The command line switches are case-sensitive). The switches are as follows [usage: IMSETUP <options>]:

/h	display help text and exit

/t t	set timeout to hours:minutes:seconds.  For example, 5 would signify 5 minutes, 1:30 would be 1 hour and 30 mins, :30 would be 30 seconds, etc.

/f m	set fadeout to 'm' percent (100% = black)

/K k	set 'fade now!' hotkey to k, where k is Alt, Alt+Ctl, or Ctl then '+letter' or '+f-key'.  Examples: Ctl+Alt+B, Alt+F5, Ctl+F10, etc.

/W pkm	wakeup on Password, Keypress, or Mouse move; password overrides all others

/P word	set password to 'word'. If you set the password, make sure to specify the /case and(or) /enter parameters if you want them.

/case	password is case sensitive

/enter	password requires Enter key at end

/on	enable screen saver

/off	disable screen saver

/U	remove resident portion


20. If you experience problems with your palette changing when you are using DOS boxes in Windows, it is probably a driver problem with your "video grabber".  Command line switches may help rectify this problem.  Edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT file and change the line IM-DOS.COM to IM-DOS.COM /f:100 /j+.  These switches are documented in Item 17 above.  If the problem still persists, you should be able to force the palette to reset itself by typing MODE 80,50 or MODE CO80 at the DOS command prompt. And, as always, ALT+TAB will return you to your Windows session, and leave the DOS box running.  


21. Other Delrina Consumer Software screen saver products include Intermission, The Opus 'n Bill Screen Saver, Opus 'n Bill On The Road Again, The Far Side Screen Saver Collection, and The Flintstones Screen Saver collection. 


22. We'd like to hear from you. Delrina CSD's Testing Department is always interested in hearing from you about any suggestions or ideas for new features you might have.  Let us know what you like and what you don't like about our products.  Let us know what we can do to help you work or entertain yourself better.

Forward product suggestions to:  

Delrina Consumer Software Division 
Testing Department
11810 115th Ave NE 
Kirkland, Washington 98034-6923

For technical support:

Phone:  (416) 441-4628
Fax:  (416) 441-0774
9 a.m. - 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Monday - Friday

Leave us a message or visit our support forum on CompuServe:

At the Compuserve prompt, type Go Delrina at the prompt to enter the Delrina Forum.   There is a Consumer Division section where you can leave messages, ask questions, and download or read files about our other products. 


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