Corel CD Creator Version 2 README Information

This document includes last minute product information about Corel CD Creator and its related modules. The information provided in this document isn't available in the printed or online documentation. This document includes the following information:

   A   Uninstall before reinstalling
   B   About SCSI Devices
   C   Format of Layout Files
   D   Adding Audio Tracks to Layouts
   E   Adding Data to Layouts
   F   Capturing Data Layouts for Jewel Case Inserts
   G   Recording Layouts
   H   Recording CD EXTRA Discs
   I   Disc Duplicator
   J   Video CD
   K   Known Problems and Limitations
   L   Special Considerations for Windows 95 Users
   M   Special Considerations for Windows NT Users
   N   Special Considerations for Ricoh RO-1060C Users
   O   Special Considerations for Pinnacle RCD5020 Users
   P   Special Considerations for Sony, Optima, Smart & Friendly Users
   Q   New drives and devices
   R   Problems resolved
   S   Disabling LUN support
   T   CD Creator 2 and Windows NT 4.0
   U   Disc image format changes
   V   Duplicate session names on the Import session list
	

A   Uninstall before reinstalling

If it should become necessary to reinstall CD Creator, you should always remember to first run the Uninstall utility located in the CD Creator directory. This will ensure that the system registry is properly updated and all files are cleanly removed. Note, however that uninstall will delete all files from your CD Creator directory including audio database files, image files and layout files. If you need to preserve any of these files, please copy them to another directory prior to uninstalling CD Creator.


B   About SCSI Devices

1.   If you aren't using a plug and play host adapter, Corel CD Creator may not be able to detect SCSI devices that were not powered on or that were connected after the system was started. Therefore, properly connect and power on all devices before starting Windows 95 or Windows NT.

2.   Some external SCSI devices can adversely affect the termination of the SCSI bus when powered off. If you experience problems starting or using your system while external devices are powered off, leave these devices powered on while the system is in use.

3.   Corel CD Creator includes device drivers for Windows 95 and Windows NT to provide enhanced CD-ROM features such as digital audio extraction, session selection, and disc duplication on supported SCSI CD-ROM drives. These features are currently not available for non SCSI CD-ROM drives.


C   Format of Layout Files

The format of the layout files used for CD Creator v2 isn't backwardly compatible with the format of the layout files used for Corel CD Creator v1.xx. To avoid confusion, the ".CDL" filename extension used for Corel CD Creator v1.xx layout files has been changed to ".CL2" for Corel CD Creator v2 layout files.


D   Adding Audio Tracks to Layouts

When adding the last audio track of a CD EXTRA disc to a CD layout, you may find that sound from the end of the track is cut-off by approximately 2 seconds  

At the time that this product was released, many available CD EXTRA titles were being originally produced on recordable CDs. Discs created using track-at-once technology contain an additional gap of approximately 2 seconds after the last audio track in the first (audio) session on the disc. Since this gap area does not contain valid audio information, Corel CD Creator will automatically strip this 2 seconds from the end of the audio track.  

If your CD EXTRA discs do not contain this extra gap area following the last audio track, you can add a DWORD value called "NoCDPlusGap" to the system registry under the key "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Corel Corp\Corel CD Creator\Advanced" and assign it a value of 1. This will prevent CD Creator from stripping the final 2 seconds from the last audio track of a CD EXTRA disc when adding it to a CD layout.


E   Adding Data to Layouts

1.   Once information has been written to a disc, use the same recorder to write subsequent sessions. 

2.   If you add a shortcut to a layout, the shortcut file is added. There is no special handling or dereferencing of file shortcuts.

3.   Windows 95 and Windows NT try to generate shorter file and directory names, even if they're defined using long (30 character) names. Therefore, to record layouts that include long names, you need to make sure that the first eight characters of the names are unique; otherwise, the names will appear to be duplicates when they're truncated. If you plan to use this disc only under Windows 95, you can also resolve this problem by selecting the Microsoft Joliet file system for the layout.     However, Joliet is a new file system that is currently only supported on Windows 95 systems.

Example:  TESTING1 (LONG).TXT and TESTING1.TXT will be aliased to the same file if they exist on a CD-ROM under Windows 95. If the two files exist in the same directory, a naming conflict occurs and you won't be able to access both files from the CD.

Note:  This problem doesn't occur under Windows NT.


F   Capturing Data Layouts for Jewel Case Inserts

You can take a snapshot of the layout in the Data Files editor and insert a bitmap of the layout into the Jewel Case Insert editor. To capture a data layout, adjust the Data Files tree to the appropriate size. Then switch to the Jewel Case Insert editor and press Alt+S.



G   Recording Layouts

1.   Access to the recorder is blocked for all processes other than Corel CD Creator while a track is being written. Any other process attempting to access the recorder will receive a drive not ready status. This may result in strange behavior from other applications (Explorer, etc.), but will help protect you from accidentally attempting to access the recorder and potentially causing an under run to occur.

2.   In some rare cases, the disc may be ejected from the recorder before the TOC is written and CD Creator may refuse to accept it back in the recorder as the correct disc.
To resolve this problem:
- With CD Creator still running, use the system registry editor (REGEDIT.EXE on Windows 95 and REGEDT32.EXE on Windows NT) to add a DWORD setting called 'IgnoreDiscMismatch' to the 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Corel Corp\Corel CD Creator\Advanced' key. Assign this setting a value of 1. 
-   Reinsert the disc into the recorder. Corel CD Creator should then accept the disc and write the TOC to the disc. 
-   Remove this setting (or assign it a value of 0) after the disc has been fixated; otherwise CD Creator will not check that the correct recordable disc is in  the recorder during disc creation.

3.  If  you are recording a large amount of data (more than 71 minutes worth), it is a good idea to select the 'Write Protect' check box on the Disc Creation Setup dialog prior to beginning disc creation. If you forget to do so, the Fixate operation might fail with a volume overflow error. Corel CD Creator will re-attempt fixating the disc with the write protect flag on and in most cases this would result in a readable disc.

4.  In rare cases, while you are trying to create a full 650 meg disc, you may receive "The disc currently in the recorder is either write protected or not writable" message prior to writing the table of contents. To force Corel CD Creator to fixate the disc anyways, add a DWORD "FixateNonWritableDisc" to the 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Corel Corp\Corel CD Creator\Advanced' key and set it to 1.

H   Recording CD EXTRA Discs

1.   With some CD Recorders, attempting to create a CD EXTRA disc may result in an 'Illegal track number' error when CD Creator attempts to write the second (data) session. If you encounter this problem, please use the registry editor (REGEDIT.EXE on Windows 95 or REGEDT32.EXE on Windows NT) to add a DWORD entry named 'RemountMediaAfterFixation' with a value of 1 to the 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Corel Corp\Corel CD Creator\Advanced' key of the system registry. This will force the CD Recorder to remount the media after each session has been written. Note that on some drives, this may cause the tray to be ejected.

2.   CD Creator will automatically use whatever is in the jewel case editor to produce the required CD EXTRA picture files.  This picture is captured and generated during disc creation so that the latest changes to the jewel case view can be used.  However, some of the changes that are automatically made by CD Creator, such as when the audio track layout has been changed, may not be captured unless you switch to the jewel case editor just prior to creating the disc.

5.   If you are using a Sony CDU920S, Sony CDU9211, Optima CD-R650, or Smart & Friendly CD-R1002 CD Recorder with firmware version prior to 1.2a, you will not be able to successfully record a CD EXTRA disc. Please contact your drive vendor for further information.


I   Disc Duplicator

1.   The Disc Duplicator copies discs using a track-at-once (TAO) method. During this process, the CD Recorder inserts a 2 second gap between adjacent audio tracks. Consequently, when audio discs are copied the resulting disc may not be an exact duplicate of the original - i.e. the audio content is duplicated but inter-track gaps, index points, etc. are not duplicated on the copy.

2.   When you are copying an audio or mixed mode disc using the CD Duplicator and are using a recordable disc as the source, 2 additional sectors (known as run out blocks) are added to the end of each audio track on each subsequent duplication. Consequently, if the original disc is completely full, the entire contents of the source disc may not fit on the duplicate.

3.   When copying audio discs using the Disc Duplicator, you should only use the 'Direct disc-to-disc copy' option if the speed of the CD-ROM reader and CD Recorder are the same. Using a reader which is faster than the writer may cause noise such as pops or clicks to be introduced on the copied disc. Using the 'Copy temporarily through hard disk' option should help to eliminate this type of noise from the copied disc.

4.   CD EXTRA discs can not be properly copied using the Disc Duplicator. When the disc is being recorded, the CD Recorder appends 2 additional sectors (known as run out blocks) to each audio track. This results in the data track being written to a different area on the duplicated disc which invalidates pointers to the data files on the disc.

5.   Some commercial Video CDs contain additional audio tracks. On these discs, there is a representation of these audio tracks in the data portion of the disc. If you copy a Video CD which contains more than 1 audio track with Disc Duplicator, the references in the data portion to the starting of the audio tracks may be incorrect. However, this should not prevent the disc from being played back on a Video CD player.

6.   When attempting to copy a Video CD using the 'Direct disc-to-disc copy' option, it is advisable to first do a simulation. If you receive an error advising of too many form transitions, you should retry using the 'Copy temporarily through hard disk' option.

7.   CD-I discs can not be copied using this release of the Disc Duplicator.

8.   Using some CD Recorders to copy a multi-session disc may result in an 'Illegal track number' error. If you encounter this problem, please use the registry editor (REGEDIT.EXE on Windows 95 or REGEDT32.EXE on Windows NT) to add a DWORD entry named 'RemountMediaAfterFixation' with a value of 1 to the 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Corel Corp\Corel CD Creator\Advanced' key of the system registry. This will force the CD Recorder to remount the media after each session has been written. Note that on some drives, this may cause the tray to be ejected.

9.   If you encounter read errors at the very end of a track while duplicating a disc, you can try to correct the problem as follows. Use the registry editor (REGEDIT.EXE on Windows 95 or REGEDT32.EXE on Windows NT) to add a DWORD entry named 'Track_xx' (where xx is the offending track number - e.g. 'Track_1', 'Track_24') to the  'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Corel Corp\Corel CD Creator\Advanced' key of the system registry. Assigning a value of 1 or 2 to this entry  will prevent CD Creator from reading the last 1 or 2 sectors of this track. In most cases, a value of 1 should correct the problem, but in some cases a value of 2 may be necessary. You should start with a value of 1 and perform a simulated write. If the error persists, increase the value to 2 and perform another simulation prior to creating the disc. Remember to delete this registry entry after duplicating the disc as its presence will affect the duplication of all subsequent discs.


J   Video CD

1.   Previewing video segments on a Video CD requires the use of a supported CD-ROM drive which is capable of reading mode 2 form 2 sectors. Many older generation CD-ROM drives do not have this capability. If this capability is not supported for your CD-ROM drive, you will receive an error when you attempt to preview the video segment.

2.   CD-I movies can not be viewed with the supplied 16 bit version of the Xing MPEG Player application. The 16 bit MSCDEX/CD-ROM implementation on Windows 95 and Windows NT does not support the raw-mode sector reads used by the MPEG Player. Consequently, choosing the 'Open CD-I Movie' operation on the 'File' menu will generate the error message: "MMSYSTEM296 The file cannot be played on the specified MCI device. The file may be corrupt, or not in the correct format". 

3.   VCD Creator does not support reading or playback of MPEG streams from existing Video CDs when running on a Windows NT system. This is due to system level architectural differences between Windows 95 and Windows NT.

4.   A 16 bit Windows MCI MPEG driver is installed with CD Creator. However, when running on Windows NT systems, MPEG files can not be used as the source for Video CD creation unless a separate 32 bit Windows MCI MPEG driver is installed. AVI files can be used as the source for Video CD creation.

5.   When playing back a Video CD on certain CD-I players, the movie may freeze during normal play, while the player application remains functional. If the play button on the play-control-bar, the remote control, or CD-I player is pressed the movie will continue to play. This is a known problem with some CD-I players.


K   Known Problems and Limitations

1.   You can enter dates up to the year 2038 using the format "dd/mm/yyyy". However, a problem exists in that dates are stored using the format "dd/mm/yy". This conflict means that you can't distinguish dates by century. For example, if you enter "01/01/2038", the date is stored as "01/01/38.

2.   If a "fatal database error" occurs, delete the audio database files in the Corel CD Creator subdirectory before continuing. The seven files that make up the audio database are:  CAUDIODB.CDB, CDAUDIOD.CDX, CDAUDIOD.DBF, CDAUDIOP.CDX, CDAUDIOP.DBF, CDAUDIOT.CDX, and CDAUDIOT.DBF.


L   Special Considerations for Windows 95 Users

Defining Registry Keys

When the "ModifyLayoutInBackground" registry key is set to any value other than 0, file dates, times and sizes are updated when Disc Optimizer is in the background. If a source file has been deleted, Disc Optimizer will "stall" until you record the layout. This key is defined in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\COREL CORP\COREL CD CREATOR\ADVANCED. If you haven't defined the registry key or it's set to 0, Disc Optimizer will "stall" on modified files until you record the layout. At this time, Corel CD Creator prompts you, as usual, to validate the files.

Auto Insert Notification and CD Recorders

Corel CD Creator v2 includes drivers that make your compact disc recorder available for use as a CD-ROM drive on Windows 95 and Windows NT. Under Windows 95, however, a serious degradation of overall system performance and responsiveness occurs with some recorders when either blank media or no media is inserted in the recorder. This behavior is directly related to Windows 95 processing, as a result of enabling the auto insert notification for the recorder's drive letter.

When auto insert notification is enabled for a CD-ROM drive or CD recorder, Windows 95 polls the device every few seconds to determine if a new disc has been inserted. This continuous polling can interfere with Corel CD Creator's system tests, as well as its ability to successfully create or simulate the creation of a disc.

Corel strongly recommends that you disable auto insert notification for the drive letter that represents your recorder. Corel CD Creator tests whether auto insert notification is enabled for any recorders attached to your system and for your selected CD-ROM drive. If so, it offers to automatically disable this option and restart Windows.

To manually disable auto insert notification:

1. Ensure your recorder is powered on before starting Windows.

2. Select 'System' settings from the Control Panel.

3. Select the 'Device Manager' property sheet.

4. Double-click the 'CD-ROM' icon and select your recorder from the list of available CD-ROM drives.

5. Click the 'Properties' button and select the 'Settings' page on the popup property sheet.

6. Deselect the 'Auto insert notification' option and click OK.

7. Repeat Steps 4 to 6 for your CD-ROM drive.

8. Restart Windows.

Note: When auto insert notification is disabled for a particular drive, autorun/autoplay is also disabled.

Auto Insert Notification and CD-ROM Drives

When auto insert notification is disabled for a CD-ROM drive letter, Explorer doesn't correctly resynchronize its display when you insert a disc into the CD-ROM drive or when you use the Corel Session Selector to change sessions. You can force Explorer to resynchronize its display with the actual contents of the disc by selecting the Refresh command from the View menu of the Explorer.

Auto Insert Notification and Digital Audio Extraction

The process of reading digital audio information from an audio disc in a CD-ROM drive is known as digital audio extraction. While performing digital audio extraction, CD Creator may prompt you to insert audio CDs into your CD-ROM drive.

On Windows 95 systems, if auto insert notification is enabled for the selected CD-ROM drive, the Windows 95 shell will detect the insertion of a new audio disc and attempt to start playing the disc - a Windows 95 feature known as autoplay. Since audio playback interferes with CD Creator's ability to perform digital audio extraction, CD Creator temporarily blocks the systems access to the selected CD-ROM drive while extracting audio information. During this time, Explorer and other applications will act as if there is no disc mounted in the CD-ROM drive. When CD Creator has completed extracting the required audio information, normal access to the CD-ROM drive is restored.

Corel CD Creator will warn if auto insert notification is enabled for the active CD-ROM drive as well as for your CD Recorder. If you have multiple CD-ROM drives, the auto insert state of the new drive is tested on exit from either the Preferences dialog, or the System Test dialog (if a new CD-ROM drive was selected). Additionally, prior to beginning disc creation, CD Creator checks whether the CD Player application is running. If it is, you are warned to close the CD Player application before continuing. These steps will greatly reduce the potential for trouble during audio disc creation.

Unknown Device Message

The first time that Windows 95 starts after you attach a recorder to your system, you may see a message that indicates the system has detected an unknown device. You can ignore this message as the drivers necessary to access supported recorders are installed with Corel CD Creator.

Corel CD Creator and Windows 95 Debug Kernel

If you install this release of Corel CD Creator 2 on a development system that's running the Windows 95 debug kernel, you may need to remove CD Creator's CDRASPI.VXD driver from your Win95\System\IoSubsys directory. In some cases, this driver may interfere with the debug version of Windows 95. Deleting or renaming this driver should resolve the situation, but will prevent your recorder from being automatically recognized as a CD-ROM drive.


M   Special Considerations for Windows NT Users

1.   You should simulate disc creation before actually recording a layout, even if the system tests completed successfully. If buffer under run errors occur during the simulation, you may need to manually adjust the recorder's buffer sizes.

2.   Corel doesn't recommend using this version of Corel CD Creator with New Shell under Windows NT. New Shell was in a pre-release state at the time that this version of Corel CD Creator was released.

3.   In rare cases, an incomplete installation of Windows NT may be the cause of OLE automation errors while using PCD Creator, VCD Creator, Disc Duplicator, or while creating a CD EXTRA disc on a Windows NT system. If you encounter this type of error, you should try running the following program:

	"Regedit.exe /s ole2.reg"

If this is not successful, try reinstalling Windows NT over top of the existing version of NT. The setup will not wipe out previous configurations, but will simply install any missing OLE components.

4.   NTFS formatted hard disks may tend to be slower for some types of access than similar drives formatted as FAT. This can have an impact on the results of  CD Creators Disk Transfer Rate System Test and on some systems may be enough to cause the Recorder System Test to fail at higher recording speeds.


N   Special Considerations for Ricoh RO-1060C Users

The Ricoh RO-1060C is not able to record mode 2 tracks which contain a mixture of form 1 and form 2 sectors. Consequently, this recorder can not be used with CD Creator to write Blue Book compatible CD EXTRA discs, nor to create Video CDs.


O   Special Considerations for Pinnacle RCD5020 Users

If you are using a Pinnacle RO5020 and experience buffer underrun errors while recording even after successfully running CD Creators system tests, you should try increasing the read and write sizes to 63488. To change the read and write sizes:

- select the 'CD Recorder Setup...' option from the 'File' menu
- highlight your CD Recorder and click on the 'Properties' button


P   Special Considerations for Sony, Optima, Smart & Friendly Users

If you are using a Sony CDU920S, Sony CDU9211, Optima CD-R650, or Smart & Friendly CD-R1002 CD Recorder and receive a "Unit attention, Write error while recording" error, check the values assigned to CD Creators read and write sizes. If they are set to 63488, try reducing both the read and write sizes to 49152. To check or change the read and write sizes:

- select the 'CD Recorder Setup...' option from the 'File' menu
- highlight your CD Recorder and click on the 'Properties' button


Q   New drives and devices

1.  CD Creator 2 now supports four new drives Teac CD-R50S, Plasmon CDR 4220, JVC XR-W2010 and the Pinnacle RCD 5040. Section 'O' of this read me file is applicable to Pinnacle RCD 5040 too.

2.  CD Creator 2 and the associated drivers now handle multi-LUN devices properly under Windows NT.


R   Problems resolved

1.  Philips CDD2000 can now mount a disc that is present in the drive while Win95 boots.

2.  Philips CDD2000 under can now recognize single session discs under Windows NT. 

S   Disabling LUN support 

If you notice that either your reader or the recorder has multiple drive letters assigned to it, you could resolve the problem by disabling LUN support.

1.  To disable LUN support on all CD-ROM drives, add the following switch to the registry and set it to a non zero value.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\Portdrvr\\Cuni\\advanced\\Disable_CDROMLUNs if you are running Corel CD Creator on Windows NT or
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\Software\\Corel corp\\cuni\\advanced\\Disable_CDROMLUNs if you are running Corel CD Creator on Windows 95.

2.  To disable LUN support on all CD Recorders, add the following switch to the registry and set it to a non zero value.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\Portdrvr\\Cuni\\advanced\\Disable_CDWORMLUNs if you are running Corel CD Creator on Windows NT or
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\Software\\Corel Corp\\cuni\\advanced\\Disable_CDWORMLUNs if you are running Corel CD Creator on Windows 95.


T   CD Creator 2 and Windows NT 4.0
1. At the time this product was released, Windows NT 4.0 was still in Beta. Some of the features in the product may not function properly when run under Windows NT 4.0 Beta. 
If you are attempting to create audio discs using NT 4.0, Corel recommends you to turn the Auto insert notification off for your CD Recorder and the reader. 
To do this, use Regedt32 to view the registry. Look for "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdrom\Autorun" and set it to 0. 

2. With the limited amount of testing we have been able to conduct under Windows NT 4.0, build 1234, it has been observed that discs having logical sector sizes other than 2048 bytes can not be read.


U. Disc image format changes
In order to fix certain problems, the format of the disc image file(.cif) had to be modified. The current release would not recognize a disc image created with previous releases as a valid disc image.


V   Duplicate session names on the Import session list
Sometimes when you try to import a session from a multi-session disc, the session list might show duplicate session names. This happens if you have selected a session other than the last, using Corel Session selector, prior to attempting the import. The currently active session appears twice on the list. In order to be able to see the actual last session, run Corel Session Selector again and activate the last session.  

