Darwin Pond 

© 1996 Rocket Science Games, Inc.

Technical Notes and Troubleshooting Guide

December, 1996

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|           TECHNICAL NOTES                    |
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HOW TO INSTALL DARWIN POND

Please note that this is a Windows95 Autoplay CD-ROM.

1) Insert the Darwin Pond CD into your CD drive.

2) The Darwin Pond Setup program should automatically
come up.  If it doesn't, run "setup.exe" off the CD.  
Follow instructions.  If there are no other Windows 
applications running, you should click "Next."

3) The Setup program will tell you it is going to 
create a directory called "SegaSoft".  It will show 
the destination directory in which it will be created.  
Click "Next."  Or, you can click Browse to change the 
destination directory.  The Setup program will now 
place Darwin Pond into that directory.  

4) The Setup program will tell you the group name to 
which Darwin Pond will be added.  If this is OK, click 
"Next."  You can change the group name by typing in the 
"Program Folders" line of the dialog.  

5) You will be notified that Setup is complete.  
Click OK.  


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DARWIN POND REQUIRES "DIRECTX".
We have included a DirectX installer on the CD.  
If you do not have DirectX, the installer will ask 
you if you want to install it.  IF YOU ALREADY HAVE 
DIRECTX INSTALLED, MAKE SURE IT'S THE MOST CURRENT 
VERSION!!

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DARWIN POND RUNS ON PENTIUM COMPUTERS (P75 or higher).
To play Darwin Pond, you must have an IBM compatible 
computer with at least a Pentium 75 MHz processor.

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INSTALL IT 
It is suggested that you install Darwin Pond onto 
your hard drive and run it from there, rather than 
running it directly from the CD.  

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RUNNING WITHOUT THE CD (without Music)
Once you have installed Darwin Pond, you WILL be able 
to run Darwin Pond without the CD in the drive, but you 
will not be able to hear the awesome music.  

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DARWIN POND IS A FULL SCREEN APPLICATION.
While Darwin Pond is running, no other application can 
access the screen unless you MINIMIZE Darwin Pond.  
This is because Darwin Pond runs in "exclusive mode" 
as a Windows 95 application.

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DARWIN POND REQUIRES AT LEAST 256 COLORS TO RUN.
If your PC does not support more than 16 colors, 
you cannot run Darwin Pond.  If your PC does support 
more than 16 colors, but your color palette has been 
set to 16 colors, then you will need to change it.

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SCREENSAVERS CAUSE DARWIN POND TO MINIMIZE.
If Darwin Pond unexpectedly minimizes and appears 
in the task bar, this is probably because the 
system screensaver has made an attempt to kick 
in.  Due to mysterious reasons, the screensaver 
is sometimes unable to actually run after its 
first attempt, and Darwin Pond will just 
minimize.  If Darwin Pond is already minimized, 
the screensaver will usually run correctly.  
If the screensaver has minimized Darwin Pond, 
you can recover by selecting the Darwin Pond
icon in the task bar.

NOTE: if a minimized Darwin Pond icon in the 
task bar happens to be depressed (focused), 
screensavers will not work.

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SOME WINDOWS95 ACTIVITIES MINIMIZE DARWIN POND
Be aware that Windows95 sometimes will minimize 
Darwin Pond when it wants to display a dialog 
box.  If this happens, recover by selecting the 
Darwin Pond icon in the task bar.  

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DO NOT SET THE SCREENSAVER TO LOAD A POND FILE 
WHICH DARWIN POND IS CURRENTLY RUNNING.  
If you have Darwin Pond minimized, and it is 
running a pond called, "my_pond.dwp", and then 
you set the screensaver to load "my_pond.dwp",  
there may be complications.  

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SOUND 
No other applications can share the sound card 
while Darwin Pond is running.  The reason has 
to do with the nature in which Microsoft's Direct 
Sound handles the sharing of the sound card among 
multiple applications.  

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EASTER EGG
Darwin Pond has a unique display mode which is 
quite trippy.  Enjoy finding it.  


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|          TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE               |
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problem: DARWIN POND LOCKS UP AFTER YOU START OR 
SOON AFTER (SOMETIMES SHUTS DOWN)
Make sure you have the latest version of DirectX
installed on your PC.  We have provided a DirectX 
installer on the Darwin Pond CD.  Try this:

1) Open your "My Computer" icon
2) Right-click the Darwin Pond CD icon  
3) Choose "Open"
4) Open up the subdirectory, "Dxsetup\Directx"
5) Run "Dxsetup.exe"
6) This will allow you to update your drivers
7) Choose "Reinstall DirectX"

Also, make sure that you've got up-to-date video 
and sound drivers.  Consult your hardware 
manufacturer on this.  

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problem: DARWIN POND UNEXPECTEDTLY MINIMIZES AND YOU 
CANNOT RECOVER IT FROM THE TASK BAR
If this happens, you must select the Darwin Pond 
icon in the task bar, and then "RIGHT-LEFT" click it 
(in other words, while holding down the right mouse 
button, press the left mouse button).  

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problem: DARWIN POND IS MINIMIZED: YOU DOUBLE CLICK 
ON THE DARWIN POND ICON AND THE SCREEN FREEZES.
The correct way to open a minimized application is 
to SINGLE CLICK its icon.  If you accidentally 
double click it, Windows 95 sometimes interprets 
both clicks differently and causes the system to 
hang.  Try clicking in the screen to get things 
rolling again.  If that doesn't work, you may have 
to "End Task".  

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               Enjoy Evolving With Us.
