04-17-94 -- Jamie O'Connell

MM-GIF Common Questions and Answers

Note: some of the following answers are borrowed from MMQUST.TXT -- download 
      or view that file for more info on the MIDI Mapper.

*** HEY NO SOUND!!!

Q.  I just downloaded the mmgif.zip package from the CompuServe SSForum and 
    the audio doesn't work. I have a Pro Audio Spectrum 16 sound card (or 
    Sound Blaster or XYZ Brand Sound Card) and it does play midi files through
    the Windows Media Player just fine?

A.  Most sound cards come with new setups for the MIDI Mapper.  There are
    often three setups that'll use the internal sounds of the sound card - one
    labeled "Basic", one labeled "Extended" and one labeled "All".  The
    differences between these three setups are the channels used.  A Basic
    setup will ignore anything on channels 1 to 12, and an extended setup will
    ignore anything on channels 11 through 16.  The All setup will listen to
    all 16 MIDI channels.  

    You can also bypass the MIDI Mapper altogether and select your FM driver
    directly by using the Options/MIDI Configure... menu item.


Q.  When do I use All?

A.  For songs contained in multimedia GIF's, All is the best setting.  MIDI
    songs contained in GIF's adhere to the General MIDI Standard (not 
    Microsoft authoring guidelines -- see MMQUST.TXT).  This means that they 
    contain MIDI data on any of the 16 channels, with percussion on 
    channel 10.


*** WHAT'S WITH THE WARNINGS?!!!

Q.  I get a warning message saying that the "Song x sends output on channels
    not supported by my driver"?

A.  If you are using the MIDI Mapper as the output device (this is the default
    if you haven't configured MM-GIF), see the above suggestions about using 
    the ALL MIDI Mapper setting.  If you are using the Jamie O'Connell - FM 
    Synth driver directly, open the Control Panel applet and select (put an X 
    in) all 16 channels, select the "save settings" box, press the Apply 
    button, and then press the Close button.


Q.  I get a warning message saying that the "Song contains x requires more 
    voices (n1) than my driver supplies (n2)..."?

A.  This is perfectly natural when using sound card driver supplied by most
    manufacturers.  It is simply an advisory message.  Most stock drivers 
    cannot play more than 6 notes at once.  If you have a more advanced card 
    with 2 OPL2 chips or a single OPL3 or OPL4 chip (Sound Blaster Pro, Media
    Vision PAS 16, etc.), and want to hear more notes, download the FM Synth 
    driver (FMSYN.ZIP). This driver has the ability to play 15 notes at once.
  
   
*** THE IMAGES STINK!!!

Q.  I tried to use your mm-gif viewer on another .gif file that displays 
    very nicely on cshow.exe (or other DOS viewer) and find that your mm-gif 
    returns an image that is overlayed with white-dots.  What Gives?

A.  In order to achieve the highest resolution, MM-GIF requires that a 
    Super-VGA card is installed, and that a 256 color driver is installed in 
    Windows.  DOS programs can set VGA cards into other video modes -- Windows
    programs must use the video driver that is currently installed.  The 
    "white-dots" or cross-hatching are dithering marks.  They are produced 
    when MM-GIF translates a 256 color picture into 16 colors.  Trust me, it 
    is better looking than if we didn't do the conversion!    

    GIF files cannot contain more than 256 colors so you may get more memory
    available, and better response if you switch to a 256 color driver from
    a more capable one (16 million colors?).

*** I GET "OUT OF MEMORY" ERRORS!!!

Q.  I Downloaded your mmgif viewer, and was disappointed to find it would not
    work.  It will view a GIF file, poorly, but when I try to load the 
    smallest file on the forum (teapot) it sends a "OUT OF MEMORY" message.  
    I do not have one of the mega-memory monsters, I simply have 2 megs RAM?

A.  GIF files are compressed.  Some GIF's can compress much more than others.
    When expanded, Teapot occupies over 2 Megs of RAM -- it is definitely not
    the smallest, although it's disk image is.  A realistic minimum amount of
    memory for playing multimedia GIF's is about 4 Megs of RAM.  All files
    currently available will play in 4 Megs on a properly configured PC.

Q.  What do you mean "properly configured"?

A.  The first thing to find out is how much disk space you are donating for
    a swap file.  Opening the Control Panel, 386 Enhanced Mode applet and 
    pressing "Virtual Memory", will display the amount.  It is better to
    dedicate a "permanent" swap file if you can manage it.  For a machine
    containing 4 Megs of RAM, an 8 Meg swap file would be ideal.  The
    Program Manager Help/About box should display over 9 Megs of virtual
    memory in this case (with no other apps loaded). 
    
    Other things to check are for are TSR's such as RAM drives: nuke 'em.
    Look in the AUTOEXEC.BAT (or CONFIG.SYS for older DOS), for the amount
    of RAM being given to SMARTDRV.  With my 4 Meg machine, I only allow
    SMARTDRV to use 512K of memory when running Windows.  This may cause
    more disk accesses and slow things down slightly, but I can play all
    the GIF's here!  Obviously the best solution is to get more memory.



    
