DREMPELS v1.5 Written by and copyright (c) Ryan Geiss, October 2000 - February 2005 This program is an application & screensaver for Windows 9x/ME/NT/2k. See below for installation instructions. OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://www.geisswerks.com/drempels -now with "comments", "troubleshooting", and "feature requests" forums! The web site is THE place for up-to-date information about Drempels. If your problem is not addressed in this document, please try reading the TROUBLESHOOTING FORUM on the website, and if you can't find the answer there, please post a new comment, and maybe someone who knows a solution (or the author) will be able to help. Please use the forums instead of e-mailing me, so that all users of Drempels users can be "in the loop." REQUIREMENTS ------------------------------------------ -DirectX 5.0 or greater ( http://www.microsoft.com/download ) -Windows 9x/ME/NT/2k operating system -Your CPU (processor) must support the MMX instruction set. Almost all CPU's faster than 300 MHz support this, and all Pentium II or later chips do. INSTALLATION ------------------------------------------ All you have to do is download and run the file DREMPELSXXX_SETUP.EXE (where XXX is a version number) and Drempels will integrate itself into your system. One additional thing you might have to do is to TURN ACTIVE DESKTOP OFF (if it's on); Active Desktop will prevent Drempels from drawing to your background when Drempels is running in "Desktop Mode". For instructions on how to do this, see the "TROUBLESHOOTING" section below. To uninstall, simply go to the Start Menu, Programs, Drempels, and select "Uninstall". To configure Drempels, click the "Drempels Config" shortcut on the desktop, or go to the Start Menu, Programs, Drempels, and then "Configure Drempels." To change your screensaver options, go to the Start Menu, then Settings, and Control Panel. From the Control Panel, double-click "Display", and the Display Properties dialog will come up. From this dialog, select the "Screen Saver" tab, and from there you can tweak your screen saver settings. USAGE ------------------------------------------ Drempels has two basic modes of operation: 1) Fullscreen mode (screensaver mode) 2) Desktop mode (application mode) Fullscreen Mode When you run Drempels as a screensaver (like you would any normal screensaver), it takes over the entire screen - this is "Fullscreen Mode". In Fullscreen Mode, Drempels behaves like a normal screensaver: it takes over the entire screen, and you can move the mouse, or hit ESCAPE, to exit. You can also use many of Drempels' hotkeys - press 'h' for a list. Desktop Mode However, when you run Drempels manually (via a shortcut), or when Drempels launches automatically at startup (if you've enabled this option), it runs in "Desktop Mode." Desktop mode runs in your windows desktop, or background. You are free to work in other applications, but instead of the ordinary static background image, you have a moving one. Drempels is very CPU-friendly and only uses your idle CPU cycles. When you're in Desktop Mode, you can use hotkeys to control it, like in fullscreen mode, but ONLY WHEN THE "DR" ICON IN THE SYSTEM TRAY IS HIGHLIGHTED IN GREEN. If it is dark (black), then keyboard input is flowing into some other application (such as a word processor). To make the icon highlight in green, click on it. You can then use the hotkeys. (For a complete list of the hotkeys, press 'h'.) You can also right-click the "Dr" icon to get a popup menu from which you can close or suspend Drempels. "Suspending" it means Drempels will stay resident in memory, but it will temporarily restore your original wallpaper, and it won't try to use your idle CPU cycles. To exit suspend mode, simply click on the "Dr" icon again. COMPATIBILITY TIPS ------------------------------------------ 1. If you have problems getting it to run in 'desktop mode', make sure Windows is running in 16-bit color. You can check this by going to the start menu, then Settings, Control Panel, Display Properties, clicking the 'Settings' tab, and making sure in the 'Colors' box it says 'High Color (16 bit)'. If you are running in 16 bit color and it doesn't work, try 24 or 32 bit. 2. If it still won't run in 'desktop wallpaper mode', try downloading the most recent software driver for your video card. You can do this by going to the web page of the company that makes your video (graphics) card. Also try tweaking the overlay filter color from the Drempels configuration panel. 3. If you're trying to Drempels as a screensaver (fullscreen mode), if it doesn't work, try telling Drempels to run in a Video Mode of a different bit depth (16, 24, or 32). If that doesn't work, try different options for your Windows bit depth (see tip #1 for how to do this). 4. Regardless of the whether you're trying to run in fullscreen or desktop mode, if it does't work, try each of the low, medium, and high-quality settings. The most important thing is to try qualities other than 'high', since a small handful of video cards can't do high quality mode (they run out of video memory). TROUBLESHOOTING ------------------------------------------ 1. If nothing shows up when you run Drempels in fullscreen mode (all you see is the little "Dr" system tray icon), MAKE SURE THAT ACTIVE DESKTOP WEB CONTENT IS TURNED OFF. Active Desktop prevents Drempels from displaying properly. To do this, right-click on your desktop, select "Active Desktop", and make sure the "View as Web Page" option is unchecked. PERFORMANCE TIPS ------------------------------------------ 1. In fullscreen mode, to avoid jerky or choppy animation, minimize all the other windows on the screen before running Drempels. 2. If the frame rate is slow, try reducing the quality to low or medium. Or, if you're running it in fullscreen mode, try a lower-resolution video mode (such as 320x240 or 400x300). MISCELLANEOUS NOTES ------------------------------------------ 1. while it's running: -hit 'H' for help (shows you a list of hotkeys) -hit 'ESC' (escape) to exit -hit 'R' to randomize the texture & behavior -hit 'SPACE' to load a new (random) texture -hit 'T' to lock/unlock the current texture (they randomly fade in and out) (note that this used to be the 'L' key) -hit 'B' to lock/unlock the current behavior (the characteristic motion of the texture) -hit 'P' to pause Drempels and free up the CPU (hit it again to unpause it) -hit '+' to increase the amount of motion blur, and '-' to reduce it. -hit 'F5' to refresh the texture file listing -hit 'F6' to show the filename of the current texture -hit '@' to save a screenshot to C:\ -hit 'Q' to toggle high quality textures on/off -hit 'J' and 'K' to zoom in and out -hit 'U' and 'I' to slow down or speed up the animation -hit 'N' to minimize the window (fullscreen mode only) -hit 'S' to suspend (desktop mode only) -hit 'M' to toggle global text message suppression on/off 2. keys for advanced users: (VJ's) -hit the number keys (1-9) along the top of the keyboard to switch the source image folder from the main one (c:\program files\drempels) to a subfolder number 1-9 (example: c:\program files\drempels\5). Hit '0' (zero) to go back to the main folder. (note: the default installation doesn't put any images in these folders; you have to create the folders & put images in them.) -hit 'a' to toggle automatic (sequential) cycling through those subdirectories on/off. (It is off by default.) Hit 'a' a second time to turn automatic cycling off. The length of time that it sticks with a subdirectory is determined by the new 'Time between subdir jumps (seconds)' box on the config panel. -hit SHIFT+A (capital 'A') (instead of lowercase 'a') to cycle randomly (rather than sequentially) through the subdirectories. Not all subdirectories must be present, but at least one of them must be present, for these features to work. And any subdirectory that is present must have at least one image in it. 3. if you ever want to reset the config panel to the default options, go into your registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE and delete the folder called 'drempels'. 4. review of requirements on creating/adding textures: 1. 256x256 is the preferred size, but images can be any size. 2. 24-bit 3. TGA, BMP, or JPG format (note: TGA/BMP are fastest) 4. must be placed the image folder you've specified from the config panel. For creating textures, I VERY highly recommend IRFANVIEW, a small, simple and powerful image viewer/editor that is excellent for doing batch conversions like these. Visit Winfiles to download IrfanView. (Hit 'B' in Irfanview to do a batch conversion, and use the 'Advanced Options' button to do all the fancy stuff.) There is also a program called Reptile at this link: click here. This program lets you create seamless patterns that work very well with Drempels. 5. mini-guide to invoking Drempels: Drempels will run in either fullscreen or desktop mode based on how you launch it. (The screensaver always runs in fullscreen mode, while the "application" version always runs in desktop mode.) To run the screensaver: "drempels.exe /s" (always uses fullscreen mode) To run the application: "drempels.exe" (always uses desktop mode) To run the config panel: "drempels.exe /c" To run it **from startup folder**: "drempels.exe /y" (...'/y' makes it only actually run if the "launch at startup" option is checked in the config panel; if not, it just exits) NOTE: you can also run it as a screensaver by using drempels.scr (located in your windows SYSTEM directory) in the normal fashion; it does require drempels.exe, though, which is in your windows dir. KNOWN BUGS ------------------------------------------ 1. In desktop mode, when the monitor shuts off (to conserve power) and then later comes back on, drempels is gone. To get Drempels back, simply click on the icon in the systray. 2. If you change your windows display settings (video mode) while Drempels is running, you will again get a pink background and no Drempels. You'll need to close Drempels and open it again to get it to work. NEW FEATUERS - v1.5 - 6 Feb 2005 -------------------------------- 1. Added 'm' key to toggle global suppression of all text messages on/off 2. Added ability to cycle through random subdirectories under the main folder that has been selected. The subdirectories must be named "1" through "9". You can hit those keys (1-9) while the program is running to jump to those subdirectories. You can hit '0' (zero) to go back to the main drempels texture directory. You can also hit 'a' to toggle automatic (sequential) cycling through those subdirectories on/off. (It is off by default.) Hit 'a' a second time to turn automatic cycling off. The length of time that it sticks with a subdirectory is determined by the new 'Time between subdir jumps (seconds)' box on the config panel. You can also hit SHIFT+A (capital 'A') (instead of lowercase 'a') to cycle randomly (rather than sequentially) through the subdirectories. Not all subdirectories must be present, but at least one of them must be present, for these features to work. And any subdirectory that is present must have at least one image in it. 3. cranked motion vector gridsize up from 18x14 to 36x28 4. enabled higher resolutions (1280xYYY, 1600xYYY) 5. screensaver mode now runs in high quality (1X zoom) be default, rather than medium quality (2X zoom). NEW FEATURES - v1.4 - 5 April 2001 ---------------------------------- 1. Win2k pink mouse cursor bug should be fixed. 2. Drempels will now run in either fullscreen or desktop mode, based on how you launch it. The screensaver always runs in fullscreen mode, while the "application" version always runs in desktop mode. (The "application" version is invoked by clicking a shortcut to Drempels, as opposed to running it as a Windows screensaver.) 3. Added option to automatically launch Drempels at Windows startup. 4. Added user-customizable overlay filter color (for Desktop Mode) 5. Jpeg images are now supported (but it's SLOW) 6. The 256x256 image restriction has been lifted (but 256x256 has the fastest load time) 7. Drempels now runs in the system tray when in desktop mode. When the icon is bright green, Drempels will steal the keyboard input, so you can control it with the keyboard; when it is black, the keyboard input goes to whatever window you're working in. Click on the icon to make it green; click elsewhere to give keyboard input to another window or application. 8. Added 'Suspend' feature for desktop mode (hides Drempels but leaves the icon in the systray, so you can bring it back). 9. Added the F6 hotkey so you can see the filename of the current texture. 10. Revamped the way text messages are displayed; now right-justified, stackable, and with better color matching. NEW FEATURES - v1.3 - 8 Jan 2001 -------------------------------- 1. Desktop mode is now much faster (+20%) 2. Added U/I keys to slow down/speed up animation 3. Added 'n' key to minimize 4. Added 'b' key to lock/unlock behavior 5. Added 'p' key to pause/unpause the animation (cpu friendly) 6. Changed 'L' key to 'T' 7. Binimizing the window now pauses the action (to conserve resources) (check it with your CPU monitor!) 8. Improved compatibility across the board by reducing dependence on DirectDraw drivers (puke!) 9. Improved compatibility in windowed mode by making the render window run in the same bit depth as Windows is in (Drempels now ignores config the panel selection of bit depth for windowed mode.) 10. Improved compatibility in desktop mode 11. Changed config panel so anim. speed has greater range (8X) 12. In the config panel, the video mode selection box is now disabled whenever Desktop Wallpaper Mode is selected, so the user realizes that it has no effect. 13. Fixed bug where if your machine crashed while Drempels was running in desktop mode, when you rebooted, your wallpaper would be bright pink. 14. Effect of the animation speed slider in the config panel is now more exact NEW FEATURES - v1.2 - 5 Dec 2000 -------------------------------- 1. Added DESKTOP MODE - now Drempels can be your windows wallpaper, fully animated! Currently works with about 75% of video cards... the next release should be a little better. PLEASE, NO E-MAILS about compatibility problems! 2. Added low- and medium-quality rendering modes, to speed things up dramatically. 3. Added high-quality texture mode (bilinear texel interpolation). 4. Added support for BMP's (now you can use TGA or BMP files). 5. Replaced some manual blit code with DirectDraw blits, so graphics hardware compatibility should be improved (with the exception of Desktop Mode). 6. Removed password support 7. Added J/K keys to zoom in/out 8. Added R key to randomize things 9. Fixed a bug with jerky images 10. General, massive cleanup of code should improve stability. 11. Things like ALT-TABbing to other fullscreen apps should no longer be a problem. -Bugs fixed in v1.2b:- 12. fixed bug w/desktop mode on restoring "" wallpaper (none) 13. fixed bug w/BMP & TGA files in same dir. 14. fixed F5 key (was totally broken) 15. names of texture files that fail to load are now shown with ellipses so you can see the filename 16. sped up the animation in desktop mode by 60% (just the animation speed, not the frame rate!) NEW FEATURES - v1.1b - 23 Oct 2000 ---------------------------------- 1. fixed a bug with the initial setting of 'animation speed' in the config panel; for people upgrading from Drempels 1.0, it was set to 4X-speed by default, instead of "normal." NEW FEATURES - v1.1 - 21 Oct 2000 ---------------------------------- 1. you can now set a limit on the fps (frames per second) if you like 2. more algorithms/variety in the texture movements 3. more versatile controls over the texture movements (from config panel) 4. can now control the amount of motion blur with the + and - keys 5. now using bicubic interpolation of texcoords, for the ultimate smoothness in rasterization.