IC200 Service Pack 7b May 14, 2001
Congratulations! You've just installed the latest service pack
for Scala InfoChannel IC200. There have been quite a few changes
since the last service pack, so please read these notes carefully.
For those of you running SP3 or better, we will make a remote update
version of this service pack available for remotely updating your
players in the field. (a very handy feature that was introduced in
SP3!) Please check our Web site at http://www.scala.com.
Our Value Added Resellers should review a new Web page devoted to
recommending specific hardware configurations for Scala InfoChannel.
For example, we recommend using Windows NT4 with Microsoft's NT
service pack 6a, Optibase VideoPlex MPEG cards, and ATI video cards.
There are many tips here for configuring systems for best performance.
We update this page from time to time, so please check back often.
The address is http://www.scala.com/ic/config.
This service pack may be installed over any previous version of IC200,
either Master or Player. There is no need to install any intermediate
service packs. Please note that it is VERY IMPORTANT that all Masters
and all Players in a network have MATCHING VERSIONS of IC200.
Installing mismatched service packs between Masters and Players will
generally cause ScalaNet transmissions to fail.
Below is a detailed list of technical notes about changes contained
in this service pack.
166. We have had success using the Sigma Designs Hollywood+ MPEG video decoder card with the
MPEG EX using the following settings:
Sigma Designs Hollywood+ driver version 1.82.
Windows NT version 4.0 with the latest service pack.
Under the MPEG EX options use the following settings:
1) Match the display mode to the same as the Menu, Design, and Playback resolutions,
color depth and refresh rate. Windows desktop must be the same as
the Scala settings.
2) Disable Double Buffering must be checked.
3) Close MCI after playback must be checked.
4) You must also enable two kludges by editing mmos.ini. See items #164, and #140 below.
The driver may also work under Windows 9x with with the following settings (but note
that long term stability testing has not been confirmed on Windows 9x systems):
1) Match the display mode to the same as the Menu, Design, and Playback resolutions,
color depth and refresh rate (if applicable). Windows desktop must be the same as
the Scala settings.
2) Use 16bit MCI must be checked.
3) Close MCI after playback must be checked.
165. Fixed a problem with ActiveMovie playback hanging that has been observed
on some Windows 2000 systems.
164. Improve handling of window activation changes during MPEG EX playback. If
a rogue window is opened on the desktop while IC200 is playing it can interfere
with movie and script playback. If this happens during MPEG EX playback the
window activation change will not be detected until the end of the movie or
later. To enable the improvement add the following line to the MMOS.INI
file in the IC200 directory:
MCIKLUDGE_SHRINKSWITCHOUTDISABLE=1
With this mmos.ini switch in place IC200 will detect window activation changes
sooner and reboot the system as soon as possible.
163. Fixed a problem with Sound EX failing to initialize a sound event
under some rarely seen conditions.
162. Fixed a problem displaying some JPEG files. Black areas of some
JPEG files were displayed as solid white.
161. A copy of the HASP key device driver installer is now left in the
IC200 folder. This can be used for those that have non standard
parallel ports. To use this installer open a command prompt
window and change directory to the IC200 folder. Type "HINSTALL"
no quotes to get a complete list of options. Type "HINSTALL -r"
to remove the previous version of the driver.
Type "HINSTALL -i -kp -lpt1=<hhh>" to install the driver. For example,
"HINSTALL -i -kp -lpt1=378" if the parallel port is at I/O address 378.
It is highly recommended that you restart the system after installing
the driver.
160. Fixed a problem with the TIFF loader that would cause it to
crash on certain large TIFFs.
159. Fixes some problems with activation that prevented the Launch EX
from minimizing the player under Launch EX control. Also fixes a
visual glitch that has been seen at the end of movies played back
with the MPEG EX. If there are any side effects, the old behavior
can be restored by adding the following line to the MMOS.INI file in
the IC200 directory:
RUNIC_ForceActivation = "TRUE"
Important Reminder!!! If you are going to use the Launch.ex on
InfoChannel Players you should disable the security warning. You
can do so by starting the Player Configuration program
on the player, and select the Launch.ex configuration menu.
158. Service Pack 7 includes version 4.13 of the HASP dongle drivers.
This version may fix problems some users have reported using
earlier versions of the HASP driver on current generation hardware.
157. Fixed a possible crash when parsing very long expressions.
156. Fixed a crash that could occur loading corrupt JPEG files.
155. Fixed a problem displaying some JPEG files. White areas of some
JPEG files were displayed as a pattern of black dots.
154. Fixed a possible crash when saving scripts in the authoring
station while EX menus are open.
153. Fixed a problem that prevented the TVInput EX from shutting down.
152. Added a work around to catch and correct a spurious +20 year
system time jump seen on some Asus P2B-D dual processor
motherboards (presumed to be a Y2K bug - observed after 1/1/2000).
Add the following line to the MMOS.INI file in the IC200 directory:
TIMER_TimeWarpWatchDog=TRUE
151. In some rare cases the serial device may fail to initialize, but
no error was logged. An error message is now logged.
150. Fixed a stack overflow crash playing back movies under Windows 2000.
149. Added minimal support for rotated full screen display mode drivers
that rotate the Windows desktop. To use GDI display mode add the
following line to the MMOS.INI file in the IC200 directory:
VIDEO=GDI.
Note that the GDI Video driver has a number of limitations, and
some known problems. Also performance of the driver can be poor
as compared with full screen display modes.
To set a custom display size, add the following line to the
MMOS.INI file in the IC200 directory:
GDI_CustomSize="Width Height"
Examples:
GDI_CustomSize="768 1024"
GDI_CustomSize="1024 768"
GDI_CustomSize="600 800"
GDI_CustomSize="800 600"
To emulate full screen mode set a custom size that matches the
desktop size, and the following line to the MMOS.INI file in
the IC200 directory to hide the window borders:
GDI_AlignWindowTopLeft=TRUE
148. Fix a crash that could occur when the authoring station user
interface is set to a very large size (1600x1200 or greater).
147. The authoring system restricts the user interface to a minimum of
640x480 size. Some customers working on rotated flat panel
displays need to design in 480x640 or less. Add the following
line to the MMOS.INI file in the IC200 directory:
AUTHOR_Allow320x200DesignPanels=TRUE
Note that you may need to decrease the size of your user
interface fonts too.
146. Fixed a problem that prevented FileIO EX from copying
files if the source file was on CD-ROM, or any source file
marked as read-only.
145. Fixed a problem on InfoChannel Players that prevented
Textfile EX from opening files on CD-ROM, or any file
marked as read-only.
144. In some rare cases script options could be corrupted when a
script is uploaded to a player by ScalaNet. This has been fixed.
143. The Reboot EX will no longer cause an authoring system to reboot,
just InfoChannel Players.
142. Change the way the Reboot EX reboots InfoChannel Players to fix
reports that some players were crashing during the reboot. The new
way of rebooting requests that the player perform a clean shutdown
before issuing the reboot command. If you have any problems with
this new way of rebooting you can restore the old behavior by
adding the following line to the MMOS.INI file in the IC200 directory:
REBOOT_DontShutDown = "TRUE"
141. The MPEG EX now supports a watchdog feature that makes it possible
to run a command line (e.g., to reboot the computer) if the MCI device
hangs. To use the watchdog, add the following line to the MMOS.INI file
in the IC200 directory:
MCIMPEGFAILEDCMD = "your command line here"
For example if you have a batch file to reboot the player
you could have a command line like "c:\rebootplayer.bat"
By the default the watchdog waits 60 seconds before triggering.
The default should not need to be adjusted, however in the unlikely
event that the timeout value needs to be adjusted it can be by
adding the following line to the MMOS.INI file in the IC200 directory:
MCIMPEGWATCHDOGTIMEOUTMS=N
Where N if is set to anything but zero, it changes the watchdog
timeout to that number of milliseconds. The default is 60,000
milliseconds (1 minute).
140. On some systems the Hollywood Plus MPEG MCI device that has been
observed to hang rarely at the end of a movie. It is now
possible enable some changes in the MPEG EX that can help improve
reliability by adding the following line to the MMOS.INI file
in the IC200 directory:
HOLLYWOODPLUSMCIKLUDGE=1
139. Added support for customers that use an offset screen. Previously
such customers used a special build to enable this behavior.
Add the following line to the MMOS.INI file in the IC200 directory:
TOWER_DisableCentering=1
138. New HASP dongle drivers are included with this service pack which
addresses a problem installing the driver on Windows NT with Service
Pack 6a. We recommend that you update this driver when asked in the
installer.
137. The Optibase EX now has a "Don't Send?" check box to prevent ScalaNet
from sending a potentially large MPEG file over a slow connection.
If this box is checked, it will be your responsibility to make sure
that the MPEG file in question is on the player. If the MPEG file
is missing on the player, this event will be skipped.
136. New HASP dongle drivers are included with this service pack which
address a potential audio glitching problem on some configurations
during ScalaNet communications. We recommend that you update this
driver when asked in the installer.
135. Abruptly stopping .wav file playback on some sound cards could
cause a loud popping sound in the audio. This has now been
minimized.
134. It may be necessary on some very fast computers used as IC Players
to start Scala using the "startup.bat" file found in the IC200
directory. (see item 83 below) We have seen some instances,
even with Windows NT, where Scala will not recognize the dongle
after a reboot until the system has had a few seconds to settle
before starting Scala. This requires the WAIT.EXE program from the
Microsoft Windows NT Resource kit or similar utility (which
should be put in the Windows directory).
133. In cases where it is important to maintain stable 7x24 IC200 Player
a weekly system reboot, even in Windows NT4, is highly recommended.
However, we have noted that some NT4 device drivers can have problems
with what is technically known as the "Multiple Shutdown" problem.
Currently, our suggested remedy to this dilemma is as follows:
Schedule the normal weekly shutdown event:
AT \\Player_Machine_Name 05:30 /EVERY:Su c:\win32app\ntreskit\SHUTDOWN.EXE /R /L /C /Y /T:10
and a few minutes prior to this system reboot, schedule the following event:
AT \\Player_Machine_Name 05:28 /EVERY:Su c:\win32app\ntreskit\KILL.EXE icplayer.exe
Please note that, contrary to what you might think, this action will _NOT_
terminate the Scala Player! What this will do is kill the IC200 "Watchdog process"
(see notes 121, 109, 84 and 21 below) and thereby prevent it from attempting to
reboot the machine while the machine is already in the process of being rebooted.
If you have questions about the above commands, please consult the
Microsoft Windows NT Resource kit for a full explanation of the above
command line syntax.
132. This service pack allows you to upgrade the DLLs for the Optibase
Videoplex PCI MPEG-2 decoder card located in the root directory
of IC200 (rtdbin.dll, rtdsdk.dll, rtdutils.dll, optiinstall.dll).
These new DLLs are required for NTSC Rev "J" boards starting with
serial number 9352000 or higher or for PAL Rev "H" boards with
serial number 1445000 or higher. These new DLLs should work even
with older cards, but if you have not had a problem in the past,
we recommended not upgrading. If you later decide, after upgrading,
to revert to the previous version, you can rename rtdbin2_1.dll and
rtdsdk2_1.dll to rtdbin.dll and rtdsdk.dll respectively to go back
to the drivers you had. Please note the correct Optibase VideoPlex
PCI decoder part numbers to order are "AMP-0385" for NTSC and
"AMP-0390" for PAL.
131. We've added a version number of the service pack in the registry
to insure proper installation of future add-ons.
130. Excessively long filenames and paths could cause problems with
ScalaNet. This is now handled to the limit of the OS.
129. Attempting to send a script in Scala with nested subscripts
would cause the Player crash on validation. Multiple layers
of nested subscripts are now supported in ScalaNet.
128. It was possible that the Log EX would end the player's daily log at
sometime just after 11:30 p.m. instead of waiting until Midnight.
This is now much more accurate.
127. On dual processor Windows NT machines, logging and scheduling
could be inaccurate due to a problem in the NT time-of-day clock.
A fix was made that addresses this problem when running Scala
with the Windows NT multiprocessor kernel. Windows NT resyncs
the software time-of-day clock with the motherboard RTC hourly.
126. It is now possible to disable Scala's use of the PC's sound card
by adding the following line to the MMOS.INI file in the IC200
directory:
DISABLE_AUDIO = TRUE
125. A new EX has been added called the Reboot EX. From the Options
menu, you can enable the Reboot EX and specify either a daily
or weekly reboot and specify a time of day for the reboot to
take place. Scala recommends that players be rebooted at least
once a week for proper operation. This EX is intended for
Player use only. Use at your own risk on a Master station!
This EX is only in English, but is fairly self explanatory.
124. ScalaNet would sometimes exit when listing certain filenames
in the ScalaNet status window. This has been fixed.
123. ScalaNet now reliably waits 30 seconds between retries in a
periodic scheduled job.
122. Error handling in RAS dial support has been improved.
121. Scala more reliably reboots, restarts or exits (see notes 109,
84 and 21 below) when a Windows requester minimizes Scala
unexpectedly. Previously, it might appear that the system has
a working ScalaNet connection, but the IC log errors would
indicate a problem in recognizing certain file types, or have
scripts arrive on the player that are mostly empty and not being
able to remotely reboot the player. Various different failure
modes could exist. The system now fully shuts down to avoid
these sorts of indeterminate states.
120. Text word wrap and justification are done correctly in some
instances of hand authored scripts with anti-alias enabled.
119. A fix was added to prevent temporary TrueType font files from
accumulating over time on a player system under Windows NT.
118. On the IC200 Broadcast product, it was not possible to obtain
a full disk directory listing in ScalaNet. This has been fixed.
117. Sending a new version of a script in ScalaNet while an older
version of the same script was playing would be unreliable.
This has been improved. Sending two scripts with the same
embedded files could also be problematic. This has also
been addressed.
116. IMPORTANT NOTE: In ScalaNet, Player names and Group
names MUST be limited to 19 characters or less. Entries
20 characters or more may result in undesired ScalaNet
operation.
115. Fixed a problem with some video cards in true color mode
where anti-aliased text elements had black pixels on the
right of the text with certain wipes.
114. An update was made to the IC200 Player to minimize any
errors with ScalaNet when using the TextFile EX.
113. The Scala bitmap fonts named SGill and SGillN have been
renamed to ScalaG and ScalaGN respectively. Existing scripts
that reference old names will need to be re-edited accordingly.
112. If you are running with an ATI video card and have double
buffering problems (some wipes and transitions are not as
clean as they should be), you may add a line to the mmos.ini
file in the IC200 directory with the following syntax:
XDRAW_FlipAndWait = 1
This compensates for a bug in the current ATI driver under
Windows NT4 (driver 5.1.118, 4.0.0 for ATI 3D RAGE PRO AGP 2X
GT-C2U2). We do not recommend enabling this unless you have
a serious double buffering problem. Future drivers from ATI
may fix this problem.
111. With this service pack, we've cleaned up the Start Menu for
IC200 and have updated the splash screen with new graphics
and our new slogan: "Broadcast Multimedia."
110. This service pack now includes updates to all language versions
of InfoChannel, not just English. Supported languages include
German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, and
Swedish.
109. TCP/IP RAS dial-up support has been improved. It is now not
required to supply an IP number or DNS name in ScalaNet.
Instead, an IP number can be dynamically assigned by the RAS
server running on the Player as long as you specify a Dial-up
Networking phonebook entry name. Unique phonebook entries with
unique usernames and passwords can be made on a Player by Player
basis in Microsoft's Dial-up Networking software. The password
used for Dial-up Networking may now be different from the
password used within ScalaNet.
The new format for entering these numbers is as follows:
Syntax: (optional phonebook entry name) optional IP address
Example: (Exton RAS) 38.242.57.250
or: (Exton RAS) Pigeon
or: (Exton RAS)
or: Pigeon
or: 38.242.57.250
At this time, we do not recommend using RAS dial-up support
with later versions of Windows 95 or Windows 98, since it is
not possible to disable the Windows dialog boxes that appear
on the InfoChannel Player's screen. When these dialog boxes
appear, InfoChannel is minimized and will reboot, restart or exit
playback depending on the settings in runic.sca. (see 21 below)
You must also disable the "Log on to Network" option in each
Dial-up Networking phonebook entry if you are running ScalaNet
on a Windows 95 or 98 computer. Should you have a need
to dial a Windows 95 or 98 player, we recommend using the
TAPI connection EX for traditional modem to modem transfers.
RAS dial-up support does work correctly under Windows NT4
when all of the dialog boxes and status boxes are disabled.
For compatibility with existing RAS dial installations, the
old syntax for specifying phone and IP numbers still works.
108. The installer for this service pack gives you the options of
uninstalling the old HASP dongle driver and installing the
latest HASP dongle driver. We recommend you install this
update.
107. The Optibase EX has been made more robust. If the MPEG file
is unavailable for any reason, the event will be skipped and
the Player will continue to play, even if the file is lost
in the middle of playback. For MPEG-1 video elementary streams,
it is now possible to seamlessly loop playback to create
animated backgrounds. The IC100 CD has some examples of this
type of MPEG file. Please make sure to check the Web site at
http://www.scala.com/ic/config for genlock considerations.
106. Optibase recently fixed a hardware problem on the VideoPlex
PCI MPEG2 decoder card to initialize the card more reliably.
If you have a situation where the Optibase EX will not initialize
correctly each time InfoChannel is started, please contact
Optibase for a replacement of your Optibase VideoPlex PCI card.
Please note that we do not support the VideoPlex FG or VideoPlex
Express boards at this time.
105. Changing settings in the Optibase EX Options dailog will now
cause the card to be reinitialized without needing to restart
InfoChannel.
104. Playback of very short scripts is more reliable.
103. It is no longer necessary to have a hosts file or DNS entry
if a specific IP number is specified in ScalaNet. Improvements
were also made in TCP/IP time-outs.
102. Sub-scripts with absolute paths are now transmitted correctly.
101. InfoChannel now works with file names that are over 100 characters
in length.
100. Embedded italic TrueType fonts are now correctly transmitted
in all cases.
99. ScalaNet job scheduling has been improved to allow a range
of times to be specified. This allows ScalaNet to retry
sending scripts over a period of time (e.g.: from midnight to
6am when long distance rates might be lower). Exact job
scheduling is still available for reliable connections
that need only one try, or where you might be concerned that
an unresponding Player could incur significant communication
charges.
98. If you load a script that is already loaded, you now have
the option of keeping the existing copy, or loading a fresh
copy of the unaltered script.
97. The help text is improved in various places in the product.
96. The TextFile EX now has the option to not send the data files
in ScalaNet. The path specified in authoring is the same
path used to read the text files on the Player in this case.
Also, the TextFile EX now works better on adjacent pages.
95. The Sound EX will mute the audio before initializing the sound
card to prevent popping and clicking on some sound cards.
Also, some error messages were improved to be less confusing.
94. The Launch EX was improved to work better with programs that
were intended to run non-minimized.
93. Transparency of button faces can now be correctly adjusted.
92. Anti-aliased text now works better with the Size option.
91. Files on the Master are restored if a "Receive a file on Player"
job in ScalaNet is canceled.
The following changes are incorporated in this service pack from
SP4a or prior service packs.
90. Shuffler images are updated more reliably after long edit sessions.
89. Audio playback has been improved to eliminate resampling which may
have caused distortion under some circumstances. Also, the
Sound EX Wait? button works correctly.
88. InfoChannel now starts and exits more cleanly on newer and faster
PCs.
87. The Schedule EX correctly plays and stops with exact scheduled
events that are repeated.
86. It is highly recommended to lock the playback display mode of a
Player to a fixed resolution and color depth using the ConfigIC
program. Generally, this is set to 800x600x16. We also recommend
using the same background resolution for your clipart. Failure to
do this may cause excessive video mode switching, black screens
between pages, failure to perform wipes, and in some cases, system
instability.
85. Weekly rebooting of IC Players is required. For Windows NT, this
can be done from the system task scheduler. For Windows 95
systems, the system task scheduler would need to call a rebooting
utility such as QBOOT.EXE FORCE REBOOT (qbt130.zip) which is a
shareware utility available on the Web. For more information,
please check our Web site at http://www.scala.com/ic/config
84. It is recommended that all utilities on the Player that might
put up pop-up dialogs in Windows be disabled, such as network
messages, daylight savings time messages, UPS power failure
messages, etc. In the past, these dialogs would minimize the
Player (stop playback) and display the Windows message. The
Player has been improved so that if the InfoChannel Player is
minimized, that it will now automatically maximize itself and
reboot the system (default), restart the Player, or terminate
playback according to the runic.sca settings in the Config
folder described in note 21 below. Also, a time-out function
has been added in the event that DirectDraw is locked.
83. A simple startup.bat file is now included in the IC200 folder for
Windows 95 IC200 Players that need extra time to boot before
starting InfoChannel. This requires the WAIT.EXE program from the
Microsoft Windows 95 Resource kit or similar utility (which
should be put in the Windows directory).
82. ScalaNet now correctly reports the percent complete during
transmission of large scripts.
81. If you are planning to use InfoChannel with an MPEG card, please
see our Web page for recommended hardware configurations at
http://www.scala.com/ic/config. Use of non-recommended hardware
or software or improperly configuring your system may cause
undesirable operation.
80. We do not recommend using InfoChannel without a sound card. We
have seen some configurations without sound cards that do not
exit cleanly.
79. Added RAS dial support to the TCP/IP EX! Here are the details:
This allows you to use Windows dial-up networking support in
ScalaNet. You must have RAS dial support installed on both the
Master and Player. Also, a Dial-up Networking phonebook entry
must exist so that the system knows about your modem properties.
This Dial-up Networking phonebook entry on the Master must have
the name 'ScalaNet'. Internally, ScalaNet will find this entry
and dynamically change the phone numbers and passwords accordingly
to call all the different Players.
You need to enter BOTH a phone number to dial and a TCP/IP
address for the Player. In ScalaNet, simply enter the phone
number in parentheses before the IP address or machine name,
such as:
(3012922582)HERMIT or (3012922582)192.168.4.1
If no parentheses are found, no RAS dialing occurs and the
TCPIP.EX connects as before.
Please note that the Password field in ScalaNet MUST contain the
RAS Dial password and this MUST match the normal ScalaNet password
between Master and Player.
When the Master system starts dialing out with RAS Dial, a Windows
dialog appears on the screen and InfoChannel is minimized. To
switch back to InfoChannel, simply click on InfoChannel on the
taskbar to maximize the window again.
On the Player, if you are running Windows 95, you need to
install the Plus Pak and enable the RAS dial-in server. For
Windows NT4, please consult your system administrator to
enable RAS dial-in services. Please note that the RAS Dial
capabilities are a part of the TCP/IP EX, not the TAPI EX.
78. If you are not planning to use the nulmodem EX, we highly recommend
that you disable this COMM EX in the COMMGR.SCA file in the CONFIG
folder of both Masters and Players. If a conflict exists,
InfoChannel disables the Nulmodem EX in favor of TAPI. Please
also make sure not to have TAPI and RAS Dial and the Modem EX all
trying to use the same modem. You must choose one when the system
is configured.
77. A specific MPEG EX has been written that works with the Optibase
VideoPlex MPEG decoder card. An Adobe Acrobat PDF file is included
in this service pack and is installed in the IC200 folder of your
hard drive. You will need the Adobe Acrobat reader to view or
print this document. This may be obtained from the Doc directory
of the IC200 CD or directly from Adobe's Web site at
http://www.adobe.com.
76. Serial book now gives a useful error message when a port cannot be
opened. A serial task error message has also been fixed.
75. The screen resolution button in ConfigIC now displays the correct
playback resolution and color depth.
74. The TextFile EX now works correctly with zero-byte files.
73. TCP/IP now works even if RAS support is not installed.
72. Fixed the reboot code so that it works even when a child process
(such as MPEG) is running.
71. Fixed an allocation problem with the new script variable
"COMM.StartScriptByDefault."
70. ScalaNet no longer stops communications while minimized.
69. DirectX code now prevents the system from overwriting our bitmaps.
68. Fixes a database problem -- it is no longer possible to create a
group that contains itself.
67. TAPI has a new "modem not installed" error message.
66. The Sound EX uses larger blocks to fix an ADPCM spooling problem.
65. Fixed an obscure TCP/IP problem (missing firstkeys).
64. Authoring code no longer exports disabled elements.
63. Player now correctly handles numeric formatting.
62. Player now has semaphore protection on variables to fix an obscure
problem.
61. Fixed a shutdown problem with the Schedule EX.
60. Added COMM.Connected ScalaScript variable.
59. The marquee now no longer selects (invisible) inactive elements.
Elements that are "Off" are now no longer selected with the
marquee.
58. A new option has been added to the ScalaNet Options menu which
allows you to change the default state of the "Start Script" button
on the Job Setup menu.
57. ConfigIC now reads its configuration from the correct file.
56. TextFile EX now aborts properly if the script is deleted.
55. Fixed a problem with the TCP/IP communications which could crash
in certain system configurations.
54. The MPEG EX now correctly handles 8-bit display modes.
53. The TextFile EX now handles long strings, out of range variables,
and boundary conditions.
52. InfoChannel now exits gracefully if DirectX initialization fails.
51. Removed artificial 9 serial port limit.
50. Fixed a problem when previewing passive elements from the Wipe
menu.
49. Updated switch.bok for MPEG compatibility.
48. Fixed numerous problems with the TextFile EX.
47. Fixed a crashing problem with the TARGA file loader.
46. The IC.Log file now appears in ScalaArt: instead of ScalaProgram.
45. IFT is now tolerant of time zone variations when comparing file
dates.
44. Added new mmos.ini variable SCALA_YIELDPERFRAME for field support.
43. Changed order of notifications on Player variables to match the
order they're created in.
42. Fixed a timing-specific problem that sometimes cut sounds short
on AVIs and MPEGs.
41. Fixed a filing system race condition that could cause Player
crashes.
40. NumericFields no longer crash if maxvalue exceeds 999999.
39. File menus opened from modal dialogs, like the Options dialog in
the Receiver EX, no longer freeze the display.
38. TextFile EX variables are now range-checked and cleared between
uses.
37. The TextFile EX can now handle long path names.
36. The TextFile EX no longer fails if it cannot access the
ScalaArt:\Text directory.
35. TCP/IP transfers no longer fail when trying to overwrite a
read-only file.
34. The Sound EX now stores the system mixer levels at startup so that
it can correctly restore them in case of a crash.
33. The Queue EX now works with the standard dongle key.
32. Fixed a problem with wipe icons not always appearing on In and Out
buttons.
31. Changed the natural name of the Modem EX from "Modem" to "Modem
(DOS)" to allow both TAPI and Modem to be used on the same system.
30. Fixed a COMMGR bug which would cause scripts that were sent with
"Send Sub-scripts" off to not validate if the main script had
sub-scripts, even if those scripts existed on the Player from a
previous transmission.
29. Fixed a COMMGR bug which would require a script's fonts to reside
on the Master Station even if "Send Fonts?" was off.
28. Adding the following line to the commgr.sca:
"COMM.DisableSound = On;
disables sound (but not wipes) during ScalaNet communications.
27. It is now possible to remotely update InfoChannel system files
(books and EXes) using Scala-provided job scripts. Future
service packs will include a job script that allows users to
remotely update any Player that has SP3 or above on it.
26. ScalaNet now allows you to enter phone numbers up to 80 characters
in length.
25. Fixed a COMMGR problem that sometimes placed sub-scripts in the
wrong directory on the Player.
24. Fixed a bug in the Schedule EX's Julian calendar routines that
periodically caused abnormal operation.
23. Fixed year 2000 problems that would cause the scheduled start and
end dates to be displayed incorrectly in the View window (2001
would get displayed as 1001). Note that this was a cosmetic bug
only -- the software functioned correctly despite displaying the
wrong information.
22. Fixed a bug that would cause the Start/End date cycle buttons to
default to the wrong year if the current year was 2000 or greater.
This would happen if the buttons were un-ghosted by clicking on
the check mark buttons next to them. 2001 would be displayed as
1901.
21. IC Players now automatically restart if they terminate
abnormally. Now upon abnormal termination (a crash), we default
to telling the splash screen to reboot the underlying OS. This
behavior can be adjusted with the RunIC.sca config variable
'ICPlayer.OnShutDown'. This string variable can have 3 values:
"Terminate" - will terminate with any errors reported.
"Restart" - will automatically restart.
"Reboot" - will reboot (default).
20. Added MMOSVER utility to aid field support staff.
19. Fixed a bug that under certain conditions could cause a crash when
adding a page during authoring.
18. Most configurations now work if no sound card is installed,
however we do not recommend using InfoChannel without a sound card.
17. We have added the ConfigIC application. This application makes it
possible to configure the options on a Player Station without
requiring the Master software. The screen layout is similar to
the InfoChannel Options menu available from the Master software,
and it offers the same functionality.
16. Fixed a bug in ScalaNet that caused transmission of jobs that were
sent to more than one Player to stop after the first Player.
15. Job names are now updated if they have been changed.
14. The software now exits gracefully if embedded TrueType fonts
have been used in a script.
13. The software now works more reliably on dual-processor systems.
12. Long directory names no longer become mangled.
11. The audio mixer line levels are no longer set incorrectly.
10. Transparency is now correctly saved with scripts and set to black
if no value is specified.
9. The Targa file loader no longer conflicts with MPEG and
ActiveMovie.
8. We improved compatibility with some Trident DirectX display
drivers.
7. Fixed a ScalaNet problem when using NetWatch with other COMM EXes.
6. Fixed a ScalaNet problem with multiple connections and the Nil
device.
5. The TextFile EX now fails gracefully if the referenced file is
missing.
4. Fixed a problem that occurred when using both ActiveMovie and the
MPEG EX.
3. TAPI now has improved error handling and throughput.
2. The Schedule EX no longer changes pasted entries to "Active
period."
1. The Schedule EX now updates the event number.
Also note that two of the QAB (quick access button) files distributed
on the CD were incorrect. To change a QAB, go into the File menu,
browse to the folder you want the QAB to reference, Shift-click the
QAB to open the Configure Quick-access Button dialog, and then click
OK.
The Jobs QAB should point to "ScalaArt:\Scripts\Jobs" and the TextFile
QAB should point to "ScalaArt:\Text."
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