Introduction:

SharkVisions is a 3D screensaver designed to work on specific PC/clone hardware. Once installed it is activated using Windows built in screensaver system.

SharkVisions is a scuba diver's tour around a sunken Spanish Galleon that has attracted numerous species of dangerous sharks. The ancient Spanish Galleon is a bit of a fantasy, as any wooden ship from that time would be rotted rubble and mostly under the sand by now. SharkVisions shows us what it would be like if one of these glorious ships had been sunk only recently. This Screen saver shows a vision of graceful, yet dangerous sharks living on an impossible wreck, but it is a vision we wish we could see.

Please enjoy our diving visions.

Philip Blood
Master Scuba Diver Trainer
 

Table of Contents:

Compatibility:
Installation:
Getting Started:
SharkVisions Setup screens:
Shark Panel:
Scene Panel:
Options:
Dual Monitor Support:
Keyboard Adjustments/Options:
Uninstall:
Trouble Shooting:
Contact Information:
 

Compatibility

SharkVisions is most certainly not compatible with all PC/clone systems. Because of the high end nature of our 3D environment you must have both a fairly fast computer (CPU) and a good 3D graphics card that is DirectX 8 (or newer) compatible. Older 3D cards may be able to run the program, but with reduced features and slower speeds. Newer cards will see SharkVisions in all of its spectacular glory.
 

Minimum system requirements:

• Operating system: Windows® 98/2000/ME/XP, DirectX 8 installed or newer

• CPU: 300 MHz (or equivalent)

• System RAM: 64 megabytes

• Hard Drive: 200 megabyte (with 20 megs free for SharkVisions)

• Video card: 3D accelerated with at least 16 megabytes of onboard RAM (examples: Nvidia TNT2, GeForce 1-2 mx or ATI 128 Rage or Voodoo 3-5.).

Recommended system

• Operating System: Windows® 98/2000/ME/XP, with DirectX 9 installed

• CPU: 1.0 GHz

• System Ram: 256 megabytes

• Hard Drive: 2 gigabyte+

• Video card: 3D accelerated with at least 64 megabytes of onboard RAM (Nvidia GeForce TI 3-5 or ATI 8500/9000/9700 or Matrox Parhelia™)

 

Not all system will see the same features in SharkVisions. The limitation is due to your video cards capabilities, not all are equal. The primary features that vary from card to card are detailed below. Please note that your frame rate will also increase the further down the list your card is located. (your CPU speed can also help or hurt the frame rate).
 

Installation:

Upon downloading the software you will have one file called SV_install_demo_v20.exe or SV_install_v20.exe. (Depending of whether this is the demo version or the full version).

Before starting the installation, please close all other programs and make sure your virus protection software is momentarily disabled.

Double click the appropriate SV_install file to start the installation.

Follow the onscreen instructions, either taking the default file location or choosing your own location.

In some Windows® operating systems you may need to reboot after installation. If in doubt, just reboot to be sure.

Getting Started:

After installation is complete you can change settings or preview the screensaver by going to your desktop setup area in Windows®. Here is how to accomplish this:

Right-click on your desktop (avoiding any icons or open windows).

From the pop-up menu, select ‘Properties’ and left-click.

Select the ‘Screen Saver’ tab at the top.

If not already selected, use the drop down list to select your SharkVisions screensaver.

You can now adjust the default screensaver settings by left-clicking on the ‘Settings’ button.

Here you may choose to turn on or off various options including certain creatures, sound, caustic lighting, bump maps and shadows. A check mark in the box means that this feature is active.

SharkVisions Setup Screens:

Once you have selected ‘Setup’ (see Getting Started above), you will see the Shark Panel displayed and three tabs along the top where you can choose to view either of the other two panels: Settings and Scenes.

Shark Panel:

Shark Population
The shark population area consists of seven groups of sharks. By default these groups each have a shark species already selected. This is the optimal setting for viewing SharkVisions in its most diverse format. We recommend that you keep shark visions set this way. However, we have allowed you to ‘mess’ with the settings. The good news… you can always go back to the original settings by selecting the ‘Default’ radio button at the top.

Custom populations
To change the distribution of shark species in the scene select a shark by the radio buttons below the preview window. Once you are viewing the shark you want to use in a group hit the ‘Select’ button to the right of that shark group to change the shark to that type. This will replace this group of sharks with the new species. Example: If you changed all seven groups of sharks to ‘Hammerhead’ all sharks in the scene would be hammerhead sharks, you would never see any of the other species.

Shark View Window and Details box.
To the right of the shark groups is a view window that shows the currently selected shark. This window allows you to view each of the seven shark species. To view a shark species just select that shark’s radio button below the window. To the left of the shark radio buttons is a Details box that will tell you a little about each shark when it is selected.

Settings Panel:

This is where we allow you to change various audible and visual settings for SharkVisions.

Sound:

Sound effects volume: This is the first box and it contains a slider to adjust the volume of sound effects. If you move the slider all the way to the left you will turn them off completely. All the way to the right sets them to the maximum volume that you have set in you Windows® sound options. Selecting the Default radio button will return the volume of the sound effects to their original level.

Music volume: This is the second box and it contains a slider to adjust the volume of the selected music. If you move the slider all the way to the left you will turn off the music completely. All the way to the right sets them to the maximum volume that you have set in you Windows® sound options. Selecting the Default radio button will return the volume of the selected music to the original level.

Music selection:
The third box in the ‘Sound’ area is the Music selection box. Here you can select any piece of music that you have saved in the .WAV format. You can play music you downloaded or converted yourself as a .WAV file. To select a piece of music that is on your computer, just hit the Browse button and then navigate to the selected piece of music. The path and music piece you selected will appear in the text entry box to the left of the Browse button.

Note: You can download your favorite MP3 music and use it, but after downloading you will need to convert the MP3 to a .WAV format. You can get converter software at places like Download.com and Tucows.com. Just search on ‘MP3 converter’. Here is something fun, go online to your favorite file (MP3) download place and search for the ‘Jaws Theme’. Download and convert it to a .WAV file and try selecting that for your SharkVisions music selection! (No, we didn’t include it due to copyright reasons, but if you obtain it yourself you can play it using the music selector option.)

Visual:

Fog Level:
The first box in the Visual area is called Fog Level. Here you can set the level of ‘fog’ seen in the scene. This allows you to change the amount of ‘visibility’ in the water. Visibility in water varies from place to place and time to time as ocean conditions change. By moving this slider toward low you can make the water very clear, or as you move it toward ‘High’ you can increase the amount of fog, therefore reducing visibility. Of course we have set the fog effect to a default value that we like, but you can change it however you wish. To return to the default fog level setting, just select the Default radio button at any time.

Ambient Light:
The second box in the Visual area is called Ambient Light. This setting changes the amount of unidirectional light. Going toward ‘Low’ reduces light, and ‘High’ increases light. This setting is often used in concert with the Fog Level adjustment to get a pleasing looking scene. To return to the default ambient light settings just select the Default radio button at any time.

Camera Speed:
The third box in the Visual area is called Camera Speed. This adjustment will only affect the moving camera scene. The slider allows you to adjust the speed in which the camera is moving through the scene. Moving the slider toward Low slows the camera, though you cannot stop the camera completely. Moving the slider toward High speeds it up, though you can’t make it go ridiculously high speeds. Hopefully there is enough range of adjustment to get it close to your liking. To return to the default camera speed setting, just select the Default radio button at any time. Just so you know, we recommend that you stay with the default camera speed settings as the scene is optimized for this camera speed and will generally look best.

Caustic Lighting:
Caustic lighting is the pattern of light that is playing across the bottom of the ocean as reflected down from the moving ocean surface above. There are three radio button selections for you to choose. ‘High’ is for top video cards only. If you video card cannot handle the ‘High’ setting it may not be available. If you try ‘High’ and your frame rate seems too slow, change this setting to ‘Low’. If you don’t want caustic lighting altogether then you can select ‘None’. The main difference between ‘High’ and ‘Low’ caustics is a finer adjustment of balance between dark and light, and the fact that ‘High’ caustics are actually cast downwards, so they don’t play underneath all objects like that do in the ‘Low’ setting.

Shadows:
Shadows come in three settings, Full, Static and None. Some older video cards cannot handle shadows and the option may not be available. If Shadows are available, try the High setting. If you frame rate is too slow, you can move to Static shadows. The difference between Full and Static shadows is that moving objects will show shadows in Full, while only stationary objects will show shadows in Static. If you don’t want shadows on at all, choose None.

Bumpmapping:
This is a feature that uses a special ‘bumpmap’ texture to make a smooth looking surface look rough and more realistic. Example: the ridges of the wood planks of the ship will catch the light with bumpmaps on. Bumpmaps should be left on whatever is currently set by default during installation. Only turn Bumpmaps off if your system is running at a slow frame. To turn them off remove the check mark, to turn them on check the box. If you have an old video card that cannot support bump maps the option may not be available.

Diver:
This check box allows you to turn off the Diver (and his bubbles). This allows slower systems with slower video cards to get the frame rate a little higher as this effect is costly.

ROV:
This check box allows you to turn off the ROV (and its bubbles). This allows slower systems with slower video cards to get the frame rate a little higher as this effect is costly.

Particle Culling:
This option should only be used if you have a very low end 3D card like the ATI Rage 128 and you see the diver’s bubbles causing lines across the screen. This means that you card doesn’t support clipping. In that case turn on the Particle Culling. This will fix the bug, but particles will tend to disappear when they get near the edge of the screen.

Scene Panel:

SharkVisions comes with two types of scenes for your enjoyment, though the reason we included two separate scenes is for video card differences. Since there are a lot of older video cards out there we wanted to create scenes that would work well on those older cards, and still add variety for those with higher end cards. By default, during installation, your computer’s video card chip set will be tested and we select the scene best suited to your card. This does not mean you cannot try the other scene! Go ahead, but if your default was set to the Fixed camera scene, you might run at too slow a frame rate on the Moving camera scene.

TIP for slower video cards and systems: Change your desktop resolution to 800x600, the frame rate of SharkVisions will run much faster at this lower resolution setting.

Selecting your scene type:
To select either the Fixed camera scene or the Moving camera scene just choose the appropriate radio button at the top of the image. If you are unsure of which scene you should be running, just hit the Auto Scene Select button between the two images and we will recheck your chip set and choose the best scene for your video card. If you have a high end card, be aware that you may also enjoy viewing the Fixed camera scenes at some time, they have their own charm. You can switch between either scene types at any time.

Fixed Camera Scenes:
If you choose the Fixed Camera Scene radio button then you have the choice of which scenes to include. Just check mark one, two or all three scenes (Bow, Stern, Deck). The screensaver will automatically switch between the scenes you have selected. There is a ‘Scene Timer’ below the check box selections. Use the up and down arrows to the right of the time to adjust the time anywhere between 0:03 and 20:00. That’s how long each selected scene will play before fading to black and back in to the next scene. If you only select one scene the screensaver will still fade in and out, just back to the same scene. This is to make sure the Fixed scenes work as an actual screensaver (blanking all pixels briefly every so often to protect your monitor from burn in). You can preview each of the Fixed scenes by selecting one of them in the ‘Preview Scene’ box. (Below the Scene selection)

Moving Camera:
If you choose the Moving Camera Scene radio button then you will have a different option to the right of the preview window, a camera speed slider setting. This slider allows you to slow or speed up the camera’s speed of travel around the scene. You can see the changes in the preview window. To go back to the original speed setting, just hit the Default radio button. Because the camera is in motion all the time, this scene works as a screensaver without having to fade out to black.

Dual Monitor Support:

Currently there are two types of support for dual monitors.
1) If you are using two video cards or the “Extend to second monitor” with one video card then SharkVisions is designed to blank out the second monitor so that there is no burn in problem.
2) If you are using a GeForce 4 or 5 (fx) video card and have Nvidia’s latest drivers with ‘NView’ you can use the Horizontal view to see SharkVisions across both monitors. Other high end video cards from ATI and Matrox may also be able to enjoy this view if they have software similar to NView that does horizontal stretching. Please note that although they call this horizontal ‘stretching’, we do not ‘stretch’ SharkVisions, you actually see a wider panorama view!

How to set your Nvidia software to use dual monitors
Here’s how to turn it on with NView: first, you need to hook both monitors to the one Nvidia video card. Then go to your desktop Display Properties and pick the Settings tab. Make sure that the second monitor does not have the “Extend the Windows® desktop onto this monitor” option checked. After that choose the Advanced button and select the GeForce# Ti tab at the top. When your cursor gets over the main window a small pop out menu will display with the “NView Display mode” near the top of the list. Select this and choose the radio button by the Horizontal Span selection. This should now extend the Screen saver in a panorama view across both monitors. If you are using brands other than GeForce 4 or 5 (FX) cards, you will have to see if there is some third party software for the Horizontal stretch option.

Important note: Any other key or mouse not listed below will deactivate the screen saver when pressed or moved.

F1: Shows this information listed below.

F2: Shoots a screenshot of the current screen, saved as SV_SS_000.bmp - (thru 002), and puts the screenshot in your SharkVisions installation directory. Only three screen shots are allowed at a time. If you shoot more they will start to replace the others (so you don’t fill you hard drive by accident). So after shooting three shots, if you want to keep them, move them out of the SharkVisions directory before taking more shots.

F3: Toggle on or off the frame counter in the upper left corner of the screen.

F4: Toggle on or off the wireframe rendering.

‘S’ key: toggles the sound on or off.

Numeric keypad ‘+’ and ‘-‘ keys will adjust the speed that the camera moves through the scene. While SharkVisions is running press the ‘+’ or ‘-‘ keys in the numeric keypad of your keyboard to speed up or slow down the speed that the camera moves. This is a temporary change; the next time the screen saver runs it will go back to the camera speed you set in the Windows® Screen saver Settings area. If you want a permanent change in camera speed, use the slider in the Settings area (see SharkVisions Setup screens, above).

Uninstall:

If you wish to remove SharkVisions from your computer completely, just go to your Windows Add/Remove programs area in Control Panel. There you can select and remove the installed SharkVisions files and directories. We have also included an Uninstall option in the menu reached from your desktop Start button.
 

Trouble Shooting:

Problem: A message comes up stating that the program did not detect 3D hardware.

Solution 1: If you have a 3D video card like a 3DFx card, try setting your color depth to 16 bit. To do this, right click on your desktop and select ‘Properties’. Go to the ‘Settings’ tab and under ‘Color Quality’ select ‘16 bit’. (For better cards you should run at 32 bit if you can, everything will look better).

Solution 2: If you have a newer 3D video card and it was not properly identified. Just close the error message and the Display Properties box and reboot. Right click on your desktop and select ‘Properties’. Go to the ‘Screen Saver’ tab and pick ‘SharkVisions’ (if not already selected). Select any Settings options that you wish and try the screensaver, it should work fine.

Solution 3: You need to purchase a 3D video card. We recommend an ATI Radeon 9000 or above or an Nvidia GeForce 3 or above.

Problem: A message comes up stating that you are missing some .DLL file.

Solution: You are probably running Windows® 95, 98, ME or 2000 and you don’t have at least Direct X 8.0 installed. Go on the internet here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/default.aspx?url=/windows/directx/downloads/default.htm
For Windows® 95 download DirectX 8.0a Runtime and install per their instructions.
For Windows® 98, ME or 2000 download DirectX 9.0a Now and install per their instructions.

Problem: You don’t have shadows bumpmaps or caustics.

Solution: You might have a video card that doesn’t support these features. Check out what kind of video card you have and then look at the feature list on page two of this document.

Problem: You are seeing the ‘Fixed’ camera scenes and want to see it in motion.

Solution: Your video card may not be fast enough to play the motion scene at a decent frame rate, so we automatically selected ‘Fixed’ camera scenes. You can manually override this in the screen saver ‘Settings’ area. Right click on your desktop and select ‘Properties’. Go to the ‘Screen Saver’ tab and pick ‘SharkVisions’ (if not already selected) as your screen saver. Then click on the ‘Settings’ button. Select the ‘Scenes’ tab. Click on the ‘Motion’ radio button. That’s it. (You can go back to ‘Fixed’ scenes at any time).

Problem: The screen saver just doesn’t run or work.

Solution 1 : You most likely have an old driver. You should also check with your card manufacturer to make sure you are running the most current driver version.

Here are some of the places you might check for a new driver:
Nvidia cards (TNT2 and GeForce): http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp
ATI cards (Radeon and Rage): http://mirror.ati.com/support/drivers/powered.html
Matrox card (Parhelia): http://www.matrox.com/mga/support/drivers/home.cfm
3Dfx cards (Voodoo): http://www.matrox.com/mga/support/drivers/home.cfm

Solution 2 : Purchase a better video card. You could have an older video card that either doesn’t support 3D or it has less than 16 megs or onboard RAM. Either that or your computer CPU is less than a P2 300 MHz. Please check all the minimum system requirements on page 2 of this document.

Problem: Frame rate is too slow.

Solution 1: Right click on your desktop and select ‘Properties’. Go to the Screen Saver tab and pick ‘SharkVisions’ (if not already selected) as your screen saver. Click on the ‘Settings’ Button. Select the ‘Settings’ tab. Turn caustics to either ‘Low’ or ‘None’, turn Shadows to either ‘Static’ or ‘None’ Uncheck ‘Bumpmaps’ if checked. Uncheck ‘ROV’ and ‘Diver’ if checked. Select the Scenes tab and make sure the radio button is set to ‘Fixed Camera Scene’, not ‘Moving Camera Scene’.

Solution 2: Purchase a better video card. You probably have an older video card. We recommend an ATI Radeon 9000 or above or an Nvidia GeForce 3 or above. These cards will give you all the features included with SharkVisions and should help you run at a good frame rate (assuming the rest of your system meets the minimum system requirements listed on page 2 of this document).

Problem: I am only seeing three sharks and cannot select the other four species.

Solution: You are probably running the demo version of SharkVisions that only comes with three species of sharks. In the Demo version we let you look at all seven, but only select three. If you have installed the full version already, make sure you have the full version selected as your screensaver. Right click on your desktop and select ‘Properties’. Go to the ‘Screen Saver’ tab and make sure you have ‘SharkVisions’, not ‘SharkVisions Demo’, selected as your screen saver. (You may also want to uninstall the Demo version in your Windows® ADD/REMOVE software area of Control Panel).

Problem: You are seeing bands of color in the background.

Solution: You are probably running in a color depth below 32 bit. To see if your video card can handle a higher color depth (more colors) Right click on your desktop and select ‘Properties’. Go to the Settings Tab. Look at the ‘Color quality’ and use the drop down arrow to select 32 bit. If you don’t see an option for 32 bit, you can try lowering the Screen resolution first and then see if ‘Color quality’ offers 32 bit. If not, then you would need to purchase a better video card (this will benefit your display for other programs beyond just this screen saver). We recommend the ATI Radeon 9000 or above, or the Nvidia GeForce 3 or above.

Contact Information:

If you should experience any difficulties with SharkVisions you can contact us for help in three different ways. We suggest the first two choices prior to contacting us via email.

1) Go to our Web site and check the online Support for our FAQ which answers commonly asked questions.
www.atlantis.com/support/faq.php

2) Go to our Web site forums and search for an answer to your question, or leave a question to be answered.
http://www.atlantis3d.com/phpBB2/index.php

3) Contact us directly by sending email to
Support@Atlantis3D.com

Thanks!