- - - - - - - - - - -  SSBPLAY.SCR 2.11 Notes (08/09/96)  - - - - - - -

Thank you for Checking out SRO's BPLAY SCREENSAVER

B-PLAY is SHAREWARE.  If you use it for an extended period (like 30 days) 
you are expected to register.  The $10 (+$2 sh/h, +$4 outside continental 
US) registration fee can be sent to:                       
		     
			SRO SYSTEMS 
			P.O. Box 5028
			Blue Jay, CA 92317 

 - To order by credit card, call (909) 337-7535.

 - Or you can register on Compuserve's shareware registration forum.  Just
"GO SWREG".  B-PLAY is ID# 5293.


REQUIREMENTS
------------
B-Play is a Windows (3.1, '95, NT) screensaver written in Visual 
Basic.  It is designed to run on any 100% IBM compatible PC with a 486 
or better processor, 4 meg ram and 256 color VGA / SVGA video. 

For best results (with transition effects), you need a VERY FAST, 
(32bit, 2meg VRAM) true color video card!
 
THIS PROGRAM REQUIRES VBRUN300.DLL TO BE IN YOUR WINDOWS\SYSTEM DIRECTORY, 
THIS FILE IS TOO LARGE (398K) TO FIT ON THIS DISK.  IF YOU HAVE ANY RECENT 
VV PROGRAMS, YOU PROBABLY HAVE IT ALREADY.  OR YOU CAN GET IT FROM MOST 
BBS's.  


DISCLAIMER
----------
Due to the variety of software and harware that may be present on a user's 
PC, SRO SYSTEMS makes NO WARRANTEE NOR GUARANTEE OF ANY KIND.  SRO SYSTEMS 
will not be held responsible for anything that might happen due to the use, 
or misuse of this software.  


DESCRIPTION
-----------
The B-PLAY Screensaver is a convienient way to play a slideshow from windows 
screensaver control using a selected sequence of bitmaps.  

Bitmap Slide Show (.BMP & .WMF files)
------ ----- ---- -------------------
BPLAY's purpose is to create a slideshow using your own bitmap graphics.  
B-Play gives you three ways to organize the images, sounds and transitions 
in your slideshow;  Sequential, Random and Playlist.  In the "Sequential" 
mode, B-Play cycles alphabetically through all the BMP files in a selected 
directory.  In "Random" mode, B-Play will pick a random number (from 1 to # 
images) for each slide in the show.  In "Playlist" mode, you can select any 
image on your computer to insert into any location in the playlist. 

BPLAY can display ANY BITMAPS of any size and color up to 1024 x 768 true 
color in the Windows RGB/RLE formats (If your display can't show that many 
colors, Windows dithers them).  You can create the images in most paint 
programs (such as PC PAINTBRUSH).  B-Play also allows OVERLAY (see below), 
where your message is superimposed on the image.  You can individually set 
the message, font, size and color of the text for every slide you want to 
overlay.

Bitmap files can be found on any online service.  Good sources are in the 
COMPUSERVE and AMERICA ONLINE graphics/images forums.


WAVE AUDIO
---- -----
B-PLAY features WAVE audio playback.  To play audio files, an audio device 
driver must be enabled in Window's "control panel \ drivers" setup.  Any 
soundcard will work, as will Microsoft's PC Speaker driver.  Options allow
for a single WAVE file to playback at the beginning of a slideshow, play a
different wave for each slide, or cycle through all waves in a directory.  


MIDI FILES
---- -----
B-PLAY also features MIDI file playback.  You can select whether the midi 
file loops at the end, or (for small midi files) repeats with each slide.  
	
This feature supports only GENERAL MIDI (.MID) format MIDI files.  To play 
MIDI files, an MCI MIDI device driver must be enabled in Windows "control 
panel\drivers" setup screen, AND a MIDI compatible sound card must be setup 
to receive the MIDI information.  


TEXT OVERLAY
---- -------
BPLAY allows you to overlay text onto graphics while running a slideshow.  
You can choose the message, position, font style and color of your overlay 
text.  Text overlay will allow any number of messages to be displayed up to 
the number of pictures selected for viewing. There is no practical limit to 
the amount of text in each message (32K max).  NOTE : Overlay messages are 
stored in a separate file from the playback list.  They are NOT attached in 
any way to the images chosen.  That means if you delete or move pictures 
after you set your messages, the messages will be out of sequence. 


TRANSITION EFFECTS
---------- -------
BPLAY now has 40 great effects to create transitions between images in your 
slideshow including : SLIDE, ROLL, PUSH, REVEAL, STRETCH, BLINDS . . .  You 
can select effect, speed, and quality individually for each image, and have 
the option to view, or blank the OLD image while the effect occurs.  

Transition effects are extremely processor intensive, and take over all your 
PC's functions while running.  Thus, a mousemove or keypress will not kill 
the screensaver until the transition is finished.

NOTE :  For best results, transition effects should be used only with images 
	of the same size and color depth, with very similar color PALETTES. 

PALETTES
Effects are optimized for true color mode, but will usually work (depending
on your video driver) in other modes.  In 256 color mode, when two images 
are on screen at the same time, Windows may run out of colors to assign to 
the images.  While one image will have "color priority" and usually display 
correctly, transition effects can cause images with over 236 colors to be 
displayed incorrectly.  The best way to keep the "palette bleeding" to a 
minimum is to use bitmaps that have common or similar color palettes.  While 
we can't really get into the details here, most good image editing programs 
have the ability to load, edit, and remap palettes and will explain the 
process in their manual.

* * An EXCELLENT shareware image editor is "Paintshop Pro" by JASC, Inc.  
You can find it on almost any online service.


PASSWORD PROTECTION
-------------------
The password protection feature on BPLAY has been re-written to improve
security and add encryption.  Do NOT forget your password, you WILL have 
to re-boot!


KNOWN BUGS
----------
You might run into a know (and unsolved) bug which exists in this version 
of B-Play.  With many video cards, transition effects do NOT function in 
HI-Color (64K) mode.  The rest of the program will work fine, as it does 
in all other video modes tested which include 16 color, 256 color and 
True (16M) color modes.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Please contact us if you are interested in:        

A) Registering B-Play           B) ZPLAY Animation Screensaver      
C) Feedback, comments           D) Custom Raytraced Images/Animations

You can reach us at:    
			SRO SYSTEMS 
			P.O. Box 5028
			Blue Jay, CA 92317

			Fax (909) 337-0575

Email:                  srosystems@local.net
			75604,3535@compuserve.com
			srosystems@aol.com

We answer ALL mail/faxes/email within one day!

	      ENJOY . . . .
					       SEAN