Frequently Asked Questions
Index of Customer Support
FAQs
Working
with MODIFY™ and PowerPoint
slides
Converting
a PowerPoint presentation to a shell-based course or course
modification
I don’t
see how to convert my PowerPoint presentation into screens that I can use
with MODIFY™. How do you do it?
You have two
options here.
If you’re running in Windows95/98/NT you can run the PowerPoint presentation
as is. Just copy the presentation to the course directory and use the “Run
Application” command to run “PPVIEW32” (Parameter #1) for
“xxxxxx.ppt” (your presentation).
Your other option is to save the PowerPoint Slides into the course directory
as JPEG files and call them with the “Graphics” command. To save
the slides, just go into PowerPoint, open your presentation and:
-
Check “File”, “Page Setup” to be sure you’ll get the right screen resolution for your output files. It should be set to “Custom” with the width set to 6.6", and the height set to 5.0".
(NOTE: To avoid distortions caused by resizing, it’s best to create the slides with the above settings rather than resizing after they are created.) -
Select “File”, “Save As”, then select “JPEG” or “JPG” as the file type. Set the save location as the course’s directory. PowerPoint will name the files SLIDE1.JPG, SLIDE2.JPG... and so on.
JPEGs
from PowerPoint display too large
I saved my
PowerPoint slides as JPEG files and put them into the course Okay. But they
look like they’ve blown up to huge size and I’m looking at a close-up
of the upper left corner of the picture. Cool effect, but how do I get them
to look right?
When you
saved your slides as JPEGs, the Page Setup in PowerPoint was not set correctly.
Do this:
- Go into PowerPoint and open your presentation.
-
Check “File”,
“Page setup” to be sure you’ll get the right screen resolution
for your output files. It should be set to “Custom” with the width
set to 6.6", and the height set to 5.0".
(NOTE: To avoid distortions caused by resizing, it's best to create the slides with the above settings rather than resizing after they are created.) - Select “File”, “Save As”, then select “JPEG” or “JPG” as the file type. Set the save location as the course’s directory. PowerPoint will name the files SLIDE1.JPG, SLIDE2.JPG... and so on.
Working
with MODIFY™ and Course
Shells
Expanding
the number of lessons after Shell is made
I goofed!
I ordered my Course Shell with four lessons, but it turns out that I really
need another lesson. Now what?
No problem.
But we’ll have to fix it for you. Tell us the Course ID (the course’s
directory name ending with “.vid”) and what you want to name the
fifth lesson. We’ll re-work the Shell and send it to you.
E-mail us, or call 248-888-8420.
If you’re on the Extended Support Plan for MODIFY™ you’ll
just pay a shipping and handling fee, otherwise we’ll have to charge
a small fee for the fix.
Changing
lesson titles after Shell is made
Darn it!
I’ve got to change the title of one of my lessons in a Course Shell
that’s already done. I can’t see where I can do that.
Not a biggy.
You can fix this yourself, or we can do it for you.
-
Do-it-yourself
Careful here! Using the Windows Notepad, load the file named “modules.mnu” from the course’s directory. Then being very careful not to add or delete any line returns, find the lesson title you want to change and make your correction. Make sure you save the file. -
Have
us fix it for you
Tell us the Course ID (the course’s directory name ending with “.vid”) and the old and new lesson title. We’ll create a new modules.mnu file and send it to you. E-mail us, or call 248-888-8420. If you’re on the Extended Support Plan for MODIFY™ you’ll just pay a shipping and handling fee, otherwise we’ll have to charge a small fee for the fix.
Removing
the quiz for a lesson
I’m
building a course from a MODIFY™ Shell and I’m using the first
lesson as an introduction. I really don’t want to give a quiz at the
the end of the introduction, but the shell came with one and I can’t
delete it.
This is easy
to fix, but you have to do it outside of MODIFY™. If during a course
playback, the Runtime System finds a set of quiz files and a learning objectives
file for a lesson, it automatically runs the quiz. To remove the quiz for
a lesson, you must remove the files that trigger it. Deleting all the quiz
questions in MODIFY™ does not accomplish this.
- Using Windows Explorer, go into the shell’s course directory. It’s in the \video directory and is named according the the course’s code followed by “.vid”.
-
Find the two question files
and the module’s learning objective file that trigger the quiz. The
lessons are designated simply as “a”, “b”, etc. If your
“Introduction” lesson is the first lesson, then it is lesson
“a”. You should delete these files:
- aques
- aques.aud
- modobja
“Program
Error: integer divide by zero” at end of quiz
I'm testing
my MODIFY™ Shell course and I get a “Program Error: integer divide
by zero” at the end of the quiz after answering the last question.
Everything looks fine in the Question folder in MODIFY for the last question.
What’s wrong?
You have one
or more learning objectives that are untested. That is, one or more learning
objectives for this lesson do not have at least one question linked to it.
Correct the problem by linking a question to the unlinked objective(s) or
delete the objective if it is not tested.
Working
with MODIFY™ – general
questions
Where’s
the manual?
I can’t
find my manual! How do I get one? Is it expensive? Will I have to wait very
long for it? Will it cost our environment another tree?
Take it easy.
You’ve got the User Guide right at your finger tips. Go into the
“Tools” folder of MODIFY™ and click the “User Guide”
button. You can either display it on your screen or print it. All our software
systems will soon have electronic manuals. We want to be environmentally
responsible plus we’ve found that electronic versions of manuals ensure
that a manual will always be just a mouse click away. Never frantically search
for it again. Be at peace with nature.
Added
new version/language, but later changes effected main course, not alternate
version
Maybe I’m
crazy, but I’m sure I created an alternate language in the
“Tools” folder, then I made the language changes to my questions
in the “Questions” folder. When I played the regular version of
the course, the questions were in the alternate language. When I played the
alternate language version, the questions were in English! ...Arrgh!
You missed a
step. Sounds like you created the alternate language folder, but then
didn’t return to the MODIFY™ Welcome Screen to select the new alternate
version as the active course version before making your changes to the questions.
It’ll be a little ticklish fixing this, but at least you won’t
have to start all over.
You will have to swap all the question files between the two versions. If
you changed audio narration timing triggers, you’ll have to swap the
.aud files too. Let’s say your alternate language version is called
“espanol” and your original course ID is “csentmpg” so
we can give you an example to work from here. Windows doesn’t have a
“Swap Files” function in Windows Explorer or File Manager so
we’ll have to use a temporary directory to store the files during the
swap. We’ll call the temporary directory “temp”. Here are
the steps:
- Create a “temp” directory in c:\video\csentmpg.vid\ giving you c:\video\csentmpg.vid\temp\.
- Move all the question files (that are now in Spanish) to c:\video\csentmpg.vid\temp\. All question files start with the lesson letter (a, b , c ...) followed by “ques”. The question audio narration triggers end with the filename extension of “.aud”. Make sure you get them all.
- Move all the question files (that remained in English) from c:\video\csentmpg.vid\espanol\ to the original course directory c:\video\csentmpg.vid\.
- Move all the Spanish question files from c:\video\csentmpg.vid\temp to c:\video\csentmpg.vid\espanol\.
Working
with the “Advanced” options
in Training Manager
How do I
use the check box options for the “Advanced” button in the General
folder of Training Manager?
Use these check
boxes for special support for some MPEG players (hardware and software).
If you are experiencing problems with MPEG audio or graphics display while
audio is running, click on the “Advanced” button in the General
Folder of Training Manager.
Some MPEG playback drivers handle audio and video files differently than
the norm. We’ve added three radio-button controls under Advanced Options
to avoid these problems. You may have to experiment with the settings for
some players, but here are the settings for the five we’ve tested:
(“X” means turn the setting on).
|
Media- |
|
|
||
| Open/Close MCI driver for each MPEG video file |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
| Open/Close MCI driver for each MPEG audio file |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
| Special MCI timing instructions |
X |
Working
with Software MPEG decoders (codecs)
Microprocessor
requirements
How fast
does my computer need to be to run software MPEG instead of running it with
an MPEG card?
There’s
two answers here. The answer depends on whether you’re using standard
bitrate courses (typical cd-rom rates) or low bitrate courses.
If you’re playing
low bitrate course files, a 386/33 or faster computer
will work fine for 128Kb files. A 486/25 or faster computer will work fine
for the 256Kb files.
As for standard bitrate
files, some MPEG software decoders work with 486/66 computers with a very
fast video card. But the playback performance is usually very poor . We recommend
that you have at least a 133MHz Pentium with a accelerated graphics card
that has DirectDraw drivers.
Making
it work
I’m
running a software MPEG decoder. It’s not working. How do I get it to
work?
The first step
to isolate a problem with any MPEG device driver is to get it to run with
the Windows MediaPlayer. If it works there, using its MCI drivers, then it
should work with our software. If you cannot get MPEG files, both
files with .mpg and .mpa file name extensions, to play in MediaPlayer, then
you do not have the MPEG card, its drivers, or your software driver properly
installed. Check with your supplier of the MPEG card or software driver.
With all that said, there are times when we have trouble with some cards
and software players. Not all MPEG decoding drivers (software and hardware)
handle MPEG audio and video files the same way. We have programmed “work
arounds” for the problems we have encountered in our tests of MPEG software
and hardware drivers. See the section here on “Working
with the “Advanced” Options in Training Manager”
Improving
picture quality
I’m
running [any software MPEG player] with the standard bitrate (cd-rom) courses,
and the picture quality is not as good as I expected. The motion isn’t
very smooth and I can see the dithering (pattern of a screen or mesh) of
the colors in the picture. I know I’ve seen better picture quality from
other computers that are the same speed as mine. How can I check to see if
I’m getting the best picture possible from my system?
You need to
make sure you have DirectDraw drivers installed for your video card and check
your display settings for optimal screen resolution and adequate color
depth.
Most video cards include a driver diskette that contains DirectX or DirectDraw
drivers for it. DirectDraw is a component of DirectX. If you do not have
your card’s driver diskette, you can download and install DirectX free
from Microsoft’s website
(www.microsoft.com), a generic DirectDraw
driver is included. Installing the DirectDraw driver will allow your software
MPEG player to make maximum use of your video card.
Your display settings also play an important role in delivering good video
quality. However, you may have to experiment a little to find the setting
that’s best for your system. Most video cards will give the best MPEG
playback results if they are set for 640 X 480 resolution with 16 bit color,
others may work best when set at 640 X 480 resolution with 24 bit color.
By the way, this advice also applies to the low
bitrate courses.
Most people think that the processor speed is the biggest factor in MPEG
video playback quality. Not necessarily so. The speed of your video card
is usually the biggest factor in video playback quality. If you have at least
a 133MHz Pentium processor and can’t get the video to playback smoothly,
try a new video card that is faster. It’s a cheaper solution than a
new PC.
If you have a machine that is very slow (processor or video card is slow),
you may have to switch into quarter-screen mode to play acceptable video.
Go into the General Folder of Training Manager and change the “Digital
Video” option to “Quarter-Screen”.
MPEG
video smaller than full-screen
The MPEG
video and course screens only cover a portion of my screen. The course
screens are displayed in the upper left corner. I have the “Digital
Video” option set to “Full-Screen” in the General Folder of
Training Manager but that doesn’t fix it. What’s wrong?
It’s your
screen resolution. You have your screen display set to a resolution greater
than 640 X 480. Go into your display settings control and select 640 X 480
as the display resolution. The graphics and MPEG videos will now be
full-screen.
To change your monitor’s screen display dimensions (resolution) in Windows
95/98/NT follow this procedure:
- Right click on any blank area of your desktop.
- Click on “Properties” on the selection box that appears.
- Click on the “Setting” tab on the “Display Properties” window that appears.
- In the section labeled “Desktop Area” click and drag the slider bar to its left-most position or until the setting reads “640 x 480”.
- Click on “Apply”.
Error
message: “RT-302 Error [264] opening MCI file”.
I'm running
ActiveMovie and sometimes the system just locks up and I get this message.
How do I fix this?
You need to use the Advanced options in the Training Manager’s
General Folder to fix this. Here’s the procedure:
- Click on the ‘Start’ button
- Then choose ‘Programs’
- Then choose ‘Training Administration’
- Now choose ‘Training Manager’
- Click on ‘OK’ for working drive.
- This should take you to the ‘General’ folder. In the lower right corner there is a button labeled ‘Advanced…’. Click on this button.
- Place a check mark in the first two boxes. Click on the OK button and exit the Training Manager.
- Re-boot your computer.
Windows
NT issues
Can’t
get SoftPEG to work
I’m
running WindowsNT and SoftPEG. I can’t get SoftPEG to work. Can you
make it work?
Nope.
Your only choice is to scrap SoftPEG and load ActiveMovie instead. You can
download ActiveMovie here.
New
installation, Training Manager not in Start Programs menu
I just installed
the first Mastery course to my system. I’m running WindowsNT. I looked
in the Training Administration program group of the Start Programs menu for
Training Manager, but it’s not there. What happened? Where is Training
Manager?
It’s on
your system. The Runtime version of the first course you installed must have
been among the two or three releases of the Runtime that failed to create
Program Items for Training Manager and Install Mastery Products in the Training
Administration program group of NT desktops.
This problem is easily remedied. Here’s the procedure:
- Right mouse click on the Task Bar.
- Select “Properties” from the dialog box that is displayed.
- Click on the “Start Menu Programs” tab of the Taskbar Properties window.
- Click on “Add”.
- Browse to the \VIDEO directory and click on the TMGR.EXE file, then click “Open”, then “Next” to select the Training Manager program.
- Click on the “Training Administration” program group as the place to put the Training Manager program item and icon.
- Enter the name you want to give this entry. Use “Training Manager”.
- Click “Finish”.
Repeat this same procedure to place the Program Item "Install Mastery Products" in the Training Administration Program Group. Link this item to the LOAD.EXE program in the \VIDEO directory.
Working
with student record files
Archiving
and purging old learner records
My database
files are getting very large and I want to purge the records from prior years,
but I still want to save the old records in case I need them again. Oh yeah,
and I don’t want to have to enroll everyone again. ...One more thing,
I don’t want to lose the records for training that we’ve already
done during this new year.
How can I do that?
No problem.
The procedure is safe and short, but it’s still is a little too long
for this page. Click here to get the step-by-step
procedure.
Working
with DOS student record files (fixing problems)
Converting
DOS records to Windows
How do I
convert my old DOS learner records to the new Windows database structure?
From the DOS
prompt, here’s the procedure:
- Back up the existing DOS learner records. Use the Backup option from the utilities menu of STARS (DOS Version). This process takes awhile if there are a lot of learner records.
-
Make sure \VIDEO is the current
directory, enter this command:
CD \VIDEO -
Run the data file conversion
program. This process will create Windows format learner record files in
the \VIDEO\RECORDS directory. This process will also delete all DOS learner
records. Enter this command:
GEN2TO4.EXE
If you deliberately or
inadvertently run the DOS version of the Runtime after the learner files
have been converted, the additional DOS records can be appended (added) to
the Windows learner database by repeating the three steps above.
Repairing
DOS Learner Record errors
The system
reports errors in my DOS learner records. How do I repair
them?
If one or more
learner records (DOS system only) exhibit errors, such as during the conversion
of DOS to WINDOWS (gen2to4.exe) run the following diagnostic program to repair
all possible files.
-
In (DOS) the \VIDEO directory,
type “TRACK /D”.This command enters you into the (DOS) STARS
program.
-
From the “Utilities”
menu, select “Diagnostics”. The diagnostic program lists all repair
options. Type in the repair code you wish to run against the learner records
files. The repair codes are listed here:
-
<100> Reset SHF
Transferred to 0 (NO)
Enter this option to reset the transfer flags of all SHF (student history files) from “1”, which means the files have been transferred to a floppy or another drive, to “0”, which means the files have not been transferred. -
<101> Prints SHF
and SS#
Enter this code to print a list of all student history files and the NAME number associated with each. -
<102> Rebuild corrupted
SHF
This option actually rebuilds a student history file (.SHF) for a file containing corrupted information due to hardware malfunctions. The rebuilt file will only contain information that is physically present in the corrupted file or is in a form that can be reconstructed. -
<103> Stamp date
for each lesson in .CUR/.PRE
Repairs the date in a lesson file. The system will use the current system date to replace the date value in each lesson record. -
<104> Checks for
ElapsedTime < 0 and recalcs
Enter this code to check Elapsed Time calculation in the student history file. If necessary, the program recalculates the total course elapsed time from the time information in the lesson records and properly stores it in the SHF. -
<105> Repair .CUR/.PRE
all courses for one learner
This code repairs a corrupted post test (.CUR) or pre-test (.PRE) learner file. This code adjusts all courses for the specified learner. -
<106> Repair .CUR/.PRE
one course for one learner
This code repairs a corrupted posttest (.CUR) or pretest (.PRE) learner file. 106 only repairs the course specified in the diagnostic reporting an error. -
<107> Check learner
file headers
Use the option to run the full diagnostic program against the learner records and return a full list of individual learner record errors. The list of errors will provide descriptions of the errors which will help you locate the repair code (from this list) that will repair code the errors. -
<108> Fix SHF for
ID MISMATCH only
Used for a specific error, 108 fixes the student history file linked to an altered ID number. -
<109> Fix .CUR/.PRE
for NAME MISMATCH only
Used for a specific error, 108 fixes the current scores file (CUR) and pretest scores (PRE) linked to an altered NAME number.
-
<100> Reset SHF
Transferred to 0 (NO)
Here are some common error messages you might see, along with the appropriate code used to repair the file. These examples refer to “S1” which represents the “student” number assigned to each record. Use this number when the system prompts you to enter the <learner #>.
| IF YOU SEE THIS ERROR MESSAGE... INVALID DATE (start): S1.SHF INVALID DATE (recent): S1.SHF INVALID ELAP TIME: File needs repair: S1.SHF INVALID ELAP TIME: File needs repair: S1.CUR INVALID ELAP TIME: File needs repair: S1.PRE INVALID LESSON: S1.CUR INVALID LESSON: S1.PRE INVALID DATE: S1.CUR INVALID DATE: S1.PRE NOTE: File Missing ID MISMATCH: S1.SHF NUM MISMATCH: S1.SHF ID MISMATCH: File needs repair: S1.SHF ID MISMATCH: File needs repair: S1.CUR ID MISMATCH: File needs repair: S1.PRE ID MISMATCH: S1.CUR NUM MISMATCH: S1.PRE ID MISMATCH: S1.CUR NUM MISMATCH: S1.PRE COURSE ID MISMATCH: S1.PRE COURSE DATA MISSING: CourseID |
USE THIS |
Running
courses (general)
Audio
cuts out early
Sometimes
(especially on quiz questions) the sound stops before the narrator finishes
a sentence. Why? Can I fix it?
It’s an
error in the MPEG audio decoder (player). Some versions of older software
players miscalculate the end of the MPEG audio file and end the playback
prematurely for audio-only MPEG files (.MPA files). If the latest version
of your MPEG player does not solve the problem here’s what to
do:
-
If you are using software-only
playback, change the player for all MPEG files to one that works correctly
for both MPG and MPA files.
We recommend ActiveMovie for Windows95 and SoftPEG Release 2.1 for Windows 3.x machines.
-
If you are using an MPEG
decoder card like Jazz Jakarta or a REALMagic PCMCIA card with your notebook
computer, change the player for MPA files to a player that works correctly
for MPA files.
This solution will preserve the superior picture quality of your MPEG player card while fixing the audio problem.
To implement this solution:
a. Install a second MPEG decoder program, ActiveMovie (Win95) or Xing—something other than the one that’s giving you trouble.
b. Run SYSEDIT and go into the [mci] section of the SYSTEM.INI file. Make a note of the alias given to the MPEG driver you just installed. For example the installation program may have given your ActiveMovie driver the alias name “ActiveMovie”. The actual entry would be:
ActiveMovie=mciqtz.drv
c. While still in the SYSEDIT window, go into the [mci extensions] section of the WIN.INI file and change the association for the MPA file extension to the new driver’s alias name that you noted in step b. For example “ActiveMovie”. The actual entry would be changed to:
mpa=ActiveMovie
d. Save the SYSTEM.INI and WIN.INI files and restart Windows.
Buttons
on the Control Bar get scrambled
The buttons on the Control
Bar sometimes get messed up when a lesson is playing. How do I fix it?
This problem
occurs with some video graphics adapters. The problem is a bug in the VGA
driver. This problem only seems to occur with certain models of
ATI cards when your display is set to a color depth greater than
16-bit (e.g. 24-bit or 32-bit). We can not work around this problem in the
software. But you can. Set your display to a 16-bit color depth.
Garbled
(distorted) audio
When I play the Spanish
version of my course the sound is garbled. It sounds fine for the English
version. Can it be fixed?
You may experience
this problem if your .WAV output volume is set too high, or you have a bad
driver for your sound card.
This is a known problem with Creative Labs Vibra-16 cards.
Set the gain or volume control on your sound control panel to a lower value
(down to “1” for the Creative Labs Vibra-16 card). If that
doesn’t correct the problem, download the newest driver for your sound
card from the manufacturer’s website. If you’re using a Creative
Labs Soundblaster card, go to
www.soundblaster.com for your
driver.
Asks for
CD to be inserted but CD is already in the drive
The system keeps telling
me to insert the CD-ROM for a course but the CD-ROM is already in the drive!
It’s label side up. The drive looks and sounds normal. Windows file
manager even displays the contents of the CD. What am I missing?
Check the Training
Manager program. Look in the “General” Folder. Is the entry for
“CD-ROM Drive” correct? Probably not. Correcting this entry should
solve your problem.
Course
screen displays in upper left portion of screen, does not fill the
screen
The course
displays in a rectangular area in the upper left corner of my Windows desktop.
It does not fill my screen. I want “full-screen video”. How do
I make the picture fill the screen?
You need to
put your display in 640x480 screen resolution. Your display is in a higher
resolution, like 800x600 or 1024x768 which makes all items displayed on your
screen look smaller.
Change your monitor’s
screen display dimensions (resolution) in Windows 95/98/NT follow this
procedure:
- Right click on any blank area of your desktop.
- Click on “Properties” on the selection box that appears.
- Click on the “Setting” tab on the “Display Properties” window that appears.
- In the section labeled “Desktop Area” click and drag the slider bar to its left-most position or until the setting reads “640 x 480”.
- Click on “Apply”.
Error
message: “RT-302 Error [259] opening MCI file”
I have a
REALmagic card and I’m running under Windows95. When I try to run the
course, I get this error message:
MMSYSTEM 259. The command parameter used is not defined in MCI command set.
Popup parent alias MOV.
What is it? How do I fix it?
It’s an
error in the REALmagic installation program when used on a system with OEM
release 2.0 of Windows95. Somehow the REALmagic installation program renames
the “digitalvideo.mci” file to “digitalv.mci”. The fix
is simple. Rename the file. Here’s how:
- Using Windows Explorer, go to the “Windows\System” directory.
- Click on the “digitalv.mci” file with the right mouse button.
- Select the “Rename” option.
- Change the file name to “digitalvideo.mci”.
Video
locks up (freezes)
I’m
running the course from the hard drive (versus from the CD-ROM) with Windows95
and the video freezes in the middle of a video file. The lockup seems to
be in the same place in the same file every time.
The video plays fine from the CD-ROM. What’s wrong?
The most likely
video lock up problem is a hardware conflict. First look in the Device Manager
to look for an “!” next to a device’s icon. If you see one,
there’s a problem which is most often an interrupt (IRQ).
The second most likely cause is using multiple hard drives that are not using
the same disk formatting scheme (FAT16 or FAT32) for both drives. NEVER MIX
FORMATS! Check for this condition by looking under “My Computer”
and right click on the drive, then select “Properties”. For FAT16
drives it will show “FAT”. For FAT32 drives it will show
“FAT32”.
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