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Funnyfish - Beta - Windows

Frequently Asked Questions Top Questions Before You Buy 1. Basic Information - PLEASE READ 2. Will I receive a CD with my online order? 3. Is your website secure? 4. What are the Funnyfish system requirements? 5. Will Funnyfish run on widescreen and dual monitors? 6. Will Funnyfish run on a Mac? 7. Where can I talk to real people who have used this product? Accounts & Keycodes 1. My keycode does not work. 2. I lost my keycode OR I made my purchase but have not received my keycode. 3. How do I copy and paste my keycode? Installation 1. How do I test Funnyfish on my computer? 2. How do I install Funnyfish once I have purchased a keycode? 3. How do I set Funnyfish as my default screen saver? 4. How do I uninstall Funnyfish? 5. How do I re-install Funnyfish? Operation 1. Basic Information - PLEASE READ 2. Hotkeys for Funnyfish 3. Funnyfish Settings tab 4. Funnyfish Tank options 5. Funnyfish anamorphic settings 6. How do I choose the Funnyfish? Troubleshooting 1. Basic Information - PLEASE READ 2. The fish swim slowly and/or the program freezes. 3. Your video card and its driver 4. Updating your video card driver 5. When I run Funnyfish from the shortcut on my Desktop, Windows launches a different program. Screen Savers & Burn-in 1. What is burn-in? 2. Screen savers 3. How can I prevent burn-in? 4. How do I fix burn-in? Miscellaneous 1. What kind of fish come with Funnyfish? 2. Can I make my own fish for Funnyfish? Before You Buy 1. Basic Information - PLEASE READ Before purchasing Funnyfish we recommend you test the program to see if it works on your computer. You can do this by downloading the program and running the demo version as outlined HERE. 2. Will I receive a CD with my online order? No. We have not produced a CD for Funnyfish at this time. 3. Is your website secure? In the interest of protecting your credit card and personal information, we do have several layers of security to ensure that our sites are secure as possible. For more information on our site security, please see our security statement. 4. What are the Funnyfish system requirements? To run Funnyfish, you will need: Windows 98, 98SE, ME, 2000, or XP (Home or Professional). A Pentium-class CPU (200 MHz or faster). 64 MB of system RAM. A DirectX 7 compatible, 3D Accelerator Video Card with 32 MB or more of on-board RAM. 5 MB of free Hard Disk Space. DirectX 7 or better installed on your computer. The latest drivers for your video card. These are best found at the video card manufacturers site. The Windows update feature is not sufficient for this task. For more information, click HERE. 5. Will Funnyfish run on widescreen and dual monitors? Yes! Funnyfish supports widescreen AND multiple monitor displays. It will mirror the aquarium in each of the monitors you have, but will not stretch the aquarium across your displays. For more information on the widescreen and multiple monitor features, see the settings section HERE. 6. Will Funnyfish run on a Mac? No. Funnyfish is not available for Mac at this time. 7. Where can I talk to real people who have used this product? Check out the fan site below. This site is complete with wish lists and discussion forums on our fantastic products. Inside: LifeGLobe fan site Accounts & Keycodes 1. My keycode does not work. There are three things that can cause this error. Some characters in the keycode can be easily confused (i.e. O and zero, capitol I and the number one, etc.). Try to copy and paste your keycode into the registration space to avoid any possible input errors. You may be attempting to use your code in another one of our programs. Check your confirmation e-mail to see which program you purchased and make sure this is the program you downloaded. Your copy of Funnyfish may have been corrupted during download or installation. Try downloading a new copy of the program and reinstalling it. Be sure to deactivate your anti-virus software for the duration of the download and install. For full installation instructions, click HERE. 2. I lost my keycode OR I made my purchase but have not received my keycode. Please go HERE and enter your e-mail to retrieve your keycode. If this procedure does not work, e-mail us the following information where applicable and we can retrieve your information from our customer database: The full name you registered under. The Order Number from your confirmation e-mail. Both the first four AND last four numbers of the credit card you used. Your email address at the time of purchase. Your old Keycode. (If you are upgrading from an older code) The store you purchased from. The date of your purchase. 3. How do I copy and paste my keycode? To copy and paste the keycode, do the following: Hold down the left mouse button and pass the cursor over the keycode. This will highlight the code in black. Let go of the mouse button and move the cursor to the center of the highlight without pressing any buttons. Press the right-most mouse button and select "Copy" from the pop-up menu. Start Funnyfish. After the program start up, press the space bar. This will bring up the registration window. Put the cursor in the registration window, press the right-most mouse button again and select "Paste" from the pop-up menu. The keycode should appear in the registration box. Be sure to eliminate any spaces before or after the code so you can have a clean paste. Press the Enter key. The program should start right up. Installation 1. How do I test Funnyfish on my computer? We built the Funnyfish to act as a demo until you entered a valid keycode. To properly install Funny Fish, and activate the demo mode, follow the instructions below: IMPORTANT: Be sure your anti-virus software is deactivated for the duration of the download and install. Uninstall any old versions of Funnyfish from your system to avoid conflicts. Download the newest release of Funnyfish from HERE. After downloading the program, find the folder you downloaded to and double-click the Funnyfish file. This will run the Setup Wizard, which will install Funnyfish on your computer, simply read and follow the instructions for installation. Once the installation process is complete, there should be a new icon on your desktop that looks like a small, orange fish with googly eyes. Double-click the fish icon to bring up the registration box. Type LIFEGLOBE into the registration box. This will unlock the demo mode. Dont forget to reactivate your anti-virus software. While Funnyfish is running, press the space bar to change your settings. You will be limited to three Funnyfish, but you can check out all of the tanks and settings. You will have to enter LIFEGLOBE again to return to the program. Let Funnyfish run for a little while to be sure everything is working properly. If you have any problems consult the "Troubleshooting" section of our FAQ. 2. How do I install Funnyfish once I have purchased a keycode? Once you have purchased your keycode you can activate the full version of the program. To properly install the Funnyfish, and activate the full version, follow the instructions below (If you have already installed the newest demo version, skip to step #6): IMPORTANT: Be sure your anti-virus software is deactivated for the duration of the download and install. Uninstall any old versions of Funnyfish from your system to avoid conflicts. Download the newest release of Funnyfish from HERE. After downloading the program, find the folder you downloaded to and double-click the Funnyfish file. This will run the Setup Wizard, which will install Funnyfish on your computer, simply read and follow the instructions for installation. Once the installation process is complete, there should be a new icon on your desktop that looks like a small, orange fish with googly eyes. Double-click the fish icon to bring up the registration box. Copy and paste your keycode into the registration space to avoid any possible input errors (Some characters can be easily mixed up i.e. the letter O and zero, capitol I and the number one, etc.) and press enter. To change your settings, press the space bar While Funnyfish is running. For more detailed information about the settings, how they work and how to pick your Goldfish, see the Operation section of the FAQ below. Dont forget to reactivate your anti-virus software. 3. How do I set Funnyfish as my default screen saver? To set Funnyfish as your screen saver follow the instructions below: Right-click your desktop in an empty spot without an icon. This will bring up a small menu window. Select "Properties" from the menu. This will open the "Display Properties" window. Click on the tab along the top marked "Screen Saver". Using the scrolling menu, select Funnyfish. The Funnyfish logo should appear in the small computer monitor at the top of this window. The length of time until the screen saver activates can be adjusted on this screen as well. 4. How do I uninstall Funnyfish? The simplest way to uninstall the Funnyfish is to run the Uninstall option through the START menu under Programs/LifeGlobe/FunnyFish. Alternatively, you can use the Add/Remove Programs utility located in the Windows Control Panel to remove Funnyfish. This should clean your system of any Funnyfish data. However, if you want to be doubly sure, you can go through the longer uninstall process below: First, click on the Start button then select Programs/LifeGlobe/FunnyFish/Uninstall FunnyFish. Next, click on the Start button then select "Find" or "Search" and search for all copies of "FunnyFish.scr" from your system. When the list of files displays in the Find window, just right click on each of our fish icons and choose delete. If you find no files at all, that is okay. It just means that everything was removed properly in step one. Re-boot your computer. Your computer should now be completely free of all Funnyfish data and programs. 5. How do I re-install Funnyfish? There are several cases where you may need to fully uninstall and reinstall Funnyfish. Please consult the "Troubleshooting" section of our FAQ first for a solution there. However, corrupt downloads, new system settings, new video card drivers, or other such circumstances may make Funnyfish stop running properly. If you cannot find another solution and would like to do a clean re-install of the program we suggest the following steps: Perform the long version of the Uninstall process outlined HERE. Install the program as outlined HERE. Operation 1. Basic Information - PLEASE READ All of the Funnyfish settings and options are controlled through the settings menu. You can bring up the Funnyfish settings menu in one of three ways: Press the spacebar on your keyboard while the program is running. Right-click on the Aquarium desktop shortcut and select "Configure". From your Display Properties/Screen Saver window, click the SETTINGS button. 2. Hotkeys for Funnyfish Esc - Exits out of all dialogues, and the program Spacebar - Funnyfish Settings A - About window H - Help window B - Sound on/off Ctrl-B - Debris on/off Ctrl-C - Caustic on/off F - Full screen/windowed mode L - Automatic light changes on/off M - Exit on Mouse Move disable/enable Ctrl-R - Restore default settings S - Show frame rate, screen res, and settings W - Normal view/wire frame fish/all wire frame Up/Down Arrow - Foreground lights up/down. Right/Left Arrow - Background lights up/down. 3. Funnyfish Settings tab Exit on Mouse Move - If this is checked; you can exit the Funnyfish by moving your mouse or pressing a non-hotkey (see above) on your keyboard. If this option is not checked, you can only exit the Funnyfish by pressing the ESC key. Disable Monitor Sleep Mode - Some monitors will shutdown after a period of time. This option allows the Funnyfish to override this shutdown and continue playing the aquarium on your monitor. Always on Top in Windowed Mode - When the Funnyfish is in Windowed Mode (See "W" hot key above.) this option will place the aquarium window over any other program you are running. Use Widescreen - Displays Funnyfish in widescreen mode which uses an additional Fish (for a total of eight) and expanded background art. Start Window Mode - Launches Funnyfish in windowed mode to take advantage of Anamorphic Settings. For more information on Anamorphic Settings click HERE. Limit Frame Rate - Forces the frame rate (animation speed) of Funnyfish to the frequency you select. If Funnyfish is jerking, or running slowly, you may need to reduce the frame rate below the default 62 by using the slider bar. Sound - Background sounds. Always On - Sound will always be heard when the progam is running. When Active - Sound will only be heard when the program window is visible. Helpful when Funnyfish is in Windowed mode (see "F" hotkey above.) Off - Turns off sound entirely. Volume Slider - Controls sound volume. Monitor Settings Each of your monitors can be set separately by choosing the monitor with a dropdown menu. Once selected you can change the individual settings as outlined below. Desktop Anamorphic Factor - Sets Anamorphic Factor for Windowed mode (see "F" hotkey above.). For more information on Anamorphic settings click HERE. Select Monitor - Dropdown menu lets you choose one of your monitors. Anamorphic Factor - Sets Anamorphic Factor for the specified monitor. For more information on Anamorphic settings click HERE. Black - Blacks out the specified monitor. If you are seeing black on one monitor and not the others, most likely this option has been checked for one of your monitors. Windows Resolution and Color Bit - Controls the Desktop resolution and Color depth settings that Funnyfish uses when it runs full screen. Resolution Dropdown menu - "Default Desktop Resolution" will match the program display to your current desktop settings. 16/32 bit - Forces the aquarium to display at 16 or 32bit color depth regardless of desktop settings. Reset to Default - This button will return ALL options back to their default settings. 4. Funnyfish Tank options Tank window - This window shows you all of the available Tanks. Checking the boxes to the left of each tank view will select it for cycling. Cycle Selected Tanks - Checking this option will cycle the tanks from the list chosen above. Time Slider - Determines the length of time that each tank view is displayed before cycling to the next. From 8 seconds to 10 minutes. Lights - Controls the lighting cycle in each tank. Automatic Lights - To prevent your monitor from burning in, the Funnyfish will cycle the lighting from light to dark across the tank. Un-checking this box will give you full control of the lighting. Delay Slider - Determines the length, from light to dark, of the lighting cycle when in Automatic lighting mode. Lights Slider - Manual setting for the lighting when not in Automatic lighting mode. Compatibility and Speed Options - These options, while visually attractive, may take up extra processing power. If Funnyfish is running slow or jerky, you might try disabling some of these options. Fog - The cloudyness of the water. Caustic - The ripple efect on the botton of the Tank and top of the Sharks. Bubbles - The occasional bubbles that float from top to bottom of the Tank. 5. Funnyfish anamorphic settings The anamorphic settings are defined as follows, though they may require slightly different numbers on your specific monitor: 1.0 - Fills any screen. If the program is set to widescreen and you have a widscreen monitor, there will be no distortion. 0.8 - Will "Letterbox" the program display, placing a black bar at the top and bottom of the screen. This setting will allow the widescreen mode to appear without distortion on a normal ratio display. 1.2 - Will "Sidebox" the program display, placing a black bar on the left and right of the screen. This setting will allow the normal mode to appear without distortion on a widescreen display. 6. How do I choose the Funnyfish? Funnyfish can display a variety of silly characters. The number of Funnyfish depends on the tank you have chosen on the "Tank" tab of the settings menu. To access and use this library, please follow the instructions below: Press the space bar while the program is running. This will bring up the settings window. Click on the Funnyfish tab. This will take you to the Funnyfish selection page. On the right you will see a visual library of Funnyfish to choose from. On the top left are a number of slots showing the characters currently chosen for your tank. By left-clicking on a Funnyfish you can see its information in the bottom left. By double-clicking, you can set the Funnyfish as one of your tank choices, filling one of the slots. Double-clicking the "X" (OFF) will leave that slot blank and the tank will have one fewer character on the screen. If you double-click the "?" (RANDOM) the program will pick a Funnyfish for you at random, every time you open the program. Checking the option "Dont Duplicate Random Choices" will make sure that no random choices are the same. Troubleshooting 1. Basic Information - PLEASE READ The graphics used in Funnyfish require a fairly up-to-date computer with a strong graphics card. Our realistic graphics use the same system resources as most video games. If you have some initial problems running Funnyfish, do not worry, most graphics problems can be solved by simply updating your computers video card drivers. For more detailed information on your computers video card and how to update its driver, click HERE. The best way to test the FunnyFishs compatibility is to download the program and run the demo version as outlined HERE. 2. The fish swim slowly and/or the program freezes. Slow animation, jittering, or freezing can be caused by a variety of things. Lets try a few of the basics and see what might be causing the issue: A. IMPORTANT: Be sure that your video card has 32 megabytes or more of video memory and an up to date driver. Do not skip this step! Even if your computer is brand new or you have recently updated drivers, there can still be problems in this area. Check video card and driver section HERE for more information on your video card and how to check it. B. Limit the programs animation frame rate as follows: Run Funnyfish and press the spacebar to bring up the settings menu. Click the "Settings" tab. Check the "Limit frame rate (fps)" box and use the slider bar to set the frame rate below 30. Click the OKAY button. C. Examine the programs in your System Tray (The area just to the left of the clock on the Taskbar). Placing your mouse cursor over the icons will give you items full name. If you have Windows XP or higher you may have to "Show hidden icons" using the small circle and arrow button to the left of the System Tray. If the icon is for Windows or another program waiting to update, run the updates then continue. If the icon is not one of your basic system functions (volume, task manager, mouse, video card, printer, etc.) exit, disable or close the program. Right-clicking the icon will usually give you options. Then check to see if Funnyfish exhibits the same behavior. D. Double-check your computer for spyware or viruses. 3. Your video card and its driver The video card (or chip, or processor) is the graphics workhorse of your computer. If it does not have enough video memory, it will not be able to perform smoothly. The same is true if the video driver your computer is using is out of date or corrupted. To check your video cards memory and driver do the following: Close all programs that are running. Click on the START button and select "Run". In the box that appears, type in dxdiag. This will bring up the DirectX Diagnostic tool. Wait for it to fully load. Click the "Display" tab. All the information on your video card is in the upper left under the heading Device. You will want to write down the following information: Name Manufacturer Chip Type Approx. Total Memory If the Approx. Total Memory is below 32MB (megabytes), your video card does not have enough video memory to run Funnyfish and you should e-mail us to let us know. All of the information about your video driver is on the right-hand side under the heading Driver. You will want to write down the following information: Version Date If the date is more than six months old, you will want to update your video driver as outlined HERE. IMPORTANT: If you have a laptop, you will want to go to the laptop manufacturers website to find a new driver. 4. Updating your video card driver It is important to make sure you have the latest driver for your video card from the manufacturer. We have found that outdated drivers are the number one reason for many problems. IMPORTANT: If you have a laptop, you will want to go to the laptop manufacturers website to find a new driver. PLEASE NOTE: The Windows update function is often not sufficient for updating your video card drivers. Video card manufacturers update their drivers once every THREE to SIX months. These new drivers can usually be found on their websites. Using the information you gathered HERE about your video card, you should search the Internet for the manufacturers website and download the driver from there. Read the installation information on the manufacturers site very carefully. There is no standard way to install new drivers. If this update does not solve your problem, please contact us using the Tech Support page HERE. 5. When I run Funnyfish from the shortcut on my Desktop, Windows launches a different program. AutoCAD or some other program has changed the association of the .scr file type, meaning Windows no longer sees files with the .scr extension as screen saver files, but as another type of file. While Funnyfish will run normally as a screen saver, you cannot use the shortcut on your Desktop. Here is a way to work around that: Open your My Documents folder and select Tools then Folder Options... Click the View tab, uncheck Hide file extensions for known file types and click the Apply button. This will allow you to view the file extensions for all files. Close your My Documents window. Right-click on the Funnyfish desktop shortcut and select "Properties". This will bring up the Shortcut properties window. Click the FIND TARGET... button at the bottom of the Shortcut properties window. This will take you right to the FunnyFish.scr file on your hard drive. Right-click the FunnyFish.scr file and select "Copy". Go back to your Desktop, right-click any empty space and select "Paste". A copy of FunnyFish.scr should appear on your Desktop. Right-click on the new FunnyFish.scr icon and select "Rename" from the menu. Change the Icons name to FunnyFish.exe. Delete the Funnyfish shortcut from your Desktop. You can now run Funnyfish manually by double-clicking this icon. Screen Savers & Burn-in 1. What is burn-in? Burn-in is a generic term for a ghost-like image that appears on a monitor or television after displaying an image that does not change for a long period of time. Burn-in is also called ghosting or image persistence. While the exact cause is different for different types of monitors, the result is the same, a light or dark area of the screen where the non-moving image was displayed. Due to better technology, energy saver options, and screen savers, burn-in is much less of a problem than in the past. However, any program, even a screen saver, can cause burn-in if left running long enough. 2. Screen savers Screen savers were originally designed to help avoid the effects of burn-in by automatically changing the images on the screen when the computer was not in use (thus "saving" the screen from burn-in). They are usually set up to launch automatically by the computers operating system, waiting a specified amount of time after the last keystroke or the last mouse movement made by a user. The screen saver then blanks the screen, or more commonly produces animation effects, thus avoiding any "fixed" images. Modern monitors are much less susceptible to burn-in than older models due to better technology and energy saver options . For these reasons, screen savers today are primarily decorative or for entertainment, and usually feature moving images or patterns and sometimes sound effects. Our LifeGlobe and SereneScreen products are hyper-realistic simulators. They model real creatures in real environments. They are completely unpredictable, and follow behaviors modeled after their real life counterparts. As a result, the background can remain on screen for long periods of time without change. By default our simulators ship in a mode that cycles the background and/or lighting. Changing these options can effect some monitors over a long period of time. If you are concerned about burn-in, do not turn off this cycle. 3. How can I prevent burn-in? Most computers have several layers of protection against burn-in: Better technology Advancements in monitor hardware and software mean that todays monitors are less likely to burn-in. Energy saver options To save electricity, monitors will switch to an energy saving mode after a period of time, either reducing the brightness of the display or turning off the display entirely. Screen savers Finally, there are an incredible number of screen savers that display moving images to reduce the persistence of a single image on the screen helping to avoid burn-in. However, even with these advancements and options, in rare cases, burn-in can still occur. To prevent burn-in, we recommend the following: Different monitors have different needs when it comes to burn-in. You should check the users manual for specific information, or even contact the manufacturer, just to be sure what steps you can take for your specific monitor. Set the energy saver options to turn off your monitor when not in use for a long period of time. With any of our products, the background and foreground lighting change constantly on an automatic cycle. If you are concerned about burn-in, do not turn off this cycle. 4. How do I fix burn-in? This depends on the kind of monitor you have. CRT Unfortunately, once burn-in occurs on a CRT monitor, there is no fix as the actual process that produces the image has been damaged. LCD & Plasma monitors The approach to fixing burn-in on plasma and LCD monitors is the same: Display a white screen on the display for a length of time equal to the image that burned-in. Apple has an excellent article on how to go about this: Apple: Avoiding image persistence on Apple LCD displays Miscellaneous 1. What kind of fish come with Funnyfish? That would be telling! You should download Funnyfish and check out our wacky creations for yourself. For full instructions on how to install and demo Funnyfish, see HERE. 2. Can I make my own fish for Funnyfish? Currently we do not permit people to create or add custom fish for Funnyfish. There are many reasons, but the most important is that while we trust an artisan would be motivated, and even capable of creating a truly wonderful masterpiece, there are others that might not, and a version were to get out that was less than the highest quality, it might reflect poorly on us. If you are interesting in creating fish or wildlife for our company, we are always seeking talented artist. Please e-mail us samples of your work. Thank you for your support.