7. Common Problems
Of course, Fractint would never stoop to having a "common" problem.
These notes describe some, ahem, "special situations" which come up
occasionally and which even we haven't the gall to label as "features".
Fractint (alas!) is still a DOS program. It runs well under windows, but
there can be problems. Here are some tips from some expert users.
Jay Hill's Windows tips:
For starters, make sure the DOS window properties are set to 'Misc |
Always suspend' = off." Unless you want the task to stop when it does
not have focus. Also, you can put the Idle Sensitivity to high. Make
settings on any other DOS windows you have open according to what they
should be (or what you prefer).
If your DOS window is full screen, press Alt-Enter to make it a Window
window. Then click on the MSDOS icon in the upper left. WARNING,
don't do this in a high res graphics mode or in text mode (sometimes).
The safest is F3 320x200 graphics mode. Windows likes that mode. If
you have a high res image, hit 'X' to get the text screen and then
Alt-ENTER to get the DOS Windows window... POW...your task will
likely die. So ... don't do that:
Some DOS programs eat up to 50% or 80% CPU time just sitting watching
for key strokes. Clearly, these should be suspended when they don't
have the focus. A simple DOS prompt, I have found, eats little time.
Some web pages eat lots of time (watching prompt boxes) while others
eat little (plain text or graphics with no links).
It has been noted here before, you can make a shortcut to Fractint.exe
and tailor its properties. I use in the program tab: command line:
FRACTINT.EXE textsafe=save sound=off
Under the screen tab: Usage: Full screen. Under Misc: Allow screen
saver=off.
You should coordinate your DOS windows according to what you are
doing. I often change the settings for a short time, just to do some
other task.
Damien M. Jones Windows tips:
This is what works for me. Your mileage may vary.
Create a shortcut to FRACTINT.EXE, right-click it, choose Properties.
On the Memory tab: set all five drop-downs to "Auto". On the Screen
tab: choose Full-screen and Fast ROM emulation, leave Dynamic memory
allocation OFF. Under the Misc tab: turn OFF Allow screen saver. Turn
ON Always suspend. Set the Idle sensitivity to about 1/4, closest to
Low.
In the SSTOOLS.INI file, put textsafe=save on a line by itself in the
[fractint] section. (This helps preserve your screen when you switch
away from FractInt, but only works if Always suspend is turned ON.)
Having more than 8M of RAM helps too, that way Windows and FractInt
aren't fighting over the same memory.
Hang during startup:
There might be a problem with Fractint's video detection logic and
your particular video adapter. Try running with "fractint adapter=xxx"
where xxx is cga, ega, egamono, mcga, or vga. If "adapter=vga" works,
and you really have a SuperVGA adapter capable of higher video modes,
there are other "adapter=" options for a number of SuperVGA chipsets -
please see the full selection in Video Parameters (p. 134) for
details. If this solves the problem, create an SSTOOLS.INI file with
the "adapter=xxx" command in it so that the fix will apply to every
run.
Another possible cause: If you install the latest Fractint in say
directory "newfrac", then run it from another directory with the
command "\newfrac\fractint", *and* you have an older version of
fractint.exe somewhere in your DOS PATH, a silent hang is all you'll
get. See the notes under the "Cannot find FRACTINT.EXE message"
problem for the reason.
Another possibility: try one of the "textsafe" parameter choices
described in Video Parameters (p. 134).
Scrambled image when returning from a text mode display:
If an image which has been partly or completely generated gets partly
destroyed when you return to it from the menu, help, or the
information display, please try the various "textsafe" parameter
options - see Video Parameters (p. 134) for details. If this cures
the problem, create an SSTOOLS.INI file with the "textsafe=xxx"
command so that the fix will apply to every run.
"Holes" in an image while it is being drawn:
Little squares colored in your "inside" color, in a pattern of every
second square of that size, in solid guessing mode, both across and
down (i.e., 1 out of 4), are a symptom of an image which should be
calculated with more conservative periodicity checking than the
default. See the Periodicity parameter under Image Calculation
Parameters (p. 126).
Black bar at top of screen during color cycling on 8086/8088 machines:
(This might happen intermittently, not every run.)
"fractint cyclelimit=10" might cure the problem. If so, increase the
cyclelimit value (try increasing by 5 or 10 each time) until the
problem reappears, then back off one step and add that cyclelimit
value to your SSTOOLS.INI file.
Other video problems:
If you are using a VESA driver with your video adapter, the first
thing to try is the "vesadetect=no" parameter. If that fixes the
problem, add it to your SSTOOLS.INI file to make the fix permanent.
It may help to explicitly specify your type of adapter - see the
"adapter=" parameter in Video Parameters (p. 134).
We've had one case where a video driver for Windows does not work
properly with Fractint. If running under Windows, DesqView, or some
other layered environment, try running Fractint directly from DOS to
see if that avoids the problem.
We've also had one case of a problem co-existing with "386 to the
Max".
We've had one report of an EGA adapter which got scrambled images in
all modes until "textsafe=no" was used (see Video Parameters (p. 134)
).
Also, see Video Adapter Notes (p. 153) for information about enhanced
video modes - Fractint makes only limited attempts to verify that a
video mode you request is actually supported by your adapter.
Other Hangs and Strange Behavior:
We've had some problems (hangs and solid beeps) on an FPU equipped
machine when running under Windows 3's enhanced mode. The only ways
around the problem we can find are to either run the Fractint image
involved outside Windows, or to use the DOS command "SET NO87=nofpu"
before running Fractint. (This SET command makes Fractint ignore your
fpu, so things might be a lot slower as a result.)
Insufficient memory:
Fractint requires a fair bit of memory to run. Most machines with at
least 640k (ok sticklers, make that "PC-compatible machines") will
have no problem. Machines with 512k and machines with many TSR
utilities and/or a LAN interface may have problems. Some Fractint
features allocate memory when required during a run. If you get a
message about insufficient memory, or suspect that some problem is due
to a memory shortage, you could try commenting out some TSR utilities
in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, some non-critical drivers in your
CONFIG.SYS file, or reducing the BUFFERS parameter in your CONFIG.SYS.
"Cannot find FRACTINT.EXE" message:
Fractint is an overlayed program - some parts of it are brought from
disk into memory only when used. The overlay manager needs to know
where to find the program. It must be named FRACTINT.EXE (which it is
unless somebody renamed it), and you should either be in the directory
containing it when you start Fractint, or that directory should be in
your DOS PATH.
"File FRACTINT.CFG is missing or invalid" message:
You should either start Fractint while you are in the directory
containing it, or should have that directory in your DOS PATH
variable. If that isn't the problem, maybe you have a FRACTINT.CFG
file from an older release of Fractint lying around? If so, best
rename or delete it. If that isn't the problem either, then the
FRACTINT.CFG included in the FRAINT.EXE release file has probably been
changed or deleted. Best reinstall Fractint to get a fresh copy.
Some other program doesn't like GIF files created by Fractint:
Fractint generates nice clean GIF89A spec files, honest! But telling
this to the other program isn't likely to change its mind. Instead,
try an option which might get around the problem: run Fractint with
the command line option "gif87a=yes" and then save an image. Fractint
will store the image in the older GIF87A format, without any fractal
parameters in it (so you won't be able to load the image back into
Fractint and zoom into it - the fractal type, coordinates, etc. are
not stored in this older format), and without an "aspect ratio" in the
GIF header (we've seen one utility which doesn't like that field.)
Disk video mode performance:
This won't be blindingly fast at the best of times, but there are
things which can slow it down and can be tuned. See "Disk-Video"
Modes (p. 156) for details.
Sound card output isn't working:
If you get the message "FM hardware not present" when trying to switch
on output from your sound card then check that the drivers you
installed with the card have set the BLASTER environment variable. To
do this go to a DOS prompt and type SET, this command will list a
bunch of lines like this:
VARIABLE=VALUE
ANOTHERVARIABLE=ANOTHER VALUE
one of these should look like:
BLASTER=A:220 I:5 D:3
or similar, it's the A: entry that's important. If you don't have the
variable set then try putting the line:
SET BLASTER=A:220
in your autoexec.bat file, though be warned that if your sound
hardware isn't compatable or has its base i/o address set differently
to the 220H, then unexpected things may happen as fractint tries to
write to hardware that isn't there.
If you get no warning message but still can't hear anything then try
to alter the volume of your card's output using whatever utility came
with the card. For windows 95 doubleclick on the small loudspeaker
icon on your task bar and play with the sliders, you may have to go to
the mixer properties menu and enable the control for the FM output to
appear, this may be called 'synthesizer', 'FM', 'midi', or 'legacy'
depending on your hardware. Also fractint is unlikely to be able to
continue sounding notes when running in the background under windows
95, so you'll need to keep switching back and forth until things are
set right.