Getting IMS Microsoft CD Readers To Work On The StrongARM And RISC OS 4.39

(Disclaimer: Although these methods work on my 4.39, StrongARM RiscPC, I cannot gaurantee that they will work on yours. Read the instructions carefully, before you do anything, and if you are not happy carrying them out, don‘t try it!)

Also you still need to buy a copy of the original IMS readers for RISC OS, before you can do anything. These should still be available from either CJE, or alternatively Liquid Silicon.

Installing The Microsoft Dinosaurs Reader on a StrongARM RiscPC with RISC OS 3.7 or 4.39

1)   Insert the reader disk into the floppy drive, once you have checked the black write-enable tag on the disc is closed, and click on the floppy disc icon on the desktop icon bar.

2)    Double click on the Install directory, and double click again on !Register. This will bring up a dialogue box, asking you to enter your name. Do so and click on Register. The floppy disc will start up for a couple of seconds.

3)   Position the mouse pointer over an open directory window, and click the Menu button. Move down to Options, then on the right-hand sub menu ensure that the Newer option has been ticked.

4)   Click on your hard drive icon and find the !Boot application. (Do NOT update the System as it says in the instructions for previous versions of the OS). Hold down your shift key and double click on !Boot, then double click on Resources. Hold down shift again and double click on !System. Drag the copy of !MediaRSRC from inside the Install directory on the Dinosaurs disc into the !System directory. (With Newer ticked, if there is a previous version of !MediaRSRC present, it will simply be updated).

5)   Drag the !Dinosaurs application from the reader disc onto the hard drive directory where you wish to install it.

6)   Now download the file Dinosaurs/arc from here and extract the files !Run, !RunImageN and Blanker using ArcFS.

7)   Hold down the Shift key and double click on the copy of !Dinosaurs on your hard drive. Delete the copy of !Run inside the application, and copy over the version of it you have just extracted using ArcFS.

8)   Copy the file !RunImageN you have extracted into the !Dinosaurs application. Do NOT delete the original copy of !RunImage inside the application. It might seem tidy, but if you do so, the program will NOT work.

9)   Double click on the directory Saver, inside the application, then hold down the Shift key, and double click on !DinoSaver. Delete the file Blanker and copy over the one you have extracted from the archive.

10)   Reboot the machine, insert the Dinosaurs CD and see if the program works!

Installing The Ancient Lands Reader on a StrongARM RiscPC with RISC OS 3.7 or 4.39

This one is much easier, as it was one of the last readers released by IMS. Only one change needs to be made to any of the files.

1)   Run the !Register application inside the Install directory.

2)   Do NOT use the !UpdateSys application, as you will probably have all the neccessary modules in your !Boot file already.

3)   Copy the !Ancient application to an appropriate directory on your hard drive.

4)   Use the copy of !SparkPlug inside the Install directory to extract the !ARMovie application from the Replay archive and install it in the same directory as !Ancient.

5)   Hold down the Shift key and double click on !ARMovie.

6)   Load !Run inside !ARMovie into a text editor such as !Edit, and delete the last line that says

Filer_Run ‹ARMovie$Dir›.Filetypes.!CDFix

(!CDFix was a patch for older versions of CDFS, which mapped DOS and Mac file extensions onto RISC OS filetypes, thus allowing them to be loaded automatically. The supplied version is not StrongARM-compatible, but RISC OS 4.39's version of CDFS does this file mapping automatically.)

Now save the amended !Run file. (You can also delete the FileTypes directory, but this is not strictly neccessary.)

7)   Insert the CD, double click on !Ancient and check the program is working.

8)   If there are problems playing the movies, double click on !ARMovie and try again. The movies are best viewed after clicking Menu on the !Ancient application‘s icon on the iconbar, selecting Choices, then setting Video to Half Size in the Movies dialog box.