From: Lloyd Wood Subject: Macintosh Screensaver Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 2.0 Date: Thu, 10 Feb 94 16:50:39 GMT Here is the Macintosh Screensaver FAQ, version 2.0. It contains everything you ever wanted to know (and quite a few things you didn't) about Macintosh screensavers, with a lot of information for users of After Dark and compatibles. This is a major revision, with a new format and much new information. Should replace 1.9 and all earlier versions in the archives. -- L. _____________________________________________________________________________ L.H.Wood@lut.ac.uk Got a Mac? Got a screensaver? Read the Screensaver FAQ! Archive-name: macintosh/screensaver-faq Last-modified: 1994/02/10 Version: 2.0 COMP.SYS.MAC FAQ: Screensaver/After Dark answers Version: 2.0 Last updated: Thursday, 10 February 1994 Copyright (C) 1993, 1994 L. H. Wood . Not for physical or retail distribution unless I receive a complimentary copy of the medium. Not for distribution on ZiffNet until they freely release the modules they create - see Copyright at end for more. This is a FAQ - a Frequently Asked Questions list. These are written and posted to newsgroups to cut down on needless repetition of questions that everyone, bar the ignorant questioner, who is never a regular reader of the group, knows the answer to by heart. You can find many of the other FAQs in existence by: a. reading the *.answers newsgroups. b. searching back through newsgroups for the title 'FAQ'. c. ftp'ing to rtfm.mit.edu. If you don't know what ftp is, ask your systems administrator. If you don't know what rtfm means, you really do need to read some FAQs. There are a number of Macintosh-specific FAQs, posted regularly in comp.sys.mac.* and archived at rtfm.mit.edu (directory pub/usenet/news.answers/macintosh), umich and info-mac (directory info-mac/info). Anyone reading comp.sys.mac.whatever should have read through these FAQs at some point. Check the FAQs to see if the question you are about to ask has already been answered for you. This FAQ list addresses problems Mac screensaver users may have. In doing this, this also answers some common questions new Mac users have, which are not related to screensavers, but which are asked so often it's worth pointing out that the answers are there for you to find. The answers to these questions have been prefaced with 'FAQ alert!'. Look for it. These common questions are: How can I change the name of my hard disk? Why does my hard disk look like a blank page? How can I get colour floppy disk icons? See 'Other things FileTyper is useful for' at the end of (4.0). How can I get a picture of the screen? With the cursor and menus visible? See (0.3). Where can I find system software updates? What reads the disk images? See (1.1). What is Macsbug? Where can I find it? What do I do with it? How do I use it? See (5.0). Where can I find Mac stuff on ftp sites? What do I need to interpret the files? How can I send stuff to these ftp sites for others to share? See Introduction. Are viruses a problem on the Mac? How can I deal with them? See the entry for Virex-D under (5.2). My PowerBook's hard disk spins down. Why doesn't my desktop Mac's? See (0.0.4). How do I get a working Brightness control panel? See (0.1.2). CONTENTS OF THIS FAQ Revisions Introduction Do I need a screensaver? (0.0) ---- What is Energy Star? Can I use it? (0.0.1) ---- What does the 'Screen' control panel do? (0.0.2) ---- Does my PowerBook need a screensaver? (0.0.3) ---- Can I spin my desktop Mac's hard disk down? (0.0.4) ---- What screensavers can I use under A/UX? (0.0.5) -- What Mac screensavers are available? (0.1) ---- Modular screensavers (0.1.1) ---- Standalone screensavers (0.1.2) -- How do I write screensaver modules? (0.2) ---- How do I write DarkSide modules? (0.2.1) ---- How do I write After Dark modules? (0.2.2) ---- What can I get for writing a cool module? (0.2.3) ---- Writing your own screensaver (0.2.4) -- How can I save my screensaver pictures? (0.3) How can I update my copy of After Dark? (1.0) -- How can I update my copy of After Dark v1.x? (1.1) -- How can I update my copy of After Dark v2.x? (1.2) ---- After Dark revision history (1.2.1) -- How can I update my copy of Star Trek: The Screensaver? (1.3) -- How can I update my copy of More After Dark? (1.4) -- How can I update my AD modules or obtain new modules? (1.5) -- How can I update my copy of DarkSide of the Mac? (1.6) -- How can I update my copy of NowFun! ? (1.7) -- How can I update my copy of Moire? (1.8) Help! I've forgotten my After Dark password! How can I get control of my Mac back? (2.0) Where should I put the 'After Dark Files' folder? (3.0) -- Why do my Star Trek modules say they are 'Out of memory' when the rest play fine? (3.1) -- Why does a Disney module say it is 'Out of memory'? (3.2) -- Where can I find an AD module that shows pictures at random? (3.3) -- Where can I find an AD module that plays PICS files? (3.4) My After Dark control panel and modules have lost their icons! How do I get them back? (4.0) -- In list view in the Finder, my modules say they are 'a particular module' documents! What's up? (4.1) After Dark crashes my machine! What should I do? (5.0) -- Modules that don't work under MultiModule or Randomizer (5.1) -- Modules with other known problems (5.2) Extension incompatibilities with After Dark (6.0) -- Known incompatibilities with After Dark (6.1) Module name changes and similarities (7.0) -- The name has changed (7.1) -- Not to be confused (7.2) Module requests (8.0) Disclaimer and legal-weaselling -- Copyright -- Disclaimer REVISIONS In reverse order: 2.0 - Thursday, 10 February 1994 Major revision, with a new improved easier-to-read format. Pointed out general FAQs answered here. FAQ is now in info-mac/info/sft and available on the Web (Introduction). Completely new (0.0) and (0.0.1) - please read. Now Software can be reached at (0.1.1). VAMP contest has closed, but a book/disk package is under development and wants your AD modules (0.2.2). Added advice on displaying pictures (3.3) and playing PICS files (3.4). Barney Blaster's author can be reached at . Added Sierpinski's Gasket (5.1). JPEGView's author suggests that an AD module could do SlideShow screensaves via AppleEvents (8.0). 1.9 - Sunday, 9 January 1994 Found the Monitor Energy Saver's location on AppleLink (0.0.1). Unlike Brightness, Screen control panel contains startup code (0.0.2). Saw a copy of Intermission (0.1.1). Added Barney Blaster (5.1). Teleport menu is incompatible with all sound sampling software (5.2). Minor changes. INTRODUCTION Abbreviations used here: Mac - Apple Macintosh computer, the world's premier screensaver platform. AD - After Dark, a commercial screensaver package for the Mac. BS - Berkeley Systems, the makers of AD. CRT - Cathode Ray Tube, found in the traditional, box-like, monitor. DC - The Disney Collection, a commercial AD package and modules from BS. DS - DarkSide of the Mac, a freeware Mac screensaver that runs AD modules. ES - Energy Star. Imminent death of the screensaver predicted. News at (0.0.1). LCD - Liquid Crystal Diode. You *can* say LCD display. MAD - More After Dark, a commercial pack of extra AD modules from BS. QT - QuickTime, Apple's free movie/picture/sound/time-handling extension. SS - ScreenSavor, a standalone slideshow saver that includes an AD module. ST - Star Trek: the Screensaver, a commercial AD package from BS. TZ - Twilight Zone, a free application that runs AD modules in windows. FAQ alert! The major Mac-specific anonymous FTP sites mentioned here, which provide the world with Mac freeware and shareware: sumex-aim.stanford.edu (sumex) - the home of the Info-Mac archives (info-mac). Many mirror sites worldwide. Any file with a path starting 'info-mac/...' is on sumex or its mirrors. See the Info-Mac Digest in comp.sys.mac.digest for details of new Mac software available here. mac.archive.umich.edu (umich) - not related to sumex. Many mirror sites worldwide - ftp to mirror.archive.umich.edu to get to a mirror in the US. See the regular newfile postings in comp.sys.mac.digest for details of new Mac software available here. ftp.apple.com - Apple's own software archive on the net. Here you will find system software and updates, utilities and gadgets written by Apple's engineers, and development material. If you don't have access to AppleLink, this is *the* place to look for new system fixes and free copies of system software up to 7.0.1. A complete list of Mac ftp sites of interest can be found in the mac.ftp.list in info-mac/info. It is posted regularly to comp.sys.mac.misc, .apps and .games by Bruce Grubb , and is available on the Web (see below). Advice on how to find and download Mac files, and get them into your Mac, is also given. This FAQ is crossposted to most of the comp.sys.mac.* newsgroups on an irregular basis whenever it is updated. A copy can always be found for anonymous ftp in info-mac/info/sft. If you have access to the World-Wide Web, you can find this FAQ, along with other Macintosh FAQs, on it. Here's the URL: http://www.astro.nwu.edu/lentz/mac/faqs/home-faqs.html Thanks to Robert Lentz for providing this service to the Mac community. This FAQ answers common questions about screensavers for the Mac. What's available, where you can get them from, and whether or not you need a screensaver are covered. Most of this FAQ pertains to the most popular commercial Mac screensaver - AD from BS, the modules available for it, and other screensavers capable of using its modules. The FAQ details common AD problems and misconceptions, concentrating on 'Why does AD crash my machine?' The answer is almost always either 'You need to get and run the free 2.0x updater' or 'You are using a badly-written third-party module running under the MultiModule or Randomizer modules'. These modules impose stricter rules on how a module can run than AD alone does, and a large number of third party (shareware or freeware) modules either crash the Mac or won't run as a sub-module. How to update AD is given in (1.0). A list of 'problem' modules that should not be run under MultiModule/Randomizer is given in (5.0). Although many have requested it, this FAQ does not attempt to be a canonical list of all the AD modules in existence. I don't have access to the online AD forums in the US. I haven't seen a number of the commercial packages or the books. I can't sneak into BS's labs, on the other side of the world, in the dead of night, to look at all the competition entries. (Heck, I couldn't afford the trip.) I estimate I have seen less than a third of all the shareware modules in existence - and I've been working at it. A definitive list of modules is simply not possible. If a module is not mentioned here, that's either because I haven't seen it, or because I have seen it, but haven't found a reason to mention it or found a problem with it on the Mac setups available to me. You might, and I can't call a module 'good' simply because it works fine for me. [FAQ alert! If you want to spread good Mac shareware or freeware, including AD modules, to the world, giving millions of people, including me, the chance to see it, simply email a binhexed copy of the compacted or stuffited archive to: macgifts@mac.archive.umich.edu which will distribute it to ftp archives across the world, including the big ones - info-mac, umich, their many mirrors, and comp.binaries.mac. Remember to add a text description of the contents before that long binhex column! Don't send self-extracting archives (SEAs) - Compact Pro, Stuffit Expander and Stuffit Lite are readily available from these ftp archives, and we all know how to use them. Dial-up access to ftp sites is on the increase and SEAs run up others' phone bills unnecessarily. Compact Pro is now at v1.34. Stuffit Expander and Lite are now at v3.07. The old Stuffit and Unstuffit v1.5.1 cannot read the new, more efficient 3.0 format. Trash them and upgrade. Find your local sumex (info-mac) or umich mirror, listed in the mac.ftp.list detailed above, and use that to download new software, rather than tying up distant sites.] The information in this FAQ is based on my use of AD, DS, MAD, SS and ST, and on tidbits I have gleaned from email from many writers and users of screensavers and AD modules. I welcome comments and corrections, hints on using specific modules, and tips and compatibility information relating to other Mac screensavers. Despite the emphasis of this FAQ on AD modules, I have no connection with BS other than as a user of their products. I'm declaring the T-shirt BS gave me for generously saving them a fortune in tech support, though. Nothing underhand here. [I welcome free clothing, and promise to wear it around a busy campus. Tap your UK market!] This FAQ does not cover the use of AD on the Windows platform - it's for the Mac version (and other Mac screensavers) only. There is no way to convert Windows AD modules to Mac AD modules without extensive rewriting of the source code - it's a job for the authors of that module, and few have experience of programming Windows AND the Mac. The Windows AD comes with different modules to the Mac version for this reason. Module ports are unlikely. DO I NEED A SCREENSAVER? (0.0) Despite what many people will tell you, the answer is almost certainly 'no'. Screen phosphor burn-in on CRTs is not the problem it is made out to be. Damaging a modern CRT with a burnt-in still image is very difficult to do, and takes a very long time. If you really are worried about preserving screen phosphor, either: a. Turn your monitor off when you are not using your Mac, so that the phosphor is not in use at all, and cannot possibly be burnt. This has the desirable side-effect of saving energy and decreasing your electricity bills; ES does this for you automatically. See (0.0.1). b. Use a simple, boring, black screenblanker, as this does a far better job of saving phosphor than any animated pattern in a screensaver package can, and, unlike those fancy screensavers, it might even save you some electricity and some money. See (0.0.1). It takes a very long time to burn the phosphor on a cathode ray tube with a still image - accidentally leaving your Mac on all weekend won't do it. Old Mac Plusses or monochrome Mac monitors that have seen years of service may have a ghostly bar at the top of the screen from the menu bar, visible when a menu bar is not present, but that's about it. The phosphor on colour monitors is even more difficult to burn, making screensavers even less useful than you may think. Anyone worried about the menu bar burning in on their colour monitor can use Aurora 3.0 (in info-mac/cp) to give a white-on-black menu bar. So why do all these screensavers exist? Most commercial screensavers are marketed as entertainment; most standalone downloadable screensavers were written as fun programming exercises. They're entertaining toys to play with. A screensaver can be useful for protecting your Mac from prying eyes while you are away from it, and many screensavers include an optional password feature for this, although many security packages offer better protection. You should want a screensaver for password protection or for entertainment, rather than for overhyped 'screensaving' abilities. If you want true 'screensaving', read the sections below. ---- What is Energy Star? Can I use it? (0.0.1) The US Energy Star programme is leading to the demise of the screensaver as unused monitors power themselves down. Running a screensaver, other than an Energy Star (ES) saver on an ES-complaint setup, or a backlight dimmer on an LCD, will not significantly decrease your screen's energy consumption. A completely black screensaver reduces power consumption on a standard non-ES monitor by only 23% [Byte, Jan 1994, p204] and probably by less on the single-gun Trinitrons more common in the Mac world, whereas consumption is reduced by over 90% with an ES monitor, and by 100% by pressing the 'off' switch. A 'normal' animated pattern, fishtank or cartoon screensaver will not decrease CRT energy consumption. On a non-ES setup, simply turn your monitor off when you're not using the Mac for some time. It's more convenient than going through lengthy shutdown and startup processes, saves energy, and protects your phosphor better than even a black-screen screensaver will. Remember that a conventional monitor uses far more energy than the Mac itself does. If you use a Quadra, Centris, PowerBook with video-out, LCIII or later, or Performa equivalent of one of these models, AND use an Energy Star-compliant monitor (look for the star logo) off internal video on one of these Macs, you no longer need a screensaver. Apple's freely-available 'Monitor Energy Saver' package enables the Energy Star features of your monitor with these Macs. Your monitor will power down in stages when the Mac is on but not in use, saving on your electricity bills as well as saving your screen. 'Monitor Energy Saver' (also known by its codename 'DarkStar') is rather hard for netters to find. It's available on AppleLink, in the following path: Apple Products Apple SW Updates Macintosh Supplemental System Software Monitor Energy Software (1.0) I'm told it's on AOL in the System Software area - do a search for 'star'. It appeared as info-mac/cfg/monitor-energy-saver.hqx, but was then removed from sumex as a breach of copyright. It may still be on some of the smaller info-mac mirrors. It really ought to be on ftp.apple.com, but wasn't, the last time I looked. Or ask your Apple dealer for it. Some Monitor Energy Saver users have reported problems with crashing on wake from sleep, which may go to explain why it is not widely available. If you have tracked down a conflict, please let me know. Speculation suggests that the Energy Saver was produced solely to meet ES requirements for Apple's US government contract, and that Apple has no intention of destroying the screensaver market by actively promoting it and making it widely available. It would be logical to assume it would be included as part of the expected System 7.5 release later this year, perhaps integrated with the 'Screen' control panel, thus putting this rumour to rest, but I have no confirmation of my wishful thinking. To see if your setup is ES-compliant, install the Energy Saver, set it to fifteen minutes, restart, and leave your Mac for an half an hour or so. If on sleep you hear a degaussing noise, or on wake the picture takes some time to return to life while your Mac beeps, your setup is ES-compliant, and you can remove all other screensavers. If the picture returns instantly after a long sleep, and your Mac *then* beeps, the Energy Saver won't save you energy with your monitor, and you can use a normal 'blank' screensaver without feeling guilty. After all, that beeping is annoying. The Apple AudioVision 14" monitor is reported to be ES-compliant, as is newer production of other Apple monitors - look on the back to check. ES works by disabling the signals on the horizontal and vertical sync lines, on Macs that are capable of switching this. An ES monitor detects this, and enters one of a series of low-power modes; a non-ES monitor loses the picture, and goes black. (BS tells me that a special version of AD with an ES-like function called 'Ecologic' is shipped with Nanao monitors.) ---- What does the 'Screen' control panel do? (0.0.2) If you are using a Mac with an internal colour CRT, such as the Color Classic or LC5xx, which follow Energy Star recommendations, you should be using the Screen control panel supplied with the System Software to automatically turn off the monitor circuitry when the Mac is not in use - you DO NOT need a screensaver to save your screen. Unlike Brightness, which works from anywhere, the Screen control panel must be in the Control Panels folder at startup to work properly. If you want to put Screen somewhere more convenient, use an alias. ---- Does my PowerBook need a screensaver? (0.0.3) No. If you own a Mac with an LCD display you are unlikely to need a conventional screensaver, as you already have sleep mode. The only 'screensaver' you would be interested in is one that dims the backlight after a period of inactivity, to save power when running off the batteries while doing long computations - included in many PowerBook-specific utility packages. LCDs can retain the colour they are set to, whether black or white, in a 'memory effect' that takes time to change, but does fade away. If you use a (probably unnecessary) screensaver, it has been suggested that it should be one which flips all of the pixels regularly, to prevent this memory effect. This is unrelated to the ni-cad battery 'memory effect'. More information on both of these topics can be found in the PowerBook FAQs of the Mac newsgroups. Read through comp.sys.mac.portables. If you are using a monitor connected to your Dock's or PowerBook's external video, you should be able to use the Energy Saver. Read (0.0.1). ---- Can I spin my desktop Mac's hard disk down? (0.0.4) You may also want to consider saving even more energy and keeping your desktop Mac quiet by spinning down your hard disks when they are not in use - PowerBook System Software does this all the time to save on battery power. Although some drivers, such as Silverlining, include this feature, the standard Apple driver doesn't. FAQ alert! Look at SCSISaver 1.2, by Darrell Pfeifer , on umich in system.extensions/cdevs, which adds this ability to drives that support the SCSI 'stop' command. If you're using your Mac for filesharing, doing lots of intermittent disk access with something like AutoDoubler or DiskExpress, or insist on a new, randomly-chosen, AD module every few minutes, this will be of no use to you, and you'll find the many pauses as the disk spins back up irritating. If your Mac is on but idle, with no disk access, for long periods of time, you may find the silence a relief. With AutoDoubler 2.0x, setting 999 minutes and using the 'compress corner' on leaving your Mac will help prevent intermittent disk activity. ---- What screensavers can I use under A/UX? (0.0.5) A/UX users will want to use something to cover the login screen. So far Moire has been reported as the only screensaver doing this. DS and other startup applications will never do this. Read through comp.unix.aux for more information on this and other A/UX issues. -- WHAT MAC SCREENSAVERS ARE AVAILABLE? (0.1) Far too many. This FAQ concentrates on AD because it is the most popular, is well-established (it has been around for years), has the most support from other programmers in the form of different screensaver 'modules', and because there are many other packages that can run AD modules. It's a standard. AD is commercial and costs money, although updates, bug fixes, programming information and third-party shareware modules are freely available online. If you simply want to play the many shareware/freeware AD modules available from ftp sites, download the freeware DarkSide 4.1 - see below. As AD, Pyro!, NowFun! and other commercial packages *are* commercial, they and their commercial modules CANNOT, and SHOULD NOT, be obtained from ftp sites. Updaters can be obtained by ftp, but they must update the original package which you have bought. If you want to use AD (or Pyro!, or NowFun!, or another commercial package) or the modules supplied with it, you must buy that package. If you are looking for a screensaver, it is well worth obtaining freeware and shareware savers, both DarkSide and the standalones listed below, from ftp sites and evaluating them before considering commercial products. Look in info-mac/gui, or on umich in util/screensaver. But first, have you read (0.0)? You may not even *need* a screensaver with your particular Mac setup. ---- Modular screensavers (0.1.1) This list is split into the screensaver packages I've seen, and the ones I haven't. I make no claims for the completeness of this list - everyone and his grandmother appears to have written an AD-compatible screensaver, and I can't keep track. Corrections welcome. If I haven't seen a package, I won't be able to diagnose problems with it. You're on your own. Some packages are apparently more AD-compatible than others, but I'm not able to rate this on the indirect information available to me. Modular screensavers, most of which are AD-compatible, with a number of different effects supplied in separate files, or 'modules', include: Seen by me: After Dark (AD) - commercial, from BS The most popular. Has the most modules available, and many third-party savers can run these modules. Includes the screensaver, modules and programming information. More After Dark (MAD) is an add-on package from BS that does not include the screensaver itself - just more modules and an updater for the screensaver. Star Trek - the Screensaver (ST), also from BS, includes the ST saver and modules, but not the programming information included in AD. Note that 'for legal and technical reasons' the ST modules require AD 2.0x, and DC modules require the player included with DC. DS and other AD-compatibles can't see or play these modules. You need to use the player BS provides in the package. DarkSide of the Mac 4.1 (DS) - freeware, by Tom Dowdy . Also plays AD modules, unlike DS 3.2 and earlier. Like AD, DS includes a password feature and a Randomizer. DS runs as a startup application under System 7. It only patches one trap when it needs to. As it's an application you can quit it at any time if you need more memory, and restart it later. (System 6 users require DS v2.5.). Some of the forty-odd supplied DS-only modules, e.g. Circuit, LostInSpace and VaseDance, are very polished, original and well worth a look. Many others, e.g. Searchlight and Worms, are similar to AD's and Pyro's, but with fewer cute frills. An up-to-date DS package is on ftp.apple.com (directory: /dts/mac/hacks). A copy is in the info-mac/gui directory. A number of people have posted, saying that they own AD and MAD, but that they prefer to use DS to run their modules. DS 4.1 uses less memory than AD does to play AD modules, and takes up less disk space and less CPU time. It is claimed to run all AD modules, with the known exceptions of the commercial BS ST and DC modules and the SS AD module (version 2.0.1) supplied with SS 3.0. [Known DS problems: If DS stays at the front on startup, even though you checked 'Finder to front on startup', look at your Startup Items folder. DS should be there only once. To randomize a selection of DS modules, put them or their aliases together in a folder, and open that folder with Open... DarkSide's password dialog can crash as a result of extension conflicts. One known culprit is Okey Dokey 1.0.1. Try turning off Okey Dokey's countdown timer. Both Dan Walkowski and Tom Dowdy are aware of this problem. Applescript has also been reported as causing problems. If DS still crashes, try giving it slightly more memory (your INITs may be eating up a lot of program heap space) or trashing the DS Preferences file, and see if matters improve. The MAD Confetti Factory module crashes under DS 4.0. Get DS 4.1. DS's Spectrum module, like other sampling software, is incompatible with Global Village's Teleport menu. If you keep your AD and DS modules together, note they both have 'Clock' and 'Puzzle' modules, and that MAD also has a 'Rain' module. Remove or rename one of each. The manual in MacWrite Pro format. Eventually, an XTND translator for this should appear. One in the package would be nice. If you want a printed manual, register your copy of DarkSide.] If you don't already have a screensaver, want to write screensaver modules, or are interested in using the wide range of free/shareware AD modules, this is *the* screensaver to get. The price is unbeatable. Intermission 1.0 - commercial, by ICOM Simulations However, ICOM (now Viacom New Media) will direct you to Delrina, who have bought the rights to Intermission and use it as the screensaver engine in Opus 'n Bill (below). As far as I can tell, Intermission has no future - look at Opus 'n Bill instead. Intermission comes as an extension, controlled by a desk accessory. Plays AD and Pyro! modules, as well as coming with over fifty modules in its own format - programming information for this included. Its own modules include all the usual - fish, worms, spotlights, patterns - as well as originals like Dancing Pig, Dragon Kites, and versions of Breakout and Pong. Can't display non-text AD About boxes. Has a complicated, Windows-like interface with far too many configuration options. Includes password and systemIQ features, but passwording and sound were unreliable in the copy I tested. Put an alias to the Intermission Modules folder in your System Folder, and put aliases to your Pyro! and AD Files folders within the Intermission folder. Screensavor 3.01 (SS) - Commercial, by MIFP Development or . A 'specialist' picture displayer. Includes a startup application (similar to DS) and an equivalent module (v2.0.1) that will run under AD or Intermission - the module is unreliable under DS, judging from the evaluation copy of 3.0 MIFP sent me to try out. 22 sets of pictures (e.g. landscapes, kittens, the planets, aircraft, golf courses) also available. Does fades, zooms, and many other effects. Shows QT JPEGs and PICTs as well as its proprietary format - *far* more flexible than the AD Slide Show module. QT required and included. A demo of the SS AD module (v1.01) is in info-mac/gui/ad, and includes sample pictures. Twilight Zone (TZ) - an entry for MacHack 1993 by Steve Falkenburg (no email address known). Although it isn't a screensaver, this little application will run AfterDark modules inside individual windows. The modules can be resized, moved, run in the background, and more than one can be run at once. It won't run all of the Berkeley Systems modules - it crashes on most - but, as an example, I had Fractals, Mathos and Spinning Bow Tie running at the same time, faster than they do when screensaving. A copy can be ftp'ed from umich (directory: util/screensaver/afterdark). It's an unstable and buggy hack, and needs work - anyone want to use the source code (included) or know where to email feedback? Not seen by me: Citadel 1.2 - commercial, by Datawatch. A security package reported as including hard disk and partition locking, passwording, file encryption and destruction as well as an AD-compatible screensaver. I haven't seen a copy of Citadel, and cannot comment on something I haven't seen - tips welcomed. I know nothing further. Disney Collection (DC) - commercial, from BS . Like ST, includes its own AD control panel. Like ST, AD compatibles can't play this new module format. See TidBITS #192 for a review. I haven't seen a copy of DC, and cannot comment on something I haven't seen - tips welcomed. I know nothing further. BS has just launched Marvel Comics Screen Posters, a screensaver/desktop-picture package featuring American cartoon characters. I know nothing further. NowFun! - commercial, from Now Software . This 'fun' compilation package is reported as including FunScreenSavers, an AD-compatible screensaver with thirty modules (many previously shareware), FunPictures (an updated DeskPict), FunCursors, FunColors and FunSounds (an updated SndControl). I haven't seen a copy of NowFun!, but I've been told by others which (many previously shareware) modules it contains, and can pass this information on to those interested. Email me for further details on NowFun! I make no claims for the accuracy of this information. An updater to take NowFun! to 1.0.1 is available in info-mac/gui and on umich as /mac/misc/update/nowfun1.01update.sit.hqx. I'm told that NowFun's modules work fine individually under AD, with the exceptions of MultipleScreenSavers, Projector, and Sports! I know nothing further, since I haven't seen NowFun! Opus 'n Bill - commercial, by Delrina. Uses the Intermission screensaver engine mentioned above, so should be able to also run AD and Pyro! modules. I'm told that it comes with 16 modules and includes an update service, which you pay extra to subscribe to, to receive five new modules every quarter. (As Intermission included over 50 modules, I speculate that the update service is the original Intermission modules repackaged. More information welcome.) Notable for the lawsuit BS won in San Francisco against Delrina for infringing BS's 'Flying Toasters' design within the screensaver domain. Delrina's toasters now have propellers, not wings. I know nothing further, since I haven't seen Opus 'n Bill. Pyro! 4.1 - commercial. This was the original 'fireworks' screensaver, and now comes with 35 modules. The modules are similar in function to the DS and AD modules, although they lack sound. One or two third-party modules do exist, but nowhere near the sheer volume AD has - and, unlike the others listed here, Pyro! cannot play AD modules. DiskLock 1.2 is reported as being a commercial security program, with similar features to Citadel, that also runs Pyro! modules. I haven't seen a copy of Pyro! 4.1 or of DiskLock, and cannot comment on anything I haven't seen - tips welcomed. I know nothing further. UnderWare - commercial, by Bit Jugglers . Includes an AD-module player, but its main component is an animated desktop that interacts with your icons and windows. See TidBITS #192 for a review. I'm told that UnderWare is incompatible with CopyDoublerand CopyDoubler Lite, but only in 24-bit addressing mode. Although the CopyDoubler 2.0.2 updater says this is fixed, upgrade to 2.0.3. UnderWare is also incompatible with locking down the menubar when panning on E-Machines control panels. Turn that option off if you use both. I haven't yet seen a copy of UnderWare, and know nothing further. There are also two book/disk packages containing just AD modules: 'Art of Darkness', author Erfert Fenton, Peachpit Press, ISBN 1-56609-012-1. Ten modules from BS, eight unavailable elsewhere. 'Cool Mac After Dark', author Ross Scott Rubin, Hayden Books, ISBN 0-672-48529-X. Seventeen previously-shareware modules. I haven't seen either of these, but I've been told by others what modules they contain, and can pass this information on to those interested. Email me for further details on the contents of these books. I make no claims for the accuracy of this information. A third book/disk package of AD modules is under development. See (0.2.2). ---- Standalone screensavers (0.1.2) There are also a large number of small standalone screensavers to choose from, and many are present in info-mac/gui. Some of these aim to be as simple, small and unobtrusive as possible, e.g. TinySaver 3.1, FadetoBlack, BasicBlack. Popular choices include Eclipse 2.1 and Moire 4.0.1. MacPassword, elsewhere on info-mac, includes Moire for screensaving. If you do think you need a screensaver, look at what's freely available from the ftp sites first - particularly DS if you're running System 7 or better. You are sure to find something to suit you. There are a number of screensavers for Macs that support use of the Brightness control panel and dim an unused screen, e.g. Twilight. Twilight 7.1.4 onwards also 'dims' the same way on all other Macs, by allowing you to install the Brightness driver. The Brightness control panel can then be used on these Macs as well. [If you want software brightness control, but don't want to install the system software driver supplied for Twilight, a copy of the 7.0b1 Brightness control panel, which works on all Macs, can be found on info-mac in cp - someone has added new icon and version resources. Using this when you can just turn your monitor down is unnecessary.] Microsoft Word 5.1 includes a simple menu-activated screen saver. Add 'Screen Test' to the Work menu using Commands to get ready access to it when a document is open. Clicking brings up an options box. -- HOW DO I WRITE SCREENSAVER MODULES? (0.2) See (8.0) for ideas that haven't been implemented as modules yet. Please don't reinvent the wheel by doing yet another scrolling message, spotlight or sliding tiles module. Give yourself a challenge! ---- How do I write DarkSide modules? (0.2.1) If you don't own After Dark or one of the other commercial packages, but you have a neat idea for a screensaver and don't fancy writing an entire standalone package, look at DS 4.1. All the information and code you need to write DS modules is supplied within the complete package - for free. I know of only two authors who have so far produced a total of four third-party DS modules - there's definitely a shareware market window here. See the module programming list, below, or address your questions to DarkSide's author, Tom Dowdy . ---- How do I write After Dark modules? (0.2.2) You learn to write After Dark modules by examining the example code that came with the AD package you bought. This example code makes up the Bouncing Ball module. ST does not include programming information - BS has posted the programming examples and information on AOL, AppleLink, and CompuServe. It's available as: info-mac/dev/ad-programmers-pckg.hqx and on umich as: development/source/afterdarkprogramming.cpt.hqx This package is also available upon request from BS. Although some shareware modules do come with source code, it's likely to be out of date. Get the latest version of the AD package for up-to-date code. If the last version of the code you have came with a version of AD earlier than 2.0x, you're building modules with obsolete code. Upgrade! There's an AD module programming list, where you can get feedback on your work and discuss problems. This list also deals with DS modules. Sample code, such as how to animate your module's About box, can be obtained from an ftp site - more details can be obtained by joining the list. Email: AfterDark-request@clipper.cb.att.com to be put on the list, and send announcements for it to: AfterDark@clipper.cb.att.com. If you are writing AD modules, you will want to make sure that they will also run without problems (either coding or cosmetic) under the freeware DS 4.1, as well as NowFun!, UnderWare and the other commercial AD-compatibles. There's no sense in restricting your market or in giving yourself tech-support headaches. ---- What can I get for writing a cool module? (0.2.3) An AD module book/disk package is under development. It aims to include general advice on screensavers drawn from this FAQ, a guide to programming AD modules with hints, tips and sample code, and a number of never-before-seen AD modules. If you can write good AD modules, contact David Zwiefelhofer for more information. As an incentive to write AD modules, you can enter programming contests - this is why AD dominates. The 1993 contest closed last July. That contest had a grand prize of $10,000, with runner-up prizes of hardware, for the best AD modules in Mac, Windows, and Computer Artist categories. The best Mac module winner, Steve Henck, picked up a 2Gb drive for his 'Possessed' module. Email BS for details of the next contest. The first contest led to the creation of the MAD package - all modules written by AD users. Since then, BS has done little with the modules it has garnered from the contests. Perhaps BS can make more money from film tie-ins than from selling packages of original modules. If you want others to see your modules, consider the book/disk package mentioned above. ---- Writing your own screensaver (0.2.4) Why bother? If you write a module for AD or DS you will have a much larger market than for yet another stand-alone screensaver, and all the stand-alone niches (smallest, brightness, clock etc) have already been filled. You won't have to worry about incompatibilities with other software or breaking with the next system release - that's the job of the AD or DS authors. And you can enter the contests. No-one needs another standalone screensaver. If you want to write something that does interesting things with After Dark modules, the code supplied with Twilight Zone should be your starting point. If you really want to write your own screensaver, The Macintosh C Programming Primer (Vol 1, 2nd ed.) contains source code, as does The Macintosh Pascal Programming Primer. After Dark defines a gestalt for screensaving that many other screensavers and applications now use. Implementing support for this is a *very* good idea - ask the programming list for information. -- HOW CAN I SAVE MY SCREENSAVER PICTURES? (0.3) This is short and simple, so it's here. First, have you tried the obvious - pressing command-shift-3? This is the 'Camera' function key (FKEY), which captures your screen to disk. [Under System 6, this only works in black-and-white. If you're still using S6 on a colour Mac (why?), skip ahead to Flash-It!]. Disable your screensaver password if you use one, and set your screensaver going. When ready, press command-shift-3 together. You should hear a camera shutter click and your screensaver will wake. If this is successful, a PICT file called 'Picture ' will appear in your hard disk's Finder window. Double-click on this to open it with TeachText and see what you have captured. If it's the screensaver picture, well and good. This method appears to work fine with AD 2.0x under S7.1, although it may not work for earlier ADs and/or earlier Systems. This doesn't work for DS 4 under S7.1, which wakes before the screen capture takes place - you will get a picture of your desktop instead. FAQ alert! If the Camera FKEY didn't work for you, you need to get the shareware Flash-It!, a control panel (v3.0.2 at time of writing), from an ftp site - look in info-mac/cp. Drop Flash-It! into the 'Control Panels' folder and restart. Choose one of Flash-It!'s functions and set the function hotkeys to be command-shift-3, replacing the Camera FKEY. Repeat the above procedure, and this time you should get your picture. FAQ alert! Note that Flash-It! is very flexible, and useful for grabbing screenshots with menus down or with the cursor visible. The Camera FKEY cannot do this. HOW CAN I UPDATE MY COPY OF AFTER DARK? (1.0) What version of AD do you own? There are two major revisions. When someone mentions they own 'After Dark', you can assume they mean version 2, of which there have been a number of minor revisions in the past few years, listed below. Version 2.0 was released back in August 1990, so version 1 is OLD. -- HOW CAN I UPDATE MY COPY OF AFTER DARK v1.x? (1.1) An updater to 1.1c is available from sites on the Internet. If you are already running 1.1c and wish to upgrade to version 2, you can do so by returning your master disk to BS with $15. There is NO free updater from version 1 to version 2, and the changes are major. You may find that version 1.1c fails to work on the brand-spanking new Mac* you have just bought, or that it won't run modules you've downloaded, which require 2.0x. If so, trash it, or upgrade to version 2. Or, if you're running System 7.x, download the free DS 4.1, which plays AD modules. *Here, even a clapped-out IIci running System 6.0.5 qualifies as 'brand-spanking new'. Version 1 is *old*. Note that AD 2.0x requires System 6.0.4 or later. FAQ alert! DART 1.5.3, DiskCopy 4.2 and disk images for system software up to 7.0.1 are on ftp.apple.com. Upgrade. -- HOW CAN I UPDATE MY COPY OF AFTER DARK v2.x? (1.2) An updater to update all the various releases of version 2 to the latest revision can always be found in info-mac/gui/ad. The latest updater is also on umich as /mac/misc/update/afterdark2.0xupdater102.cpt.hqx BS issues updaters periodically, in line with new Apple machines or System software. The updater generally takes up to a couple of weeks from release to reach sumex et al, so be patient if you have heard rumours of an updater but can't find it yet. BS's Disney Collection incudes AD 2.0y, but a 2.0y updater is not yet available. Alternatively, if you don't have access to ftp or an email file-server, you can return your master disk to BS to have it updated for free. (You do own a master disk, don't you?) MAD includes a copy of the AD updater, to 2.0u or later, depending on when the MAD disk was mastered. The updater updates version 2 revisions [NOT version 1 - see (1.1)] to the latest revision, currently 2.0x. The 2.0x updater updates both the control panel and all of the modules supplied with the AD package, making minor updates throughout. Note that you want the 2.0x updater v1.02. The first release of this updater, without a version number, scrambled the password - clear the password and turn off passwording to avoid this. The second release, again no version number (tut, tut!), fixed this by clearing any stored password. v1.02 is the only updater to clear the password, add the longer-than-five-minutes Randomizer times mentioned in some of the posts about the new features in 2.0x, and to fix the -'Fish!' sea-floor showing inverted blocks of colour problem- that some users of the earlier updater versions experienced, by updating Fish! to v2.01. There is no reason not to upgrade. The newer your model of Mac and/or System, the newer your copy of AD must be to run correctly. If you have a problem and you're not running the latest version of AD, don't even bother asking about it UNTIL you've updated and seen if that fixes it. Experience is that not running an up-to-date After Dark is usually the problem, and the reported 'problem' is simply a visible symptom of this, which vanishes when AD is updated. This FAQ assumes that you have the latest revision of version 2 (2.0x, updater v1.02, at time of writing). ---- After Dark revision history (1.2.1) The version history of the updater releases (not detailing the numerous minor improvements, bug fixes, or feature additions to modules) is: 2.0 - August 1990 - initial release. 2.0h - Bug fix relating to using (H)yperCard with AD. 2.0s - Bug fix of (s)ound code. Last version where the letter meant anything, since they had squandered two-thirds of the alphabet already. [BS didn't make this mistake with the Windows version - after 2.0 came 2.0a....] 2.0t - September 1991 - Supports new System 6.0.7 sound code. 2.0u - June 1991 - First fully System 7.0 compatible release. Understands new System Folder layout. Much faster when only the Finder is running. 2.0v - August 1991 - First fully '040-cache compatible release. 2.0w - September 1992 - First fully System 7.1-compatible release. Added 'All' and 'None' buttons to the Randomizer. Prevents Randomizer and MultiModule recursively launching each other. [Updater 2.0w is unique in only updating the control panel, MultiModule and Randomizer, and not other modules.] 2.0x - February 1993 - new control panel icon, updater clears password (first release of updater scrambled it - see above), more 'When' options, muting sound via the control key. Slide Show (updated to 2.1) now works with QT without crashing. Some recognition of aliases of modules. Brings AD and the ST package into line with each other feature-wise. AD can now play ST modules. Longer Randomizer times, but only with v1.0.2 of the updater updating a non-2.0x Randomizer (Fish! is updated to 2.01 from a previous 2.0x update). Note that AD 2.0x requires System 6.0.4 or later. DART 1.5.3, DiskCopy 4.2 and disk images for system software before 7.1 are on ftp.apple.com. Upgrade. *** System 7 Pro users require AD 2.0x or later *** [Updater release info from Jim Tso at BS] -- HOW CAN I UPDATE MY COPY OF STAR TREK: THE SCREENSAVER? (1.3) At time of writing, by applying a revision 2 updater LATER THAN 2.0w, i.e. 2.0x or later. This will update the control panel and modules shared in common with the AD package (Randomizer and MultiModule). At time of writing, there is no updater for the ST modules. A ResEdit template for extracting PICT resources from the ST files is available from a number of ftp sites, for use by the inquisitive. -- HOW CAN I UPDATE MY COPY OF MORE AFTER DARK? (1.4) There isn't an updater for these modules, and there are no plans for one at present, although I have heard reports of incompatibilities between some MAD modules and System 7 Pro. There was a minor revision of MAD from 1.0 to 1.0a to fix some obscure bugs - this is only available by returning your disk to BS. I haven't yet seen this revision. The changes in 1.0a are: Mowin' Man bug-fix. With some large monitors and video cards, Mowing Man could crash if the mower started from the top right of the screen. Tunnel bug-fix. With some video cards, Tunnel could crash if the Round Rectangle setting was used. Virex-D was removed from MAD 1.0a as it was no longer up-to-date - see (5.2). [MAD revision info from Jim Tso at BS] -- HOW CAN I UPDATE MY AD MODULES OR OBTAIN NEW MODULES? (1.5) If the modules are part of the AD package which you bought, you need the updater that also updates the control panel - see (1.2). If they are part of the MAD package which you bought, you can return your disk to BS to get 1.0a - see (1.4). If they are shareware or freeware, look in info-mac/gui/ad or on umich (directory: util/screensaver/afterdark) to see if a later version has been released. These are also the place to look for new modules. If you are having problems with a particular third-party module, see first if a later version is available from an ftp site like info-mac. If not, mail or email the author of the module about the problem. Authors do appreciate feedback and fan-mail, if not cold hard cash. -- HOW CAN I UPDATE MY COPY OF DARKSIDE OF THE MAC? (1.6) An up-to-date DS package can be ftp'ed from ftp.apple.com (directory: /dts/mac/hacks). A copy should also be in info-mac/gui. The Apple site always gets a new release first, direct from Tom Dowdy, who works there. -- HOW CAN I UPDATE MY COPY OF NOWFUN! ? (1.7) An updater to take NowFun! from 1.0 to 1.01 is in info-mac/gui and on umich as /mac/misc/update/nowfun1.01update.sit.hqx. I don't know what it fixes - I haven't seen NowFun! -- HOW CAN I UPDATE MY COPY OF MOIRE? (1.8) If you've been using Moire for years, and then move it to a new Mac, you will need to update to Moire 4.0.1. It's available in info-mac/gui. If you find that 'Finder Shortcuts' vanishes from the Finder's Balloon Help menu, or that restarts or shutdowns are slow, an old copy of Moire is probably the problem. Upgrade to Moire 4.0.1. If you are using Moire simply because it also includes a menu-bar clock, consider getting the free SuperClock! 4.0.4 control panel, which is far better, and another screensaver. Moire is also available as an AD module - you can run it under DS 4.1. HELP! I'VE FORGOTTEN MY AFTER DARK PASSWORD! HOW CAN I GET CONTROL OF MY MAC BACK? (2.0) A common problem. If you are using System 7, hold down the shift key on restart (press the reset button, or control-command-power on newer Macs - don't turn the Mac off and on!) to disable all extensions and control panels, including AD. If you are running System 6, you will need to startup from a floppy disk instead of holding down the shift key. If you have an 'extensions manager' installed, use that to disable AD instead. (I suggest Extensions Manager 2.01 by Ricardo Batista, an Apple employee. It's a free control panel on all the ftp sites.) Note that you must fully disable AD. If you don't, the password information will be carried over to the fresh control panel as a security measure. Simply turning off AD with its on-off switch does NOT disable it, and won't do you any good. If you can open any copy of the AD control panel, you haven't disabled AD on startup, and the password will be carried over. Throw away the control panel and replace it with a fresh, unopened, copy installed from your master disk. Restart and then enter a new password. If you have misplaced your AD master disk, you could try grabbing a copy of the 2.0x (or later) updater and updating the control panel instead of replacing it. 2.0x is the first updater to clear the password on updating the control panel - see (1.2). WHERE SHOULD I PUT THE 'AFTER DARK FILES' FOLDER? (3.0) If AD can't find the modules that are sitting as they should be in the 'After Dark files' folder, you probably need to update AD. Versions 2.0u and later of AD will recognise the folder in System 7's Control Panels folder, in the Extensions and System folder, and on the Desktop, whereas 2.0t and before expected the AD control panel and files folder to be in the same place. (This is detailed in the MANUAL that came with the AD PACKAGE that you BOUGHT. No 'Can you tell I'm a pirate?' questions, please.) If you are using AutoDoubler, you can try putting the AD files folder on the Desktop - that's next to your hard disk, OUTSIDE all folder windows - so that AutoDoubler can compress it. This works well as long as MultiModule and Randomizer are not deliberately compressed while in use, and doesn't require an alias to the AD files folder within the System Folder. If a module then crashes your Mac, you can often find out what module it was by looking in the AutoDoubler Temporary Items folder on restart, as AutoDoubler put copies of all open compressed files there. [AutoDoubler 1.0x users should see the comments on the PowerDown module in (5.2) as well]. -- WHY DO MY STAR TREK MODULES SAY THEY ARE 'Out of memory' WHEN THE REST PLAY FINE? (3.1) This is answered here because, like the 'After Dark Files' folder question above, it's a matter of getting the files in the right place. The ST modules have a lot of pictures, sounds and features in common, and to save space these are provided by a number of files in a 'Shared Resources' folder, which, like the modules, must be in the 'After Dark Files' folder. The Star Trek package installs everything correctly, so this really shouldn't be a problem. -- WHY DOES A DISNEY MODULE SAY IT IS 'Out of memory'? (3.2) Try reducing the number of characters appearing in that module. At least, I'm told that that's what the card BS puts in the box says. Check out (3.1), too. -- WHERE CAN I FIND AN AD MODULE THAT SHOWS PICTURES AT RANDOM? (3.3) The Slide Show module is part of the commercial AD package from BS. It displays pictures chosen at random from a folder. If you don't have AD, but you're familiar with QT, just save all your pictures as single-frame movies (Print2Pict, a chooser device on all the ftp sites, allows you to print to movie, disk, etc. from any application) and use one of the free movie-playing modules to do the same job as Slide Show. See Movies 'Til Dawn under (5.2). Displaying pictures at random is ScreenSavor's sole purpose. See its entry under (0.1.1). -- WHERE CAN I FIND AN AD MODULE THAT PLAYS PICS FILES? (3.4) The PICS Player module is part of the commercial AD package from BS. It displays a PICS file - AD includes a simple wireframe cube PICS file. More interesting files, such as Rob's Eye's (bloodshot rendered eyes) and Santa's Sleigh are available from ftp sites - look in info-mac/gui/ad. If you don't have AD you can open the PICS file with Simple Player, and you will be given the option to turn it into a QT movie. The movie will be far more compact, but may require more disk access to play back. Use one of the free movie-playing modules to do the same job as PICS Player. See Movies 'Til Dawn under (5.2). MY AFTER DARK CONTROL PANEL AND MODULES HAVE LOST THEIR ICONS! HOW DO I GET THEM BACK? (4.0) There are a couple of modules floating around that have accidentally had their 'bundle bits' set, and you have either just obtained one of these modules or just rebuilt your desktop, bringing the problem to light. The 'bundle bit' of a file tells the Finder that the file has icon information the Finder must show. A module with a bundle bit set causes its (non-existent) icon information to replace AD's correct icon information - hence the 'blank' generic icons you are seeing. To fix this, you need a utility that will show file flags, such as the shareware FileTyper 4.1 (on info-mac and umich) or ResEdit 2.1.1 (on ftp.apple.com). Go through all your modules, bringing up the file flag information (This is the 'Has BNDL' box under the 'Get File/Folder' option in ResEdit 2.1.1's File menu) and make sure the bundle bit is cleared. If it isn't, clear it and save that file. Alternatively, just drop all of your modules on FileTyper, clear a bundle bit and 'change all' - a simple drag and drop operation. (Check that the AD control panel *does* have a bundle bit - if it doesn't, the Finder won't know about its icons.) Once you have cleared that bundle bit, restart and hold down option and command to rebuild your desktop files. If you haven't found a set bundle bit, it's possible that something like Norton Utilities found and fixed the bundle bit a while back, in which case you merely need to rebuild your desktop. You should then see the AD icons in all their glory. (AD doesn't have ics resources for the modules - although DS and ST do - or for MultiModule documents. No, I don't know why!) If you have Twilight Zone, the AD control panel will look like a blank document and your AD modules will become TZ modules, so that double-clicking on a module launches it in a TZ window. If you rebuild your desktop, they'll look like TZ documents. This is normal behaviour - remove TZ and rebuild the desktop to revert everything to standard AD. FAQ alert! Other things FileTyper 4.1 is useful for: Colour floppy disk icons. Drop a floppy disk onto FileTyper, set hasCustomIcon, drag the disk to the trash and then reinsert it. You don't need SpeedyFinder or Discolour. Fixing colour icons. If your hard disk is showing a blank piece of paper as its icon, drop it on FileTyper, clear hasCustomIcon and restart to get it back to a white box. Then repaste that icon you spent ages designing and kept a backup copy of. If you see 'The command could not be completed, because it cannot be found' when trying to paste an icon on a folder, hasCustomIcon is set but the icon file is missing. Clear hasCustomIcon with FileTyper. Renaming your hard disk. If you can't rename your hard disk you are probably using filesharing, which prevents renaming so that the network doesn't get confused. Turn off filesharing to rename your hard disk. If filesharing isn't on and you still can't rename it, use FileTyper to clear the disk's 'nameLocked or isSystem' field, then restart. Disk First Aid 7.2, included as part of the Software Update Package 2.0.1 on ftp.apple.com, now fixes this, along with vanishing files and other disk-related problems. -- IN LIST VIEW IN THE FINDER, MY MODULES SAY THEY ARE 'a particular module' DOCUMENTS'! WHAT'S UP? (4.1) Congratulations on spotting the 'bundle bit' problem early - see (4.0). That particular module has (or, in the past, had) its 'bundle bit' set, and if you were to rebuild your desktop you could lose your AD icons. Check the bundle bit, as detailed above. If you want 'After Dark document' back, you'll have to rebuild your desktop once you've cleared that bundle bit - although you may want to check all your other modules for set bundle bits first, to save you finding another module with a set bundle bit and having to rebuild the desktop files again. AFTER DARK CRASHES MY MACHINE! WHAT SHOULD I DO? (5.0) Are you sure that your problem is caused by After Dark? If you are running the latest version of AD - see (1.0) - it's almost certainly an individual module rather than the AD control panel itself. This section deals with AD modules known to crash AD. AD modules known to crash DS, other than these, are given in the DS information in (0.1). I don't have the knowledge of other AD-compatible screensavers to detail modules known to cause problems with them, but not with AD or DS. Use this list and its troubleshooting advice as a guide for finding any specific problems you may have. First, if you are using AD, are you running the latest version of AD? If not, try updating a copy with the free updater detailed in (1.0), and see if the problem goes away. This is likely to solve the 'AD doesn't work at all on my setup!' problem. If you are already running the latest version, are you using a just-released Mac or just-released System? If so, an update may be in the works - just email BS. If not, is the problem with a specific module, and can you isolate it by trying out different modules? Is SystemIQ enabled? If not, is there a specific reason why not? Things generally run better with SystemIQ on, and the SystemIQ setting can affect some systems. If the problem is with a module written by BS, well and good, provided that the module is *not the Randomizer or MultiModule*. Email them about it, at brklysystm@aol.com. If the module is from a third party, and you cannot find a later version anywhere, email or mail the author of the module about the problem. If you are having trouble with the Randomizer or MultiModule, you need to track the problem down. A large number of third-party modules don't work well under these, often causing crashes, and giving AD an undeserved reputation for crashing in the process - this is analogous to buggy shareware system extensions giving Macs a reputation for being crash-prone. Choose the software you use carefully. If it causes crashes, avoid it. If you ARE NOT running any third-party modules under the MultiModule or Randomizer, you can grumble at BS. If you ARE, look at the list below to see if the problem has been encountered. Look around the net for a later (bug-fixed) version of the module. See if writing to the author of the module helps. Try out each After Dark module in turn under these so that you know EXACTLY what causes the problem. When trying out a new AD module, try it as the only module selected in the Randomizer, and see how well it behaves. If you use the Randomizer a lot, this is an easy way of spotting problem modules before they crash your machine and lose you work. Most modules that crash under the MultiModule or Randomizer will do so immediately they are selected - no waiting around needed. To see if any modules you already have cause problems under the Randomizer, select the Randomizer module, set the delay to ten seconds, select 'in order', select Choose... and press the All button to choose All modules. [If you do not see an All button, you need to update your copy of AD - see (1.0)]. Close AD, go into screensave, and watch to see which modules crash your Mac, usually as the module starts. Restart [by control-command-power, or the interrupt switch on older Macs - Macsbug will let you recover from the crash smoothly, but AD will usually be disabled until restart], remove the badly-written module, and repeat until there are no crashes. (If you use Have-a-Blast or Off the Air, see below.) Removing modules that crash your Mac is a very good idea - although you may know not to use them under MultiModule or Randomizer, other users won't, and you know they'll fiddle with the AD settings... If you must keep particularly impressive 'bad' modules around, a neat trick with AD 2.0x under System 7 is to make aliases of the offending modules. Keep the 'bad' modules in another folder, and their aliases with the other modules in the AD Files folder. AD can then see the aliased modules, but Randomizer and MultiModule can't, and crashes are avoided. Until someone 'tidies up' your 'unnecessary' aliases, of course... removing the bad modules is far better. [FAQ alert! If your Mac is crash-prone, for whatever reason, you should install Macsbug 6.2.2 (except on Centris 610s and other FPU-less 68LC040 Macs, which have a special version of Macsbug - both are on ftp.apple.com in /dts/mac/tools/macsbug), which will allow you to exit from most crashes without needing to restart (type 'es'), or to smoothly restart without minutes of disk-checking (type 'rs'). Shut down by typing 'g power'. Press escape to toggle between the debugger and a screen showing what the Mac was doing *before* it crashed. Type 'help' for more info. The only downside to Macsbug is that any 'Type x error' will put you into Macsbug, needing 'es' to continue, making the Mac less idiot-proof. Don't worry - that's just Macsbug doing its job. Macsbug is not an extension. It lives loose in the System Folder, not in the Extensions folder, and it won't cause extension clashes - it just highlights the ones you already have, allowing you to work around them. If your Mac locks up, invoking Macsbug (by pressing the interrupt switch, or command-power on newer Macs) and then typing 'es' can save you a lot of trouble. With its white screen, Macsbug makes AD Randomizer crashes noticeable as soon as they happen. Good for troubleshooting.] AND IF THE ABOVE ADVICE IS NOT ENOUGH... If you have encountered *specific* problems with a module *not* mentioned in this FAQ, please let me know by email (and, if possible, include a binhexed copy of the module so I can try it out) and I'll update this list for others to share in your knowledge. Ditto for updates to the modules here - I'm not omniscient, and may have missed a bug-fix or two. Please do not email me with a long list of modules you're using (many of which are mentioned here already), say vaguely that your Mac crashes under Randomizer, and ask for my advice. You won't get it - that's what this FAQ is for, and I don't repeat myself. Self-help is the key here. Use the information provided here to eliminate the source(s) of the crashing detailed in the FAQ. If it still crashes, use the troubleshooting information to discover when and why it crashes. If you discover something new as a result, then email me so that I can let others share your find. -- MODULES THAT DON'T WORK UNDER MULTIMODULE OR RANDOMIZER (5.1) This list has been compiled from information mostly obtained by running AD along with lots of other extensions on single-screen internal-video Mac IIsi and LC setups that have run Systems 7.0 through to 7.1. AD 2.0t to x were used. Although some modules do have problems with large or multiple-monitor setups, detailed information is lacking, since I can't test for it. Anyone want to supply a list of 'problem' modules for unusual multiple/large monitor setups? Ditto for modules that may have '040 cache problems, or problems with 16- or 24-bit deep screens. This list details modules that 'work fine' except when run under MultiModule or Randomizer, or both. I started this list when I was running Randomizer, randomizing a lot of modules every fifteen minutes, in parallel with Dan Walkowski's PowerDown, which shuts off an unused Mac, under MultiModule. This caught more problem modules than most, and I gradually weeded out the sources of crashes. Your mileage may vary, and you may not encounter some of these problems on your set-up, particularly if you are using a Classic or Plus. These days, I'm running a screen blanker along with the SCSISaver and Auto Power On/Off control panels. Once my 'After Dark Files' folder grew above 12Mb, I decided that I was addicted to screensaver modules, and that I needed to go cold turkey. The folder has since grown back to 2Mb of modules, for playing with in idle moments. Some modules misbehave under MultiModule only under very specific conditions - size of allocated area, covered or not, system setup - and a list of these is impossible. Troubleshooting MultiModule settings is left as an exercise for the reader. Modules whose latest versions worked fine when this FAQ began, but whose earlier versions didn't, are not listed here, as that would entail a full version history report of every AD module I've seen - difficult and impossible to complete. Modules that have had problems corrected during the history of this FAQ are, however, mentioned for completeness, under the heading of the latest version known. Go and get it. If the module you are having a problem with is not mentioned here, see if a later version is available. If not, contact the author of the module about the problem, and please let me know, too. MULTIMODULE AND RANDOMIZER If you use both of these, make sure you have the latest revision of AD. Versions earlier than 2.0w would crash if MultiModule included Randomizer and Randomizer included MultiModule in their selections, whenever the Randomizer tried to run the MultiModule which was already running. (Say 'recursion', people.) 2.0w and later detect this and add incredibly useful 'All' and 'None' buttons to the Randomizer [but still no support for my extended keyboard's extra cursor-control keys, unlike the control panel itself. Grumble.] THIRD-PARTY MODULES WITH RANDOMIZER And now, that faulty third-party module list, in alphabetical order: Balloons - BugByte, Inc, 1991 (no email address given) A very large (340K) module, advertising a HyperCard stack on tying balloons into knots to make figures, that demonstrates some balloon shapes with accompanying sound effects. Does not run under Randomizer, claiming that not enough memory is available. Does not appear to crash. Barney Blaster 1.0.1 - Karl Bunker A dancing pink dinosaur explodes. 1.0.1 is said to fix 1.0's crashing on some Macs and in 16-bit depths, but 1.0.1 does not allocate enough memory to run under Randomizer, and can crash as a result. Bat Signal 1.1 - subversive software A Spotlight-like module, but using the Bat Signal, and with the coolest about box yet. There are at least two pre-1.0 versions of this module in existence with no version numbers - one of those didn't work under Randomizer. Replace with 1.1. Well worth seeing, *especially* for the about box. Bat Signal Returns is under development. Blackboard 1.0 - Mark Malamud and Susan Hautala (markmal@microsoft.com 73760.1275@compuserve.com FullMoon@applelink.apple.com) Pupil drawing on a chalkboard - either punishment or equations. 0.9 won't run under Randomizer, claiming not enough memory. Doesn't appear to crash. 1.0 is said to work correctly, but is only available with the 'Art of Darkness' book/disk package mentioned in (0.1.1). Mark said that a shareware 2.0 will be released late in 1993; I haven't seen it. Cards - Chris Christensen (no email address given) Puts playing cards at random places on the screen. Refuses to run under Randomizer, claiming 'Bouncing Ball: Sorry, there is not enough memory.' (and showing its code origins. At 225K, it's obese, too - the Klondike 5.1 game takes under 100K, and you can *play* that). Does not appear to crash. Chomp! - BS This was one of the original modules for the original AD. Bites are taken out of the screen with a chomping sound. Causes the System 7 Finder to quit when run under Randomizer with AD v2 on my setups. No longer supported by BS and should probably be trashed. Although other modules from the same era, like TacTiles and Shapes, seem to work fine for me, treat them with caution. EarthSplash 1.1 - Chuan Y. Fu (Previously Earthbounce 1.0). Unstable under Randomizer - seen to crash in _MakeRGBPat. The author claimed he was working on an update. Faces in the Dark 1.0 - Geoffrey Hutchison (no email address) Draws b/w face doodles. Occasionally 'freezes' under Randomizer - cmd-opt-esc recovers to Finder. Frect 1.0 - Adam Miller Produces 'fractal rectangles'. Causes the System 7 Finder to quit when run under Randomizer. Gates Does Windows 1.0.2 - Robert Gibson, Mark Simmons (72511.345@compuserve.com, 72511.256@compuserve.com) Bill Gates appears as a window cleaner. Very large and impressive, but 1.0.1 crashed under Randomizer as it runs out of memory. Version 1.0.2 fixes this crashing, but behaves oddly on some systems under Randomizer. This module is a 'ZiffNet exclusive', so it can't be put on ftp sites. You'll have to ask someone for it - but not me. I had to do a lot of asking around to track this module and its reported problems down, and I'm annoyed with ZiffNet as a result. Hearts 2.0 - Josh de Cesare Large (453K), visually impressive module where rendered hearts grow, spin and move around the screen. Doesn't appear to allocate enough memory under Randomizer, and crashes badly under MultiModule. No reply from the author at the address he gives. HolisticSofa 0.94 - Alan Keahey (tkeahey@cs.indiana.edu or GEnie: A.Keahey) This module explores the sofa-on-stairs problem detailed in Douglas Adam's 'Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'. It crashes under the Randomizer on most newer Macs. The author wrote it on a Plus, which it didn't crash on, and can't duplicate the problem. Another Plus owner has reported crashing under Randomizer. [Also available as a standalone screensaver.] Kablooie 1.0 - Adam Miller and Jakub Buchowski A customisable fireworks module for AD - just what it needs to get one over on Pyro!'s main selling point [DS and Intermission include fireworks modules]. Puts up 'Kablooie:' running under the Randomizer and nothing else. Adam Miller knows of the problem, but no fix has appeared. Kings Cross Coke 1.0 - John Rotenstein (PO Box 165, Double Bay NSW 2028, Australia) Shows logos and illuminates them as if they were flashing/cycling neon signs. Includes a scrapbook feature to choose images from. Has memory problems - crashes under Randomizer and MultiModule, and is pretty flaky on its own, especially when cutting and pasting in the scrapbook. Spectacular, but risky. [Also available as a stand-alone application (v2.0) in info-mac/grf] Millions of Colors 0.5 - Guy Rice (Mark Hatle, SLP@vax1.Mankato.msus.edu) Bands of colour. Doesn't work under MultiModule. Email will be passed on by Mark Hatle. Package includes source code - anyone want to fix it? Nebulae 1.0 - Bryan & Lisa Gibson-Winge (Compuserve: 72677,3222) Complains of not enough memory to run under MultiModule or Randomizer. Doesn't appear to crash. Off The Air 1.0 - Guy Rice (Mark Hatle, SLP@vax1.Mankato.msus.edu) Simulates a noisy television channel after the station has gone off air. Under Randomizer changing modules every few minutes, causes a crash a few modules AFTER it has run. (Trashing memory? Finding this one took ages.) The 'Set Monitor Depth' feature is bad ju-ju and can also crash the Mac. Email will be passed on by Mark Hatle. Punkin Patch - Steve Henck A 'Halloween' module. Cute graphics. Won't run under Randomizer, claiming not enough memory for off-screen graphics. Doesn't appear to crash. Rrrring! - Steve Henck Assorted deaths to ringing telephones. Cute graphics. Won't run under Randomizer, putting up 'Randomizer:'. Doesn't appear to crash. Included in the 'Cool Mac After Dark' book/disk package mentioned in (0.1.1). Shredded Crystals - BS This was one of the original modules for the original AD. Jagged shapes appear on screen. Causes the System 7 Finder to quit when run under Randomizer with AD v2 on my setup. No longer supported by BS, and should probably be trashed. Although other modules from the same era, like TacTiles and Shapes, seem to work fine for me, treat them with caution. Sierpinski's Gasket 1.1 - David L. Thompson, WinterBright Software The author confirms reports that this can crash under MultiModule when running with MAD's Satori. The reason is unknown. I can't duplicate this problem. Sparkler 1.0 - Mike Wessler Pixels explode off the screen. Crashes under Randomizer. [Not to be confused with the catherine-wheel-like Sparklers 1.0, by Frank Kubin, which works fine under both MultiModule and Randomizer.] TerrainMaker 2.0 - Adam Miller and Jakub Buchowski Reported as just saying 'Randomizer:' under Randomizer on an unusual video setup - a IIcx with PCPC Nubus card and 19" monitor. Appears to work fine on more standard video setups. VectorBalls 1.0 - Mark Adams, Maverick Software (maverick.sft@applelink.apple.com marka38@aol.com) Very impressive bouncing sets of crystal-lattice-like 3D balls. Crashes under Randomizer and MultiModule. The author claims the crash occurs in a ROM routine he calls, and is not sure why. With the crashing fixed, and a 'Random Shapes' option, this module would be a must-have. Reported as being included in the NowFun! screensaver mentioned in (0.1.1) - version unknown. -- MODULES WITH OTHER KNOWN PROBLEMS (5.2) In alphabetical order: Have a Blast 1.0.1 - Alan Goates, Otherware 1.0 could crash on wake (moving the mouse or Randomizer choosing another module) if 'Repair Damage' was chosen. 1.0.1 fixes this. Hopper 1.0.1 - Rob Snevely, Wild Nobility Productions Under later versions of AD, this module only displays its generated pattern in the bottom-right quadrant of the screen. It uses the whole screen under DS, though. Very strange. Anyone have an email address for these guys? Movies 'til Dawn 1.01 - BS 1.01 works with all versions of QT, unlike 1.0, which stopped working at QT 1.5. Get 1.01 and trash 1.0. Playing movies is pointless for a screensaver, since it may save your screen, but kills your hard disk through overwork and keeps your CPU running at full speed - important on a portable. If you *must* play movies, make sure you have QT 1.6.1 or later. Far less disk access and memory is used than with 1.5 or earlier. There's also Movies in the Dark 1.0 by Maurice Volaski and the OURA QT (say each letter!) movie player 1.0d2 module by Laurence d'Oliveiro. There's a Bouncing Movie module, but it's a quick hack that no longer works. Trash it and get one of the others. Note that Slide Show 2.1 (with 2.0x or later) can display QT JPEG-compressed PICT files, which is far more useful than playing movies. Slide Show 2.0 or earlier will hang on the second screensave if a QT JPEG is used. If you use JPEG pictures with Slide Show 2.1, remember that pictures are uncompressed with a blank all-colours-are-black screen. AD will not wake until QT has finished decompressing the picture, so you may spend time staring at a black screen. If you have the password feature enabled, you may have to type the password blind, and then wait for QT to finish decompressing the picture - a similar problem to using 'FadeAway' down to 0% with the password enabled. [And you know about QT's 'Startup Movie' feature, right?] Orbs Return 2.0.2 - Stephen Linhart Crashes in 16- and 24-bit colour depths. Version 3.0 is available as part of the NowFun! package mentioned in (0.1.1), and does not have this problem. Paw-Paw 1.3b3 - Aaron Barnet Version 1.2b had known memory problems, most visible when running with Microsoft Excel or Word (like a lot of Mac software - blame Microsoft's un-Mac programming methods). Get Paw-Paw 1.3b3 or later (in info-mac/gui/ad) which fixes these problems, and trash 1.2b. PowerDown 1.1 - Dan Walkowski Shuts off an unattended Mac after a pre-set time. Ideal for Macs with full 'soft' power on and off. DS 4 users can get the same functionality with Fabrizio Oddone's DarkShutdown 2.1 DS module, which works nicely with the Shutdown Delay 2.0.1 control panel. IIsi, IIvx and Q840av users gain additional functionality with the Auto Power On/Off control panel first supplied with the av machines. Note that Auto Power is incompatible with Network Time. Running PowerDown in parallel with Randomizer under MultiModule with the AD files folder on the Desktop so that AutoDoubler 1.0.7i could compress it (whew!) led to extra copies of the modules running when PowerDown shuts down being put in an AutoDoubler Temporary Items folder. There was no crash or other undue behaviour. Telling AutoDoubler not to compress PowerDown, Randomizer and MultiModule prevented this from happening - AutoDoubler always puts copies of compressed files open at shutdown in the Items folder These modules were running at shutdown, and weren't closed properly. If you are using PowerDown, look at the Okey-Dokey 1.01 control panel from the same author, which presses the default button in a dialog after a pre-set time. This allows you to have open documents in most applications saved automatically on shutdown, which would otherwise stop at the first dialog. DarkShutdown handles this itself. Virex-D (MAD 1.0) - BS Virex-D, one of the MAD 1.0 modules, was an advertisement for the commercial Virex virus-killer. As the D indicates, Virex-D DETECTS viruses - it does not remove viruses or repair damage caused by viruses. Virex-D has not been updated recently and is no longer distributed with MAD 1.0a. It SHOULD NOT be used for virus protection. It wears your disk unnecessarily, too. FAQ alert! Use the freeware Disinfectant application (version 3.3 as I write) and Gatekeeper system extension (version 1.3 as I write), available from all good Mac ftp sites, to combat Mac viruses. A commercial package is not a requirement for protection from viruses. Remember that the few Mac viruses in existence are mostly benign and are very rarely seen - this is not something to even think about if you have an up-to-date virus-killer, and Disinfectant and Gatekeeper are far more than adequate, not to mention completely free. Read the excellent Disinfectant on-line help for complete information on Mac viruses. If you have access to the World-Wide Web, you can get hold of Disinfectant and John Norstad's other Mac software creations with the following URL: http://www.astro.nwu.edu/lentz/mac/jlnstuff Simply click on Gatekeeper's title box to have it launch NCSA Mosaic and find Chris Johnson's area of the Web. VoiceWaker 1.07 - Alessandro Levi Montalcini This module works with a microphone to wake up a Mac when you shout at it. (A neat trick - just say 'Wake up!' and pretend you own a Quadra av :-) All versions seen, including 1.07, crash the Mac on screensave if a Global Village Teleport ADB modem is in use and the Teleport menu is present - the Teleport menu appears to be incompatible with all sampling software. 1.07 is included in the NowFun! screensaver. It remains at 1.07 after using the NowFun! 1.0->1.01 updater. EXTENSION INCOMPATIBILITIES WITH AFTER DARK (6.0) There are few extension, INIT or control panel conflicts with AD - most problems originate with badly-written AD modules, listed above. DS conflicts are listed in (0.1). -- KNOWN INCOMPATIBILITIES WITH AFTER DARK (6.1) In alphabetical order (well, there are only three I know of): Attention 1.02 This control panel allows you to select a sound other than the presently-selected 'beep' sound for notification alerts. 1.0 prevented AD from sleeping if 'Always Audible' was selected and had minor incompatibilities with CarpetBag. 1.01 and 1.02 fix this, but may cause crashes with the new StyleWriter II driver's beep-after-printing feature. Use with caution. MacWrite Pro (Claris) It's reported that AD cannot automatically sleep when any version of MacWrite Pro (latest is 1.0v4) has a document open. Speculation is that MacWrite Pro is doing background processing when not being typed into. I'm told that sleep can occur if you use AD's 'sleep' corner, or place the pointer on the menu-bar or the document title-bar. TouchBase Pro (After Hours Software) TouchBase Pro 2.0 won't let After Dark sleep if it is running, either in foreground or background. After Hours say that this is fixed in 2.0.1. MODULE NAME CHANGES AND SIMILARITIES (7.0) Over the years, a number of AD modules have changed their names to avoid being confused with other products. Also, some modules out there have similar names, but are not related. This should help clear all that up. -- THE NAME HAS CHANGED (7.1) Names on the left are old -> changed to names on the right. Look out for the new AD modules, and trash the old ones once you've got their replacements. Listed in alphabetical order of the old names. EarthBounce 1.0 -> EarthSplash 1.1 Has Randomizer problems. See above. MacTabloid 2.0 -> Headlines 1.0.1 MacTabloid 2.0 is a third-party hack of Headlines 1.0.1. The size of its word database appears to give it problems Headlines does not have. MacTabloid runs out of memory under Randomizer - the memory requirements do not appear to have been adjusted upwards for the larger database. Avoid it - Headlines 1.0.1 is the latest, most stable, official, version. Mandelbrot -> Fractals 1.33 Alessandro Levi Montalcini's 'Mandelbrot' underwent a name change when Hoffman and Hartshorne's 'Mandelbrot' module appeared as part of the MAD package. It's now the shareware Fractals 1.33, and is a full-fledged configurable fractal generator, whereas MAD's commercial 'Mandelbrot' just shows you the set and some expanded detail. A later version of Fractals, 2.1.2, is reported as being included in the NowFun! screensaver. Wallpaper 1.0 -> Mathos (no version, Oct. 1, 92 given in about box, but released May, 93) Generates fractal 'wallpaper' patterns. Name changed to avoid confusion with Thought I Could's commercial 'Wallpaper' desktop-pattern utility. (I'm a fan of the far cheaper Desktop Textures 2.1, on info-mac, and on microlib.cc.utexas.edu as: /microlib/mac/app/desktop-textures-21.hqx myself.) A number of versions of the Wallpaper module were released without version numbers and as versions 1.0 - with and without a separate coprocessor-only Wallpaper881 module - so upgrading to Mathos or Mathos881 (together in one archive) will solve your 'what version is this?' problem for now. -- NOT TO BE CONFUSED (7.2) These AD modules have similar names, but are different! Lines by Charles Clarke, ArtLines by AC Capehart, LineCA 1.0.1 by WildMan Software, Quantum Lines by Scott Berfield and Roaming Lines 1.1c by David Bau. Lines simply fills the screen with coloured lines, ArtLines adds blanking frequency and line thickness controls, LineCA is a scrolling one-dimensional Life-like cellular automata generator, Quantum Lines is bouncing twisting pattern, and Roaming Lines is a variation on Berkeley's String Theory with some neat options. Maze (the first version) 1.0 by David Bau, and (Calico) Maze 1.1.1 by Richard Lesh. Two different maze builders/solvers. Bau's Maze lacks colour, but has an interesting maze-drawing method. Calico Maze has more colour and more choice of maze sizes than the very similar MAD Snake module, and is well worth a look as the 'definitive' Maze module. Messages by BS, and Random Messages 1.0 by Paul Russell. Two modules that choose a string from a message-list and display it on screen. MAD includes the polished Say What?, but the out-and-out-winner has to be Headlines 1.0.1 by Jamie McCarthy, which, like the unix spew it's based on, generates hilarious random headlines from a topical database. Sparkler 1.0 by Mike Wessler, and Sparklers 1.0 by Frank Kubin. Sparkler has Randomizer problems. See above. Two totally different modules and effects. MODULE REQUESTS (8.0) Right, this is the part where you send in your neat ideas for screensaver modules, in the hope that someone will turn them into reality. Requested are: A 'Sequencer' module that lets you control the order and timings of your AD modules, so that you can have following modules perform interesting effects with the stuff left on the screen. Randomizer just doesn't cut it - Murphy's Law dictates that Puzzle ends up shifting a blank screen around, for example. (Intermission includes a basic 'Sequencer' module that does this, but it requires Intermission to run.) A SoundTracker MOD file player, ideally incorporating graphics like DS's Spectrum's. One has been developed, but has not yet been released to macgifts. (Tracker/ProTracker-playing code is readily available. ST includes a straightforward sound- and SoundEdit-file playing module.) A screensaver that creates realistic-looking Finder windows with icons, and has the mouse pointer doing operations, so that you can claim that your Mac is working even when you are not. (AppleEvents on a scriptable Finder?) Underware and DC do this to some extent, but it's rather obvious that a screensaver is running. A GIF picture viewer. Slide Show does PICTs and JPEGs (with QT) but not GIFs. Aaron Giles , the author of JPEGView, suggests that all a module need do is send AppleEvents to JPEGView to control its SlideShow feature as a screensaver. Contact him for details. MIFP, the makers of ScreenSavor, are considering adding GIF support if user demand warrants it. What the world *really* needs, though, is a GIF translator plug-in for QT. A 'starfield' module that simulates Doppler shift accurately, which neither Star Trek, 'Warp Factor' or 'Warp!' do. A neko or gengi-type module featuring puppies, not kittens. A 'dancing bear' module. Tetris. It runs under everything else... Exact copies of the Sun screensavers, so Macs can pretend to be workstations. Exact copies of the default screensavers supplied with Windows, so that Macs can lurk better in PC-dominated offices. A module giving filesharing information - who's using your Mac? Curtains pulling across the screen. More modules featuring domestic appliances. We have Flying Toasters, fridges and washing machines (Major Metaphysical Appliances, with the Art of Darkness) but no steam irons, blenders, tumbler dryers or cats in microwave ovens. And fixes to all those still-buggy modules listed above, of course. Please... DISCLAIMER AND LEGAL-WEASELLING -- COPYRIGHT This work is Copyright (C) 1993, 1994 L. H. Wood. Permission is hereby granted to distribute this unmodified document provided that no fee in excess of normal on-line charges is required for such distribution. Permission is NOT granted to services who charge and make a profit for information or for access (e.g. variable download rates depending upon download speed, or a standing charge), as this is in excess of normal on-line charges. Such services wishing to distribute this FAQ must negotiate a suitable fee with me first for my services. Permission is specifically not granted to ZiffNet, who give me a headache trying to track down and test the AD modules they 'release'. Portions of this document may be extracted and quoted free of charge and without necessity of citation in normal on-line communication provided only that said quotes are not represented as the correspondent's original work. Permission for quotation of this document in printed material and edited on-line communication (such as the Info-Mac Digest and TidBITS) is given subject to normal citation procedures, i.e. I demand an attribution or credit. I DO NOT PERMIT DISTRIBUTION ON CD-ROM, DISKS FOR SALE (e.g. SHAREWARE CATALOGUES OR MAGAZINE COVER DISKS) OR ANY OTHER CARRIER UNLESS I RECEIVE A COPY OF EACH CD-ROM, DISK, OR STORAGE MEDIUM UPON WHICH THIS WORK APPEARS. If you wish to republish this FAQ in a modified form or on a physical medium, please contact me with specific details and get my permission. -- DISCLAIMER I do my best to ensure that information contained in this document is current and accurate, but I can accept no responsibility for actions resulting from information contained herein. This document is provided as is and with no warranty of any kind. END. .