This page contains the 'Frequently Asked Questions' from the Technical Support stack on the new HyperStudio Resource CD. It is aimed at users of HyperStudio. Information of a less technical nature may be found elsewhere.
Please choose:
I keep getting an
error message that says HyperStudio has run out of memory.A lot of work has gone into reducing the amount of memory used by the RISC OS version of HyperStudio. Unfortunately, you may still have problems if your computer only has 4MB. While it may sound like a lot, 4MB is not much for multimedia, these days. There are some tips in this section to help you to maximise the amount of memory available for HyperStudio.
Quit any other applications before running HyperStudio (e.g. !Printers).
Ensure that you have no memory allocated to System sprites or RAM disc, and that Font cache is set to a reasonably small value. You can reduce the Module area as far as it will go.
Do you have a background image loaded on your Pinboard? The larger this image is, the more memory it will take. You can remove it by clicking Menu over the Pinboard, and choosing Remove backdrop.
A 4MB Acorn computer can have well over 3MB free. Unfortunately, the boot sequence often results in there being closer to 2MB free. If you can get any of this memory back, it will help. (You could try reducing the number of applications booted and/or loaded during your computers boot sequence, for example.)
The amount of screen memory required by your computer (and which is taken out of the memory available for applications such as HyperStudio) is dependent upon what screen mode your computer is running in. In RISC OS 3.1, this is expressed as a number; in RISC OS 3.5 and later, it is expressed more usefully as a resolution and number of colours.
HyperStudio runs best in 256 colours at a resolution of 640 by 480 (called, if you are using RISC OS 3.1, mode 28). However, by reducing the resolution or number of colours you can free useful memory. For example, you can get access to an extra 150K by using Mode 27, which has just 16 colours. See the User Guide which came with your computer for more information about screen modes.
When available memory is low, HyperStudio will either compress or (if they can be retrieved from disk) remove from memory altogether any graphics and backgrounds which are not being used. While this slightly adds to the time taken to move between cards, it significantly reduces the amount of memory required. If there is plenty of memory, HyperStudio will keep much more cached.
You are recommended not to put too many cards into a single stack, but to split your projects up into different, linked, stacks. You can reduce the amount of memory taken by a stack by using grouped cards.
Try to avoid using too many large graphic objects. Graphics which are pasted into the background of the card (i.e. added as clipart or background) are free in memory terms, in that they take up no more memory than the initial plain white background. However, graphics stored in graphic objects take additional memory.
My HyperStudio projects sometimes become modified on their own. I havent edited them!
You will notice this either when you see a * in the title bar, or when you are warned that your stack has been modified and asked if you want to save it.
A1: Does your stack use an NBA which is not embedded in the stack? This could be the case if it is an Acorn-format stack from an old version of HyperStudio, or if it is a PC/Mac-format stack.
HyperStudio is automatically finding the NBA and embedding it into your stack. It marks the stack as modified to indicate that it would like you to save it with the newly-installed NBA.
A2: Did you move a draggable graphic, or change an objects location using the HyperLogo SetItemPos command, or equivalent? Did you edit an editable text object? (You are recommended to make all text objects which you dont want the users of your stacks to edit read-only.)
These count as modifying a stack, even though they can be done from browse mode, and even with just the HyperStudio Player.
The answer is an NBA called ClearDirty which sets a stack to be unmodified. In the simplest case, this can be put on the button which moves to another stack. You must be very careful using the ClearDirty NBA; if you run it while you are editing a stack, HyperStudio may not save all of your work!
Why do my RISC OS desktop and (sometimes) icon bar disappear when I use HyperStudio.
The ability to hide the desktop (including the icon bar, if you want) is a feature in HyperStudio which can be very useful. It is called Presentation mode. You can turn Presentation mode on and off from the Stack preferences section of the HyperStudio Preferences window.
To open the HyperStudio Preferences window, either:
You can force the icon bar to the front by holding down Shift and pressing F12.
(If you are an experienced Acorn user (only do this if you know what you are doing!), you can disable presentation mode globally by adding a -p command line option in the HyperStudio !Run file.)
How do I use HyperStudio on a network?
You can use HyperStudio on a network if you have bought a site license. HyperStudio can be shared across a network just like another other application. Just install it to a network server or a shared hard disk. All of the links between the stacks in the HStudio folder are relative, and so work just as well across a network as on a local hard disk.
The Resource CD (including the Media Library) has been designed to be network-aware. If this is shared across a network, then resources and demonstration project stacks will be found provided that !MEDIALIB has been seen.
My images look poor when I use them in HyperStudio.
For better picture quailty, load your image using the Import background option (instead of Add clip-art. HyperStudio will then change the colours on the card to those of your image.
Many of the images on the resource CD are also provided in the default Acorn 256 colour palette. You may find these useful, because if you use the same palette in all your images, you can combine them in the background of a card without loss of quality.
In HyperStudio for RISC OS ONLY, if you add an image as a graphic object then it is kept in its original colours rather than being converted to those of the card. All graphics are then displayed as well as they can be in the available colours. (Remember that if you wish to export your stack in Mac/PC format, you should first convert all your graphics to the same colours as your stack by using Change size of no. of colours from the Stack info window.)
How do I give my stack to someone who doesn't have HyperStudio?
In addition to your stack, you will need to provide them with a copy of the HyperStudio Player for their platform.
If they have an Acorn: give them a copy of the HyperStudio player in the !MyStacks directory, or from the HyperStudio Player floppy disk.
If they have a PC or a Macintosh, they will need a copy of the HyperStudio Player for the PC or Macintosh respectively; these are available from TAG Developments Ltd. You will also need to convert your stack to PC/Mac format. See Exporting
There is more information about creating User disks disks with the HyperStudio player and your stacks on in the Sharing and showing section of the home stack.
My stack won't fit on a single floppy...
If your stack wont fit on a single floppy, you can make two (or more) smaller stacks from the original. First copy the original stack and rename the copy to something else. Now copy the first stack and delete the last half of the cards. Save it, open the second stack and delete the first half of the cards. You can then create buttons to link the stacks to one another.
Note: make a backup of your stack before you use this technique, just in case
If you have a lot of stacks in a project which you want to give to someone on floppy disks, you may find it useful to use an Installer. See the section on User disks for more information.
How do I stop young users of my stacks from being confused by the pop-up menu?
It is possible to completely-disabled the pop-up menu. To do this:
1. lock your stacks (from the Preferences window)
2. view your stacks using the HyperStudio Player.
In the full version of HyperStudio, locked stacks have a reduced pop-up HyperStudio menu which does not allow editing operations. In the HyperStudio Player, the menu does not appear at all with locked stacks.
You will probably also want to select presentation mode (also done from the Preferences window) in order to hide everything outside HyperStudio.
HyperStudio can't find my movies, disk-based sounds, or other stacks.
HyperStudio remembers the location of all the disk-based sounds and movies your stack uses, and of any other stacks you link to. If possible, HyperStudio remembers locations relatively; otherwise, a complete path is stored.
Relative linking is explained in the HyperStudio Reference Manual.
Mac and PC HyperStudio do not use a relative linking system like the Acorn version of HyperStudio, and so you are advised to keep all of your stacks in the same directory (or folder). You will probably find it easier to keep track of your project if you do this on the Acorn too.
You are advised to keep your digital movies and disk-based sounds in the same directory as your stacks, or at least fairly close (perhaps inside a Sounds directory). It is easy to forget to copy sounds and movies if theyre not in the same directory as your project.
How do I run stacks that were created on a PC or Mac in Acorn HyperStudio?
HyperStudio stacks created on an Apple Macintosh computer or PC can be transferred to Acorn HyperStudio, and stacks created in Acorn HyperStudio can be transferred to Mac/PC HyperStudio. There are limitations to a stacks performance when it is used on a different computer platform to the one on which it was authored, however, simply because the three computing environments do not always share the same elements or support the same features.
Acorn HyperStudio uses its own stack format, in order to allow it to be used on lower-specification computers than would otherwise be possible. For example, if memory is short it will only keep the elements of a stack which it needs in memory; other elements are loaded as and when they are required.
If you want, you can then resave the stack in native Acorn format (allowing it to run faster and in less memory on the Acorn). Remove the /STK from the end of the filename when you do this.
For more details, and for the latest information and recommendations, see the booklet Cross Platform HyperStudio available from TAG Developments Ltd.
How do I convert my stacks to a format that can be understood by PC or Mac HyperStudio?
HyperStudio stacks created on an Apple Macintosh computer or PC can be transferred to Acorn HyperStudio, and stacks created in Acorn HyperStudio can be transferred to Mac/PC HyperStudio. There are limitations to a stacks performance when it is used on a different computer platform to the one on which it was authored, however, simply because the three computing environments do not always share the same elements or support the same features.
Acorn HyperStudio uses its own stack format, in order to allow it to be used on lower-specification computers than would otherwise be possible. For example, if memory is short it will only keep the elements of a stack which it needs in memory; other elements are loaded as and when they are required.
To get your stack from an Acorn to a Mac/PC:
For more details, and for the latest information and recommendations, see the booklet Cross Platform HyperStudio available from TAG Developments Ltd.
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