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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

 

Index of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

 

  1. Running Fathom It!

    Fathom It! is a Windows 3.x compatible program. Will it run correctly under Windows 95/98/NT?

    When I view the MS Write analysis files that come with Fathom It!, the boards look fuzzy. What's wrong?

  2. Playing Fathom It!

    What are those diamond-shaped ship segments I see when I toggle a square?

    I have a vision problem, and find it hard to see Fathom It!'s board. Does Fathom It! provide any features for vision impaired users?

    In some of your board solutions, you solve the board by using the fact that all Fathom It! boards have a unique solution. Is that a valid solving technique?

    Can I change Fathom It!'s colors?

    I assigned a different sound to a Fathom It! event, but no sound is played.

    I have a sound card, but cannot hear Fathom It!'s sounds and music.

    How can I disable the splash screen?

  3. Printing Issues

    When printing a Fathom It! board on my printer, I can't differentiate between water, unknown squares, ship segments. What can I do?

 

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions


Running Fathom It!


Fathom It! is a Windows 3.x compatible program. Will it run correctly under Windows 95/98/NT?

Absolutely! Fathom It! is a 16-bit Windows application that is completely compatible with all versions of Windows.

If running under Windows 95 or above, it makes use of the system registeration database for storing WAV file information. This is the only difference between running under Windows 3.x and Win 95 (or above).


When I view the MS Write board analysis files that come with Fathom It!, the boards look fuzzy. What's wrong?

Reason: The graphics displayed in the analysis files were captured as 16-color bitmaps with a normal-font video driver. If your system has a large-font video driver defined, this will cause the graphics to be resized by the driver. This will cause the graphics to appear fuzzy and unclear.

Resolution: Change your video display from a large- to a normal- font video driver.

In all cases, printing this document will result in crystal-clear diagrams.


Playing Fathom It!


What are those diamond-shaped ship segments I see when I toggle a square?

These diamond-shaped ships are called segment wildcards. Use them when you know a given square is a ship segment, but you don't know which specific ship segment it is (i.e. left, middle, top, etc.).


I have a vision problem, and find it hard to see Fathom It!'s board. Does Fathom It! provide any features for vision impaired users?

Here are suggestions for enabling a vision impaired user to play Fathom It!.


In some of your board solutions, you solve the board by using the fact that all Fathom It! boards have a unique solution. Is that a valid solving technique?

This question was first raised by Wei-Hwa Huang (two-time winner of the World Puzzle Championships) in a communication with Matthew Daly (maintainer of the rec.puzzle newsgroup FAQ) . Read the exchange of e-mails ( in June 1998) between Matthew Daly, Wei-Hwa Huang and Moshe Rubin, and let us know your thoughts.


Can I change Fathom It!'s colors?

Sure! Fathom It! has a default color scheme for such elements as the score and move counters' LED display, the background and foreground colors on the board, and more. However, there is an undocumented method for configuring these colors to your personal taste. To modify a color, you'll need to manually change the FATHOMIT.INI file found in the Windows directory.

Here's what to do:

  1. Close Fathom It!, if running.
  2. Using a text editor (e.g., Notepad), open the file FATHOMIT.INI found in the Windows directory.
  3. Add a section called "[Colors]" to the file.
  4. Add one or more of the keynames (see table below) to the [Colors] section. The value portion of each line (i.e., the string to the right of the equals sign) should be exactly three decimal numbers in the range of 0-255. These three numbers are the red, blue, and green components of the color, respectively.
  5. Save the INI file.
  6. Restart Fathom It!.

Example: The following section added to the FATHOMIT.INI file:


would change Fathom It! to the following:

Here's a list of the INI keynames that can be specified to modify their color:

Keyname

Description: Color of ...

Default Color

Value

GridLine

the board lines between the squares

Light Gray

192 192 192

MovesLEDBackground

the moves counter's backdrop

Black

0 0 0

MovesLEDOff

a moves counter LED segment when inactive

Dark Blue

0 0 255

MovesLEDOn

a moves counter LED segment active

Light Blue

0 255 255

PieceBackground

a square's background when displaying a piece on the board

Light Blue

0 255 255

PieceForeground

a piece when dipslayed on the board

Dark Blue

0 0 255

ScoreLEDBackground

the score counter's backdrop

Black

0 0 0

ScoreLEDOff

a score counter LED segment when inactive

Dark Red

128 0 0

ScoreLEDOn

a score counter LED segment when active

Red

255 255 255

SolverSignOfLife

the flashing text when the solver is working

Red

255 255 255

SquareHilite

the frame around a square when in keyboard mode

Red

255 255 255

Unknown

an unknown square on the board

Light Gray

192 192 192

WrongGuess

the "X" marking a wrong move, when the "Forgive Wrong Move" option is turned off

Red

255 255 255


I assigned a different sound to a Fathom It! event, but no sound is played.

The WAV file assigned is either a long file name or contains embedded spaces. Because Fathom It! is a 16-bit Windows application, it can only handle file names that conform to the 8.3 character format (i.e., a maximum of eight characters to the left of the period, and a maximum of three characters to the right).

The solution is to download the latest version of Fathom It!.


I have a sound card, but cannot hear Fathom It!'s sounds and music.

Fathom It!'s sound files are stored in the registration database. Moving the sound files manually on the disk can cause them to not be played.

To solve the problem, perform the following steps:

  1. If running the evaluation version of Fathom It!, be sure to install the latest version.
  2. If the problem still persists, download and run the program REGCLNUP.EXE. This will remove all Fathom It!-related entries from the registration database.
  3. Run Fathom It!.

This should restore all Fathom It! sounds and music.


How can I disable the splash screen?

After being suitably impressed with the animated graphic on Fathom It!'s splash screen, you may want to bypass the splash screen entirely. Add the command line option "-nosplash" when launching Fathom It! to disable the splash screen.

Click here for explicit instructions on how to add the command line option.


Printing Issues


I captured a Fathom It! board using a screen capturing program. When printing the image on my printer, I couldn't differentiate between water, unknown squares, and ship segments. They all looked gray and similar to me. What can I do?

The reason for the lack of clarity between the different elements is that your printer is trying to map the different colors of the Fathom It! board (e.g. dark and light blue ship segments, light and dark gray board squares) into a limited number of gray colors supported by your printer.

The solution is simple: select "Options | Color | Gray Scale" menu option. Fathom It! will now display itself using only gray colors. If you capture this image and print it, you'll get a sharp and clear printout.


This page last modified on: 17 March 2000