Frequently Asked Questions & Their Answers
For Magic Theatre, Haunted House & Cartoon Maker Products

CONTENTS

Magic Theatre and Haunted House XP Update
Magic Theatre and Haunted House can run on Windows ME/2000 and XP with this downloadable update. To update do the following:
  • Make sure you have installed Magic Theatre or Haunted House from the CD-ROM.
  • Download the update by clicking below.  Make sure you remember where you saved it.
  • Run MTXPUpdate.exe or HHXPUpdate.exe and follow the instructions.  They will extract to the default location of your program and overwrite the old application.  If you have changed where you installed the programs you must extract into your custom locations.   

Download Magic Theatre Update (167 KB)

Download Haunted House Update (208 KB)

General

Can I view the movies with the original diskette version of Magic Theatre, or must I have the CD - ROM ?
YES. The Magic Theatre movies will work with the diskette version.

Can I print a picture with Magic Theatre?
No. Only Haunted House supports printing..

Sound

I can hear narration but no music; what can I do?
You must enable the Midi device on your computer. This is done through the Control Panel in Windows. From there, select the Midi Mapper icon and set Midi on by selecting a name with extension .FM or .GM.

My recordings are too soft; what can I do?
Through the Windows Control Panel find your Mixer and click it. There you can set all the relative sound levels. Recorded sound (wav), Playback wav, playback music (Midi ). After a few iterations you will be able to find the right levels for you.

The microphone I got with Magic Theatre does not fit my sound card. What can I do?
Remove the large adapter off the plug and you will find the correct one which fits all standard sound cards.

Video

My computer supports thousands of colors in many resolutions. Can I use them?
The products are designed to work only in 256 colors and are optimal at 640 by 480 resolution. Higher resolutions work but will look more grainy and be slower.

Submitting a movie

How do I submit a Haunted House Movie for the library?
The following works for all Cartoon Makers and Haunted House. Only movies with acceptable content will be included in the libraries .

  1. Make sure your movie has no more than 30 seconds of narration.
  2. Choose your movie in Haunted House from the library and stop it. You must then export it to a floppy.
  3. To do this, hold down the "Ctrl" key on your keyboard and click the gray area in the upper-right-hand corner of your screen. This displays the Control panel.
  4. Then from Control, select Import/Export and then select Write Floppy.
  5. Select the letter that represents your floppy drive and click OK.
  6. Once you have exported the movie successfully leave Haunted House and run you Internet mail program.
  7. Attach the three files on your floppy "Movie Name".zip, "Movie Name".bmp and "Movie Name".mtz to a mail message to Wiz@MagicTheatre.com. (If you have not given it a name it will be just a number).
  8. Add any personal details such as name, age, location, etc., to the message and send it.
  9. Cross your fingers and hope it gets through all the Internet gateways!

How do I submit a Magic Theatre Movie for the library?

  1. Make sure your movie has no more than 30 seconds of narration.
  2. You must use file manager, or windows explorer to go into the mtheatre/movies directory
  3. In there you will see all your movies named with a "number". These movies are ordered chronologically. If you double click the "number".bmp files you will see the little pictogram which may help you identify the movie you wish to submit.
  4. Once you know the "number" attach ALL THE FILES using that "number" to an email message to wiz@magictheatre.com. The files are: "number".bmp "number".mtm "number".wav "number".w0n.
  5. Add any personal details such as name, age, location, etc., to the message and send it.

Saving movies to a floppy disk

How do I save a movie on a floppy?
The following works for Haunted House and Cartoon Maker

Movies can be written to a floppy disk through MAGIC THEATRE HAUNTED HOUSE. To write a floppy, first choose your movie from the library and stop it. Then from Control, select Import/Export and then select Write Floppy. Select the letter that represents your floppy drive and click OK.

When reading a floppy that has a movie exported onto it, you will see the movies pictogram. To read it just select that pictogram. Note: If your movie requires more storage than one floppy, use a backup program to copy it. Back up the .mtm file and all other files with the movies name.

Importing images

How do I add images to the libraries in Haunted House?
The following works for Haunted House and Cartoon Makers.

Advanced users may wish to create images in other graphics programs and import them into MAGIC THEATRE HAUNTED HOUSE. To do this create a 256-color image and save it as a .bmp file. (For best results and if your graphics program allows it, you should create it in the Magic.pal or Magic.cpl palette provided). In MAGIC THEATRE HAUNTED HOUSE Control, Import/Export, click Import bitmap, browse and find your picture and click OK. Then browse and find the MAGIC THEATRE HAUNTED HOUSE directory you want to store it in, open it, and click OK.

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