vclass.txt Virtual Classroom =========================== This is something Havas decided to unload here in the USA, which is already going in Europe. IMHO this is not ready for the public just yet. Parts work sometimes and not others, and it's not clear that some areas have anything to do at all. There are supposed to be classes; all I found were places to just sit around and see nothing happen. You could pass notes or write emails but that was all. There are supposed to be learning activities; couldn't see anything of the sort. Misspellings in the help files, error messages still in French, lots of good stuff guaranteeing headache city. It blames any unknown problem on the modem connection, for want of any better excuse. =============================== Problem: exits immediately when click on Play. Solution: make sure it's in 16-bit video mode and reboot. ============================== There is a feature on the Control Moon. Go to Parent Messages. Click the New Message button. You have a choice to mail either Technical Support or Customer Service. You will get an auto-reply directing them to the web-site. There is also a lockout of the free trial that occurs if the registration # is typed incorrectly too many times. Go to the account manager and click Free Trial Offer. If you type in your free trial account number incorrectly 3 times you get locked out of the free trial sign up and you are given a customer service number to contact. You can get back into the free trial screen if you exit the game and re-enter. ============================== If a customer installs program on a computer, activates the free trial offer, and then decides to uninstall it from one computer and reinstall on another, the free trial code will not work anymore. This is because, on the server end, it thinks the account's been taken already. This sounds like a major flaw in the design of the service. If the system is designed such that, once uninstalled they can't come back, then the whole concept is screwed. Somebody should have thought of this. Another issue is what happens to these dormant accounts when the free trial period is up. Will a customer's credit card number start getting charges for a subscription?? ============================= Proprietary ISPs do not work well with Virtual Classroom Using Juno (web), AOL, CompuServe, Prodigy, or other proprietary ISP software. Need to use that software to establish an online connection; sign in etc, then minimize it. Then start the Virtual Classroom software. ============================ Cable Modems Lockups using cable modem ISPs have been reported by some users. Nobody's been able to find a solution there yet. =========================== VC4 caused divide error in user.exe at 0004:00005f67. Video set for 800x600x256; changed it to 16-bit; restarted. Works. =========================== HOW TO INSTALL THE PROGRAM AND REGISTER FOR ONLINE CLASSES Installation ======= Put in the CD. It should autostart and have the options for "Install", "User's Guide" and "Quit." Choose Install to install the program. (If it does not autostart, you will need to run "d:\install.exe", where "d:" is your CDROM drive letter). Answer Yes to the license agreement. Click Next on the screen (Welcome to the Virtual Classroom Setup Program...) that follows it. The destination directory will be "C:\Program Files\Blaster". Click Next to go on. (Use Browse to select a different drive or path if you really need to; the default location works best for most people.) Then it will copy a number of different files to the hard drive. "Would you like Setup to create a shortcut for Virtual Classroom on your desktop?" Click on Yes. "Setup is now complete." Do not check either of the boxes for "View Readme" or "Run Virtual Classroom now". Just click on Finish. You will come back to your Windows desktop. The program is now installed. Running the Program ============== Put in the CD. It should autostart and have the options for "Play", "User's Guide" and "Quit." Choose Play to run the program. If you already have the CD in the drive and don't want to eject and put it back in, or you do not have autostart enabled, then double-click on the desktop icon for Virtual Classroom, or click on Start, Programs, Blaster, Virtual Classroom, Virtual Classroom. TIP: While you are learning about Virtual Classroom, it can be very helpful to have the Virtual Classroom User's Guide open in another window at the same time, so you can refer to it while you run the program. (Yes, the text in the User's Guide is badly formatted and hard to read.) To start the User's Guide while you are in Virtual Classroom, click on Start, Programs, Blaster, Virtual Classroom, User's Guide. To switch between the User's Guide and Virtual Classroom, use Alt-Tab from the keyboard. The task for the User's Guide is called "VCManual" and the one for Virtual Classroom is called "Blaster's Virtual Classroom." You can also switch between them by clicking on the appropriate one from the Windows taskbar. Account Setup ========== When you first run Virtual Classroom, you'll need to create a user character and enter other information. The screen with the four faces will appear. You'll need to click on the one in the upper left corner labeled "New." (Later, your own identities, called avatars, will appear on this screen and you can select from them.) More information for this area is in the User Guide on page 6. Now you need to set up how you want the character's face to look. You can cycle through the choices for "color and shape of face", "hair", "nose", "ears" and other details. When you have it looking like you want (or as close as you can get, given the choices available), move the mouse pointer down below the edge of that screen (below the red pencil) and click on the "Thumbs Up" icon there. Now type in the player's first name and click on the "Thumbs Up" icon. Select your school year (K, 1, 2, or 3) and click Thumbs Up. Now choose your birthdate (including the year) from the calendar on the right. The digits change individually, but by clicking on them all you'll see how it works. Click on the Thumbs Up when you are done. Go through the other items as directed by the voice. Choose your favorite places, interests, etc, and click Thumbs Up after each one. When you're all done, the pointer will change to a "finger pressing a button". Just click anywhere on the screen to continue. The user character is now ready. At this point you will come to Blaster's Office. This is also where you would come to when you choose an existing character. This screen is described on page 10 of the User Guide. There are four things to do here. Notebook, Virtual Class Scores, Cyberpoints, and Connection to Blaster's Virtual Classroom. The first three can be selected without connecting to the Internet. They are described on pages 12-13 in the User Guide. The "Connection to Blaster's Virtual Classroom" needs to connect to the Internet. The toolbar is at the bottom of the screen and appears when you move the pointer there. The toolbar choices are described on page 11 of the User Guide. Not all of these tools appear on all screens in the program. The important things to remember about the toolbar are: the Thumbs Up is used to approve any choices you just made, and the Door icon leaves the screen you are currently on and returns to the prior one. Connection to Blaster's Virtual Classroom ============================ On the Connection screen, you can choose the type of connection you need to get on the Internet. Then you can click on the Connect button to continue. The Cancel button exits this screen. This screen is mentioned in the User Guide on page 7 although it has no picture. (The screen is light blue with yellow buttons.) For first time users, you should choose that option after it connects. Agree to the Terms Of Use. (If you don't, you can't run it anyway.) Then you come to the Parent Registration Screen. This is covered on page 8 in the User Guide. You must click in a text field in order to type in it. The Tab key does not move between fields in this program, it actually puts in the tab character in the field. Be careful about that! Click on Confirm when you have entered everything. Select a parent password by entering it in both fields and click OK. You will receive an ID number. This is about 11 digits long. Please Write It Down! You will need it in the future, along with your password. Click OK after you have written it down. On the next screen, you will see the Three Moons Screen. They are: the Control Moon (for the Parents), the Virtual Classroom, and the Cyberclub. The Control Moon is the only one that will work until you get the Free Trial activated. Click on that (and enter the parent's password and press Enter if asked). The Control Moon is described on page 14 of the User Guide. You need to go to the Account Manager (the stack of coins in left center of the screen); see page 16 of the Users Guide for information on it. Then click on Free Trial Offer (under Services). You need to enter the Offer Number, your credit card number (do not use dashes or spaces), and expiration date. All letters should be UPPER CASE. Be careful not to use the Tab key because it will insert an invisible Tab character which may really confuse things here. After you have the information entered, you should return to the Account Manager. Then click on Parent's Control Panel (near the top of the list). Enable unlimited access to Class Reservations and Cyberclub access (just to keep things simple). Then click on the Thumbs Up. Then click on the Door icon to get out of the Account Manager. Click on the Door icon again to get back to the Three Moons screen. The Cyberclub (the moon on the right) is where you can share stories and jokes with other users. The Virtual Classroom (center moon) is described on page 18 of the Users Guide. Getting into the Virtual Classes ===================== In the Virtual Classroom (described on page 18 of the Users Guide), you have five items to choose from. Children's Message Box. Results. Cyberpoints. Virtual Classes. Reservations. To join in the Virtual Classes, you must first go to Reservations and reserve your spot. Then you return to this screen just ahead of class time and choose Virtual Classes to go into the class. Important: the class time is the time that this program thinks is the correct time (at the server), which has no relation to what the real time is for you or your computer. It is often off by several minutes. Fortunately you can see what time the server thinks it is, from several places in the program. Click on Reservations. This screen is shown on page 19 in the users Guide. Move the mouse pointer near the top of the Reservations Screen. A clock bar will appear in blue. It has the server time on the left, the player's name in the middle, and an elapsed time in the upper right (how long you've been online). The server time is shown as Pacific Time and is in 24 hour format (ie, 4:00pm appears as 16:00). This is the clock time that matters when you need to be back for an online class session. The yellow bar near the top has 3 options: My Reservations, My Friends, and All Blaster Virtual Classroom Kids. Choose "all kids" so that you can find some classes that you'll meet other kids in. The two bars below it control Subject and Grade. Try different combinations of them until you see some numbers in the open class slots on the board. These show that other kids have reserved spots in these classes; hopefully they'll remember to be online and in the classroom at the right time so you can see them. When you reserve your spot, you need to choose the subject and a specific lesson. Sometimes they are not all available, so you may need to try different choices. Afterward, choose where you want to sit (any empty silhouette). See page 20 in the Users Guide for more information. Then be sure to click on the Thumbs Up afterward. After you have made the reservations you want, click on the Door icon to leave the Reservations screen. To attend the class: Get to the Virtual Classroom Moon and choose the Virtual Classes icon (see page 18 in the Users Guide). If you are ahead of time, you will get into a waiting room area where you sit and make faces at each other until class starts. (If you are late, you can't get in.) You can see the time in the upper left corner of the screen if you move your mouse pointer up there. There are going to be three other characters there with you: Bobo, Dexter, and Kiwi. They are dummy characters generated by the program and do nothing but make faces and noises. Nothing happens when you click on them, they are just there for decoration and no other purpose. The actual class activities are described on page 20 of the User Guide. Be careful not to leave the classroom during the class or during a break between lessons segments, or you cannot get back into it. You lose your spot and have to reserve a class in the next available hour. ====================================== Where is the user's file password stored? It appears, at least in this case, to be contained in the file: c:\Program Files\Blaster\Virtual Classroom\Ado4.inf I opened this file using Windows Explorer, and it came up in Notepad. Be careful not to change this file while viewing it!! The first few characters contain the player's name. Scroll over a little to the right and the password seems to be there. ====================================== Confirm button grayed out When you first go into the ID screen the "Confirm" button is grayed out. Select Cancel and re-enter the ID screen and the "Confirm" button will be highlighted. =============================