Technical Support

Frequently asked questions will be posted on this page together with their answers.

If you run into any difficulties, look here first for a solution.

If you can't find the answer, please follow the instructions at the bottom of the page to contact me directly.

My screen saver doesn't look like my slide.
My screen saver only covers part of the screen.
I right clicked to create a julia set, then zoomed in a few times.
Now when I right-click to return to the "normal" set I get an empty screen.
When I tap a key on the keyboard, the screen saver won't disappear.
My Windows 98/ME system freezes.
I can't find the answer to my question here.

Question	Answer
My screen saver doesn't look like my slide. Why?	Sometimes slides and their screen savers get out of synch. This can happen when you Build a slide, then use Undo to go back a few steps. Rebuilding the desired slide will fix the problem. Click the Build button and say OK when asked Overwrite the existing file?

Question	Answer
My screen savers only cover part of the screen. Why?	Fractopia comes with a set of sample savers to get you started. They were generated at a resolution of 1024 x 768 and work well at (or below) that resolution. The problem you describe would occur if your resolution is higher than this - say, 1280 x 1024. Rebuilding the slides will fix this. For each under-sized slide, click the Build button and say OK when asked Overwrite the existing file?

Question	Answer
I right clicked to create a julia set, then zoomed in a few times. Now when I right-click to return to the "normal" set I get an empty screen. Why?	By zooming in to the julia set, your initial position in the normal set has changed. Instead of returning to where you started, you have "returned" to a new position in the normal set, somewhere where there is very little detail. Try zooming out a few times. A familiar landmark may well appear to allow you to regain your bearings.

Question	Answer
When I tap a key on the keyboard, the screen saver won't disappear. I have to move the mouse instead.	When you install Fractopia, the keyboard is "locked" by default. About ten keys are "active" - you can use them to control the screen saver while it is playing. The other keys are disabled (with the exception of Escape, which always closes the program). Your screensaver becomes an interactive fractal show! To turn off the keyboard lock: Bring up the Fractopia explorer window. Click on the Options menu and select General. Click on the Keyboard control checkbox to clear it. Click the Close button. The screen saver will now close whenever you tap a key.

Question

Answer

When I tap a key on the keyboard, the screen saver won't disappear. I have to move the mouse instead.

When you install Fractopia, the keyboard is "locked" by default. About ten keys are "active" - you can use them to control the screen saver while it is playing. The other keys are disabled (with the exception of Escape, which always closes the program). Your screensaver becomes an interactive fractal show!

To turn off the keyboard lock:

Bring up the Fractopia explorer window.
Click on the Options menu and select General.
Click on the Keyboard control checkbox to clear it.
Click the Close button.

The screen saver will now close whenever you tap a key.

Question	Answer
My Windows 98/ME system freezes.	Sorry, Fractopia is not supported on Windows 98/ME. The only option is to upgrade to Windows 2000 or XP. These operating systems are considerably more stable.

If you didn't find an answer above, please contact me

I'll need the following details from you:

Name and address*
e-mail address*
PC make and model, eg Dell Dimension XPS
Windows version (eg Windows 2000)
CPU type and speed, eg Pentium III 850MHz
Amount of main memory, eg 128Mb
Video card, eg Matrox Millenium G450
Description of the problem
Full text of any error messages
List of any other programs running when the problem occured

*as given when you registered