DesktopPlant V1.8
Copyright © DeskSoft
www.desksoft.com
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Contents
1. Overview
1.1 Main Features
1.2 System Requirements
1.3 Installation and Uninstallation
1.4 Purchasing DesktopPlant
1.5 License Agreement
1.6 Contacting DeskSoft
2. Getting Started
3. DesktopPlant Main Dialog
3.1 Information
3.2 Options
3.3 Active Plants
4. Plant Dialog
4.1 Care
4.2 Options
4.3 Info
5. Troubleshooting
1. Overview
Welcome to DesktopPlant - a revolutionary program which brings life to your desktop. Plants grow directly on your desktop and need your care just like a real plants!
In contrast to other virtual-life programs, which require a standard window, your DesktopPlant will grow directly on your desktop (above a selected wallpaper but below the icons). This means your DesktopPlant behaves like a wallpaper itself, except that you can resize and move it. To interact with the program, double-click your plant to show the plant dialog. In this mode you can change size and position, care for your plant and change the program options.
Your DesktopPlant grows whenever there is unused processor time left (when your computer is idle), so you don't lose any performance during your normal work.
The included demo plants have already been growing for some time under ideal conditions and will gradually die after approximately one more week, no matter how well you have taken care of it during that time. DesktopPlant will display a message when your demo plants begin to die. If you purchase a license, you will get plants with no limitations (nevertheless they can die, if you don't take good care of them).
1.1 Main Features
• Amazingly realistic growth depending on how well the plant is taken care of (water, fertilizer, environmental parameters, etc.)
• Random effects will guarantee that each plant is unique
• DesktopPlant is a 3D model of a real plant with enhanced visual effects
• Optimized routines for photorealistic graphics
• DesktopPlant will grow directly on the desktop; above the selected wallpaper but below the icons
• Adjustable size and position
• Several plants can be displayed simultaneously
1.2 System Requirements
• Windows 95 / 98 / ME / NT 4.0 / 2000 / XP or higher
• Mouse or compatible pointing device
• HiColor display (65536 colors, 16 bit)
• 5 MB of free hard-disk space
1.3 Installation and Uninstallation
To install DesktopPlant, simply run "DPSetup.exe". The Setup program will guide you through all necessary steps. If you want to remove DesktopPlant from your computer, select "Uninstall" from the DesktopPlant program group or use "Add/Remove Software" in the Windows Control Panel.
Unattended setup: if you want to install DesktopPlant automatically, without user interface, please include the installation path as a command line parameter. Also, any file included in the command line will be copied to the installation path by the setup program. Here is an example:
DPSetup.exe "C:\Program Files\DesktopPlant" License.dlc
This command line will install DesktopPlant to the default installation path and copy the license file "License.dlc" to the installation path. "License.dlc" must be in the same folder as "DPSetup.exe" so that the setup program can find it.
After unattended setup, a text file "DPSetup.log" will be created. It contains the result of the installation.
1.4 Purchasing DesktopPlant
For pricing information (single user and site licenses), order conditions and information about how to purchase DesktopPlant online, please visit our website. After ordering the product, you will receive your personal license via email.
IMPORTANT: Please keep a copy of your license file at a safe place, because you will need it every time you reinstall the product!
1.5 End User License Agreement
You may evaluate the program for a maximum of thirty days, after which you must purchase a license or discontinue its use. You may allow other users to evaluate copies of the demo version. All evaluation users are subject to the terms of this agreement.
A license is valid for a single person who uses the software personally on one or more computers (e.g. work PC, home PC, laptop, etc.), or it can be installed on a single computer used non-simultaneously by multiple people. If multiple people use the software simultaneously or on multiple computers, you must purchase a number of licenses equal to the number of users who use the product, or each user must have a separate license.
The sale and/or distribution of licenses of this software is strictly forbidden. It is a violation of this agreement to loan, rent, lease, borrow, or transfer licensed copies or licenses.
Neither DeskSoft nor anyone else involved in creating, producing, distributing or delivering this software is responsible for any damages whatsoever, including loss of information, interruption of business, personal injury and/or any damage or consequential damage without limitation, incurred before, during or after the use of our products. If, for some reason, anyone is found liable in respect of any matter, the liability in respect of any claim or loss shall be limited to the amount paid by the customer for the software.
1.6 Contacting DeskSoft
If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to send us an email or visit our website:
Web: http://www.desksoft.com
Email: support@desksoft.com
If you experience any problems running the program, please send us a detailed description and please make sure to include information about your computer configuration, hardware and software.
IMPORTANT
Please include the product name "DesktopPlant" in the subject line of your email, or it could be deleted by our spam filter!
We answer all emails within a maximum of 3 business days (usually even within a few hours), so if you don't receive an answer from us, there's probably something wrong with your email address. In this case, please send us your message again and make sure to use a working email address so that we can reply to your email!
2. Getting Started
When you start DesktopPlant, the main dialog will be displayed. It contains the main options and the list of available plants. The demo version comes with four demo plants and if you purchase a license, additional plants without limitations will be available in the list. At the left side of each plant you'll find a check box, which indicates if the plant is active (shown on the desktop) or not. To activate a plant, simply switch on its check mark. After ending the dialog with "OK", the active plants will be displayed on your desktop.
If you activate more than one plant, they will all appear in the center of the screen. You can move them to any desired position on your desktop so that they don't overlap.
Double-clicking a plant will open the plant dialog. Here you can set the environmental parameters like water, fertilizer, temperature and light as well as individual plant options. An info tab shows information about the plant.
We wish you a lot of fun with DesktopPlant!
3. DesktopPlant Main Dialog
The main dialog is the central point for administering your DesktopPlants. You can set general options, activate, deactivate, add and delete plants and activate purchased licenses. Pressing "Quit" will quit DesktopPlant. You can restart it by selecting it from the DesktopPlant program group.
The main dialog consists of several parts:
3.1 Information
This section displays program information. The "Help" button opens this manual and the "About" button shows info about your license.
3.2 Options
In this group you can find the common options, which apply to all plants:
Automatically start with Windows: this option automatically starts DesktopPlant when Windows starts. It is recommended to have this option turned on.
Only use idle CPU time: By default, this option is enabled and makes DesktopPlant use only idle CPU time, which means that it will only calculate plant growth if your computer is not busy with something else. This ensures, that your usual computer work will not be affected by DesktopPlant. We highly recommend to turn on this option. Only if your computer is all the time busy (e.g. a server or if you always have background tasks running), DesktopPlant will not be able to finish calculation for the plants. In this case, the message "Drawing Plant..." will be displayed and it'll never disappear. If you experience this, please deactivate this option by clearing the check mark.
Follow screen mode: Check this option if you want to have the plants redrawn automatically after you have changed the display settings (resolution or color depth). If this option is not selected, your plants will not be updated in any display mode other than the one selected at program startup. Check this option if you change your display settings frequently. Generally, you should keep this option off.
Compatibility mode: Please enable the compatibility mode ONLY if you encounter display errors (such as random pixels in some windows or all over the desktop). If possible, update your display driver first, because this could also solve the problem. This option is only used to avoid problems with very old graphic cards and on modern systems, it's not necessary to turn it on!
Temperature unit: Here you can select the preferred temperature unit.
3.3 Active Plants
This group shows a list of available plants. Each plant has a check box on the left side, which is used to activate or deactivate the plant. Activation means, that it will be displayed on the desktop. If you switch the check mark off, the plant will not be shown (nevertheless it will continue to grow if it has been activated before).
DesktopPlant comes with four demo plants, which will live for about one week after first activation. If you purchase one or more DesktopPlants, they will also appear in the list. Unlike the demo plants, purchased plants have no life time limit!
You can add or delete plant files with the respective buttons. Adding plant files is only useful if you want to import a plant from a friend, for example. If you delete a plant, it will be permanently removed from your system. You can only get it back by reinstallation (or setting the license again for purchased plants), so please be careful with this function. We only recommend deleting the demo plants after you've purchased the full versions.
By default, all plants will appear in the center of your desktop, so they will partially cover each other. To avoid that, please simply double-click the plants and move them (by Drag & Drop) to any desired position on screen.
4. Plant Dialog
The plant dialog is displayed if you double-click a plant on your desktop. When you do this, a thin frame will be drawn around the plant, which you can use to resize and move the plant (just like a normal window). For moving the plant, simply press the left mouse button somewhere inside the plant frame and drag it to the new position. The button "DesktopPlant" will open the DesktopPlant main dialog, which you can use to administer your plants.
The plant dialog has several tabs:
4.1 Care
The "Care" tab is your user interface to the plant care. You can give your plant water, fertilizer, light and heat.
Water: This info bar shows the current water level of your plant. The blue bar ranges from completely dry (left side) to extremely wet conditions (right side).
Fertilizer: This info bar shows the current fertilizer level of your plant. The brown bar ranges from a desert like environment (left side) to extremely fertilized soil (right side).
Light: Use this slider to adjust the average light level for your plant environment. It ranges from complete darkness (left side) to unrestricted sunlight (right side). It is not necessary to reduce the light during night or winter - this will be simulated automatically. You should just select an average level for your plant.
Temperature: Use this slider to adjust the average temperature for your plant environment. It ranges from extremely cold (left side) to extremely hot (right side). It is not necessary to set colder temperatures during night or winter - this will be simulated automatically. You should just select an average level for your plant.
4.2 Options
The "Options" tab shows the options that are individual for each plant.
Grow while computer is off: Check this option if you want your plant to grow all the time, even if the DesktopPlant program is not running or while your computer is turned off. This option is enabled by default, because it produces realistic results. Your plant will grow over night and during the periods when you don't use your computer - just like a real plant. If you switch this option off, your plant will only "live", when DesktopPlant is running. If you are going for a vacation or if you are planning not to use your computer for some time, you can switch this options off to preserve the current state of the plant. If you leave it on, your plant will probably die after some time without care.
Automatic Care System: Check this option to enable the Automatic Care System (ACS). The ACS check box can only be selected if you purchase the Automatic Care System, which is sold separately (please see our website for details). It takes care of the plant in an optimal way by keeping water and fertilizer level at their optimums. Furthermore it calculates and adjusts the ideal temperature and light levels. We recommend using the ACS if you can't (or don't want to) care for your plants regularly but still want them to grow optimally anyway.
Appearance: Here you can set some visual parameters, like brightness and the color of the pot. Press "Set Default" to reset these options to their default values.
Size & Position: Press "Set Default" to reset the plant size and position. This can be useful if your plant somehow was moved out of the visible area by screen resolution changes, etc.
4.3 Info
This tab shows various details about your plant:
Plant Information: Here you can see the name and the age of your plant. The plant icon will show the plant color (if applicable).
Health: The indicator shows how healthy your plant currently is. 100% means perfect health, 0% means extremely bad health (or a dead plant). Please keep in mind that this is just an approximation and that your plant doesn't need to be at 100% all them time. Everything above 70% is already very good and enough for a good growth.
Care Tips: This section describes your plant and the environmental conditions it needs. You should read and obey the tips carefully to ensure having a healthy plant.
5. Troubleshooting
Please read the following chapters if you experience problems with DesktopPlant:
5.1 Active Desktop (e.g. in Windows ME, Windows XP)
If your DesktopPlant is not visible, check if the Active Desktop is enabled. If your desktop shows web contents, your plants will not be displayed. To switch off the Active Desktop, please disable the display of web items on your desktop. For example:
Windows ME: switch off "View As Web Page" in the context menu of your desktop (available by right-clicking the background of your desktop).
Windows XP: open the display properties (by right-clicking the desktop), change to the "Desktop" tab, click "Customize Desktop..." and switch to the "Web" tab. Now uncheck all web pages in the list and also uncheck "Lock desktop items".
5.2 Processor usage detection
By default, DesktopPlant is inactive if your system is busy (when the processor usage is above a certain level). Therefore it may be possible, that the plants are not drawn on heavily loaded computers (e.g. servers). If this is the case, the window 'Drawing Plant...' will never disappear. If you encounter this effect, please clear the check mark "Use idle CPU time" to disable this option.
5.3 Display errors
Some older graphic cards and display drivers can not handle monochrome bitmaps which are used to draw the plant transparently on the desktop. This may result in display errors (such as random pixels all over the screen). If you encounter such effects, please update your display driver to the latest version. If you still encounter problems, please select "Compatibility mode" from the options list. This mode uses a little more memory but should display your plants correctly.
5.4 Games & DirectX
After playing games, your plants may not be displayed correctly when you switch back to the desktop view. This is normal! As these programs need maximum processor performance, DesktopPlant is set to an inactive state. When you quit the game, your plants are redrawn automatically. If you experience performance problems while playing DirectX games, remove your plants from the desktop by quitting DesktopPlant.
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