Topas FAQ ver 1.5 
 

How do I run Topas with Windows 95?  

1. Create a shortcut to "Topas.bat" on your desktop. (here are two common ways)
A)    Locate "Topas.bat" using the "Windows Explorer" in the TOPAS directory not your root directory.   Right click and drag the icon to your desktop.  When you release the button you will have a small menu, choose "Create Shortcut[s] Here." 

or 

B)    Right click on your desktop.  Choose "New" -- Shortcut.  You now get an option to browse for the file.  If you know the location (i.e. c:\topas\topas.bat) type it or hit the "Browse" button and find it.  Press "Next" then "Finish." 

2. Adjust the "Properties" of your new batch file to work correctly.
A)    Right click on your newly created icon and select "Properties."  Select the "Program" tab, and click on the "Advanced" button near the bottom of the dialog box. 

B)    Now you are in the "Advanced Program Settings" be sure to select the check box "MS-DOS mode."  You need to enter in some specific information under the "config.sys" and "Autoexec.bat" boxes. 

• Config.sys (2 lines)

 

DOS=HIGH,UMB 
Device=C:\WINDOWS\Himem.sys (Be sure to put in YOUR correct windows directory) 
BUFFERS=40 (You MUST add this line) 

(Add any special device drivers you need -- SCSI devices, CD-Rom drivers etc) 

• Autoexec.bat (3 lines)

 

SET winbootdir=C:\WINDOWS (Once again, this needs to be YOUR windows directory) 
PROMPT $P$G 
SET SWAP=C:\xmswap.tmp (or where ever you have determined to put your swap file) 
C:\MOUSE\MOUSE.COM (You must install your mouse driver.  Change this as necessary). 

(Add any additional drivers -- TSRs -- required for your hardware.  VESA video drivers, cd-rom {mscdex.exe}, network drivers, input device drivers, etc) 

Topas has 5 different rendering mode options (Box, Triangle, Catmull-Rom, Sinc and Gaussian).  According to the manual they range from good to best.  Each one also lends to a sharper or more blurry render -- which is a matter of taste as to which is best.  The standard, Catmull-Rom, balances quality and speed, and fulfills most rendering needs. 
• Highres textures: On
• Shadows: On
• Super Sampling: On
• Blending depth: 0.40
• Lighting:

1 -- Omni light in default position -- Shadow casting, at 88/88/78 (r/g/b) 
1 -- Direction light aimed slightly up and pointing into the scene -- Shadow casting, at 49/49/49 (r/g/b) 

Examples of the same scene rendered with each filter -- blurriness set to None. 
Examples of the same scene rendered with each filter -- blurriness set to Low. 
Examples of the same scene rendered with each filter -- blurriness set to High. 

Most of the modern video cards don't need special drivers as they are VESA compatible, and should work right out of the box. 

Many video cards have drivers supplied with Topas, but if the one you need isn't listed you should try contacting the manufacturer for DOS mode VESA drivers. 

Most often this is the result of a fragmented swap file. 

• The easiest solution is to delete the swap file (xmswap.tmp) and to run a defragmentation program on the drive -- complete not just a partial defragmentation of fragmented files.

• One note of caution, if you run Windows NT and are dual booting with DOS it is a bit more difficult.  There are few defragmentation programs available for NT, and the ones we've encountered don't always move all the file parts to one contiguous file area.  You may need to either run a back up and restore on the drive in question, or move the files that aren't getting defragmented to another drive, then copy them back.  There are a couple defragmenting programs freely available on the web.

 There are 2 main areas to consider in this. 

• More memory.  Topas can directly address 64 megs of RAM.  The more ram you have available the less you will have to use a swap disk for virtual memory.  If you can afford to -- purchase up to 256 megs of RAM and use 191 megs as a "RAM disk."  Then assign the swap file to the RAM disk.  This lessens the bottle neck of the swap file -- the slowest link in rendering.

Faster CPU.  After you have maxed your memory allocations the next best thing you can do is purchase a faster processor.  Also be sure that you check the FPU (floating point unit) speed of the processor.  There are many brands available, and different companies have different speed FPU's installed.  Rendering is an FPU function almost exclusively so make this a strong consideration in your purchases.