Frequently Asked Questions
- What is G-Force?
- G-Force graphically visualizes music, producing video in real-time that's
responsive to an audio signal. G-Force exists as an add-on to audio players
(ie "plugin") and as a standalone application that uses "line-in" input. G-Force
is designed to entertain you alone but allows many ways for you to customize
and and add you own text, images, and movies.
- What are the system requirements?
- G-Force only requires a fast computer and doesn't require 3D or other special
video hardware. It's recommended you have at least a PII or G3 processor.
If you plan to use G-Force as a plugin to your audio player, you need to have
the player already installed, and if you plan to use the standalone version
of G-Force (to visualize line-in audio) then you don't need anything more.
-
- Can G-Force visualize "line-in" audio?
- Yes. The first method is to simply use the standalone version of G-Force
(see the G-Force Standalone section for more).
The second method to visualize line-in audio is some audio players allow you
monitor line-in audio. For example, in Winamp go to "Open Location" and enter
"linein://", and in SoundJam select "Play From Sound Input".
- How do I increase frame rate?
- G-Force doesn't use any special hardware, so even the newest graphics hardware
won't increase your frame rate--your CPU and RAM speed are the most limiting
factors. However, here's other ways to increase frame rate:
- Quit background processes
- Decrease fullscreen resolution -- Use the "Switch fullscreen
mode" key (M by default) to switch fullscreen resolution
- Limit G-Force's frame size -- When G-Force is told to draw in
a given rectangle, you can confine G-Force to an even smaller rectangle
using the MaxX and MaxY parameters. This is useful because it sets an
upper limit on how many pixels G-Force must render, allowing you to avoid
low frame rates when screen resolution is set high (1024x768 or greater).
To edit MaxX and MaxY, see "How do I customize G-Force?" (below).
- Experiment with fullscreen bit depth -- Most systems have slightly
higher fullscreen frame rates with FS_D set to 8 (the default setting)
while many Win2000 users have reported changing FS_D to 32 doubled their
frame rates. (See the question "What color depth is best?")
- Disable CPU power saving features -- For example, on MacOS, enabling
"Processor Cycling" or "Reduce Speed" in the Energy
Saver control panel slow down the CPU in order to reduce power consumption.
- Disable virtual memory -- You'll see a noticeable speedup if
your OS allows you to disable virtual memory
- How do I change the fullscreen resolution settings?
- Your display device may show G-Force best in a resolution different than
the default fullscreen resolution (640x480). 640x480 is the default because
most monitors and projectors show it well, it's very compatible, and it's
fair for a typical PC setup. If you have a faster setup or use a display device
that only supports a certain resolution, you'll want to change the fullscreen
resolution mode. While running G-Force in window mode, press the "Switch
fullscreen mode" key (M by default) to step through the available fullscreen
resolutions. Be warned that because G-Force's frame rate is proportional to
how many pixels it must draw, frame rate is low when fullscreen resolution
is set high. Also see "How can I increase frame rate?" (above).
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- How do I specify which display device G-Force uses for fullscreen?
- Whichever display device the G-Force window sits in is the device G-Force
will use for fullscreen mode. For example, if you have a LCD projector and
want G-Force to use it as the fullscreen device (ie, not the monitor), first
drag the G-Force window so it's in the projector screen rectangle, then start
fullscreen mode.
-
- How do I customize G-Force?
- After you run G-Force for the first time, search for a text file named "G-Force
Prefs". This file is a list of parameters that determine G-Force's behavior
in a text format, allowing you to easily edit it. Use any text editor to view
the prefs file, and you'll be able to see the parameters found in it. Examples
are: the most recent window position, fullscreen resolution, the default font,
and how often track text information appears. All the parameters are listed
and described in the Customizing G-Force
section.
- How do I display my own text, images, and movies in the G-Force window?
- Simply place the files you want displayed into the "Sprites" folder (located
inside the "G-Force Files" folder). A sprite is a graphic of some sort that
moves around on the screen and originated in computer games that rapidly erase
then paste an image to give the appearance that it's moving. Move text files,
images, and movie files into the sprites folder, restart G-Force, and they'll
automatically be part of the particle slideshow. Note that just dropping items
into the sprites folder causes them to have preset/default behavior (ex, how
long they display, where they appear on the screen). To learn how to give
custom behavior to your sprites, read the text file named "Default Sprite"
in the "Particles (Non-Auto)" folder. If you freeze or crash after
you drop in sprites (ie, images and movies), consult the Troubleshooting
section.
- How do I delete configs and sprites that I don't prefer?
- You probably won't like all the configs and sprites that come with G-Force,
so you'll probably want to remove the ones you don't prefer. First learn the
file name of the item you want to remove by pressing 'L' (pressing 'L' lists
the file names of the config and sprites currently running in G-Force). If
the item you want to remove is a config (a WaveShape, ColorMap, or DeltaField),
open its respective config folder and simply delete the file with the matching
name. If the item you want to remove is a particle or sprite, check both the
"Particles" and "Sprites" folders (config-particles are
in the "Particles" folder, sprites are in the "Sprites"
folder, and sprites with custom behavior are in both).
- The image or movie I moved in the "Sprites" folder appears
inverted in G-Force. How do I invert it?
- There's two methods to invert a sprite. The easiest method is to append
a '~' on the end of your sprite's file name. For example, "Andy.BMP"
would get inverted if it was renamed to "Andy~.BMP". The other method
is discussed inside the config file "Default Sprite" (located in
the "Particles (Non-Auto)" folder).
-
- How do I make my images or movies non-automatic (ie, activated via script)?
- First, drop your image, text, or movie into the "Sprites" folder.
Next, you need to tell G-Force that you don't want your sprite to be in the
normal particle slideshow (ie, you want it to be "non-automatic"):
duplicate the file "Default Sprite" (located in the "Particles
(Non-Auto)" folder) and rename it to your sprite's name (ex, if your
sprite is "andy falls.mov" then rename the duplicate to either "andy
falls.txt" or "andy falls"). Finally, in order to call your
sprite, you must first place its name in a script. For example, you could
make a new text file called "A Key" in the "Scripts" folder
and have it contain "0:00 andy falls" so that pressing
CTRL+A will cause G-Force to start the named config.
- How do I make an image or movie show up as a background/"wallpaper"?
- You can tell G-Force to display a sprite as a background/"wallpaper"
two ways. The basic way is to name your sprite so that it starts with "background".
For example, if look inside the "Sprites" folder, you'll be able
to identify the files that will be drawn into the background by looking at
their names (ex, "Background-Galaxy.jpg"). Experiment with sprites
you add by seeing if they look better drawn in the background or if they look
better in the foreground (ie, name your sprite "Blah.jpg" then as
"Background-Blah.jpg" the next time you run G-Force). For more,
open the config "Background-Default Sprite" in the "Particles
(Non-Auto)" folder.
- How do I undo changes I've made to the G-Force prefs file?
- You may accidentally edit some settings in the prefs file that causes problems.
If you delete the prefs file, G-Force will create a fresh prefs file with
"factory" settings the next time it starts. Because G-Force writes its prefs
file when it exits, you must delete the prefs file when G-Force isn't running.
- How do I store a good looking config combination and recall it?
- Sometimes, slideshow mode will have a ColorMap, WaveShape, and DeltaField
you really like together. G-Force allows you to "save" the current
combination for later recall by writing out a script that switches to the
given ColorMap, WaveShape, and DeltaField when the script run.
- To save the currently running configs as a key on your keyboard, press
CTRL+SHIFT and the key you want associated with the script.
- To run the script, press CTRL and the key you used to store the script.
For example, suppose you chose '8' to be associated with a combination (ie,
you pressed CTRL+SHIFT+8). The above steps makes G-Force generate a text file
named "8 Key" inside your "Scripts" folder. When you now press CTRL+8, G-Force
will search for a script named "8 Key" to run. Scripts are capable of much
more, but this method is meant to be an easy way to store and recall appealing
combinations of configs. See the Scripting G-Force
section for more.
- Where can I get more G-Force config files?
- The folder "More G-Force Configs" inside the "G-Force Files" folder
contains additional G-Force configs users have submitted. Since there's so
many configs for G-Force, only the sharpest and most creative configs that
are submitted make it to the main config folders (ex "WaveShapes",
"ColorMaps", etc). The rest of the configs that are submitted are
placed in the "More G-Force Configs" folder and cannot be used unless
they're hand-moved to the main config folders. Warning: the configs
in the "More G-Force Configs" have not been rigerously tested (and
could cause G-Force to crash).
- Can I capture or take a "snapshot" of the G-Force window?
- To take a 'snapshot' of the G-Force window, press the key that does so ('`'
by default). When you press this key, the contents of the G-Force window will
be saved to a BMP file in the "G-Force Files" folder.
- Can I make G-Force into a screensaver?
- First become familiar with the Customizing
G-Force section. The 'SSvr' parameter tells G-Force to go fullscreen after
a given number of idle minutes, so edit your "G-Force Prefs" file
accordingly.
- Can I make my own G-Force config files?
- If you want to learn the language G-Force and WhiteCap use in their config
files, you should already have some familiarity with programming or script
writing of some sort. The more programming or script experience you have,
the easier you'll learn the config language. See the Config
Programming section.
- When I go fullscreen, why are there big ugly white borders on the top
and bottom of the screen?
- By default, G-Force restricts its pixel size to a letterbox in order to
prevent low frame rates (see "How do I increase frame rate?" above).
When G-Force restricts its size, it paints remaining region (the border) the
background color. However, certain OS versions use the foreground color instead,
causing an ugly border (the border is usually white because white is the foreground
color for most ColorMaps). This results from the way different OSes handle
applications that use 256 colors in fullscreen mode. You can solve this problem
by changing FS_M from 8 to 32, but doing so could decrease your fullscreen
frame rate. See "What color depth is best" (below).
- What color depth is best?
- You set what depth G-Force attempts to set your display to when it goes
fulscreen via the 'FS_D' parameter in your prefs file. When FS_D is set to
8, G-Force to sets your display to 8-bit mode in fullscreen mode to increase
frame rate *** (because G-Force only used 256 colors, it can get the performance
boosts of 8-bit color while maintaining 32-bit quality). So, if you experience
serious color problems in fullscreen mode, try setting FS_D to 32 or 16 (16
may yeild a slightly higher frame rates at the cost of color quality). Remember
to that changes to your prefs file are overwritten when G-Force is closed,
so edit it after you close G-Force.
- Can I resize the G-Force window?
- Drag near the bottom right of the window.
- Why should I send in feedback, bug reports, or configs?
- G-Force can't improve unless you send me ideas, feedback, and bug reports.
Most of the features added to WhiteCap and G-Force in the last year started
out as user comments. When WhiteCap was first released, it came with about
20 configs. Today, thanks to users who sent in configs they made, 160 configs
now come with WhiteCap. G-Force is the same way: if you submit new configs,
you'll make G-Force that much better for everyone else.
- Can I control how much of my CPU goes to G-Force?
- The 'FPS' parameter in your preferences allows you to specify a desired
frame rate. Note that it takes several seconds for G-Force to approach the
frame rate you have set in the FPS parameter, so be patient when you resize
its window (or do anything that significantly changes its load on your system).
See the Customizing G-Force section.
- How do I customize the appearance of the "track text"?
- When G-Force goes to start "track" text (see the 'T?' pref in
the Customizing G-Force section), it looks
for a sprite named "Track Info" to display. Like any sprite, you set the content
of a sprite (ie, what gets drawn on the screen) by editing the correspondingly
named file in the "Sprites" folder. In other words, to edit the
content of the text, edit the text file "Track Text" in the folder
"Sprites", and to edit the behavior of the text, edit the text file
"Track Text" in the folder "Particles".
How do I pre-plan/script a G-Force performance for a particular audio track?
- Using G-Force's scripting services provides some exciting ways to synchronize
events in G-Force with events in audio tracks. See the following question
and read the Scripting G-Force section.
- How do I coordinate the start of an audio track or G-Force capture with
a script?
- Whenever a new audio file is played in your audio player, G-Force will look
for a script or config file with a matching name. If the audio track is an
mp3 file and internally defines the track name (ex, ID tag data), then G-Force
will use that instead of its filename. For example, suppose you have a script
that's made to go with a file named "Andy Sings Opera.wav", and it's written
so that 0:00 corresponds to the start of the audio file. Rename your script
to "Andy Sings Opera" (remember: extensions are ignored in G-Force), restart
G-Force, play the audio file, and G-Force will automatically start the script.
The Scripting G-Force section describes scripts
in detail, allowing you to coordinate G-Force with an audio track in exciting
ways.
- How do I edit a sprite (text, image, or movie) "on the fly"?
- Using a LAN, you can edit text and image sprites on the fly. If you were
using G-Force at a party, and you were closing the bar, you could edit a text
sprite to "Last Call". However, before you do this, you must tell G-Force
to load a fresh copy of the file each time it goes to use it. You do this
(before G-Force is running) by naming your file a certain way, described in
"How do I edit configs while G-Force is running?" (below).
- How do I edit configs while G-Force is running?
- G-Force caches its files when it starts, so changes won't have any affect
until you restart G-Force. However, if you'd like to edit a config "on the
fly" (ex, edit a text particle via the LAN then have a preset script call
it) you must signal G-Force to load the file from disk each time it goes to
use it. If a sprite, script, or particle's filename starts with a '$', then
G-Force will not cache it. The other method is to load a fresh copy of a config
from disk is to use the key that "reloads current configs." Pressing this
key will cause G-Force to reload the currently running configs from disk and
delete any running particles. This second method is really only useful as
tool for config development and testing. For example, you'd making some changes
to a config, save the changes, and press 'U' to tell G-Force to reload it
from disk.
- Could G-Force benefit from MMX (for Pentiums) or Altivec (for G4s)?
- After analysis and aid of others, the critical section of G-Force doesn't
take a form MMX or Altivec is designed to compute. I'd like to become experienced
with these technologies to rewrite parts of G-Force that would allow such
speedups, but that's a time commitment I cannot presently support.
- Can G-Force be 3D accelerated?
- No, zero percent of G-Force lends itself to 3D hardware acceleration.
- What was used to make G-Force and WhiteCap?
- Both are written in C++ and compiled using Metrowerks
Codewarrior, a C/C++ development environment that beats the pants of Microsoft
Visual Studio. Both G-Force and WhiteCap have evolved over the course of two
years and contain many intricate parts. The logical source/text size of G-Force
is 760k (this doesn't include outside APIs or source--ie, 760k is ala Andy).
- Why the name "G-Force"?
- G-Force is dedicated to God and His uncanny patience. "If you hold
to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth,
and the truth will set you free" (Jesus, John 8:31-32).