Tripex3.12 (8 Nov 2002) - http://www.tripex.co.uk - ben.marsh@tripex.co.

uk

+ System Requirements
- Pentium 233MHz+, 32Mb RAM, and Windows 98/ME/2000/XP.
- DirectX 8.1, and compatible 3D accelerator (software rendering is supported, but is very slow -
see the FAQ below)
- Nullsoft Winamp 2 or 3 (download from http://www.winamp.com)

+ Installing and Running Tripex

Winamp3:
Tripex needs to be installed to the WACS subdirectory of your Winamp3 installation.
Starting Tripex: Winamp needs to be restarted before the Tripex component is loaded. Right
click on Winamp, go to the 'Windows' submenu, and select 'Tripex'.
Alternatively click on the Tripex icon in the Thinger.
Configuration: Tripex is integrated into the Winamp preferences dialog. Right click on
Winamp, go to the 'Options' submenu, and select 'Preferences'. Click 'Tripex',
or one of the sub-items in the list on the left.
Documentation: Select the 'Tripex' item from the preferences window, and click
'Documentation' to display this file. A copy is also written to VIS-TX3.RTF in
the WACS\DOCS subdirectory of the Winamp3 installation.

Winamp2:
Tripex needs to be installed to the PLUGINS subdirectory of your Winamp 2 installation.
Starting Tripex: Right click on Winamp, go to the 'Options' submenu and select 'Preferences'.
Click on the 'Visualisation Plugins' section, select 'Tripex3' from the list and
press 'Start'.
Configuration: As above, but click 'Configure' rather than 'Start' from the Winamp
preferences window.
Documentation: Click the 'About' button in the configuration window to display this file. A copy
is also written to VIS-TX3.RTF in the PLUGINS subdirectory of the Winamp 2
installation.

+ Key Controls (available while plugin is running)

F1: Show list of key controls
F2: Spectrum analyzer and debug info. The frame rate is at the bottom left - the number in brackets
is the frame rate at which Tripex is calculating and rendering the scene, ignoring processor time
used running other apps such as Winamp.
F3: Adjust settings of current effect (as under the 'Effects' tab of the configuration panel)
F4: Toggle fullscreen
F5: Toggle lyric timing editing (see FAQ below)
F6: Advance lyric (see FAQ below)
F7: Hide lyric (see FAQ below)
ESC: Quit
E: Change (fade) to another effect
H: Hold current effect
R: Reconfigure current effect
Left/Right arrow keys: Change effect
Up/Down arrow keys: Change maximum framerate
0-9: Toggle custom message

+ What's New in Tripex 3.12?

- Switched to DirectX 8.1 and added multi-monitor support. The simpler API should mean that
the few hardware-specific bugs which I know about in the old DX7 engine should be easier to
find (or even better - just disappear in the conversion). All windowed settings and texture
filtering settings are now picked automatically, but the fullscreen settings are still in the
configuration panel. The porting has the following drawbacks:
- Windows 95 is no longer supported (DirectX 8.1 is only available on Windows 98 or
newer)
- Software rending is no longer supported, though it was way too slow anyway.
- Fixed: DirectX settings were being saved, but were reverting to defaults the next time the
configuration box was opened
- Fixed: Cards with mipmap bilinear but not mipmap trilinear support were showing trilinear
option but no bilinear
 - Fixed: Crash when Tripex didn't shutdown correctly and prompted whether to continue
starting next time
- Fixed: LightSphere effect flashing up briefly before fading in for the first time
- Fixed: Occasional crashbug in flowmap effect
- Fixed: Winamp3: Animation now pauses while window is being moved or resized (like it
does in Winamp 2).
- Fixed: Winamp3: Thinger icons were rubbish example component icons, and gave a popup
message when clicked.
- Slightly improved the timing on Winamp 3, allowing higher framerates (still not great)
- Name of new effect is displayed when left/right arrow keys are used
- Song name at start/end of song fixed

+ What's New in Tripex 3.11?

- Fixed default texture settings not being loaded (so by default all but a couple of effects were
disabled)

+ What's New in Tripex 3.10?

- Complete support for Winamp3, fancy XML preferences window and everything. A lot of code
had to be rewritten, which has probably created a whole new wave of bugs. Winamp2 is still
supported from the same DLL (rename VIS-TX3.WAC to VIS-TX3.DLL).
- Configuration window can be opened at the same time as the plugin. Most options are
updated in the Tripex window immediately (except Texture and DirectX settings, which do not
take effect until Tripex is restarted).
- Configuration options are now stored in the registry on a per-user basis, so settings can be
shared between Winamp2/Winamp3.

+ What's New in Tripex 3.06?

- Fixed crash when the flowmap effect is first shown on some pc's (Access violation at address
cb0e)

+ What's New in Tripex 3.05?

- Added 'Distortion(2) Lit' effect.
- Changed flowmap timing, to adapt to the computer's speed - will run much smoother on fast
pc's, though you have to wait for the flowmap effect (ie. the actual flow map) to change once
before it adjusts.
- Changed rings effect to have a bit of motion blurring.
- Added 'Use higher quality meshes' option under DirectX pane of configuration panel - works
with light sphere, tentacles, metaballs, motion blur 3 effects.
- Fixed 'No description available' message being shown all the time (usually reselect device
from control panel).
- Fixed 'Direct3D T&L HAL' being shown as 'Direct3D TL HAL' in DirectX settings ('&' interpreted
as underscore prefix).
- Automatically selects the best 3D device when an invalid one is selected.

+ What's New in Tripex 3.04? [Thanks to...]

- Fixed ATI Radeon 8500 bug (requires software to clip to the viewport) [Da Almighty Kebab,
David Del Rio, and Jason Schellenberg & Jeff Royle at ATI developer relations]
- Progress bar is properly clickable again to seek within songs (was checking screen coordinates
from Tripex 2 interface) [Funk Lord]
- Had a big shuffle round in the 3D engine, to allow for a more straightforward pipeline. Should
be better cache-optimised too.
- Fixed Direct3D being reinitialised every time window is moved or sized (now waits until
move/size operation completes)
- Error messages/bug report emails automatically include name of 3D card.
- Config box animation fades in properly
- Makes Winamp the top window when 'j' or 'l' is pressed (automatically removes 'always on
top' setting, so Winamp isn't eclipsed by the Tripex window).

+ What's New in Tripex 3.03? [Thanks to...]

- Fixed 'c:\st.txt' being created, left over from debugging. If you were running Tripex 3.02, you
may want to delete this file as it can get quite big. [Jenya Shaman]
- Added better error descriptions and a more useful error dialog. Seeing as so many people
seem to end up seeing it (sorry).
- Changed ZBuffer selection method to fix problems with some driver releases
- Added 'Show song name always' option, and changed the blurring method to be timed
properly with the song position. [Michael Caines]
 - Fixed 'E' key not changing effect when the current effect is held [Rovastar]
- Added full scene antialiasing option in config panel for cards that support it. It's disabled by
default, because you'll need a pretty fast pc. [Geert-Jan Pluijms]
- Fixed fading in/out of bumpmapping effect

+ What's New in Tripex 3.02? [Thanks to...]

- Fixed freezing when 'j'/'l' is pressed to open a Winamp dialog (Tripex is minimized first)
[Bryan Frankfurth]
- Added lots of characters from the nether regions of the ansi code page (accents, currency
symbols etc..). No euro symbol, but if anyone's actually written a song about the euro.. why,
I'll buy them a hat. [Mirada Benoît]
- NSIS installer has nicer high colour splash screen
- Updated FAQ with Radeon 8500 bug [Da Almighty Kebab] and missing screen saver info [lots
of people].
- Fixed messages not being displayed when pressing keys 0-9 [F|sHb0n3]
- Fixed 'BlankTexture' not working for 'bumpmapping (background)' [F|sHb0n3]
- Added 'Suppress HUD' option under the 'General' tab in the config box, so the play/window
controls won't keep popping up every time the mouse is moved. [Rovastar]
- Fixed arrow characters on help screen [Rovastar]
- Fixed lyric messages not being shown [Vanitha Gopal]
- Added 'Show in system tray' (rather than on the taskbar) option, also under the 'General' tab
in the config box. [Eddie Hung]
- Fixed custom messages (and removed forcing them to lowercase). Somehow. [Rovastar]

+ What’s New in Tripex 3.01?

- Fixed display bug in song time between changing songs
- Fixed 'remove' button not being disabled for internal textures
- Fixed texture panel sometimes not being redrawn after altering a texture

+ What’s New in Tripex 3.0?

- Effects
- New ‘Spectrum Analyzer’ effect
- New ‘Morphing sphere’ effect
- New ‘Distortion (2)’ effect
- New ‘Motion blurring (2)’ effect
- New 'Motion blurring (3)' effect (and alternate blurring effect)
- New ‘Sun’ effect
- New ‘Collapsing sphere’ effect (from Tripex 1)
- New ‘Supersampling’ effect (from Tripex 1)
- New ‘Light star’ effect (from Tripex 1)
- New ‘Bezier cube’ effect (from Tripex 1)
- Preference, display length etc... settings for the current effect can be modified while the
plugin is running by pressing F3 and dragging the sliders.
- Flowmap effect has much nicer pastel colours, better effects, more types of oscilloscope,
better timing. Canvas size can now be adjusted through the config panel (high res looks much
nicer, but is slow). Also no longer widescreen.
- Tunnel effect is no longer free-direction raytracing (slower on 3D cards anyway)
- No constraints fading between effects which use the Z-Buffer
- R key randomly reconfigures current effect
- Fixed effect selection fairness AGAIN (earlier effects were inadvertently preferred)
- Amount of cross-fading can be specified (rather than yes/no), fade in/out duration can be
specified independently.
- Added a speed setting for effects
- Textures:
- Textures can be specified for use with individual effects
- Usage of internal textures can be modified
- Internal ‘BlankTexture’ allows disabling of parts of some effects, to appear in Tripex 1 style
(see FAQ)
- GIF reader is faster and more reliable
- Added JPEG support (thanks to Independent JPEG Group library (www.ijg.org))
- Fixed BMP support
- Internal textures are 16-bit JPEGs (better colour depth)
- Texture surfaces are chosen which best resemble the source texture format (rather than just
256x256 16bit surfaces). Allows palettised surfaces.
- Mipmaps are supported, enabled by default (stops big slowdown on some sprite effects)
- Cleaned up the GUI texture
 - Changed font to 'Century Gothic', better sampling method and now includes capitals and
accented characters.
- Other:
- Redesigned in-plugin display, includes winamp play controls, includes the system menu
- Less sensitive to tiny/small mouse movements
- Fixed song name flashing up at start of song, or not fading in smoothly
- Added always on top option (in config, and system menu)
- Better dialog warning of hardware problems in windowed mode (defaults to fullscreen if no
windowed support, otherwise explains current/required colour depth)
- Moved documentation into the dll (and rich text format). 'vis-tx3-readme.exe' loads dll and
shows documentation outside of Winamp.
- Installer runs vis-tx3-readme.exe on completion and gives a custom 'Installation complete'
type message as well as documentation.
- Configuration dialog is displayed quicker, has new animation on ‘Tripex’ pane
- Changed to NSIS installer
- New startup screen
- Lost surfaces are handled better (doesn't cause error CTRL+ALT+DELETE'ing to task
list/locking computer etc...)
- True colour preview images in config box
- Screensaver is disabled in full screen
- Exceptions are trapped, crashes politely with some more useful debugging info
- DDRAW.DLL is loaded at runtime (not implicitly imported), so plugin should not disappear
from plugins list if correct version of DirectX is not present (see FAQ)
- Window is still updated while song is not playing (stops freezing in fullscreen, allows use of
play controls)
- Option to hide Winamp window in fullscreen mode to stop flicker (enabled by default)
- Help screen available with F1
- Frame rate available through debug-info screen (F2)
- Preliminary support for lyrics (until I can think of a better way to do it). ID3 lyrics aren't
supported, it's just a makeshift solution for a request. See the FAQ below.
- Fixed minimize button in fullscreen (would switch out of fullscreen, then go straight back)
- Changed to use multimedia timers - better resolution so updates should be smoother on fast
machines.
- Tripex is set to the current plugin on install (but settings aren't updated in Winamp if it's
already running)

+ Frequently Asked Questions

Troubleshooting:
1 Tripex will not run, and says I need ‘DirectX 8’
Performance:
2 How can I make Tripex look better?
3 How can I make Tripex run faster?
4 How can I make Tripex run more smoothly?
5 How can I disable effects to save memory?
6 How can I stop Tripex making Winamp stutter?
Customizing:
7 I want to use Tripex for a live event - how can I make it use the line-in from my sound
card?
8 How can I use my own textures?
9 How can I make Tripex 3.x look like Tripex1.x?/What does 'BlankTexture' do?
10 How can I make Tripex show lyrics?
Other:
11 Can I use Tripex as a screen saver?
12 Haven't I seen that effect in a demo before?
13 The water effect in the title bar of the config box is better than the rest of the plugin. Can
you make something that'll do it for every window?
14 Can I use it at my club/illegal rave/tupperware party?
15 Why don't the key controls work?
16 Does Tripex contain spyware?
17 What files does Tripex install?

Troubleshooting:

1 Tripex will not run, and says I need ‘DirectX 8.1’

Tripex requires Microsoft DirectX 8.1 or later to run. The latest version of DirectX is available free for
download from http://www.microsoft.com/directx. Many games and computer magazine CD's also
have a copy of the latest version.

Performance:

2 How can I make Tripex look better?

- First of all, make sure 'Use higher quality meshes/sprites' is checked in the configuration dialog.
- Adjust the flowmap canvas size to the size which closest matches the size of the Tripex window
(under Winamp 2 you need to switch to the flowmap effect on the effects pane of before this
option is shown). The flowmap effect is drawn to a canvas of this size, then stretched to fit the
screen. It's best not to make the canvas bigger than the window, otherwise some pixels may be
skipped when shrinking it to fit on the screen.
- If your 3D card supports it, also try turning on multisampling (a.k.a. full scene anti-aliasing).
Multisampling can place a big demand on the card, so it's best to not to use a very high
resolution to keep things running smoothly.

3 How can I make Tripex run faster?

- Turn off multisampling under the ‘DirectX’ tab of the configuration dialog.
- Run in fullscreen, or select a lower resolution through the 'DirectX' tab of the configuration
dialog.
- Disable all but the 'BlankTexture' internal texture for the bumpmapping background, and light
bob background tints (see 7).
- See also 4 and 5 below.

4 How can I make Tripex run more smoothly?

There are two main reasons why Tripex should not run smoothly:
- Tripex can jerk slightly as Winamp decodes the music to be played (every half second or so).
WMA's and modules suffer from this particularly, MP3's less so, and WAV's least of all.
- Tripex can also slow down a lot while cross fading between two effects (one effect fades out at
the same time as another fades in). Since it has to calculate and draw two effects rather than
one, it can slow down significantly. The amount which the effect fading in overlaps with the
effect fading out can be adjusted using the 'Crossfading' slider in the configuration dialog. If
there is no overlap at all, the plugin only ever draws one effect at a time, which keeps it
running at a constant speed.
- If the computer is constantly accessing the hard disk, it is most likely low on memory. Close
any other applications, or disable some effects (see 5).
Slowdowns are particularly noticable because by default Tripex will render as many frames per
second as possible - by turning the maximum frame rate down (using the down arrow key while the
plugin is running) the plugin will run at a more constant speed and this effect can be reduced.

5 How can I disable effects to save memory?

Moving the 'preference' slider to the very left for an effect will mean that an effect is never started.
The 'Flowmap' and 'Bumpmapping' effects are particularly memory intensive.

6 How can I stop Tripex making Winamp stutter?

This happens because Tripex is using too much processor time. Try turning down the maximum
framerate using the down arrow key.

Customizing

7 I want to use Tripex for a live event - how can I make it use the line-in from my sound card?
Press CTRL+L (or right click on Winamp, go to 'Play' then 'Location...'). Enter 'linein://' (without the
quotes). Winamp will sample the line-in and you can use any visualisations as normal. You may need
to fiddle with the levels on the Windows volume control to get a good response.

8 How can I use my own textures?

JPEG, GIF, and Windows BMP format textures can be added and removed using the textures panel of
the configuration dialog. Any texture, including textures stored internally, can be assigned to any
number of effects, and will be selected at random. 256x256 pixel textures are strongly recommended
since they are universally supported by all 3D cards, though other sizes may work (as a guideline,
texture dimensions are often required to be square and powers of two (256x256, 512x512,
1024x1024 etc..)). Effects may use one or more of the following types of textures:
- Environment Maps (such as used by the metaball effect)
- Wrapable textures (such as used by the distortion effects)
- Light bob sprites (such as used by the light sphere, light ring, and light tentacle effects)
The bumpmapping effect requires textures of 256x256 pixels.
9 How can I make Tripex 3.x look like Tripex1.x?/What does 'BlankTexture' do?
Several effects in Tripex3.x are similar to those in Tripex1.x, but additionally have something going
on in the background (such as the bumpmapping effect behind the tentacles, or the way that the
light bob effects are tinted using another texture). This slows the plugin down, and isn't to
everyone's liking. From the textures panel in the configuration dialog, the use of an internal texture
called 'BlankTexture' can be altered. If Tripex selects this texture for some part of an effect, it is not
drawn or calculated at all. Bear in mind that 'BlankTexture' is selected at random as with any other
texture, so to force its use no other texture may be selected for that item.

10 How can I make Tripex show lyrics?

Tripex has a facility to show lyrics one line at a time, but you'll have to type them in and time them
yourself. First, check 'Use Lyrics' under the 'General' tab in the configuration box (it is not checked
by default). Create a plain text file (ie. use Notepad - not Word or Wordpad) in the ‘lyrics’
subdirectory to the plugin (usually 'c:\program files\winamp\plugins\lyrics'), and use exactly the
same filename as the song to which it refers but with the extension ‘txt’ (rather than ‘mp3’, 'wma',
‘cda’, ‘wav’ or whatever). To know when to display each line, Tripex needs some timing information -
which can be edited within the plugin itself...
- Make sure the 'Save Lyric Timing' box in the configuration panel is checked (it is by default).
This stores the timing in the lyric file at the end of each line, as a number in curly brackets. If
this is not checked, you can edit timing, but it will not be saved to the file and lyrics will not be
played back next time (useful for live performances, and stuff).
- Load Tripex, and start the song.
- Press 'F5' to start editing the lyric timing. The message 'Lyric timing on' should appear. If it
says that 'Lyric timing is on, but no lyrics found', you've probably not named the file correctly or
put it in the wrong directory.
- To cue the next lyric, press 'F6'. The current lyric will disappear.
- To hide the current lyric without yet showing the next, press 'F7'. When ready, 'F6' will show
the next lyric.
- Press 'F5' again to turn off the editing, a message should appear to confirm this. Whenever you
play back the song in the future, the lyrics should appear at exactly the same times.
Comments in the lyric files may begin with a semicolon (';'). Blank lines are ignored. Timing
information is added to the end of each line, in the form of a number (or two numbers separated by
a hyphen) in curly brackets. ID3 lyrics may be supported in the future, if there's much demand for it.

11 Can I use Tripex as a screensaver?

Yes, you should be able to download the cunningly named WPSS (Winamp Plugin Screen Saver) from
www.tripex.co.uk. It also works with other plugins, but only with Winamp 2, not Winamp 3 (you can
keep both versions of Winamp on your system at the same time without any problems).

There are also a couple of similar programs to do this available from Winamp.com. Search the
plugins section for 'screen saver' with and without the space.

12 Haven't I seen that effect in a demo before?

The 'tentacles' effect is a combination of ideas from two demos, Stash/The Black Lotus (the
background) and 303/Acme (tentacles in the foreground). Also, the concentric rings effect is copied
(without looking as good) from Toasted/Cubic Team & $een. I don’t think I’ve stolen anyone else’s
stuff. Praise these people.

13 The water effect in the title bar of the config box is better than the rest of the plugin. Can you
make something that'll do it for every window?
Yeah, I'm still working on it (slowly). I've practically rewritten it a number of times, and now I've
really got something that's almost finished. I hope. Trouble is, the slightest bugs tend to bring down
the whole system, and there's no particularly straightforward way of forcing something into another
program transparently. Keep checking the web site, I'll upload any new info there.

14 Can I use it at my club/illegal rave/tupperware party?

By all means. If you can, I'd love to see any photos of Tripex running at the event, and/or any
details of special offers on plastic crockery.

15 Why don't the key controls work?

Probably because Tripex isn't the active window. Click on the tripex window or ALT-TAB to it. This
can be a bit confusing because Tripex doesn't have a title bar which changes colour when it isn't
active under Winamp 2.

16 Does Tripex contain spyware?

 No, Tripex is completely freeware. No spyware, adverts, nothing.

17 What files does Tripex install?

Under Winamp3, Tripex installs the following files to your Winamp directory:
WACS\VIS-TX3.WAC
WACS\VIS-TX3.RTF
WACS\XML\VIS-TX3\VIS-TX3.XML
Under Winamp2, Tripex installs the following files to your Winamp directory:
PLUGINS\VIS-TX3.DLL
PLUGINS\VIS-TX3.RTF
Tripex settings are stored in the registry under 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\-\Tripex'.

+ Disclaimer
No warranty, either express or implied is provided with this software. By using this program you
release the author from responsibility for any damage or harm which may come from use of it, and
accept that it's your own fault for downloading buggy half-assed excuses for Winamp plugins off the
internet with wanton disregard for your own safety.

+ License
It's free. Unless you want to give me money. I'd like that. Don't sell it at all (no!), unless you give me
big wedges of cash. Mail me first. Or send me a honeyed ham. Please give me ham.

+ Acknowledgements/Copyrights
The Graphics Interchange Format(c) is the Copyright property of CompuServe Incorporated. GIF(sm)
is a Service Mark property of CompuServe Incorporated.

JPEG library code by the Independent JPEG Group (IJG) (www.ijg.org)

'Flesh', 'Forest' and 'Eyes' textures by Dr Zeus (many thanks), all other textures are believed to be in
the public domain - please contact me if this is not the case.

Tripex code (c)2002 Ben Marsh.

+ 00:41am on Thursday Morning