Hybrid CD-ROMs

Date:    Sat, 25 Mar 1995 12:27:27 -0800
From:    Frank Leahy <fjl@NBN.COM>
Subject: Re: How do you write a hybrid CD?

I've had no problem using a single "MEDIA" folder that contains all my media (possibly split into many sub-folders), that can be shared by the Mac and Windows movies. No problem there, as long as everything is named as 8.3 and all upper case (necessary for hybrid disks).

Next I make a projector for the Mac and a project for the PC. No problems there either.

The problem I'm having is that the movies must be save and compacted separately for each platform (as separate from the projector -- I do as Vegard does, where the projector does a "go to my first movie" and never returns). If I don't do this, and I've used linked cast members, the PC version will ask for linked cast members that it can't find. (The reason it's just the PC version is that I develop on the Mac.)

The solution I've come up with is to have two folders, one called "MAC MOVIE FOLDER" and the other "PCMOVIES", and I do the following before building a disk:

1. I copy all the movies from the "MAC MOVIE FOLDER" into the folder "PCMOVIES".
2. I open the SHARED.DIR movie in the folder "PCMOVIES" using DFW 4.0.4. (This must be done first so that you don't get lots of "where is..." questions when you get to step 4 below.)
3. I choose "Recompile All Scripts", and then "Save and Compact"
4. I then do the same for every other movie in the "PCMOVIES" folder.
5. Finally I build a PC projector that calls

     go to movie "PCMOVIES\MYSTART.DIR"
   

   rather than

     go to movie "MAC MOVIE FOLDER:MYSTART.DIR"
   

   as is done in the Mac version.

What I think is happening is that Director's cast linking doesn't work quite right, and though I've got everything at the same folder levels on the Mac disk and the PC disk, and use the same folder names, it just doesn't find everything correctly when you use Mac saved and compacted movies on a PC.

Date:    Sat, 25 Mar 1995 16:39:10 -0800
From:    Tauren Mills <tauren@CS.PDX.EDU>
Subject: Re: How do you write a hybrid CD?

if the machineType = 256 then
  set myPath = "C:\TEST\"
  append the searchPath, "D:\MOVIES"
  append the searchPath, myPath & "DATA"
else
  set myPath = "MyDrive:TEST:"
  append the searchPath, "MyCD:MOVIES"
  append the searchPath, myPath & "DATA"
end if

To start your director movie, just use:

on exitFrame
  global CDDrive
  go to movie (CDDrive & "MYMOVIE")
end

When I develop, I always name my movies with normal DOS conventions: MYMOVIE.DIR

Then when I protect my movies, they become MYMOVIE.DXR By not actually specifying the .DIR or .DXR in the 'go to' command above, the projector will find whichever one is in the directory or folder. Now I'd like to know which one it picks if both are in the folder. And what if a file named just "MYMOVIE" is in the folder too?

Date:    Tue, 11 Oct 1994 02:05:23 +0200
From:    Aron Shtull-Trauring 
Subject: Words of Wisdom regarding hybrids

• First word of wisdom: read the Director Tips and Tricks booklet very carefully.
• Second word of wisdom: read it again.
• Third word of wisdom: Know the ISO 9960 standard naming conventions: The only non-alphanumeric that is acceptable is an underscore "_". We used DOS naming conventions. Creative did the actual cut of the disk. Got a long distance call one night - 55 files renamed by the CD-burn software! Had to send an 8 page fax on how to patch the program :(
• Fourth word of Wisdom: Use aiff for your sound files (QTfW v1.1 does not support 16-bit sound. Version 2 is expected RSN).
• Fifth wow: remember that a PC sound card, even a top-notch one, only has one channel. If you're playing sound from disk, or have QT with sound, no other sounds are available.
• Sixth wow: Test extensively on both machines. I didn't discover a major bug until I cross-tested, because of the fifth wow - on the PC it worked fine, but when I ran it on the MAC - all of a sudden both my 8-bit and 16-bit version were playing simultaneously :)
• Seventh wow: DfW allows you to cut and paste Cast members. DfM doesn't. Get with it, Macromedia.
• Eight Wow: Fade transitions are uglier on the PC. Test your transition cross-platform. See 6 above.
• Ninth wow: Infuse a coffee-pot directly to a major artery. Sleep will become a thing of the past.
• Tenth wow: Make sure you enjoy doing this stuff, because you sure as hell can't be doing it for the money :)

>Hi all,
>
>Does anyone know of a way for me to distribute a MMD4.0 presentation which is
>intended for both PC and MAC on the same CD-ROM (e.g. split the CD-ROM into
>two volumes, one mac and one pc)?
>
>I would prefer if I could keep the quicktimes and some of the external files
>accessable to both PC and MAC projectors (so I won't have duplicates) but if
>the only way is by splitting the CD in half, that would be OK to.
>

What you need to do is create three directories: One MAC specific, one PC specific and one Common. Only your projectors need be in the platform specific directories - make one projector for each platform. Everything else can sit in the common directory, including all the rest of the movies not in the projector. In fact, you should only put one movie in the projector which is the top of the calling "chain". Make sure that you use the proper references in your lingo. Except for the projectors, there is no need to duplicate anything else (unless, like me, you use some external program like Replica which has different executables for the MAC and PC). Oh yes - don't forget to flatten your QT files and package them for non-MAC platform. They'll run okay on the MAC if you do this - if you don't, however, they won't run on the PC.

If you have the right CD burning software, you can put the MAC directory in an HFS partition, and the PC and common stuff in separate ISO 9660 partitions. The details will vary with the specific CD software used.There's all kinds of other magic about file order and disk fragmentation - if you really want to do it yourself (the burning i.e.) get a good book on the subject :) Otherwise, if you're not burning it yourself, then just prepare the stuff as mentioned above.

Date:    Wed, 12 Jul 1995 19:52:36 GMT
From:    "Glenn M. Picher" <gplists@IBM.NET>
Subject: Re: Hybrid CD-ROM question...

>I have a Philips CDD521(firmware version 2.07) and Toaster Pro v2.07.
>I am trying to make a Hybrid where a 'MEDIA' folder will be shared by both
>the MAC and WIN movies. I made two partitions: one for MAC with only the
>projector and an ISO one with the 'MEDIA' folder. I burned the CD but when
>done only the MAC partition showed on the MAC and only the PC showed on the
>PC.

Mac-only data has no alias in the ISO partition; PC-only data only exists in the ISO partition. If you didn't design in advance with cross-platform applications in mind, you can even give any of the shared files on the Mac partition a different name (8+3 compliant) when accessed from the PC side (it's a button within Toast that brings up a file list).

Date:    Wed, 6 Sep 1995 21:49:15 -0800
From:    Darren Giles <mars@NETCOM.COM>
Subject: Re: DUAL PLATFORM CD MASTERING..Recomendations?

Content

• Movies - To produce a movie which runs well on most Macs & PCs, use QuickTime Cinepak at 180K/sec, 15fps, 320x240. Keep sounds at 11.025 or 22.050 kHz. And save flattened, single-fork.
• Pictures - Director for Windows only does 8 bit
• Sound - often best done as QuickTime movies

Engine

Burning the Disc