=================================================== | | | "LORD OF THE RINGS" | | Desktop Theme For Microsoft Windows 95 Plus! | | | | Inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's Fantasy Trilogy | | With Sounds from the Film by Ralph Bakshi | | And Images from Prominent Tolkien Artists | | | | Version 3.0 | | By Carter Hansen & Phillipe Lesire | | Released September 23, 1997 | | | =================================================== * NOTES: You need Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95 and WinZip 95 in order to properly install this theme. You must use WinZip 95 to unzip the archive to preserve the long filenames, and you need Plus! in order to automatically install all the components of the theme. If you don't have Plus!, I recommend that you give a shareware program called Desktop Themes a try. For your convenience, you can download it at ftp://ftp.novia.net/customers/macc/desktopt.zip. The file is about 100Kb, so it won't take long ot download. You can find WinZip through their web site at http://www.winzip.com. For the best represntation of the visual beauty of this theme, you need a display that supports 16-bit (65,000) color or better. You can use the theme on a 256-color display, but you will notice dithering in the wallpaper, slides, and icons. Depending on your graphics hardware, you may be able to increase your color depth using the Settings tab of the Display control in your Windows Control Panel. INSTALLATION To install the theme, follow these steps: 1) Unzip all the files in the archive directly into your themes folder. If you are using Microsoft Plus! this folder is usually located in C:\PROGRAM FILES\PLUS!\THEMES. Make sure that you restore the directory structure when you unzip the archive. When you are done unzipping, you should have two .theme files and this readme file in your themes directory. All the other files used in this theme should appear in a subdirectory under your themes directory called "Tolkien3." 2) Move the screen saver files (SlideSave.scr, SlideSave.ini and SlideSave.txt) into your Windows folder. 3) Install the Windows startup and shutdown screens, if desired. Before you install these screens, you should make backup copies of the original Windows startup and shutdown screens, so you can restore them later. To install the Tolkien3 startup and shutdown screens, copy the logo.sys file from the Tolkien3 folder in your themes directory to the root directory of your hard drive (C:\). Then copy the logos.sys and logow.sys files from the Tolkien3 folder to your Windows folder (C:\WINDOWS). If you are using the shareware Desktop Themes application, it is easy to install these startup and shutdown screens using the Screens tab of the application. 4) Open the Control Panel (Start Menu->Settings->Control Panel) and open the Desktop Themes control. If you do not have Microsoft Plus! installed, you will not have a Desktop Themes control in your Control Panel. See the note at the top of this readme file for information on downloading a shareware application that will allow you to use this theme. 5) In the themes list, select the Tolkien3 theme and select OK to apply the theme. There are two versions of the theme. The VGA version is intended for displays set at 640x480 or 800x600 resolution. The XGA version is intended for displays set at 1024x768 or 1280x1024 resolution. You can see what resolution you are running under by checking the Settings tab of your Display control in your Control Panel. If you are running at 800x600 or 1280x1024+ resolution, you should enable the option to Stretch Desktop Wallpaper in the Plus! tab of your Display control or the shareware Desktop Themes control. 6) Go to the Display control in your Control Panel, and select the SlideSave screen saver on the Screen Saver tab of the control. Click on the Settings button for the SlideSave screen saver, and set the Picture Folder to the path to the Tolkien3 Folder in your Themes directory. Make sure that the Display Associated Text File option is checked, so that the descriptions of the slideshow images are displayed with the slides. CONTENT NOTES The following points indicate what the components of the theme represent and where they came from. I captured all the sounds from Bakshi's "Lord of the Rings" movie. Except where noted, I designed all the visual elements. * Busy Cursor: Spinning rendition of the One Ring * Working (App Start) Cursor: Bilbo's magic sword Sting; glows when enemies are near * Select, Help & No Cursors: variations on the Sting cursor * Other Cursors: variations of standard cursors in a color scheme matching the animated cursors. * My Computer Icon: Gandalf, of course * Network Neighborhood Icon: The Tower of Cirith Ungol * Recycle Bin Icon: views of Bag End at night with lights on (full) and day (emty) * Wallpaper: a nice watercolor of Gandalf I found somewhere on the 'net. * Asterisk Sound: Samwise Gamgee in the marshes, just before he and Frodo are joined by Smeagle/Gollum * Close Program Sound: Gandalf's magic staff shattering the bridge in Moria in the battle with the Balrog * Critical Stop Sound: Smeagle/Gollum trying to gain Frodo's confidence * Default Sound: the horse of Eomer, son of Theoden and leader of the Riders of Rohan * Empty Recycle Bin Sound: Boromir pleading with Frodo to come back after he attempted to seize the ring * Exclamation Sound: Smeagle/Gollum pleading for mercy from Frodo * Exit Windows Sound: one of the Ring Wraiths calling to Frodo at Rivendell's ford * Maximize Sound: the Balrog in Moria, growling and snapping his whip * Menu Command Sound: the last arrow the orcs shot into Boromir as he valiantly defended Merry and Pippin * Menu Popup Sound: clanging of Aragorn's "Sword That Was Broken" as he fights in defense of Helm's Deep * Minimize Sound: Smeagle/Gollum's infamous "My Precious" interjection * Open Program Sound: Boromir's horn, sounded during his defense of Merry & Pippin * Program Error Sound: Aragorn shouting for retreat after Saruman breeched the walls of Helm's Deep with the Fires of Isengard * Question Sound: Theoden, King of Rohan, asking Gandalf for advice immediately following the expulsion of Grimer Wormtongue * Restore Down Sound: a Ring Wraith screeching in the magical flood at Rivendell's ford * Restore Up Sound: Saruman's Orcs chanting and rallying in preparation for the attack on Helm's Deep * Start Windows Sound: Gandalf reciting a stanza from the poem about the rings * System Default Sound: Gandalf advising Frodo to run from the Ring Wraiths at Rivendell's ford FEEDBACK PLEASE! We would like to hear from you if you use this theme. For one thing, we are curious whether there are people actually using this theme. We would also like to hear any feedback, since we plan to maintain and enhance this theme. If you reply, please indicate where you live and where you found the theme. We like to keep track of where in the world this theme ends up, and we are always curious as to where and how people discovered it. Phillipe Lesire Carter Hansen phl@star.be mediaman@novia.net Liege, Belgium Omaha, Nebraska USA PICTURE CREDITS The Desktop Wallpaper used in this theme, and the images used in the slideshow Screen Saver were all acquired via the following sites. Each of these sites has an impressive collection of Tolkien-inspired art, and only a small fraction of the collections is represented in the images selected for use in this theme. Carlos David EAFIT http://delta.efait.edu.co/~ecco019 The Lidless Eye http://demon.unh.edu/pages/tolkien/temp.html Rolozo Tolkien http://godzilla.eecs.berkeley.edu/rolozo ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I created the first two versions of the theme, over the course of the last two years. Of the original content, only the sound files remain, and they are assigned now to different events. The original concept has been preserved and has been greatly enhanced through the contributions of Phillippe Lesire of Liege, Belgium. He wrote the screen saver and provided the improved cursors and desktop icons that drove the release of this verison of the theme. I would like to thank Jonathan Potter and Left Side Software for providing a fully functional shareware application for people to tryout themes and see what the fuss is all about. If you use this application, I strongly urge you to register your copy and reward Jonathan for his hard work. Of course, Tolkien deserves more recognition than I can possibly give, and Bakshi should be honored for his faithful representation of Tolkien's vision. - Carter Hansen