Spectaculator support

If you cannot find the answer to your issue below, please contact our support team who will try to resolve it. Alternatively, you might try posting a message to the newsgroup comp.sys.sinclair.

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Frequently asked questions

1. Where can I download more games and other programs for emulators such as Spectaculator?
2. I downloaded Spectaculator for XP and the file has a .MSI extension. What do I do with this?
3. How can I change the refresh rate of the Spectrum's display like in other emulators?
4. How can I improve the refresh rate of the Spectrum's display when running in a window?
5. Why are the instructions to some programs available from the Help menu and others are not?
6. Every few minutes ithe sound becomes distorted and goes out of sync with the running program. I'm running v2.5 or 3.0 beta 1.
7. How do I enable the Spectrum cursor keys so I can navigate the 128/+2/+3 menu screen?

1. Where can I download more games and other programs for emulators such as Spectaculator?
   World of Spectrum and the TZX Vault keep an extensive archive of Sinclair ZX Spectrum sofware (currently about 11,000 titles). Although many publishers have granted free distribution permission, others have not - these are not available.
    
2. I downloaded Spectaculator for XP and the file has a .MSI extension. What do I do with this?
   A .MSI file is a Windows Installer Database. Double-click it to install Spectaculator. Use the Add/Remove programs control panel to view support details, repair the installation or modify it.
    
3. How can I change the refresh rate of the Spectrum's display like in other emulators?
   Spectaculator has self-tuning display. You will automatically get the best refresh rate based on your PC's capabilities.
    
4. How can I improve the refresh rate of the Spectrum's display when running in a window?
   The refresh rate is highly dependant on your display adapter's capabilities. However, making the border as small as possible can make a big difference: View->Border->Small. The main thing to bare in mind is that larger window sizes usually mean lower refresh rates.
    
5. Why are the instructions to some programs available from the Help menu and others are not?
   Spectaculator looks for a file with the same name as the loaded program but with a .htm, .txt or a .rtf extension. If it finds one, it assumes it contains the instructions for the program and makes them available from the Help menu.
    
6. Every few minutes the sound becomes distorted and goes out of sync with the running program. I'm running v2.5 or 3.0 beta 1.
   This issue has been resolved in version 4.0.
    
7. How do I enable the Spectrum+ cursor keys so I can navigate the 128/+2/+3 menu screen?
   
   • On the Tools menu, click Options.
   • Click the Keyboard tab.
   • Choose Spectrum cursor keys for the keyboard joystick and click OK.
   Tip
   The Spectrum+ cursor keys are equivalent to pressing CAPS SHIFT and 5, 6, 7 or 8 (ie. the old 48k rubber Spectrum cursor keys). You can leave Cursor joystick enabled for the keyboard joystick and just hold down the left shift key (CAPS SHIFT) when you want cursor key mode.