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Frequently Asked Questions

Index to the FAQ:

• My Monitor is Stuck at Reduced Brightness! Go to this topic
• DarkAdapted no longer has an interface! Go to this topic
• My display has become too dark to read; how do I make it brighter if I can’t see the screen? Go to this topic
• Can I use my extra mouse buttons to act as Gamma Toggle Keys? Go to this topic
• I am getting a Terminal Window when I log in to Mac OS X. Go to this topic
• DarkAdapted does nothing on my system. Go to this topic
• DarkAdapted doesn’t affect some of my screen colors. Go to this topic
• My gamma setting is not persistent. Go to this topic
• DarkAdapted periodically shows the License Agreement window when I open DarkAdapted. Go to this topic
• DarkAdapted contains several presets for Red and Green; why not Blue? Go to this topic
• DarkAdapted does not affect all of my monitors. Go to this topic
• I upgraded to DarkAdapted Pro, but the menu still reads “DarkAdapted.” Go to this topic
• DarkAdapted does not present the option “Try DarkAdapted Pro...” Go to this topic
• DarkAdapted does not present the option “Register DarkAdapted Pro...” Go to this topic
• I receive error messages when I open the program. Go to this topic
• I receive error messages when I quit the program. Go to this topic
• I receive error messages while using the program. Go to this topic

My Monitor is Stuck at Reduced Brightness!

This usually occurs if DarkAdapted or your system has crashed, leaving your monitor’s gamma ramp in a modified state.

First off, do not panic! It’s easy to restore your monitor to full brightness.

• Windows: Simply restart your machine to return your monitor to its default gamma setting. If this is not effective, open your Display control panel and click the Settings tab. Change your Colors control to a different value and back again. As a last resort, try reinstalling your video driver to clear the “stuck” gamma preference. Illustrated instructions are located here.
• Mac OS X: select System Preferences... from the Apple menu. Select the Displays preference pane, then click on the Color tab. Click to select a different Display Profile, then select the original (or any desired) profile to reset your gamma. If this does not work, you may have to restart your machine.

DarkAdapted no longer has an interface!

This can happen only when all of the following are true at the same time:

• DarkAdapted Pro has been set to show no Dock icon (so that it has no menu bar at the top of your screen), and
• The preference for the system-wide menu is Hide, and
• The preference Closing Control Window quits DarkAdapted has been set to false (de-selected), and
• The last Control Window (which has a contextual menu allowing you to set preferences or show the system-wide menu) has been closed, and
• You have forgotten the hotkey that shows the Edit Menu Hotkeys window.

If all of the above occur at the same time, DarkAdapted Pro warns you about a “no interface” situation, unless you have checked Don’t show again in the warning dialog the last time it appeared. At the very least, DarkAdapted Pro enables system-wide hotkeys so that you can still control DarkAdapted Pro.

There are four ways out of this situation:

• Check out your “AppleScript” folder in your DarkAdapted folder for a script named “Restore Interface AppleScript.” Run this script, and all of DarkAdapted Pro’s Control Windows will show, and the system-wide menu will be enabled.
• Try the default hotkey for Edit Menu Hotkeys… that DarkAdapted automatically sets up (if none is defined) when the interface disappears. That hotkey is COMMAND OPTION K. That may open the Edit Menu Hotkeys window. You can then set a hotkey to show the Preferences window, and configure DarkAdapted Pro.
• If you have defined a system-wide menu hotkey for Edit Menu Hotkeys…, and you can remember it, press that hotkey. You can then set a hotkey for the Preferences Window, and configure DarkAdapted Pro to your liking.
• As a last resort, you can quit DarkAdapted Pro using Apple’s Activity Monitor (or simply log out and back in), then remove the DarkAdapted Preferences file from the Preferences folder inside the Library folder of your home directory, and remove the DarkAdapted Preferences file from the Preferences folder inside the Library folder at the top level of your startup disk, then re-open DarkAdapted and re-register.

My display has become too dark to read; how do I make it brighter if I can't see the screen?

DarkAdapted includes hotkeys called Gamma Toggle Keys, that — when pressed — can toggle one or all of your displays between its present setting and Full Brightness. By default, these keys are COMMAND-SHIFT-RETURN (CONTROL-SHIFT-RETURN on Windows). Try these keyboard shortcuts first.

You may define new Gamma Toggle Keys in DarkAdapted’s Preferences window.

You may also try activating and returning from a screen saver, since these will often reset the gamma values when exiting from the screen saver.

You may also type COMMAND-TAB (CONTROL-TAB on Windows) to switch to the next application, then press the SPACE key and wait a second. If switching applications results in DarkAdapted coming to the front, then pressing the SPACE key will return the display to full brightness. If pressing the SPACE key has no effect, use your operating system’s keyboard equivalent to switch to the next application, and try again.

Can I use my extra mouse buttons to act as Gamma Toggle Keys?

In many cases, yes. If your mouse’s control software can be configured so that pressing the desired mouse button results in a pre-defined keystroke, then you can set the mouse button to produce DarkAdapted’s Gamma Toggle Keys, which are set in the Preferences window.

For example, the default Gamma Toggle Keys are COMMAND-SHIFT-RETURN (CONTROL-SHIFT-RETURN on Windows). Set your mouse control software so that pressing the desired mouse button will type the same keystroke (COMMAND-SHIFT-RETURN on a Macintosh or CONTROL-SHIFT-RETURN on Windows).

I am getting a Terminal window when I log in to Mac OS X.

This is caused by a change in Mac OS 10.5 (“Leopard”). It’s easy and quick to fix, and is explained on this page.

DarkAdapted does nothing on my system.

This occurs most often with Windows-compatible machines. While DarkAdapted functions well with many Windows systems, it cannot support all possible hardware/software combinations. Generally speaking, if your hardware supports standard gamma change routines, DarkAdapted will work on it.

DarkAdapted doesn’t affect some of my screen colors.

Windows does not consider white when modifying gamma values. Some users have reported success via changing the Windows theme to the “Classic” value.

My gamma setting is not persistent.

Most systems will reset the gamma ramp when you restart, when a screen saver exits, or when your system sleeps and wakes. DarkAdapted will not “know” about this event and may not reset the gamma. The solution is to enable the Refresh gamma values control in the Preferences window.

DarkAdapted periodically shows the License Agreement window when I open DarkAdapted.

The License Agreement window appears the first time you open a new version of DarkAdapted. If you open an earlier version, quit that earlier version, then open the newer version of DarkAdapted, the License Agreement window again displays.

DarkAdapted contains several presets for Red and Green; why not Blue?

DarkAdapted was developed to help preserve the user’s dark adaptation. Red is most widely regarded as the best choice for this purpose, while green also has its adherents. Blue is not generally recommended to preserve dark adaptation, so no presets are supplied in the blue range.

If you’d like to add blue presets, check out the supplied file “Blue Presets,” which is part of the DarkAdapted download package.

DarkAdapted does not affect all of my monitors.

Version 1.3.1 introduced multiple monitor support. If you are using version 1.3.1 or later, make sure you remove any prior versions of DarkAdapted, then restart your system to enable control of all connected displays.

I upgraded to DarkAdapted Pro, but the menu still reads “DarkAdapted.”

Apple recommends against an application modifying the files that DarkAdapted would need to change in order to change the menu text. That is why we have added “DarkAdapted Pro” to the lower-left corner of all Control Windows, to the About menu items, and to each Control Window’s title.

DarkAdapted does not present the option “Try DarkAdapted Pro...”

If you are already trying DarkAdapted in Pro mode, this menu item will be unavailable. Note also that DarkAdapted Pro is only available to users running Mac OS X.

DarkAdapted does not present the option “Register DarkAdapted Pro...”

If you have already registered DarkAdapted Pro, this menu item will be grayed-out.

If you are running Windows, note that DarkAdapted Pro is only available to users running Mac OS X, and so this command does not appear in Windows.

I receive error messages when I open the program.

If you are running DarkAdapted on an earlier version of Windows (prior to Windows XP), then the first issue you should suspect is a memory problem. Try allocating more memory to DarkAdapted as described in your computer’s documentation or on-line help system.

It is also possible that the file “DarkAdapted Preferences” has become damaged. In Mac OS X, “DarkAdapted Preferences” is located in the active User’s “Library” folder, in the “Preferences” folder. In Windows, the file is located in the same directory as DarkAdapted.

The preferences file must remain unlocked and in place while you use the program; otherwise, DarkAdapted will be unable to write preference information, and an error message will be generated.

I receive error messages when I quit the program.

See the above discussion concerning the file “DarkAdapted Preferences.” Your startup disk must be writable (i.e., it cannot be a cd or other read-only medium). Otherwise, DarkAdapted will be unable to save preference information when you quit the program, and an error message will appear.

I receive error messages while using the program.

If DarkAdapted reports an error while you are using the program, one of the following is likely to be true:

• The program has run out of application memory. There isn’t enough memory to store additional data or display a graphic. This should not occur when running DarkAdapted X under Mac OS X, because Mac OS X dynamically allocates memory to application programs. Windows XP and later also dynamically allocate memory.
• The program has attempted to write data to a disk that is locked or read-only. This may occur when saving a file, when the program writes to its preferences file, or when writing temporary files to disk.
• The program has attempted to access a file that has been moved or deleted since DarkAdapted last attempted to read from it.
• The program contains an error that causes results that have not been anticipated (a “bug”).

Make sure also that DarkAdapted and its support files are installed on an unlocked disk, and that you have started your computer from an unlocked, writable startup disk.

If you believe you have found a bug in the program, let us know! DarkAdapted contains many thousands of lines of programming code, and it is unrealistic for us to expect that we have anticipated every possible situation. If the situation is repeatable, please outline the steps that are required to reproduce the problem. Support information is described at Support Main.

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