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Text File | 1995-04-29 | 25.5 KB | 539 lines

__ __ ___ __ __ ____ __ | ||\ | ||___\ \ \ / / || | | | || \ | | ____ \ \ / / || | | | | \ \ | ||____\ \ \ / / || | | | |___\ | | |______ \ \/ / || | |____ |_________| |_________\ \__/ _||_ |_______\ The DEVIL V1.0c reference manual This manual is directly extracted out of the source-code. If DEVIL's behaviour differs from what is described here, you have found a bug and it would be nice if you report this to me. Contents [0] Introduction. [0a] What this file is for&how you use it. [0b] Definitions. [1] Basics. [1a] The different modes. [1b] Tagging. [1c] Moving around. [1d] The grid. [1e] Selecting current object. [2] The menu on the right side. [2a] Moving in the menu. [2b] Side effects. [2c] Cube menu. [2d] Side menu. [2e] Point menu. [2f] Thing menu. [2g] Wall menu. [2h] Internal menu. [2i] Data. [3] Inserting&deleting,growing&shrinking objects. [3a] Cube mode. [3b] Side mode. [3c] Point mode. [3d] Thing mode. [3e] Wall mode. [3f] All modes. [4] Special functions. [4a] Set exit. [4b] Fit bitmap. [4c] Align bitmaps. [4d] Light shading. [4e] Make room. [4f] Recalculate textures. [4g] Drawing modes. ****************************************************************************** [0] Introduction. [0a] What this file is for&how you use it. This manual is a reference manual. Therefore if you're a beginner with DEVIL you should at least read the Tutorial (BUILDLEV.DOC). Here you can find a complete list of the functions of DEVIL and their exact behaviour. I only refer to the menupoints, not to the hotkeys in this manual. Referring to the menupoints is done with 'menu->menupoint', so if you're searching the description of a special function try to search it this way (try case insensitive search). All sections with a '+' in the contents are new or changed since the last release of DEVIL. [0b] Definitions. Here are some words and their meaning: -origin,x/y/z-axis: These words refer to the permanent, not changing coordinate system of the level. -your origin,x/y/z-axis: This is your own coordinate-system. The origin is in the middle of your screen, the x-axis goes horizontal on your screen (from left to right), the y-axis goes vertical on your screen (from bottom to top) and the z-axis goes through the middle of your screen (from your eyes in the level). -cube: a thing with eight points and six sides. -side: a cube has six sides. -wall: a door/switch/texture. -thing: robots/powerups/hostages/starting places/reactor. -object: cubes/sides/walls/things. ****************************************************************************** [1] Basics. [1a] The different modes. There are five different modes in DEVIL: Cube, Side, Point, Wall and Thing mode. You can change between the modes with the buttons on the right side of the screen in the middle. You can see there also the 'Internal' button. This button only changes the menu above these buttons, but not the mode. There are also five current objects in DEVIL: -the current cube is marked green. -the current side on the current cube is marked with a violet, a yellow and two red lines. -the current point is marked with a red 3D-cross. -the current wall is marked green. -the current thing is marked green. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [1b] Tagging. 'select->tag': tag current object. 'select->tag all: tag all objects of current mode (i.e. in cube mode, tag all cubes). 'select->tag special': is only useful in two modes: -In point mode you tag all corners of the current point. -In side mode you can lock this side, this means, the texture of this side is not calculated automatically anymore if the shape of the side changes. 'select->use cube tag': works only in side/point-mode. Tags all sides/points of the tagged cubes (other tags in this mode are cleared). 'select->use side tag': works only in point-mode. Tags all points of the tagged sides (other tags in this mode are cleared). 'select->tag box': if box is off, draw tag box on the last position. if box wasn't drawn before you do this, the tag box is inited at the last loaded starting place as a cube with 30*gridsize as size (direction of the starting place). If tag box is already on, tag all objects of current mode in box. (cubes&sides are only tagged if they're completely in the box). 'select->new tag box': if box if off, init the tag box 45*gridsize for your nose with size=30*gridsize aligned on your current direction. If tag box is already on. shift+left button: you can drag up a two-dimensional tag box on your screen. If you press the left button again, all objects of the current mode in this box as far as you can see are tagged. (cubes&sides only if they're completely in the box). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [1c] Moving around. The seven/eight buttons in the lower right corner with the arrows: There are two modes for moving in DEVIL: -Moving yourself (lowest button='Move') -Moving things (lowest button='Modify') If the tagbox is on the 'Move'-mode splits up in two modes: -Moving yourself (lowest, right button='You'). -Moving the box (lowest, right button='Box'). Turning is not affected by the lowest, right button, only moving. If you're in 'Move'-mode, the tag box is off and you press the left button you turn yourself around the axis of the arrow, if you press the right button you move in the direction of the arrow: -left/right upper button: your neg./pos. z-axis. -middle upper/lower button: your pos./neg. y-axis. -lower left/right button: your neg./pos. x-axis. If you're in 'Move'-mode and the tag box in on and you press the right button, you'll move the box, not yourself. Left button is unchanged. If you're in 'Modify'-mode it depends on the current mode what you're moving: -Cube mode: You move all tagged cubes in the direction of your axis'. -Side mode: Same with sides. -Point mode: Same with points. -Wall mode: You can't move walls, you must move the side with the wall. -Thing mode: If the thing has it's own direction (is a little ship) you move/turn the thing in his own coordinate system. Otherwise you move the thing in your coordinate system. Also you can use the following menu-points: 'move->beam to current object': sets your position near to the current object. 'move->align to ...': aligns your direction to the given axis. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [1d] The grid. You can turn on/off the grid with 'edit->grid on/off'. If the grid is turned on all moved points/things are snapped to the grid. The grid size is changed with 'g' and 'G'. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [1e] Selecting current object. You can select your current object by clicking on the screen: -left button: select thing (you must click the middle point of the not-drawn line if you want to click a ship). -right button: select cube/side/point. You must click one point of the cube: the point becomes the current point, the nearest side becomes the current side and the nearest cube becomes the current cube. -shift+right button: select wall (you must click on the intersection of the four lines). 'select->next cube', 'select->next side', 'select->next point', 'select->next thing, 'select->next wall': cube/side/point/thing/wall with the next number. if the current object is the last one, select number 0. 'select->prev cube', 'select->prev side', 'select->prev point', 'select->prev thing, 'select->prev wall': cube/side/point/thing/wall with the previous number. if the current object is the first one, select the last one. 'select->choose cube', 'select->choose wall', 'select->choose thing': select the current object by number. 'select->change to sidecube': if the current cube has a neighbour cube at the current side, select this neighbour cube as current cube. 'select->go to wall': set current cube&side to the cube&side with the current wall. ****************************************************************************** [2] The menu on the right side. Only special entries are mentioned in the sections to the menus. [2a] Moving in the menu. In the menu on the right side you see a '*' before the current entry. You can move this '*' with 'cursor up' and 'cursor down' and change the entry with 'return'. Sometimes when you select an item the current menu is replaced by a list of possible choices. You can select an item from this list with 'space' or 'return' or the left mousebutton. The old value is marked with a '#'. You can scroll up and down with 'page up' and 'page down' or the right mousebutton in the upper/lower half of the list, go to the beginning of the list with 'Home' and to the end with 'End'. If you go in the line with the topic, you can enter a number which is not available on the list. If there's more than one item to select, 'space' marks the items and 'return' ends the selection and changes the entry. With 'Esc' you can end the selection without changing the entry. If not explicit stated, the change is done with all tagged objects. You can avoid this by pressing 'ctrl' when selecting the item. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2b] Side effects. Some menu entries have side effects when changed. That means that DEVIL changes more than just the entry you've selected. You can suppress side effect by pressing 'shift' when selecting the entry you would like to change. You can also combine 'shift'+'ctrl' to change only the current object without tagged objects and without any side effects. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2c] Cube menu. cube type: -normal: just a normal cube. -fuel center: an energy station. 'value' has no further meaning. -repair center: won't work at all. -reactor: you must set the cube with the reactor to this type. DEVIL will warn you when you try to save a level with a reactor in a 'normal'-cube. -producer: a materialization center for robots. If you select 'produces' you will get the list of robots the center produces. If you've selected more than one robot-type, DESCENT will select the type randomly each time a robot is produced. Every producer produces 3 robots if activated and can be activated 3 times. cube light: The light in the inner cube. Robots&the reactor and other players are affected by this. avg.p. light: The average of the light in the corners of this cube. If you change this value the light of all corners of this cube is changed to the given value. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2d] Side menu. origin for t2: you can turn the second texture around 0, 90, 180 and 270 degrees on the first texture with this. avg.p. light: The average of the light in the corners of this side. If you change this value the light of all corners of this side is changed to the given value. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2e] Point menu. txt-x, txt-y: The position of this point in the two-dimensional texture-space. You can change this value, but better is if you use 'edit->fit bitmap'. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2f] Thing menu. type: the type of the thing. If you change this, the ID (i.e. type of robot) is also changed (of course). The orientation of the object is not affected if you change from an object with orientation to an object without. In the line below this line is the ID of the object. -robot: drop type: what for a thing is dropped by this robot. -nothing: I'm not quite sure if this is really nothing. -default: The robot drops sometimes an item. Which one and how often is probably defined in the .pof-files. behaviour: 'path' and 'hide' won't work in DESCENT, :-(. texture: if you want to change the texture of a robot. The robot is then only in this texture, so you have no eyes etc. anymore. -hostage: The head of the hostage is in the top-direction of a ship. no: useless, I think. -item: something to pickup. graphics: Well, if you think it's funny you can change this, but normally it's changed automatically with the ID. -reactor: the reactor. Only one per level and don't forget to change the cube type. texture: You can change the texture of the reactor. But makes this really sense? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2g] Wall menu. Part of the entries in this menu are changed also on the corresponding wall on the other side of the wall (marked with D). Suppress this with pressing shift when selecting the entry. wall-type (D): -blow door: This door opens only if you shoot at it. Hitpoints are set automatically to 100 (normal hostage door). animation (D): Select the animation for your door here. Sets automatically the texture1&texture2 on both sides. -normal door: open-at-end: This door opens if the reactor is blown up. key (D): the key you need to open the door. switchtype: -alternate exit: if you fly through this exit and in your msn-file a secret level is available for this level, you enter the secret-level. -normal exit: normally exit the mine. -producer: if you select this all tagged producers are activated by this switch. switches: how many producers are triggered by this switch? (you can't change this value). The producers currently triggered are marked red. -open door: if you select this all tagged doors are opened by this switch. switches: how many doors are opened by this switch? (you can't change this value). The doors currently triggered are marked red. hitpoints: If you set this to a value, you can blow the wall up, independent of it's type. texture1&texture2: The textures on both sides of the wall. If you want to change just one wall, try changing texture in side mode. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2h] Internal menu. Zoom: this determines your viewing-angle (changed with '+' & '-' in 'Move'-mode). ZoomS: the multiplier for '+' and '-'. Visib.: how far you can see ('A' and 'Y' or 'Z'). VisiS.: multiplier for 'A' and 'Y'. Movef.: the (damned, what the word for 'Schrittweite') for yourself (changed with '*' and '/'). PMovef.: the %$&(%&$%% for objects. MoveS.: multiplier for '*' and '/'. Angel: the rotation angle for yourself (changed with '7' and '9'). PAngel: the rotation angle for things. AngelS: multiplier for '7' and '9'. Grid: gridsize ('g' and 'G'). GridS: multiplier for 'g' and 'G'. ConnD.: the distance two points can have if you try to connect them with 'makeroom' or 'delete' in side mode. UConn.: the distance two points can have if you try to connect them while inserting a macro. clickangle: this is the angle of the 'magical beam' used for clicking. If you click a spot on the screen, a cone is created, with the top on the screen and the nearest object is clicked. Be careful, this is the cosine of the angle. thingsize: size of the little 3d-crosses. door bend: the distance between the side and the middle-point of the wall. xpos, ypos, zpos: your current position. map angle: this is for the DESCENT-like map. All lines between two sides are drawn when the angle between the two sides is larger than this angle. This is the cosine of this angle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2i] Data. With 'drawing->data' you can toggle drawing of the data-structure which is corresponding with the current object so you can modify the bytes by yourself. ****************************************************************************** [3] Inserting&Deleting objects. [3a] Cube mode. 'edit->insert': Insert the current macro on the current side. The macro is inserted in a way that the point which was the current point when creating this macro lays on the current point. After inserting the macro all objects of the macro are tagged. 'edit->fast insert': Insert the current macro like in 'edit->insert' but also connect the side from the macro with the side of the level. The shape of the side of the macro is changed if they don't fit together and if DEVIL can find the points belonging together. 'edit->delete': Delete all tagged cubes. On the sides where they have neighbour cubes is a standard-side inserted. If there's a wall in the cube, the cube is not deleted. 'edit->enlarge': Make the current cube bigger. The center of the cube is calculated and then the distance of all points to this center is multiplied with the zoom factor (ZoomS. in 'internal'-menu). 'edit->shrink': Make the current cube smaller. Same as enlarge but with dividing instead of multiplying. 'macros->insert scaled': Insert the current macro like in 'edit->insert', but scale it with a given factor. 'macros->insert fast,scaled': Insert the current macro like in 'edit->fast insert', but scale it with a given factor. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [3b] Side mode. 'edit->insert': If the current side is a connection between two cubes, you insert a side in both sides of the cubes, therefore you kill the connection. You don't double the points this way, so if you move the point belonging to one of the both cubes you still also change the other cube (you can avoid this with 'fast insert' or with inserting points). You can't do this with sides with walls. 'edit->fast insert': Like 'insert' but the cubes are seperated completely, so you can move one of the cubes independent from the other one. 'edit->delete': Delete all tagged sides&the current side, therefore make connections between the side which is tagged and an opposite side which DEVIL tries to find. If DEVIL doesn't find this side, try to make the connection more obvious (the distance between the points smaller). 'edit->enlarge': Make the current side bigger. The center of the side is calculated and then the distance of all points to this center is multiplied with the zoom factor (ZoomS. in 'internal'-menu). 'edit->shrink': Make the current side smaller. Same as enlarge but with dividing instead of multiplying. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [3c] Point mode. 'edit->insert': If you do this with a point which is involved in more than one cube, all sides of the current cube depending on this point are inserted, so you can move this point independent from the other cubes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [3d] Thing mode. 'edit->insert': Insert the standard item. 'edit->delete': Delete all tagged items. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [3e] Wall mode. 'edit->insert': Insert a standard wall at the current side. 'edit->delete': Delete all tagged walls. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [3f] All modes. 'edit->delete all': Delete all tagged objects in every mode. This is useful if you've inserted a macro the wrong way because it deletes all things&walls&cubes. You're asked before DEVIL deletes all tagged objects. 'macros->make macro': Save all tagged cube and tagged things as a macro in memory. All walls between two tagged cubes are copied also. The current side is the side which will be connected when inserting the macro (further description see 'insert' in cube mode). 'macros->save macro': Save the macro from memory to disk. 'macros->choose macro': Choose a macro from disk. ****************************************************************************** [4] Special functions. [4a] Set exit. ('edit->set exit') With this function you can set the exit side at the end of the exit corridor. The exit corridor starts with the exit door and ends with the exit side (it's the corridor where DESCENT steers your glider). Just set the exit on the last wall of the corridor. Sometimes DESCENT will end the game directly after you've flown through the exit door (I think the corridor never works with the .msn-files but I hope I get a fix until next release). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [4b] Fit bitmap. ('edit->fit bitmap') With this function you can move the textures on the sides. Just move/turn around with the normal move/turn keys/buttons (incr.&decr. of rotation angle&moving factor work also). In 'Move'-mode you will move the shape, in 'Modify'-mode you can stretch and turn the shape. The following keys have special functions: -'g': Recalculate the shape of the side. -'G': Fit the bitmap on the side. The bitmap will be stretched so it fits on the side. Useful if you want to make large doors/signs. -'f': Leave fit bitmap-mode and save changes. -'F': Leave fit bitmap-mode and store changes to all tagged sides. -'Esc': Leave fit bitmap-mode and discard changes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [4c] Align bitmaps. ('edit->align bitmaps') This feature you can use to align bitmaps so all bitmaps fit together. To do this, tag all sides you want to align, and then go with the current side on one of these sides. Then make 'edit->align bitmaps'. DEVIL will take the current side and align all tagged sides in the neighbour cubes (but only one per cube) which have a line with the current side common and untag them. Then it goes on with the aligned sides and repeats this as often as there are tagged sides in the neighbour cubes with common lines. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [4d] Light shading. ('edit->light shading') This function can be used to make a corridor with a very light start cube and a pitch-dark end cube. Just tag cubes so they're forming a corridor, then set the light of the start side which is the side in the startcube opposite of the next tagged cube and the light of the endside. Then use 'edit->light shading'. DEVIL will then shade each corner seperately from start to end side. The inner cube light is also shaded. The following algorithm is used to set the lights: (0) 'current side'=start side, 'light'=start light, 'light add'=difference between start and end light divided through the number of cubes. (1) set the light on the 'current side' in each corner to the corresponding 'light'. (2) add 'light add' to 'light'. Set the inner cube light to the average of all eight corners. (3) set light at the opposite side of the 'current side' to 'light'. (4) search side with next cube. 'current side' is the side of the next cube which corresponds to the found side. (5) if this is not the end cube jump to (1). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [4e] Make room. ('edit->make room') This is useful if you want to make big rooms. It deletes all sides between tagged cubes. Just tag all cubes you want to connect execute this function. It will search for every side without a connection a corresponding side. A corresponding side is found if a side is found with all four points nearer than 'ConnD' from the 'internal'-menu. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [4f] Recalculate textures. Just recalculates the shape of the side in texture-space. This you need only if you've locked several sides and now want to recalculate their shape in texture-space. Normally this is done automatically by DEVIL. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [4g] Drawing modes. With 'drawing->cubes', 'drawing->things', 'drawing->walls' you can turn on/off the drawing of the named objects. 'drawing->data' is described in the 'Data' section in the 'Menu' chapter. 'drawing->lines' calculates a while and then presents a DESCENT-like map. You can move points in this map and do all other things. DEVIL will change back to normal mode if you insert or delete a cube or point.