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Intro Maker V3.0 (c) Sauron and ZigZag of THG F/X ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Seven months in the making, the THG F/X crew finally makes it happen. Intro Maker V3.0 is HERE! Now you can create intros that are at the cutting edge of IBM demo technology. A major problem with the previous intro makers was the interface. Now we have taken more time in that department and the results are very impressive. There are 2 different types of demos you can choose from in this release. Here are the features of the intros. MEGAFONT and MEGAFONT ANYWHERE Intro's: »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» ·Exiting ANSI (80x24) ·4 Types of VGA Fade In/Out Routines ·2 Types of TEXT Fade Out Routines ·20 Different Palette Cyclings ·MEGAFONT Scroller Font ·Text Codes ·MOD/STX Playing ·Allows the scroller to go ALL over the screen (MEGAFONT ANYWHERE only) Intro Maker V3.0 Interface: »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» Using the Intro Maker v3.0 Interface should be easy and efficient. The interface provides a few commands that are available almost everywhere within the interface itself. Besides these commands, Mouse Support has been added for quick and easy use. These commands are listed here: Keys in the Interface ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ALT - D · View Directory ALT - P · View palette ALT - V · View Picture ALT - X · Exit to DOS ESC · Previous Menu When starting out to make your Intro, you must choose two pictures, one a background picture file, and one font file. These both must be 320x200x256c compressed in either GIF/LBM/PCX formats (All trademarks of their respective companies. Screw the legal shit, promise you won't see it again!) Intro Maker v3.0 was designed to make two different types of Intros for BBS ads, or those VGA groups that just can't get it up when it comes to programming. The first type is just called a MEGAFONT Intro. This intro is a straight scrolling program. In other words, you just give the Y-Offset of where on the screen you want your scrolly. This uses the MEGAFONT System which is an external 320x200x256c Font. You must create a Coordinate File (CRD) with the MEGAFONT external Program. The Second type of intro is called a MEGAFONT-ANYWHERE Intro. This intro uses the CRD Coordinate file again for the external 320x200x256c screen, but instead of the Y-OffSet, you need to create a Anywhere Path File (PTH). The Anywhere Path Editor allows you to set how the font appears on the screen, either striaght up and down, like you drew it in your Paint Program, or slanted automatically. After defining how the font will appear, simply draw on the screen you intend to use where you want the scrolly to go. This could go backwards, in circles, etc. The possibilities are endless. Now that you know what kind of Intros you can make, let us look at the interface a little more indepth. Upon entering the interface, it checks for mouse support, and brings you to the main menu. From here, you can run any of the external programs or batch files. DO NOT CHANGE THE NAMES OF THESE BATCH FILES. They are hard coded in the program. You may change the contents, but not the names. After deciding on an external font and picture in a GIF/LBM/PCX format, you must decide on which type of intro you wish to make. Choose the menu option accordingly. Once in the appropriate menu option for the Intro Type you desire, another set of menus is displayed showing the specifications required to create your new demo. The easiest way I can think of describing the two intro menus is to go through each one's specifications giving a little blurb about it. Some of the options are the exact same thing in both Intro Menu Sets, so I will be short on a few of them, so we don't get tired of reading docs all day just to make an Intro. MEGAFONT Intro Menu Set: HotKey - Data Category - Description »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» A Picture FileName Intro's Background Picture in either GIF/PCX/LBM Format. B MEGAFONT Picture External 320x200x256c Font File name. FileName This will be your font or icons that will appear in the scrolly. C MEGAFONT Coordinate MEGAFONT's Coordinate File which shows FileName IM30 where each font in Scrolly is. D Text FileName Scrolly Text File. Look below for listing of MCI Codes. E STX FileName Internal SoundBlaster Music file name. Not required. When no name is given it reduces the size of the .exe by about 10k. F ANSi FileName Yes, no THG F/X Signature on your intros. Use TheDraw to make your 1 screen ANSi and save it in BINary Format. G Line For Scroller This is the Y-Offset for your Scolly. This tells IM30 where to put it on the screen between 0-319. H Scroller Speed How many pixels to advance every Vertical Refresh of the screen. This will control the speed of the scrolly. I Text Fade Out There are two ways for the text fading. 1 .. Pop Out / 2 .. Palette Fade J VGA Fade In VGA Picture Background Fade In. 1 ... Pop Screen In 2 ... Palette Screen Fade In 3 ... Block Screen In by the BLK File 4 ... Pan Whole Screen Up K Block In Name This is required if option [J] is set to 3. This is the BLK file that is defined by the BLOCKED.EXE External file. This will add the screen in by how you define the BLK file. L Panning Up Speed This is Required if option [J] is set to 4. This is the speed of the background panning up from the bottom of the screen. M VGA Fade Out This is identical for option [J], but it is for the Fading out of the Background picture after ESC has been hit in your Demo. 1 ... Pop Screen Out 2 ... Palette Screen Fade Out 3 ... Block Screen Out by the BLK File 4 ... Pan Whole Screen Down N Block Out Name This is required if option [M] is set to 3. This is also defined through the BLK files created with BLOCKED.EXE. O Panning Down Speed This is required if option [M] is Set to 4. This is the speed of the background panning down from the top of the screen. P Cursor Upon Exit This is the location of the cursor after ESC has been pressed in your demo. The Value should be between 1-25. Q Palette Mixing Y/N option to tell IM30 to automatically mix and remap the font picture to fit in the palette of the Background picture. If this is left on NO, then it will just use the Palette from the [A] option. If the option is set to YES, then it will require the option [R] be used. R Palette Mixing This is a number between 0 and 255 to tell Starting Color # IM30 where to put the colors used in the MEGAFONT Picture Font File in the palette of the Background picture. S Palette Cycling See Below Configuration T Load File This will Load the MF or MFA configuration files in the appropriate Intro Type. U Save File This will save the configuration of the current Intro Type to disk for future use. V Compile Intro This will create the EXE file for your Intro. MEGAFONT ANYWHERE Intro Menu Set: This will be a brief description because the menu sets are basically same except that instead of the Line for Scroller, which gives the Y-Offset of the scroller, is replaced with the option of giving the FileName of the PTH Anywhere Path Data File. Palette Cycling Configuration: Upon selecting the option [S] in one of the menu sets, you enter the Palette Cycling Configuration Menu. This gives you the option for up to 20 simulatneous Palette Cycles. Three categories are given for the Palette Cycling. Category one is the Palette Color Start number. This is a number between 0-255. Category two is the Palette Color Ending number. This is also a number between 0-255. The last category is the Palette Delay. This is the delay of the Palette cycling for which you have choosen. Once you have figured out how to use the Intro Maker v3.0 fairly well, you may start to use command line compiling options if desired. This will skip the user interface all together giving quick compiling. You must have the Configuartion file in the current directory with the extension of MF or MFA. Here is the format: Command Line Parameters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IM3.EXE <Intro Type> <Load File> <Compile File> [No Extension on File Names] A · MEGAFONT Straight Scroller B · MEGAFONT Anywhere Scroller IM3.EXE /C · Disables the Preview for the Intro »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» E X T E R N A L P R O G R A M S »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» »»»»»»»»»»»»»» » .BAT Files » »»»»»»»»»»»»»» You will want to edit these files for your computer setup. PAINT.BAT - Your paint program TEXT.BAT - Your Text Editor MOD2STX.BAT - Converts MOD2STX remember to change the directory back to the intro maker directory before exiting the .bat file »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» » MEGAFONT Coordinate Maker - MEGAFONT.EXE » »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» The MEGAFONT Coordinate Maker is an external program made to create the .CRD files for defining your font, or your scrolly pictures. There are external Docs for this program written by the author. Please look at them for a better explanation on how to use this program quickly and easily. »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» » ANYWHERE Path Creator - ANYWHERE.EXE » »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» The ANYWHERE Path Creator is an external program made to create the .PTH files. This program was designed to let you actually draw the scrolly path on your screen and to warp the font anyway you desire. Please read the external Docs for this program written by the author for more information. »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» » MOD PLAYER - INTROMOD.EXE » »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» This program is for running just about any program and playing a mod in the background. Infact I am typing this doc in turbo pascal while a techno mod is playing in the background. USAGE: INTROMOD intro_name mod_name [options] intro_name = Program to run while music is playing in the background default extension is .EXE mod_name = Filename of MOD to play default extension is .MOD options: -1 ... Output to SOUNDBLASTER (220) (DEFAULT) -2 ... Output to PC Speaker -3 ... Output to D/A Converter on LPT1 -4 ... Output to Disney Sound Source on LPT1 -q ... Do not display text message -b ... Play MOD in background and leave you in dos. You must supply intro_name. Type EXIT to quit mod. Some examples: INTROMOD . SPACECRU -b -q | This will allow you to stay in dos or run | any program from dos and listen to | the mod SPACECRU.MOD. Type EXIT at the | dos prompt to stop music. It will also not | display the credits for intromod. INTROMOD IM3 SPACECRU.MOD -2 | Runs the Intro Maker V3.0's interface | while playing the SPACECRU.MOD through the | PC Speaker If you want to use this program to play mods with your intro, you need these files: INTROMOD.EXE your_intro your_mod a BAT file to run it all. Here is an example of a BAT to run IM3.exe with spacecru.mod INTROMOD IM3.EXE SPACECRU.MOD -q * If you don't like BAT files, then you can have a EXE file with the program that we included called BAT2EXE. »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» » TEXT EDITOR - QMEDIT.EXE » »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» I have included QMEDIT.EXE for you to edit your scroller .TXT files but you can use any ascii text editor you choose. * The RETURN/ENTER key is filtered out so you can use it in your .TXT file * You have a 4000 character maximum for each scroller * We have added TEXT CODES to replace the ALT key combinations to make it easier for the user. * If you use any of the ADD palette,KILL palette, or SPEED commands then you will need to return them to their starting state when the scroller ends. For Example: If you speed up the scroller once in the middle of your loader then you would want to slow it down again before you |E| (let it wrap) it because if not, the next time it encountered that speed command, it would do it again and modify the current speed which would mess your scroller up. TEXTCODES for Intro Maker V3.0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |E| · End Scroller Text Put this at the end of you .TXT file to allow scroller to wrap. |SU| · Speed Up Scroller For the MEGAFONT and MEGAFONT ANYWHERE, you must keep using this code to go up in speeds till you are a # divisible by the character's row. For example, if your FONT set is 16x,18y and your current speed was 2 then to advance to the next speed, use the |SU| command twice to get to 4 since 4 is divisible by 16 (the #'s that are divisible by 16 are 0,1,2,4,8,16). If you wanted to go to the next speed, you would have to use |SU| 4 times to get to 8 and so forth. 0 is stop |SD| · Slow Down Scroller For the MEGAFONT and MEGAFONT ANYWHERE, you must keep using this code to go down in speeds till you are a # divisible by the character's row. For example, if your FONT set is 25x,13y and your current speed was 5 then to decline to the next speed, use the |SU| command 4 times to get to 1 since 1 is divisible by 25 (the #'s that are divisible by 25 are 0,1,5,25). If you wanted to go to the next speed, you would have to use |SU| 1 time to get to 0 which would stop the scroller till you speeded it up again. |PAa,b,c| · Add a palette Cycling Range (EXAMPLE: |PA10,30,0|) a) Color Start Number (0 - 255) b) Color End Number (0 - 255) c) Color Delay (0 - 255) (Faster > Slower) |PR| · Kill palette Cycling Range With palette Reset This option will return your palette colors effected to their natural state. This command only removes the last palette cycling added. Think of it like a STACK in programming. You must take something off the bottom before you can get to the next one. |PW| · Kill palette Cycling Range Without palette Reset This command will remove the last palette added and leave the colors of the palette just as they were when this command was executed. This command only removes the last palette cycling added. Think of it like a STACK in programming. You must take something off the bottom before you can get to the next one. |PCa,b,c| · Copy Colors From palette (EXAMPLE: |PC50,60,25) This feature copies a range of colors from the palette that doesn't change to the current palette of the picture on the screen. In the above example, it copies the colors from #50-#60 and puts them on the current palette starting at #25. a) Color Start Number (0 - 255) b) Color End Number (0 - 255) c) Starting Color Number to Copy to (0 - 255) »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» » 8x16 Font Editor - FONTED.EXE » »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» If you want to modify the 8x16 fonts for the Intro Maker v2.0 loader then this is for you. The commands are on the screen so I don't think I need to copy them here. Enjoy! »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» » CONVERT MOD to STX » »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» If you choose to use the internal MOD player then we have to convert it to a STX first. Use this command to convert your MOD to a STX. This will run the MOD2STX.BAT file which takes care of all the parameters. Thanks to DJ Ski for writing us a better converter of MOD2STM!!! We have included BMOD2STM and MOD2STM so if one doesn't work, try the other. »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» » EXECUTE PAINT PROGRAM - PAINT.BAT » »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» This option will execute a batch file called PAINT.BAT. You can change this batch file to execute your favorite paint program. You do not have to make it return to the directory Intro Maker v3.0 is stored in, it will automatically do this. »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» H I N T S & T I P S »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» ·If you want 2 different fonts on the scroller then use a paint program to put 2 different fonts on the same font map. Then use the MEGAFONT editor to select the BIGGEST FONT as the BOX BORDER then assign A-Z for one font style and a-z ad the other font style. Your message could look like this "FONT STYLE ONE font style two" ·The palette copy feature can be used to change the entire color of the font or do simple animation. Just make something like your logo that you want to pop up later and then change the palette color of that logo to black. Then somewhere in the scroller, introduce your group name and then do a palette copy and give your logo some color! ·Besides fonts in your scroller, you can have pictures like a group logo, a car, a jet,ect... Just use your paint program to put in whatever picture you want to use and then assign it to a few letters. Lets say you used a logo like SDA. The logo takes 5 font spaces and you assigned it to $%^&*. When you are typing your text just insert the $%^&* anywhere inside the .txt file. The fonts that we use are nothing more than just drawn characters so you could use anything in their place or anywhere on that screen and assign some leftover letters that you are not using to put special graphics inside your scroller. ·Remember, almost anything is possible, we have not thought of all the possibilities of this thing yet. There are limitations because of computer speed, but that should be fixed in the next version. Be creative, and don't be afriad to try ANYTHING. ·Use INTROMOD as the modplayer. It is much better than the internal .STX player. Try STX first and if it doesn't sound right, then use the external INTROMOD. ·You can do a star field with pallete cycling. ·Autodesk Animator Pro is the best art program to use. ·Compress your .EXE with pklite to make it smaller ·If your graphic picture takes up too much space, run GIFLITE on it. (It reduces quality somewhat but saves K) ·Change the .BAT files with IM3 to run your own programs (be sure to change back into the directory IM3 is in before exiting the .BAT) ·View SAMPLE1,SAMPLE2, and SAMPLE3 for any extra help ·Don't forget COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS... they help expedite the process of making a demo. Just put the command line inside a .BAT file that looks like this (using SAMPLE1 as the example) IM3 B SAMPLE1 SAMPLE1 SAMPLE1 and this will create sample1.exe with sample1.mfa and it will run sample1.exe. It's very nice for going from back and forth from your graphic program/text editor. ·Use the brush map features inside anywhere.exe for creating bending fonts. If you stack all the blocks at the top against one another and then draw a vertical line, it will seem that the scroller is on it's side! It's good if you want to do a sideways demo. ·It's been some time since we did the FONT??.crd files so if there are mistakes in the coordinates, please correct them with megafont. ·If you are having problems seeing your mouse/cursor with the megafont/anywhere then press the - or + keys till it changes to a color you like. ·If the speed of your loader with ANYWHERE is too slow or the scroller is "jerky" then use a smaller path for your scroller or use a smaller font. »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» U P D A T E S / B U G S »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» We are going to be releasing MEGAFONT Packs about once a month or so with 10-20 fonts. If you find any bugs, please report them to a THG F/X member so that we can put out an update to fix these. If you create any fonts for this program please upload them to a THG f/x board so it can be put in future releases/fontpacks. »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» C R E D I T S »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» Sauron - Intro Maker Idea, ASM Code for all intros, INTROMOD. ZigZag - Coder on Intro Maker v3.0 Pascal Interface, MEGAFONT Editor, MEGAFONT ANYWHERE Editor in pascal. QuickSilver - Coder on Intro Maker V3.0 Pascal Interface, BLOCK Editor, and 8x16 Font Editor. Dawnrazor - Block Fade Routines If you are an excellent coder/artist and want to become a member of THG F/X, get in contact with a THG F/X member on any of the below boards. Also, if you create any demos then please upload them to one of our boards. It's always nice to see what the competition is upto. Also, remember, we do not have Distribution Sites. All distrubtion is either done by the THG F/X Crew and or through their boards. We have been going through some changes lately, welcome new members. To those people we had to let go, good luck, hope to see some good stuff from you in the future. Nothing personal... ----------------------------- The THG F/X Crew ------------------------------ North American Crew: Sauron - President, Artist, and Main Coder ZigZag - Vice President, Coder, Courier Renegade Bithead - Coder/Artist The Necromancer - Coder/Artist QuickSilver - Coder/Artist The Grand Elf - Head of Art Division, Artist European Crew : Dawnrazor - Coder/Artist Excessive Freddie - Coder/Artist Peeping Tom - Coder/Artist \_/~\_/~\_/~\_/~\_/~\_/~\_/~\_/~\_/~\_/~\_/~\_/~\_/~\_/~\_/~\_/~\_/~\_/~\_/~\ MEMBERS BOARDS AND DISTRIBUTION SITES BOARD NAME Number Member's Board ============================================================== The Warriors Guild - (708)653-1839 - Sauron THG F/X WHQ The Projects - (317)578-1091 - ZigZag The Rush - (313)348-6057 - The Necromancer Garden of Delight - +43-1-214395633 - Excessive Freddie The Elven Underground- (704)847-8032 - The Grand Elf - SAURON & ZigZag '92