Chip 1998 March

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┌─────────────────────────────┐ │ MASTERROIDS Version 1.0 │ └─────────────────────────────┘ MASTERROIDS is a shoot'em-up game running as a multithreaded PM-program for up to four players. FIRST NOTE: When you try to start the game first time (without having changed the configuration), it could happen, that the game won't start, cause the configuration does not fit to your computer. Use the delivered program "MRRESET" first to set critical options to non-critical values and then try to start the game again. ( Especially, if you enable DART in the "Configuration" and you do not have installed the DART-DLLs, the game will crash immediately. For this, use "MRRESET". ) Configuration helps: Below, I am speaking of threads. If you don't know what this is, don't panic. The only thing you must know here is that you can make the game faster when you set a thread's priority higher ( see below ). If you don't know what to do with the options described below ( belonging to the threads or the sound ), just press the Default-Button ( which is present for all difficult-to-handle options ). This should do it. NEW NOTE FOR VERSION 1.0: In this version, you can double click with the left mouse button in the game-area of the window. This will make appear/disappear the System-menu, Titlebar, Min-Max-Buttons and the Menu ( these are called the Frame- Controls ). But still you can access the menu-functions through the keys ( pressing the Alt-key and after releasing it pressing a key that is drawn underlined in the menu ). INSTALLING: NO CHANGES to your CONFIG.SYS and .INI-files are done :-) EITHER copy the files in a directory you like and if you like create a program-object on the desktop. OR (EVEN EASIER) start the INSTALL.CMD-file, which asks you whether you want to copy the important files into a seperate directory and whether you like a program-object on the desktop. UNINSTALLING: In case you should not like MASTERROIDS :-( Simple as can be : Just delete the files and desktop-object (if created) Maybe you would be so kind and send me a short message WHY????? IMPORTANT: MASTERROIDS loads up to 3 MB data, so your computer should have a minimum of 8 MB RAM. ( Sorry about that, but I had no chance to test the game on a computer with 4 MB. I even don't know, if 4 MB is enough for OS/2 itself. ) You should have a 486 or better ( 66 MHz or more. 33 MHz is possilbe, but slow. Sorry. ) Cause the game puts your graphic-card to its limits ( and the processor as well ) it would be the best, you have no other programs running in the background. ( Please don't change the name "MROIDS" of the program cause this is required, else the game won't function. ) FEATURES - up to 4 players - the keys and spacecraft functions can be edited. - Shooting another spacecraft will make this one move in that direction. - Reducing graphics is possible to gain some execution speed and reduces the need of memory. - You can manipulate some system-near parameters ( the threads' priorities etc. ) to fit them best for your computer. You don't have to change them. The game works with every possible configuration, except MMPM and palette manager ( see below ). ( If you don't know what to do then press the Default-Button in the settings and configuration option. ) - You can use your own sounds as well as the timings. CHANGES FROM VERSION 0.9 TO VERSION 1.0 - You can see and hear thrust-flames when you fly foreward. - In the unregistered version, you can now pick up all extras. ( see below ) - New Extra: Store-Extra ( see below ) With this extra, you won't loose any extras you have when your ship is destroyed once more ( but after the explosion, you don't have the Store-Extra any more ). With a Store-Extra you even won't loose a Turret-Gun, if you have one. - Turret-Gun: You can turn yourself into a turret gun and be picked up by another player to shoot in team-work. In one-player mode or when only one player has survived, the ship cannot be turned into a Turret-Gun any more. VERSION 1.0 IS BETA: The Special-Function-Key does not have any function, when a Turret-Gun sits on a Ship, but this will change in later versions. ( Let me surprise you ). - HiScore: If you have enough points at the end of the game, so that you will be in the hiscore, you have to enter your name (like in version 0.9). But after that, a dialog appears which shows you the name, score and place in the hiscore of the players to be included in the hiscore. If you played a game with more than one player, at the top of that dialog, you will see the winner of the game. (The winner has the most points. That does not mean, that he has lived longer than the other players.) - HiScore: There is now a hiscore for every different numbers of players. - The game now consist of 2 threads. In one thread, the keys are handled, in the other thread, the drawing is performed. This has been implemented, cause in Version 0.9, the keys sometimes did not react immediately, cause so much sprites are drawn at the same time. Using 2 threads (you should set the priority of the main thread, that's the key-thread, higher than the draw thread's one) prevents the keys to be handled too late. - You can enable DART in the "Configuration". But do this only, if you have installed DART. If not and you enable it and start the program again, the program will crash immediately. The only chance you have now, is to start "MRRESET" to switch critical options ( where DART is part of ) to uncritical values. - The comets order has been sorted in a different way. - The differences between the difficulty-levels have been made greater. - A reset function for each of the 4 hiscore lists. - A Demo-play: This is for those of you, who just like too look. This plays all levels one after each other and after the last level (this is level 200), it starts automatically from level 1 again. But in the unregistered version, the Demo aborts after Level 5. In the Demo: If there are only few comets left on the screen, they will be destroyed automatically one after each other, so that you must not wait till the Enemy (described below) has destroyed even the last comet. The speed of the Demo depends of the Difficulty Level you have chosen in the Settings-Options. When the Demo plays, you can stop it with the "Stop"-function in the menu or by pressing Ctrl+Break. The Pause-Key pauses the demo. - The correct window postition will be saved in the INI-file (only in the registered version). That means, that it will be stored as well, if the window is maximized or not. - In this version, you can double click with the left mouse button in the game-area of the window. This will make appear/disappear the System-menu, Titlebar, Min-Max-Buttons and the Menu ( these are called the Frame- Controls ). But still you can access the menu-functions through the keys ( pressing the Alt-key and after releasing it pressing a key that is drawn underlined in the menu ). - A volume slider has been implemented in the settings-options as well as a separate option to be accessed while playing, too. PLAYING THE GAME: You are flying a little spacecraft and have to shoot all comets flying around as well as other dangerous objects. Use the keys defined in the players-dialog to move your ship, to shoot, to activate your special function ( flying into hyperspace, a shield or flying with extra speed ) or to turn yourself into a Turret-Gun. OBJECTS IN THE GAME: - Comets: Shoot them ! Destroy them ! ( Do they really seam to be comets ? ) - Extras: They appear when you shoot at the alien (the gray ball) and will remain for 20 seconds. After your spacecraft was destroyed, all extras except the protector ( the dark shield-extra-ball ) were freed so they can be picked up again by someone. If you lost your last live, the protector as well will be freed. If you have picked up a Store-Extra, you won't loose any extras and Turret-Gun for the next destruction. WHEN YOU HAVE A TURRET-GUN ON YOUR SHIP: the next extra will get the Ship or the Turret-Gun, depending on which one has less of that extra-category. So if the Ship has 3 green balls and the Turret-Gun has 2 -> the Turret-Gun will get the next green extra. > Shield-Balls: You can get 2 yellow shield balls and/or 1 protector. They have all a specific rotation speed around the ship. Yellow Shield-Balls: You can have up to 2 yellow shield-balls. Each one has only some lives ( that means that a yellow shield- ball can only resist a number of chrashes and then it disappears ). The first one has the lowest number of lives and the lowest rotation-speed. The second one lives longer and is faster. If the spacecraft explodes, all yellow shield-balls were freed and can be picked up again, but their number of lives won't be refreshed. Dark Shield-Balls ( Protectors ): You can have up to 1 dark shield-ball. They are much faster than the yellow ones, they live forever so you won't loose them if your ship explodes. They were freed only if your ship has lost all of its lives. > Green Extras: You can pick up up to 5 green extras. They are responsible for better moves, rotations und speeds of the spacecrafts. If you have picked up neither: The values you chose in the settings-dialog were used. ( The settings-dialog is accessible when you have started the game and chosen the menu Options/Settings ) If you pick up one after another: 1. : increases the rotation speed. 2. : enables the backward-key: You can break the spacecraft's movement now. 3. : sets the maximum speed of the spacecraft to a higher value. ( That does not include a higher acceleration ! ) 4. : the backward-key still can break the movement of the space- craft, but if you hold the key a little bit longer, you can drift backward as well. 5. : doubles the acceleration of the spacecraft. > Red Extras: You can pick up up to 5 red extras. They are responsible for a better weapon-system. If you have picked up neither: The normal bullet is used. It's a little white point. You can choose it's range in the settings-dialog. If you pick up one after another: 1. : The speed of the bullet will be increased. 2. : You get a bigger bullet. The range will be increased. 3. : The speed will be increased again. 4. : You get a laser. You can target easier. The range and speed will be increased again. 5. : The speed will be increased again. > Blue Extras: You can pick up up to 2 blue extras. They are responsible for a quicker reloading of special-energy. > Store-Extras ( a red, wobbling ball ): You can pick up 1 store extra. If your ship is destroyed and you have a store extra, all other extras and the Turret-Gun you have you will not loose. Only the store extra will be lost. So the next time your ship is destroyed, all extras (except the protector) will be lost (if you don't have picked up another store extra meanwhile). > Missiles: You can pick up a maximum of 1 missile. They fly directly to the nearest target. A target is anything, which is dangerous for the player (this does not include the alien, this is the gray flying ball). If there are radioactive balls ( these are yellow balls with a radioactive sign and they turn into blue boxes ), they are used as targets first. - Mine: If the mine explodes ( by shooting or collision ), everything within a certain radius will explode. - Alien ( the gray ball ): It is mostly resistable against collisions, but not bullets and lasers. It contains the extras. Shoot it ! It will contain more extras depending on the level and the number of (still living) player-ships. - Enemy ( the white and red spacecraft shooting around ): It's making you nervous, doesn't it ? - Hunting Radioactive Yellow Balls: These are balls with a radioactive-sign and they transform themselves into blue boxes. Sometimes they are coming out of comets, hunting the nearest spacecrafts or the Enemy. Be careful, you've been warned ! - TURRET-GUN: With the Turret-Key you can turn yourself into a Turret-Gun or back to the Ship. Being a Turret-Gun flying around, you cannot move or rotate with your keys. You just have a Shield-Function as Special-Function and you can shoot. A Turret-Gun can be picked up by another Ship. Since a Turret-Gun sits on a Ship, they cannot be removed one from each other except when they were destroyed and noone of them had a Store-Extra. When A Turret-Gun has been picked up, it will rotate automatically with its Ship. When the player rotates the Turret-Gun by hand, it won't rotate together with the Ship any more. SCORING: 10 points for an alien ( the gray ball containing the extras ) but only if it were destroyed 20 points for each large comet 50 paints for each medium comet 100 points for each small comet 150 points for a mine and you get the points for all other destroyed objects, that were exploding with the mine. 200 points for a hunting radioactive yellow ball 250 points for an enemy ( the shooting ball-like spavecraft ) You get a new life every 10000 points. You get points if you shoot something with your gun or with your missile but you get no points if an object was destroyed cause it collided with one of your shield-extra-balls. CONTENTS OF ARCHIVE The following files are contained in this archive: mroids.exe - MASTERROIDS mroids.pic - contains all sprites mroids.cmt - contains all comet sprites mroids.dig - contains other bitmaps mroids.ico - the icon wave.dll - contains all sound functions for the game (is only loaded, when MMPM used) alien.wav blaster.wav crash.wav danger.wav destroy.wav dieshldx.wav disappr.wav enemy.wav espeed.wav explode.wav extra.wav hitsteel.wav hyper.wav laser.wav newextra.wav newlife.wav plasma.wav shield.wav shldoff.wav shldon.wav shot.wav takeprtc.wav takeshld.wav taketgun.wav tgunrot.wav thrust.wav transfrm.wav warp.wav readme.1st - this file order.frm - Masterroids order form install.cmd - Installation-utility ( doesn't manipulate any of your system's config files ) mrreset.exe - Resets the configuration to some non-critical values. If you chose a configuration ( especially MMPM or palette manager ) that your system does not support, the game could crash after it was started. This program will solve the problem. Don't start it when the game is running, cause the the game could write back the critical values. This program only manipulate some settings and configurations of Masterroids. Your system's config files won't be touched. waveinfo.exe - This program tells you some informations of a wavefile. ( If you don't want to use your own sounds but only the sounds delivered with this package, you don't need this program. ) If you are playing with sounds and want to use your own sounds, then it would be the best, that the wavefile's parameters are the same for all of the used wavefiles. If they are different, the game will function as well ( except your MMPM-Version has the bug ), but only the game could get a little bit slower ( maybe you even won't recognize it ). This program prints the following parameters: FormatTag Channels SamplesPerSec AvgBytesPerSec BlockAlign BitsPerSample You don't have to know what these parameters mean. The program will tell you the length of the sounds in bytes as well, but this is the only parameter that need not to be equal for all used sounds. ADDITION: emx.dll - was necessary ONLY in Version 0.9 Since Version 1.0 you can delete this file if you want. The installation-utility won't delete it ! SETTINGS AND CONFIGURATION: Chosen from menu "Options": - "Players": Players: Choose the player to edit his options. Properties of Spacecraft: > Shooting Range: How far you can shoot. > Spacecraft Thrust: That's the acceleration of the spacecraft. > Maximum speed: The maximum speed possible for the spacecraft. > Rotation speed: How fast the spacecraft will rotate. > Special Function: The energy level of the special function. Special Function: Which function should be done when pressing the special-key. > Hyperspace: The spacecraft will fly into hyperspace an little bit later it comes back on another position. > Shield: A shield will be activated. > Extra Speed: For the time you press the special-key, you will be able to fly very fast. Color: You can choose one of 4 colors for your ship. Key Codes: The backward-key will be enabled if you have picked up a certain number of green extras. ( See the Extras-Section above ) Between the Ok- and Cancel-button there are 7 round buttons with a text-field. They are used for the keys up/down/left/right, weapon and special-function and turret-gun. To choose a different key click on the round button of the function you want change ( e.g. of the up-key ) and then click on the key in the drawed keyboard in the middle of the dialog. You can only choose black or white keys. The red ones indicate, that they are used by another player and the white ones are your keys. The Turret-Key will function only if there are currently more than one ship living. It will only function, when you don't have a Turret-Gun and when you are not a Turret-Gun sitting on a ship. VERSION 1.0 IS BETA: I will implement a function in later versions, so that a Ship with Turret-Gun can be released as well. In Version 1.0 there is no possibility (except the destruction of the Ship with Turret-Gun), to remove a Turret-Gun from a Ship. - "Settings": Difficulty: The difficulty level. Graphic-Detail: > Stars in background: If you switch off the stars in background, no bitmap will be loaded. This will reduce the need of memory. > Sprites overlapping: If you switch this off, the drawing runs a bit faster, but the objects will flicker when they overlap. And sometimes moving objects delete parts of other not moving objects, when they overlap. > Background pass through sprites: If you switch this off, the background will not be painted in the rectangle area of an object. This makes the drawing a bit faster. > short Explosions: This will draw only short explosions in order to draw quicker. This option is helpful for slow computers. This option does not use more or less memory. > Thrust Flames of the Ship: You can see and hear, when you are flying foreward. Also this en/disables the sound when a Turret-Gun is rotating on a Ship. Sound: > Volume-Slider: Sets the volume. > ON: Switch Sound on/off. Maybe after you switched on the sound you must wait a certain time for the soundfiles to be loaded into memory. WARNING: If you have set a priority to IDLETIME ( see below ), the harddisk access will be very slow. Maybe you have to wait some minutes till the sounds are loaded. > share: I implemeted this function for flexibility. You should switch it off. Otherwise another program that starts to play a sound could hang the game ( if you have another program running in background ). Emulate mathematic functions: If you don't have a mathematic coprocessor, some sqrt-functions must be simulated by the system. Then switch this button to on and the game will use its own (faster) functions. But if you have a coprocessor, switch this button off cause the coprocessor is the fastest possibility. Pause when game inactive: When switched on, the game will stop when you click on another window. Hide mouse pointer in the window: You can show/hide the mouse pointer when it is over the game-area. "More": This enables the more system-near settings: This is the Priority Class and the Priority Level of the threads. Here you can edit the priority of execution. Try out some values, if you want to. If you don't know what to do with these values then ignore them ( or set them to default with the Default-Button ). Thread: > Main Thread: If this button is selected, the following (priority) options belong to the main thread. The main thread handles all necessary parts of the program ( this includes the key functions ). > Draw Thread: If this button is selected, the following (priority) options belong to the draw thread. The draw thread is responsible only for the graphics and animations as well as playing sounds. I recommend to set the draw thread's poriority lower than the main thread's one. Else it could happen, that your keys will react a second later. Priority Class: > Idletime: This is the lowest priority. The thread will run very slow. WARNING: All harddriveoperations will work very solw, even if there is no other program running in background. So you better should not use this setting. ( It is implemented only for some exotic wishes. ) > Regular: This the default value. > Foregoundserver: This is better than Regular, but not so good as Timecritical. As I fingured out, this parameter sometimes does not work correctly. Better you choose only "Regular" or "Timecritical". > Timecritical: This allows the best performance, but other programs will run very slow in background. Priority Level: In addition to the priority class you can change the priority within a priority class. Minimum level: -31 Maximum level: +31 ( By the way: If you choose a Priority Class of Timecritical and you set the Level to a value greater or equal to 1, maybe the sound won't function correctly. Set the priority level to a lower value, or don't use sounds. ) Default: Sets the threads' parameters back to normal By the way: The program "MRRESET" sets the threads' parameters to their defaults. Check out some values for the main and the draw thread. Some good settings for the priorities I found out are: main thread: timecritical, level -1 draw thread: regular, level 0 These are the defaults. - "Configuration": All Options edited in this dialog will be activated at the next start of MASTERROIDS. If you don't know what to do with these options, just press the button "Set All to Default". If you change some options in here (especially the MMPM and the palette manager to force their usage) and the game crashes the next time you try to start it, start MRRESET.EXE first. Then critical options will be set to non-critical values and the game should work again. ( Now the MMPM and the palette manager will be switched off. ) Now can edit the settings and configurations again. Reduce graphics details: With this button the animations are reduced, but the game loads faster at startup and not so much memory will be used. This is helpful for computers with low main memory. Default is deactived. Palette manager: Normally the program determines automatically if a palette manager is available. But I have implemented these option for flexibility. So the default is the automatic detection and this should be chosen normally. Without palette manager, the colors in the game won't be as beautiful al with palette manager. But this will only happen, when you are using a OS/2-graphic-resolution with 256 colors. A resolution with 32768, 65536 or 16 million colors doesn't need a palette manager. If you set it to "force usage", the game could hang the next time you try to start it (if your OS/2-system has no palette manager). In that case start MRRESET.EXE. It sets some values back as well as this one here to "don't use palette manager". Default is autodetection. MMPM: Here is the same to say like at the palette manager. The MRRESET.EXE will set this value to "don't use MMPM". Default is autodetection. DART: "Direct Audio Real Time". This is a new feature from OS/2 to perform faster sound commands. To use this, you must have installed DART on your comupter or the program crashed when it is started. (In that case, start "MRRESET" to switch off DART in the configuration.) To use DART, you also must enable MMPM in the MMPM-Section. (So "don't use MMPM" will switch off DART as well). Sounds: All time settings in this section are entered in milliseconds. They should be multiples of 60. So you should use values like 0, 60, 120, 180, 240 and so on. ( By the way: The "global" Section from Version 0.9 has been removed, cause I figured out, that the problem really was a bug in the Soundcard-driver. Now I have new drivers and all works perfect, so I decided to remove the global-Section to make the configuration less difficult. ) Wave: These values are the sound definitions: The sound files and the major timings are set here. ( These values, especially the timings are NOT used in connection with the MMPM-bug ) The Default-Button is the normal solution for these settings. - Sounds-list: Here the game's events are listed for which sounds can be defined. They are sorted in their priority-order. The most top sound has the highest priority, the most bottom one has the lowest priority. The priority of a sound ( so the position in the list ) can be changed by clicking on that sound event in the list and moving in up or down with the UP- and DOWN-buttons. For more information see the descriptions of "Minimum Play Time" and "Sure Play Time" below. - Filename: Here stands the sound file name (and path) for the chosen sound in the "Sounds-list". It must be a file with the extension ".WAV". If no file name is entered in here, the defined file does not exist or the file is not a wave file, no sound will be played for that event. - Browse-Button: With this button you can search a sound file name on your drives. - Minimum Play Time: This time takes effect, only if the "Sure Play Time" has elapsed. If the "Sure Play Time" has elapsed but not the "Minimum Play Time" while a sound is playing and another sound should be started, then the playing sound will be stopped and the other one started only if the new sound has a higher or equal priority then the playing one. A value of 0 means that sounds with higher priority can always be stopped by sounds with lower priority ( but only if the "Sure Play Time" has elapsed ). - Sure Play Time: This is similar to the "Minimum Play Time", except that the priority of the sounds make no difference. A playing sound will never be stopped during the "Sure Play Time", no matter which priority the new sound has. This time setting has a higher priority than the "Minimum Play Time". So if this value here is greater than the "Minimum Play Time", the "Minimum Play Time" looses it's sense as well as the priorities of the sounds. A value of 0 for the "Sure Play Time" and the "Minimum Play Time" means that a playing sound can always be stopped by another one. This includes, that the priorities of the sounds make no more sense. - UP-Button and DOWN-Button: See "Sounds-list" description. WHAT'S IN THE UNREGISTERED VERSION: *) registration-dialog at startup and end of the program *) Only 5 levels can be experienced *) Same of your settings won't be saved in the INI-file. BENEFITS OF REGISTERING *) you'll keep the shareware-idea alive :-) *) no annoying registering-dialog at startup and end *) no limitation of 5 levels any more *) all options are accessible *) all last settings will be saved in an INI-file *) you'll be informed when there are updates which will work with your old registration-Number -> Updates are for FREE !!! HOW TO REGISTER You are allowed to use Masterroids for a period of 30 days, after this trialperiod you are asked :-) to register. The registration fee is 20 US$ or 200 ATS or 30 DM. You can send the money in cash (which is cheaper for you) or you use a postal order (you have to pay the extra-money). If you choose a postal order, please send the money in ATS (Austrian Shillings), and if you send cash don't send coins ! DO NOT use any other form of payment (e.g. credit cards) as I won't be able to accept that ! I am really honest, so you don't have to worry when sending the money in cash ! Of course all of the given information will be treated confidentially ! Take care your first and last name are readable and correct, because I will send you a code calculated based upon these informations. After you enter this code together with your names in the registration- menu in the game, your version of Masterroids is registered. It will be much easier if you also send me your Internet e-mail address, so I can send you update-infos & registration-Nr. faster and easier. To register, send the filled in order-form & the payment to: Roman Komary Am Hundsturm 11/12 A-1050 Vienna AUSTRIA e-mail : e8925453@stud1.tuwien.ac.at The registration is for personal use only !!! Running this program on more than one machine requires a special registration - contact the author for special prices. Students can ask me for special prices, too. (just send me a letter or e-mail, I know how hard your life is :-) REPORTING BUGS If you find any bugs, or have ideas of improving Masterroids I will be very happy hearing your ideas. Send me a letter or e-mail : Roman Komary e-mail : e8925453@stud1.tuwien.ac.at When you send me a bug report, please include a description of the procedure for reproducing the bug and a description of your system configuration (hardware and software and Masterroids-configuration). KNOWN BUGS: *) Sound-Troubleshooting: Sometimes, when playing with sound, the game hangs ( or even OS/2 itself hangs ). This happens cause the MMPM of OS/2 3.0 has a bug. So I have added some configuration parameters to reduce the occurence of this bug. But sometimes it will happen nevertheless. See the "Configuration" description above. If you tried out all the settings explained above, switch off the sound in the settings-dialog, or switch off the MMPM in the configurations-dialog. By now, my computer didn't hang playing the game without sound. By the way: I've heard that the new version of OS/2 that should be appearing soon ( I hope ) has solved many big bugs of the MMPM. ( I hope once more ) THESE FEATURES HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM THE CONFIGURATION, cause it's really a problem of the drivers. If you have the problem, get new soundcard-drivers and the problem is solved (when the new drivers work correctly). *) If you were playing with sounds and have opened the sound device as NON-shared ( see in the settings-dialog ) and you have a program running in the background that wants to play a sound sometimes (maybe a clock that wants to play a sound every hour etc.), then this could make problems: When the program tried to play a sound ( but that didn't work cause the game opened the sound device as non-shared ), there was no sound any more to here while playing. Solution: Press the PAUSE-Key twice. The sound will be playing again. If you don't, the game could hang some seconds or minutes later. The best would be to turn off all programs in background that tries to play sounds. By the way: I tried to open the sound device as shared. So the clock program could play its sound. But after the sound has finished, the game did hang. SEEMS TO ME THAT THIS BUG ALSO WAS JUST A SOUNDCARD-DRIVER-ERROR. With my new drivers, I did not have this problem any more. *) When enabling DART in the Configuration-Dialog, but you do not have installed DART on your computer, the program will crash when you start it even before the window appears. The only way to get the program to start again, is to start MRRESET.EXE first, so that the critical options ( like DART ) will be set back to uncritical values. *) If you play the game together with one or more players and you recognise, that some pressed keys don't function, then it's NO(!) bug. This is a problem of the keyboard's hardware. You cannot press as many keys as you want at the same time. *) If you are using DART: Changing the Sound-Device from shared to non-shared or vice versa (in the Settings-Options) does not work yet. The changing effects only when you end and restart the program. But still it makes problems playing sounds, when using DART in shared mode. Cause when another program plays a sound, the game won't play any more sounds. Only stopping and restarting the program will make the sounds play again. So if you are using DART, it is better to use mode Non-Shared (in the Settings-Options). CORRECTIONS IN VERSION 1.0 *) Sometimes it occured, that the game paused for some seconds or even stopped the execution. This only happened, when sounds were on. This, I found out, was a problem of the game's architecture. In the version 1.0, there are two threads with larger message queues to reduce the occurrence of this error. If it ever should happen again, then release the keys as fast as you can and wait till the game continues ( if it does, hopefully ). But I think, in this version, this should not happen again. ( The best would be to set the threads' priorities to their defaults by pressing the Default-Button in the "more"-Section of the Settings-Dialog (see above) ). *) In higher levels it could happen in V0.9, that the protector ( this is the dark shield-ball ) disappeared and no more protector could be picked up. This error has been corrected in V1.0. *) Sometimes, when entering a name in the Hiscore, ending the program and starting it again, it could happen, that some names in the Hiscore are truncated. In version 1.0, this error is corrected. SOME HELP *) If you have installed MMPM and the WAVE.DLL is in the directory of the game, but the game says, it can't load the WAVE.DLL, then look in the LIBPATH in the CONFIG.SYS. The beginning should be: LIBPATH=.; With this setting, DLLs will be searched in the actual directory first. TO COME Currently I am working on : *) some more extras and dangerous objects *) more features for the Turret-Gun *) the possibility to split a Turret-Gun from its Ship, so they must not play any longer in a team *) DIVE-support to make the graphics and animations faster *) making the sound processing better for both MMPM and DART *) MIDI-background-music support *) Joystick-support *) maybe playing together on different machines *) implementing a help-function or if not, I will write an INF-file. *) hopefully correcting bugs *) And of course your suggestions :-) DISTRIBUTION CONDITIONS You are free to distribute this shareware version of Masterroids as long as the following conditions are met: 1) The distributed archive must contain ONLY the files listed above. 2) The contents of this archive are NOT MODIFIED in any way. 3) This version is not to be sold. However, a reasonable disk copying fee is permitted. DISCLAIMER (as usual :-) The author of this program accepts no responsibility for damages that are caused by this program and make NO WARRANTY or representation, either express or implied, with respect to this software. This software is provided "AS IS," and you, its user, assume the entire risk when you use it. SOME EXTRA NOTES: Where to get emx ---------------- emx (and the emx.dll) is available for anonymous ftp on (The emx.dll is not necessary any more since Masterroids Version 1.0). ftp.uni-stuttgart.de [129.69.18.15]: /pub/systems/os2/emx-0.9a ftp-os2.cdrom.com: [192.153.46.2]: /os2/32bit/unix/emx09a src.doc.ic.ac.uk [146.169.2.1]: /packages/os2/32bit/unix/emx09a ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de [131.159.0.198]: /pub/comp/os/os2/devtools/emx+gcc By the way: ----------- Have you seen "SYSMON20.ZIP" on ftp-os2.cdrom.com: /pub/os2/incoming (or another directory) ? It's a system monitor program and very helpful program which tells you what's happening in your computer and offers some advantages. It shows you time, date, the processor's execution time, virtual memory, swap file, info about your drives and more. There are features like different versions to shutdown your system and restart it automatically, a new tasklist, an option to start programs, ... Please excuse that I am not able to answer your mails very often or fast. I have an account from the university and no modem. So I will look for mails only about once a week. Sorry :-) So, at last, I only can say: Have fun with the game !