Most Wanted 2/MostWantedII.iso/dos/retriss/readme.now

Text File | 1995-05-14 | 11.1 KB | 252 lines

 SUPER RETRISS PRO  (c) Copyright 1993,94 Rogelio Bernal   All rights reserved


            THIS TEXT FILE HAS TWO PARTS

           !!!PLEASE!!! !!!PLEASE!!! !!!PLEASE!!!
             I KNOW YOU HATE TO READ DOCS, BUT
     IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU READ AT LEAST THE FIRST PART
          BEFORE RUNNING THE GAME (60 lines only).
                  JUST ONCE, OK?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SETUP FIRST!!

 Type SETUP to select either PC Speaker or SoundBlaster. If you use
 SB, copy ST-VOICE.DRV (from the SB software) to the SR.Pro directory ,or
 set the SOUND environment variable as your SB manual explains. If you
 use the environment variable, make sure it is configured correctly, or
 SR.Pro will likely hang and force you to reboot your computer.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

            PART 1: WHAT YOU MUST KNOW
            ══════════════════════════

  MEMORY / MEMORY MANAGERS / OPERATING SYSTEMS
  ────────────────────────────────────────────
  Super Retriss Pro needs a lot of base memory. If you are
  using a Sound Blaster/Pro card or compatible, and have
  less than 610k free (624,640 bytes), the program will
  refuse to run (with PC speaker sound, a minimum of 400k
  is recommended). In the first case, your best bet is to
  load DOS high using HIMEM.SYS or whatever memory manager
  you want. I have tested the program under QEMM 7.5,
  386MAX, EMM386 and HIMEM.SYS alone with no problems,
  although this does not guarantee it will run under any
  different configurations of these.  I have detected
  problems with QEMM 7.04 in a few systems when Sound
  Blaster sound is being used. If you are using this
  version of QEMM, use Sound Blaster sound and are
  experiencing problems, run the program with the /q1
  switch (SRP.EXE /q1).  Since Super Retriss Pro does not
  mess up with extended or expanded memory, this seems more
  to be a problem with QEMM 7.04 rather than with Super
  Retriss Pro. Chances are that, as far as there is enough
  free base memory, everything should run fine.

  While memory managers such those mentioned in the
  previous paragraph help you free a lot of base memory,
  and will not affect the performance of the game, they
  also slow down the system a bit, and things like the
  scrolling text in the main menu would run slower than if
  you just use HIMEM.SYS.

  Unfortunately, when using Sound Blaster sound, Super
  Retriss Pro is way too hungry for base memory, and in
  most cases, users are likely forced to use a memory
  manager. The most consistent AUTOEXEC.BAT/CONFIG.SYS
  configurations I ran into were:

  ·  Always get rid of all drivers for CD-ROM, scanners, and
     other devices not used by the game.

  ·  Load HIMEM.SYS, DOS in high memory, and the MOUSE
     driver (also in high memory).

  ·  To the previous configuration, add EMM386 (set to
     NOEMS) and SMARTDRV.

  ·  QEMM 7.5 replacing EMM386.

  If you cannot figure a valid configuration, try using the
  sound selection switches, and probably you will find a
  combination that will work (read Chapter 7.2 Sound
  selection switches). In the worst case, I hope you can
  live with the shameful sound I added for the PC Speaker.

  If the program suddenly exits with a "Not enough memory"
  message or another (very unlikely but not impossible),
  reboot the machine and make sure again there is enough
  memory (as specified above). If there WAS enough memory
  available, do not worry too much. Just make sure you
  ALWAYS reboot the computer after getting any of these
  messages, or when the program suddenly exits or go nuts
  in the middle of it. All these events are, again,
  UNLIKELY, but I've seen it happens a few times.

  If you are using the SoundBlaster setup, do not attempt
  to run the program under any multitasking environment,
  such as Desqview or Windows. With only PC speaker sound
  selected, the program has been tested on the following
  multitasking systems:

     SYSTEM           HARDWARE      RESULTS
     ══════════════   ══════════    ══════════════════════════════
     Desqview         486/50Mhz     Fine
     Desqview/X       486/50Mhz     Slow but ok
     Windows 3.1      486/33Mhz     Fine. Slow but faster than expected
     OS/2             486/50Mhz     Fine
     SoftWindows      PPC-6100      Very slow, but fine (Amazing!)

  If you have DOS 5.0 or higher available, don't do nasty
  things, and run the game from there. Nothing can compare
  to running the game in DOS native mode (5.0 or higher).


  DISK USAGE AND DISK CACHE
  ─────────────────────────
  Super Retriss Pro uses much more data than previous
  versions. Most of this data is stored in the file SRP-DATA.000
  and it takes up about one megabyte and a half.  Since the
  program has to manage all this data within the 610k limit,
  different portions are loaded from the disk at runtime
  whenever they're needed. The sound effects and MOD songs are
  also loaded/unloaded as required by the program. While it's
  not a big deal of time, the use of a disk cache program will
  speed up actions such as going from one menu to another, etc...
  The speed of the game is unaffected in any case.




PART 2: WHAT YOU MAY WANT TO KNOW
═════════════════════════════════

  MOUSE / NO MOUSE
  ────────────────
  The only thing non-mouse users will be missing is the
  Zone Designer. Anything else is fully working, and in
  most cases, the mouse is replaced by either the arrow
  keys or an option number.

  From the Main Menu, you can use the numbers (1,2,3,4,5,6)
  to select the  options (although you don't see any
  numbers in the screen). Same thing  goes for the Select
  Piece Set menu (1,2 and 3, in this case). In the Options
  and Load Zone menus, move with the up/down arrow keys. As
  mentioned above, the Zone Designer is the only thing that
  doesn't work without a mice.


  SOUND BLASTER / PC SPEAKER
  ──────────────────────────
  If you don't have a Sound Blaster or 100% compatible
  sound card, you will  be missing quite a lot. Not only
  because you won't be able to listen to  the songs and
  digitized sounds effects, but also because my PC speaker
  hasn't been working since 1992, and therefore I stopped
  supporting this  device in my programs since then. In
  other words, the sounds for the  PC speaker are very
  limited, poor, and were added years ago, when the game
  was in its prehistoric phase. New features such bombs and
  the like are simply soundless if you don't have a Sound
  Blaster card.

  If you don't want to spend hundreds of dollars in a good
  sound card, you can always find a used Sound Blaster Pro
  for less than $50 bucks (not to mention an old Sound
  Blaster). So go and get a sound card! They're really
  cheap and will make your computer happier! Trust me.
  On the other hand, the programs seems to be incredibly
  stable in a quite reasonable number of systems (see table
  30-40 lines above) when the PC Speaker is selected. Is
  this the same as saying that the Sound Blaster routines
  are the cause of most problems, whenever they occur?
  Well...  yes, it is. Particularly, the MOD routines have
  been found to be, in one  way or another, the only reason
  of crashing the program. However I  cannot complain, as
  these are not my routines, but rather Mark J.Cox's,  and
  I do not have the time to research and write my own set
  (I am the one to blame in any case). Cox's routines
  nowadays are rather old, but they were great when
  released, several years ago. I have to thank him for
  releasing the library for free, so now everyone can
  listen, and hopefully enjoy these boosting tones in Super
  Retriss Pro.

  The sound effects are actually plain VOC files, and that
  is why the ST-VOICE.DRV driver is required. Sorry folks.
  Blame me for being lazy again, but since everyone who
  owns a Sound Blaster has this file, and it makes my life
  a whole lot easier to use the driver rather than writing
  my own routines, I just opted for the most time-saving
  option. Besides, I am not trying to show off  :-)   As
  far as you enjoy the game, I am happy.

  And last, but not least (or was it the other way?) FM
  music is played, one song for each zone. All the songs,
  with no exception, were obtained from local Bulletin
  Boards (thanks to Tan for getting some for me), and the
  Internet via anonymous FTP, all in ROL (Adlib/FM) format.
  They all are considered freeware. I have no information
  whatsoever of who are the original writers of the songs,
  and doubt anybody would. Somehow, these songs play an
  important role in the game: they create a certain
  atmosphere, keeping the player entertained and adding
  some rhythm and variation to the game.  Since I have not
  written any of these songs (not to mention composing, as
  most of them are quite popular), I do not deserve any
  credits for them. If I had decided to release this game
  as Shareware, I would feel rather uncomfortable by
  releasing the game with all those songs, since they are
  not mine. Since that is not the case, and I am making no
  profit whatsoever from this game, I hope I can be
  forgiven.


GAME SPEED
──────────
  Previous versions of Super Retriss ran at different
  speeds in different computers, and in Super Retriss 3.0 I
  included an option to set up the speed of the game, based
  on estimations and other obscure procedures.

  Super Retriss Pro now uses the internal timer to set up
  the pace while playing. It should have been like this
  since the beginning, but well... It's ok now!

  There are still a few things going on with the speed,
  although they don't concern the game speed, but rather
  the main menu, depending on whether  SoundBlaster sound
  was selected.

  Since the sound routines for the MOD songs (themes for
  the MAIN MENU,  SELECT PIECE SET menu, HIGH SCORES
  screens...) take up around 30% of  the CPU time, I let
  the other code run as fast as possible, without  checking
  on the timer. This results in a faster program, when
  executed  in faster machines, and affects the text
  scroller and the rotating  balls. You will get optimum
  performance with a 486/33Mhz or faster  machine. Less
  than a 386/25Mhz could result in a rather annoying
  slowness.  As mentioned before, the use of a memory
  manager such QEMM, 386MAX and so on, will also affect the
  speed of these things IN THE MENUS ONLY.

  With a PC Speaker configuration (a relief of around 30%
  of CPU time), the  speed of these events is timed, but
  there could be a still noticeable  difference in
  performance from a 286/10Mhz to a 386/25Mhz or higher.
  All these speed dilemmas don't really matter much, as the
  game itself  always runs at the same timed speed, whether
  in a Pentium or a 286. I am only referring to the
  scrolling text and rotating balls of the menus. I thought
  this info might be of some interest for you. If you don't
  know  or do not care, just like I said, it doesn't
  matter, as the game itself is unaffected.

  This is it for now. Enjoy!

 _Rogelio Bernal_____________________________________________________________
  [e-mail]