home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------
- COMET BUSTERS! v1.4 README
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- * JOYSTICK - Comet Busters! now comes with the standard Windows Joystick
- driver for Windows 3.1.
-
- To install, just go to the Control Panel and click on "Drivers"
- and then "Add...", then "Unlisted or Updated Driver". All the files
- you need are in the JOYSTICK subdirectory off of the COMET directory.
- Then you'll need to copy the JOYSTICK.CPL file to your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM
- directory. Next time you start up Control Panel, you should have a
- little icon that lets you calibrate your joystick. You need to do
- this for Comet to run properly.
-
- * You can easily translate Comet Busters! to other languages by
- adding additional COMETxxx.DLL files. The default is COMETENU.DLL,
- for American English. Just copy this file to another COMETxxx.DLL
- file where "xxx" is the Windows Language Code for your country.
- For example, German would be COMETDEU.DLL, French would be
- COMETFRN.DLL, and so on. Then translate the strings in the
- alternate file with a resource editor.
-
- * Nuclear Winter can be a much more exciting game -- set your
- screen resolution to 1024x768, open four instances of NUCLWINT at
- once, and start them all. Keep the Valium handy.
-
- ********************** REGISTERED USERS ONLY ****************************
-
- * !!!CHEATS!!! The registered version now has a few cheat codes. Just
- type them on the keyboard during the game -- case is not important.
- You can't use them during a network game :-( and using them
- forfeits your chance at a high score.
-
- PHASEOUT - makes you invulnerable -- you must turn it off and
- hyperspace to return from the phased state.
-
- JUGGER - makes your ship destroy everything it comes in contact
- with!
-
- NUKE - destroys all the rocks on the board.
-
- AUTOFIRE - gives your ship auto-fire capability. Just hold down the
- fire button! Still only 4 at a time, tho.
-
- * To use the Comet Busters! Screen Saver, go to Control Panel | Display
- and change to the Comet screen saver.
-
- * To use the source code, you will need Delphi 1.0 installed. Type
- "cometbld" and it should compile OK.
-
- * If you have problems with music, look at your Midi Mapper settings.
- Make sure you pick "General MIDI" or "General FM".
-
- *************************************************************************
-
- TROUBLESHOOTING
- ---------------
-
- * No music: if you have the shareware version, you'll have to find
- your own MIDI files. Registered users, see above.
-
- * If you are having trouble playing Comet over a network,
- Go to http://www.windows95.com/connect/tcp.html
- to answer all of your Windows 95 TCP/IP questions.
-
- * Modem play is verrrrry tricky to get working. Grab a copy of DOOM
- or other modem game to find a good initialization string for your modem.
- The default one should work in most cases. For Windows 3.1 users,
- be sure to set your COM3-COM4 IRQ's and port addresses.
-
- * Joystick doesn't work -- for Windows 3.1 users, see above.
- For Windows 95 users, make sure the Joystick icon appears in the
- Control Panel. For all users, make sure you press the Setup button after
- choosing the joystick to center it!
-
- * If you're using the PC speaker sounds, you may notice that they tend
- to die from time to time, and you have to restart Windows to get
- them to come back. The PC speaker functions, alas, are buggy, and
- have not been officially supported since Win 3.0. Petition Microsoft
- if you want it fixed.
-
- NEW IN VERSION 1.4
- ------------------
-
- * WinG support!! This makes the game verrry pretty and gets rid of
- those ugly rectangles around everything!!
-
- * We now have a full-screen mode!
-
- * More tournament modes -- you can now choose to play with no rocks,
- or where asteroids blow up when you hit them. You can also pick the
- number of lives and number of levels you want to play in a tournament.
- Also, there are now tiebreakers.
-
- * Cloaking device now has a time limit.
-
- * Disruptor now acts sort of like a brake.
-
- NEW IN VERSION 1.3.4
- --------------------
-
- * Minor code changes, fixed screen saver.
-
- NEW IN VERSION 1.3.3
- --------------------
-
- * Don't need to have a WINSOCK.DLL in order to start the game.
- * Don't need SNDLIB.DLL either.
- * Changed a bunch of code around in preparation for the next version,
- so it should crash a lot.
-
- NEW IN VERSION 1.3.2
- --------------------
-
- * Minor bug fixes; more error messages for modem play; changed address.
-
- NEW IN VERSION 1.3
- ------------------
-
- * NETWORK/MODEM SUPPORT!!! Finally got around to figuring it out.
- You know, you just can't write a network game without a network...
-
- * Your ship is invulnerable for a short period after it
- materializes.
-
- * New rock-busting sounds!
-
- * Upped the frame rate to 24 FPS, which can also be changed.
-
- * Added context-sensitive help.
-
- * Made an optimization to the collision code so that everything
- will be faster.
-
- * An option for random music selection! See the help file under the
- "INI file" section for details.
-
- * New sound & music for Nuclear Winter!
-
- NEW IN VERSION 1.2
- ------------------
-
- * Now works with Windows 95!
- * Used the WAVEMIX version 2 library. Hopefully, this'll fix problems
- with the SB16. Sounds really good in Win 95 too.
- * Fixed a bug which made the window very teeny when you restore from
- an icon.
- * Squeezed the button bar a little more to fit on 640x480.
- * Added About box.
- * Secret stuff!
-
- NEW IN VERSION 1.1
- ------------------
-
- * This version uses the WAVEMIX.DLL library, which allows multiple
- sounds to be played simultaneously -- sort of. If you have a slow
- computer (even 486-33's are prone to this) you may hear skipping
- during some of the sounds. This is because Windows is STILL not
- a true multitasking environment. But hey, it's all worth it, right?
- * SUPER-COOL new sounds! Shield-crackling and popping, thruster sounds,
- and all sortsa goodies waiting for you.
- * Circumvented the Windows bug which caused small explosions to draw
- with the wrong palette in 256-color mode.
- * Finally, the joystick bug has been fixed! It seems to have affected
- fast computers with slow joysticks. How amazing is the difference
- between signed and unsigned integers!
- * The disruptor now exerts an equal and opposite force on your ship
- when you use it. This makes it a lot more useful as a defensive
- weapon. The higher the Special Ability, the more force.
- * I took out the "feature" where when you hyperspaced you would come
- back giant-size. Windows didn't map the colors correctly, so the
- ship looked all funky when you returned. But I HAVE improved the
- hyperspace so that it pops you back in a safe place MOST of the
- time (determined by the Special Ability attribute).
- * New "Tournament Mode" where the object is not to blast rocks,
- but to waste the other players. Pretty fun...
- * "Deadly Bullets" option, which makes your bullets, well ...
- deadly to other players.
- * New CLOAK ability which is pretty much useless without remote play!
- (Sorry again...)
- * Awesome looking flames out of the back of your ship!
- * More realistic collisions.
- * Other misc. bug fixes which I don't remember because OS/2 ate
- my "to-do" list.
-
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Steven Hugg
- hugg@pobox.com
- 5/7/96
-