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- Blackout 3.0 Information
-
-
- Description and Requirements
- ----------------------------
- Blackout is a game for Microsoft Windows. It is a fun way
- of learning to use a mouse, since the better your mouse
- skills are, the higher your scores are likely to be.
- Blackout should run on any computer with a functioning
- version of Microsoft Windows version 3.0 or greater. A
- mouse or other pointing device is required. Certain
- features of Blackout may only function in Windows version
- 3.1 or greater, since these features require the multimedia
- capabilities of Windows 3.1.
-
- When running under Windows 3.1 on a computer with the
- appropriate sound hardware and software drivers, Blackout
- will allow the player to setup different game sounds, by
- assigning .WAV files to play when different game events
- occur, or by assigning different instrument sounds to
- Blackout's built-in sound effects.
-
-
- Required Files - see below for instructions on VBRUN200.DLL
- -----------------------------------------------------------
- In your Windows system area (usually C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM):
-
- VBRUN200.DLL (NOT supplied with this package)
- THREED.VBX (Supplied with this package)
-
- In a directory of your own choice:
-
- BLACKOUT.EXE (Supplied with this package)
- BLACKOUT.HLP (Supplied with this package)
- README.TXT (Supplied with this package)
-
-
- Optional Files
- --------------
- In a directory of your own choice:
-
- *.WAV files (Supplied with registered version)
-
- (You may use .WAV files you already have, as well)
-
-
- This shareware package
- ----------------------
- The files in this package contain only the Blackout program,
- its help file, this readme file, and the THREED.VBX file
- which is one of the required files to run Blackout.
-
- You will also need a copy of the file VBRUN200.DLL. Because
- of its size, this file is not included, to save the time and
- expense of downloading it if you already have it on your
- system.
-
- If you don't have this file, you will need to get it before
- you can run Blackout. You should be able to find
- VBRUN200.DLL from the same place you got this package.
- VBRUN200.DLL is included with the registered version of
- Blackout, along with some .WAV files suitable for game-
- playing sounds.
-
-
- Installing and Playing Blackout
- -------------------------------
- To install Blackout, copy the BLACKOUT.EXE and BLACKOUT.HLP
- files to a directory of your choice. Copy the THREED.VBX
- file to your Windows system area (usually
- C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM). When you copy the THREED.VBX file to
- your Windows system area, check to make sure you have a copy
- of the file VBRUN200.DLL (VBRUN100.DLL will not work for
- Blackout). If you don't have VBRUN200.DLL, you must get a
- copy before you can run Blackout.
-
- Then, from the Windows Program Manager, do the following:
-
- 1) Select and open a program group for the Blackout icon
- (if you have a Games group, pick it).
-
- 2) Choose the "New" command from Program Manager's "File"
- menu.
-
- 3) Click on the "Program Item" radio button and then click
- the "OK" button.
-
- 4) Tab to the "Command Line" text-entry area, and enter
- the full directory path of the BLACKOUT.EXE file. If
- you placed BLACKOUT.EXE in the directory C:\GAMES, for
- example, you would enter:
-
- C:\GAMES\BLACKOUT.EXE
-
- (Be sure to use the directory you actually copied the
- BLACKOUT.EXE file to, and not just the example above.)
-
- 5) Click the "OK" button.
-
- 6) You should see the Blackout icon appear in Program
- Manager. Double-click the icon to start Blackout.
-
- 7) For help with game play, just press the F1 key or the
- "?" button.
-
- 8) As a quick start, the object of Blackout is to click on
- all the target blocks before all the other blocks turn
- black. If you complete this task, a new level is
- started with more targets.
-
- You can click the "Bonus Blocks" (which look like dice
- surfaces) for extra points. You can click the "Replay
- Arrows" (which look like double-arrows moving across
- your screen) to turn all black blocks back to colored
- ones. You MUST click the "Boogeyman" if he appears (he
- looks like a colored-face with two red eyes), before
- you can continue play.
-
- 9) Blackout is completely configurable - you can change
- game options, the game-grid size, speed and scoring
- rules, and you can activate and deactivate all the
- optional playing elements of Blackout. If you have a
- sound card properly installed and working with Windows,
- you can also assign your own .WAV files for Blackout to
- play for its game sounds, instead of using the built-in
- sound effects.
-
- Search the on-line help system for "configuration" to
- get help with Blackout's game-configuration dialog box.
-
- Search the on-line help system for "sound setup" to get
- help with Blackout's sound-setup dialog box.
-
- You can also get help for these dialog boxes by calling
- them up from the Game menu and pressing F1 for context-
- sensitive help.
-
-
- Registering Blackout
- --------------------
-
- Blackout is not free. It is shareware, which means you can
- try it before you buy it. If you like playing Blackout,
- please support it by registering. Even if you don't
- register Blackout, you may freely copy and distribute this
- Blackout shareware package to others. You may also upload
- this Blackout shareware package to other computer systems,
- as long as you distribute the package with ALL FILES INTACT
- and UNMODIFIED.
-
- You can get information about registering Blackout by
- pressing the Contents button in the Blackout's help system
- and choosing the "How to Register Blackout" topic. You can
- print an order form for Blackout by choosing "Print an Order
- Form" from the help system's contents screen, and following
- the instructions.
-
- Registering Blackout will get you a disk with the current
- version of Blackout and a few good .WAV files for Blackout's
- game sounds. You will also receive a registration number
- that will eliminate Blackout's "pester screen" which is
- displayed when you start a new game, and when you choose the
- "Help/About..." menu command in Blackout.
-
- Registration also includes information on how to get two
- extra buttons on the Blackout toolbar which will make game-
- playing more fun, and information on adding commands to
- Blackout's initialization file, BLACKVB.INI, to change the
- appearance of Blackout's game surface and customize
- Blackout's 3D effects.
-
- END OF README.TXT
-
-