home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Solitaire Suite
-
- Version 1.04
-
- Copyright 1989-92 By
- Randy Rasa
- 18215 Troost
- Olathe, KS 66062
-
-
-
-
- Introduction
- ------------
-
- Solitaire Suite is a collection of seven challenging and addictive
- solitaire card games. It consists of:
-
- - Calculation: Also known as "Broken Intervals", this game requires
- the utmost in skill and logic. It offers challenging but
- rewarding play, and special on-screen assistance to make things a
- little easier.
-
- - Concentration: This is one of the classic solitaires, popular
- with all ages. It is easy enough for children to play, but
- offers enough challenge for adults.
-
- - Idiot's Delight: Also known as "Aces Up", this game is extremely
- simple to play, quite addictive, but maddenly difficult to win.
- Success depends on skill and strategy, but even more on the luck
- of the cards.
-
- - Midnight Oil: Also known as "La Belle Lucie" and "Three Shuffles
- and a Draw", this game is one of the best solitaires, offering
- both challenging play and a reasonable chance to win. It is also
- highly addictive; once you get into it, you'll be "burning the
- midnight oil" more often than not.
-
- - Monte Carlo: Also known as "Weddings" and "Double and Quits",
- this game is easy to learn and simple to play, yet challenging
- and addictive as well. The game offers a reasonable opportunity
- for skill, yet winning often depends as much on luck as making
- the right moves.
-
- - Osmosis: Also known as "Treasure Trove", this solitaire offers an
- attractive layout and a decent chance of success, but requires
- skillful play and a bit of luck to win consistently.
-
- - Royal Cotillion: This is a two-deck solitaire that requires a bit
- of skill and a bit of luck, along with a good measure of
- concentration.
-
- In addition to the seven games, the package also contains a graphical
- front-end menu program called SOLSUITE.EXE.
-
-
- Solitaire Suite Documentation Page 2
-
-
- Legalese
- --------
-
- Solitaire Suite is shareware. As such, you can play it, copy it, and
- give it away as you wish. In fact, you are encouraged to distribute
- the program to friends, family, and strangers alike. This includes
- distribution via electronic bulletin board systems (BBS), user's
- groups, and disk-distribution services. All that I ask is that the
- package remains unaltered and complete, consisting of the following
- files:
-
- SOLSUITE.EXE SOLSUITE.DOC SOLSUITE.ICO
- SOLSUITE.PIF SOLSUITE.PIC SOLSUITE.PCS
- CARDS.CD1 CARDS.CD2 CALC.EXE
- CONCEN.EXE ID.EXE MC.EXE
- MO.EXE OSMOSIS.EXE RC.EXE
- BRUN45.EXE HISTORY.TXT FILE_ID.DIZ
-
- Standard Limited Warranty: This software is sold "as is", without any
- warranty as to performance or any other warranties whether expressed
- or implied. Because of the vast number of possible hardware and
- software environments in which this software may be used, no warranty
- of fitness for a particular purpose is offered. The user assumes the
- entire risk of using this program. Any liability of the author will
- be limited to product replacement or the refund of the registration
- fee.
-
-
- Registration
- ------------
-
- Solitaire Suite is shareware. If you enjoy it, please support it.
- Registration is only $15 for all seven games, which gets you the
- latest registered versions on the diskette of your choice, plus a
- registration code good for all future updates of the programs included
- in this collection.
-
- The registration codes allow you to change a program from a shareware
- version to a registered version. Essentially, what this buys you is
- unlimited "free" updates. If you acquire a newer version of Solitaire
- Suite from a bulletin board (BBS) or through a shareware disk
- distributor, you can convert the shareware versions of all the games
- to registered versions for your own use.
-
- To register, print the registration form from the initial shareware
- screen and send it in. To do print the form, simply select the "Print
- Registration Form ..." button, then select a destination, either to a
- printer or a file. If you elect to send the form to a printer, make
- sure it is on-line and ready. The form should print on any standard
- 80-column printer. If you want to save the form to a file, the file
- "ORDER.FRM" will be created in the current directory. You can then
- print out the registration form by entering the following command from
- the DOS prompt (with your printer connected and ready):
-
-
- Solitaire Suite Documentation Page 3
-
-
- COPY ORDER.FRM PRN
-
- Then just fill out the form and send it, along with cash, check or
- money order, to:
-
- Randy Rasa
- 18215 Troost
- Olathe, KS 66062-9208
-
-
- Program Requirements
- --------------------
-
- Solitaire Suite approximately requires 512K of memory, EGA or higher
- graphics capability, and a Microsoft-compatible mouse. A hard disk is
- recommended.
-
- The files included in the Solitaire Suite package are:
-
- SOLSUITE.EXE ... Solitaire Suite main menu
- SOLSUITE.DOC ... Solitaire Suite documentation (this file)
- SOLSUITE.PIF ... Windows PIF (Program Information File)
- SOLSUITE.ICO ... Windows icon
- SOLSUITE.PIC ... Solitaire Suite graphics
- SOLSUITE.PCS ... Solitaire Suite graphics
- CARDS.CD1 ...... Card Graphics
- CARDS.CD2 ...... Card Graphics
- CALC.EXE ....... Calculation
- CONCEN.EXE ..... Concentration
- ID.EXE ......... Idiot's Delight
- MC.EXE ......... Monte Carlo
- MO.EXE ......... Midnight Oil
- OSMOSIS.EXE .... Osmosis
- RC.EXE ......... Royal Cotillion
- BRUN45.EXE ..... Run-Time library
- HISTORY.TXT .... Program histories
- FILE_ID.DIZ .... Program description
-
-
- General Instructions
- --------------------
-
- The mouse pointer will appear as a white arrow with black edges. In
- general, the left button is used to select the object being pointed to
- (a card or a button), while the right button is used to exit menus or
- prompts.
-
- If you have a three-button mouse, the middle button will blank the
- screen. This can also be accomplished by pressing the left and right
- buttons simultaneously.
-
- The "Options" button brings up the options menu, which you can use to
- set your preferences for both generic and game-specific options. The
- generic options are:
-
-
- Solitaire Suite Documentation Page 4
-
-
-
- Sound: Select "Off" to disable the beeps, clicks, and various other
- noises the programs make. Select "On" to enable the sounds.
-
- Session Statistics: When this option is set to "On", the program
- will keep track of your statistics (games played, games won,
- change in average score) throughout the game and then display
- them when you quit. (Note: During play, you can also display
- the session statistics by clicking on the score box.) This
- option does not apply to Concentration.
-
- Background Color: Click on the up & down arrows to step through the
- available background colors.
-
- Card Back: Click on the card back graphic to bring up a menu of
- available card backs to choose from. This option does not apply
- to Midnight Oil.
-
- Once you've set things to your liking, you may click on the "OK"
- button to save your preferences to disk, or on the "Cancel" button to
- exit the Options menu without changing anything.
-
- The "Help" button brings up several pages of information about how to
- play the games, which you can view by clicking on the "Next" or "Prev"
- buttons to move from page to page. When you are finished reading the
- help, click on the "Done" button to exit.
-
- The "New Game" button will end the current game, update your
- statistics, and start a new game. Note that the stats will only be
- updated if you have made moves that increased your score. This allows
- you to evaluate the layout of the cards and, if you don't like what
- you see, to begin a new game without having it count against you.
-
- Use the "Quit" button to exit the program. If you have made any moves
- that increased your score, your statistics will be updated and
- displayed briefly before returning you to DOS. Another way to exit
- the game is to press the "Abort" key (F10). If you press F10 (and
- select the "Exit This Program" option in the pop-up dialog box or
- press F10 again), the program will quit to DOS without saving the data
- file (and thus not giving you a low score if you have to quit the
- program in the middle of a game). Of course you realize this is
- cheating, don't you?
-
-
- How To Play ...
- ---------------
-
- Calculation
- -----------
-
- Calculation uses a standard 52-card deck (no jokers). To begin the
- game the deck is shuffled, then any ace, two, three, and four are
- pulled from the deck and form the start of four foundations. These
- foundations are built up according to the following sequence,
-
-
- Solitaire Suite Documentation Page 5
-
-
- regardless of suit or color:
-
- A,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,J,Q,K
- 2,4,6,8,10,Q,A,3,5,7,9,J,K
- 3,6,9,Q,2,5,8,J,A,4,7,10,K
- 4,8,Q,3,7,J,2,6,10,A,5,9,K
-
- Cards are turned up from the deck on at a time, and can be played
- on the foundations or on any of four wastepiles located just below
- the foundations. The top of the wastepiles are always available
- for play to a foundation, but once a card is played to a wastepile,
- it cannot be moved again, except to a foundation.
-
- The game is won by building all four foundations up to king. The
- skill involved in playing Calculation, in addition to just keeping
- track of what card goes next on each foundation, is in avoiding
- covering up a card you'll need soon with a card that cannot be used
- for some time, if at all. Kings are especially troublesome, since
- they cannot be moved until at least one foundation has been fully
- built up.
-
- The general strategy is to build on the wastepiles in descending
- order, but the cards are seldom so kind as to allow this to any
- great degree.
-
- Calculation Options:
-
- Assist: When this is set "On" the next card in each sequence
- will be displayed above each foundation to help you keep
- track of what comes next.
-
- Calculation Buttons:
-
- Same Hand: By clicking on this button you can abandon the
- current game and redeal the same hand if you want another
- crack at it.
-
- Undo: This button allows you to undo (ie: take back) up to ten
- moves.
-
-
- Concentration
- -------------
-
- Concentration uses a standard 52-card deck (no jokers). To begin
- the game the deck is shuffled, then dealt face-down in four rows of
- thirteen cards each.
-
- The object of the game is to remove all the cards, two at a time,
- by pairs. You may select any two cards. As you do so, they will
- be turned over (face-up). If they match (that is, if they are of
- the same rank, regardless of suit), then they will be removed,
- otherwise they will be turned back over.
-
-
- Solitaire Suite Documentation Page 6
-
-
- Some people select cards at ramdom, others move sequentially from
- one card to the next in row or column fashion. Either way will
- work -- use whatever method helps you to remember where cards have
- appeared.
-
- Note that this game is the opposite of most in that a low score is
- desireable -- you want to be able to remove all cards in as few
- attempts as possible. Though becoming proficient at this game is
- dependent to a large degree on strengthening your short-term
- memory, luck plays a role as well. A good score requires both
- skill and luck.
-
- Concentration Options:
-
- Multi-Player Mode: Concentration has a option called "Multi-
- Player Mode", which enables up to ten people (or one person
- playing under ten names) to keep their statistics in the same
- data file. When this mode is enabled, you will be presented
- with a menu at the beginning of each game, from which you may
- select an existing player, add a new player, or delete an old
- player from the list. Each player's name can be up to
- fifteen character long. In addition to keeping separate
- statistics for each player, this mode allows a different
- setup for each player as well. This means that each player
- can have his or her own screen color, card back, and sound
- selection. When multi-player mode is disabled, the game will
- not bring up the player list for each new game. The
- configuration options set in this mode will serve as defaults
- for any new players which are added in multi-player mode.
-
- Quick Deal: When this is turned on the cards will be dealt a bit
- faster.
-
-
- Idiot's Delight
- ---------------
-
- Idiot's Delight uses a standard 52-card deck (no jokers), with aces
- ranked high, above kings. The game is begun by dealing four cards
- in a row. You may discard any card that is lower than another card
- of the same suit. When no more cards can be removed, deal four
- more cards onto the remainder of the previous deal and remove all
- possible cards. If a pile is completely depleted, you can move a
- card from the top of another pile into the space.
-
- The game continues in this way, dealing four cards at a time, then
- removing all possible cards. The game is won if only the four aces
- are left at the end of the game.
-
- Be very careful of which card you move into spaces. The natural
- inclination is to move aces into spaces as soon as possible, but
- often it is advisable to consider other possibilities, depending on
- what cards can be freed up with each move.
-
-
- Solitaire Suite Documentation Page 7
-
-
- If the "Assist" option is enabled, a box will appear above the
- cards saying "More Moves Possible" is there is at least one more
- move available. It might be a good idea to enable this feature if
- you find yourself missing obvious moves once in a while.
-
- Note: The four cards are dealt from the deck by clicking on the
- card back (there is no "Deal" button).
-
- Idiot's Delight Options:
-
- Assist Option: When this option is turned "On", you will be
- alerted when more moves are possible.
-
- Idiot's Delight Buttons:
-
- Same Hand: By clicking on this button you can abandon the
- current game and redeal the same hand if you want another
- crack at it.
-
- Undo: This button allows you to undo (ie: take back) up to ten
- moves.
-
-
- Monte Carlo
- -----------
-
- Monte Carlo uses a standard 52-card deck (no jokers). To begin the
- game the deck is shuffled, then dealt face-up, one card at a time,
- into five rows of five cards each (the tableau), with the remainder
- of the deck held in reserve for later play.
-
- The object of the game is to remove pairs of cards from the
- tableau. These cards can be any combination of colors, but must be
- of the same rank (eg: a 3 of hearts and a 3 of spades), and must be
- located adjacent to each other in a row, column or diagonal. Note
- that the removal of a card does not make the two cards beside it
- "adjacent".
-
- After removing all possible pairs, the tableau must be
- consolidated, which means that the remaining cards in the tableau
- must be "backed up" (moved to the left, then up, keeping the
- original order) to fill in the blank spaces created by the removed
- pairs. Cards from the reserve are then dealt into the newly-
- created spaces and the process of removing pairs begins again. The
- tableau can be consolidated and re-dealt as many times as
- necessary.
-
- The game is won when the entire deck has been removed, or lost when
- no more moves can be made.
-
- The Undo feature can be used to "un-remove" cards (that is, to
- return them to the screen sfter they've been removed). The program
- keeps an undo buffer that contains all the cards that have been
- removed since the last deal. You can pull these cards back into
-
-
- Solitaire Suite Documentation Page 8
-
-
- play by pressing the right mouse button or clicking on the "Undo"
- button. The buffer is "last-in-first-out" -- the last cards you've
- removed from the screen will be the first cards returned. The only
- limitation to the undo feature is that it cannot go back further
- than the last deal. So once you remove some cards and press
- "Deal", they're gone for good.
-
- Monte Carlo Buttons:
-
- Deal: This button will initiate a re-deal, in which the cards
- remaining in the tableau are consolidated, and new cards are
- dealt from the reserve.
-
- Hint: Selecting this button will cause the program to step
- through all the possible pairs in the tableau. After each
- pair is displayed, you will be asked to continue (press the
- left mouse button), or exit (right mouse button). If no
- pairs can be made, a "No more pairs" message will be
- displayed.
-
- Same Hand: By clicking on this button you can abandon the
- current game and redeal the same hand if you want another
- crack at it.
-
- Undo: This button allows you to undo (ie: take back) up to ten
- moves.
-
-
- Midnight Oil
- ------------
-
- Midnight Oil uses a standard 52-card deck (no jokers). To begin
- the game the deck is shuffled, then dealt face-up, one card at a
- time, into seventeen piles of three cards each. The last card is
- placed by itself as an eighteenth pile. These piles are also known
- as "fans".
-
- The object of the game is to move all of the cards from the
- eighteen fans into four new piles, arranged by suit, in order from
- Ace (low) to King (high). These four destination piles are known
- as the "foundations". Only the top card of each fan is available
- for play.
-
- In addition to moving cards from fans to foundations, cards can
- also be moved from one fan to another, building down in suit. In
- this way submerged cards can be freed up for play to the
- foundations or to other fans. Once a fan becomes empty (which will
- be represented my a dashed line where the fan was), no moves can be
- made to that fan.
-
- When you have made all the moves you can, from the fans to the
- foundations and from fan to fan, the remaining cards in all the
- fans may be reshuffled and re-dealt in the same manner as at the
- beginning of the game (three cards to a fan). In all, the deck may
-
-
- Solitaire Suite Documentation Page 9
-
-
- be shuffled three times (once to begin the game, and twice more
- during the game).
-
- At some point during the game, you may draw one submerged card from
- a fan and play it on any valid foundation or fan. It is generally
- better to save this draw for as long as possible.
-
- You can point to one of the foundations and click the mouse button
- to initiate "manual-auto" mode. This function is, as the name
- inplies, a cross between manual mode and automatic mode. When you
- click on a foundation, the fans are scanned for possible moves, and
- any valid moves to that foundation will be made automatically.
-
-
- Midnight Oil Options:
-
- Auto Mode: When this is set to "On", the program will attempt to
- move cards from the fans to the foundations automatically.
- This will relieve you from having to worry about missing
- obvious moves, so that you can concentrate on strategy. When
- this is set to "Off", the game is essentially in manual mode,
- and you will need to make all moves to the foundations by
- yourself. This option is provided for those traditional-
- minded souls who might consider auto mode to be cheating.
-
- Auto Speed: This allows you to adjust how fast the cards are
- played in auto mode. Click on the left and right arrows to
- move the pointer along the scale from "Slower" to "Faster".
- At the fastest setting, cards are moved as fast as possible
- (a blur of action). The slowest setting is "single-step"
- mode, in which you will be prompted before each automatic
- move. You will need to experiment to find an acceptable
- setting for your computer.
-
- Trefoil Option: 'Trefoil' is the name of a variation of Midnight
- Oil in which all the aces are placed on the appropriate
- foundations at the start of the game. This is supposed to
- make the game a little easier to win, since there are four
- fewer cards to move to foundations. If you change the
- Trefoil option while a game is already in progress, you'll
- have to finish the current game before the change takes
- effect.
-
- Replay Option: When this option is turned "On", you will have
- the choice of whether or not you want to replay a game that
- you have lost.
-
- Easy Mode: When this option is set "On", then a special
- algorithm will be used when shuffling the deck. Essentially,
- it will prevent lower cards of a particular suit from being
- buried by higher cards of the same suit. This will have the
- effect of removing most of the potential blocks in the game.
- in this mode you will still not win every game, but it's the
- closest thing I've seen to a sure thing. This mode is set as
-
-
- Solitaire Suite Documentation Page 10
-
-
- the default the first time the program is run.
-
- Midnight Oil Buttons:
-
- Shuffle: This button will initiate a shuffling of the deck, in
- which all of the cards in the fans are picked up, shuffled,
- and then re-dealt. If no shuffles are left, the program will
- display the message "No shuffles left".
-
- Draw: When you select this button, you will be asked to select a
- pile (fan) to draw from. When you select a fan, it will be
- displayed in the lower right corner of the screen, and you
- will be allowed to select one card from that fan to draw. If
- you change your mind and decide that you don't want to draw a
- card after all, press the right button to exit draw mode. If
- you select a card, it will be removed from the fan and
- displayed in the lower right corner of the screen, and you
- will be prompted to select a destination. Point to the
- desired fan or foundation and press the left mouse button to
- move the drawn card to the selected fan or foundation.
-
- Peek: This is similar to a draw, in that an entire fan will be
- displayed in the lower left corner of the screen, but you are
- only allowed to look, not touch. To exit peek mode press the
- right mouse button twice. You can also peek at a pile by
- clicking the right mouse button while pointing at the desired
- pile.
-
- Undo: This button allows you to undo (ie: take back) any number
- of moves from one fan to another, from a fan to a foundation,
- or a draw. You cannot undo a shuffle.
-
-
- Osmosis
- -------
-
- Osmosis uses a standard 52-card deck (no jokers). To begin the
- game the deck is shuffled, then four piles of four cards each are
- dealt at the left. The piles form the reserve, and the top card of
- each is available for play.
-
- One card is dealt to the right of the first reserve, forming the
- first foundation. As the other cards of the same rank become
- available, they may be played in a column below the first
- foundation, forming the other three foundations.
-
- Cards are dealt from the deck three at a time, with only the top
- card available for play to the foundations.
-
- Foundations are built in suit, regardless of order. On the first
- foundation, any card of the same suit may built as soon as it
- becomes available. On each lower foundation, a card may be built
- only if a card of the same rank has been built on the foundation
- above it.
-
-
- Solitaire Suite Documentation Page 11
-
-
-
- For example, if the first foundation card is a three of hearts,
- then any heart can be played on the first foundation as soon as it
- becomes available, say, for illustration, the seven and nine. Now
- suppose the second foundation is the three of clubs. If the seven
- or nine of clubs become available, they can be played on the second
- foundation, but no other club can be played until the corresponding
- heart has been built.
-
- When all cards have been dealt from the deck, you may redeal as
- often as you like, until either the game is won (by moving all
- cards to the foundations) or lost (no more moves can be made.
-
- When the "peek" option is enabled, the reserves will be spread out
- so that all of their cards can be seen. This allows you to spot
- any potential blocks before beginning the game. The situation to
- look out for is two cards of the same rank in the same reserve
- pile, especially is the lower card is of the first foundation suit.
- If this is the case then the game is hopeless, at least as far as
- winning, though you can still play it and perhaps even reach a
- respectable score.
-
- Note: to deal cards from the deck, simply click on the card back.
- When the deck is exhausted, click it again to gather the cards back
- up in preparation for a redeal.
-
- Osmosis Options:
-
- Peek: When this is set "On" the reserve piles will be spread out
- so that all cards can be seen, thus helping you spot and
- perhaps avoid blocks.
-
- Darken Filled Foundations: When this option is set to "On", a
- filled foundation will be "darkened", otherwise, if it is set
- "Off", the foundation will be overwritten by the word
- "COMPLETE". Either way, the purpose is to show that all
- necessary cards have been moved to that foundation. Which
- method you want to use is up to you.
-
- Move Alert: When this option is turned on, the program will
- alert you to any available moves by displaying a message
- above the deck saying "Move Possible". Note that this is
- only an information message -- you are not required to make a
- move when one is available. The lay of the cards in the
- reserve piles may make some available moves ill-advised; use
- your own judgement.
-
- Osmosis Buttons:
-
- Same Hand: By clicking on this button you can abandon the
- current game and redeal the same hand if you want another
- crack at it.
-
- Undo: This button allows you to undo (ie: take back) up to ten
-
-
- Solitaire Suite Documentation Page 12
-
-
- moves.
-
-
-
- Royal Cotillion
- ---------------
-
- Royal Cotillion uses two standard 52-card decks (no jokers) dealt
- together. The game is begun by dealing twelve cards in three rows
- of four cards each, forming the left tableau. The right wing of
- the tableau is formed by dealing four rows of four cards each. The
- foundations are formed in two columns between the left and right
- tableau.
-
- Foundations are formed in the following sequences for each suit:
-
- A,3,5,7,9,J,K,2,4,6,8,10,Q
- 2,4,6,8,10,Q,A,3,5,7,9,J,K
-
- In the left wing of the tableau, only the bottom card of each
- column is available for play, and spaces are never filled. In the
- right wing, all cards are available, and spaces are filled
- immediately from the wastepile, or, if there is none, from the
- deck.
-
- Cards are turned up from the deck one at a time, and may be played
- either to the foundations or the wastepile. The top card of the
- wastepile is always available for play.
-
- The game is one if all eight foundations are completed, or lost if
- a block is reached.
-
- It is advisable, if you have a choice, to play from the left wing
- first, thus freeing up additional cards. In the right wing, you
- should not make a move merely because you can. It is better to
- wait to make a space until a desirable card to save turns up.
-
- Royal Cotillion has a "semi-automatic" mode that you can invoke by
- clicking on one of the foundations when no card is selected. The
- program will then look through the left and right wings of the
- tableau, plus the wastepile and top card of the deck, and make any
- moves it can to the foundation you select. Take care when using
- this feature, though -- the program may not always make the optimal
- choice.
-
- Royal Cotillion also has a "peek" feature, which can be used to
- view the contents of the deck or wastepile. Simply position the
- mouse pointer over the deck or wastepile and click the right mouse
- button.
-
- Royal Cotillion Options:
-
- Automatic Dealing: If this is set "On", then cards will be
- turned from the deck automatically. Otherwise, if this
-
-
- Solitaire Suite Documentation Page 13
-
-
- option is "Off", you must click on the deck to turn up new
- cards.
-
- Move Alert: When this option is turned on, the program will
- alert you to any available moves by displaying a message next
- to the deck saying "Move". Note that this is only an
- information message -- you are not required to make a move
- when one is available.
-
- Royal Cotillion Buttons:
-
- Undo: This button simply "takes back" one move (deck-to-
- wastepile, tableau-to-foundation, etc.). The number of times
- that this can be done defaults to ten. A command-line option
- can be used to set the number of undo levels to any number up
- to 200, though you may run out of memory at higher values.
- Use the command-line option "/Uxxx", where "xxx" is a number
- from 1 to 200. For example, to set Royal Cotillion to use a
- 100-level undo, use "/U100" on the command line.
-
- Same Hand: By clicking on this button you can abandon the
- current game and redeal the same hand if you want another
- crack at it.
-
-
- Running Under Windows
- ---------------------
-
- Solitaire Suite, while not a Microsoft Windows program, can be run
- from Windows. The program must be run in full-screen mode and if
- you're running in 386 enhanced mode the "High Graphics" (under
- Advanced Options ... Display Options ... Monitor Ports in the PIF
- editor) should be turned off. The included SOLSUITE.PIF file should
- help. In addition, adding the following two line to the [386enh]
- section of the SYSTEM.INI file may help improve performace of
- Solitaire Suite under Windows:
-
- TrapTimerPorts=off
- SyncTime=on
-
- I've also included a Solitaire Suite icon (SOLSUITE.ICO) which you can
- use in the Program Manager. There's not room for all the details of
- setting up this program for Windows, but you should be able to figure
- it out.
-
- Command-Line Options
- --------------------
-
- All of the individual games share common command line options:
-
- /NC -- "No Cheat" option disables the F10 (abort) key. Use this if
- you find yourself unable to resist temptation.
-
- /LCD -- This option may improve the screen display on monochrome LCD
-
-
- Solitaire Suite Documentation Page 14
-
-
- displays. This option simply changes a few color combinations
- to improve contrast on LCDs.
-
- /Rxxxxxx -- This option is used to convert the shareware version of a
- program to a registered version. Refer to "A Note To
- Registered Users" at the end of this document for more
- information.
-
- /SW -- This option is used to convert a registered version to a
- shareware version.
-
- filename.ext -- This option is for alternate data files (see
- discussion below).
-
-
- Statistics
- ----------
-
- Each of the games keeps track of the score (the number of cards you've
- moved to foundations) and the number of shuffles and draws you have
- left during the course of the game. Also displayed are the total
- number of games you've played, the number of games you've won
- (expressed as both a number and a percentage, and your average score.
- At the end of each game, the statistics are written to disk, either in
- the default filename.DAT (where "filename" is CALC, CONCEN, ID, etc.)
- or in the data file specified on the command line. The data file also
- contains the preferences you set in the options menu.
-
- To specify a data file on the command line, start up a game with the
- following syntax (for example, using Calculation):
-
- CALC filename.ext
-
- This allows several different people to use the same copy of the game
- on the same machine, yet keep separate statistics for each person.
- For example, suppose three people (Tom, Dick, and Harry) played the
- game at various times on the same machine. They could each easily
- keep personalized data files, containing their scores and preferences.
- Tom would use his data file by typing:
-
- CALC TOM.DAT
-
- Likewise, Dick and Harry could have data files called DICK.DAT and
- HARRY.DAT. Note that the "DAT" extension could be "SCR" or "HGH", or
- whatever, as long as it is three letters or less.
-
-
- A Note To Registered Users
- --------------------------
-
- The registration procedure allows previously-registered users to
- update new versions from shareware to registered versions by entering
- a special 'registration code' that was included as part of your order.
- Run the shareware version of the program with an "/R" command-line
-
-
- Solitaire Suite Documentation Page 15
-
-
- switch, followed by the registration code, like this:
-
- CALC /Rxxxxxx
-
- You would, of course use the proper registration code in place of the
- "xxxxxx". Note also that there should be no space between the "R" and
- the registration code. After running each of the games with /R switch
- and the proper code, you'll have brand-spanking new registered
- versions of the programs. What this essentially amounts to is
- unlimited, free updates with each registration.
-
- The registration procedure has the following limitations:
-
- 1. The name of the EXE files must be correct (i.e. as specified at
- the beginning of this document).
-
- 2. You cannot perform the registration procedure on a compressed
- version (i.e. an EXE file processed with PKLite, Diet, or
- LZEXE). The EXE file may be compressed after the registration
- procedure, but not before.
-
- 3. Please do not distribute registered versions of the programs.
-
-
- Note: You can also change the programs back to shareware versions by
- using the "/SW" command-line switch. This function is subject
- to the same limitations as with the registration procedure (ie:
- the programs must be properly named and uncompressed). Please
- use this option to "un-register" the programs if you wish to
- pass them along to anyone. Also, please include all of the
- files listed under the "Legalese" section of this document.
- Thanks.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- >>> THE END <<<