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The FP Editor Version 2.0 by: Brett W. Lathrope, Sr. 6330 Lincoln Ave P.O. Box 239 Cypress, Ca. 90630 Or % Dennis Reed Compuserve # 74436,1303 REVISION 2.0 **** Notes **** This version has the Green Garage Problem fixed. That I know of, this was the only problem that existed. In order to fix it, it was necessary to go out to disk and read in a map.......for some reason this is the only way I can get the variable that holds the map to initialize properly. The added fix increases the startup time about 3 seconds. In addition, I have added prompts for single drive users to get the proper disk in the drive at the correct time. If you don't get the correct disk in the drive at the correct time, the system will exit to the Workbench menu and prompt you for it. Don't panic, just close the window your in, click the depth gadget on the Workbench bar, and then click the FP window itself. ***** End revision notes ***** Neither the Author of this application, or the companies who created, own, or distribute the tools used to create this application, or MicroIllusions are responsible for any damage or loss of data, by software or hardware, that is the result of using this application. In other words, YOU USE THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK!! We have easily created 60+ maps with this program and have not harmed our FirePower disk in any way. But, do be aware THIS PROGRAM INTENIONALLY OVER-WRITES THE MAPS SUPPLIED ON THE FIREPOWER DISK YOU PURCHASED! I would never suggest that you copy the FirePower disk, it is copyrighted, and copy-protected, but obviously I am able to read the maps on that disk, so use your head and read between the lines! *** THIS IS SHARE-WARE SOFTWARE *** I am asking for $5.00 if you feel this program is worth it. But, PLEASE READ THIS: If you really don't have the money, or you really don't feel it is worth it, then accept this as a gift from me......I have been short on funds myself, and I wouldn't ask you to pay for something you don't feel is worth it. Please.... I don't want anyone going to confession because he/she thinks they are a software pirate! To be quite honest, I'm only trying to pay for the compiler I purchased, and to justify all the time I spent to my wife (yes! I wear the pants in my family.....she picks 'em out every morning!!!). One other item while I have the SOAP BOX....I am a Regional Systems Manager, and Programmer Analyst, for a a well known Hand-Held, Barcode Reading, computer manu- facturer. So, you would immediately think I am anti- software piracy.....to be quite honest I have not taken sides in the issue either way. I have some real concerns and questions about an industry, that for the most part, asks a customer to lay down a day's pay for a product that usually cannot be tested before purchase, and will defen- ately not be refunded if the customer doesn't like the product, or if the product doesn't live up to the hype on the container it is sold in (which is usually the case)! But, when it comes to FirePower from MicroIllusions, there is no justification for pirating this software...... MicroIllusions has destroyed any arguement used by pirates, by supplying a Good game at an exceptionally reasonable price, and there is no hype on the container except what the product does! No, I don't have connections with the product or the company, but dog-gone-it, this is simply good software at a good price! There...I said it, now let's get to the fun..... If you have FirePower and you enjoy this type of game then you probably already know all the maps..... Or, would like to try your hand at creating your own maps....I fell into both categories. Some represenatives of MicroIllusions had stated at a local Amiga Show that they would be coming out with additional maps......well I waited, and I waited, and I waited......then I took the bull by the horns, and this is the result. Hey guys, if you are coming out with maps ....where are they? I wish to thank my friend Dennis Reed for putting up with my growling when he found bugs during his hours of play testing.....if it were not for him this project would have ended up as a quick and dirty tool kept in my drawer. Stop with the Academy Award speeches and get on with it you say? O.K.....O.K. ADVANCED USERS: The program is a stand alone, requiring only the space for it, and enough space for two other files that are 4096 bytes each (explained later). It does require at least a 512k machine, and I would not run any background applications due to the event trapping going on with the mouse. NOVICE USERS: You'll need a Blank Disk. Have you got it? Good! Now make a copy of your Workbench Disk......How you say? Refer to your manual that came with you Amiga!!! Now....Rename your "copy of Workbench 1.2" to: "FPEditor" Please make sure you name it exactly, so that the system can find the disk by it's name not by DRIVE! If you don't name it correctly, the program won't work! Simple eh? Now, open your FPEditor disk (double click it). Set your preferences to what ever you wish, and save the settings. Make sure you have the CLI option "ON". ....now click your Preferences Icon once, and then select DISCARD from the system menus. Click "OK" in the requester box to actually delete it. Now click the Utilities drawer Icon once, and discard it. Now click the Systems drawer Icon once and discard it. Now double click the CLI Icon......when you get the '1>' prompt, type the following..... 'CD FPEditor' 'CD c' 'DELETE ED' 'DELETE EDIT' 'ENDCLI' You should now be looking at the FPEditor window. Copy all the files pertaining to this application to to the FPEditor disk. Now open the FPEditor Disk (if not already open), and move all the Icons around the way you want and then 'SNAPSHOT' it. You are ready to Rock n' Roll! If you have had any problems, refer to your manual, and remember this; All that we are trying to accomplish is to make a Workbench disk named "FPEditor" and make enough room for the Program itself, this doc if you want it....and enough extra room for two files that are 4096 bytes each.... SINGLE DRIVE SYSTEMS My first comment to you is that you should buy a second drive....No, not for my program, but for your own sanity! You can use this system just fine on single drive systems, but the responsibility to swap disks is one you.......ie. if you are going to read or write a map, make sure the proper disk is in the drive before you make the command selection! It's not that I don't care about you, but I really don't know if anyone will even want this program, and most people have two drives.... MULTIPLE DRIVE SYSTEMS You'll want to boot on the FPEditor Disk, and place the FirePower disk in one of the other drives. All disks are referenced by name, not drive number, so you need not worry about who, what, when, or where! A Discussion about FIREPOWER I'm not going to discuss how to play, or the scenario of FirePower, but I am going to discuss some of the ins and outs of designing a map, which requires some discussion of how the program works and reacts. FIRST, you need to understand that the maps are a 64X64 grid map. Meaning it is 64 blocks wide by 64 blocks long. It is a wrap around map, in that you could drive you tank off the map and you come back on the opposit side. SECOND, the FirePower disk has three directories, that are named "MAPP1","MAPP2", and "MAPP3". The best I can figure out, MAPP1 is the five maps for the single player mode, MAPP2 is the five maps for the two player mode, and MAPP3 is the single map for modem play. Now I'm 90% sure this is correct, but I've been in the computer business too long to put money on it. Also, I have not tried changing the Modem map and playing it.....I don't know if the modem mode is map dependant....I would be interested in some feed back. THIRD, the FirePower program appears to select the appropriate Directory and randomly select which map it will use....unless your in modem play in which case there is only one map to choose. If you've been playing FirePower, you have probably noticed that in the single player mode you tend to get a particular map alot of the time. That's because; of the five maps in the single player directory, three of them are the same map! Don't ask me why? FORTH, the FirePower program loads the map, and then proceeds to do a couple of things. One of them is to do the mine placement. In doing this, it scans the map looking for sectors that are roads (and possibly blank areas), and randomly places a mine, continually looping through the map from first cell to last and then starting over until it has placed all the mines it has. Now, what this means for the map designer is that if you choose not to put any roads in you map, the program will go into a endless loop looking for roads to place the mines on.....never finding a road, it will never terminate the loop. It will appear to your player that the program has hung (crashed!). FIFTH, the program has to have a GARAGE for each side, a FIRST AID STATION for each side, and a FLAG HOUSE for each side. There are exceptions, but don't take any chances, just give the system these six buildings (minimum) and let it do it's job. SIXTH, you can give multiple GARAGES, FLAG BUILDINGS, and FIRST AID STATIONS....but be aware, that if you give the program multiple occurances of the above buildings, it appears that the system randomly selects where your 'home' garage is, and randomly selects which flag building it will place the flag in.....First aide stations appear to work exactly alike no matter how many there are. Now, this can work to your advantage if used correctly, in that it randomly puts your player in a differnt location at times, sometimes requiring the player to get orientated before proceeding on the mission. SEVENTH, each sector is a sprite. Even when you blow up a wall or a building, the destroyed image is simply a sprite (I use sprite as a word for conception, not, literally, as I have no idea the method used), that replaces the original. When I originally wrote this editor, it gave the user the ability to place exploded walls and building on the map before the game had started. This option was not useful, it required precious space in my source code and on the user screen and it removed something from the game. After all, most of us use the exploded buildings and walls to keep track of where we've been, and should the map designer start throwing in random junk it makes it hard (if not impossible) to follow the trail we've already 'blazed'. But.....getting back to the sprite issue....beside the items already identified as sprites, so are the little men, the blood spots, the shells as they fly through the air and the Helicopters. So what? Well, if you design a map that is too dense (no I don't mean stupid!!, in other words too many items on the screen at one time......)the program will "bog" down to an annoying point. There are a couple of places in the current FirePower maps that this occures.....No, it wasn't your computer going to 'South Hackensack'! Its just so much going on at one time, that the system can't handle it. Keep this in mind when you decide to build a wall of field guns, it will make your map un-enjoyable. *** THE FPEDITOR PROGRAM *** The program is written in Basic. Why, because I do not subscribe to the idea that Basic is a NOVICE or "below me" language. I am competent in 'C', PASCAL, COBOL, and four other proprietary system languages, and I like basic! I use computers for work, so, when I get home I don't want to have to aggrevate myself with the poor 'C' compilers that are on the market for the Amiga. Borland are you listening? Lattice.....get the hint guys? I used Absoft's A/C Basic to compile the AmigaBasic source code. Originally I intended to release this as an AmigaBasic source listing, but it was far too slow in displaying the sections (Now all the 'C' guys are in the corner saying: 'Tee hee hee'). This, is the reason I made this share-ware, and the fact that I only intended on spending about three hours for a quick and dirty (That's why basic guys!), and my pal Dennis (I use the term 'pal' loosely) talked me into cleaning it up for release, and promised me millions of dollars in share-ware contributions. I now have about three weeks of evenings spent and my wife has been getting mail from a lawyer lately. The program itself is very simply to use. Simply boot it up and slip your keyboard under your Amiga (if you have a 1000, tee hee hee), everything from here on out is mouse driven. The first thing you will see is the screen that blows my horn for me, and the Absoft license agreement statement. By the way, I highly recommend the A/C Basic compiler....it is a fine product that can be used by the total Novice, and has features that will more than satisfy the Advanced user. After the title page, the screen will clear, and groups of graphic symbols will be drawn around the screen. Let's look at this screen......this is where you will work from during your entire session. By the way, don't 'wig out' because I change your colors, they will be set back to the original Preferences settings when we leave the program. Besides, one of the advantages of being the programmer is being able to choose the colors you like. If you click and hold down the right mouse button, you will see the menus at the top of the screen. The first menu is "Quit". If you go to that menu, you will see the option, "LEAVE FP EDITOR". If you select it, that is exactly what will happen, you will return to the Workbench screen or the CLI (oh...I forgot, you can run this from CLI). If you select this option before saving an edited map, you work becomes history! IT WILL NOT ASK YOU IF YOU WANT TO SAVE YOUR WORK BEFORE LEAVING! I hate requestors, and its my program!! The second menu is the READ menu. Let's look at it. I believe the first few options are self expalnatory. But look at the three CREATE options. The first creates a totally blank map. The second creates a map that contains only trees. And the third creates a map that contains a mixture of open (blank) spaces and Trees. The CREATE options are used when you wish to create a map from scratch. There will be no buildings, walls, or guns! The next option in the READ menu is the IN PROCESS selection. This is a "SAVE MAP" option. Once you start to create your maps, you find that it takes a bit of time to do it right. But, you may want to play FIREPOWER between when you start and finish a map. This option allows that by saving the current map (the one you have currently loaded at the time) to the FPEditor disk as 'FP.sav'. The last option is FOUNDATION. I added this little options for the following: I wanted to create five maps for the single player mode that were similar but not exactly alike (add a twist of confusion). Create a General foundation of what you want your map to be like, and then make subtle changes, and save them to the FIREPOWER disk in what ever order you wish. NOTE: I have not supplied an IN PROCESS file or a FOUNDATION file, so if you try to load one of them before you have saved a map to those files (see below on how to write a map), you will get a UNKNOWN FILE error and the program will exit. The next menu is the WRITE menu. This is where you save your map. I believe all the options are self explan- itory with the following exceptions. When you write the IN PROCESS or the FOUNDATION, your file (map) will go to the FPEditor disk (the one you are using for Workbench). All other WRITE selections will be written to the FirePower Disk. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE PROPER DISK AVAILIBLE IF YOU ARE USING A ONE DRIVE SYSTEM....If you have a two drive system just make sure you have the FirePower disk in one of the external drives. The next menu is the DISPLAY menu. READ THIS! I default to section 1. Section 1 is the first twenty- two lines of the map (22 X 64). Section 2 is lines 22 through 44, and Section 3 is lines 42 through 64. As you might be able to tell, this system allows at least a one line overlap. It does not allow for an over lap between the first line of Section 1 and the last line of Section 3. If you don't understand what I am saying don't worry about it, you'll be cussing me soon enough!! If the share-ware response is there, I will add this option. I am not saying this as a come on, I will do it.....but I didn't need it the way I create my maps, and to add this will take a considerable amount of time (about three or four days of solid coding, because it will require that I completely restructure my display routines). And it will probably increase the program size by about 3k. By selecting Section X, you will cause the program to display that portion of the map. The GRID ON and GRID OFF options will draw or remove a grid that can be used for placement. The REDRAW option is there for what should never happen. If you select this option, It will completely clear the screen, and redraw it. The AUTODISPLAY if selected will cause the program to automatically draw the designated Section after a map has been read or created. The last menu, MAP REPORT, will count each sector of your map and give you a report back on how many Road, Buildings, Guns.....etc you have used. It will also show you percentages where appropriate to help keep your map balanced. *** The Pieces *** The graphic symbols along the bottom and the right side are the pieces you use to edit and create your maps. Simply point to the piece you want, click the left mouse button, and you will have selected that piece. For verification and reference, I draw a CURRENT SELECTION representation of what you have selected at the bottom/center of the screen. Once you have selected the piece you want, simply point to the cell in the map that you want it to be placed at. That's all there is to it! *** The WAIT/GO Bar *** There will be several times (such as drawing a blank Section) that you will not be able to see what the program is doing, or you won't be close enough to the screen to see if it is done. I have solved this problem by putting a YELLOW bar across the bottom of the screen when the system is busy, and putting a GREEN bar there when it is ready for your input. This WAIT/GO Bar is not there when the program first comes up! *** INCIDENTALS *** You may wish to print this off, or make notes to reference while you are creating your map. The map represented in the display, is not the same orientation as the map you will play! I'm am not going to go into the technicallities (is that how you spell it?) of why this is, just understand that the map you create will be rotated to the left once, and flip completely over. If you drew a map on a piece of paper, turned it on its side (counter clock wise) and the looked at it against a light from the back, that is what is your map would look like when you play it. I have no intention of ever writing the code to display it as it is played. Now, if someone has a couple of thousand dollars laying around.......uh...oh well. Under the current situation, I can create a map and play it with no advantage over my friends. I can create maps and have hours of fun trying to figure out where I am, and how it turned out. If you don't like this, I am truly sorry, but not sorry enough to change it. If you look at the pieces along the right side, you will see what looks like a "GREY FOUR WAY INTER- SECTION". This is what I call the 'Brown Indestructable Bunker'. This will put a Brown four-way wall (with no gun) on your map. It cannot be destroyed, and that I can, see serves absolutely no purpose. I was not going to put in at first but then I figured someone out there may want it or may want to play a joke on someone.....so, there it is boys and girls! You will see three trees availible, a large, medium, and small one. At first you may have trouble distinguishing them apart but with time you catch on. I only had a 9x7 pixels area to draw the symbols in, ideas were getting short. When you place a Garage it is nice if you place a road to the right of it. No road actually conntects to the garage, but the entrance/exit is to the right when you are looking at it on the screen. The first aid station need a connecting road from the bottom (as oriented on your screen). The flag houses need connecting roads from the top of the screen. The Helicopter pad needs connecting roads from the right. The gates can only have connecting roads from the top and bottom. If you wish to create a map then play it. Here is what I suggest. Create the map you wish to play. Select the Write for Player 1/Map 1, then Player2/ Map2 and so on until you have saved it to all five maps. Then boot up FirePower and select the one player mode. You will get to play your map. By the way, I have a BARD's TALE character editor that works much the same way as this program, but it would have to be cleaned up.....I would be interested if any one else could use it. It doesn't use a mouse, and it doesn't edit the pictures. I hope you have fun, and I am interested in your comments!