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Pilot-Frotz:
============
Written by Paul Margrave 1998.
Based on the Frotz 2.32 code base by Stefan Jokisch 1995-1997.
Pilot-Frotz may be used in any way, for any purpose, at no cost.
It may be distributed by any means, provided that the original
files as supplied by the author remain intact and that no charge is
made other than for reasonable distribution costs.
DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY:
-----------------------
THIS SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT
WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES
WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. BECAUSE OF THE VARIOUS HARDWARE AND
SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENTS INTO WHICH THIS PROGRAM MAY BE PUT, NO WARRANTY
OF FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED. THE USER MUST ASSUME THE
ENTIRE RISK OF USING THE PROGRAM.
Any product or brand names mentioned in this document are trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Whats New?
==========
V 1.00 R1
First release.
V 1.00 R2
* After getting some emails about supporting Pilot-Zip format game files
I have now added this to Frotz. Because of this change, the type ID has
been changed from 'GAME' to 'ZCOD' this is more inline with ZIP format
game files which have a type ID of 'Zcod'. This does mean that you will
have to reconvert your game files with the new 'Z2PDB' program. Sorry
about this little bit of hassle.
* Fixed the bug in the compass rose popup that caused 'Climb' and 'Again' to
be printed instead of 'Enter' and 'Exit'.
* Fixed the 'Terpetude' game file not working.
V 1.00 R3
* Added menu to the interpreter to force a quit while running a game.
* Now allow more graffiti characters to be entered. Has the full range of ascii
characters from 32 to 127.
* Due to popular request I have added a scroll back buffer. Enable it in the
'Preferences' dialog and then you can use the page up/page down hard buttons
on the Pilot to scroll back and obviously words can be tapped during scroll
back.
* Hit the 32K code limit with optomisations O2 so have now gone for O3 and
greater than 32K, may have beter performance?
* Adjusted the 'Z2PDB' source for GNU compatability and a Linux version of
'Z2PDB' is included in the archive.
* When '<MORE>' appears, tapping on the screen continues instead of bringing
up the popup lists.
V 1.00 R4
* Added field editing for the interpreters text line input. It now allows you
to cursor left/right and tap to set the insertion point.
* Added a new option which allows a proper field to be displayed for text
line input. This means text editing 'hacks', popup keyboards and the graffiti
state indicator will work with it.
* Added an endian define in the 'Z2PDB' source. If you are recompiling 'Z2PDB'
make sure that the endian is correctly defined.
What is it?
===========
Pilot-Frotz is a freeware version of Frotz, the most popular Infocom/Inform text
adventure interpreter for the Z-Machine. It plays games of version Z1 to Z8,
such as the old Infocom adventures 'Hitchhikers', 'Zork' and the new Inform
games, but not version Z6, as this version contains graphics.
To obtain games to run on Frotz check out 'FTP.GMD.DE:IF-ARCHIVE' or another
mirror of the Interactive Fiction Archive. Infocom games are still under
copyright and should not be available for download. Don't as me for them either.
You need to own a copy of the original game to legally be allowed to play it on
the Pilot.
Please, dont email me on getting game files, just do an internet search for
'Interactive Fiction' and lots of info will be spewed forth.
Features:
=========
* Compatible with the Z-Spec version 1.0. But no graphics/sound. Runs
'Terpetude' accurately for testing. 'Terpetude' is provided in this archive.
* Reads game files created for Pilot-ZIP.
* Correct font display of normal, bold, reverse, underlined/italic, proportional
and a 40 column fixed width micro font of my own design.
* Text input through the interpreters text line input, which works in different
fonts, or a proper field that works with 'hacks' and keyboards.
* Scroll back buffer to see pages that have scrolled past.
* Single key timed input works for games that use it.
* Line timed input works for games that use it.
* Undo is supported for those games that can use it.
* Compressed game saves with complete game listings.
* Virtual memory for small memory Pilots.
Limitations:
============
Because of some emails I have recieved saying that 'so and so' game does not work
I have added this little section to explain why.
* Some games are not 'small screen' friendly. Frotz uses a 40x14 fixed width
character display. Some games check the screen dimensions and if it is too small
they error out. 'Theatre' for example does this.
* Some games can be confused by a 40 character width status line. They do not
check the width and reduce the status information accordingly. They just try to
print directly off the edge of the screen.
* Some games with inbuilt menu systems assume that they have more than 14 lines on the
screen and then print menu items off the bottom of the screen.
* Most 'abuses of the z-machine' will probably not work. 'Rogue' for example. These
games usually expect larger displays and more varied font displays.
These problems are not really Frotz's. They lie in the actual game file. If you are
writing an Inform program try and make it 'small screen' friendly, even if you just
check the dimensions and error out if too small. Other points:
* Auto load/save basically operate in the same way that you would save/load from in
the game.
* Status line detection will only work on a 1 character high status line.
* Text input through the interpreter does not usually use a proper field, this enables
it to work with different font properties. You can now enable a proper field at the
expense of a line of display.
Requirements:
=============
* Palm III or Pilot running OS 2.0 or greater.
* Enough memory to load the game PDB and Virtual memory file, if being used.
* A Z-Code game file converted to PDB format using 'Z2PDB'. Which is supplied in
this package as a Win95 command line executable and as a source file for those
with different operating systems.
* Lots of time to play...
Installing:
===========
The Pilot-Frotz.prc file and any game files converted to PDB format should be
loaded onto your device.
To convert Z-Code files into PDB's you must use 'Z2PDB' as follows:
Z2PDB <DESTGAME.PDB> <SOURCEGAME.Z?> "TITLE TO CALL IT"
You just supply the output PDB filename the input Z-Code filename and the title
to call it. The title must be in quotes if it contains spaces. If you have an old
Infocom game then it is the '.dat' file you are interested in converting.
If you have a different OS from Windows 95/98 then the source is present for
'Z2PDB' to be recompiled. Check the endian format and change the #define for your
OS.
Running:
========
Once the desired files are on your device run Frotz from your App launcher. The
opening screen should list all Z-Code games loaded with their size and version
marked with a little icon. To play a game, just tap on one and then tap 'Play'.
To delete a game file from your device, tap on one and then tap on 'Delete',
answer 'Yes' to the 'Are you sure?' alert box and its gone. The drop down list
allows you to view the dynamic ram requirements of a game instead of its file
size.
There are three menu items available, 'About', 'Delete Save Games' and
'Preferences'.
About:
------
This just tells you the current version and gives information on contacting me.
Delete Game Saves:
------------------
This will bring up a list of all the game saves on your device for all the
different games. They are listed with the save name, the game they are for and
the size in bytes they take up. They are deleted in the same way games are.
Preferences:
------------
This page allows you to set options on how Frotz runs a game, the options are as
follows:
Text output speed:
------------------
This effects to speed that text is written to the screen. 'Normal' is as fast as
possible.
Auto MORE:
----------
When checked the '<MORE>' prompts will not appear.
Enable UNDO:
------------
When checked, games that can use the 'UNDO' command will have one undo position
available. Note: If undo is enabled when Virtual memory is being used then the
game will run very slowly.
Status line detection:
----------------------
When checked then the status line will attempt to be printed in the larger
proportional font instead of the micro fixed width font. Try it and see which
you prefer, some games may not display their status lines correctly with this
on.
Enable scrollback:
------------------
When checked this will allow the page up/page down hard buttons on the Pilot to
scroll back over text that has gone off the top of the screen. You can do this
to find words to tap on to speed up entry. Just set the number of pages you
require from 1 to 9, 9 pages being around 100 lines.
Enable full field editing:
--------------------------
With this enabled you will get a proper field for entering lines of text.
Hackmaster 'hacks' for text editing will work with this field and you can use
the popup keyboard as well.
Virtual memory:
---------------
This is a complicated option as I will have to describe how Frotz uses memory
for a game.
Normally a game is divided into three areas, the stack, the dynamic area and the
static area. The stack and dynamic areas are allocated from the Pilots free
memory when a game is run, the static area is paged in as and when Frotz needs
it.
If Frotz complains that 'There is not enough free memory' then you can enable
Virtual memory which will change the way the dynamic area is created. It will
now be paged in as needed, reducing the memory overhead of required free memory.
Games running under Virtual memory will run slower than normal.
The numbers at the bottom of the window show how much memory is free for a game
to run in, normally you would require 2kB for the stack and anywhere from 2kB to
64kB for the dynamic area, depending on the game and Z-Code version. Scroll back
pages also add to this total.
Interacting with a game:
========================
I am presuming that if you know what Frotz is for then you have a basic
understanding of how to interact with the game being played. There are a couple
of differences, as the Pilot has no keyboard.
* You can write words using Graffiti input as normal. The characters in the range
of ascii 32 to 127 can be input.
* Enable 'Full field editing' and use the popup keyboard and Hackmaster 'hacks'.
* You can tap on a displayed word and it will type itself in. You can scroll back
over text and tap on a word also if the scroll back buffer is enabled.
* You can tap on an empty part of the screen and a popup will appear containing
the most common actions in text adventures. Tap on the left of centre and a
compass rose will appear, tap on the right of centre and a word list will
appear.
* To force a quit from the current game bring up the menu which contains a 'Force
Quit' entry. Selecting this will exit back to the game list.
To save and restore use 'SAVE' and 'RESTORE'. To quit the game and return to the
game list use 'QUIT'. If you tap the App launcher button or switch to another
application your position will be saved in an auto save position, which will
automatically load next time Frotz is run. If you save this way, some games can
have corrupt status lines on reloading. Using the 'Status line detection' option
should prevent this.