Komputer for Alle 1997 #8/K-CD_1997-08.iso/SPADES/README.TXT

Text File | 1997-04-06 | 13KB | 208 lines

Championship Spades for Windows 2.2 16-bit Swap release
Last updated Apr 7 (1.3MB, extracts to 3.4MB) at http://www.dq.com/spades.htp

GAME DESCRIPTION:
Championship Spades provides a polished Spades card game for serious
players.  Features good layout, fast game play, rich sounds, extensive
options, and good help and tutorials.  Specializing in multiple, editable,
computer personalities for very challenging play.  Spades is more
interesting than Hearts, but not quite as complex to learn as Bridge.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
486 or better, 8MB memory, 3MB disk space, mouse, 256-color video driver.
spades32 is a 32-bit program that only works on Windows 95 and NT.
spades16 is a 16-bit program that will work on Windows 3.1 and OS/2.

INSTALLATION FROM A SELF-EXTRACTING EXE:
Simply double-click on spades16.exe and specify the directory to install.  After
installation, the game will create an icon and allow you to start playing.  You
can now safely delete spades16.exe to conserve disk space.

INSTALLATION FROM A ZIP FILE:
Extract the Zip file to any directory (make sure to extract subdirectories too)
and then 'Run' chmpsp16.exe from the Program Manager File menu (not from a DOS
prompt) and the game will then create a game icon.  You can now erase the
original ZIP file.

NOTE TO WINDOWS 3.1 AND OS/2 USERS:
If you have never installed any major Microsoft program, you may not have the OLE
2.0 DLLs which are required by this program.  You can download the OLE2DLLS.EXE
file from http://www.dq.com/spades.htp separately to install these DLLs.  You
will know you need these DLLs if, upon running CHMPSP16.EXE, it says it cannot
find OLE2.DLL.  You can also do a 'DIR C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\OLE2.DLL' to check.

7 QUICK TIPS FOR GOOD LUCK:
1. View each of your opponent's playing styles by right-clicking on their face.
2. Disable the name prompt or set game speed under the Options...General dialog.
3. Practice using the undo, rebid, and replay options under the Practice menu.
4. Disable the scorepad, status bar or player faces under the view menu.
5. Create custom computer personalities by clicking on Edit... under Details.
6. Use the keyboard number keys to quickly bid and play.
7. Use Shift-Ctrl-B (boss key) to minimize game and turn off sound.  Use
   Shift-Ctrl-S or sounds dialog (under Options) to turn sounds back on.

REGISTRATION:
Please read the registration section under Registration... from the Help menu
in the game.  Your registration will help support a multi-player version and
you will receive an extensive Mastering Spades tutorial to improve your play!

UNINSTALL:
Simply remove everything inside the Spades subdirectory and remove the icon
from your Windows group or Start menu.  This game does not install any DLLs
in your Windows directory or mess with your system settings.

FEEDBACK, SUPPORT, QUESTIONS:
Please e-mail [e-mail] with feedback and ideas for improvement.

LATEST RELEASE NOTES:

Additions in the latest 2.2 release:
1.  Bad sound directory path in v2.1 should not keep dealing over and over.
2.  'Normal' and 'Slow' speeds are both now significantly faster.
3.  Installation should now work properly with long paths, including spaces.
4.  Soundtrack restart polling reduced for speed & avoids rare crash.
5.  Disabled all sound controls & save memory if no sound available.
6.  Sparky now plays Ace on 3rd play if pard winning with < Queen.
7.  If '2C lead' 4th player no longer trumps if pard winning.
8.  View all cards option now forced off at start of each new hand.
9.  Rare division by zero errors on wierd startups fixed (hopefully).
10. 'Flickering' of icon in taskbar when minimized has been eliminated.
11. Pressing Cancel on initial name startup defaults to 'Human'.
12. Registration-mode should always force to author's reg & prefs.
13. Register dialog no longer clears all fields automatically.
14. Default install for 32-bit is now in Program Files\Championship Spades.

Additions in the recent 2.1 swap release:
1. Added a Blind Nil card swap general option (1 or 2), default to none.
2. Added card swapping for Blind Nil players (beginners dump low, experts dump singletons).
3. Midi and Wave sounds are now properly disabled on machines w/o sound.
4. Improved and expanded the Spades 101 introductory help section.
5. Made 15-day reminder text less picky about case and punctuation.
6. Version upgrades now reset the 15-day evaluation period.
7. Starting on 16-color machines now gives a warning about viewability.
8. Starting up the game minimized no longer gives an error.
9. Removed Confirm play and NilLost custom scoring options.
10. Added a Blind Nil won custom scoring option, defaulting to 200.
11. Created a new OLE2DLLs to w/o OC25 for old OS/2 and Win 3.1 users.
12. OC25.DLL now distributed with 16-bit version, not in OLE2DLLs.
13. README explains need for OLE2 DLLs a bit better.
14. OLE2DLLs now starts up Spades after installation.
15. Help updated to explain OLE DLLs, quick keys, and swapping.
16. All files are now timestamped to show date and release number.

Additions in the previous 2.0 joker release:
1. *Optimized expert bid & play so computer should be much more challenging.
2. *Game soundtrack will now also play random MIDI from the directory.
3. *Added a game counter that displays games won and played in reg & game over.
4. *Occasional score resets on Nil, Blind Nil, and slams are fixed.
5. *Added a new optional scorepad to show score graphically.
6. *No longer protects partner if they already lost their Nil.
7. *No longer tries to sink opponent if they already lost their Nil.
8. *If it is not possible for player to get bid, avoid the bags.
9. *Expert cutthroat players will now always try for set & ignore bags.
10. *Nil will 'dump' highest card (including Spades) when out of suit.
11. *Expert players are now better at going Nil with questionable hands.
12. *More aggressive rather than expert players will now try and sink Nils.
13. *Partners will now cover partner's Nil BEFORE trying to sink opponent's.
14. *Help buttons now available on all dialogs to explain more.
15. *Refreshing, sizing, and flashing reduced on startup.
16. *Aggressive players now reduce their bid by one if partner goes Nil.
17. *All player types will now never bid Nil if partner went Blind Nil.
18. *Aggressive experts (Red) no longer bid quite as aggressively.
19. *Excessive lines in window will no longer cause Nils to reset score.
20. *Two of Clubs lead now requires ALL players to lead low club.
21. *Minimum bid now supported for partners as a team (if >= 4).
22. *Experts now signal with more moderate cards (8-10) first.
23. *Experts now protect Nil by trumping (to get lead) with extra Spades.
24. *Typelib and Compobj DLL versioning issues with 16-bit fixed.
25. *Added a sound key 'Ctrl-Shift-S' to quickly toggle all sound off & on.
26. Overtricks will no longer show in scoring window.
27. Custom personalities now save and restore better.
28. Player selection dialog now sizes better on some systems.
29. Player details and edit dialogs now also size better.
30. Keyboard shortcuts for show all cards and others removed.
31. Clicking on the trickcard now shows the last trick dialog.
32. Turn indicator moved to accomodate smaller screens.
33. Overtricks gained dont show red if bag penalty disabled.
34. Bags dont show in status bar when bag penalty disabled.
35. Hand scoring summary screen enlarged to prevent cutoff.
36. Added exit game button to game winner's dialog.
37. Bad scoring and plays are no longer printed in mid-game.
38. Score/history is now printed nicer when you print/save/report.
39. Winner and score reporting is now better for cutthroat games.
40. Made reporting score/play available from hand summary dialog.
41. Default minimum bid is now 1 to prevent computer overbidding.
42. Palette should be better on 256-color systems.
43. Blind nil bid status now colored properly in trickcard.
44. Take back now resets suit led if previous round led by player.
45. Can now toggle computer playout or reset it by replaying hand.
46. Maximum bid of 13 for partners now enforced.
47. 2S as high card option (never implemented) was removed.
48. Reset options now resets ALL options, except players & icon.
49. Flashing on resizing and view changes should be greatly reduced.
50. 15-day expiration nag dialog now allows view registration & exit.
51. Entering correct string in nag dialog should now work for all.
52. Startup time should now be reduced and dialogs show after title.
53. Assign cards now allows lower-case and joker assignments (L & H).
54. After 45 days, the game will stop working entirely until registered.
55. Shift-Ctrl-R will now reinstall the product and reset all options.
56. Added magic key to set score for debugging (can you find it?).
57. Added magic key and password for registering users.
58. Added magic key and password to set install date.
59. Cursor now changes to pointer when entering username or nag entry.
60. Reset Edits... button added to player selection dialog.
61. View: Close box when winner dialog displayed wont exit.
62. View: Draw picture text up one pixel to center better.
63. Gray & Blue changed to darker shade for Win95/NT 'darker' look.
64. Trick animation now goes to the player's cards instead of face.
65. Debug printing now also reports game options and player styles.
66. Cancelling from name dialog now keeps current instead of Unknown.
67. Saving and restoring of custom personalities is error-checked better.
68. Flat overtrick penalty is now reported properly in scoring summary.
69. Names on player pictures now has more space on some resolutions.
70. Experts dont ever 'signal' in cutthroat games.
71. Nils (and Blinds) are now always covered by partner even if bags.
72. Open/save dialogs on 32-bit version now filter and show save games only.
73. Edit player personality dialog is now a little taller.
74. Experts will now play trump, if appropriate, to cover partner's Nil.
75. Card counters will now try and play void suits to cover partner's Nil.
76. Signaling improved so players will no longer waste Queens or Kings.
77. Players avoiding bags or sinking Nils will now lead better (and lower).
78. If using overtrick penalty, trickcard will go red when over limit.
79. Added a 'magic' autogame hotkey that will autoplay all the way to game.
80. Soundtrack will either restart or play the next when it finishes.
81. Added a menu entry to skip the current soundtrack and start the next.
82. Updated help file to mention 2C lead, jokers, multi-soundtracks, 10 for 200.
83. Updated help file to mention Plus! incompatibility and reduced author BMPs.
84. Tested and improved 16-bit version.
85. Update typelib.dll to fix some incompatibilities on 16-bit versions.
86. Added several more public-domain MIDI files to enjoy (32-bit only).
87. Split VB runtime and MIDI files out of 16-bit installer to fit on 1 disk.
88. Made some minor play changes after joker testing by Beta users.
89. Change 'play next soundtrack' to 'Change soundtrack'.
90. Improve randomness of soundtrack selection.
91. Ctrl-S hotkey will change the current soundtrack.
92. Reset all should prompt for expert players and No should work.
93. Mean calc works now so Nils should not be bid with medium cards.
94. Only aggressive players should lower bid on cover, not LadyLuck.
95. Renamed help file from SPADES.HLP to CHMPSPAD.HLP to avoid conflict.
96. Removed accelerator to avoid lockup when starting Help in 2.0 Beta.
97. Added a disable/enable all button to Sounds dialog.
98. Made soundtrack option label more readable & prominent.
99. Disabling a sound now also prevents editing the filename.
100. 'Thank you for playing' sound on exit is no longer cutoff.
101. Added a boss-key 'Ctrl-Shift-B' to quickly minimize the game.
102. Expert players will now try to let partner win on 3rd play of trick.
103. Soundtracks will now play even if Spades or sound path includes a space.
104. Rare cases of player playing no card (a '?') have been eliminated.
105. General option summary now prints out to assist with debugging.
106. Rare cases of winner not always leading the next trick have been fixed.
107. Assign dialog now highlights and defaults to next player to allow faster entry.
108. Added mnemonic keys for all dialog buttons.
109. Cut/joker/player changes force a rebid of the current hand.
110. Error warnings when loading valid saved hands eliminated.
111. Last trick and confirm background now blends better with dialog.
112. Registration and author info help topics will now 'jump' properly.
113. Conservative bidding in Beta reduced somewhat for final release.

See the help file for a full version history of other improvements.