Over 1,000 Windows 95 Programs

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Text File | 1997-03-26 | 26KB | 594 lines

User's Manual Crossing the Red Sea 3.0 for Windows ***What makes "Crossing the Red Sea" unique? Why is this game different from all other Bible quiz games? There seem to be so many Bible quiz games on the market; why add another one? The truth is that "Crossing the Red Sea" is the only such game that can keep the attention of all players no matter what their age or ability level, and give each one a reasonable hope of winning. How can we make such a claim? There are essentially three factors which make "Crossing the Red Sea" unique and the best choice for your family. 1)The colorful graphics help to visualize the players' progress and make the game more interesting to play than a simple text-based quiz like almost all the others. 2)Point values of the questions are determined at random instead of by difficulty. This means that even the easiest question can be worth ten or twelve points and even the youngest player can win. 3)The computer keeps track of each player's ability and gives each player a question of just the right difficulty every time. This means that little Jimmy will get questions that he can usually answer, while the Reverend Doctor Dad will be continually challenged by his questions. And since either one can win, this is the perfect game for special family times. Try it and see if "Crossing the Red Sea" doesn't hold your attention twice as long as any Bible quiz game you've ever played. ***Overview of Game Play There are three easy steps to playing "Crossing the Red Sea". 1) Record Players' Names: You may record the names of those who will be playing by clicking on "Game" and then on "Players". When the dialog box comes onto the screen, type the name of one of the players in place of the words, "Player One". For each additional player, click on the "Add Player" button and then type in the player's name in place of the default name given. After all players are entered, you may choose to click the "Scramble" button if you want to put the players into a random order. After you are satisfied with the order of the players, select the "Done" button. 2) Begin the Game: To begin the game, open the "Game" menu and click on "Begin". Wait a few seconds for the game to load. 3) Select the Correct Answer: Each player in turn will be addressed by the program and given a question to answer. The player whose turn it is may click on the down arrow at the right of the combo box to reveal the four possible answers. Click on the answer that you think is correct. The first player to reach one hundred points is the winner. ***Playing Without a Mouse "Crossing the Red Sea" may be played from the keyboard in the absence of a mouse. To open any menu on the menu bar, press the <Alt> key and also the key corresponding to the underlined letter on the menu. For example, to open the "Game" menu, press the "g" key while holding down the <Alt> key. To choose a command button or check box while you have a dialog box open, you may use the <Tab> key to step among the various items in the dialog box. When the button or other item that you wish to choose is highlighted, press the <Enter> key to choose it. Another way to accomplish the same thing is to press the key corresponding to the underlined letter on the button you wish to choose. ***The Game Menu **Player Select this choice to name the players who will be playing in the game. If this is not selected prior to playing a game, the players from the previous game will be used as the default. If no game has been played, the name "Player 1" will appear as the default name for a one-player game. To add a player, click on the "Add Player" button. A default name will appear in the list box. Change that name to whatever name the player would like to use, with a maximum of ten letters. If you add a player during a game, the new player will be inserted at the end of the list. To delete a player, select the player to delete by clicking on that name. The name should then be highlighted. Click on the "Delete Player" button to delete the player's name from the list. If there is only one name on the list, you cannot delete it. Add a current player first. During a game you may only delete from the end of the list. If you would like the player order to be mixed up, click on the "Scramble" button. This is similar to rolling dice to see who goes first. This option is not available while a game is in progress. When you are finished with this phase of preparation, click on the "Done" button to exit this window. **Begin To begin the game, click on this item. After loading and initializing all data, the program will present you with a picture of people representing all the game players, ready to travel from one shore of the sea to the other on a dry path in the middle of the sea. Depending on the speed of your computer, this may take several seconds. Each player is then addressed in turn and given a question of appropriate difficulty, based on previous answers. The player should click on the down arrow (or press <Alt> + the down arrow key) to display the four possible answers and then select one. If that answer is correct, a congratulatory message will appear on the screen, and the person representing that player will walk forward the appropriate distance depending on the point-value of the question. These values are determined entirely at random, without regard to the difficulty of the question. When one player has reached one hundred points, his person will exit the screen, followed by all of the others. Then the Egyptian chariots will enter the screen, only to be washed away by the sea closing. The screen will then pan to the joyful Israelites celebrating God's victory and you will be asked if you wish to play again. Select yes or no. If you wish to play with a different list of players, select "no", change the players from the "Player" menu, then select "Begin" again. **Statistics This item is intended to be selected during a game. It shows more details about the current player's performance, including the percentage of questions answered correctly and the difficulty of previous questions. This is a good place for a non-leader to take solace by showing everyone that his questions have been harder and that he is actually more knowledgeable than the leader after all. It cannot be accessed when the game is not in progress. **Quit Game This option will allow you to quit the current game without exiting the program. You may use it to add or delete players or to scramble the order of players. **Exit When you select this option, a window will appear to verify that you really want to exit. From this point you have several options. You may view (or print) the registration form, return to the game, or quit the application and close the window. When you exit, the game will save your settings so that you can return with the same options active. *** The Options Menu There are two areas in which your may customize the game to your preference. The first is the Range of the questions. Here you can determine whether the game will deal with questions based on the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), the New Testament, or both. Click on the button in front of your choice to select that option. If you would prefer for the words to read "Old Testament", double-click on the words "Hebrew Bible". A second double-click will make a third option available, the name "Tanach", a common Hebrew term for the same collection of books. This word is an acronym based on the Hebrew words, Torah (law), Neviim (prophets), and Ketuvim (writings). All three options refer to the same collection of books, so choose your preferred term. The other area which you may customize is simply to turn the sound on or off. Click the button in front of your preference. The choice of "Off" will silence both the music and the sound effects. The registered version of the game will give several additional areas to customize, including selecting different sets of questions and different graphic backgrounds. The registered version will come with a Noah's Ark background in addition to the Red Sea one. Additional background scenes and sets of questions may be purchased from the author, but will require the registered version to run. ***The Shareware Menu **About Shareware Opening this submenu gives an explanation of the shareware concept, in which a user is allowed to try a program at virtually no cost for a period of time to determine if it meets his needs. He then sends the purchase price, sometimes called a registration fee, to the author. Upon receipt of this payment, the author will frequently send the latest version of the program, printed manual, or other items, depending on the program. **Registration Benefits This dialog box explains all the things that you will receive when you register "Crossing the Red Sea". These include a printed manual and the registered version which allows you to add your own questions, save your game, play with different background graphics or different sets of questions. You may choose to personalize the title page of your registered version with a name and/or photograph for a small additional charge. **How to Register This dialog box explains the registration process. When you decide to register, you may fill out the registration form on-screen and then print out the completed form. If you prefer, you may print out the blank form and fill it in by hand. Return the form and a check, cash (U.S.), or money order for $19.95 plus $1 for shipping (in U.S.) and any additional for optional personalizing to: H. F. Buerer P.O. Box 83752 Portland OR 97283-0752 You may also register on-line thru SWREG on Compuserve (Registration ID #11760) or with Visa or Mastercard through NorthStar Solutions at 1-800-699-6395. (If you want the personalize option, you must register with the author directly.) If you desire to use the game on multiple computers at the same site or owned by the same user you can purchase a site license. The cost for the second through fifth machines is $3 per machine and the cost for the sixth through twentieth machines is $2 per machine. For more than twenty machines there is no additional charge. Only one copy of the software and manual are sent to a site and permission is granted to install the software on the additional machines. **Sample Personalize This option will show you a couple of sample title screen so that you will know what to expect if you order the optional personalization when you register. You may choose either a person's name or a family name. (or an organization) If you want to order the name and/or photo, be sure to send in your registration form by mail to H. F. Buerer, not by phone or E-mail. **Registration Form Choosing this option displays the Registration Form which you may print out and send in along with the registration payment to receive your registered copy of the game. The easiest way is simply to type in the information on-screen, using the mouse or arrow keys to navigate around the screen. Then click on the "Print" button to print the completed form. This will print automatically to the printer installed on LPT1. If for some reason this is not adequate, you may print the registration form from another application by printing the file REG_FORM.TXT. ***The Help Menu **How to Play The dialog box shown by this selection gives a brief introduction to the game and an overview of how to play it. If you begin the game and don't know what to do, this is the place to go. **User's Manual This selection displays the file which you are currently reading. When you order the registered version, it will come with a printed User's Manual. **About Red Sea Clicking this menu item will show some basic information about the game. ***Personalize Your Registered Copy A new feature available in this version is the ability to personalize your software for a small extra fee. If you like, we can display your name, the name of your child, or your family name on the title page of the registered program for a fee of $2. For $5 we can also include a scanned photo of you, your child, or your family. If you choose this option, be sure to include a photo for us to use. It will be returned. If you don't explicitly tell us what name to personalize with, we will use the name on the registration form. You can always change or edit it. We will include that information with the registered version. ***Files Included in the Shareware Version RS.EXE - This is the executable file that runs the game. SETUP.EXE SETUP.INF - These two files are used to install the program to your hard drive and prepare it to run under Windows. LEVEL1.DAT LEVEL2.DAT LEVEL3.DAT LEVEL4.DAT LEVEL5.DAT LEVEL6.DAT LEVEL7.DAT LEVEL8.DAT LEVEL9.DAT LEVEL10.DAT - These are the files containing the questions at the various degees of difficulty. REG_FORM.TXT - This is the registration form to print out. RSMANUAL.TXT - This is the user's manual, this file. HOW2REG.TXT RS_BENE.TXT RS_INTRO.TXT SHARE.TXT SHAREW.TXT - These are text files containing information. USED.ALR - This is a file to keep track of which questions have been used already so that there will not be frequent repetition of questions. CHARIOT.BMP DANCERS.BMP LAND.BMP RSSPRYT.BMP WAVE.BMP - These files are pictures that are used in the course of the game. RS_MUSIC.MID RS_ENDMU.MID CHARGE.WAV WIND.WAV BIRD.WAV BIRDS.WAV CHICKENS.WAV RIBBIT.WAV RIGHT.WAV WRONG1.WAV WRONG2.WAV - These are sound files to be played through a sound card. DEFAULTS.SAV - This is a file where the game defaults are saved from one game to the next. VBRUN300.DLL MCI.VBX PICCLIP.VBX THREED.VBX - These are system files needed by Visual Basic. ***Customer Support H. F. Buerer promises to give registered users whatever help it can provide in the operation of "Crossing the Red Sea". If you are having problems starting the shareware version, the first place to go for help might be the distributor who provided you with the shareware copy. Although H. F. Buerer cannot promise to provide support to unregistered users, we will do as much in this area as time allows us to. We may not always be available by phone, but you are welcome to leave a message at (503) 286-4150. We will try to get back to you when we can. A better way is to contact us by E-mail through Compuserve at (Harry Buerer) 75451,3610 or on AOL at HFBUERER. You are also welcome to contact us by mail at P.O. Box 83752, Portland, OR 97283-0752. ***Giving Copies Away Since the primary means of distributing shareware is by "sharing" software, you are encouraged to give away copies of the shareware version of "Crossing the Red Sea" or to post it on any BBS which you think is appropriate. You may not alter any of the files on the copies you give away and you may not give copies of the registered version. But the shareware version is a great thing to pass on to friends, churches, schools, Sunday School classes or anyone else whom you think might enjoy it. ***ASP Ombudsman Statement H. F. Buerer is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Onbudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442-9427 USA, FAX 616-788-2765 or send a Compserve message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. ***Hardware Requirements Crossing the Red Sea 3.0 for Windows requires an IBM-compatible computer running Windows 3.1 or Windows 95. It also requires 2 Megabytes of RAM, and 2 Megabytes hard disk space. A mouse, a 3.5HD diskette drive, and at least a 386 processor are recommended. A sound card will increase your enjoyment of the sounds and music included. ***Installation and DeInstallation To install the program, insert the installation disk into the diskette drive. Assuming that your diskette drive is drive a:, click on the "File" menu of Program Manager and then select "Run...". In the text box type "a:setup" (without the quotation marks) and press the <Enter> key. Then sit back and wait for the program to load. If you are using Windows 95, follow the same instructions, but "Run..." will be found on the "Start" menu. During the installation process a DOS window will be opened while decompressing the files. When this is finished (when the title-bar says "Finished"), click on the "x" in the upper right corner of the window to close it. If you want to run the program by clicking on an icon, then choose "yes" to add it to Program Manager. When installation is complete, you may click on the icon to begin play. If you are installing from a downloaded file, use PKUNZIP to expand the downloaded file (you've probably already done this). Then run Setup.exe and follow the instructions on the screen. To deinstall the program, look at the list of files on a previous page of your on-line manual and delete each of those files. They should all be in the directory that you designated, probably c:\redsea. If you have Windows 95, you can simply delete the entire folder with all of its contents. The two setup files on the diskette were not copied to your hard disk, so don't worry about them. ***Trouble-Shooting Problem: No music through the sound card. Solution: There are alternate midi files included, since one format does not work for all possible configurations. The file that is played is "rs_music.mid". To try any of the alternate files, you will need to give them that name. You should rename "rs_music.mid" to "rs_music.bak" or some other name to save it. Then rename "rs_musi1.mid" to "rs_music.mid" and try playing the game. If there is still no music, repeat the process with rs_musi2.mid and rs_musi3.mid. If all these fail, as a last resort, you can have the program play music through the PC speaker by pressing F2. (Press F3 to undo.) Problem: I get "Out of Memory" messages during the final sequence or the screen just locks up. Solution: We have provided an optional lower-memory-use final sequence to enable more users to enjoy the animation and sound effects. To choose the lower-memory option, all you hae to do is to press the F4 key any time during the game. The last scene with the people rejoicing will not be shown but everything else will be the same. This low-memory mode will be in effect until you exit the game. Problem: On the last scene I get white rectangles moving around instead of people. Solution: This is caused because the hardware is not able to finish animating a scene before it's supposed to start on the next one. It seems to be the result of not enough memory. You can either put up with it, get more RAM, or press the F4 key during the game to choose the low memory endgame option. Problem: I can't find the "any" key. Solution: Use another key. ***Frequently-Asked Questions How do I register? Choose "Shareware" from the menu bar and click on "Show Registration Form". Then fill out the form on-screen by typing the information in the blanks. Print it out and send it, with the proper fee, to: H. F. Buerer P.O. Box 83752 Portland, OR 97283-0752 USA If you don't have a printer, please write the needed information on a blank sheet of paper and register anyway. If you would prefer to charge your registration to your Visa or MasterCard, please call NorthStar Solutions at 1-800-699-6395 between 9 am and 9 pm Eastern Time. You may also contact NorthStar Solutions via fax, e-mail, or non-toll -free number. **Please do not call NothStar Solutions for customer support, only for registering by credit card.** You may also charge your registration to your Compuserve acount. GO SWREG on Compuserve and search for Registration ID #11760. I know some people who would really like this game. Can I give away copies? Yes. We encourage you to give away copies to anyone who might enjoy the game, as long as they are copies of the shareware version and not the registered version. One of te easiest ways to do this is to copy all the files from your distribution disk into a temporary directory on your hard drive. Then select those files and copy them to a new formatted diskette as many times as you want. If If you downloaded the game, we suggest that you unzip the compressed file first, then copy the files that result onto diskettes to give away. Why don't I get any New Testament questions when I play? By default the game gives questions from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). You can change that setting from the Options menu. You can also change the name used for this collection of writings by double-clicking on the words, "Hebrew Bible". I've played the game so much that I know all the answers. Are there any more questions available? The registered version has more questions than the shareware version. In addition, there will be entire modules of new questions available beginning in Fall 1996. If you register, you will be informed whenever new questions become available. Some of the new question modules will include: Which book? Which happened first? and Where did this happen? Can my church use this game for Sunday School or Vacation Bible School? They certainly can. Many churches are already doing that. As long as the church or an individual has registered one copy of the game for every computer that is used to play on, you may use it as much as you like. See the information on How to Register earlier in this manual for site license information. I like the music to the game, but sometimes I would like to hear music to familiar hymns instead. Is that possible? Yes it is. The registered version will allow you to choose any MIDI file that you like for background music. Beginning in late 1996, we hope to make available a disk of MIDI files of familiar hymns to use for this purpose. Why the animal noises? Wouldn't a fanfare or something be more appropriate? There are really two reasons. We tend to forget that the Israelites had their flocks and herds with them when they crossed the Red Sea. Also in our testing we discovered that fanfares clashed with the music that was playing. However, if you have access to .wav files that you would rather hear than those included, simply copy them to the directory where the game files are and rename them to RIGHT.WAV, WRONG1.WAV or WRONG2.WAV. Can I add my own questions or print out some questions to use in my Sunday School class? Yes. Those capabilities are built into the registered version. You can also edit any of the questions or answers from the registered version. I seem to always get hard questions. Do you have any that are appropriate for younger children? Yes. In fact, younger children will automatically get questions that are appropriate for their knowledge. But you have to allow them to miss a question or two first; if you help them, they will continue to get harder questions. The game is most fun and most fair for everybody when nobody helps anybody. The children will still win about half the time and get about two-thirds of the questions right. I want the name and photo on my title page. What do I do? When you register, include the additional fee: $2 for name only and $5 for name and photo. Be sure to let us know what name to use. Include a photo (any size) if you want the photo option. It will be returned. Be sure to register by mail if you want this option, not by any of the charging methods. If you would like to make an exception, contact H. F. Buerer by phone, mail, or e-mail. ***License and Warranty You are licensed to use this software for evaluation purposes only for a period not to exceed thirty days from date of first use. If you desire to continue to use it after that time, the registration fee must be paid to the author. This software may be freely copied and given away under the condition that all files remain together and unaltered except for file compression. No price greater than $10 may be charged for distribution of this program unless it is on CD, and whenever any price is charged, the shareware concept must be explained. "Crossing the Red Sea" is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any particular purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of "Crossing the Red Sea".