Sometime around July '97, Crack dot Com, a PC game software house, released the source code to Abuse into the public domain. By chance I came across it and decided to try and compile it under RISC OS, and this is the result.
<!-- DOWNLOAD -->
<u><h5>Download</h5></u>
The distribution is now split into three archives so that each will fit on a floppy disc. "abuse-a.zip" contains the RISC OS files and the other two, the original Abuse shareware data set:-
<ul>
<li><a href="abuse-a.zip">abuse-a.zip</a> (241K) - contains !Run, !Runimage v0.05a, etc.
<li><a href="abuse-b.zip">abuse-b.zip</a> (827K) - contains part of the Abuse shareware data set
<li><a href="abuse-c.zip">abuse-c.zip</a> (738K) - contains the rest of the Abuse shareware data set
</ul>
If any changes are made to the code or bugs fixed, then unless otherwise stated, only abuse-a.zip need be downloaded again. See the history section to see if it's worth it.
<!-- REQUIREMENTS -->
<u><h5>Requirements</h5></u>
<ul>
<li><em>Risc PC</em><br>
Currently, the game is only likely to run on a Risc PC, a StrongARM will obviously give better performance, but I believe it runs reasonably well on an ARM610. The game runs in a 320 x 200 pixel 8 bit or 32 bit mode. A mode definition file is supplied for anyone who doesn't already have such a mode on their system.
<li><em>!X-files</em><br>
The abuse-b.zip archive contains an X-files directory which in turn contains the data set for Abuse, so a copy of <a href="http://micros.hensa.ac.uk/local/riscos/filemanager/xfiles.zip">!X-files</a> is required.
<li><em>About 8Megs hard disc space</em>
<li><em>Toolbox modules</em>
</ul>
<p>
<!-- INSTALLATION -->
<u><h5>Installation</h5></u>
To install Abuse, dearchive the contents of the three ZIP files, in the order abuse-a.zip, abuse-b.zip, abuse-c.zip, to the same place on your hard drive so that they merge together. Ensure that you have a 320 x 200 mode defined in the file
for which ever monitor you are using. If not then paste the one supplied into it (you may have to reset the machine to force the new mode to be loaded).
<br>
An alternative mode definition is given below (and I'll also add it to abuse-a.zip) which vertically stretches the display to overcome the letterbox effect. Thanks to Thilo Wendland for sending me this MDF.
<p>
<pre>
# 320 x 200
# Non-letterboxed mode
startmode
mode_name:320 x 200
x_res:320
y_res:200
pixel_rate:12587
h_timings:42,14,12,320,12,0
v_timings:2,50,0,200,0,30
sync_pol:2
endmode
</pre>
<p>
<!-- RUNNING THE GAME -->
<u><h5>Running the game</h5></u>
Double-click the game's icon in the filer window to load it to the icon bar. The game can be started immediately by clicking Select on the icon bar icon at which point the standard level will be loaded. The start up window will open showing the name of the file loading together with sliders roughly indicating progress. You can return to the desktop during play by pressing F12 or from the Abuse main menu by selecting the quit option at the bottom right of the screen (don't worry you won't loose your current game). To go back to the game as you left it, click Select on the icon bar icon.<p>
<!-- GAME KEYS -->
<u><h5>Game keys</h5></u><p>
<pre>
Up arrow - main character jump
Left arrow - main character left
Right arrow - main character right
Mouse - move sight
Select - fire
Adjust - special power
P - pause
Return - unpause
1-7 - choose weapon
R-Ctrl/Ins - cycle through available weapons
Home/Page Up - as above
F1 - display keys
Escape - return to the Abuse main menu with the option of
returning to the game or desktop
F12 - return to desktop (not when paused)
</pre>
<!-- WIMP FRONT END -->
<u><h5>WIMP front end</h5></u>
<h6><i>The main menu</i></h1>
Clicking Menu on the icon bar icon displays this menu -<br>
There are currently three video modes supported, these are:-
<ul>
<li>320x200x256(P)
<li>320x200x256
<li>320x200x16M
</ul>
The P in brackets, as also shown in the above window, stands for programmable to distinguish it from a normal 256 colour mode. The programmable mode is the default and recommended, it and the 16M colour mode both give the correct colour palette.<br>
Enabling the <em>Load alternative file</em> option will unshade the other buttons in the alternative file box. The filename typed into the writable field is interpreted when the game starts up according to which radio button in the alternative file box is selected. The command line options that these replace are shown in brackets.<br>
Dragging a LISP or SPEC file to the window will automatically insert the filename into the writable field, select the <em>Load alternative file</em> option and attempt to set the correct radio button. The criteria for this file identification are as follows:-
<ul>
<li>If the file has a .lsp (or /lsp) extension then set the -lsf button.
<li>If the file has a .spe (or /spe) extension then set the -f button.
<li>If the file cannot be identified from the above then set the -f option if the first four bytes of the file contain the letters SPEC.
<li>If the file can still not be identified then default to the -lsf button and assume that the correct button will be set manually.
</ul>
The file will never be identified as using the -a option as this is expected to be the name of a single directory that resides in <em>AbuseData.AddOn</em> rather than a full pathname. For example, assuming a directory called <em>carcass</em> exists in <em>AbuseData.AddOn</em> and the files <em>carcass/lsp</em> and <em>carchar/lsp</em> are present within this directory, then typing <em>carcass</em> into the writable field and selecting the -a option will load this add on when the game starts up.
<p>
The <em>Editor</em> option will start the game in editor mode. Note that attempts to use the <em>Spec file</em> option with the editor will be ignored as level files should be loaded from the editor itself.
<p>
Selecting the reset item from the main menu allows all level data loaded, if any, to be discarded ready to start again. The reset option should be used before selecting a new alternative file from the options window or before enabling/disabling the editor, however, the game does not need to be reset to toggle the sound or change display mode.
<p>
All options can be applied and saved to disc by clicking on the Save button in which case they will be reloaded when !Abuse is next run. Using the Set button, will apply the options without saving them to disc
.
<!-- COMMAND LINE OPTIONS -->
<u><h5>Command line options</h5></u>
<ul>
<li><b>-vmode</b><br>
The functionality of this option is now part of the options window and is no longer supported.
<li><b>-no_fastload</b><br>
Every time Abuse starts up, it creates a file called fastload in !Scrap which it uses during the game. This file should be deleted by Abuse on a clean exit. If Abuse exits by any means other than the main menu then this file will not be deleted automatically. At over 2Megs it's quite a large file, so manual deletion is advisable.<br>
I added this option to disable the use of the fastload file. This should cut the disc space required by over 2Megs, but may affect level loading speeds.
<li><b>-nodelay</b><br>
Switch off frame delay so that the game runs as fast as the computer will allow.
<li><b>-nolight</b><br>
Disable lighting effects.
<li><b>-lisp</b><br>
Start up in the builtin LISP interpreter.
</ul>
Some of these options will be moved to the options window in a future version.
<!-- ADDITIONAL NOTES -->
<u><h5>Additional notes</h5></u>
I chose to use an x-file directory to store the game data because there are directories in the distribution which contain more than 77 entries. It was also necessary to retain the DOS file extensions on the file names.<p>
Saved games are written by Abuse into the X-file directory.<p>
Filenames can be either of the DOS or RISC OS type:-<br>
DOS - / as directory separator, full stop as filename extension separator<br>
RISC OS - full stop as directory separator, / as filename extension separator i.e. a standard RISC OS filename.<p>
Although the music files are included, the music does not work as I couldn't find any information on the file format :-(. In the next version I <em>might</em> add support for standard General Midi file play back although the user may have to supply their own music files.<p>
Despite the fact that the network code for multi-player games still exists in the game, it is not functional and should not be used.<p>
The purchasing information displayed on exiting Abuse is left over from the DOS version and does not relate to this RISC OS port.<p>
Thanks to Samuel Kock for confirming that the registered data set does work with my port.
<!-- HISTORY -->
<u><h5>History</h5></u>
<ul>
<li><u>v0.01</u><br>
Initial release.
<li><u>v0.02</u><br>
Fixed slight problem with RISC OS directory names that contain '/'. These were being parsed as directory separators.
<li><u>v0.03</u><br>
Previously, Abuse's memory manager allocated a memory pool of a maximum of about 3MB, no matter how big the wimp slot was. This prevented some large add on levels from being used. The size of the memory pool allocation is now linked to the current wimp slot that Abuse is running in.
<li><u>v0.04</u><br>
Fixed load level menu option.<br>
Keyboard auto repeat is acceptable now, I think, but not exactly WIMP standard.<br>
Changed weapon cycle keys to what they should have been. The source code uses the word INSERT so I assumed it meant the one above DELETE. It should have been keypad 0. I guess I should have looked at the help screen closer :-)
<li><u>v0.05</u><br>
Added a 256 colour programmable display mode to the choice of modes. In a simple test, this proved to be slighly faster than the 32 bit mode, plus the fact that colour translation isn't required as it was before.<br>
Added WIMP front end and game reset.
<li><u>v0.05a</u><br>
Fixed edit option in options window.
</ul>
<!-- KNOWN PROBLEMS -->
<u><h5>Known problems in v0.05a</h5></u>
Hopefully to be fixed in the next version:-
<ul>
<li>Dots occasionally appear at bottom of screen. This is an error message concerning a missing file. The file isn't actually missing, some SPEC files refer to a corresponding .cpf (cache profile) file using a DOS rooted filename i.e. c:/.../... which is then added to the !Abuse path.
<li>When moving up the directory structure in the editor's file selection windows, you can't move back down (presumably, DOS would automatically return the special directory .. to allow this).
<li>When a filename is selected in the editor's file selection window, they are rooted and too long to see the leaf name.
<li>Due to the addition of the WIMP front end, some text messages are lost. These are not usually important but may be in some circumstances. A future version may address this problem.
<li>If Deskspace (and possibly other similar utilities) is being used then on returning to the desktop from the game the pointer jumps up to the next screen despite attempts by myself to reset it to the centre of the current screen. I've no idea why this is, it's annoying but not serious.
</ul>
<!-- COPYRIGHT -->
<u><h5>Copyright</h5></u>
Here is the copyright notice that accompanies the source code:-
<p>
<blockquote>
Crack dot Com is hereby releasing the source code to Abuse to the public domain.
<p>
Ownership:
<br>
The following are statements of Crack dot Com's ownership. These items are NOT being submitted to the public domain.
<br><ul>
<li>Crack dot Com retains ownership of the Abuse trademark.
<li>Crack dot Com retains ownership of the Crack dot Com trademark.
<li>Crack dot Com retains ownership of the Abuse "retail" data set.
<li>Crack dot Com retains ownership of the Abuse "registered" data set.
</ul>
<br>
The "retail" and "registered" data sets are defined as the levels, sound effects, music, artwork and other data which are NOT common to the "shareware" release of the game.
<p>
Licenses and Third Party Owners:
<br>
Crack licensed the DOS Abuse rights to Electronic Arts and the Mac Abuse rights to Bungie. Crack is therefore NOT releasing the full data set to the public domain to protect EA's and Bungie's investments in the product.
<p>
Sound effects found in the shareware release of Abuse are the copyright of Bobby Prince and are not being submitted to the public domain.
<p>
Disclaimer of Warranty:
<br>
As with most public domain software, no warranty is made or implied by Crack dot Com or Jonathan Clark.
<p>
Examples of What you CAN Do:
<br>
<ul>
<li>Make another game and sell it commercially using the Abuse source code.
<li>Use pieces of the source code or shareware data (excluding the WAV's- you must speak to Bobby Prince) however you see fit.
<li>Learn how to make a better game.
<li>Port Abuse to any system you like.
</ul>
</blockquote>
To clarify:-
<ul>
<li>The game data supplied is that of Abuse shareware version 2.00
<li>The sound effects are copyright Bobby Prince and are <em>NOT</em> public domain
</ul>
<p>
<!-- ABUSE LINKS -->
<u><h5>Abuse links</h5></u>
For additional levels, graphics and documentation try the following links:-<br>
