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Welcome to the Shareware Hi Res VGA Galliasoft GUI Mod Editor / Creator Version 1.35 (c) 1992 Michael Gallias Important Notice This product is postware. This means that you can use the program freely but the author would like you to send him either a postcard, letter or perhaps a donation. Please copy this program for your friends. As long as the program remains unmodified and all required files are copied with the program, it can be copied freely. The files which must accompany the program are given later in this manual. The author cannot take responsibility for any losses caused by this program. With proper usage (that includes reading the manual), the program should work properly. It has been tested by many people who are very happy with its results. The following sections are available: Section 1, Mod Files Section 2, Mod Editing and Section 3, Making your own pictures. Section 4, Mod Editor: General Information SECTION 1: MOD FILES Mod files are made up of samples, patterns and a sequence. A sample is the digitised music that you hear. In the Mod file there can be a number of different samples, or instruments, ranging from 1 to 31, the maximum. A pattern is an arrangement of samples. A pattern controls the speed, special effects and ordering of the samples. There can be up to 64 patterns in a Mod file. There is a sequence in the Mod file which determines in what order the patterns are to be played. The sequence can be up to 128 patterns long. The Mod file is stored in rather a strange format (and it took Chris Becke quite a long time to work out. Chris Becke helped me with the Mod file format.). The format is now available and is available in a text file on Connectix. See the end of the manual. ModRes is a resident Mod file player for Mod editors. I have included support for this program, if you have it. ModRes does not come with this Mod Editor. If you have it, you will be able to play your Mod files from the Mod Editor without exiting. You may notice that when you change octaves in the pattern editor, the program changes the note as well. This is because the frequency table has some duplicate numbers. Here are the frequencies for the Mod files and the corresponding notes and octaves. Approx. Amiga MOD Frequencies (Hex) ╔═════╦═════╦═════╦═════╦═════╦═════╦═════╦═════╦═════╦═════╦═════╗ ║Oc/Nt║ 0 ║ 1 ║ 2 ║ 3 ║ 4 ║ 5 ║ 6 ║ 7 ║ 8 ║ 9 ║ ╠═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╣ ║ C ║ 6B0 ║ 358 ║ 1AD ║ 0D6 ║ 06B ║ 035 ║ 01B ║ 00D ║ 007 ║ 003 ║ ╠═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╣ ║ C# ║ 650 ║ 328 ║ 194 ║ 0CA ║ 065 ║ 032 ║ 019 ║ 00D ║ 006 ║ 003 ║ ╠═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╣ ║ D ║ 5F5 ║ 2FB ║ 17D ║ 0BF ║ 05F ║ 030 ║ 018 ║ 00C ║ 006 ║ 003 ║ ╠═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╣ ║ D# ║ 5A0 ║ 2D0 ║ 168 ║ 0B4 ║ 05A ║ 02D ║ 016 ║ 00B ║ 006 ║ 003 ║ ╠═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╣ ║ E ║ 54F ║ 2A7 ║ 154 ║ 0AA ║ 055 ║ 02A ║ 015 ║ 00B ║ 005 ║ 003 ║ ╠═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╣ ║ F ║ 503 ║ 281 ║ 141 ║ 0A0 ║ 050 ║ 028 ║ 014 ║ 00A ║ 005 ║ 002 ║ ╠═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╣ ║ F# ║ 4BB ║ 25D ║ 12F ║ 097 ║ 04C ║ 026 ║ 013 ║ 009 ║ 005 ║ 002 ║ ╠═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╣ ║ G ║ 477 ║ 23B ║ 11E ║ 08F ║ 047 ║ 024 ║ 012 ║ 009 ║ 004 ║ 002 ║ ╠═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╣ ║ G# ║ 436 ║ 21B ║ 10E ║ 087 ║ 043 ║ 022 ║ 011 ║ 008 ║ 004 ║ 002 ║ ╠═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╣ ║ A ║ 3FA ║ 1FD ║ 0FE ║ 07F ║ 040 ║ 020 ║ 010 ║ 008 ║ 004 ║ 002 ║ ╠═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╣ ║ A# ║ 3C1 ║ 1E0 ║ 0F0 ║ 078 ║ 03C ║ 01E ║ 00F ║ 007 ║ 004 ║ 002 ║ ╠═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╣ ║ B ║ 38B ║ 1C5 ║ 0E3 ║ 071 ║ 039 ║ 01C ║ 00E ║ 007 ║ 003 ║ 001 ║ ╚═════╩═════╩═════╩═════╩═════╩═════╩═════╩═════╩═════╩═════╩═════╝ Approx. Amiga MOD Frequencies (Dec) ╔═════╦═════╦═════╦═════╦═════╦═════╦═════╦═════╦═════╦═════╦═════╗ ║Oc/Nt║ 0 ║ 1 ║ 2 ║ 3 ║ 4 ║ 5 ║ 6 ║ 7 ║ 8 ║ 9 ║ ╠═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╣ ║ C ║ 1712║ 856 ║ 429 ║ 214 ║ 107 ║ 53 ║ 27 ║ 13 ║ 7 ║ 3 ║ ╠═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╣ ║ C# ║ 1616║ 808 ║ 404 ║ 202 ║ 101 ║ 50 ║ 25 ║ 13 ║ 6 ║ 3 ║ ╠═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╣ ║ D ║ 1525║ 763 ║ 381 ║ 191 ║ 95 ║ 48 ║ 24 ║ 12 ║ 6 ║ 3 ║ ╠═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╣ ║ D# ║ 1440║ 736 ║ 360 ║ 180 ║ 90 ║ 45 ║ 22 ║ 11 ║ 6 ║ 3 ║ ╠═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╣ ║ E ║ 1359║ 679 ║ 340 ║ 170 ║ 85 ║ 42 ║ 21 ║ 11 ║ 5 ║ 3 ║ ╠═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╣ ║ F ║ 1283║ 641 ║ 321 ║ 160 ║ 80 ║ 40 ║ 20 ║ 10 ║ 5 ║ 2 ║ ╠═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╣ ║ F# ║ 1211║ 605 ║ 303 ║ 151 ║ 76 ║ 38 ║ 19 ║ 9 ║ 5 ║ 2 ║ ╠═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╣ ║ G ║ 1143║ 571 ║ 286 ║ 143 ║ 71 ║ 36 ║ 18 ║ 9 ║ 4 ║ 2 ║ ╠═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╣ ║ G# ║ 1078║ 539 ║ 270 ║ 135 ║ 67 ║ 34 ║ 17 ║ 8 ║ 4 ║ 2 ║ ╠═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╣ ║ A ║ 1018║ 509 ║ 254 ║ 127 ║ 64 ║ 32 ║ 16 ║ 8 ║ 4 ║ 2 ║ ╠═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╣ ║ A# ║ 961 ║ 480 ║ 240 ║ 120 ║ 60 ║ 30 ║ 15 ║ 7 ║ 4 ║ 2 ║ ╠═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╬═════╣ ║ B ║ 907 ║ 453 ║ 227 ║ 113 ║ 57 ║ 28 ║ 14 ║ 7 ║ 3 ║ 1 ║ ╚═════╩═════╩═════╩═════╩═════╩═════╩═════╩═════╩═════╩═════╩═════╝ Amiga MOD Special Effects (Summary) Effect Description Parameter ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 0 Arepeggiation xy x=Halfsteps y=Halfsteps 1 Slide Up Speed 2 Slide Down Speed 3 Slide To Note Speed 4 Vibrato xy x=Speed y=Depth 5 Unused 6 Unused 7 Unused 8 Unused 9 Unused 10 Volume Slide x0 x=UpSpeed / 0y y=DownSpeed 11 Position Jump Pattern Position 12 Set Volume Volume (00-64) 13 Pattern Break Skip to Next Pattern 14 Unused 15 Set Speed Speed (00-31) Note that the parameter can either be specified as a number from 0 to 255 or as 2 numbers from 0 to 15 each. Where I have given xy, this shows that x is a number from 0 to 15 and y is a number from 0 to 15. These 2 numbers are combined to form 1 number from 0 to 255. Where x0 and 0y are specified, this indicates a value for x or y (but not both) is required, a number from 0 to 15. To convert 2 numbers (0 to 15) into 1 number (0 to 255), you will find using hexadecimal notation very useful. Example If you have x=8 and y=10, after converting to hex one has x=8 and y=A. (A = 10, B = 11, C = 12, D = 13, E = 14, F = 15) Now, place the 2 values together. 8A The value you want is 8A. In decimal, take the x value and multiply it by 16. In this example, 128. Add it to the y value, in this example 10. The final value is 138, or 8A. SECTION 2: THE MOD EDITOR General Information If possible, print this document as you will find it easier to work through the program while you are able to read the document. If you have 2 monitors, some programs allow you to view a document on one monitor and run the Mod Editor on the other. For the beginner: This program uses a GUI ("gooey") or Graphical User Interface. These GUI's are becoming very popular as they are very easy to use. They are designed for use with a mouse where you may simply move the mouse pointer onto a "Button" and "Click". A Button is a picture of a button on the screen with a name on it. For example, if there is a picture of a button with the word "Quit" on it, you can move the mouse pointer onto the button and click (press a button on your mouse). The word click is used to show the difference between a button on the screen and a button on the mouse. Clicking a button refers to moving the mouse pointer to a picture of a button on the screen and then pressing a mouse button (the physical mouse button). You may find this program a little complicated at first if you have never used text .INI files before and have never used a GUI. Don't worry - you will be used to the system in a matter of hours! It's really great fun. What does this program do? This program allows you to write Mod files which can be played using a Mod player. It cannot play the Mod files itself because the program uses large amounts of graphics. The program currently only uses conventional memory (the first 640kb) and does not yet support EMS, XMS, UMA or HMA. Thus entire Mod files can often not be loaded into memory. To solve this problem, the program uses swap files. Samples from the Mod files are stored in the swap files, freeing memory for the Hi Res VGA graphics. You can then load graphic pictures to represent the samples which makes the Mod editing more fun and far easier. This program is designed especially for VGA mouse users. Although you can use the program without a mouse, you will find the mouse makes the editing far easier. When Mod editors for the IBM family came out, they were all numeric and very complicated. I hope I have succeeded in making Mod editing more easy by using pictures instead of names, graphs (analogue displays) instead of digital values and mouse instead of keyboard. This is a completely new idea and you will probably not have used a Mod editor like this before. It may take some getting used to. What does the program need? The program requires these minimums: DOS 2.11 or higher. 640kb memory with about 512 kb free conventional memory. A 286 processor or better. (This program does not support the 8088 / 8086 XT as Mod files cannot be played well on the XT). A colour VGA which supports 640 x 480 Hi Res mode. A hard drive with about 1 megabyte free space (at least) or a RAM drive with about 1 megabyte free space. Optional: DOS 3.3 or higher. 87 maths coprocessor. A mouse. ModRes Version 1.20 or greater. Note that if you use a mouse, the mouse driver (software running the mouse) must support VGA. If you are using the Genius Mouse Driver Software, you will need Version 9.06 or better. If the mouse does not move over the entire screen or does not appear at all, please get a software update which supports VGA. This section is for more advanced users Hard Drive: As the program uses swap files, a hard drive is needed. If possible, you should use a RAM drive for your samples. See the section on the .INI file. Some older hard drives (like the 40 Mb drives) are often a bit slow (28ms). This will mean loading and saving Mod files will take longer. This program runs well on a 16ms hard drive. Above that, the loading takes a few seconds longer. To speed up loading and saving you should organise (or "compress") your hard disk regularly. Many programs are available, many as shareware, which will organise the files on your hard disk. For the best speed, ask the program to place directories and files grouped together. Extra Memory: If you have extra memory available, create a large RAM drive for your samples. Swap files are stored with the samples. This will increase the speed greatly. Just remember to update your hard drive if you add any new samples to the RAM drive before powering down. Everything in the RAM drive is lost when you reboot. Swap Files: Swap files are needed while the Mod Editor is running. Once you have returned to DOS, all swap files are deleted. Swap files are created with an extension .$$$. There is also one file called GMEDCONT.BAT. Thus, if for some reason the power fails while the Mod Editor is running, old .$$$ files may be left on your hard drive. These may be deleted. Installing the Mod Editor If you have received the files from a BBS, you should have received one file with extension .ARJ, .ZIP or .LZH. The file will then have to be unpacked. Make sure you unpacked the Mod Editor into it's own directory. Unlike most other Mod editors, this program allows you to keep your Mod files, samples and pictures each in there own directory. Once this has been done, you must setup the .INI file, MED.INI. Simple .INI Setup You will need some sort of text editor to change the .INI file. There are many public domain and shareware editors available. There is also EDLIN which comes with DOS 4.x and down and EDIT which comes with DOS 5.x and up. See your DOS manual on how to edit text files. Looking through the MED.INI file, you will see various commands and options. The .INI file uses the following system. There are sections and then commands for each section. Section names are given in brackets ([]). You will have to check the [Paths] section to make sure the program is setup for your hard disk. Look in the .INI file for a line with [Paths] on it. Directly below this there are 4 commands. For example, you may find this in the .INI file: [Paths] Program=C:\MED Pictures=C:\MED Samples=C:\SAMPLES Mods=C:\MODS This .INI file tells the Mod Editor that it must look for program files in the directory \MED on drive C:. Pictures are stored in the program directory. Samples are in C:\SAMPLES and the completed music files are in C:\MODS. Simply change this to your requirements. Note that the may be no space before or after the = sign. If you want your pictures in the directory C:\MED\PICTURES then simply change the .INI file to [Paths] Program=C:\MED Pictures=C:\MED\PICTURES Samples=C:\SAMPLES Mods=C:\MODS and copy all your pictures into the correct directory. Advanced .INI Setup In the .INI file there are 3 possibilities, a heading, an option and a comment. Any line with only a [Name] in brackets is a heading. This determines what kind of options are to be found in the next section. I.e. in the [Pictures] part, you can setup what pictures must be loaded, in the [Samples] part, you can setup what file names must be allocated to each sample and which picture must be allocated to each sample. Under each of these headings are the commands. A command line has a reserved word (listed later) followed directly by an = sign which in turn is also directly followed by the user option. Then there are also comments. Any line which has no brackets and no = sign is treated as a comment. Also note that any invalid option is also treated as a comment. For example, if in the [Paths] section you want Program=C:\MED but mistype the name to Progtam=C:\MED, the spelling error causes the program to ignore that line. In the [System] section the following commands are available. SampleUpCase ExtraButtons SampleSize DeleteSampleName InactiveZero DeleteST BestSignature DeleteAllTemps CompressMods DeleteCompressedMods SwapModWarn NotesAtLoad Mouse ModRes SoundOutputDevice WaitOnStatus and DefaultSampleVolume SampleUpCase This will NOT set all the sample names to uppercase once you have loaded the Mod file. This option lets you distinguish between samples of the same name, some just with a different upper or lower case. For example, if SampleUpCase is on, then a sample with name moog will be assumed to be the same as samples with names Moog or MOOG. However, if SampleUpCase is off, moog is considered to be a different sample to Moog which is also different from MOOG. This will take effect under the [Samples] section when you setup file names for different samples. ExtraButtons This option currently changes the sequence screen. If ExtraButtons is on, then the sequence screen will have two extra buttons displayed. These two buttons lie above the first pattern in the sequence near the left and right arrows. They are an up arrow and a down arrow. Clicking on Up or Down will change the pattern. These buttons are however a little redundant as you can to the same by clicking on the left or right of the Pat No button. Some users may prefer these buttons to be near the Left and Right arrows. If you do want the buttons to appear there, set ExtraButtons on. If you don't like the buttons there, simply turn ExtraButtons off. This will make the buttons invisible. You can still however click in the area of the buttons and the pattern will change, the buttons are active, just invisible. SampleSize This option, when on, will make the program display the size of the installed samples in the Sample Menu of the program. The problem is that because the size is displayed, the full sample name cannot be displayed and the last few characters cannot be seen. If SampleSize is off, the full sample name is displayed but the size of the sample is not displayed. DeleteSampleName In some Mod files, messages are placed in the unused sample areas. Thus, although a sample is not allocated any data, it has a name. When DeleteSampleName is on, if the program detects an empty sample with a name, it deletes the name. If DeleteSampleName is off, the unused samples will still have the name attached to it. When DeleteSampleName is off, messages can be placed in the unused areas. InactiveZero This will change whether a sample is active (allocated) or not, even though it is empty. I.e. If the sample has a size of 0 (not allocated any data) and InactiveZero is on, the program marks the sample as inactive and not allocated. If InactiveZero is off, the program treats empty samples as if they were active. This allows you to put friendly messages in the Mod files you create. DeleteST This removes the ST-??: from the file name of the samples. It does not remove the ST-??: from the actual sample name. For example, if you have a sample with a name of ST-00:MOOG2, the program would save the sample as ST00MOOG.SAM if DeleteST where off. If however DeleteST where on, the sample would be saved as MOOG2.SAM. This option is very useful for samples such as ST-00:MOOG1 and ST-00:MOOG2. As the IBM system allows 8 letters for a file name, both files would want the file name ST00MOOG.SAM. With DeleteST on, the files would be called MOOG1.SAM and MOOG2.SAM. You can however force different file names under the [Samples] section. The DeleteST option is only useful with the DeleteAllTemps option off. BestSignature This selects the signature of your 31 sample Mod files. Any Mod file saved will use your favourite signature selected by this option. Using BestSignature=1 in the .INI file will mean that any 31 sample Mod file will have the signature M.K. in it. Using BestSignature=2 will use FLT4 and BestSignature=3 will use GSFT. Note that few Mod players support GSFT. The most popular seems to be M.K. and you should use this one. Selecting a number above 3 will use one of the other user defined signatures found under the [Signatures] section. DeleteAllTemps This option allows you to collect samples from other Mod files. When the program loads a Mod file, it extracts all the samples into temporary swap files. If the sample has a name, that name is used to store the sample on disk. If the sample has no name or has a name which cannot be used as a file name, a random file name is taken. Files which were created by using the sample name end in .SAM while random file names end in .$$$. If DeleteAllTemps is on, any samples created (as swap files) from the Mod file loaded are deleted once you load a new Mod file or quit the Mod Editor. If DeleteAllTemps is off, only the sample files ending in .$$$ are deleted. Thus you can create a library of samples from other Mod files. (Please make sure that the Mod file samples are not copyright. You may only use samples from other Mod files if the author has not copyrighted them.) The advantage of having a library of samples is that many Mod files use the same samples. This program will use the sample name to determine a file name. If that file exists and the file is EXACTLY the same size as the sample, the program ASSUMES that the samples are identical. It then does not have to open a swap file for the sample and the loading is far quicker. Less temporary disk space is also required as a swap file is not used. CompressMods This option will force the computer to compress the Mod file once it has been saved. Simply save the file as usual. The program switches out and compresses the file using the first compression program listed in the .INI file. Out of LHA Ver 2.10 (.LZH files), ARJ Ver 2.22 (.ARJ files) and PKZip Ver 1.10 (.ZIP files), I found that .LZH gave best compression results, although .ARJ was very close (and sometimes compressed better than .LZH) while .ZIP was very fast but did not compress as well. These fine compression programs are available as shareware and are not supplied with the program. The .INI file must be setup correctly or the program may crash. If the program tries to compress and simply returns to DOS, you have probably run the .EXE file instead of the .BAT file. Type GMEDCONT and the program may be able to continue. DeleteCompressedMods When this option is on, the program deletes the current Mod file when you Open a new file, Load a new file or Quit, IF the Mod file has been saved and compressed. This will leave you with the compressed file only. Note that the program assumes that when it crossed out to DOS to compress the file, the compression was successful. When this option is off, you will be left with a Mod file and a compressed file. SwapModWarn If this is on, you will be warned when you Convey that the swap file already exists (if it does exist). If the option is off, you will not be warned and the file will simply be overwritten. If your .INI file is setup correctly, you should keep this option off. Just in case you forgot to save, the program will usually never delete the swap Mod file. You may however delete it once you have returned to DOS with the Quit button. If you delete the Mod file during a Convey, the Mod file being edited will be lost. NotesAtLoad A Mod file contains a frequency value which determines the sample play speed. This changes the sound of the sample (higher or lower). These frequencies can be represented as notes (like G or A sharp). These notes are not stored in the Mod file and must be calculated from a reference formulae or table. The Mod Editor has this table in memory and can calculate the correct note and octave from the frequency. The problem is that it takes quite a few milliseconds, and on slower computers it may take a few hundred milliseconds. When loading a Mod file, these notes and octaves can be calculated. This however slows the Mod loading process, especially if you don't have a 486. Like most users I have a 286 which is slow for the calculations involved. Thus you can turn off the NotesAtLoad option and the program will not calculate the notes and octaves while loading the Mod file. This saves a few seconds on a 286 as each pattern could have up to 64 sample calls and there can be 64 patterns in a Mod file. The catch is that the notes then need to be calculated as you edit the pattern. But the good news is that when you are editing the pattern, only one calculation occurs for the current sample you are using. The calculation isn't done for an entire pattern, only one sample so the time taken is a few milliseconds rather than a few seconds. Thus you don't actually notice the delay as much. For users doing a lot of pattern editing I would suggest you calculate the notes and octaves at load time while other users calculate the notes and octaves during the pattern edit. Mouse This option can disable the mouse. If Mouse is on, a mouse can be used (but doesn't have to be) and if there is no mouse attached, the Mouse value has no effect. If mouse is off, no mouse can be used, even if you have a mouse. If a mouse is used, a half second computer speed test is needed. If no mouse is installed, the test is skipped. ModRes Set this option off if you never use ModRes. SoundOutputDevice Specify a value to ModRes, selecting where the Mod files are to be played, i.e. PC Speaker, DAC. ModRes Ver 1.20 does not seem to support Sound Blaster. GotoModDir If on, the program automatically changes into your Mod directory when it loads, as set up in the .INI file. If off, the program stays in the default directory. WaitOnStatus If WaitOnStatus is on, you will have to press a key before the loading status screen is cleared. Use this if you are interested in seeing the information on the status screen. When off, the status screen appears only while the program loads pictures and sets up the mouse. The Mod Editor starts once the needed pictures are loaded. DefaultSampleVolume This is the volume that will be used and assigned to a sample when you install it into memory. The following options can be set using =Y or =N: SampleUpCase ExtraButtons SampleSize DeleteSampleName InactiveZero DeleteST DeleteAllTemps CompressMods DeleteCompressedMods SwapModWarn NotesAtLoad GotoModDir ModRes Mouse and WaitOnStatus where Y is used for Yes (or on) and N is used for No (or off). The following options must be set using =nn: DefaultSampleVolume, where nn is a number from 0 to 64. SoundOutputDevice, where nn is a valid ModRes value. See your ModRes Manual. (0 is PC Speaker.) BestSignature, where nn is a number from 1 to 3, or higher numbers if you have setup your own signatures. Example (extract of a possible .INI file) [System] SampleUpCase=Y ExtraButtons=N SampleSize=Y DeleteSampleName=N InactiveZero=Y DeleteST=Y DeleteAllTemps=N CompressMods=Y DeleteCompressedMods=Y SwapModWarn=N NotesAtLoad=N Mouse=Y ModRes=Y WaitOnStatus=N GotoModDir=Y DefaultSampleVolume=52 BestSignature=1 SoundOutputDevice=0 You may leave some options out. If you do so, the Mod Editor defaults come into effect. The [Compression] Section. The command is made up of a letter, either A or X, plus the compress file extension and the option will be the command string to execute. (C) is specified for the name of the compressed file, (U) is specified for the name of the uncompressed file (the Mod file). For example, using LHA, to extract the file TEST.MOD from the archive TEST.LZH, one would use LHA e TEST.LZH TEST.MOD thus the option you would give in the .INI file would be LHA e (C) (U) and the Galliasoft Mod Editor does the rest. Example [Compression] XLZH=LHA e (C) (U) ALZH=LHA a (C) (U) XARJ=ARJ e (C) (U) AARH=ARJ a (C) (U) XZIP=PKUNZIP (C) (U) AZIP=PKZIP (C) (U) In the above example, the Mod Editor would be able to decode .LZH, .ARJ and .ZIP files and encode .LZH files. Note that each file type MUST be given both an extract option (X) and an archive option (A). The first command line tells the Mod Editor that to decode LZH files it must run the program LHA e (Compressed File Name) (Mod File Name). This assumes LHA is on the path. If the program where not on the path, you would have to setup a path or specify the path before the name, such as XLHA=D:\COMPRESS\LHA e (C) (U) The [Signatures] section. This is the only section where you will not need a command before the = sign. Signatures you find in Mod files that are not recognised by the Mod Editor can be setup here. You can use one of two methods, either specify the signature as a 4 letter text string or as 4 ASCII character values. The method one uses to setup a new signature is to add =newsignature to the file, for example, adding =MDED would add the signature MDED to the list of recognised signatures. You may only have 100 different known signatures. The first 3 are reserved by the Mod Editor, the rest you may use. Example [Signatures] =MDED =84,84,84,84 The above example in a .INI file would cause the 4th signature recognised to be MDED and the 5th signature to be recognised to be TTTT because the ASCII code for the letter 'T' is 84 (decimal). Note that mded, MDED and MdEd are all different signatures and would have to be installed exactly as it is to be found in the Mod file. To use the signature MDED in your Mod file, simply set BestSignature to 4 in the [System] section (for this example). Also note that the above was simply an example and to the best of my knowledge no Mod file has the above signatures. The [Pictures] section The only command available here is Install. One can install the pictures you require by simply stating Install=filename in your .INI file. Example [Pictures] Install=NOTE.GIP Install=Drum The pictures NOTE.GIP and DRUM.GIP would be installed in memory, if sufficient memory were available. The maximum number of pictures you can install depend on memory availability. The number of pictures you can install is given on the loading status screen in brackets on the "Picture" line. Once the pictures have been installed, they can be easily referenced from inside the Mod Editor. For example, to use the picture NOTE.GIP in the Mod Editor, one can either reference it by the name NOTE, NOTE.GIP or *1 (as it was the first picture installed). The picture DRUM.GIP can be accessed within the Mod Editor as DRUM, DRUM.GIP or as *2. When using pictures for samples in the .INI file, one uses a different method, see the [Samples] section. Each picture uses about 500 bytes of memory and 486 bytes of disk space. The .GIP stands for Galliasoft Instrument Picture and all pictures used by the system must have this extension. Some pictures are supplied with the original program. When you received the program, you should have received some pictures. These pictures are copyrighted and may only be used for this Mod Editor. They were purchased by the author especially for this program. Should you wish to add your own pictures to the Mod Editor, you are welcome to. The program CUT2GIP will assist you with this. Any pictures you create are yours and you may distribute them separately as public domain or keep them for your own private use. You may NOT sell (or release as shareware) pictures you create for the Mod Editor without permission from Michael Gallias. The [Samples] section Here you can setup default names for your samples. You can also setup default pictures for your samples. Example [Samples] akaiclosedhh=AKAICLSD,1 akaikick=AKAIKICK.SAM,2 akaisnare=AKAISNRE.SAM moog=,4 In the above example, any sample with the name "akaiclosedhh" will be saved to a file called AKAICLSD.SAM or loaded from that file if that file exists and is the correct sample size. The sample will also be allocated picture number 1. The first picture to be loaded is picture 1, the second, 2, etc.. "akaikick" will be stored in sample file AKAIKICK.SAM and picture 2 will be used to represent this sample. "akaisnare" will be stored in file AKAISNRE.SAM and will have no picture allocated to it. A picture may be allocated to it in the Mod Editor. "moog" will become a temporary swap file, allocated to picture 4. The [Convey] section This part controls the Convey button. On the main menu screen, there is a Convey button. Clicking on this button saves the current Mod file and executes another program. Because this Mod Editor uses swap files and because playing sound from EMS is very difficult (page swapping in the middle of samples is not nice), this program cannot play the music it writes. (The graphics uses all the memory.) To solve this I included this Convey button. Clicking on Convey executes the program of your choice. I suggest you use Mod Play. Thus the program can swap out and play the Mod file you are editing. There are the options available in the [Convey] section: * 1N 1P Use an * to set your Mod swap file name. This is the Mod file that is created for the program which will be run. The name selected should be something like TEMPMOD.MOD or SWAPMOD.MOD so you know that it is a temporary Mod file. 1N will specify the name of the program. The name is not used within the Mod Editor as yet but it should be included. Only the first 8 letters are used from the name. 1P is the path and file name to run. An * is used to specify the Mod swap file name. Example [Convey] *=SWAPMOD.MOD 1N=Mod Play Pro Version 2.10 by Mark Cox 1P=C:\MODPLAY\MP * In the above example, the swap Mod file is set to SWAPMOD.MOD. The program to be called is set to MOD PLAY. The program which will be run is MP from the directory C:\MODPLAY. The * is included after the MP so that MP automatically plays SWAPMOD.MOD. It is very important to set this part of the .INI file CORRECTLY. The first time you use this Convey feature, please save you work before you do anything else in case you have set it up incorrectly. General information on the .INI file Because the code is already very large, I did not include a .INI file tester in my code. This means that if you setup the .INI file illegally the program could behave badly. You can however check that the .INI file loaded to your satisfaction by running MED /I. This will display the current .INI setup and will not run the Mod Editor. Loading the program Go to the directory which contains the Mod Editor. Then type MED to load the program. Note that if you use GMED to load the program, the Convey button will not be able to work. Example C:\> CD\MED C:\MED> MED The status page then appears on the screen. The message "Program too big to fit into memory" appears if you do not have enough memory available. The total amount of free memory available for patterns, pictures and other features is displayed on the line "Memory Total". There will be around 384 - 500 kb free. There will also be a number after the first value, indicated by a + xxx kb. This is the amount of disk space free, effectively the largest Mod file you can edit (because of the space required by swap files). Some of this memory is required by them program for swap file management etc. so it can't all be used by pictures. The number of pictures you may load is given in brackets on the "Total Pictures" line. This value is accompanied by another value, the number of pictures loaded already (from the .INI file). The memory free is the amount of memory left after the .INI file and pictures have been loaded. Mouse will specify either Active, None or Disabled. If Active, you can use the mouse in the program. If Disabled, the mouse is available but has been deactivated in the .INI file. If None, the program was unable to find a mouse. (If you are having trouble getting your mouse to work, check your mouse driver.) If the mouse is active, the computer speed will be given as Slow, Medium or Fast. The line marked Picture displays the picture currently being loaded. If any errors occur, they are displayed on the bottom of the screen. If this happens, quit immediately and solve the problem. In the GUI VGA Mod Editor Once the load is complete, you are placed inside the Galliasoft Hi Res VGA GUI. You will see the "Main Menu": There will be 11 buttons on the screen, a bar across the top of the screen and a list of files in the current directory. In the top left, a mouse cursor will be present, if the mouse is active. Furthermore, the Mod file name, current directory and current directory mask are all displayed in the top left corner. If no Mod file is loaded, "No Mod File Loaded" is displayed instead of a Mod name. The following Buttons exist: Quit Load Save Name Open Path Mask Sample Pat Ed Seq Ed Convey Note that I will now assume you have a mouse. If you don't have a mouse, follow through the text and then check the equivalent key presses given later. If you have a mouse, you may either use the mouse to select a button or you may use the equivalent key press. To select a file, simply click on the file name. The currently selected file will be green, all the other files will be white. You may load a file / go to the selected directory by double clicking on the file name or directory name. Quit Click on Quit to return to DOS. If you have just returned from a Convey, make sure you have saved your Mod file to the appropriate file. Unless you have just returned from a Convey, if you have an unsaved Mod file in memory, you will be warned that you are about to lose your changes before you are taken back to DOS. Load This button loads the selected Mod file. If the Mod file is corrupt, the loader will not complete the file load and you will be unable to edit the file. Some Mod files are purposely corrupted in such a way that the sample sizes are specified incorrectly. This means that they cannot be edited, yet, because Mod players ignore this error, they can be played. See the section, Data Compression, below. Save This button will save the current Mod file in memory as the green file. WARNING! The Mod file will be saved over the currently selected file, not under the original file name that you loaded the Mod file. The saver will warn you if you are about to save a corrupt Mod file. You can create corrupt Mod files by pointing a sequence area to a pattern that does not exist. Because of the way Mod files are saved, this destroys the Mod file and it can never be loaded again. See the section, Data Compression, below. Name This button allows you to change the name of the Mod file. Please don't be confused between the Mod file-name and the name of the Mod file. The Mod file name is the file's name and is the name you use to read the file from disk (8 letters + .MOD) and the name of the Mod file is the 20 letter name the Mod file has. The name button changes the latter of these names. Open This starts a new Mod file. A Mod file is created with no samples, patterns or sequence. You can then add your own samples and create your own patterns and sequence. Path You can type in a new directory and drive to go to for your .MOD files. Mask Sets up a mask. The default is *.MOD. Keyboard users can set the mask to the file name they need and the file they want will be the only file in the directory listing (and hence the green one) and so they can then load then file. If more files are in the directory than can be displayed, a PgUp and PgDn button appear. They can clicked on to move around the file listing. Sample This button takes you to the sample install menu. You can then install the required samples for your Mod file. Pat Ed Edit the Mod file patterns. Seq Ed The Mod file sequence can be edited. Convey Cross to another program, as defined in the .INI file. I suggest you use Mod Play by Mark Cox as it accepts command line options and is very good. Quick keys for mouse users, keyboard button equivalents for non-mouse users: Load L Save S Name N Open O Path P Mask M PgDn PgDn PgUp PgUp (Up) [Up] (Down) [Down] Sample 1 Pat Ed 2 Seq Ed 3 Convey 4 Keyboard users may NO LONGER select a file by pressing [Alt][File Number]. Owing to popular demand, this option has been replaced with cursor key movement. Select a file by using the cursor keys (up and down). Once you have selected the file / directory you want, simply press 'L' for Load or press [Return]. That's it! It's that simple. Now that you can find your way around the main menu, the rest will be just as easy. Practise makes perfect! Data Compression To save disk space, one can compress one's Mod files. One uses one of the many programs available (mostly as shareware) to compress the data. Each Mod file can be put into a compressed format. (Some programs support multiple file compression. Please only use one file at a time.) If you were to use the program LHA to compress your data, each Mod file would be converted to a .LZH file. The catch is that LHA must be run on the file before you can use your Mod file. The main menu displays any recognised compression formats (see the .INI section). By clicking on a compressed file, the program swaps out and decompresses the file, then uses the decompressed Mod file. When one saves, one can have the Mod file recompressed. Each Mod file must have it's own compressed file. For example, if you wanted the file TEST.MOD compressed, one could run LHA on the program and the file would be converted to TEST.LZH. The Mod file and compressed file must have the same file name. Remember that if you have setup your .INI file to delete the Mod files once you have compressed them, then even if the compression fails (the Mod Editor wouldn't know the compression failed), the Mod file will be deleted. If your .INI file is setup such that Mod files are not deleted after compression, you will have both the compressed and uncompressed files on disk. Note, once the program attempts to compress and returns, the Mod file is still in memory and can be saved under a NEW name. Thus should the compression fail, you still have an opportunity to save the Mod file. Note that saving the file under it's OLD name will cause it to be deleted. Installing Samples After clicking on the Sample button, you are taken to the sample installing menu. Five buttons will appear: Quit Path File Wipe Name Another sixth button may appear, either More or Less. On the left you see all the available samples in your directory. On the right are the samples currently active within your Mod file. The sample areas are either numbered from 1 to 15 or from 1 to 31. Quit This returns you to the main menu Path This button is for keyboard users (however mouse users can use the button). This buttons lets you type in a new directory name (or drive) where you may load other samples. File This option allows you to set a new file mask. Thus you can specify which files are to be listed in the directory. Wipe Erases the currently active sample from memory. The sample will be erased from disk IF it is a temporary sample. If however you selected the sample and allocated it to the Mod file and then clicked on Wipe, it would not be erased from disk. Temporary samples are created when you load Mod files. See the DeleteAllTemps option of the .INI file. Name Changes the currently active sample name. More Make the Mod file a 31 sample Mod file. Less Make the Mod file a 15 sample Mod file. Mouse users can simply point to a file name and click and the file will become the current file (green). They can then double click on a sample area which will then turn blue (currently selected) and the sample will be marked into that area. You are then asked for the sample name. You have 22 letters for the sample's name. Simply clicking on the sample area make the selected area the active area (blue) but the current (green) sample file will not be allocated to it. Keyboard keys: Quit Q Path P File F Wipe W Name N More M Less L PgUp PgUp PgDn PgDn (Up) [Up] (Down) [Down] Cross Tab Selecting a file: Simply use the [Up] and [Down] arrow keys on the keypad to select your file. Selecting an area to install the current sample file: Press [Tab] to move to the sample allocation box. You can then select which area you would like to use using the [Up] and [Down] cursor keys. Press [Return] when the file you want is green and the area you want is blue. You may press [Tab] again to return to the files section to select a new file (using the cursor keys). Sequence Editing There will be either 8 or 10 buttons on the screen. The following 8 buttons will appear: Quit (Top Right) Sequence (Right) Pat No (Lower Right Sequence Box) Pat Nm (Lower Right Sequence Box) Pic Nm (Lower Right Sequence Box) Total (Lower Right Sequence Box) > (Top Left - Next to the circle) < (Top Left - Next to the circle) If your .INI file has ExtraButtons on, the following two buttons also appear: (Up) (Down) above the first pattern number in the top left corner. In the blue circle there is a red number. This number is the current pattern area you are editing. It is a number from 0 to 127. The areas 0 to 127 each have a number which refer to which pattern is currently being called. There are blue rectangles on the screen. In each rectangle there is a number. This is the pattern number that is being called. I.e. If in the circle you see a 0 and in the rectangle adjacent to the < > arrows you see a 5, this means that the first (0th) area of the sequence is calling pattern 5. Quit Click on Quit to return to the main menu. > Click on > to move right. This allows you to view / edit the next area of the sequence. < Click on < to move left. This allows you to view / edit previous areas of the sequence. Clicking on Sequence, Pat Nm or Pic Nm has no effect in Ver 1.00. Pat No To change the current pattern, click on Pat No. This will be a number from 0 to the maximum number of patterns you have. Mouse Users Only: You may click on the left of the button and the number will decrease, click on the right and the number will increase if you use the right mouse button. If you click on the button using the left mouse button, you will be prompted for a new number. Total Change how long your sequence is. You can change the total number of pattern calls in the file. Mouse users can click with either the left or right mouse buttons for the usual effect, as described above. (Up) The same as clicking the right of the Pat No button. (Down) The same as clicking the left of the Pat No button. [keyboard users] Quit Q Pat No B Total T > . < , (Up) + (Down) - Pattern Editing This screen may seem a bit confusing at first but you will become quite used to it. It's really very simple. Quit (Top Right Corner) Select Quit when done to return to the main menu. You can save your work from the main menu. Sample (Top Right) No effect. Info No effect. Ins Inserts a new pattern directly after the current pattern. Del Deletes the current pattern from memory. Now, a little more difficult, there are 10 little buttons with arrows left and right on the screen. 5 point left, 5 point right. The two in the top left corner control which pattern you are editing. Clicking on the right arrow causes the pattern number to increase. Clicking on the left arrow causes the number to decrease. The current pattern number (a number from 0 to 63) is displayed between the two arrows. A number in brackets displays the maximum number of patterns available. Clicking on the pattern number (between the arrows) allows you to change the pattern number by specifying a value from the keyboard. As the Mod file has 4 tracks, you will be viewing 4 tracks of information per pattern. This can be viewed in the middle of the screen. All the sample calls by the patterns are in little blue boxes. When you start a Mod file, these boxes will have 'No Call' written inside. These blue boxes cannot be clicked on. Each track has 64 sample calls, numbered 0 to 63. Each track has a little blue circle next to it. The red number in the circle displays which sample call you are currently editing. By clicking on the little arrows closest to the track number, you are able to view / edit other pieces of this pattern. Clicking on the left arrow decreases the red number, the right arrow increases the red number. The track you are currently editing has a bright blue circle while all the others have a dull blue circle. You can click on the buttons marked Track1, 2, 3 and 4 (on the left). This changes the currently active track but it does not change the red number. If you click on the left or right arrows, the track the arrows relate to becomes the current track and the red number changes. If you click with the left button, one track will be shifted, if you click with the right button, all the patterns are shifted (if possible). Notice to mouse users: If you click on the left or right arrows relating to a track, the entire screen is updated. This is slow on most computers. Thus I have included the following feature. If you hold the button, the info and sample boxes will not be updated. Only the track pictures are updated. To return to normal mode (and have the info box and sample box updated again) you will have to give a single click on the left or right arrow buttons. The mouse cursor will be unable to move out of the left and right arrow area until you do this. You will always be editing the first blue box of the currently active track. To edit this sample / sample call, you will can use one of the following methods; The Sample Box (Top Left) This box allows you to change the sample values. Here there are a few buttons: Loaded This button has no effect in Ver 1.00. F Name This displays the current sample file. For example, if the sample is from the file AKAIKICK.SAM, AKAIKICK.SAM will be displayed next to the button. If the file is to be deleted once you have completed editing the Mod file, the file name has a , instead of a .. In the above example, if the file where to be deleted after the edit was complete (see the .INI section on sample swap files) the file would be displayed as AKAIKICK,SAM. The file is still however called AKAIKICK.SAM. Clicking on the F Name button allows you to select a new sample. To select sample 1, type *1 as the file name. The first sample will be used. For the 11th sample, type *11 as the file name. You cannot type in an actual file name here. Mouse users can use the right button to select a sample, as described above in the Sequence section. P Name Selects the picture for the sample. You can either enter an * value or give a file name. If you want the 10th picture that you loaded, enter *10 as the file name. If you want the file DRUM.GIP as the picture, type in DRUM. If the file has been loaded, the picture is displayed. If the file has not been loaded, the program reads the picture from disk (if there is enough memory) and displays the picture. Note that if you had 3 pictures in memory and you loaded another, you can from then on refer to the newly loaded picture as *4. Again, mouse users can scroll through all the pictures until they find the picture of their choice. Name This specifies the sample name. NOTICE that you cannot select a sample from here. This button allows you to change the sample name. It does not search memory for the name you specify. You must use the F Name button to select a new sample. Size Displays the sample size. Clicking on this button has no effect. Volume Clicking on volume allows you to manually select the volume. Specify a value from 0 to 64. Mouse users can use the Zoom box to drag the volume graph or use this method. Loop S Here the Loop Start value of the sample is displayed. If there is enough space, the Loop End value is also displayed. If you click on the Loop S button, you can set the Loop Start value. Loop L You can change the Loop Length or Loop End values. Either click with the left button to set the loop length or click with the right button to specify the loop end value. The Info Box This changes values related to the sample call. Note You can specify the note of the sample call (A-, A, A#, B, C etc.). Octave You can specify the octave of the sample call. Effect Specify an effect value of the sample call. Give a value from 0 to 15. Param Specify the effect parameter. Specify a value from 0 to 255. Freq You may give a frequency value from 0 to 4095. Zoom This button is for mouse users only. This button will lock the mouse inside the zoom box. You can then drag the graphs to the values you require. Click on zoom again to exit the box and update the screen. You may drag the graphs without clicking on zoom on faster computers but most computers struggle a bit because of the screen update. If you click on zoom, you can pull the graphs and the rest of the screen will NOT be updated until you click on zoom again. If you don't click on Zoom, the screen is continuously updated and the system runs a lot slower. The graph on the left (yellow) represents the volume. Pull the graph (hold the mouse button and move the mouse) up and down until you are happy with the value. Note that although the little pictures also have this information graph, you can only change the zoom box which then updates the little boxes. The little boxes cannot be changed directly. The graph on the right (purple) sets the frequency. This is also related to the note (red) and octave (blue). The dark red graph below the green graph represents the loop start and loop end. Use your left and right mouse buttons to select the start and end positions of the line. The green graph represents the time the graph will play for. It cannot be changed directly. It changes when you change the frequency or the sample size. If you have ModRes, you can also use the following. I Sam Play the current sample in interactive mode. The current sample will play but you can then play that same sample at different frequencies. Selecting I Sam will play the sample and then wait for you to press either #, +, -, [Space], [Esc], 0 to 9 or A to G. Pressing 0 to 9 selects the current Octave. Pressing A to G selects the frequency and plays the sample. Pressing # or + and then A to G plays the note selected as a sharp. Pressing - and then A to G plays the note selected as a flat. Pressing [Space] plays the sample as it is in the Mod file currently being edited. Pressing [Esc] returns to the pattern editor. P Sam Plays the current sample. P Pat Plays the current pattern. P Mod Plays the Mod file. Note, the above buttons simply won't work if you do not have enough memory or a sample is greater than 64 kb. Keyboard Users: Quit Q Track1 1 Track2 2 Track3 3 Track4 4 F Name [Alt][F] P Name [Alt][P] Name [Alt][N] Volume [Alt][V] LoopS [Alt][S] LoopL [Alt][L] LoopE [Alt][D] (not visible, equivalent to right mouse button press on LoopL) Note [Alt][T] Octave [Alt][O] Effect [Alt][E] Param [Alt][R] Freq [Alt][Y] < (Pat) L > (Pat) ; (Pat) ' < (Trk) , > (Trk) . Ins Ins Del Del I Sam U P Sam I P Pat O P Mod P Command Line Options If you have a DOS lower than DOS 3.3, you must include a /O when loading the Mod Editor. For example, MED /O To view the .INI settings, use MED /I SECTION 3: CUT to GIP The program CUT2GIP.EXE is supplied with the Mod Editor. This will assist you in creating your own pictures. Graphic programs, such as Dr. Halo, allow you to draw pictures and then save them to a .CUT file. You may create such drawings of size (maximum) 36 (horizontal) x 24 (vertical) for your own samples. Using CUT2GIP, you can convert the files to .GIP and the Mod Editor will be able to use them. If your graphics package does not support .CUT files, there is a really nice package called VPIC (by Bob Montgomery) available. This can convert from one graphic file format to another. The program is shareware and I strongly recommend it. To make your own picture, simply create a .CUT file with dimensions 36 x 24 (or as close as possible) and run CUT2GIP. You will be prompted for the .CUT file name and the .GIP file name. The program converts the picture and returns to DOS. Please remember that you may only use the standard 16 VGA colours for 640 x 480 in the .CUT file. I have not yet included Super VGA support. Using other colours may cause problems. If you need some quick help, simply run CUT2GIP /?. SECTION 4: GENERAL INFORMATION Please send postcards, letters or comments to: Michael Gallias P O Box 22106 Glenashley 4022 New graphic routines similar to those used in this program are available. If you are a pascal programmmer, look out for the PS range of software. PSGUI is the graphical user interface for EGA, VGA and Super VGA. It comes with source code and information on how to use it and example programs. Files you should have received: CUT2GIP .EXE GMED .EXE MED .BAT MED .DOC (this manual) REG .DOC README .DOC README .SBT README .BAT MED .INI * .GIP Some *.GIP files should be available with the program, hopefully many more will be in the public domain soon. Check your favourite BBS. Before you run the program please type at the prompt: TYPE README.DOC if you have no Sound Blaster or type at the DOS prompt: SBTALKER README REMOVE if you have a Sound Blaster. Thank you to the following people: Chris Becke, Steven Becke and Thomas Brazier for the drawing of the buttons and pictures. Chris also decoded the .MOD file format and the .CUT file format for me. And that's it - all you need to create the best looking (and sounding) Mod files around. I have noticed that people are not really interested in MOD editors. (I know two other MOD editor authors.) There seems to be little interest in PC MOD editing. For this reason I don't intend to continue improving this program. If however I start receiving many comments and suggestions, I may start improving it again. The following great shareware / public domain programs are supported by Galliasoft, although they are not included with this program. They should be available from almost all BBS's. PKZip FAST! (c) PKWare LHA (c) Haruyasu Yoshizaki ARJ (c) Robert K Jung MODRES (c) Mark J Cox If you use any new / better programs, simply add support for them in your .INI file. For the latest Galliasoft software, check out Connectix (if you have a modem). Connectix - South Africa's Biggest Multiuser BBS (031) 306 3656 (031) 306 4051 (031) 306 2277 OR call Honey In The Rock! (031) 463 1709 Use modem setting 8 N 1. If you have access to the Internet, drop me a note on isapeg@images.cs.und.ac.za Enjoy!