The Best of Select: Games Special 7

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Text File | 1994-05-05 | 20KB | 423 lines

S T O R Y M A K E R + Version 2.3 Copyright (c) 1992-1994 All rights reserved. Elson Embry PO Box 12035 Santa Rosa, CA 95406 (707) 546-5659 ---------------------------------------- D O C U M E N T S E C T I O N S ---------------------------------------- A - Shareware File Descriptions B - Hardware Requirements C - Disclaimer/Warranty D - Copyright/Registration/Distribution E - Initializing or Updating the Program F - Running the Program G - Data File Descriptions and Sources H - Trademarks ------------------------------- A - SHAREWARE FILE DESCRIPTIONS ------------------------------- Files contained in the current version: FILE_ID.DIZ _ Shareware package description README.DOC - Log of current and previous releases STORY.EXE - Main program SMINIT.EXE - Initialization utility VENDOR.DOC - Vendor information STORY.DOC - This document REGISTER.FRM - Registration form EDITFONT.DAT - Program file HELP.DAT - Program file PHONEME.DAT - Program file PRULES.DAT - Program file SBINST.DAT - Program file SCREEN.DAT - Program file SMR.DAT - Program file *.SML - Melody files *.VOC - Sound files SAMPLE.TXT - Demo text file DEMO_.SBK - Demo story file DEMO.SPL - Sample picture file ------------------------- B - HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS ------------------------- IBM or compatible computer, 512K RAM memory. Hard drive. Mouse device required. EGA/VGA graphics monitor, at least 256k EGA memory. (128k EGA memory may be enough if the mouse driver is a Microsoft driver - refer to the section on running the program for more information). Optional hardware: Sound Blaster sound card. ----------------------- C - DISCLAIMER/WARRANTY ----------------------- Sorry about the following legal stuff: THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS-IS" BASIS AND THERE IS NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. YOUR USE OF THE SOFTWARE IS COMPLETELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. I ASSUME NO LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES CAUSED BY THE DIRECT OR INDIRECT USE OF THE SOFTWARE AND ANY OF ITS FILES. YOUR USE OF THE SOFTWARE MEANS THAT YOU AGREE TO ALL OF THESE TERMS. --------------------------------------- D - COPYRIGHT/REGISTRATION/DISTRIBUTION --------------------------------------- Storymaker+ is copyrighted by the author. All rights reserved. Storymaker+ is distributed as shareware. With the shareware concept, you are asked to register Storymaker+ if you decide to use it after an evaluation period. Unregistered version's storybooks are limited to 10 screen pages per story for data files, 5 screen pages per story for stand-alone executable files; both type of files are limited to 50 objects per page. There are no limitations on the other files. Shareware distribution of Storymaker+ to others is permitted and encou- raged as long as all files are included and no file is altered in any way. BBS sysops, vendors or anyone planning to distribute Storymaker+ for a fee, please refer to the file VENDOR.DOC for distribution require- ments and restrictions. Benefits of registering the program: * Up to 99 screen pages per storybook file, and up to 100 pictures per page. This applies also to storybooks compiled into stand-alone, royalty-free EXE programs. * Registered users receives the current versions of Storymaker+ upon registering. Program updates are made available from major BBS's and shareware vendors, or from the author with payment of mailing costs. * Registered users get bonus graphics and sound effects. * Registered users also get as a bonus program a special version of Voicemaker, a special speech program where a user can learn about the mechanics of English phonetics by recording with his or her own voice the phoneme sounds used by the text-to-speech player to produce speech. The user's voice files can also be used as the text-to-speech voice in Storymaker+ storybooks. Voicemaker requires a Sound Blaster card to produce speech and a microphone to record phoneme sounds. To order Storymaker+, please print the file REGISTER.FRM. The registra- tion fee is $23 U.S. funds payable to the author. Checks from foreign countries must be drawn against a U.S. bank. Please add the applicable sales tax if ordering in California. Add $3.00 for orders outside the United States, Canada & Mexico. Please call or write for site licenses or quantity discounts. By a special arrangement you can also order by credit card from Public (software) Library with your MC, Visa, AmEx or Discover card by calling 800-242-4PsL (from overseas: 713-524-6394), or by FAX to 713-524-6398, or by CompuServe to 71355,470. Ask for item# 11139 or Storymaker+. These numbers are for ordering only. The program's author can NOT be reached at these numbers. To contact the author about site licensing, quantity discount, product shipment status, about the program or for anything other than to place an order, please call (707) 546-5659, or by Compuserve to 74024,3672. Or write to: Elson Embry PO Box 12035 Santa Rosa, CA 95406 ---------------------------------------- E - INITIALIZING OR UPDATING THE PROGRAM ---------------------------------------- If you already have an older version of the program, change the current directory to Storymaker+ home directory. Otherwise create a separate directory for the program in your hard disk. For example: C: MD \STORY This creates the directory. CD \STORY This changes the current directory. Next, copy all files to the directory and uncompress any archived files. From example: COPY A:*.* Use your decompression software if needed. Next, run the initialization utility SMINIT.EXE. From example: SMINIT The utility checks for Storymaker+'s data subdirectories, creates the subdirectories if necessary, then transfers all new data files to their directories. If you are updating an older version, the utility also makes sure the setup file structure is current by reinitializing it to its default con- figuration. ----------------------- F - RUNNING THE PROGRAM ----------------------- If Storymaker+ is configured for the Sound Blaster card, it looks for the Sound Blaster environment variable BLASTER. This is normally added to the AUTOEXEC.BAT in the root directory to specify the current Sound Blaster hardware configuration. The command for setting the environment string has the form: SET BLASTER=Appp Ii Dd Tt where: ppp = Base I/O port i = IRQ number d = DMA channel t = Sound Blaster card version number Example: SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T1 If no environment is set, Storymaker+ attempts to auto detect the card using base I/O port 220h and IRQ 7 as default settings. It is prefer- able though that the BLASTER environment be used to avoid port problems that may cause the system to hang up. If you will be playing CMF files, the CMF file player SBFMDRV.COM must also be in memory before running Storymaker+. Please refer to your Sound Blaster manual for more instructions on the the BLASTER environment strings and the SBFMDRV.COM driver. To run the Storymaker+, change the directory to its home directory. The command line format is: STORY [/UNLOCK] [/SPV file] [/READ file] [/BOOK] [/SLOW] [/MS] Entries inside the brackets are command switches and are optional. Filename extensions are not required in the filenames. The command switches are as follows: /UNLOCK Also accepts short form /U. This unlocks all utilities in the Utility menu. The program does not allow access to some utilities unless this command switch is invoked. /SPV file Space optional. This loads the Voicemaker SPV phoneme sound file <file> in place of Storymaker+'s phoneme sounds. A phoneme sound file contains the digital-speech voice data used by the program to make the computer talk. An SPV file is created in the separate program Voicemaker and must be located in Storymaker+ home directory. /READ file Space optional. Also accepts short form /R file. This reads the storybook file <file> automatically. It skips the main menu and opens the Book Reader to read a storybook in computer-help-me mode. The command is to enable a young child to use the program just to read a story. Repeat the command to read more than one file in one session. /BOOK Also accepts short form /B. This bypasses the main menu and allows access only to the Book Reader. The command is to enable a young child to read storybooks only while using the program. /SLOW Valid only if sound device is set to the PC speaker - ignored otherwise. This restricts the text-to-speech player and playing of sound effects (VOC files) to the foreground mode and is used on computers with slow CPU speed. Normally, the text-to-speech mode is set in the Setup menu while all sound effects play only in the background mode. Note that adding the SLOW switch will always restrict the mode to foreground and thus override any mode set in the Setup. /MS Add this only if you have at least 128K but less than 256K EGA memory and the mouse driver is fully compati- ble with Microsoft mouse driver. Some drivers I tried caused display problems when only 128K of EGA memory was used. Below are some examples of running the program: STORY Run the program but do not allow access to some of the utilities. STORY /UNLOCK Run the program allowing access to all of the utilities. STORY /SLOW Run the program in slow mode only when using the PC speaker. STORY /BOOK Restrict access to the Book Reader. This prevents changing of data files and is intended for kids using the program. STORY /READ demo /READ vacation Read the storybook file DEMO. Read the book file VACATION next. Terminate program when done. STORY /READ demo /BOOK Read the book file DEMO. Then continue running the program but allow access only to the Book Reader. STORY /SPV RICHARD Load the Voicemaker's file RICHARD (recorded by Richard?), and use it as the text-to-player's voice. Note: Do not use program file utilities, such as LZEXE.EXE, to compress Storymaker+'s program files as a modified file will very likely cause program failure. -------------------------------------- G - DATA FILE DESCRIPTIONS AND SOURCES -------------------------------------- This section describes Storymaker+ data files and their sources. It also covers the 2 ways of creating a storybook file. 1 - Picture Library Files A picture library file contains the scenery and shape pictures of a Storymaker+ storybook. A library file is created in either the Scenery Editor or Shape Editor module of the program and pictures are added to the library by using either graphics editor. Library files are located in the program subdirectory GRAPHICS and carry the file extension SPL. When a picture is saved in the graphics editor, Storymaker+ assigns an index number to it. This index number and the library filename are what is used when adding the picture in a storybook. To avoid missing picture errors when loading storybooks, it is important to understand how pictures are normally saved in a storybook file. When designing a storybook in the Book Editor, the user selects which picture libraries to use while the Book Editor saves the list of selected libraries in the storybook file. When the user adds a picture to the story, the Book Editor saves the picture's index number and a reference number from a library in the list. The pic- ture data itself does not get saved, nor does the picture's name or description. When the Book Editor or Book Reader reads a page of the storybook, it loads a picture by getting its library's filename from the list of libraries and then accesses the picture data itself through the index number - it does not check nor use in any way the picture's name or description, only that the library exists and the index number valid. If it can not load a picture, the program beeps to signal an error and loads a special internal picture in place of the missing picture. A picture that has been accidentally deleted from its library file therefore can not be restored in a story by saving a new picture in the same library under the same name. Since the new picture will most likely get a different index number, it can be restored only by additionally editing the storybook to delete every occurence of the deleted picture and then recreating the animation script under the new picture. Otherwise, a missing picture error will continue or worse, a wrong picture showing up in a story if the index number of the deleted picture has been reassigned to a new picture. 2 - Melody Files Melody files are located in the program subdirectory MELODY and carry the file extension SML. Melodies are entered in the program module Melody Maker. The Book Editor adds a melody to a storybook by saving the melody's filename - actual data are not normally copied. 3 - Text Files A text file adds sound effects to a story when read by the text-to- speech player. Text files are located in the program subdirectory TEXT and carry the file extension TXT. A screenful of text may be entered in the Text Editor module. Storymaker+ also accepts larger files from other editors, although these can not be edited in the Text Editor; copy the files into the TEXT directory. The Book Editor adds a text file to a storybook by saving its file- name - actual data are not normally copied. 4 - Digitized Sound Files A digitized-sound file adds sound effects to a storybook when played by the digital sound player. Sound files are located in the program subdirectory SOUNDS and carry the file extension VOC. Among sources of digitized sounds are BBS boards and shareware program vendors. You can also record your own if you have the proper device or equipment. Storymaker+ will play Sound Blaster 8-bit unpacked VOC files only. Any file without the Sound Blaster VOC header will be played as 8-bit raw data with 8000hz sampling rate. Storymaker+ saves a digitized-sound file to a storybook by saving its filename - actual data are not normally copied. 5 - FM Music Files Another type of sound effects that can be added to a storybook are Sound Blaster CMF music files. CMF files are FM synthesized music files that can play up to 11 musical instruments simultaneously. You need a Sound Blaster card, or a compatible card, and the CMF player program SBFMDRV.COM to play these files under Storymaker+. Storymaker+ as distributed does not have CMF files; among sources of CMF files are BBS boards and shareware program vendors. Copy the files into Storymaker+ subdirectory FMMUSIC. The Books Editor adds a CMF music file in a storybook by saving its filename - actual data are not normally copied. 6 - Book or Story Files Storybooks are created in the Book Editor module and saved in the program subdirectory BOOKS. The files carry the file extension SBK. A story is normally put together mulit-file format: a book file con- tains references to different pictures, sound and text files. Since actual data are not copied to the story file itself, this has the advantage of having a story file that is not excessively large, and also keeping the ability to edit the referenced files. The disadvantage in using multi-file format is that extra care must be given in managing the external files: referenced pictures and library file may not be deleted and the library's filename may not be changed; the same applies to sound and text files. Also, giving copies of a story to others requires copying of required data files into the correct directories, taking care that no file accidentally overwrites somebody else's file. To facilitate easier distribution and making permanent copies of storybook files, two methods of compiling storybooks into single- file format are included in Storymaker+ through its Utility module. The first method involves copying of the book file and actual data from all referenced files into a single data file. Thus one file is distributed and needs only to be copied into Storymaker+'s sub- directory BOOKS where the Book Reader module can find it. The second method is an extension of the first: the single data file is attached to a reader program, making the package a stand-alone executable file - an EXE program - and the easiest to distribute as it needs only to be run. An important thing you must keep in mind when using single-file formats is that single-file storybooks are for reading only and are are not editable. You must retain a storybook in its multi-file format if you want to keep the ability to make changes in the story. -------------- H - TRADEMARKS -------------- IBM is a registered trademark of the IBM Corporation. Sound Blaster is a registered trademark of Creative Labs,Inc. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.