Spades The Card Game Version 2.9 1) Introduction 2) Installation 3) File Description 4) What's New/Upgrade 5) Comments Introduction Spades has always been one of my favorite card games, and , in my opinion, I'm a pretty good player. I did my best to instill my knowledge of the game into this program so that it will be challenging. You, of course, will be the final judge of how well I did. Spades is Shareware. Feel free to pass the shareware evaluation version (SPADE2.ZIP) along to anybody you see fit, or upload it to any BBS you want. All I ask is that you pass the ZIP file along with out altering its contents in any way. The registration price is $19.95 plus S/H. There are three ways to register: 1) Cash, Check or Money Order When the program first starts click on the Cash Order button and fill out and print the order form. Mail the order form and the amount due in the form of Cash, Check or Money order to: Greg DeBacker 140 Bay St., #7 Santa Cruz, CA 95060 Send U.S. dollars or checks drawn on U.S. banks only. 2) CompuServe's Shareware Registrstion Forum If you are a member of CompuServe you can use their Shareware Registration forum to register the software. GO SWREG to get to the forum. Once there follow the on screen instructions. Use ID# 6808 3) Credit Card Orders You can order with MC, Visa, Amex, or Discover from Public (software) Library by calling 800-242-4775, Ext. 14698 or 713-524-6394, Ext. 14698. Order by FAX to 713-524-6398. You can also mail credit card orders to PsL at P.O.Box 35705, Houston, TX 77235-5705. Order Product Number 14698 THE ABOVE NUMBERS ARE FOR CREDIT CARD ORDERS ONLY. THE AUTHOR OF THIS PROGRAM CANNOT BE REACHED AT THESE NUMBERS. Any questions about the status of the shipment of the order, refunds, registration options, product details, technical support, volume discounts, dealer pricing, site licenses, non-credit card orders, etc, must be directed to: Greg DeBacker 140 Bay St., #7 Santa Cruz, CA 95060 Internet: 71042.36@compuserve.com To insure that you get the latest version, PsL will notify me the day of your order and I will ship the product directly to you. See the Q & A section in the help file for the above registration informtaion along with the benifits of registering. Installation Aside from the ZIP file SPADE2.ZIP you will need one other file to successfully install and run Spades. You will need: VBRUN300.DLL VBRUN300.DLL is the run-time module needed to run all programs written in the language Visual Basic. VBRUN300.DLL can be found on all on-line services. It is usually stored as VBRUN3.ZIP. You can also get it from my web page (See below for the URL). After logging on to my homepage go to the "What You Need" section. Once you have VBRUN300.DLL put this file in your C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. Installing Spades is pretty easy. Windows 3.1 If you have the files on a disk in drive A: you would select Run from the File menu of the Program Manager and then type in A:\setup and hit the Enter key. If the files are in a directory on your hard drive you can Double-Click on the SETUP.EXE file from the File Manager. Windows 95 If you have the files on a disk in drive A: you would select Run from the Start menu of the Windows 95 Task Bar and then type in A:\setup and hit the Enter key. If the files are in a directory on your hard drive you can Right-Click (click the right mouse button) on the SETUP.EXE file from the Explorer and then select Open from the menu that appears. File Description Below is a list of the files that are in the archive file SPADE2.ZIP. The files that end in an underscore (_) are in a compressed state and can not be used until they are uncompressed by the setup program. SETUP.EXE Setup initialization (Run this to set up program) SETUP.LST Used by setup program SETUP1.EX_ The set up program. SPADES.EX_ The executable Spades card game SPADES.HL_ Spades Help file FILE_ID.DIZ File identification file README.TXT This readme file BUZZ.WA_ WAV file used in game APPLAUSE.WA_ WAV file used in game BOING.WA_ WAV file used in game DRIP.WA_ WAV file used in game RATCHPOP.WA_ WAV file used in game GLASSBRK.WA_ WAV file used in game SETUPKIT.DL_ Used by setup VER.DL_ Used by setup RAG.MI_ Rag-time Song File What's New Version 2.4 Added Custom scoring. Added trick over penalty option. Added no-pass on Nil option. Cosmedic changes. Version 2.5 Not released. Version 2.6 Improved card and suit selection routines. Improved Nil bidding. Improved animation. Four new card backs. Changed jokers from second played in a trick wins to a High Joker and a Low Joker. Cosmedic improvments. Suggest button is available at all times. Version 2.6a Fixes the occasional "Subscript out of range error" Version 2.6b Fixes problem of no card selected by a player going nil who has already taken a trick. This would throw their card count off and set a faulty suit. Version 2.7 Finally fixed the errors that were supposed to be fixed in version 2.6b. Also fixed the bug where a player bidding nil would sometimes pass two of the same cards to his/her partner. This error always ended up with two kings of the same suit being passed. These bugs were actually all inter-related and embarrassingly simple to fix. It was just a matter of me staring at the screen long enough. Version 2.8 Fixed problem that would cause a critical error when certain fonts were not installed on the user's system. Version 2.9 Added MIDI Song capabilities. Fixed the long standing problem of the partner bidding nil when you would bid nil. Also the problem of the partner bidding nil when they had the ace of spades. Both of these were inter-related. This problem would only occur when the user (You) would click on the "Suggest Bid" button and then over-ride the suggested bid with a nil bid. If the computer suggested a nil bid and then you over-rode it with a bid greater than zero there would be no problems. Only when a positive suggested bid was set to zero. Comments Any comments, suggestions, money, or critiques can be sent to me at one of the following addresses: CompuServe - 71042,36 InterNet - 71042.36@compuserve.com World Wide Web - http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/gregdebacker U.S. Mail - Greg DeBacker 140 Bay St., #7 Santa Cruz, CA 95060 Thank you and enjoy, Greg P.S. Be sure to visit my homepage on the WWW for other shareware games and utilities.