Copyright: 4 Aces Card Game ®1993-96 Philip B. Cook


Index
4 Aces - Index

Help is available on the following topics

Introduction

Menu commands
Playing the game
Rules
Creating your own Card Deck

Registration

The Four Aces Program and Help File is Copyright (c) 1993-96 Philip B Cook and is distributed as Shareware

The appearance of the symbol on a help screen indicates the availability of a visual display relating to the topic.  Click the mouse button on the symbol to reveal the display.

  Click on the book icon to display the full Product Catalog.


Menu Commands

The menu contains the following command structure

Game
Undo
Select Deck...
Outline Dragging
New
Exit

Help
Help Index
About ...

You may select a main menu by clicking on its title with a mouse or typing <ALT> plus the underlined letter of the topics title. Then select the required sub menu command by mouse clicking or using the underlined letter key.

The menu has been modified in this version to move the Game/New command away from Game/Undo to avoid accidentally resetting the game when selecting Undo.  In addition there is added support for the keystrokes (F1, F2 and BkSp) to activate the menu functions Help/Help Index,  Game/New  and Game/Undo respectively


New command

Restarts the game by gathering all the cards from the table, shuffling the deck and re-dealing a new game.

You may not Undo this command.

You may use the F2 key to select the Game/New command with a single key press.


Undo command

Reverses the last move made by the player.

Only one level of undo is supported by this program (after all it is cheating!)

You may also use the BkSp (Backspace) key to undo a move with a single key press.


Outline Dragging option

When dragging a card around the playing area you may select to either draw the full card or an outline only.

Drawing outlines is much faster.

When using outline drawing if the card being dragged passes over another stack on which they may be played then the stack will invert to provide a visual cue.

When this option is selected a small check mark appears against the command in the menu.


Exit command

Ends the program.

The same result is created by selecting Close from the System Menu.


Help Index command

Executes the Windows Help Engine and loads this help file.


About 4 Aces command

Displays a dialog box containing
Copyright information
Version data
Registration status


Rules

The game of 4 Aces is a single pack patience game.

It is laid out in three areas

1.	The deck at the top left.
2.	A tableau of four columns of cards in the middle.
3.	A discard pile at the top right.

The initial deal positions 4 cards in the tableau, one card on each of the columns.

Examine the tableau and if two cards are of the same suit then you may remove the lower card to the discard pile.  Aces count high.  You may continue removing cards in this way until no further play is possible or until you decide to stop.  If a vacancy is created then it may be filled with the uppermost card of any of the remaining piles.

When complete, click once with the mouse on the Deck to deal four further cards to the tableau.

Continue with play until the deck is exhausted.

A successful game leaves only the four aces in play, one at the head of each pile of the tableau.


Playing the Game

The mechanics of playing 4 Aces is designed to be as alike to Solitaire (supplied by Microsoft with the Windows 3 environment) as possible. The following mouse actions are valid.

Click the mouse on the deck to turn the next four cards.

Click and drag any single card from the top of a pile in the tableau.

When the dragged card is overlapping its destination, release the mouse button to place the card on the destination. If the move is not valid then the cards will return to their initial location.

You may double click the mouse on a card to transfer it to the Discard Pile


Entering Registration Information

You may enter your registration information by selecting the Register command from the Shareware reminder dialog box.

Your registration is recorded in the initialisation file file. Please do not interfere with the registration information in the INI file. Should the file become corrupted you should delete the file and re-enter the information provided on your Registration Certificate.


INI file settings

The 4 Aces program stores all its default settings in the file 4ACES.INI in the WINDOWS directory. The following settings are documented.

[4ACES]

DragMode=n	specifies the drawing mode for cards when being dragged
0 = draw full card.
1 = draw outline only

UserName=	the name of the user (when registered)

Reg.ID=	an encrypted code to confirm registration

Background=	$bbggrr where
bb is a hex number (00-FF) indicating Blue Intensity
gg is a hex number (00-FF) indicating Green Intensity
rr is a hex number (00-FF) indicating Red Intensity
don't forget the $ on the front.
This sets the desired background colour of the playing area. The program will select the nearest colour supported on your display.
The default colour is green ($008000) on colour displays and White ($FFFFFF) on B&W displays.

CardDeckFileName=	fully qualified filename of the Card Deck image file.
eg C:\GAMES\4ACES\CARDDECK.BMP

EditorName=	fully qualified filename of the Bitmap Editing program to be used.
(if none supplied then PBRUSH.EXE is assumed).
eg C:\TPW\UTILS\WORKSHOP.EXE

EndGameTime=n	Reduces the speed of the End Game display for those with fast graphics adaptors. The higher the number the slower the end-game display.  The value is calculated automatically when the program is first successfully completed it is adjusted to achieve an End Game display time of between 30 and 60 seconds in total.
Those with slow adaptors should set this to 0 (which switches off the timing function and allows the display to be as fast as possible, given the hardware constraints.


Background Colour

The background colour of the display area may be adjusted by including a command in the 4ACES.INI file. Any change of colour will only come into effect after restarting the game.

You should use the Notepad accessory program or other simple text editor to insert the necessary commands.


Introduction

Welcome, to the latest of my Patience Card Games for the Windows Environment.

My thanks to John Pocock of Shropshire for his description of this traditional patience, his registration of my earlier work, and encouragement and testing of this program.

I have modelled the way in which the games behaves on the version of Patience called Solitaire distributed by Microsoft.

see also

Requirements


Requirements

The minimum system requirements to run this program are

An IBM PC AT or compatible.
Microsoft Windows V3.0 or above
A mouse.

This latest version of the program has been tested running under Microsoft Windows V3.1, 3,11 and Windows 95.  I no longer have access to a machine running Windows V3.0 to confirm backward compatibility.


Tableau

An arrangement of cards on the playing area, usually consisting of several columns of overlapping cards.


Discard Pile

A Pile of cards at the top right of the playing area.  Cards removed from play according to the rules are deposited on the discard pile.


A card deck in this application is 71 pixels wide by 96 pixels high.


Order Form
4 Aces Order Form

Registration

[   ]	I wish to register my copy of 4 Aces.
I enclose the registration fee of FIVE Pounds Sterling (UK £5.00)

Updates

[   ]	Please supply a  3.5 inch 720k disk for latest version of 4 Aces (and other Shareware software on a trial basis).  I enclose an extra £1.50 (£3.00 for non UK locations) to cover costs of disk, duplication, postage and packing.

else

[   ]	I enclose a blank formatted disk plus return packaging and postage for my location to receive the latest version of 4 Aces (and other Shareware software on a trial basis).

Name	_________________________________

Address	_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

Tel Number	_________________________________

4 Aces Version Number

as reported by Help/About	___________________ and

4ACES.EXE date/time stamp	___________________

Signed	____________________________

Please help my investigation into distribution channels by also supplying the following information.

I got my Shareware copy of 4 Aces from (please delete as appropriate)

Vendor / Friend / Bulletin Board / Magazine Cover Disk / Me / Other (please specify)

Name of Source	__________________________________


Shareware

A marketing/distribution concept which permits the user to try a piece of software before making a purchase. The software may be used for a limited period of time for evaluation.

Use after the evaluation period requires Registration with the Author.

Registration rewards the author for his efforts and encourages further work.


Registration

This product is distributed as Shareware. You may try the software for a period of 30 days. If you wish to continue to use it after this period then you must register with the author.

Registration costs Five Pounds Sterling (or equivalent in readily convertible currency or money order).  Registration Payments should be made payable to P.B. Cook, written in pounds sterling and drawable on a United Kingdom bank.

Send your registration form and money to

Mr Philip B. Cook
( Insert Program Name here )
5 Carpenter Close
Yarm
Stockton-on-Tees
TS15 9UT
ENGLAND

see also

Order Form
US Registrations
Commonwealth Registrations
Entering Registration Information


Registration Payment

The following are the forms of payment acceptable in declining order of desirability

United Kingdom Bank Cheque
Eurocheques
US$ Bank Checks
Postal Money Order (written in UK Pounds Sterling)
International Money Order (written in UK Pounds Sterling)
UK Pounds Sterling Currency
US$ Currency

Payment in currency is not desirable since it is not secure from theft in the post.  I am unable to handle currency other than the above (it costs too much to convert in small quantities).

I am not able to accept payment by credit card.


US Registrations

If you would like to register this program, please do the following:

Go to your local Post Office and ask for an Authorization to issue an International Money Order in the amount equivalent to the requirement payment in UK Pounds Sterling.  You must put your own name and address on the front of the form. On the back of the form, put my name and address (including the program name) in the Payee's box as follows

Mr Philip B. Cook
( Insert Program Name here )
5 Carpenter Close
Yarm
Stockton-on-Tees
TS15 9UT
ENGLAND

The completed form must be mailed to:

International Money Orders,
Box 14964,
St. Louis, MO 63182-9421

In St. Louis, the money is converted into British pounds and mailed to me.  When I get it, I will send your registration code and certificate by return.  This may sound complicated but it works and it avoids the ridiculous over-the-top bank commission fees that I would have to pay over here.  My heartfelt thanks to Carolyn Z. Gillay of California for pioneering the system and Dave Jewel (author of TimeFrame) for telling me about it.


Commonwealth Registrations

Most parts of the Commonwealth have reciprocal arrangements with the UK for handling Postal Money Orders.  Please ensure the Money order is written in UK Pounds Sterling.

Most Banks in the Commonwealth have branches in London, they can often issue a cheque for you in UK Pounds Sterling drawable on the UK Branch.

Both of these arrangements are acceptable for payment of the registration and disk fees.


Printing Help Topics

To print a help topic (eg to Print the Order Form) select  File, Print Topic from the menu bar of the Help Program.


Creating your own Card Deck

The card game is supplied with a number of Card Decks.  You may select the Deck in use by using the Game/Select Deck ... command from the Main Menu.

The decks are supplied as external files using the Windows Bitmap format, rather than in-built, unchangeable resources.

You may modify or add to the set of Card Decks by using any Windows Bitmap painting program (eg Windows Paintbrush).  A deck is defined as a 16 colour bitmap stored in the Windows RGB encoded BMP format with standard dimensions.

You may launch your Card Deck editor program by selecting the Deck you wish to modify in the Select Deck dialog and pressing the Edit Card Deck button.  This will open the editor and load the Card Deck design ready for editing.  If, after editing, you wish to keep the changes then save the image (remembering to give the file a new name if this is to be an extra Card Deck).

The default editor is the Windows supplied Paintbrush program.  If you wish to substitute some other editor then add a line

EditorName=

in the Initialisation file

You may also use any Screen Grabber or Scanner software to create an image to use as a Card Deck design provided it can create files using the Standard 16 colour Windows RGB format.


Edit Card Deck button

Pressing this button, launches a user defined Bitmap Editing program, loading the currently selected Card Deck image for editing.

The default editing program is Paintbrush, supplied with Microsoft Windows.


Select Deck command

This command prompts the user to select from a set of possible card decks.

The dialog displays a scrolling listbox of Card Deck images (these are stored in .bmp files).

To select a new deck you may

>	Click with the left mouse button on the desired deck and press the OK button.

>	Double click with the left mouse button on the desired deck.

The Card Deck Filename is displayed above the Card Deck listbox.

Pressing the Cancel button returns you to the game without activating any change in deck you may have made.

You may also select from Card Decks stored on other drives or in other directories by using the Drives and Directories list boxes.

Pressing the Edit Card Deck button opens a predefined Bitmap editing program with the selected card deck to allow you to modify the appearance of the Deck.  The default editor is the Windows supplied Paintbrush program.  If you wish to substitute some other editor then modify the EditorName= line in the application INI file

The chosen Card Deck is stored for future games in the CardDeckFilename= line in the application INI file

Note - these functions are not available when using Windows 3.0 Real mode.  To change the Card Deck when you must use Real mode it is necessary to directly modify the application INI file by using a text editor (eg Notepad).

see also  Creating your own Card Deck


Deck Selection Dialog