100 Smash Win 95 Games/100SMASH.iso.7z/100SMASH.iso/rummy500/read500.txt

Text File | 1996-03-31 | 21KB | 501 lines

RUMMY 500 (Version 5) - READ500.TXT
===================================

Introduction
------------
Rummy 500 is an exciting member of the Rummy family of card games.
Its main differentiating feature is that you can pick up any
number of discards if you can lay down some of them immediately.

You play against the computer, which can be set to use a number of
different skill levels.  At Champion and Master levels, the
computer is hard to beat and provides a very challenging game.

Customizable features include:
    Colors
        Sound effects
        MIDI music
        Speech synthesized messages
    Card backs
    Screen resolution and custom resizing
        Card sizes
    AutoMouse (moves mouse pointer automatically)
    Opponent skill level
        Rule variations

System Requirements
-------------------
To use Rummy 500 you need Microsoft Windows 3.1 and a mouse.
Rummy 500 also has been tested with no problems under Windows '95.

An Intel 486 class system or better with 8 megabytes or more of
RAM is the optimum configuration.  An Intel 386 class system with
4 megabytes of RAM is considered to be the minimum.  Rummy 500 has
not been evaluated on less capable systems, but should present no
problems other than responsiveness and speed.

You are recommended to take advantage of the comprehensive help
file information in order to learn how to play Rummy 500.  Perhaps
the best first step to learning Rummy 500 is to use the "Assistant
| AutoPlay" option and watch the computer play against itself.

Installation
------------
The installation requirements are that all supplied files reside
in the same directory except that VBCTL3D.VBX should be placed in
the windows\system directory.  Also, VBRUN300.DLL must be present
in your path (typically in the windows\system directory).
VBRUN300.DLL should be downloaded separately if you don't already
have it on your system.

To use the sound effects and Speak-To-Me capability, you must
either have a sound card installed in your system, or have the
speak.exe driver installed to use your system's regular speaker.
Speak.exe is a freely distributed product from Microsoft, and is
available on most online services and bulletin board systems.
Rummy 500 is distributed with a few sound files, others may be
obtained from libraries on most online services and bulletin board
systems.  To enable sound effects, you must check "Enable" from
the "Sounds Effects" option under the "Configuration" menu.
Remember to "Save Configuration" to make the setting permanent.

Midi music files are not distributed with Rummy 500 for copyright
reasons.  You may acquire these from regular online sources.  You
will probably find canyon.mid in your Windows directory as this is
distributed with windows by Microsoft.

Note that some systems are unable to handle midi music and other
sounds at the same time.

Registration
------------

Rummy 500 is shareware, and is fully functional.  You may evaluate
this program for a period of 21 days after which you must register
it or remove it from your system.  To not comply with this
condition is a violation of United States and international
copyright law.

To register Rummy 500, please use the printable order form under
the "Help" menu of Rummy 500.  The cost of registration for the
version you are currently evaluating is $15.  If you are unable to
print the order form, please make sure that you:

1. Specify that you are registering Rummy 500
2. Include sales tax if you are a Massachusetts resident
3. Enclose a check drawn on a U.S. bank, or an international money
   order, for the correct amount, in U.S. funds, payable to Carol
   Bufton

We return checks made out incorrectly, or drawn on a non-U.S.
bank.

You will receive your registration code by mail.  The registration
code is encoded from your name, so be sure to provide your name
exactly as you wish to be registered.

If you require a diskette (3╜" only), add $5 making the total cost
$20.  The diskette version may contain a later version of Rummy
500 if improvements have been made since the release of your
evaluation copy.  Because we cannot track which versions are
currently available at what locations, it is possible that Rummy
500 will have been updated since your evaluation copy unless you
downloaded a recent version from CompuServe or America Online.

Please allow 28 days for your registration to arrive, although
every effort will be made to mail your registration within 5 days.
Your registration code licenses you to use the version of Rummy
500 that you are currently evaluating, irrespective of which is
the latest version currently available on America Online,
CompuServe, or registered diskette.  Your registration may also be
valid for future versions as they become available.

Note that Version 5 is not a free upgrade.  Existing registered
customers may upgrade and receive a new registration code for a
fee of $8.00.  See the "Upgrade" option under the "Help" menu.

You may not share your registration code with others.  Your
registration permits you and other users to use Rummy 500 on any
single-user computer system. You may also use Rummy 500 on any
other computer system of which you are the primary user, such as a
laptop.

Distribution
------------
You may distribute Rummy 500 to others provided that you derive no
revenue other than that associated with the act of distribution,
and provided that you distribute the following, and only the
following, files intact and unaltered:

        READ500.TXT  - This file
    RUMMY500.EXE - The program
        RUMMY500.HLP - The help file
    RUMCRD1.WMF  - The small card images
    RUMCRD2.WMF  - The regular card images
        RUMCRD3.WMF  - The large card images
        RUMCRD4.WMF  - The extra-large card images
        VBCTL3D.VBX  - The Visual Basic 3D Effects extension
        VBRUN300.DLL - The Visual Basic Runtime (if desired)

To the best of our knowledge, the wav sound files may also be
distributed freely.

Revision History
----------------
Version 1.x  - Development versions.

Version 2.0  - First Shareware release.  Fully functional.

Version 2.1  - Scoreboards.
        2.11 - Minor improvements.

Version 2.2  - Player can freely select the last discard.

Version 2.3  - Startup window.

Version 3.0  - 3D-style user interface.
             - Multiple player scoreboards .
             - AutoResume.
             - Sound effects.
        3.01 - Maintenance release
        3.02 - Maintenance release

Version 3.5  - Conforms to "Hoyle's Rules Of Games".
             - Suggest.
             - Undo.
             - Hall Of Fame.
             - League Table.
             - Displays of total games won.
             - Swap Cards.
             - AutoPlayer.
             - Quick Display.
             - Animate Display (removed in version 3.9).
             - Updated Help.

        3.51 - Revised discard algorithms.

Version 3.6  - Changed method of taking discards.
             - Undo

Version 3.7  - Sort by Suit
             - Show Remaining

        3.81 - Overlap Melds
             - Display Turn Count
         - "Master" skill level

Version 3.9  - Updated user interface
             - Stagger Player Hand
             - Cut For Deal
             - Reset Scoreboard
             - Restart Round

        3.91 - Maintenance release

Version 4.0  - Custom card backs
             - "Trim Corners"
             - "AutoMouse - Dialogs"

        4.01 - Maintenance release

        4.02 - Maintenance release

Version 4.2  - Expanded "Hint"
             - Double-click discard.
             - "Check Meldable Discard"
             - "Color Opponent Melds"
             - "AutoSave"
             - "AutoStart"
             - Enhanced "Champion" and "Master"

Version 4.3  - Trapping and ignoring of double-clicks
             - Manual arrangement of cards in player's hand
             - "No Sorting"
             - Descriptions of melded cards.
             - "No Bell"
             - "Display Error Box"

Version 5.0:
     Display - Enhanced 3D cosmetics for main display window, plus
               cleaner overall appearance and expanded use of
               status bar.  One by-product is that heavily
               populated player hands will now be spread across
               the full window width so that the individual cards
               can be more easily seen when the cards are
               compressed.
             - Almost all texts now displayed "unbolded" to be
               more consistent with the Windows '95 interface (and
               to make more room on the status bar).
             - Improved handling of "Large Fonts" display mode.
             - 3D-Effects updated to improve cosmetics when
               running under Windows '95.
             - Dialog background color can now be changed.  This
               affects status bar displays, messages, and some
               information displays.  This has been introduced
               primarily to assist sight-impaired users who find
               black on gray difficult to read.
             - Default dealing method is now card-by-card to add
               realism.  A "Quick Deal" option is added to the
               "Configuration menu for users who prefer the
               previous "instant" display method.
             - New style dialog boxes now include "Assist" button
               when error messages are displayed in a dialog box.
             - New "On-Screen" scoresheet displays all round
               scores for the current game, plus the running
               totals for the current round and current game.
             - New color configuration facility showing changes on
               screen as they are previewed.
             - Other on-screen counters moved to status bar.
             - Scoremasts now display player name and opponent
               skill.
             - Rummy 500 main window is now dynamically resizable.
             - Enhanced configuration options now support four
               screen resolution sizes (640x480 to 1280x1024) plus
               custom resizing.
             - Enhanced configuration options now support four
               different card sizes (Small, Regular, Large, Extra
               Large).  These can be set to change automatically
               with changes to the window size.

   Interface - Added support for single-button and non-standard
               mouse properties by treating use of the ALT key
               with the left mouse button as being equivalent to
               the right mouse button.
             - Added "Drag and Drop" capabilities for moving cards
               between the stock, discard area, player's hand, and
               melds.
             - Added ability for player to set aside cards as a
               separate group to the right of the player's main
               hand.  This permits meldable cards to be grouped
               separately from the main hand, for example.
             - The top card of the stock is now displayed when the
               mouse is clicked down and "taken" when the mouse
               button is released.  This permits the user to view
               the card at their own pace.
             - New status bar button to invoke Assist! (instead of
               clicking on the status/error message).

   Assistant - Assistant menu now has "Recall" and "Deduce"
               options to display information based upon which
               cards have been seen by the player, and where.
             - Assistant menu now has "Show Distribution" option
               to display a map of all known (by the player) card
               positions.

       Sound - Added support for playing MIDI music files with
               single, repeat, cycle and random play options.
             - Added "shuffle" and "play card" sound effects.
             - Added "Speak-To-Me" synthesized speech capability
               (provided via PC Wholeware's WinSpeech program).

       Logic - Rewritten opponent logic for taking discards,
               melding and discarding. Used by the opponent,
               AutoPlayer, and hint suggestions.  The new logic is
               a little slower on the higher skill levels, but
               should be more challenging.
             - Improved Suggest (hint) facility which also allows
               automatic execution of the suggested sequence.

       Rules - Added "Persian Jokers" rule option based on the
               "Persian" variation of basic Rummy.  This adds four
               Jokers to the card deck which may be melded as
               cards of the same rank, but not as parts of runs.
               Jokers are scored as 20 points each.  Aces may not
               be melded low (as Ace-Two-Three) under this rule
               option.
             - New "Born To Meld" rule option.
             - Optional scoring bonuses for: the Two of Clubs, the
               Queen of Spades, melding four of a kind, and going
               out to end the round.
             - Bonuses and rule options reminder displayed under
               the stock when bonuses or rule options are in
               effect.

  Miscellany - "AutoMouse" options moved to "Player" menu.
             - Enhanced AutoPlayer information displays of points
               in hand, etc.
             - Various minor improvements.
             - Some maintenance fixes.

       Price - The registration fee has increased to $15 ($20 with
               diskette) and a new registration coding introduced.
               Previous registration codes are not valid for this
               version.  See the "Help" menu for an upgrade form.


Frequently Asked Questions
--------------------------

Q. In what programming language is Rummy 500 written?

A. Microsoft Visual Basic.  See the "For The Technically Curious"
   section of the help file for more information.


Q. Where did the name "MeggieSoft Games" come from?

A. See "Help | About" when running Rummy 500.


Q. Why do I get an "Invalid File Format" message when I try to run
   Rummy 500?

A. Because there is an older, and incompatible, version of
   VBCTL3D.VBX on your hard disk.  Rummy 500 is loading this
   rather than the version distributed with Rummy 500.  Make sure
   that the copy of VBCTL3D.VBX distributed with this version is
   present in your \windows\system directory and make sure you
   delete any older copies of VBCTL3D.VBX which are on your system
   (possibly in the directory where you previously kept Rummy 500,
   or your \windows directory).

   [If you have multiple programs on your system which use
   VBCTL3D.VBX and they require different versions of VBCTL3D.VBX,
   you can install a copy of the required version in the same
   directory as each program that requires it.  Such a copy will
   be loaded in favor of the "central" copy in the /windows/system
   directory.]


Q. Why does my mouse not work correctly in Rummy 500?

A. We have had a couple of reported instances of this problem, but
   we are unable to replicate it or guess at what the problem
   might be.  One customer found that the problem disappeared when
   he upgraded from Microsoft Windows 3.1 to Windows for
   Workgroups 3.11.  We therefore surmise that this problem is
   system configuration dependent in some way.


Q. What happens if Rummy 500 causes system messages, "bombs out",
   or freezes?

A. These problems are almost always to do with the way your system
   memory is configured or managed.  Check that you have around
   450K minimum of low memory available and that your memory
   manager (e.g., EMM386) is not causing the conflict.  Rummy 500
   is quite intensive in its use of system resources and runs on
   99% of customers' systems without problems. However, sometimes
   such problems are reported, and all we can do is offer the
   advice noted here.


Q. Why do I get white rectangles displayed where the cards should
   be (and other strange behavior)?

A. Very occasionally we receive reports of this problem, which is
   a result of your graphics configuration not being able to load
   and/or display the card images.  If your graphics card is
   manifesting such problems, try setting the number of colors it
   displays to 256, or even 16.  Alas, there is little we can do
   about this situation without severly comprising Rummy 500's
   display speed, since this is predicated upon holding relatively
   large card image maps in memory.  However, you might find that
   an updated driver is available for your graphics card if you
   contact your system manufacturer.


Q. Why do I get "subscript out of bounds" error messages and/or
   see Rummy 500 start to behave erratically?

A. Rummy 500 is designed to respond to single mouse-clicks, not
   double-clicks.  In earlier versions it was possible to trip
   Rummy 500 if it reacted to the second click before it had
   finished processing the first click.  In versions 4.3 and
   later, Rummy 500 traps and ignores extra clicks when it is
   busy.


Q. I have my graphics display set to "Large Fonts".  Why are some
   of the fonts displayed smaller?

A. Many graphics drivers (particularly for Windows 95) alter the
   Twips parameter of the display in order to display everything
   larger - not just the fonts.  Rummy 500 compensates for this by
   shrinking some of the font sizes on those windows which display
   card images, particularly the main playing window.  While this
   makes everything fit the result is not as attractive as when
   "Small Fonts" is the enabled graphics display mode.


Q. How do I permanently change the default colors or card designs?

A. Set up the screen as you want the defaults to be.  Then select
   the "Save Configuration" choice from the "Configuration" menu.
   Consult the help file for more information.


Q. Does Rummy 500 cheat by peeking at the player's cards?

A. No!  However, at the higher skill levels, Rummy 500 will
   remember what you have picked up from the discard pile, and
   will also make probability estimates of which unseen cards
   might be in your hand versus the stock.

Q. The opponent sometimes ignores an obvious pick-up from the
   discard pile and takes a new card from the stock.  Is this a
   bug in the program?

A. No.  The higher skill levels are programmed to make a
   probability estimate on whether taking a new card would be more
   useful than picking up a discard.  For example, an opponent
   holding two Aces when it hasn't noticed you picking up or
   discarding any could determine that the probability of the next
   card in the stock being an Ace is sufficiently high that it
   should be taken.  This is more likely to happen later in the
   round when there are fewer cards remaining in the stock.
   Although the opponent will frequently lose out by employing
   this tactic, benchmark tests show that it wins from it in the
   long run.


Q. Why didn't you respond to the suggestions for enhancement I
   made?

A. Our first priority is to provide a quality game at the lowest
   possible price and this prevents us from entering into much
   personal correspondence.  Most suggestions are incorporated
   into the next version of Rummy 500. This is our way of
   responding positively to your suggestions.


Q. Why don't you accept credit cards or online registrations
   through CompuServe, for example?

A. Again, our first priority is to provide a quality game at the
   lowest possible price and thus we keep our overheads to a
   minimum.  With respect to online registration, our customers
   obtain Rummy 500 from a wide variety of sources and it would be
   impractical for us to offer different registration means for
   each source.


Q. I am a shareware distributor.  How do I obtain permision to
   distribute Rummy 500 to my customers?

A. As noted earlier in this file, permission is automatically
   granted provided you distribute only the files noted herein.
   Include VBRUN300.DLL if your customers might not otherwise have
   it on their systems.


Q. I am a software developer.  Are you able to share any of the
   Rummy 500 program code?

A. No.  All Rummy 500 code is proprietary to MeggieSoft Games,
   except for the third-party components which are described in
   the help file (in the section called "For The Technically
   Curious").


Q. Does MeggieSoft Games market any other games?

A. Rummy 500 was our first offering, released in August 1994.  We
   released our second product, Gin Rummy, in February 1995 (see
   the help file for more details).  Pinochle is planned to be our
   third game, and is tentatively scheduled for release in the
   latter half of 1996.


Rummy 500  ⌐ MeggieSoft Games 1994-1996.  All Rights Reserved.