Shareware Direct/Shareware Direct.iso/firstmag/btbomb/manual.doc

Text File | 1993-08-22 | 18KB | 438 lines

            ----------  Beat the Bomb  ----------

                   Shareware Version 1.20


Program and documentation copyright John M. Gallant, 1993





WELCOME TO BEAT THE BOMB ...

    Here are a few additional topics to supplement the
instructions contained in the program.



DISCLAIMER - AGREEMENT

Users of Beat the Bomb must accept this disclaimer of warranty:
Beat the Bomb is supplied as is.  The author disclaims all
warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation,
the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose.
The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or
consequential, which may result from the use of Beat the Bomb.
Liability is limited to refund or replacement.


BACKUP YOUR DISK!

    Make a backup copy of Beat the Bomb before starting. If you
have a two floppy drive system, place the disk with Beat the
Bomb and all its files on it into drive a. Place a new formatted
disk into drive b and type

    copy a:*.* b:

All commands are ended by pressing the <Enter> key. If drive a
and b are not the same on your system and the Beat the Bomb disk
only fits in the b drive then just reverse the above
instructions. Put the original disk in a safe place and use the
copy to run Beat the Bomb.

    To copy Beat the Bomb to a hard drive make a directory on
the hard drive. Go to the hard drive and type

        md btb

or any other directory name. Change to that directory with

        cd btb

and copy all of the files on the original disk to the hard disk
with the command

        copy a:*.*

(or "copy b:*.*" if the disk containing Beat the Bomb is in
drive b).


RUNNING Beat the Bomb

    To start Beat the Bomb go to the drive and directory
containing the program and type "btbs <Enter>". You may optionally
start the program in the silent mode with "btbs -s".

    Once inside the program at the main menu, press h or F1 for
more instructions. Each menu has its own help message. Be sure to
read them all.


USING THE MOUSE

    You will need a mouse to run Beat the Bomb. If you have used
a mouse before then you will have no trouble with Beat the Bomb.
If you have never used a mouse before then you are in for some
fun. Move the mouse around and watch the little arrow go the same
way you push the mouse. Move the arrow over one of the things
that looks like a button or keyboard key. Press the left mouse
button when the arrow is on a button on the screen. This is
called "clicking on an option". Only the left mouse button is
used. The things that look like buttons are buttons, click on
them to select options or to answer questions.

    In general, each screen or popup message has a button
in the upper left corner to exit the screen or remove the popup.
Many popups can be cleared by pressing any key on the keyboard or
clicking the mouse anywhere. Some popups present you with options
and you will need to press one of a few specific keys on that
popup to continue.

    Many of the options can be selected by typing the first
letter of the name on the key. Unfortunately, sometimes two names
will start with the same letter so it is usually easier to use
the mouse. You MUST use the mouse to answer the problems.


MAIN MENU

    The first screen (after the credits and copyright notice) is
the main menu. It has a blue pad in the upper left corner with
keys for several options. The one marked "help" is important.
Push it and read what it says. Most screens have a "help" button.
Each message is different and applies to the current screen.

    You cannot answer the problems on the main menu screen. They
are just there for amusement. If you push a number key to try to
answer the problems you will get a help message explaining how to
start the game.

    From the main menu you can go to the game screen or the setup
menu. You can also view the best times scored so far by pressing
the "best" button. Note that there are three score tables, one
each for 5, 10, and 20 problems per test. The one displayed
depends on the currently selected number of problems per test.
This can be changed in the setup menu. We will talk more about
the setup screen later.


THE GAME

    Type a "1" or click on the "1" button in the main menu to go
to the addition screen. You should see a blue panel similar to
the one in the main menu but with a digital clock. To the right
of the screen is a large keypad with individual keys for numbers
from 0 through 99.

    On the blue control pad there is a "help" button. If you push
the help button it will give you brief instructions for this
screen. Try it. Also on the blue control pad is a button labeled
"correct". For now just ignore it. We don't need it yet. In the
upper left corner is a red "quit" key. This will take you back to
the main menu. Let's stay here for a while, though. Finally,
there is a key called "start". Push the "start" button now.

    You should now see an addition problem with a blue box where
the answer should go. A set of numbers from 1 to 10 (or 5 or 20)
appeared somewhere on the left of the screen. These keep track of
questions answered so far. You should also see some sort of
graphic (unless it has been disabled in the setup menu). It might
be a bomb with a burning fuse or two snails. If it is a light
blue (cyan) rectangle then we will be building a castle. Since
you have not answered any questions yet the rectangle is empty.

    Look at the problem and figure out the answer. Now find the
key on the right of the screen that matches the answer and click
on it. If you answered correctly you should hear a short beep and
see a new problem. The gray "1" should now have been replaced
with a gold star. (Nice work!) If you made a mistake you should
have heard a short buzz and the gray "1" should have been
replaced with a red "x". (Too bad.) You will only get one chance
at each question. At the end of the test you will be able to see
all of the questions again. The tests are usually timed so you
will need to go as fast as you can. For now though, we are just
looking around.

    Continue with the test. Try to get some answers correct and
intentionally miss a few. At the end of the test you should see a
message that tells you how well you did. If you are only working
5 problems per test you will not see a numerical score. If you
did well you should see one or more sparklers, otherwise a popup
to the right of the screen will show your score. In either case
you can press any key on the keyboard or click the mouse anywhere
to clear the message.

    The screen should now show all the problems in the test with
correct answers in blue and wrong answers in red. This is why I
suggested you give the wrong answer to some questions. Click on
the light blue "correct" button. The red answers should now be
corrected and shown in light blue.


    If you do well on a test you will get a prize. The prizes are
as follows:

        100%    Gold trophy
         95%    Silver trophy
         90%    Gold medal
         85%    Silver medal
         80%    Bronze medal

Trophies earned are displayed at the bottom of the screen.
Trophies are not saved when you exit the program.

    If you had a perfect score and one of the best times you will
get to enter your name in the "best times" table. Just type in
your name and press "ok". If you do not want to record your time,
press the "cancel" key. The computer remembers the last name
entered. If that is your name, just click on the "ok" button. You
may also want to read the section "ENTERING NAMES" below for more
instructions.


SETUP

    The setup screen can be reached from the main menu by
clicking on the "setup" key. The setup menu is used to change how
the program operates. The first time you enter the setup menu
after starting the program it will take you through a brief
description of most of the keys. That should be enough to answer
most of your questions but we will cover a little more here.

    Please notice which way the keys go to enable a feature. The
help messages give you examples of how the keys look for various
setups. In general, the keys are "in" and the numbers are light
green if the function is enabled. Confusion can arise because
the default setting for the numbers is "all enabled". When you
press one of the number keys it will then stand out from the
rest, making it look special. It is special, it is the only one
that is off.

    There is a row of numbers from 0 through 9. These allow you
to select the number facts you want to study. For example, it
is possible to study just the "7 tables" by pressing all of the
keys in the row until "7" is the only one in and light green.

    Let's take another example. Select the numbers 1 through 5.
Now, one of the numbers in the addition drill will always be a
number from 1 through 5. The other number can be any number from
0 through 9.

    You may select 5, 10, or 20 problems per test. Each test
lasts two minutes so you can view these as "easy", "medium", and
"hard" if you wish.

    The "sound" and "timer" on/off keys, as you would expect,
turn the sound and timer on or off. You can also turn off the

sound with "F2" from nearly any screen or by starting the program
with the name of the program followed by "-s". (btbe -s).

    The problems can be presented vertically or horizontally.
Normally both horizontal and vertical problems are presented and
the program alternates between the two.

    The "animation" keys allow you to select which animations are
enabled. These are the graphic images that are active during the
test. An animation is selected randomly from the set of enabled
animations. If you only want the castle animation, click on the
other animations until they are off (a black and white icon on
the keys).


TIMED vs UNTIMED

    It is possible to run the program in either a timed or an
untimed mode. If the problems are being timed, the student has
two minutes to answer all of the questions. If the timer key is
set to "off" the clock will not run but the problems may still be
timed. Two of the animations still force the problems to be
timed. These are the bomb and the snails. To allow an unlimited
time to answer the problems, turn off the timer and select the
castle. You can also disable all of the animations.

    This is an important feature because some students are
bothered by timed tests. This program could help these students
adjust to timed tests. They could become comfortable with the
program with the timer off and then start gradually to increase
the number of problems per test with the timer on. Start with a
less threatening animation such as the snails or frogs, not the
bomb.


ANIMATIONS

    There are three animations to choose from. The bomb and
snails are always timed. The castles are timed only if the timer
is enabled.

    The bomb has a long fuse that takes two minutes to burn. If
the problems are not answered in two minutes the bomb will go
off, ending the test.

    The snails race against each other. You are the red snail.
Each time you answer a question (right or wrong) the snail
advances. The computer is the blue snail. The blue snail takes
two minutes to finish the race.

    The castles are built a piece at a time as you get correct
answers. No piece is given if the answer is wrong. The castle
comes to life if all questions are answered correctly. There are
at least three different castles for each level.


SAVING AND RECALLING SETUPS

    It is possible to save up to 32 different setup configura-
tions. Each of these can be assigned a name to make it easier to
remember which setup is which.

    On the blue keypad in the setup menu are "save" and "load"
keys. Make some changes in the current setup that you will
remember. Now press the "save" key. You should see a new menu
with four rows of eight keys in the center. In the upper left
corner is a blue keypad with a gray window with a name in it.
This name matches the name on the key that is pressed. Type in a
new name and then press one of the keys with no name on it. If
all of the keys have names you may select one that you no longer
want. The computer will ask you before overwriting the old setup.
If you do not want to save the setup you may press the "cancel"
key. Press one or the other now. If all went well you should
have been returned to the setup menu. If not, a message should
have appeared explaining the problem.

    Load a different setup by pressing "load" on the blue setup-
menu keypad. The filename menu should now be visible again.
Either type in the name of the setup that you want to recall or
press the button with the appropriate name. Again, if all went
well you should be back at the setup menu. The setup keys should
now have changed to the setup you selected. Now try to recall the
setup that you just saved.


ENTERING NAMES

    Occasionally the program will ask you for a name. It may be a
name for a setup or your name if you scored well in a game. In
both cases you can simply type in the name with the keyboard. The
letters will appear in the gray window as you type. You may
get a warning buzz if you type in too many letters. It will
probably look like there is plenty of room to keep typing but the
computer limits the number of characters you may enter. Since the
characters are different widths you will not always fill all the
space. Try typing "WWWWiiii". We left space for lots of Ws.

    If you want to change a letter in the center of a word
already in the gray window, click the mouse to where you want to
make the change. This should move the typing cursor. The delete,
back-arrow, home, end, and right and left cursors also work.


IF YOU HAVE PROBLEMS WITH THE PROGRAM

    I hope you never have any problems but if you do, the program
will try to print a message to the screen. Here are some
examples.


"Could not find an EGA or VGA card"

    This message will be displayed when you try to run the
program on a computer without the proper display driver card.
Earlier CGA monitors do not have sufficient resolution for the
text that accompanies the instructions and are not supported.
Monochrome systems are also not supported. The program will work
fine on true EGA and VGA systems.


"Not enough memory"

    Although the program will work with systems with less than
512K of memory, most of that memory must be available to the
program. Some computers have memory set aside for RAM Disks or
TSR programs. TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) programs include
such popup or background programs as Borland's Sidekick. These
subtract from the memory available to the program. You may have
to remove one or more of these to run Beat the Bomb. You will
find them in a file called AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS. If you are
not familiar with these, seek out a friend who is or read the
manuals that came with your computer. Another good place to get
information on AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS is in a book on DOS.
There are usually several in the library.


"Could not find file"

    This would most likely be caused by trying to run the program
from a directory that does not include the "extra" files used by
Beat the Bomb. These files typically contain graphic images that
are loaded as needed. It is easiest to go to the drive and
directory containing a copy of the complete set of programs that
came on the distribution disk (the one you bought) and run from
there.


"Could not read file"

    This is more serious than not finding the file. It says the
file was found but the computer was not able to read all of the
information in the file. It is possible that the file has become
corrupted. In that case just replace the corrupted file with the
one from your backup disk. (It is just as easy to start over and
replace all of the files). It is also possible that the disk
drive is having trouble reading the disk. Remove the disk from
the drive and tap the disk on the table. Then reinsert the disk
into the drive and try again. This does not work all the time but
it is so simple that it is worth a try.


The program runs but there is a bunch of junk flickering on the
screen.

    If this happens, press the F1 key. If the flickering stops
then you probably have an old EGA driver with less than a full
compliment of memory. True EGA has memory for two complete
screens (called "pages"). Beat the Bomb needs both. Although
many EGA programs will run on these cards, others will not. You
might check with your hardware dealer about an upgrade.


Program does not run at all.

    Hmm? Never heard of that happening. Try the disk on another
IBM compatible. You should at least get a message in text
identifying the program (before the First Magnitude screen). If
you do not, then the disk or program has been corrupted or your
disk drive may have an alignment problem.


None of the above.

    Even though I tried very hard to make a foolproof program,
there is still a chance that something could go wrong. When that
happens I would like to know about it. Be sure to get as much
information ready before calling as possible. I need such
information as type of computer, type of display, DOS version,
TSR's that might be running, a detailed explanation of the
symptoms. The more complete the information the easier it will be
to solve the problem.


TELEPHONE SUPPORT

    If you have read and tried all of the above and still need
help, you can call the following number [phone]. It will
help if you have all of the information ready and you are sitting
in front of your computer when you call.