home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Turnbull China Bikeride
/
Turnbull China Bikeride - Disc 2.iso
/
ACORNUSERS
/
CBSA
/
GAMES
/
ELITE
/
!
/
!Help
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1995-09-08
|
4KB
|
98 lines
ÉliteExt 1.02 (08 SEP 1995)
=============================================================================
One thing that the Archimedes version of Élite lacks, in comparison with
versions for other machines, is an identify (IFF) feature. This application
patches into Élite, and gives a small text display at the top of the playing
area, which identifies anything you can get in your crosshairs. It's useful!
ÉliteExt also provides some other extensions:
* Identification of cargo items
* On-board clock
* Hold contents indicator
* Shield strength scanner
* Rear-window sticker with Amusing Slogan (TM)
* Fur-covered cubical random number generating devices (Fluffy dice)
ÉliteExt works on versions 1.05 (the last Hybrid release) and 1.14 (the
Acorn User release) of Élite. Version 1.02 is not supported. To use ÉliteExt,
run the !ÉliteExt application, and then !Élite. Any copies of Élite loaded
whilst ÉliteExt's window is open will be patched to provide IFF. Under RISC
OS 3 only, ÉliteExt will also patch Élite if it has already been loaded.
ÉliteExt was written by Ben Dooks and Andrew Clover of DoggySoft. You can
contact us at:
7 Blackhorse Crescent Tel: (0)1494 431916
Amersham Fax: (0)1494 675878
Bucks. Data: (0)1494 681711 (ANSI support BBS)
HP6 6HP Telex: 83675 Brit G
e-mail, Ben: bjd101@york.ac.uk Andrew: ajc@doggysft.demon.co.uk
Options
=======
To turn extensions on/off separately, use this * command:
*EliteExtend <options> :
-cargo - this sets the 'amount of cargo' indicator on
-time <format> - this sets the time display on and the format used
-shield - this sets the shield status display on. This is showed
after the ship's name and the higher the number the more
shields the ship has
-fluffy - turns fluffy dice and rear sticker on
If you close the ÉliteExt window before you quit Élite, you will have to
quit ÉliteExt from the Task Manager in order to get the memory back. On RISC
OS 2, you have to do this anyway. This is because the module may not die
whilst Elite is still patched.
General waffle
==============
I've looked through all the ships you can get in Élite (to provide a
complete identify system), and have noticed a few interesting things. First,
there's often more than one variant of a ship. Most ships have one
alternative version that looks slightly different, and doesn't turn up very
often. In IFF, these will be coloured yellow, and you get twice as many
I-Spy points as for a normal ship! The Moccasin is quite a good one, there
are four distinct variants on the the theme, some looking rather strange.
Secondly, there are no more missions. We all know about the first four
missions, but we like to think that there's Space Dredgers and Generation
Ships to be found. Sorry, but there's no shape data for any new, unusual
ships other than Zartid (mta) and Pino who we already know about. Looks like
the authors stuck rather too well to the spirit of Élite, and
again failed to include the much-mentioned-in-manuals new ships (*). The
textual messages displayed give no signs of any more missions either.
Presumably the screenshots of intergalactic wars with thousands of ships
were just mock-ups.
I presume the funny green/yellow/grey ship is actually a Urutu - the cards
mention the Uturu as having odd colours, and I can't find any other home for
it.
(*) The spirit of Élite seems to have survived to David Braben's latest
work (the sequel to Frontier), too. After an accidental release of the
source code, it would appear that most of the special missions and ships
hinted at in the documentation don't exist!
History
=======
1.00 Been-hanging-around-for-ages-on-Ben's-hard-disc-version
1.01 Detection of space beacons and Asp 1s corrected. Changed to work with
version 1.14 (as given away with Acorn User) as well as 1.05. Some
text tidied up. Fluffy dice added. Icon redrawn.
1.02 Detection of space beacons corrected (again!) and cargo status now
takes account of alien items (thargons) picked up.