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Text File | 1995-06-16 | 34.5 KB | 795 lines

___________ _____ ***********\ /******b. ***********:\ . /:********b ) . '-._···d**::\ /·:***·::"**B † '-d**P:··\ /·::*** ··:"**b . d**P:·:· \ /···:***· ··:*** . @**(:·:· · \ / ·::*** ··::*** . † "**b:·· *****···:***· ··:*** "**b:·· ***** ·::*** ··::*** _..··'"***::·· \···:***· ··:*** † . **b:·· ·***:.' \·::*** ··:d**P ***b:·:d**P· \·:*** ::d**B † "********@' . \:********P . "******P \******P' . . ~~~ ~~~~~ . ___ ___ ___ /\__\ ___ /\__\ /\ \ /%%| | /\ \ /%%| | /%%\ \ . . /%|%| | \%\ \ /%|%| | /%/\%\ \ /%/|%|__|__ /%%\__\%/|%| |_/%%\~\%\ \ /%/ |%%%%\__\ /%/\/__// |%| /\__\\%\ \%\__\ \/__/~~/%/ //%/ / \/__|%|/%/ /~\%\ \/__/ ) /%/ /%%/__/ |%/%/ /%\ \%\__\ /%/ / \%\__\ |%%/ / \%\ \/__/ † . /%/ / \/__/ . /%/ / \%\__\ \/__/ \/__/ \/__/ . ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ /\ \ /\__\ /\ \ /\ \ /\ \ /\ \ /\ \ /%%\ \ /%/ / /%%\ \ /%%\ \ /%%\ \ /%%\ \ /%%\ \ /%/\%\ \%/ / /%/\%\ \%/\%\ \%/\%\ \%/\%\ \%/\%\ \ _\%\~\%\ \ _<_ /_/\~\%\ \\~\%\ \\~\%\ \\~\%\ \\~\%\ \ /\ \%\ \%\__\| |/\__\\ \%\__\\ \%\__\\ \%\__\\ \%\__\\ \%\__\ \%\ \%\ \/__/| /%/ /%\ \/__/%\ \/__/%\/%/ /%\ \/__/%\/%/ / \%\ \%\__\/%|/%/ / \%\__\\ \%\__\ \%%/ / \%\__\|%|%%/ / \%\/%/ /|%/%/ /%\ \/__/%\ \/__/ \/__/%\ \/__/|%|\/__/ \%%/ / |%%/ / \%\__\ \%\__\ \%\__\ |%| | \/__/ \/__/ \/__/ \/__/ . \/__/ \|__| 3D Minesweeper ~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ Author: A.W.Garrard Version: 2.03 (14-Dec-94) Purpose: Brain damage Double-click on !3DMine to play The classic game Minesweeper, now in 3-D A game for people of all ages who are as bored as I was when I wrote it ·NO tacky sound effects ·NO high speed, animated graphics (getting bored of them, yuh?) ·NO advanced GUI to baffle beginners ·ARE YOU PREPARED FOR THE INTRIGUE of working out why I could be bothered to write this thing in the first place? ·CAN YOU STAND THE TENSION of having people stand behind you, shouting "No, not THAT one!"? ·CAN YOUR HEART TAKE THE STRAIN of the caffeine intake from all the coffee you can drink while the screen re-draws? Having said that, you might enjoy it, so give it a go. * Title MINE SWEEPER text style based on a font by Lennert Stock ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Important note: Risc PC users with low resolution monitors should pay attention to the section on customising their monitor definition file. This game will not work in low resolution on a Risc PC without this change being made. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Game mechanics ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ This program has on-line help, but for people who would rather read this in their favourite text viewer before use, details of the game are provided below... Gameplay: it's normal minesweeper, only 3-D. If that doesn't help, here is a brief synopsis of minesweeper: Minesweeper is a game which is played on a grid of cells. Each cell may or may not contain a mine. To start with, you do not know the contents of the cells. The aim of the game is to flag all the cells which contain mines. If you think a cell does not contain a mine, you can uncover it. If you uncover a cell which contains a mine, you lose the game. If the cell which is uncovered is safe, it will change to show you how many cells adjacent to it (including diagonals) contain mines. You cannot clear a cell which has been flagged or queried. If you change your mind about whether a flagged cell contains a mine, you can un-flag it again. You only have as many flags as there are mines, and the game finishes when you have no flags left. If you have all the mines flagged at this point, you win, otherwise (i.e. you have a flag wrongly placed) you lose. You can also place a query on a cell. You cannot flag a cell which has been queried, or query a cell which has been flagged. The only purpose of a queried cell is to help you calculate whether other cells may contain mines in a complex arrangement- queried cells show up amber, and have no other effect on the game. Cells can be un-queried when you have done with them, and you may query as many cells as you like. Cells which are not yet uncovered are shown in blue Cells which are queried are shown in amber Cells which are flagged are shown in red Cells which have been uncovered are shown as follows: No adjacent mine - cell not plotted (invisible) Adjacent mines - cell plotted in black with red outline and with a letter in red indicating number of mines: A=1, B=2 etc. There are readouts on the main screen showing the coordinates of the cell currently displayed under the mouse pointer, the number of mines around this cell, and the number of flags which the player has left. The three-dimensional game grid may be rotated at will. Because the grid is 3-D, it is possible for some cells to be completely obscured by others. To remedy this, it is possible to request that only a portion of the grid be displayed by specifying a range of coordinates to be displayed. The help screen indicates the current numerical values of this range, and the grid box shown on the help screen encloses only the current range, thus providing a more graphical indication. The limits may be varied by use of the keyboard, with keys increasing or decreasing the upper and lower limits of the range along each axis. The whole grid is always displayed at the start of a game. The game uses quite a large amount of memory, and, especially for large grids, re-draw may take a few seconds (an hourglass percentage is displayed indicating progress). The grid will update faster if there are less cells to display - to increase speed, uncover cells as soon as you can (empty cells draw faster than unknown ones) and use QwErTy (or equivalents) to reduce the size of the displayed grid. Use of the help screen is also recommended to speed up rotations and resizing. When the player uncovers a cell which is not adjacent to any mines, the program will clear the grid out from that cell until the boundaries of all uncovered regions are again adjacent to mines. (This saves time, and would be trivial to do yourself, since all the cells around such a cell are by definition safe). When starting, the player is asked for a grid size and no. of mines. The number of mines cannot exceed the number of cells in the grid, excluding corner points (no mine will be placed in a corner cell). The x coordinate of the grid size must be a multiple of 8 (for storage reasons). It is recommended that the game is first played on an 8x5x5 grid with 5-10 mines until you are familiar with the controls. Mouse buttons function as follows: _____________________________ | | | | Flag/ | | | unflag | | |_________| | | | | ———————————| Query/ | | ———————————| unquery | | |_________| | | | | | Uncover | | | cell | | |_________|___________________| Select - uncover cell Menu - query cell (for user calculation purposes)/unquery it Adjust - flag/unflag cell In addition, there the following short-cuts are available: Shift+Select on a lettered cell which has as many flags next to it as it has mines clears all remaining cells around the cell Shift+Adjust on a lettered cell which has as many blank cells next to it as there are mines left to be flagged around it flags all remaining blank cells around the cell These short-cuts are best understood by experiment. Default keys function as follows: q moves the x coord lower bound down Q moves the x coord lower bound up w moves the x coord upper bound down W moves the x coord upper bound up e moves the y coord lower bound down E moves the y coord lower bound up r moves the y coord upper bound down R moves the y coord upper bound up t moves the z coord lower bound down T moves the z coord lower bound up y moves the z coord upper bound down Y moves the z coord upper bound up z rotates the grid to the left slowly (about the y axis) Z rotates the grid to the left quickly x rotates the grid to the right slowly X rotates the grid to the right quickly ' rotates the grid up slowly (about the x axis) " (@ on a Risc PC) rotates the grid up quickly / rotates the grid down slowly ? rotates the grid down quickly o rotates the grid to the left slowly (about the z axis) O rotates the grid to the left quickly p rotates the grid to the right slowly P rotates the grid to the right quickly The above keys may be redefined, and the settings saved, but saved settings must be explicitly loaded since the program will default to the above settings each time it is run. <space> swaps between the main and help screens <Esc> restarts and <Ctrl>+<Esc> exits the game The current keys are displayed on the help screen. The disc from which the game was loaded must be left in the drive while playing - it will be accessed at the start of each new game. This is not an attempt at anti-piracy, merely a consequence of the way the program works; a large enough ADFS buffer will suffice instead, or the game may be run from a ram disc. Files are provided in the !3DMine directory to support The Serial Port joystick interface. Please read the LeadEdSrc source file to see how to use joysticks with the game. To open the !3DMine directory and get access to these files, hold down <Shift> and double-click on the !3DMine application. Once the joystick file has been loaded, the game should be run as normal. The Vertical Twist joystick interface does not work (at time of writing) on the Risc PC - this is nothing to do with !3DMine, and the author will be pleased to hear from anyone who has got the joystick interface to work on the new machine. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Machine requirements: ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~ The program should run on any 32-bit Acorn machine with RISC OS (although RISC OS 3's ColourTrans will make use of dithering). I have not been able to test the program on any OS versions except 3.5, 3.11 and 2.00 (low resolution only), or on any machines with less than 4Mb, but can't see any reason why it shouldn't work on any others. The latest version has only been tested on a RISC OS 3.5 machine, but no changes have been made which should compromise functionality on earlier computers. Although memory usage improved radically in version 1.14, the high resolution version of the game still requires a 2Mb machine (although it will fit in one far more comfortably than previous versions). The low resolution version will run on a 1Mb RISC-OS2 machine, but modules may need to be unplugged to get it to run on a 1Mb RISC-OS3 machine. The program will not run on an A305 which has not been expanded. For similar reasons, effort has not been expended to get the program to work on Arthur, especially since Arthur can't display the right screen mode. Due to the speed (or lack of it) at which the program runs, an ARM3 (or later) is recommended, but then one always is. There have been a lot of code optimisations made in the hope that one is not required but is a luxury. In high resolution mode, the program runs in mode 27 (640x480, 16 colour VGA) and so should work on VGA, SVGA and MultiSync monitors, and on the A4's LCD display - although on the latter (and other monochrome displays), colours will obviously be harder to distinguish between, especially since I did not have an A4 available when palette choosing. Owners of such machines may have to resort to the read-out at the top of the screen to tell them what is under the mouse pointer; anybody who can provide a suitable alternative palette with more contrast on the A4, but still provides intuitive colours on a colour display, please let me know and I will include it in the next update. Although the game may be played in 'low resolution mode', the display quality suffers significantly. The low resolution option was only written for compatibility, since it allows the !3DMine to be run on a 1Mb machine (just) as well as just on a normal monitor. The game is playable in this state, but the high- resolution version is recommended where available (the layout of the user interface is better and the cells are much clearer and less lumpy). Mode 27 was chosen as the next most 'standard' resolution which most monitor types can display (but 'normal' & high-res mono monitors can't). The low resolution option runs in a custom mode 112, which is mode 12 but with the resolution tweaked to 640x240. If the program is run on a machine with a low resolution monitor or if insufficient memory is available to run in high resolution mode then the program will automatically run in low resolution mode. It is possible to force the game into low resolution mode by holding down <Return> when the program is run. The low-res version of the game does have slightly faster update, so if the user is willing to forfeit display quality in return for this speed increase, this facility may be useful (although personally I wouldn't think it was worth it). On a hi-res mono monitor (type 2), the program will probably attempt to run in a different mode to the one it thinks it is running in, and therefore even if it doesn't crash it will not be playable. C'est la vie. The program could have been written to allow various screen modes, and even to run in the desktop. The reasons it wasn't, in increasing order of importance, are: a) It would slow it down and require even more memory. b) It would stop me using shadow screens etc. which would mean more complex coding. c) I couldn't be bothered (I have a degree to do too, you know). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Risc PC screen modes and customising monitor definition files: ~~~~ ~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ On a Risc PC, the game attempts to run in 640x480, 16 colours. If there is insufficient memory for this, if this mode is not defined in the monitor definition file currently in use (e.g. the machine is in use on a low-resolution monitor), or if the <Return> key is pressed when the program is run, the game will try to use a 640x240 16 colour mode. This section provides information on that mode - if you never intend to run the game in low-resolution mode, you can ignore the rest of this section. If you use an AKF50, AKF52, AKF60 or AKF85 monitor definition file, modified versions providing definitions for the customised 640x240 low resolution mode which !3DMine uses are provided in the !3DMine.3DMMDF directory distributed with this game; shift- double-click on the !3DMine application to open its directory. To install these definition files, copy this directory into the $.!Boot.Resources.Configure.Monitors on your hard disc (shift- double-click on the !Boot application to open it, then double- click on the other directories to open them). Then double click on !Boot to configure the new MDFs. Click on the screen icon in the configuration window, then, from the menu to the right of 'Monitor type' in the Screen window, choose the appropriate MDF out of 'AKF50 3DM', 'AKF52 3DM', 'AKF60 3DM' & 'AKF85 3DM'. Then click on 'Set' in the Screen window. Your computer should now be correctly set up so that !3DMine can use its custom modes. If at any point you change which monitor definition file you use, remember to change back to this one before running !3DMine in low-resolution mode. If you can use the provided definition files, you can afford to ignore the rest of this section. If you have a different type of monitor, you may have to make some changes to the definition file you do use, because of the non-standard 640x240 mode which the game uses. This 640x240 mode is unlikely to be defined as default in your monitor definition file. Hence, if you wish to use !3DMine in low resolution mode, you must make some changes to your MDF. To do this, look in the $.!Boot.Resources.Configure.Monitors folder on your hard disc - shift-double-click on the !Boot application to open it, and double-click on the other directories to open them. In it are a number of directories containing monitor definition files, which are simply text files which tell the computer what signals to send the monitor. You need to find the file which contains the monitor definition which you use - for example, if you are using the standard AKF60 monitor then the monitor definition file which you use may be called 'AKF60' in the Acorn directory. When you have found this file, load it into a text editor (e.g. !Edit). If you have the correct file, it should contain the following section near the top, possibly after some lines beginning with # characters: file_format:1 monitor_title:nnnnnnnn Where nnnnnnnn is the name of your monitor, which appears in the title of the mode selector window. Change the nnnnnnnn to give some indication that this file has been modified for !3DMine - for example, 'Acorn AKF60' could be called 'Acorn AKF60 3DM'. Then go down through the file until you find the line: # 640 x 250 or: # 640 x 256 (preferably the former). There may be another comment after the numbers. Copy the section between this line and the line which reads 'endmode' (inclusive) to the end of the file and change the 250 or 256 to read 240. Next you need to change the line which reads: y_res:n (where n is 250 or 256 depending on which definition you have copied) to read: y_res:240 Finally you need to look at the v_timings line. It will contain something of the format: v_timings:s,bp,tb,scr,bb,fp where s,bp,tb,scr,bb and fp are numbers telling the computer how many scan lines make up the sync, back porch, top border, screen, bottom border and front porch respectively. You do not need to know the details of how these work. The scr value needs to be changed to read 240, but in order to ensure that the mode still works, you will need to increase the bottom and top borders so that the total number of scan lines stays the same. To do this, if 'scr' was originally 250, add 5 to tb and bb (to evenly distribute the extra 10 lines between the two borders and keep the screen centred). If 'scr' was 256, add 8 to tb and bb. As an example, taking the standard AKF60 definition file, the copied section originally read: # 640 x 250 (70Hz - Modes 3,11,14) # Low band startmode mode_name: x_res:640 y_res:250 pixel_rate:25175 h_timings:88,22,22,640,22,6 v_timings:2,109,0,250,0,88 sync_pol:2 endmode and should be changed to # 640 x 240 (70Hz - Modes 3,11,14) <- 250 changed to 240 # Low band startmode mode_name: <- this is blank x_res:640 y_res:240 <- 250 changed to 240 pixel_rate:25175 h_timings:88,22,22,640,22,6 v_timings:2,109,5,240,5,88 <- borders 5, screen 240 sync_pol:2 endmode If there is anything following the ':' on the mode_name line, the extra should be removed. There is nothing special about the 640x256 and 640x250 mode definitions - you can base your new mode on any original mode, but since these are standard modes which are likely to exist and be correctly adjusted for your monitor, these are the suggested sizes to use. Note that the borders cannot be negative, so the original mode must be at least 240 pixels vertically. You do not have to start with a mode which is 640 pixels horizontally, but you must pad out the corresponding borders and make the other changes needed to alter the screen width, so unless you know what you are doing, this is not recommended. When you have finished making your changes, save the monitor definition file under a new name (so that it does not write over the old one, in case there is a problem). You will then have to run the !Boot application to get the configuration options. When you have done this, click on 'Screen' and from the menu to the right of 'Monitor type', choose the monitor definition file which you have created. Click on 'Set' in the Screen window, and the computer will know about the screen mode which it needs for !3DMine. If there is a problem with the new definition file, one of three things will happen. Firstly, the configure application may complain when it tries to scan for new monitor definition files (and the new definition will not appear in the menu). Secondly, !3DMine may not be able to find the screen mode it needs, and will refer you back to this document. Finally, the mode may be defined but your monitor will not be able to display it, and instead produce a distorted picture or power-down. Press <Ctrl>+ <Esc> twice and then <Space> to quit !3DMine and return to the desktop in this last case. Check the definition file again - there should not be a circumstance under which these changes will not work. For more details on changing monitor definition files, you are referred to my article in the October '94 edition of Archive magazine on 'Creating Monitor Definition Files'. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Revision history: ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ Conceived Feb 18th 1994 (may have been 17th) Version 1.00 Feb 19th ·complete in BASIC, but no auto-clear Version 1.01 Feb 21st ·auto-clear about cells non-adjacent to a mine added ·final print-out of maze added Version 1.02 Feb 21st ·m/c 'z-buffer' implemented to replace BASIC - much faster ·auto-clear amended (now does diagonals, as original) Version 1.03 Feb 21st ·added rotation about z axis (on request) - may need guide for rotation to be added later (see 1.06) Version 1.04 Feb 22nd ·minor bug fix - now detects #surrounding mines correctly for larger mazes Version 1.05 Feb 23rd ·minor alteration - now all rotations are relative to screen axes rather than those of the original grid Version 1.06 Feb 25th-26th ·help screen added - also provides faster interaction ·auto-clear algorithm changed (now slower, but handles 16x16x16) ·crude timing added Version 1.07 Feb 27th ·auto-clear improved - quite a lot faster, but still slower than original ·timing now ignored redraw time ·restart option provided Version 1.08 March 1st ·fancy graphics on win/lose and startup provided Version 1.09 March 2nd ·help screen at start added, graphics improved (slightly) Version 1.10 March 2nd ·help screen at start updated; bug on return fixed ·<Esc> during game now returns to start screen (quits on start) ·grey shading of uncovered cells removed, since it wasn't really noticeable and was only slowing the program down ·indication of reason for re-draw added (mainly to avoid confusion over Caps Lock) Version 1.11 March 3rd ·depth cueing on final maze printout added ·facility to see main maze display from final printout added Version 1.12 March 12th ·VDU 24 and range clipping on drawn cells after single cell update (drastic update speed improvement) ·final screen key done ·first release version Version 1.13 March 18th mostly bug fixes from version 1.12 (which was rushed): ·fixed bug on clipping (now clears rectangle in z-buffer - this only matters where a single cell which is not adjacent to any mines is cleared and nothing else is plotted over where it was; but it might have caused a crash *BLUSH* - and in a released version too!) ·clearing for text improved (doesn't leave spare text on screen) ·now notes cells which are transparent, so it's not necessary to count surrounding mines for uncovered cells on every redraw - another significant speed increase on redraw, when the grid has been partially or mostly cleared Version 1.14 March 29th lots of improvements the day after a HENSA upload - NOT clever ·code for writing to z-buffer greatly improved - now more convoluted, but faster (removed lots of MULs) ·z-buffer is now 16-bits deep, not 32 (not much point having 32 bit buffer when you can only have 4097 values in it) - could be 13 bits (not 12 :-( ) or 12+1, but would require far more coding; probably still wouldn't fit on 1Mb machine (comes just short of a meg with screen memory, but you need the OS) so I won't bother - I've just saved 600k, after all ·final grid display altered to show more specifics ·tested with !VDUTask (works, surprisingly, but not very stable) Version 1.15 March 31st ·grid representation changed (now memory block, not int. array) - facilitates future m/coding (e.g. clearing code) ·grid clearing code now in assembler - MUCH faster, even if a bit badly coded (delay now < 1 sec vs 45 secs for 16x16x16 in version 1.14, on a 25MHz A5000; redraw still 30 secs tho'.)-: ) ·slight improvement to help screen GUI ·<ESC> while exploding now quits (<ESC><ESC> is fast exit) Version 1.15LR March 31st ·as version 1.15, but runs on 'normal' monitors in custom mode ·selector program automatically chooses between 1.15 and 1.15LR (based on monitor type) Version 1.16 April 6th ·combines 1.15 and 1.15LR into one program to allow for easier update (so I don't have to change two programs each time) ·matrices for position calculation are now integer, using fixed- point, in preparation for more heavily ARM-coded releases - N.B. initial loss of accuracy, but 15 binary places seems to be enough (10 isn't); could go back and only convert to fixed- point at final stage, if necessary Version 2.00 April 14th ·now uses floating point for the position calculation again, but converts to integer for plotting (retains accuracy, but allows use of machine-code routines) ·plotting routines are now machine-coded - significant speed up ·cells now plotted with sprites, not circles - a bit faster ·keys now user-definable (with, unfortunately, a bit of naughty code to retain settings) ·short-cuts (shift-adjust and shift-select on lettered cells) added, having found a RISC-OS version of Minesweeper which has this facility ·program no longer needs MemAlloc, and assigns itself suitable amounts of memory if it can (not quite perfectly, and there are better ways of doing it, but I only have Arthur PRMs so I claim ignorance) ·the program will now generate a new copy of the custom screen mode module if it needs one and can't find it, although it does still need to save it in the same directory as the program ·!RunImage is now self-contained, and the !Run file now does nothing significant ·<Esc> now always returns to the start of the program; quit has been changed to <Ctrl>+<Esc> (twice to quit quickly) ·joystick files provided (only keyboard equivalents) Version 2.01 April 19th ·bug fix (I'd accidentally typed : not + on range setting) ·bug fix - can now have true maximum number of mines for a grid ·hourglass added to mine filling routine (can be slow) Version 2.02 December 3rd ·now uses @ instead of " on Risc PCs (to compensate for changed keyboard layout) as default ·handles correct modes (low resolution and custom 640x480) on Risc PCs ·help on creating appropriate Risc PC monitor definition files and sample files for default distribution MDFs provided ·found out how to do proper memory allocation - but since the existing code works, it hasn't been changed ·Help file updated December 13th - now has prettier title and mouse button diagram; also changed my address to home (since I won't be at college next year) Version 2.03 December 14th ·Help file updated to include stereogram and ACTUALLY TELL YOU HOW TO PLAY MINESWEEPER (bit of an omission that) ·!3DMine application sprite improved ·Now doesn't change from 640x480 <n>Hz to mode 27 on a Risc PC - hence the monitor doesn't re-sync every time the game is re- started; also changed mode handling on errors to go into the current mode (which will always be okay) instead of 27 or 0 ·Help file updated December 15th to correct typos and improve the clarity of the instructions for changing MDFs ·Help file updated January 10th 1995 to correct and improve stereogram and provide instructions for people without editors; application sprite also improved again - happy new year! ·Help file updated January 28th - whoops, got the stereogram backwards (don't believe I didn't notice)! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Boring bit ~~~~~~ ~~~ As the author of this program, I have legal say in what you may do with it. As such, I don't really mind what you do to it for your own use. However, should it be passed on to anyone I would ask that it be passed on in its original form, with all the original files (at least this !Help file, the !Run file, the !Sprites file, the LeadEdSrc and SerPort/JS joystick files, the monitor defition files in the 3DMMDF directory - AKF50 3DM, AKF52 3DM, AKF60 3DM and AKF85 3DM - and the !RunImage itself) present and unchanged. If you wish to let an improvement be distributed, please mail me with the suggested changes so that they can be officially implemented in the next version, since I would like the program to maintain some standard form when it first reaches people. You may distribute this program as you wish, with the constraint that it may not be distributed for money other than the price of the medium on which it is supplied; this game is public domain and I do not give permission for it to be sold. I take no responsibility for any damage caused by this software or addiction (unlikely) to it. The program was virus-free when it left me; I am not responsible for its state when you received it. This program is NOT shareware. It IS free software. However, if anybody wishes to send some money to the author (who is an impoverished student) because they enjoyed the game so much, then it will be gratefully accepted. I will willingly provide a copy of the most recent version to anyone who requests it, so long as my costs are covered. Having said that, I have no plans for a later version than this, except for debugging. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Anybody being critical of my programming: yes I know the way I plot the grid is a little slow, but it is not worth optimizing it properly (eg by writing custom circle drawing routines & by writing direct to the z-buffer, rather than using a sprite for each cell and using a shadow screen mask in the buffer-writing routine). Look on the bright side: until I wrote version 1.16, I was using CIRCLE and CIRCLEFILL instead of sprite plots. The buffer is there so that calculation of which cell is under the pointer is responsive enough, since real-time techniques which don't use buffers would require much more processing power, or at best could be inaccurate without a considerable increase in the complexity of the code. This would probably be more effort than it is worth, at least as far as I am concerned. To purists: my 'z-buffer' isn't actually a z-buffer, but it is used in a related way, so it seemed like a suitable name. Apologies for any characters which appear incorrectly on early machines when reading this help file; I'm afraid you will have to upgrade to get the full effect. :-) Please report any bugs or suggestions which wouldn't take long to implement (I don't have much time on my hands just now) to: Andrew Garrard 25 Millfield Eye, Suffolk IP23 7DE or, preferably, AWG1000@phx.cam.ac.uk or AWG1000@cus.cam.ac.uk if it's before the end of June 1995. I dedicate this program to my best friend and fiancée, Stephanie Keele. It was her addiction to !Mine which started me on this project, and I am very thankful that she withstood me being antisocial by programming at her. I am also grateful for the suggestions she has given on the user interface, and assistance she provided with debugging, and for her being so generally wonderful. It's just a pity that she still prefers !Mine to !3DMine. (*SIGH*) :-( . . , . , . . . '·.··'··.' \.··'··./ '.··'··.·' : ` ’ : : ' ’ : : ' ' : -: • :- -: • :- -: • :- : .: : . : : . : .··.: ..·. /·.: ..·\ ,·:. ..··. ': ' : ' : Gratuitous stereogram - supposedly of mines Too see this stereogram, place your nose close to your screen and try to look at the left hand mine with your left eye, and the centre mine with your right eye (or the centre and right hand mines, respectively). Try to get the circular outlines of the mines to overlap by pulling your head back slowly. If you can do this, you should get the illusion that the • characters stick out of the mines towards you as spikes, as will other 'points' - there are also some 'points' sticking away from you. Apparently about 50% of people can see this kind of illusion, so if it doesn't work for you, sorry. Well, it's not like you paid for it or anything. :-) If this scrolled by too fast to read, hold down <Ctrl> to slow down scrolling and <Ctrl>+<Shift> to stop the text. Alternatively and preferably, load the file into an editor (e.g. !Edit in the RISCOS 3 Apps folder or on the RISCOS 2 applications discs, or !Zap - in the public domain). If you do not have an editor available, try this: Make sure the filer window containing !3DMine is open. Press F12 to get a command line prompt and type: TYPE <directory>.!3DMine.!Help where <directory> is the text in that window's title bar. When you have read the text, press <Return> to finish.