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- THANK YOU!
-
- Thank you for taking the time to download Computer Game Enthusiast.
- Many long hours went into the preparation of this publication, and we
- hope that you, the avid PC gamer, find it an informative and
- pleasurable read.
-
- INSTALLATION
-
- Just extract this achive to a directory of your choosing. Then at the
- DOS command prompt type GO and press ENTER. Be sure to run the GO.BAT
- batch file to start Computer Game Enthusiast rather than typing in the
- name of the executable. The batch file has a command switch that
- configures the magazine for a VESA compatible display adapter. With out
- it, the graphics quality you obtain might be very poor.
-
- HARDWARE NOTES:
-
- In order to run Computer Game Enthusiast at the proper display resolution
- (640 x 480 with a palette of 256 colors) you will need a graphics adapter
- that is compatible with the VESA V1.2 standard. For some users this might
- mean loading a VESA driver beforehand, such as UNIVBE.EXE. This should not
- be necessary if your card has a driver in hardware (e.g. Diamond Stealth).
-
- If you do not have a VESA compatible card you can still run the magazine,
- but images such as screen captures and the page layout in general will
- lose much of their detail and color saturation.
-
- You will also need at least 4MB of RAM installed in your system to run
- Computer Game Enthusiast. We recommend that you use an expanded memory
- (EMS) manager such as EMM386.EXE (with the RAM switch enabled) or QEMM
- since the program used to deliver the magazine to your screen will take
- advantage of expanded memory. Please note that Computer Game Enthusiast
- does not use extended memory (XMS).
-
- Although this publication supports the use of the keyboard, we suggest
- that you use a mouse instead.
-
- Finally, as it currently stands the complied magazine is a rather large
- executable (this edition is on the order of 1.8MB). We are searching for
- ways in which to break the Computer Game Enthusiast into several, smaller
- executables that are called from a shell. This should relax the memory
- requirements a bit for users who are already cramped for RAM. But since
- most games these days require 8MB to run, we suspect that memory might be
- an issue for a small fraction of users. Nevertheless, we will do our level
- best to accommodate all potential readers of this publication.
-
- NAVIGATING THROUGH COMPUTER GAME ENTHUSIAST
-
- Computer Game Enthusiast has been designed with ease of use in mind. The
- magazine features a graphical user interface. To use your mouse, you will
- need to have a mouse driver loaded prior to reading the Computer Game
- Enthusiast. All points of user action are contained in grey "buttons." To
- invoke a given action, move the mouse pointer over your choice; it will
- change from an arrow to a pointing hand--which indicates a user choice.
- Then click the left or right mouse button. For example, if you want to go
- to the next page in a feature article, click the mouse on the "next" button.
-
- Scrolling through text in reviews and other articles is accomplished by
- using the scroll bar that appears on the right-hand side of text boxes.
- Clicking the mouse on the up and down arrows will move the text one
- line at a time in the corresponding direction. If you click the mouse
- pointer in the scroll-bar area above or below the scroll button, the
- text will move one screen at a time. You can also use the scroll button
- in the bar to quickly move to a section of text.
-
- For the keyboard-minded computist, Computer Game Enthusiast features
- full hot key support. The hot key for a given button is denoted by an
- underlined letter in the button's text. So, a button labeled "Quit to
- DOS" will have the "Q" underlined, which is the hot key for quit.
- Furthermore, text boxes in which articles appear can be toggled with the
- <TAB> key; the active text window is surrounded by dotted lines. You can
- use the arrow, pgup, and pgdn keys to scroll through the text. For those
- buttons that call forth pop-up text windows, a press of the <ESC> key will
- close the window.
-
- PRINTING ARTICLES:
-
- We did not include printing capability in this free edition of Computer
- Game Enthusiast. However, subscription and newsstand issues fully support
- the printing of all articles and reviews that appear in the magazine. We
- have selected fonts with readability in mind, and it is our sincerest
- hope that find it to your liking.
-
- FOR WINDOWS 3.X AND WINDOWS 95 USERS
-
- You should have no problems running Computer Game Enthusiast in Windows. If
- you are using Windows 3.X, you can get to the program by choosing RUN from
- the Program Manager menu. In the RUN dialog box type the full path
- name of Computer Game Enthusiast (the default is C:\CGE\OCT95\GO.BAT). Or,
- you can start the magazine from the File Manager. You might want to
- create a new program group and item to make it easier to start the
- program. From the Program Manager menu select New, and the click on
- program group. In the program group properties box enter "Computer Game
- Enthusiast" (less the quotes) and click OK. The new group icon will appear
- on the desktop. Click once on the new group icon, then select New from the
- program manager menu. This time click on the program item option. In the
- program item dialog box type a description in the appropriate box (OCT95
- Issue, for example). In the command line box type C:\CGE\OCT95\GO.BAT (or
- the correct path to the directory in which you placed the magazine)and
- click OK. A new program icon will appear in the Computer Game Enthusiast
- group and you're all set to go. You will get the best results when your
- Windows screen resolution is the set to that used by the magazine (640 x 480
- with 256 colors).
-
- If you are using Windows 95, Computer Game Enthusiast will run fine in a
- Windows DOS session (we do not mean MS-DOS mode, though it will run fine
- here,too). You can start the program by clicking on "My Computer" from the
- desktop. Then click on the CGE and then OCT95 folders. Then click on the
- GO icon and the program will start. You can also use the Windows Explorer
- to start the program. Click start, move the mouse to "Programs" and then
- click on "Windows Explorer." Click on the appropriate directory entries
- (CGE and then OCT95), and then click the GO icon. If you want to avoid
- this drill every time you want to run Computer Game Enthusiast, then you
- can create a shortcut and drag it to the desktop.
-
- SUBMISSION OF SUGGESTIONS OR COMMENTS
-
- We want you to tell us what you think of Computer Game Enthusiast, for
- better or worse. You can also feel free to write to us on any gaming-
- related topic you might care to. However, all submissions become the
- exclusive property of Computer Game Enthusiast and we cannot compensate
- readers for their suggestions, comments, or other ideas. If we print your
- letter in the magazine for any reason, we will acknowledge you as the source
- by printing along with the letter your name and city of residence. Unless
- you specify otherwise, we shall consider all reader submissions suitable for
- printing.
-
- You can reach us in one of three ways:
-
- By US Mail:
- Computer Game Enthusiast
- 8 Potter Place
- Norwich, CT 06360
-
- By Ameria On-line E-mail:
- Address: JESPUB
-
- By Internet E-mail:
- Address: jespub@aol.com
-
- Copyright 1995 (C) JES Publications
-