PC Player 1995 August

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ PC Player 1995 August / PCPL0895.ISO / programm / slowmo / slowmo.txt < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1994-02-16 | 14.7 KB | 470 lines

SlowMo v2.00 - Slow Motion which can be turned on and off while playing a game Copyright (c) 1992-1994, Andrew King. Contents What is SlowMo? 1 What can SlowMo do? 2 How to Register 3 How to Use SlowMo 4 To Make SlowMo Ready for Use 5 How to Remove SlowMo 6 To Activate SlowMo 7 To Cancel SlowMo 8 Options Screen 9 Action Keys 10 Recommended Procedure 11 Memory 12 Known Bugs 13 License 14 Registration Form 15 1 What is SlowMo? --------------- SlowMo is a utility which can give you slow motion in another program at the touch of a button. It is especially suited to games and could be just the thing you need to get through the 'impossible' bits. 2 What can SlowMo do? ------------------- SlowMo can be used with most games. Slowmo provides slow motion which can be truned on and off DURING a game. SlowMo features variable speed slow motion which can be adjusted whilst the game or other program is running. A Pause facility gives you time for a breather. Freeze allows you to freeze the action and leave the computer, e.g. to answer the 'phone or get a drink. All facilities are available on a single keypress. The keys used can be assigned by you. Special settings for each game can be saved and reloaded automatically. 3 How to Register --------------- To register SlowMo send #4 (pounds) or US$8, cheque or cash to: Andrew King, 25 Montem Road, New Malden, Surrey KT3 3QW, CompuServe: 100112,204 U.K. Telephone: (44) 81 949 4283 When you register you will receive a copy of the latest version of SlowMo with the reminders to register removed. An order form is included at the end of this document. See Registration Form below. 4 How to use SlowMo ----------------- SlowMo is a pop-up utility (TSR) which is installed under Dos. Once installed, it sits around in the background waiting to be activated when you hit a special combination of keys on the keyboard (the 'hotkey' combination). When you give the correct key combination SlowMo is made 'active' and will respond to the action keys chosen (see Action Keys below). Using the same 'hotkey' combination again will make SlowMo 'inactive'. SlowMo can also be removed from memory altogether. 5 To Make SlowMo Ready for Use ---------------------------- SlowMo is made ready in Dos (not via Windows) as follows. Either Change directory to the directory where the SlowMo distribution files were installed eg. cd \SlowMo Or Add the directory where the SlowMo files were installed to your path (in your Autoexec.bat file) eg. path=c:\SlowMo Then load SlowMo by typing its name eg. SlowMo A screen showing the default key assignments and allowing you to change the options will be displayed. Details of using this sceen are given in the section Options Screen below. SlowMo can also be asked to load settings which have been saved to disk. If there is a file called 'SlowMo.cfg' in the directory you are currently in, SlowMo will take its initial settings from that file. If you wish to take settings from a file with a different name type the name of the file after SlowMo eg. SlowMo zool.key 6 How to Remove SlowMo -------------------- SlowMo may be removed so that it is no longer sitting in background waiting to be activated. SlowMo is removed in Dos as follows. If the directory where the SlowMo distribution files were installed is not in the path Change directory to the directory where SlowMo is installed Type SlowMo /r 7 To Activate SlowMo ------------------ Once SlowMo has been made ready it can be activated over another program at any time by using a special key combination as follows. Hold down the left Shift key and at the same time hit the Caret (^) key (or 6 on the alpha keypad). Two rising bleeps will be heard to indicate that SlowMo is now 'active'. If no bleep is heard SlowMo is unable to activate. The reason for this will be one of the following. Some games programs take control of the timer interrupt which SlowMo needs to be able to pop-up. The recommended procedure for using SlowMo is to activate it from DOS immediately prior to running the game or other software which requires SlowMo (see Recommended Procedure below). If you wish to use a Caret (^) character while you have SlowMo waiting in the background you can still use the right shift key and caret. 8 To Deactivate SlowMo -------------------- If you have made SlowMo active and then decide you wish to deactivate it use the same hotkey combination i.e. Hold down the left Shift key and at the same time hit the Caret (^) key (or 6 on the alpha keypad). Two falling beeps will be heard to indicate that SlowMo has been deactivated. One reason for deactivating SlowMo is when you have just returned to DOS from a game. While SlowMo is active it is occasionally possible for keystrokes not to be registered by DOS. 9 Options Screen -------------- When SlowMo is first installed an options screen is displayed which allows you to configure SlowMo's operation to your requirements. Each feature is shown on a separate line and has a number of items which may be configured. Each feature is automatically assigned a default key and other items are assigned a default value. The following features can be configured: Slow Motion ----------- Hit the assigned key to switch slow motion on or off. The initial speed can be adjusted. A custom key can be assigned or the option can be disabled so that no key will switch slow motion on or off. Even if the slow motion key is disabled the program can still be configured so that when SlowMo activates it will immediately give slow motion without the need to hit another key (see Slow Immediately below). Pause ----- Hold the assigned key down to pause the game. The game continues when the key is released. A custom key can be assigned or the option can be disabled. Freeze ------ Hit the assigned key once to freeze the game. The game stays frozen until the same key is hit again. A custom key can be assigned or the option can be disabled. Reset Speed ----------- Hit the assigned key to reset the speed to the initial speed setting. A custom key can be assigned or the option can be disabled. Faster ------ Hit the assigned key to increase the slow motion speed. If you hold down the 'faster' key the speed increases more quickly. A custom key can be assigned or the option can be disabled. Slower ------ Hit the assigned key to decrease the slow motion speed. If you hold down the 'slower' key the speed decreases more quickly. A custom key can be assigned or the option can be disabled. Sound ----- When you take any action with SlowMo you can hear a beep or click to indicate that SlowMo has responded. Hit the assigned key to switch sound on or off (it defaults to on). A custom key can be assigned or the option can be disable so that no key can switch sound on or off. You can still configure SlowMo so that sound is either on or off immediately (see Sound Immediately below). Report ------ Hit the assigned key to see SlowMo's current speed setting. It is best to use this after leaving a game, having adjusted the speed setting to your requirements. The speed setting can then be set before running the game again. A custom key can be assigned or the option can be disabled. Active Immediately ------------------ Setting this option on makes SlowMo active immediately i.e. you don't have to use the Hotkey combination to activate it, in fact the next use of the Hotkey combination would deactivate SlowMo. Sound Immediately ----------------- This option defaults to 'on'. Setting it off makes SlowMo silent. The next hit of the 'sound' key would then switch sound on. Slow Immediately ---------------- Setting this option on switches on slow motion as soon as SlowMo is activated. This option defaults to 'off'. Screen Keys ----------- The following keys are used to operate the Options Screen: Right Arrow Select the next configurable item for this feature Left Arrow Select the previous configurable item for this feature Up Arrow Select the previous feature Down Arrow Select the next feature Space Change the value of this item The procedure for assigning a custom key is: Highlight appropriate Custom Key field Hit space Hit key required + Increase slow motion speed - Decrease slow motion speed Shift + or - Change slow motion speed quickly The procedure for changing the slow motion speed is: Highlight the Speed field Hit space Hit + and - as necessary Hit space F10 Save current settings to file. By default SlowMo will save the current settings to a file called 'SlowMo.cfg' in the current directory. If you loaded SlowMo specifying a settings file then saving the current settings will overwrite that file. Enter Finish changing options and install SlowMo Escape Quit without installing SlowMo 10 Action Keys -------------- Once activated the various features can be used by hitting the assigned Action Keys as described above. The default settings for these are as follows: Right Shift Slow Motion Control Pause Alt Freeze Faster Numeric Keypad + Slower Numeric Keypad - Reset Speed Backspace Sound Tab Report F4 11 Recommended Procedure --------------------- The following is the recommeded procedure for using SlowMo. Change to the directory of the game or other program you wish to run. Install SlowMo into memory (specifying settings file if necessary). Activate SlowMo by using the hotkey combination. Start the game. Use SlowMo's action keys as necessary during the game. Quit from the game. If you want to record the slow motion speed hit the Report key now. Deactivate SlowMo by hitting the hotkey combination. If you wish, remove SlowMo from memory by typing SlowMo /r. If you need to change the SlowMo keys for a particular game you might find it easier if you store the game in its own subdirectory. Save the settings for SlowMo by hitting F10 while on the menu. From now on, if you install SlowMo from the game's subdirectory the appropriate key settings will be loaded automatically. 12 Memory ------ Some games require a large amount of base memory to run and will not run once SlowMo has been installed. If this happens it may be possible to make additional base memory available by using a special boot configuration. To do this you would need to make special version of your config.sys and autoexec.bat files. Things you can do include loading DOS into upper memory (high) and removing drivers such as disk cacheing and ram disk. Your operating system manual should give details of how to boot the system leaving maximum base memory available to your programs. You can also load SlowMo into high memory to leave extra base memory. 13 Known Bugs ---------- There is a conflict between SlowMo and the Trident 8900 display card using a 16-colour driver under Windows. This causes the screen to be largely shown in black & white. There is no conflict under DOS or with a 256-colour driver. 14 License ------- You are licensed to use a single copy of the program. SlowMo is a shareware product. You may freely copy the unregistered version of SlowMo and pass it to your friends and colleagues. Please encourage them to register if they like it as cheap utilities like SlowMo will only be developed if the Shareware system is respected. 15 Registration Form ----------------- The next page contains a registration form for ordering further copies of SlowMo. First some details of two other programs available from Andrew King: WallpaperMaker - Brighten up your Windows desktop with an endless supply of pictures from your favourite games! WallpaperMaker can capture screens from most games. You can choose which portion of a screen is used for your wallpaper. The image can be scaled to fill your screen or to repeat an exact number of times across the screen. Output can be as a normal bitmap, which can be edited by Windows Paintbrush, or as a compressed bitmap which takes less disk and RAM memory. WallpaperMaker save the screen in original colours, or can translate them to 16 colours for use with a 16-colour Windows driver or to conserve memory. WallpaperMaker can mix the 16 colours to produce hundreds of different shades. WallpaperMaker costs just #6 pounds (US$12) or only #4 pounds (US$8) if ordered with SlowMo. IconMaker - Now you don't need to be an artist to create your own Windows icons. IconMaker enables you to create Windows program icons and wallpaper by screen capture. IconMaker can pop-up over most games. You can choose the portion of screen to be used, which is then scaled to icon size. Ikonize can produce either icon or bitmap file output. Bitmaps can be edited using Windows Paintbrush before being recaptured as icons. IconMaker translates the colour of the original image to the standard 16 colours allowed by Windows for an icon. It can mix them to create hundreds of shades to closely match the original image. IconMaker costs #5 pounds (US$10) or just #3.50 pounds (US$7) if ordered with SlowMo. [ ] SlowMo #4 (pounds) or US$8 [ ] WallpaperMaker #6 (pounds) or US$12 [ ] IconMaker #5 (pounds) or US$10 Name [ ] Address [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] 3½" disk or [ ] 5¼" disk Please enclose cheque payable to "Andrew King", or cash. Other currencies, cash notes only, please add the equivalent of #3.50 for the currency exchange. Mail to: Andrew King 25 Montem Road New Malden Surrey KT3 3QW U.K.