Fritz: All Fritz/All Fritz.zip/All Fritz/FILES/GAME_EGA/DARNFORZ.LZH/DARNIT.DOC

Text File | 1990-10-11 | 19KB | 384 lines

         BBBBBB   SSSSSS   X   X
         B     B  S         X X
         BBBBBB    SSSS      X
         B     B       S    X X
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         I n t e r n a t i o n a l

         presents...


         DDDDD     AAA     RRRR   N    N   II  TTTTTTT
         D    D   A   A    R   R  NNN  N   II     T
         D    D  AAAAAAA   RRRR   N NN N   II     T
         D    D  A     A   R  R   N  NNN   II     T
         DDDDD   A     A   R   R  N    N   II     T


         Version 10.1

         A Shareware Solitaire Game of Extraordinary Magnitude






1.0 - Welcome.
   Welcome to Darnit 10.1!  This version  boasts some  new features and
major bug fixes.  It ought to run flawlessly on a lot more systems.

2.0 - Legal Stuff. PLEASE READ!!!

 DARNIT 10.1 (C) 1990 BSX International

 DARNIT 10.1 was developed and compiled using Borland  Turbo Pascal 5.5.

   This software is provided "as is" with no guarantees of any kind. The
developers assume no responsibilities other than those  indicated below.
You may use and distribute this product as you wish, but  only under the
following conditions:

 1) You may sell this program without permission from BSX  International
   but you MUST NOT alter the program or its documentation. You MUST NOT
   charge any fees other than fees for  copying  and MUST  clearly state
   that this fee is NOT a substitute for registration with BSX.

 2) Do  not  distribute this  product if it has been reduced in any way.
   You may add files, but you may not remove any of the originals.

 3) Under no circumstances  remove  the  copyright notices from the code
   or documentation.


2.1 - Shareware.

   This product  is SHAREWARE and is distributed in good  faith for your
enjoyment. You may play it for a short  period to  become  familiar with
it. If you  decide  you like  it and want to keep playing it, you should
send a $5  registration  fee to BSX, otherwise you should stop using it.
If only all software folks let you use their product before you paid for
it the world  would  be  a  much better place.  We've bought so much BAD
software that we  don't use,  and we're sure you have too,  that we feel
GOOD  programs should be rewarded.  If you don't like  DARNIT, we're not
hurt, if you do like our stuff, thank us, and we'll keep making it.
   This program is not "protected" in any way and is not altered so that
non-registrants will suffer. The authors don't believe in denying anyone
a chance to use our stuff. We are programmers, not businessmen. We trust
that anyone who likes DARNIT and wants more of  it will register.  We're
not naive, just a little idealistic.
   If you do not register you may  still  distribute this  game provided
you follow the rules above. Also,  even  if  you have paid a distributor
for the disk this game was on,  YOU ARE STILL NOT REGISTERED.  We do not
receive payments from distributors and  they  do not represent us in any
way.

2.2 - Registration.

 To register DARNIT 10.1 with BSX
 send a  check/cash/MO  for $5  in  U.S.  or  Canadian  funds PAYABLE TO
 ROBERT ROBERDS to:

    BSX International
    806 Park Ridge Road Apt. A8
    Durham, NC 27713

    *** PLEASE MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO:  ROBERT ROBERDS ***
    *** DO NOT MAKE THEM PAYABLE TO BSX INTERNATIONAL! ***

   For registering, not only will you encourage us to keep writing
 shareware, you will also receive:

  1) Our Gratitude.

  2) Since thanks often isn't enough you get a quarterly BSX Catalog.

  3) 1/2 Price discounts on upgrades on this product.

 Your support and comments are appreciated!

3.0 - Setup.

    A complete copy of DARNIT 10.1 has the following files:

  1) DARNIT.EXE   - The actual compiled program.
  2) DARNIT.DAT   - "Data" file needed for program execution.
  3) DARNIT.DOC   - Documentation file you are now reading.
  4) BSXCAT.DOC   - BSX's latest catalog of stuff. Take a look!
  5) ORDER.DOC    - E Z 2 UZE BSX order and registration form.

   To run DARNIT 10.1 just  put  the .exe  and .dat  files  in  the same
directory on your disk.  If you have  set  that  directory in your path,
then you can now run DARNIT from anywhere.  Otherwise just "cd"  to that
directory, and  you'll  be all set.  Now just type "darnit". If the game
doesn't get it done, check the requirements below:

  1) IBM PC,  XT,  AT,  PS/2  or  compatible  (any  80x88/80x86 machine,
     from 8088/8086 clear on up through 80486 and beyond).
  2) 256K RAM minimum.
  3) EGA or VGA video adaptor with at least 256K of video RAM.
  4) DOS 2.1 or higher or the DOS Compatability Box of OS/2.
  5) Microsoft compatible mouse is supported, but not required.

        DARNIT 10.1 WILL NOT WORK WITHOUT A EGA OR VGA CARD!

   This game has been playtested on many, many systems. We cannot say it
will work on every configuration, but it  will work  on  most  of  them.
We cannot guarantee that  this  program will run on any operating system
other than DOS or that it will work with  any  TSR's (Terminate and Stay
Resident programs) or memory management  devices.  IT  IS  HIGHLY RECOM-
MENDED that you put files=20, buffers=40,  and  device=ansi.sys  in your
config.sys file. These shouldn't be necessary  for DARNIT, but it's best
not to take chances.  So many problems  are  caused by the  omission  of
these lines that you'd be a fool not to put them in.  IT IS  ALSO HIGHLY
RECOMMENDED, if you do have problems with DARNIT,  that  you  unload and
reload any TSRs before playing.  This often helps clean up problems that
other programs have left behind.
   Please try to recreate any problem on  another, similar configuration
before assuming we have screwed up.  We will try  to  solve any problems
if  you  contact  BSX.  Before beefing, though, please re-read the  docs
to make sure you aren't missing something.
    You may get in touch with BSX International  at [phone], just
about any time, or you can  send  a  message  on the  Prodigy service to
this ID: JBVC54A.  Drop us a line!


4.0 - Rules of the Game.

   I don't really know the official name of  this type  of solitaire card
game, but I have opted to call it DARNIT   because I seem to  say that an
awful lot while playing it.  Well, what I really say is unprintable in  a
family document.  Anyway, I learned  it  from  a college roomie,  who had
himself learned it  from  an obviously sadomasochistic kid  at the summer
camp where he worked.  And it goes something...like...this:
   You shuffle the deck and, one at a  time, take  cards from  it and lay
them out in a 4x4 grid. The goal is to get the face cards in this pattern
here:
                K | Q | Q | K
                -------------
                J |   |   | J
                -------------
                J |   |   | J
                -------------
                K | Q | Q | K

   When you have filled the grid, you can then discard  all the  tens and
all the pairs of non-face cards whose values add up to ten (aces count as
ones).  Then you fill the grid again, and discard, and fill,  ad nauseum,
until the face cards are all out in the above pattern.  But  you  lose if
you can't place a face card, or if you fill the  grid and it  has no tens
or pairs that add to ten.  It's rough; it's tough; it's in the buff.   Be
prepared to get yer butt kicked a lot.  But the  thrill of victory  makes
all the agony of defeat worthwhile.
   Variations: some people like to wimp out  and  play  by the rules that
let you not only eliminate tens and pairs that add  to ten,  but  also to
eliminate  ANY  groups  that  add  to ten; say a six, a three and an ace.
This is an unbelievably  weenie thing  to do,  but DARNIT offers it as an
option.


5.0 - Using DARNIT

   Just type:
darnit
at the DOS prompt. You'll see the opening screen and cruise on to an all-
nighter of solitaire madness.
   Now to explain a few fundamentals.  First off, if you have a Microsoft
Mouse of any compatible device, you move around with the mouse and  click
with the left button.  If you don't have a mouse,  you  move around  with
the arrow keys and with PgUp,  PgDn,  Home,  and End, and click on things
with Return;  also, any command  button  onscreen can be envoked with the
first  letter of the command;  for example, hitting 'H' calls up the Help
screen.
   You  take  cards  from  the  deck  by clicking on it.  You put the now
face-up deck card in a grid square  by clicking in that square. Note that
face cards will only  go  into their  appropriate positions, and that the
cursor  becomes  a  hand  there.  Other  cards  may   go  into  any empty
square.   Starting with  version  5.0,  DARNIT   has had the "oh  jeez  I
didn't mean to put it there" option.  If you put a card in a grid  square
and then realize that that wasn't what you wanted, you  can hit the right
button (or  Escape, if you don't have a mouse) to put it back on the  top
of the deck and place  it  over again. But  after turning over  the  next
card, there  ain't no such option.  That  ain't allowed in the card game,
and it ain't allowed here.
   Once  the  grid  is  filled  you  can  eliminate  tens  by clicking on
them, and you can eliminate pairs by first clicking on one  card to high-
light it, then clicking the other.  If you change  your mind  after high-
lighting  a card, just hit the right mouse button (or Escape) to unselect
it.  Click on the deck to start filling again.
   Rule varations:  Starting with DARNIT  6.0, you have had the option to
choose to play by the wimpy rules; that is,  allowing  the elimination of
not just tens and pairs that add to  ten, but of  all groups that  add to
ten. 'Tis wimpy, but 'tis offered, because BSX International has only YER
best interests at heart.  If you want DARNIT  to start off with wimpiness
as the default, you can use the -w command-line  paramter; that is: start
the game with the line
darnit -w
at the DOS prompt.  But you can always choose what rule to use by  click-
ing on the Rules button while playing the game.
   One  nifty   option  is  the  silent  playing  mode.   This  lets  you
play without any of the cute music playing  on startup  and after winning
or losing.  So you  can  play  without  bosses/and or parents and/or your
roommate(s) kicking yer hiney.  To run DARNIT   in silent mode, just  use
the parameter -s (or -S) on the command line, as in
C>darnit -s.
   Silent mode is also accessible from the playing screen. But this comes
AFTER the initial startup tune.  So if you don't even want that, use -s.
   This brings us to the Boss option.  Say you got a real dull, pointless
job, kind of like mine, and you decide to kill some time with a nice game
of DARNIT   But yer neo-facist employer would not take a shine to that if
he was to catch you at it.  Yer boss, the Master of the Universe with his
heroic Yale chin, would toss you in the shredder if he caught you goofing
on this GAME instead of making him money.  (An aside:  I'm using the male
pronoun for simplicity.  I know there  are  plenty  of  horrible *female*
bosses, too.)  What to do?  Well, just hit the Boss button on the playing
screen, and -POW!- up comes a fake DOS screen.  Yer boss  walks  by, none
the wiser.   Cool, huh?  This is a convincing Boss screen, not a lame EGA
"C>" like in F19 Stealth Fighter.  All you have  to  do  is type "darnit"
or "exit" to return to your game.  Or, if there's   an emergency, you can
type "abort" to leave immediately and exit right to DOS.
   It has been brought to  my  attention  that only bosses play  games at
work.  So be it.  Then  you  bosses  may  think  of the BOSS option as an
EMPLOYEE option.  The song remains the same.
   DARNIT  is truly idiot-proof; I know  because I've tested it  myself a
million times, doing all sorts of idiotic stuff.  Lose the .DAT  file, or
forget the rules of the  game, or  try  to  run  on  a  system  w/o  EGA:
NO sweat!  DARNIT  WILL NOT crash.  Nothing's more annoying  than  a game
that crashes. Also, it's VERY user-friendly; mousers never need touch the
keyboard, and non-mousers never  need use any hand but  the  one  on  the
numeric  keypad.  Note  to  mousers:  You  might  want  to   disable  any
mouse-ignorant screen savers, or the screen  may blank and scare the very
bejeebers outta you, until you remember that  all you  gotta do  is hit a
key.  Happens to me a lot when using mouse-only applications.


6.0 - Technical and Version Notes.

   DARNIT was conceived over a weekend of serious beer-drinking and hard-
core Chinese food-eating.  It was done in Turbo Pascal 5.5 on  an  IBM PC
with an Intel Inboard 386, a Maxtor 120Mb hard drive,  a Paradise Pro VGA
card, and a Microsoft bus mouse.
   The mouse routines used were those in the Public Domain TP  unit known
as EGAMOUSE, by Eduardo Martins.  This is a fine, simple-to-use unit that
comes with source, allowing for easy modification.  I modified it to make
the vertical arrow shape in DARNIT, along with a bunch more.
   The unbelievably buggy background music routines were adapted  and de-
bugged from a REAL old  TP3  include  file  dating  from  the Pleistocene
(1985).
   10.1 incorporates some new features, like the Boss abort to DOS thing,
and  some niftier graphics.  Also, the bug that some  non-100% compatible
mouse drivers choked on has been annihilated.


6.1 - Version Summary.

   Version 1.0 released  6 Jun. 89.  Initial release.  Decision  made  to
use The Internationale for opening screen music to  show support  for the
Beijing massacre victims and their fellow pro-democracy activists.

   Version 2.0 released 8 Jun. 89.  Card graphics improved  immensely, in
particular, the face cards.  To Win! song improved.  Copyright notice put
into opening screen.  Various enhancements and bug fixes.

   Version 3.0 released 9 Jun. 89.  Card graphics improved even more.

   Version 4.0 released 10 Jun. 89.  Graphics speeded up for you 4.77 Mhz
losers. Silent mode added.

   Version 5.0 released 24 Jul. 89.  Graphics of card backs and card grid
changed.  "Didn't mean to do that" option added.  Hilite color changed to
light cyan for added coolness.  Exiting whine for money added.

   Version 5.1 released 25 Jul. 89.  Cursor changed  so  it's  a vertical
arrow when placing a non-face card in an empty square.

   Version 6.0 released 15 Aug. 89.  Rules option added.

   Version 7.0 released 9 Oct. 89.  Boss and Sound  options  added.  Card
graphics improved by several orders  of magnitude.  Buzzes and beeps  put
in to increase  "neato factor".   Mouse  bugs  annihilated.   Environment
variable option added.

   Version 7.1 released 23 Oct. 89.  Name changed.  Opening  screen  made
spacelike.  E-variable option made so you can always run  the  game  from
its directory even if you've screwed up the variable real hard.

   Version 8.0 released 4 Nov. 89.  Mouse buttons  moved  out  of  harm's
way.  Silent restoration from Boss.  General rearrangement of stuff.

   Version 9.0 released 29 Nov. 89.  Background sound feature added. Need
to set environment variable eliminated, big time.

   Version 9.5 released 7 Jan. 90.  Much-overdue tidying of code and very
much-overdue addition of wins/losses stats added to remind players of all
their dismal failures.

   Version 9.6 released 9 Jan. 90.   Win / Loss  restore  from  Boss  bug
fixed.  Help tune microbug eliminated.

   Version 9.7 released 14 Jan. 90.  Return from boss bug w/ relation  to
hilighting fixed.

   Version 10.0 released 3 Feb. 90.  Total redesign.  Non-mouse play made
available.   Color  scheme,  opening  screen,  and  mouse  button designs
changed.  Need for only one DARNIT.DAT  implemented.  Total  package gets
a big-time reduction in size.  Code  cleanup  and speedup.  Wimpy-default
command-line parameter added.  Startup tune changed to "O Canada" for the
hell of it.

   Version 10.1 released 11 Oct. 90.  Graphics changed. Abort to DOS from
Boss screen added.  BUG FIX:  Mouse problem found, tracked down,  and not
given any quarter till it was killed.  Documentation redone.


7.0 - About BSX International.

    Originally TWO GUYS WHO ARE PROGRAMMERS, BSX   has  mutated over the
years as the guys came and went and moved about the  country. It  is the
brainchild of Bob Roberds, a  relatively unemployed programmer  and  all
around  swell  guy.  He  started with  BIGSOFT  INDUSTRIES  and  now  is
president of BSX and  runs  RADIO FREE BAGHDAD, a rather  exclusive  BBS
that was, in fact, named  before all this  business is the  Gulf.  While
living  in  Connecticut, Bob  met  David Kotomski, a relatively employed
programmer  who is  now Vice-Pesident of BSX and owner of MegaHard Labs.
The rest, as they say, is history.
    BSX  maintains  corporate   headquarters   in   humid   Durham,  NC.
Development, distribution  and parties occur there. Our other office  is
in boring Trumbull, CT. Testing, planning  and parties occur there. Mind
you, they're not usually very good parties.
    Our main interest  is computer games. We are game fanatics who would
rather spend our time  playing games  than eating or sleeping. (Drinking
is still important, though.) We own hundreds of computer and board games
between us and write software only when we pry ourselves away from them.
    BSX welcomes comments and suggestions from registered users. Many of
our ideas are generated this way and we always look  for improvements to
old products or  ideas  for  whole  new products.  We cannot  accept job
applications or questions concerning distributors, but  we will consider
job offers and requests for dates.

8.0 - Acknowledgements.

   Bob would like to thank Dave for goofing off at work to help with the
production of BSX stuff.  Thangs  also to  all  the  folks around who've
made a point of egging us on and/or giving us a  hard time about how bad
our stuff is.  Kudos unto all shareware distributors the  world over who
have carried our stuff.  Thanks to the Rocks for their semi-constructive
ideas. While Bob has some reservations  about the  death  penalty, he is
completely in favor  of it when it comes to  the  New Kids On The Block.
But then, aren't we all?

   Dave would like to thank Paul, John, Lori, and Bob for good times and
stuff.

"Good tea.  Nice house."

Bob "The Noriega of EGAga" Roberds / Development
David "Output Jack" Kotomski / Documentation and Testing
October 1990

Hang tuff.
Peace.