120 lines
3.7 KiB
Plaintext
120 lines
3.7 KiB
Plaintext
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Williams Electronics Z-Unit Video Software System
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-------------------------------------------------
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Loadimg image loading facility
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Copyright (c) 1988 Williams Electronics Games, Inc.
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All Rights Reserved
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Warren B. Davis
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Some questions people ask about LOADIMG...
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1) WHAT IS IT?
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LOADIMG is a program which takes image data out of any number of
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WIMP image libraries (.img files) and downloads them to good old
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system Z image memory EXACTLY WHERE YOUR PROGRAM EXPECTS IT TO BE!!!
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It can also generate source tables which you can link into your
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program so it knows where to find each image. With the proper flag
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settings, you can have LOADIMG perform either or both of these
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functions.
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2) SOUNDS PRETTY FUCKIN' AMAZING. HOW DO YOU DO IT?
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Well, frankly, it's magic.
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3) HOW DO I GET IT TO WORK FOR ME?
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Follow these simple instructions. It's as easy as 1,2,3!
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First, you must generate a .lod file for your game.
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This is simply a text file which contains names of WIMP image libraries
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and the images within them which you wish to download. You can
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create this file with a text editor or have WIMP generate it for you.
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(See Note 1 for more details on this)
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Second, invoke LOADIMG with the /t option. This creates six files
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imgtbl.asm, imgpal.asm, imgtbl.glo, bgndtbl.asm, bgndpal.asm and
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bgndtbl.glo. All of the .asm files should be assembled and linked
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with your program. The .glo files should be included in any source
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module which references these images.
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Third, before you load your executable, you can invoke LOADIMG with
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no flags. This actually goes into the WIMP .img files specified in your
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.lod file and transfers the data to image RAM.
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3) WHAT ABOUT WHEN MY IMAGES CHANGE?
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If the sizes of the images remain the same and no images are
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added or deleted, you need only redo step 3. If the sizes change,
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but no images are added or deleted, you must redo steps 2 and 3.
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To add or delete images, the .lod file must be edited and then
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steps 2 and 3 repeated.
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4) IT ALL SEEMS SO EASY! WHAT'S THE CATCH?
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No catch! But if you want to risk getting confused, you can read on
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to find out all the nasty details...
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<NOTE 1>
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The .lod file can have any filename. It can be in any directory.
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However, you must set an environment variable SRCDIR to be the
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directory where your .lod file can be found. When WIMP generates
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a .lod file for you, it automatically places it in SRCDIR.
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If SRCDIR is not defined, the directory you are currently in is
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used. The .lod file created by WIMP is always called imgtbl.lod.
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You can rename it if you like. You must manually edit a .lod file
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to combine images from different WIMP .img files.
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<NOTE 2>
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The format for the .lod file is...
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A fully qualified .img filename starting in column 1.
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A series of lines starting with "---> " followed by as many
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image names as will fit on a line separated by commas.
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A line that starts with "BBB> " expects a list of Blimp
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background files.
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<NOTE 3>
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The files imgtbl.asm, imgpal.asm, imgtbl.glo, bgndtbl.asm,
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bgndpal.asm and bgndtbl.glo are always created in the directory
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which you are in when you invoke LOADIMG.
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<NOTE 4>
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The invocation for LOADIMG is as follows...
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LOADIMG filename flags
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where filename is the name of your .lod file (minus
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a directory and extension)
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and flag can be /t - generate tables only
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/b - generate tables and download images
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/n - do not detect duplicate data
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/v - verbose mode, report lots of stuff
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if omitted, images are downloaded only.
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