ILLUMINATE
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Vision's of Reality File Viewer
Coding by Lief O'Pardy, Asterix
RIP routines by Cap'n Crunch/ICE

∙ Introduction ∙

I (Lifo) would like to welcome you to Illuminate.  Illuminate
was  first thought of around ??/??/??,  and its main  purpose
then  was nothing more then a Tool for me to  self enhance my
skills as a  programmer.  Back  then I was not in NPI or VOR,
it  was  just  something *I*   wanted  to do.  Later  as time
progressed  I  became  a member  of VOR  and  Illuminate  was
choosen  as the group's Ansi Viewer,  And I have never stoped
working on it since that first day.  Now I believe that it IS
the BEST viewer for our 703/202/301 area, at least.

∙ Illuminate Features ∙

Θ  Full support for ACiD's SAUCE
Θ  File Masking
Θ  Easy navigation of your Drives and Directories
Θ  Supports up to ~4000 file/directories in one sub-directory
Θ  Fully user configurable.  By use of a seperate options
menu in the program
Θ  Features Ansi scrollback in many different resolutions
(current max ~400 lines)
Θ  Features a Wide (full block) mode in all graphics modes
(This is not working correctly, at the moment.. It will
be fixed by the next version).
Θ  Ansi viewing modes include:
- 80x25 & 80x50/43  text modes
- 320x200x256  MCGA mode
- 360x480x256  VGA mode
¡!¡!¡!      - 640x480x256  SVGA mode
¡!¡!¡!      - 800x600x256  SVGA mode
¡!¡!¡!      - 1024x768x256  SVGA mode
¡!¡!¡! -(SEE "REVISION HISTORY" BELOW FOR INFO).

∙ Supported file formats ∙

Θ  Illuminate  will view ANSI screens  in all the video modes
stated above in the "Features" section.
You might  be wondering  "why is the  360x480x256 VGA mode
included?".  This  mode is  perfect for  those that do not
have  SVGA  capibilities,  -simple  as  that.   Also,  The
Excellent MODEX library I use for this was written by Matt
Pritchard.
Θ  Illuminate  supports viewing of  level 0-1 RIP files.  The
routines were written by Cap'n Crunch / ICE.
Θ  Illuminate displays normal 320x200x256 MCGA FLI files.
Θ  Illuminate  will Execute  EXE/COM files  from the Picklist
for  your  convience.  This was mainly  added  so that you
could  view  any  Intro/Loaders  that  the  Coders  in VOR
release time to time.

∙ Function / HotKeys ∙

F1 │  Quick Help  Θ  Displays a brief discription of HotKeys

F2 │  Option Menu Θ  Open the Options Menu. (TAB can also be
used to open this). Read the "Option
Menu" section for more info. on it.

C │  Drive/Path  Θ  Change your current "d:\path\[mask]",
quickly.

A │  Ansimation  Θ  Toggle Ansi-Mation flag for the current
highlighted file.
(This feature is currently ignored...)

W │  Wide mode   Θ  Toggle W-I-D-E mode ON/OFF.  This has
NO affect in Text modes.

S │  Scrollback  Θ  Toggle Scrollback ON/OFF.  This will
work in any of the different video
modes (except svga modes).  If Scrollback
is turned OFF in any TEXT mode, then
Illuminate will view ANY SIZED file, &
ansimations. The only draw back with
this at the moment is that it will
Depend on ANSI.SYS or simular for the
Ansi interpretation.  This will be
changed in future versions of Illuminate.
So as long as Scrollback is ON or
your in a graphics mode, you do not
need ANSI.SYS.

V │  View mode   Θ  Change the resolution that the ANSI's
are to be displayed in.

-80x25 text        Θ  Default (normal) mode.
-80x43 text        Θ  If you have an EGA card then the display
|                     is compressed to an 8x10 font ....
-80x50 text        Θ  .... Or if you have a VGA card then the
display is compressed to an 8x8 font.
-320x200x256 MCGA  Θ  Standard VGA (mode 13h) display.
-360x480x256 VGA   Θ  ModeX variant available to ANY 100%
compatiable VGA card.
¡!¡!¡!    -640x480x256 SVGA  Θ  SVGA mode for most SVGA cards.
¡!¡!¡!    -800x600x256 SVGA  Θ  SVGA mode for some SVGA cards.
¡!¡!¡!    -1024x768x256 SVGA Θ  SVGA mode for some SVGA cards.
¡!¡!¡! -(SEE "REVISION HISTORY" BELOW FOR INFO).

∙ Option's Menu ∙

You gain a lot of control on how  Illuminate functions with
this menu.  When you EXIT this menu, the current settings are
automatically saved.
Options include:
-  Select ANSI viewing resolution.  (also can be  done from
the file Picklist).
-  Toggle Scrollback  ON/OFF.  (also can be  done from  the
file Picklist).
-  Toggle Wide mode ON/OFF. (also can be done from the file
Picklist).
-  Toggle Cursor ON/OFF.  This only affects TEXT modes when
viewing  an ANSI.  This  is here  for, when you view  an
AnsiMation  and you  want to  see  where the  cursor is.
-  Toggle F/X  ON/OFF.  With this ON,  Illuminate will fade
out-in  when it first  starts, when  it exits,  and when
viewing a file.
-  Toggle SAUCE  ON/OFF.  If  this  is  ON,  then  as  each
filename is displayed in the picklist, it first searches
for SAUCE  in the file.  This slows  down the picklist a
little.  So turn  it off if you want it to go faster, or
if you dont want  the  "artist name"  and "title" of the
files.
-  Change the BaudRate Simulator value.  This slows the CPU
clock down Internally, so this feature is not allowed in
multi-tasking evironments (OS/2, Winslows, DV).
(This feature is not currently Installed yet)
-  Change the filemasks that you want to be searched in the
picklist.

∙ Legal MumboJumbo ∙

-  R.I.P. "Remote Imaging Protocol" is a Trademark of
TeleGrafix Communications, Inc.

∙ Thanks to all... ∙

- Asterix \npi∙vor\, for ALL the help he's given me with
Illuminate, and EVERYTHING else over the last (almost)
year. I would'nt be here if it was'nt for him... <sob>,
<tear>...
- SiDS \tribe\, for all the info, ideas he's given me
for Illuminate.
- Matt Pritchard, for his wonderfull modex library.
- Cap'n Crunch \ice\, for his RIP routines (even though I
HATE that damn delay!)
- <did i forget anyone?> <hope not>.

∙ Revision History ∙

( Revision History only started with version 1.5 )

Legend:
* = Something new that has been added with this release.
+ = Something that was modified/expanded from an earlier
release.
- = Something that was taken out of Illuminate, That used
to be in an earlier release.
¡ = Something "BAD" has happened to a certain part of
Illuminate.

Θ  v1.5  -08∙94-
+  When EXECUTING an EXE/COM from the picklist.  Illume
will now "shrink" it self in memory, to give as much
memory as possible to the new executable.
¡  Minor drawback.  The configuration is now saved in an
external CFG file.  For some reason the RIP routines
interfear with some of my other routines for figuring
the EXE size, so I can't attach the config there.
(Even though the RIP routines are not included in this
release, I dont feel like changing everything around
again, so that the CFG is saved in the EXE.
-Live with it!)
*  Added XGA mode 360x480x256 for viewing ANSI's. -works
on any 100% register-compatable VGA card.
+  Completely RE-Coded the Option's Menu.
+  Now 7 filemasks can be searched at once, instead of 3.
(this can be changed to as many as i want, but the
option menu, can only hold so many file masks in the
list!) ;>
+  Greatly increased the scrollback speed for MCGA mode.
*  0-1 level RIP support has been implemented.  Rip routines
are by Cap'n Chrunch / ICE. (as if you could'nt tell
by the NAG when illuminate starts. ugh!)
(Since there were NO RIPs in this months pack, there
was no reason to include the routines, Cause of that
DAMN Delay at the beginning!)
¡!¡!¡!      *  Now supports ANSI viewing in 3 NEW SVGA modes.
¡!¡!¡!         (scrollback is NOT supported in these modes)
¡!¡!¡!         The SVGA modes are made possible through the use of an
¡!¡!¡!         external BGI file (yuk!).  this is just TEMPORARY, in
¡!¡!¡!         the near future (I hope), I will be replacing the BGI
¡!¡!¡!         with internal ASM routines to do the SVGA work.

¡!¡!¡!-¡ It was decided that the SVGA routines will NOT go out in this
¡!¡!¡!   release. I agree with SiDS in what he told me, and i quote:
¡!¡!¡!   "Dump the BGI shit, it sucks and is a waste of time.". So
¡!¡!¡!   we'll all just have to wait until I get REAL VESA routines.
¡!¡!¡!   If you would care to help me with that, please contact me
¡!¡!¡!   either on the VOR WHQ -Seminole Wind's, my alias is "Lief
¡!¡!¡!   O'Pardy". Or you can find me on IRC a lot of the time, my nick
¡!¡!¡!   is: "lifo".  I Could REALLY use help with the VESA stuff.
¡!¡!¡!   All I need is a PutPixel routine that sets the bank in
¡!¡!¡!   Pascal/asm!  -help?!?!

Θ  v1.4  -07∙94-
*  Added support for ANSI viewing in 320x200x256 MCGA
graphics mode. (NO shading is performed)
+  Completely change the picklist.  It gives much more
of a professional look now.
-  As of this release, Illuminate no longer supports
the playing of MOD files.  Because the Mod routines
used just plain suck, and are too slow.
¡  [others that I've forgotten...]

Θ  v1.3 -06∙94-

<EoF>