fORCE ANSi ViEWER v1.8 This is the doc for fORCE ViEW v1.8, written by Red Haze/fORCE (Darren Hazelton) in May 1996, in South Australia. This viewer is written for the ansi group Force, so you can view their kewlo ansi art. You can't look at any other groups' art unless you register. System Requirements: `~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~' Any 386 compatible computer with a standard VGA graphics card. A sound card is nice, but optional. A monitor helps. A keyboard might also come in handy. (It needs to be an extended keyboard.) VESA support is great. Note: You can't run it under Windows 3.x or 95, because it crashes. (Thanks to Midas.) :( I haven't tried it under any other multitaskers yet. The [boring, long-winded] Instructions: `~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~' When you run FV, you can run it in one of two front ends, or have it completely command-line driven. The first time you run it, the Midas configuration screen will appear, where you tell it about your sound card if you have one, otherwise select 'no sound card'. The file MIDAS.CFG will be created in the same directory where you put FV.EXE. Make sure you are realistic about the sampling rate you tell it to use, especially on a 386 with an SB16 - don't expect 44.1kHz 16bit stereo to work well. (It may, but I doubt it.) :) If you want to run FV with the ability to play music disabled, put "/N" as the first parameter. (NB: this will not allow you to run FV under Windows) e.g. FV /N If you want to run FV by command line, just type in the file specifications after FV (and any switches used). Filenames without extensions are assumed to be .* e.g. FV c:\ansi\* d:\force\somecool.ans FV will go through *.* in the c:\ansi directory, playing any S3Ms, MODs or MTMs, displaying any GIFs, running any executables which are in there, and showing you any other files as ansi text. Then it will show you that cool ansi in your d:\force directory. After that, FV will quit to DOS (or whatever other OS you happen to run it under.) If you want to view a S3M, MOD or MTM as text rather than hearing it as music (pretty stupid if you ask me) just use "/n" as the first parameter. e.g. FV /n c:\ansi\* d:\force\somecool.ans While viewing all these files, press [ENTER] or [SPACE] to go to the next picture. [ESC] will quit FV immediately. Songs will load and immediately go on to the next file. This allows you to do things like: FV d:\happy.mod d:\happy.ans e:\sad.s3m e:\sad.ans This will have the effect that you will be able to look at the happy picture with happy background music, and the sad picture will have some other suitably sad music. I dunno if anyone will use this feature, but its there if you want it. The other side of the coin is that if you have two songs in a row, the first one will load, but immediately get stopped to play the next one. However, if a song is the last in the queue FV will play the song FV until you press a key, then it will return to DOS. NB: You still have control over the volume/pausing/stopping of songs if you run FV with the command line. See the key listing below for info. If you don't specify any files on the command line, FV will go into one of two "front end" modes, where you can navigate around the directory you ran it from. The default front end has new graphics, and also displays file SAUCE descriptions. The parts of SAUCE which are shown are the Title followed by the Author. The old front end (as in FV versions before 1.5) doesn't try to load SAUCE's - this makes file list loading a lot quicker if there are lots of files in the directory, or if it is a slow drive (e.g. CDROM). It also displays files in 5 columns, and has the old title screen. You can use the old front end by using the switch "/F". This must come AFTER "/N" if you want to specify both. e.g. FV /F Note: "/F" is useless if you are using command line file specifications. Functionally the only difference between them is that [LEFT]/[RIGHT] arrows in the old front end move between columns, but in the new one [RIGHT] is the equivalent of [ENTER], and [LEFT] is the same as [ESC] when you're viewing a file. I did this so you can do everything with the cursor keypad. Woohoo. :) Keys: `~~~' [ENTER] in a front end will load a file, play a song, run a program, change the current directory or change drives, depending on what the cursor is on. In viewing mode, it will return to the front end if you are using one. If you are using command line file specifications it will load the next file in the list. [SPACE] is the same as [ENTER]. [ESC] returns to the front end if you are using one and are viewing a file. Any other time it will quit FV, which is quite a useless feature. :) [F1] in a front end displays help, including a list of all the keys. [F1] or [ESC] returns to the front end. [F2] Advances the ANSi viewing screen mode through the available modes. These are 25 line text (Text 1), 50 line text (Text 2), VGA, and SVGA 1-4. Holding down [SHIFT] with [F2] will go backwards through the modes. The current setting is displayed on the status bar in the front ends. [F3] in a front end allows you to select a new file extension filter (e.g. *.ANS). Press [ENTER] to accept what you have typed in, or if you want to cancel it press [F3] or [ESC]. Wildcards may be used. If this is set to *.*, *.?*, *.??* or *.??? there will be automatic filtering, allowing only files with extensions ANS, ASC, DOC, TXT, MOD, S3M, MTM, NFO, DIZ, RIP, FRC, COM, EXE and GIF. [F4] in a front end displays info and greets. [F4] or [ESC] returns to the front end. [F5] at any time will pause or un-pause the song being played. [F6] at any time will stop the song being played, and deallocate the memory the song was taking up. (Normally EMS) [F7]/[F8] at any time will adjust the playback volume up/down. This volume level doesn't get reset when you load a new song. You can check the volume level by looking at the status bar in the front ends. [HOME]/[END] jump to the top/bottom of the file list in a front end, or to the top/bottom of the file you are viewing. [PGUP]/[PGDN] move the cursor up/down the file list one page at a time in a front end, or scroll quickly up/down if you are viewing a file. [UP]/[DOWN] move the cursor up/down the file list one file at a time in a front end, or scroll up/down if you are viewing a file. [LEFT]/[RIGHT] in the old front end move the cursor between columns. In the new front end: [RIGHT] is the same as [ENTER] in the front end, and [LEFT] is the same as [ESC] from the file viewing screen. Error messages always get displayed so you can try to fix and problems you have with FV. Most potential problems are with Midas. If you have EMS, but none of it is free, you won't be able to play any songs, because Midas doesn't bother trying to load them into conventional memory if EMS is detected. :( I could change that I guess, but it'd be too much hassle... When FV is loading a file to view, it will show the percentage loaded so far. You can press [ESC] to stop loading and view the amount currently in memory. Greetz: `~~~~~' Anyway, I've already written too much for anyone to be bothered reading, so here come the greetz: Personal shouts go to... SpoonMan/FTS Cool to see the board up again! Da Schemer/FTS Are you SURE you didn't overclock your FPU?! Anubis/fORCE Stop hassling me about VGA code already!! :P Pulse/PoP Impulse Tracker rules! Pity you're in PoP... ;) Griffin/FTS Get ya board running - we need a HQ. Perhaps I'll get that demo working one day too... Pheon/FTS Get that .XM player working.. and the diskmag.. and that 3D engine.. and don't forget to study ;) NetSlider/FTS(?) Are you still in FTS? :) Petteri Kangaslampi Thanks for writing Midas! Try to support IT's. and Jarno Paananen Group greetings go to all fORCE, FTS, PoP and Winter members. Disclaimer: `~~~~~~~~~' This program is guaranteed only to take up space on your computer. Any extra functionality should be considered an extra bonus. Legal Stuff: `~~~~~~~~~~' This program cannot be altered in any way without the written permission of Darren Hazelton. No fees may be charged for fORCE ViEW except the nominal cost of distribution, unless other written arrangements have been made with me. You may copy fORCE ViEW as many times as you want, and distribute it as much as you want. By using fORCE ViEW you are agreeing to these terms and conditions. Comments: `~~~~~~~' If you find any bugs, or have any comments or suggestions, send them to: redhaze@student.adelaide.edu.au or Red Haze in BloodNET. History: `~~~~~~' (1.8) VGA/SVGA support added - VESA required to use this. (1.8) GIF picture loading, thanks to *****. GIFLITE format not supported, and only 256 colour pictures can be loaded. (1.8) Minor screen mode bug fixed. (1.8) You can now run exectable files (.COM and .EXE). No batch file support unless someone wants me to bother doing it. (1.8) COM, EXE and GIF are now in the file extension filter. (1.8) A lot of internal re-arrangement, but you don't wanna know about that. (1.8) New front end art and a cool exiting picture! Tnx Anubis :) (1.7) Pausing, stopping and volume control for any song being played. (1.7) The front end only lists files with the following extensions (unless a mask other than *.* or equivalents are specified): ANS, ASC, DOC, TXT, MOD, S3M, MTM, NFO, DIZ, RIP, FRC. (1.6) Filenames on command line without extension now have ".*" appended (used to be ".ANS"). (1.6) Fixed up flickering and most jerkiness while scrolling! Scrolling is now the same speed on all computers, even while music is playing. (1.5) Loads SAUCE file descriptions. (1.5) A new front end which displays the Title and Author in the SAUCE. Old front end retained, which doesn't load SAUCE -> quicker loading. (1.5) Stops loading the file at the first EOF character. (1.5) No more inbuilt song. (1.5) MOD/S3M/MTM playing thanks to Midas (changed from MikMod). Midas also supports more sound cards, is smaller, and runs faster than MikMod. Unfortunately no XM support yet. Midas is 386+ only too. Darn. ;) (1.5) Songs play from command line file specifications. (1.5) Adds the ".." directory to network drives (Netware doesn't display a "." or ".." directory). (1.4) S3M Playing! There is now a kewl song by oZoNE/fORCE which plays if you have a SB/GUS compatible sound card, and you can also play any other S3M files you want, if you have enough memory free. FV uses MikMod by MikMad/HaRDCoDE '95. (1.4) Probably some minor bugs which have been ironed out. (1.3) Bugfix for fast computers, where the image got stuck at the bottom. (1.3) Improved file selection keyboard routines, sorted file list and added option to jump straight to the root directory. (1.3) Changed (hopefully improved) the scrolling acceleration parameters. (1.0-1.2) Unsure! Known Problems: `~~~~~~~~~~~~~' (Bugs? You gotta be kidding...) - Does not run under Windows 3.x at all. (Midas crashes) Use an older version if you need to run it under Windows. - The entire file will not load if there is not enough conventional memory. I may use EMS for picture data in later versions. Coming Soon (in future versions): `~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~' - RIP/JPG/etc loading - maybe. - Tag files while in a front end. - Jump around file list in front end like Cubic Player does. - iCECOLOR support Final Comments: `~~~~~~~~~~~~~' Registration is not actually necessary to view other groups' art in case you hadn't worked that out by now. ;) Have fun looking at Force Pack #7, and I'll cya l8r. SAUCE00fORCE View Docs Red Haze fORCE 19960513[_P0