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Intro Maker V3.0 (c) Sauron and ZigZag of THG F/X
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Seven months in the making, the THG F/X crew finally makes it happen. Intro
Maker V3.0 is HERE! Now you can create intros that are at the cutting
edge of IBM demo technology. A major problem with the previous intro makers
was the interface. Now we have taken more time in that department and the
results are very impressive. There are 2 different types of demos you can
choose from in this release. Here are the features of the intros.
MEGAFONT and MEGAFONT ANYWHERE Intro's:
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?Exiting ANSI (80x24)
?4 Types of VGA Fade In/Out Routines
?2 Types of TEXT Fade Out Routines
?20 Different Palette Cyclings
?MEGAFONT Scroller Font
?Text Codes
?MOD/STX Playing
?Allows the scroller to go ALL over the screen (MEGAFONT ANYWHERE only)
Intro Maker V3.0 Interface:
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Using the Intro Maker v3.0 Interface should be easy and efficient. The
interface provides a few commands that are available almost everywhere within
the interface itself. Besides these commands, Mouse Support has been added
for quick and easy use. These commands are listed here:
Keys in the Interface
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ALT - D ? View Directory
ALT - P ? View palette
ALT - V ? View Picture
ALT - X ? Exit to DOS
ESC ? Previous Menu
When starting out to make your Intro, you must choose two pictures, one a
background picture file, and one font file. These both must be 320x200x256c
compressed in either GIF/LBM/PCX formats (All trademarks of their respective
companies. Screw the legal shit, promise you won't see it again!)
Intro Maker v3.0 was designed to make two different types of Intros for
BBS ads, or those VGA groups that just can't get it up when it comes to
programming. The first type is just called a MEGAFONT Intro. This intro is
a straight scrolling program. In other words, you just give the Y-Offset
of where on the screen you want your scrolly. This uses the MEGAFONT System
which is an external 320x200x256c Font. You must create a Coordinate File
(CRD) with the MEGAFONT external Program. The Second type of intro is called
a MEGAFONT-ANYWHERE Intro. This intro uses the CRD Coordinate file again for
the external 320x200x256c screen, but instead of the Y-OffSet, you need to
create a Anywhere Path File (PTH). The Anywhere Path Editor allows you to
set how the font appears on the screen, either striaght up and down, like you
drew it in your Paint Program, or slanted automatically. After defining
how the font will appear, simply draw on the screen you intend to use where
you want the scrolly to go. This could go backwards, in circles, etc. The
possibilities are endless.
Now that you know what kind of Intros you can make, let us look at the
interface a little more indepth. Upon entering the interface, it checks
for mouse support, and brings you to the main menu. From here, you can run
any of the external programs or batch files. DO NOT CHANGE THE NAMES OF
THESE BATCH FILES. They are hard coded in the program. You may change the
contents, but not the names. After deciding on an external font and picture
in a GIF/LBM/PCX format, you must decide on which type of intro you wish
to make. Choose the menu option accordingly.
Once in the appropriate menu option for the Intro Type you desire, another
set of menus is displayed showing the specifications required to create your
new demo. The easiest way I can think of describing the two intro menus is
to go through each one's specifications giving a little blurb about it. Some
of the options are the exact same thing in both Intro Menu Sets, so I will
be short on a few of them, so we don't get tired of reading docs all day
just to make an Intro.
MEGAFONT Intro Menu Set:
HotKey - Data Category - Description
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A Picture FileName Intro's Background Picture in either
GIF/PCX/LBM Format.
B MEGAFONT Picture External 320x200x256c Font File name.
FileName This will be your font or icons that
will appear in the scrolly.
C MEGAFONT Coordinate MEGAFONT's Coordinate File which shows
FileName IM30 where each font in Scrolly is.
D Text FileName Scrolly Text File. Look below for listing
of MCI Codes.
E STX FileName Internal SoundBlaster Music file name.
Not required. When no name is given
it reduces the size of the .exe
by about 10k.
F ANSi FileName Yes, no THG F/X Signature on your intros.
Use TheDraw to make your 1 screen ANSi
and save it in BINary Format.
G Line For Scroller This is the Y-Offset for your Scolly. This
tells IM30 where to put it on the screen
between 0-319.
H Scroller Speed How many pixels to advance every Vertical
Refresh of the screen. This will control
the speed of the scrolly.
I Text Fade Out There are two ways for the text fading.
1 .. Pop Out / 2 .. Palette Fade
J VGA Fade In VGA Picture Background Fade In.
1 ... Pop Screen In
2 ... Palette Screen Fade In
3 ... Block Screen In by the BLK File
4 ... Pan Whole Screen Up
K Block In Name This is required if option [J] is set to
3. This is the BLK file that is defined
by the BLOCKED.EXE External file. This
will add the screen in by how you define
the BLK file.
L Panning Up Speed This is Required if option [J] is set to
4. This is the speed of the background
panning up from the bottom of the screen.
M VGA Fade Out This is identical for option [J], but it is
for the Fading out of the Background
picture after ESC has been hit in your
Demo.
1 ... Pop Screen Out
2 ... Palette Screen Fade Out
3 ... Block Screen Out by the BLK File
4 ... Pan Whole Screen Down
N Block Out Name This is required if option [M] is set
to 3. This is also defined through the
BLK files created with BLOCKED.EXE.
O Panning Down Speed This is required if option [M] is Set to
4. This is the speed of the background
panning down from the top of the screen.
P Cursor Upon Exit This is the location of the cursor after
ESC has been pressed in your demo. The
Value should be between 1-25.
Q Palette Mixing Y/N option to tell IM30 to automatically
mix and remap the font picture to fit in
the palette of the Background picture. If
this is left on NO, then it will just use
the Palette from the [A] option. If the
option is set to YES, then it will require
the option [R] be used.
R Palette Mixing This is a number between 0 and 255 to tell
Starting Color # IM30 where to put the colors used in the
MEGAFONT Picture Font File in the palette
of the Background picture.
S Palette Cycling See Below
Configuration
T Load File This will Load the MF or MFA configuration
files in the appropriate Intro Type.
U Save File This will save the configuration of the
current Intro Type to disk for future
use.
V Compile Intro This will create the EXE file for your
Intro.
MEGAFONT ANYWHERE Intro Menu Set:
This will be a brief description because the menu sets are basically
same except that instead of the Line for Scroller, which gives the Y-Offset
of the scroller, is replaced with the option of giving the FileName of the
PTH Anywhere Path Data File.
Palette Cycling Configuration:
Upon selecting the option [S] in one of the menu sets, you enter the
Palette Cycling Configuration Menu. This gives you the option for up to
20 simulatneous Palette Cycles. Three categories are given for the Palette
Cycling. Category one is the Palette Color Start number. This is a number
between 0-255. Category two is the Palette Color Ending number. This is
also a number between 0-255. The last category is the Palette Delay. This
is the delay of the Palette cycling for which you have choosen.
Once you have figured out how to use the Intro Maker v3.0 fairly well,
you may start to use command line compiling options if desired. This will
skip the user interface all together giving quick compiling. You must have
the Configuartion file in the current directory with the extension of MF or
MFA. Here is the format:
Command Line Parameters
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IM3.EXE <Intro Type> <Load File> <Compile File> [No Extension on File Names]
A ? MEGAFONT Straight Scroller
B ? MEGAFONT Anywhere Scroller
IM3.EXE /C ? Disables the Preview for the Intro
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E X T E R N A L P R O G R A M S
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? .BAT Files ?
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You will want to edit these files for your computer setup.
PAINT.BAT - Your paint program
TEXT.BAT - Your Text Editor
MOD2STX.BAT - Converts MOD2STX
remember to change the directory back to the intro maker directory before
exiting the .bat file
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? MEGAFONT Coordinate Maker - MEGAFONT.EXE ?
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The MEGAFONT Coordinate Maker is an external program made to create the
.CRD files for defining your font, or your scrolly pictures. There are
external Docs for this program written by the author. Please look at them
for a better explanation on how to use this program quickly and easily.
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? ANYWHERE Path Creator - ANYWHERE.EXE ?
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The ANYWHERE Path Creator is an external program made to create the .PTH
files. This program was designed to let you actually draw the scrolly path
on your screen and to warp the font anyway you desire. Please read the
external Docs for this program written by the author for more information.
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? MOD PLAYER - INTROMOD.EXE ?
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This program is for running just about any program and playing a mod in the
background. Infact I am typing this doc in turbo pascal while a techno mod
is playing in the background.
USAGE:
INTROMOD intro_name mod_name [options]
intro_name = Program to run while music is playing in the background
default extension is .EXE
mod_name = Filename of MOD to play
default extension is .MOD
options: -1 ... Output to SOUNDBLASTER (220) (DEFAULT)
-2 ... Output to PC Speaker
-3 ... Output to D/A Converter on LPT1
-4 ... Output to Disney Sound Source on LPT1
-q ... Do not display text message
-b ... Play MOD in background and leave you in dos. You must
supply intro_name. Type EXIT to quit mod.
Some examples:
INTROMOD . SPACECRU -b -q | This will allow you to stay in dos or run
| any program from dos and listen to
| the mod SPACECRU.MOD. Type EXIT at the
| dos prompt to stop music. It will also not
| display the credits for intromod.
INTROMOD IM3 SPACECRU.MOD -2 | Runs the Intro Maker V3.0's interface
| while playing the SPACECRU.MOD through the
| PC Speaker
If you want to use this program to play mods with your intro, you need these
files:
INTROMOD.EXE
your_intro
your_mod
a BAT file to run it all.
Here is an example of a BAT to run IM3.exe with spacecru.mod
INTROMOD IM3.EXE SPACECRU.MOD -q