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PCXDUMP Version 8.10 ------------------------ THE screen capture program Documentation and technical notes May 15th, 1993 Copyright 1991-1993 by Jesper Frandsen All rights reserved Disclaimer and warranty ----------------------- This product is distributed AS IS. The author specifically disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose with respect to defects in the diskette and documentation, and program license granted herein, in particular, and without limiting operation of the program license with respect to any particular application use or purpose. In no event shall the author be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential or other damages. Licensing agreement ------------------- PCXDUMP is copyrighted software and all rights are reserved. PCXDUMP may not be changed or modified in any way except by the author. PCXDUMP is SHAREWARE and may be freely distributed as long as it remains in its complete form with all support and documentation files. It may be used for a 10 day free trial period. Regardless of how the copy is obtained, it is requested that all users comply with the following licensing and registration provisions if they continue to use it after the 10 day trial period. Should you find this program useful, you must register it; you will then be provided with the latest releases of the PCXDUMP system. The cost as of this writing is $30.00 U.S. per single-user license. When you register, you receive a copy of the latest registered version of PCXDUMP, plus any enhancements that have been added since this document was released. Check "REGISTRATION" for possible discounts. If you obtained this program from a shareware disk distributor, then you have paid only for the service of copying this disk, but you have not paid for the program itself. The author receives no part of the price you may have paid to a disk distributor for this disk. PC, XT, PC/AT and PS/2 are trademarks, and IBM is a registered trademark, of International Business Machines Corporation. All other products or services mentioned in this manual, including: VGA, Paradise, Everex, Trident, Video 7, Tseng Labs, MS-DOS, PC-DOS, PCX, Windows, OS/2, Hercules, PC Paintbrush, WordPerfect, PageMaker, Ventura, GIF, Compuserve are trademarks, registered trademarks, service marks, or registered service marks of their respective companies or organizations. Overview of PCXDUMP ------------------- PCXDUMP is a program which saves the images on the screen of your IBM Personal Computer or compatible PC to a disk file. PCXDUMP is memory resident, which means that having executed it once, the program is always waiting in the background, while you continue to run other programs. You tell PCXDUMP to capture the image currently displayed on the screen by pressing a combination of keys which PCXDUMP reserves for itself. The saved images are put on the disk in the PCX-format. A large variety of word processors, desktop publishers and paint programs are capable of importing PCX-files, e.g. WordPerfect, PageMaker, Ventura Publisher, PaintBrush, almost any Windows program and many, many more. PCXDUMP is not designed to work in conjunction with Windows, OS/2, UNIX, Linux or any other operating system than DOS. Also included in the package is a utility, PCXLAB, which will show all the images that PCXDUMP can produce (2, 16, 256 or 16.7 million color PCX files) on any EGA, VGA or SVGA display adapter (except EGA mono). PCXLAB will also convert PCX-files to other file formats, convert color PCX-files to monochrome PCX-files and will reduce the number of colors in a PCX-file. 9 good reasons to use PCXDUMP ----------------------------- THE PRICE - PCXDUMP will cost you only $30.00. THE SIZE - PCXDUMP will use only 15 Kb of conventional memory (and no EMS or XMS). THE SPEED - ALL pixels are written/read directly in to the video memory and hence really fast! SUPER-VGA - PCXDUMP recognizes a large number of SuperVGA chips, and is able to use their resolutions as well. PCXDUMP will also recognize the HiColor extension of several of these SuperVGA cards. EASY TO INSTALL - PCXDUMP can be installed with a on-screen menu where you can install PCXDUMP the way you prefer. In the menu you can change things as: the hotkey-sequence to activate PCXDUMP, where to put the PCX-files, the type of your videocard (PCXDUMP autodetects the videocard) and several other features. IT IS EASY TO USE - Just press the hotkey and use the mouse or keyboard to choose which part of the screen to save. PCXDUMP dumps the images directly to the PCX-format. - PCXDUMP offers several ways of "delaying" the installation. Read about it in "PCXDUMP INSTALLATION OPTIONS". In short this means that you are able to capture screens, which you normally are not able to capture. - A lot of (particularly new) games push the EGA or VGA card to the limit and use undocumented video modes to get smooth scroll and smooth animation. PCXDUMP recognizes these modes. However, as the registers are write-only (can not be read) on EGA-cards, PCXDUMP can neither detect nor use these modes on EGA-cards. But on VGA-cards or better ALL these modes will be detected! Even if these modes includes a splitscreen configuration (like the shareware version of 3D Wolfenstein game from Apogee)! IT IS NOT CRIPPLED - And last, but not least. It is not crippled in any way. PCXDUMP is designed to capture graphic screens and will work with no limitations in graphics modes. But when you register PCXDUMP, you will get the "text capturing" function as a bonus! PCXDUMP requirements -------------------- To use PCXDUMP, you will need: a) an IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, or 100% compatible computer; b) at least one floppy diskette drive; and c) the IBM-PC DOS (Disk Operating System), or MS-DOS, in a version numbered 2.0 or higher. A Mouse Systems compatible mouse will also be convenient. You can use PCXDUMP with either a color or a monochrome EGA or VGA display card (and naturally with a SuperVGA display card). What PCXDUMP is able to capture ------------------------------- PCXDUMP is capable of capturing graphic images on systems equipped with any of the following video display adapters: * Multicolor Graphics Adapter (MCGA) * Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA) * Video Gate Array adapter (VGA) No Hercules support, sorry! PCXDUMP captures all of the video modes listed in the following table, which have been standardized by manufacturers of the various video adapters mentioned above: Video Graphics Adapters Mode Resolution Colors Supporting ----- ---------- ---------- -------------------- 4 320 x 200 4 CGA/EGA/VGA *) 5 320 x 200 4 CGA/EGA/VGA *) 6 640 x 200 2 CGA/EGA/VGA 13 320 x 200 16 EGA/VGA 14 640 x 200 16 EGA/VGA 15 640 x 350 2 EGA/VGA 16 640 x 350 16 EGA/VGA 17 640 x 480 2 VGA/MCGA 18 640 x 480 16 VGA 19 320 x 200 256 VGA/MCGA *) In these two CGA-modes, PCXDUMP will always use a palette of Black, Cyan, Magenta and White. Although PCXDUMP can dump images from mode 4, 5 and 6 (which are CGA modes, see table below), you still need at least an EGA or MCGA card to install PCXDUMP. And if you have any of these SVGA-cards, you are able to capture screens from their SVGA modes as well! ---------------+----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------- CHIPSET | 16 colors| 256 colors| 32k colors| 64k colors| 16M colors | up to: | up to: | up to: | up to: | up to: ---------------+----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------- Ahead A/B | 1024x768 | 1024x768 | - | - | - ATI-Wonder | 1024x768 | 1024x768 | 800x600 | - | - Chip & Tech. | 1024x768 | 1024x768 | - | - | - Genoa | 1024x768 | 800x600 | - | - | - MXIC | 1024x768 | 1024x768 | - | - | - OAK-37 | 800x600 | - | - | - | - OAK-67 | 1024x768 | 800x600 | - | - | - OAK-77 | 1280x1024| 1024x768 | 640x480 | - | - Paradise | 1024x768 | 1024x768 | 800x600 | - | - Realtek | 1280x1024| 1024x768 | - | 800x600 | - Trident | 1024x768 | 1024x768 | 800x600 | 800x600 | - Tseng ET 3000 | 1024x768 | 800x600 | - | - | - Tseng ET 4000 | 1280x1024| 1024x768 | - | - | - Tseng HiColor | 1280x1024| 1024x768 | 800x600 | - | - Tseng TrueColor| 1280x1024| 1024x768 | 800x600 | 800x600 | 640x480 VESA | 1280x1024| 1280x1024 | 1280x1024 | 1280x1024 | 1280x1024 Video-7 | 1024x768 | 800x600 | - | - | - ---------------+----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+------------ PCXDUMP is not designed to work with high-resolution 4-color images. If you try to activate PCXDUMP in an unsupported video mode, PCXDUMP will produce a long deep tone. Hotkeys ------- When PCXDUMP is installed, these (default) hotkeys can be used: ALT+SHIFT+C dumps a color PCX-file ALT+SHIFT+E dumps the whole screen in colors (dumps immediately) ALT+SHIFT+N dumps a black/white PCX-file ALT+SHIFT+R dumps the whole screen in black/white (dumps immediately) ALT+SHIFT+I dumps a inverted black/white PCX-file ALT+SHIFT+G dumps a color PCX-file, where image is gray scaled ALT+SHIFT+H dumps a color PCX-file, where image is inverted gray scaled ALT+SHIFT+T will dump a text screen to a TEXT-file ALT+SHIFT+A will dump a text screen to a ANSI-file When dumping a color PCX-file, the video mode (the available colors on the screen) determines which file format should be used (1, 4, 8 or 24 bits format), except when dumping a gray scaled dump in 32768, 65536 or 16.7 million colors, which will produce a 256 color PCX-file. PCXDUMP will beep once when activated and (once) again when having finished dumping graphics. If you activate PCXDUMP in an unsupported video mode, such as a 4 color hires mode, PCXDUMP will emit a long low-pitched sound. You can only use the C, E, G & H hotkeys when there is at least 4 colors on the screen. You can only use the T and A hotkeys in text mode (regi- stered version only). It is possible to change the hotkeys, read about it in "PCXDUMP INSTALLATION" NOTE: if you activate PCXDUMP in text mode, PCXDUMP will dump the screen immediately. Text modes ---------- The registered version of PCXDUMP holds a bonus facility which enables you to capture screens in these text modes: Video Text Adapters Mode Resolution Colors Supporting ----- ---------- ---------- -------------------- 0 40x25 16 CGA/EGA/VGA/MCGA 1 40x25 16 CGA/EGA/VGA/MCGA 2 80x25 16 CGA/EGA/VGA/MCGA 3 80x25,80x43,80x50 16 EGA/VGA/MCGA 7 80x25,80x43 2 EGA/VGA - 80x60 16 Some SVGA cards - 80x66 16 Some SVGA cards - 100x40 16 Some SVGA cards - 100x60 16 Some SVGA cards - 132x25 16 Some SVGA cards - 132x28 16 Some SVGA cards - 132x44 16 Some SVGA cards - 132x60 16 Some SVGA cards Text screens can be captured in three ways, either to a text file (.TXT), to a ANSI-file (.ANS) or to a bitmap (graphic) file (.PCX). To dump a text screen to a text file, press hotkey ALT+SHIFT+T. Instead of the PCX extension on the file it will be the TXT extension. These text files can be imported to almost any kind of wordprocessor or desktop program. When you dump to a text file, only the characters (no colors) are dumped to file. To get both, use the following: To dump a text screen to a ANSI-file, press hotkey ALT+SHIFT+A and PCXDUMP will dump the screen immediately. Instead of the PCX extension on the file, it will be a ANS extension. These ANSI-files can be typed (with the DOS command TYPE) and the correct colors (if any) will be printed on the screen, if you have the device driver ANSI.SYS installed (if not consult your DOS manual on how to install this device driver). This option is great for SysOp's, who wants to capture text screens with colors for use on their BBS. All other hotkeys will produce a bitmap file (with the PCX extension). In all modes except mode 7, you can capture the screen in both color or monochrome. In text mode, PCXDUMP uses the RAM resident font to convert the screen into a bitmap. This means that the resulting bitmap represents the captured text screen exactly as it appears on the screen, even if the program loads a specialized font (such as an emulated mouse cursor in text mode). Note that with Ventura Publisher or WordPerfect 5.1 the size of the image when incorporated into your document depends on the size of the frame (VP) or figure (WP). For best results, you must adjust this size (within VP or WP) so that pixels are not truncated or compressed. You can calculate the best size for the image in your document based on the horizontal and vertical resolution of your printer. Lets say you capture a VGA text mode screen with 80 columns and 25 lines. The font size in this mode is 8 by 16 pixels. This means that there are 400 (16 times 25) scan lines in the image and 640 pixels horizontally (80 times 8). You must size the image so that the number of pixels in the image is evenly divisible by the printer resolution. Therefore, if you have a laser printer or DeskJet printer which prints at a resolution of 300 dots per inch (both horizontal and vertical), a frame size of 2.13 inches by 1.33 or 4.27 inches by 2.67 inches would produce non-distorted output. Note that you must account for the inside border space and border width when sizing figures in WordPerfect. Adjusting framesize ------------------- If you have a mouse and your mouse-driver is installed, you are able to cut out part of the screen with a on-screen frame controlled by the mouse. This can also be done by using the arrow keys and <SPACE>. It is only in graphics mode that you are able to cut/clip. In text mode the whole screen is dumped immediately. The size of the frame is shown in upper left corner. MOUSE: Press RIGHT button and move mouse to control frame size. Press LEFT button and move mouse to control frame position. Press MIDDLE button to adjust horizontal panning (described below) KEYBOARD: Press the arrow keys to control frame size. Press <SPACE> and arrow keys to control frame position. Press Keypad 5 to adjust horizontal panning (described below) BOTH MOUSE and KEYBOARD: Press <ENTER> to dump graphic within frame. Press <ESC> to cancel You can only adjust the frame size when you have pressed one of these hotkeys: C,N,I,G,H. NOTE for EGA card users: Just a piece of advice. If you capture a screen in a program (e.g. a paint program) which is also using the mouse, "noisy" pixels may appear when the mouse is moved. If you dump the whole picture without using the mouse (hotkey E & R) and use PCXLAB to show the PCX-file, you can now use the mouse to cut out the exact area. HORIZONTAL PANNING: Some programs/games uses horizontal scrolling to improve the graphics. PCXDUMP will know which part of the graphics is currently shown, except for a "few" pixels (1-7 pixels). There is no way to determine these "extra" pixels in a safe way. If you can see that the frame starts to the left of the screen, press the middle mousebutton or Keypad 5 to make the frameposition correct. In 16 colors mode the frame can be up to 7 pixels wrong, in 256 colors up to 3 pixels wrong. You can only adjust horizontal panning if the program uses horizontal scroll. How fast is PCXDUMP? -------------------- Direct memory read/write will be performed in ALL modes: 2, 4 (CGA), 16, 256, 32768, 65536 and 16.7 million colors mode. So the program works pretty fast! I am using a 386sx/20 Mhz system (and a Tseng ET 4000 TrueColor card), and these are my measurements: Image size sec (approx.) -------------------------------- 320 x 200 x 256 1-1.5 640 x 480 x 256 6 800 x 600 x 256 9 1024 x 768 x 256 14 640 x 480 x 16 11 800 x 600 x 16 17 1024 x 768 x 16 27 640 x 480 x 32768 23 Because it is more complicated to encode and read and write pixels in 16-colors mode it takes a little longer than in 256 colors mode.. Due to the 24-bit coding in PCX-files, capturing graphics in 32768, 65536 or 16.7 million colors mode involves 3 readings of every pixel and is therefore making capturing these modes slower than that of the corresponding mode with 256 colors. If the picture is a simple one, PCXDUMP will be faster since it needs to write less information to the disk. If the computer is too busy to capture -------------------------------------- There may be times where you request PCXDUMP to capture your screen, and nothing seems to happen. This is usually because the foreground application program is in the middle of a sensitive task which cannot be interrupted safely. In these cases, PCXDUMP is aware that you have requested a screen capture, and will pop up as soon as it becomes safe to do so. PCXDUMP INSTALLATION OPTIONS ---------------------------- PCXDUMP is easily installed with the menu that appears, when you write "PCXDUMP" + <ENTER>. You can, however, install PCXDUMP with "command line switches" alone. In this way you will be able to install PCXDUMP from a batch file, such as AUTOEXEC.BAT. This section identifies the "command line switches" which PCXDUMP recognizes and responds to. A command line switch is a string of characters which you type after the PCXDUMP command itself. The purpose of these switches is to allow you to modify the way PCXDUMP performs certain of its operations. Turning PCXDUMP's beep sounds off and removing PCXDUMP from memory are just two examples of functions which the command line switches allow you to control. A single command line may contain as many switches as you desire, in any order, in either uppercase or lowercase letters. Please note that DOS limits the maximum line length to 127 characters. Option: /ON ----------- Installs PCXDUMP. This option is only necessary if no other options are given. Option: /OFF ------------ This option removes PCXDUMP from the memory. Do not use this switch if PCXDUMP was not the last TSR loaded. If another resident program was loaded after PCXDUMP and you use this option, memory may become messed up and you may have to reboot. Option: /ANIMATE=number ----------------------- With this option is is possible to dump the screen automatically every time a certain number of seconds has elapsed. If you set /ANIMATE=10, PCXDUMP will dump the screen every 10 seconds. While PCXDUMP is dumping the screen, time is stopped. The screen will be saved immediately and PCXDUMP will automatically determine whether to save the images to a color PCX-file or to a black&white PCX-file. If PCXDUMP is installed with the /TIME or /DISK option then PCXDUMP will start the animated dump AFTER it has installed itself with the /TIME or /DISK option. If you install PCXDUMP with: PCXDUMP /ANIMATE=5 /TIME=30 PCXDUMP will install itself after 30 seconds and THEN dump the screen every 5 sec. Option: /AUTODIRTY ------------------ This option will immediately dump the screen to disk when PCXDUMP installs itself with the DISK option. It can only be used in conjunction with the DISK option and not at the same time as the AUTODUMP option. This option performs almost the same action as the AUTODUMP option but in a much more dirty way. The difference is that when using the AUTODUMP option, PCXDUMP will dump the screen as soon as it is safe to do so. This involves a lot of checking until it is safe. But some programs (like the COMANCHE: MAXIMUM OVERKILL) will not allow PCXDUMP to check. Therefore it is not possible to dump images from such programs with: PCXDUMP /DISK=some_number /AUTODUMP since PCXDUMP always will think it is unsafe to dump the screen. But if you instead install PCXDUMP like this: PCXDUMP /DISK=some_number /AUTODIRTY PCXDUMP will brutally dump the screen as soon as the INT 13h has been called some_number times. NO safety check will be performed and after PCXDUMP has saved the image, your machine will most likely hang. Actually I could capture a screen from COMANCHE (read the section about the /VIDEO option for more information about this game) when I installed PCXDUMP like this: PCXDUMP /DISK=300 /AUTODIRTY /VIDEO=19 As soon as PCXDUMP had saved the screen the machine hung! But at least I captured one screen. I later discovered that using the /MOUSE option was much better because I could easily capture 10-20 screens if I wanted. Use this option with CAUTION and if you use it, it is on your own risk! As mentioned before: In no event shall the author be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential or other damages. OK, I have used this option and I have had no data loss, I just wanted to mention it. I do not think any program will be able to fool PCXDUMP if you use the /DISK and /AUTODIRTY options. NOTE: Because the system will possibly hang after the image is saved it is HIGHLY recommended to disable or remove any disk cache before using PCXDUMP with this option! Option: /AUTODUMP ----------------- This option has no effect unless it is used in conjunction with either the /DISK or /TIME option. If you install PCXDUMP with "/TIME=10 /AUTODUMP" this is what happens: after 10 seconds PCXDUMP will install its own keyboard routine and will immediately start dumping the screen in the mode the screen is in. It is not possible to make a grey scaled auto-dump of a color image. Option: /CHIPSET=number ----------------------- If PCXDUMP somehow fails to recognize your video card (that you know is on the list), this is a way to force PCXDUMP to use it. The number must be in the range 2-23: Number Chipset Number Chipset ---------------------- ------------------- 0 UNSUPPORTED 12 OAK-67 1 RESERVED 13 Video 7 2 EGA card 14 Ahead A 3 VGA card 15 Ahead B 4 ATI Wonder 16 Chips & Technology 451 5 Trident 17 Chips & Technology 452 6 Genoa 18 Chips & Technology 453 7 Paradise 19 VESA 8 Tseng ET 3000 20 Tseng ET 4000 TrueColor 9 Tseng ET 4000 21 OAK-77 10 Tseng ET 4000 HiColor 22 MXIC 11 OAK-37 23 Realtek Option: /DIR=directory ---------------------- This option places the PCX-files (DUMP????.PCX) in the specified directory instead of the current directory. Many programs have some data in other directories than the startup directory, and this option saves you the trouble of tracking down the PCX-files after capturing the images. Example: PCXDUMP /DIR=C:\ (Will place files in C:\) PCXDUMP /DIR=C:\PCX\ (If C:\PCX\ exist files will be put here) Instead of writing /DIR=C:\PCX\ you can write /DIR=C:\PCX The /NAME option will allow you to change the name of files that PCXDUMP will dump the images to. See /NAME Option: /DISK=number -------------------- This is another way to "delay" the installation of INT 09h. In fact this option "delays" the installation of both INT 08h and INT 09h. In some programs (I have seen this in the WING COMMANDER game) its not possible to gain access to the keyboard even with the /TIME option. The reason for this is that the WING COMMANDER game takes complete control of both INT 08h and INT 09h without calling the original interrupt procedures. Instead of counting how many seconds it takes before the program is ready, you count how many times the program reads from the disk during startup (that is: how many times INT 13h is called). I have included a tiny TSR-program that counts exactly how many times INT 13h is called. This program is GETINT13. You run GETINT13, start the program you wish to save images from. When it is loaded, exit the program. Back in DOS you press the hotkey to activate GETINT13 (ALT+SHIFT+2) and GETINT13 will tell you how many times INT 13h was called. Example: When I wanted to save the logo from WING COMMANDER, I did this: C:\>GETINT13 C:\>WC to start WING COMMANDER. As soon as possible I quit WING COMMANDER by pressing ALT+X (I think). Back in DOS I pressed ALT+SHIFT+2 to see how many times INT 13h had been called (about 190 as far as I remember). I then installed PCXDUMP using: C:\>PCXDUMP /DISK=150 /SHIFT=0 /HOTKEY=14 and started WING COMMANDER again. When the logo appeared I pressed BackSpace which was the new hotkey for PCXDUMP. Back in DOS, it was no longer possible to activate PCXDUMP (for the same reason as with the /TIME option). But you can remove PCXDUMP from memory with the option /OFF and the reinstall PCXDUMP. Bear in mind when using this option that although your computer can not be harmed in any way the risk for the computer to "hang" is present. But at least you now have a chance to save your precious image. As mentioned above, WING COMMANDER called INT 13h about 190 times, but I gave PCXDUMP the option /DISK=150. Remember that almost any program is loading a lot of data when started, at least it is loading itself. But some programs save some data when you exit, and sometimes COMMAND.COM needs to be read from disk again. Therefore use a smaller number than GETINT13 tells you, since GETINT13 counts the total number of calls to INT 13h. NOTE: Using a disk cache such as SMARTDRV may cause problems with the /DISK option. If you experience this, just comment out the line(s) in your CONFIG.SYS and/or AUTOEXEC.BAT files mentioning SMARTDRV. Option: /GAMMA=number --------------------- This option can be used to control the light intensity of the palette. This will only have an effect on grayscaled PCX-files. A value of 100 is default, a smaller value will make the image darker and a greater value will make the image brighter. This value must be in the range 20-400, otherwise it will be ignored. Lets say you want to dump a picture to a gray scale PCX-file so you can print it out to a laser printer. You then discover that the printed image is too dark. Now just (re)install PCXDUMP will a new (and higher) GAMMA value. That is all there is to it. I have found a GAMMA value near 170 good when dumping textscreens (and graphics screens too) and printing them on a laserprinter. Option: /HOTKEY=scancode ------------------------ Instead of using the default hotkeys (C,E,N,R,I,G,H,T,A), you can tell PCXDUMP to use a custom hotkey. When doing so all other hotkeys will be disabled and you will no longer be able to use the mouse or keyboard to cut out a piece of the screen. The image will be saved immediately and PCXDUMP will automatically determine wether to dump a color or a monochrome image. In Appendix A you will find a list of possible hotkey scancodes. If you do not have a standard keyboard or if you want to use a hotkey not listed in Appendix A, I have included a program SCANCODE which might help you. Just run the program, press the key you want as hotkey and remember the scancode number (in decimal). Press ESC to exit the program. Use the scancode number you just saw when installing PCXDUMP. Remember: the scancode must be in the range 1-88. Option: /INT=number ------------------- Use this option if you want to call PCXDUMP from other programs. You will be able to call PCXDUMP from your own program via an interrupt, which you specify here. This interrupt may be any interrupt in the following list: 5, 78, 99, 129, 134, 140, 242, 247 50, 79, 100, 130, 135, 141, 243, 249 69, 96, 101, 131, 137, 142, 244, 252 76, 97, 102, 132, 138, 143, 245, 253 77, 98, 105, 133, 139, 241, 246 If you have chosen, say, interrupt 5, you can call PCXDUMP from your own program, if you enter this piece of code in your program: TURBO PASCAL 4.0 - 5.5 CODE: Procedure DumpScreen(Function:Word); Var Reg : registers; begin Reg.AX := $1234; Reg.BX := Function; Intr(5,Reg); Delay(60); (* Remember this delay *) end; TURBO PASCAL 6.0 CODE: Procedure DumpScreen(Function:Word); begin Asm MOV AX,1234h MOV BX,Function INT 5 End; Delay(60); (* Remember this delay *) end; The AX register must be $1234 or 1234h (hexadecimal), as this tells PCXDUMP that this interrupt is meant to dump the screen. PCXDUMP is not called directly, but will pop up (if it is safe to do so) within the next 6/100 of a second (that is the reason for the delay). If AX does not equal 1234h, PCXDUMP will ignore the interrupt and call the old interrupt. If you use interrupt 5 as the interrupt to call PCXDUMP and press the PrintScreen key which normally activates interrupt 5, PCXDUMP will not be activated since register AX is not $1234 (PCXDUMP will call the original interrupt which prints text screen to the printer). The BX register holds the function, you want performed. BX = 0 equals first hotkey "C", BX=1 equals hotkey "E" etc. BX = 5 equals hotkey "G". Therefore BX must be in the range 0-8 ("C" - "A"). Option: /MOUSE -------------- Normally you will activate PCXDUMP from the keyboard. But if you use this option (by setting it to ON in the installation menu), you will be able to capture the screen by using the mouse only. When PCXDUMP is installed, you can make PCXDUMP dump the screen by pressing LEFT and RIGHT mouse button AT THE SAME TIME. PCXDUMP will save the screen immediately and will automatically determine whether to dump the image in color or black&white. As usually PCXDUMP will beep when it is activated. Option: /NAME=name ------------------ Usually PCXDUMP will dump the screens to files with the name: "DUMP0000.PCX". You can change this with the /NAME option. If you set NAME=GAMES, PCXDUMP will dump to file "GAMES000.PCX", "GAMES001.PCX" etc. You can only specifify a name up to 8 characters, and the name must consist of letters only, no digits or others characters is allowed. As the filenumber is increased, it may overwrite some of the last letters in the name. Option: /NOSOUND ---------------- Tells PCXDUMP to be quiet. Option: /OFFSET=number ---------------------- Normally PCXDUMP will save the images to files starting at offset 0000 (i.e. with the file "DUMP0000.PCX"). But by specifying a file-offset, you can tell PCXDUMP to save the images to files starting at a specific offset. If you install PCXDUMP with this option: PCXDUMP /OFFSET=20 PCXDUMP will save the first image to the file "DUMP0020.PCX", the next image to "DUMP0021.PCX" etc. Option: /OVERWRITE ------------------ PCXDUMP will no longer overwrite existing files. Instead the next available filename will be used. If you install PCXDUMP and the files DUMP0000.PCX, DUMP0001.PCX and DUMP0003.PCX (assuming that PCXDUMP uses the default name for files) already exists in the destination directory (read elsewhere about the /DIR option, which will allow you to put the dumped images in a specific directory), PCXDUMP will dump the first image to the file DUMP0002.PCX and the next image to the file DUMP0004.PCX. But if you set OVERWRITE to ON in the installation menu or you install PCXDUMP with the command line switch /OVERWRITE, PCXDUMP will overwrite any existing file with the same name as the file PCXDUMP wants to save. Option: /SHIFT=number --------------------- Instead of using the default hotkey sequence which is ALT+SHIFT+<some hotkey>, you can tell PCXDUMP to use any combination of the ALT, Left SHIFT and CTRL keys. number Effect on hotkey sequence ----------------------------------- 0 No shift keys 1 Press (Left) SHIFT 2 Press ALT 3 Press ALT + (Left) SHIFT 4 Press CTRL 5 Press (Left) SHIFT + CTRL 6 Press ALT + CTRL 7 Press (Left) SHIFT + ALT + CTRL Option: /SKIPVESA ----------------- When PCXDUMP tries to identify your video card it will always treat your video card as a VESA card if you have a VESA-driver installed because the very first thing PCXDUMP checks, is the presence of a VESA-driver. If you install PCXDUMP with this option no check for a VESA-driver is performed. If you have a VESA driver installed some programs will take advantage of the VESA driver and some programs will not. If a program uses the VESA driver, you must install PCXDUMP with VESA capabilities. If a programs does not use the VESA driver and instead uses the video card directly, you must install PCXDUMP with the /SKIPVESA switch to make PCXDUMP ignore the VESA driver. The problem is not PCXDUMP, but whether a program uses the VESA driver or not. If you have a VESA driver installed and are using EMM386 (or QEMM) as your memory manager, PCXDUMP may sometimes cause an exception error. If you use this option it should fix this problem, but then PCXDUMP will not recognize any VESA mode. See KNOWN PROBLEMS for a better solution. NOTE: This option can only be used from the command line. Option: /TEXTHI --------------- In 16 color text mode the screen can be in one of two modes: A) 16 different background colors or B) 8 different background colors + possible flashing text. As there is NO safe way for a resident program to determine which mode, you must tell PCXDUMP how it should interpret the color information. PCXDUMP will use the mode with 8 background colors as default as this is the most common mode. By setting TEXTHI = ON or by installing PCXDUMP with the /TEXTHI option you tell PCXDUMP to use all 16 possible background colors. Only few programs uses this mode (SYSINFO.EXE from Norton does). Note: This option has no effect in the shareware version of PCXDUMP! Option: /TIME=number -------------------- Use this option to "delay" the installation of INT 09h (INT 09h is the hardware keyboard interrupt, remember). Many programs (e.g. games like "4D STUNT DRIVE") will take complete control of INT 09h when loading and never call the original INT 09h. For that reason PCXDUMP's own INT 09h will not be called. This obstacle can be overcomed by using the /TIME option. If it takes your program, say, about 20 seconds to start up, it is a good idea to delay the installation about 30 seconds. PCXDUMP uses the hardware clock interrupt at INT 08h to keep track of time. PCXDUMP /TIME=60 will install PCXDUMP, and PCXDUMP will be waiting 60 seconds before grabbing INT 09h. Bear in mind that when you use this option, you are not able to use PCXDUMP after exiting the program (or game) you wished to save images from. The reason for this is that the interrupted program remembers the "old" INT 09h address, and when you exit this program it restores INT 09h and thereby overwrites PCXDUMP's INT 09h address. If you want to use PCXDUMP again, you do not have to reboot: simply remove PCXDUMP from memory by writing: PCXDUMP /OFF and then install PCXDUMP again. NOTE: When using the /TIME or /DISK options to delay the installation, PCXDUMP will beep twice when it installs itself. This is a great help, since you now will know if was possible for PCXDUMP to take over INT 09h. Option: /VIDEO=number --------------------- Usually PCXDUMP will detect the current video mode correctly. But sometimes this detections fails. This happens very seldom, I have only experienced this in one single game, COMANCHE: MAXIMUM OVERKILL, a 32-bit protected mode game. By using this option you can explicitly tell PCXDUMP which video mode to use. You may need the manual for your video card to determine the video mode number, since these mode numbers differs from videocard to videocard. E.g. mode 1024x768x256 on a Tseng ET 4000 card will have mode number 56 (38 hex), but on an Trident card this mode has the number 96 (62 hex) and on a Realtek it is 40 (28 hex) and so on. Once you have told PCXDUMP to use a certain video mode, it will continue to use this video mode every time you activate it. You need to un-install PCXDUMP and re-install it to make it autodetect the video mode again. Actually, to dump images from COMANCHE, I had to use both the /VIDEO option and the /MOUSE option. Since COMANCHE blocks the keyboard and prevents PCXDUMP from grabbing the keyboard interrupt with /TIME or the /DISK, it is NOT possible to dump images from this game using the keyboard! However, COMANCHE does not use the mouse and this way (by using the /MOUSE option) it was possible to dump some screenshots. I also used the /VIDEO option (for the reasons mentioned above) to dump the right video mode. COMANCHE runs in mode X (320x240), which is derived from mode 19 (13 hex) = 320x200 pixels with 256 colors. Therefore to dump screens from COMANCHE, PCXDUMP was installed with these options: PCXDUMP /VIDEO=19 /MOUSE Screens were then captured by pressing both left and right mousebutton at the same time. NOTE: On some Genoa cards PCXDUMP cannot recognize the extended graphics video modes. But you can force PCXDUMP to dump from these modes with the VIDEO option. Below is a table with the video modes and the corresponding mode number for Genoa cards: GENOA: Mode no. Color Resolution -------------------------------------- 92 (5C hex) 256 640x480 94 (5E hex) 256 800x600 95 (5F hex) 16 1024x768 108 (6C hex) 256 800x600 115 (73 hex) 16 640x480 121 (79 hex) 16 800x600 125 (7D hex) 256 512x512 126 (7E hex) 256 640x400 Option: /WIDE=number -------------------- If a program uses smooth scroll (that is, defines a virtual screen bigger than physical display), e.g. like the COMMANDER KEEN series, you can use the /WIDE option, and PCXDUMP will try to dump the virtual screen instead of the physical screen (which is default). Since PCXDUMP automatically determines the logical screen width (which is bigger than the physical display width), but has no way of calculating the logical screen height, you have to specify how many times higher than the physical display height the logical screen height is. Let us say you want to capture the full logical screen of COMMANDER KEEN 4. This game runs in 320x200 pixels with 16 colors. You do not have to worry about the logical screen width, since PCXDUMP will take care of that (actually 512 pixels in this game). The logical screen height is approx. 600 pixels. Therefore, to dump the logical screen, you should install PCXDUMP with these options: PCXDUMP /TIME=15 /WIDE=3 (since 200*3 = 600) If you have access to this game you should try it! To have any effect, the WIDE values must be in the range 1-5. NOTE: This option will not have any effect on an EGA card. Known problems. --------------- 1) If you use PCXDUMP together with a resident VESA-driver, AND you're using a memory manager like EMM386 or QEMM, you may sometimes get an exception error from your memory manager. It is because QEMM (or EMM386) does something weird with the Video BIOS. In order to fix this problem, you should use the QEMM 'exclude' options to exclude the Video BIOS area. Do this by including the following in the QEMM options: EXCLUDE=C000-C1FF This problem does not seem to appear with the 386Max memory manager. 2) On some Genoa cards PCXDUMP cannot recognize the extended graphics video modes. But you can force PCXDUMP to dump from these modes with the VIDEO option. Please read the section about the /VIDEO option to see a table over the extended Genoa video modes. Registration ------------ PCXDUMP is copyrighted software and all rights are reserved. PCXDUMP may not be changed or modified in any way except by the author. PCXDUMP is SHAREWARE and may be freely distributed, as long as it remains in its complete form with all support and documentation files. It may be used for a 10 day free trial period. Regardless of the way the copy is obtained, it is requested that all users comply with the following licensing and registration provisions if they continue to use it after the 10 day trial period. Registration of PCXDUMP is based on 'personal usage'. Corporate or organizational users must register all copies used on an individual basis; a specific person (name) must be explicitly assigned to each registrant who will be provided with a new version of PCXDUMP where the name of the specified person will be seen to indicate registered usage. Registration grants a specific person (not a juridical person or corporate entity) the right to 'use' PCXDUMP. Shareware distributors may distribute this program. The "per disk" charge may not exceed $8 and the shareware distributor will not change the above license agreement for the end user of PCXDUMP. End users are still required to register each shareware copy of PCXDUMP. You may license multiple copies of PCXDUMP with discounts as follows: +---------------+----------------+ | No of copies | Price per copy | +---------------+----------------+ | 1-10 | US $30 | | 11-50 | 25 % discount | | 51-100 | 40 % discount | | 101+ | 50 % discount | | Site License | US $500 | +---------------+----------------+ Discounts apply only to individual orders, they are not cumulative. Registration entitles you to: * Use all updates (shareware versions) at no cost. * Receive free technical support by letter. * A registered user may install PCXDUMP on more than one machine, provided he is the only user on each machine. The registration and license policy is similar to a book, which can be taken with you but used only by you. You will find a complete order form in the file "ORDERFRM.TXT". Where to get PCXDUMP -------------------- The prices of the registered PCXDUMP packages are subject to change after January 1st, 1994. The latest shareware issue of PCXDUMP, which includes the most up-to-date information on pricing and new features, is always posted for downloading in these places: * American users: The mighty simtel base. FTP-address: wsmr-simtel20.army.mil in pd1:<msdos.graphics> and its mirror-sites FTP-address: wuarchive.wustl.edu in /mirrors/msdos/graphics FTP-address: oak.oakland.edu in /pub/msdos/graphics or through Public Software Library. * European users: FTP-address: nic.funet.fi in /pub/msdos/graphics/graphics FTP-address: garbo.uwasa.fi in /pc/graphics * German users: CDV Software, Ettling Ettlinger Strasse 5 7500 Karlsruhe 1 Germany (Telephone 0721/22295, FAX 072121314, CIS 100022,274) * Danish users: JOSTI-BBS, Tlf: 47 38 05 24, N-8-1 FLASH NIGHT BBS, Tlf: 86 93 68 22, N-8-1 Prof. ShareWare, Benloese Skel 4 G, DK-4100 Ringsted, Tlf: 53 61 90 42 plus several other BBS around the country. If this document is more than nine months old when you receive it, it might not be current. To make sure that you have the latest information on pricing and availability of new features, contact the author or look for the latest shareware release of PCXDUMP in one of the places listed above. Getting in contact with the author ---------------------------------- If you have any questions, suggestions or you find any bugs, please contact me at the following address: Jesper Frandsen Fredens Torv 7, 2.sal DK-8000 Aarhus C DENMARK Phone: +45 86 18 22 06 Email: jesperf@daimi.aau.dk Special thanks goes to: ----------------------- Helle for being understanding. Soren for testing, finding bugs, inventing new features and correcting misspelled words. Finn for providing information on various SuperVGA adapters. Appendix A ---------- These are the codes you may use with PCXDUMP's "/HOTKEY=scancode" parameter to change the hotkeys. Key Code Key Code Key Code Key Code --------- --------- ----------- ------------------ A 30 1 02 F1 59 Keypad plus 78 B 48 2 03 F2 60 Keypad minus 74 C 46 3 04 F3 61 Keypad 5 76 D 32 4 05 F4 62 Space 57 E 18 5 06 F5 63 Backspace 14 F 33 6 07 F6 64 Enter 28 G 34 7 08 F7 65 H 35 8 09 F8 66 I 23 9 10 F9 67 J 36 0 11 F10 68 K 37 F11 87 L 38 ` 41 F12 88 M 50 - 12 N 49 = 13 Tab 15 O 24 , 51 Esc 01 P 25 . 52 Q 16 / 53 R 19 ; 39 S 31 ' 40 T 20 [ 26 U 22 ] 27 V 47 \ 43 W 17 X 45 Y 21 Z 44 --------------------------- End of document --------------------------------