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1994-05-22
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The InfoTaskForce Infocom Interpreter Version 4.01
==================================================
Amiga Release 1.45 by David Kinder
==================================
Fed up of the rather crude official Infocom interpreters? Annoyed that
Lost Treasures of Infocom II wasn't released for the Amiga? Then read on...
There have been several ports of Infocom interpreters to the Amiga, but none
of this program. The interpreter supports v1, v2, v3 (Zork1 to Stationfall),
v4 (Trinity, Bureaucracy, etc.) and v5 (Sherlock, Beyond Zork, etc.) games.
With this interpreter you can play ALL the games in the 3.5" disk LToI2
package for the IBM PC, by copying the datafiles with CrossDOS or similar,
then just running this interpreter. This program requires AmigaDOS 2.04 or
higher to run.
As far as I am aware, as of Release 1.40, this interpreter supports all
the features of Infocom data files relevant to the Amiga. If you find
otherwise, please let me know.
Amiga Features
==============
* Click on the "Infocom" icon then double-click on a game file icon to
load and run that game.
* If the project icon "Icon.Data" is present in the same directory as
"Infocom", saved game files have this icon when "Infocom" is used from
the Workbench.
* The following can be added to the ToolTypes field of the "Infocom" icon
(not game file icons):
ATTRIBUTES - equivalent to -a command line switch
PRELOAD - equivalent to -l command line switch
NOPAGING - equivalent to -p command line switch
TRANSFER - equivalent to -t command line switch
BZCOLOURS - use "Beyond Zork" colour scheme with the graphics file.
The synonym "BZCOLORS" is also accepted. Equivalent to
-z command line switch.
* If started from Workbench without a game file, scans the assignment
INFOCOM: (and its sub-directories) for valid Infocom game files. To
speed up scanning files are ignored if their name contains a ".",
unless the filename ends in ".data".
A list of all the games found will appear - click on the game you
want to play and it will load and run. At the bottom of this list is
a "Select with File Requester" gadget. Clicking on this gadget
opens a file requester with which you can select the game to play.
This list can also be made to appear by starting "Infocom" from the
Shell with the -w switch. Note that this must be the only argument, i.e.
Infocom -w
is the only valid use of this switch.
* Sound support for "The Lurking Horror". Copy all the sound files to the
subdirectory "Sound" in the directory containing the Lurking Horror data
file, e.g.
DataFiles/LurkingHorror <- data file
DataFiles/Sound/s#?.dat <- sound files
DataFiles/Sound/s#?.mid
* If asl.library is available, "Infocom" uses the file requester for
Save/Restore operations. Default name is the name of data file, minus
any extensions and with ".Save" appended.
* Pressing the Help key gives the game currently playing, its author and
the difficulty level (where available).
* Screen opened clones the Workbench screen to use its size, resolution
and fonts. If possible, screen is public, with name "Infocom". The type
of screen appears in the "Help" requester.
* Support for "Beyond Zork":
Interpreter uses Amiga graphics file (if it is found). Copy the
"Graphics.Data" file to wherever the "Beyond Zork" story file is kept.
The file may alternatively be called "BeyondZork.gfx". Use of the
graphics file requires that the window text is an 8×8 non-proportional
font. If the font does not match these characteristics, then topaz/8
will be used instead.
If the graphics file is present, the interpreter can use the "Beyond
Zork" colour scheme. This feature is activated by the -z command line
switch or the "BZCOLOUR" icon tooltype. The colour scheme can then be
changed in the game with the "color" command.
The arrow keys can be used to select items in the startup menus.
The function keys are preloaded with commands, which can be changed
from within the game with the "define" command.
The numeric keypad and the mouse can be used to select a direction.
To use the mouse, click in the map to indicate the direction you wish
to move in.
* Support for the internal clock in "Border Zone" - this clock runs
regardless of whether you type in commands or not.
* The current line can be edited using backspace, delete, and the left
and right cursor keys. The shifted cursor keys move the cursor to the
beginning and end of the current line, respectively.
* Input lines have a history buffer. Use cursor up and down to scroll
through the buffer, and shift cursor up and down to go to the top and
bottom of the buffer, respectively.
* Debugging command support. Some data files contain the debugging
commands #record, #unrecord and #command (#reco, #unre and #comm in
version 3 games). These commands enable and disable recording of input,
and play the recording back, respectively.
* "Infocom" uses standard input/output if the -c switch is specified. This
allows "Infocom" to eg. take input from a file, or to be used over a
network. In the latter case, the output terminal must support ANSI 3.64
character sequences.
The default size of the window used can be changed by specifying the
with and height after "-c", separated by a slash, e.g.
Infocom -c70/20 Zork1
starts "Zork I" in a character window of width 70 and height 20. Note
that the values are the size of the window "Infocom" expects - the actual
output window of your terminal or Shell must be at least as big as these
values.
If you use a CON: window for input, then you will notice functions which
use an individual key press (e.g. scrolling up and down the list of hints
in "Sherlock") behave slightly differently. CON: windows only pass input
to the program after return is pressed, so if the program is expecting
single key presses, entering 'q' and pressing return causes the program
to see a 'q' character followed by a return character. If, say, you wish
the program to see two 'q' characters in a row, to e.g. quit out of a
hint screen after reading a hint, enter 'qq' followed by return.
* "Infocom" can use left and right margins (set in "InfoPrefs") so that the
text is not flush with the screen border. This can be useful to make the
text more readable if you are using a program to give screens black
borders.
* Some options in the interpreter can be defined using the external
configuration editor, "InfoPrefs", which requires that either
asl.library v38 or higher or reqtools.library v38 or higher is in
LIBS:. By default, reqtools.library is only used if asl.library v38+
is not available, but this can be over-ridden with the icon tooltype
REQTOOLS. "InfoPrefs" allows you to change:
Whether data files are pre-loaded or not.
Whether "Beyond Zork" uses its custom colour scheme.
Whether the interpreter opens a custom screen or a Workbench
window.
If applicable, the screen mode, and its depth.
If applicable, whether the Workbench window size is determined by
the program or is pre-set by the user.
The window font, and, if applicable, the screen font.
The size of the character window used in standard input/output mode.
The size of left and right margins.
The default screen colours. This option requires reqtools.library to
work.
The configuration is stored in the environment variable "Infocom.prefs",
which is read in by "Infocom" at startup.
Finally
=======
If you find any bugs, please let me know. In particular, the program
contains an internal list of all release and serial numbers of released
games. If you have a game file which plays correctly, but its correct
title does not show up in the Workbench startup list or in the Help
requester, please tell me its release and serial numbers (obtainable with
the -h command line option).
Internet Email: kinder@teaching.physics.ox.ac.uk
or dkinder@vax.ox.ac.uk
Postal mail: David Kinder,
2, Clwtt Cottages,
Bangor Road,
Gyfelia,
Nr. Wrexham,
Clywd.
LL13 0YL
History
=======
1.00 * First release.
1.10 * Added support for icon tooltypes.
* If Workbench screen is larger than physical display, "Infocom"
screen is kept to size of physical display.
* Saved games can have icons if "Icon.Data" icon present.
* A "Strike any key to exit." prompt appears if there is text to
be read before the game quits.
* Public screen opened if possible.
* Save/Restore uses asl.library if available.
* Better error reporting from Workbench.
* Scripting in "AMFV" fixed.
* Initial game list ignores files with ".#?" extensions except
".data". List now also looks in sub-directories of INFOCOM:
for game files.
* Initial game list has gadget to allow file requester to be
used to select the game file to load.
* Lines of text longer than the screen are handled better.
* Fixed problems with a Workbench output window appearing if
ConMan was running.
* Input text is printed in a different colour to output.
* Arrow keys now work (as used in "Beyond Zork").
1.20 * Graphics in "Beyond Zork" supported.
* Input line history buffer.
* Better input line editing.
* Output routines buffered - text printing is now *much* faster.
1.30 * Scripting should now work in all AMFV versions.
* Debugging commands #record, #unrecord and #command implemented.
* Problems with scripting and line editing fixed.
* Options read from "ENV:Infocom.prefs", which can be edited using
the "InfoPrefs" program.
* "Beyond Zork" now has support for different colour schemes, if
the graphic data file is available. Also, the "color" command
works correctly.
* The function keys in "Beyond Zork" are now fully supported. The
commands on the function keys can be changed in the game with
the "define" command.
1.40 * Scanning through input line history is much faster.
* The -h option prints more information on version 5 games.
* Updated documentation on version 5 header and data flags.
* The numeric keypad and mouse now work in "Beyond Zork".
* The interpreter can now run in a Workbench window.
* "InfoPrefs" options extended.
* "Border Zone" internal clock implemented - the game time
progresses even without the intervention of the player.
* Improved handling of lines of text longer than the screen.
1.45 * Problem of a "Lurking Horror" data file being incorrectly
recognised is now fixed.
* Switched compilers from GNU C 2.2.2 to DICE 2.07.56R. The code
is now significantly shorter.
* Added standard input/output routines.
* Text can be offset from the screen edges by margins.
* Default screen colours can be set in "InfoPrefs".
* New command line switch "-w" to display game files in INFOCOM:.