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=====================================================================
Please Note:
=====================================================================
This is the manual on disk that was released with PC-Gammon IV,
PC-Gammon V has a printed bound manual. This disk based manual has
not been updated to reflect changes to PC-Gammon V. It does contain
all pertinent information required to play PC-Gammon and to use
most of the features. Modem Play and Play Style are not documented
here. You can probably figure them out without a manual. When you
register PC-Gammon you will receive the printed manual, etc.
PC-Gammon(tm) V
Release V1.10
9/19/92
===================
Game Documentation
===================
Copyright (c) 1992
Sentient Software
All Rights Reserved
Sentient Software
RFD #1, Box 3720
Sheldon, VT 05483
(802) 933-5143 (Voice)
(802) 933-2417 (Data - Black Creek BBS
1200/2400/9600HST
24hrs/7days)
Hardware Requirements:
IBM-PC XT/AT (or compatible)
640K of memory
EGA/VGA or Hercules Graphics Adapter
Installation:
You can either play PC-Gammon from the floppy disk or
copy the contents of the disk to your hard disk.
PC-Gammon requires no special installation. Simply copy or
unzip the files to your hard disk.
PC-Gammon is completely unprotected. It is suggested
that you make a back-up copy of the original.
Running PC-Gammon:
Hard disk users can either change directories to the PCGAMMON
directory or place the PC-Gammon directory in their path and type
the following;
PCGAMMON
Floppy users would place the PC-Gammon disk in their A:
drive and enter the following commands:
A:
PCGAMMON
Additionally PC-Gammon can be invoked with optional
command line parameters, the syntax is:
PCGAMMON p1 p2
The parameters are shown in the table on the following page.
Command Line Parameters:
Parameter Meaning
========= ==================================
E Force EGA Color Mode
M Force EGA Monochrome Mode
H Force Hercules Monochrome Mode
Kfilename Load Keyboard Redefinition File
Video Display Adapter
PC-Gammon will automatically determine the type of video
adapter you have in your computer (EGA or Herc) and set the
graphics mode accordingly. There are circumstances in which
the default video mode is incorrect or undesirable, the most
notable of these are:
1) Some video adapters support both EGA/Herc modes, and
when connected to a monochrome TTL monitor, they will
erroneously report an EGA color monitor is attached.
Use the 'H' command line parameter to force the program
to use the Hercules Graphics Mode.
2) Some users with either Laptops or VGA Paper White monitors,
only really have two colors. In this instance use the 'M'
parameter to force the game into a 640x350 two color mode.
3) Some EGA/VGA cards will not be detected correctly, use the
'E' parameter to force the video mode into 640x350 16 color
mode.
Keyboard Redefinition
The 'Kfilename' parameter allows you to load the game with a
different set of keys to invoke the various menu items and
other commands for keyboard users. The distribution disk
contains a file named "PCGAMMON.KBD", this example file
shows all of the allowable keys that can be redefined.
The format for a keyboard file is:
Cmd#,Char
Where: Cmd# is the command number from 1-21
Char is the character that will be used
Any characters following "Char" will be ignored. Example:
PCGAMMON Kmykeys.kbd
Introduction:
PC-Gammon IV has an easy to use menu system.
At the bottom right portion of the screen you will see the
menu area. To select a menu item, you may either type the first
character of the menu item (i.e. "F" for Forfeit), or click the
mouse cursor on the desired menu item.
Options:
Selecting the Options entry from the main menu will display
the options menu consisting of the following (a detailed
description of the options is at the end of this file) :
Load : Load a previously saved game from disk.
Save : Save the game currently being played.
Score History : Select player/View score history
Print Screen : Provides a graphics or text dump of
the screen to an IBM PC Graphics
printer/HP Laserjet or compatible.
(See command line parameters for
printer selection).
Defaults : Allows you to change options in PC-Gammon.
Tournament : Enable or Disable the computer rolls.
Game Log : Writes a log of all moves to the disk.
Edit Game : Displays the game edit menu (see below).
Main Menu Commands:
Redraw:
If for any reason the board display should become corrupted
the Redraw command will redraw the board for you.
Double:
The Double command is used to double the stakes of the game.
Initially neither player owns the doubling cube, and it's value
is set to 1, it appears in the middle of the board. Either
player may offer to double when the doubling cube is unowned.
As soon as one player offers to double the player who
accepts the double gets possession of the cube and then only that
player may double (the cube changes color to the color of the
player). If either player refuses the double, that player
forfeits the game.
Style:
This option lets you select the playing style PC-Gammon will use.
Styles are: "Conservative", "Aggressive", and "I'm Playing For Bood".
You can change playing style at any time, even in the middle of a
game. PC-Gammon will remember the last playing style selected the
next time it is run.
Backup:
Allows you to backup to the beginning of your move. For instance
if you rolled a 6,1 and you played the six, and then decided you
could have made a better move, use the B command to back-up to
the beginning of your roll. The program also asks you if you are
sure at the end of each move. If you respond negatively, your
move will be backed up.
Forfeit:
If you clearly see you are losing and you don't want to hear
the snide remarks the computer makes when it wins, type the "F"
key and the computer will at its option, either accept your
forfeit, or refuse the forfeit (if it thinks it can get a gammon,
etc). If the computer accepts your forfeit it will be scored
as a loss for you.
Help:
Selecting help will display the help file on your screen
during play.
Quit:
When dinner's ready or you simply can't tolerate any more
backgammon, type the Q key and the game will return you to DOS.
Rolling the Dice:
The space bar is used to roll the dice. When it's your turn to
move, hit the space bar to roll the dice. You can't roll the
dice more than once per move. The dice are rolled at the
beginning of each game to see who goes first (yours is the
left die). The player that wins that roll must use the roll
as shown. Additionally if the first roll is a double, the
doubling cube is incremented to 2 (provided auto doubles are
enabled), and you roll again to see who goes first.
Mouse Users may roll the dice by clicking the left mouse button
anywhere on the playing board or in the dice area when it is
their turn to roll the dice.
Moving/Playing:
Please note: The "BAR" is slot 0.
Keyboard Users:
To move a man type an "M". A form will appear near the bottom
of the screen. Enter the location you wish to move from and
the value of the dice you wish to use separated by a comma,
(e.g entering a "12,5", would move your man from the 12 slot
5 spaces). The bar is designated as slot 0. Press enter to
complete the move or the ESC key to cancel a move.
Mouse Users:
To move a man simply click the mouse cursor on the man you
wish to move, a dot will appear in the center of the man to
indicate it has been selected. Then click the mouse cursor
on the appropriate slot you wish to move to. To deselect a
man (i.e. you changed you mind and don't wish to move
the man you selected), simply click the mouse cursor on the
selected man a second time (The dot will disappear).
Alternately, after you have selected the man you wish to move
you may click on the dice you wish to use for the move and
the man selected will be moved the appropriate number of spaces.
If you attempt an illegal move the computer will notify you with
an appropriate message.
DoubleMove: You may move a man more than one dice at a time,
for instance if you rolled a 5 and an 3, you could move one man
eight spaces by selecting the destination slot as 8 from the
original slot. However either the 5 or the 3 move must be a
legal move for that man.
AutoMove : If you have only one dice left the computer will
automatically move the man you click, you do not have to select
a destination slot. Automove will also automatically bear off
a man if there is only one valide move to make . You can turn
AutoMove off in the "Default Settings" screen.
See defaults below.
Bearing Off:
Keyboard Users:
Bearing off men is the same as moving them, simply select
the man you wish to bear off followed by the dice value you
wish to use to move the man.
Mouse Users:
There are two ways you can bear off using the mouse. In both
ways select the man you wish to bear off by clicking the mouse
cursor on that man, then you may either click the mouse cursor
on the die you wish to use to bear the man off with, or you may
click the mouse cursor in the "OFF" area.
The Options Menu:
Load Game:
Selecting the Load Game option will bring up a directory of
previously saved games. Use the arrow keys to select the game
you wish to load and press enter, or mouse users can click
on the file name they wish to load to highlight it and then
click again to enter it.
Save:
Allows you to save a game in progress. Simply enter an eight
character name you wish to save the game under. File names must
conform to normal DOS file naming conventions and must not contain
a file extension. Examples:
Legal Names : MYGAME
MY_GAME
GAME001
Illegal Names: MY.GAM (Has File Extension)
MY?GAME (Illegal "?")
TOOLONGNAME (Name Too Long)
SAVE GAME (Name Has a Space)
Score History:
PC-Gammon will maintain a score history for as many players
as you wish. If there are no players in the score history file,
the program will prompt you to enter your name. Enter your
name (up to 15 characters) and press enter when done, press
the ESC key to disable score keeping.
When one or more players is already in the history file then
the names of the players will appear on the screen with an
optional scroll bar. (depending on how many players are in the
history file). Use the arrow keys to highlight your name and
press enter or mouse users can click the mouse cursor on their
name to highlight it and then click a second time to select it.
To enter the name of a new user press "N" or click the mouse
cursor on the "NEW" button, then enter the name as described above.
Press "C" or click the mouse cursor on the Cancel button to
disable the score history.
Player selection may be done at any time, and the games score is
not actually updated until the end of the game.
The score history display consists of five pairs of numbers, each
pair shows the number of wins for "You vs. Computer" as follows:
Tourn : Number of tournaments won
Games : Number of games won (not counting doubles, etc).
Wins : Points won for straight wins.
Gams : Points won for Gammons.
Bkgs : Points won for Backgammons.
The final number in brackets ('[]') is points per game
won average, a negative number indicates you are ahead
in points per game, and a positive number indicates the
computer is ahead in points per game.
All score history numbers are cumulative.
Print Screen:
Select this option item to get an ascii or graphics print of the
screen to your printer. If you have a HP-Laser Jet, be sure you
set the printer type to HPLJ in the defaults section before
trying to get a graphics print of the screen. See default settings
below.
Defaults:
Selecting this option will bring up the default settings
selection screen, see "Default Settings" below.
Tournament:
Selecting the "Tournament" button will let you play a tournament
against the computer. A tournament is played for a specified
number of points (not games). Enter the number of points
for the tournament desired. The Score box will show the
total tournament points and points earned by each player
until the end of the tournament.
Game Log:
This feature will keep a log on the disk for each game played.
The log will include the players name, the date and time of the
start of the game, and each move made by both players.
(Available in registered version only!)
Edit Game:
Selecting this option will bring up the game edit menu.
The "Default Settings"
Mouse Users: Click the mouse cursor on the appropriate button to
toggle or change a default value shown.
Keyboard Users: Press the letter above a button to toggle or
change the default value shown.
Auto Roll:
Selecting this menu item will turn computer dice rolls on and off.
When on (the startup default), the computer will generate all
dice rolls. When turned off, you will be prompted to enter the
dice rolls for both yourself and the computer. This mode is
made available for those who prefer to roll real dice.
Auto Dble:
This menu item allows you to select whether or not the doubling
cube will automatically be doubled on the opening roll,
if the opening roll is doubles.
Auto Move:
This menu item will turn "Auto Moves" on or off. See
"Moving/Playing" above for more information on Auto Moves.
Sound:
This menu item will turn the sound on or off (i.e. dice
rolling, etc.).
Printer:
This menu item defines the printer type connected to your computer.
PC-Gammon supports either the IBM-PC Graphics Printer (or
compatible), or the HP Laserjet series (or compatible).
Motion & Delay T (Animation Control):
PC-Gammon animates the motion of the men (i.e. it slides them
across the screen) when they are moved. These two parameters
control the speed and distance at which they are moved. The
default values are Delay Time = 25 and Motion Increment = 50,
if you find the men move to slow or fast, you may increment
or decrement these values to suit your needs.
The "Edit Menu"
When the game edit mode is first entered, the status of the player,
dice and cube will be displayed in the message area (e.g. "Dice Rolled,
Player = White, Cube=4, held by Black").
Keyboard users:
The following commands may be selected from the Edit menu:
"S" : Save Game - Allows you to save the game as you
have edited it. (see save game instructions in
options menu).
"M" : place Men - Allows you to place men on the board, the
program will redraw the board, and place all the men in the
bear-off trays, it will then prompt you to enter the number
of men on each slot. To place White men on a slot enter a
positive number (e.g. 2), to place black men on a slot
enter a negative number (e.g. -3).
"P" : Player - Allows you to define whose turn it is, the program
will prompt you to enter a player, enter 'W' for white,
or 'B' for black.
"I" : Init Board - Places all the men in the bear off trays.
This command is only of use to users with a mouse.
"C" : Cube - Allows you to set the value for the cube. The program
will ask you to enter a value for the cube (i.e. 1,2,4,8,
16,32,64,128,256, or 512), if a valid value greater
than 1 is entered the program will ask you to identify
the player who owns the cube (enter a 'W' for white, or
'B' for black);
"D" : Dice - Allows you to enter the values for the dice,
enter a positive value for an unused dice, and a
negative value for a used die, if entering doubles you
must enter 4 dice values.
"R" : Rolled - Turns on or off the "dice rolled" flag.
"F" : Finished - signals you're done editing and wish to play the
game as you just set it up.
Mouse Users:
Men : To move a man simply click the mouse cursor on the man
and then drop it where you want it to be.
Dice : Click the left mouse button on a die to increase it's
value, click the right mouse button on a die to indicate
it has been used or unused.
Cube : Click the left mouse button on the doubling cube to
increment it's value. Click the right mouse button on
the cube to change the owner (white/black).
Player: Click the right mouse button on any man to indicate
that color is the current player.
Other: Mouse users may click on any edit menu button
to invoke that feature as described above.
