Hacker Chronicles 2/HACKER2.BIN/211.XWINGTSR.DOC

Text File | 1993-10-14 | 8KB | 138 lines

                             *** X-WING TSR ***

                     Pilot back-up and retrieval system
                          by John "Cryofax" Norvell
                           (c)1993 John R. Norvell
                           =======================


     I don't think anyone can argue with the fact that X-Wing is truly a
     great game. But there is one somewhat irritating aspect of the game
     that I'm sure has had some people pulling their hair out. That is the
     way the game handles saving your pilot(s). You aren't allowed to
     back-up pilots from within the game. Thus, if a pilot is killed or
     captured, the only way to get him back from inside the game is to use
     the "revive" command. Using this command, however, means the loss of
     all your points and rank. This may not be a big deal to some people,
     but frankly I'd rather not play through 38 missions and end up as a
     "Rookie" with 0 points.

     Those with the patience can always make back-ups of their pilots
     outside of the game program, popping back and forth between the two.
     This is, of course, quite time-consuming. A multitasking environment
     would solve the problem, except that X-Wing won't run reliably under
     Windows, and DOS's DOSSHELL task swapper won't let a program use
     expanded memory (as X-Wing runs better with). There may be a task
     swapping program to solve the problem (perhaps DesqView?) but I
     haven't found it yet.

     One solution is X-Wing TSR, a program that allows you to make back-ups
     of your pilot(s), as well as recall your backed-up pilots at any time
     while within the X-Wing program. Thus you can save pilots after each
     successful mission, and "revive" them if they should die or be
     captured, with no loss of rank or points!

     X-Wing TSR runs in the background until you call on it. X-Wing TSR
     requires about 5k of conventional memory on top of what X-Wing itself
     requires. It will attempt to use expanded memory to "swap" itself in
     and out each time you call on it. If you don't have any expanded
     memory, or not enough, it will use hard disk space to do this
     swapping. The 5k of conventional memory, the expanded memory and/or
     hard disk space are all returned to you when you exit X-Wing. As with
     the X-Wing game itself, you must have a 386sx or better to use X-Wing
     TSR.

     Simply explode the XWINGTSR.ZIP file in your main X-WING directory.
     You should have the following 6 files...

     XWINGTSR.BAT : Batch file you load instead of "XWING.EXE" to use
                    the capabilities of X-WING TSR
     TSR1.EXE     : The main X-Wing TSR Program
     TSR2.EXE     : Program that uninstalls X-Wing TSR when you exit X-Wing
     XWINGTSR.DOC : X-Wing TSR Documentation (you're reading it)
     PILOTS       : A text file that you modify to hold the names of the
                    pilots you would like to manipulate within X-Wing
     README       : Take a minute to read this file

     X-Wing TSR may also create a temporary file call "XWINGTSR.SWP" in
     your X-Wing directory. X-Wing TSR  deletes this file when you exit
     X-Wing (it is recreated later if necessary).

     As stated above, you need to modify the file "PILOTS" to list the
     names of the pilots you want to be able to manipulate within X-Wing.
     Any text-editing program should do the trick. Simply list the pilots'
     names (you'll see how once you load the file). They don't have to be
     in any particular order, but you will need to remember how you
     numbered them (making a quick print-out of the pilot list is the
     easiest way). You can modify this file as often as you like.

     That's all the preparation you need to do. To use X-Wing TSR, go to
     your X-Wing directory and load "XWINGTSR.BAT" instead of "XWING.EXE".
     You'll get a brief title screen reminding you of the X-Wing TSR
     commands, and how your pilots are numbered. From there it's straight
     into the game!
     NOTE: For best results, load X-Wing TSR from the DOS prompt, not a
     shell program. Loading from a shell may work, but X-Wing TSR may eat
     more than 5k, and not return it until you reset your computer. Also,
     both it and possibly your system could become unstable.

     As stated before, X-Wing TSR resides in the background. You'll never
     know it's there unless you use it. When you call it up, the X-Wing
     program will "freeze" while X-Wing TSR waits for your instructions.
     You won't see any on-screen prompts, thus you'll be entering your
     commands "blind" so to speak. But using X-Wing TSR is simple and
     quick. When X-Wing TSR is done with its work (either backing-up or
     restoring a pilot) the game will resume. If you should enter an
     improper command, X-Wing TSR will do nothing and the game will resume.

     To call up X-Wing TSR, simply hold down an "ALT" key and press "x".
     At this point the game will freeze. Your next duty is to tell X-Wing
     TSR if you'll be backing-up a pilot or reviving one. Press "B" at this
     point to back-up a pilot, or "R" to revive one. Finally, X-Wing TSR
     will wait for you to tell it which pilot to back-up or revive. Here
     you press a number from 1-9. Remember that text file and the pilot
     list you made? Well now is a good time to remember the order you put
     them in!

     So for example, you've just completed a tough mission with your pilot,
     "Ranger". You want to back him up now in case he dies later on. Since
     in your text file "pilots" you've listed "Ranger" as pilot #5, your
     keystrokes to back him up would be ALT-X, B, 5. To restore him later
     on in case he's killed or captured, the keystrokes would be
     ALT-X, R, 5. Simple!

     You'll probably notice some disk access and a momentary pause after
     you enter your commands. After a second or two X-Wing will resume.

     When you exit X-Wing, X-Wing TSR automatically removes itself from
     memory (But only if you load from the DOS prompt! See above). You'll
     notice one DOS prompt, and then a second later, another will appear
     below it. That means X-Wing TSR has been successfully uninstalled. You
     may also notice a "File Not Found" message. This is normal, and only
     means X-Wing didn't need the temporary "XWINGTSR.SWP" file (see
     above). If X-Wing cannot be successfully uninstalled (probably
     because you didn't load it from the DOS prompt) you'll get a message
     telling you so.

     If for some reason you want to load X-Wing without X-Wing TSR, just
     load "XWING.EXE" instead of "XWINGTSR.BAT"

     That's all there is to it! You'll soon be using X-Wing TSR as second
     nature and saving yourself a big headache. You'll love it the first
     time a pilot gets wasted and with a couple of quick keystrokes he's
     back!

     Remember, X-Wing TSR can only restore a pilot to the last point at
     which he was backed-up. If you don't back-up the pilot after a
     successful mission, you're taking your chances!

     Backed-up pilots are saved in your X-Wing directory as "Name.BAK".
     DO NOT try to restore a pilot who has not been previously saved, or
     press the pilot number (to save or restore) of a pilot who does not
     exist! Restoring a pilot who was not previously saved or
     saving/restoring a pilot that does not exist will cause X-Wing TSR
     to crash.