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ARTVIEW v1.2 (Release 3)

July 2, 1996

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DISCLAIMER

The author is not liable for any damages incurred due to the use of this
program (ARTVIEW.EXE).  There is NO warranty for this software.  All
trademarks are the property of their respective owners.  Duke Nukem 3D is
made by 3D Realms.  3D Realms will NOT support this product nor will they
provide any technical assistance.

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Thank you for evaluating this program.  All comments, bugs, questions, etc.
may be directed toward the author.  The author's e-mail address follows as
well as a URL.

E-mail: samiel@fastlane.net
URL: http://www.fastlane.net/~samiel

Future copies of this program may be obtained by writing the author.

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REGISTRATION

Since this new release, you will be required to register ARTVIEW.EXE for a
small fee of $20.00 (US).  No, I'm just kidding, ARTVIEW.EXE is free to the
public like many of my other Duke Nukem 3D helper programs.

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DISTRIBUTION

You may distribute this program any particular way you prefer, as long as
the original file is not changed in any way that affects it's output.  I
would like to be informed of any sites which carry this for demographic
reasons, but notification to the author is not required.  A distribution
fee is allowed (if you can get away with it).

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GREETINGS

Jon "the chicken" Merkel
M&M
The Christian Tiger
And others...

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Files in this archive ARTVIEW3.ZIP :

ARTVIEW.EXE     The executable
ARTVIEW3.TXT    This help file

ARTVIEW.EXE

USAGE:

  ARTVIEW <GroupFile | ArtFile>

Artview takes either a group file (.GRP) or an art file (.ART) and tries to
read the tiles within the file.

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SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Required:

VGA Monitor
Extended Keyboard
8086 Processor
DOS 5.0
441K Free Conventional Memory

Recommended:

VGA Monitor
Extended Keyboard
80486 DX2 Processor
DOS 5.0
610K Free Conventional Memory

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NEW

Okay, I've finally put in a delay for all of you who complained that my
animation speed was too fast.  I've also centered the tiles.

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DOCUMENTATION - Please Read!

You may use the <F1> key in the program for a list of available keys.  I
will explain the keys in some detail below.

<F1>
This key will bring up the help screen.  It displays all available keys
that may be used in the program.

<F2>
This key will save the current tile to a .PCX file.  The tile will be saved
as TILExxxx.PCX where xxxx is the current tile number.  Transparency
information and pallette information will also be saved to the .PCX file.
Any file of the same name will be overwritten.  Please read the notes below 
for .PCX file saving limitations.

<Shift-F2>
This key combination will perform a screen capture.  Everything on the
screen will saved to a 320x200x256c .PCX file.  The screen will be saved
to a file named VIEWxxxx.PCX where xxxx is the current tile number.  Any
file of the same name will be overwritten.

<Tab>
This key will toggle the information at the bottom of the screen on and off. 
The information below includes the tile name, the position on the screen,
the tile number, the tile dimensions, the animation speed, the animation
X and Y coordinates, the animation type, and the animation tile number.

<Page Down>
This key will move to the next tile if it exists, crossing the .ART file
boundary if it is the last tile of the current .ART file.

<Page Up>
This key will move to the previous tile if it exists, crossing the .ART file
boundary if it is the first tile of the current .ART file.

<A>
This key will try to animate the current tile.  This key must be pressed 
over a tile that has an animation number greater than zero.  It is a good
idea to turn the transparency off before animating the tile.

<E>
If viewing a .GRP file, this key will extract the current .ART file,
overwriting any file with the same name.  The extracting speed is a little
bit faster than that of KEXTRACT.EXE.

<G>
This key will prompt for a tile number to go to.  The tile number must be
within the range of the current .ART file. 

<I>
This key will bring up a screen containing valuable information.  The amount
of memory, the amount of memory available, the current .ART file name, the
current .ART file tile range, the current tile number, and the current tile
name are all displayed.

<N>
This key will move to the first tile of the next .ART file if it exists.
In a .GRP file, the next .ART file is not always the next numerical .ART 
file.  In a .GRP file, the next .ART file is the next .ART file stored.  If
viewing a .ART file alone, this key will search for the next .ART file in 
numerical order as documented.

<P>
This key will move to the first tile of the previous .ART file if it exists.  
In a .GRP file, the previous .ART file is not always the previous numerical
.ART file.  In a .GRP file, the previous .ART file is the previous .ART file
stored.  If viewing a .ART file alone, this key will search for the previous
.ART file in numerical order as documented.

<T>
This key will toggle the transparency on and off.  When transparency is on,
the transparent color (255) will be set to the background color (0).  When 
Transparency is off, the transparent color (255) will be restored and
displayed.

<W>
This key will toggle the water pallette on and off.

<Arrow Keys>
These keys are used to scroll the image when it does not fit on the 320x200
screen.  The keys will scroll by half a screen in any direction.

<Esc>
This key will quit the program without prompting.

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NOTES

You may only write tiles that are 640x480 or less to .PCX files.  If there is
call for larger images, I may consider it.  Actually, 640x480 is a safety net
provided you have 441K of conventional memory free.  The program will really
capture up to 800x600 tiles given enough conventional memory (610K), but no
larger.

Ken Silverman created both the .ART format as well as the .GRP format.  I
wish he had not formatted it so that the tiles are in the opposite coordinate
system.  It made things more difficult, such as writing the .PCX files.

The program is about 45 microseconds slower that I wanted it to be, but I
guess I can't complain too much.

I do not think I quite center the images the same way as 3D Realms has done.
The result may be a slightly bouncy animation.

Animations of larger than 320x200 may crash the program.

The original .EXE file is 36032 bytes.  It was compiled using Turbo Pascal
7.0 using on a 486 DX2.  It compiled with 19200 bytes code and 65288 bytes
data.  Needless to say, the source code in a text file was larger that the
.EXE file (1770 lines).  Sorry about the .EXE file being so large...

The program runs in DOS real mode.  I put DOS 5.0 or higher on the above
requirements, but I believe that it may run on lower versions.  I have not
tested this on anything but DOS 6.22 and on a 486 DX2.

If you cannot meet the requirements, how are you running DN3D?

You may view your conventional memory status from DOS by using the MEM.EXE
program included with DOS.

ARTVIEW.EXE will overwrite any existing files (or try to).  This may occur
when you save a .PCX file or extract a .ART file, so be careful!

EDITART.EXE has a few bugs.  If a tile is smaller than 320x200 yet goes
off the screen, you cannot scroll to show all the tile.  This is very
apparent when viewing tile 603.  There are a few other instances as well.
The .PCX importing procedure is also a little messed up.  It seems that
EDITART.EXE reads the media resolutions of a .PCX file rather using the
X and Y minimums and maximums to calculate to actual resolution.  I have
written a little fix to this if anyone is interested...

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Q&A

Questions you may ask and answers I may give...

 Q1.  Can I have the source code?
 A1.  If you are really nice... maybe.

 Q2.  How come when I hit <P> or <N> it takes me to xxxxxnnn.ART file within 
      a .GRP file?
 A2.  <P> and <N> will go to the previous or next .ART file in a .GRP file
      literally.  The original DUKE3D.GRP file has the .ART files in the
      correct order.

 Q3.  How come <G> will only let me go to tiles in the current .ART file?
A3a.  I was too lazy to code it better...
A3b.  If you are reading a .GRP file, there may be more than one .ART file
      with the same numbered tile.

 Q4.  What did you learn while writing this program?
A4a.  The .ART file format isn't the greatest...
A4b.  .PCX files are not hard to write at all...

 Q5.  Are you going to write a .ART editor?
A5a.  What's wrong with EDITART.EXE?
A5b.  I will consider it...

 Q6.  Why does ARTVIEW.EXE crash and give me an error?
 A6.  Write down the error number, e-mail it to me, and then I might be able
      to figure it out.

Any other questions, comments, bugs reports, etc. may be directed to me...

E-mail: samiel@fastlane.net

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If you like this program, e-mail me!
If you live in the Dallas, Fort Worth (DFW) area, e-mail me for a DukeMatch!

Cheers!

Thanks to Ken Silverman and 3D Realms!

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