DSGE v1.00 Written by Andrew Pye
Introduction
Hi, there! First, I would like to thank you for taking the time to
download this and try it out. Second, I'd like to thank Brian C. McDonald
(author of "GODLIKE.PLR") for inspiring me to actually distribute this
(it's been hanging around, wasting HD space for months now...) and give
me Darren Lo's "*.PLR Offset Tables, version .1" (oh, BTW: I'd like to
thank him too :-), though, all I got from his list was the offsets of
where the horizontal and vertical screen sizes were. I found everything
else out on my own (come to think of it, I think I found those a near the
beginning of my hacking... Anyways, I only decided to add them after I
saw Darren's file)). Third, DSGE stands for "Descent Save Game Editor"
(yes, I know, you edit player files, not specifically save games, but DPE
(Descent Player Editor) didn't have the same ring to it :-) ).
Disclamer
I hate these, but they are necessary... I, myself, the author of the
program, nor the creators of Descent, or anybody else, for that matter,
will not be held responsible for any stupid descisions made on your
behalf. I have listed in this document all known bugs, inacuracies, etc.
in DSGE. If your hard disk gets trashed, all your player files screwed
up, get dumped by your girlfriend/boyfriend, get thrown into a Nazi prison
camp, I, myself, the author of the program, nor the creators of Descent,
or anybody else, for that matter, will NOT be held responsible. Now,
without further delays, here's the rest of the document.
History
DSGE was born about 2 or 3 weeks after Christmas. Since then, it's
been collecting dust on my HD until a few days ago (March 14, 1995), when
Brian told me to spread it around and "to not distribute this program
would be an injustice to all the Descent players out there." Thanks,
Brian! Why, exactly, I decided to write this, I don't know. Probably I
just got bored and decided that having like 65535 lazer energy would be
pretty cool. So, I fired up old Norton Utilities and spent a week or so
hacking the now "archaic" player file. I also decided to go all-out on
the interface, too.
Operating Instructions
Not too hard, really, since it's all menu driven and there's usually
a description of what the current menu does on the bottom of the screen.
A word of warning, though: I do not have the registered version of
Descent, and kind of cheated in places :-). For instance, giving yourself
x# of Mega Missiles will: 1) Still not allow you to use Mega Missiles
in the shareware version of the game, and 2) May not even work in the
registered version of the game, either (also note that making a weapon
that is only in the registered version of the game your current weapon in
the shareware version WILL (unless you're lucky) crash the game. You are
forewarned). I just put them in where I thought they might go. HOWEVER,
the different items in the "Lazer Type" menu WILL work in the shareware
version of the game. I've tested all of those.
For those of you who REALLY need to know, here's EXACTLY how to use
the program:
C:\>DSGE <path and file name of .PLR file WITH .PLR extention>
Substitute what's within the <>'s with what is described in the <>'s.
See? Wasn't that simple? To move up and down through the different menu
items, press the up and down key, respectively (really! What a concept!)
To select the item, press the <Enter> key (or its nearest equivilent).
To move between the different menus, press the left and right keys, or
the TAB key. For those boneheads who want to give themselves mega
armourments, like 9999 of something, though. Look at the bottom of the
screen for the minimum (usually 0 or 1) and maximum values. IF YOU GO
ABOVE THE MAX VALUES, the program will either compensate by reducing the
# by the maximum value, or the game will get royally screwed up. If you
yell at me for it, I'll point you to the following lines of this document.
Don't say I didn't warn you (see discaimer).
The rest of the program should be pretty easy to understand. If you
ever want to back out of an input field, leave it blank and press <Enter>
or press <Esc>. Also, <Esc> will get out of the program (the equivilent
to the "Exit" item on the main menu, but <Esc> will get out from either
menu). You will also not be told to save your game when you exit. If
you exited without saving, it won't complain (which isn't really that bad
since it's remarkably easy to edit the game. Only about 5 minutes lost).
Bugs / Inacuracies
Unfortunately, due to my conservatism (mostly affecting memory), this
has the following bugs / inacuracies:
* If you enter the program from a video mode outside of 80x25 (such as
80x43 or 80x50 or some other bizarre mode), the program will only save
(and therefore only redisplay on exit) the first 80x25 characters. I
decided that since most people are only using 80x25 (?), not to do
anything bigger.
* Although I made this program work on both color and monochrome (I don't
know why; I just did) monitors, I have only used the standard video
segments for displaying stuff on the screen (for various reasons).
Therefore, I have used segment 0xB800 if it detects a color monitor, or
0xB000 if it detects a monochrome monitor. If this is a program for
anyone, please tell me (via the addresses at the bottom of the screen)
and I'll either tell you how to fix it, or, if that doesn't work, I'll
recompile the source with the correct video segment for you.
* Various inacuracies in numbers. This is a big topic due somewhat by
the people who wrote Descent. When (if) you give yourself like 65535
lazer energy, it will be all messed up in the game. Don't worry. It's
because the creators of Descent didn't plan for you having >= 4 digit
numbers for some things. It may also reset in some cases (lives).
Don't worry. If anything, it'll just give you an infinite (!) ammount
of the current thing.
* If you give yourself anything higher than Lazer Type 4 and get a Lazer
Bonus item, you'll go back to Lazer Type 4. This is not a bug in DSGE,
but rather a 'safety' feature (bug?) in Descent. There is no way around
it. Be careful!
* Things pointed out above. Anything I missed here was probably because I
already mentioned it above. I just hope you read the whole document...
Other stuff
Not much here. I just wanted to point out that, although this
program is free (only because I'm too lazy to make a shareware and
registered version :-) ), I would always accept donations. Thanks.
How to reach me
I can be reached on the internet at "zaphod@linux.cowland.com", and
via US mail at:
Andrew Pye
1211 Best Road
East Greenbush, New York 12061
USA (if needed)
I know I may have come off strong, and if I did, it's because I don't want
anybody to complain about something I pointed out in here. I am welcome
to any comments/suggestions/critisisms/threats/etc. I'm pretty flexible
and if I like your idea, I'll add it. I'm always willing ot expand.
Thanks,
Andrew Pye