WC3COLOR
                             (c) 1992 Mike Hammitt
                  The Tech Board BBS (513) 385-0660 HST D/S 14.4
                     3359 Sumac Terrace Cincinnati, Ohio 45239  

                             A Wildcat! 3.x Utility
                    Distributed as FREEWARE to Wildcat! Sysops

                        Wildcat! (c) Mustang Software Inc.

   CONTENTS:
   WC3COLOR.TXT  (This text file)
   WC3COLOR.COM  (.COM file used to change colors)


 1. WC3COLOR - What is it?
   WC3COLOR is a .COM file to change the color of the prompts, file 
   names and descriptions, and messages in Wildcat! 3.x. Basically, it 
   replaces the text colors with the colors of your choice.


 2. WC3COLOR - Why use it?
   If you're a Wildcat! Sysop like me, you already know that Wildcat! is the 
   best BBS software on the market today. However, Mustang Software has not 
   made it easy to modify the text colors in Wildcat!. Wildcat! is written in 
   such a way that the text colors are intertwined within the WCTEXT.DAT, 
   WILDCAT.OVR and WILDCAT.EXE files. The purpose of WC3COLOR is to make it 
   relatively easy to modify the text colors in Wildcat! to give your BBS a 
   more distinctive appearance, rather than looking like "all the other" 
   Wildcat! BBS's.


 3. WC3COLOR - What does it do?
   WC3COLOR is a simple search-and-replace .COM routine which looks at your
   Wildcat! WCTEXT.DAT, WILDCAT.OVR and WILDCAT.EXE files for the "@0X@" codes
   and changes them to "@0X@" where "X" is the specified character as 
   determined by the command line parameter. Nothing fancy, just an automated 
   way to change the color specified to a different color.


 4. WC3COLOR - How do I use it?
   Using WC3COLOR is very simple and quick. I have included the .COM file to 
   change any foreground color (with black as the background color) to any 
   other color available using the @XX@ scheme. All the possible combinations
   of color changing cannot be easily documented here. And are limited only 
   by your imagination, so I will only give a simple example of what you can 
   do and leave the rest to your imagination! (I've been driving my users 
   nuts with my "playing" with colors!). Consult your Wildcat! 3.x manual 
   (back cover) for a listing of the color codes.


 STEP 1:
   Make a BACKUP copy of your WCTEXT.DAT, WILDCAT.EXE and WILDCAT.OVR files!

 
 STEP 2:
   Copy your WCTEXT.DAT, WILDCAT.EXE and WILDCAT.OVR files into a directory 
   containing the .COM file for WC3COLOR.


                               PAGE 1 OF 2






 STEP 3:
   Once you've decided what color(s) you want to change the text to, simply 
   run the .COM file as follows:
 
   WC3COLOR WCTEXT.DAT EC (RETURN)
   WC3COLOR WILDCAT.OVR EC (RETURN)
   WC3COLOR WILDCAT.EXE EC (RETURN) 

   In this example, we changed all the @0E@ codes for high intensity brown 
   (I call it yellow!) to @0C@ - high intensity red.

   Using the .COM file, you can easily modify the other colors used in 
   Wildcat! as well, giving your BBS it's own distinctive appearance.


 STEP 4:
   After this is done, copy WCTEXT.DAT, WILDCAT.EXE and WILDCAT.OVR back into 
   your \WC30 (node home) directory. That's it! Now the "old yeller" will be 
   gone, and replaced with your favorite colors! 

 
 USING WC3COLOR ON WILDCAT! 3.5!!:
   Mustang Software has just released a patch file for Wildcat! 3.5 to patch
   it to 3.51. In order to run this patch, your WILDCAT.EXE and WILDCAT.OVR
   files must NOT have been modified by WC3COLOR. Therefore, you must FIRST
   run the patch on "virgin" WILDCAT.XXX files, then you may use WC3COLOR to
   change the colors as desired. WCTEXT.DAT is not patched, and can be 
   modified as desired before or after using the patch. 


 OTHER USES:
   Since the .COM routine only looks for and modifies the @0X@ codes in a file
   this can also be used to modify your .BBS screens and menus using the @XX@ 
   coding scheme. Might be easier than using a drawing editor!

 
 DISCLAIMER:
   WC3COLOR is distributed as FREEWARE for Wildcat! Sysops. No warranty
   expressed, implied or inferred. 
   
   Mike Hammitt and The Tech Board BBS shall be held harmless against any 
   damages, incidental or consequential resulting from the use of WC3COLOR 
   and the programs contained therein.


 CREDITS:
   Many thanks to Rob Leclair for rewriting the .COM routine making WC3COLOR
   a viable (and very useful!) program.
   
   Thanks to Carolyn Faulkner for the "inspiration" for WC3COLOR.


 REVISION HISTORY:
   06/23/92
   Initial release.
   
   07/18/92
   .COM routine rewritten to select colors from command line. (Thanks Rob!) 
    making WC3COLOR a much easier, and smaller program! 
   Information written into the DOCS on using WC3COLOR with Wildcat! 3.50/3.51. 



                                 PAGE 2 OF 2