WELCOME BACK! This is the upgraded version of my realtime gouraud-shading engine. The program requires a 386/486 with VGA graphics and a mouse or joystick. To run the program simply type 'fast' from the dos prompt. This program is copyrighted freeware, you are allowed and encouraged to distribute it. You are however NOT allowed to charge for that distribution, apart from reasonable compensation for your expenses or the usual connect time charges on electronic bulletin board systems. You are also NOT allowed to distribute modified versions of this package (executables, data files and this document). Features: - Realtime gouraud shaded 3D objects - Joystick and mouse support - You can hop into the cockpit of a space craft and fly around - fire lasers at enemy ships - full control over your vessel: pitch,roll,yaw,accelerate and brake - radar - animated starfield background Bugs: (sadly there are still quite a few ) - In flatshaded mode sometimes the clipping doesn't work and you get 'ghost' triangles flying around - If you or the other objects leave the (quite limited) coordinate space the program will crash sooner or later - If you let the other ships get too far away from you, there will be a divide overflow and the program will crash (better don't let them leave your radar screen) - clipping on the upper screen border doesn't work too good. - too much rolling will make holes appear in the background starfield Controls: The program starts up in demonstration mode: press [ESC] to continue on to interactive mode Joystick/Mouse: moving left/right lets you yaw your craft moving up/down lets you pitch pressing button 2 on mouse or joystick while moving left/right lets you roll press button 1 to fire lasers Keyboard: [spacebar] fire lasers [+/-] accelerate/brake [f] flatshaded mode [g] gouraud mode [m] toggle other ships movement on/off [r] toggle other ships rolling on/off [ESC] exit program Radar: The two other ships will appear as dots on the radar screen if they are not too far away from you. The position on the radar (left/right/above/below center) shows the position relative to you (left/right/front/back) The COLOR of the dot indicates if the object is above or below you: red means above, blue below. The greater the vertical distance, the darker the color. NOTES: I'am still nowhere near happy with the speed of the program: On a 486 with fast VGA it really flies, on a 386/40 it is still quite slow. This brings me to the program's main flaw: All movement is controlled simply by offsets from frame to frame, which means on a really fast system it gets nearly uncontrollable while on a slowish system you're in danger of falling asleep. Timer controlled movement is one of the next major changes I'm planning. This will provide for the program running at nearly the same speed on various systems. The difference will however (quite noticeably) be in the frame rate. If you like to see what it's all about then, just after leaving the intro, accelerate a bit until you're quite close to the ship in front of you, then stop. Now press [r] to let the ship rotate about its roll-axis. Using the [f] and [g] keys to toggle between flat- and gouraud shaded mode provides a quite good impression of the drastical improvement in image quality gouraud shading offers. Have fun - Gerhard Skronn ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have any comments or suggestions you can e-mail me under the following address: COMPUSERVE: [100315,3553] INTERNET: 100315.3553@compuserve.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THIS PROGRAM ! THE PROGRAM IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT WILL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM. THIS INCLUDES BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS.