ILLUMINATE
replace this with a small font
Visions of Reality File Viewer
Coding by Lief OPardy, Asterix
RIP routines by Capn Crunch/ICE
Introduction
I Lifo would like to welcome you to Illuminate. Illuminate
was first thought of around ??/??/??, and its main purpose
then was nothing more then a Tool for me to self enhance my
skills as a programmer. Back then I was not in NPI or VOR,
it was just something *I* wanted to do. Later as time
progressed I became a member of VOR and Illuminate was
choosen as the groups Ansi Viewer, And I have never stoped
working on it since that first day. Now I believe that it IS
the BEST viewer for our 703/202/301 area, at least.
Illuminate Features
Full support for ACiDs SAUCE
File Masking
Easy navigation of your Drives and Directories
Supports up to 4000 file/directories in one sub-directory
Fully user configurable. By use of a seperate options
menu in the program
Features Ansi scrollback in many different resolutions
current max 400 lines
Features a Wide full block mode in all graphics modes
This is not working correctly, at the moment.. It will
be fixed by the next version.
Ansi viewing modes include:
- 80x25 80x50/43 text modes
- 320x200x256 MCGA mode
- 360x480x256 VGA mode
!!! - 640x480x256 SVGA mode
!!! - 800x600x256 SVGA mode
!!! - 1024x768x256 SVGA mode
!!! -SEE REVISION HISTORY BELOW FOR INFO.
Supported file formats
Illuminate will view ANSI screens in all the video modes
stated above in the Features section.
You might be wondering why is the 360x480x256 VGA mode
included?. This mode is perfect for those that do not
have SVGA capibilities, -simple as that. Also, The
Excellent MODEX library I use for this was written by Matt
Pritchard.
Illuminate supports viewing of level 0-1 RIP files. The
routines were written by Capn Crunch / ICE.
Illuminate displays normal 320x200x256 MCGA FLI files.
Illuminate will Execute EXE/COM files from the Picklist
for your convience. This was mainly added so that you
could view any Intro/Loaders that the Coders in VOR
release time to time.
Function / HotKeys
F1 Quick Help Displays a brief discription of HotKeys
F2 Option Menu Open the Options Menu. TAB can also be
used to open this. Read the Option
Menu section for more info. on it.
C Drive/Path Change your current d:pathmask,
quickly.
A Ansimation Toggle Ansi-Mation flag for the current
highlighted file.
This feature is currently ignored...
W Wide mode Toggle W-I-D-E mode ON/OFF. This has
NO affect in Text modes.
S Scrollback Toggle Scrollback ON/OFF. This will
work in any of the different video
modes except svga modes. If Scrollback
is turned OFF in any TEXT mode, then
Illuminate will view ANY SIZED file,
ansimations. The only draw back with
this at the moment is that it will
Depend on ANSI.SYS or simular for the
Ansi interpretation. This will be
changed in future versions of Illuminate.
So as long as Scrollback is ON or
your in a graphics mode, you do not
need ANSI.SYS.
V View mode Change the resolution that the ANSIs
are to be displayed in.
-80x25 text Default normal mode.
-80x43 text If you have an EGA card then the display
is compressed to an 8x10 font ....
-80x50 text .... Or if you have a VGA card then the
display is compressed to an 8x8 font.
-320x200x256 MCGA Standard VGA mode 13h display.
-360x480x256 VGA ModeX variant available to ANY 100
compatiable VGA card.
!!! -640x480x256 SVGA SVGA mode for most SVGA cards.
!!! -800x600x256 SVGA SVGA mode for some SVGA cards.
!!! -1024x768x256 SVGA SVGA mode for some SVGA cards.
!!! -SEE REVISION HISTORY BELOW FOR INFO.
Options Menu
You gain a lot of control on how Illuminate functions with
this menu. When you EXIT this menu, the current settings are
automatically saved.
Options include:
- Select ANSI viewing resolution. also can be done from
the file Picklist.
- Toggle Scrollback ON/OFF. also can be done from the
file Picklist.
- Toggle Wide mode ON/OFF. also can be done from the file
Picklist.
- Toggle Cursor ON/OFF. This only affects TEXT modes when
viewing an ANSI. This is here for, when you view an
AnsiMation and you want to see where the cursor is.
- Toggle F/X ON/OFF. With this ON, Illuminate will fade
out-in when it first starts, when it exits, and when
viewing a file.
- Toggle SAUCE ON/OFF. If this is ON, then as each
filename is displayed in the picklist, it first searches
for SAUCE in the file. This slows down the picklist a
little. So turn it off if you want it to go faster, or
if you dont want the artist name and title of the
files.
- Change the BaudRate Simulator value. This slows the CPU
clock down Internally, so this feature is not allowed in
multi-tasking evironments OS/2, Winslows, DV.
This feature is not currently Installed yet
- Change the filemasks that you want to be searched in the
picklist.
Legal MumboJumbo
- R.I.P. Remote Imaging Protocol is a Trademark of
TeleGrafix Communications, Inc.
Thanks to all...
- Asterix npivor, for ALL the help hes given me with
Illuminate, and EVERYTHING else over the last almost
year. I wouldnt be here if it wasnt for him... sob,
tear...
- SiDS tribe, for all the info, ideas hes given me
for Illuminate.
- Matt Pritchard, for his wonderfull modex library.
- Capn Crunch ice, for his RIP routines even though I
HATE that damn delay!
- did i forget anyone? hope not.
Revision History
Revision History only started with version 1.5
Legend:
* Something new that has been added with this release.
+ Something that was modified/expanded from an earlier
release.
- Something that was taken out of Illuminate, That used
to be in an earlier release.
Something BAD has happened to a certain part of
Illuminate.
v1.5 -0894-
+ When EXECUTING an EXE/COM from the picklist. Illume
will now shrink it self in memory, to give as much
memory as possible to the new executable.
Minor drawback. The configuration is now saved in an
external CFG file. For some reason the RIP routines
interfear with some of my other routines for figuring
the EXE size, so I cant attach the config there.
Even though the RIP routines are not included in this
release, I dont feel like changing everything around
again, so that the CFG is saved in the EXE.
-Live with it!
* Added XGA mode 360x480x256 for viewing ANSIs. -works
on any 100 register-compatable VGA card.
+ Completely RE-Coded the Options Menu.
+ Now 7 filemasks can be searched at once, instead of 3.
this can be changed to as many as i want, but the
option menu, can only hold so many file masks in the
list!
+ Greatly increased the scrollback speed for MCGA mode.
* 0-1 level RIP support has been implemented. Rip routines
are by Capn Chrunch / ICE. as if you couldnt tell
by the NAG when illuminate starts. ugh!
Since there were NO RIPs in this months pack, there
was no reason to include the routines, Cause of that
DAMN Delay at the beginning!
!!! * Now supports ANSI viewing in 3 NEW SVGA modes.
!!! scrollback is NOT supported in these modes
!!! The SVGA modes are made possible through the use of an
!!! external BGI file yuk!. this is just TEMPORARY, in
!!! the near future I hope, I will be replacing the BGI
!!! with internal ASM routines to do the SVGA work.
!!!- It was decided that the SVGA routines will NOT go out in this
!!! release. I agree with SiDS in what he told me, and i quote:
!!! Dump the BGI shit, it sucks and is a waste of time.. So
!!! well all just have to wait until I get REAL VESA routines.
!!! If you would care to help me with that, please contact me
!!! either on the VOR WHQ -Seminole Winds, my alias is Lief
!!! OPardy. Or you can find me on IRC a lot of the time, my nick
!!! is: lifo. I Could REALLY use help with the VESA stuff.
!!! All I need is a PutPixel routine that sets the bank in
!!! Pascal/asm! -help?!?!
v1.4 -0794-
* Added support for ANSI viewing in 320x200x256 MCGA
graphics mode. NO shading is performed
+ Completely change the picklist. It gives much more
of a professional look now.
- As of this release, Illuminate no longer supports
the playing of MOD files. Because the Mod routines
used just plain suck, and are too slow.
others that Ive forgotten...
v1.3 -0694-
EoF