srvor
Visions of Reality ART Viewer
Programmed 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 ??/??/93, 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
RIP support Capn Crunch.ICE routines
FLI support uhh, damn, forgot what his name was..uhh
File Masking
Easy navigation through your directories
Supports 3800 file/directories in one sub-directory
Fully user configurable. By use of a seperate options
menu in the program
Full AnsiMation support in TEXT and MCGA modes.
Features SMOOTH-Ansi-scrollback in VGA graphics modes.
not SVGA or text modes
Features a Wide full block mode in all graphics modes
Ansi viewing modes include:
- 80x25x16 text modes
- 80x50x16 text
- 320x200x256 VGA
- 320x400x256 VGA
- 640x480x256 SVGA
- 800x600x256 SVGA
- 1024x768x256 SVGA
Supported file formats
Illuminate will view ANSI screens in all the video modes
stated above in the Features section. Also, The
Excellent MODEX library I use for some of the graphics
modes 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. It does shrink out of memory before
executing the child program, to give it the most memory
possible.
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:pathmask1,
just like you would at the DOS prompt.
A Ansimation Toggle Ansi-Mation flag for the current
highlighted file. A character appears to
the right of the filename when its tagged
as an AnsiMation.
W Wide mode Toggle W-I-D-E mode ON/OFF. This has
NO affect in Text modes.
This can also be used while viewing
ansis in graphic modes.
S Scrollback Toggle Ansi Scrollback ON/OFF. This
will work in any of the different
video modes, except svga modes.
V View mode Change the resolution that the ANSIs
are to be displayed in.
-80x25 text Normal text mode.
-80x50 text 50 line text mode. an 8x8 font.
-320x200x256 VGA Standard VGA display. This is actually
a ModeX variant, NOT MCGA.
-320x400x256 VGA ModeX variant available to ANY 100
register 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.
+ - Toggle Res. Use these HotKeys while viewing ansis
to raise or lower the current resolution.
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 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. What
this does is, it simulates the Modem Baud rate you
selected, so as the ansi is displayed it goes the same
speed or close to as it would if it were coming in
from the modem.
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...g.
- SiDS acid, for all the info, and 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.
BUG report?!
Did you noticed a BUG while using Illuminate? If so, I
would love to hear about it not!. If youd be so kind
as to Email me Lief OPardy on Seminole Wind -VOR WHQ
explaing what the error was... thank you.
Known BUGS!
- At the moment the only thing worth mentioning is that,
it seems that the 640x480x256 svga mode will not work
100 correctly on some all? TSeng. I dont know what
the problem is, so I cant fix it yet.
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.
v1.6a -1094-
? This is mainly a small maintenence release Ive been
a little lazy with Illume the last month. Not a lot
has been added or modified. I HAD planed on putting
mouse support in, but right now I dont feel like doing
it, since its SOOOO tedious to do!!! IMO, ugh...
+ Illuminate now sports a new interface, Designed by
Asterix.
+ Viewing Ansis in SVGA modes is now a LOT faster about
2x to 3x faster. The earlier code was slow due to a
stupid oversite on my part...
v1.6 -0994-
* A title screen was finally added.
* Illuminate no longer depends on ANSI.SYS for Ansi-
Mations! Illume uses direct memory writes to do
it, so that means its fast too! sometimes too fast
. So that means Illume now FULLY supports
AnsiMations in TEXT and MCGA modes! this also means
that illume no longer needs ANSI.SYS AT ALL!
- You no longer have the option of turning the cursor
ON and OFF. Now it just stays off all the time.
* Now use the + - keys while viewing an ansi to change
the current resolution. Note that, when you go from
a TEXT mode TO a Graphic mode, It will have to Create
a new palette, when you go from a Graphic mode to a
TEXT mode, it will have to Re-Load the file again. It
does this because of the way the ansi gets loaded, it
tries to use the least amount of memory possible.
* The 3 SVGA modes have been coded back into Illuminate.
finally. The code is my OWN not that BGi crap!,
and they are very limited. It only supports the VESA
standard, but that shouldnt be a problem anyways.
The setpix routine is a little slow, but that will
be speeded up later... ScrollBack is NOT supported
in the SVGA modes.
* Illuminate now incorporates SMOOTH scrolling when
viewing ANSis In the VGA Graphics modes.
+ VGA mode 360x480 was replaced with 320x400.
This mode gives the same effect of a 50 line Text mode.
+ The ANSI Pharsing routines have been improved.
It now supports files that have lines longer then 255
chars.
+ The 400 line limit in scrollback mode has been broken.
Its now only limited to the amount of conventional
memory you have available.
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!
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