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ARTVIEW v1.1

June 28, 1996

Note:  There have been a few changes in this .TXT file, but nothing major.

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DISCLAIMER

The author is not liable for any damages incurred due to the use of this
program (ARTVIEW.EXE).  There is NO warranty for this software.  All
trademarks are the property of their respective owners.  Duke Nukem 3D is
made by 3D Realms.

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Thank you for evaluating this program.  All comments, bugs, questions, etc.
may be directed toward the author.  The author's e-mail address follows as
well as a URL.

E-mail: samiel@fastlane.net
URL: http://www.fastlane.net/~samiel

Future copies of this program may be obtained by writing the author.

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REGISTRATION

Ha!  I fooled you!  Who would think that anyone would put in hours of work
to write a program and then give it away?  Well, I would...

E-mail me if you with to show your gratitude...

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DISTRIBUTION

You may distribute this program any particular way you prefer, as long as
the original file is not changed in any way that affects it's output.  I
would like to be informed of any sites which carry this for demographic
reasons, but notification to the author is not required.  A distribution
fee is allowed (if you can get away with it).

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GREETINGS

Jon "the chicken" Merkel
M&M
The Christian Tiger
And others...

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Files in this archive ARTVIEW2.ZIP :

ARTVIEW.EXE     The executable
ARTVIEW.TXT     This help file

ARTVIEW.EXE

USAGE:

  ARTVIEW <GroupFile | ArtFile>

Artview takes either a group file (.GRP) or an art file (.ART) and tries to
read the tiles within the file.

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SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Required:

VGA Monitor
Extended Keyboard
8086 Processor
DOS 5.0
441K Free Conventional Memory

Recommended:

VGA Monitor
Extended Keyboard
80486 DX2 Processor
DOS 5.0
610K Free Conventional Memory

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NEW

I fixed some minor bugs.  I didn't accidentally post the source code this
time!

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DOCUMENTATION - Please Read!

Hello everyone!  Well, after almost 12 hours of hard work (about a 5 days on
and off) I've finally finished my tile viewing program!  You may have seen
my ARTWORK1.ZIP package containing the program VART.EXE that views tiles as
well.  Well, throw VART.EXE away, because this program is much better!

The new program ARTVIEW.EXE blows VART.EXE away!  I have included much, much
more in this program.  The most important thing is that ARTVIEW.EXE can view
tiles within .GRP files!  Yes, even all those out there with the shareware
version of Duke Nukem 3D (DN3D) will be able to view the tiles!

There are many new options in ARTVIEW.EXE, just hit the <F1> key for help
inside the program.  What options?  Well, the list follows...

<F2>            Save the tile to a .PCX file.
<Shift-F2>      Save the screen to a .PCX file.
<A>             Animate the tile!
<E>             Extract the .ART file from the .GRP file!
<T>             Turn the transparency on and off!
<W>             Show how the tile would look under water!

What's more, when you turn off the transparency or load the water pallette,
you can save what you actually see on the screen to a .PCX file!  Tiles are
saved in the format TILExxxx.PCX and screens are saved in the format
VIEWxxxx.PCX, where xxxx is the current tile number.  It willl overwrite
existing files of the same name, so be careful!

If you are viewing a .ART file in a .GRP file, hitting <E> extracts that .ART
file from the .GRP file!

If your .ART files are in the correct format (xxxxxnnn.ART), hitting <N> or
<P> will bring you to the next or previous one (respectively).  The .ART file
numbers must be consecutive though.  In a .GRP file, hitting <N> or <P> will
parse through the .ART files as well.

Using the arrow keys, you may scroll left, right, up, and down to view any
area of the tile you desire.

At the bottom of the screen are some lines of information concerning the
current tile you are viewing.  It shows the tile number and the name (if it
has one) from the original NAMES.H file.  It also shows some other
information you may be interested in.  You may use <Tab> to toggle the
information on and off.

For information about .ART file you are viewing and also for conventional
memory information, hit the <I> key.

You may use the <Page Up> and <Page Down> keys to parse through the tiles.
If you reach the last tile in a .ART file, it will automatically search
for the next .ART file if you go forward.  If you reach the first tile in a 
.ART file, it will search for a previous .ART file if you go back.

Hitting <G> will let you go to any tile within the current .ART file.

If you want to animate a tile, hit the <A> key.  You must be on the first
animation tile to do this, for this tile has the animation information.
A good thing to do is to turn off the transparency before animating.

As always, you may use the <F1> key for help.  The <Esc> key exits the
program.

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NOTES

You may only write tiles that are 640x480 or less to .PCX files.  If there is
call for larger images, I may consider it.  Actually, 640x480 is a safety net
provided you have 441K of conventional memory free.  The program will really
capture up to 800x600 tiles given enough conventional memory (610K), but no
larger.

Ken Silverman created both the .ART format as well as the .GRP format.  I
wish he had not formatted it so that the tiles are in the opposite coordinate
system.  It made things more difficult, such as writing the .PCX files.

The program is about 45 microseconds slower that I wanted it to be, but I
guess I can't complain too much.

There is only one animation speed, very, very fast!  I have been unable to
find any documentation on how the animation speed is calculated.  I think
I got the images centered correctly...

The original .EXE file is 35616 bytes.  It was compiled using Turbo Pascal
7.0 using on a 486 DX2.  It compiled with 18816 bytes code and 65288 bytes
data.  Needless to say, the source code in a text file was larger that the
.EXE file.  Sorry about the .EXE file being so large...

The program runs in DOS real mode.  I put DOS 5.0 or higher on the above
requirements, but I believe that it may run on lower versions.  I have not
tested this on anything but DOS 6.22 and on a 486 DX2.

If you cannot meet the requirements, how are you running DN3D?

You may view your conventional memory status from DOS by using the MEM.EXE
program included with DOS.

ARTVIEW.EXE will overwrite any existing files (or try to).  This may occur
when you save a .PCX file or extract a .ART file, so be careful!

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Q&A

Questions you may ask and answers I may give...

 Q1.  Can I have the source code?
 A1.  Not this time...

 Q2.  How come when I hit <P> or <N> it takes me to xxxxxnnn.ART file within 
      a .GRP file?
 A2.  <P> and <N> will go to the previous or next .ART file in a .GRP file
      literally.  The original DUKE3D.GRP file has the .ART files in the
      correct order.

 Q3.  How come <G> will only let me go to tiles in the current .ART file?
A3a.  I was too lazy to code it better...
A3b.  If you are reading a .GRP file, there may be more than one .ART file
      with the same numbered tile.

 Q4.  What did you learn while writing this program?
A4a.  The .ART file format isn't the greatest...
A4b.  .PCX files are not hard to write at all...

 Q5.  Are you going to write a .ART editor?
A5a.  What's wrong with EDITART.EXE?
A5b.  I will consider it...

Any other questions, comments, bugs reports, etc. may be directed to me...

E-mail: samiel@fastlane.net

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If you like this program, e-mail me!
If you live in the Dallas, Fort Worth (DFW) area, e-mail me for a DukeMatch!

Cheers!

Thanks to Ken Silverman and 3D Realms!

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