TOME V3.2 MAIN MENU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RRRhitm HIT_ME_FIRST! IIIAtom ABOUT_TOME_3.2 IIIhowt HOW_TO_USE_THIS_MANUAL IIIedit HOW_TO_USE_THE_EDITOR IIIcoms HOW_TO_USE_THE_COMMANDS IIIffor FILE_FORMATS_AND_OTHER_TECHNICAL_DETAILS IIIemer WHAT_TO_DO_IN_AN_EMERGENCY IIIauth NOTES_FROM_THE_AUTHOR IIIdisk PROGRAMS_ON_THIS_DISK XXX LLLAtom About TOME ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Welcome to the AMOS TOtal Map Editor- BBBtome TOME. Before I tell you a little more about the product and how to use it let me first remind you of the amount of work that has gone into producing this package. TOME began life as a small utility on the ATARI ST which allowed the user to produce game backgrounds that are much larger than the physical screen, over a period of about two years the product was gradually improved and finally when AMOS was finished an BBBamig Amiga version was created. So you can see that the authors have spent over two years creating the ultimate BBBMaps MAP designer for use not just with AMOS but with any language on any computer, for this reason please respect the copyright of TOME and do not give copies of it to anybody else. Remember - if you RRRpira pirate this product, you could be taking away a BBBprog programmers only source of income. NNN This version is the AMOS V1.3/Compiler compatible version, which has been supplied free to all previously registered AMOS TOME users, and is included in all new AMOS TOME packages. If you are using AMOS 1.23, then upgrade to AMOS V1.32 now ! Several new commands have been added to V3.2, and the manual has been updated to detail the new commands, and to give more information on the old ones ! You will find that this manual also details the editor commands a little better, and the TOME editor has been upgraded somewhat (bugs fixed etc) and a new function has been added. Zoom Out mode, so that you can zoom out of the map and look at it displayed on the whole screen, with each tile being as small as 1 pixel. The only other major difference between this version and V3.0 of TOME, is that you have to manually install the extension. It was found that due to differences between Amiga systems, the old installer program wasn't a great idea, and that it would be easier to do the installation manually. For instructions on the installation click BBBinst HERE NNN One more change from the old TOME disk, is that JetStrike Junior is compiled on this disk, and can be either run from the workbench, or autobooted. This version has been directly compiled from the original with no tuning, and may be a little tricky to handle. The only other change between this and V3.1 is that the TILE MAKER program is now built into the actual map editor. RRR LLLinst Installing AMOS TOME ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Before you can use the TOME commands, or any of the programs on this disk, you need to install the TOME V3.1 extension onto your copy of AMOS 1.3 (or higher). Once the extension is installed into AMOS, you can use the AMOS TOME commands within your programs or in direct mode, they are part of the AMOS Language. NNN Part 1... Putting the TOME.Lib extension into the AMOS_SYSTEM directory ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is the easy bit. Load the TOME_INSTALL.AMOS program into your AMOS V1.3 and run it. Then you just need to select what version of AMOS you wish to install the extension onto. The program will then look for a disk called AMOS: (if you have ASSIGN'ed this on your hard drive it will also work) and save a program called TOME.Lib into your AMOS_SYSTEM directory. Once this is done, you can quit the TOME_INSTALL program. NNN Part 2... Telling AMOS that TOME is available ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The next step is to load in the AMOS configuration program. In V1.3 of AMOS it is called CONFIG1_3.amos. It should be on your AMOS Language disk. Find it and load it in. Next you will have to load the default configuration (on the 2nd menu) and wait for this to be loaded and converted. Then Select the 3rd menu, and select the LOADED EXTENSIONS item. This will give you a listing of all the extensions that have been installed into AMOS. You will probably have the following installed. 1:AMOS_SYSTEM/Music.Lib 2:AMOS_SYSTEM/Compact.Lib 3:AMOS_SYSTEM/Requestor.Lib 4: 5:AMOS_SYSTEM/Compiler.Lib 6:AMOS_SYSTEM/Serial.Lib 7: 8:AMOS_SYSTEM/CTEXT.Lib 9:AMOS_SYSTEM/Range.Lib NNN Click on the blank Line 7 and enter the following :AMOS_SYSTEM/TOME.Lib making sure that you enter the file name exactly. Then quit this menu and from the main menu, Save the configuration as the default. Wait until this is finished, quit the program, and count to at least 10 when the drive light goes out, making sure that the drive is completely done. Then reboot your AMOS. It should now load up with the TOME extension installed (it will show it on the list of loaded extensions when AMOS starts up). Now you have installed AMOS TOME, it has become part of your AMOS system, and its commands are now included into AMOS. RRR LLLamig What Is An Amiga? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Commodore Amiga is the flagship of Commodore Business Machines. It's rather unforgiving and cold computer which incorporates incredible hardware and has the best language on a home computer available for it (AMOS!). RRR LLLhowt How To Use This Manual ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This manual is designed to allow you to get the most out of TOME with the minimum of effort. To get to this part you would have already discovered that some of the BBBhigh highlighted words can be clicked on, this lets you jump between pieces of information which may be linked through a common theme. At any time while reading this manual you will be able to get a BBBhard hardcopy of the screen contents, I am sure that those of you who own printers will find this feature useful. RRR LLLprog What Is A Programmer? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A programmer is a person who devotes his/her life to inventing ever more complex things to do with a computer. This breed tends to be separated into two sub-species, first is the leisure programmer who gets paid very little for a lot of work. The next is the business programmer who gets paid quite a lot for doing very little. (This is the view of a leisure programmer). RRR LLLhard About Hardcopy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Hardcopy" is a piece of computer jargon which means "printout". In this program any text which is displayed on the screen can be printed on your printer by clicking on the PRINT button. We have fixed the bug that was in early versions of AMOS TOME that caused the printout to become a little skewed ! RRR LLLhigh What Are Highlighted Words? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Highlighted words are a way of drawing the users attention to something of importance. In this manual, there are 4 types of highlight. BBBblue BLUE RRRredh RED GGGgren GREEN and IIIinvr INVERSE which all do the same thing (they jump around the text), but have different meanings. RRR LLLMaps What Are MAPs? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The reason for using TOME is that it allows you to create giant screens in memory using a series of simple building blocks, these areas of memory are called MAPs- for obvious reasons. You can design a giant MAP the height of many screens and it will not take up nearly as much memory as drawing a picture that big. TOME works a little like a Jigsaw or Collage in that you first create building blocks called BBBTile TILEs , you then use the editor to paste these building blocks onto your MAP area thus creating a giant picture. This method can be seen in many commercial games which have large scrolling areas, Ghouls & Ghosts by U.S. GOLD and Rainbow Islands by OCEAN are two very good examples. RRR LLLTile What Are TILEs? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tiles are simply square blocks of a picture cut out using the utility supplied with TOME. This utility cuts up a picture into 16*16 or 32*32 BBBPixl pixel blocks and stores them as BBBico1 Icons in an AMOS Icon bank. AMOS TOME can display other sizes of tile, but you have to do a few tricks. For instance, the Zoom out function in the editor was done by making all the icons masked (with the MAKE ICON MASK command), doing a tile size s,s (where s is the small tile size) and then doing a MAP DO x,y command. The tiles will then be drawn overlapped, and only the top left corner of each tile will be displayed, giving you a zoomed out version of the map. Tiles are created by drawing them on an IFF screen, starting from the Top Left (Tile number 0) and working right, then going to the next line, working right and so on. You then load up the BBBdis2 Tile_Maker program, which converts the picture into AMOS Icons. RRR LLLico1 What Are AMOS Icons? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AMOS Icons are areas of a screen which can be cut out and saved inside a safe area of memory ready for later use. They can be thought of as less-flexible versions of AMOS BOBs. RRR LLLico2 What Are Icons? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In general computing terms an Icon is a small representative picture which is used to express the meaning of a particular function on your computer screen. For instance a picture of a printer may represent the printing function. RRR LLLPixl What Are Pixels? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A pixel is a single dot on your TV/Monitor screen. If you have an art package such as Deluxe Paint or AMOS Paint ( available from the BBBApdl AMOS_PD_LIBRARY ) you will be able to look a pixels more closely. RRR LLLApdl The AMOS Public Domain Library ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This library runs an excellent service by restricting its sales to AMOS related stuff only!! This means you get a very exclusive service at a reasonable price. Sandra also sells Deja Vu Licenseware disks, which are fully commercial programs sold through Licensed P.D Libraries. Royalties are collected on these disks, which are then payed to the authors. The game MAGIC FOREST II (Son of Wilf) is one of the AMOS TOME written games on Licenseware. This is the compiled version of the game on the BBBgood AMOS_TOME_GOODIES disk, which is only available to registered AMOS TOME users For more information on the AMOS P.D Library and Deja Vu Licensed Software contact Sandra Sharkey on- 0942 495 261 or write to her at AMOS PDL 25 PARK ROAD WIGAN WN6 7AA RRR LLLgood The AMOS TOME GOODIES DISK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This disk is only available to registered AMOS TOME Users, and includes three new games written with AMOS TOME. These are: Magic Forest II. A horizontal scrolling platform game. Green Flag. An Isometric 3D scrolling game. "The Dungeon". A Dungeon Master style 3D dungeon game. All three are supplied in AMOS 1.3 form, so that you can use the routines in your own games. This disk can be ordered direct from Shadow Software, 1 Lower Moor, Whiddon Valley, Barnstaple, N.Devon. EX32 8NW and it costs 5 pounds in the U.K. For overseas orders, please add a further 2 pounds to cover airmail postage. Please note that this disk is only available to registered TOME users, so make sure you have sent in your card ! RRR LLLedit The TOME Editor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The TOME editor allows you to create, edit and save all of your game IIIMaps MAPs . It is a very memory hungry and powerful editing system which even includes rudimentary drawing facilities similar to those found in products such as Deluxe Paint, therefore to get the most out of the system you must have at least One megabyte of memory. Being BBBico2 Icon driven (that's those little picture things!) should make the editor very easy to use, but for those people who are new to the subject of creating MAPs this section has been included to make the transition into MAP based drawing as easy as possible. When you first load the editor (called "TOME.AMOS" on your disk) you will notice that the screen is divided into four main parts. The first two are Icon bars which run along the top and bottom of the screen and control all of TOMEs functions. Each bar is divided up into a number of small pictures (Icons) and as you click on an Icon on the top bar you will notice a new selection of options appear on the bottom bar. The next part of the screen can be clearly seen at the far left of your TV/Monitor, this is the TILE selector and contains copies of all you TILEs. The scroll arrows at the top and bottom of this area allow you to move through a selection of your TILEs, you can also click on the right hand button while positioned over the map to select a TILE. At the bottom of this part of the screen is an Icon with the word PRESET on it if you click on this you will see the current range of TILEs replaced with another set, this new set is a user TILE range and allows the easy picking of often used TILEs, to find out more about this please refer to the section of this guide describing Icon 4 - Drawing Menu 1. NNN Finally is the MAP, this is the large area just off centre and to the right of the screen. It is here that you will be drawing your creations. To move around the MAP you can use the joystick, cursor keys or the little arrows in the far right corner of the top Icon bar. This scrolling is a rudimentary form of the scrolling which can be clearly seen in the demonstration programs on the disk, VELCRO_GRUB.AMOS, MAZE_MAN.AMOS, VERT_SCROLL.AMOS and HORIZ_SCROLL.AMOS. To draw on this map first click on a TILE (found to the left) and then click on the MAP part of the screen, good huh? NNN The Icons ~~~~~~~~~~~ As I said earlier the Icons in the top bar activate small menus in the bottom bar, we will now go through these Icons and each of their functions. Remember that each main Icon and each sub-Icon can be activated by using a single keypress as well as by clicking on them. Moving About the Map ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The mouse can be used to move around the displayed area of the map, and clicking with the left button will draw. Clicking on the four scroll arrows in the top right corner will scroll the map 1 tile at a time. A Joystick plugged into the other port can be used to scroll around the map (Holding the fire button down makes it scroll at 10 tiles rate). If you press the cursor keys on the keyboard, they will move the cursor around within the map display area, and pressing either SHIFT key will draw (This works for all modes of drawing !). NNN The Keypad Tile selector (New for V3.1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To make tile selection a little more rapid, the numeric keypad keys can be used to select tiles from the tile list (in either User palette or Preset Palette mode). Pressing the keypad 0 key will scroll the tiles back, and the keypad . (full stop) will scroll the tiles forward. The rest of the keypad keys are set out to represent the first 16 tiles shown on the list as a 4x4 grid (perfect for 16x16 tiles) Thus pressing the keypad ( key will select the top left tile, and pressing the Enter key will select the 16th tile (4 down, 4 across). NNN Icon 1 - Options ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sub-option 1 NICENESS Niceness allows you configure the editor to suit your own tastes. The options given allow you to change the screen from PAL to NTSC, switch on the cursor co-ordinates, adjust the TILE/Icon bar palettes, save the settings exactly how you want them and finally return everything back to their default positions. The PAL/NTSC switch will automatically detect an NTSC screen when the program is first run, but you also use this Niceness option to switch to NSTC mode manually (handy for testing your Maps in the smaller NTSC size). The Cursor co-ordinates display (to the right of the lower menu) normally show the co-ordinates (in tiles) of the top left tile in the screen being displayed. By switching the cursor co-ordinates on, it will display the tile co-ordinates of the tile under the mouse cursor. This is handy when you need to find the co-ordinates of a particular tile on the map. The palette controls are the same as in the AMOS Sprite editor (and SpriteX), and allow you to set either the colours of the control icons (to your own preference) or of the tiles themselves. Simply click on the colours you want to change, and use the sliders to set the RGB values. NNN Sub-option 2 Grid Options This controls a series of grids which can be overlayed on your MAP and TILE screens. You can also create a Flip Screen Grid, this allows you to divide up your MAP into areas marked off by a series of TILEs. You define the size of the grid by adjusting the numbers display (remember these are the width and height of the grid in TILEs not pixels). Sub-option 3 Map Size This option allows you to change the current map size. If you leave the "Initialise Map" control switched on (the default position) the whole map will be erased and replaced with the currently selected TILE or BBBtfil Tile_fill pattern. NNN Sub-option 4 Credits This doesn't do much, but it lets us tells you who did what ! Sub-option 5 Tile Value This allows you to assign up to four separate values to a single TILE, a feature handy for games where you need to detect special conditions. Each tile is refered to normally by its number, but you can also assign these tile values to the tile as secondary numbers. The tile values can mean anything you want. For instance, you could say that tile values in list 0 of 128 and above (they range from 0-255) are for solid tiles, and that anything hitting one of these tiles in your game will bounce off. You can then assign this tile value to any tiles that you want to be solid in your game. By clicking on the TILES/VALUES button (it toggles between TILES and VALUES), you can also assign the tile numbers of other tiles to a tile. This is useful when you want a tile to mutate when hit, as you can then use the =TILE VAL(x,y,l) function to find out what tile to replace it with. If, for instance, the mutate tile numbers were in tile value list 1 (Counting 0,1,2,3) then you could do the following to mutate the tile at co-ordinates X,Y: T=Tile Val(X,Y,1) Map Plot T,X,Y NNN The various options on the Tile Valuer allow you to clear all the tile values, change between lists (shown as 1,2,3 & 4, which correspond to tile list numbers 0,1,2 & 3, Must fix that sometime !) and between pages of tiles. NNN Icon 2 - Disk Menu 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The disk menu is where all input/output is controlled. For detailed information about file formats please click IIIffor here . Sub-option 1 Load Map This is used to load TOME MAPs. The maps are stored in a very simple format, and should always have the file extender .MAP When the map is loaded the =MAP CHECK command is used to go over the map and make sure that all the tiles used in the map are available. If any are not available, they will be replaced with Tile 0. For this reason it is best to load in your tiles before you load the map. This will also load in the tile values for the map (if there are any). Sub-option 2 Save Map This saves TOME MAPs. You should remember to add the .MAP extender to the filename. This will also save the Tile values with the same name as the map filename, but with .VAL added as an extra extender. Thus a map called MYMAP.MAP would have a tile value file called MYMAP.MAP.VAL NNN Sub-option 3 Load Tiles This allows you to load TILEs (AMOS Icon banks). If the number of tiles in the new bank is less than that in the previous one, TOME will MAPCHECK the map to make sure that all the tiles are available. Sub-option 4 Save Tiles This saves a set of TILEs as an Icon Bank. Remember to add the .abk extender to the filename. NNN Sub-option 5 IFF to Map converter This is a very powerful advanced function, which allows you to take an IFF picture, and convert it into a map. Each pixel of the picture being turned into a tile. This gives the effect of zooming the picture up by the size of the tiles. For instance, you could be working on a game such as Ultima, where you need to design an outside wilderness on a huge scale. Using the IFF to map converter, you simply draw the map as an IFF screen using your favourite art package. You would use one colour for grass, another for trees and another for water (you can use up to 32 colours). You would then save this IFF picture to disk and load up AMOS TOME. NNN When you select the IFF to map function, and select your picture from the file requestor, you then have to decide which colours in the picture are to represent which tiles, this is done by clicking on the tiles you want in the mini tile selector, and then clicking on the colour boxes. The I/P button at the bottom right changes the palette between that of the Tiles and that of the picture, so that you know what colours you are working with. Once you have set up the tiles to be used, click on the O.K button and drag the box over the area of the picture you want to convert. This box corresponds to the size of the map (in pixels). The conversion process looks at each pixels colour, and looks up the tile (or tiles) that you assigned to that colour. It will then plot one of these tiles on the map at that co-ordinate. The end result is that your area of IFF picture is converted into a map on a 1 pixel= 1 tile basis. NNN Icon 3 - Disk Menu 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sub-option 1 Load Briks This allows you to load a selection of BRIKs. A BRIK is a cut-out area made up of TILES. When the BRIKs are saved or loaded only the values of the TILEs are actually saved so they take up very little room (as such they are really useful as replacements for BOBs). Brik files use the .ABK extender, and are normally loaded into bank 7 (as a data bank) Sub-option 2 Save Briks allows you to save the current set of BRIKs. Remember to add the .abk extender to the file name. Sub-option 3 Load/Save Tile Palette allows you to load and save a pre-arranged set of TILEs for the user TILE palette (found by clicking on the word "PRESET"). Sub-option 4 Tile Maker This is the built in Tile Maker program (it used to be supplied as a seperate program on the older TOME disks), used to create the tiles for your map. Click BBBdis2 Here for details. NNN Icon 4 - Edit Menu 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This menu contains most of the standard MAP drawing functions, and will be the one you most use. Sub-option 1 DRAW Mode This selects standard draw mode. If you find that you have accidentally clicked on another Icon and the way the program draws is changed you can restore things back to normal by clicking here. Sub-option 2 BOX Mode allows you to draw rectangles/squares with the currently selected TILE or BBBtfil TILE_FILL pattern. When you click this option the cursor will change to a corner shape with the letters "T.L" inside it to tell you that the editor is ready for you to select the top-left position of your square, when you click on part of the MAP the cursor will be replaced with a corner shape with the letters "B.R" inside, you are then required to click on the part of the MAP you wish to make the bottom- right portion of your square. NNN Sub-option 3 CIRCLE Mode performs in the same way as drawing squares/rectangles except that it is used in drawing filled circles using the current TILE or BBBtfil TILE_FILL pattern. Sub-option 4 GRAB USER TILE mode allows you to pick TILEs from the map and place them into the USER TILE section. When used in conjunction with a user TILE range you can pick up TILEs from the MAP and place them into section of screen where the TILEs are displayed to build up a selection of often used Icons in the order you wish to place them. NNN Icon 6 - Edit Menu 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This Icon contains some of the most advanced features of TOME, so be warned - USE THEM WITH CARE! Sub-option 1 MAZE MODE By using this and selcting TILEs for corners and junctions etc. TOME will follow your mouse movements and will create instant mazes as you draw!!! The default set of tiles (from the P.D TOME game DEADLINE) have been arranged here for you to show you what tiles you need to assign. Sub-option 2 SHIFT MAP Shifts the map in any direction, this is a permenant change and will involve losing at least one line from your MAP every time it is used. This one evolved when Adam was drawing a large map, only to find that he had accidentally drawn it one tile too low ! NNN Sub-option 3 CLEAR MAP Clears the MAP to the current TILE or BBBtfil TILE_FILL pattern. Sub-option 4 AUTO MAP You have heard how MAZE MODE will follow your mouse movements to produce a maze of your design, this goes one step further and does all of the work for you! This mode can take a while especially when used on large MAPs. As with MAZE MODE, default parameters are available, but you can get good results by changing the parameters to your own liking. NNN Sub-option 5 is split into two sections, the top is random draw mode and uses a random selection from the user TILE palette to draw on the screen. The bottom is scatter mode, this will scatter TILEs over the section of map displayed on the screen. Random Draw mode is one of TOME's more versatile functions, and it uses the User Tile Palette. To use Random draw, you have to place two or more tiles in the user tile palette, and select random draw. Set the range to the number of tiles in the user tile palette that you want to use, and O.K the function. Until random draw is switched off, any drawing function will plot tiles randomly from this range in the user tile palette. NNN Icon 6 - Brik Menu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The BRIKs in TOME are basically blocks of TILEs, cut out from the MAP. These BRIKs can be used in two main ways. The first is to speed up drawing sections of your MAP, the second is to use them within your game as a form of AMOS Block or giant IIIbobs BOB . Sub-option 1 Cut Brik Mode allows you to cut out sections of your MAP to use them as BRIKs. You will get the T.L and B.R cursors like in the BOX and CIRCLE modes. Just click around the area you want to grab, and it will be copied into the current brik (Selected with the BRIK SELECT icon). And TOME will go into PASTE BRIK mode Sub-option 2 CUT BRIK from picture lets you cut out a series of TILES from the TILE selector screen to use as a BRIK. This works the same way as cut brik, but uses the tile selector screen (so you can cut out a large block as it was drawn in your original picture) NNN Sub-option 3 PASTE BRIK mode will paste the current BRIK onto the screen when you click the mouse. Sub-option 5 BRIK SELECT is the main control point for BRIKs, from here you can add, delete or select a new BRIK. Sub-option 6 BRIK FILL MODE will toggle BRIK fill mode on and off, this allows you to perform flood fills on MAPs using the current BRIK as a BBBtfil TILE_FILL . NNN Icon 7 - Fine Draw Menu 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fine draw gives you the ability to edit or create TILEs, you can use any part of your MAP as a workspace and them grab an area you have altered as a new tile. This will not alter your map in any way. It should be used as a temporary working area to draw graphics to be grabbed with the GRAB TILE function. When you scroll away from the area you have drawn, it will disapear. Sub-option 1 FINE DRAW Mode allows you to draw using a pen anywhere on the current screen. Sub-option 2 is divided into two parts, the top will draw a hollow box and the bottom part will draw a filled box. Sub-option 3 is the circle option and works in the same way as option 2. Sub-option 4 lets you draw straight lines. NNN Sub option 5 Fine Edit Tile is magnify mode, this brings up a magnified version of the currently selected TILE and lets you edit it using the same techniques used to draw on the screen. When you click on the Save icon, you get the option of saving the tile over the one you had selected (replacing it), or adding it to the end of the tile bank (This is a good way of adding new tiles). NNN Icon 8 - Fine Draw Menu 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sub-option 1 allows you to manipulate the currently selected TILE by flipping it in many different directions. Sub-option 2 lets you cut out a new TILE from the screen, this will always replace the currently selected TILE. You can actually choose between cutting the new TILE from exact pixel coordinates or from the nearest TILE position. Sub-menu 3 is divided into 2 parts, the top allows a new drawing colour to be selected and the bottom part selects a pattern fill. Sub-option 4 is once again split into 2 parts, the top selects the fine cut routine which allows you to cut out a block at any position from the MAP and the lower part of the Icon allows you to paste the cut block back at any part of the MAP. Sub-option 5 is the colour controller. The top half of the Icon lets you change the RGB values of a colour and the bottom half lets you select up to 10 user definable colour palettes. NNN Icon 9 - Locator Menu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When you have large MAPs it is important to be able to move around them easily. For this purpose locator mode allows you to store up to 10 positions on the MAP for quick reference later. Sub-option 1 pops up a box containing 10 X,Y coordinates, if you click on any one of these you current position will be stored in that box. Sub-option 2 pops up a box similar to option 1, this time if you click on an option you will be positioned on the MAP according to the X,Y coordinates in the box. Sub-option 3 lets you jump to a definable position on the MAP. Sub-option 4 finds the nearest occurrence of the currently selected TILE. Sub-option 5 is a search and replace function. First you must click on the TILE you wish to replace the redundant TILE with, you then click the TILE on the MAP which you wish to replace and it is then instantly over written with the new TILE. NNN Map Overview Mode If you press the RETURN key, or click in the centre of the scroller controller (in the right of the top menu bar) you will enter MAP OVERVIEW mode, where the view will zoom out of the map, showing it at a size of 1,2,4,8,16 or 32 pixels per tile. You can then click on any point of this display to move around the map, or change the zoom out size. One handy feature is that you can also save this screen as an IFF picture, which you can then either include in your game as a map for the players, or use as screenshots, or in the title screen or whatever you want. To exit this mode click on the O.K button, and you will be returned to normal size, with the map now at the last position you moved the zoomed out map to. RRR LLLtfil BRIK FILL MODE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TOME's Brik Fill mode is one of its more powerful functions. It enables you to design a brik, and then use it as a fill pattern in ALL the drawing functions. For instance, you could design a brik as a large floor pattern, and after switching BRIK FILL mode on, clear the map. The map would then be cleared to this floor pattern. When brik Fill mode is on, you will see a BF in the Bottom right of the Scroller Controller. RRR LLLbobs BOB killed Laura Palmer. RRR LLLcoms The TOME Commands ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The actual TOME extension only works from within AMOS The Creator, although it is quite possible to use the maps created with TOME on any machine. The commands which you can use from within AMOS are: MAP DO x,y Redraws the MAP starting from map co-ordinates "x,y" to the current screen. The MAP drawing is restricted to the window defined by the last MAP VIEW command. It is suggested that you draw your maps to a single buffered screen and SCREEN COPY them to a double buffered screen, as drawing icons to a double buffered screen is very slow. MAP TOP x,y MAP BOTTOM x,y MAP LEFT x,y MAP RIGHT x,y These four commands are exactly the same as the MAP DO command, except that they only redraw one edge of the display area. This is very handy for fast scrolling. See the demo programs on the disk for examples (in the NICEMAP: subroutine) MAP VIEW x1,y1 to x2,y2 This command creates a window to which TOME will limit all of the MAP drawing functions. Obviously the window cannot be any bigger than the currently defined screen. TILE SIZE x,y This sets the size of the tiles to be used. Normally X & Y will be either 16 or 32, but smaller sizes can be used (It normally isn't practical to use them however). NNN MAP PLOT t,x,y Places tile "t" at co-ordinates x,y in the map. The same as using the DRAW function within the TOME Editor. tx=MAP X Returns the width of the current map in TILEs. The width is passed back into variable "tx". ty=MAP Y Returns the height of the current map in TILEs. The height is passed back into variable "ty" NNN xt=XTILE(x) Changes pixel coordinate "x" into a TILE coordinate. The coordinate is passed back into variable "xt". yt=YTILE(y) Changes pixel coordinate "y" onto a TILE coordinate. The coordinate is passed back into variable "yt". tn=MAP TILE(x,y) Returns the tile number at found at MAP coordinates "x,y" into variable "tn". NNN =TILE VAL(x,y,l) Returns the value from list "l" of the tile at MAP coordinates "x,y". The tile values are edited in the TOME editor program and saved with a .MAP.VAL extension. This value file must be Bloaded into bank 8 (Reserved to 1024 bytes). For example Reserve as work 8,1024 Bload "Mymap.Map.Val",start(8) v=MAP SCANX(t,x1,y1 to x2,y2,mode) If "mode" equals zero then this command will search through the current MAP from position "x1,y1" to "x2,y2" for TILE number "t". If "mode" is greater than zero then TOME will find the nearest TILE with value "t" in list "mode". To use list mode you must have a bank with TILE values in memory. The value is passed back into variable "v". NNN v=MAP SCANY(t,x1,y1 to x2,y2,mode) If "mode" equals zero then this command will search through the current MAP from position "x1,y1" to "x2,y2" for TILE number "t". If "mode" is greater than zero then TOME will find the nearest TILE with value "t" in list "mode". To use list mode you must have a bank of TILE values in memory. The value is passed back into variable "v". NNN MAP BANK b Changes the bank used for map storage to bank b. Normally, the default is bank 6, which you should reserve to the length of the map, and then Bload the map in. e.g Rem this finds the length of the map Open in 1,"Mymap.map" L=Lof(1) Close 1 Rem This loads the map Reserve as work 6,L Bload "Mymap.map",start(6) TILE BANK b Changes the TILE value list bank from the default of 8 to "b". This is very handy if you want to keep multiple TILE value banks in memory at one time. NNN MAP BRIK n,x,y Puts brik "n" in the map at MAP co-ordinates "x,y". This does not draw the BRIK to the screen, just to the MAP. This means that the BRIK will only be seen when the next MAP DO command is executed. PASTE BRIK n,x,y Pastes BRIK "n" to the screen at pixel co-ordinates "x,y". BRIK BANK b Changes the BRIK bank from the default of 7, to "b". Used for holding multiple BRIK banks in memory. NNN n=BRIKS Returns the number of BRIKs in the current bank into variable "n". xb=BRIK X(n) Returns the x size of BRIK "n" (in TILEs) into variable "xb". yb=BRIK Y(n) Returns the y size of BRIK "n" (in TILES) into variable "yb". NNN =TME BASE This returns the memory address of the TOME Data table. This is of use to developers, and will be fully detailed on the BBBgood TOME_Goodies Disk. =TME VERS$ Returns a string giving the version number of your installed TOME extension. =TME CREDIT$ Returns the credits for TOME in a string which you can use in your program. NNN Extra Commands for TOME 3.1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Some extra commands have been added in for TOME V3.1, these are: =MAP CHECK This function will run through the map data, checking all the tiles used in the map against those available in the tile bank. If a tile is used in the map that isn't available in the tile bank, then the function will change its tile number to zero. MAP CHECK returns the number of tiles that it has had to change. TINY MAP x,y,s This command works like the MAP DO command, except that the extra s parameter stands for SIZE. So that you can do a map with a different tile size. Also, this method of drawing a map doesn't use the tile numbers from the map. It actually uses the tile value of the tiles (from list 0) and divides it by 16 to get the tile number. Tiny map tiles are stored in Bank 10. And are loaded into bank 2 as icons, then bank swapped to bank 10. This command is intended for rapidly displaying shrunken zoomed out versions of maps, where little detail is needed. NNN TINY BANK b This command changes the bank number that the Tiny Map command will get its tiles from (The default is 10) =MAP HX(n) This function returns n divided by the tile width. This is very handy when used with the NICEMAP: subroutine (as in SCROLL8.AMOS) for fine scrolling. =MAP HY(n) As Map HX, but returns n divided by the tile height. NNN =MAP FX(n) Returns n mod Tile width, again useful if used with a fine scrolling routine. =MAP FY(n) As map FX, but it is n mod tile height. You may wonder why these functions have been added, but MAP FX & MAP FY are about 3 times faster than using mod, and so they speed up your fine scrolling calculations. RRR LLLffor FILE FORMATS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Obviously if you want to use the TOME editor to produce MAPs for use on other computers or if you just want to hack around with TOME the formats of a few of the files would be handy. So here goes..... NNN TOME MAPS ~~~~~~~~~ TOME's map format is quite simple. TOME maps are stored in a memory bank in either fast or chip memory and comprise of the map data itself, with a 2 word header: Word1: Width of map in tiles (0-32767) Word2: Height of map in tiles (0-32767) These are the values that =MAP X and =MAP Y return. Next comes the data for the map itself. This is stored as 1 byte per tile and is stored row by row (Y rows of X tiles). For example. Map displayed 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F G Bank Stored 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F G NNN BRIK BANKS ~~~~~~~~~~ Slightly less simple these ones ! First there is a one word, containing the number of Briks in the bank (returns in =BRIKS). This number of longwords follow. These are the offsets from the START of the bank to the data for each Brik. Then follows the data for each brik. e.g Number of briks.W offset to brik 1.L offset to brik 2.L etc.. .. .. Brik 1 data Brik 2 data The brik data itself is stored in exactly the same format as a map, i.e 2 words for X and Y size, then 1 byte per tile. NNN TILE VALUE BANKS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tile value banks are very simple. They are stored in sets of 256 bytes, each byte representing the value for one tile. E.g 256 bytes, Val list 0 256 bytes, Val list 1 256 bytes, Val list 2 256 bytes, Val list 3 etc. The =Tile Val() command can handle up to 8 lists by the way, although the editor can only handle 4. It is easy enough to directly poke tile values into your Tile Val data area (normally bank 8) RRR LLLemer What To Do In An Emergency ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the event of any emergency when using TOME follow this guide and you should have all of your problems solved in no BBBtime time . 1] Read this manual again. 2] Check the AMOS manual (it might just be an AMOS problem!). 3] Look at the example programs on the disk, VELCRO_GRUB.AMOS contains quite a lot of TOME commands, examine the way the game works and look at the way Aaron Fothergill has worked around not only general problems but also quirky things which you may not have seen in AMOS up till now. 4] RRRscrm Scream. 5] Phone the AMOS helpline (if you are a member of the AMOS club). Finally remember the golden rule of computer users- RRRdont DON'T_PANIC!!! RRR LLLscrm Screaming is very good for you, but not for the nerves of your neighbours. RRR LLLtime What Is Time? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Time is an invention of lazy computer programmers who always say - "I'm sorry, I will need a little bit more time to finish this off. I'm just tweaking a few bits." when what they really mean is "I haven't actually done any work yet but give me a couple of days and I'll send you something along.". RRR LLLredh Red highlights warnings, so read what they say ! RRR LLLblue Blue highlights information. Pressing a blue button will get you information on that particular subject. RRR LLLgren Green buttons signify demonstrations. RRR LLLinvr Inverse buttons show menu options. RRR LLLauth Notes from the Author ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thank you for buying AMOS TOME, and I hope you find it usefull. Remember, AMOS TOME will be upgraded as we come up with new ideas, and also when the AMOS Compiler is released (April/May 1991), so fill out and send in your registration card straight away. This will enable you to get the upgrade disks when they become available. We will also be running articles on using AMOS TOME in the AMOS Newsletter, so keep your eyes open. Right, I'd like to thank several people who made this project possible, and ignore a few who didn't. Adam Fothergill : Who did all the graphics, and came up with the idea of Maze Mode, which had me working until 3am again to work out how to do it! He then sarcastically said "Why don't you make it automatically draw maps Aaron ?", He's a total scumbag ! Peter Hickman : Who wrote the manuals and nit picked all the way through the development of TOME. Francois Lionett: Who supplied all the technical data on AMOS that I needed to write the TOME extension. Sandra Sharkey : Who bug tested, suggested ideas for, and generally plugged TOME. Richard Vanner and the Mandarin formation crashing team. Who are now desperately waiting for me to finish Jetstrike, so they can have another go. And a mention for all those who bug tested: Stephen Hill, Gary Symons (who had the idea of putting the Tile maker in the editor), Len Tucker, Bob Baker, Jason Tucker and Mike Newett. Also thank you to Creative Printers of Barnstaple for doing a great job of printing the packaging and manuals. RRR LLLpira Software pirates are low IQ spotty little twerps, who cannot program. They pirate software because they are too stupid to write it, and too stupid to earn any money to buy software. Software Piracy is a RRRcrim crime. If you know any software pirates, do something RRRacid accidental to their Amiga and software ! RRR LLLcrim You know, punishable by large fines, and jail sentences, not to mention a criminal record. Even copying for your friends is illegal. Don't do it, it is killing the software industry ! There soon won't be anything left to pirate, unless you can afford a CDTV and a CD pressing plant. RRR LLLacid Shadow Software and its employees can take no responsibility for what you do to the pirate's system, but if you do it accidentally (or even better, make them do it accidentally), there is nothing they can do about it ! By the way, hot coffee or Coca Cola do the most damage ! You could be really RRRnast nasty, but we don't recomend this. RRR LLLnast Nasty includes (A) Wiring the pirate's Amiga casing into the mains, (B) Making his hard drive format itself when it gets half full, or (C) Gouging their eyes out. We don't want you doing any of these, as (A) and (C) are highly illegal, and make you just as bad as them, and (B) tends to induce violence. RRR LLLdont Well you can if you want to, but it's easier to phone us at Shadow Software, on 0271-23544. RRR LLLhitm Have you made a backup of your AMOS TOME disk ? If not, do so now ! We support the idea that (especially with the Amiga) using a backup of your commercial software is reasonable. As long as you do not copy AMOS TOME for anyone else this is fine. If you are using AMOS TOME in a recognised school (not a computer club), then you may make backups of the disk to use on each Amiga, as long as no copies of TOME leave the classroom, or the teacher in charge of the disks. NNN When writing your own software using TOME, we would like you to credit TOME in the program. You can use any of the routines out of the following files on the disk: VELCRO_GRUB.AMOS HORIZ_SCROLL.AMOS VERT_SCROLL.AMOS SCROLL8.AMOS but you must not use any of the routines out of any of the other programs on the disk as these are copyright Shadow Software 1990/91. The graphics in all the programs on the disk are copyright Shadow Software 1990/91 and shouldn't be used outside this disk. NNN We hope you enjoy using AMOS TOME, and we hope to see some of your programs soon ! RRR LLLtome TOME stands for the TOtal Map Editor, because it edits maps, and it is BBBtota TOTAL. RRR LLLtota As far as we can see, AMOS TOME is the most powerful Map editor available on any computer. RRR LLLdisk On this disk are the following programs: BBBdis1 TOME.AMOS The actual TOME editor (The new V3.1). BBBdis3 TILE_PASTER.AMOS Turns tiles back into IFF pictures. BBBdis5 TOME_TUTOR.AMOS You are using this one right now ! NNN Games/Demos BBBgam1 JETSTRIKE_JR The Jetstrike Junior game (NOT P.D !) BBBgam2 VELCRO_GRUB.AMOS A paralax horizontal scrolling game BBBgam3 SCROLL8.AMOS Maze Man, a simple 8 way scrolling game BBBgam4 VERT_SCROLL.AMOS Vertigo, a simple vertical scrolling game BBBgam5 HORIZ_SCROLL.AMOS Attack Horizon, a simpler version of Velcro Grub. Also on the disk are several maps and tile banks, as well as the pictures used in the games. You can use these maps and graphics to get going with using TOME, but please do not use them in any P.D or commercial software, as Adam will get very annoyed ! NNN LLLdis1 The TOME editor is described in this manual in full. Click BBBedit Here to view the instructions. RRR LLLdis2 The Tile Maker program allows you to take IFF picture screens created with Deluxe Paint, AMOS Paint or a similar art package (2-32 colours), and turn it into tiles for TOME to use. It used to be provided as a seperate program on the TOME disk, but is now built in to the TOME editor. When you use this routine, it will ask you to select an IFF picture to turn into tiles. Once this is loaded, you can then select what size tiles you want to turn it into (16x16, 32x16, 16x32 or 32x32 pixel) and if you want to use the BBBttdy TILE_TIDY mode. Once you have selected, click on the GO button. Once the tiles have been created, you can use them in the editor to make your map. You can load in more IFF pictures and add them to the tile bank simply by clicking on LOAD IFF, then pressing GO again. RRR LLLttdy Tile Tidy mode (when switched on) automatically discards any duplicates of tiles, thus saving memory. It does take a while, but it is worth it ! RRR LLLdis3 The Tile Paster program takes your bank of tiles, and pastes them back onto the screen, saving it as an IFF picture. This is so you can edit your tiles in your favourite art package. RRR LLLdis5 You are using the TOME TUTOR. As users give us some feedback on AMOS TOME, we will be writing another TOME TUTOR with more information, and demo programs. RRR LLLgam1 Jetstrike Junior ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This game demonstrates how AMOS TOME can be used to write a full scrolling game. Jetstrike Junior is not P.D, and you should not use any of the graphics or code in your own software. As with the rest of the TOME software, Jetstrike Junior is the copyright of Shadow Software 1991, and must not be copied in any form. Jetstrike Junior is a trainer version of its big brother Jetstrike, which will be finished sometime around Christmas 1991. The version of Jetstrike Junior on this disk has been compiled directly from the original version on the TOME V3.0 disk. Nothing has been tuned yet, so you may find the aircraft a little hot to handle ! NNN The Plot ~~~~~~~~ Xavier "Mental" Mendez has managed to take over all of the South American drugs cartels by assasinating all the other cartel leaders. He now has complete control over a massive drugs network, which is flooding the world with Heroin, Crack and Cocaine. He has also managed to buy himself a huge army and airforce, and is presently training them on a series of islands in the Pacific. It is expected that he will mount a campaign to take over most of South America, by either bribery or force, and in fact he now controls 40% of the smaller governments in the region, and around 90% of the opposition parties. It is also likely that he is funding various radical opposition movements around the world. Unfortunately this stops any of the major powers from launching a full scale offensive against him, as it could destabilize all the major governments. So each of the major powers has sent some of its top aircraft, pilots and groundcrew, along with a small ground support force, to attempt to stop Mendez. NNN As one of your country's top pilots, you have been selected for training for this mission (the mission itself is played in Jetstrike), and must complete 10 training missions to join the airforce which will be trying to stop Mendez' 'Snow Cloud'. As pilots are expensive to train, all your aircraft are fitted with automatic ejector seats, which will get you out of the aircraft in a crash (or if it blows up). To manually eject, either press SPACE, or the left mouse button. Unfortunately, you only get 3 aircraft, so don't crash too often ! NNN CONTROLS The aircraft is controlled with the joystick. UP= Rotate anti clockwise LEFT=Throttle down RIGHT=Throttle up DOWN= Rotate clockwise you can also control the throttle with the 0-9 keys. NNN WEAPONS Weapons are fired by pressing the joystick fire button. If you have the stick central, guns will be fired (These are short range and only effective against aircraft). With the stick to the left, whatever weapon you selected as weapon 1 will be fired (Air to air missiles require you to lock on to an aircraft and be within range first). Weapons such as the Mini Rockets can only be fired at the ground. With the stick to the right, Weapon 2 is fired. NNN When you select your aircraft, and when the bombing up tractor re-arms you, you can select which 2 weapon types you want to use. Simply use Joystick Up/Down to change, and Fire to select. You have a choice of 2 air to air missiles (Sidewinder and AMRAAM), as well as various bombs (2000 pounders cannot be carried by the Hawk) and rockets. There is also a drop tank so that you can extend your fuel range. NNN OTHER KEYS Once you get airborne, the U key works the undercarriage, and you can turn on display smoke can be switched on with R(ed) W(hite) and B(lue). To switch off this smoke, hit D. Go get em ! Jetstrike has 100 missions, and 30 different aircraft (as well as around 30 different weapon types) as well as being set over 1000 screens of map area ! It will be released as a budget game once finished. NNN A Tip ! When you have the undercarriage down, the fire button operates the fly by wire autolanding controls. If you hold the button down, the aircraft will automatically control its speed and descent RRR LLLgam2 VELCRO GRUB ~~~~~~~~~~~ This is a simple horizontal paralax scrolling game for 1 to 2 players. Player 1 controls the Truck, which fires shells from a cannon. It can be moved left and right with the joystick. Up makes the truck jump, and Fire fires a shell. The shell's trajectory is determined by the direction of the joystick. Player 2 controls the aircraft with joystick 0. The fire button fires. If the aircraft is moving left, the gun will fire downwards. The players have 6 lives between them (3 in 1 player mode) and can shoot each other if not careful. There is no plot, just simple mindless shooting. Have fun ! This version now works on NTSC machines also ! RRR LLLgam3 MAZE MAN ~~~~~~~~ This game is a simple demonstration of 8 way scrolling with AMOS TOME. You have to find the park keeper, who has become lost in the park maze, so that you can sack him. As AMOS TOME generated the maze (100x100 tiles or 45 screens in size) with its AUTO MAP function, it is quite a difficult one. RRR LLLgam4 VERTIGO ~~~~~~~ This is a simple vertical shoot em up. Alien ships are attacking in 5 different waves of 6 ships. Move around with the joystick, and shoot at them, avoiding colliding with either the ships or their explosions. RRR LLLgam5 ATTACK HORIZON ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is a simpler, 2 player only version of Velcro Grub. The major differences are that player 1 cannot jump, and the landscape is not paralaxed. RRR XXX