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Incident Player v1.00 documentation 22.9.1997
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0. Contents
1. Overview
2. Files
3. System requirements
4. Using ip.exe
5. Legal issues
6. Author
1. Overview
Long speeches are always terrible, so I'll be as brief as
possible. Incident is a visual presentation that tells a story.
Incident is divided into parts usually under 10 minutes in
length. Usually three different size versions of a part are
released; small, medium and large. One data file (*.dat except
ip.dat, which is the player data file) contains one size version
of one part. Usually the size versions are different only for
the mpeg encoding quality. Obviously you only need one size
version of a certain part, so if you have all three of them, you
can delete two (leave the one best suited for your quality/hd
space needs).
The basic idea is to collect all the necessary files into one
directory. This way ip.exe will be completely automatic and will
play all the data files in the directory. Other arrangements are
of course possible (see 4. Using ip.exe).
More data files will be released. Check out the Incident
web-pages (see below) for details on the current situation.
Incident web-pages are at http://www.hut.fi/~jpleppan/Incident/
2. Files
ip.exe main executable
dos4gw.exe dos extender
ip.dat player data file
ip.doc this documentation
*.dat data files
The usual rules apply to using dos4gw. Names of ip.exe and
ip.dat must not be changed and they must be in the same
directory. Apart from ip.dat all data files can be located
anywhere and their filenames are irrelevant as long as the
extension is 'dat'.
3. System requirements
Pentium 100MHz or better
6Mb free RAM (optimum is 32Mb free RAM)
SVGA with 1Mb RAM and VBE 1.2
DOS 6.2 or later
Something like this should run ip with no problems. Note that
the SVGA is optional, but if the data file contains color
pictures, you won't be able to see them. In fact the player
exits when it is supposed to display a picture and VBE 1.2 mode
0x112 is not supported. Part One does not contain color
pictures.
4. Using ip.exe
ip.exe is an extended DOS executable that runs under dos4gw dos
extender.
ip.exe does not run under win95, but runs under DOS7. ip.exe
runs under Windows NT, but NT multitasking causes ip.exe to miss
a lot of vertical retraces. This makes the animation slow and
shaky. In short: don't run ip.exe under any kind of Windows.
ip.exe could run properly in a DOS-session under OS/2. This
requires correct DOS-session settings and hasn't been tested.
Typing 'ip -h' will show this help:
--- clip ---
Incident Player v1.00
Usage: :\\ip.exe [options]
Options:
-a animation sequences only
-c perform full check on all files
-f force animation. Ignore all timing problems
-h help. This screen
-i[t] show info on data files. -it shows less info with full title
-n no play
-o sort data files by order, which is one of following:
d depicted time
p part number (default)
r release date
-p path to data files
-v verbose
-x extensive vbe info
--- clip ---
If the data files are not in the current directory, you can
specify location with the -p option. If is a
directory, ip will play all data files in that directory. If
is a file, ip will play that single file. can be
absolute or relative path.
Switch -o specifies the order in which data files are
played. As a default, data files are ordered according to the
part number. You can also use release date order, which usually
gives you the same order as part number does. Depicted time
orderes the subject matter chronologically.
Keypresses while playing: pressing esc exits the player,
pressing any other key makes the player skip the rest of the
currently playing portion and go to the next one.
Data file info display fields:
filename filename
h result of header check: o=ok, f=fail
full result of full check
title title
fsize file size
p part number
ver part version
s size version: U=undefined, S=small,
M=medium, L=large
release date of release
depicted the time and date which the contents of
the dat file depicts
Whenever anything goes wrong during playing, the first thing to
do is to run a full check on the data files with option -c.
Try freeing up some RAM if you have less than 16Mb and:
- You get an error code beginning with a zero (that is, an
error code less than 0x1000).
- You get error code 0x3020 "MPEG decoding too slow"
- Any scrolls are jerky or not smooth.
When freeing up memory, keep in mind that you want something
that dos4gw can use as virtual memory, that is, any memory above
1Mb.
If you encounter a repeatable error using ip.exe (other than out
of memory or other trivial error), send a bug report to the
author via e-mail. The report should include information about
ip.exe version, dat file info (this you can get with the -i
option), hardware information, system configuration (DOS
version, autoexec.bat, config.sys) and an error description (at
what point did the error occur, what was the error).
5. Legal issues
Disclaimer of Warranty
This software program is available to the user without any
license fee or royalty on an "as is" basis. The author
disclaims any and all warranties, whether express, implied, or
statuary, including any implied warranties or merchantability or
of fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall the
copyright-holder be liable for any incidental, punitive, or
consequential damages of any kind whatsoever arising from the
use of this program.
Incident Player v1.00 is copyright (C) 1997, Jere Leppänen. All
Rights Reserved except as specified below.
Permission is hereby granted to use, copy, and distribute this
software without fee.
For MPEG-2 decoding this program uses mpeg2play version 1.1b,
copyright (C) Stefan Eckart. mpeg2play is based on mpeg2decode,
copyright (C) 1994, MPEG Software Simulation Group.
For JPEG decoding this program uses The Independent JPEG Group's
JPEG software release 6a, copyright (C) 1991-1996, Thomas G.
Lane. I am required to state that "this software is based in
part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group".
6. Author
Jere Leppänen
Lielahdentie 3A4
00200 Helsinki, Finland
jpleppan@cc.hut.fi
http://www.hut.fi/~jpleppan/