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Welcome, W97 Testers!
"Just Made it - It's Still 97!!" - DanWow! Warpath 97
has now been RELEASED!! Currently, we are shipping
version 1.0. If you have
not yet upgraded to this version, please do so at the
earliest opportunity. Also, don't forget to get your free
Mplayer account and let me know your Mplayer
member name so we can rendevous for testing.
Meet
on Mplayer: Sundays, 7PM
West Coast time, in the CHAT lobby.
Room: Warpath 97 Beta Test Fun Club
Copyright
1997,1998 (c) Synthetic Reality Co. All Rights Reserved.
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In fact, the beta test period of Warpath97 is over. So take
anything you read here as being sort of a historical record of
what happened during beta. For one thing, I am now SELLING ACTIVATION CODES, not giving them
away. Sorry.
Congratulations, you have discovered the Warpath 97 test Page!
This page is for the use of Warpath 97 Beta Testers. Assume the
proper legal things have been said on the subjects of my not
being responsible for anything bad that might happen, and that I
am in no way relinquishing my rights to ultimately make money.
That being understood, welcome aboard!
Tester Notes and Priorities:
- This BETA 1 version is actually a release candidate,
so give it a good workout please.
- I haven't played much over Game Connection yet. Give
a telnet to lifegate.net and check Ed Stoy's Game
Connection BBS.
- IPX is done! All forms of connectivity are complete!
(yay!) Please try all combinations with as many players
as you can.
12/31/97 Ship It!
It's a done deal! It's official! Warpath 97 has crossed the
gray boundary between 'a cool toy for just us inner clique
players' into 'an actual product that people can pay money for!'
Officially, that means the beta test is DONE! Of course, I
want to keep improving an enhancing the product, so I still want
to hear people's feedback and bug reports (ha! there are no bugs
left coz you guys all did such a great job!)
I'm not going to be so silly as to upload version 1.0 to a
million shareware sites immediately. For one thing, I still have
some business work to do with the credit card stuff, so there
will be a release 1.01 for that alone. Also, I hate to put an
even-numbered version into wide-release. So try to avoid the urge
to propagate the program just yet...
12/28/97 BETA 1 is here
Nothing real new. Just cleanup for release. Fixed a few bugs
though (when you die you really lose your stuff, so no more
self-destructing from the grave, also made the slave ships a
little tougher and feistier, made gas kill faster, stopped
complaining about gas if you had the option turned off. Turned
off the diagnostic windows, fixed a WEIRD bug which left you with
two warp drives.)
11/30/97 ALPHA 8 hits the street
OK, well, nothing like saying "it's done" to make
the bugs come a flowing. This time it really is done. I mean
really. Except for any big bugs you find, this will probably be
turned into the first 'release version.' So, just to tempt fate
even further, here are some of the changes in alpha 8:
More live updates of things like the Guide, Double-click
captain's list entry to change point of view, Dumped the gray
bitmap of me from the main menu, Added more sound effects, No
longer show shield/energy level for enemy players (in the 'label'
line) unless 'see enemy point of view' is selected in the mission
settings, Merged all the button bitmaps using Duncan2's great
button utility (this reduced the bitmap count, which is a
blessing to all of us with large clusters), Fixed a bug where in
multiplayer games it didn't always tell everyone when a ship got
killed, Added frag and death counts to player statistics, Game
Over now includes 'recap' of game. High Scores records 'recap's
of high scoring games. (which means, by the way, your old hi
scores are history... sorry!), Re-wrote the online help file to
be all about Warpath97. I hope it is complete, except for the all
new auto-shopper button (near the shield control button). You're
going to love Autoshopper. trust me. Each time you dock (when it
is engaged), it automatically refills your energy pods, shields,
charge pods, and current weapons (in that order). It is so
nice.), Lots of small artwork changes throughout, Includes
Duncan's cool new animated ships and animated wormhole, Radio
pops open on top of tutorial for 'important messages' Tutorial
hints are limited to 3 times each (I mean, in a single game, you
can't see the same hint more than 3 times), All hints link to
valid help file topics, Fixed really silly bug in investment
which let you invest more than 100%, Single-click in Guide
selects 'scan planet' (in long-range scanner), Added a simple
animation when changing long-range scanner (this is the sort of
thing which is very satisfying at the end of the day. Something
easy which adds a lot), By popular demand Warp drive stays
selected (doesn't turn off after each use). The people spoke!
Also, the WARP selection in the Guide right-click popup dims as
you might expect. Found and fixed the 'residual motion' effect in
warp. silly error on my part. FOund and repaired numerous
computational glitches in the AI routines. I think the AI is
pretty smart now, when it comes to investing and colonizing. They
still fight poorly. Found, but have not repaired a 'pause on
dock' There are still a couple 'pauses' in the game which I know
can be weeded out. Finished tek level support, added some more
tek level documentation (see if you can figure out the population
history chart), Fixed a bug in tek level manufacturing. Fixed
some bugs in Atmosphere Management. And just plain fiddled with a
zillion things.
I hope you enjoy it!
10/25/97 ALPHA 7 already!
So, just thought I would throw you all for a loop by putting
out a new version before you even tried the previous one! muah ha
ha ha! as they say...
This is a minor update, including:
- It should now suppress FM sounds under NT (so should be
runnable on NT now)
- I diddled some artwork, more diddling to come
- Launch button now flashes (thanks to Stephan Schonberg
who wrote me a way cool tool just when I needed it!)
- New Installer (the real reason I am releasing this). I am
using the Winzip Self Extractor for the setup program now
since it does all I need, and better than what I was
using before. It's 200K *smaller* as well. AND it is now
'self extracting' (note the EXE extension instead of ZIP)
I predict a big future for this puppy.
So, anyway, if you could give the new installer a workout (try
installing to an unusual location) and let me know what you
think! I still need to trick it up a little to create a start
menu icon, etc.
10/12/97 ALPHA 6 is almost the end, I think
Not to frighten you (I know we all want more), but Alpha 6 is
getting close to being version 1.0, the first release. I can
always add cool new stuff in the future (thanks to the magic of
activation codes and the web).
First, the bad news. I just pulled TRACTOR, SAPPER, BEACON,
and SCATTER as they were weighing on my conscience and delaying
ALPHA 6. As of now, you wouldn't even know they existed unless
you knew I promised them in the past. They will now take on the
status of 'possible avenues of future development' as
opposed to 'present in release version 1.0' Also, I
still haven't updated the help file, but that will be a priority
for the next (final?) release.
Now the good news. Here is a partial list of ALPHA 6 thingies.
- IPX SUPPORT! I had been putting this off due to the
difficulty I experienced developing it for Warpath 1.0
under windows 3.1 in the absence of an actual IPX
network. Well, I treated myself to a new computer (a Very
Nice Computer) and now I have my own LAN (I have a hub!
only $30!) and so I dove back into IPX and, guess what?
Aside from the paltry documentation, winsock makes it
EASY! No messing around with DPMI and privileged
instructions any more. Anyway, I only have two PCs on my
LAN and it worked right away, which means there are
probably some big bugs. If you have more PCs on your LAN,
please give it a workout (make sure everyone is using the
same IPX Socket (see if you can find where it gets set).
- DIRECT ORBITAL SERVICES CHANNELS! By popular demand, and
at considerable personal risk, I moved those buttons
around so now you can step directly from the bank to the
scanner and back to the sector map. You never have to
push that dinky little X box in the upper right (I left
it in to confuse you). Instead, push that unintuitive
compass icon I had lying around.
- TEK LEVELS! This is about 70% implemented now. You can
specify the starting tek level for the game, and each
item has a minimum tek level at which it can be
manufactured. The part that is undone is the intelligent
advancement of your own tek levels as you evolve in the
game. I still haven't decided exactly how to do that. To
get a report of how I allocated the items between tek
levels, type "/tekreport" into the radio. Feel
free to suggest refinements.
- WORMGATES are a little nicer, BUSTER BOMBS are very
nasty, The new button in the MFD shows more info about
the other captains in the game (name, rank, serNum,
experience, tek level(maybe wrong), and software
version). There are more panel textures to choose from
(thanks to YOU!)
- WEAPONS SELECTIONS CHANGES. Duncan2 suggested (a lot of
things), but one which I took particularly to heart was
having your weapon selection automatically revert to
lasers at every opportunity, and to uninstall weapons
when you ran out of them. So, if you select a weapon, I
will use that. But if that weapon becomes unavailable, I
will switch you back to lasers. And for those of you who
positively HATE barrier shields (you know who you are),
there is a new option to disable them in your game. But
the AI gets to keep them. (they always had them, even
before you knew about them, even in warpath 1.0)
- BUGS FIXED in restore game, keyboard controls, dead
planets and ships, un-pause now returns you to your
original screen.
- NT NOT SUPPORTED! Well, this isn't a feature, but it has
been pointed out that my FM sound routines are objected
to by NT (as well they should, but since WIN32 doesn't
give me the control I need, I am reduced to poking
directly into the Yamaha synthesizer chip, which Win95
tolerates, but NT freaks.) To do it 'right' looks like I
would have to make my own VXD which I am unwilling to do.
So, my short term fix is to try to detect that I am
running under NT and to disable my FM sounds under those
circumstances. I am not sure I was successful, and it may
only work for new installations. Search your registry for
'enable FM sfx' or something like that, to turn it off.
(um... don't touch your registry unless you know what
you're doing) Anyway, you'll find a synthetic reality
section if you have ever run the game. My long term fix
is to implement WAV file mixing, then I will be willing
to relinquish FM sound and consider adding MIDI music
support through proper channels.
- INVESTMENT CONFUSION. Well, until I beef up the help
file, people will remain confused. Also, 'instant return
on investment' is now more accurately name 'quick return
on investment' In fact, investment always takes place on
those 10 second clock ticks. On the investment screen,
there is a 'bar' next to the graph. When you invest (say
by right clicking on a category), it drops your money
into that bar. The money is then drained from the bar and
put into the graph, a little bit (or completely) on the
next 10 second clock tick. So the BAR isn't the
investment level, it is the 'available capital' which is
then consumed either slowly or quickly. I know, it's
weird. but I like it, so there! :-)
So, anyway, this is like almost like, final. So give it a good
workout. I really really really need to get feedback on games
with more than 2 players. (and any problems exiting and
restarting games) on IPX, GAME CONNECTION, and, eventually,
Mplayer. We're on the Mplayer radar now, so we WILL be playing it
on Mplayer sometime soonish.... maybe.
And let me take this opportunity to thank you all again for
your kind words, hard work, and valuable suggestions! I know I
haven't done much to publickly acknowledge individual efforts
(partly out of laziness and a poor memory, but mainly because I
know I would ultimately upset more people than I would make
happy). In any case, you know who you are, and maybe someday
others will also know!
9/1/97 Whew! ALPHA 5 at last!
If I'm not careful, I am going to have to rename this Warpath
98!! Work continues slower than expected (Mplayer keeps me plenty
busy), but I am pleased to announce the availability of ALPHA 5.
Please note that ALPHA 5 is incompatible with ALPHA 4 (but for
good reasons), so be sure to upgrade ASAP. I think ALPHA 4 is
going to time-out today anyway.
What's new in ALPHA 5 you ask? Well, um, development was
spread out for so long I have sort of forgotten. I kinda feel
like I changed a LOT of stuff. Be sure to check out the new Panel
Textures option (and send me some cool looking textures!)
Textures should be BMP files 48x48 using the standard 16 colors
(pretty limiting, I know.) Just make files of that format and
name them TextureN.bmp and stick them in the ART folder and they
should show up on the Panel Texture menu. Or edit one of the
existing textures. Don't mail me a texture unless YOU think it
looks cool.
Also, the MFD (multi-functional display) has a new option.
Nothing amazing. I reworked wormholes so hopefully it is now
impossible to get stuck (but you do lose a shield each time you
hit the edge.) I fixed the obvious multiplayer bug with slave
ships and hunter/seeker missiles (and it was a lot of work, so I
hope it was worth it :-)
STILL UNFINISHED: tractor beam, energy sapper, beacon, buster,
and scatter. So don't waste your money buying them. Speaking of
which, I might have too many high-money options. Big money pretty
much destroys the game (or, rather, creates an entirely different
game).
I added TECH LEVEL, though I don't think you will notice it
yet. Basically as your path grows in stature your tech level
increases. This will make your lasers and basic missiles more
powerful. Also, some items might require a minimum tech level.
The AI is marginally improved. I believe they will buy
replacement ships finally. Space dock animation is a little
peppier and no longer linked to absolute frame rate (on my 486 it
was painful to wait for the animations to finish). Planets have
simple rotating bitmaps (like warpath 1.0) again. I went back to
making lasers 'standard' with the ship (too painful for newbies
otherwise), and tried to solve all existing problems with the
installed equipment being weird after your ship blows up.
I think I repaired most of the bugs reported so far (but
probably not the most recent ones)
Just to see if anyone reads this far. I think I finished the
activation code stuff. To simplify my life I am going to ask each
of you to email me individually for your codes. So send me an
email saying "I'm ready for my activation codes" And I
will reply with your very own personal codes. Part of this is to
test the code logic, so don't tell each other your codes. Two
copies of the game with the same code SHOULD refuse to play
together, though you don't get a very nice error message at the
moment. In fact you tend to both get assigned the same galaxy
slot and things get weird quickly. If you need to undo a code
setting, enter the word "shareware" in the place where
it asks for a code and press the button. That SHOULD revert you
back to shareware designation.
7/20/97
Tonight should be our first meeting on Mplayer, just to chat,
and maybe launch a few tcp/ip two-player games. I hope we can do
this regularly, but don't know yet what day and time would be the
best. See the top of this page for the current day and time and
location. To do it, just log on to Mplayer (get the Mplayer
client from www.mplayer.com (it's huge, but cool)), select the
proper lobby. Look for a room with Warpath 97 in the title and
enter it (double click on it). Then chat. Set up your mic if you
want to voice chat. If you select a small 'gizmo' from the
Mplayer options screen, you can drag Mplayer to the corner and
use its speech option during a Warpath 97 tcp/ip game. (Might
have to turn off sound in Warpath97 depending on your sound card)
7/19/97 Ooops!
I am putting version ALPHA 4 up today because, well, not
because I was finished with it, but, rather, um.. err.. I didn't
finish it IN TIME and version alpha3 went into timelock already.
Heh heh. well, I haven't checked my mail yet so I hope you all
noticed and sent me letters about it.
Something one of you DID report (but only one) was that it
seemed like the AI opponents could not be killed. Guess what? You
were RIGHT! In the solo game, it had been IMPOSSIBLE to kill an
AI opponent for who knows how long. Anyway, that must have been
frustrating. To help detect boo-boos like that in the future, I
have added a second line to the 'label' you see when pointing at
a ship. it shows the # of shields and total energy remaining in
that ship. It was suggested that information of that sort should
be available if you bought the right gadget, but for now you get
it for free.
What's new? Well... I have added functionality (but not art)
for the following: SEEKER missiles, SLAVE ships, planetary SPIES,
planetary RAIDERs, BARRIERSHIELDS, WORMGATES (I hope you think
these are cool), ESCAPE pod, SELF-DESTRUCT, AUTO_MINER (mines
until your pods are full with one click), and GAS BOMBS (oxygen,
nitrogen, methane, and potassium cyanide)
You will also be able to purchase the following items WHICH
ARE NOT IMPLEMENTED: TRACTOR BEAM, SAPPER BEAM, BEACON mine,
BUSTER bomb, SCATTER ray. Any references to GAS MINING should be
ignored, I am pulling that as simply adding gas (via gas bombs)
can accomplish the same goal with less work for me.
I also fixed a bunch of stuff, fiddled with a bunch more, and
probably broke a few things - you tell me.
Just to sell WORMGATES, the idea is that you purchase a
matched pair at the store. Then you travel to point A in (or out
of) the galaxy. You select your wormgate as if it were a weapon,
and click on the GALAXY MAP where you want the other end to
appear. Bingo, your gates are placed. Clicking on a wormgate
takes you into that end of it. After travelling through the
wormhole connecting the two worm gates, you pop out at the other
end. I have visions of fleets of vehicles travelling together to
attack en masse, after gathering together in some odd spot
outside the bounds of the galaxy itself!! Perhaps to come out to
find a sea of proximity mines waiting for them!!
Planetary spies can be placed on any planet and make that
planet report enemy ship positions to you (outlined square on the
galaxy map)
Self-destruct, in addition to its obvious use, is also the
most biggest baddest explosion in the game. It can take out a
reasonably well developed planet you might be orbiting. But at
what cost? at what cost. oh, the humanity.
gas bombs let you tune the atmosphere. Each empire has a
different desired mixture of gasses. the planetary scan map shows
the planet's atmosphere percentages in the following order: good
gas (oxygen, for humans) dontcare gas (nitrogen for humans),
stinky gas (methane for humans), and bad gas (potassium cyanide
for humans). If you have enabled 'gas management' option, you
will only be able to colonize planets with proper atmosphere mix.
(though I currently don't kill off people when the bad gas is
around, as I plan to do in the future). Adding more gas reduces
the percentages of the other gasses (so to remove a gas, add a
bunch of the other gasses instead)
slave ships and seeker missiles look identical to drone ships
(art changes coming), but slave ships keep formation with you and
shoot at people who shoot at you. seeker missiles follow the
target they are launched against and fire lasers/missiles at that
target until they get close, then they explode like a neutron
bomb.
raiders don't do anything yet, but will work away at
demolishing a planet from within.
barriershields let you cross energy barriers without damage.
(The AI guys have always had them, now you can buy them)
escape pod just warps you home (doesn't actually cost you a
ship. warps your hole ship home. it's a big pod :-)
Anyway, have fun, let me know, get your FREE Mplayer accounts!
6/16/97 Mixed Human/Bot Games Now a Reality
In the previous version, I introduced the basic UI for mixed
AI/Human in multiplayer games, but as I mentioned, it wasn't
really fully implemented. Now it is...with some caveats. The host
of the game (the guy who gets to select all the options) runs all
the bots on his (or her) machine. And those bots (especially the
smart ones) can generate a lot of packets (especially at the
start of the game and in large melee fighting), so I don't know
that it is smart to run 6 bots in a 2 human game. Unless the host
is on a T1 maybe.
Also, I filled in the Planetary Guide missing functionality,
sorting, etc. Plus a bunch of other stuff not worth mentioning. I
believe this release more or less completes the original Warpath
1.0 feature set, so I am looking forward to finally adding
something really new. I haven't quite decided which of the many
excellent suggestions I will pursue first. Probably something
surrounding the Planetary Government screen since that holds the
key to a lot of new possibilities ('quests' for example, plus my
ultimate dream of a planetary casino where you can play cards
with other captains while waiting for one thing or another. Plus
a mechwarrior planetary surface game, and a tank game, a DOOM
game, and... and... ... well, maybe I will TRY to not get too
distracted with that sort of thing right away.)
5/18/97 (I moved the Microsoft Stuff into a separate
Download)
Warpath 97 is built with Microsoft Visual C++ and uses the
Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC). As such, it depends upon some
microsoft DLLs which you probably already have, but possibly
do not. The safe thing for me to do is include the MFC stuff
along with every copy of Warpath 97. However, since the Microsoft
stuff is actually bigger than the Warpath97 stuff, this doubles
your download time for each version. Certainly, during the test
phase, I know you already have the Microsoft stuff after the
first download. So, what I am doing is splitting it up.
So, if you are a new team member, assume first that you
already have the MFC stuff and just download the actual Warpath
97 stuff. If that refuses to work for you, then download the MFC
stuff and see if that fixes it. Then get back to me. I would like
to avoid including the MFC stuff in the final product if I
possibly can.
Pre-existing members already have the MFC stuff and can
continue downloading just the Warpath files.
For the techno-dweebs, Warpath97 was built with VC++ 4.1,
using MFC, so we need the MFC4.0 stuff, but for all I know it
works fine with the MFC3.0 stuff. which shipped with Windows 95
itself. It would be great to know that for a fact since it halves
the download today, and gives me a lot of room to add features in
the future while staying small enough to fit on a single floppy.
5/15/97 (we'll pretend it was only 3 weeks between
versions)
This new version addresses some issues of common concern, but
I would still have to consider it pre-beta. There are
miscellaneous artwork 'improvements' and some specific issues
which I just emailed to the people on the beta tester list. And
come to think of it, if you're not on the beta tester list, then
you probably wouldn't recognize what was new anyway, so maybe it
is not too important to cover it in detail here. As we go
forward, I will be logging specific feature changes somewhere,
but right now it all just feels too loose to bother with that
right now :-)
If you are NOT on the beta tester list, and would like to be,
please email me at xx and let me know your name, handle and email
address. The only thing you get out of being on the list is I
send periodic mailings to that list. Oh, and the honor and the
glory, of course :-) For the most part, if you email me with
suggestions, I will add you to the list automatically, so please
be clear in every email if you want your ID kept secret.
There seems to be a bug in the SAX/Webster setup installer
that doesn't get the package installed in the folder you specify.
I will continue using the SAX product for this version and see if
it was operator error on my part. The SAX product is sort of
cool, but deficient in certain glaring ways for a product with
needs as simple as Warpath 97. At this point, I still can't give
SAX a 100% recommendation (certainly not for the full price they
quote), but I think they are headed in the right direction.
4/21/97 (the day before my birthday -- my gift to you
-- buggy software :-)
OK, this is the very first testable version. It is by no means
done, and yet it can be more or less played from beginning to
end, solo or multiplayer. I am embarassed by this first version
since it is so obviously incomplete. Basically I have focussed on
porting the original Warpath to win95, supporting the old
features as much as possible, laying the groundwork for new
features (but not actually implementing very many new features
yet), and implementing my entirely new communications layer (IPX
not done, but modem, telnet, tcp/ip, null-modem, and Mplayer are
working). But there is a lot missing. There is ZERO documentation
(when you point at things with the mouse, a short description
should appear on the status line, but that's about it. Most of
the buttons are unlabelled, as I haven't settled on my 'art
direction' yet, so point to a button to see what it is supposed
to do) The art is not yet completed, but feel free to give
suggestions. The actual artwork is all in separate files since I
know people like to diddle with the graphics and sounds. Of
course, without docmentation it is sort of a crap shoot.
Needless to say, I am already aware of a million missing parts
of the program (I leave it to you to imagine how much work it was
to get the program to this level). For example, players are not
placed in the galaxy with any intelligence (all clustered
together instead of spread out). I hope you can figure out the
space dock without help. I have big hopes for the space dock, but
this is just the first order implementation. If you haven't
played the original Warpath, I am sure this version will leave
you extremely confused.
If you do or don't want your name on this list, please let me
know. I am listing you all here to make it easier for you to find
another tester. Although the game is Mplayer-ready,
I need to get it completed before submitting it to
Mplayer, so for now we can just use Mplayer as a rendevous tool.
(Which is pretty great given the buddy list and voice chat
features of Mplayer.)
As of 9/1/97 I think this list is FULL. It doesn't mean you
can't be a beta tester, just that you can't get on this list. It
has become even more important that you get your news from
reading this page rather than expecting a direct email from me.
Sorry, I hit a limit on my emailer.
And my apologies to everyone named 'jon', 'john' or 'aaron.' I
have you all hopelessly confused in my mind now. There are just
so MANY of you! :-)
Somewhere around here my mailing list saturated, so people in
this next table definitely don't get email notifications from me,
but you still might like to talk to them directly. And Chris
Norris prefers to be called "Chrissssssss..." Honest!
:-)
All testing is appreciated, solo or multiplayer. I will put up
new versions on a regular basis (well, ok, semi-regular). The
people on this list (with email addresses) should also get an
email from me each time I do that. (no longer guaranteed - check
this page for real news)
By the way, immediate painful death to anyone who
gives or sells these email names to email advertisers. Marketeers
should understand that the way to sell is not junk email, it's
cool web pages and advertising thereon. Write your congressman
today to make junk e-mail cost the advertisers $3 a letter, paid
to YOU for receiving it.
NOTE: No new Beta Testers are required for Warpath 97. Which
is not to say I won't apreciate getting feedback on the release
versions.
However, I am immediately beginning work on another project (A
role-playing game) which will need beta testers in a month or
two, so stay posted!
To become a beta tester is as simple as sending me an email
and ask to get your name added to the list. If the list gets TOO
long, I might have to be a little selective (highly unlikely) in
which case I would probably give preferential treatment to those
testers who send good reports via email (highly encouraged).
As of 9/1/97 new beta tester recruits will probably just
receive a congratulatory email from me, and are advised to check
this page for news and not necessarily expect broadcast email
from me. it doesn't mean I don't like you, just that my list got
too long to manage correctly.
These instructions are a bit out of date, and the beta test is
now done, but I should try to keep all data neat and tidy.
I ended up dumping the SAX installer program (Sorry SAX, it
just wasn't easy to do what I wanted to do, and some bits were
just too quirky). Instead I went the Winzip Self Extractor path
and I just love it. Several people have pointed out that it is
not as professional looking as InstallShield, but it also doesn't
have 100K of overhead in the download. For the 30 seconds of your
life you spend looking at it, I think I chose the appropriate
technology.
So, just download the self-extracting EXE, execute it, and
follow the instructions it gives you (push OK a lot!)
OLD INSTRUCTIONS:
The following table has the most recent version(s) of Warpath
97. I will probably delete old versions since they will become
useless and I would like everyone to be using the same version.
Eventually the game itself will check that sort of thing. Here
are the instructions for installing Warpath97.
- Download the ZIP file (WarpathYYMMDD.ZIP)
- Unzip it into a temporary directory (or select the
INSTALL option in WinZIP, if available, and skip the next
step)
- Run the SETUP program. I suggest installing to
C:\warpath97 so we are all on the same page.
- You should then have several files in that folder, plus
two sub-folders: "art" and "sfx".
- Run warpath.exe (or warpath97.exe) and cross your
fingers.
- If you get an error message (missing file XYZ), Get my
"MFC Support Files" Download, install it, then
try again
I'm not convinced I am going to use this installer program, so
let me know what you think of it (it's the SAX setup wizard). I'm
not convinced to shell out the big bux for the release version of
SAX (which would make self-extracting installers), when WinZip
gives me the same abilities at a more reasonable registration
cost. The SAX product has shown itself to be a little buggy and
not a perfect match to my needs. I really must remember to email
them with my suggestions for improvement :-)
NOTE: I have removed the Microsoft "MFC" support
files and put them into a separate installer. You probably
already have them, so just take the Warpath97 download first and
see that it runs. If not, then get the "MFC Support
Files" download. For the remainder of the Test Period I will
NOT include the MFC stuff inside of the Warpath97 downloads.
NOTE: These files all went out of date on 1/1/98, and are
included here for historical purposes only. You should now get
your files from the main Warpath 97 page.
It is perfectly OK with me that you share
these files with your friends and encourage them to take part in
the testing, but please
do not upload the files to
bulletin boards and the like since they will go out of date so
quickly. As much as possible, I would like people to get their
files directly from this page, thanks!
Please let me know (via email) anything and everything you
have to say. Bugs, oddities, points of confusion, and just
general enhancment suggestions for the program and help file.
I have an extremely long list of suggested enhancements
already, so please don't be depressed if I don't seem to give you
due credit for your idea. Just because I already had it written
down doesn't mean you didn't also think of it :-) However, *do*
enter all your requests, even if you think they ARE already
written down, since that is a form of 'voting' which I use to
pick the next feature to implement. I am only recently feeling
that W97 finally encapsulates most of the original Warpath
features and I can start working on truly new features (whew!)
But, of course, I am a little burned out and it is very
invigorating to get your enthusuastic letters on the subject!
So far (fingers crossed and tempting fate) no one has reported
an actual CRASH of the program. (well, I am discounting the sound
crashes on NT...)
Unfortunately, my email reader doesn't support attachments, so
thanks for all the BMPs and such (and you KNOW I could use them
:-), but they really are a lost cause since they get converted
into something useless before I get to see them.
My continued thanks, and welcome to all new members!
Dan Samuel
Synthetic Reality Co.
http://www.synthetic-reality.com
Copyright 1997 (c) Dan Samuel for Synthetic Reality Co. All
rights and revenues reserved.