                     Welcome to PlanMap II (v2.1)
==============================================================================

PlanMap 2.1 adds some features to the multi-player game VGA Planets 3.0. 

VGA Planets 3.0 is written by Tim Wisseman. Registered players of VGA Planets
3.0 may play in the same game as unregistered players. Registered players
will have a slight tech advantage. If a player decides to register the game
they can switch over to the registered version of the game and have easier
access to tech levels 7 through 10. The shareware version of VGA Planets 3.0
also allows access to all tech levels, but it takes more work to do so. VGA
Planets can be registered by its author:

	Tim Wisseman
	P.O. Box 204
	North Fork, CA 93643-0204

PlanMap runs under MS Windows 3.1 and is FREEWARE. Permission is granted to
reproduce and disseminate PlanMap as long as:

a)	no remuneration of any kind is received in exchange, and

b)      distribution is without any modification to the contents of Plan_Map.EXE
        and all accompanying documentation and/or support files. You may INCLUDE
        additional files and modifications, PROVIDED that you include an ASCII
        file with a clear notification about with files where added/modified.

There is no warranty of any kind. The author of PlanMap may not be held liable
for any damages, including any lost profits or other incidental or consequential
damages arising out of or inability to use of the software. By using the
software you agree to this.


If you like this program
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you like PlanMap, I would appreciate if you send me a postcard or something
like that to the following address:

	A. van den Bos,
	Dopperstraat 171,
	3752 JD Bunschoten,
	Holland.

If you have any questions/suggestions you can also reach me on internet:

	bos@saluton.hacktic.nl

Have fun playing VGA Planets and using PlanMap,

	Andr van den Bos, July 1994.



Installing PlanMap
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
a)    Copy all PlanMap files to a separate directory, e.g., C:\PLANMAP. Copy
      MSIM.BAT, MSIM0.BAT and SIM.BAT to your main VGA Planets directories and
      delete these files from the C:\PLANMAP directory. The two batch files
      support battle simulations.

b)    Delete the old PLAN_MAP.INI file of PlanMap v2.0x from your MS Windows
      directory.

c)    Install PLAN_MAP.EXE, SIM.BAT and MSIM.BAT in a MS Windows program
      group such that the programs appear as icons. (the standard MS Windows
      way to install a program).

d)    Set the start-up directory of Plan_Map.EXE to the PlanMap directory and
      set the start-up directory of SIM.BAT and MSIM.BAT to your main VGA
      Planets directory.


Important:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Be sure that your file with planet names, PLANET.NM and the file with race
names, RACE.NM are 100% identical to those used by the host. There are some
small differences between PLANET.NM of different VGA Planets versions. If
your files differ from the host, PlanMap's message scanners might not work
properly.



Files in this package
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PlanMap main files
--------------------
PLAN_MAP.EXE     PlanMap program
PLAN_MAP.HLP     PlanMap help file for Windows
BORTE.FON        Fixed-size font for reading and sending messages
BWCC.DLL         Library for dialog boxes

AYE-SIR.WAV      Startrek 'aye-sir' sound file
*.CAL            PlanCalc files.
*.MAP            Galaxy generation files.


Multi-ship battle simulation support files
-------------------------------------------
SIM.BAT          Batch file for a single simulation.
MSIM.BAT         Batch file for 100 simulations.
MSIM0.BAT        Batch file called by MSIM.BAT.
LISTSHIP.EXE     Lists ships in SHIP.HST file. Used by MSIM.BAT.


New planet maps
----------------
NEWMAP.EXE       DOS program to display the north or south circumpolar star map.
EGAVGA.BGI       VGA graphics driver for NEWMAP.EXE.
XYPLAN.NOR       North circumpolar star location.
PLANET.NOR       North circumpolar star names.
XYPLAN.SOU       South circumpolar star location.
PLANET.SOU       North circumpolar star names.


Other files
-------------
README.TXT       This file.
PLAN2TXT.EXE     DOS tool to convert VGA Planets message files to ASCII files.
PLANCOPY.EXE     DOS tool to copy VGA Planets files to files with filenames
                 that include the current turn number.
COPYXY.EXE       Program by Steffen Pietsch to host a game with new map.
COPYXY.DOC       Documentation file for COPYXY.EXE



Features of PlanMap 2.1:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Host:
*    Design of new planet maps, ship-, beam-, torpedoes- and engine-
     specifications, inclusive the ship bitmaps.

*    Creating, removing and editing ships, planets and starbases half-
     way a game.


Player:
*    The star map with ship movement, planet statistics and own
     drawings can selectively be displayed and printed.

*    New data on planets and star ships are automatically registered and
     stored in separate files. Players may update each other files via the
     mail-system. Messages from the host, such as sensor sweep and
     exploration messages, are also used to update the files.

*    Extended message processing: read old messages, copy and paste
     text from clipboard, delete & edit messages that are already mailed
     in the current turn.

*    An incoming message scanner detects mine fields, sensor sweep
     messages, meteor impacts, dark sense, etc., and automatically
     displays this information in the star map. Using Ctrl-Tab you may
     step through the most important events of a turn.

*    Support for multi-ship battle simulations.

*    All known data on star ships, planets and starbases can be saved as
     host files which enables you to quickly setup game specific
     simulations.

*    PlanCalc: a small spreadsheet to perform and save VGA Planets
     calculations.



Recovering from a consistent error
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I (and others, thank you all!) spend lots of time beta-testing PlanMap, so I
hope you don't need this section. This section describes how to handle if
PlanMap won't start anymore after things have worked properly.

Experience has shown that these kinds of errors are commonly invoked by some
unforeseen structure in one of the files created and maintained by PlanMap.
Make a backup of these PlanMap files, delete them and try to run PlanMap again.
If PlanMap still doesn't work, try to install PlanMap from the scratch again.
In most causes PlanMap runs again. In that cause, leave PlanMap and restore
the deleted files one by one. Using this strategy, you'll find the corrupted
file.


Cheating
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
In player mode, PlanMap will display cloaked and bypass the VGA Planets
password protection. The host should use a tool like VPHOST to remove cloaked
ships from the player's result files and a decent encryption program instead
of the worthless VGA Planets password protection. PlanMap enables the host
to view and change all planet and ship specifications and part of the starbase
specifications, which includes the number of ships in the game, the ownership
of planets and ship, the natives on a planet, the tech. levels of starbases
and so on. This feature not intended to cheat but to allow the host to setup
a new game and, for the player,  to run multi-ship battle simulations (adding
ships etc.).

The VPHOST tool can be downloaded from most VGA Planets supporting BBSes and
ftp-sites under the name VPHT199E.ARJ. The VPHOST tool is written and
copyrighted by:

	Sysma Automatisering
	tav. J.P. Dijkstra
	Fazantstraat 169
	7523 DP  Enschede
	The Netherlands
	jan-peter@saluton.hacktic.nl

