Readme file for VPDIST - A VGAPLANET Utility.

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		Table of Contents

Registration Information
Configuration Information
Purpose of Program
Functional Description
Version Information

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VPDIST.EXE (along with this file and its data file PLNTSORT.DAT) are
distributed as shareware.  Please give copies to your friends, etc.
If you find this program useful (if you use it more than twice), you 
are obligated to register your copy.

To register, send $5.00 along with your name and address to:

		D-Cubed Software
		PO Box 9923
		Seattle, WA  98109

This program will not grow and develop without your support!

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This application was developed on Windows 3.1 using a VGA display driver
and a 300 dpi laser printer.  I have not had an opportunity to test the
program on other configurations, so if you have a problem, please let
me know.

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The purpose of this program was originally to just generate a map of the 
stars in VGA Planets and display distances between these stars.  I decided
to key this information off of the warp speed of the ships and allow the
display of single jumps, double jumps, and triple jumps.  Since ships can
move upto 81 light years (square of max speed of warp 9), this allows the
player to display distances upto 243 light years.

Once the mapping functions were finished, I decided to add to the program
the capability to display information about the planets that a player owns.
The program allows the player to display the following data for the planets
which are owned by the player's race:

	1) Kilotons of Neutronium on the surface of the planet
	2) Kilotons of Neutronium buried in the planet and its density
	3) Kilotons of Tritanium on the surface of the planet
	4) Kilotons of Tritanium buried in the planet and its density
	5) Kilotons of Duranium on the surface of the planet
	6) Kilotons of Duranium buried in the planet and its density
	7) Kilotons of Molybdemun on the surface of the planet
	8) Kilotons of Molybdenum buried in the planet and its density
	9) Number of Supplies on the surface of the planet
	10) Megacredits of Money on the surface of the planet
	11) Number of Colonist clans on the planet
	12) Number of Native clans on the planet

Additionally, the program allows the ID number of all planets to be
displayed.

The program also displays a table of the planets and the distances to the
15 closest neighboring planets.  The table is organized as follows:

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1  [1337,2352] Ceti Alpha one        52:33  56:45  332:80  ......
 |    |    |      |                   |  |   |  |    |  |
 |    |    |      |                   |  |   |  |    |  Distance to planet
 |    |    |      |                   |  |   |  |    3rd closest planet
 |    |    |      |                   |  |   |  Distance to planet
 |    |    |      |                   |  |   2nd closest planet
 |    |    |      |                   |  Distance to planet (in light years)
 |    |    |      |                   Closest planet to this planet
 |    |    |      Name of this planet
 |    |    Vertical coordinate for this planet
 |    Horizontal coordinate for this planet
 Number of this planet

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Functional Description.

When the program first starts, several files are loaded.  These files are:

	* Planet.nm    - contains the names of the planets
	* XYPlan.dat   - contains the locations of the planets
	  PlntSort.dat - contains the sorted distance table

	* distributed with VGA Planets

The VGA Planet files are required by this program.  The sorted distance
table can be generated by this program, if the file is not found.  The user
will know that the table is missing by the lack of any distance lines 
on the original display.  Also, the icon and the menu item for the
generation of the table become enabled.

Once these files have been loaded, the display will show a map of the stars
with distance lines for single jumps of warp 9.

The user can enter commands through either the menu or the toolbar buttons.

The toolbar buttons are (from left to right):

	* List View
	  Map View

	* Light Year Distance Select
	+ Generate Sorted Distance Table

	* Zoom In
	  Zoom Out
	  Full Page

	  Show Planet IDs
	  Show Neutronium
	  Show Tritanium
	  Show Duranium
	  Show Molybdenum
	  Show Supplies
	  Show Money
	  Show Clans

	  Show Surface minerals or colonist clans
	  Show Buried minerals or native clans

	   * Enabled on original display
	   + If enabled on original display, then sorted distance table 
	      is missing and should be generated.

List View 
  This command causes the program to switch displays to show the list of 
  planets and there distances to their neighbors.
Map View
  This command causes the program to switch displays to show a graphical
  map of the planets.  This display will also show distance lines between
  the planets and, if zoomed in sufficiently, it will show numbers next to
  the planets.  These numbers will show the quantities of either the
  minerals, supplies, money, or clans on the planets owned by the player's
  race.  Race is choosen from the menu command - Players Id.
Light Year Distance Select
  This command allows the user to control which distance lines are
  displayed.  The user may choose a warp speed from 1 to 9 and also choose
  whether single, double, and triple jumps will be shown.
Generate Sorted Distance Table
  This command causes the sorted distance table to be generated.
Zoom In
  This command allows the user to change the scale for the display of the
  map.  When the user chooses this command, the icon changes to show a 
  magnifying glass with a pointer to the 'hot spot'.  The user then moves
  the 'hot spot' to the the location on the map which the user wants to
  display in the upper left corner of the window.  The user then pushes 
  the left mouse button, and while holding the button down, moves the icon
  down and to the right.  While the user holds the left button down, a 
  dashed selection box will be displayed.  When the user has expanded the 
  box to include all of the planets which the user would like to have 
  displayed on the window, the user releases the left mouse button and the
  window display will be changed.
 
  It should be noted that the display scale is the same for vertical and
  horizontal scaling.  Generally, this will mean that the user can see more
  planets in the horizontal direction than in the vertical direction.  If
  the user makes a selection box which has a higher ratio of height to 
  width than the current window ratio, then the scale will be set to insure
  that all of the vertical planets are displayed - this will mean that a lot
  more horizontal planets will be displayed than were selected.

  Additionally, the program will not display any numbers next to the planets
  until the Zoom scale is sufficient to allow the display of the numbers
  without writing over the planets.  What this means, is that the user
  must Zoom into a fairly small area before data appears.
Zoom Out
  This command changes the scale of the display of the map such that about
  twice the map area is displayed.  This will look to the user as if the
  area displayed is shrunken a bit, moved toward the center of the window, 
  and the surrounding area filled in.

  Please note that as the user continues to zooms out, the display of the
  numbers next to the planets will disappear.  The numbers disappear because
  the displayed distances between the planets is too little to allow the
  display of the numbers.  If the numbers were displayed at this scale, 
  the map would become unreadable.
Full Page
  This command changes the zoom scale back to the original display scale.
  At this scale, the largest area of the map is displayed on the window.
Show Planet IDs
  This command causes the number displayed by the planet to be equal to
  the planet's ID number.  This is the only command which will cause all
  planets on the map to have a number displayed next to the them.
Show Neutronium
  This command causes the number displayed by the planet to show the
  quantity of Neutronium.  If buried quantities are being shown, the number
  will be followed by the density of Neutronium in parentheses.
Show Tritanium
  This command causes the number displayed by the planet to show the
  quantity of Tritanium.  If buried quantities are being shown, the number
  will be followed by the density of Tritanium in parentheses.
Show Duranium
  This command causes the number displayed by the planet to show the
  quantity of Duranium.  If buried quantities are being shown, the number
  will be followed by the density of Duranium in parentheses.
Show Molybdenum
  This command causes the number displayed by the planet to show the
  quantity of Molybdenum.  If buried quantities are being shown, the number
  will be followed by the density of Molybdenum in parentheses.
Show Supplies
  This command causes the number displayed by the planet to show the 
  quantity of supplies on the planet.  This command ignores the selection
  of surface or buried.
Show Money
  This command causes the number displayed by the planet to show the
  quantity of money on the planet.  This command ignores the selection
  of surface or buried.
Show Clans
  This command causes the number displayed by the planet to show the
  quantity of clans on the planet.  The type of clans is selected by the
  surface (colonist) or buried (native) selection.
Show Surface minerals or colonist clans
  This command causes the number displayed by the planet to be equal to the
  surface quantities of the selected category.  Since natives are stuck on
  the planet, it is assumed that they are 'buried'.  Therefore, this 
  command also causes the number of clans to equal the quantity of
  colonists.
Show Buried minerals or native clans
  This command causes the number displayed by the planet to be equal to the
  buried quantities of the selected category.  Since natives are stuck on
  the planet, it is assumed that they are 'buried'.  Therefore, this 
  command also causes the number of clans to equal the quantity of natives.


The menu selections are:

	File			View		Data			
	  Print Map		  Toolbar	  Player Identification	
	  Print Map Preview	  List View	  Show Number
	  Print Setup		  Map View	  Show Neutronium
	  Exit			  Zoom In	  Show Tritanium
	 			  Zoom Out	  Show Duranium
				  Full Page	  Show Molybdenum
				  Light Years	  Show Supplies
						  Show Money
						  Show Clans
						  Surface Quantity
						  Buried Quantities
						  Generate Sort Table

Almost all of the menu commands are matched to toolbar buttons.  These
commands that are matched work the same from the menu as from the toolbar,
so their explanations will not be repeated.

Print Map
  This command causes the program to print the map of the planets.  The 
  map is split into 4 sectors, with each sector printed on a seperate page.
Print Map Preview
  This command allows the user to preview to output which will be generated
  by a Print Map command.
Print Setup
  This is the generic Windows printer setup command.
Toolbar
  This command allows the user to choose whether the toolbar is displayed.
Player Identification
  This command opens up a dialog box which allows the user to specify the
  path location of the VGA Planet player files and specify which race the
  user would like to have displayed.  The race selection is used to load
  the appropriate files into the program.  If the data is correctly loaded,
  then the program enables the commands to display minerals, supplies, 
  money, and clans as described above.

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Version Information

Version 1.0 - Initial release.  10/22/93.

Version 1.1 - Fixed bug in printing.  The bug caused only a limited number
		of planets to display information about minerals.  This
		only occurred when the player had planet information for
		planets which were in more than one sector.
	      Also sped up the start up of the routine by changing
		the method of reading the data files.  11/23/93.

