------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Contents: Notes and Tips Playtest Setup and Usage Running Under Windows 3.1 Known Bugs Future Work Items Reporting Problems ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Notes and tips: ***************************************************************************** THIS BETA WILL PROBABLY NOT RUN UNDER WINDOWS 3.1 The compiler used to build the editor no longer supports Win32s, the Windows 32 Subsystem for Windows 3.1. It is possible that once a version which has achieved widespread acceptance is reached, a Win32s version can be built. This version should run under Windows 95, 98, NT 3.51, NT 4.0, and 2000. ***************************************************************************** Starting CHIPEDIT for the first time If you start CHIPEDIT.EXE and do not specify a file, you must either open a file with the FILE/OPEN menu option or use FILE/NEW to set up a new data file. The editor does not start a file for you by default. PLEASE do read at least the first HELP page or two; although some of the help items are incomplete they are for the fairly basic dialogs; the general information in HELP is fairly complete and accurate. Windows 3.1 Users need to get the Win32s version of Help; search the web for PW1118.EXE. Putting pieces on the map Do not drag pieces onto the map from the piece window! Rather, click on a piece, then click over the squares on the map where you wish to place them. This is explained in HELP. What is CHIPEDIT.INI? CHIPEDIT.INI is a file which the editor writes when it exits. The file contains state information such as the file you were working in, the level you were working on, and the value of the check options. The next time you start CHIPEDIT, CHIPEDIT.INI will be read and your state will be restored. CHIPEDIT.INI also contains other options which tell it where to find files relevant to Playtesting, features to enable or pesky warnings to disable, and other user-configurable information. The .INI file parameters are documented in the help file. Where is CHIPEDIT.INI found? CHIPEDIT.INI is read from the directory which contains CHIPEDIT.EXE, regardless of your working directory. When CHIPEDIT exits, CHIPEDIT.INI is written to the same directory. Using Multiple OSs If your system is dual-boot and you use CHIPEDIT on multiple OSs, the same CHIPEDIT.INI file will be used. One of the options which can be set up in CHIPEDIT.INI is where to find the ENTPACK.INI file for Playtesting. The option is ENTPKINI_DIR. If you run Chip's Challenge on multiple OSs, each version may read a different ENTPACK.INI file, in the appropriate system directory for each OS. It is no longer necessary to specify ENTPKINI_DIR in the CHIPEDIT.INI file if ENTPACK.INI is in the default location on Windows NT or Windows 95. There is no default location on Windows 3.1, so it must be specified for that OS. If you must use multiple OSs, and if you wish to use Playtest, you may need multiple copies of CHIPEDIT.EXE in separate directories, each with its own CHIPEDIT.INI, in order to insure that each reads the appropriate value for ENTPKINI_DIR. If you are running only Windows NT and Windows 95, you may not need 2 copies if ENTPACK.INI is in the system directories; you can just leave ENTPKINI_DIR out of the CHIPEDIT.INI file/. If you have a choice of operating systems - and are willing to choose one, run the editor under Windows NT. The bitmap scaling feature of WinNT handles changing the size (so you can fit a whole map on the screen) much better than Windows 95. Even the Windows 3.1 scaled images look better than Windows 95. Shrinking the Palette Window Tiles NEW: You can adjust the size of the Palette window tiles with '(' and ')'. There is no menu item to choose a particular scale. THANKS! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Playtest Setup and Usage "Playtest" is the ability to start Chip's Challenge from within the editor. to test your level. The editor writes your data file to a CHIPS.DAT file, writes a startup state to ENTPACK.INI, and runs Chip's Challenge on your test level. On Windows 95 and Windows 3.1, the system call which invokes Playtest do not wait for the Chip's Challenge process to complete; on Windows NT it does. Because Chip's Challenge saves .INI file information, Playtest posts a dialog to pause itself until you have terminated the playtest session. If you press OK in the dialog before terminating the playtest, you may lose all of your high scores. The editor does provide the option of making a backup copy of your high scores, but it does not know if the data file contains real data or data from a previous playtest session. To those users of version 2.02 who may have lost their high scores before I discovered this problem, I humbly apologize. There appears to be a bug triggered by Playtesting which causes the redraw system routines to update the top left corner of the screen, rather than the top left corner of the editor window. Switching out of the editor and back in, or minimizing and re-entering the editor seem to cause the window to resume updating correctly. This only seems to occur when the scale is larger than 32. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Running Under Windows 3.1 Chip's Challenge Editor seems to be happy only if it is the only process running. Running another program in a different window can hang both windows (generally recoverable with CTRL-ALT-DEL - delete either process). The problem seems more pronounced with other Win32s applications, although the SOL.EXE which ships with Windows 3.1 is a 16-bit app and exhibits the problem. Playtest is not working under Windows 3.1, due to the problem above. The menu item is disabled by default. Some print drivers hang when printing. The results I have seen: * Panasonic KX-P 1124 (dot matrix BW printer) works * Epson Stylus 800 works if printing B&W * Epson Stylus 800 prints a map but the tiles are corrupted. It takes a long time and may appear to be hung. The help file is 32-bit help and there are no plans to make WinHelp work in Windows 3.1; the Help Compiler I have only generates WINHLP32 files. You need to get the Win32S version of WinHelp to view help; search the web for PW1118.EXE. There still are some stability problems. Save early and often, and do not run other applications in other windows while running the editor. I am not able to effectively debug the program in Windows - I have to reboot to Windows NT, build, reboot to Windows, and I can't use a debugger to look at the internal state of things so everything has to be checked with MessageBox. This is extremely time-consuming and the programmers among you will realize that this is simply not reasonable. I am aware of many of the problems. If you have the opportunity to use the editor on Windows NT and 95, please do so. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Known Problems: [Windows 3.1 only problems not included here] Color Printing works on my Epson Stylus 800 under Windows NT 4.0, but not under Windows 95. Clone buttons and machines may be properly connected, yet the game may still fail to release certain monsters when the clone machine's red button is pressed. This is a problem in Chip's Challenge, not the editor; for an example please play level 135, "Trust Me". It isn't supposed to be as easy as it turns out to be. There is a similar problem with traps. When the scale is larger than 32 and Playtesting occurs, the editor may update the top left corner of the screen instead of the top left corner of the editor map window. Generally minimizing and reopening the editor will fix the problem, and you will have to cover all of the other affected windows to get them to repaint themselves. This does not seem to occur if the scale is 32 or less. When you finish level 149, you get a fancy animation sequence indicating you have finished the game. This is regardless of the number of levels actually in the CHIPS.DAT file you are playing. You can jump to levels beyond 149 with "Goto Level". If the number of levels is other than 149 the game does not handle "finishing" the last level very well: you get a "missing or corrupt data file" message. The animation code is not implemented exactly as the game engine implements it, which results in some discrepancies in monster movement. This is primarily because I had to divine the movement rules by playtesting various situations rather than work from the original source code. In particular, discrepancies occur: * on a monster's first movement * in resolving conflicts between monsters attempting to move to the same square (collision resolution) and to a recently vacated square (order resolution) * monsters created by clone machines (their movements should be accurate, but their first move may be different and their "sequence" may not match the game engine's. Also, for some reason, some monsters do not seem to "clone" immediately - appears to be a game engine bug.) There is no documentation for the animation commands yet. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Future Work Items: The Windows PRINT dialog has a scale option which is ignored. [29] Backup [Chip's Challenge] section of ENTPACK.INI to other sections within same file. MDI ("Multiple Document Interface") ??? Animate Chip (work in progress) Verify that a solution path exists ??? Recently-used file list ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Reporting Problems and Comments: Please send comments and report problems to elion@wssnet.com. If you are reporting a software bug, please include the following: 1. Basic description of problem 2. The data file you started with (zipped if possible). If you started with a new data file please indicate how many levels you created. This is very important; I am able to decode the data file outside the editor to see if it has been corrupted; this HAS been very helpful. 3. The series of steps you took to see this problem. (Can YOU reproduce the problem by starting with the data file and following this series of steps? If not, then I probably won't be able to, either.) 4. The version of Chip's Challenge Editor as reported in the About Box. I do keep old versions and their source so I can verify problems. 5. The operating system on which you are running the editor, including version and any service packs or updates you may have installed. (i.e., Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows NT 3.51 Service Pack 3, Windows NT 4.0) I appreciate all comments and problem reports and will usually make an effort to fix them; I will reply to confirm that I have reproduced your bug and let you know when a fix is available. Comments do make a difference; I never had any intention of implementing scroll bars or configurable color backgrounds, they were added solely as a result of user requests.