Descent trainer

              DESPATCH - The DESCENT(tm) Savegame Editor
                         Version 1.03 - May 8th, 1995
                        (c) 1995 by Jrg Weske [MUDDLE]
 Please note:
               DESPATCH will ONLY run with savegames of the
       R E G I S T E R E D   V E R S I O N
                             of DESCENT(tm)  !
              ... if you don't have it, go out and buy it !
              This great game is more than worth its price !
                                 DISCLAIMER
   YOU ARE USING DESPATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK!  THE AUTHOR (JRG WESKE) IS NOT
   LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGE CAUSED BY THE USE OF DESPATCH OR BY THE INABILITY
   TO USE DESPATCH.  IF YOU ARE NOT SURE ABOUT THIS, OR IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT
   THIS, THEN DO NOT USE DESPATCH!
   All trademarks are property of their respective owners and appear for
   identification purposes only.
   DESCENT is a registered trademark of Interplay Productions.
   PEPSI   is a registered trademark of PepsiCo Inc., Purchase, N.Y.
   Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.
  IMPORTANT NOTICE   [ Here comes the good news ]
  DESPATCH is posted as FREEWARE under the following conditions:
  [1] The copyright notices may not be removed
  [2] The program may not be sold, only given away WITHOUT any cost
  [3] The program may not be modified in any way
  [4] This file (DESPATCH.DOC) should always accompany DESPATCH.EXE
                                REQUIREMENTS
  To run DESPATCH you need:
      at least a 286 processor       (-: even DESCENT(tm) requires a 386 :-)
      a two-button mouse             (-: although one button may suffice :-)
      a VGA                          (-: ever seen DESCENT(tm) on EGA ?  :-)
      some memory [ less than 100K ]
      some kind of DOS
  DESPATCH should not be affected by the Pentium(tm) FDIV bug in any way. ;-)
                                INTRODUCTION
   When I was first given the SHAREWARE version of DESCENT(tm) by a friend and
  had  it installed on my harddisk to see  it for the first time the one thing
  that came into my mind was:
                  DESCENT(tm) - The Game Of The Year 1995 !
   I was totally blown away. After a while  of playing I accomodated to the 3D
  environment  which  had  first seemed to  me  very complicated to handle but
  turned  out to be much easier than expected. Then I started messing with the
  savegame and thus created the very first version of DESPATCH which no longer
  exists  because firstly only very few options  were delt with and secondly I
  soon  got  the  registered  version which  produces  savegames  that  have a
  completely different structure due to the ingame save option.
   The SHAREWARE  version  therefore is no  longer  supported  by this program
  because  I  think  only  people  who  are  real  DESCENT(tm)-enthusiasts and
  therefore paid for this great program should use DESPATCH to 'enhance' their
  capabilities  in  hopeless  situations  without  being  forced  to  use  the
  well-known cheats as GABBAGABBAHEY and so on.
                                   PURPOSE
   The main purpose of DESPATCH is to  enable the user to alter certain values
  stored  in the savegame to achieve  better chances in hopeless situations or
  just  to have fun flying around without needing to worry about all the enemy
  around.  With  DESPATCH you can change  almost every flag/value found in the
  game  except  LEVEL, SCORE and DIFFICULTY because  -  to my mind - there's a
  certain  amount of 'cheating fairness' which  has to remain. DESPATCH should
  rather  be  considered  a tool than a  simple  cheat which is implemented in
  DESCENT(tm)  anyway. Besides, since DESCENT(tm)  saves the exact position of
  your ship inside the maze, simply altering the LEVEL will most certainly end
  up  with you stuck inside a wall or some other place. There is no easy way I
  could  figure out and, above all, there was not much motivation for me to do
  so.  I  think the built-in feature to  restart DESCENT(tm) in any level that
  you've  already  'conquered'  is  quite  sufficient.
   But if you're really despaired because you  just cannot cope with a certain
  level  and  you  don't  want  to  use  that  silly  'FARMERJOE'  which would
  inevitably  brand  you  as a CHEATER you  will  have to alter the respective
  *.PLR  file where the highest level you've  reached so far is stored. Simply
  pop  out your diskeditor and enter the desired value at offset $1D (which is
  29  in decimal) in the *.PLR file. Then start DESCENT(tm), select the player
  whose  file  you've just edited and choose 'NEW  GAME' - hey, there we are !
  [This  information,  of  course, is classified  ;-)  and I only revealed it,
  because  there's  no  support  for this  in  DESPATCH  since my program only
  tampers  with  savegame  files and, apart from  that,  I did not really know
  where to put another pair of buttons :-) ] Please forgive me for this slight
  inconvenience  you  might  have to endure  but  normally, say, equipped with
  mega-missiles  as  quad-laser  and  a  couple  thousands  engergy and shield
  counters  you should be able to solve ANY level without batting an eyelid so
  there's  really  no utter need for the  cheat described above, it's just for
  completeness and, of course, your convenience.
                                    USAGE
   DESPATCH starts with the first savegame of the first player it finds in the
  current  directory.  To  change  the player  or  savegame  just click on the
  respective buttons. If you made any changes to the current savegame the file
  will be saved an branded with 'DESPATCHed' inside the position preview.
    CHANGING VALUES        [ not too complicated, I hope :-) ]
   Well, couldn't be simpler: just click on the respective buttons. There will
  be  a  500ms delay an then the  auto-repeat function will take over. A click
  with  the  left mouse-button will increase/decrease  the value by one, right
  button by hundred, both buttons by thousand. Hold down <SHIFT> and click any
  of  the  buttons to reach maximum/minimum  values.  To enter a certain value
  directly, just click inside the respective display. A frame will appear and,
  after you released the button, you will be prompted with a cursor. Now enter
  the desired value, use <BACKSPACE> to correct. Pressing <ESC> or hitting the
  right  mouse-button in this mode will discard  any changes to the value. Hit
  <ENTER>  to  confirm your changes, values  which  are larger or smaller than
  permissible  are  ignored, the value is  set  to the maximum/minimum for the
  current item. However, hitting <ENTER> with only the cursor displayed in the
  window, will have the same effect as <ESC> - the old value will be restored.
  Leave DESPATCH by pressing <ESC>. The current savegame will be saved.
   Remember: You cannot abort without saving, so if you do not want do change
  anything, don't run DESPATCH.
  That's it, in a nutshell !
  However,  the  best thing in DESCENT(tm) is  that  you can set higher values
  than  four  in  the  LASERLEVEL byte.  This  'bug'  provides you with almost
  everything as laser. So you could have quad-homing missiles at olny the cost
  of  some  small amount of energy from time  to  time. But be careful ! Don't
  pick up any laserlevel-items because this will reset the value to the normal
  maximum of four !
  Here's a description what the higher values in LASERLEVEL stand for:
      05     slow big blue balls
      06     very slow Mr Pulse Rock Cutter [CLASS 1 DRONE] {fireballs}
      07     reactor weapons {big red balls}
      08     -- runtime error: Unknown render_type <255> (don't use)
      09     concussion missiles
      10     flares
      11     argon welding lasers [CLASS 2 DRONE]
      12     vulcan cannon
      13     spreadfire ammo
      14     plasma cannon
      15     fusion cannon
      16     homing missiles
      17     proximity bombs  (that's funny !)
      18     smart missiles
      19     mega missiles
      20     slow homing plasma
      21     ultra-fast spreadfire ammo
      22     slower homing missiles
      23     slower concussion missiles
      24     slower spreadfire ammo
      25     slow Mr Pulse Rock Cutter [CLASS 1 DRONE]
      26     slow green Laser (Level 4)
      27     slower plasma
      28     snail fireball
      29     mega missiles
      30     slow homing plasma
      31     normal Laser (Level 1)
       :         dito.
     255         dito.
                              PRODUCT HISTORY
  April  8th, 1995  - DESPATCH V1.01 : first version released to the public
  April 25th, 1995  - DESPATCH V1.02 is here
   fixed:
    - Some silly   mouse  drivers screwed  up  the whole display because
      their   creators  in  their  endless  wisdom  had  not  considered
      restoring some VGA registers after tampering with them. So for all
      of  you  who had problems:  DESPATCH  now restores those registers
      itself,  but  if you have the chance,  go  and get a better driver
      like  LOGITECH 6.40 or the Microsoft  driver V8.20 or higher which
      does  quite  the same job.
       Anyway, thanks  to Mister X and  Silent Slayer for still using an
      ancient driver and pointing out that 'bug' to me.
  May 8th, 1995 - DESPATCH V1.03
   added:
    - All  new  direct-edit-by-keyboard-input feature  for all values as
      proposed by Tracy L Remington.
    - Description how to alter the MaxLevel value (see PURPOSE)
   revised:
    - Savegames  are  now only branded  with 'DESPATCHed' if any changes
      occured,  thus  you might browse through  your  files and find the
      ones you edited more easily when loading a game from DESCENT(tm).
                              CLOSING COMMENTS
   If you like this program very much,  find it unbelievably utterly useful or
  just  worth  it,  please don't hesitate to  send some money or some computer
  hardware or software or something to:
                             Jrg Weske
                             An der Schatzgrube 33
                           D-99425 Taubach
                             Germany
   Your kind  donations would be received  with  deep gratitude and would very
  much encourage me to continue my work on different or similar projects.
   One of  those projects I've been working on  with Mr DRAKON for over a year
  now is a DOS-based graphical CD-ROM Digital Audio Player called
  Here are some of its features:
   o full VGA support, resolution 640x819 in 16 colors [ if there's enough
     compatibility around we're planning a 256 color version ]
   o CD database which stores artist, title, time, favourite program and
     discarded tracks (up to 2*(number of tracks)+2 program-steps)
   o Play, Pause, Stop, Skip, Cue/Review, Direct Access, Volume control, Mute,
     Repeat, A-B-Repeat, Intro-Scan, Mid-Scan, Tracktime/CD-Time Display,
     Lock/Unlock Drive, Random Play, Program (+discard), Load/Unload Tray,
     Yes, there will even be an 'ANARCHY' button for complete randomness !
   [planned + coming soon]
   o CD-Rec (writes digital audio-data to WAVes with different rates, e.g.
     44.1 kHz, 22.05 kHz .. 16 bit / 8 bit .. STEREO / MONO )
   o Spectrum analyzer (only available with SBPro+)
   o built-in TSR to control CD-ROM action from DOS (program, skip etc.)
   If you're interested or have comments or suggestions about DESPATCH or what
  you think the 'best' CD-player should feature  (because we want it to be the
  best, so we need YOUR support) please fax, call or do write to:
   e-mail:
             wej@informatik.tu-chemnitz.de
   snail mail:  (my friend's address, because I'm there from Mon-Thu)
               Michael Seifert
               Dr.-Salv.-Allendestr. 104
             D-09119 Chemnitz
               Germany
  phone/fax:
             +49-(0)371-216666
                                   CREDITS
  The producer wishes to thank the following persons:
    Mr DRAKON           - for encouragement, support, beta-testing
    Mc Andy             - for pointing my attention to DESCENT(tm)
    Pheedy              - for graphical hints and critics
    Mister X            - for beta-testing, savegame analysis
    Silent Slayer       - for critics and pointing out the 'mouse-bug'
    Tracy L Remington   - for kind feedback and resulting encouragement
     + product improvement due to the suggestion of the direct-edit feature
    Richard F. Ferraro  - for providing necessary VGA knowledge
    Ralf Brown & all the other guys who contributed to the excellent INTER-
     LIST, Michael Tischer, Ray Duncan, Jrg Koch, Michael Schusser,
     Joachim Erdweg, Holger Schkel, Andreas Gtz, StA-Soft
      - for programming background and related information
    PEPSI(tm)-Cola      - for the best soft-drink I've found so far
    Enya, Loreena McKennitt, Tori Amos, Sinad O'Connor, The Cranberries,
     Roxette, Enigma, Phil Collins, Queen, Westbam, Depeche Mode, Metallica,
     Helloween, Sting    - for their excellent music
    Stephen W Hawking, Douglas Adams
                         - for contributing to my philosophy of life
   [and]
    My mom              - for chipping in half the money for my computer
                           which I would not have been able to afford
                           otherwise.
  Thank you all !
  Thanks for your attention and patience, have fun using DESPATCH !
   MUDDLE
[EOF]