README.TXT Copyright 1995 Straffan Production Company, LTD.
All Rights Reserved

This file accompanies BINSTALL.EXE as part of the B”lz! software package.  
It contains last-minute information regarding B”lz!, and quick start 
information for getting up and running.


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BINSTALL
=============================================================================
BINSTALL is an easy-to-use DOS-based installation program.  It's sole purpose
is to get the files on the disk set you received onto your hard drive system.
BINSTALL can be loaded as follows:

   Windows 3.x Instructions:
      1.    Insert disk 1 into your diskette drive
      2.    From Program Manager, select Run from the File menu.
      3.    Type the letter of the drive letter into which you have inserted
            disk 1, then a colon and backslash, then BINSTALL.EXE (ex:  
            A:\BINSTALL.EXE) then click the OK button.
      4.    Follow the on-screen prompts to install B”lz!

   DOS Instructions:
      1.    Insert disk 1 into your diskette drive.
      2.    Type the letter of the drive into which you have inserted disk 1
            followed by a colon (ex:  A:) then press Enter.
      3.    Type BINSTALL.EXE then press Enter.
      4.    Follow the on-screen prompts to install B”lz!

BINSTALL only needs two pieces of information:  The letter of the drive onto 
which you wish to install B”lz! and destination path.  Once you supply this 
information, it can take over from there and will install all necessary files 
into the destination path with correct directory structure.

BINSTALL can also, from its Main Menu, create a Boot Disk which can be used
to start your computer and automatically load and run B”lz!

NOTE:    This boot disk cannot be used, for example, if the hard drive
         you have installed B”lz! onto requires a "driver" to be loaded in
         order for DOS to recognize it.  One such hard drive is the Western
         Digital Caviar AC31000RTL 1080 Megabyte drive.  It requires that
         a special DOS driver be loaded so that your computer can access all
         1080 megabytes on the IDE interface.

         If you are using this, or any other hard drive which requries such
         a driver, then you should let your computer boot normally.  Exit
         Windows (if necessary).  Then, type C:\BOLZ.BAT and press Enter
         from the DOS prompt to run B”lz!


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BSETUP
=============================================================================
BSETUP.EXE is a companion program to BINSTALL.  BSETUP is the program you
use to tell B”lz! a bit about your computer (sound card and graphics).

BINSTALL can run BSETUP from its Main Menu, or you can run BSETUP manually
from DOS.  To run BSETUP from DOS, type C:\BSETUP.BAT then press the Enter 
key.

BSETUP has two screens.  The first is for sound-related setup data.  The 
second is for graphics setup options.

Use the up and down arrow keys to move the flashing cursor up and down the
lists of choices, and use the Tab key to move to the next group of choices.
Pressing either the Spacebar or Enter will mark your selection.

At the bottom of the screen, you will see a small box containing the word,
"Done."  Move your cursor to this box and press either the Spacebar or Enter
key to move to the next screen.

NOTE:    On some systems, running BSETUP from Windows can cause problems
         such as failed autodetects or total system lock.  The preferred
         way to run BSETUP is directly from DOS without Windows or any other
         programs running, especially if those programs are _using_ the
         sound card when you attempt to run BSETUP.


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Screen One:  Sound Setup
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BSETUP will attempt to autodetect your sound card when you first run it.  
This autodetection succeeds in almost all cases, except for users of the 
Windows Sound System (WSS) sound card.  WSS owners will have to supply their 
sound card's setup information manually to BSETUP.  Refer to the instruction 
manual which came with your WSS for more information.

The selections on Screen One are:  I/O Port, Interrupt, DMA Channel, Sound
Quality and Mixing Mode (8- or 16-bit mixing).  The first three are specific
to your particular sound card, and should be left alone unless you own the
WSS.  Sound Quality is provided so that, on slower computers, B”lz! can
spend less time mixing your music and spend more time processing the game.
Mixing Mode is related directly to sound quality.  16-bit mixing is higher
quality than 8-bit, but takes twice as much computer power to perform.  It
may be entirely possible to use 8-bit mixing at Ultra High Quality on a 486DX
33MHz machine!


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Screen One:  Graphics Setup
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The second screen of BSETUP is the Graphics Setup Information screen.  This
screen has three options:  Paralaxing Graphics (On/Off), Color Animation
(On/Off) and Color VGA Autodetect (On/Off).

Paralaxing Graphics refers to technique of showing pictures through holes
in the floors of the mazes.  This is a very nice visual effect, but requires
much processing power from your machine.  If you notice that B”lz! runs
unacceptably slow when there are holes in the floor, turn this option off
to speed the game up on your system.

Color Animation refers to the technique we used to make large pools of water
and slime to appear as if they are flowing (running water, oozing slime).
If the game just runs slowly on your computer, and you _do_ have a 486-based
computer and have already tried turning off Paralaxing Graphics, try turning 
this option off.

Skip Color VGA Autodetect will either enable or disable the software's 
automatic checking for a VGA graphics card and Color Monitor.  If you KNOW 
that you do have a VGA grapics card, and your monitor is a color monitor, 
_and_ if B”lz! reports an error that it could not find a color monitor 
active on your computer (whew), turn this option ON.  Turning this option
ON causes B”lz! to _assume_ a color display.

NOTE:    Telling B”lz! that you have a color monitor and VGA card _can_
         damage monochrome monitors!!  We are not responsible for any
         damages that may occur due to lying to this program!!


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IMPORTANT INFORMATION
=============================================================================
During installation, certain changes will be made to your computer system.
These changes will not effect in any way the way your computer operates on
a normal day-to-day basis.  They are only related to the addition of about
20 megabytes worth of data to your hard drive and two batch files:
BOLZ.BAT and BSETUP.BAT, which will be located in the root directory of 
drive C:.

No modifications will be made to AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS unless absolutely
necessary, and you will be notified and asked for permission first!  You will
also, for the more experienced user, be given the option of making the 
changes yourself (if necessary).

B”lz! is a carefully designed, bug-free game system.  Its operation on your
computer system, however, is not guaranteed.  Please refer to the legal
information section of BOLZ.DOC or use COGREAD.EXE to view the hypertext
version of BOLZ.DOC called BOLZ.HYP.

Finally, B”lz! cannot be run from a Microsoft Windows or OS/2 DOS window.  It
must be run directly from DOS, exiting all shell/OS systems first.


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CHANGES TO YOUR COMPUTER
=============================================================================
The following changes will be made to your computer.  As stated above, none
of these changes will effect the daily operation of your computer, we are
just letting you know what is being added and where it was placed:

   þ  B”lz! System Files
      The B”lz! System Files (graphics, sounds, executables, etc.) will
      be placed onto the drive you specify in BINSTALL into the path that you
      will also specify when running BINSTALL.

      The following subdirectories of your specified path will be created:

         -  AUDIO  Contains sound effect and animation sound tracks.
         -  SONGS  Contains music.
         -  LEVELS Contains level files.
         -  ANIM   CD-ROM version only - contains animations.

   þ  B”lz! Configuration Files
      The B”lz! Configuration Files will be placed into the subdirectory
      \BOLZ on drive C:.  This is done so that B”lz! always knows where to
      look for its configuration files.  The CD-ROM version cannot write to
      the CD, obviously, and this is a directory we know can exist and be
      written to.

      This data is crucial to the operation of B”lz!, and should never be 
      modified in any way.  Tampering with these files may corrupt your
      copy of B”lz!  If these files should become corrupted, simply reinstall
      B”lz! from the original installation package you received.

B”lz! does NOT create any hidden directories or files on any drive under
any circumstance.  It also does NOT use any "temp" files during game play
unless your computer has less than two megabytes of RAM available.  In this
case only, B”lz! will create a temporary file (which will be deleted when
you exit B”lz!) which it will use as "Virtual RAM."


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Removing B”lz! from your system
=============================================================================
Should you wish to uninstall B”lz! from your system, place disk 1 of the
disk set you received into your diskette drive, then type: 

   [DRIVE LETTER]:\UNINSTAL.EXE

replacing [DRIVE LETTER] with the letter of the drive into which you have
inserted disk 1.

The success of the uninstall will depend on whether or not you have modified
the data files located in C:\BOLZ.  That directory will contain a special
file, BOLZ.INF, which can tell UNINSTAL.EXE where the game was installed.


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TECHNICAL SUPPORT
=============================================================================
Should you require any further technical assistance using the B”lz! software,
please feel free to call us at +1-412-261-9123 between the hours of 9:30 a.m.
and 6:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (East Coast, USA).  For 24 hour technical
support, you can use our faxback service at +1-412-391-7886.

We can also be reached via the internet at:
      support12@aol.com

We are on America Online.  Our technical support screen name is Support12.
