.topic NoContext=0
 LOD Customization Utility
  


Welcome to the Land Of Devastation dataset configuration utility. This
program is designed to allow you to create your own custom LOD
datasets - new maps, devices, etc.

A seperate utility, GAMEEDIT.EXE, is provided to allow you to edit the
game in progress.

Menus may be selected by using Alt-Z where Z is the first letter of the
menu you wish to select. For example, ALT-C would select the
{Utilities Menu:UtlMenu}. The { menu:InfMenu} is access by pressing
Alt-Space.

This utility uses the TAB and SHIFT-TAB keys extensively to move back
and forth through fields.

Alt-X may be used to exit the LOD Configuration Utility. Further help is
available on the following menus:

     {Info:InfMenu}      - LOD/Editor utility information
     {Utilities:Utlmenu} - Various utility programs
     {Editors:Edtmenu}   - Editors for players, terrain, map, etc
     {Setup:SetMenu}     - Various configuration parameters
     {Messages:MesMenu}  - Message read/write
     {Window:Winmenu}    - Window options
     {Options:OptMenu}   - Editor Options

Press ESC to put this help screen away.

.topic InfMenu  = 200
  (Info) menu    (Alt-Spacebar)
  
The Info menu appears on the far left of the menu bar and is
represented by the  symbol.

When you pull down the  menu, you see

  {About:SAbout}

PARENT: {Root:Nocontext}

.topic SAbout  = 300
 About
  
When you choose the About command from the  (System) menu, a
dialog box appears, showing copyright and version information.

To close the box, press Esc, Space, or Enter, or click the OK
button.

PARENT: { Menu:Infmenu}

.topic utlmenu  = 400
 Utilities Menu
  

The utilities menu includes a variety of little utility features that may
assist you in operating your copy of LOD. They include rankings viewers,
log file viewers, etc.

Here is a listing of the available utility functions:

   {Advancement:AdvanceUtil}
   {Dumpdev:DumpUtil}

PARENT: {Root:Nocontext}

.topic DumpUtil  = 500
 Dump device definations
  

This utility will dump the contents of the device.bin file out to the
file DEVLIST.TXT in ASCII format. It is useful a useful summary of all
the available devices and can be printed (from dos) if desired.

PARENT: {Utilities Menu:utlmenu}

.topic advanceutil  = 600
 Advancement
  

The advancement table displays a table of the various experience requirements
for each level in LOD. These values are calculated based on the values
defined under Setup:Exper.

This utility is useful for viewing what effects changes to the Setup:Exper
variables will have on the game.

PARENT: {Utilities Menu:utlmenu}

.topic edtmenu  = 700
 Editors Menu
  

The editors menu includes editors for editing players, terrain, maps,
etc.

Here is a listing of the available editor functions:

   {Map:MapEdit}
   {Devices:DeviceEdit}
   {Terrain:TerrainEdit}

PARENT: {Root:Nocontext}

.topic MapEdit  = 800
 Map Editor
  

The Map Editor is designed to allow you to edit LOD's playing map. Currently,
the map is arranged into a 125x125 grid of terrain cells. Each one of these
cells is a terrain type which has the characteristics specified in the
terrain editor below.

The Map Editor is mainly obvious and very user friendly. Because of that,
we will not discuss it here.

PARENT: {Editor Menu:EdtMenu}

.topic DeviceEdit  = 900
 Device Editor
  

The Device Editor will allow you to edit any of the devices that players
may use inside LOD. These included weapons, armor, medical kits, etc. The
device editor.

     NAME:     The name of the device; Should not be longer than 15 chars

     USES:     Number of uses LEFT on the device. Usually the same as MAXUSE
     MAXUSE:   Maximum number of uses the device has.
     DEV USE:  If "Y", then decrement the USES variable each time the
               device is used.

     VAR1:     General purpose variable #1; varies from device to device.
     VAR2:     General purpose variable #2; varies from device to device.

     APPLICAT: Code corresponding to what the device does.

     USABLE:   "Y" if the device can be used with the U command.

     STORE:    Code corresponding to store at which device will be sold.
     COST:     Price of device when sold at store.

     ANSI:     8 character string corresponding to attached ansi picture.
     EGA:      Attached EGA graphics picture.

     See Also:

     Listing of {APPLICAT:Applist} codes:

     Listing of {STORE:StrList} codes:

     Listing of {VARx:VarList} parameters:

PARENT: {Editor Menu:EdtMenu}


.topic AppList  = 1000
 APPLICAT codes
  

The following codes are used in the "Application" field of the device
editor:

 0 Radio         9 AML (medline)   18 Death Badge   27 Rom Disk
 1 Medical Kit  10 Rope            19 Warper        28 <Internal>
 2 SR Weapon    11 Rations         20 Communicator  29 B-Teleporter
 3 LR Weapon    12 Scanner         21 B-React       30 Recharger
 4 Armor        13 Stealth         22 B-Comm        31 Pylon Key
 5 <reserved>   14 G-Blaster       23 B-Defense     32 Energy Cell
 6 B.A.D.       15 Unusable Armor  24 B-Moat        33 Unitran
 7 LRScan       16 Grenade         25 B-Weapon      34 Mine
 8 Ammunition   17 Cyclops Eye     26 Laptop        35 Boat

 36 Mapper
 37 Cryo-Unit
 38 BaseGeneric
 39 MapPack

PARENT: {Device Editor:DeviceEdit}

.topic StrList  = 1100
 Store codes
  

The following codes are used in the "Store" field of the device
editor:

 0 No Store      9 B-Weapon        18 Town #3       27 BaseScav
 1 SR Weapons   10 Computer        19 Town #4       28 BaseEne
 2 Armor        11 LR Weapons      20 Town #5       29 BaseMed
 3 Supply       12 <internal>      21 Town #6
 4 Ammo         13 <internal>      22 Town #7
 5 B-React      14 GSRZ Hort.      23 Town #8
 6 B-Comm       15 B-Teleporter    24 Town #9
 7 B-Def        16 EEEE            25 Kill, Inc
 8 B-Moat       17 Town #2         26 BasePack

PARENT: {Device Editor:DeviceEdit}

.topic VarList  = 1200
 VARx Params
  

     The VARx parameters contain information about certain properties for
 the devices. These parameters are usually different for each device
 type. A full listing can be foun in the file CUSTOM.DOC.

PARENT: {Device Editor:DeviceEdit}

.topic TerrainEdit  = 1300
 Terrain Editor
  

There are 30 basic terrain types which the LOD world is based upon. You may
alter any of these 30 types as you wish.

     NAME:     The name of the terrain type

     DANGER:   Percentage chance of finding monster there.

     SYMBOL:   2 character symbol for ansi/ascii maps

     COLOR:    Numeric color code for ascii/ansi

     PASSABLE: "Y" if you can walk through it. "N" for impassable.
               "W" for water (requires miniraft)
               "L" for lava (requires cryo-unit)

PARENT: {Editor Menu:EdtMenu}

.topic SetMenu  = 1400
 Setup Menu
  

The setup menu contains options for altering parameters which effect
game play. Things such as the cost of bases, new player starting equipment,
etc., are included in this section

Here is a listing of the available setup submenus:

   {New Player:NewSet}
   {Fort Options:FortSet}
   {Combat Modes:CombatSet}
   {Finances:Finset}
   {Misc:Miscset}
   {Advancement:AdvanceSet}
   {Taxes:TaxSet}

PARENT: {Root:Nocontext}

.topic NewSet  = 1500
 New Player Options
  

The new player options specify what equipment and what attributes will be
allocated to new players when they first enter the game. (Note: This also
applies to players who elect to create a new character after theirs has
died)

PARENT: {Setup Menu:SetMenu}


.topic FortSet  = 1600
 Fortress Options
  

This section specifies various attributes of the "fortresses" in LOD. Forts
are player-constructed bases which can house players, store items, etc.

PARENT: {Setup Menu:SetMenu}

.topic CombatSet  = 1700
 Combat Mode Options
  

LOD includes multiple combat modes which the players may select. Each mode
has some advantages and disadvantages. This section allows you to disable
any of the modes if you do not like them or alter the timing of the action
modes.

PARENT: {Setup Menu:SetMenu}

.topic Finset  = 1800
 Financial Options
  

This section includes a variety of options which apply to the financial
aspects of LOD such as the bank interest, loan payments, etc.

PARENT: {Setup Menu:SetMenu}

.topic MiscSet  = 1900
 Misc Options
  

Whatever setup options that don't fit anywhere else get stuck here...

 Janitor Available: Whether or not users are paid for using the "kill obj"
command to remove objects from the wasteland.

 Janitor Pay: How much (per object) the user is paid for the above.

 Raise Lev @ all cities: If "Y", then the user can "go up a level" at any
city, otherwise, the user can only raise levels at Sacre Base (city #1)

PARENT: {Setup Menu:SetMenu}

.topic AdvanceSet  = 2000
 Advancement Options
  

These options control how much experience is required for a player to
attain a new level.

Levels are calculated as follows:

 level 1: 0 to lev2exp
 level 2: lev2exp to lev2exp*expmul
 level 3: lev2exp*expmul to lev2exp*expmul*expmul

 level n: lev2exp*expmul^(n-1) to lev2exp*expmul^(n)

Once the player gets up to the level of "exper lev repeat", the levels will
begin growning at a steady rate rather than the exponential rate shown
above.

The "money per points" option tells how much money is given if the player
trades a training point for cash. This is calculated to be level*money_per_points.

"MAXED percent of Xeboc" is used to calculate the point at which the cities
will no longer train the user (i.e. when the user's stats are "maxed out")
Xeboc is the monster with ORIGZ=8 in monster.txt. When the player's attribs
exceed this percentage times xeboc's strength, the player will no longer
be able to train. (for example, if xebocs strength was 100, and this
percent was set to 125, then the players maximum attributes would be
100*1.25=125.

The best way to understand these options is simply to experiment with them
and then use the advancement table option (listed under utilities) to
view the changes.

PARENT: {Setup Menu:SetMenu}

.topic TaxSet = 3300
 Taxes
  

By default, LOD will tax high-ranking players when they purchase items at
the stores. This tax is then redistributed nightly to the lower ranking
players.

Two tax levels are available so that medium-high players and ultra-high
players can be taxed differently.

A "team discount" is also given to teams with >1 members. This is done to
stimulate team use.

PARENT: {Setup Menu:SetMenu}

.topic WinMenu  = 2100
 Window     (Alt-W)
  
The Window menu contains commands to close, move and perform
other window-management commands.

Most of the windows in this program have all the standard window
elements, including scroll bars, a close box, and zoom icons.

For more about windows and their elements, refer to windows.


 Window-management commands
 

 {Size/Move:WSizeMove}        {Zoom:WZoom}
 {Tile:WTile}             {Cascade:WCascade}
 {Next:WNext}             {Previous:WPrevious}
 {Close:WClose}

PARENT: {Root:nocontext}

.topic WSizeMove  = 2200
 WindowSize/Move      (Ctrl-F5)
  
Choose this command to change the size or position of the active
window.

 
  Size
 
If you press Shift while you use the arrow keys, you can change
the size of the active window. Once you've adjusted its size or
position, press Enter.

If a window has a Resize corner, you can drag that corner to
resize the window.

 
  Move
 
When you choose WindowSize/Move, the active window moves in
response to the arrow keys. Once you've moved the window to where
you want it, press Enter.

You can also move a window by dragging its title bar with the
mouse.

PARENT: {Windows Menu:WinMenu}

.topic WZoom  = 2300
 WindowZoom    (F5)
  
Choose Zoom to resize the active window to the maximum size. If
the window is already zoomed, you can choose this command to
restore it to its previous size.

You can also double-click anywhere on the window's title bar
(except where an icon appears) to zoom or unzoom the window.

PARENT: {Windows Menu:WinMenu}

.topic WTile  = 2400
 WindowTile 
  
Choose WindowTile to tile all file viewers on the desktop.

 Ŀ
  1ͻ2Ŀ 
                                 
                                 
                                 
                                 
  ͼ 
  3Ŀ4Ŀ 
                                 
                                 
                                 
                                 
   
 
             Tiled Windows

PARENT: {Windows Menu:WinMenu}

.topic WCascade  = 2500
 WindowCascade 
  
Choose WindowCascade to stack all file viewers on the desktop.

 1Ŀ
 2Ŀ
 3Ŀ
 4ͻ
                          
                          
                          
                          
                          
 ͼ

        Cascaded Windows

PARENT: {Windows Menu:WinMenu}

.topic WNext  = 2600
 WindowNext 
  
Choose Next to cycle forwards through the windows on the desktop.

PARENT: {Windows Menu:WinMenu}

.topic WPrevious  = 2700
 WindowPrevious 
  
Choose Previous to cycle backwards through the windows on the desktop.

PARENT: {Windows Menu:WinMenu}

.topic WClose  = 2800
 WindowClose     (Alt-F3)
  
Choose Close to close the active window.

You can also click the Close box in the upper right corner to
close a window.

PARENT: {Windows Menu:WinMenu}

.topic MesMenu  = 2900
 Message Menu
  

The Message Menu contains various services for reading and writing messages
in the LOD message base. The following commands are available:

 {Read Messages:rmessage}: Read in the LOD message base
 {Write Message:wmessage}: Write a message in the LOD message base

PARENT: {Root:Nocontext}

.topic rmessage  = 3000
 Read Messages
  

The read message command will allow you to browse through the message base
and read whatever messages you wish. There are three command buttons:
NEXT, PREVIOUS, and DONE. These are pretty self-explanatory. The up/down
arrows will allow you to scroll up and down within a particular message if
it is longer than one screen.

PARENT: {Message Menu:MesMenu}

.topic wmessage  = 3100
 Write Message
  

This feature is not completed yet, but should be soon. When finished, it will
allow you to enter a message into the LOD Message Base.

PARENT: {Message Menu:MesMenu}

.topic OptMenu  = 3200
 Options Menu
  

The options menu includes a few things to tailor the LOD external editor
to your preferences. Things such as screen size, color, etc, can be
modified.

PARENT: {Root:Nocontext}
