Advanced Games Loader Copyright 2004 Borg@Sven-of-Nine.de This Programme is Freeware. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Software License Agreement AGL is currently 'Freeware', You may not alter this software in any way; you may not use or distribute any part of the original package. Also you are not allowed to emulate, decompile, disassemble, otherwise reverse engineer any executable part of original package. AGL IS DISTRIBUTED "AS IS". NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND IS EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. YOU USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE AUTHOR WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR DATA LOSS, DAMAGES, LOSS OF PROFITS OR ANY OTHER KIND OF LOSS WHILE USING OR MISUSING THIS SOFTWARE. You may make as many copies of the Free-ware version of this distribution package as you wish; you may give exact copies of the original Free-ware version of this distribution package; distribute the Free-ware version of this distribution package in its unmodified form via electronic means. There is no charge for any of the above. No person or company may charge a fee for the distribution of AGL without written permission from all of the copyright holders. If you want to distribute AGL in a retail location, or as part of a hardware or software bundle, or on CD-ROM you must get PRIOR signed written permission from the developer. The developer reserves its right to withhold permission. You are hereby licensed to make as many copies of the Free-ware version of this software and documentation as you wish; give exact copies of the original Freeware version to anyone; and distribute the Free-ware version of the software and documentation in its unmodified form via electronic means. There is no charge for any of the above. Installing and using Advanced Game Loader signifies acceptance of these terms and conditions of the license. If you do not agree with the terms of this license you must remove AGL files from your storage devices and cease to use the product. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How to Use : 1. Start the software 2. Click on Options => Add Game ( New Gameentry will appear in the Listbox) 3. Choose the new entry. 4. Enter the Name, Developer and Genre 5. Choose GameOptions-Tab - Browse for Gamefile - Browse for The Setup-File (if one Exists) - If the Game needs a different resolution to run check "Change Resolution" and select the one you need - If you want to use VDMS check this option. VDMS emulates a SoundBlaster in DOS-Box (Win2k / XP) (http://ntvdm.cjb.net) Must be installed in c:\%progdir%\vdmsound\ - If you want to use DOS_Box (a Dos-Emulator) check this option. Using DOSBox deaktivates the all CPU-Speed functions and VDMS support Get DOS-Box at http://dosbox.sourceforge.net copy it any directory and set the path in agl.exe.conf. Default is AGL-Dir\dosbox\ - Choose the CPU-Speed for the Game (other Processes aren't affected) - Delay specifies the time to wait before the CPU-Throttle starts. 6. If your Games needs a CD-ROM to run you might want to automount Imagefiles using the Daemon-Tools (www.Daemon-Tools.cc) (must be installed in c:\%progdir%\d-tools\ 7. That's it. Press the run Button and here we go. 8. Hotkeys while Game runs CTRL+ALT+s Slowdown the game CTRL+ALT+f Speedup the game CTRL+ALT+x Terminate the game (Use only when the game is "unquitable") CTRL+ALT+r Release game (The Controller exists and ALG returns to standard mode) Use this function if terminating the game won't lead back to normal operation of ALG CTRL+ALT+b Break/Resume the Game (May not affect RTC-based Software) CTRL+ALT+p Take a screenshot (Not in DOS-Fullscreen/Resize using ALT+RETURN) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Technical Infos -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SlowDown -------- To slowdown the gameprocess a so called control-thread is spawned. This thread controls the gameprocess and interacts with the AGL-Software using messages. Control-Messages can be send by using the predefined hotkeys. HotKeys : CTRL + ALT + S => slow down the Game CTRL + ALT + F => speed up the Game (switch to log-tab) to see the current CPU-Speed. CTRL + ALT + X => quit the gameprocess (may crash your PC) The control thread can slow down the gameprocess down to aprox. 2% CPU-Time without affecting other processes. To slow down a the game thread and not the loader (VDMS etc.) the control-thread tries to detect childprocesses of the executed mainprocess. This last 2-5 seconds. If the detection fails on your system try to increase the Slowdown delay. VDMS ---- VDMS is a third-party-software for emulating a Sounblaster in the DOS-Box (only win2k /xp) To use it properly it must be installed in c:\%progfiles%\vdmsound\ where %progfiles% usualy means c:\program files\vdmsound\ (Setup-Default) (or c:\programme\vdmsound\ on german systems) Check out their website for further information. http://www.ntvdm.cjb.net Daemon-Tools ------------ Daemon-Tools is a set of tools to mount CD-ROM-Images into your system just like Virtual-CD does. Daemon-Tools are freeware and support the most popular Image-Files. Install the Daemon-Tools in c:\%progfiles%\d-tools\ where %progfiles% usualy means c:\program files\d-tools\ (Setup-Default) (or c:\programme\d-tools\ on german systems) Otherwise specify the Daemon-Tools path in the configfile (see below) Check out their website for further information. http://www.daemon-tools.cc DOSBox ------ DosBox is some kind of VM-Ware. It emulates a DOS-Mode under Windows. Download it at http://dosbox.sourceforge.net Files ----- Informations are stored in AGL.EXE.INI -Game Infos AGL.EXE.CONF -Developerlist -Genrelist -SortMode -DOSBoxPath (Default = %homedir%\agl\dosbox\dosbox.exe ) -DaemonPath (Default = ProgramDir\D-Tools\daemon.exe ) -VDMSPath (Default = ProgramDir\vdmsound\vdmsrun.bat ) Screenshots are in saved in Subdir /screens/ No Informations were stored in the registry You can replace the AGL-Homedir in the Ini-File by %homedir% E.G. AGL resides in c:\test\agl\ %homedir%\dosbox\ turns into c:\test\agl\dosbox\ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Functions File-Menu - Reload Gamelist : Clears the Gamelist and reloads it from disc - Save Gamelist : Save the Gamelist - Import : Imports into Gamelist ALG = AbandonLoader Gamefiles (*.alg) no bugs so far pics are resized => bad quality AGL = Advanced Game Loader (this App) (agl.exe.ini) no bugs so far - Export : Exports to different fileformats CSV = (comma separated variables) Name = 'agl.exe.csv' 1. Line = Title Separator ='|' - Save Options : Saves the internal options (sortingmode etc.) Options - Add Game : Creates an empty gameentry called _UNKNOWN - Remove Game : Removes the highlighted game - Remove All : Removes all entries - Sort : Sorts the List according to the selected option - Admin : Maintenanc Functions Reset UIDs = refreshes the ID by wich every game is identified has no obvious effect for the user CleanUp Screenshot folder = Removes unused Screenshots from HD Tools -VDMS-Config : Not yet implemented Help -Help : Shows this text -About : Shows a nice Aboutbox -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FAQ Q: I'm unable to create DOS-MODE screenshots A: Resize the window by pressing ALT+RETURN and try again Q: When running Bad Mojo (or other games) I will get an error-message A: Bad Mojo (or other games) are started by a small loader. This loader will exit immidiatly after running the main prog. AGL interprets this as an illegal act. try running the game thru a batch file. Create a textfile called start.bat and simply enter the following : "START /WAIT NameoftheGameEXE". Q: After a screenresize my wallpaper is corrupt ! A: I know. (hopefully fixed soon) Q: When slowing down to under 5% CPU-Load the game runs choppy. A: As you use a very advanced CPU the idle-time lasts much longer than the runtime does. This causes a choppy behaviour of most games. I know no way to improve this. (Any idea ? Send it to Borg@Sven-of-Nine.de) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Send suggestions or Bug-Reports to Borg@Sven-of-Nine.de or visit my website http://www.Sven-of-Nine.de --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------