============== := DEMOBASEST =: ============== Welcome to the readme file for DemoBaseST, written by Dave Haylett. [readme file updated: 29/05/07] ============== Installation ============== * Unzip the download file onto your hard drive, maintaining the directory structure (make sure that the path to DBST directory is less than 42 characters - see Q&A below) * Run the Demobase.exe file. - To install a patch, simply unzip the files in the downloaded patch INTO your DBST directory, making sure you maintain the directory structure. Answer YES to any overwrites. This will add and update any new files. - You may want to customise STeem so that one key will quit STeem, one key will fast-forward the demos, etc. To customise the settings you must run STeem.exe directly and then make any changes you wish (this is because DBST copies the STeem ini file each time it runs a demoscren). NB: these settings will not interfere with any other copies of STeem you may have because it is another copy of STeem by itself. ================ Front-end Tips ================ * From the demolist, tick your favourite demos by clicking the box to the left. They will appear in the 'Favourites' screen. To remove a favourite, either un-tick it from the main list, or highlight it in the Favourites screen and click Delete. * Left-click a screenshot to see it full-screen. Right-click it to set it as the background. * The slideshow will let you choose screens to run automatically one after the other. You can choose to view either i) each screen from a megademo of your choice, ii) each screen that a coder/group of your choice has produced, iii) each screen that you have selected as a favourite, or iv) screens at random from the whole database. * The tick boxes beneath where you choose which megademo you wish to slideshow, allow you to specify whether you want the loading screen to appear before each screen, and whether you want the slideshow to go back to the main menu after each screen. If you 'half-tick' it, then it will show the loading and/or main menu sometimes and not every time or never. * You can highlight one of the screens in the 'running order' and then start the slideshow from there instead of from the beginning. * The 'manual skip' box will mean that each demoscreen will run forever, until you exit STeem, whereby DBST will run the next one. You can skip screens at any time, even with a time-delayed slideshow. * The options screen allows you to adjust how long each screen lasts for in the slideshow. Main menus will run for shorter (you can adjust the slider), while loading screens will remain longer depending on the file size of the next screen in the list. The times are all in seconds. * You can only use 'small' or 'large' list modes when there are less than 100 matches in the list, otherwise the system will slow down too much while DBST caches all the screenshots. * When DBST first loads, the screens will be in the order that they were added, so any new screens will appear at the bottom of the list. ============================ DBST Frontend - What's New ============================ 0.91 - Improved search - you can now choose which columns to search in (removed '@') A couple of interface tweaks and more random backgrounds Starts up quicker than before 0.9 - You can now choose to play just the music from a demoscreen Auto-music option plays music as well as updates screenshot when clicking on a demo in the list You can now view demos 'fullscreen', 'maximised' or 'windowed' Putting a '@' at the start of a seach will search coders and megademos instead of demo names Can now view demolist with small or large animated snapshots 0.82 - You can now quit a screen prematurely and the slideshow will run the next screen in the list Added 'manual skip' option to slideshows so they play indefinitely until you manually quit You can start the slideshow from any screen by clicking it before clicking 'run slideshow' Added 17 more backgrounds to random startup list Added a 'top searches' combo box next to search box 0.81 - Added 'Favourite Demos' functionality to front-end Fixed slideshow problem which didn't close STeem properly causing an error dialog box Made some interface tweaks Megademo browser screen is now fully functional! Added 'coder' browser to megademo browser screen Added 'favourites' browser to megademo browser screen Can now double-click an item in the 'running order' screen to launch it Tidied browser window up so all slideshows are dealt with under one screen Added options screen and moved all option controls from other forms into it 'Realistic' loading screen - the bigger the next file in the running order, the longer it lasts Megademo and coder boxes in slideshow screen are now sorted alphabetically 0.8 - Now handles any TOS image filename (was previously fixed to "TOS v_.__.img") Can now handle .ST and .MSA files as well as snapshots Can now handle snapshots that require the virtual disc to be inserted into the drive Clicking on an image preview will zoom it to full window size Random background at startup Right-click a screenshot to set that as the DBST background Added fancy progress bar on startup TOS images are now included with DBST, so now there is no need to setup the TOS paths! 0.71 - Added search functionality for demoscreens (also accepts wildcards like '?' and '*') Added checkbox that will allow you to run the demos fullscreen by default Bug fix: directories with a space were causing STeem to mis-locate snapshot location Bug fix: hacks the snapshot file to read TOS on your machine 0.7 - Reduced window size slightly to be smaller-monitor-friendly Anchored some controls to allow smoother resize Added '...' search button to display dialog box to help locate STEEM.EXE Automatically remembers STEEM.EXE location Entries sortable by column (screen name, megademo name, or coder name) New (very colourful!) background 0.6 - Initial version ===================== Questions & Answers ===================== Q: I'm confused. What is STeem, what is DBST, what is the 'front-end', etc.? A: DemoBaseST (DBST) consists of two parts - one part is the front-end which is simply the DemoBase.exe file, and lets you access the demoscreens, and the second part is the archive of demoscreen files and screenshots. STeem is an Atari ST emulator which allows you to see these demoscreens on a PC and was written by Anthony & Russell Hayward. Q: When I try to run Demobase.exe, Windows throws an error about not finding the .NET libraries, or that the application failed to initialise properly. A: You can download the .NET libraries for free from Microsoft. I will be working on an installer package that installs the libraries automatically. Only older PCs should have this problem. The link to get hold of these libraries is: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0856EACB-4362-4B0D-8EDD-AAB15C5E04F5&displaylang=en Q: When I run Demobase.exe, I get a dialog box saying that the path is too long!? A: This is currently a minor inconvenience with DBST in that the path to your DBST directory is hacked into memory snapshots by DBST to get them to read the TOS images on your HDD correctly. There is a 41- character limit to how large the path and filename to the TOSes can be, and therefore there must be a limit to the location of your DBST installation. This shouldn't be a problem as most users will install DBST into directories like C:\DemoBaseST, C:\Program Files\DBST, c:\Atari\DemoBaseST, etc. Q: I've moved my DBST folder somewhere else, but when I try to run a demo, I get a dialog box saying TOS not found. A: STeem will try to look for the last TOS image that was loaded and it will not exist at that path any more since you moved it. Simply click OK and then navigate the directory dialog box to your new DBST directory and double-click the TOS image mentioned in the dialog box. Q: Some demoscreens require me to use the arrow keys to select music/play a game/move the character in a main menu, but it doesn't work. A: Your joystick configuration may be set up to replace the arrow keys with the joystick. Go to STeem's joystick config button and disable the joystick. Some screens may be the opposite and actually use the joystick, in which case you need to enable the joystick. Q: I've downloaded a new patch for DBST, how do I install it? A: Simply unzip the files in the downloaded patch INTO your DBST directory, making sure you maintain the directory structure. Answer YES to any overwrites. This will add and update any new files. Q: The demoscreen loads ok, but there is a glitch, like flickering or corrupted graphics. A: There is a list of demoscreens, available from the link in the DBST front-end, of known graphical problems. Unfortunately a handful or so will not work properly under emulation. Q: I press SPACE to exit a demoscreen, or select a screen from a main menu but something weird happens. A: Because DBST primarily uses memory snapshots and not disc images, the megademo disc image is not inserted into the emulator's virtual drive, and therefore no loading can occur. This is by design, as DBST is intended to allow instant access to demoscreens from a front-end, and not by the usual 'main menu' approach of the megademo. When you have finished viewing a demoscreen, simply quit out of STeem and back to DBST. It's a good idea to configure one of the non-ST keys on your PC keyboard to quit STeem. If you are unfamiliar with STeem, you need to press the Pause/Break key on your keyboard to re-enable the PC mouse, and from there you can close STeem, or access the options. Q: The wrong coder/group has been credited in the DBST front-end! A: Please e-mail me and let me know! There is nothing worse than crediting the wrong person. Unfortunately some of the demoscreens don't make it clear who needs to be creditted for the hard work. Q: Can I use a different emulator with DBST, such as PacifiST, SainT, etc.? A: Unfortunately not. DBST uses STeem memory snapshots, which are incompatible with other emulators. I chose to use STeem simply because I was very familiar with it. Q: I had STeem already - have I got two copies now? A: Yes you have! It is best to keep a seperate STeem for DBST so that the settings for the demos don't interfere with the settings for your own version of STeem. STeem is only 2mb so this shouldn't be a problem. Q: When using the slideshow screen to browse megademos, the loading screen says the same thing each time. A: The loading screen that appears in the slideshows is just the one image - there is no seperate image for each screen to load. Q: When I choose to play the music of a demoscreen, nothing happens, or there is a big delay until the music starts. A: This is because when playing music only, DBST will actually run the demo as normal, but minimised. Some demoscreens don't start playing the music straight away, or require you to press a key to start the demo. ================== Credits & Thanks ================== Concept, DBST front-end design and coding, screenshots, memory snapshots, and database maintenance: Dave Haylett (SkylineDave) Inspiration and support: Paul Thompson (Goldrunner) STeem emulator and patches: Anthony & Russell Hayward Web Hosting: (Megar) GameBase front-end (used to add demoscreens to the archive): James Burrows Mic/Dune/FrEd(Zorro2): abbreviation list for democrews ...and the biggest thanks to all the demo writers for keeping me amazed at what the ST can achieve, and spending all my pocket money on P.D. Disks! Questions, comments, bugs to dave@skyline800.freeserve.co.uk or post at www.atari-forum.com in the DemoBaseST section. Good luck and enjoy the application! Dave Haylett