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                       WOLFENSTEIN 3D for ST - THE FACTS
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Hi dudes,

I'd like to take this  chance to advertise the new beta-version of  the upcoming
Wolfenstein3d port. This  file is very  similar to  the readme.txt provided with
the last version you might want to download from

http://files.dhs.nu/files_game/wlf3dv01.zip

Please report strange bugs you find to reimund.dratwa@freenet.de as long as they
are diffrent from the ones yet described here - thanks.

Features up till now:

- quick nibble c2p running at a resolution of 160x80 (double-pixeled)
- compiled wall-scalers (best choice for non-cache machines)
- advanced  keyboard-controls (you  may move  into more  than one direction at a
  time)
- 32 colors on the screen
- wall  collision-detection - you  can't  run  through  walls  any more, gliding
  against them is possible as well
- multiple textures (up to 255)

watch history for details...

remaining bugs:

- raycaster  seems to  have some  problem with  accuracy  at some outer corners,
  which you can watch through, hence

- keyboard  handler seems to 'hang' at some points, player keeps moving although
  a key is released  yet - move  into the same direction the player moves to, in
  this case

- upon exiting: disk-copying seems to be blocked sometimes keybuffer isn't empty
  sometimes


things to come up with one of the next betas:

- sprites

- door-support

- pushable walls (secret areas)

- "texture/map-from-file-loader" (to keep  the exec-file  small and  to make the
  gfx easily editable)

- trig-table generator  for lower file-size, atm. they're just precalculated and
  included

- resizeable gamewindow  to gain  more speed  at slow machines - atm. everything
  c2p/raycasting-related  is dynamic  yet, nevertheless  you  can't  resize  the
  window because just like I said I'm still using a fixed table

- triple-buffer  to avoid  flicker on  too fast  machines (using  a vbl-unsynced
  doublebuffer atm.)

- furtherly optimized  wall scalers (there's  still some  optimization  left for
  scalers > 64 pixels -> 2-4 byte scaling  could be used at  some places to skip
  some superfluous memory fetches - hence scalers might look like:

         move.b source(A0),D0       or  move.b  source(A0),D0
         move.b D0,destination1(A1) or.b D0,destination1(A1)
         move.b D0,destination2(A1) or.b D0,destination2(A1)
         move.b D0,destination3(A1) or.b D0,destination3(A1)
               .              .
               .              .
               .              .

  at certain points.


requirements/specs.:

- any 1Mb+ ST/e/MST/e/Falcon/TT030 (maybe clones as well)
- RGB/VGA
- Fastram-support

usage:

- start it up, wait  until the game screen  has faded in, move around using your
  cursorkey-block and exit by hitting esc if you're starting to get bored.


enjoy,


 ray//.tSCc.
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history:

03-11-02

- restarted  work on  this project  after 8 months (!), decided to  rewrite  the
  whole thing to call it "beta-version" :)
- title-screen gets diplayed
- some fading added
- codetable-nibble  c2p running  in 1.6 vbls on a 8Mhz ST - 50Hz (using the max.
  160x80 mode)!

-> bug with linedoubling
-> flawed pixels at some places (faulty c2p-table ??)

03-12-02

* fixed: linedouble-bug

03-13-02

* fixed: flawed  pixel-bug (was  a problem with  negative  offsets -> got  wrong
  planardata) c2p still runs at 1.6 vbls, phew 8)

03-14-02

- scaler setup routine added

-> missing clipped scalers
-> bug: scalers don't work at all for some reason

* fixed:  "faulty  scaler-code" (was  some  problem  with  my  brain, actually -
  scalers worked fine, just got  the wrong jumpaddresses to call them, took me a
  long time to notice this X) )

03-15-02

- clipped scalers being generated as well now
- added: fast (an)+ scaler, used if sliceheight=textureheight

03-16-02

+ optimized: now there  are 2 sorts  scalers for the even- and for  the odd rows
  each;

            move.b src_ofs(a0),dest_ofs(a1) ; even scalers

            move.b src_ofs(a0),d0    ; odd scalers
            or.b   d0,dest_ofs(a1)

-> bug: "even" scalers make the machine crash :/
-> fast move.b (a0)+,d0 scaler removed temporary

03-17-02

* fixed: even-scaler bug

-> bug: scaler setup  routine  seems  to write out  of table-range  on  the ST -
   illegal instruction, when calling scalers X(

* fixed: scaler setup bug on the ST (yes, it was a range problem)

- streamlining the  scalers really seems to have improved speed on the ST - time
  to add a fps counter :)
- fast move.b (a0)+ scaler added again, everything works out fine now, gosh :)
- added: distance dependant jumptable - wall scaler setup is complete, finally
- added: mfp-init/restore crap to get rid of disturbing interrupts

03-18-02

- rewritten: raycaster, much  more streamlined  and complete than the one of the
  previous alpha-engine - however, it's too late and I'm to tired to include and
  test it right now, time to sleep Zzz

03-19-02

- raycaster included

-> bug: raycaster displays some buggy looking walls or makes the system crash at
   some tested map-positions and fa-
          cings :(

* fixed: one of raycaster's bugs (chunkycolumn-counter didn't get cleared before
  the loop) - nevertheless it still doesn't work correctly

03-20-02

* completely fixed: raycaster - works correctly without any noticeable bugs now,
  ray is damn-happy X)

- due to the much more  optimized and streamlined c2p- and scaler-stuff it seems
  to gain reasonable  speed even on  the ST (as I said a fps-counter is still to
  be added) if compared to the alpha-version
- the engine  seems  to run  much  more  relieable  also  on 68030  machines (no
  disappearing walls etc. like in the first alpha-release anymore)
- added: faster clear-routine for the chunkybuffer (using movem.l's)
- added: raster-isr  to split palette  for seperate  floor- and  ceiling-color -
  this is has to be done  because of the nibble-c2p, so don't wonder why ceiling
  and floor  reach into  the screenborder - though the statuspanel is allowed to
  use a seperate  palette now - hence we display 32 screencolors at once - isn't
  this nice? :)
- raster-interfering mousemovement swiched off via the ikbd

03-21-02

- added: the blocks' tile  numbers are being  procsessed now, so there're (up to
  255) diffrent textures that can be mapped onto the walls
- added: keyboard-handler, it's  possible to move the player around through that
  maze, finally
- bug noticed: maybe due to imprecision or any other accuracy problem we're able
  to look through corners at some angles

03-22-02

- improved: keyboard-handler, you should be able to press 2 keys at once to gain
  a more flexible player-movement

-> bug: player starts tilting around uncontrolled sometimes

- added: wall collision detection, you can't run through walls any longer
- extended number  of wall-scalers  to render  walls that are  very close to the
  player

03-23-02

*release*

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