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README.TXT (TheGate.exe)
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Note: this "program" is just a steping stone to an automated AI scripting program [to help people create and test their scripts for NPCs in the Baldur's Gate game...] so I'm affraid some things still aren't done, or look just a little to cheesy... sorry, I just thought that some people might enjoy fooling around with it for a few minutes... enjoy.

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This uses Directx 3.0... so Directx 3.0 has to be loaded... (it does work on NT 4.0 sp3...)	 [This program uses DirectDraw and DirectInput]

This program uses a 16 bit color depth, hence, you will need a 2mb graphics card.

The graphic2.bmp and graphic3.bmp file must be in the same directory as "TheGate.exe" ... A "loading..." screen has been added... in case it takes a long time for your machie to load the bitmaps... so if it binks by (because your system is really fast) don't worry you didn't miss much. 

Hit [ESC] to Exit...
Hit [F1]  to view the "Mage Spells" dialog
Hit [F2]  to view the "Thief Skills" dialog
Hit [F3]  to view the "Color Choices" dialog
Hit [F4]  to view the "Appearance" dialog
Hit [F5]  to view the "Class"  dialog
hit [F6]  to view the "alignment" dialog
Hit [F7]  to view the "map" (small overall map)
Hit [Enter] to close an open dialog

Oh... and use the mouse to move your character around :) [left click on a position and she will move there... the terrain will scroll if possible]
left mouse click, on the map icon on the left pane will open the map
left mouse click, on the characters will open various dialog boxs (see above F1-F7)
left mouse click, on the little square next to the message/text window (lower right) will toggle the FPS/Vysnc status
left mouse click, on the lantern (bottom right, under the characters) will toggle the Vysnc status

And... right click to cast a spell... 
select the Chromatic orb spell or the fireball spell (note: the fireball spell currently uses the magic missle button)...

Vsync default = ON

What the heck is Vsync? (Vertical Blank Synchronization)

"Vsync is used to wait for the vertical blank to start.  The image on your computer screen is drawn line by line, from left to right and top to bottom, by an electron gun. After the image is drawn, the electron gun moves back to the top-left hand corner and starts again. This process is called the vertical retrace. The point in time in which the gun is moving back to the top-left corner is the best time to update the screen because the image isn't being drawn."

Why is the Vsync here? And why is it an option?

well, basically, you want to use Vsync to prevent a flickering effect while updating the screen, I actually use a differnt kindof routine to limit/control the refresh rate, which will also prevent the flicker 95+% of the time... I used this in the gnolls.exe program, and on older systems the gnolls.exe program ran slow while on my machine they flew across the screen... So I added the Vsync option so that if you have a fast machine like me you can use the Vsync (for which everythign is tweaked for) and get refresh rates of around 30 fps, or on older machines you can turn off Vsync and it will speed things up... and hopefully you will get refresh rates closer to 30 fps. (on my machine I get 60 fps with Vsync off... also note this is not the fastest refresh rate you card can maintain... due to the dual method of controlling the refresh rate... blah blah blah)

WARNING: Some users have had trouble with their system locking up (in Win95), when they tried to ALT-TAB out of the TheGate.exe program.  Please use ESC to exit the program, and you will avoid this problem.

If this program kills your system it's not my fault... blah blah blah... (but it shouldn't, and frankly I don't see how it could...)

Enjoy! :)

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Please note: That in NO WAY is this "program" intended to, take away from the hard work the people at Bioware and Interplay are doing! They are doing an incredible job! I am very excited and looking forward to the release of Baldur's Gate. Most of the images are from the BG website, I made every effort to keep these images in their original form, as to not take away from the creative intent of the artists. (also note, that if something looks cheese, I probably fudged it... the real game will look a million times better than anything I could do, as you can see on the BG web site!)

For more info on Baldur's Gate please see the Baldur's Gate web site at: 

http://www.interplay.com/bgate/index.html
http://www.bioware.com/bgate/index.html
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[This program is FREE, and may be redistributed freely.]

