Standing Stones by Magical Wonder Band :: nfo

Standing Stones by Magical Wonder Band [web]

Standing stones
───────────────────

Ghost ƒellow / MWB

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ■ What is this ? │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

"Standing stones" is a music disk, a collection of tunes that can
be played on a PC with a sound device. This one contains 11 tunes
for a total playing time of about 40 minutes.

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ■ System requirement. │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

You need a 80386 or better cpu, about 570 KB of free DOS memory
and a VGA compatible video card. EMS memory managers are welcomed
since expanded memory is supported.

A mouse is usefull but not required. A sound board is STRONGLY
recommended if you want to enjoy this music disk. The internal
speaker is also supported but the quality is really poor.

The Gravis Ultrasound is from far the best device for this kind of
music, so if you want to hear tunes correctly, you should play
these songs with a GUS !

This music disk takes about 1,8 MB on hard drive.
Theses following files are needed :

- GHOST.EXE [ 19548 bytes] The main program.
- SSTONES.DAT [1875210 bytes] The datafile containing all tunes.
- GHOST.DOC [ 10634 bytes] This document.
- FILE_ID.DIZ [ 178 bytes] BBS Description File.

After you had run the program once, a file named "ghost.cfg" will
be created. This file saves your device parameters.

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ■ How to use it. │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

To run the music disk just type "ghost" at the DOS prompt.

The very first time you start the program, a setup part is launched
to ask you what kind of hardware you have. This version supports
the following devices:

- Gravis Ultrasound
- Sound blaster 16
- Sound blaster pro
- Sound blaster & compatible
- DAC on Lpt Port
- PC Speaker
- Original Adlib Sound board

You can use cursor keys to choose your device in the list and
press enter. Depending on what kind of device you selected you
will have to answer several questions like : Hardware Port, Irq
number and Dma Number. The configuration is saved on hard drive
and the next time you will run the program you will not have to
re-enter those parameters.

After the setup screen, you will see some presentation screens
and the player screen. This screen is self explanatory, it's like
a compact disk player. You may advance in time, change tune, review,
stop, start etc. The button at the left is the "eject button" that
drops you back to the DOS prompt.

If you don't have a mouse, simply use the cursor keys to emulate
the mouse's movements, and space to emulate left click.

By clicking anywhere except on buttons you get the credits and
greetings.

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ■ Command line parameters. │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Ghost c : this switch allows you to re-configure the sound device.
Ghost p : this switch skips the presentation screen and brings you
directly to the player screen.

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ■ Troubleshootings. │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

- about output volume on soundblasters.

The player does not reprogram the mixer chip of the sb cards,
it lets the volume as it was before running the program, you must
use utility provided by your hardware vendor to set the volume. The
choice was made to let the user choose the output volume himself.
So if you have a sound blaster pro for instance, you can set the
volume to the maximum by typing :

sbp-set /VOC:15 /M:15

If you experience some troubles using this software, please report
them, so some bug fixes will be possible.

- SB16 note.

SB16 users may encounter some annoying clicks with the song
"sylvie" this is due to some effects used in that soundtrack.
We are currently working on a solution avoiding those clicks.

- PC Speaker note.

Ok the quality is not really perfect with that device, we've already
known it. So please don't complain about the poor quality, I don't
think that speaker was designed in order to play great symphony ! :)

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ■ About Standing Stones. │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Just a few words about this music disk :

- Standing Stones tunes were all composed by Ghost Fellow. They
were tracked with Scream Tracker 3 and most samples are original.

- Crystal sound system from Dilvish was used here to play the songs.

- The music disk interface was designed and coded by Ghost Fellow.
Everything is written in full assembly language including
Crystal player.

- About one month was required to complete this music disk.

- Note that the code has been optimized for the sound quality and
not for the speed. After all, this is a music disk and not a
demo ! :) So if your cpu is not powerfull enough, animations
speed will be sacrified in order to safe the music quality.

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ■ What is MWB ? │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

First of all, MWB stands for "Magical Wonder Band" ! It is
actually a new demogroup based in France. It was founded a few
months ago by ferem. The other members join the crew later. Really
classic from a historical point of view ! :)

MWB is currently composed by these following members :

_ ƒeReM : Tchi southivong [bbs/code/design]
_ Dilvish : Sebastien Granjoux [code]
_ RiXeD : Cedric Cellier [code]
_ KrystaL : Dominique Lavault [code]
_ Wally : Valere Viander [3D artist/gfx]
_ Ghost fellow : William Petiot [code/music]
_ PCmaniac : Luc Step [code]
_ Aragorn : Alain regnier [code]

We are currently working on a PC demo/intro. So watch out ! We are
also looking for a good bitmap gfx artist so if you're interested
don't hesitate to contact us.

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ■ How to contact MWB members. │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

To contact Ghost Fellow,

e-mail : ghost@nuxes.frmug.fr.net
compuserve : 100337,10
snail mail : William Petiot
1, chemin dupuis brun
95000 Cergy FRANCE

You can contact The MaGiCaL WoNDeR BaND through several ways :

e-mail : mwb@nuxes.frmug.fr.net

If you want to contact directly a particular member, just replace
"mwb" by his handle. For instance to send a mail to ƒeReM, address
your message to : ferem@nuxes.frmug.fr.net

If you have a modem and want to chat or have quick answer to any
question simply call MWB WHQ located in France near Paris :

EDEN BBS :

node 1 : +33-1-34.15.39.67 28800 bps vFC
node 2 : +33-1-34.13.95.28 28800 bps v34

SysOp : ƒeReM.

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ■ Thanks & greetings ! │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

We would like to thanks all beta testers who helped us debugging
this music disk :

_ Lone Runner / AEGiS CoRP.
_ Number Six / AEGiS CoRP.
_ Gandalf / Infiny

Greets to all PC demo group !

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ■ Copyright notice. │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED AS IS AND I (William Petiot) DENIE ALL
RESPONSABILITIES OF ANY KIND ABOUT ANY PROBLEM YOU MAY ENCOUNTER
USING IT.

The software was written by Sebastien Granjoux (for the mod player)
and I. This software is not public domain, it is freeware. We
reserve all rights on it. You can use it, copy it, give a copy of
it to a friend and so on. But you are not allowed to sell it, nor
make any changes of any kind on this package contents.

If you are a vendor and you want to distribute this software,
please contact us for further details.

You are allowed to use the sample from the soundtracks but it
would be fair to greets me ! :)

That's all folks, enjoy !

Ghost Fellow and ƒeReM of MWB.

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