SnapshotF1GP 1.0 - allows you to take screenshots
                              from F1GP while playing

         Copyright © 1997 Oliver Roberts, All Rights Reserved.

    Description                what is this program for?
    Installation               installing this software

    Usage                      how to use this software

    System requirements        what you need to use this software
    Distribution               distribution conditions
    Disclaimer                 important notices

    Acknowledgements           thankyous and credits
    About the author           me, my addresses & other F1GP stuff
    History                    program history

SnapshotF1GP is a program which can be used to take "screenshots" from
F1GP.  It is also possible to store multiple successive frames from the
game which you can then use to make an animation.

Just used the supplied installation program.  This will ask you where you
want the program and documentation installed, and will also install the
libraries if necessary.

Alternatively, simply copy the program and documentation to the place of
your choice.  You will also need to make sure f1gp.library and iff.library
are present in LIBS:.

SnapshotF1GP is a shell based program, so you can't run it from Workbench.

You need to run it after you have started F1GP.  Once you've got it started
you can press the 'S' key while driving to take a screenshot (or if in
animation mode, start recording).  While driving the images will be stored
in a memory buffer - only when you exit the cockpit will they be saved to
disk.

SnapshotF1GP will automatically exit if F1GP does.  You can force
SnapshotF1GP to quit by pressing Ctrl-C in the shell window in which you
started it.  While SnapshotF1GP is saving the images you can also press
Ctrl-C to abort the saving process.

The following command line options are available:

BASEFILE (default: "RAM:f1gp.iff")

This is the base filename of the files that the snapshoted images are saved
to.  This name is automatically appended with a number (.000 - .999)
denoting the sequence number.  The files are named this way so that
successive frames can be turned into an animation (I use PPaint 7's
FramesToAnim script to load the frames, which can then be saved out as a
GIF anim for use on the web).

NUMFRAMES/N (default: 1)

The maximum number of frames you would like to save in one session.  Each
frame requires 32000 bytes of memory to be allocated on startup.

ANIM/S

Switches SnapshotF1GP into animation mode.  This means that once you press
the 'S' key, in F1GP, each updated frame is stored automatically. This
behaviour can be adjusted with the INTERVAL option.  So, for example, to
store 10 seconds of action when running the game at 10 frames per second
you will need to have 100 frames (= 3.2Mb of memory).  You can stop
recording by pressing 'S' a second time.

INTERVAL/N (default: 1)

When in animation mode this specifies how often frames are saved.  For
example, a value of 1 means that every frame is saved; 2 means every second
frame is saved; 3 means that every third frame is saved, etc. Effectively,
this decreases the frame rate on the resulting animation.

NOCOMPRESS/S

Turns off compression of the saved images.

SnapshotF1GP requires Workbench / Kickstart 2.04 or higher.

The following libraries must be present in LIBS:

   iff.library
   f1gp.library

Obviously, you'll need a copy of Geoff Crammond's Formula One Grand Prix
(also known as World Circuit in the USA), which is published by MicroProse
Software.

SnapshotF1GP is public domain with the copyright remaining with the author
and may be freely distributed legally providing:

   (1) None of the distributed files are changed in any way
   (2) It is not sold for profit and it is not included on any disks
       that are sold solely for profit (includes magazine coverdisks)
   (3) The distribution contents remain complete (see list below)

If this software is to be sold for profit, permission must be obtained from
me, the author.

Both Aminet and Amiga Format have been granted permission to distribute
SnapshotF1GP on their CDs.

The following files must be present in their original and unchanged form in
any copies of this software:

   SnapshotF1GP
   SnapshotF1GP.guide
   SnapshotF1GP.guide.info
   Install_SnapshotF1GP
   Install_SnapshotF1GP.info
   Libs/f1gp.library
   Libs/iff.library

This software is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, either
expressed or implied, statutory or otherwise. By using the archive and its
contents, you accept the entire risk as to its quality and performance.

Neither Oliver Roberts nor any other party involved in the creation,
production or delivery of the archive and its contents shall be liable for
any direct, indirect, special, consequential or incidental damages,
including without limitation damages for loss of profits, loss of use or
loss of anticipated costs, expenses or damages, and any data or information
which may be lost or rendered inaccurate, even if Oliver Roberts is advised
of the possibility of such damages.

Do not attempt to tamper with the supplied files. Doing so will cause
problems and you may find things start going wrong!

This software is not officially endorsed by MicroProse Software.

Thanks to Alan Strang and Markus Kruggel for beta testing, bug reports and
suggestions for improvements.

SnapshotF1GP uses iff.library - Copyright © 1987-1993 Christian A. Weber

Please let me know if you have any problems with this software...

You can contact me via Internet e-mail (preferred) at this address:

   Oliver@POBoxes.com

Or at my home address (please send a S.A.E if you expect a reply):

   30 Tillett Road
   Norwich
   NR3 4BJ
   ENGLAND

I'm also the author of F1GP-Ed and maintain several World Wide Web pages on
the Internet.  These include a page dedicated to this datatype where the
latest version can be found.  The Amiga Formula One Homepage provides just
about everything available to Amiga F1GP players including WWW pages F1GP
Hall of Fame and the Internet F1GP Championship.  There's information on
all of the Amiga F1GP utilities (available for downloading too) as well as
lots of other goodies and other Amiga / Formula One related links. So, for
an Amiga F1GP junkie's dream, set your web browser to:

   http://www.nanunanu.org/~oliver/AmigaF1.html

I can also be found lurking around on Internet Relay Chat (IRC) on the
#Amiga channel with nickname F1Oli.

1.0 (14.12.97)

 - Initial public release

0.4 beta (28.7.97)

 - If the BASEFILE argument was greater than 25 characters, major problems
   would occur when saving images - fixed

0.3 beta (23.7.97)

 - Modified ReadArgs Shell template slightly
 - The saving of the images is now done on SnapshotF1GP's task (which
   could lead to some new bugs ;-) instead of F1GP's - this means that:
    1. disk full retry/cancel requestors now show up
    2. saving of images can now be aborted with a Ctrl-C
    3. errors from the iff.library save routine can now be detected
       properly
 - If the disk becomes full when saving the images, no attempts are made
   to save the remaining images, and the last saved (incomplete) image
   file is deleted
 - Will no longer crash on startup if there is not enough memory for the
   chosen number of buffers

0.2 beta (20.2.97)

 - Changed behaviour of INTERVAL option
 - Animation recordings can now be aborted and restarted while playing

0.1 beta (16.2.97)

 - Initial private-beta release.