CardShark Hearts

Contents of this README.TXT file:

-RECORD YOUR LICENSE NUMBER

-GETTING UPDATES & NEW SOUNDS FILES

-RECENT CHANGES



RECORD YOUR LICENSE NUMBER:

The letter you received when you paid PsL $25 for the licensed version
of CardShark Hearts contains your license number. Enter it into the
program by clicking on the menu bar where it says "Order".

You should also be sure to save that letter or to write the number on
the disk or some other secure place in case you have to reinstall
CSHearts.

If you paid $5 or so for a disk with CSHearts on it or if you got it
on a CD-ROM, you have NOT paid for the program. You paid only a disk
fee for an evaluation copy of the program. The money you paid went
entirely to the vendor who sold you the media the program was on. None
of that money went to the author of CardShark Hearts. After using CSH
for a reasonable evaluation period, please print an order form and
send in the payment to become a licensed user.

The cost of the unlimited licensed copy of CardShark Hearts is $25.
Add $4 for shipping. The program will be provided on 1.44MB
high-density disks unless otherwise requested. See the order form for
additional ordering options and complete ordering information.


GETTING UPDATES:

CSHearts is constantly being refined and enhanced. You can get an
update at any time for $6 + $4 s&h from the address below.

You can also use any newer versions which you may see on BBSs,
although these may not be the very latest version. The registration
code you have already entered will convert these shareware versions to
registered versions automatically.

You can also get updates from the Internet at "http://www.psl-web.com".

New WAV files are added from time to time. You can get them by getting
the latest version of CSHearts from PsL on CD-ROM, which has the program
pre-installed in its own directory along with *all* the WAV files.


RECENT CHANGES:

See the Help file for details of each of the following features.

Tournament Mode added - "Las Vegas Rules" have been added to the Rules
menu. These are rules used in a Hearts tournament held in Las Vegas.
The rules include (1) no Shooting The Moon, (2) no Passing, (3) Queen
of Spades worth only 7 points, (4) 10 rounds of 16 deals played with
elimination of high scorers after each round, (5) Queen of Spades must
be dropped the first time the player holding it cannot follow suit.
Each of these rules can be turned on/off individually or as a group.
See the Help file for complete details.

The help system has been overhauled. You can now get context-sensitive
help for menu items by highlighting the item (use the cursor keys to
scroll down a menu list) and pressing F1. Once in the Help system, you
can now use the arrows on the menu bar to page through the file.

A new system is used to display cards has been changed. The old system
caused very slow play on some systems under Win95. The new system is
fast in Win95 while still being compatible with Win31.

You can now play CardShark Hearts entirely from the keyboard.
Use the left-right cursors to move the black-box marker and the up
cursor to select a card. Press Enter to play the card (or wait for the
Pause period to time out and the card will be played automatically).
Click on the Interface menu and Keyboard to toggle this mode on/off.

A "Scaled Scoring" option has been added to the Rules menu. Instead of
giving the low player a point for winning the game, it gives each
player difference between their scores and the scores of the players
above them. This is intended to reduce the benefit of a strategy of
everyone ganging up on the low scorer and taking it easy on the high
scorer.

Replay Deal has been added to the File menu. This lets you replay the
deal just played to see if you can improve your play. An additional
option lets you scramble the cards in the other players' hands before
replaying to see how you could have done against different card
layouts. See the Help system for more information.

Under the File menu, you can now save and recall up to 999 deal
records rather than just the current and previous deal. You can also
setup one of these deal records for replay, automatically changing the
rules, scores, playing styles, etc., then change back to your original
settings and scores with the click of a button.

The menu system has been rearranged for greater efficiency and ease of
use, including adding shortcut keys (e.g.: Ctrl-S to toggle sounds).

Two persistent Windows-generated bugs have been trapped and programmed
around. One caused the bogus "Invalid Property Valid" message on some
machines. The other caused a "Wrong number of cards - Redeal" message
due to clicking on things at the wrong time.

As you should now know, a Windows-type installation program has been
added.

Many enhancements have been made in the computer's play.

Menu options have been added to the Interface menu for adjusting the
playing field color and text width in the Score box.

A menu option was added to specify who leads first on the next deal
when the 2-Clubs-Leads option is turned off.

In Duplicate mode, if you have a Pause of "0", the cards in the other
players' hands will not be removed in order to speed up the CardShark's
turn. With ZIP turned on, it moves really fast now. If you do not want
it to move so fast in the ZIP mode, select Interface-Pause-1 second
before clicking the Zip button. Alternatively, you can let it blow
through the Shark's turn and if the score makes you curious about
what happened, click on Replay to see it again with ZIP turned off.


PsL
P.O.Box 35705
Houston, TX 77005

ORDERS (ONLY): 800-2424-PSL
TECH SUPPORT:  713-524-6394
FAX ORDERS:    713-524-6398
COMPUSERVE #:  71355,470
INTERNET:
  email:       nelson.ford@psl-online.com
  World-Wide-Web site:   psl-web.com