Ricochet 1.04 Shareware (c) Copyright 1995 Morgan McGuire Produced by Morgan Systems Designed and programed by Morgan McGuire and Laura Wollstadt Thank you for trying Ricochet 1.04S! It is a Windows 3.11, NT and 95 game with 24-bit graphics, sound and animations. The object of the game is to destroy all of the blocks on a level (bonus blocks are not necessary to move on to the next level), scoring points. Ricochet freeware has 20 levels, can load and save games, and comes with online help. The registered version has 100 levels with new blocks and sounds, more options and tracks high scores as well. Please be aware that Ricochet's high end graphics will appear best in screen modes exceeding 256 colors; if you have SVGA support under Windows Ricochet will take full advantage of it! A Note On Speed: Although Ricochet has been designed to play equally fast on all computers, the extensive library of sound and graphics required may take a while to load on some computers. If properly set up, your computer should be able to load all Ricochet windows in under three seconds. If your experience long delays in loading or changing windows you can either be patient or read the appended solutions. To install Ricochet 1.04S: (Ricochet will install fine to any directory, so you may ignore the following if you feel comfortable installing by yourself-- just make sure that all of the files are in the same directory, and that that is the working directory) 0) If you do not have the file VBRUN300.DLL, you will need to obtain it and put it in your Windows\System and Windows directories. You can get this file by ftping to: ftp.microsoft.com, using the link on our web page (listed below) or searching AOL or other on-line services. This file is not distributed with the Shareware version any longer because it would slow down your download. 1) under DOS, type "C:" then "cd \" to go to your root directory 2) type "md ricochet" 3) return to this directory using the cd command 4) copy the file RICOZIP.EXE from this directory to c:\ricochet by typing "copy RICOZIP.EXE C:\RICOCHET" 5) type "cd c:\ricochet" to go back to the ricochet directory 6) type RICOZIP to expand all of the files. 7) go to Windows, and from file manager, select File, then New 8) New Program item 9) Description: Ricochet 1.04 Shareware Command Line: C:\RICOCHET\RICOCHET.EXE Working Directory: C:\RICOCHET\RICOCHET.EXE Shortcut Key: None 10) hit OK 11) play ricochet by double clicking on the ball icon To register Ricochet, send US$10.00 to: Morgan McGuire Registering Ricochet 1.04S 115 Grove St. Tarrytown, NY 10591 You will receive two 3.5" HD floppies containing the registered version and installation program. For more information about Morgan Systems products, write to the above address or msys3000@aol.com on-line. For more great freeware and shareware games and utilities by Morgan Systems and Cryptic Fish Software, WWW users can visit: "http://web.mit.edu/user/m/o/morganm/www/msys.html" This SHAREWARE version of Ricochet 1.04 can be can given it out or uploaded it as you wish (uploads are much appreciated). Please make sure that you are distributing an intact copy of the game. For the latest version, visit our web page, listed above. If you like Ricochet and use it for more than 15 days, you are expected to register it. Please support the Shareware system so that we can continue to make great games. Ricochet may not be put on CD-ROM or other collections, or commercially distributed without prior agreement with Morgan McGuire. Screen Shots of Ricochet 1.04S may be published or distributed, provided the designers, Morgan McGuire and Laura Wollstadt, as well as the label Morgan Systems, are given credit. The shareware version may not be sold for more than the cost of duplication, which should not exceed $2.50. -----Speed Solutions----- 1) Richochet loads windows and graphics 250% faster in screen modes with 64k colors or more. If you are running in 256 color mode, it will take particularly long to convert all of the 24-bit graphics to 8-bit ones. 2) Under Control Panel's 386 enhanced section, select "Virtual Memory" If you use a Permanant swapfile, and enable 32-Bit file access (and 32-Bit Drive access on computers which support it), you can more than double the speed of Windows 3.11 3) Disk caching: Find the appropriate line in your autoexec.bat file and change it (or add it if not there): Megs of RAM autoexec entry >8 Megs of RAM: "LH C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE 4096 2048" >4 Megs: "LH C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE 2048" <4 Megs: "LH C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE" 4) Erase all of the files in your temp directory. Make sure you have a directory and an entry in autoexec.bat like "SET TEMP=C:\TEMP" 5) Run the Morgan Systems Utilities Memory Tracker or Small Clock in the background. They will actually speed up Ricochet on your computer. 6) Install Ricochet on your fastest hard drive if you have more than one. Don't run any major programs in the background.