April 8th, 1997

Drilling Billy for OS/2 - Beta release 0.22.

This file contains information about this beta release.

Installation :

This beta release requires : OS/2 Warp 3.0 or higher, the DOS version of
Drilling Billy (or a playable demo), EMX runtime package and EMX VESA.
Use the VESA_ALL.DLL to use VIO, or possibly one of the custom drivers to use
direct hardware access. The game was not intended to use VESA_PM.DLL (since
this dll is too slow).
Place the executable file (os2billy.exe) in the same directory as the DOS-exe
file.

Running the game : 

The game must be run from a full screen OS/2 command line.

Known limitations and problems :

No sound. We are not using DSMI/2 because, as of now, it does not support GCC.
The keyboard handling is not perfect :)
- If you hold down Ctrl + an arrow-key, releasing the arrow-key is not detected
by the program.
- The video-intro does not run (since it was made for DOS).

Troubleshooting :

- The picture looks strange
   1) It is flickering or unstable.
      - The graphic adapter does not support the video mode (800x600, 256
        colours). If you are using VESA_ALL.DLL, your video driver does
        not support VIO in this mode. If you are using the custom DLL's
        you probably chose the wrong DLL.
   2) It's crystal clear and static, but full of horizontal lines looking
      like rubbish.
      - Try to adjust the bytes per scanline variable in the file
        'SETTINGS\OPTIONS.TXT' :

             screen: brightness=50, contrast=50, bytesperscanline=800;

        the default value is 800. The correct value on your machine may
        be higher.
        The VIO system cannot detect the number of bytes per scanline
        properly, hence this problem.


Please help us develop the OS/2 version :

Send an e-mail to os2billy@thorsbro.dk answering these questions :

1) Your name, nationality and e-mail address.

2) A profile of your system : 
   Hardware : CPU, video adapter, keyboard type.
   Software : OS/2 version, video driver (version and origin), fixpack level.

3) Does the game run properly (OS/2) ? Yes or No.
   (Does it run properly in DOS ? Yes or No.)

5) If it doesn't, send a bug report (if the bug is not already mentioned
   on the web-site) containing :
   - A description of the problem, as you see it.
   - Include the files 'AFLUS.LOG' and 'FEJL.LOG' which contain debug
     information and error reports from the game.

A little disclaimer :

This game is provided as is. We are in no way responsible for any harm
that may be caused by using this program. We do not guarantee that the
OS/2 version of Drilling Billy will run on any system, or that it will be
completed at any specific date.