Skins-n-More v2.0 - Readme.txt
April 28th, 2001

This is a major upgrade release version of Skins-n-More.  If you have a previous version of Skins-n-More, first uninstall the previous version, then install this version.  See the sections:  "TO UNINSTALL:", and then "TO INSTALL:" below for detailed steps.

See "Version History" at the bottom of the readme for more details on what this version has changed.  Windows 95 users, please see the "*** NOTE ***" paragraph in the "TO INSTALL" section below.

Please read the entire readme to familiarize yourself with the program's features, installation, un-installation, and usage.


WHAT DOES IT DO?
================

Skins-n-More is a utility for Microprose' European Air War that allows you to manage textures (skins) so you can easily copy them to your European Air War folder.  With the release of the "picpac" utility and textures from Microprose, many excellent "skins" have been created by gifted EAW players/artists.

See the online help for specific usage information (accessed by clicking the small buttons with "?" throughout the application).  Below is a summary of what the application will do.

With Skins-n-More, you "register" an aircraft by associating it to one or more texture files.  You can also supply an image (.bmp, .gif or .jpg) that if stored in the same folders as your skins, will be displayed as you traverse the list of registered textures.  Then you can simply double click on a registered aircraft description (that you enter) and it will be copied to the current European Air War folder.

Skins-n-More also allows you to copy themes to the European Air War folder.  With the themes functionality, you pick previously registered textures to include in a theme.  So, for example, if you wanted a Pacific theme, you could include registered textures for aircraft (including many of the available PAW aircaft), a terrain, and a speech pack.  Then with a click of the mouse you can copy all of the registered textures included in the theme to the European Air War folder.  Additional features include the ability to change all skins for aircraft, etc. not included in the theme to their EAW default.  For example, if you didn't include the P51d in the Pacific theme, it would revert back to EAW default when you copied the theme - if you checked that option checkbox.  Another feature is the ability to select the object and terrain detail for each theme.  That way, for a Pacific or Desert theme, if you don't want house/farm objects on your terrain, you can set the object detail to low.  The settings will be low, medium and high for the object and terrain detail settings.

When an aircraft skin is copied to the European Air War folder, the previous textures for the same aircraft are removed.  This includes *.tpc and *.3dz files.  If you have ECA installed, ane the aircraft skin that is being copied is one of the 7 flyable ECA planes, the *.3dz files for the 7 flyable aircraft are restored before the aircraft skin is copied.  This ensure that if you fly a campaign in EAW the appropriate .3dz files are there.  The existence of ECA is tested for by Skins-n-More by checking for existence of at least of the following file types:  *.3dz, *.cpt, *.dat, *.flt, *.mpc, *.str.

When you copy a terrain, the previous terrain files are removed.  This includes *.ter, gras*.tpc (airfield files), and grnd*.tpc (ground objects) for terrain.

When you copy a speech pack, the previous speech pack related files are removed first.  For the German speech pack (used for the Japanese speech pack or any other "axis" speech packs) this includes ge*.snd, stgev*.str, gerlname.str, grank*.str, and radiotxt.str.  For the UK speech pack, this includes uk*.snd, stuk*.str, brtlname.str, brank*.str, and radiotxt.str.  For the US speech pack, this includes us*.snd, stus*.str, amrlname.str, arank*.str and radiotxt.str.  Furthermore, if ECA is installed, the radiotxt.str and *lrank.str files will then be restored before the copy is done to ensure you at least have the ECA version (i.e if the speech pack doesn't include this file).


TO INSTALL:
===========

-- Open "skinsnmore.zip" with Winzip (you can get Winzip from http://www.winzip.com, or many shareware sites).  From within Winzip, double click on "setup.exe", or unzip the entire archive to a folder and double click on "setup.exe" from that folder (installation directory defaults to "C:\Program Files\SkinsnMore").

Skins-n-More requires MSVBVM60.DLL, STDOLE2.TLB and Tabctl32.ocx to run which the setup program will install to the windows\system directory only if they are missing or the target files are older than the setup versions.  I've only tested Skins-n-More on Windows 98, so I don't know what affect copying newer system files will have on your system.  Don't remove the "St6unst.log" file as it contains un-install information required to cleanly uninstall via Control Panel.

*** NOTE ***

For Windows 95 users, I recommend making a back up of your MSVBVM60.DLL and STDOLE2.TLB files (in windows\system) in case your system has any version problems with these files.  That way, you can simply copy your originals back to windows\system and be back to what you had before running setup.

*** NOTE END ***


TO UNINSTALL:
=============

-- From "Control Panel", run "Add/Remove Programs", select "Skins n More", and click the "Add/Remove" button.  If you have any extra files besides "skinsnmore.exe", "skinsnmore.ini", this file (readme.txt) or "St6unst.log", the uninstall program will not be able to remove the "SkinsnMore" folder, so you must do it manually.

*** NOTE ***

The "snmtextures" folder (under the European Air War folder) and it's sub-folders will not be removed, so those must be removed manually.  If you leave those folders alone, Skins-n-More will be able to process the pre-existing database files and textures if you choose to re-install it at a later date.

*** NOTE END ***


TO USE SKINS-N-MORE:
====================

*** NOTE ***:  To keep the readme to a minimum, I've removed most of the bulk dealing with Skins-n-More usage.  I've now added a bit of help in each of the major windows in the application.  Just look for a little button with a question mark on it ("?").

*** ANOTHER NOTE ***:  After registering a number of textures or themes, I recommend backing up the four database files (listed and described below).

-- Here's some background on the data files for those that are interested in the details.  After you set the EAW folder and create the texture folder (and sub-folders), the two database files will be created in the "snmtextures" folder.  The files are simple ascii files, and can be opened with Notepad - although I recommend that you don't change anything.  If you misplace one character (byte), your data files will be corrupted.  If you do find that your data files become corrupted (i.e. erratic behavior of Skins-n-More), just replace the two files with the backed up versions - being sure to use the exact same names.  The two file names, and their layout are as follows:

Name:  TexInfRec.dat
Purpose:  Holds path to textures, description, image file name, and pointer to texture file names stored in TexRecord.dat)
Layout:
    TexInfoID As String * 5	(Texture Info ID - unique ID for given registered skin)
    TexID As String * 5		(Texture ID - points to the TexRecord.dat file)
    TexNum As String * 3	(Texture Number -  number of texture files in TexRecord.dat file for given skin)
    Description As String * 80	(Description of skin - stored in "desc.txt")
    Path As String * 200	(Path to texture files for given skin)
    Image As String * 50	(Image file name)



Name:  TexRecord.dat
Purpose:  Holds texture file names
Layout:
    TexID As String * 5		(Texture ID - unique ID for given texture)
    Texture As String * 12	(Texture name)


-- When you register a theme, two more database files are created.  Here are the names and their layout:

Name:  ThemeInfoRecord
Purpose:  Holds pointer to records in ThemeTexRecord.dat file (which in turn points to TexInfRec.dat), as well as description, object and terrain detail, and a flag to change skin objects not in theme to EAW default.
Layout:
    ThemeID As String * 5	(Theme ID - unique ID for given theme)
    ThemeTexID As String * 5	(Theme Texure ID - foriegn key into the ThemeTexRecord file)
    ThemeTexNum As String * 3	(Number of textures in theme)
    Description As String * 80	(Theme name)
    ObjectDetail As String * 1	(Object detail setting)
    TerrainDetail As String * 1	(Terrain detail setting)
    DefaultElse As String * 1	(default all flag)

Name:  ThemeTexRecord
Purpose:  Holds a pointer to texture files stored in TexInfRec.dat.
Layout:
    ThemeTexID As String * 5	(Theme Texture ID - unique ID)
    TexID As String * 5		(Texture ID - foriegn key into TexTecord file)



Version History:
================
Version 2.0  - Major update release.  The following changes were made:

- Added *.hm, *.tm, *.cdf suffixes to register texture "standard" filter

- Added an "open" filter option (i.e. "*.*" when registering textures)

- Added a warning if the user registers a texture that includes a file with .cdf suffix

- Expanded "default some" processing to include hilly terrain processing (*.hm, *.tm), as well as adding it to "default all" processing.  Pausing the mouse cursor over each of these "built in" objects will show the default (delete) filter, so you know what will be deleted when you click OK.

- Added a user-defined section to the default some dialog so the user can define their own default processing (i.e. file clean up).  Up to 24 user defined default objects can be created.  Added a warning if the user creates a default object with a "*.*", ".cdf" or ".exe" in the filter.  Pausing the mouse cursor over each of these "user-defined" objects will show the default (delete) filter, so you know what will be deleted when you click OK.

- Added the option to remove the files/directory structure storing the registered texture files when unregistering a texture

- Added a window that shows an enlarged image when you click on the thumbtack image for a registered texture

- Indicator ("->") in the registered textures list showing which of each of the 35 "base" objects were last applied to the EAW directory (30 a/c skins, terrain, 3 possible sound packs, and menu/map).  Saves "last applied" information when you exit the application, or click the "browse" button from the main window - so the information can be read the next time you open the application.

- Last applied window showing "at a glance" images for all registered textures last applied to the EAW folder.  Pausing your mouse cursor over each image will show what registered texture it represents.

- When the user clicks the "Default All" button, all "last applied" indicators are blanked out.  Also, when the user clicks the "Default Some" button and selects specific textures to change to EAW default, only the last applied indicators for those textures are blanked out.

- Registered theme "save as" feature to copy an existing theme to another.  Is invoked when you change the theme description field in any way, then click OK.

- Added help dialogs (via "?" buttons) in the main window, Register Texture/Theme windows, Choose texture window, Registered Texture/Theme Properties windows, Default Some window, Add Default Object window and Last Textures Applied window.

- When creating new Registered Textures or Themes, or modifying the properties for a Registered Texture or Theme, forced the texture and theme names to be unique such that no two textures/themes have exactly the same name.

- Added an "ECA Status" on the main window showing if ECA is installed in the European Air War folder.

- Replaced two links in the "About" window:  Bandit's EAW Site and The Aces Paintshop 2 are no longer valid links, so I replaced them with Musgrove's EAW Annex,and Serb's Flightline.

....................................................................

Version 1.2  - Minor update release.  The following changes were made:

- Added the following suffixes to the file filter when registering textures: *.adp, *.bil, *.bin, *.cpt, *.dat, *.flt, *.mnu, *.mpc, *.pal, *.raw, *.wsp

*** NOTE ***  Although the file filter has been expanded for registering textures, nothing has been done to the "pre-copy" cleanup for these types of files (except the vcg_*.dat mentioned in the next line item).  You can easily "shoot yourself in the foot" if you register any textures with the above listed file suffixes, as you may inadvertantly overwrite critical files used by many of the aircraft addons, such as ECA Panel, ECA Online, or any specific aircraft add ons - especially critical for flying online where all flight model related files must be exact between all players.  Use these new file types at your own risk!  The best way to handle "clean up" of these file types, is to always register a "default" or "previous" version for that given file type, so you can always get back to what you had before by overwriting it with this default/previous version.  This "situation" may be improved in a future release.

- Added the "vcg_*.dat" to the "pre-copy" cleanup for all aircraft types, as well as for the "default all" and "default some" processing.  For example, now when you apply the Fw190a, the following will be cleaned up prior to the selected texture files being copied to the EAW folder:  "p190a*.tpc", "p190a*.3dz" and "vcg_190a.dat".  Same holds true for the default processing ("all" or when you pick the "Fw190a", for example).

- Added the gunsight files to the default processing only.  Thus, when you click "default all", or "default some" and then click the "gunsight" check box, the gunsight file in the EAW folder will be removed.  I did not add gunsights to the "pre copy" cleanup as there is currently no "gunsight" sub-folder under "snmtextures", nor is there specific processing in place if you happened to add this folder.

- Improved the method for updating the "eaw.ini' file when applying registered themes (i.e. object detail and terrain detail).  With verson 1.1 and earlier, extra blank lines were sometimes added to the end of the eaw.ini file.  This has been corrected.

- Updated the URLs for some of the EAW-related sites in the "Help | About" dialog box to reflect ISP changes.

....................................................................

Version 1.1  - Minor update release.  The following changes were made:

- Added a confirmation dialog when you unregister a texture/theme.

- Took out (for sure this time!) the warning message displayed if any texture files in the European Air War folder were "read only" and the user applied textures that initiated a "pre copy" clean up.  This was most common for detailed instrument texture files.

- Added "*.spt" to the filter when registering textures - this way you can now register gunsight .spt files.

- Added a progress bar to the main window to show the progress of applying registered textures or themes to the European Air War folder.

....................................................................

Version 1.0a - Minor fix release.  The following changes were made:

- Resolved a problem running Skins-n-More on international versions of Windows and/or using a country code other than US (English).  This was causing the version 1.0 release to generate a run-time error and abort the program.

- Took out the warning message displayed if any texture files in the European Air War folder were "read only" and the user applied textures that initiated a "pre copy" clean up.  This was most common for detailed instrument texture files - no need to annoy users with that message ;-).

....................................................................

Version 1.0  - Initial release of Skins-n-More


Special Thanks:
===============
I'd like to give special thanks to all of my Alpha/Beta testers.  Without their ideas and feedback regarding bugs, the already long development cycle of Skins-n-More would have been even longer and more tenuous.  So to SkyBoss, Musgrove, Jamie Richards, George Warren, MajorLee, David Bhodi, Christian Mosimann, No457_Destroyer, Grzegorz, Lex, Markus, No457_Krieger, No609_Bri, Len, Dennis Bouchard, Henryk Oostdam, Nick ??, Sagginb, ZBop, No457_Squog ... THANK YOU!


Disclaimer:
===========
Skins-n-More is freeware and can be freely distributed.  However, I shall not be held liable for damage caused to any computer systems by it's distribution or use (blah, blah, blah... not that I expect any ;-).

That said, I hope you enjoy using "Skins-n-More" as much as I've enjoyed developing it and using it.  Thank you for taking interest in this utility - please send an email detailing any problems to:

jcam_0@my-deja.com (that's a zero not a capital o)

Joe "Relent" Camilleri