SkyManager - v. 1.3  - 25/11/2000 ** FULL VERSION **

By Spit9 (a.k.a. J. L. Salvadoretti) 


Many thanks to:
- Pretzel and Migge, for their great work  creating their fabulous skies;
- Drift_Factor, for the idea;
- Mane-Raptor, for the tips on VB code;
- All you that contributed with your suggestions, experience and patience! 

*** CHANGES FROM v.1.2:
- Thumbnail pictures and labels removed from the .EXE file; 
- Transparency files can now be used;
- Users can now create and use your own "skies"! (see "CHANGING AVALIABLE SKIES" below)

*** CHANGES FROM v.1.1 & v.1.1a:
- Automatic detection of EAW folder - no more troubles with paths in SM.INI!
- Screen size automatic adjust to any resolution.
- Two "new" skies: 'Scattered & Horizon' and 'Bigger Clouds'. 'Scatt & Horizon' is a mix   between the Pretzel's 'Scattered Clouds'(unmodified) and a new horizon with clouds. 'Bigger      Clouds' is a new sky with (as the name says...) sparse thicker clouds with darker bottoms, resembling pre-cumulus. They give a feeling of being more near of the a/c, I think, even you still could not reaching them.

*** CHANGES FROM v.1.0:
- New weather files from Migge & Pretzel - better colors and TNT-compatibility! Pretzel's "fluffy   clouds" are now within the "sunny" sets of files.
- Corrected problem unzipping subfolders.
- Added option to allow user to save selected sky as default and/or restore a previous default.
- Added Migge's Winter Sky.
- Reduced .EXE size.



*** WHAT IS IT?
SkyManager is an EAW add-on intended to allow the user to select what kind of weather he wants for "Quick Start" or "Single Mission". It think it can also work in "Carreer" mode, provided that the change of seasons (or others add-ons used) don't change the weather files, but had not tested it. 
SkyManager uses Pretzel's and Migge's weather files, allowing to choose among eleven different kinds of weather: Scattered Clouds, London Fog, Stormy, Blue Sky and Clouds, Gray, Horizon Clouds, Overcast, Clear Blue, Winter Sky, plus now 'Scattered + Horizon' and 'Bigger Clouds'. A last option is "RANDOM", that will make the program to select randomly one kind of weather. 
Now you can have sunny winter days as well as summer storms...

*** HOW IT WORKS?
Very simple - SkyManager first looks in your EAW folder for any weather files and delete them; then it copies to that folder the files corresponding to the desired weather. These files are stored in eleven subfolders named SM0 to SM10, under \SManager. When you select a kind of weather by pressing "OK" you can now set this as your own default skies, and restore then when you want. You can also restore the default EAW weather files at any moment.

I tried to keep SkyManager as small as possible, but the images and required .DLLs made it bigger than I thinked. For this reason, there are two separate parts, one with the program itself (SMFULL13_1.ZIP) and the other (SMANAGER2.ZIP) with the DLLs. Even so, it will need (including .DLLs) less than 2.3 Mb of HD space. 


*** SETUP:
This is a full version of SkyManager 1.3, except for the required DLLs (they are contained in SMANAGER2.ZIP, that can be found at Cord's, AxA's, Alain-James' and other sites). Due to the zipping problems, there's a bit of manual work involved here, but not too much... 

- Unzip the files contained in SMFULL13_1.ZIP to a temporary  directory. This ZIP contains the main files and folders needed. Be sure the box "Use Folder Names" or similar in your 'zip' program is checked. You must have now 11 zipped folders (from SM0.ZIP to SM10.ZIP), the executable (SMANAGER.EXE), and this file (README.TXT), plus a screenshot of the program's screen (you can delete this later). 

- Create a folder named "SManager" under your EAW  folder (the  name  MUST be this!); copy all  the files (except the SM*.ZIP ones) from the temporary  directory to this folder.

- Under this folder (\SMAnager), create eleven subfolders named SM0, SM1.....SM10; create also a subfolder named SMDef.

- Unzip each zipped folder (SM*.ZIP) to the correspondent subfolder you created - SM0.ZIP to \SManager\SM0, and so on; let SMDef empty.

- Sorry... all this is necessary because the 'zip' process doesn't accept to compress different folders that have files with same names, so I must zip every subfolder before all program could be zipped itself.  

Now, the system files...

- Unzip the files contained in SMANAGER2.ZIP to a temporary  directory. This ZIP file contains two .DLL files and one .OCX file; copy these to your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM folder. If you receive a message that the file being copied is older than a version preexisting in your machine, choose to keep your own file. 

- Create a  shortcut to your desktop for Smanager.exe, if  you  don't use  EAWStab;

- If  you  use it,  then  open it and select "Configure"/"External Applications"/"Add". Follow the instructions, and EAWStab will create a new external application for SkyManager. If you want to replace some of the default applications (some you don't have) with SkyManager, you can select "Configure"/ "External Applications"/"Delete" to remove it before adding SkyManager. Or, if you want to do it manually, you can edit the [External] section of EAWSTAB.INI.

- If you are using SkinsAndMore, sorry, I cant help you, but then you don't need this program: SkinsAndMore can manage weather files itself - check it!

- It's all.

*** HOW TO USE: 

- Without STAB:  Click  the shortcut on desktop to launch SkyManager;
		 Select the weather you want by clicking  in the picture;
		 Click "OK";
		 Click "EXIT";
		 Launch EAW.

- With STAB:     Launch Stab;
		 From  the  External Applications menu, select "Sky Manager";
		 Select the weather you want by clicking  in the picture;
		 Click "OK";
		 Click "EXIT";
		 Use STAB to launch EAW.

If you  choose  "Random", then SkyManager will sort the weather by itself;  you  can get a winter sky or fog even in Pacific! (but I think  it can add an extra thrill...)
If you have any weather files in the Terrain folders, be sure to remove them (or change terrains BEFORE launching SkyManager) or it will have no effect.

-DEfAULTS:
-To save a selected kind of weather as your own default, just click the button "Save As Default" after you clicked in "OK". These files will be copyed to the "SMDef" subfolder.

-To restore your last default, launch SkyManager and press the button "My Defaults" in the "Restore" panel, then "EXIT". Launch EAW again.

-To restore the original EAW sky, just launch SkyManager and press the button "EAW Defaults" in the "Restore" panel, then "EXIT". Launch EAW again.

*** COMMENTS:
- Some people (very few, I hope...) had a particular problem with the 1.2 version, with the thumbnail pictures appearing transparent in the main screen. Even not knowing why it happened, I guess that some system configurations could make the program unable to show the pictures (they were embedded into the program). The present version has the pictures outside the .EXE, so maybe it can correct the problem. 
- This version can handle transparency files (BNCLTRAxx.TER) files, not supported by version 1.2.

*** CHANGING AVALIABLE SKIES:
SkyManager has a default preset of 11 different wheater patterns, or 'skies'. In this version, however, you can replace any of them by a new one, if you have the correct set of files for it. 
To do this: 

- Select the 'SM*' folder corresponding to the sky you want to replace;
- Delete all .TER files in it;
- Copy to this folder the new set of wheater files you want to use;
- Replace the 'SM*.BMP' file for a new one showing your new sky (must be a 200x130 pixels, 256 colors bitmap);
- Edit the 'SM*.TXT'file to change the label for this new sky and save it.
- Launch SkyManager and check if the changes are correct. 

Hope you enjoy it!

*** POSSIBLE TROUBLE:
If you receive a message of "Incorrect installation", it means that SkyManager is not installed under the EAW folder as it needs to be. Please re-check your install.


*** FEEDBACK: 
Any comments, sugestions, or criticism will be welcome. You can contact me at the CombatSim EAW Forum. Please give me your opinion! 


*** DISTRIBUTION:
SkyManager was conceived as FREEWARE. If you like it, you can distribute it freely, provided no  modifications are made to the program or any of its files, including this README, and no fees are claimed. And, of course, a little bit of credit will be appreciated... ;-)


*** THE TRADITIONAL DISCLAIMER... 
SkyManager, as any other EAW add-on, is not suported by Microprose (oh, never mind, EAW isn't too...). I'm not responsible for crashes, malfunctioning or any consequences of its use; but as SkyManager does not make any permanent changes to EAW, it will not ruin it in any way. In some systems, maybe other .DLLs can be necessary; I had not chance to test it.
EAW is a registred trademark of Microprose, Inc.
WINDOWS is a registered trademark of Microsoft Co.

******************************
Jos Luiz Salvadoretti ("Spit9")
Porto Alegre - RS -Brasil 




