Abuse-SDL 0.7.0 README

Introduction
Additional Features
Requirements
Running Abuse-SDL
Configuration
Installing the datafiles.
Notes
Special Thanks
Feedback

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Abuse-SDL, the port of the classic game Abuse to the Simple DirectMedia Layer. Abuse was originally developed by Crack dot Com and released in 1995 for MS-DOS. A Linux version was also made available at a later date. It had a few limitations the most restrictive of which was that it only ran on an 8-bit display, and only in a window.
Abuse-SDL will run at any colour depth and supports fullscreen mode, as well as many other new features. It should also be more portable and hopefully run on a variety of *nix variants, and possibly other systems supported by the SDL library.

2. ADDITIONAL FEATURES

Abuse-SDL has the following extra features over the original Abuse:

Runs at a screen bit depth of 8, 16, 24 or 32. Fullscreen display.
Scaling by any amount (eg. 2, 3 or 4) OpenGL support for hardware scaling and anti-aliasing. Stereo sound with panning.
Mousewheel support for changing weapons. Customizable keys.

3. REQUIREMENTS

Abuse-SDL has the following requirements:

SDL 1.1.6 or above.
One of the following sets of datafiles:

Registered Abuse(original CD)
Abuse Shareware
fRaBs(Free Abuse) OpenGL is optional. 4. RUNNING ABUSE-SDL

If Abuse-SDL has been installed properly, the command:

abuse.sdl

will start the game.

The following command-line switches can be used:

-datadir <arg> Set the location of the datafiles

  -doublebuf        Enable double buffering
  -edit             Start in editor mode
  -f <arg>          Load the map file named <arg>
  -fullscreen       Enable fullscreen mode
  -gl               Enable OpenGL (if supported)
  -antialias        Enable anti-aliasing (only with -gl)
  -lisp             Start in lisp interpreter mode
  -mono             Disable stereo sound
  -nodelay          Run at maximum speed
  -nosound          Disable sound
  -scale <arg>      Scale by <arg> amount

5. CONFIGURATION

Abuse-SDL also has a configuration file where these options can be set instead of using the command line. The file "abuserc" will be created in your ~/.abuse directory the first time Abuse-SDL is run. Lines starting with a ';' are comments. Setting an option to '1' turns it on, and '0' turns it off.

To change the keys used in the game, simply type the key after the option. The following special keys can also be used: LEFT, RIGHT, UP, DOWN : Cursor keys and keypad.

  CTRL_L, CTRL_R        : Left and right CTRL keys.
  ALT_L, ALT_R          : Left and right ALT keys.
  SHIFT_L, SHIFT_R      : Left and right SHIFT keys.
  F1 - F10              : Function keys 1 through 10.
  TAB                   : TAB key.
  BACKSPACE             : Backspace key.
  ENTER                 : Enter key
  INSERT, DEL           : Insert and Delete keys.
  PAGEUP, PAGEDOWN      : PageUp and PageDown keys.
  CAPS, NUM_LOCK        : Caps-Lock and Num-Lock keys.
  SPACE                 : Spacebar.

The default key settings are as follows:

  Left        : Left cursor key.
  Right       : Right cursor key.
  Up/Jump     : Up cursor key.

Down/Use : Down cursor key.
Prev Weapon : Left or Right CTRL keys. Next Weapon : Insert key.

The mouse always controls your aim, with Left button for fire and Right button for special. Mousewheel can be used for changing weapons.

6. INSTALLING THE DATAFILES

Abuse-SDL requires a set of datafiles(graphics, sounds, maps and so on) to be installed before it will run. They are available as a separate package from the Abuse-SDL website.

By default, Abuse-SDL expects the datafiles to be installed in the following location:

/usr/local/share/games/abuse

However it is possible to change this and tell Abuse-SDL where to find the files if they are in another location.
The location can be set when Abuse-SDL is compiled. See the INSTALL file for instructions on how to do this.
You can also specify the location with the -datadir argument when Abuse-SDL is run. See section 4 above.
Finally, the location can be set in the configuration file. See section 5 above.

To install the datafiles, simply unpack the archive into a location of your choice (preferably '/usr/local/share/games/abuse' as mentioned above).

7. NOTES

Scaling: Scaling is still experimental and not very fast. Try scaling by different amounts to see which ones work the best.
OpenGL: OpenGL can be used to provide hardware accelerated scaling and anti-aliasing. You will require a 3D card with the appropriate drivers and GL libraries installed for this to work.
fRaBs: The current release of fRaBs has some naming issues under Linux. In the 'addon/leon/' directory a lot of the files are uppercase when Abuse is expecting them to be lowercase. Renaming the files to be all lowercase will fix this problem.

BOSS_ANT has no value:
On some systems when running Abuse-SDL, the following error is given: "BOSS_ANT has no value"
The exact cause of this is unknown, however there is a workaround. If you don't already have a '.abuse' directory in your $HOME directory, simply create it with the following command:

mkdir ~/.abuse

Then copy the file 'gamma.lsp' that is included with Abuse-SDL into that directory. This should fix the problem and allow Abuse-SDL to run correctly. The 'gamma.lsp' file stores the settings for gamma correction and be adjusted from the main game menu if desired.

8. SPECIAL THANKS

Go to Jonathan Clark, Dave Taylor and the rest of the Crack Dot Com team for making the best 2D platform shooter ever, and then releasing the code that makes Abuse-SDL possible.

Also, thanks go to Jonathan Clark for allowing me to distribute the original datafiles with Abuse-SDL.

Thanks also to everyone who has contributed ideas, bug reports and patches. See the AUTHORS file for details.

9. FEEDBACK

If you have any questions, comments or constructive criticism, my email address is:

trandor@labyrinth.net.au

The Abuse-SDL webpage can be found at:

http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~trandor/abuse

Have fun!