Short: Core Wars ICWS'94 draft compliant envir. Author: Mark Howson Uploader: smolensk eunet yu (Nikola Smolenski) Type: game/misc Version: 0.8.5 Architecture: m68k-amigaos Amiga pMARS ----------- This is an Amiga port of pMARS 0.8.5... There are two copies of pMARS in this archive. The pMARS executable is the simple, text-based version. This will run on pretty much any Amiga and is a good deal (roughly 20 times!) faster than the graphical one. It includes support for the 94 extensions. Requirements: Kickstart 1.3 or better, any 680x0 processor. pMARSv is the graphical version. It has all of the features of the normal one (including the debugger), but is pretty slow... This requires Kickstart 2.0 or better, and some features probably need 3.0. It's only been tried on my 3.0 machine though, so it might not work on 2.0/2.1. If that's the case, let me know. Why does the graphical version need OS2.0 - well, it *could* be done on 1.3, but on a 68000 1.3 machine it's going to be painfully sluggish, and 2.0 is much nicer to work with :) Mail me if you really need a 1.3 gfx version. Requires Kick2.0 or better (Kick 3.0+ recommended), any 680x0 processor. 68020 or better (much better) recommended. There aren't specific versions for 020/030/040 processors because there didn't appear to be any significant speed gain from doing so. I'm happy to provide one if people want it. Amiga Options ------------- -display The ModeID of the desired screen. Can be specified either as a decimal number or in hex (as 0x1000, for example). You can also use ? as the argument to get an ASL screen requester. -public You can use a public screen instead of a custom one if you like ; just specify it's name here. If you have Kickstart 3.0 or better it will attempt to choose sensible colours - if not this may look strange. You need OS2.0 or better to use public screens, preferably OS3.0. The support isn't that great at the moment ; pMARS will happily use the window border for plotting. Oops. -width The width of a custom screen, or the width of the window if a public screen is used. -height See -width entry. -ydebug This lets you change the vertical position of the debug area. Normally, pMARS will resize the graphical display to be as big as possible and only leave 1 or 2 lines for debugging. If you need more space use -ydebug ; a value of about 3/4 the screen height is a good start. ydebug value must be lower than the screen height. Basic Commands -------------- Most of this applies only to the graphics versions... d Enter debug mode. Type help for a list of commands. c will continue simulation. < or > Slow down/Speed up simulation SPACE BAR Clear core display. q or ESC Quit. The program will of course automatically quit after completion. Misc Notes ---------- A few minor things aren't supported, namely the display/system commands in the debugger. The graphical version is fairly basic - oh, please note that it may seem a little unresponsive to keypresses on the higher speed settings. You may need to press a key a few times to get it's attention while plotting. Sorry about this; as you can imagine the simulation is *very* processor intensive. If you slow the simulation down a little it will react much better. The Amiga source code is not included in this archive, but is freely available upon request. Future ------ Kickstart 1.3 support. Better (faster?) display. Proper console window for debugging. Much nicer debugging support. PPC?!? I'm open to suggestions! Other ----- If you find a bug, or would like some additional features, mail me. It's all fairly simple at the moment, but once we know it works I'll worry about any enhancements. If you need to know how to do something in the debugger, or want to know why a program won't compile properly, it's best to ask in the rec.games.corewar newsgroup rather than ask me - I don't know much about this sort of thing yet. If I've left something out, or some feature doesn't work as you know it should, then *please* let me know. It's likely to be ignorance on my part rather than being a deliberate omission. I'm still a complete corewar newbie :) Mark Howson , Sunday 14-Jun-98 12:49:11 Amiga 1200T, 68040/25 603e/200, 32Mb RAM etc.