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Premium Mah Jongg II (english version)
--------------------------------------
S H A R E W A R E
-----------------
Program authors :
Jens Schulz & Thomas Grube
Rosenstrasse 5
D-25368 Kiebitzreihe
Germany
The english version of Premium Mah Jongg II is shareware. The sale of
the english version of Premium Mah Jongg II without our permission
is strictly forbidden (commercial PD dealers/services etc.) !
--------
We allow the transfer of the english Premium Mah Jongg II version in
all international mailbox systems and absolute uncommercial PD-/shareware
collections. Everbody can copy and swap this english Premium Mah Jongg II
version with the uncommercial restriction. Sales of Premium Mah Jongg II
without our permission will break our copyright restrictions and will
punish by the german law.
We only allow the US-company Suzy B's Software, 3712 Military Road,
Niagara Falls, NY 14305 the commercial sale of Premium Mah Jongg II
(engl. version) in their PD-/Shareware service. The program authors
restrict the max. price for a Premium Mah Jongg II disc from Suzy
B's Software to 9 $. Commercial sales of Premium Mah Jongg II (engl.
version) from other companies or commercial PD dealers are strictly
forbidden.
Translation comment
-------------------
The translation of the complex rules of PMJ II wasn't easy. We worked
many nights and days on this translation.
A little aphorism describes our translation aim :
"We will produce an excellent game with a simple English translation
and not a worse program with a translation in Oxford English"
Preface of release Premium Mah Jongg II
---------------------------------------
Premium Mah Jongg 1 was a very successful PD program in the german
PD POOL. The german version of Premium Mah Jongg II is a PD disc in
the P2000 series of the PD Pool. PD Pool programs don't allow the
transfer in the international mailbox systems.
So, we decided, that all foreign-language Premium Mah Jongg II versions
should be pure shareware and not part of the PD Pool contract. The english
version of Premium Mah Jongg II is a gift to all our foreign ATARI
ST/TT/FALCON friends.
Special thanks to :
Joseph Martin Turner Michael Richard Burkley
(ATARIPOWER7 Delphi) (MRBURKLEY Delphi)
P.O. Box 11127 3712 Military Road
Orlando, Florida 32803-1127 Niagara Falls, NY 14305
USA USA
We worked together a long time for the worldwide ATARI ST/TT/FALCON
community. Many many MBytes of free PD-/shareware we shipped from Germany
<->USA for you. We've payed all postage/disc costs and spent a lot of
time for our ATARI ideas.
*** What have you private done for our ATARI community ? ****
Premium Mah Jongg is a type of shareware. We called it highscore fairware,
why ?
Premium Mah Jongg II is a 'game drug'. If you've played more than 10 Mah
Jongg games, you will be normally a Mah Jongg freak. The next step of
Mah Jongg freak is the Mah Jongg power player. He only plays in the 4 min
tournament level and hunts highscore entries.
If you ever reach the magic 3.30 min time boundary, than you should pay
our highscore fairware fee. The magic time boundary only reach very good
Mah Jongg players. Every Premium Mah Jongg happening player, who plays
in great PMJ-tournaments should pay this fee, too.
***************************************************
* SHAREWARE fee is only 15 $ for a lot of fun !! *
***************************************************
Here is our german bank account :
Jens Schulz & Thomas Grube
Bank account: Sparkasse Glueckstadt-Krempe / Germany
Bank code : 222 510 30
Account No. : 110 112 459
"Please support ATARI programmers before it's too late !"
What's new in Premium Mah Jongg II
----------------------------------
Premium Mah Jongg II is one of the first games, which supports all
important ST-/TT-/FALCON- and color graphic card resolutions.
- FALCON-VGA 640 * 480 in 256 colors
- FALCON-SVGA_16 800 * 608 in 16 colors
- FALCON_SVGA_256 800 * 608 in 256 colors
- CrazyDots/Matrix 800 * 600 in 16 colors
- CrazyDots/Matrix 800 * 600 in 256 colors
- CrazyDots/Matrix 1024 * 768 in 256 colors
- Matrix 110ZV 1280 * 960 in 256 colors
- Matrix 1280 * 1024 in 256 colors
additional the old screen resolution support of PMJ I :
- ST Low 320 * 200 in 16 colors
- ST High 640 * 400 in monochrome
- TT VGA 640 * 480 in 16 colors
- TT High 1280 * 960 in monochrome
The game extensions of PMJ II are described in the following paragraphs.
What is Mah Jongg ?
-------------------
Mah Jongg is an old chinese board game. This simple computer game arouses
a real Mah Jongg mania. On every modern computer system exists Mah Jongg
variants. But all these games don't have such a magic attraction as
PMJ II, why ?
PMJ II isn't a simple Mah Jongg game. It includes a lot of new elements of
tension. Every Mah Jongg player, who has played intensive PMJ II never
returns to any other Mah Jongg variant.
Short history of PMJ I und II
-----------------------------
Thomas and I are old Mah Jongg freaks. We've often played Mah Jongg
on a real board and we're enthuastic ATARI programmers, too. We've tested
several Mah Jongg variants on ST and other systems, but no of these
variants have convinced us.
So we wrote our own Mah Jongg variant, called Premium Mah Jongg. This
variant should have many new elements of tension and other qualities.
1. - it should run on all ATARI systems ST/TT and FALCON
2. - high quality tiles in all screen resolutions (no fantasy tiles)
3. - support all important color & monochrome resolutions
(ST Low 320*200 16 colors to 1280*1024 256 colors)
4. - written in ANSI-C (it's a good job for learning C !)
5. - better than every PC Mah Jongg
6. - several new elements of tension (real game drug !)
The development began in september 1991 in Harpstedt near Bremen. We worked
here several months as programmers. Our task was the optimation of mass
spectroscopy software on an exotic 680xx system. In the evening we worked
for PMJ I. We used my ATARI TT with 19"-screen for the first steps of
development. More than 1000 hours of programming time and 200 hours
of tile drawing caused PMJ I and II. It was a long time and we think
15$ shareware fee for this hard job isn't too much !
For all foreign PMJ II user we've spent additional time for program
and document translation.
PMJ II was designed in the spring & summer 1993 on a TT with Matrix 110ZV
graphic card (1280*960 256 colors). We thank Mr. Reinhard Spangehl for
this hardware support. The designers of the fabulous Fractals IV program
Martin & Harald Hansen checked our game on their CrazyDots graphic card.
The Computer Club Elmshorn e.V. gave us his FALCON 4MB/240MB HD for all
FALCON tests.
Thanks for all the hardware support and all ž-testers (these persons with
the total red burning eyes) !
Files of Premium Mah Jongg II
-----------------------------
PMJ_ENG2.PRG Premium Mah Jongg program (english version)
MAHJONGG.DOC Description of von Premium Mah Jongg II (ASCII)
IMPORTNT.DOC Installation for graphic cards >= 1024*768 dots
HAPPENG.TXT Rules of Mah Jongg Happening variant
PMJ_ENGH.RSC Resource for resolution >= ST-High
PMJ_ENGL.RSC Resource for ST-Low
ST_HIGH.STN Tile graphic for ST Monochrome
ST_LOW.STN Tile graphic for ST Low 320 * 200 16 colors
ST_TTVGA.STN Tile graphic for ST/TT-VGA 640*480 16 colors
FALC_VGA.STN Tile graphic for FALCON-VGA 640*480 256 colors
F_SVGA16.STN Tile graphic for FALCON-SuperVGA 800*608 16 colors
F_SVGA.STN Tile graphic for FALCON-SuperVGA 800*608 256 colors
SVGA_16.STN Tile graphic for SVGA 800*608 16 colors
SUPERVGA.STN Tile graphic for SVGA 800*608 256 colors
BIG_ENGL.STN Tile graphic for 1280*960 monochrome TT-High
***************************************************************************
!!! Important for user of CrazyDots/Matrix graphic cards !!!
PMJ II supports these graphic cards with special tile graphics, too. These
tile graphics are compressed in the file GRAFCARD.TOS, because there
wasn't enough space on a normal 720 KB disc for uncompressed files.
GRAFCARD.TOS is a self extracting file. The uncompressed files needs ca.
700 KB on your harddisc (check free harddisc space !).
Please start the file GRAFCARD.TOS in the folder SCRDATA for decompression.
If you don't unpack the tile graphics as graphic card user, PMJ II
will create an error message.
Here are the compressed tile files in the GRAFCARD.TOS.
CM_VGA.STN tile graphic for FALCON-VGA 640*480 256 colors
SVGA_16.STN tile graphic for SVGA 800*608 16 colors
SUPERVGA.STN tile graphic for SVGA 800*608 256 colors
CM_1024.STN tile graphic for 1024*768 256 colors
MATRIX_C.STN tile graphic for 1280*960 256 colors Matrix 110ZV
***************************************************************************
START_BW.GRF Start picture ST Monochrome
STARTRGB.GRF Start picture ST-Low 320 * 200
60HZ.PRG 60 Hz color frequency switch ST-Low
HIGHKONV.PRG Convert old highscore format on new format
HAPSCORE.PRG Show highscore of an old happening file
HIGHSCR2.DAT New highscore file
CONFIG.MHJ Start setting of Premium Mah Jongg
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keyboard commands for Premium Mah Jongg II
------------------------------------------
Load game Control L
Save game Control S
Show highscore Control A
Clear highscore Control E
Mix highscore files Control M
Save configuration Control K
Quit F10
Solitaire variant F1
Tournament variant F2
Show all moves HELP
Repeat game Control W
Mah Jongg-Replay Control O
Show endposition Control C
PMJ II autorouter Control R
Pause Space
Abort game Esc
Auto deselection Control D
Tournament timelimit Control X
Points calculation Control P
Happening creation F4
Happening start F6
Color background Control B
Set tile color Control N
60 Hz color frequency Tab
Game varieties Control H
Hardware support Control V
Keyboard info Control T
Game structure Control G
Tiles Control U
Special tiles Control I
Highscore fairware Control F
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game rules
----------
The rules of Mah Jongg are very simple. You need only a few minutes of
training and you will never forget these rules.
A Mah Jongg game has 144 tiles. These tiles are stacked like a pyramid.
This pyramid has 5 tile layers. The aim of the game is the complete
reduction of this pyramid. The pyramid of the Mah Jongg game is called
the dragon of the game.
Your first aim is the complete reduction of the pyramid and your second
aim is a very short play time. These two simple desires of every Premium
Mah Jongg player are a very hard fight. You fight against the clock and
yourself.
********************************************
* Mah Jongg has only three tile move rules *
********************************************
Rule 1 : Which tile is free for move ?
------
A tile is free, when it has no left or right tile aside and
no tile is on it.
Example tile line : (T = shortcut for tile)
T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8
Tile T1 is free, because there blocks no left tile.
Tile T8 is free, because there blocks no right tile.
The tiles T2-T7 are blocked, because they have tiles on
bothsides.
The tile T1 and T8 have the status of a moveable tile.
All other tiles don't free in this situation.
Rule 2: The status of a free tile isn't enough for a correct move !
------- You must find 2 equivalent free tiles. If you don't find
such a free tile pair, you lose the game !
If you've found such a free pair, you take it away with
a mouse click on every of these free tiles. PMJ II recognizes
wrong moves automatically.
Rule 3: It exists two sorts of special tiles. The tiles are called seasons
------- and flowers.
Seasons : SPR = spring
SUM = summer
AUT = autumn
WIN = winter
Flowers : MUM = Mum
PLUM = Plum
BAM = Bamboo
ORC = Orchidee
These are 8 special tiles. They haven't no equivalent tile. All
other tile sorts have 4 equivalent tiles.
You can take away every free season with every other free season
and every flower with every other free flower.
!! The mix of free seasons and free flowers is forbidden !
*** These are the rules of the Mah Jongg game ***
Simple rules, that's true. It's easy to play, but hard to solve. Normally
a good player needs ca. 20 games for solving a Mah Jongg play. If you
don't believe it, test it !!
Hints for pyramid reduction
---------------------------
Following simple game strategies are very useful for solving the game :
Rule 1: the tile on the top of pyramid and the two tiles on the left an
right side are very important. These tiles block a lot of other
tiles. Your first aim must be the remove of these 3 tiles.
Rule 2: The second hint is called fast group search. For example the 9
crake tiles are a Mah Jongg group. Group search means, that you
only search a specific tile group. You search all free tiles
of a group (e.g. crake 1 to crake 9) and no other tiles. That's
a easy way to find free tile pairs.
Rule 3: Have a look on the symmetry of the pyramid. Try to reduce the
pyramid on all sides.
Rule 4: If 3 tiles of tile sort free, than take the tile pair, which
produces the most free new tiles.
Tile sorts of Premium Mah Jongg
-------------------------------
A complete game of Premium Mah Jongg has 144 tiles. These tiles are divided
in several groups.
Normally 4 tiles of every tile sort exist :
Group : Bamboos (1 to 9) 36 tiles
Dots (1 to 9) 36 tiles
Crakes (1 to 9) 36 tiles
White dragon 4 tiles
Red dragon (C) 4 tiles
Green dragon (F) 4 tiles
4 Winds (N,E,S,W) 16 tiles
Special groups :
Seasons: Spring SPR 1 tile
Summer SUM 1 tile
Autumn AUT 1 tile
Winter WIN 1 tile
Flowers: Mum MUM 1 tile
Plum PLUM 1 tile
Orchidee ORC 1 tile
Bamboo BAM 1 tile
You can see all these tile sorts under the menu entry 'Tiles'.
Game varieties of Premium Mah Jongg II
--------------------------------------
Premium Mah Jongg II has 3 game varieties. These varieties are called
Solitaire, Tournament and Premium Mah Jongg Happening.
1. Solitaire mode (game without time limit)
-------------------------------------------
Solitaire is a game variety for Mah Jongg novices. You can learn
the game rules and strategies without time restrictions. Mah Jongg
power players don't use this mode, because this mode hasn't extra
time points for the highscore.
-> Start with F1 key or menu entry Solitaire
2. Tournament mode (game with hard time restrictions)
-----------------------------------------------------
That's the game mode for the Mah Jongg power player. It's a hard fight
against the clock and yourself. Every second of the play time reduces
the highscore value.
Time limit in the Tournament mode
---------------------------------
Following time limits of the game are available :-
12 min : Tournament level 0
10 min : Tournament level 1
8 min : Tournament level 2
6 min : Tournament level 3
4 min : Tournament level 4
The tournament level is a factor in the highscore calculation !
The Mah Jongg power player only plays in the 4 min level, because
he will get every additional point for his highscore.
The Solitaire mode is the same as Tournament level 0.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Timeout, oh no !
----------------
Timeout is a bad moment in the life of a Mah Jongg power player. The play
time has exceeded the time restriction in the Tournament level. PMJ II
writes the highscore on the disc/HD.
If you click the button 'Solitaire' the game goes on, but the actual
highscore is freezed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Premium Mah Jongg Happening
---------------------------
Premium Mah Jongg 1 was a game for lonely players. Now, PMJ II allows
great tournaments with many players and computers. This mode is called,
Premium Mah Jongg Happening.
For example, a complete sports stadion with hundreds of Mah Jongg players
and their computers are possible.
The Mah Jongg Happening has very strict game rules for tournaments.
All these rules are described in the file HAPPENG.TXT.
The Premium Mah Jongg Happening is a real great party, please test it !
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mah Jongg autorouter
--------------------
This is one of the juwel in Premium Mah Jongg II. It's possible, that you
will spend more time in the autorouter as in the normal game. We've found
several ž-testers with such 'Route freak' symptomes.
Autorouter is an algorithm for automatic searching of Mah Jongg solutions.
Routers are often used in the computer science. A typically router is for
example a street router in map programs. He searches the shortest way
between two cities. An other router is the PCB router for printing
circuits boards in the electronics.
The Mah Jongg autorouter searches a solution of an actual Mah Jongg board
situation. Normally nobody knows, if a Mah Jongg game is soluble or not.
A normally search is unpossible, because the number of tile moves is
nearly infinite.
The Mah Jongg autorouter behaives like an excellent Mah Jongg player. It
uses several heuristical methods for a solution search. One of these
heuristics is the symmetric reduction of the pyramid.
!! The autorouter doesn't guarantee a solution !!
The autorouter is a good Mah Jongg player, but its heuristics don't
guarantee a fast solution. If the autorouter finds a death board position,
it uses a backtracking algorithm and tests other move ways. It's possible,
that an other way is a solution.
!! The autorouter blocks the highscores entries !!
Gambling with the autorouter
----------------------------
1. How to use the autorouter ?
------------------------------
The autorouter starts at every time with Control R or the menu entry
'PMJ II autorouter'. You can load old games from the disc/HD, too.
2. What happens in the autoroute mode ?
---------------------------------------
PMJ II displays several informations during an autoroute run.
- 'Rest tile pairs' : Max. number of all tile pairs on the actual
board
- 'Removed tile pairs' : Number of the actual removed tile pairs from
the autorouter
If the number of the 'Rest tile pairs' and the number of the 'Removed
tile pairs' are equivalent, than the router has found a solution !
- 'Nodes' : Number of controlled move nodes (like a search tree)
- 'Dead Ends' : Number of found deadlock position
3. When should you stop an autorouter run ?
-------------------------------------------
The autorouter only stops, if it finds a solution. If the autorouter
has reached 5000 nodes (TT 10000 nodes) without solutions, it has
found a complex Mah Jongg board.
What is happen ?
The normal autorouter strategies doesn't solve the board position.
Now the router searches other solution ways. These ways requires
a lot of time.
After 5000 (10000) nodes you should stop the routing process with the
ALTERNATE key.
4. Gambling with autorouter ways
--------------------------------
The autorouter stores every time his best board fit. It hadn't found
a solution, he had stored all moves to his last dead end.
If you've aborted the autorouter run with the ALTERNATE key, you've
2 possibilities.
- 'Forget it' : The game mode is exchanged in the Solitaire mode. You
play the actual board with your strategies.
- 'Show moves': With the SPACE key the autorouter shows the move ways.
With the P key (play), you can stop the move replay
and play in your own direction.
5. Where is this 'damned' solution (Route freak symptome) ?
-----------------------------------------------------------
The autorouter doesn't gurantee a quick solution. But in the most Mah
Jongg boards are 'hidden' solution ways. The task of a 'Route freak'
is the search of this 'damned' solution. The 'Route freak' and the
autorouter works in this mode together.
- stop autorouter run with ALTERNATE key
1. Analyze way : reduce autorouter search
----------------
- click 'Show moves'
- take some tile pairs of the autorouter move way (Space key)
- press P key
- starts autorouter again (Control R)
- stopps autorouter (e.g. 5000 nodes)
- repeat this procedure
Strategy :
----------
If you reduce the number of tile pairs, the autorouter has the
chance to find a quicker solution. The number of search trees
will be dramatically reduce in this way of search.
If the router founds a total dead board position, than click
on 'Forget it', ESC-key and 'Same game' and start again.
2. Analyze way : integrate 'unorthodoxe' moves
----------------
- click 'Show moves'
- take some tile pairs of the autorouter move way (Space key)
- press P key and move some tile in your direction (unorthodoxe)
- starts autorouter again (Control R)
- stopps autorouter (e.g. 5000 nodes)
- repeat this procedure
Strategy of unorthodoxe moves:
------------------------------
The autorouter has its own move strategies. You can change
the way of searching, if you use 'unorthodoxe' moves.
'Unorthodoxe' moves ignore for example a symmetric pyramid
reduction. You can reduce for example a lot of tiles in
only one edge of the pyramid. Find out the tile pairs, which
blocks a solution relevant. Find strategies for the remove
of these important tiles.
After these 'unorthodoxe' moves, the autorouter must find a
new move way. It's possible, that this new board position
is soluble (YEAH !!).
The complete actual game is available with the 'ESC' key outside the
autorouter and 'Same game'.
Warning : Autorouting is a game drug, too. We've spent many hours with
such complex Mah Jongg board and we've solved several of this
'dead' boards.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Show last position
------------------
A good Mah Jongg player needs 20 Mah Jongg games on average for a complete
board reduction. Premium Mah Jongg uses a realtime board scanner of dead
positions. The message 'Oh No !' signals such a dead position. In this
position isn't no free move at all.
A number of PMJ 1 players don't believe, that our realtime scanner had
showed the ultimative end of a game. 'Show last position' stops the
game exit and shows the dead position. The SPACE key starts the next
new game.
Control C or the menu entry 'Show last position' activates this part.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Points calculation of Premium Mah Jongg
---------------------------------------
Our calculation formula :
-------------------------
Highscore points = (144 - rest tiles) * 200 / Part 1 /
- (minutes + 60 + seconds) * 5 / Part 2 /
+ tournament level * (144 - rest tiles) / Part 3 /
"Heh, that's a very complex calculation, why ? "
Yes, it's looks very complex, but it's a well thoughtout formula.
The formula divides in 3 separate parts :
Highscore points = tile part - time part + tournament level part
- tile part : scores the removed tiles
- time part : scores the used time
- tournament part : scores the mental strain
Here is our best highscore value :
----------------------------------
- all tiles were removed (rest tiles = 0)
- our time was 3 minutes and 4 seconds
- tournament level 4 (4 min level)
Highscore points = (144 - 0) * 200
- (3 * 60 + 4) * 5
+ 4 * (144 - 0) = 28456 points
The best time, we've ever heard was 2 min 56 sec.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Highscore table
---------------
Premium Mah Jongg was the first Mah Jongg game, which used a hard highscore
score. This new highscore table produced a new type of Mah Jongg player,
called 'Mah Jongg power player'.
This type of player will save every second of the game time. He only plays
in the 4 min tournament level.
PMJ II has a new highscore table. This new table has 100 highscore entries.
The last entry is marked with a right arrow and red text color in color
resolutions.
The highscore window is shown by Control A or the equivalent menu entry.
The old highscore tables from PMJ I will be converted with the program
HIGHKONV.PRG in the folder PMJTOOLS.
Clear highscore :
-----------------
Normally, nobody clears his old highscore entries, but PMJ allows this
'stupid' step.
Control E or the equivalent menu entry kills all your results !!
Mix highscores:
---------------
It's possible to mix two different highscore tables. The best 100 entries
will be include in the new highscore table.
Control M or the equivalent menu entry mix 2 highscore tables.
Highscore entry :
-----------------
This is one of the great moments in the life of a Mah Jongg player. You've
get an entry in the highscore table. Please enter your name and press
Return.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Save configuration
------------------
Premium Mah Jongg has a lot of game parameters. The menu entry 'Save
configuration' stores your actual game set.
These parameters are saved :
1. Solitaire or Tournament mode
2. Tournament time limit
3. Autodeselection mode
4. Last highscore user name
5. 50/60 Hz color frequency (ST-Low)
6. Background color
7. Tile color
8. Show end position flag
Control K or the equivalent menu entry save your actual game installation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Load and save games
-------------------
You can save every game or load old games from disc/HD. These game files
have the file extension .PLY.
If you've load an old game, PMJ will block the highscore entry.
Load game : Control L key
Save game : Control S key
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Repeat an old game
------------------
You can repeat every game, but PMJ blocks the highscore entry.
Repeat game : Control W key
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mah Jongg Replay
----------------
The Mah Jongg Replay likes a camera. It records all your moves in the
actual game.
If you press the Control O key or the menu entry 'Mah Jongg Replay',
PMJ will shows all your moves.
- the Space key will take the next tile pair
- the P key will stop the replay
If you've pressed the P key, you can entry in the actual board position !
Now you've the chance to find a new move way for a solution.
The Mah Jongg Replay blocks the highscore entry.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pause a game
------------
Sometimes you need a pause (e.g. 'after 10 hours' PMJ). The SPACE key is
our pause switch. The pause mode stops the internal clock of PMJ and
shows a board full of question marks.
The pause function is very useful :
- e.g. the boss is on this 'damned' telephone
- your cat has catched your goldfish
- your family needs something to eat
and and ...
If you press the SPACE key again, you will leave the normal life cycle
and continue the game.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Show all free moves
-------------------
Many Mah Jongg novices have only one question : 'Where are the 'damned'
free tile pairs ?'
With the menu entry 'Show all moves' PMJ displays all free moves on a
Mah Jongg board.
- SPACE key : displays next free tile pairs
- ESC key : aborts the show move routine
The show move routine blocks the highscore entry.
HELP key or the equivalent menu entry show you the next free tile pairs.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Realtime board scan of dead positions
-------------------------------------
Premium Mah Jongg II is one of the very rare Mah Jongg versions, which
recognizes dead board positions in realtime !
In the past Mah Jongg players must check every board position on free
tiles. The player spent many seconds on real dead positions. This
useless search was a very frustrate job.
A Mah Jongg power player needs every second for his highscore, so PMJ
analyzes every board position in milliseconds on a dead board situation.
If PMJ doesn't find a dead position, than is a tile pair free ! In the
past, many Mah Jongg novices gave up a good game, because they hadn't
a PMJ realtime scan in their Mah Jongg version.
The PMJ realtime scan saves your nerves and let you kick all other not
thought through Mah Jongg versions in a deep trash.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Auto deselection
----------------
Auto deselection describes two sorts of tile selection. Auto deselection
relates to the select of second tile in a Mah Jongg game. The player has
selected the first tile. Now he selects the next free tile, but this
tile is forbidden for a correct remove.
1. Tile selection with auto deselection
- the first tile will be deselect and the second tile will be select
- auto deselection is often used by Mah Jongg power players
2. Tile selection without auto deselection
- the first tile won't be deselect
- PMJ blocks the selection of a wrong other tile
- if the first tile is wrong, you must deselect this first tile
- non auto deselection is often used by Mah Jongg novices
The auto deselection mode allows quicker tile pair removes !
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Set background and tile color
-----------------------------
If you use a color monitor for PMJ, you can change the background and
tile color.
Standard background color : light green
Standard tile color : beige
Following background colors are available : grey
amber
light blue
light green
lilac
Following tile colors are available : beige
white
grey
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Set 50/60 Hz frequency mode (ST-Low)
------------------------------------
!! Only important for ST-Low user (320*200 16 colors) !!
The TAB key switches the video frequency 50/60 Hz.
Not all monitors allow a direct switch of the frequency. If your monitor
doesn't change the frequency after pressing the TAB key, please try our
60HZ.PRG (folder SCRDATA) in your auto folder.
We use an EIZO 8060H multisync for test.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Premium Mah Jongg and NVDI
--------------------------
Premium Mah Jongg is a GEM application, so the VDI accelerator NVDI 2.xx
speeds up PMJ. If you're an owner of NVDI, please use it !
I've found a bug under TT-TOS 3.06 in the v_fillarea call. This bug doesn't
exist under NVDI.
Program was tested with : TOS 1.0, 1.2, 1.4, KAOS, 1.62. 2.06, 3.01, 3.06
and TOS 4.04
MATRIX 110ZV test (Reinhard Spangehl TT 26 MB RAM)
Checked : 640 * 480 256 colors
800 * 600 16/256 colors
1024 * 768 256 colors
1280 * 960 256 colors
CrazyDots test (Martin Hansen, Berlin (Developer of Fractals 4.0))
System MEGA ST4 TOS 1.04
Checked : 640 * 480 256 colors +/- NVDI 2.5 ET4000
800 * 600 256 colors "
1024 * 768 256 colors "
FALCON test 4 MB Screenblaster (Computer Club Elmshorn e.V)
Checked : 640 * 480 256 colors Screenblaster/NVDI 2.5
800 * 608 16/256 colors "
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Test and program comments
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Premium Mah Jongg II has been tested several months with many ž-testers.
We hope, that we have found all exotic bugs in this game.
*** Any change or manipulation of the program code is forbidden ! ***
*** The use of our tile pictures in other programs is forbidden ! ***
Error messages of PMJ II
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Typ 1 : Unknown graphic resolution
You use a graphic resolution, which isn't supported by PMJ II.
PMJ II hasn't no tile graphics for this resolution. Please,
switch the screen resolution in one of the PMJ II resolutions.
Typ 2 : Tile graphics file GRAFCARD.TOS wasn't decompressed
You're a user of a graphic card. You've forgotten the start
of GRAFCARD.TOS (self extracting file). Attention: you need
700 KB extra space on your harddisc, please read the document
file IMPORTNT.TXT
Typ 3 : The Mah Jongg pyramid uses incorrect tile pictures (pixel
chaos)
You're are using a graphic card, which isn't CrazyDots/
Matrix compatible, please inform us.
Typ 4 : Not enough memory
Your computer system hasn't enough memory for our graphic
buffers (e.g. FALCON 1 MB). Please removed all unimportant
accessories or choose a smaller screen resolution.
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Our other program projects
--------------------------
Thomas and I have programmed other programs on the ATARI ST/TT/FALCON, too.
We work since 1985 with ATARI ST/TT/FALCON systems. Premium Mah Jongg was
our first game on this computer system.
1. Laborant Professional 1.01b (Jens Schulz)
PD disc : ST-Computer 608
Computer : ATARI ST/TT/FALCON
Resolution : resolution independent (>= 640*200) color and monochrome
works under MultiTOS/MultiGEM2
Laborant Professional is an universal chemistry and measurement program.
LP has ca. 23000 lines PASCAL code and is a very powerful chemistry
program. An English translation is in work, I hope we will finish in
winter 1993/94. A swedish version is available.
2. C64-Copy 1.0 (Thomas Grube)
PD disc : ATARI Journal J-52
Computer : ATARI ST/STE
Resolution : color and monochrome ST
Data transfer program between ST<->C64 incl. conversions
- complete written in 68000 assembler
- english/swedish version are included
Normally we use the ANSI-C for our programs, but assembler and PASCAL
are often used, too. The swedish translation of PMJ I was made by Tasso
Miliotis a swedish chemistry student.
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Epilogue
--------
You've reached the end of this very long program description. This document
describes our programming spirit and the magic attraction of a simple game.
More than 1000 hours have worked for you. My girl friend Uta and I have
drawn every nice tile picture. We've long discussions about the color
design of every tile (PMJ II includes 1008 different tile pictures).
All color tiles was drawn with the old good NEOCHROME. Thomas and I
have written more than 20 special pixel converters for all resolutions.
Premium Mah Jongg isn't a simple Mah Jongg game. PMJ II is a well planned
program project. Color design and the tension parts are a result of many
discussions with Mah Jongg players.
If you're a real Mah Jongg fan, please think of us. We think, that 15$
is a very low shareware fee.
*** Please support ATARI programmers, before it is too late !! ***
We've a lot of new ideas for Premium Mah Jongg III. We hope, that all
good Mah Jongg players will support our next PMJ steps, hmmh ?
Have a lot fun with this magic game !
The programmers
Jens Schulz & Thomas Grube
10/10/1993 |
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Hardware
Supports Blitter
Supports TT/Falcon030 VGA Resolution
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