                Welcome to the wonderful world of SCREAM 3!



   ******** THIS PROGRAM IS PUBLIC DOMAIN, AS LONG AS THIS ********
       DOCUMENT FILE, PROGRAM AND PICTURE ARE INCLUDED TOGETHER
                      * WITHOUT *  MODIFICATION


SCREAM is Programmed by The Phantom of Electronic Images in 100% assembly!



WHAT IS SCREAM?


  SCREAM is another screen saver - with a difference!  Once ALT-HELP (or
another way: more later) is pressed then it will FIRST allow you to rummage
through memory, then save your desired screen/graphic!  This is frightfully
handy for nabbing some artwork, or sprites even, or maybe save those 'reserve
screens' in some art packages I can mention!



CHANGES FROM ORIGINAL SCREAM


  Well, the original SCREAM was for our own (Electronic Images) use, and only
worked on low resolution.  Now SCREAM 3 will work on both low and medium res,
but sadly, will not work in high.  This is because I do not have a mono
monitor and therefore I have no way of testing it.  Anyone aching for a mono
version will have to contact us some way (quite easy!) - a suggestion is
putting up a message on BBS's (I.e. My Little Phoney or Hackernet): providing
they can loan me a mono monitor for a day or two!  Then again, I might bugger
it up!  But that's YOUR problem!
  Thanks to Griff from the Resistance, it now purges the keyboard buffer
properly, so a sudden rush of characters will NOT occur!


INSTALLING SCREAM 3


  Just click on 'SCREAM_3.PRG' and away you go!  You can also install it in
the AUTO folder and it will auto-run.  Once it has been loaded/executed, the
program will display its controls and wait for a key to be pressed - if no key
is pressed after a few seconds, then it will quit back to the calling program
(i.e. desktop!) - installing itself first!  If you try installing it again,
then it will promptly tell you "sod off" and NOT install itself again.  This
is to save memory being allocated again and again... Think of a Mega 4 turned
into a 520ST!  (O.K. You'll have to run the program exactly 2926 times, but it
could happen!)



HOW TO USE IT


  Well, when you run SCREAM, it will give you a list of the keys available.
Here is what they are and what they do!

  Brackets: ( )   On KEYPAD only! These change the jump value.  These work in
relation to the + and - keys to adjust by how much the memory is scrolled.
Pressing '(' will decrease the value, while pressing ')' will increase it.
These increases are in steps of 1280 bytes.  So, if you want to scroll
quickly,then hit ')' for a bit, then scroll the screen with + or -.  To reduce
it (and gasp at the smooooooth scrolling) hit the '(' key (again, on the
KEYPAD).

  Plus and minus: + -   On KEYPAD only!  These scroll the screen up 'n' down!
Simple as that!  When you hit the boundaries of memory, the background will
change colour.  On the low end of memory (<0 bytes) it will turn green.  On
the top end (> as much as your machine has!) it will turn red.  Some of you
might trip out, man, when you get to the top end of memory - funny wobbly
lines will delight and nauseate some of us; don't worry! This is non-existent
memory being displayed by the video chip!  What's more you can grab it too!
 So remember boys and gals, + goes up in memory and - goes down.  Where's the
bell boy?

  S (on the MAIN KEYBOARD): This key will save the screen in the current
resolution you are in (except high!).  The background will flash in
technicolour after the screen has been saved, provided that some other
interrupt isn't taking over the colour palette! Pictures are saved as
'GRABBEDn.PI?' where n is the number of the picture and the ? is 1 or 2 (low
or medium res).  Scream can save up to 10 pictures (n being from 0 to 9), and
when it reaches the 9th, it will wrap around to 0, therefore overwriting the
previous picture/s (sorry!).  But I guess 10 pics is enough!  Well, even 20 if
you switch between medium and low!
  Note that this function saves the file to the path you are on.

  Q (on the MAIN KEYBOARD): This will quit out of the memory search/save,
putting you back into the program you interrupted (desktop is a program too!).



MORE BITS 'N' BOBS you might find handy!


  SCREAM can also be activated by another way other than the standard ALT-HELP
keys.  This is through MONOCHROME DETECT.  Please note that this will work
properly ONLY on low resolution since the OS buggers up the previos shift mode
and blah, blah!  I put in this feature since some games cut out the ALT-HELP
keys, but NOT mono detect!  You can cause this by shorting two pins in the
ST's monitor port (GROUND and MONOCHROME DETECT).  We have some cables with a
SPST switch on the end of 'em to enable us to do this - don't worry, it won't
screw up your ST!  Well, if you wired the pins right!  Please note that it has
to be a switch that doesn't remain closed once you throw it.  I.e. Look for a
switch that will stay closed until you take your finger off it.  It only needs
a few microseconds to recognise a mono detect!
  I have included a DEGAS PC1 picture to explain how to do your own switch in
more detail



WARNINGS


  I have encountered that sometimes the OS doesn't read the FAT tables when
you do a save.  Ahem!  Let me explain!  Some games cut out the Operating
System for most of its loading and saving.  Sometimes this will cause a
directory being written on another disk!  This rarely happens, but if you're
not sure, format a blank disk and save pictures on it.  If you find that after
several saves there is only one file, or that your DESKTOP.INF is no longer
there (overwritten), then you have a bummer on your hands!  You can only save
one pic at a time.  It is best to save one pic, copy it to another disk, and
so on. This also happens in other programs (other screen savers!), but very
rarely, and you can rest assured that it only happens .01% of the time!  But
if in doubt, do what I described above.
  The program might 'bomb' or crash if there is not enough diskspace for the
picture being saved; I didn't put in a diskcheck function to save on memory,
but if anyone wants one... (see above!)



THE END?


  Well, I hope you enjoy the program as much as we did, and if you have any
problems or want any modifications then contact us by any of the means
described above, or any you know of!  Happy SCREAMING!

Yours,
      The Phantom of Electronic Images.

Other members are Count Zero, Gizmo and Nightowl.


You'll see us around in some demos, and, as always, in the PC show!

  A big sloppy kiss goes to all the members of the Inner Circle, plus Birdy,
the Lost Boys (revenge trip demo? We don't want to be in something like THAT!)
and everyone else - especially to those who still think 24.95 is an exorbitant
price for a game.  Talking about games, watch out!  Within a year the most
incredible, playable game will appear on your ST soon!  Please do wait - you'll
know which game we're talking about because you will see the quality oozing out
of the disk!  And beware crackers!  CYBERGEN protection is on it's way from
yours truly and Birdy! Crack my game when it comes out!  The gauntlet has been
thrown!
