Infolaunch: An Infocom Game Launcher Copyright © 2005 by Donnie Russell License ------- The contents of this archive are freeware; they are not in the public domain. This archive may only be redistributed in an unmodified state. The software contained in this archive is provided to the end-user "as is", and comes with no warranty of any kind. In no event shall the copyright owner be liable for any damage that may result from the use of this software. System requirements ------------------- Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000 or XP How to set up and use this program ---------------------------------- 1) Extract "Infolaunch.zip" to your hard drive, maintaining the directory structure. 2) Download Windows Frotz 2002 from the IF Archive: http://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/infocom/interpreters/frotz/WindowsFrotz2002.zip Extract "WindowsFrotz2002.zip" to the Frotz subdirectory of Infolaunch. The Frotz executable should be named "Frotz.exe". If it is not, rename it. 3) Download Infocom blorb files from the IF Archive: http://www.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXinfocomXmediaXblorb.html Move all of the blorb files (ending in .blb) to the Blorb subdirectory of Infolaunch. 4) (Optional) Download Infocom patch files from the IF Archive: http://www.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXinfocomXpatches.html Extract or move all of the patch files (ending in .pat) to the Patch subdirectory of Infolaunch. 5) Copy all of your Infocom game files (usually ending in a .dat, .zip, .z3, .z4, .z5, or .z6 extension) to the Game subdirectory of Infolaunch. All files in that directory will be scanned, regardless of filename, each time the program starts. 6) Execute "Infolaunch.exe". White menu entries represent game versions that were found. Grey menu entries represent alternate game versions that Infolaunch supports, if the required patch files are also present. If some entries that you expected do not appear, the games were not recognized. They are either damaged or very rare. One way to test a game is to run it in Frotz and use the command "$verify" to check the game's checksum (although some early games lack a checksum). If it is damaged, try to find a good version of the game from another source. If you think you have a rare version, let someone know about it! 7) Double-click the mouse or type Enter when you have selected the game you want to play. To change the selection, use the arrow keys and Page Up/Down. Click the mouse on the green arrows to scroll the display up/down. Notes ----- Infolaunch does not support beta, gamma, or hacked Infocom game files. Zork Zero demo game files will not properly decrypt to non-demo game files. Zork I versions 2 and 52 are recognized, but must be decrypted manually from version 88: decrypt zork1_88_to_2.pat zork1_88.dat zork1_2.dat decrypt zork1_88_to_52.pat zork1_88.dat zork1_52.dat decrypt.exe is compiled from the source code of ZCODE-Patch. "ZCODE-Patch was originally written by Paul Gilbert (pfg@yallara.cs.rmit.edu.au), however, his email now bounces, so the maintainership has been taken over by Rodney Hester (rod3@mindspring.com) and Nils Barth (nils_barth@post.harvard.edu). These programs are Copyright (c) 1997/98 Paul Gilbert, with modifications Copyright (c) 2000/2001 Rodney Hester and Nils Barth. No clue about licensing -- it seems to be basically public domain, but we'd need a statement from Paul to that effect."