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0 ABOUT THE PROGRAM AND THE MANUAL


0.1 WHAT DOES DEVIL DO?

Devil is a program with which you can modify or create levels for the game DESCENT 1 and 2 from Parallax (marketed by Interplay). You can create new levels with it and change the original levels. Devil only works with the commercial Descent versions and not with the shareware versions.

Because the whole program is absolutely free, I naturally undertake no guarantees whatsoever. You should save your level more than just every now and then, since Devil sometimes crashes (I hope by now not too often). Whenever this happens, and it is possible to somehow reach the mailing list by e-mail, please do so. Send an e-mail to the mailing list describing how the error can be reproduced, in order that Devil can become fault-free(r) over time.

0.2 ABOUT THE MANUAL

This manual should help with the not-so-simple task of using Devil. The program is already rather complex and has many more or less easily understandable functions. I would advise those of you who really want to build Descent levels, to scan through the manual at least once. It is certainly recommended that you read the manual itself in parallel with program familiarization. (Otherwise the whole thing is - I believe - somewhat dry ;-). The chapters "Basics for Level-Builders", "The Window system" and "Basic functions" provide the basic instructions which are required for Devil operation - the rest of the manual can rather be used for later reference.

During the writing of this manual I assumed that the reader has already played Descent more than once and is familiar with the game.

0.3 INSTALLATION

When Devil is started the first time, a small menu appears, with which you can configure Devil. Here you must specify the graphics driver and the directories for Devil and Descent 1 and 2 (if applicable) and you can specify whether Devil should be configured for Descent 1 or Descent 2. The difference between the two configurations is as follows: In Descent 1 mode only Descent 1 levels can be loaded and saved. In Descent 2 mode both Descent 1 and 2 levels can be loaded, but only Descent 2 levels can be saved (i.e. Descent 1 levels are automatically converted). Seeing that the conversion of Descent 1 levels is only partially possible because Descent 2 does not contain all the Descent 1 textures, the non-existent textures are replaced by similar ones. For Descent 2 mode, Devil requires a minimum of the `Medium' installation of Descent 2.

The menu also has the option to change the resolution and to test the specified graphics driver. You can invoke this menu at any time by starting Devil with the /CONFIG parameter.

0.4 VIRUS WARNINGS

With Devil - as with most GNU-C programs which are compiled with DJGPP - a warning is issued by heuristic virus-scanners. Devil (D.EXE) is not infected with a virus. Normal virus scanning (which does not attempt to detect unknown viruses) should not report a virus in Devil.


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