INSTALLATION GUIDE FOR OMEGA ON THE ATARI ST
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                      version 0.3, April 20, 1991
                      

1) Minimum requirements

  To use Omega, you'll need at least 1 Mb of RAM, and either a medium or high
resolution monitor; low-res is not supported.
  Omega works best from a hard disk; it also works from floppy disk. If
you have only one floppy disk drive, you may need to do some disk swapping.
Warning : overall game speed is severely limited when playing from floppy disk.
  On a 1 Mb machine, memory is tight. You should check available memory every
half hour or so (X command); if it gets below 20K, you should save and restore.
Getting rid of desk accessories and screen accelerators may also be needed.

2) Basic setup - general info

  The main Omega program is some 430 Kb. During play, the game will need the
DATA folder, which will (just) fit on a 125 Kb RAMdisk. Every time you change
level, the current level will be saved and the new level will be loaded if
available or else generated. All level files are saved to the SAVE folder.
This folder will grow to about 650-700 K when all levels have been explored.
On a harddisk, there is no problem; the game will run as it was unpacked.
On a dual-floppy system, put the Omega program on one disk, with the DATA
folder on the same floppy and copied to RAMdisk before play; the SAVE folder
will then be on the second drive.
On a single-floppy system, you'll have to make a copy of the DATA folder to
RAMdisk, run the program, and put the SAVE disk in the drive when the startup
screen is displayed.
All these options are set with environment variables (explained in part 4 below)

3) Actual game setup

  Single floppy : make a 125K RAM disk, copy the DATA folder to it, make sure
you've set the environment. Run the game and put the SAVE disk in the drive.
  Dual floppy : make a RAM disk if you wish (and copy the DATA folder), put the
game disk in drive A and the SAVE disk in drive B. Make sure the environment has
been set and run the program.
  Hard disk : make a separate SAVE folder for every user/separate game.
Set the environment and run the program.
  If you use a RAM disk for the DATA folder, you should copy the following
files back to disk after you finish play :
-OMEGA.HI   (the high-scores files)
-OMEGA.LOG  (the log of NPC players)
Failure to do so may result in highscores being lost and other awful things.
  
4) Environment setting

  Omega makes use of four environment variables, which can be set from a shell,
environment setter in your AUTO folder or from a calling program. The MISC
folder contains an environment setting program and a (simple) calling program.
The environment variables are :
  USER (also NAME)  : for your name
  ODATADIR          : to set the DATA directory
  OSAVEDIR          : to set the SAVE directory
  OMEGA_SAV         : to set the save-file name
- Set the environment variable USER or NAME to your favourite name.
  USER has precedent over NAME; default is 'Anonymous'.
- Set the variable ODATADIR to the DATA-folder path. On a harddisk, this is 
  DATA; on floppy, A:DATA; on a RAMdisk drive D, <D>:DATA.
  Not defining this results in the default DATA being used.
- Set the variable OSAVEDIR to the SAVE-folder path. On a harddisk, this 
  is SAVE; on a floppy disk, it's B:. Default is SAVE.
- Set the variable OMEGA_SAV to the save-file name you want to use, for instance
  MASTER.SAV. Default is OMEGA.SAV.

Sample environment file for harddisk :

  PATH=...
  USER=HPP 
  ODATADIR=DATA
  OSAVEDIR=SAVES
  
Sample environment file for single-floppy systems with RAMdisk drive G:
  PATH=...
  USER=HPP
  ODATADIR=G:\DATA
  OSAVEDIR=A:
  OMEGA_SAV=HPP.SAV
  
Sample environment file for double-floppy systems (no RAMdisk used) :
  PATH=...
  NAME=JAMES
  ODATADIR=A:\DATA
  OSAVEDIR=B:
  OMEGA_SAV=JAMES.SAV
  
  When you use the environment setting program, make sure it's one of the last
programs in your AUTO folder; the file ENVIRON.DAT must be in the root (main)
directory. Do not forget to leave the first line (PATH=;A:) in.
  The calling program is easier when you have many players on a single machine;
you can make a separate calling program for every user. The sources for a very
simple calling program are in the MISC folder; this program compiles to some
700 bytes with Turbo C.

Good luck and have fun, Hildo Biersma