INSTALLATION GUIDE FOR OMEGA ON THE ATARI ST
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                    version 2.02, April 19th, 1992
                      

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 391 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.
If you have enough memory for a 1 Mb RAMdisk, both the DATA and SAVE folders
can be put there. Otherwise, the SAVE folder will have to be put on floppy.
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 a configuration file, as explained in section 4.

3) Actual game setup

  Single floppy : make a 125K RAM disk, copy the DATA folder to it, write a
configuration file. Run the game and put a disk with a SAVE folder 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 a disk with a folder called SAVE in drive B.
Write a configuration file and run the program.
  Large RAMdisk: Set up a 1 Mb RAMdisk, copy SAVE and DATA folders to the 
RAMdisk and write a configuration file. Don't forget to backup the SAVE folder.
  Hard disk : make a separate SAVE folder for every user/separate game.
Write a configuration file 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) The configuration file

  Omega knows where to find the DATA and SAVE folders by reading their names
and pathnames from a file. This file is called OMEGA.CNF and should be in the
same folder as the program itself. If no configuration file is available, the
defaults that are used are: DATA, SAVE and OMEGA.SAV. This should suit a user
who runs Omega from his harddisk and is the only user of the game.
The configuration file should contain up to four lines:
  NAME              : for your name
  DATADIR           : to set the DATA directory
  SAVEDIR           : to set the SAVE directory
  SAVEFILE          : to set the save-file name
- The line containing NAME can be used to set the name you get. Not that
  your name may not contain any spaces. Default is 'Anonymous'.
- Set the line with DATADIR 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 line with SAVEDIR to the SAVE-folder path. On a harddisk, this 
  is SAVE; on a floppy disk, it's B:\SAVE. Default is SAVE.
- Set the line with SAVEFILE to the save-file name you want to use, for instance
  MASTER.SAV. Default is OMEGA.SAV.
The configuration file in the main Omega folder is set for harddisk.

Sample configuration file for harddisk :
  NAME Peter
  DATADIR DATA
  SAVEDIR SAVES
  SAVEFILE PETER.SAV
  
Sample configuration file for systems with a 1 Mb RAMdisk drive G:
  NAME Marc
  DATADIR G:\DATA
  SAVEDIR G:\SAVE
  SAVEFILE MARC.SAV
  
Sample configuration file for single-floppy systems with RAMdisk drive G:
  DATADIR G:\DATA
  NAME Hildo
  SAVEDIR A:\SAVE
  SAVEFILE HILDO.SAV
  
Sample configuration file for double-floppy systems (no RAMdisk used) :
  NAME JAMES
  DATADIR A:\DATA
  SAVEDIR B:\SAVE
  SAVEFILE JAMES.SAV
  
The MISC directory contains an extra example configuration file.


5) Packing the Omega program

  In the MISC folder you will find a program called PFXPAK.PRG. This can be used
to compress the program OMEGA.TOS from 391 Kb to 211 Kb. This means loading time
will be somewhat shorter; however, after loading the program will take some 5
seconds to uncompress. I therefore recommend using this program only if you run
the program from floppy or if you're very short of space on your harddisk.
  Using the PFXPAK.PRG program is extremely easy: start the program, click on
button 'Komprimieren' (German for 'compress'), select the file OMEGA.TOS, wait 
for a while, type the name of the compressed program (both versions will fit 
on a single disk), and that's all there is to it. 
Maybe some of your other programs may benefit as well...

Good luck and have fun, Hildo Biersma