Quick and dirty manual for FLICTC41.PRG

please excuse my worse english...

copyright:
FLICTC41.PRG is FREEWARE - you may copy it for your friends and for non
commercial purposes, but it has to be copied completely in a folder or in 
an archive including all files.
The copyright still remains at me, changing the program or this documentation
requires my written permission.
FLICTC41.PRG mustn't be taken in any PD-series without my permission.

what is FLICTC41.PRG?
FLICTC41.PRG is a _fast_ player for animations in .FLI/.FLC-format, now
you're able to watch your animations in original speed!

system requirements:
The program runs in all HiColor-resolutions (Atari calls them True Color...),
with 320x200 pixels or bigger on a 68020/030/040 machine with Falcon video-
hardware, at the moment this is the Falcon 030.

advantages:
-fast, most of the animations run at original speed, i.e. as fast as on a 
 486DX...
-FLIs will be played directly from disk if necessary, i.e. file size is only
 limited by the capacity of your drive
-plays up to 608 frames per second (ran with <-v=0 -t=0 HANDS.FLI> on a Falcon
 with 40MHz cpu, 20MHz bus, 320x200 dots, 66.3Hz)
-compatible, all tested animations ran correctly (and there _are_ some traps!)
-can be driven via command line
-can be installed as a desktop icon: just drag a movie file on the icon, drop
 it, and enjoy!
-runs in every (sufficient) HiColor resolution
-works with Screenblaster and NVDI
-freeware

disadvantages:
-not a GEM program
-directly accesses the screen memory
-should have problems with MultiTOS because of this
-only works in HiColor
-doesn't support color cycling (which is not used in any .FLI known to me)
-animation size is limited by screen resolution

usage:
The player can be started normally as a program, then there will be a file-
selection box and you may choose any .FLI file which will be loaded and
played immediately, or, you may install FLICTC41.PRG as an icon, as described
in your system owner's manual.

options via command line:
Normally it should not be necessary to change these options, they are just
mentioned for completeness.

-a=0  disables screen resolution check (via LINE_A #0 (Init))
-a=1  enables screen resolution check for HiColor, it also uses LINE_A;
      the check routine works fine on the Falcon (default)

-i=0  suppresses display of FLI-header information (default)
-i=1  displays FLI-header information and waits for any key then starts
      playing animation

-l=0  disables looping of the animation, animation will only be played once
-l=1  enables looping of animation (default)

-m=x  makes the player use only x kB of memory (<x> integer value) as a buffer,
      of course always a minimum amount is needed, e.g. <width*height+16384>
      bytes in Version 3.5.0.
      Default value is about 2GB (-m=2000000), so all free memory will be used.

-t=0  disables synchronization via 200Hz system timer, the player still
      synchronizes with the vsync if not disabled seperately (-v=0), this
      should only be necessary for statistic purpose (oh wow - another 
      3.1415% faster!!!!!!)
-t=1  enables the synchronization via 200Hz timer, the player tries to
      play the .FLI at the speed found in the file header. Because the player
      uses the 200Hz timer instead of a 70Hz timer, there may be a 
      difference of about 5% in playing speed (with vsync disabled)
      (default)

-v=0  FLICTC41.PRG ignores the vsync - faster, but there may be flickering
-v=1  enables synchronization with vsync which reduces flickering to a minimum
      (default)

frequently asked questions:

problem: animation runs too slow
solution:(does your CPU run at full speed? are the caches enabled?)
         Try reducing screen resolution, your computer will speed up if
         you switch to a lower resolution, 320x200 should be enough for any
         .FLI file (because of the 64kB segment size of some intel CPUs
         (hihihi)), of course the player would be able to play bigger 
         .FLIs ...
         If the animation is still too slow, try disabling the synchronization
         with the vsync via -v=0 in the command line (see above).
         Still too slow? Try -t=0 in the command line
         Could be faster? Try -t=0 -v=0, that's it, you have maximum speed,
         the animation should now be fast enough, even too fast!

problem: animation is played jerky or still too slow (see above)
solution:looks like the animation is too big to fit into your computers free
         memory and is played directly from disk. If you can free some more
         memory you should try this first (accessories, resident cpx-modules,
         etc - is the player allowed to use all free memory or is the <-m=x>
         option enabled?); next you may copy the file from floppy to your
         harddisk drive. If it's still bad, try using a small(!) harddisk cache,
         to speed up file operations.

problem: animation too fast
solution:enable timer synchronization via -t=1 in the command line

problem: animation flickers
solution:enable vsync synchronization via -v=1 in the command line, if it's
         still flickering then your machine is too slow, try using a lower
         resolution, 320x200 should be enough ...

problem: not enough memory
solution:free more memory, the player only needs about 200kB, also in this
         case the animation will be played from disk.

problem: player crashes with trash on the screen
solution:a) retry on a Falcon
         b) switch to HiColor, enable the screen resolution check!
         c) looks like your .FLI file is badly damaged. If THIS file
            runs with another player or on another computer, please send
            me a copy of the .FLI file and I will try to fix the error (?)
            in my player, but please retry with another player/computer
            first!!!

development system:
Falcon using Omikron.BASIC 3.6 & Compiler 3.6, TurboAssembler

reference:
This program is based on an article in c't 8/94

disclaimer:
I take no responsibility for any damages or loss of data, which occur using
this program or this manual, you use it on your own risk.

Have fun using the Player, please send criticism and new ideas to my address

Sven Bruns
Wrthstr. 44
D-24116 Kiel
Germany

email: NIP70@rz.uni-kiel.d400.de

[EOF]
