	     === DOS-specific informations about ADOM ===

       === (c)  Copyright 1994, 1995, 1996 by Thomas Biskup ===

		     === All Rights Reserved ===





TABLE OF CONTENTS

-----------------



A. How to install ADOM

B. How to recover after a crash

C. Configuration files

D. What is...?

E. A word about path names

F. Known bugs (please read this)

G. DPMI services





CONTENTS

--------



A. How to install ADOM

----------------------



Installing ADOM is very simple.  This section will tell you how to install

ADOM step by step.  An example will explain each step.  <ENTER> means

that you have to press the enter key after that command. The '>' represents

the command prompt of the DOS shell.



Let's assume that you want to install ADOM on your hard disk drive C: in

the directory \games\adom.  The file ADOM-xxx.ZIP (xxx is normally the 

current version number, e.g. 070) for the sake of the example is located

on your floppy drive B:.  The directory C:\GAMES already exists.  You also

have access to PKUNZIP.  You need to do the following:



c: <ENTER>

cd \games <ENTER>

mkdir adom <ENTER>

cd adom <ENTER>

copy B:\ADOM-xxx.ZIP <ENTER>

pkunzip ADOM-xxx.ZIP <ENTER>

del ADOM-xxx.ZIP <ENTER>



This will install the archive at the location you intended it to be (in the

example).



Next you will have to set an environment variable, which will tell ADOM where

to look for the highscore and where to save games. To do this you will have

to edit the autoexec.bat file in the root directory of your boot drive (C:

in most cases). Add the following line at the end of the autoexec.bat and 

then save the file:



SET ADOM_HOME=C:\GAMES\ADOM



It is important to use the complete path, drive letter included. Finally you

have to add the directory chosen for ADOM_HOME to your path. After you

have done this just reboot the computer. Now you should be able to play

ADOM.



If you don't set the ADOM_HOME environment variable, ADOM will create all

necessary files during the game and the highscore file in a subdirectory

of the directory you started ADOM in (called 'ADOM_DAT').  This variable 

naturally is unnecessary if you always start ADOM from its home directory.



B. How to recover after a crash

-------------------------------



If ADOM crashes you normally won't be able to just restart it without the

risk of ruining further games, because several directories used by ADOM 

will be in an unhealthy state. If ADOM crashes while you are playing you 

will have to do the following two things to ensure, that you can play it

safely in the future:



Look for the directory ADOM_DAT\TMPDAT (which might be found either in the 

directory containing all the ADOM files [if you set the ADOM_HOME

environment variable -- see A.] or in the directory from whence you started

ADOM). Once you are in the directory containing ADOM_TMP do the following:



cd ADOM_DAT\TMPDAT <ENTER>

del *.* <ENTER>

cd ..

rmdir ADOM_TMP



The document bugs.doc will tell you what to do, if you encounter a

fatal bug in ADOM.





C. Configuration files

----------------------



The DOS version of ADOM does not require any configuration files. 

Appendix D in the manual explains how to write a local configuration file 

individualizing your games. The file is called ADOM.CFG and has to be

located either in the directory defined in the environment variable

ADOM_HOME (see A. and B.) or in the current directory (if you did not

define ADOM_HOME).



It is possible to create a file describing where ADOM can find the

highscore file. This file has to be called 'ADOM_DS.CFG' and must be

located in the root directory of the current drive. It has to contain 

only one line: the name of the directory holding the highscore file.



Let's assume that you want to save the highscore in C:\DATA. Thus you

would create he file C:\ADOM_DS.CFG which would contain

C:\DATA

as the only line.





D. What is...?

--------------



   adom.exe

	The executable of the game. Just type its name at the command 

	prompt to start the game.



   bugs.doc

	The description of how to cope with bugs.



   license.doc

	The license for ADOM.



   manual.doc

	The manual containing all the information necessary to play the game.



   techstat.doc

	A text fulfilling the author's desire for statistical and background

	information about the game.



   adom-dos.txt

	You are reading it right now.



   plans.doc

	A file listing the programmers' plans concerning the future 

	development of ADOM.



   adom.kbd

	The keymap for the game.



   ADOM_DAT\

	A directory created by ADOM to save games.



   ADOM_DAT\TMPDAT\

	A temporary directory created by ADOM to store temporary data during

	a game. This directory should be gone after a game is ended.  If this

	is not so you are probably facing a bug.



   ADOM_DAT\SAVEDG\

	A directory used to hold all the saved games.



   hiscore

	The highscore file.





E. A word about path names

--------------------------



ADOM uses a certain way to handle path names unsimilar to what is

usually used on DOS systems.  ADOM internally uses the '/' character

to separate directory names.  Thus instead of using "C:\GAMES\ADOM"

ADOM will use the path "C:/GAMES/ADOM".  This is just an internal

detail which has no meaning for you, the user. If you type "adom -d"

and get path names using the '/' just pretend that the '\' is

used. When defining path names for ADOM, you don't have to care about

this and can use the usual DOS conventions. ADOM internally converts

DOS path names to the special format.  For those interested in the

details of the implementation: this somewhat strange feature is there,

because ADOM was compiled with the GCC for DOS, which internally uses

the '/' character.



F. Known Bugs

-------------



* ADOM does not seem to work when started from a drive created with 

  the SUBST command (refer to your DOS-documentation, when you are using 

  it).



* If you have installed Windows 95, run ADOM only after rebooting to DOS

  (and not just in a DOS window).  Win95 is extremely strange in some

  ways... In most cases ADOM is known to work correctly even if started

  from within Windows 95, but there have been some reports which seem

  to indicate that some Win95 configurations might spell trouble.





G. DPMI services

----------------



ADOM needs a DPMI host to run.  If you don't have installed a DPMI server

you can use the free DPMI server included in the ADOM package.  It's called

CWSDPMI.EXE.  Simply run it immediately before starting ADOM and everything

should be fine.  Details about CWSDPMI.EXE can be found in CWSDPMI.DOC.

