        MIDAS Module Player for Windows NT, version 0.1.7
        --------------------------------------------------

MIDAS MODULE PLAYER IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES
OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT
WILL ANY OF THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES
CAUSED BY THE USE, OR INABILITY TO USE, OF MIDAS MODULE PLAYER.

MIDAS Module Player may freely be distributed as long as no money is
charged for it, and no attempt is made to restrict further copying,
distribution and using of MIDAS Module Player. If you have problems
with this, or do not understand this, contact us.



1. Foreword
-----------

Thank you for downloading MIDAS Module Player, and, above all, thank
you for reading the documentation. This is now the first publicly
announced release of MIDAS Module Player (MidpNT), but, as the version
number should suggest, far from a final version. The user interface is
far from finished and there is very little documentation, but the most
important feature is here: correct playback.

So what is MidpNT anyway? MidpNT is a free module player for Windows NT
and 95. It plays Protracker (MOD), Scream Tracker 3 (S3M) and
FastTracker 2 (XM) modules on all sound cards that Windows supports.

MidpNT might seem very unfinished and in general look like a music
system test program more than anything else - and that is exactly what
it is. The main intention of MidpNT is to test MIDAS Sound System and
give you an impression what it sounds like - that's why our emphasis is
on playback quality instead of the user interface. Moreover, MIDAS is
still very much under development, so all feedback you can give is
appreciated.


2. Using MidpNT
------------------

Using MidpNT is simple - just start it and you are on your way to play
music. You can use File/Open to select a module, or you can pass a
module file name in the command line. If you attempt to start a new
instance of MidpNT, the module file name will just be passed to the old
copy and it will take care of playing it. This allows you to just
associate MidpNT with all module extensions and use Explorer or File
Manager to select and play modules.


3. MidpNT User Interface
------------------------

The MidpNT user interface, although very spartan, should be pretty
straightforward and easy to use. The UI consists of one main window,
plus possibly several view windows. Views contain some information
about the song that is currently playing, and possibly some ways to
control the playback.

[More information when I have time :)]


4. Configuring MidpNT
---------------------

MidpNT can be configured using the entries in the Options menu.
Preferences opens a dialog with generic user interface -related
preferences and Sound Options lets you change the sound output quality.
You can also save and restore the view window positions.

IMPORTANT! If you manage to screw MidpNT settings up so that it refuses
to start any more, edit the Registry from
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Sahara Surfers\MidpNT. You can also delete
the whole MidpNT key --- MidpNT will then start with default values.


5. Future
---------

I'm planning to do a complete rewrite of the MidpNT user interface in
the near future. The editfield in the main window is useful for
debugging purposes, but it's taking up way too much screen space, and
is just plain ugly as well. I've been thinking about a CD-player style
interface for the main window, much like the Windows 95/NT CD player
utility, but I'm open to suggestions. If you like doing user interface
design, send me your suggestions!

In addition to this, there are already a couple of other
MIDAS-based Windows NT/95 module player projects going on, so chances
are you will see a player that combines a great UI with high-quality
MIDAS playback in the near future. In the next MIDAS Sound System
release the DLL interface will be made available to the public, so if
you are an experienced Win32 programmer, you can easily build the dream
module player of your own.

Also, as you probably have noticed, MidpNT.exe has no icon. I'm a lousy
graphician and will rather spend my time coding, but if someone wants
to draw me a nice icon I'll gladly accept it. As always, MidpNT is
free, so I can't promise you money, but you can have your 2 seconds of
fame in the MidpNT credits :-)


6. Contact information
----------------------

Comments, bug reports and improvement ideas are always welcome, use one
of the following methods:

e-mail:         pekangas@sci.fi

phone:          +358-31-3172204 (changing to +358-3-3172204 on 12
                October 1996 at 00:00 hours (11 October 1996 at 21:00
                UTC))

snail mail:     Petteri Kangaslampi
                Insinrinkatu 60 A 49
                FIN-33720 Tampere
                Finland, Europe

The latest version of MidpNT is always available at
http://kalahari.ton.tut.fi/s2/midp.html, and more information about
MIDAS Sound System can be found at
http://kalahari.ton.tut.fi/s2/midas.html.

Note! When reporting bugs in MidpNT, please remember to include the
version information and build date displayed in the main window at
startup. (eg. "Version 0.1.5, built Sep 13 1996.")


7. Revisions
------------

0.1.7   - Linked with MIDAS 0.5.0 releas
        - Small bugfixes

0.1.6   - A new release with the release version of MIDAS 0.5.rc2

0.1.5   - Fixed various Scream Tracker 3 support problems, including
          bad panning and tempos
        - Fixed a potentially dangerous bug in MOD/S3M playback, which
          didn't surface under Windows NT/95 though

0.1.4   - Fixed several FastTracker 2 compatibility problems
        - Fixed some problems in loading invalid S3Ms (produced by ST3)
        - Other miscellaneous bugfixes in MIDAS Sound System code

0.1.3   - Fixed a bug in handling file names with spaces
        - Miscellaneous playback fixes
        - Added 3D-look attribute to Preferences-dialog
        - Changed some accelerator keys - song position is now changed
          with Ctrl-'.' and Ctrl-',', and Center Channels is Ctrl-E.
        - Accelerators now work even if a child window is active

0.1.2	- Fixed some bugs in module playback that were causing crashes

0.1.1   - Changed polling to use a thread instead of a multimedia timer
           - this uses much less CPU
        - Centering channels when there was no module playing crashed
          MidpNT, fixed

0.1.0   - Initial release in this format


[$Id: readme.txt 1.5 1996/10/14 20:42:30 pekangas Exp $]
