Jan 022018
 
Mod Shell 1.0 : Plays Mods from a menu shell.
File MSHELL10.ZIP from The Programmer’s Corner in
Category Music and Digitized Voice
Mod Shell 1.0 : Plays Mods from a menu shell.
File Name File Size Zip Size Zip Type
MODSHELL.EXE 122368 49290 deflated
MSCONFIG.EXE 104432 43200 deflated
MSHELL10.DOC 17438 4457 deflated
REGISTER.FRM 3020 992 deflated
SAMPLE.BAT 538 236 deflated

Download File MSHELL10.ZIP Here

Contents of the MSHELL10.DOC file





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Mod Shell A
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Version 1.0 E

Obsidian Software
March, 1992


Copyright 1992, Edmund Taylor and Peter Taylor


































Mod Shell 1.0 Introduction - 1

Introduction - What is MOD SHELL?
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mod Shell is a menu program for playing Amiga Mod files. Although
there are many front-ends for Mod players already out, Mod Shell does have
its advantages. Mod Shell, like its counterparts, can play Mods out of
archives, but it can't play multiple Mods per archive. For example, one can't
zip up all their Mods into one file. A separate .zip file for each Mod is
needed. The reason for this is speed. When there are 500 Mods it takes
forever to look through each .zip for the Mods they contain, as other programs
do. Therefore Mod Shell is faster. It just searches through the directory for
every file that matches the specified extensions - i.e. NST, ZIP, LZH etc.
then loads it into the list. Mod Shell can use Extended and Expanded memory,
to give more conventional memory to the Mod player. This program has
flexibility by allowing up to five different compression programs. Also,
though the name of the program is Mod Shell, it can be configured to play
almost anything.


Disclaimer
~~~~~~~~~~
This program is provided "AS IS" and it is without warranty. No
liability shall be assumed for direct or consequential damage caused
by the use of this software. The only claim that is made is that
there are no intentional bugs or fatal errors in any original copy of
the program that you receive directly from the authors.


Requirements
~~~~~~~~~~~~

This program has been tested with MS-DOS 5.0 on a 286/8 - 486/33. Mod
Shell will take advantage of Extended and Expanded memory if available. A
hard drive is strongly recommended. Also SORT.EXE, supplied with dos, is
needed for a sorted list of files. Another command-line sorting program
may suffice. See 'Configuring Mod Shell' for more details. Also, for the
ability to play compressed Mods, obviously the program to decompress them is
needed. This program can support a Microsoft compatible mouse.

*NOTE* Mod Shell was not tested with a monochrome display, so we recommend
the use of color graphics--but feel free to test this program with
monochrome.

Mod Shell 1.0 Configuring Mod Shell - 2

Configuring Mod Shell
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mod Shell uses 'cloning' techniques. All the configuration information
is stored in MODSHELL.EXE. Therefore we are including the program
MSCONFIG.EXE.

Usage : MSCONFIG

is the optional command-line parameter to the .EXE file
to be configured. Default is 'MODSHELL.EXE'.

Mod Shell Configuration

Mod Player TRAK

Temp Directory MSHELL!!
Mod Directory C:\TRAK\MODS
Sort Program SORT.EXE
Window Delay 2000
Max # of Mods 1000000
Mouse [Y/N] Y
Sort [Y/N] Y

1) Mod Ext MOD 1) ARC Ext ZIP Program PKUNZIP
2) Mod Ext NST 2) ARC Ext ARJ Program ARJ E
3) Mod Ext 3) ARC Ext LZH Program LHARC X
4) Mod Ext 4) ARC Ext Program
5) Mod Ext 5) ARC Ext Program

MOD Player, full path and program name. {Help line}

( Sample entry screen from MSCONFIG.EXE )


TAB or the arrow keys change the current editing field. When ESCAPE is
pressed MSCONFIG will ask to save the configuration, answering no will
quit the program without saving anything. When changing the information
be sure to press ENTER when done editing each field.

Mod Player - This is the full path and filename of the program you
want Mod Shell to play the files with.

Temp Directory - Used internally by Mod Shell. The .MOD being played will
be copied there temporarily. We recommend not changing it.

Mod Directory - This is the full path and directory name to where the Mod
files are kept.

Sort Program - This is the program used to sort the Mod listing. Mod
Shell passes '< SORTMA$$.TMP > SORTMA$$.NEW' to this
sort program. SORTMA$$.TMP is the text file containing
the unsorted list, and SORTMA$$.NEW is the new sorted
listing to create. You can create a batch file to sort
the listing if your sort program doesn't support these
parameters. Simply let %2 and %4 represent SORTMA$$.TMP
and SORTMA$$.NEW respectively.

Mod Shell 1.0 Configuring Mod Shell - 3


Window Delay - When Mod Shell plays a Mod a window is displayed, mainly
for the purpose of allowing the user to abort playing
multiple Mods and toggling other features. Window Delay
is the length of time this window is displayed in milli-
seconds. If this is set to 0 the window will not be
displayed, and the abort and other features will not be
available.

Max # of Mods - This was mainly for our programming use. It specifies
the maximum number of Mods that Mod Shell can handle.
We have the default set to a million which is the
maximum value.

Mouse [Y/N] - This field specifies whether or not to enable the mouse
in Mod Shell. If there is no mouse installed and this
is set to Y, don't worry, Mod Shell automatically
detects the presence of a mouse.

Sort [Y/N] - This is to turn sorting on/off. If this is set to
Y, SORT.EXE or your specified sort program must
be in the path or current directory. We included
this in the configuration because sorting slows
down the loading of Mod Shell. A fast alternative to
this sorting method is actually sorting the Mod
directory and setting this to N.

(1-5) Mod Ext - When Mod Shell reads the files from the Mod directory,
it will look for files with these specified extensions.
This is for the Mod files that have different extensions
such as NST, SD4 and SD2, etc.

(1-5) Arc Ext - These are the extensions of the compressed files that
Mod Shell should recognize and work with.

Program - This field is directly associated with Arc Ext. Program
is the compression program for decompressing the files
with the extension specified in its corresponding Arc
Ext field.

Help Line - This displays a simple help line for each input field.


*NOTE* It is possible to use .BAT files in the program fields, therefore
Mod players with different command-line parameters are supported.
A sample .BAT file is included.


Mod Shell 1.0 Using Mod Shell - 4


Using Mod Shell
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mod Shell is very easy to use, and has mouse support. All of the Mod
names will appear in the list in yellow, if they aren't compressed they will
appear in white. Here are the keyboard commands for the main program, and
the equivalent mouse commands:

"A" - "Z"
When any of the alpha characters are pressed, the highlight bar is
moved to the first file beginning with the letter corresponding with
the key. There is no equivalent mouse command.

ENTER or BOTH MOUSE BUTTONS
Plays all tagged files, or plays currently highlighted file if none are
tagged.

ESCAPE or RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON
Quits program.

SPACEBAR or LEFT MOUSE BUTTON
Tags file. *NOTE* When mouse support is active, the left button
highlights the file--it must then be pressed again to tag it.

TAB
Tags all files (if none have been tagged yet), or untags all tagged files.
There is no equivalent mouse command.

*** NOTE ON THE FOLLOWING ***
Using the mouse, clicking on the arrow characters to the right of
the window achieves the same effect of Page Up and Page Down. Also
clicking anywhere on the slide bar shifts the window's contents.

PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN
Shift's window's contents up or down a page.

UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW
The arrow keys move the highlight up or down.

HOME and END
Shift's window's contents to the beginning or end of the list.

When enter is pressed, a window like this is displayed (if window delay
is not set to 0) :
Mod Shell

Playing: ROCKIT

ESC - Stop S - Skip R - Repeat: OFF

( Delay Window )



Mod Shell 1.0 Using Mod Shell - 5

The keyboard options here are as follows:

ESCAPE
Quits back to the main program.

"S"
Skips the current Mod, and goes to the next tagged one (if selected).

"R"
Toggles the Repeat flag. If it is on, it will continuously play the
currently selected Mod(s).

"P"
This option will pause the window until a key is pressed.


Command-line Options
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We have provided the following commandline options to allow one to
change the configuration temporarily for Mod Shell, without having to enter
MSCONFIG.EXE.

/M - Enable mouse support.

/R - Force the Repeat Flag on.

/MP=[PROGRAM] - Set the Mod player. Substitute [PROGRAM] with
the full path and filename of the Mod player.

/MD=[DIR] - Set the Mod directory. Replace [DIR] with the
full path to the directory where Mods are located.

/WD=[TIME] - Sets the delay for the Pause Windows. Replace
[TIME] with the length in milliseconds.

/S=[Y/N] - Indicate whether or not to sort Mod listing.
Replace [Y/N] with either 'Y' to sort, or 'N'
not to.

EXAMPLE:

MODSHELL /R /MP=C:\MOD\TRAK.EXE /MD=C:\DOWNLOAD\ /WD=3000 /S=N

Mod Shell 1.0 Revision - 6

Revision History
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 1992 -
First release! Mod Shell 1.0

Special thanks to David Kammeyer for his help and very good suggestions
on future versions of Mod Shell.


Registration
~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you like this program and use it regularly, please register it.
By doing so you'll support the future development of Mod Shell and other
programs from Obsidian Software. When you register you'll receive, in the
mail, a registered copy of Mod Shell. If an update is released we'll
send it to you free! See REGISTER.FRM for more details on registration.

Please feel free to send us your questions or comments, even if you're not
registering. We'd really appreciate your help in improving Mod Shell.

Send your letters to : Obsidian Software
1021 S. Euclid
Oak Park, IL 60304



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