The Digger Games Menu

Name: The Digger Games Menu Version : 3.0.0 Author: Peter Brown Date: 2 March 2019 Development System: WDSibyl for OS/2 - htpp://wdsibyl.org Tested on eComStation 2.2beta2+ and ArcaOS 5.0.1+ Expected to work on OS/2 Warp V4 and V3 Purpose of application: To provide a menu front end for the game Digger, digger.exe, and extra game files (extension .DLF). Do not install this game menu if you only have the Digger game and no extra game files; the application will not complete setup and run if there are no extra game files available. Digger has a website: http://www.digger.org/ The latest Digger for OS/2 is available here: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/games/action/digger-20140703.zip Extra game files, *.DLF (Digger Load Files?), available here: http://www.digger.org/digextra.zip All the extra game files that I have tried - lots:-) - have worked fine on eCS/ArcaOS systems. Reason for existence of Digger Menu =================================== I must admit to having played the DOS version of Digger and the extra game files a lot over the years. A couple of years ago I discovered Digger had been ported to OS/2 - Thank You Andrey Vasilkin - and the extra game files work with the OS/2 port. So I installed Digger for OS/2 and setup a Digger Desktop program object with the Parameters EXTRA\[] (EXTRA is a subdirectory of the digger directory where the extra game files are stored) which causes the system to prompt for the rest of the parameter(s) - in this instance a game name (filename minus .DLF). One day I got a bit fed up with having to reselect Desktop -> Programs -> Games -> OS/2 Games -> Digger and then enter the game name I wanted to play at the "Specify parameters" prompt if I wanted to change games. Digger Menu is the result. No more typing required to start a game - and I do not have to remember any game names as Digger Menu lists all that it finds. Installation ============ DigMenu.zip contains digmenu.exe - the executable digbg.bmp - the background bitmap header.bmp - title bitmap instruct.bmp - instruction bitmap digmenu_readme.txt - this file Simply unzip all files to a directory of your choice - your Digger directory, possibly. Create a Desktop program object for digger.exe (RightMouseButton on DigMenu.exe and select "Create program object" - I call mine "Digger Menu"). Setup ===== Click on the DigMenu.exe Desktop object (Digger Menu?) to start. When first run DigMenu displays a File Select Dialog "Digger Menu : Select Path to digger.exe ..." Navigate to the directory containing digger.exe and select digger.exe Clicking OK saves the directory location Clicking Cancel displays a message asking if you want to exit the application DigMenu then displays another File Select Dialog "Digger Menu : Locate extra digger game files ..." Navigate to the directory containing alternative digger game files and select any file with the ".DLF" filename extension. Clicking OK saves the directory location Clicking Cancel displays a message asking if you want to exit the application NOTE: The locations of digger.exe and the *.DLF files are saved to the ini file DigMenu.ini which will be created in the directory containing DigMenu.exe. If you change the location of digger.exe and/or the *.DLF files delete the DigMenu.ini file. On next use the above file dialogs will be displayed to create a new DigMenu.ini file. Use === If you worked through the setup screens above successfully you now have a choice of Digger games to play with the original Digger game at the top of the list. Use the keyboard Up/Down arrows or mouse to select a game. DoubleClick or press Enter on a selected game name to run that game. Note: If you pause a game and minimise it then go off and do something - make coffee maybe - and try to start a game when you return to the computer the selected game will not start but the game that is already running will appear onscreen. Now when I am losing badly at 1 of the games I can quit and use digmenu to select a different game to try to do better at ;-) DigMenu is "sort of" skinable... Included in the zip file are digbg.bmp - background bitmap, size 625*434 (w*h) header.bmp - Title/Header bitmap, size 625*80 (w*h) instruct.bmp - Instruction bitmap, size 260*66 (w*h) These OS/2 bitmap files are loaded at runtime and can be replaced by a users own choice of bitmaps - or no bitmaps at all which will result in a standard dialog window background. Hopefully my poor attempts at graphic design will be improved upon by someone with more artistic capability. Problems/suggestions: losepete@losepete.plus.com with subject DigMenu Might also be worth posting on os2world.com forum. Have fun Pete