-= Juggler 2001 =-

-= Realtime Raytracing in 4K =-

-= by Han Solo / The COEXiSTENCE =-

Final Version v1.01

-= Credits =-

Code ................... Han Solo / The COEXiSTENCE
Music-routine .......... Kimmy / PULP Productions
Arithmetic support ..... Sauron
Music .................. Skyrunner
Packer (aPACK) ......... Joergen Ibsen / Jibz

-= Greetings =-

Iron Eagle, Stingray, InspirE, Blind Enemy, Duke, Thunder, Libertine,
Wicked Mystic, Frenetic Plague, doj, Schoolar, Franky, KB, Bugjam,
Copyfault, Shark, Dan, Kojote, Matrixcrawler, The Jack, Korellyen,
the organizers of Mekka&Symposium, Mat!/Ozone

and to everyone who was, is or will be part of the scene...
...we are family

-= What's new in the Final version =-

More versions for different graphic-modes (now supporting 32bit, 16bit,
Fakemode and Grayscale). Unfortunately some VGA-Cards don't support all
VESA-Functions I use and the Graphicmode-numbers differ from the ones
on NVIDIA-Cards. So I suggest you first try the 320x200x16 version. If
this one doesn't work, the others probably also won't and you have to
use the 8bit-versions.
Furthermore I eliminated a problem when one entered a non-numeric value
as the GMidi-Port. Now any such keytroke turns off the musicroutine.
That's why there's no 'Nomusic'-version included anymore.

-= Technical info =-

This is real raytracing. The code doesn't contain any polyfillers.
We have spheres, one lightsource, shadows, reflections and diffuse
reflection. The Juggler himself consists of 80 spheres, he's juggling
with 3 spheres and there are 4 senseless spheres around him. That makes
a total number of 87 spheres.
If you don't know the General-Midi-Port of your Soundcard, try '330h'
(press '3') at first. Should this not work, try all the other numbers.
The Intro never crashed due to a wrong port, so you don't have to be
afraid...

The ZIP should contain the following versions of the program:

Juggler_32_200.com   - TrueColor in 320x200
Juggler_32_240.com   - TrueColor in 320x240 (same as Juggler_Final.com)
Juggler_32_400.com   - TrueColor in 320x400

Juggler_16_200.com   - HiColor in 320x200
Juggler_16_240.com   - HiColor in 320x240
Juggler_16_400.com   - HiColor in 320x400

Juggler_Fakemode.com - Only 256 visible colors, but it looks like 3840
colors. And due to realtime dithering we even
have 27869 (simulated) colors. I'd prefer this
version, if Hi/TrueColor does not work on your
adapter. (Read also the note below).
Juggler_8bit         - 256 colors. Looks like crap, but runs on every
VGA-card.
Juggler_Grayscale    - No colors, but it looks better than the previous
version.

The following Timedemo-versions can be used to compare the the speed of
your computers, since they always calculate the same frames.

Juggler_Timedemo1.com - Calculates 23 frames and is meant for tests with
deactivated L1-Cache and for Non-Pentiums.
Juggler_Timedemo2.com - Calculates 905 frames. For computers < 2 Ghz.
Juggler_Timedemo3.com - Calculates 7534 frames. For computers > 2 Ghz.

During my tests I discovered, that this Raytracer performs VERY poorly
on AMD-Processors.  I think it's because AMD's L1-Cache is much slower
that Intel's. If you're interested, try to run the 'Timedemo1'-version
with deactivated L1-Cache. Then the AMD-Chips beat the Pentium.

BTW. you should load a good Midi-Waveset. If you're soundcard came with
different ones, I would recommend using the biggest one.

A note about the Fakemode: in the textfile of the Partyversion I
described it as Tran's Fakemode, but now I found out that the real
Fakemode was at first invented by Yaka/Xography (Hi, wherever you are.
Remember me from The Party 94?) and is a little bit more complex (and
better ;) ) than my version here.

-= Known problems =-

This Intro was developed on a Celeron566@850, a TNT2 and a SB64 under
Win98SE. It was tested with a TNT, GeForce, SB128 and Asus OnbordSound-
there were no problems with this configurations.
In fact there ARE problems with Win2k and (I'm really sorry about that)
the SB Live: there are no VESA-modes under Win2K, so you have to use
the Fakemode-version. The problem with the SB Live is, that some people
had no sound with this card. I don't have one, so I couldn't test it a
lot. If anyone has suggestions on how to solve this problem, feel free
to contact me...

If you use the numpad for entering the GMidi-Port, make sure that
NumLock is switched on.

A bug will occur on REALLY fast computers (and also if you terminate
the program at a very early stage): the framecounter won't display
framerates over 99.99. You'll get the framerate -100 instead (mod 100,
to be exact ;) ). Not a very serious bug, I think. Take the 320x400
version instead - it's slower...

-= Further information about this Intro =-

The basic idea behind this intro is that I wanted to show the (famous?)
Amiga Juggler-Animation by Eric Graham in realtime. In case you don't
know the Juggler-Animation, take a look at the website given below.

-= Contact and Links =-

'aPACK' can be found at http://apack.tsx.org/
and the Juggler-Animation at http://members.home.net/erniew/juggler.html
The Midi-Soundroutine is included in the Source to 'live.... or sumthin'
a 4K by Pulp Productions. Search the web for 'PLP_LVSR.ZIP'.
Fakemode-Sources by Yaka/Xography can also be found throughout the net.

If you have any comments, write to:   hansolo@the-coexistence.de
or visit our always unfinished website    www.the-coexistence.de

For questions about the music write directly to:   skyrun@gmx.de

-= Han Solo / TC - Mekka 2001 - Fallingbostel - Germany - 2001-04-14 =-
Final version v1.01: 2001-05-02