+-------------------------------------------------+
|  Alien Breed II v3.1 Level Compression Utility  |
+-------------------------------------------------+


IMPORTANT: ONLY COMPRESS LEVELS THAT HAVE BEEN MADE WITH v2.1 OF THE ABII LEVEL EDITOR OR HAVE HAD THE LEVEL PATCH RAN ON THEM TO FIX THE BUG. I DON'T KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF YOU USE OLDER LEVELS - I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY IF YOU TRY AND FIND OUT!

  The Level Compression Utility is a set of programs that you can use to compress external levels that you have made using v2.1 of the ABII Level Editor. The batch file "compress.bat" is the only file you have to use to compress your level.

  First of all, create your level using v2.1 of the Level Editor (or run the Level Patch on a v2.0 level) and then copy the level file from your calculator to the Level Compression Utility directory.

  Next, go to a DOS prompt and go to the Level Compression Utility directory. From there, use the following syntax:

compress <levelname>

  <levelname> is the name of the level, eg. jim. This is the name that you give your level when you first create it on the calculator. If you don't type a level name, the program will abort and give you the usage syntax. If the level that you enter can't be found in the directory, then the program will abort and give you an error message.

  Once you run the Compression Utility, the level will be compressed and both a TI-83 and TI-83+ version will be given. Now you can copy the level back to your calculator and it will be a fraction of the size. Remember though that compressed levels can't be edited with the Level Editor.

  I suggest that once you have finished making a level you release it on the Internet. The best place to do this is at http://www.ticalc.org.


Thanks to:
Jimmy Mardell for the Huffman Compressor.
Hannes Edfeldt for Devpac83.
Scott Dial for Devpac8x.

BTW, the files "lvltobin.exe" and "setcmp.exe" were written by me and were programmed using Borland Turbo Pascal 7.0.


Alien Breed II v3.1 Level Compression Utility
Copyright 2000 Jimsoft Software/TCPA
Written and Programmed by James Vernon, with thanks to the above people!
Email: james@calc.org
       jimbob_v@hotmail.com
URL:   http://tcpa.calc.org/members/james/
ICQ#:  71589304