******************* INSTANT ACTION LAUNCHER README ******************

                         SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Any PC that can run Battlezone can use this program. VB6 runtimes are
required, included with the install. Also required is scrrun.dll. Most
of you should have this, if not it is included in a separate zip in the
install package. It goes in your /WINDOWS/SYSTEM folder. Do NOT replace
your current scrrun.dll, use only if you do not have it.

                            INSTALLATION
Unzip this archive to a temporary directory and run setup.exe. Follow
the onscreen directions. Default install path is the default BZ install
path - C:\Program Files\Activision\Battlezone. You can change this if
you wish, if BZ is installed somewhere else. 

              **** IMPORTANT CONFIGURATION INFORMATION ****
Before you use the program for the first time, you MUST edit the
ial.cfg file located in the ial folder off of the main Battlezone
folder. Open the file with Notepad. Look at the very first line.
There is a single letter followed by a comma. This is the drive letter
for the CD drive that you put the Battlezone CD into when you play. On
my system it's the letter M. Change this to whatever letter your CD 
drive uses, if necessary. Save the file and exit. Now you're ready.

                  USING THE INSTANT ACTION LAUNCHER
IA Launcher works just like the BZ shell does. Start the program from the
shortcut on the Start Menu. On the splash screen there are 3 options. 
Ignore the campaign option - it is not functional in this version. Click
on Instant Action to go to the main screen. Here you will see a list of
bzn files (these are your mission files). The program will display all bzn
files, both Instant Action and multiplayer. To filter out mp maps see the
section below. Click on an Instant Action bzn to select it. If there
is an ial file for it you will see the mission info displayed and the
minimap if there is one. If there is a text file the label in the
bottom right hand corner will display the words "VIEW TEXT". Click on
this to view the text file.

Once you have selected a mission, click "NEXT" to go to the mission
briefing screen. From here you can launch the mission (which
automatically exits IA Launcher) or go back and pick another mission.
The list will scroll if you have a large number of missions installed.
Just click the arrows to scroll through it. If you are seeing a lot
of mp maps you don't want displayed you can edit the ial.cfg file to
filter them out. There are already quite a few in there - to add new
ones to the list just add the filename with extension at the bottom
of the list - make sure there's nothing else on the line. The limit
of files that can be in the cfg file is about 300 - if you are near
this you may want to back it up and remove some of the mp maps listed
that you DON'T have installed to make room for more. There are over
200 mp maps in the filter list as installed but there's room for 70
or 80 more, if needed.

There is also an options screen where you can set command line switches
if necessary. Keep in mind that the program always reinitializes from
the splash screen so any options must be reset if you go back there.

To exit IA Launcher, just go back to the splash screen and click
on the "Exit Game" option.

               CREATING IAL FILES FOR NEW LEVELS
I designed this program to be dynamic in terms of updates. It already
has mission info files for most of the older levels built into the
install (for the ones I could find and test, that is), but it will
also read new ial files that a level maker can include with new Instant
Action missions. These only need to be unzipped into the addon with
the rest of the mission files and IA Launcher will find it. To build
these files, use the blank.ial file located in the ial/ialfile folder
off of your bz folder. Take a look at the premade files for older
levels to see how they are put together. Most of the lines can be
anything you want, as long as they fit on the display screen. Two of
the parameters control graphics, however; these are the lines for
planet and textColor. The planet line controls which planet bitmap
and description show on the launch screen, so make sure you spell the
planet right. Available planets are in the ial/planets folder. All
standard planets from BZ1 and TRO are available, along with a few
extras (Bane, Triton, Callisto, etc). You can make new planets to
display also, but the bmp and des file for it must go into the
ial/planets folder. Planet bmps should be 16 million colors, and
130x130 pixels.

The textColor parameter controls the color of the mission text on 
the Launch screen. There are 6 valid choices. Setting textColor to
1 makes the text green. 2 makes it red, for CCA levels. 3 makes it
white, 4 blue (Fury missions), 5 orange (ISDF missions) and 6 yellow
(Scion missions). Any other value sets the text to green.

The missionText line is where you put the mission briefing. It will
word wrap so don't put returns in except where you want a line break.
Make sure it all fits on the screen, there's no way to scroll it up
or down in this version (maybe in the next one). Rename your ial file
to your mission name when it's done (make sure it has the .ial
extension) and include with the rest of your mission files.

          ************* TROUBLESHOOTING ****************
If you get an error while launching the program, make sure you have
edited the ial.cfg and put in the right CD drive letter as described
in the "IMPORTANT CONFIGURATION INFORMATION" section of this readme.
If you get any error messages about missing dlls, check your 
WINDOWS/SYSTEM folder and make sure that scrrun.dll is present.
If not unzip the one I included with the install into the 
WINDOWS/SYSTEM folder. This is the latest version I could find on the
web, and should cure the problem. Again do not replace this if you
already have it. IA Launcher does have some limits though I set them
very high. If you do run into any other problems please email me at
ssuser@hotmail.com and I will be happy to help you out. Comments and
suggestions for improvements are also welcome.


                   UNINSTALLING IA LAUNCHER
Use the shortcut provided to uninstall. You can also use the Add/Remove
Programs feature from Control Panel.

           CHANGES/IMPROVEMENTS FROM BETA VERSION
Missions now remain selected when going back to the main screen from
the view text screen and launch screen. The bzn files are also listed
alphabetically instead of by the directory default. Thanks to Killer
Instinct for these suggestions. The help file has also been eliminated.
Everything you need to know is in this readme.

                          CREDITS
Thanks to the other YG members for beta testing and offering ideas for
improvements. Also thanks to dx for beta testing and helping me get
ahold of the original graphics and sounds for Battlezone, some of
which were used in the creation of IA Launcher. Keep checking the
Young Guns Clan website (geocities.com/younggunsclan) for future versions
of IA Launcher, hopefully at some point there will be a new section
for launching custom campaigns.