RacEd, version 1.3
12/10/96

Welcome to RacEd, the saved game Race Editor for Master of Orion II!

                    **** IMPORTANT!!  WARNING!! *****
Please take a moment to read this file.  There are a couple of important
things you need to know about RacEd before you use it!  Also check for
NEW FEATURES for this version.

LEGAL STUFF:
============
Master of Orion II is a copyright of Microprose.

This program is free for your personal use, but I retain all copyrights,
ownership and licenses as the author of RacEd.  You have my permission
to upload it to bulletin boards or the Internet, and otherwise share
with your friends, just as long as the RACED.EXE file and this file
(RACED.TXT) are both included.  You do NOT have my permission to charge
money for this software in any way, shape, or form including
distribution costs. You do NOT have my permission to resell this
program, either alone or with other software.  If I find this program on
a CD somewhere, I will take legal action.

REQUIREMENTS:
=============
First, of course, you have to have a copy of Master of Orion II.  This
program wasn't designed to work with MOO1, Myst, or MechWarriors. You
also have to have Windows, either 3.x or 95.  I tested it on both
systems and it works fine.  You also need a Master of Orion II saved
game.  RacEd works on Saved games only - not the ORION2 executable.

WHAT RacEd DOES AND DOESN'T DO:
===============================
I put the original version together in about 3 days, in between
sessions playing MOO2. Additional tweaks and changes have occupied
another week since then. It is functional and bug-free as far as I
know.  It will read the racial traits for your home world (Low or
High-G, Large, Rich/Poor, or Artifact) and display those facts in the
window, but RacEd will not alter your home world.  I've been toying
with the hex values for the planets, and such a feature is not as
intuitive as it would seem - nor as easy as it was in MOO1 owing to
the multiple planets per star system.  If I can crack it eventually,
or if Ken Burd finally releases the file formats, perhaps we'll see a
RacEd version 2.

That shouldn't be a problem, though.  Start a new game, give yourself
the best planet you can get, and ignore all the other racial
characteristics on the MOO Custom Race screen.  Save the game and then
load the saved file into RacEd - you can then alter everything else
about your race but the home planet.

My first effort at RacEd did not take into account the discovery of
Evolutionary Mutation.  The problem was that, once you used RacEd to
create an "illegal" super-race with negative pick points, you could
not exit the MOO2 Race Design screen that is offered upon discovering
Evolutionary Mutation.  You were stuck in the screen and would be
forced to shut the game down or reboot if you were using an "illegal"
race.

I solved that little problem in version 1.2.  Now, if you create a
race that has negative pick points, the Evolutionary Mutation advance
will be flagged as "discovered".  I wanted to leave the option open
for those who were using RacEd for experimentation rather than
outright cheating, so if you keep your pick point total at zero or
above before saving the file, you can still research Evolutionary
Mutation.  It will only be disabled if you create an illegal race.

What happens if/when you discover E.M.?  You will see the discovery
screen as you normally do, but you will not be taken to the MOO Race
Design screen to designate your 4 additional pick points.  You still
get credit for the discovery in your final score.

Note that, if you create a super-race with negative pick points, and
then later edit it again to above zero, RacEd will *NOT* give you back
your Evolutionary Mutation.  So, you may as well give yourself the
racial traits you want or need with RacEd.

While I've tested this program pretty thoroughly, I cannot and do not
make any guarantees as to what it will do.  I have looked for, and never
found, where MOO2 changes any of the basic racial values as you discover
new technologies. If I missed one, RacEd may have a hard time
deciphering the odd values. Send me an E-mail if you discover such an
animal. Meanwhile, you're on your own.

INSTALLATION:
=============
Unzip the two files (RACED.EXE and RACED.TXT) into your Master of
Orion directory.  It will work from any directory, but you'll save
yourself some time if the saved games are in the same directory as
RACED.EXE.  Double click on RACED.EXE and you're off to the races. As it
were.

LOADING FILES:
==============
You can use the keyboard or the "File" menu on the RacEd screen to load
and save files.  Press F3 (or click on "File", and "Open") to select
from the list of saved games.

As soon as your file loads, the pushbuttons and check boxes on the
screen will change to reflect the values for this race.  In the upper
left corner, the name of the file and the race's home planet attributes
will display.

ALTERING AND SAVING FILES:
==========================
Go ahead and click.  You don't have any pick-point limits in RacEd like
you do in the game, so you can create a real master race of super-beings
if that's your thing.  Some of the mutually exclusive traits, like
Creative/Uncreative, or Cybernetic/Lithovore are set up on radio buttons
so that you can only select one.  If you create a Frankenstein race of
Telepathic/Tolerant/Creative/Omniscient Cybernetics, have fun but be
prepared for a short game.  The universe will tremble at your approach.
:-)

Note the high values I've allowed for Science and Industry!  The game
will only let you go up to +2, but I discovered that the real limit is
much higher than that.  I tried games with +5 and +10 for both of those
categories, and I was so powerful it wasn't really much fun.  But
there's no accounting for taste, so I've included spinbutton controls
that allow you to set your Industry and/or Science anywhere from -1 up
to a whopping +15!  Just don't expect much of a challenge from the AI if
you make yourself that strong.

Once you're happy with your selections, either press F2 or click on
"File", then "Save".  You will not be warned about overwriting the old
file - RacEd will immediately save your new stats and reset the window
controls to "neutral".  The information panel in the upper left will
say "File Saved!".  At that point, you can either load a new one (or
reload the old one) or quit.  Press CTRL-X to quit, or select "File" and
"Exit".

Start MOO2 and load the saved game.  Go to the "Info" screen, and select
"Race Statistics".  You should see your new traits on your list. Note,
however, that space for the MOO2 traits list is only about 11 or 12
items long.  If you've selected too many attributes, some of them will
not be shown.  Don't worry, they're still there.  I know. I checked ;->

BUG REPORTS ETC.:
=================
If you find a bug in RacEd, please E-mail me.  I also accept praise,
cash, and vows of fealty. I will not, however, release source code.  If
I see that RacEd racks up enough download counts I may work on Version
2.  That could include a way to alter your home planet and your race's
name (something Microprose sadly left out). I've already heard input
from users of RacEd 1.1, who asked for the ability to also alter other
(computer) races in a saved game.  Still others have inquired about
editing the game heroes.  All this input is gratifying, and provided
the time is available I'll do what I can to improve upon RacEd.

Many thanks to those of you who have already written me about bugs -
as of this writing, everything appears to be working flawlessly.  I
owe it to you!

Marc Fisher
Compuserve, 70711,3177
mfisher@mail.cjnetworks.com

Version History:
================
ver. 1.0 - 12/5/96 - Initial release to Compuserve Gamers' forum.

ver. 1.1 - 12/6/96 - Replaced radio buttons with spin buttons for
Industry and Science to allow greater flexibility and higher values in
those areas. Released to selected Internet MOO sites.

ver. 1.2 - 12/8/96 - Fixed 'Evolutionary Mutation' problem by giving
user the E.M. advance if total pick points are under zero.  Set the
flag which disables the appearance of the MOO race designer screen, as
this screen would lock up a game using 'illegal' races.

ver. 1.3 - 12/10/96 - Fixed bug that reset racial attributes to
default after running the first turn.  This was an offshoot of the
Evolutionary Mutation fix, and only involved setting one additional
flag.

