FLIC!  release 1.02
Copyright (C) 1998 by Huy Hoang Nguyen
FREEWARE

LICENSE AGREEMENT & DISCLAIMER:
 - THIS	SOFTWARE IS FREEWARE. YOU ARE ENCOURAGED TO DISTRIBUTE THIS SOFTWARE
   UNDER THE CONDITION THAT THE SOFTWARE IS DISTRIBUTED AS A WHOLE AND
   IS NOT MODIFIED IN ANY WAY AND NO FEES ARE CHARGED EXCEPT THE COSTS FOR
   DUPLICATION. THESE COSTS MUST NOT EXCEED $5.00/10.00DM.
   THESE FILES BELONG TO THE SOFTWARE:
    o FLIC.EXE
    o README.TXT
 - THE SOFTWARE IS COPYRIGHTED AND THEREFORE YOU MAY NOT CLAIM THIS YOUR
   OWN WORK.
   YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO MODIFY, DISASSEMBLE OR REVERSE-ENGINEER ANY PART OF
   THIS SOFTWARE IN ANY WAY.
 - THE AUTHOR IS NOT LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES CAUSED BY THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
 IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE CONDITIONS, YOU MUST REMOVE THIS SOFTWARE FROM
 YOUR COMPUTER.


WHAT FLIC! IS

FLIC! is a very simple player for Autodesk Animator (AA) *.FLI files.
I think this is one of the smallest FLIC! players in the world;
the executable file is about 1KB "large".
It was programmed using pure assembler code and runs fine on a
386DX/20MHz.
It needs quite little memory (about 70KB), so it will need a fast disk
(or a disk cache) to run at full speed.


SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

 - 386 processor or above
 - VGA or compatible
 - DOS 3.3 or higher
 - about 70KB of free DOS memory
 - about 4KB of free disk space for the software
 - fast disk or disk cache strongly recommended,
   especially for playing FLICs located on floppy disks.


HOW TO USE IT

Just call FLIC! with the name of the FLICK file.
Example:
  FLIC apple.fli
That's all.


CHANGES

1.02           Changed error messages, updated delay handling,
               fixed minor bug in FLI_COPY
1.01           Fixed bug in color palette parsing (FLI_COLOR)
1.00           First official version; now pure assembler code
0.90 alpha     Test version, written in C and Assembler


PROBLEMS & RESTRICTIONS

 I don't know exactly if the delay time field in the FLI header
 tells how many 1/70 seconds have to be waited before the next frame
 is shown or if this field has to be increased by 1 first.
 I tested a FLICK with a delay of zero with FLIC! and the Autodesk
 Animator public domain player AAPLAY; AAPLAY seems to delay 1/70
 second, while my player didn't delay at all. It looked quite
 strange, so now I decided to set a delay time of 1/70 second if
 the delay field is zero.

 At the moment, FLIC! supports a maximum delay time of 5 seconds,
 i.e. if there are any FLICKs with delays longer than that, the delay
 will be automatically set to 5 seconds. Normally, the maximum delay
 time is 1 second, so this should be no restriction in most or all
 cases.

 This program should run all original AA *.FLI files and  M A Y  have
 problems with non-AA-generated FLICKs due to speed optimizations.
 FLICs that contain frames with a data size > 64KB will not run
 properly if they do at all because FLIC! buffers framewise and
 uses 16 bit segments.
 FLIC! DOES NOT SUPPORT *.FLC FILES.

 FLIC! runs in GRAPHICS MODE 13h with a resolution of 320x200x256
 (width/height/number of colors) and expects a refresh frequency of 70Hz.
 If you use programs that change the refresh frequency, some timing problems
 may occur because FLIC! uses the retrace function to delay.

 You should not run FLIC! with corrupted FLICK files, as this might
 cause FLIC! to crash or hang the system. Ok, now you've been warned.

 If you find any bugs, please send a brief report with a description
 of the bugs you discovered to my email address.
 If it occurs with a specific FLICK file, so tell me its name, too,
 or, if the file is small (< 300KB), you could attach it to your mail.


ERROR MESSAGES & EXIT CODES

- Usage: FLIC <filename>
   Exit code: 1
   Reason:    You didn't give FLIC! a file to play
- Not enough mem
   Exit code: 2
   Reason:    FLIC! needs about 70KB of memory to run
   Try to free some DOS memory and try again.
- Open failed
   Exit code: 3
   Reason:    a) The file doesn't exist
              b) There are too many files opened
              c) Access denied
   a) Check if the file really exists (perhaps it was a typing mistake)
   b) Try to close some opened files if there are any
      (e.g. by unloading some TSRs = resident programs)
   c) If you are running a multitasking system and there is another program
      that accesses the given file, quit that program
- Not a FLI / read fault
   Exit code: 4
   Reason:    a) The file is not a FLICK file
              b) The FLICK file is corrupted (damaged)
              c) The disk is damaged
              d) It has the wrong format (FLIC! expects FLICKs with a
                 screen resolution of 320x200 and a color depth of
                 8 bits (256 colors)
   a) Nothing to do
   b) Get an intact copy of the FLICK and try again
   c) Nothing to do
   d) Nothing to do
- Corrupt FLI
   Exit code: 254
   Reason:    FLICK file is damaged
   Get an intact copy of the FLICK
- Can't resize own mem block
   Exit code: 255
   Reason:    Don't know. Normally this error should never appear.


SOME USEFUL NOTES

 It is recommended that you use a disk cache when running FLIC!.
 This enhances the performance and reduces disk access.
 If you use a cache, please ensure that it caches the file you are
 running FLIC! with.

 You should not run FLIC! under Windows or with any programs that may
 interfere with the screen's vertical retrace.


EMAIL & INTERNET

  Email:    Durian_Rest@compuserve.com
  Homepage: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Durian_Rest



HAVE FUN !
