262 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
262 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
Eamon Dungeon Designer 6.0 Differences
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The Newest version of the Eamon Dungeon Design System has the following new
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features:
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1. New types of artifacts are available. The old versions had only
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treasures (of fixed value and variable value) and weapons. (Standard and odd.)
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The new version allows all sorts of new types of artifacts with the code
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already installed to handle them. In addition, you may create your own types of
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artifacts.
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2. The Dungeon Edit program has been completely re-written to allow
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easier entry of data. The new program now allows default data for all fields
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for rooms, artifacts and monsters. This makes it faster to key in data when you
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want most fields to be the default. You can also change the defaults within the
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program. A list of improvements is given here:
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a. Defaults for fields
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b. Defaults can be changed
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c. Field labels may be changed
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d. New fields may be added to rooms, artifacts or monster definitions.
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e. Fields definitions may be saved to and reloaded from disk
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f. New types of artifacts may be added dynamically
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g. Artifact formats may be defined or redefined
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3. The dungeon list program has been modified to accept version 6.0
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data and describe it during the list process.
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4. The base program has been enhanced to allow the new artifact types
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including the commands to activate the new artifacts. Some previous bugs have
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been corrected.
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5. The base program has had a read effects routine added that can be
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performed by the designer to read and print effects.
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6. Embedded artifacts have been installed. Embedded artifacts are those
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that are not listed as being in the room, although they can be acted upon by
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the adventurer. For example you could code the description of a room to
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describe a large statue in the room and then create an artifact for the statue.
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The description of the statue will not be listed when the adventurer enters the
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room. This makes it easier to hide things from the adventurer.
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7. Locked doors and gates may be set up with no special programming.
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Simply put the door or gate in the room and set up the data for it. The gates
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or doors will automatically block the way until they are unlocked or broken
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down. (yes, they can be attacked and broken with sufficient power.)
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8. Bound monsters can be simulated automatically. The programming
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required is already set up. Simply code the data required.
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9. Secret Passages are handled automatically.
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On the following pages are some additional details regarding these new features
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and how to use them.
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ARTIFACTS
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The new types of artifacts that have been added are listed below:
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Old New Format Ptr
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0 Gold 0 Gold 0
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1 Treasure 1 Treasure 0
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2 Weapon 2 Weapon 1
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3 Odd Weapon 3 Magic Weapon 1
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4 Container 2
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5 Light 3
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6 Healing 4
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7 Readable 5
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8 Door/Gate 6
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9 Key 7
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10 Bound Monster 8
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Because these new artifact types must supply the base program with additional
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information, the designer will have to code this additional information when
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setting up the adventure. To assis the designer in this task, there have been
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groups of labels and default data set up for each general purpose. These are
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called formats. There are eight different formats available as the standard
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ones. In addition, the designer may set up his own formats using functions in
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the dungeon edit program. Each artifact type has a format pointer that tells
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the program which format will be used for fields 5 thru 8. The format pointers
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for a particular artifact type may also be changed by the designer, although
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this is probably not ever necessary. The formats available are:
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Format 1 Format 2 Format 3
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Fld 5 = Weap. Type Fld 5 = Key # Fld 5 = Counter
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Fld 6 = Compl. Fld 6 = Strength
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Fld 7 = Dice
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Fld 8 = Sides
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Format 4 Format 5 Format 6
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Fld 5 = Chances Fld 5 = 1st Eff. Fld 5 = Room#
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Fld 6 = Heal Amt Fld 6 = #Eff. Fld 6 = Key#
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Fld 7 = Nbr Uses Fld 7 = Read Flag Fld 7 = Strength
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Format 7 Format 8
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none Fld 5 = Monster#
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Fld 6 = Key#
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Fld 7 = Guard#
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Fld 8 = Att.Flag
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The new artifacts are explained in some detail below:
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Magic Weapons - These weapons are locally magical. That is, they are magic
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weapons within the scope of the current adventure. If they are taken out of the
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adventure, they will revert to standard weapons. While they are magic, they
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cannot break except by magical means. This is the extent of their natural magic
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power. If you want other magic effects, you will have to program them.
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Container - This type of artifact can contain other artifacts. The artifact may
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be opened at which time, the program searches the artifact table looking for
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any artifact having a room number of 100 plus the number of the arifact being
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opened. Any artifact meeting this criteria is moved into the room by the
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program and the message YOU FOUND SOMETHING. is printed.
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Light - When rooms are coded in version 6.0, a code for light is included. If
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the room is too dark to see in without artificial light, you code a 0. If there
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is a normal amount of light, a 1 is coded. A light artifact is lit using the
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LIGHT command. This will activate the light so that all rooms entered are lit
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up. A light will expire after awhile. There is a field coded to indicate how
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long a light will last. When this number is exceeded, the light will go out
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never to work again. (There is currently no way to reactivate a light without
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special programming.)
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Healing - This type of artifact will heal the user by the amount specified at
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the time the artifact was set up. It may be used only a limited number of times
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before being exhausted.
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Readable - This type of artifact will allow the user to read it. The program
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will automatically read the effects from the effects portion of the EAMON.DESC
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file. These effects must be added by the designer and the pointers established
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according to the prompts given by the readable artifact format.
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Door - A door has a 'room into' and a strength factor. The 'room into' code is
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very important, since it takes the place of a room connect code where the door
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is located. The strength factor is how strong the door is. Doors may be broken
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down by beating on them.
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Key - A key artifact is used for opening containers, doors or freeing bound
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monsters. The artifacts they are used on will indicate which key works on it,
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so no additional data is needed currently. Keys point to format 7 which
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contains no useful prompts. This may be changed if you wish, however.
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Bound Monster - This type of artifact is used to simulate a bound monster. The
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key number needed to free the bound person, the monster guarding the bound
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monster and a pointer to the monster being bound makes up the data fields of
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this artifact type.
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Location of Artifacts
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Version 6.0 also allows artifacts to be in special places. Artifacts are
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normally coded with room numbers ranging from 1 to the number of rooms in a
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dungeon. There are now additional codes recognized by the program.
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+100 .... Inside a container artifact
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+200 .... Embedded in a room description
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+300 .... Hidden in a room
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For example, if you want to place an artifact inside artifact #9, code it's
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room code as 109. If you want an artifact to be in room number 17, but not be
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listed as a separate artifact, code it's room code as 217. If you want an
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artifact to be hidden in room number 25 (so you have to look to find it), code
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it's room code as 325.
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The dungeon edit program will also allow you to build your own artifact types,
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or modify existing artifact types, formats, or even monster or room data. This
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was done to prevent the need for a custom edit program when special fields are
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needed by an adventure.
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ROOMS
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The Eamon.Rooms file contains the rooms that you can move into. This file now
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has the ability to contain new codes that permit the ability to have automatic
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secret passages, and locked doors. Before this was installed, you had to
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program these manually for every adventure you wrote.
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Room numbers from 1 to 99 are normal.
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Room number -99 means exit to the Main Hall.
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Room numbers less than 0 and greater than -99 are secret passages. The absolute
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value of the number is used for the pointer to the room when the passage is
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discovered. Passages are discovered by using the LOOK command. If you want them
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discovered by other means, you will still have to program it.
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Room numbers greater than 100 are locked doors. The difference between 100 and
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the room code is used to point to an artifact. This artifact must then be a
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door or gate. The artifact will specify the room to be moved into, the key
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number, the strength of the door necessary to enter the room.
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MONSTERS
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Monsters have not changed from previous versions of Eamon, but the ability to
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add fields or modify field labels has been added. This allows you to more
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easily put special programming into your base program when this programming may
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require additional data to be on the Monsters file.
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ADDITIONAL ARTIFACT TYPES
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Additional artifact types may be added, using the functions in the dungeon
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edit, but these additional artifacts will have to be supported via changes you
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must make to the base program.
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Customized fields added or changed from the standard may be difficult to
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remember and duplicate when you go back to edit a dungeon a second or third
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time. For this reason, the ability to be able to save and restore these
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parameters to disk has been installed. The data that is saved off for
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parameters is listed below.
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You should decide before starting your adventure what changes will be made (if
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any) to the standard layouts, since these changes must be made before any
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fields are defined. If this is not done, you will end up with monsters or
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artifacts with the incorrect layyout. If you are not adding any fields, it will
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not make any difference, but if you are the program could bomb while trying to
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read data from the disk that does not exist.
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The file that stores the parameters is sequential and contains the following
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data.
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AF - # fields in an artifact (not counting last 4 variable fields)
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Field Name 1
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Field Name 2
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... af
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Default 1
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Default 2
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... af
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NF - # of Formats
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Format Label $ (F,1)
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Format Label $ (F,2)
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Format Label $ (F,3)
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Format Label $ (F,4)
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Default (F,1)
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Default (F,2)
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...
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MF - #monster fields
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Monster Label 1
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... mf
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Default Monster 1
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... mf
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---End of Parameters File---
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