UNREAL BUILD NOTES
(Both C++ and VB)
Michael White
Cyberlore Studios
Oct. 21, 1996



Visual C++ Portion
==================

(1)
Problem:
        The file "system\unreal.tlb" not found.

Cause:
        Building from the source distribution (SrcDis) does produce a file
        "src\system\unwn.tlb" which is almost identical to "system\unreal.tlb"
        found in the executable distribution (ExeDis).  In fact, the file is
        the same size, and running a "comp" reports only 4 or 5 single-byte
        differences.

Solution:
        I copied and renamed "unwn.tlb" into SrcDis "system\unreal.tlb" and
        things seem fine.


(2)
Problem:
        The file "graphics\palette.pcx" was not found.

Cause:
        The real reason for this problem is that the run-time looks for
        "system\unreal.gfx".  If it is not found, it tries to create it based
        on other files.  It appears to be the unreal proprietary format for
        all graphics data, including the palette, textures, and possibly model
        data.


        Relevent file macros (defined in build.h?) are:
                DEFAULT_PALETTE_FNAME   (palette.pcx)
                GFX_BOOTSTRAP_FNAME     (?.mac)?

Solution:
        Copying "system\unreal.gfx" from ExeDis solved the problem.

        However, we may want to define a different palette and will have to
        go through the process of "bootstrapping" all the graphics files
        together into this "unreal.gfx".  See "ungfx.cpp" for details.


(3)
Problem:
        The file "classes\root.ucx" was not found.

Cause:
        This is apparently the proprietary format file which combines all the
        ".tcx" class actor scripts.

        I believe it would be built at run time if we had a ".mac" file
        (classes.mac?) to define which ".tcx" files we wanted to combine.

        Relevent file macros (build.h?) are:
                DEFAULT_CLASS_FNAME     (root.ucx? .tcx?)
                CLASS_BOOTSTRAP_FNAME   (classes.mac?)

Solution:
        Copying "class\root.ucx" from ExeDis solved the problem.

        Again, though, we will probably need to make a ".mac" file and
        bootstrap our own class actor files.



(4)
Problem:
        File "maps\unreal.unr" not found.

Cause:
        This is the map file.  It seems the way this works must change at
        some point so that levels can be loaded by name.

Solution:
        Creating a "maps" directory and copying "maps\unreal.unr" from ExeDis
        fixed the problem.



(5)
Problem:
        Screen renders fine, but I can't move.

Cause:
        Properties for input are undefined.  This is seen by bringing up the
        "properties" dialog.  There are no key mappings.

Solution:
        I played a bit with setting values in the dialog with no luck.  I
        finally just copied the "*.ini" files from ExeDis.  Unreal.ini seemed
        to be the one that was needed.  This one is apparently modified by
        changes to the dialog box.


Visual Basic Portion
(October 30, 1996)
====================

(1)
Problem:
	"Runtime error 68: device unavailable" before editor comes up.

Cause:
	Tries to change default directory to "u:\unreal".  This stems
	from it being given a command line that specifies this as the
	path.

	The command line is stored in the program in the Command$
	global.  Normally, the command line comes from the OS when typed
	after the executable name ("unrealed <command line>").  In
	this case, it comes from the Visual Basic development environment.

Solution:

	From the VB menu bar, select tools->options->advanced.

	The command line was:
	PATH = "u:\unreal"

	I changed it to:
	PATH = "f:\projects\emissary\prog"

	This seemed to be the only problem.  Once fixed, I played with the
	editor for a few minutes and it appeared to be in full working order.
