OPERATION: INNER SPACE(tm) SHIP BUILDER'S KIT
1995-98, Software Dynamics, Inc. (SDI) All rights reserved.

SHARE YOUR CUSTOM SHIPS WITH OTHERS!
If you're going to create custom ships for Inner Space, why
not share then with other users? That way, others can see your 
cool ship creation(s) and everyone will have more ships
to play with.

To share your ship with others, email us your custom ship along with
the ship export file and a readme file describing your ship. We
need 3 files from you to post your ship on our website:
1) the ship bitmap file (xxx.DIB)
2) the ship export file (xxx.SDI)
3) a text file describing your ship (xxx.TXT)

If you've made a custom ship, you have created a unique bitmap file
for the ship image.  To create the export file, select the Export..
menu option when your custom ship is selected in the Factory. The
export file will have the same name as your ship image bitmap except
that the file extension will be .SDI instead of .DIB.  The .SDI
export file will be placed in the Inner Space ships directory 
alongside the ship bitmap file.  

Then create the text file describing your ship.  The Ship Builder's
Kit came with the file MYSHIP.TXT. Fill out MYSHIP.TXT with information
about your ship and then save it as xxx.TXT (where xxx is the name of
your custom ship bitmap file). Make sure to fill out all fields
in MYSHIP.TXT that are not marked optional or we cannot post your
ship. 

FOR EXAMPLE
For example, if your ship bitmap was BOAT.DIB, then the export 
file will be BOAT.SDI and the text file describing your ship 
should be named BOAT.TXT.

SEND YOUR SHIP TO US TO POST ON OUR WEBSITE
Email your 3 ship files (xxx.DIB, xxx.SDI, xxx.TXT) to us 
at inspace@sdispace.com so that we can post your ship on 
our website Ship Gallery.  The Ship Gallery is the central
repository for Inner Space ships which ship designers 
wish to share with others. We will not post your ship
unless we receive all 3 files filled out in full.
The web address for the Ship Gallery is 
http://www.sdispace.com/gallery.htm

GENERAL
You now have all the original ship bitmap files from Operation:
Inner Space, an updated version of the Inner Space Ship Factory,
and an updated version of the online help with pointers on
ship design.  Note: Customized ships will only work with a
full version of Inner Space purchased from SDi.

The updated Inner Space Ship Factory has the same functionality 
as previous versions, but includes better messages and error 
checking when importing and manipulating custom designed ships to
make it easier for you to design ships, plus it makes it
easier to edit and export your ships for others to share. 
The online help has more information about designing custom 
ships than older versions of the game's online help.
 
These image files are in the Windows standard 16 color
bitmap format, also known as BMP or DIB format. The images all
have the .DIB file extension. BMP and DIB files are the same 
format. 

PRE-INSTALLATION CHECK
Installation is relatively straightforward. The Ship Builder's
Kit is in SHIPKIT.EXE, a self-decompressing file. 
Before you can install, you must first create a new temporary 
directory on your hard drive (such as C:\TEMP or whatever you 
wish) and copy SHIPKIT.EXE into it.  It is essential that you 
copy it to a temporary directory on your hard drive before 
trying to run SHIPKIT.EXE.

Once SHIPKIT.EXE is in the new temporary directory, run SHIPKIT.EXE
by double clicking on it. SHIPKIT.EXE will then decompress into 
approx 57 files. 

Installing the Factory is very easy, but it is important to 
have everything updated to a recent version for it to work.

For the Factory to function correctly, you need v1.09.17 or newer of
Inner Space installed (full version or registered demo). Although 
the Factory will function if you haven't received the full version
on master disk yet, new ships which you design will not be
available in the actual game until you install the full version 
from the master disk.  

If you have ordered the full version but it hasn't arrived yet,
you might want to wait for it to arrive first before trying the 
Factory.  However, if you want to start designing ships anyway,
you can do so, but you must have at least v1.09.17 of the 
shareware version of Inner Space.  The Factory depends on 
support files that come with the game and you need v1.09.17 or
later.  If you have an older version of the shareware, you can
download a free upgrade from our website at 
http://www.sdispace.com/sites.htm
The upgrader does not include the Factory but has support files
which the Factory requires. If you already have v1.09.17 or later
installed, you don't need the upgrader.

WIN 95 USERS PLEASE READ!
A frequently reported Win 95 problem is that ships you create don't 
show up in the Add dialog within the Ship Factory, even though you 
named the file correctly and put it in the Inner Space ship directory.

The problem is that Win 95 defaults to hiding file extensions and
this is very easy to fix.  

If a file is named MYSHIP.BMP, Windows 95 only shows MYSHIP as the 
name in Explorer. If Win 95 is configured to hide file extensions, 
it also messes up files that you save.  If you try to save a new 
bitmap from Paintbrush as MYSHIP.DIB, it will actually save it as 
MYSHIP.DIB.BMP.  Since Explorer is hiding file extensions, the 
file appears to be MYSHIP.DIB, but it isn't and it therefore 
doesn't work with the Ship Factory. 

OK, so that's the problem and here's how to fix it.  Open Explorer, 
then the View Menu, Options.. item. Select the View tab and you will 
see some options including Hide MS-DOS file extensions for registered 
file types.  Make sure the Hide MS-DOS file extensions checkbox is 
not checked.  

That's it. You might want to restart Windows, but that's usually not 
necessary. You should then be able to save files and get the actual 
file name and extension you typed. This will allow you to add images 
you create to the Inner Space Ship Factory.

USE SHORT FILE NAMES
The only other consideration under Win95, Win98 or WinNT is to
use short file names of the format 8.3 even though Win95 and
newer versions of WIndows can support much longer filenames. The
reason you must you use short file names is that we keep Inner
Space compatible with Windows 3.1 so that all users on various
Windows versions can play the same game and share ships.  Also,
the Factory won't allow you to import a .DIB file with a 
long filename.

INSTALLING
OK, so you've checked that you have v1.09.17 or later of the
game installed and you want to install the Factory.

To install the Ship Factory, copy FACTORY.EXE and ENG_HELP.HLP
that came with the Ship Builder's Kit into the Inner Space 
directory (C:\SPACE by default), replacing any old versions
of those files that are there. 

NOTE: The Ship Factory (and the game in general) will work
best in 256 color mode.  If your Display color depth is set to
16 colors (low-res) or anything higher than 256 colors 
(ie. True Color or High Color), then ships won't look quite as 
well and the Factory won't work quite as well, either. 
To see or change the color palette in Win 95, open the 
Windows Control Panel, Display settings and choose the 
Setting tab. In Win 3.1, you can check or change video 
modes through Windows Setup WINSETUP.EXE Display setting.

You may place the .DIB bitmap files wherever is convenient 
on your hard disk, perhaps in a new directory just for ship
editing. As detailed in the Ship Factory online help file
ENG_HELP.HLP, any bitmap editor that can edit BMP files 
(such as Windows Paint or Paintbrush) can be used to edit 
the provided ship images or create new ones.

USING THE FACTORY/ EDITING SHIP BITMAPS
Creating new ships for the game is somewhat complex with many options
available to you.  Please refer to the Ship Factory section of the 
enclosed updated online help file ENG_HELP.HLP which you should 
place in your Inner Space directory (C:\SPACE by default).  All the
details about creating, modifying and customizing ships is detailed
fully in the online help.


USER'S LICENSE

USE 
You (an entity or a person) are licensed to use the 
enclosed ship bitmap files (The Images) and the updated
Inner Space Ship Factory (The Software) from Operation: 
Inner Space for your individual use. You may use the 
Images on your computer as is or modify them to create 
new images for your use.   

RESTRICTIONS
You may not distribute the Images or Software to others by any 
means either electronically or on magnetic media. New bitmaps 
which you create based on the Images are your property and you 
are entitled to distribute them as you see fit, so long as 
they are sufficiently differentiated from the original Images
as to clearly not be mistaken for the original Images 
and have significantly different names.

COPYRIGHT
All intellectual property rights in the Images, Software and 
user documentation are owned by SDI and are protected by 
United States and Canadian copyright 
laws, other applicable copyright laws, and international 
treaty provisions. SDI retains all rights not expressly granted.

NO WARRANTY
SDI makes no warranty or representation, promise or guarantee, 
either express or implied, statutory or otherwise, with respect 
to the Software, Images or user documentation, including their 
quality, performance, merchantability, or fitness for a 
specific purpose.

