!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IMPORTANT !!!
Although you can run PsxTulz without wnaspi.dll, you will not be able to read a lot of PSX
movies without it.

PLEASE ALSO READ THE FILE CHANGES.TXT. YOU MAY DISCOVER SOME INTERESTING HIDDEN FEATURES !
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


                                     PsxTulz 
                            Version 0.03b (Beta Release)
                               Fourth Public Release
                                  24 October 2001
                              ======================
                              http://come.to/psxtulz
                              ======================
          ->  THIS PROGRAM IS IN NO WAY RELATED TO SONY, NOR SEGA !!  <-
                          NO GUARANTEE AT ALL IS MADE !!!
                       RUN THIS PROGRAM AT YOUR OWN RISK !!
           THIS IS A FREE PROGRAM, WITH LOTS OF UNIMPLEMENTED FEATURES. 
                IT COULD CRASH YOUR COMPUTER AND/OR DAMAGE FILES 
                AND/OR DAMAGE YOUR SPEAKERS (AND/OR YOUR EARS...).




1) What is PsxTulz ?
2) System Required
3) Recognized Movie Formats 
4) Known Problems
5) Running the program
6) Thanks to
7) Help me !!!
8) Redistribution


1) What is PsxTulz ? 
--------------------
PsxTulz is a program for Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000 (only tested on Win98).
Actually, it combines 
- a File Manager (partly implemented)
- a Media Player for
    * PSX (Playstation) video and audio files
    * SEGA audio files (ADX and AFS)
    * WAVE audio files 
- a Playstation memory card manager

I know there a lots of PSX movieplayers and tools, but I made this program because:
- I wanted to regroup different file utilities I use in one program
- I wanted to see the Final Fantasy 9 & the Ridge Racer Type 4 intro movies on my PC
- I wanted a Playstation Memory Card manager with Japanese display & animated icons
- I wanted to have a faithful movie-sound synchronisation for all the movies
- I wanted to program something with DirectX, sound-image synchronisation,SCSI commands,...
- I hate Windows Explorer (I hate to use the mouse, creating a directory takes an eternity, ...)
- I hate Windows Media Player 7. I prefer the older versions (6.4 and before), which are
  much smaller & faster... Why do they always have to make the programs HUGE ?


2) System Required
------------------
- wnaspi32.dll is optional, but required if you want to use PsxTulz's full potential. 
    (you can get it from http://www.adaptec.com)
- DirectX. (Optional. Required for fullscreen mode.  DX 6 or later required for 2nd monitor 
   fullscreen support)
- A sound card if you want sound & a correct movie speed. (optional)
- A Japanese TrueType font if you want to see Japanese characters. (optional)
- CPU: It works perfectly on my K6-2-400... but not on my Pentium 120...
  I guess it should work with a Pentium MMX 200 or something like that...
  but I didn't test it. Tell me if you have a Pentium (or Pentium MMX)-class CPU
  and it works on your system.



3) Recognized Movie Formats 
---------------------------
- Normal             .str File Format (implemented in version 0.01)
- Ridge Racer Type 4 .str File Format (implemented in version 0.01 - corrected in 0.02)
- Final Fantasy 7    .str File Format (implemented in version 0.01 - corrected in 0.02)
- Final Fantasy 8    .str File Format (implemented in version 0.01)
- Final Fantasy 9    .str File Format (implemented in version 0.01 - corrected in 0.03) (sound: 95% complete -> with distortions) 
- Legend Of Mana     .str File Format (implemented in version 0.01)
- Metal Gear Solid   .str File Format (implemented in version 0.02)

  Not yet: AC3, GT2, Um Jammer Lammy and other .IKI files 

Tell me if you find a movie you can't read !! 
I really don't see what the solution is for GT2... Ridge Racer Type 4 and the Final Fantasy
series were quite easy to disassemble... but GT2...hmmm... Can somebody help me ?



4) Known Problems
-----------------
- Fullscreen mode is still VERY buggy !!! Use with caution !!!
  In fact, I called this release version 0.03b and not 0.04 because I didn't have enough time
  to change the fullscreen mode.
- the end of audio files is cut when you only play it once (no loop-mode).
- the new IDE/SCSI/Standard function detection is still buggy... 
- FF9 & ADX sound glitches
- To be able to read as many formats as possible, I don't check too much data.
  This means that the program will try to play the file, even if it's not a pure .STR
  movie file. If you don't know what kind of file you are playing, be sure to minimize
  the sound volume !! (or disable the 'Lame Mode' in the options to reduce this feature)
- If you don't have sound, or if you select 'no sound', the movie will play as fast as
  possible, regardless of the normal playtime. This is actually used to benchmark the computer
  (select 'no sound', play the movie, and look at 'File - Properties')
- Frameskipping is not used in this program. If your computer is too slow, you will have
  problems with the sound (just disable it... but it still will be slow)
- since I'm in the middle of reorganizing the .XA/.STR file detection mechanism, this release
  could have some problems to recognize movies that were recognized in previous versions.
  If you find such problems, please post it on the PsxTulz message board.


5) Running the program
----------------------
Just execute the program. Browse through your cds, and to play a movie or an audio file, 
select it and press "enter" on it.

Hints:
- CTRL+F1 or F2 lets you select an entry in the drive combo boxes
- right mouse click lets you browse through directories with 1 click.
- right mouse click also lets you add an entry to the playlist
- other way to add entries to the playlist:
  - press enter         on a file: erases the playlist and puts the file in the playlist
  - press shift + enter on a file: does NOT erase the playlist, just adding the file.



6) Thanks to
------------
- Z-chan for introducing me to the PSX world...
- Kochi for the Win2k beta testing... some huge bugs were found thanks to him ^_^
- The guys from psxemu/ngemu (http://www.ngemu.com) for spreading the news when a new version of this
  program comes out ! Thanks a lot !
- Segu for his marvelous movie player PSmplay !
  I used his player to compare the results I got with my program. Thanks a lot !
- Pete Bernert for his info and his plugins ! Thanks a lot !
- Morpheus Dreamlord for telling me that the 'Lame Mode' was working... Until then, I had
  only tested it on my ASUS IDE CD-drive, without good results... so I was planning to
  remove it... ^_^; but now, I won't... ^_^;
- All the PsxTulz users who sent me valuable info
- All other people who put info on the PSX on the net ! Thanks a lot !
- Sony for their Playstation
- Sega for their Dreamcast
- All the companies who made games for the Playstation
- All the companies who made games for the Dreamcast
- Square for realising that the FF8-way was a bad one... FF9 is better ! (still way too much 
  battles though...)
- Enix for Dragon Quest 5... still my all-time favorite !



7) Help me !!
-------------
You can help me by 
- if you want to donate PC hardware, I would be very happy to receive it ! ^_^
   (A PS2/GameCube/XBox would be nice too... or a DVD-RAM writer... or a 1Ghz CPU... ^_^;;;;;;;;;; )
- sending me a small note to say 'thank you'
- sending me info on non-recognized movie formats... (Legend of Dragoon anyone ?)
- comments on features to be implemented
- sending me bug reports about unknown bugs
- ...

Please post your comments/thanks/questions/... on the psxtulz message board, available through
the official homepage.




8) Redistribution
-----------------
You can make this program available for download on your web page(s), provided that:
1) You don't alter the original .zip file 
    -> DON'T add anything to it !!!
    -> DON'T put a password on the .zip file
    -> DON'T put it in another archive file
    -> DON'T recompress it
2) You also put a link to the original homepage, http://come.to/psxtulz,  on your page(s).
3) You don't ask money for downloading/having this program. (DON'T put it on 'members-only'
   pages, compilation cd-roms, ... )

That's all I ask. If you see a website that doesn't respect this, you can mail the webmaster
of that page to ask him to respect my redistribution rules... thanks in advance !




Enjoy this release,


Thierry Vermeylen
24 October 2001.