Master of Orions 3 graphics MOD
End of turn background image rotation utility version 0.92 April_08_2003
by sm@inethighway.com

I think I'm not alone in getting tired of seeing that same old brownish planet at 
the end of each and every turn. It really gets tiresome I think. What this graphic 
MOD does is change the end of turn background picture constantly, so there is a fresh 
new view to look and ponder at while waiting for your next turn.


This new version uses a manual method to copy the files instead of using COPY.EXE and 
allows the use of PNGs that have more than 8 characters in there filename. Also a new 
image pack was added.


You need the rotation utility to make this mod work. Download it at:

http://www.inethighway.com/sm/EOTBIR_util.zip

There is a total of three image packs. The astro image pack which is themed around 
space, stars and planets, the moo3 image pack which is themed around moo3 races and game 
art, and the spacecraft image pack which is themed around spaceships, fighters and other 
spacefairing objects. You can download and use them all.

Preview links are at:

http://www.inethighway.com/sm/moo3_eot_mod.html

Astro image pack download: http://www.inethighway.com/sm/astro.zip (12.8 megs)

Moo3 image pack download: http://www.inethighway.com/sm/moo3ipak.zip (15.2 megs)

Spacecraft image pack download: http://www.inethighway.com/sm/spacecraft.zip (13.6 megs)

For official updates of this mod visit either one of these two forums:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=80474
http://www.ina-community.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=277115


_______________
HOW TO INSTALL:

The first thing you need is the utility. 

Extract the utility zip into your Moo3 'root' folder. Make sure you extract with full 
paths.

The zip will create the required directories. You will probably get a message saying 
some directories exist, however nothing will get overwritten.

To make the directories manually, you need to create these:

x:\moo3_path\EOTBIR

and

x:\moo3_path\GameDataSets\Classic_01\GameAssets\Common\Graphics\UI\PlayingGame

The second thing you need is an image pack. Download the zip you want and extract it to:

x:\moo3_path\EOTBIR

You can put as many images as you want in there, there really is no limit, however if 
you start putting in a few thousands there might be unforseen problems.


___________
HOW TO USE:

Simply double click the RUN.BAT file. The image rotation then starts, and Moo3 is then 
launched. 

When you're done playing you can then close the perl window by CTRL + C, or just closing 
the perl window by clicking in the little 'x'.


_____________
HOW TO MODIFY:

You can modify how often the background image is rotated, by editing RUN.PL in a normal 
text editor. Simply go the 5th line, and edit the value. This value is in seconds. 

To add more images, simply put them in created image directory x:\moo3_path\EOTBIR

-Be sure the images are proper PNG files or else you won't see anything
-Images should be 800 pixels wide and 600 pixels high, otherwise it won't look as good


_________________
HOW TO UNINSTALL:

To remove this mod, delete the following directories:

x:\moo3_path\GameDataSets\Classic_01\GameAssets\Common\Graphics
x:\moo3_path\EOTBIR

Then delete these files:

x:\moo3_path\RUN.PL
x:\moo3_path\RUN.BAT
x:\moo3_path\PERL.EXE
x:\moo3_path\PERL58.DLL
x:\moo3_path\EOTBIR-README.TXT


_________________
HOW TO CONTRIBUTE:

If you have some nice Moo3 and/or astronomy pictures and/or artwork, or anything else 
you think that would be nice to look at when waiting for the end of the turn to 
complete, let me know at: sm@inethighway.com.


________
CHANGES: 

FROM MARCH_25TH VERSION:

Added the Spacecraft image pack; a total of 26 pictures of spaceships, fighters, and 
other spacefaring objects.

The perl script now copies and rotates the files manually instead of using COPY.EXE, 
which allows the use of PNGs that are named longer than eight characters.


FROM MARCH_19TH VERSION:

Added the Moo3 image pack, which is 28 retouched images used from the moo3 game. It's 
pictures of races and some of the game art.

The perl script now randomizes the list of images before rotation starts.

Added case insensitivity in the regex string so the script recognizes any PNG file no 
matter how the extension is capitalized (works for PNG, png, PnG, pNG, all combos). 


FROM MARCH_15TH VERSION:

Replaced the batch file that handled everything to a three line batch file which loads a 
perl script and then loads the game.

Timing the rotation is now using the perl sleep function instead of windows ping.exe and 
waiting for a ping timeout.

Images are now stored in there own directory, with no real limit to how many images 
anyone can use. The perl script simply retrieves the list of images and rotates them all.

Increased rotation time delay to 45 seconds from 30 seconds


FROM MARCH_12TH VERSION:

A whole new set of images are used, which are darker (to see the end of turn messages), 
include a one pixel wide white border (as the original background image) and remain in 
the same theme as the original background image (space/planet/stars). All in all, it's 
much nicer than the quick set of images used first.

Method to rotate image is changed from a numbered set of images to a now specific file 
name extraction scheme, using pkunzip. This prevents file locking problems that was 
causing the rotation process to break.

Batch file is more easily modifiable with the inclusion of a few variables that can be 
changed.


_________________
ALL THE MOD FILES:

SPACECRAFT.ZIP..........The spacecraft image pack, see spacecraft.lst in the zip for info
MOO3IPAK.ZIP............The moo3 image pack, see MOO3.LST in the zip for details
ASTRO.ZIP...............The astro image pack, see ASTRO.LST in the zip for details
PERL.EXE................The Activestate (www.activestate.com) perl interpreter
PERL58.DLL..............The DLL required to run perl.exe
RUN.PL..................The perl script that handles the image rotation
RUN.BAT.................A batch file that starts up the perl script
EOTBIR-README.TXT.......This file you're reading
