
DANCE WITH INTENSITY! v1.65.5
=============================
(C) SimWolf              2002
=============================

1. DISCLAIMER AND TERMS OF USE
2. WHAT'S NEW?
3. USING AND CONFIGURING DWI
4. DWI FILE FORMAT
     - Steps
     - Tags
     - Background Animations + Movies
5. LIMITATIONS
6. VERSION HISTORY
7. FUTURE DEVELOPMENT AND THANKS

1. DISCLAIMER AND TERMS OF USE
==============================

This program is provided for free, as-is.  Although it has been tested on multiple systems for compatability 
and reliability, you run this program at your own risk.  I cannot be held responsible if the program causes 
file loss or other problems.

THIS PROGRAM IS *NOT* FOR SALE!!!  IT SHOULD NEVER BE BUNDLED WITH ANY OTHER FILES (MUSIC OR STEP FILES) ON 
ANY MEDIA, INCLUDING (BUT NOT LIMITED TO) CD's, DVD's, DISKS OR OTHER MEDIA.

This program simulates a popular arcade and home video game.  It was written to allow myself the ability to 
play songs from the games without having to switch CDs in my Playstation or Dreamcast, and also affords the 
ability to add new songs not currently available.  It also allows for playing older songs with new play 
modes, such as downward-scrolling arrows.  This program is being released to the public in the hopes that 
others would find it useful in the same manner.

As such, this program REQUIRES responsibility on the part of the end-user (ie. YOU) to use the program 
LEGALLY.  You should *ONLY* play songs where you:

   a) Own the game from which that music comes from.
or b) Own the soundtrack CD from which the music comes from.
or c) Legally own rights to the music being used (ie. other CDs, etc.)

I own all the available soundtracks and videogames for the music I own, and respectfully ask that you 
support the games and purchase them.  Thank you.

2. WHAT'S NEW?
==============

v1.65.5 - June 7, 2002.
          - Added sound effect for when you lose a life in Nonstop "Combo" mode.
          - Updated freeze arrows to behave more like MAX.
          - Freeze-arrows don't do as much damage as they used to. ;)
          - MAX-like combo system.

v1.65.0 - May 26, 2002.
          - Added random background animations.  Put looping AVIs into ./Movies/Random
            and DWI will use them automatically in the backgrounds for songs with 
            no background script.
          - Random animations can be enabled/disabled in the System Options.
          - Addition of four new tags to DWI files:
             #RANDSEED:x;     - provide a number that will influence what AVIs DWI picks.
                                Will be the same animation each time if AVI filenames and count
                                doesn't change (default is random each time).
             #RANDSTART:x;    - tells DWI what beat to start the animations on.  Default is 32.
             #RANDFOLDER:...; - tells DWI to look in another folder when choosing AVIs, 
                                allowing 'themed' folders.
             #RANDLIST:...;   - a list of comma-separated filenames to use in the folder.

          - Ability to tweak timings for judging Perfect, Great, etc. steps in System Options.
          - New "Select Style" interface added (default now for "DWI (Second Interface)" skin).
            Use "SelectStyle=2" under "[GENERAL]" in the 'dwi-skin.cfg' file to enable.
          - Crowd cheers or moans during gameplay based on performance.
          - Music loop added to "Select Style" screens.
          - Routine for displaying background animations put into separate thread now.
          - New command-line argument: '/priority:x' can force DWI to run as a more "important"
            program under Windows.  "1" starts it as "ABOVE NORMAL", "2" is "TIME CRITICAL".  May
            improve performance in certain cases.
          - BUGFIX: Selecting an SMANIAC song after a previous one in 1st Interface fixed.
          - Other various bugfixes that I can't remember. ;)

3. USING AND CONFIGURING DWI
============================

BASIC OPERATION
---------------

When you first run DWI, you will receive a warning screen about responsible use of the program.  This 
warning screen will appear *EVERY* time the program detects new songs.

DWI uses step-files with the extension ".DWI".  As of v1.05, these files go in their own folder along
with their associated background and banner images.  Optionally the music file can go in the same 
folder also.

DWI supports multiple collections of songs, so you can organise your songs as you see fit.  To do this, 
just create different sub-directories in the "Songs" folder.

eg. For a song with a step-file of "abc.dwi", put into a collection called "My Songs", your directory 
structure should look like this:

     <install directory>
        + Songs
           + My Songs
              + abc
                 + abc-banner.png   (any name, the program will detect that it's a banner)
                 + abc-bg.png       (any name, the program will detect that it's a background)
                 + abc.dwi          (any name)
                 + (abc.mp3/wav)    (optional - otherwise FILE: tag is used).
                  
So, in each "song folder", there should be two image files (background and banner), the DWI file,
and optionally the music file in MP3 or WAV format.  This should allow for easier distribution of 
songs and images over the old directory structure.

Song Sorting
------------

When you are at the song select screen, simply press up or down to change the current collection you are 
in.  Songs are organized alphabetically within each collection, and collections are organized 
alphabetically also.

Another option is to sort your music by genre.  To activate this, go to "Options Menu", then "System Menu",
and change the sort method to "GENRE" *.  This requires your DWI files to have a tag defining the genre to
put the music into (see DWI format, below).  Multiple genres can be given (separated by a comma), to make
the same song appear in different collections.  At the song select screen, press up or down to change the
genre.

You can also press Up-Left to change the sort method.  This cycles through:
 - Folder/Genre (default)
 - Folder/Genre, Separated (2nd Interface Only)
 - All Music (by title)
 - All Music (by artist)
 - Player's Best (top 32)
 - BPM (2nd Interface only).

Selecting Song Modifiers
------------------------

1st Interface: After selecting a song, but before choosing your difficulty, press the "Select" button/key.
2nd Interface: At the song-select screen, press the "Select" button/key.

A collection of icons will appear on your side of the screen.  By pressing the directional inputs you 
can set various modifiers that will affect gameplay.  A caption is displayed to assist - in order they are:

      Other: LITTLE, FLAT
       Turn: LEFT, MIRROR, RIGHT, SHUFFLE
     Appear: HIDDEN, SUDDEN, STEALTH
     Scroll: DROP
      Speed: 1.5x, 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 8x, 0.5x, 0.75x speeds
     Freeze: NONE
      Boost: ON
      Power: POWER-DROP (gauge starts full and depletes)
       Dark: ON (can't see arrow indicators)
      Combo: SUDDEN-DEATH (must full combo song)

Press "Select" again to exit this sub-menu.  Your selected options will stay on-screen.
NB: In some battle modes (Split and Unison), selecting "DROP" mode will affect both players.

Special keys
------------
The function keys will be used to adjust or enable various gameplay functions.  Primarily these are 
designed for people creating DWI files and want to adjust timing.

F1/F2  - Restarts the song (developer mode only)
F3/F4  - Adjust playback speed of song down/up (during song select/gameplay)
F5/F6  - Adjust BPM value down/up by 0.50 BPM. (during gameplay)
F7/F8  - Adjust BPM value down/up by 0.02 BPM. (during gameplay)
F9/F10 - Adjust GAP value down/up by 5ms. (during gameplay)
F12    - Toggle "Assist Click" on/off. (during song select/gameplay)

NB: Enable autoplay in the main options menu to prevent song from failing while fine-tuning.  (Or 
    set "GAME OVER" to "End of Song"... or just use the new developer mode).

Controller Configuration
------------------------

To change the inputs, simply go to the Options Menu from the main screen and goto "Keyboard 
Configuration" or "Gamepad Configuration".  Choose to configure either Player 1 or Player 2's inputs and 
you will be prompted to press each key, joystick button or dancepad square in turn.  You cannot choose 
an input that is currently in use.  To skip joystick buttons, press the "TAB" key.

When done, select "Return" to make the change take effect.

Gameplay Settings
-----------------

Gameplay settings such as difficulty level, danger display, and end-of-game settings are selected from the
Gameplay Configuration menu from the Options screen.  These changes take effect immediately.

Sound Configuration
-------------------

The default sound settings for DWI are 44Khz, Stereo, 16-bit samples.  However, you may want to lower these
settings on slower computers.

  * NB: You must exit DWI and start it again for this change to take effect.

Changing the Display from Windowed to Full-screen
-------------------------------------------------

Go to the "System Menu" from the Options screen and change the display type.

  * NB: You must exit DWI and start it again for this change to take effect.

Sound effects
-------------

Sound effects are all in the "Sounds" directory.  You can add or remove files to most directories, and the
program will use the existing files during gameplay.  However, files in the root of the sound-set directory
and those in the "attract" and "combo" directories must be the same name in order for the program to find
them and play them appropriately.

Command-line options
--------------------

You can run DWI with various command line options to configure some values.  (Please read the FAQ for details
on how to start the program with command line options).  These options are available:

 /sdl        - Starts DWI in the software-only graphics mode.
 /16bpp      - Runs DWI in 16-bit colour mode (SDL), or uses a 16-bit primary surface (DirectX)
 /32bpp      - Runs DWI in 32-bit colour modes/32-bit primary surface.
 /fullscreen - Runs DWI in fullscreen mode (may need to use to start on some cards)
 /window     - Runs DWI in a window.  Some cards won't support this so DWI will try fullscreen.
 /log        - Creates a 'dance.log' file that can be useful for debugging.
 /anysize    - In DirectX mode, this tries to make textures in any size, rather than creating textures
               to the nearest power-of-two value (ie. a 75x60 image is loaded into a texture that big 
               instead of a 128x64 one).  This can speed up performance on some cards and save memory,
               if your card can handle it.
 /sw         - In SDL mode, surfaces are created in regular memory (default)
 /hw         - In SDL mode, surfaces are created in hardware memory (can improve performance if your 
               card can handle it).
 /search     - Forces DWI to search for DWI files and rebuild dance.sng upon startup.
 /priority:x - can force DWI to run as a more "important"  program under Windows.  "1" starts it as 
               "ABOVE NORMAL", "2" is "TIME CRITICAL".  May improve performance in certain cases.
               (Use with caution if you're running many other processes at the same time).

Testing a song
--------------

 /test:...        - You can start DWI in test/developer mode by using the "/test:..." command line 
                    argument.  Provide the *folder* the .dwi file is in.
 /style:...       - use this set of steps (SINGLE, DOUBLE, SOLO).  Default is SINGLE.
 /level:...       - use this level of steps (BASIC, ANOTHER, MANIAC, SMANIAC).  Default is BASIC.
 /p2              - test using player 2's controls instead.
 /speed:X         - starts song at a given speed (1..5)
 /scroll:X        - starts song with given speed modifier (0.5, 0.75, 1.5, 2, 3, etc.)
 /startat:<time>  - jumps to a given time into the song (game-time).
                    <time> can be given in minutes, seconds, or milliseconds.  ie.
                          /startat:1:05.5  (minutes)
                          /startat:65.5    (seconds)
                          /startat:65500   (ms)      - all the same position.

 /tick:1          - turns the assist click on at startup (default is off).

Example:

"DWI.exe /test:.\Songs\Development\MyNewSong /style:SINGLE /level:MANIAC /p2 /speed:4 /scroll:2 /startat:1:00"

Starts testing the .dwi file found in \songs\development\mynewsong, in SINGLE mode, with 
MANIAC-level steps.  Player 2's controls are used, and the song's speed is set to '4'.  Arrows 
are displayed as though the "x2" modifier was active.  The song starts at the 1-minute mark.

Setting Skins
-------------
Create different sub-directories within the "Skins" folder  for each skin you wish to use.  
So, for example:

     <install directory>
        + Skins
            + Default  (leave as-is)
            + Skin A
            + Skin B
            + ...         

The filenames for each skin should be the same as in the default directory.  If an image isn't found, 
the default is used.  This way you can create skins that are relatively simple, or very elaborate ones.
And you don't need to delete any of the original files. ;)  There is a limit of 64 skins.

Changes will take effect when you leave the Skin Selection screen.

I do ask, however, that you keep the title of the program as "Dance With Intensity".  Thank you. :)

Setting Announcer and Sound Effects
-----------------------------------
Similar to skins, just create new directories in the 'Sounds' folder for each sound set you wish to 
use.  So, for example:

     <install directory>
        + Sounds
            + Default   (leave as-is)
            + Jack
            + Jill
            + ...         

The tree structure for each set should be the same as is used for the "Default" directory.  For example:

    + Jill
        + attract    - files should be named attract-00.wav, attract-01.wav, attract-02.wav
        |              (these are the sounds used on the title screen)
        + combo      - files should be named combo-00.wav and combo-01.wav
        |              ("100 Combo" and "Combo stopped")
        + danger     - a set of files played when power level at danger or zero.
        + eval
        |   + A
        |   + B      - sets of files to play at the evaluation screen based on grade
        |   + ...   
        + good       - a set of files played when power level in the 'good' range
        + great      - "                                           " 'great' range
        + over
        |   + fail   - files played at game over screen (failure)
        |   + pass   - "                              " (cleared all stages)
        + select
        |   + new    - files played when #STATUS:NEW; is set in DWI file and song is selected
        |   + song   - files played when a song is selected
        + start
        +   + go     - files played at "Here we go!" screen.
        +   + ready  - files played at "Ready?" screen.
        + warning    - a set of files played when the power gauge is in the 'warning' range.

There should not be more than 64 sound effects in a single subdirectory.  There is a limit of 64 sets.
Changes will take effect once you leave the Announcer/Sound Select screen.
Please keep the title sound effect (attract-00.wav) as "Dance With Intensity".

AVI Movie Support
-----------------
AVI movies can now be played in the background while you play.  See the "Background Animation" section 
below for more details on how this is set up.  From the System Menu, you can tell DWI whether to not 
play AVI files at all, or set the quality level from 1 (worst) to 10 (full).  The default is 5.
Changing this value could affect your framerate, so play with the values to determine what works best
for your system.

Random animations are picked from the ./Movies/Random folder and played in the background of songs without
a defined background script if enabled in the System Options menu.  This folder can be changed by a flag 
in the DWI file also, enabling themes.

Nonstop Mode
------------
When you first start DWI, a sample Nonstop Mode "Course" is created for you, entitled "ENDLESS".  You can
edit it if you like, or create new ones.  Use the menus to:
  - play a course
  - edit a course
  - delete a course
  - create a course

Steps in creating (or editing) a course:
- Go to "Create a course"
- You'll be first asked to set overall course information.  Use the up/down arrows to choose the option,
  and left/right to set the option values.  For name, press right and you'll be able to enter the name 
  in the same way names in the high-score entry are done.  (press up-right or start when done).
- Afterwards, you'll be asked to define the first stage's properties.  Choose what you want and then go 
  to "Done".
- You can now add new stages to the course, or modify existing stages or overall course information.  
  Press up/down to select the stage or overall course options to edit, or go to "New Song" to add another 
  stage.  You can delete a stage by highlighting it and pressing up-left.
- Select "Done" on the left window to finish.

4. DWI FILE FORMAT
==================

Steps
-----

DWI uses step-files that are similar to the ".MSD" file format.  However, there are new additions and some
tags are treated slightly differently, so the extension was changed to avoid confusion.  DWI files with
these new additions will not work properly in other simulators.

Step-patterns are defined in the same way as .MSD files - use the numeric keypad as a reference for most
patterns:

  7=U+L     8=U      9=U+R

  4=L                6=R

  1=D+L     2=D      3=D+R

    (U+D = A and L+R = B)

A '0' indicates no step.  Each character defaults to one 1/8 of a beat.  Surround a series of characters 
with the following brackets to change the rate at which the steps come:

   (...)  = 1/16 steps
   [...]  = 1/24 steps
   {...}  = 1/64 steps

6-panel (Solo) mode uses additional characters:

-\---- = C
----/- = D

L\---- = E
-\D--- = F
-\-U-- = G
-\---R = H

L---/- = I
--D-/- = J
---U/- = K
----/R = L

-\--/- = M

MSD files from other simulators will work with DWI, with a change in the 'GAP' value being the only change
usually necessary.  DWI calculates the 'GAP' value differently than other simulators that use the MSD 
format.

DWI does not support the BMS file format.  There is a utility available that can convert any BMS file into
DWI format.  Each song only requires one DWI file for all of its steps, so if you are converting BMS files
please remember that all the different difficulties of step patterns will be contained in the same DWI file.

Hold Arrows
-----------

In the DWI file format a hold arrow is signified with the ! symbol.  The string  8!8   will begin an 'up'
hold arrow, and the arrow will be released the next time the program encounters an 'up' arrow: by itself or
combined with another arrow (7, 8, 9, A, etc.)  The characters  7!4  would show both 'up' and 'left' arrows
but only the left arrow would be held.  The format could best be described as "show!hold".

Tags
----

These tags should be in every DWI file:

#TITLE:...;    - title of the song.
#ARTIST:...;   - artist of the song.
#GAP:...;      - number of milliseconds that pass before the program starts counting
                 beats.  Used to sync the steps to the music.
#BPM:...;      - BPM of the music

Additionally, the following tags can be given:

#FILE:...;     - path to the music file to play (eg. /music/mysongs/abc.mp3 )
                 (NB: if the file is not found, a .wav or .mp3 file in the same folder as 
                      the DWI file is used).

#MD5:...;      - an MD5 string for the music file.  Helps ensure that same music file is used
                 on all systems.

#FREEZE:...;   - a value of the format "BBB=sss".  Indicates that at 'beat' "BBB", 
                 the motion of the arrows should stop for "sss" milliseconds.  Turn on 
                 beat-display in the System menu to help determine what values to use.
                 Multiple freezes can be given by separating them with commas.

#BPMCHANGE:...; - a value of the format "BBB=nnn".  Indicates that at 'beat' "BBB",
                  the speed of the arrows will change to reflect a new BPM of "nnn".
                  Multiple BPM changes can be given by separating them with commas.

#STATUS:...;   - can be "NEW" or "NORMAL".  Changes the display of songs on the 
                 song-select screen.

#GENRE:...;    - a genre to assign to the song if "sort by Genre" is selected in the 
                 System Options.  Multiple Genres can be given by separating them with 
                 commas.
#CDTITLE:...;  - points to a small graphic file (64x40) that will display in the song 
                 selection screen in the bottom right of the background, showing which
                 CD the song is from.  The colour of the pixel in the upper-left will
                 be made transparent.  

#SAMPLESTART:...;  - the time in the music file that the preview music should start at 
                     at the song-select screen.  Can be given in Milliseconds (eg. 5230), 
                     Seconds (eg. 5.23), or minutes (eg. 0:05.23).

#SAMPLELENGTH:...; - how long to play the preview music for at the song-select screen.
                     Can be in milliseconds, seconds, or minutes.

#RANDSEED:x;       - provide a number that will influence what AVIs DWI picks and 
                     their order.  Will be the same animation each time if AVI filenames 
                     and count doesn't change (default is random each time).

#RANDSTART:x;      - tells DWI what beat to start the animations on.  Default is 32.

#RANDFOLDER:...;   - tells DWI to look in another folder when choosing AVIs, allowing 'themed' 
                     folders.

#RANDLIST:...;     - a list of comma-separated filenames to use in the folder.

Each pattern of steps for different modes have the same basic format:

#SINGLE:BASIC:X:...;
 ^      ^     ^ ^
 |      |     | + step patterns.  In doubles, the left pad's steps are given first, 
 |      |     |   then the right pad's, separated by a colon (:).
 |      |     |
 |      |     + difficulty rating.  Should be 1 or higher.
 |      |
 |      + Difficulty.  Can be one of "BASIC", "ANOTHER", "MANIAC", or "SMANIAC"
 |
 + Style.  Can be one of "SINGLE", "DOUBLE", "COUPLE", or "SOLO".  "COUPLE" is 
   Battle-mode steps.

Comments can be used by using "//".  Everything after this on the same line in the file will be 
ignored.

Background Animations & Movies
------------------------------

DWI allows for background animations using a special script within the step-file.  A script consists 
of static images, animated images, and/or an AVI movie.  Using the script, you can create a variety 
of layered effects.  A sample animation is described below:

#BACKGROUND:

  M:MOVIE:.\movies\sfx.avi STARTAT:-1.0 LAYER:0;
  E:FILE:.\anim\equalizer.png ANIMATE:10,33 POSITION:-33,0 SPACING:40,40 LAYER:1;
  D:FILE:.\anim\dancer-m1.png ANIMATE:24,66 SIZE:2 MULT:0,0.5,1 SPACING:30,30 LAYER:1;
  X:LAYER:1 OFF;

  SCRIPT:M.......................
         ................E...............
         D...............X...............E...............D...............
         X...............E...............D...............X...............
         E...............D...............X...............E...............
         D...............X...............E...............D...............
         X...............E...............D...............X;

#END;

The first part of the "BACKGROUND" definition defines the effects.  Each effect is attributed to a letter
or number ("a-z", "A-Z", "1-9").  The format for defining an effect is:

   FILE:       - path to a file (required unless parameter "OFF" is given, or MOVIE: specified).  
                 Either a still image, or an animation (multiple frames of animation are 
                 stacked *vertically* in the image).

   MOVIE:      - path to a file (required unless parameter "OFF" is given, or FILE: specified).
                 File should be a standard Windows AVI file.  Note that the movie won't play
                 unless you have the right codecs installed in Windows.  Movies are currently
                 stretched to fill the whole screen.

   STARTAT:t   - number of seconds into the AVI file to start at.  If negative, the movie will 
                 wait that many seconds before playing.  Can be decimal (eg. 1.3 = 1300ms).

   MULT:r,g,b  - Red, Green, and Blue pixels in the image/movie are tinted by the given 
                 amounts.  This way the same image/movie can be used multiple times across DWI
		 files and have different colours.

   ANIMATE:f,n1,n2,...nF - indicates that the FILE contains multiple frames of animation. 
                           "f" is the number of frames of animation.  Each following 
                           value is the number of milliseconds each frame of animation 
                           is displayed.  If not enough time-values are given, the last
                           given value is used.  Ignored for MOVIE type.

   MOVE:x,y    - the image/movie is moved by the given number of pixels every millisecond.

   SPACING:x,y - images are always tiled if they don't fill up the screen.  This tag 
                 allows you to add some spacing between the images by the given number 
                 of pixels horizontally and vertically (Layer > 0)

   SIZE:s      - multiplies the image size by 's' in both directions.  Must be a whole 
                 number.

   LAYER:l     - the layer to use (required):
                   0 - base layer.  Image/Movie is *always* tiled and SPACING is ignored.
                   1 - overlay layer
                   2 - overlay layer
                   3 - overlay layer

   KEEPPOS     - normally when a new effect is turned on, its position is reset.  This 
                 tag keeps the layer where it is, useful for keeping images moving 
                 smoothly.

   KEEPTIME    - (MOVIEs only) normally when a movie starts, it starts from the beginning or the
                 time given in the "STARTAT" tag.  Adding this tag will keep it playing so when 
                 that layer is enabled again, it will have kept going.

   OFF         - turns off a layer, effectively making it invisible.  Will not turn off 
                 layer 0.

Following the effect definition, comes the actual animation script.  This is a sequence of characters in a
similar way as the step-patterns are given - each character normally is 1/8 of a beat, though brackets can
be used to change the time-values.  In this way, background animations can be syched to the steps.  It is
suggested that the steps for "SINGLE:BASIC" are copied to after the "SCRIPT:" tag, and then the effects be
set.  In this way one knows that the script will match the same length of the music.

The animations take effect as that point in the song is reached.  Multiple effects can occur at the same
time if they are separated with a comma.

A period (.) means no new effect should take place at that point.  A zero (0) turns off all effects and
returns the background to the original graphic.

More Information
----------------

YrevaTeneb has an excellent guide on creating DWI files at 
http://ddrpccentral.teamgwailo.com/resources/dwitutorial/DWI_tutorial.shtml

5. LIMITATIONS
==============

Partly due to the compiler and my own lack of knowledge in some areas, there are a number of limitations
imposed on the program that users should know about:

   - No more than 1024 songs.
   - No more than 64 sound effects in a single subdirectory of 'soundfx'

If the program runs slowly on your machine, try the following:

      - Install the latest DirectX 8.1 drivers.
      - Update the video drivers for your video card.
      - Try running the game in fullscreen mode, and/or setting your screen resolution to 16-bit mode.
      - Lower the sound quality to Mono, 8-bit, and/or 11 or 22Khz.
      - Lower the quality of background movies if you use them a lot.

6. VERSION HISTORY
==================

v1.62.3 - May 6, 2002.
          - Minor bug fixes.  Main change is a tweak to the /test: command line arguments to 
            accommodate folders on other drives to faciliate step-file creator authors.

v1.62.2 - April 18, 2002.
          - Speed of song can now be set to faster than normal play using F3/F4 during gameplay or 
            at song select screen (1..5..9).
          - bug fix: BPM shift won't reset background animation.
          - bug fix: GAP adjustment should behave better now.
          - More developer functions added:
              /startat:<time>  - jumps to a given time into the song (game-time).
              /tick:1          - turns the assist click on at startup (default is off now).

              During play: F1 restarts song from the beginning.
                           F2 restarts song from time specified in /startat: option (if given).

v1.62.0 - April 10, 2002.
          - Can now adjust speed of song with use of F3/F4 during gameplay or at song select screen
            (useful for training).
          - Developer/Test mode added - using command line arguments, DWI creators can jump right 
            into testing a song they're working on.
              /test:...   - starts DWI in test mode.  See below for format.
              /p2         - test using player 2's controls instead.
              /speed:...  - starts song at a given speed (1..5)
              /scroll:... = starts song with given speed modifier (0.5, 0.75, 1.5, 2, 3, etc.)

v1.61 - April 5, 2002.
        - Individual comments for "100, 200... 1000 combo" supported.
        - "Assist Click" now possible (press f12 during gameplay or on the song-select screen).
          Requires a fast computer to ensure all steps are caught (behaves similarly to "Auto Play")
        - "Adjust GAP" value possible using f9/f10 during gameplay.
        - "Adjust BPM" value possible using f5/f6 and f7/f8 during gameplay.
          (Does not save new GAP/BPM values, but value is displayed so file can be updated).
        - "/search" command line option added (to force DWI to rebuild its songlist on startup).
        - Uses latest version of BASS.dll for better compatability, faster MP3 decoding, etc.
        - Bug fix: problem with loading some DWI files (eg. V/Trick mode).
        - Bug fix: problem with large positive values for GAP and immobile arrows.

v1.60 - March 5, 2002.
        - Nonstop mode added.  Adds ability to create your own courses, including the options to
          choose random songs in a given difficulty range, with pre-defined modifiers or random ones.
          Can set a course to "Repeat", effectively giving Endless mode.  "Combo" mode gives you a 
          set number of lives that decreases each time anything less than a "Great" is made.
        - Cleaned up modifiers slightly - "Power Drop" and "Sudden Death" are now together.  Woo.

v1.51 - February 8, 2002.
        - New modifiers:
          x0.5, x0.75,
          Boost,
          Dark, 
          "Power Drop" (power starts at full and depletes only),
          "Sudden Death" (you have to maintain a full combo).
        - New sort method available in 2nd Interface (folders grouped like in alpha/artist modes),
          should be easier to move between folders now.
        - Records screen modified to display full titles, and columns added for SManiac modes.
        - No limit now on the total number of arrows in a DWI file (used to be 2048).
        - BUGFIX: Comments in .dwi files outside of step patterns.
        - BUGFIX: Player 1's arrows in Split/Unison Battle modes now behind text.
        - BUGFIX: SAMPLESTART and SAMPLELENGTH work in the 1st interface song select mode now.
        - BUGFIX: Left/Right reversed in 2nd Interface.

v1.50 - February 3, 2002.
        - PLEASE RUN 'convert.bat' ONCE BEFORE RUNNING DWI v1.50 IF YOU ARE UPGRADING.
          The directory structure has changed slightly, and what was once 'images' and 'soundfx' have
          been moved to be "Default" folders inside the 'Skins' and 'Sounds' (was 'alt-soundfx') folders.
          You can delete the 'old-images' folder.

        Changes:
        - New "2nd Interface" available for Song-select screen.  (Other interfaces for other screens 
          will be added later).
        - New sort methods available in either song-select screen:
             By folder/genre, Title (all music), Artist, Player's Best, BPM (2nd Interface only).
        - New records-keeping routines:
             - Records for Maniac and S-Maniac mode are kept separate.
             - Names for high scores can be given and are kept.
             - images displayed for grades on all screens now, rather than text (to match Skin).
        - Songs folder is scanned only once, so subsequent start-ups of DWI are much faster.  To
          find new songs/update song information, use the new "Rebuild Songlist" option.
        - Sounds (announcer or sound effects) can be .mp3 or .wav now.
        - Sounds during gameplay kept in memory to avoid disk access (smoother AVI playing which 
          relies on disk-access).
        - "Controller Configuration" replaced with "Keyboard Configuration" and "Gamepad Configuration",
          so either can be used (not one or the other).
        - #SAMPLESTART and #SAMPLELENGTH implemented in DWI files.
        - Comments in DWI files allowed (started with "//").
        - DirectX mode graphics fixes.
        - Various bug-fixes all round.

v1.27 - January 19, 2002.
        - DWI should work on Voodoo 3 cards (and hopefully others) in DirectX mode now.
          Graphics will take a hit as they can't do everything newer cards can do - in particular, 
          backgrounds and other large images will be blockier, and graphics that had alpha channels will
          lose some transparancy - but it will run in DirectX.
        - New flag in BACKGROUND section: "KEEPTIME", for AVI files.
        - Better/more efficient timekeeping in AVIs
        - fixed fade 'edges' on song start/end.
        - option "/anysize" added for DirectX mode.  
          Forces textures to be created in original sizes if your videocard can handle it (can improve speed)
        - proper 'fade in' for songs with positive "GAP" values.
        - fixed selection in some options menus.

v1.26 - January 15, 2002.
        - Fixed problems with Voodoo cards (at least, tested on a Voodoo 5 with the 'x3dfx' drivers).

v1.25 - January 13, 2002.
        - Alternate graphics engine implemented.  Choose the SDL-based graphics engine at startup by using 
          the command-line option "/sdl" (otherwise the default DirectX graphics engine is used).
        - Other command line arguments:
             /16bpp - forces a 16-bit graphics surface.  May speed things up on some computers.
             /32bpp - forces a 32-bit graphics surface.  Some cards might require this option.
             /hw    - (SDL only) attempts to load images in video hardware.  May fail on some hardware.
             /fullscreen - forces fullscreen mode.
             /window     - forces windowed mode.
        - MD5 checking on files.  If MD5 doesn't match, warning message is displayed.
        - Better treatment of songs with no music file associated with them (error message displayed)
        - OGG/Vorbis support.  (Can now use MP3,WAV, or OGG files)
        - Synchronization accross all sound cards should be improved now, latency accounted for.
        - BPM display at song select screen (ensure that dwi-7segments.png is in the 'images' folder).
        - Bugs and memory leaks (hopefully) fixed on song-select screen.

v1.20 - January 7, 2002.
          - DirectX graphics engine implemented.
            YOU MUST HAVE DIRECTX 8.1 INSTALLED AND A VIDEO CARD THAT CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF 
            HARDWARE 3D GRAPHICS.  Version 1.05 will work on most other systems although will
            run slower.
          - AVI file support for backgrounds.
          - BASS.dll upgraded to latest version.

v1.10 - December 31, 2001
          - Used SDL.dll for graphics.  Seemed fairly buggy. :P
          - You can now press 'escape' on the difficulty select screen to go back to the 
            'select song' screen.
          - Bugfix: announcer comments in Versus mode.

v1.05 - December 26, 2001
          - IMPORTANT NOTICE
            DWI has changed the directory structure for where step files and images go.
            The program will detect the old directory structure and make the changes for 
            you after displaying a notice screen.  For the automatic conversion to work, 
            the files in Backgrounds, Banners, and DWIs must NOT be "read-only".  You 
            can set the attributes of the files by selecting them in Explorer and going 
            to File-Properties.  More details are in the "Using and Configuring DWI" 
            section below.
          - fixed bug in "Sort by Genre".

v1.04 - December 22, 2001 (pm)
          - Expanded support for different audio sets, similar to skins.
            The directory for new sets is "alt-soundfx", and each set goes in its
            own subdirectory with that.  The layout of the sound-set directories 
            should be the same tree structure as "soundfx".

v1.03 - December 22, 2001
          - Built-in support for skins, selectable from the options screen.
            Simply create a directory called "skins" in the same folder as "DWI.exe",
            then create different sub-directories within that for each skin you 
            wish to use.

v1.02 - December 21, 2001
          - stealth mode arrows now appear if missed
          - arrows rated 'good' continue to scroll up
          - new features added to Game Options screen:
               - Max Stage "Unlimited".  This effectively allows "Event Mode" - there is no limit
                 to the number of stages you can play, and the difficulty level is capped after you 
                 reach Stage 5.  Pressing "Escape" during gameplay will take you back to the 
                 song-select screen without having to go back to the main menu.  Failing a song 
                 takes you back to the song-select screen also, back at Stage 1.
               - Auto Play.  Will play the game for you, though you can still press the inputs if you
                 like.  NOTE: RECORDS WILL NOT BE KEPT when Auto Play mode is enabled.

v1.01 - December 16, 2001
          - minor fix to select screen, fixed crashing problems in Win2k and XP.

v1.00 - December 14, 2001
      - first public release.  Supported are:
          - BPM changes, pauses
          - Freeze arrows
          - Split/Unison/Couple modes
          - multiple folders
          - downwards-scrolling arrows
          - record keeping
          - background animations

7. FUTURE DEVELOPMENT AND THANKS
================================

A long time was spent making this program, and I believe that this first release is fairly complete in
terms of features.  New features will be considered as resources and interest permit.

Special thanks go to DjDraftHorse for the announcer files - I think he did a fantastic job, very
professional.  Also he has been a great beta-tester and a sounding board for new ideas.  Much appreciated!

BBW, for putting up with my incessant programming of the simulator and my exhorting of the joys of 
Bemani. ;)

Also, thank you to BemaniRuler for beta-testing the program and your enthusiasm for the project.
LagGed and the others at "The Melting Pot" for the resources available there concerning the file formats
and other simulators, and his offer to host the distribution files.  YrevaTeneb for his writeup on how to 
create DWI files at the Melting Pot, and for permission to list it here.  Also a special thanks to 
Apocalypse for his insight in getting DirectX working.

Pawwaves to those in the furry community. :^)

Enjoy...
SimWolf.

http://www.teamgwailo.com/ddrpccentral/dwi