BRAINSBREAKER HELP INDEX

Whats new in this version (2.3)

Instructions

Welcome

Operation

The Screen

The Pieces

Handle several pieces

Boxes

Start a new game or continue an old one

Creating new puzzles

Competition

Scoring

Fast Operation

Registering

Copyright

You can see the latest news about BrainsBreaker in Internet at

http://jtrujillo.pair.com/bb

Contact the author by e-mail at: jtrujillo@csi.com

 Tech info (don't worry about)

Help File for BrainsBreaker, version 2.3

© 1995,96,97,98 Juan Trujillo Tarradas

Barcelona Spain


Welcome
WELCOME TO BRAINSBREAKER

BrainsBreaker is a program that allows to solve Jigsaw type puzzles in a high realistic look and feel. It works with almost any computer under Windows 3.1 and Windows95 or higher.

Everything you need to do, you can do it with the mouse.

With the left button you grab objects, the you can drag them to other places and drop wherever you want. Also there are "Keyboard Shortcuts". They allow to request a function with a press of one or two keys.

The puzzles you deal with are stored on disk. There are two kinds of puzzle files in disk:

The original puzzles: Each time you open one of them the image gets jagged in a different shape and scattered over the screen.

The saved games: While you are playing a puzzle, you can leave it, stored in the computer. Any time after you can come and open it again.

There is also the ability to create your own puzzles with any picture that you computer can display. The created puzzles behaves like any other pre-built ones.

You got your copy of the program unregistered. This means that the program is running in evaluation mode, limited in his operation, until -if you like it and find it worth- you register. See Register

BrainsBreaker implements a "Sensitive Context Help" mechanism. This means that if you request help from a particular object or window, you'll get help about it. The help system is always accessible from the program pressing the F1 key, or selecting the Help option in the menu for each object or the Help button in the windows.

You can start right now: Open a puzzle and begin to drag & drop the pieces over the screen. You may also continue reading to get more instructions and learn about interesting features of the program. Remember: While in the program press the F1 key and you will return here to find more instructions.

NOTES:

* BrainsBreaker works on any screen resolution under Windows. The best performance, in terms of visibility of the game, is achieved setting your screen resolution (desktop area) at the highest option available in your system (800x600 or better at 1024x768 or higher)

* The minimum color depth (color palette) setting for the screen to see the pictures clearly is 256 color mode. The Best quality and performance are achieved setting the color depth to HiColor-16bit or TrueColor-24bit if available. Since version 2.2, the contour of the pieces is drawn lightening it. If you are on 256 color mode you will notice that takes more time to load the puzzle. The reason is that the program has to find the proper color for each pixel between the limited available colors. If you find this loading time too high you can change your screen configuration to a higher color deep resolution or check the Trace Contour option in the Program options window.

* You'll find here, in this help file, some options for left-handeds. This intended for people (left-handed or no) who has switched the mouse buttons in the Windows Control Panel and is managing the mouse with the left hand. If this is your case, you'll find useful to put your right hand at the right region of the keyboard and use the Keyboard Shortcuts that are under the header left-handeds.


MANAGING THE PROGRAM

The operation of BrainsBreaker is based on objects and menus. Anything that you see in the screen is an object and any object can do things or you can do things to it. To see what things does an object open his menu. It displays the functions available for the object.

To open and use the menu for an object:

- Move the cursor over that object.

- Press the right mouse button (left-handeds left button)

The menu will appear.

- Without releasing the mouse button, move the cursor over the option you want.

- Release the button... something will happen.

Almost each option in a menu has a "keyboard shortcut". This means that the option will be activated if you press the key or keys of the shortcut (without need for opening the menu). You can see which keys are the shortcut, in blue text, at the right bottom in each menu's option.

The main menu is on the main screen. You will get it right clicking over any non occupied area in the screen.

Many kinds of objects can be moved. To move an object, move the cursor over it, press the left mouse button, drag it moving the mouse to the desired position and drop down releasing the button. This is the way how you can move the puzzle's pieces.

Other elements in the program are windows. They are to provide additional information or options. In the windows are buttons. Each button has a task assigned, so pushing it will do it.


THE MAIN SCREEN

See also: 	Moving pieces      The loupe

From the main screen you can control and activate all the features of BrainsBreaker.

The screen has a menu. To activate it, point over any non occupied area of the screen and click the right mouse button. You'll see the functions available.

Here is a list for any possible option and what it does:

 Load Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+O

Displays the Browser Window, where you can select a new puzzle or continue with an already started one

Create Puzzle Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+C

That opens a window where you can see how to create your own puzzles,

 Save Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+S

Saves the status of the current game on disk. If wasn't specified before, the program will open the Save as Window requesting the game title, player's name and an optional password.

If you checked the AutoSave feature this will be done periodically by the program.

Program Options Keyboard shortcut: F3

Here you can choose some options for the program. Click here to see them.

Game Info & Options Keyboard shortcut: F2

Brings up the a window showing the status of the game and some options. Click here to see what you can do with it

Back Color Keyboard shortcut: none

Allows you to select a color for the background of the screen.

NOTE: In some cases, you will not get exactly the color you select. This is because your computer has a limited number of colors available and they are busy in the image of the puzzle. Anyway it will try with the nearest color.

 View Image Keyboard shortcut: Space bar or  the 0 key in the numeric keypad

Shows the target image. You can move it clicking and dragging.

When you click outside the picture or press a key it disappears.

(This option is not available if the puzzle you are playing is in surprise mode)

 Solve 1 Keyboard shortcut: F5

Available unless you have checked the "Avoid Cheating" option in the Game Info & Options window

The computer will solve one piece. (If you are in competition mode this costs many points)

 Scatter Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+R or Alt+R

Scatters the unlocked and unnailed pieces around the screen. More about this here

 Ranking Keyboard shortcut: F4

Available only if you are in competition mode.

Brings up the ranking for the puzzle you are playing.

 (c) Keyboard shortcut: none

Shows the copyright notice with some especial effects.

 Help Keyboard shortcut: F1

Opens this help topic, from where you can go anywhere

 Minimize Keyboard shortcut: none (If you activate the Boss key the Escape key does it)

Sends the screen of BrainsBreaker to the Task Bar, leaving the desktop visible.

 Exit Keyboard shortcut: Alt+F4

Closes everything and terminates the program. If you are not in AutoSave mode and the current game has changed, you'll be prompted to see if you want to save the game.

Click here to see how to move the pieces.


Moving pieces
THE LOUPE (A MANGIFYING GLASS)

There is a tool to see zoomed the screen content, a loupe that will move over the screen as you move the mouse and show magnified the stuff behind it.

There are three ways to activate/deactivate it:

* Click over the small icon that is at the left bottom of the main desk or the open boxes

* Press the Shift key (it is above the Control key)

* Left click the mouse over a non-occupied zone in the screen and right click (holding down the left button)

Any of these methods will hide the loupe if it is active or show it if was hidden.

With the loupe you can do everything as you would do without it, pick pieces, rotate, move etc. but youll see that the loupe is hidden while you are doing these actions. Once the action is finished the loupe will show again.

Setting preferences for the loupe:

There are two things that can be customized in the loupe.

Zooming factor: You can choose how much will be magnified the area shown by the magnifying glass. By default it zooms the original by two times but you can raise that factor up to five : Press the + (plus) key or - (minus) key.

Size of the loupe: Press the up/down arrow keys to enlarge/reduce the size of the loupe. (If you notice the motion of the loupe not too smart try reducing the size)


MOVING PIECES

To move a piece

 * Point over the piece with the mouse.

 * Press the left mouse button (right button for left-handeds)

 * Without releasing the button, move the mouse. The piece will go there.

 * Release the mouse button. This drops the piece

If the piece falls near to other matching piece and both are in the same direction they will be locked together.

If the moved piece is locked to others when you drop the piece, the others locked will be dragged with the moved one.

To rotate a piece

 * Point over that piece.

 * Hold down the Ctrl key (don't release it).

 * Press the left mouse button (to rotate counterclockwise) or the right mouse button (to rotate clockwise)

If you want to rotate a piece while dragging it, press the right mouse button (without releasing the left one) to rotate clock-wise. If you have a three buttons mouse properly configured, you can rotate counter-clock pressing the middle button.

If the rotated piece is locked to others they also will be rotated.

NOTE: If you opened the puzzle in "No rotable" mode this will not work.

To nail a piece

Some times you may find a position for a piece that you don't want moved. You can nail that piece: Pick a nail in the bottom left corner of the screen or the box, drag and drop it over the piece. The piece becomes nailed to the background. You can also select the Nail option from the menu for that piece.

If several pieces are locked and you nailed one of them the others also get nailed.

When you try to pick a nailed piece (or a piece locked to a nailed one) instead the piece, you pick the nail. Then you can release it (so the piece stays where it was) or drag the nail to any unoccupied part of the screen: the piece the is unnailed and can be moved.

Keyboard Shortcuts:

To nail Alt + Left mouse button click.

To unnail Alt + Right mouse button click.

Quickly send a piece to a box

This is useful when you sort pieces at a glance at the beginning of one puzzle. Maybe you want to separate all the pieces -lets say with mostly red color-: Point over one of these pieces, hold down the Alt key and press the key number of the box you want to go these red pieces. That piece will go to the box.

To rearrange the pieces in the screen or in a box

Select the menu option "Scatter" or press the Control key and R.

The pieces of the puzzle not locked to others nor nailed will redistribute randomly over the screen or the box.

NOTE: In the main screen there is a "protected rectangle" intended for leave free room to put in the solved puzzle. This procedure will not put pieces in this rectangle, but there is a trick to force the program to use the protected region when scattering the pieces: Press Alt + R . Also if you do it via menu, press the Alt key when selecting the option "Scatter".

See also how to handle several pieces


HANDLING SEVERAL PIECES

BrainsBreaker allows you to handle simultaneously several pieces in a single step:

First you need to select the pieces:

* Point with the mouse on a non occupied point in the main screen or in a box.

* Hold down the Control key (dont release it)

* Click the left mouse button and move the mouse.

You will see a rectangle that grows as you move the mouse. The pieces that falls into this rectangle become grayed: This means that they are selected.

Once you have selected the pieces that you want, release the mouse button.

Then you can:

* Move all these pieces simultaneously: Click with the mouse inside the rectangle. Then drag it, the selected pieces will move. Once in the desired position, release the mouse button.

* The above procedure can be applied to move a group of pieces to a box: Simply open the box before and when dragging move the mouse into the box and release it there

* Scatter the pieces in all the screen or box leaving the rectangle empty: This is useful when you are playing a puzzle whit many pieces and want to have some room in the screen: Open the menu for the rectangle (move the mouse into the rectangle and press the right mouse button). Then select Scatter outside this rectangle

* Nail or unnail the pieces that are selected: Open the menu for the rectangle and select Nail all or Unnail all.

You can cancel the selection by clicking the mouse outside the rectangle or pressing the Esc key.


BOXES

At the bottom of the screen you can see six squares numbered. They are boxes.

A box is useful to place pieces temporarily. For example, you could  set a box to hold all the pieces of a similar color, or with a singular shape. You also can solve pieces into the box, in fact you can solve all the puzzle in a box.

To put a piece into one of the boxes:

  Open the box

  Drag the piece to the box.

You can open a box in several ways:

   Pressing the number of the box in the keyboard.

   Double clicking over it when is closed.

   Selecting the "Zoom" option in the box's menu.

While the box is open you can drag pieces into it.

Then you can close the box again in one of these ways:

   Pressing his number in the keyboard

   Double click over the background of the box

   With the box's menu (right clicking over a non occupied part)

A closed box containing pieces appears on the screen in a raised & color filled shape to remind you that there are pieces.

REMEMBER! If you don't find a piece, search if it's into some box

There is a fast way for sending pieces to boxes : Point over the piece, hold down the Alt key and press the key number of the box you want the piece stored.

You can also maximize a box:

When the box is open press the Tab key or (lefthandeds) the + (plus) key on the numeric keypad.

A box can be moved: Click inside it with the mouse and drag to the position that you want.

The box can be sized, as usual with any window, dragging his borders.

Other menu options for a box

Back Color: You can select a color of your choice for the background of the box.

Set Name: You can assign a text title to each of the boxes. Select that option and type the name in the window that appears. The name will show in the top bar of the open box or in small text in the icon of the closed box.

For an open box:

Scatter: This makes the program to reorganize the pieces in the box, if possible, trying to not overlap.

Empty: The pieces in the box go to the main screen (except nailed pieces).

(this option is available only if the box is opened).

For a closed box:

Hide Boxes: This options make the boxes invisible when closed.

(this option appears in the menu of any box, only when the box is closed).

Is a good option for making more room in the screen.

Once hidden the to make them visible again you must uncheck the option Hide Boxes in the Game Info & Options (keyboard=F2). With the boxes hidden they still work. To open them press the number (1 to 6) of the box you want to open.

Boxes to home: This option appears in the menu of the closed boxes only if you have moved some of them. It moves all the closed boxes to their default position.


FAST KEYS

Here are those key combinations/mouse buttons to do quickly the most common operations.

When you see two keys/mouse separated by a + sign, this means that you must hold down the first key, don't release it and press the second key o button. Then you can release everything.

For left-handeds (or any people who uses the mouse with the left hand and have switched the mouse buttons in the Windows Control Panel) are alternative operations. The idea is to have the hand that does not use the mouse to control the rotation of pieces and the operation of boxes without having to move that hand too much around the keyboard.

(The word click here means to press a mouses button)

What to do	Key	left-handeds
Pick a piece	Left click	Right click
Rotate a piece  clockwise	Ctrl + Right click	Enter + Right click
Rotate a piece	Ctrl + Left click	Enter + Left click
counterclockwise
Nail a piece	Alt + Left click	Alt + Right click
Unnail a piece	Alt + Right click	Alt + Left click
View the image	Space bar	0(zero) (numeric keypad)
Show/hide the loupe	-Shift key -Left+right click
Create a multiple selection rectangle (mouse over the screen or a box)	Ctrl + Left click + Drag	Enter + Left click + Drag
Scatter pieces (protecting the solution rectangle)	Ctrl + R	Ctrl + R
Scatter pieces	Alt + R	Alt + R
in the whole screen
Scatter pieces leaving a rectangle empty	Alt + R (After creating a multiple selection rectangle)	Alt + R (After creating a multiple selection rectangle)
Open/close the box 1	1	1 (use the
		numeric keypad)
Send a piece to the box 1	Alt + 1 (pointing over the piece)
Maximize box	Tab	+ (plus in the
(must be open)		numeric keypad)
Open a puzzle	Ctrl + O
Save the current game	Ctrl + S
Game Info & Options	F2
Program Options	F3
View the Ranking	F4
Solve 1 piece	F5
Hint on a piece	Ctrl+Alt+Click
	(Point mouse on a Side)
All these operations can be done through the menus and, in the menus, you can see these keys in blue text.


COMPETITION

BrainsBreaker has built in features to provide scoring capabilities and to keep a ranking for each started game. In this way people at home can compare their performance in solving puzzles and establish contests between them to make the solving puzzles effort a bit more amusing.

When you are in Competition mode you can see a small box in the main screen with your current score.

The program also allows to "Export" the score data of a game and send it to other people through e-mail, making possible establish competitions even between people at different locations.

The competition mode is optional: There are people that only want solve puzzles quietly with nothing about scores and rankings and similar stuff.

To make active the competition mode:

In the Game Options window (press the F2 key to open it) make sure that the option "Competition" is checked.

If you don't see the score data in the screen, try to uncheck "hide score" in Game Options.

To export your score data and send it to another player in another place:

* Open the Game Options window(press F2).

 * Press the "Certify" button.

A copy of your scoring will be placed in the Windows' Clipboard. Then in your e-mail program paste it into a message (select paste in the Edit menu) and send it to your friend.

To import score data of another remote player:

When you receive score data in a message, you can put this data in the ranking for that puzzle:

 * Copy the incoming message into the Windows' Clipboard

 * If you don't have BrainsBreaker started, start it.

It will appear a window telling you that has been found score data, with a button "Merge in Ranking". Pushing this button will merge this data into your ranking for the puzzle. If you don't want this data in your ranking press the cancel button.

Importing a Full Ranking

BrainsBreaker has the ability to import a full ranking. This will allow to establish a multi-people contest and have all the data updated in your computer's ranking in a single step.

Published rankings will come to you in e-Mail / forum / Internet-news messages. When you see one of them you can import it to your computer, simply copying it to the Clipboard as you do with individual score data. The program will allow you to merge the coming in ranking with yours.

NOTES:

 * The score data for import-export, contains a key zone to make sure that the data has not been altered. If the program finds the data not matching with the key, it will not import it. So do not modify any character in the score data message (but you can add text before and after).

* The ranking holds only the first 15 players, so if the score data coming in falls in a lower position will be discarded.

* The Certify option is disabled for unregistered puzzles.


SCORE

If you activated the competition mode in a game (see how here) you'll see a small window in the main screen. There is shown:

Time: Time spent in the game in form hous:minutes:seconds.

The timer pauses when you activate some other window. (you notice this because the timer color becomes gray).

Hint: If you leave your computer with a started game, open a window so the timer becomes disabled (i.e. press F2)

Score:

You get a starting credit when opening the puzzle for the first time.

You get points for each piece solved.

You lose out points (many) for each automatic solve or hint.

You lose out points for each second elapsed.

You lose out one point for each move.

Ranking: Your current position in the ranking for that puzzle.

The position in the ranking is drawn in white text. When the text becomes green means tat if you solve a piece while it is still green, you'll raise one position in the ranking.

If the text is red, then if you don't solve anything in 20 seconds you'll lose a position.

Estimation: BrainsBreaker tries to figure out how many points and what ranking's position you'll have when you finish the game. This serves to give a bit of amusement to the game.

The estimation computes something like "if you continue solving pieces regularly as you did until now, when you finish you would have xxxx points so you would be in the yy position". (The estimation does not takes into account the cheats made until now)

The score window can be moved to any position in the screen: just drag it with the mouse. To place the score window in his default position select the score to home option in his menu (right clicking over the score window)

You can hide the score window using his menu. (If you do this, when you want to make it visible you should uncheck the Hide Score box on the Game Options window.

Double clicking over the score window brings up the Ranking.

How BrainsBreaker computes your score:

At start, as a credit you get:

500 x the number of pieces in the puzzle.

For each side of a piece locked to another you get:

1000 + the number of the pieces in that puzzle x 10 rounded to 250.

Each tenth of second elapsed cost you one point.

Each autosolve cost the double of the points for locking a side.

Each Hint on a piece also costs the double of the points for locking a side (but you earn the points when you lock it)

For each movement of a piece you lose out one point.

If you play a puzzle in the "Non Rotate" mode (see opening a puzzle) the starting credit and the score for a solved side is divided by 3.

If you play in the "Mosaic" mode then they are multiplied by 3, so if you solve the hardest puzzles in that mode,-and don't got crazy before-, you can be a multi-millionaire in points.

See also Competition


CREATING NEW PUZZLES

You may create a new puzzle with almost anything that you may see in your computers screen.

First you need to tell the program what picture do you want. There are tree methods to do it:

1) Copying an image to the Clipboard: Whenever any image data is in the Windows Clipboard BrainsBreaker detects it and proposes to create a new puzzle.

The easiest way to put an image into the Clipboard is by pressing the Print Screen key (its usually at the right of the F12 key) while the picture is visible in the screen. If you press simultaneously the keys Alt and Print Screen then only the contents of the active window is copied to the Clipboard.

A quick experiment to create a new puzzle : Press the Print Screen key now (it is at the right of the F12 key on almost all keyboards) . If BrainsBreaker is not running start it. It will ask if you want to create a puzzle with the Clipboard contents, push the Yes button and you will enter in the puzzle creation process explained here

Many image processing programs also have a Copy option in the Edit menu. This usually also does the job.

2) Dragging an image file to the BrainsBreakers screen: Another way to tell BrainsBreaker which image you do want is dragging some picture file over the BrainsBreakers main screen: Open some folder that contains picture files (make sure that the screen of BrainsBreaker is visible below), click over a file and drag it over the BrainsBreaker screen and drop it there.

3) Loading an image file: And the last way specify directly which image file do you want: On the main menu select the option Create Puzzle and press the button Browse in the window that appears.

Note: The image file formats supported are Windows Bitmap and JPEG

If you have an image file with another format you can try to use the first way: Run any program able to show that image and press the Print Screen key (Many programs have also a Copy option on the Edit menu that should work too)

Warning: if your screen is in 256 color resolution, you could lose some quality from images if you use the first method (copying to Clipboard). Instead would be better opening the file that you want if his format is supported. In that way the program can read all the color information that is in the image.

Whatever the method used you will arrive to the step of specifying the properties for the new puzzle. Thats explained here


REGISTERING BRAINSBREAKER

BrainsBreaker is proposed as Shareware. This is a way that makes possible try a software product before to buy it.

When you install BrainsBreaker the program comes in Evaluation or Demo mode. You can play with the puzzles and create new ones to see if you like the program and all works fine. Then you can pay a fee for the program.

Playing with the unregistered program has a limitation: You can solve only a part of the puzzles.

There are two modes for the registration of the program:

The Full Pack

This removes all the locks on the program: With it you can play your own created puzzles and other sets of prebuilt puzzles (you may find additional prebuilt puzzles in the Internet http://jtrujillo.pair.com/bb)

The Entry Set

This comprises the set of puzzles that comes with the program. Once registered in this mode you may play entirely with these puzzles (Parrot, Fruits, Tiles, Cat, BrainsBreaker, Fish and Swan)

Once you have the Entry Set, you can at any time order the Upgrade to Full pack from the Entry set for the difference in price.

If you have registered packs of puzzles of the previous Version 1.x see here how to upgrade to the Full Pack.

How register:

* Registrations for BrainsBreaker are handled by Kagi Shareware services.

There is a secure web site handled by Kagi that allows to register Online with Credit Card. Point your Internet browser to: http://jtrujillo.pair.com/bb/register.htm and follow the instructions/links there.

To send your registration by e-mail, fax or postal mail you can use the accompanying program "Register" that handles Check, Money Order, Credit card, Cash or First Virtual payments. That program manages the form needed to fill your data and will show instructions about how & where to send your payment. To run it: Hold down the Ctrl key and press F7. Then push the Check or Credit Card button in the new window that appears.

Once your payment is processed, you'll receive an e-mail message containing your registration code with the instructions to enter it in the program. Once entered it makes fully playable all the puzzles (if registered the Full pack) or the puzzles in the Entry set.

IMPORTANT: Please, make sure that you type correctly and clearly your e-mail address when registering: Here is where goes your registration code and a mistake here could delay your receipt of your registration code.

If you do not have electronic-mail you will receive your registration code by postal mail to the address that you specify in your registration.

* If you are member of CompuServe, you can register online through their "Shareware Registration Service" (GO SWREG).

To have more instructions and steps on registering, press the button Register Info in the Program Options window.

Why register?

Apart for getting unlocked the programs features, you should be aware that a huge effort (hundreds of morning, evening, night and prime hours) has been made to put all together to achieve that you have many fun time playing. This -in thought of the author- deserves a compensation, and -if you agree- this is the money that you pay for the registration.


VERSION 1.X REGISTERED USERS

If you purchased some pack of puzzles of the previous version you may upgrade to the Full pack:

If you have one pack registered purchase the Upgrade from Entry Set item.

If you have two packs registered purchase the Entry Set AND type in the comment field of the registration form Upgrading from version 1

If you had registered tree or more packs you will have your Full Pack registration with no charge. If you dont have it please drop-me a note at JTrujillo@kagi.com to remind me that I must send it.


THE PUZZLES BROWSER

The puzzles browser window allows you to search for and load in your computer a new puzzle or one already started-and-saved before.

This window is activated with the main menu or pressing Ctrl+O in the keyboard.

The window shows a "Thumbnail" (a little image) for each level of each puzzle. It also shows one for each started game (saved before). On each thumbnail is written the title of the puzzle and the number of pieces. If it is a saved game, also shows the percent done and the player who signed it, in blue text.

When you see the game that you want, it's easy: Just double click over the image, or -if you want some more sophistication- point over the image, click the mouse button and drag it over the main screen.

But... if you don't find what you want?.

...Well, at the bottom right of the window there are several buttons to help you. They are under the header "Show puzzles of kind".

These buttons serve to tell the program what kind of puzzles must be shown in the list of thumbnails.

For example, if you uncheck the "Originals", in the list will not be any original puzzle (a new game), but only those started-and-saved before.

If you select some of the level buttons - let's say- 3, all other puzzles not of level 3 will disappear from the list.

If you saved a game before, and signed it with a player's name, you can select that name in the list-box Player. The window will show only those games that belongs to that player (also accomplishing the other rules of other buttons).

Notice that you can also reopen finished (100% solved) games. Initially "Finished" is unchecked, but you can check it to make them appear in the list.

Then we have the Save Settings button. This one saves the state of the other buttons so the next time that you open the window will remember their state.

Hint: When you start the program, this windows appears selecting the last saved game. Thus, if you want continue with the same game, just press the Enter key.

SPECIAL MODES

Before loading a new game, you can specify if you want that game without the pieces rotated (it's easier to solve, especially for kids): Click on the new game you want to load and check "Not rotate pieces".

You also can make all more difficult and get a bit more "brainbroken": Check "Mosaic": The game will load with the pieces in a squared shape.

Note: The buttons for these special modes are available only for new games, so first you must select an original puzzle clicking over it and then check some of these options.

TO DELETE AN OLD GAME

Select the game and press the delete button. (If you can't resist the temptation, you also can drag the game over that button).

If this game was in competition mode it will also disappear from the corresponding ranking.

NOTE: If the game is saved with a password, you'll have to type it. Otherwise the program will not allow to delete that game.

TO DELETE A PUZZLE

Select any of the thumbs for the puzzle (not a started game) and press the delete button (or the delete key). That will remove the puzzle (in all levels) from your machine.

If there are games going on for that puzzle the program wont allow to delete it: Before you should remove each started game one by one. (also the finished games)


THE MINI IMAGE

When you are playing a puzzle you see the reduced original picture on the screen. The size is the half of the original image.

You can move that picture wherever you want on the screen. Just click over it and drag the mouse.

You can hide it with its own menu: Right click over it and select Hide. To show it open the Game Options window (press F2) and uncheck the Hide MiniImage box.

When some piece overlaps with the picture it is repainted grayed. Thats to achieve some contrast between the pieces and the background.


NUMBER OF PIECES FOR CUSTOM LEVEL

You are about to start a puzzle in the Custom mode.

Now the program needs to know how many pieces do you want for that game.

You can enter directly a number: BrainsBreaker will computer the nearest number of pieces that will produce squared ones.

If you want not squared pieces type the number of rows, the letter x and the number of columns. (You can achieve some bizarre shapes)


SAVE AS...

If you select the "Save As" option from the Game Info & Options , you can change the title,  the player or the password for that game.

When you change the title or the player, appears a "Rename" button available. This button serves to apply the changes to the current game. If you select the "Save" button, then the game will be saved to a new one (leaving the old one in your computer as a different game that can be loaded lately).

See Game Info


Saving a game / Game Info
 GAME INFO

When the program has to save your game, it needs to know which title you want give to the current game, the players name and if you want protect it with a password.

You can specify:

A title for your game. You can write a short description for it. The program proposes a name with the title of the puzzle and the number of pieces, but you can give it any title.

The player's name. Who is playing with that game. It will be useful later for search the game and, if you play in competition mode, this will be the name that will appear in the ranking.

A password. If you don't want anybody else to open, or erase your game, you can protect it with a password. If you enter a password here, the program will ask you to retype it again, to make sure there are not typing errors.

NOTE: Although the programs will not allow to manage a password protected game , that game is saved in a file, and that file can be managed outside of the program through the Operating System.

At the bottom of the screen is a button "Autosave". If you check it, the game will run in that mode. This means that the program will save your game periodically and each time you solve a piece.


GAME INFO & OPTIONS

You reach this window when a puzzle is loaded pressing F2 in the keyboard.

There is shown  general information about the current game.

And you can also push some buttons:

Avoid Cheating: Disables the Solve 1 option from the main menu and the Hint in the pieces menu.

Once pushed one time, the button disappears and you can't push it anymore for the current game.

(If you self challenge to solve the puzzle without using any automatic help, here you have a chance to receive computer help in your commitment.)

This button only appears if you have not used none of the cheating options in that game.

Certify: This button places the score data of your game in the Windows' Clipboard. Then, from the Clipboard you can paste this data into a communications program and send it to friends who have the same puzzle, registered in his computer. Your friend will be able to put your data into his ranking and compete with you. See Competition for more on this.

This option is not available on Self-created puzzles.

Competition: Here you can check or uncheck if you want to be in competition mode. This means that -if you check it- you'll be able to see the time expended in the game, your score and your rankings position. (see the score ).

If you don't want hear nothing about scores and rankings and only want a placid game, uncheck this.

Autosave: If you check this option the game will run in autosave mode. This means that the game will be saved to disk automatically without need of your command nor prompting you if you want to save it.

Game & Player: This button brings up a window where you can type the title of that game, the name or alias for the player of the current game, and an optional password.

You may have a started game and want to save a copy of what is now (to load later) but continue with the current game: Push that button and change the title or the player and push the Save As button: At that point will be saved two games with the same status. Later you may load any of them and play independently.

See "Save As".

Hide MiniImage: This hides (checked) or shows (unchecked) the picture sample of the main screen

Hide Boxes: This will hide the boxes when they are minimized (closed). Anyway they are still working and you can activate them with the keyboard). Unchecking that option will show them again.

Hide Score: (Only if you activated the Competition mode) Thats to hide/show the score box.

You can set the default value for these options for further games that you start in the Program Options window.


PROGRAM OPTIONS

This window is reached pressing F3 in the keyboard.

Here are the settings for the program:

Mode for new games

This set of checkable items allows to specify what options will have the new games when they are started for first time (once a new game is started you will be able to change them in the Game Info & Options window)

Program mode

Drag Single piece: When you move a piece that is locked to others you see moving together all the locked pieces. This option disables that (May be useful if you find that moving many pieces at once is not so smooth as when you move a single piece)

Trace Contour: Since version 2.2 the program draws the contour of the pieces lightening it. In older version it was drawing a solid color line. With the new mode the pieces look more realistic and give a better picture. This option is to disable that feature and make the program to draw the contour the old way. As lightening the contour needs more computation you may notice the program taking too much time to load a puzzle (it is calculating the light) or to rotate a large group of locked pieces. Checking that option will speedup these processes.

No FX: This disables the zooming-in/out rectangles when the program opens a window.

Mute: Checking here disables all the sounds of the program.

Enable Boss key: Checking that will activate a feature of the program that could help some risky players that play when there is somebody around that doesnt likes that you play games with the computer ;-): When you press the Escape key in the main window the program hides itself (minimizes)

Balloon tips: To disable the balloon tips that appears when you leave the mouse pointer over the buttons.


THE RANKING

The Ranking window shows the people who played the same puzzle at the same level, and their time, moves, cheats & score.

You can activate the ranking by pressing F4 in your keyboard. Also double clicking in the score window brings up the ranking for the current puzzle.

(The ranking only appears if you have active the Competition mode)

The ranking holds 15 entries for the 15 higher scores made.

An entry can be:

Your position: In light blue color.

Another player in the same computer: In blue color.

Another player from a different place: In  cyan color. (see competition to know how to share scoring data between different and distant players and computers)

There is a different ranking for each puzzle & level.


Entering the new puzzles properties
ENTERING THE PROPERTIES FOR THE NEW PUZZLE

To have the new puzzle, the program needs to know a few things:

If you want the full picture or a part of it.

In the last case you have to Crop the original image: Click the mouse over some point in the picture and drag it. Youll see a growing rectangle. The region inside would be the actual image for the new puzzle.

Once you have drawn one rectangle you can move and resize it: Point the mouse over some border or corner and drag it.

If you want to remove the cropping rectangle click outside it.

The number of pieces on each level.

In the window at left bottom you can enter how many pieces will have each level of the puzzle.

Leaving some of these empty would mean that there will be less than five levels.

You can enter the desired number of pieces directly, typing the number. At the right the program computes the actual number of pieces. Usually thats different from the value that you typed, the reason is that the program searches the nearest number that will give squared pieces (approximated equal width and height). If you want to specify the exact number of pieces or want not squared shapes then enter the number of rows a letter x and the number of columns.

When you are changing some of these fields, in the picture will be drawn a grid showing an idea on how will be the size of the pieces.

There is also a Custom level checkable box: If its checked there will be an additional Custom thumbnail for the new puzzle.

The surprise mode: This field, when checked, instructs the program to not show the original image when playing the puzzle. Its fun to solve a puzzle when one doesnt knows what it is. (Very challenging for kids)

Avoid cheating: With that option checked the new puzzle wont allow any cheat.

Combining it with the surprise setting can make very fun stuff for others at home to guess and play. Try making greeting messages or nice phrases and invite somebody to solve the puzzle.

The background color

Some pictures have a definitely improved look depending on the background color of the screen so here you have the opportunity to set a great harmonic or contrasted color. (Anyway, once loaded that puzzle ,still is available the option to change the background color for that game). The program sets by default a random color.

Shrinking/Stretching the picture

The program will show the image at the original size but maybe it is too large or too small: The Zoom image scrolling bar allows to reduce or enlarge the original image: Move the slider left to reduce or right to expand it in small increments. Pressing the arrow buttons on both sides of the bar do the same but in increments of 25%.  Notice that some pictures will lose quality when they are stretched or shrinked.

The title of that puzzle

Almost we have everything done. You only need to type a title for the new puzzle and press the OK button. That should do generation of the puzzle. Once done it will come up the Browser window with then new puzzle selected, ready to play.


YOUR SCORE DATA IS IN THE CLIPBOARD

The score data for the current game is in the Window's Clipboard.

You can, for example, e-mail this to someone else, "pasting" the clipboard contents into the e-mail message. See competition


EXTERN SCORE DATA IN THE CLIPBOARD

You received Score data from another player.

You can "Merge In Ranking" this data: The score data will be placed in your ranking for that puzzle.


External Ranking comes in
EXTERN RANKING FOUND IN THE CLIPBOARD

BrainsBreaker has detected an external ranking. You can merge it into the ranking in your computer pushing  the  "Merge to local" button.


This game has a password

This game has been saved with a password.

You must type it to complete the operation.


RETYPE YOUR PASSWORD

Just to make sure there are not typing mistakes, please retype the same password again.


 SET THE TITLE OF THAT BOX

Type here the title for this box.


REGISTERING THROUGH COMPUSERVE SWREG

If you are member of CompuServe, you can register online through their "Shareware Registration Service":

Follow these steps in the WinCim program:

1) GO SWREG.

2) Select "Register Shareware" in the menu. Press "Proceed".

3) Specify your region

4) Find the pack BrainsBreaker in the Registration DataBase:

   Double click on "Registration ID".

   Enter the code to identify what you are registering (see below) in the Registration ID field

   Double click on "Display Selected titles".

   Press Button "Description".

5) Read the description to make sure you selected what you want. If all OK press "Register".

The codes for the different options are:

13968 For the Full Pack

13969 For the Entry Set

13970 To upgrade to the Full Pack (if you have registered the Entry Set or one pack of puzzles of version 1)

13971 To upgrade to the Full Pack (If you registered two packs of the Version 1.x)

Once registered here you receive an e-mail message as response (usually in the next labor day). This message contains some magic data that unlocks the features of the registered mode. Also in the message is explained how to put this in the program so it recognizes the data and flags the program as registered.


Waths new
WHATS NEW

Version 2.3 (June 98)

* The loupe, a magnifying glass to see the screen zoomed.

* Ability to expand or shrink the image when creating new puzzles

* Surprise mode option when creating new puzzles (That puzzle wont show the original image when playing it)

* No Cheats option when creating a new puzzle: That puzzle wont allow any cheat when playing

* Send pieces to boxes with a keystroke (pointing to the piece, keys: Alt + number of the box)

* Boxes may have a title specified by the user

* Enhanced processing under Hi/True Color modes with better shadows and more speed

* And bugs and details of course.

* Now you can certify the score of a self-created puzzle and send it to friends

Version 2.2 (December 97)

* The contour of pieces is drawn lightening them rather than drawing a black/gray line: This gives a better look, especially when pieces are locked. In the Program options window, there is an option to use the old method (recommended in cases where the loading time of a puzzle increases too much. This may happen when your screen is in 256 color mode)

Version 2.1 (September 97)

* Optimized performance.

* The browser window has a button to save the settings for the next time.

* Balloon tips on almost all the buttons.

* The score and minimized boxes can be moved to their default position with a menu option.

* Install has an option to put a shortcut in the Desktop (Windows95)

* A new prebuilt puzzle in the programs package

Version 2.0 (December 96)

*You can create puzzles!!! with any picture.

* The puzzles can be opened in Custom mode. This means that you can tell how many pieces will have that puzzle. (Valid also on old puzzles)

* There is a Mini Image,--the picture in half size--, that can be visible on the main screen while you are playing.

* New cheating style: See the Hint option in the menu for a piece.

You will notice some differences on minor details:

* The Previous Info Window now is split in two. One that contains Information and options for the Current Game, and the other to select some options for the program. (The keys assigned to each one are F2 and F3, thus the previous F3 assigned to the Ranking Window now is F4.

* Now when you drag a piece locked to others all the pieces are moved.

* In the previous version once a puzzle was opened for the first time it was expanded (uncompressed) to disk. This now is an option: You may check or uncheck it on the Program Options window.

* Now a puzzle (a prebuilt one or one created by you) can be deleted in the browser window.

Version 1.60 (July 96)

- Ability to mute the program (check the Mute button on the Info window)

- Some minor bugs fixed.

Version 1.50 (March-96)

Ability to handle several pieces in a single step.

See Handling multiple pieces


Copyright
COPYRIGHT NOTICE

The program BrainsBreaker is

Copyright 1994,1998 by Juan Trujillo Tarradas

Barcelona - Spain

All rights reserved

e-mail:jtrujillo@csi.com

juan@jtrujillo.pair.com

jtrujillo@kagi.com

The program unregistered with the initial set of puzzles can be freely distributed but not sold.

It is specifically forbidden to modify or remove any of the files that compounds the package, add any file to the package and/or distribute any registered version of the program or any registration code for it.

Decompression of images based in part of the work of the Independent JPEG Group

 DISCLAIM

THIS SOFTWARE AND THE ACCOMPANYING FILES ARE PROVIDED AS IS AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILTY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND DIRECT OR INDIRECT DAMAGES ARISING FORM THE USE OR INSTALLATION OF THE PROGRAM AND FILES.


Technical information
TECHNICAL INFO.

* BrainsBreaker has been developed using Object Oriented Programming, in C++ language.

* There are specific versions of the program for Windows 3.1 and for Windows95. The executable files are bbrk.exe for Win 3.1 and bbrk32.exe for Win95.

* To know the name of the file where a puzzle or saved-game is stored, select the thumbnail and look at the left bottom of the browser window. Since version 2.3, in Windows95 and higher the puzzles and saved games are saved with long names.

* The score data is stored in a subdirectory under the one where are the puzzles, named scores.

If you delete one score file, then the imported scores will be lost, but the local scores will come into the ranking when you load each saved-game.

* To uninstall the program in Windows95 use the Add Remove programs feature in the control panel. Under Windows 3.1 run the program remove that should be in the same directory where is the program.

What does the remove program depends on how you installed the program: If you did it with the self-extracting it will remove everything (In Windows95 you will need to restart your computer to let him finish). If you installed it unzipping the program, remove will only erase whats outside the directory where you unzipped the files (the Registry database, Start Menu and Desktop shortcut). You will have to delete manually the directory of the program.


The registration process has been correct but the program has been unable to write the data. This is due probably to the program running from a CD-ROM.

Please, install the program in your Hard Disk. That way it will record properly your registration data so you dont have to enter it when you restart the program. It is also important to have the program in your Disk because that way youll be able to save your games going on to finish them later and to create new puzzles.

There are two ways to install the program in your Hard Disk :

1) Copy the CD-ROM's folder where is BrainsBreaker to a new folder in your Disk. Then run the program from there.

2) The other way is downloading the program from the web site - http://jtrujillo.pair.com/bb/download.htm - choose the self-extracting file. Then run the downloaded program (bbsetup) and when it asks the place on your disk where the program will be copied, make sure you specify a path in your hard disk (make sure the first letter of the path is a c, something like c:\bbrk)

- When you have the program installed in the disk enter again your registration code.