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*                   ES MapWelder v.9.1.0                   *
*                 ©2001 by Phillip Saltzman                *
*                p-saltzman@northwestern.edu               *
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	Welcome to MapWelder. MapWelder is a program that makes it easy to take 
screen shots from Elemental Saga and turn them into quality maps of areas. With the 
implementation of simple OCR, this new version is especially easy because it will sense 
the coordinates of an image directly from the screenshots. No work beyond taking 
screenshots and running the program is required.
	If you encounter any problems, please send me an email with the exact text and 
circumstances of the problem. This program is distributed as freeware and I will never 
attempt to charge anything, largely because I suspect that no one will ever pay. Of course, 
if you have any praise please write it on the back of a twenty-dollar bill and ask me where 
to send it. All joking aside, I do ask that you give proper credit to any map you create and 
publish. There is a copyright portrait that is included in final images, but it does not 
contain contact info. So please paste the following two lines somewhere in the website on 
any page that contains maps made with MapWelder.

Created using ES MapWelder by Phillip Saltzman
p-saltzman@northwestern.edu

I would also like copies of any maps made with this program so that I can build a gallery.

Installing:
	No special installation steps are needed. To use, simply unpack the zip file that 
MapWelder came in. There are two files, the .exe and skins.dat, which contains the 
information the program needs to find coordinates in screenshots. Needless to say these 
files must be kept in the same directory or the program will refuse to run.
	Whenever an official skin (or sometimes unofficial in the case of Pismo) is 
released, I will modify the skins.dat file to support it. I will eventually have a web 
location for those updates, but for now just email me if you want to use a new skin.

Instructions:
	To create a map with MapWelder, you must first take the screenshots for a given 
area. The shots must be taken in the "Minimal + Map Coordinates" mode, which is in the 
menu that comes up when you press F4. You should also turn messages off, which is 
achieved by the "Show Messages" option in the same menu. All screenshots for a given 
map must be taken using the same skin.
	The program depends on the fact that the screenshots have not been cropped. The 
interface that the program needs to sense the coordinates is automatically cropped out 
before the image is placed, so there is no need to do it manually.
	Once you have taken the screen shots, place them in a directory separate from any 
other ES screenshots you have. MapWelder will attempt to read every bmp file in the 
directory you specify, so if you have other screenshots in the directory, problems will 
occur. The most convenient directory is the directory in which MapWelder is installed, or 
a subdirectory of the one in which MapWelder is installed.
	To run the program, simply double click it. If you know Windows a little better, 
I'd open up a Dos box and run it from there. This is because the window will 
automatically disappear once finished if it is not running from a Dos box. Anyway, it will 
first generate a menu of supported skins and ask which one you used. Simply type the 
number next to the skin you used. See below for currently supported skins. Next it will 
ask you to name the output file. This file must be a jpg, so MapWelder will add on the 
'.jpg' if you do not. This file will be placed in whatever directory you specify in the next 
step unless and explicit path is given. *WARNING* MapWelder will give no warning if 
you give the filename of an existing file. It will simply overwrite it. I am not responsible 
for anything you may delete by accidentally doing this. 
	MapWelder will then ask you for the screenshot directory. If the screenshots are 
in the same directory as MapWelder, type '.' for current. You can also give a name 
relative to the folder that MapWelder is in (for example 'wangdang' if you have a folder 
named that in the MapWelder directory) or an absolute path. And that's it. Once you 
press enter the program will sense the coordinates of all bmps in the directory and create 
the map.

Supported skins:
  - Artnouveau
  - Default
  - LOSTarms
  - Pismo
  - Timblex

Version History:
.9.1.0
  - Implemented OCR for ES screenshots.
  - Implemented support for multiple skins with OCR.
  - Added first 5 skins to skins.dat.
.90
  - Added simple copyright graphic.
  - Full release.
.81
  - Fixed bug that wouldn't let screen shots at y=12 be placed.
  - Added .txt and .jpg as default extensions if they are not provided.
  - Blank lines in an instruction file will no longer generate an error.
.80:
  - Initial version.

Future improvements:
  - More options that can be adjusted, such as reduction factor, fill color, ect.
  - A Windows interface.
  - An option to specify cropped regions for each screen shot within the program.
  - Anything else the community wants.