Riven Manipulator Readme Contents: Rev 2.3.3 December 18th, 2000
- Welcome.
- The shareware dream (How to unlock the program).
- How to use the program.
- Program FAQ and author comments.
- Thanks.
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1 - Welcome:
Welcome to the Riven Manipulator! I have spent over 200 hours creating this
tool for myself and anyone else who loves Riven enough to want to see everything,
but don't want to click a few thousand times and wait for the CD drive to spin
up to speed a few hundred times. This is version 2.3 and not yet finished,
so I would love to know what you like and dislike. This tool is a lot of fun
and helped me understand Riven better than I could have ever understood it
otherwise. I hope it is useful and fun for you too.
Tim Arrowsmith
Version 2.3 includes the following changes:
1) New lower price for an unlock key - only $5!
2) Fixed a typo on Jungle tab.
3) Added a "Catherine locator" on the "other" tab.
Version 2.2 includes the following changes:
1) Added the "Guard seen" indicator on the Temple tab.
2) Added the Whark Bump counter on the Jungle1 tab.
3) Added Frog jump movie indicator.
4) Changed "Boiler" Island to "Book" Island.
5) Miscellaneous.
Version 2.1 includes the following changes:
1) Fixed the R.A.W. state bug.
2) Security nags (passcode and limited usage).
3) Figured out one of the mystery settings (#24). More to go!
Version 2.0 includes the following changes:
1) Better interface - fewer menus, more drop-down boxes, less chance for error.
2) New Survey Island Pin machine control gadget (appears to be read-only).
3) Automatically start file selections in the Riven directory.
4) Smoother workflow - File Disconnection done by minimizing the tool.
5) Current open file on the title bar.
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2 - The shareware dream:
Because of the long hours spent on this project, it would be nice if I could get
a few dollars in return. As of this writing over 3400 people have downloaded it
with only a few people sending me the registration fee. I am asking for only $5
(or something else worth that much to me - like a bug report, new feature design
idea I like or some other useful software). Please send it to the address below
or pay by PayPal(credit card) online ($6). I don't mean to be difficult, but
some people like to take advantage of the good nature of some programmers.
Without limited usage, the "shareware dream" turns into a "freeware" nightmare.
There are some things in the game I haven't figured out yet, but I bet some
of you Riven fans could find the things I'm missing. Your help to make this
tool even better would be greatly appreciated. If you send me significant help
on making the program better, I'll refund the shareware fee or send a bonus.
Payment Address: [Address in game notes]
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3 - How to use the program:
--- INSTALLATION:
There is a simple installation program that registers the VB6 runtime library,
the tab control, and the common dialog control. If you already have these on
your system you can just download the program directly (much smaller!)
--- WORKFLOW:
The way to use the program is to play the game as you would normally but when you
need to perform some action far away from where you are or there is a setting you
forgot to make earlier, just (1) save the game, (2) open the file with the Riven
Manipulator, (3) make the changes you want, (4) minimize the tool or exit, then
(5) reload the edited file in Riven. This can be repeated as often as necessary.
--- DETAILS:
Here is what each of the features do:
Literally allows you to choose a Riven file by using the
standard Windows OpenFile process until you find the Riven file you want.
shows you the readme file.
is self explanitory. (The settings are automatically saved on exit).
Minimizing the tool disconnects the file so it can be read in by the Riven game.
Each check box indicates whether the feature listed is enabled or not.
The drop down boxes allow you to choose among possible entries for that setting.
The Global and position tabs contain the biggest cheats, so stay off them to
limit the level of help you get.
I recommend setting your taskbar (usually at the bottom of your screen) to
autohide so that you can toggle between the Riven Manipulator and Riven without
quiting the Riven game. This option is set by right-clicking on the taskbar.
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4 - FAQ and comments:
A) Island and control names:
I don't know the official names for each of the animals, objects, or Islands in
the game, so I either made them up or found semi-official names on the Internet.
B) What is the R.A.W. state?
R.A.W. stands for Richard A. Watson, lead programmer for Riven. For some reason
he added some extra features for those who wanted to delve a little deeper into
the game. To get into this state you need to either follow the clues according
to http://www.interiority.com/riven/ or set the state by the global setting
checkbox. From there you can see the special features directly using the Easter
Egg position drop down box.
C) Why are they called Easter Eggs?
Because of the tradition of searching for specially colored eggs on Easter.
D) Why are the position entries in the order they appear?
I recognize they are not intuitive. They are in that order for two reasons:
First, it's the order they are in "under the hood" in the game. Second, it's
easier for me to keep track of them in the native game order. Maybe someday
I'll make the order more intuitive.
E) Can I "break" the game using the Riven Manipulator?
In a sense, yes, but not really. The game will never get permanently damaged,
but you can set the game file into a state that never can occur in the game
naturally. There are also a few blank positions on the Islands that can get the
thing confused and quit on you.
F) Is it called Survey or Spike Island?
I don't know. I've seen it both ways. Riven Manipulator used Spike up until
the last minute when I changed it to Survey, which may be more official.
G) What is dissabled in the locked version?
Lots of things. You can't get to the Prison Island or the Rebel age or Ghen's
age. You can't enable the dome power generator. You can't navigate between
islands or view the easter egg positions. You can't set the marble combination
or solve the marble puzzle the easy way. You can't get the fire dome, prison,
or telescope combinations either. Everything else in the game is enabled. It's
pretty useful without the code, but the real power is locked away...
If you have further questions, please let me know and I'll add it to the FAQ.
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5 - Thanks:
Special thanks go to John Marvin for inspiring this tool. His tool (Rivhack)
has some of the same information and capability, but is more limited. I wanted
to take his idea to the next level.
Thanks to Raihan Kibria for creating Frhed (Hex editor). I would not have
decoded the Riven files without that tool.
Thanks to the Riven community for the great web sites (like www.rivenguild.com)
and inspiration to pursue Riven to a deeper level than I had known before.