

                          H e x p o s u r e v0.44b

                       by SnowBro <kentmhan@online.no>


        Updates
        -------

        v0.44b (Released 02/26/99):

        - Fixed an ugly bug that had crept into the relative
          searcher, causing it to crash if it didn't find any
          results! Waaahh! (This bug was only present in v0.43b.)
        - Ability to build font table based on results of a relative
          search. Hexposure will ask you if you want it to build the
          font table or not.
        - Ability to save the current font table as a .TBL file.
          (Useful if you've used the relative searcher to find the
          font values.)
        - Relative searcher sped up. It can now find a 16-byte string
          at the end of a 1 MB file in one second (on my Pentium 75).

        v0.43b (Released 02/25/99):

        - Wow!! Another update today! :)
        - Script format changed. It now handles line breaks, section
          breaks and string breaks. (If you've defined the correct
          values in the .TBL, of course.) This improves the readability
          of the script greatly.
        - As already mentioned, you can now define a value for section
          breaks in the .TBL. See "Font tables" section in the
          documentation for syntax.
        - Improved the documentation a bit.

        v0.42b (Released 02/25/99):

        - Script inserter. So far only works for non-DTE scripts.
          The script format will most likely have to be changed to
          assure that scripts with DTE in them are reinserted
          correctly.
        - Added a DTE enable/disable switch to the Options menu.
          By default, DTE support is enabled. When the ROM you're
          editing doesn't have DTE, just ignore this switch. It's
          only useful when editing ROMs which in addition to the
          DTE table has a separate font table (without DTE) that's
          used elsewhere in the game.
        - Fixed minor bugs and other things.

        v0.400000001b (Released 02/23/99):

        - Fixed bug that caused the font table-loader to crash if you
          didn't press enter after the last entry in the .TBL file
          (Win9X Notepad-specific).

        v0.40b (Released 02/23/99):

        - Program rewritten!!!
        - Table format changed
        - DTE support
        - Script dumper
        - Relative searcher


        General editing
        ---------------

        I assume you're already familiar with using hex/text editors, so
        I won't insult your intelligence by explaining how to move around
        in a file.

        You can toggle between hex and text editing by pressing TAB. When
        in hex mode, 2-digit hexadecimal values can be entered. In text
        mode, the characters can be typed directly.


        Searching for values
        --------------------

        Three types of ultra-fast search methods can be employed:

                - Text search (F2)

                        Lets you search for a character string. The
                        search string can be up to 16 characters long.
                        Currently it defaults to searching for non-DTE
                        strings, but I'll add a DTE-switch in the next
                        version.

                - Hex search (F4)

                        Lets you search for a hexadecimal string. The
                        search string can be up to 16 bytes long (32
                        digits). Note that the string must be an even
                        number of digits.

                - Relative search (F6)

                        Search based on difference between character
                        values. This is useful if you're unsure of the
                        actual character values a ROM uses.

                - Search again (F3)

                        Searches for the same string again, but does not
                        reset the file position.


        Font tables
        -----------

        Hexposure associates files with corresponding font table files,
        with the extension .TBL. If you load the file "GAME.NES",
        Hexposure will look for "GAME.TBL" in the same directory. If no
        font table is found, the standard ASCII table will be used.

        The .TBL file contains character value definitions of the
        following format:

        00=A
        01=B
        23=th
        AC= e

        In addition, you can define certain control bytes:

        "*" specifies LineBreak
        "\" Specifies SectionBreak
        "/" specifies StringBreak

        For example:

        *=FD            <-- Lines terminated by FD
        \=FE            <-- Sections terminated by FE
        /=FF            <-- Strings terminated by FF

        If a NewLine value has been specified, you can press enter when
        editing text to call that character, instead of having to change
        to hex mode and enter the value manually.

        Hexposure assumes your .TBL files are of the proper format, so
        make sure they are. Check the .TBLs contained in the Hexposure
        .ZIP for some examples. If you're using DOS Edit, be careful
        when defining spaces ( ). If you press enter at the end of the
        line, spaces will be destroyed!!


        Script dumper (F7)
        ------------------

        This lets you dump the data between two hex offsets in the ROM
        to a file. It's fast too; takes about 3 seconds to dump a 1 MB
        ROM on my Pentium 75.

        Hex values which are not defined in the font table are dumped as
        <$XX>, where XX is the hex value.

        Line breaks do the same in the script as they do in the game:
        break to the next line. For example:

        SnowBro worries         <-- Line break after "worries"
        about you.

        Section breaks skip an extra line to separate the current text
        section from the next one. For example:

        This is getting boring.
        Time for a section break.
                                <-- Section break
        Ahh, much better...

        And finally, a string break (end of string) looks like this:

        Time to end
        this string.<END>       <-- String break

        In addition, the string break also skips an extra line down to
        separate the current string from the next one. Remember to
        ALWAYS put an <END> marker at the end of your strings.


        Script inserter (F8)
        --------------------

        Lets you insert the script dumped with the Script dumper back
        into the ROM. Make sure the modified script is still of a
        valid format; check the format description above if you're
        having problems.

        Note that you can't insert script dumps from games which use
        DTE... yet.


        Keys
        ----

        TAB     -       Toggle between hex/text editing
        ESC     -       Bring up menu
        F1      -       Go to offset
        F2      -       Search for text string
        F3      -       Search again
        F4      -       Search for hex string
        F5      -       Save changes
        F6      -       Relative search
        F7      -       Script dumper
        F8      -       Script inserter
        F9      -       Save font table
        Ctrl-L  -       File selector
        Ctrl-Q  -       Quit


        Epilogue
        --------

        If you have anything to say at all about this program, good or
        bad, please tell it to me. The latest version of Hexposure can
        always be obtained from my webpage,

        http://home.sol.no/~kenhanse/nes

        KH'99
