Jump to Installation Help for:
Windows |
Linux |
Solaris |
Unix |
MacOS 8 to 9 |
MacOS X
Visual Basic version 1.20
- If you downloaded the Zip file of the Same Game, you will need to extract the archive using WinZip, WinRAR, or Windows XP Compressed Folder support. The process is usually as simple as a right-click on the file, and select Open With - Compressed (zipped) Folders.
- The bottom row of game pieces will be partially obscured if the Display properties - Appearance - Active Title bar is sized larger than the default size. The title bar in Windows XP is larger than in older Windows version, and the bottom row of the Same Game pieces will be cut off.
- Download the small Same Game for Windows zip file if your computer already has the Visual Basic 6 runtime libraries. Unzip the file, and run the Same Game program from the unzipped folder.
- Download the larger Same Game Installer zip file if your computer does not have the Visual Basic 6 runtime libraries. Unzip the file, and run the Same Game Installer program to continue installation.
- The Same Game requires Microsoft Visual Basic 6 runtime libraries be installed on your computer. Windows ME evidently has these runtime libraries included, so if you are running Windows ME, you will likely not need the VB 6 libraries listed below.
- You may want to download the VB runtime libraries separately and install them. They are available from Microsoft at VBRun60sp3.exe
(1 MB) or VBRun60sp4.exe
(1 MB).
- Evidently, the VB6 Service Pack 3 installer does not always install the Comdlg32.ocx file, which is needed for the Same Game. If your computer does not have this file, find a computer that does have it, and copy it from c:\windows\system\comdlg32.ocx
- If the game does not start up, but instead gives an error message stating a missing .dll or .ocx file, uninstall the game and reinstall it using the Same Game Installer program.
- The Same Game version 1.2 and higher might start up slowly if many subfolders exist below the game executable. The game checks subfolders for additional game pieces upon startup.
- If you have Norton AntiVirus 5 installed and AutoProtect is enabled (the default setting), the Same Game will load up slowly, and will have a long pause when you zoom/dezoom the game board. The Same Game is clean and contains no viruses, but Norton AntiVirus is the cause for the delay. You can temporarily disable the AutoProtect feature while you play the Same Game. Norton / Symantec version 8 and newer do not exhibit this behavior.
TCL/TK versions
- TCL and TK are required to run the Same Game TCL/TK. Please see the TCL/TK section for help to update your system's versions of TCL and TK.
- Visit the Beta Versions page to see any errata for the Same Game running on Windows.
- If the text files for the Same Game TCL/TK display lots of unusual characters, open the files in WordPad, and save them as text.
- TCL and TK are required to run the Same Game TCL/TK. Please see the TCL/TK section for help to update your system's versions of TCL and TK.
To install TCL and TK, follow these directions, remembering that Linux commands are case-sensitive:
- Log in as root
- Find the installed versions of TCL and TK
rpm -qa | grep tcl
rpm -qa | grep tk
You should see tcl-8.0.x-x and tk-8.0.x-x or higher versions. If the installed versions are lower than the required versions, or do not show that TCL or TK is installed, continue these instructions to install the appropriate packages.
- Mount the given install cdrom
- Change to the given CD directory (substitute the correct directory from above)
cd /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS
- List the appropriate files
- Install the appropriate files for your system (substitute correct file names)
rpm -Uvh tcl-8.3.1-53.i386.rpm tk-8.3.1-53.i386.rpm
- Unmount the cdrom
- Log out and log back in as a normal user
- Red Hat Linux 7.1 was used as the development environment. If the initial Red Hat Linux 7.x install on your system included the Software Development package, or Everything, your system should have the minimum TCL and TK package versions needed for the Same Game TCL/TK v1.00.
- Visit the Beta Versions page to see any errata for the Same Game running on Linux.
- Start the Same Game TCL/TK at the command prompt with the command:
- If you see the error "command not found", set all .tcl files to have execute permissions. Use the following command to set the permissions:
chmod 755 *.tcl
ls -l *.tcl
- Detailed Solaris Help is not yet available. The Same Game TCL/TK has been tested on Solaris.
- The installer CDs for Solaris 8 Sparc and Solaris 9 Sparc apparently do not include TCL or TK.
- TCL and TK are required to run the Same Game TCL/TK. Please see the TCL/TK section for help to update your system's versions of TCL and TK.
- General Unix Help is not yet available. This section should contain help for SGI Irix, HP-UX, Ultrix, and other flavors of Unix. The Same Game TCL/TK has not been tested on these operating systems.
- SGI Irix 6.2 includes the incompatible TCL version 7.4. The Same Game has been tested and will not run on this platform with TCL version 7.4.
- TCL and TK are required to run the Same Game TCL/TK. Please see the TCL/TK section for help to update your system's versions of TCL and TK.
- The Same Game TCL/TK 1.00 works on MacOS 8.6 with TCL/TK 8.4.1.
- Visit the Beta Versions page to see any errata for the Same Game running on MacOS.
- MacOS 9 Help is not yet available. The Same Game TCL/TK has not been tested on MacOS 9.
- TCL and TK are required to run the Same Game TCL/TK. Please see the TCL/TK section for help to update your system's versions of TCL and TK.
- To run the Same Game, first run the Wish shell in the TCL/TK folder. Then, from the Wish shell File menu, select Source file, and browse to the samegame.tcl file. Click OK to read the tcl file and run the game.
- You might need to use ResEdit or another utility to change the file type and creator on the samegame.tcl file, to be a plain text file, so that the Wish shell will be able to open the file. The file type should be "TEXT" and the creator should be "ttxt".
- The Same Game TCL/TK has been tested and it works on MacOS X with the ActiveTCL package installed. Startup time is slow, but it is fully functional.
- TCL and TK are required to run the Same Game TCL/TK. Please see the TCL/TK section for help to update your system's versions of TCL and TK.
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The goal of the game is to earn a high score and have fun doing it.
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Points are awarded for removing groups of pieces from the game board.
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A group of pieces consists of all same-type pieces that touch along their top, bottom, left, or right sides.
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Select a group of pieces by clicking the mouse once on any piece in the group. The entire group will highlight and the point value of the group will be shown in the status bar at the bottom.
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Cancel selection of a group by clicking on an unselected piece or on the green background.
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Remove a group of pieces by clicking on the highlighted group.
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After removal of a group, all remaining pieces fall down or left to fill the space occupied by the removed group. If an entire column is removed, all pieces to the right are shifted left.
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The game ends when no more groups of similar pieces can be removed.
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Your name can be entered in the high score table if you earned one of the top ten scores for the game board size you finished.
The Same Game TCL/TK (Linux/Mac/Windows) allows you to set your own keys. The default key settings are:
- N - New Game
- R - Replay Game
- L - Load Game
- A - Save Game
- Z - Undo
- U - Undo
- M - Maximize Window
- C - Count Pieces
- H - High Scores
- S - Sound on/off
- T - Next Theme
- K - Key Shortcuts
The Same Game for Windows uses the following preset keyboard commands. The keys cannot be changed.
- C - Count the number of each type of piece
- D - Toggle Demo mode on/off
- F - Find the largest group of pieces (same as mouse middle button)
- H - View the High Score table for the current size of game board
- M - Minimize the Same Game and change the Task Bar button to "Business
Report"
- N - Start a new game
- O - Open a saved game
- R - Replay the current game from the beginning
- S - Toggle Sound on/off
- U - Undo or back up a move
- V - View the High Score table
- X - Undo or back up a move
- Z - Zoom/dezoom game window to fill entire screen
- <ESC> - Minimize the game
- Space Bar - Select/Remove pieces under cursor
- Arrow Keys - Move mouse cursor to next piece in the given direction
- Mouse left button - Select/Remove pieces under cursor
- Mouse right button - Deselect pieces under cursor
- Mouse middle/wheel button - Find the largest group of pieces
- The About window shows my email address and web site location.
- Turn off sound to speed up game play.
- Larger groups of pieces are worth more points than multiple smaller groups. Try to create large groups to earn a better score.
- Plan your moves to make the largest possible groups of pieces. Larger groups will earn you a better score.
- Your game score receives a 25% bonus if you remove all pieces from the board.
- Don't be hesitant to use Undo or even Replay if you think you can get a better score with different sequence of moves. There is no penalty for using Undo or Replay.
- If your game score equals a score already on the high score table, your score is placed above the older score. This is designed to flush out old, hard-to-beat scores. Of course, you could always clear the high score table.
- Clearing a high score table erases the scores for only the table that is showing. Each high score table can be cleared without affecting the other tables.
- When upgrading to a new version of the Same Game, place the new Same Game in a new folder. The Same.sco (preferences and high scores) file is not compatible between versions.
- Register the Same Game. With your name, you can register the game and enable the saving of preferences, the game save feature, and Setup mode.
- Registration requires only your name and simply personalizes the game.
- In the About window, move your mouse cursor over the Email or Web links to highlight them. Click the Email link to copy my email address so you can paste it into your email program. Click the Web link to open your web browser and go to the Same Game web site.
- Use One-Click Mode to single-click a group of pieces to remove it. This saves lots of mouse clicks and should help keep your mousing arm from becoming tired.
- Larger groups of pieces are worth more points than multiple smaller groups. Try to create large groups to earn a better score.
- Turn off sound to speed up game play.
- Set the screen resolution to 800x600 or larger, and 16 bit color. Eight bit color will play noticably slower than 16 bit color.
- Plan your moves to make the largest possible groups of pieces. Larger groups will earn you a better score.
- Your game score receives a 25% bonus if you remove all pieces from the board.
- Don't be hesitant to use Undo or even Replay if you think you can get a better score with different sequence of moves. There is no penalty for using Undo or Replay.
- If your game score equals a score already on the high score table, your score is placed above the older score. This is designed to flush out old, hard-to-beat scores. Of course, you could always clear the high score table.
- Clearing a high score table erases the scores for only the table that is showing. Each high score table can be cleared without affecting the other tables.
- At any time during a game, open the Count window and double-click on the number under a piece. This will display an input box where you can specify how many of that type of piece you want in a game.
- The High Score table is saved in the plaint text file named samegame.scores. If the high score table ever becomes corrupted, simply delete the samegame.scores file. The file will be recreated the next time you play the Same Game and add to the high score table.
- The Same Game stores all of its preferences in the plain text file samegame.ini. You can edit this file with a text editor to change your saved preferences, or to restore the default color Themes.
- In the About window, click the bouncing box animation to make it stop/start moving.
- In the About window, you can control the horizontal direction of the bouncing box animation using the mouse cursor. Move the mouse towards one side of the window to shift the animation in that direction.
- In the New High Score window, click the wavy title animation to make it stop/start moving.
- After the game is registered, you can change the registration name by pressing <Ctrl>-R and enter a new registration name in the second box, then press Enter to change the registration name.
- In Setup mode, to change the value of a piece, pick it up, press a number (1 through 7), and click again to drop the new piece. This works only in Pick up-Drop Piece mode, not in Drag-n-Drop mode.
- In Setup mode, to change all game board pieces to a single type of piece, pick up a piece, press A, and click again. The type of piece you pick up will determine what all the pieces become. This works only in Pick up-Drop Piece mode, not in Drag-n-Drop mode.
- When you start a new game, open the Count window and double-click on the number under a piece. This will display an input box where you can specify how many of that type of piece you want in a game. The game will search up to 100 game boards for a game with at least that many pieces of that type.
- The High Score table, number of games played, and preferences are saved in the Same.sco file, located in the same directory as Same Game.exe. If the preferences or high score table ever becomes corrupted, simply delete the Same.sco file. The file will be recreated with default values the next time you start the Same Game.
- The Same Game does not make use of the Windows system registry. This has the advantage of allowing you to copy the Same Game to different computers while preserving the game settings. Simply copy the game executable and Same.sco (the high score tables and saved preferences).