*********************-= Team Eternity Presents =-*************************

                         The Eternity Engine

                            Version: 3.29
                        Release: Public Beta 2

                    Coded by: James "Quasar" Haley
                    
      Based on SMMU - "Smack My Marine Up" by Simon "Fraggle" Howard
      
      Special Thanks To: Lee Killough, Matt Denham, Aurikan, DooMWiz,
           Colin Phipps, Fraggle, Nemesis, Carnevil, Randy Heit, 
                              and SoM

**************************************************************************

DISCLAIMER:

This software is covered by NO WARRANTY, implicit or otherwise, including
the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular
purpose. The authors of this software accept no responsibility for any ill
effects caused by its use and will not be held liable for any damages, even
if they have been made aware of the possibility of these damages.

This version of the Eternity Engine is a *PUBLIC BETA* and, despite our best
efforts to ensure it functions properly, may contain some bugs that could cause 
undesired behavior during game play. If the game should crash or malfunction 
during operation, it is requested that the user record the nature and 
circumstances of the crash and attempt to isolate the cause of the crash, and 
report it to the author at the following email address:

haleyjd@hotmail.com

Bug reports and feature requests will be appreciated.

**** FEATURES ****

Eternity is the newest source port to inherit the banner of BOOM. Descended
from MBF, it attempts to carry on the effort to put editability, reliability,
and compatibility FIRST. From SMMU it also gains the momentum to give the player
new options rather than dictate DOOM purity.

While Eternity lacks certain "snazz" features such as sloping floors, room-
over-room, and OpenGL graphics, we feel it more than makes up for them in what
it DOES have.

Eternity includes FULL BOOM compatibility, as well as most features added in
MBF and SMMU (exceptions include MBF's beta emulation support which is not
included, and SMMU v3.30's thing script area). In addition, Eternity adds many
more, including these:

* TerrainTypes
  
  Effects that can be triggered by an object hitting the floor. These are
  editable by the user and can be associated with any flat. The TerrainEd
  utility can be used to generate a TERTYPES lump which can be inserted into
  your wad.
  
* New Thing Flags

  Multiple new effects can be achieved by placing flags in the Bits2 field of
  things in a DeHackEd or BEX patch. These flags are covered in ETCDEH.TXT.
  
* Helper Specification

  By using a [HELPER] block in a DeHackEd or BEX file you can easily specify
  the type of helper creature the player has when using the -dogs command-line
  parameter.
  
* New Code Pointers, Frames, and Things

  Eternity adds dozens of code pointers, things, and frames for use in DeHackEd
  that can make DeHackEd possibilities expand, including the StartScript pointer
  which allows things to call FraggleScript code, allowing the author to make
  his own effects from scratch. The possibilities here are endless!
  
* Extensions to FraggleScript

  Eternity includes a large and growing number of features that extend the
  FraggleScript scripting language. Up to 256 scripts can now be defined for
  each level, things have access to scripts via the StartScript pointer, numerous
  new functions for all types of purposes exist, and more.
  
* Custom Sound Substitution Per Level
  
  Through the SMMU map header information, Eternity can specify custom sounds
  for environmental actions independently for each level. This allows levels of
  multiple themes to co-exist in the same TC or megawad without need for large
  clumsy lumps of data.
  
* Double Skies and Lightning

  Eternity has special features for skies including double skies which allow
  one sky to be drawn transparently on top of another and allowing both to scroll
  without use of scrolling linedefs, and lightning, which when enabled, causes
  flashes of light and appropriate sounds in all sky sectors on a level.
  
* Full Keybinding System
  
  Based on but more powerful than SMMU v3.30's keybinding system, Eternity
  can rebind most keys in the game (those which are not bindable can still be
  set through the config file). KEYS.CSC file contains default bindings and
  can be edited by the user if desired.
  
* Bug Fixes

  This port has addressed all known issues in SMMU v3.21, as well as many
  bugs from MBF and even original DOOM. This includes all of the fixes from
  Colin Phipps' PRBoom port, which enable more robust demo compatibility and
  better memory usage.


I'm certain to have left out some cool things, so check all the editing docs
for more information!

**** COMING SOON ****

These are features planned to debut in future versions of the Eternity Engine:

* User-specifiable console scripts
* Polyobjects
* Extended map format for Hexen fields that does not require a conversion
  utility like zwadconv -- backwardly compatible solution.
* Sound Sequences
* Camera Control Scripts
* Dialog Sequences
* More TerrainTypes
* else/elseif keywords for FraggleScript
* Fully-functioning Hub System (currently disabled due to bugs, sorry)
* Special Heretic Edition


**** Revision History ****************************************************

3.29 Public Beta 2 01/09/01

* Fixed mouse buttons - problem was leftover code in I_GetEvent() that
  caused the mouse button variables to never be asserted - code was
  unreachable because of an assignment of the variable buttons to 
  lastbuttons.
  
3.29 Public Beta 1 01/08/01

* Initial Release

