  __  _   ____   ____    __  __  __       __   ___  ___  _ _  ___  ___  __ 
 |  \| | |  __| |  __|  |  ||  ||  |     |   \| _ || __|| | ||  _|| _ ||   \
 | \ \ | |  _|  |__  |  |  ||  ||  |     | | ||   ||__ ||   || |_ |   || | |
 |_|\__| |_|    |____|  |__||__||__|     |___||_|_||___||_|_||___||_|_||___|
---------------------------------------------- Need for Speed III DashCAD v1 -
5th March 1999                                              By Chris Barnard

DashCAD ver 1.1 by Chris Barnard

 Ok, I took a week off (well, about five days) from creating CarCAD to make
 this program, I reckon it's pretty much complete - no major bugs (that I know
 of) and a fairly straightforward user interface.

 To make use of this program, you will need the following files/programs.

   - MSVBVM50.DLL
   - QFS Editing Suite (available from camelot.warzone.com/hs3)
   - A VIV extraction program (also from camelot.warzone.com/hs3)

                          !!!READ THIS!!!ALL OF IT!!!
 Usage
 =====

 First, you'll have to extract the dash.qfs file using QFS2FSH and FSH2BMP.
 Then, load DashCAD and click on 'File'->'Load SHPI'. Find the directory you
 extracted dash.qfs to and click the 'ok' button. DashCAD will then load the
 data from the SHPI.DAT file into memory. If you haven't loaded the SHPI.DAT
 file before, you'll want to extract the masks from the file by clicking on
 the 'File'->'Extract Masks from SHPI' menu option. Make sure you do this
 before you try ANYTHING else, because you'll probably make the program crash
 if it can't find the masks (or at least, it won't work properly). DashCAD
 extracts all masking data from the file, and saves the masks to disk as BMPs
 in the same directory as the SHPI.DAT file, with filenames beginning with the
 letters 'SHPI'. These BMP files can be loaded into a paint program for
 editing, but DO NOT alter the size of the BMPs or change the format. After
 the masks have been extracted, the dashboard should be appear on the screen
 (make sure you still have all the other BMPs that FSH2BMP extracted). You can
 then  click on the objects in the list at the top left of the screen, to make
 them appear on the dashboard. To move an object (such as the steering wheel),
 simply click on it and drag the mouse - it'll move. The red circle defines
 the middle of the object (this is used by NFS3 to determine the point where
 the steering wheel should rotate around).
 To save changes, simply click on 'File'->'Save SHPI'. If you've changed the
 masks, you'll need to recompile the SHPI.DAT file by clicking on
 'File'->'Compile Masks to SHPI'. If all the mask files aren't there, it'll
 probably crash and mess up the SHPI.DAT file - you have been warned.

 If you've already extracted the SHPI.DAT mask bitmaps, then you'll just need
 to click on 'File'->'Load SHPI' to load and DashCAD should find the masks.

 Also, to edit the dials, click on the 'Edit'->'Dials' menu option. You'll
 then see the dials on the dashboard, and the dial coordinates should appear
 down the side.
 The dial variables have the following meaning:

   Dial Width: Width of the dials - DashCAD can do a *rough* representation
               of what the dials will look like in game, but when the dials
               get really thick, they do look kinda different when in NFSIII.
      MPH Max: Maximum MPH value on dials.
      RPM Max: Maximum RPM value / 1000. (eg 7 = 7000 RPM)

   The following values have a similar meaning for both the tachometer and
   speedo:

        X-Pos: X-Centre of dial
        Y-Pos: Y-Centre of dial
        X-Min: X Minimum rest point for dials (where MPH or RPM = 0)
        Y-Min: Y Minimum rest point for dials (where MPH or RPM = 0)
        X-Max: X Maximum rest point for dials (where MPH = MPH Max, or RPM)
        Y-Max: Y Maximum rest point for dials (where MPH = MPH Max, or RPM)

 That's it, really. I don't plan to update this program much further, but
 there are a number of issues that could be improved, if I get some more time
 or feedback (tell me to improve it, and I might).
 One last piece of advice I can give you is that this program has only been
 tested with a limited number of dashes - it should work fine so long as you
 only stick to editing dashboards with the program; don't expect DashCAD to
 work if you attempt to edit SHPI.DAT files that are not from dashboard FSH
 files - they may contain data DashCAD can't interpret.

 Anyway, address any feedback, comments or general compliments to:

          bitsandpieces@btinternet.com

 Also, look out for new versions of this program, and my main project -
 NFSIII CarCAD on my website:

          HTTP://www.btinternet.com/~bitsandpieces/nfs3

 History
 =======
 v1.1  7th Mar 1999
     - Minor bugfixes

 v1.0  5th Mar 1999
     - First release


 Disclaimer
 ==========
 Use this program at your own risk - I am not responsible for any damage
 it causes!

 This program is freeware - it may not be distributed without my prior
 permission.


 Thanks for taking the time to download DashCAD, hope you like it!

 Chris Barnard
