--------------------     --------                              |----|        /-------------|
|                  |     |      |                              |    |       /              |
|                  |     |      |                              |    |      /               |
------|    |--------     |      |                              |    |      |     /----------
      |    |             |      |                              |    |      |    /
      |    |             |      |                              |    |      |    |
      |    |             |      |                              /    |      |    |
      |    |             |      |                             /     |      |    |
      |    |             |      |                            /      |      |    \
      |    |             |      |                           /      /       \     \
      |    |             |      |--------------      |-------     /         \     ---------|
      |    |             |                    |      |           /           \             |
      |    |he           |                    |ast   |          /ust          \            |ause
      ------             ---------------------|      |----------               \-----------|

Table Of Contest:

1-1  Legal Stuff...
1-2  Intro
2-1  History
2-2  About the game, what you should know when judging this game
2-3  How to play the game
2-4  Troubleshooting
3-1  Thanks to.....
3-2  Last Minute Notes

1-1 Legal Stuff...

All work in this Read Me and TLJC application is for personal use only!   You may not, place any of the my work (FAQ, TLJC game, etc.), in a public place, including, but not limited to; a web page, presentation, e-mail, or an FTP*.  Please do not edit any of my work as since it would be against my copyright.  If you receive an unwanted damage due to this file, or TLJC applications, I am not responsible.  No distribution of my program, FAQ or any other data related to TLJC will be permitted, unless otherwise stated (So no give people my game, TLJC!).  Please do enjoy this wonderful things, and don't abuse them. If you have any questions, please feel free to E-mail me at noobsa44[at]aol[dot]com.   If you see someone breaking this agreement, please E-mail me (yes I may give a small reward).  No Spam please. 

*This of course does not include the IF Archive and anyone related to them.....

1-2 Intro:

Hi, my name is Noob, an I will be your guide in the wonderful adventure that you are about to take....  Now don't be shy, I'll help you through the whole trip.... or at least I will try to help you out.  Anyhow, I guess I should start with some basic rules......

1. When the question asks for a number, give it the number in number form (i.e. Don't type three; type 3).

2. Don't play this game in full screen mode if possible (you can maximize it, but it has not been as well tested in full screen mode).

3. Don't use discs to play the game since it has problems saving and loading [saved] games when using a disc.

4. Try to have some fun with this game...  While it deals with some serious topics (for example: Are humans fit to live on earth?), it also tries to make fun of it's self once in a while.

5. REPLAY THIS GAME!!!  The more you play through it, the more likely you are to see all four endings.

6. Note that this is only the RE, Regular Edition....  The reason that this version lacks some features that the SE version has, is so that I can have a friend produce this game for other systems.  

Ok, Now that I have laid a few ground rules, let's start talking about TLJC's History!!!!!!


2-1 History:

While this project was originally only going to take a week or two, it ended up taking a year, to the exact date!  In fact the plan started out as just a programming exercise, and then it came to me....  and The Last Just Cause was born!  And now we know what abortion is all about.... err.......never mind... (J/K, please don't take me too seriously...).  Over the months I have added things that I never thought I could do (and some that I really didn't do...).  I have added my own save/load system, printing system, game of cards and more!  This project has been a real learning experience....

2-2 What you should know when judging the game.....

While I am not asking for slack, I think that effort should count for something, so I want you to hear me out......

* This game was all hand coded, meaning that it doesn't use an interpreter.  That means EVERY OPTION CREATED WAS MADE BY ME!  While this gives me more power in my ability to do diverse things, it also limits me to my own knowledge of programming.....  

*This is my first [full] text adventure, so what I have done is without any really experience in programming, more-less programming text adventures.

2-3 How to play the game:

While this game is fairly easy to play, it is probably in your best interest to read this section.  While I have created a full fledged FAQ for the game, this is just to give you some basic idea of what you are doing...

*DON'T USE CAPITALS, THEY DON'T WORK IN THIS GAME.......

*It is safer to just use a windowed DOS screen than to reboot the computer into DOS mode.  In fact, this game has not really been tested in DOS mode (at least not as much as in a dos window).

*This game can be played on: Windows 3.1,95, 98, ME, and possibly 2000, XP, and plain old DOS.  It has not been tested on 2000, XP or plain DOS, so I am unsure if it would work in those environments.  As far as Windows NT, Unix, Mac's etc. sorry, your just out of luck unless... you find/have a dos emulator for your OS.

*Keep all parts of the game in the same directory.  Don't put TLJC Part 1 and TLJC Part 2 in separate folders.

*Almost everything you do uses just one word at a time, but you can type more than one word at a time......  For example:  You could type: "use"<ENTER>"matches" or you could type "use matches move north"<ENTER>  However, the bad thing about using lines of commands is that the game will not pause between most commands, and if you make a typo in any part of the line of commands you may have to retype it.  So, unless you have played the game for a little while, it is best that you just do one word at a time.

*There are only a few limited words you can use.  My game use a comparatively limited vocab...  So I recommend that you use look at this list often....

It is very simple..... the word on the right margin is the initial word.  The word that are tabbed in are the secondary word.  For example, if you wish to use the lamp, you can't type "lamp" but you can type "use" <ENTER> "lamp" <ENTER>.
Part 1:
use	
	lamp
	matches
	match
	coat
	sword
	warp
	key
	crest

move *or* go -NOTE: You don't need to type in move to move, you can just type "n", etc
	e
	n
	w
	s
	west
	east
	north
	south
	up - don't waste your time with up, down, etc.  They just ask for n,s,e or w.
	down
	right
	left

pickup *or* search -NOTE-some things are used (after being picked up) by just typing the word in.
NOTE 2: search is sometimes required to pick something up, but pickup is not.
	map
	babe
	sword
	key
	coat
light - just like "use matches," works the same way and all!
	lamp
	matches
	match

poop -don't ask and I won't tell...  try it.. it is funny....to some people.
help -get some help for the game, really just a list of key words.
about -about the game, author, etc.
password - change your password
swim - you have to swim to get the crest...


look -so that if you want to see if anything has changed in the room (a.k.a. reactions to things you have done in a room to change it).
items -a list of items you have.... Kinda like hitting pause in a game.
q -to quit the game.
quit- same as q.
save-saves the game.
load-load a game off the hard drive.
options -allow you to change some things in the game, such as text speed, color, players name.
your
	mom -again, don't ask....
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 2:

move or go-NOTE: You don't need to type in move to move, you can just type "n", etc
	e
	n
	w
	s
	west
	east
	north
	south
	up - don't waste your time with up, down, etc.  They just ask for n,s,e or w.
	down
	right
	left
use
	match
	matches
drop
	bomb - you have to drop a bomb on each island.
	bombs
bomb - find out how many bombs you have left!
bombs - same as bomb
help - again, just a basic list of words you can use.
about -about the game, author, etc.
password-change your password
q -to quit the game.
quit- same as q.
save-saves the game.
load-load a game off the hard drive.
options -allow you to change some things in the game, such as text speed, color, players name.
your
	mom -again don't ask....

Sticks and stone may break your bones, but some "bad words" may really hurt you!  Don't use them in the game, they really aren't edifying, and they do hurt people, including yourself.


*Almost every action causes a reaction.  I have tried to insure that EVERYTHING IMPORTANT that you do, causes some sort of reaction.  For example, killing Dark Frye will give you some energy, but it will also cause you to lose the chance to play "Black Jack."  In fact killing DF has more effects, they just are not mention due to spoilers...

*You can, and should backup your save file, but you can't do it through my game....  You have to go to windows explorer, find the location of the game/save (use windows search tool, and type "TLJC.dat" if you are unsure of it's location), and then copy and paste the save (TLJC.dat) it. You will now have a file called "Copy of TLJC.dat"  If your save becomes corrupted, all you have to do is simply rename the file to "TLJC.dat".

2-4 Troubleshooting

Q: I have played all the way through part 1, beat it, saw that it said "File Saved," yet when I start to play part 2, it will not load the save.  Why?

A: Well, this could be caused by several reasons.... It could be caused by the fact that part 1 and 2 are in separate folders.  If they are in separate folders, you have two options.  You can copy everything from the one folder to the other so that they (as in- TLJC_Part1.exe, TLJC_Part2.exe, and TLJC.dat) are all in the same folder.  OR you could just copy the TLJC.dat to the folder that contains Part 2's .exe.  Really, it is just wisest that you keep ALL of your TLJC files together.

A:  Another possibility is that you didn't press enter after seeing the ending and so you closed out of the program BEFORE it got a chance to save the game.  To test if this is true, simply start TLJC Part 1, and when/if it asks you to load your game, answer yes, and see if it says anything to the effect of "Sorry, you can't play TLJC Part 1 with a TLJC Part 2 save!"  If it doesn't even mention loading your game, then it can not find the save file, which means that this is most likely your problem.  If it gives you the "Sorry, you can't play TLJC Part 1 with TLJC Part 2 save!" error, then you know this is not your problem.  If it doesn't, give an error, and loads your game, then it never got a chance to finish saving the game.

A:  The save file corrupted.  While I hate to say it, every once in a while, a save file will corrupt, causing the save not to work.  The only way to fix this problem is to start over again, and just save over the top of the old save file..... Of course if you were smart and backup your save, then maybe you can start the game from the last place you back up the save.

Q: How do I know if I have the Regular Edition or Special Edition?

A: At the title, it should read "V. 1.xx SE" or "V. 1.xx RE". If it says "SE" then its the Special Edition.  If not, you got the Regular Edition.  By the way, if you bought the game, you should have SE.

Q: I started playing the game, and when I was asked a question which gave the options to press one or two, I type "two" and then the game got all weird....  Why?

A: While I have attempted to make this game stupid proof, I am not a perfect programmer.  While most questions will accept the answer "two," some REQUIRE a number for an answer.  SO, to be safe, answer all questions with the number "2" instead of typing it out.  I have also found that SOMETIMES the weird affects will go away after playing the game for a while.  However, I would suggest you be smart and just restart the game and load your save game.

Q: I have tried "pickup the sword" but it doesn't seem to work.  Why?

A: While their are some words that are not mentioned in the word list, they are few and far between.  In fact, all the words that are not mentioned are just words that are used to so that people don't have to look at the word list every two seconds.  For example, you could type in "examine" instead of "look" but they still do EXACTLY the same thing.  I should note that MOST of the words used in my game ARE verbs, with little sentence structure.  Since "the" is not needed to make sense (even if it doesn't make a sentence), I removed it.  In fact, I have removed 95% of all words that are not need to make sense!  However, if you think that their should be other words in my game's vocabulary, please feel free to drop me a line at: noobsa44@aol.com!

Q: Darn, I saved the game after it went weird.  Will this mess up my save?

A: While I can't say for sure, it is 95% likely that it did.....  Sorry, you'll just have to restart your game....  Again, you may be able to ride out the glitches, and it may fix its self, but I would just start over...  Sorry. =(

Q: Why is does my game come up with an "illegal operation" when I try to save?

A: Are you using a disc or CD?  IF you are, my game has some trouble saving to discs, and is not able to interface with CDR software to burn a save file onto the CDR.  Just be smart, copy this game to your hard drive!  It is less than a megabyte in size, including FAQ, Read Me, Games and a save!

Q: I got a illegal operation during the game... it said something about a divide by zero...  Why?

A: OH NO!  I though I had fixed all the divide by zero glitches.  Please let me know when this happened.  IF you have a save file before this happened, that may also be useful.  Thanks!

Q: When using the Rainbow text, I sometimes have words that are in all one color.  When I enter in words, they are also in just one color.  Why?

Q: While playing the game the Rainbow text changed into just one color.  Why and how do I fix it?

A: As far as Rainbow text is concerned, I designed (and was to a degree, forced) it to show key, changing words in JUST ONE COLOR.  Why?  It is so that those words catch the players eye.  As far as words you enter being one color.....  Well, I was looking into trying to make Rainbow text you entered.... But I never got it to work.  As far as Rainbow changing and stay just one color, it is a glitch that shows up once in a blue moon.  As far as I can tell, it is not due to my programming, but due to how C/C++ is designed.  To change it, just type in the word "options" and you can choose to change the color back to Rainbow.

Q: Will you add "X" feature in TLJC?

Q: Will you make a game for me?

Q: Will you give me your C(++) code?

A: No (well... maybe, I'll take suggestions...), No, and NO (unless you pay me $$$)!

Q: Are there any questions I have missed?  

A: Yeah, so I think I will E-mail noob at: noobsa44@aol.com with my question....

3-1 Thanks to...

* All the Mikes who worked on the project....
* Cousin Dave
* Double J (yes, he is a really person.... or so he has me believe...)
* Dark Frye(97)
* Ben Magazin-0
* My Dog, Blue
* Jeremy (as in me!)
* Brian the Brain
* Mr. Dyke
* Sega Saturn Shiro
* My Mom
* UGTZ.com
* Stephen Granade
* Word 97(R).... and Good old Bill G.
* Christopher Rydberg
* and anyone else I forgot to mention (E-mail me at Noobsa44@aol.com if I forgot you...)

3-2 Last Minute Notes:

Actually the FAQ should be included with this game.... But it maybe dated, so I would recommend that you can visit my site at: http://www.geocities.com/thelastjustcause/ and go to the random stuff section.

If my E-mail address does not work, try going to my website and see if maybe it has changed (which may happen soon since I am going to be moving soon).

Due to the new (at least to me) requirements as far as file names go, I have renamed TLJC Part 1 to TLJCP1.  Part two has the same changes except it uses a 2.
