Minebot Arena has the following minimum requirements.

Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
400MHz or faster processor (1GHz recommended)
32MB RAM (128MB recommended)
Direct X compatible video card with 8MB of Video RAM
Direct X compatible sound card
5MB hard drive space

Submitting and viewing high scores requires an active internet connection.

Instructions for the game can be found by clicking Instructions from the main menu.

You should be able to get the latest version of this game from www.zauron.net or from other sites that choose to host copies of it.

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Technical notes:

Using Minebot Arena With An Internet Firewall
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Minebot Arena requires access to the Internet through port 80 to retrieve and submit high scores. This should not be a problem with port-based firewalls (such as the Internet Connection Firewall, or Windows Firewall, built into Windows XP), as this is the same port used for HTTP (World Wide Web) requests. However, if you use a firewall that grants permissions based on the program and not on the port (ZoneLabs's ZoneAlarm is the most common of these), you will need to grant Minebot Arena permission to access the Internet if you plan to submit high scores or look at the high score list.

Here is how to configure ZoneAlarm to allow Minebot Arena to access the Internet:

1) Double-click the ZoneAlarm icon in the System Tray (the lower right corner of your screen) to open the Dashboard.
2) In the ZoneAlarm Dashboard, select Program Control in the left margin, then the Programs tab.
3) Click the Add button.
4) Navigate to where you have installed your Minebot.exe file, and click Open.
5) Minebot Arena will be added to the Programs list. Find "Minebot" in the list, click the question marks in the Access column, and change both to check marks (Allow).
6) Click the X in the upper right corner of the Dashboard to close it.

Minebot Arena should now freely be able to retrieve the high score list and submit your high scores to the Global Top 100 list.

Other firewall programs should have similar systems for giving programs access to the Internet.  See your firewall's documentation for details.

Proper Installation of Minebot Arena
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You must have the Minebot.exe program in a normal directory or on your Desktop in order for it to launch properly.  It may not launch if you try to directly open it from a web site or try to open it from within a .zip file.

Launching Minebot Arena in Windowed mode
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You can use the command line paramater -windowed to force the game run in windowed mode.  You can add this -windowed parameter to the end of the Target line in a shortcut to the game, or by making a .bat file that has the line

minebot.exe -windowed

Using Custom Music with Minebot Arena
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Although this is not officially supported, if you create a text file called custommusic.txt and place it in the same folder as Minebot Arena, you can add lines to the file that list song files to use instead of the ones in the game, and the game will use the files you list instead of its own.

You specify which songs to use by using the commands Title=song, Victory=song, GameOver=song, Boss=song, and Wave=song.  You can also use the line Randomize=1 if you want songs to cycle randomly instead of in order.

Here's an example of possible content of a custommusic.txt file:

Randomize=1
Title=mytitlesong.wav
Victory=victorymusic.mp3
GameOver=c:\musicfiles\theend.mid
Boss=c:\thatcoolsong.mod
Boss=bosstestsong.mid
Wave=music3.mp3
Wave=music4.mp3
Wave=music7.mp3
Wave=
Wave=

You can specify up to 80 wave= songs and up to 10 boss= songs, and 1 each of the rest.  The music files can be of any of the following formats: raw/mod/s3m/xm/it/mid/rmi/wav/mp2/mp3/ogg/wma/asf

Known Technical Issues and Solutions
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Minebot Arena has been known to have problems launching with certain visual themes in Windows XP.  If the game doesn't launch, try the following:

- Right-click on Minebot.exe and click Properties.
- Go to the Compatibility tab.
- Check the box for "Disable Visual Themes"
- Click OK and try the game again.

The game will not be able to display in full-screen mode on systems with multiple monitors.

Due to the sound engine being based on an older version of Direct X for compatibility with the most systems, Minebot Arena, like many older games, can sometimes completely lose sound if you alt-tab out of the game and start another program that plays music, such as Winamp or Windows Media Player.  If you start these programs before Minebot starts you should have no problems, but if you start them after the game is already running the game will stop playing any sounds until you quit and restart it.  This issue is unfortunately beyond my control since the sound engine was built-in with the language used to create the game and can't be modified.

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License and disclaimer agreement:

IMPORTANT - READ CAREFULLY

This license and disclaimer statement constitutes a legal agreement ("License Agreement") between you (either as an individual or a single entity) and Z-Ware (the "Author"), for this software product ("Software").

BY USING THIS SOFTWARE, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY ALL OF THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS LICENSE AND DISCLAIMER AGREEMENT.  If you do not agree with the terms and conditions of the agreement, you must promptly cease all use of the software and destroy all copies of this software in your possession or under your control.

This software is freeware.  You can use this software royalty-free for private and commercial purposes.

You can freely distribute copies of this software as long as no charge is raised except a reasonable fee for distribution costs.

You may not modify, reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the object code portions of this software.  You may, however, rename the program's executable file.

This software is provided "as is" and without any warranties expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, implied warranties of fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.  You expressly acknowledge and agree that use of the Software is at your sole risk.

In no event shall the author be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or other pecuniary loss) arising out of use of or inability to use this software, even if the author has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

If your locality does not allow these conditions, you are not granted permission to use this software.