BOXES V3.02


 



 
 
 
 

Installation
Copyrights
Delivery contents
Uninstallation
F.A.Q.
History

1) Installation

This game can be installed on Windows 10 (as well as on Windows Vista/7/8 et Windows Server 2008/2012/2016/2019). To do that you have to download "installBoxesV3_us.exe" from http://merourlair.free.fr/sokoban.html and start it.Running this game requires the presence on your computer of the english version of 'Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package (x86)' that you can download from the same site or from the Microsoft site: https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=29 (very fast installation, takes very little hard disk space). This redistributable may be already installed on your computer, in which case the installation will offer you to repair or uninstall the package, you will then just have to cancel the installation.

If you have already installed a previous version of the game, the installation program will detect it and will offer you to recover your user data in the new version (see paragraph FAQ).

Note: if you want to install Boxes on a machine and transfer to this machine the data and configurations (concerning Boxes) that you had on another machine, refer to question 2 of paragraph: F.A.Q.
 

2) Copyrights

Copyright © 2000-2021 of this freeware: Gilles Mérour
Sokoban was invented by Thinking Rabbit Inc. Japan

Copyrights of the level sets belong to:

- Thinking Rabbit Inc. Japan
for the level set: Thinking Rabbit (Thinking_Rabbit.dat)

- Joseph L. Traub
for the level set: Extra Collection (Extra_Collection.dat)

- David Skinner (mailto: sasquatch@bentonrea.com, web site: http://users.bentonrea.com/~sasquatch/sokoban/)
for the level sets: Microban, Mas Microban, Sasquatch Levels, Mas Sasquatch Levels, Sasquatch III Levels, Sasquatch IV Levels, Sasquatch V, Sasquatch VI and Sasquatch VII (Microban.dat, Mas Microban.txt, Sasquatch_Levels.txt, Mas_Sasquatch_Levels.txt, Sasquatch_III_Levels.txt, Sasquatch_IV_Levels.txt, Sasquatch V.txt, Sasquatch VI.txt and Sasquatch VII.txt)

- Jacques Duthen (mailto: duthen@club-internet.fr, web site: http://perso.club-internet.fr/duthen/sokoban/)
for the level sets: Dimitri & Yorick Collection and Sokogen-990602 Levels (Dimitri_&_Yorick_Collection.txt and Sokogen-990602_Levels.txt)

- David Holland (mailto: david@clickfest88.freeserve.co.uk, web site: http://www.clickfest88.freeserve.co.uk/)
for the level sets: DH1, DH2, Maelstrom, Bagatelle and Cantrip (DH_I.txt, DH_II.txt, Maelstrom.txt, Bagatelle.txt and Cantrip.txt)

- Evgeny Grigoriev (mailto : grigr@yandex.ru, web site : http://grigr.narod.ru)
for the level sets: Grigr2001, Grigr2002 and GrigrSpecial.txt (Grigr2001.txt, Grigr2002.txt and GrigrSpecial.txt)

- Aymeric du Peloux (mailto : aymeric.du-peloux@gadz.org, web site : http://membres.lycos.fr/nabokos)
for the level sets: Minicosmos, Microcosmos, Nabokosmos, Picokosmos, Cosmopoly and Cosmonotes (Minicosmos.txt, Microcosmos.txt, Nabokosmos.txt, Picokosmos.txt, Cosmopoly.txt and Cosmonotes.txt)

This program is a freeware i.e. its download and use are free. You can also redistribute it but as is without modifications. You are not allowed to sell this software without my written permission.
 

3) Delivery contents

in current folder:

boxes.exe: executable
cheers.wav: sound file
move.wav: sound file
push.wav: sound file
boxes.chm: help concerning the game and its functionalities (can be accessed from the "Help" menu)
readme.doc: description of the delivery contents (can be accessed from the "Help" menu)
boxes.ini: configuration/initialization file
boxes.dat: configuration/initialization file
in "screens" folder, 27 level sets: Thinking_Rabbit.dat: set of 50 levels copyright Thinking Rabbit Inc. Japan
Extra_Collection.dat: set of 40 levels copyright Joseph L. Traub
Microban.dat: set of 155 levels copyright David Skinner
Mas Microban.txt: set of 135 levels copyright David Skinner
Sasquatch_Levels.txt: set of 50 levels copyright David Skinner
Mas_Sasquatch_Levels.txt: set of 50 levels copyright David Skinner
Sasquatch_III_Levels.txt: set of 50 levels copyright David Skinner
Sasquatch_IV_Levels.txt: set of 50 levels copyright David Skinner
Sasquatch V.txt: set of 50 levels copyright David Skinner
Sasquatch VI.txt: set of 50 levels copyright David Skinner
Sasquatch VII.txt: set of 50 levels copyright David Skinner
Dimitri_&_Yorick_Collection.txt: set of 61 levels copyright Jacques Duthen
Sokogen-990602_Levels.txt: set of 78 levels copyright Jacques Duthen
DH_I.txt: set of 10 levels copyright David Holland
DH_II.txt: set of 10 levels copyright David Holland
Maelstrom.txt: set of 20 levels copyright David Holland
Bagatelle.txt: set of 32 levels copyright David Holland
Cantrip.txt: set of 33 levels copyright David Holland
Grigr2001.txt: set of 100 levels copyright Evgeny Grigoriev
Grigr2002.txt: set of 40 levels copyright Evgeny Grigoriev
GrigrSpecial.txt: set of 40 levels copyright Evgeny Grigoriev
Minicosmos.txt: set of 40 levels copyright Aymeric du Peloux
Microcosmos.txt: set of 40 levels copyright Aymeric du Peloux
Nabokosmos.txt: set of 40 levels copyright Aymeric du Peloux
Picokosmos.txt: set of 20 levels copyright Aymeric du Peloux
Cosmopoly.txt: set of 22 levels copyright Aymeric du Peloux
Cosmonotes.txt: set of 20 levels copyright Aymeric du Peloux
Total of preinstalled levels: 1336


 4) Uninstallation

Start Menu, Parameters, Configuration panel, Add/Suppress programs.


 5) F.A.Q.

Question: I have a very old version of the game. Will the installation program detect my version and handle my old configuration?
Answer: Yes, if you have already installed a previous version of the game, the first time you will launch the program after its installation, it will detect this former version and will offer you to recover the potential level sets you had installed, your potential saved games and your time performances on previous games. If you accept, these data will be automatically copied in the new version, note that the program won't uninstall the former version. If you want the former version to be uninstalled, you will have to do it yourself (Configuration panel, Programs and Features).

Question: I bought a new computer. How can I transfer my data and configurations concerning Boxes from my old machine (it must be a V3 version) to my new machine?
Answer: Before installing Boxes on your new machine, create the boxesV3 folder in the %ProgramData% folder of your new machine, transfer the contents of the %ProgramData%\boxesV3 (with all its files and subfolders) from your old machine to the newly created folder, install Boxes on your new machine and start the game.

 

6) History

V3.02 2021/08/18

- Correction concerning the restoration of a saved game: the screen that was displayed proposed a saved file name whose beginning was truncated V3.01 2021/04/12 - Corrections in the installation: the DLL?s are no more installed (they were actually not used), a sokoban icon has been added
- The welcome screen now displays in its entirety the first level of the Thinking rabbit level set
V3.00 2021/03/14 - Sometimes one couldn't view the level files, this has been corrected by using configuration files located in %ProgramData% (these files were previously located in %ProgramFiles(X86)%).
- The installation of BoxesV3 is now performed using WIX (Windows Installer XML) instead of InstallShield previously.
- The type of level sets such that one level set consists in several files, one by level, is no more supported. Supporting this type, which was probably little or not used, brought much useless complexity to the code. Each level set now consists in a single file located in %ProgramData%\screens containing all its levels. During migrations from Boxes V2 to Boxes V3, the unsupported level sets are automatically converted into "monofile" level sets.
- The program is now generated by Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 (instead of Microsoft Visual Studio 2005)
V2.45 2007/09/26 - 3 new level sets: Cosmopoly and Cosmonotes by Aymeric du Peloux and GrigrSpecial by Evgeny Grigoriev
- Boxes help now uses the HTML format instead of the WinHelp format which is not supported by Windows Vista (boxes.hlp is replaced by boxes.chm)
- Correction of the reading problem with the files containing levels separated by one or several blank lines
- Improved detection of erroneous levels
- Correction of the uninstallation
V2.44 2007/04/14 - Much more moves can now be memorized during a game as well as in a saving file (there were issues with levels which needed a huge amount of moves)
- Miscellaneous corrections
V2.43 2007/01/27 - You can more easily view the files of a multifile level set
- Some dialog boxes have been improved
- Miscellaneous corrections
V2.42 2006/04/19 - Correction of the time display which was slow when replaying a game
- Correction of the following problem: after using an arrow key to push a box, undoing this move and using again the arrow key to push the same box, the man was displayed as pushing the box in the opposite direction
V2.41 2006/01/29 - Correction of the headings of the columns "Moves" and "Pushes" of the 2 "Performances" dialog boxes which were reversed in the english version
- The function "Replay the moves" now just replays the moves until the moment when the player has started the function. If some moves have been undone before the player started the function, they are thus not replayed
- The "Speed" dialog box has been improved
V2.40 2005/09/15 - When the user resolves a level, passes to the next level then comes back to the previous one during the same session, he now automatically (without using the Restore command) retrieves the level in its resolved state that is as it was when he had left it
- The Restore command now firstly proposes the solution file (if it exists) that matches the current level
- Miscellaneous corrections
V2.39 2005/04/26 - A new level set is added: Sasquatch VII by David Skinner (50 levels)
- The configuration files are now in the installation directory
- Slight improvements in the documentation and in the GUI
V2.38 2005/03/29 - New bitmap format larger for high resolution display V2.37 2004/11/20 - Modifications in menues
- Miscellaneous corrections
V2.36 2004/11/12 - Correction in the display of move and push counts when the user had just redone all the moves and the timer was not displayed
- You can now change level set using the window that lists all the sets
- Miscellaneous mdifications to facilitate the port of the configuration files: boxes.ini and boxes.dat on another machine. Most of the configuration parameters now use relative rather than absolute paths
V2.35 2004/10/16 - Modification of the the background color of the dialog boxes when the game runs under Windows XP V2.34 2004/01/25 - A new level set is added: Grigr2002.txt by Evgeny Grigoriev
- Display of the list of the level sets
- Modification of the performance display
- Corrections in the display of the move/push numbers
- Miscellaneous corrections
V2.33 2004/01/10 - 8 level sets were added: 3 by David Skinner, 1 by Evgeny Grigoriev and 4 by Aymeric du Peloux
- The maximum size of the levels changes from 30x20 to 100x100
- New bitmap format littler than the 2 others so as to display large size levels
- Resizable window
- Miscellaneous corrections
V2.32 2002/12/10 - Correction of a crash occurring while the user played a level that he had just completed V2.31 2002/12/04 - David Holland's level sets have been added
- The Replay the moves command can now be interrupted
- The author and title of the current level are now displayed in the status bar if they appear in the level set file. They are also displayed in the level properties window with a comment on the level
- Speed can be tuned for playing as well as for undoing, redoing and replaying
- Menues were improved
- Miscellaneous corrections
V2.30 2002/10/20 - Improvement of the graphics: larger number of colors, slightly less bright colors
- New functionality: Replay moves
V2.29 2002/09/19 - Correction of the problem of the score recording on Windows 95/98 : after boxes.ini's size had reached 64K bytes, the program didn't record the scores anymore. The scores are now recorded in a new file that is no more handled as an initialization file
- The help file and "Readme" file icons are suppressed, they were useless
- Miscellaneous improvements and corrections
V2.28 2002/05/09 - Improvement of the addition of series, of the identification and of the extension mode V2.27 2002/04/05 - Correction of online help calls V2.26 2002/03/26 - Simplification of the addition of series of levels: the level marks are no more used V2.25 2002/03/15 - On line help
- The function that adds new series of levels has been rewritten and is now much easier to use
- Timer is now suspended when a dialog box is displayed
- Miscellaneous improvements and corrections
V2.24 2001/07/11 - Level save files that do not correspond to any series known by the program can now be restored
- Improved display of "Scores" and "Performances"
V2.23 2001/06/27 - The save file names of completed levels are no more the same as the ones proposed by the "Save..." function
- New button "Redo all moves"
- 2 new options
V2.22 2001/04/18 - Correction of display of certain levels (2 and 41 from Sasquatch for ex.)
- Accelerated display of levels containing many boxes
- 2 background colors : green or blue
V2.21 2001/04/04 - More recent version of Microban level set with 155 levels V2.20 2001/03/31 - To add a series of levels, you now just have to enter its series name and file name (if the series contains as many files as levels, the file name of the first level must be entered)
- 4 series of levels by David Skinner and 2 by Jacques Duthen have been added
- correction of an error in Thinking_Rabbit2.dat
V2.19 2000/12/16 - The directory "users" was not always created when the user tried to save a terminated level
- Modifications on keyboard shortcuts
V2.18 2000/11/25 - Saving of levels in progress was added
- "Options" dialog box was added
- Display of saving places was added
- Possible use of left button to move and right button to push
V2.17 2000/11/04 - Completed levels can now be easily saved
- Miscellaneous corrections (time display, ...)
- Miscellaneous improvements (dialog boxes, status bar, ...)
V2.16 2000/09/17 - First delivery of the English version
- Correction of problem concerning the menu item description display
V2.15 2000/05/03 - First delivery on the net of the French version