Tangrams Custom Puzzle Packs

Once you have registered all three retail Puzzle Packs for Tangrams, you will have access to the custom puzzle pack feature, which allows you to create unlimited puzzle packs, and use custom puzzle packs created by others.

NOTE: You must register all 3 retail puzzle packs before you will be able to use the cutom puzzle packs provided below.

1. Download a puzzle pack from the following list:

ABCs&123s

2. Unzip the puzzle pack, and copy the contents (.tdb file) to the My Documents folder on your PocketPC.

3. Run YanCEyWare Tangrams and Select Puzzles.. from the Game Menu.

4. Select Custom Pack from the Puzzle Browser's drop down menu.  

5. Click OK, or double click any puzzle to leave the Puzzle Browser.

6. If you have made changes to the current custom puzzle pack you wish to keep, save your changes using the Save As... option on the Custom menu.  custom puzzle pack's will be saved in the My Documents folder.

7. Select Load... from the Custom menu and choose the custom puzzle pack you wish to load.

Tangrams Help and Tips

1. Recovering Storage Space on Your PocketPC
2. What are  Bitmaps and Textures?
3. Creating your own Bitmaps and Textures?
4. Using the Custom Puzzle Pack feature.
5. How do I reset the times for a puzzle pack?
6. How do Hints Work?

Recovering Storage Space on Your PocketPC

/Program Files/YanCEyWare/Tangrams/Bitmaps

/Program Files/YanCEyWare/Tangrams/Textures

or

/Storage Card/YanCEyWare/Tangrams/Bitmaps

/Storage Card/YanCEyWare/Tangrams/Textures 

If you remove an image that is currently selected to be used by Tangrams, you may need to go to the Settings... menu and adjust the settings the next time you run Tangrams.  Be carefull to only remove files found in the Bitmaps & Textures subdirectories.  Removing other files in the Tangrams directory may have unpredictable results.  

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What are Textures and Bitmaps?

Textures and Bitmaps are used to customize the look and feel of YanCEyWare Tangrams.  You can use the sample bitmaps and textures included with Tangrams, or you can create your own.  

Bitmaps may be used as either a foreground or a background image.  The effect of using bitmaps as a background image is fairly straight foreword.  The bitmap creates the backdrop on which the game will be played.  This is very similar to setting the background image on your desktop PC. 

 When a bitmap is used as a foreground image, the effect is not as obvious.  In this case, the contents of the bitmap image are only displayed at the location of each of the tiles.  As you move the tiles, the appearance of the tiles change to reflect the contents of the bitmap at the new tile location.  This gives somewhat of an x-ray effect, where the tiles allow the contents of the foreground image to show through the current background image (or color).  If you select the exact same image for both the foreground and the background, you will not be able to see the game tiles.  

Textures may be used only for the foreground.   Unlike bitmaps, when using textures for the foreground, the appearance of the tiles does not change as you move them.  The texture is actually overlaid onto the tiles.  As the tiles move, the texture moves with it.  In addition, if you rotate the tile, the texture will rotate with it.  This gives the tiles a little bit more of that 'real-world object' look and feel.

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Creating your own Bitmaps & Textures

All textures and bitmaps used by YanCEyWare Tangrams are standard windows bitmaps.  However, there are certain restrictions on the size and format of these bitmaps.

The only restriction on a bitmap is that it must be 240 pixels wide by 280 pixels high.  It may be indexed color (2-bit, 4-bit, or 8-bit color depth) or true color (24-bit color depth).  It must be saved as a windows bitmap.  Copy the bitmap to the /Program Files/YanCEyWare/Tangrams/Bitmaps or /Storage Card/YanCEyWare/Tangrams/Bitmaps directory on your PocketPC (depending on where you installed Tangrams).

Creating a texture is a little more complicated.  It must be 90 pixels wide by 90 pixels high.  You may save it as either indexed color (2-bit, 4 bit, or 8-bit), or true color (24-bit).  However, if you choose to save the image as indexed color, the color black must be the first color in the color palette.  The top left pixel of the bitmap is not used by Tangrams, so you may add black at that location if your image doesn't already contain black.  However, black must be the first color in the images color palette.  If you are not certain how to insure that black is the first color in the palette, simply save the image as a true color (24-bit) image.  The file size of the image will be larger, but there are no special palette considerations for true color images.  Copy the texture to the /Program Files/YanCEyWare/Tangrams/Textures or /Storage Card/YanCEyWare/Tangrams/Textures directory on your PocketPC (depending on where you installed Tangrams). 

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Using the Custom Puzzle Pack Feature

The Custom Puzzle Pack feature becomes available once Puzzle Pack 1, Puzzle Pack 2,  and Puzzle Pack 3 have all been registered.  This feature allows you to create your own Tangrams puzzle packs and use puzzle packs created by others.  You may distribute puzzle packs freely, however, you may not sell them.

To access the custom puzzle pack, simply select Custom Pack from the drop down menu in the Puzzle Browser.  When you initially select the Custom Pack, it will behave just like any other puzzle pack.  However, when this pack is selected, the options on the Custom menu are available, as follows:

Load...   

Loads a custom puzzle pack as the active custom puzzle pack.  Only one custom puzzle pack can be active at a time.  Custom puzzle packs must be in the My Documents directory in order for Tangrams to load them.  If there is Time, Hint, and Completion data (referred to as supplemental data) associated with the custom puzzle, Tangrams will ask you if you wish to load it.

Save As...

Saves the current custom pack to the My Documents directory using the name you specify.  Any changes, additions, or deletions are saved.  In addition, any supplemental data (time, hint, complete) that exists for the puzzle pack will be saved.  When you save a custom puzzle pack, Tangrams creates two files, a .tdb file and a .sdb file.  The .tdb file is the actual puzzle database.   This is the file that you will distribute if you wish to share your puzzle pack with others.  The .sdb file contains the supplemental data, including time, number of hints, and completion data for all the puzzles in the puzzle pack.  This allows you to save your times for a given puzzle pack before switching to a new custom puzzle pack.  You should only distribute this file if you want users of your puzzle pack to have your time, hint, and completion data.  You should always save the current puzzle pack before loading a new puzzle pack if you wish to retain the time, hint and completion data the next time you load a given custom puzzle pack, but be aware that any changes to the puzzles themselves will also be saved at that time.

Enable Toolbar

Enables the edit toolbar on the preview window.  The edit toolbar contains 5 buttons, as follows:

Move to the previous puzzle in the database.

Commit the current tile layout to the puzzle pack.  This button takes the tiles as they are currently arranged on the playing board, and commits them to the puzzle pack as the current puzzle.  This action will overwrite the puzzle currently displayed in the preview window with the new puzzle.

Move to the next puzzle in the database.  The next button will allow you to move 1 puzzle past the last puzzle in the database.  This will allow you to add new puzzles without overwriting existing puzzles in the puzzle pack.

Truncate the puzzle pack after the current puzzle.  Pressing this button effectively makes the current puzzle in the database the last puzzle.  All puzzles after the current puzzle will be discarded.  You will be prompted for confirmation.  Use the Truncate button when you are starting a new custom puzzle pack to clear out all puzzles in the current puzzle pack.

Disable the edit toolbar.  This button will remove the edit toolbar from the preview window.  You can re-enable the edit toolbar using the Enable Toolbar option on the Custom menu.

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How do I reset the times for a puzzle pack?

You can reset the time, hint and completion data for any puzzle in a puzzle pack, or all puzzles in a puzzle pack.  Simply tap-and-hold your stylus on any puzzle entry from the Puzzle Browser.  A pop-up menu will give you the option of clearing the time, hint, and completion data for the currently selected puzzle, or clearing the data for all puzzles in the puzzle pack.

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How do Hints work?

You can request up to 7 hints for each puzzle.  Once all 7 hints have been given, you will have the solution for the puzzle (or at least one possible solution).  Hints are linked to a corresponding game tile.  Once you have requested a hint, every time you select the game tile that corresponds to that hint, the hint will be highlighted in the preview window and on the puzzle overlay, unless you explicitly Hide Hints using the Hint menu.  Once hints have been hidden, you must explicitly Show Hints using the hint menu before any hints will be displayed again.  As you request additional hints, the hint # you are requesting will be indicated by the Get Hint (#) option on the Hint menu.  Hints are given in a specific order for each puzzle as follows, small triangles, medium triangle, square, parallelogram, and finally large triangles.  Use hints sparingly,  relying to heavily on hints can really take the fun out of the game!

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Please let me know if there are any additional questions you would like covered in this help section.

Revised: April 03, 2007 .