Hi all PAC Mate and PAC Mate OMNI users! Finally, accessible games/utilities for us, free for that matter, well, most of them are anyway. To play these games or use these utilities, simply download the .cab file containing the game/Utility you want installed and press ENTER on it. You may want to keep a backup of the .cab file so you can always have these apps on hand if you get stuck doing a hard reset with PAC Mate. Please Note: .cab files are automatically deleted after execution so make sure a backup of it is somewhere else, then place another copy of the .cab file right on to the PAC Mate and run that newly created copy.
Want to help me host games? Please visit my BrailleSoft Public Server page for more information on how you can be a part of BrailleSoft!
Please Answer This Poll Before Continuing
As we all know, Freedom Scientific has released the PAC Mate Omni in December of 2007. Since PAC Mate 4.1 and earlier are no longer supported, I need to know if I should continue supporting them as well. Please answer the poll below:
An Important Component You Need
If your PAC Mate is running a Windows Mobile version earlier than Wm6, please install Microsoft .NET Compact Framework 1.0 Service Pack 3 on your PAC Mate before continuing with any of these programs! Download it to your PAC Mate and run this .cab File directly from the PAC Mate itself. When asked to replace files, say "Yes to All" and the installation will go smoothely. Soft reset the device with DOTS 1-2-3-7-4-6-8-CHORD on a BX, or Alt+Ctrl+Delete on a QX and everything should work just fine. If that doesn't work, then download it to your desktop from Here! and install it with ActiveSync to your PAC Mate. Don't forget to soft reset the machine when you are done with the installation!
Want to learn how to create programs for your PAC Mate and other devices running Windows Mobile for an affordable price, without the steep learning curve and possibly inaccessibility of other programming languages? Try Basic4PPC the programming language I use to develop all of my Pocket PC apps! If you decide you want to learn this awesome language and if you need help, or want to colaborate with another programmer, you can email me anytime, or add me to your MSN contact List! Those can be found on the Main page of this site, braillesoft.net.
Hey, I need your vote regarding this matter. I will soon be releasing games that allow you to play with each other over the Internet. Battleship and Uno are already in the works, however in order to bring this reality to life, an extra component will have to be installed on your desktop along with the .net framework 1.1 for sure, even if you already have another version installed. This is what I need your vote on if you are planning on running the server, or even if you aren't. It is a BrailleSoft Public Server that allows you and your friends to play the games together using your computer as a server. You will in turn be hosting other people as well who find your server in the BrailleSoft Database that are NOT able to run a server. On these public servers people can play whatever BrailleSoft game they want without interrupting others and the current games in progress. You won't even know people log in unless you have a sound notification event for connections and disconnections.
The server does nothing to the computer it is installed on. Really all it is is a port forwarder. Whatever it receives from one connection it is then forwarded to the other connections who are running the same program in question. If someone else is logged into your server but decides to run a different program, then data will not be relayed to them unless they have a partner running the same program and they both are connected to your server.
For users who would rather me host it, I would do it myself, but due to windy conditions and the unpredictable weather factors that come with where I reside, I cannot guarantee a stable connection. However, the hosting company hosting my site - UltraHost.us - has virtual dedicated servers that are up 24/7, with the following features:
Server 1
CPU: Intel Celeron 2.4GHz
Memory: 512MB DDR RAM
Hard Drive: 60GB IDE or 18GB SCSI
Bandwidth: 200GB/month
IP Addresses: 5
Port: 10/100Mbps Switched VLAN
Adult Content Allowed: No
Free setup
$69.95/month
I am thinking that if I let them run it, the cost of maintaining from any individual who wants an account would be just $6/month, but in order for this to happen I'd need at least 72 votes from people who are willing to pay! Otherwise, there will always be this free solution in which you get not much support if you decide to run your own server. If 100 or more than 100 people decided to help out with a public dedicated server from UltraHost.us, then the price would be lowered to just $1.00 per month, which will be plenty just to help [pay for a server as good as this one I listed here! You can vote below on all 3 of these matters.
Shareware
Well? Something finally exciting and cheap is now here! An IRC (Internet Relay Chat) Client from BrailleSoft is now available!
What is IRC?
IRC, or Internet Relay Chat is a service where you can meet all types of people, play online games, as well as chat and host your own chat rooms, all for free! Most clients cost money because of the complexity and time spent behind the IRC protocol for your machine to be able to communicate efficiently and effectively with people all over the world. There are lots of people who love colaborating and chatting, and most IRC services are free. There are millions of free IRC servers available around the world you can log onto 24/7, 365 days a year! My client loves Unreal IRCD servers the most however. You can Google a query like "IRC Server List", and you'll find dozens of pages about what networks you can join!
What's New in Version 1.3.1? You can now save the message log window to a text file. Useful if you had a great time in a chat room and decide to relive it again later! By default, the box is checked to allow saving of the message logs. To uncheck this for the current session, during a chat press F2 and press ENTER on Program Options, then arrow to and press ENTER to uncheck "Save Message Log". If the box is checked and you leave a room with f1/ESCAPE, you are presented with a Save AS dialog box. Either enter a filename and search for the location the text file should be placed and press OK, or press ESCAPE to cancel and return to the list of chat rooms. After the chat is saved you are returned to the list of chat rooms. If the box is not checked, then you are returned to the list of rooms like the prior versions. The saved files can be read and editted with FSEdit and Pocket Word if you wish.
What's Been Fixed and added in Version 1.3?
Twenty-two new programmable sound events have been added. You can now hear sounds when you are sending or receiving messages, when the status of a room has changed, when the room is being watched or not, ETC.
The program now says what the user sees when you enter the "/me" prefix before a chat. E.G. "/me got hit.", it returns with: "You said: Louis got hit." Where Louis is really your nickname.
Better error handling. The program shouldn't crash when you try to connect to an IRC server you are NOT registered with. You should now see the error.
The "View Topic" option when in the list of rooms is no longer in the menus, it is now a button you need to TAB to and activate once you are on the room you need to ssee the topic for.
The demo version gives you fifteen-days more if it is your first time trying the client out after migrating from a previous version.
Also, you could no longer send messages in Version 1.2. this has been fixed permanently! It was broken due to a buggy algorithm.
What's been fixed for Version 1.2? You can now connect to more IRC networks! The client no longer freezes when it logs on and searches for the message of the day. Instead, it will search for a while, and if it doesn't find it or if it is never sent, then it takes you directly to the list of chat rooms you can join!
Now when you press ENTER accidently, and you have typed nothing, then nothing happens.
Made the receiving and sending of data faster and more stabler.
What's been fixed for Version 1.1?
The program no longer crashes when you press ENTER without saying anything. Please note that the prompt that is presented to you if you press ENTER accidently will be sent to everyone or the person you are chatting with. To avoid this, simply press any other key and continue typing, or erase any inserted character then continue typing if that should occur. The program should have lesser of a chance to crash while receiving data from the server. This is NOT yet full proof so updates will come out from time-to-time with fixes for this problem.
When new updates come out, automatically anyone who has registered will be allowed to have their count reset for free, no questions asked. It only costs $2.00 if you use it four times during the current time that a particular update is available and you really don't want to wait for the next one.
Also please note that is OK to continue if the program should crash with a Basic4ppc error. Answer YES to the question and the program resumes. You can use the JAWS cursor during chat to give a control focus, like the message log box, and things should continue working as expected. You could also leave and rejoin a room to get the program back on track again.
To use it:
1. Download the CAB file and install this client onto your PAC Mate!
2. Launch the client! You will be asked shortly if you want to try it out. Press Yes to try it out for fifteen-days, or No if you have purchased the client and want to register it.
If you are registering the client, then follow step 3. Otherwise, skip on to step 5.
3. Enter your registration code which was emailed to you upon purchase. You will get 4 chances to use this code should your PAC Mate hard reset itself for some reasons. After which you must request a free code reset. In the next month this will become automated so stay tuned for that. It no longer costs you $2.00 to ask for these!.
4. If your code is correct, the program starts after you press ENTER. If not you are told this and are moved out of the application.
5. Now, the program prompts you for the server you want to connect to. Here, you have 2 options:
a. Either type in the information per field and press the Connect button to get on to the requested IRC server. Please Note: Do not type in irc.servername.com, just servername.com, or something.servername.com. If the server name starts off with irc., the program will add this. If not, then the program knows this and will connect to the server just fine by itself. However a servername like chat.servername.com will work because it does NOT start off with irc..
b. Or, press f2 and select favorites. If you want to add a server to your favorites, then choose Add A Server. To remove a server from your favorites, then choose Remove A Server.
If removing servers, select the one you want to remove then TAB and activate the Remove button. When you are done selecting servers to remove, close the Window with f1/ESCAPE. If you are satisfied with the servers you have selected, answer YES. If not, answer nO.
If adding a server, the simplest thing to do is to fill in all fields except the one that asks for the server you want to connect to. Press f2, select Favorites, then Add A Server, fill in the servername to add, then just TAB to and activate the Add to Favorites Button. After the server has been added, you are asked if you want to connect right away. Answer Yes or No.
To quickly log onto a site, just go to favorites, choose Logon to A server, press ENTER, and select the server from the list you want to connect to. Do NOT fill in any fields, as the program does this for you. Just TAB and activate the "Connect..." button.
6. Now that you are connected, you will see some progress messages letting you know what's happening. If the log on is successful, then you will get to the message of the day. Once the message of the day is loaded, the Braille Display moves the words from its center to its left and you can use standard navigational commands to read through it. Press F1 when finished reading the message to go on into the list of chat rooms you can conveniently join!
NOTE: Depending on how many chat rooms are available will depend on how long you will have to wait until a list is presented to you. The more chat rooms that need to be gathered, the longer you will have to wait. This is due to the PAC Mate's processor. Nevertheless, when the list is loaded you will see the first 500 chat rooms you can get to. Unfortunately, that is all this app is able to remember for now, but that should be more than enough rooms for the first version. I will make sure the next version is able to give you more choices than that!
7. Select the visible chat room you want to join then TAB to and activate the Join Room button.
To see the topic of a room, select it then TAB to the "View Room Topic" button and press ENTER to have it read/displayed. Press f1 to return to the current list of rooms.
8. If you cannot find the room you want to join, or if you want to create a new room, or you know the name of a hidden room you are allowed to join, TAB to and activate the Create or Join Hidden Room button. Enter the name of the room you want built or you want to join and press the Create or Join Hidden Room button once more and you are ready to chat!
9. While chatting after selecting either button, the following commands are available to you:
a. Type in what you want to say using Computer Braille and press ENTER to have it sent publically to everyone in the room.
b. If you need to review the message log, just TAB to the text field that says Message Log, and view it with standard PAC Mate reading commands. To immediately start chatting, simply begin typing and the Message Log is hidden allowing you to type your input.
c. To perform actions on a specific user in the room you are in, simply TAB to the listbox and select the user you want to ignore temporarily, send secret messages to, or to figure out the spelling of a particular nickname to perform more advanced actions on him/her.
To send private messages, TAB back to the unlabled edit field after selecting the user you want to speak to privately and just type to him/her and press ENTER. Your message is then sent to only the selected person and not the entire room.
To allow everyone again to hear/see your messages, TAB to the listbox and select everyone, then TAB back and begin typing again as you did when you first started in chat.
Ignoring a user or several users is done a little differently. Simply select the user from the listbox then press F2, press ENTER on program options, then press ENTER to add this person to your ignore list. The person stays there until you log off of the IRC server and close out the program.
To use a verbal command, just start your chats off with /me. E.G. /me hit jane and she screamed! Most people, depending on what IRC client they use will see: yourname hit jane and she screamed! instead of the normal "yourname said:" that you would if you just typed a message and pressed ENTER.
The slash prefix is also used period to issue pure IRC commands. E.G. If you are moderator of a room, to kick someone out of your room, you'd type:
/kick #roomname person to kick followed by the reason given. Please note that no roomnames or nicknames can contain spaces, so in theory an example will look like this:
/kick #test Louis You are annoying me!
Pressing ENTER performs the action. To invite someone into your room, you'd write:
/invite #roomname nickname
The server may NOT respond but once you pressed ENTER the command is performed. If you are good with talking to IRC servers then the slash command will have you going for hours! For more help with these, especially for those of you who host rooms and want to grant or take certain channel permissions away, please join the BrailleSoft Discussion Mailing list, or go on to Talking IRC and come into the BrailleSoft IRC room!
When you are done chatting, just press F1 and the list of rooms are reloaded just encase new rooms are available.
When you are done chatting, just press F1 to leave the client!
Like what you see or have tried? You can email me at louis@braillesoft.net and get your copy registered today for only $20.00! Thanks again and enjoy talking!
Freeware
A text adventure game The Great Escape has been posted! You are in a maze of 100 rooms! Find your way out --- if you can!!!
Russian Roulette has also been posted! How many times can you pull the chain before you shoot yourself and die?
PB-Games and BrailleSoft are proud to present to you Showdown for PAC Mate 4.1 and earlier and Showdown for the PAC mate Omni 6.0 and later Thanks to Phillip Bennefall for giving me permission to port this awesome Ping-Pong like game over to the PAC Mate. Please read the readme file before playing the game for full details on how to play and what your PAC Mate needs to run this software successfully! You can also send mail to louis@braillesoft.net if you have any questions regarding the PAC Mate version! Audiogames.net should have a link to the Windows version in the not too distant future for those of you still wanting this game on your desktop.
TaxMan is a new game where you must pick from a list of numbers that factor one another and beat the Tax Man. The object is to get more points than he does! Good
luck!
The BrailleSoft Unzip Utility is meant to be a quick and easy program for allowing anyone to Unzip files. It is NOT meant to compete with the awesome unzip programs out there, but is useful for people who have PAC Mates and no PC to sync with, and because some of my games are zipped, it would be unfair to have games that not everyone can play just because of this!
The BrailleSoft Calendar v1.00 has been removed until the next version v1.1 is available. Some huge embarrassing bugs were discovered and are now being worked on with the new edition of some fantastic new features.
After 3 months of coding and testing, this is one heck of an application! With this program, your PAC mate can remind you of all your appointments whenever you wish, however you wish with some extra features that'll make you not want to pass this application up! The features it brings you are: Enter in appointments in either Grade I or II Braille. Don't feel like typing? Voice record them instead! Either enter the appointment in and allow the PAC Mate to remind you at 8 in the morning, or set start and stop times and dates of when reminders should fire! Get reminded everyday, month, week, and/or year at your request, or stretch this out by a number of days, weeks, months, and years! Whenever an appointment pops up, get more lazy with the added snooze feature to postpone reminders during the current day from 1 minute for up to 8 hours! Want to dance or get silly? Add music and/or sounds to whatever appointment you see them fit for! Better yet, does it take you a while to respond to appointments? Make your music or sound play for as many milliseconds it takes you to get ready for the reminder! Is this too much to remember, access an onboard manual from the program by pressing ALT or F2 and arrowing down to Read Help File! The file opens in Internet Explorer so you can use PAC Mate's navigational commands to browse help! Want to easily edit appointments? Use FSEdit to make any changes! Want to get rid of everything all together? Simply delete your BSCalendar.txt file! And so much more! Please let me know what you think using my contact information on the main page, BrailleSoft.net!
Simon is now available for the PAC Mate! Repeat the tones the PDA plays for you and see how high you get! Can you remember all 500 of them? This game is also Open-Source, and the code has comments that could help you if you are interested in how a game like this was made. Feel free to modify, redistribute for a price or NOT LOL if you charge heh I'm not buying it just so you know!!! The source code is written in Basic4ppc and it is located under the \Program Files\Simon\Simon.sbp file. If you review the Simon.sbp file in Notepad, activate your find function and start with the apostrophe mark to reach the first comment. Do NOT mess around with the numbers before the apostrophe or you won't have a working source program to test after you modify it! Also, if you modify it, please be kind enough to give me credit where it is due. I'd do that for you! To play, on a BX DOTS 1 through 8 play the notes. On a QX, the HomeRow keys play the notes. Space-bar on both machines replay the series. F1 or ESCAPE aborts the game. If you are in practice mode, use the same keystrokes to play the notes, and press the spacebar to stop all notes from being played. Press F1 or ESCAPE to abort practicing and to immediately start the game! The further in the game you get the faster the notes are played!
The Talking Clock V1.00 is a program that runs in the background that allows your PAC Mate to speak the time every half hour and/oror hour, or you can play a file every half hour and/or every hour! You can even have it announce the time and date it is currently when you power up your PAC Mate. If you need to set any alarms, please use the BrailleSoft Calendar posted above.
To use the program, run it and check the checkboxes that you want and then press F1 or ESCAPE to minimize the program, F1 or ESCAPE does NOT close this program like it does with all my other apps. If you selected to play a file, simply select the file you want played and press ENTER to select it and hear it. To change file types, TAB to the File Types combo box and select your type then select from the list of available files of the selected type. If you have the option of Announce time and date at startup checked, to disable it at anytime, if the clock is still running simply uncheck the box. If you close out the clock and want to disable this option, simply running the clock does the trick! The Exit button shuts down the clocks interface.
The Guessing Game is a game that can be played two ways: Guess the PAC mate's letter of the alphabet or its number from 1 to a number you choose! I fixed a bug where the window would go away from focus when you were asked for input. It no longer does that.
Chopper Patrol Requires ActiveSync or an unzip utility such as PocketRar to download and install. Try to shoot down the Helicopters and Jets as they fly your way. Using headphones may be a good idea when playing this game.
Phone Conversion UtilityTired of all those pesky phone numbers with letters in them? This program converts those letters into the corresponding numbers on the telephone, making it easy for you to dial those numbers. Enjoy it and I hope it is useful to you!
Uno Card Game Version 2 Alpha is here for download! I like this game WAY better than Crazy Eights! Try to get rid of all of your cards but be careful for the tricky wilds and Wild Draw 4's. Play against the PAC Mate, you and 9 friends included, or you and 8 friends including the PAC Mate and have a great time! Full instructions and documentation are included with the game but if you still get stuck or find errors please let me know. Fixes in Version 2 Alpha
Internet support is coming in the next version of Uno, I promise!
I lost the Source Code a week ago, now it is back and a lot was done to improve it!
Shortcut keys are now available when you are playing for all actions.
You can cycle through cards via their numbers also. While focus is on the list of cards you hold in your hand and you are not putting a Wild or Wild Draw 4 down, you can press the number you are interested in and the PAC mate will move you through the list, showing you the cards that match your selected numbers. E.G. Let's say you have Red 5 and Blue 5, pressing 5 will show you all cards ending in 5.
The manual was updated to include better directions on how to play the game and how to place cards down, and even gives you a sneak-peek of what features are coming once the Internet version is released!
You no longer have to wait for the Pick From The Stack button to show when the PAC Mate is updating you on how many more cards are left when you or someone else gets a Draw thrown at them. Simply press ENTER or the spacebar to rapidly grab all of your cards.
When you win a game, or when someone wins period the PAC Mate now tells you how long each Uno game was.
The size of the program is 50% smaller than the last one.
When you have no cards that match the face-up card in your hand, and you grab a card, and it matches, you are asked if you want to play it or hold on to it.
When you press F1 in the middle of a game, you are asked if you are sure you want to quit.
You can leave a Uno game at anytime and come back to it without quitting the application. If you come back to a game that was previously left, the focus is now placed right back where you left off!
PAC Mate no longer places a different card down once you select a Wild or a Wild Draw 4 and change the color.
Please let me know if you want anything more added or if you find any bugs!
Fixes in Version 1.3.2 The PAC Mate no longer places a different card down after you select a new color from a Wild or a Wild Draw 4 you placed down. And, he also draws cards faster!
Fixes in Version 1.3.1 The PAC Mate no longer places the same color card after choosing a Wild or a Wild Draw 4 as its prior card was. E.G. If you had a Red and PAC Mate places a Wild down, it will NOT choose Red as it's color. Also, when the PM places your Reverse down after you pick a card from the stack, it no longer freezes.
Fixes in Version 1.3 The program now places your cursor on the first item in the list as it does in File Explorer. If you have to draw a card from the stack, if the PAC Mate sees that you can play the card, it is placed down for you and you are told what card you were able to play. The reported number of cards remaining for you to draw due to a draw 2 or a Wild Draw 4 being placed down is now reported correctly.
Fixes in version 1.2 All known bugs were fixed, and the program no longer simply closes when someone wins, you are able to press the YES button to play again. When you have multiple cards to pick, the dialog with the number of cards you have left no longer pops up, now a flash message is presented, with focus landing back on the Pick Up Card From Stack button. PAC Mate no longer announces cards it takes from the draw pile. Instead, it thumbs through the stack so you know that it is in fact getting cards.
Crazy Eights Card Game Version 1.1 is finally done! Try to get rid of all your cards before anyone else does by picking a card with an 8 or any card with the prior cards ranking or suit to win! More details are available as you play the game, and full documentation is also included from with in the program! Fixes In V1.1 Are:
PAC Mate no longer announces cards it draws from the draw pile.
The TAB order of the buttons match that TAB order of Uno so no more accidental presses of the wrong button.
PAC mate now displays the correct suit it switches to after it draws and plays an eight.
Enjoy the update!
Tic Tac Toe Redone has been posted. I redid the game and the interface, making the gameplay more stable for 1 or 2 players, removing the self-voicing Language Master speech entirely from the game, and now the game installs to your "Programs" folder so you can run it from there like all the other games. New in this version is the ability to let only player 2 drop out of the game and let PAC Mate takeover and finish where player two decided to leave. This option was always available in the Windows version, and now it is available for the Pocket PC version.
Word Blaster Version 1 for the PAC Mate is now here. Try to guess the word before the PAC Mate fills it in entirely. You can use the 795 builtin words, a text file containing in list form the words you want to use, or have someone else enter a word and you try and guess it!
I am proud to announce a free and Open-Source FTP Client for the PAC Mate. If you want you can also Download the Source With this FTP client, you can now download, upload, rename, and delete files to and from an FTP server running on port 21, and create/view the folders on the server. Also, you no longer have to press the END keystroke after typing in the first character to a site, username, and/or password. Just fill in the edit fields as prompted and TAB to the next field! Also, you can specify what directories are viewed upon connection. And, you can navigate to what you want via the letter of the item. E.G. pressing the letter T will move to all items beginning with the letter T in the list of FTP files. If you push the Manual button the new changes and directions appear and you can view them like any standard document. Another major bug was fixed in this version. When you were in the list view of files and you were at file number 200 to 305, the program would crash telling you that the file you wanted to access couldn't be accessed and would take you back to the list of files and folders on the server. This has been fixed and you can now download and move to all folders and files as expected. Let me know what you think via email to louis@braillesoft.net!
The Mini Music Player has arrived! Get your PAC Mate to play more media types, mod, midi, mid, xm, s3m, ogg, vorbis, wma, wav, dsp, IT, mp3, and CDDA (CD Audio)!
Blackjack v2.4 Blackjak 21 cards game. This is version 2.4. This version includes several exciting changes such as,
Fixed keyboard input when entering names and bets
Fixed the deck of cards to contain only 52 cards, no card you already have appears more than once. Fixed a bug where when multiple players lose, the PAC Mate would remember to initialize all players and take all cards back. In the prior version, PAC Mate would add on to the cards the current player already had after shuffling them.
The game now properly terminates encase of an unknown error. Multiple players Splitting capabilities Doubling-down PAC Mate, even ones without a Braille Display, read and displays everything, JAWS can be muted of course Numerous characteristic sound effects were added, thanks to my wife Brandi.
If you double-down and happen to go over 21, PAC Mate sees it and will bust you! When all players happen to lose except for one, PAC Mate will no longer crash. Got all sounds working properly. When you pressed another key besides t, e, s, d, r, 1, or 2 when asked for your action, the program would halt and abort with an NullReferenceException. Handles multiplayers so much better.
When you receive your cards after splitting them, they are displayed correctly, grammar wise, and your hands' total are actually retained when you switch from one hand to the next. Even when you take a card using one hand, and your total changes, it is saved, giving you a better chance of winning. Switching to another hand forces the program to remember your prior hand, and vice versa.
Battleship This is my rendition of PAC Mate's Battleship Version 2, and how a "FUN" one should be. Features include playing with 2 to 6 players, play with just your PAC Mate, or 5 other players and PAC Mate involved! Also just added, the ability for all players to place their own ships!Fixes in this version are:
Made several more routines faster, including when the PAC Mate fires it's gun.
When PAC Mate finds a ship, it will completely destroy it until it has sunk that one ship, then move on.
Shrank the applause.wav and lowered its quality for the PM considerably, now work perfectly.
Added a status check. Press the SPACE-BAR when it is someone's turn to see how many ships everyone has managed to sink, what positions on the board have NOT been targetted, and also what ships each player has left standing -- the ships that are NOT sunk..
Also made a few routines faster when it came to sounds.
Fix in V1.03 was
Worked on the handling of players. In prior versions, PAC Mate would crash the program if there were six players total! Version 1.02 had this fix:
Worked on the ship sizes and the rare occurrence of ships splitting and overlapping one more time
Fixes in Version 1.01 were:
JAWS no longer takes all the credit when a player wins
PAC Mate now gives the correct player credit if the current player sinks five ships. In Battleship, ties are not possible, sorry.
PAC Mate no longer freezes during its turn
PAC Mate makes sure all five ships fit on six different boards before allowing anyone access to gameplay
PAC Mate no longer overlaps ships, if it still does please let me know
PAC Mate now places ships accurately and much more random, due to this fix, gameplay may take sometime because all ships are well hidden
Also due to this randomly placing of ships, PAC Mate WILL cross ships to confuse the player on purpose! E.G., PAC Mate's or your opponents destroyer could be on c3. So, you target that position and then you try targetting c4. You see that another ship is there. If this is the case, try something like c2 or d3 or b3 and I guarantee you will be attacking the Destroyer again.
Oh, by the way, No JAWS scripts required!
Three new games were added! I made these on my vacation and need to tell you some important info about them before you download and get playing! Hangman v1.2for PAC Mate is fun and easy-to-play and use! You have 3 options to choose from, play using 975 built-in vocabulary words, use a Grade 1 text document containing the words you want to play, or enter a word and have someone else who knows Braille guess it! You no longer need to make a list of words you want to play. Simply play using any Unicode or ASCII text document, and Hangman takes care of the rest! It now allows you to use any type of Grade 1 text file. It'll ignore duplicate words and numbers and punctuations, spaces, line returns, ETC. That you normally wouldn't guess in a regular Hangman game! It'll even make sure all the words are lowercased for easier guessing! This version can now hold as many words as your PAC Mate has enough RAM for!
Word scrambler Game v1.01for the PAC Mate will scramble a word and you have 3 chances to guess it correctly before it is revealed. You can play this game 3 ways, use the 100 builtin list of vocabulary words, use a text file containing Computer Brailled listings of 3,000 words or less in UNICODE-ANSI format, or type in a word and have someone else guess them. Bug fixed: Keyboard Input when entering a word for someone else to guess, and when guessing a word. As you type, the word is also hidden from you so after typing it in if you want to make changes, press END and the word is displayed.
Bug Fixed. When PAC Mate scrambled a word, sometimes it would add double letters where they should NOT've been. It no longer does this.
Pocket PC Chatter v1.01This program isn't actually a game, but rather something to do. It is a program that lets you customize your PAC Mate to answer any question you may have, no matter what the topic is. The program works like this:
You run Pocket PC Chatter.exe. It asks you a question, like what's up. You type in something like "Not much, you?" Press ENTER and depending on how you setup your answers.txt file it will search for keywords and respond to them. It actually searches for both partial words and full words, again, depending on what you tell PAC Mate to look for. A typical configuration file looks like the following, and is explained below:
keyword you
We were discussing you not me.
Please leave me out of it.
Why do you say I am *?
So what does this mean?
When PAC Mate sees the word "keyword" at the beginning of any line, it knows that it should match it with whatever is in your inputted remark. So, a line looking like "keyword you", tells PAC Mate whenever the user types something with the letters y o u, it should respond accordingly. Because there is only one space after the word "keyword" and before the word "you", with no trailing spaces, PAC Mate looks at any word that contains a partial match of "you". If it finds those 3 letters in that sequence, he will use any response below. Above, I have 3 of them that PAC Mate can choose from until the next line beginning with "keyword" is found, until the end of file, or until you have 11 responses total. You cannot have more than 11 responses to choose from, otherwise PAC Mate will only read in those 11 responses and look for the next "keyword" line, or the end of the file. Keywords can also be actual phrases PAC Mate can respond to, and even actual words instead of just partial. E.G.
keyword you
We were discussing you not me.
Why are you talking about me?
You say I *
Now if you look at the line above with the keyword, you will notice extra spaces after the "keyword" word, and also after the word "you", only 1 space after the keyword "you". So, PAC Mate will look for something like
Did you know I'm funny?
Notice the space before and after "you". Also note in the examples both times there was a space after "keyword"? PAC Mate uses this space to notify it of the keyword that follows. Placing 2 spaces before your keyword instead of one signifies that a space must be encountered within your input during the run of the program in order for PAC Mate to respond accordingly. Placing a space after your keyword signifies that the word PAC Mate will respond to should be a complete word and not just partial matches. Placing an asterisk anywhere throughout your output, PAC Mate will use the finishing remarks you type during runtime and intertwine them with its responses. E.G. If you write in your answers.txt file the following lines:
keyword you are
We were discussing you not me.
Oh, am I *
How come you aren't * like I am?
keyword 0
Save this file in the same folder as your PPC Chatter.exe file, and run this application.
Then, call PAC Mate something - you know, say PAC Mate is something using the statement " you are " anywhere in your sentence towards PAC Mate. E.G. write something with the words " You are crazy", and press ENTER. He may respond with something like,
We were discussing you not me.
Oh, am I crazy
Or, How come you aren't crazy like I am?
Remember where you placed those asterisks? PAC Mate uses those to intertwine your typed sentence with its responses. This is the beginning of artificial inteligence. Now, please remember PAC Mate has to search a plain textfile for all variations and partial matches of keywords before it can respond to you. This may take a moment or to once you press ENTER to get an answer from it, but trust me, this software doesn't freeze. If your sentence contains no keywords, PAC Mate uses general remarks to state that it is still running the software, but it couldn't understand what you are writing. So, even if PAC Mate tells you, "I see, please tell me more", you know it couldn't respond accordingly so it just threw out some random general answer. If you need more help, please email me using the e-mail address at the bottom of this webpage, and I will be more than happy to help you setup a fun and useful smart PAC Mate.
Memory Challenge v1.02 is a game in which PAC Mate will give you a word to start with and will display it and speak it. You are to remember the word it gave you and type it in. If you get the first word right, PAC Mate adds to it's list until you have remembered the entire contents of a file. Get the first word right, and PAC mate adds on forcing you to remember multiple words. You can play this game in two ways, either let PAC Mate read in a text file containing 3,000 Computer Braille words or less from a UNICode file and each word is on it's own line, and PAC Mate will give you the words in the exact order they appear in the text file, or let PAC Mate put them in random order to make it a little more challenging to remember the words. It builds the random list at game startup so you don't have to worry about it randomly throwing out words, just guess them in the exact order it gives them in. I Fixed keyboard input when entering the words. As you type, sometimes the letters you type are hidden so to see them before you proceed press END and edit the line of text you typed if necessary.
fixed the random builder so the game no longer freezes. You will know this because as PAC Mate adds to the list, it will emit a stream of beeps.
More Software!
Below lists people who are hosting games for the PAC Mate.
L-Works.net finally has delve into the world of portability! Check their titles from Here and let him know what you think. The titles that work on the PAC Mate and Smartphone are available inside his Mobile page.
Ken Parry from Blinksoft has released a program for the PAC Mate and PAC Mate Omni called PDFMate. It let's PAC Mate users read PDF'S right on the PAC Mate. It works with no JAWS scripts. As of version 6.1 this functionality will be builtin to the PAC Mate Omni, however for those of us who can't upgrade for financial reasons, or aren't grabbing 6.1 won't miss out on this great feature!
Crazy Ken has some games he has posted for your enjoyment on your PAC Mate and PAC Mate Omni. Check out the link above for more details and how to get them up and running on your PAC Mate!
X-Sight Interactive has released Chopper Challenge for the PAC Mate! Look under X-Sighting games under the heading with Chopper Challenge for Pacmate as its caption. Check out the URL above for more details!
Stay up-to-date with patch releases from X-Sight-Interactive for PAC Mate software from This page!
Scott Berry from Pilotalk will be releasing games and other utilities for the PAC Mate quite soon also! Scott Berry and I are joined together to bring you even more nice blind-friendly software for the PM! Naturally this means any PPC running Windows Mobile! Check out the URL for more details!
More games and/or utilities will be added soon! If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, and/or concerns, please email me at l_bryant2004@yahoo.com and/or louis@braillesoft.net whichever one works for you.