Direct Modification of Files
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Data Files. The .shp files written for each structure are of the standard ASCII type. Direct modification of these files is no longer recommended. However, occasion may arise for repairing a damaged file, which can be done with any word- or text-processor or other program which handles ASCII files.

SCRPTR Setup File. There is now only one type of data in the SCRPTR file which should be modified; the dot-patterns. The SCRPTR file will be replaced after the first startup by a user- and platform-specific file.

There are two sets of 32 dot-patterns (fine and coarse), each consisting of 32 lines of 8 numbers each. Each number can range from 0 to 255, with a binary 1 bit representing a black dot and 0 representing white (or color in the case of 4-bit raster files). Note that earlier versions of SHAPE may have had either 14 (V1.0) or 16 patterns in each series. The fine series, which is first, contains duplicate lines so that there are only 16 patterns for shading, even if the number of shading zones is greater than 16. These patterns could be modified to give 32 distinct shades, although it is doubtful if this would greatly improve the quality of the image.

Patterns can also be modified to give striations, hachures or other patterns for use in face fills. For example, the sequence "1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1" will give vertical striations, and the sequence "255 0 0 0 0 0 0 0" will give horizontal striations. Such patterns should not be used when shading is in effect.

The patterns in the SCRPTR file or
user- and platform-specific file are only used for raster-file output, and for standard printer output when SHAPE patterns are selected; they are not used for the screen.

Although the data for the 16-color palette are also in the SCRPTR file or
user- and platform-specific file, it is easiest to modify the palette with the Palette dialog in the Settings menu, or to prepare files to be read in with these dialogs.