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[Ohne Mitleid]

I fully understand I could be corrected on any of this. Just my take on it.

FILE LISTING INFO
Right off, COMPLEX.$$$, no idea what it is for now.

LIESMICH.BAT and LIESMICH.TXT = README.BAT and README.TXT.
INSTALL.BAT and CDSETUP.BAT...pfffft. Install.bat is looking to copy a file (atlger) that doesn't exist. CDSetup.bat assumes you want to play the game from C:\atlantis. All both of them are trying to do is create a directory called 'atlantis' within your root directory and copy CONFIG.CNF to it. Config.cnf is the catalog listing for your Save files and I'm guessing, High Score record keeping (don't know for sure, I don't even have a score, per se).

The ATLANTIS.EXE file is responsible for the Menu Navigation screens (New/Save/Load, etc.), in game messages and world/level change messages. I have edited a copy of the EXE for all of this to be in English. It works perfectly with no known crashes, but then again I have not played the entire game.

There are two LBM files START and FINISH. START is for the Intro, whether it be the German or English translation. While they may be interchangeable to view the initial intro, they are not interchangeable with the EXE files for gameplay. START also contains the Noch Software screen, the Lost City of Atlantis Title screen and the graphic for the skill selection screen (Beginner/Master). There is a different type of LBM file titled COMMON.LBM. It seems to be responsible for the Status bar displayed at the bottom of the screen while playing and is an embedded graphic. This would explain why the English Shareware version says Beginner or Master while, and I quote, the German version has "one insignificant word is displayed during each level (see pictures)".

The other LBM files 1, 2 and 3 apparently are for the level tiles. The MNU files 1, 2 and 3 are for the "shop" and the changing of the weapons and deities.
LPN files seem to be level files. The file syntax for these files is WLS.LPN where W= World , L= Level within that World, S=Skill Level and LPN is the file extension. I think LPN must stand for something related to a personal extension used for development purposes because it is unknown and unassigned in the world of extensions.

World - Three Worlds: Greece, Egypt and of course, Atlantis.
Level within the World - According to the file listing, there are 6 levels per World for a total of 18 levels! Yikes! I can't swim or shoot that well...
Skill Level - 0 for Beginner, 1 for Master as per player selection at the beginning of the game. The defenders (I can't call them enemies since I was not invited to their Land) seem much more frenetic and aggressive. There also doesn't seem to be as much loot to be had, especially the precious pearls needed for ammo purchases. Someone else can verify I am not being paranoid when it seems as a Master I can't hold my breath underwater quite as long.

Speaking of purchasing things, the "shops" change per World. Skip ahead to the next paragraph if you wish to avoid the **SPOLIER ALERT** that is about to follow. World one (Greece) contains Zeus, Poseidon and Mars. World two (Egypt) contains Isidac, Osiris and Horus. Isidac looks similar to depictions I have seen of Isis adorning the headdress of Hathor. World three introduces us to Armadrill, Hydromag and Execute. I can't tell what they look like exactly because I still haven't tweaked the graphics palettes, but they don't look hospitable, or even semi-human for that matter.

I'll keep looking into this when I have the time which I unfortunately have already invested too much of today. I used to do this quite a bit back in the DOS days. Now I remember why...I think it's fun!