Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4...Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4...
Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4...
Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4...
 
Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4...
Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4...
Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4...
Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4...
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Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4... Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4...
Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4...
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Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4...

  
Visual Basic Imaging Routines
Microsoft Windows Image Acquisition Library v2.0
Imaging control to replace the Wang/Kodak Image Edit controls
     
Posted:   Monday February 03, 2003
Updated:   Monday December 26, 2011
     
Applies to:   VB4-32, VB5, VB6
Developed with:   VB6, VBScript (for included demos)
OS restrictions:   Windows XP; for Windows 2000 see Prerequisites and Comments below
Author:   Microsoft
     
 Prerequisites
Developed as a XP alternative to the Wang/Kodak controls for Windows XP. 

The Microsoft download page for this dll states the "Supported Operating Systems" is Windows XP, and that "Windows Image Acquisition Automation Library v2.0 is only supported on Windows XP with Service Pack 1 installed." The dll relies on GDI+ available under Windows XP. I have also received reports the dll can also be used on Windows 2000 systems, though possibly only those with the latest service packs. Please see the Comments below.


Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4...Download Microsoft Windows Image Acquisition Library v2.0 (520k)

Developers wanting to add image and image device control functionality to their applications will and to check out this new, redistributable dll provided by Microsoft intended to replace functionality introduced with the Wang and Kodak image controls provided in older versions of Windows. Prior to the introduction of Windows XP, the Wang/Kodak control and libraries formed part of the operating system installation (were not redistributable) and provided the only inherent means to offer imaging display and manipulation without relying on third-party controls. However, Kodak Imaging for Windows program and the related controls (ImgScan.ocx, ImgAdmin.ocx, ImgEdit.ocx, and ImgThumb.ocx) are not included with Windows XP.

The readme file indicates the Windows Image Acquisition Library v2.0 is only designed to support the PNG, BMP, JPG, GIF and TIFF image formats. It should not be relied upon to support other formats, though they may appear to be supported depending on system configuration.  

The download contains the dll, help files, installation instructions and a rash of assorted VB-based demos (and no, it does not contain the image shown ... that's my desktop background):

Bloomtown A Different Story -nsp--update V1.0.4... -

At its surface, Bloomtown is a nostalgic haven. It is autumn eternally; leaves crunch underfoot, corner stores sell fizzy soda and candy, and the soundtrack hums with the lo-fi warmth of a faded VHS recording. The game’s initial loop, enhanced in v1.0.4 by smoother UI transitions and more responsive environmental storytelling, lulls the player into a sense of security. You play as dual protagonists—a young archivist sent to catalog the town’s history, and a missing child whose diary pages you find scattered across the map. This structural duality, clarified in the update’s refined journal system, is the game’s first hint that Bloomtown is a palimpsest: a story written over another, older story.

The game’s narrative climax, which originally felt rushed, has been significantly expanded in v1.0.4. It is revealed that the player character—the archivist—is not an outsider but a former resident who chose to forget, and that the missing child is a younger self. Bloomtown is a shared delusion, a psychic construct maintained by a collective agreement to forget a catastrophic event (implied to be an industrial accident or a school fire; the game wisely leaves it ambiguous). The "different story" is the one the player writes through their choices. Do you maintain the beautiful lie, allowing the townsfolk to hum and smile forever? Or do you shatter the illusion, freeing them to grieve, grow, and perhaps leave? Bloomtown A Different Story -NSP--Update v1.0.4...

The "different story" of the title refers to the tension between Bloomtown’s official narrative and its subterranean truth. Beneath the charming schoolhouses and bakeries lies a vast, decaying mirror-world called the Substratum , accessible through broken vending machines and cracked mirrors. Where the surface is color, the Substratum is sepia and rust. Here, the game’s turn-based combat—tweaked in v1.0.4 to be more punishing but fair—forces players to confront "Echoes," manifestations of citizens’ suppressed regrets. An overly cheerful mailman might cast an Echo of a letter he never sent; a doting grandmother might fight a ghost of the child she lost. The update adds subtle visual cues: before a battle, the Echo flickers with a fragment of the citizen’s real memory. Combat, therefore, is not just a mechanical challenge but an act of psychological excavation. At its surface, Bloomtown is a nostalgic haven

Technically, Update v1.0.4 polishes the game to a mirror shine. Load times between the surface and Substratum are nearly seamless. The previously clunky inventory management for the dual protagonists has been unified into a single, elegant Shared Memory tab. Most importantly, the update introduces a post-credits "New Game+" mode where you play as a different missing child in a different town, implying that Bloomtown is not unique—that every quiet, picturesque community is built upon some forgotten foundation of sorrow. You play as dual protagonists—a young archivist sent

Instructions for proper installation of the dll and the help files are included in the readme.txt located in the main installation directory. The readme.txt in the samples folder contains the information above. Developers using wiaaut.dll are granted license to freely redistribute the library with their application as detailed in the redist.txt file inside the zip. (Only this dll is listed in this file, so  don't overwrite your VB directory's redist.txt with this file!)

This file is provided by VBnet as a service to developers. Any support issues for this product should not be sent to VBnet.

Download Microsoft Windows Image Acquisition Library v2.0 (520k)


 Comments
If the file 'gdiplus.dll' is installed on a Windows 2000 machine but not properly registered, calls to wiaaut.dll (the imaging dll) will not work. After registering gdiplus.dll calls to wiaaut should succeed.

 
 

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