-\H{common-id} Recreating games with the \ii{game ID}
-
-The \q{\i{Specific...}} option from the \I{Game menu}\q{Game} menu
-(or the \q{File} menu, on Mac OS X) lets you see a short string (the
-\q{game ID}) that captures the initial state of the current game.
-
-The precise \I{ID format}format of the ID is specific to each game.
-It consists of two parts delimited by a colon (e.g., \c{c4x4:4F01,0});
-the first part encodes \i\e{parameters} (such as grid size), while the
-second part encodes a \i\e{seed}, which determines the \i{initial
-state} of the game within those parameters.
-
-You can specify a new ID (or just a seed) here. Pressing \q{OK} starts
-a new game with the specified ID (whether you changed it or not).
-Pressing \q{Cancel} returns to the current game.
-
-You can also use the game ID (or just the encoded parameters) as a
-\i{command line} argument; see \k{common-cmdline} for more detail.
-
-Game IDs are portable across platforms; you can use a game ID
-generated by the Windows version of a game on the Unix version, etc.
+\H{common-id} Specifying games with the \ii{game ID}
+
+There are two ways to save a game specification out of a puzzle and
+recreate it later, or recreate it in somebody else's copy of the
+same puzzle.
+
+The \q{\i{Specific}} and \q{\i{Random Seed}} options from the
+\I{Game menu}\q{Game} menu (or the \q{File} menu, on Mac OS X) each
+show a piece of text (a \q{game ID}) which is sufficient to
+reconstruct precisely the same game at a later date.
+
+You can enter either of these pieces of text back into the program
+(via the same \q{Specific} or \q{Random Seed} menu options) at a
+later point, and it will recreate the same game. You can also use
+either one as a \i{command line} argument (on Windows or Unix); see
+\k{common-cmdline} for more detail.
+
+The difference between the two forms is that a descriptive game ID
+is a literal \e{description} of the \i{initial state} of the game,
+whereas a random seed is just a piece of arbitrary text which was
+provided as input to the random number generator used to create the
+puzzle. This means that:
+
+\b Descriptive game IDs tend to be longer in many puzzles (although
+some, such as Cube (\k{cube}), only need very short descriptions).
+So a random seed is often a \e{quicker} way to note down the puzzle
+you're currently playing, or to tell it to somebody else so they can
+play the same one as you.
+
+\b Any text at all is a valid random seed. The automatically
+generated ones are fifteen-digit numbers, but anything will do; you
+can type in your full name, or a word you just made up, and a valid
+puzzle will be generated from it. This provides a way for two or
+more people to race to complete the same puzzle: you think of a
+random seed, then everybody types it in at the same time, and nobody
+has an advantage due to having seen the generated puzzle before
+anybody else.
+
+\b It is often possible to convert puzzles from other sources (such
+as \q{nonograms} or \q{sudoku} from newspapers) into descriptive
+game IDs suitable for use with these programs.
+
+\b Random seeds are not guaranteed to produce the same result if you
+use them with a different \i\e{version} of the puzzle program. This
+is because the generation algorithm might have been improved or
+modified in later versions of the code, and will therefore produce a
+different result when given the same sequence of random numbers. Use
+a descriptive game ID if you aren't sure that it will be used on the
+same version of the program as yours.
+
+\lcont{(Use the \q{About} menu option to find out the version number
+of the program. Programs with the same version number running on
+different platforms should still be random-seed compatible.)}
+
+\I{ID format}A descriptive game ID starts with a piece of text which
+encodes the \i\e{parameters} of the current game (such as grid
+size). Then there is a colon, and after that is the description of
+the game's initial state. A random seed starts with a similar string
+of parameters, but then it contains a hash sign followed by
+arbitrary data.
+
+If you enter a descriptive game ID, the program will not be able to
+show you the random seed which generated it, since it wasn't
+generated \e{from} a random seed. If you \e{enter} a random seed,
+however, the program will be able to show you the descriptive game
+ID derived from that random seed.
+
+Note that the game parameter strings are not always identical
+between the two forms. For some games, there will be parameter data
+provided with the random seed which is not included in the
+descriptive game ID. This is because that parameter information is
+only relevant when \e{generating} puzzle grids, and is not important
+when playing them. Thus, for example, the difficulty level in Solo
+(\k{solo}) is not mentioned in the descriptive game ID.
+
+These additional parameters are also not set permanently if you type
+in a game ID. For example, suppose you have Solo set to \q{Advanced}
+difficulty level, and then a friend wants your help with a
+\q{Trivial} puzzle; so the friend reads out a random seed specifying
+\q{Trivial} difficulty, and you type it in. The program will
+generate you the same \q{Trivial} grid which your friend was having
+trouble with, but once you have finished playing it, when you ask
+for a new game it will automatically go back to the \q{Advanced}
+difficulty which it was previously set on.