+----------------------------------------------------------+ | | | JetFighter III | | PLATINUM EDITION | | | | LATEST INFORMATION AND UPDATES | | | | | | Simulator version 1.67 | | | +----------------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------------------------------------ WELCOME Welcome, and thanks for purchasing the Platinum Edition of JetFighter III! This CD contains JetFighter III, plus everything on the Enhanced Campaign CD, plus a host of new missions, scenery and other features. This file contains hints, tips and last-minute information on JetFighter III. If you have any problems running the game, or need more information than you find in the manual, please read this file! You should also check out www.missionstudios.com for late-breaking news and updates. The documentation for the Mission Editor can be found in JF3EDIT.DOC. This is a Microsoft Word document and can be viewed with the WORDPAD viewer that comes with Windows 95. ------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS WELCOME CONTENTS NEW AND IMPROVED PERFORMANCE ISSUES Q. and A. REDUCING SCENERY LOAD TIMES TROUBLESHOOTING Q. and A. DELETING JFIII KNOWN BUGS GEAR-HEAD FEATURES NEAT THINGS TO DO IMPORTING YOUR OWN PILOT PHOTO IMPORTING YOUR OWN AIRCRAFT DECAL UPDATES / PATCHES AND FEEDBACK UPDATES MISSION OF THE WEEK DECAL OF THE WEEK REBOOTING IN DOS MODE ------------------------------------------------------------ NEW AND IMPROVED If you are familiar with the original JetFighter III, you should read the Platinum Edition manual, and this document, to learn about the many new features of JetFighter III. The items below are either worth repeating, or did not make it into the printed manual. MISSION EDITOR The Mission Editor documentation is found in JF3EDIT.DOC. You can use Microsoft Word or Wordpad to view or print this document. MISSILE LOCK BAD ASPECT WARNING We added a symbol to the missile seeker to warn you when you have missile lock BUT there is a low probability of a hit. When this situation arises, a red X will appear in the missile seeker. You can still fire, and you may even get a hit, but this lets you know that you are in a bad firing position. This usually happens if you try to engage during very fast head-to-head closures. RUDDER CONTROL The rudder control has been changed to more realistically reflect the operation of the rudder at high speeds. As you fly faster, the rudder control will be reduced. In some aircraft, there is a maximum speed above which the rudder has no effect. ------------------------------------------------------------ PERFORMANCE ISSUES Q. How do I make JetFighter III run faster? A. There are many answers to this question, and they all depend on your tastes. Here are some hints: - Buy a 3Dfx based accelerator card. With it, JetFighter III will run from 400% - 700% faster! No, we are not kidding. Ask our customers. It is simply amazing! - Run in 320x200 mode. The game was specifically designed to look good in this mode! Even on very fast machines you may enjoy the GAME PLAY more in 320x200 mode than you would in higher resolution modes! Use high resolution modes for sightseeing. Use low-res for combat. Mode switches are quick and easy! - Turn off the clouds [Alt][C]! This will speed up the sim a lot. - Turn off the instrument panel with [P] or [F1]. Use the on-screen radar for combat [Alt][R]. You can still check your MFDs with [F5]-[F8] while the panel is off. - Try using [Alt][F5] to shrink the screen size. - Run the game in 'pure' DOS mode. Windows 95 memory management system is very inefficient for most games. Most users will see much better performance in DOS. REDUCING SCENERY LOAD TIMES Because we use real geographical data and provide seamless point-to-point navigation, JetFighter III requires an enormous amount of scenery data. Normally, JetFighter III finds this data on the CD-ROM drive. Unfortunately, CD-ROM drives are much slower than hard disks, and at times you may notice a pause in the game while it loads a new area of the world from CD-ROM. There are several things you can do to minimize, and even eliminate this pause. 1. Get out of Windows 95! Windows memory/disk caching scheme is not very efficient for games. If at all possible, reboot your computer into MS-DOS mode for much better performance. 2. Create a disk cache. Use SMARTDRV or another program to create a disk cache of about 2 Megabytes. If your computer only has 8 Meg of RAM, you will NOT have enough extra memory for a disk cache. 3. Copy some of the scenery to your hard disk! This is the ultimate solution, and if you can spare the space, we highly recommend it. Here is how it works: When JetFighter III needs more scenery, it FIRST looks in the root directory of the hard disk where JetFighter III was installed for the proper scenery subdirectory. This will be named something like \W075S35. This directory contains all the data for the 5 by 5 degree area of the world who's southwest corner is 75 degrees west, 35 degrees south. I know that seems like a mouthful, but if you look at a map, it will become much more clear. Here is some "ascii art" to help out: | | | W075S30 | W070S30 | | | | S 30 +----------+--------- | | | | | W075S35 | W070S35 | | | | S 35 +----------+--------- W 75 W 70 To speed up access to a particular region, all you have to do is copy that area to the drive where JetFighter III is installed. Here is an example of how to copy W075S35 from the CD-ROM drive D:, to the hard disk C: XCOPY D:\W075S35\*.* C:\W075S35\*.* [Enter] NOTE: In the future, we may provide a free update to JetFighter III which will make this process easier. We may also build-in a caching system which will handle this automatically. Check our WEB site periodically for more information. Here are the different regions we recommend copying to your hard disk. They are listed with the most used regions first, so if you only have space for one, copy the first in the list. For Operation Hurricane (Cuba) - W085N20 (Havana) - W080N20 (Santa Clara) For Operation Caged Saint (Chile/Argentina) and Training Missions - W075S35 - W075S40 - W075S30 For Seward's Ghost (Alaska) - W170N60 - W170N65 - W165N60 - W165N65 For Operation Dragon Slayer (East Asia) - E125N35 - E125N30 - E130N40 For Operation False Dawn (Japan) - E130N30 - E135N30 For Operation Gordian Knot (Turkey) - E035N35 - E040N35 ------------------------------------------------------------ TROUBLESHOOTING Q. I have a 16 Meg machine, and I can't get the program to run through Windows 95. A. Unfortunately, on some systems Windows 95 will not provide an MS-DOS session with more than 12 Meg of RAM. Here are some things you can try to get JetFighter III to work in this low memory situation. - Free up as much space as possible on your hard disk so Windows 95 can use it as a disk cache. - Delete the JF3.CFG file. Run JetFighter III again. It will ask you to re-configure your system. Select NO SOUND CARD and NO 3Dfx ACCELERATOR CARD. See if JetFighter III works properly in low-res VGA with no sound. If it does, try turning options on one-by-one. Q. I can't get the game to run in 3Dfx mode. When I try to fly a mission, the screen goes black, and returns me immediately to the carrier. A. If you have a 3Dfx card, you probably need to update your drivers. We have included the latest 3Dfx drivers in the \3DFX directory on the JetFighter CD. To install the driver, use the explorer and double-click on the proper file. The files are: - G24RTVG.EXE for Voodoo cards including the Monster 3D and the Righteous 3D. - G24RTVR.EXE for Voodoo Rush based cards. You can test to see if your 3Dfx card is correctly installed and available to JetFighter III by running the program FIND3DFX in the \3DFX directory. It will tell you if it found a Voodoo or Voodoo rush based video card properly installed with the correct drivers. If the game still does not work, run the INSTALL program again and select "VGA Only - no 3D card" from the 3D card setup menu. Be sure VGA mode works correctly before trying 3D mode again. If you are still having problems, re-install the program with NO SOUND CARD selected. Sometimes you may think you have a 3D card problem when it is really the sounds causing trouble. NOTE: This version of JetFighter III only supports 3Dfx Voodoo based boards. Support for 3Dfx Voodoo Rush based boards should be available soon. Please check our Website for more information. Q. When I try to test the MUSIC in the install program, I don't hear anything, but music plays just fine in the game! A. This is a strange problem that some users have experienced on certain sound boards. It does not affect the music during the game at all. Q. I put the CD in the drive, and the Windows95 AutoPlay appears but says I don't have the original JetFighter III installed. A. In order to install the Enhanced Campaign CD through Windows95, you really should have previously installed the original JetFighter III through Windows95 as well. This will assure that the program is correctly set up to run in Windows95. You can safely re-install the original JetFighter III through Windows95... it will not destroy your pilot records. After the original has been installed through Windows, install the Enhanced Campaign CD. Q. Does the JetFighter III CD-ROM have to be in the drive during play? A. Yes! The scenery in JetFighter III is so expansive that very few people would give up the 500 Meg of hard disk space that would be required to install the entire game! Because of this, the CD must be in the drive during game play. Q. Can I use my CD-ROM drive to play an audio CD while I fly JetFighter III. A. No. JetFighter III needs to read scenery data off the CD during the game. If you have multiple CD-ROM drives, you may be able to play audio from one CD while JetFighter reads the other CD. Q. I have 16 Meg of RAM, but I can't seem to get more than 10 Meg or so free. A. We have noticed that some CD-ROM device drivers set up a very large disk cache BY DEFAULT. This cache could be as large as 4 Meg, thereby reducing your memory dramatically! Watch your 'boot-up' process carefully and see if your CD- ROM driver reports that it is using a large disk cache. If it does, you will need to contact your computer dealer for more information. Q. I want to run JetFighter III (and other games) in 'pure DOS' mode, but I can't get my mouse or CD-ROM drive to work. A. There are several ways to exit Windows 95 and run your computer in 'pure DOS' mode. Please look in the section of this file called REBOOTING TO DOS MODE. Q. The introduction animation freezes on my computer. I can press a key and everything else seems fine. A. You probably have your sound board incorrectly set up. Run INSTALL while in the JetFighter III directory (you don't have to be on the CD) and verify your sound card settings. Q. I try to change resolution modes but the sim gets all garbled up and locks up on me. What's going on? A. Not all video cards support 640x350 mode the same way. You may be able to get 640x530 mode to work properly by using a different VESA driver. We are working on a way to get 640x350 mode working properly on more machines, and will post an update when it is finished. If you think you are having problems getting 640x400 or 640x480 mode to run, then you definitely must get a new VESA driver. Contact the manufacturer of your video card, or use the shareware SciTech Display Doctor found in the \DRIVERS directory of the JetFighter III CD-ROM. Q. I run the program and the sound works fine while on the carrier, but I do not get sound when I run the simulator. How can I fix this? A. You probably have the wrong IRQ or DMA channel set for your sound card. It is possible that even with the wrong settings, you may still hear sound while aboard the carrier. However, once you are in the aircraft, you will either hear nothing, or the program may crash. Verify your sound board settings and run the game again. You can change the settings by typing INSTALL [Enter] in the JetFighter directory that you installed to (NOT the CD-ROM)! Remember that on some systems, the IRQ & DMA settings may be different for your soundcard in Win95 and DOS. Please verify what your sound board settings are in DOS. Q. I can't get all the buttons on my joystick to work why not? Q. The 'hat' on my Thrustmaster FCS doesn't do anything. A. JetFighter III has a very convenient joystick setup program which lets you select the type of joystick you are using. Each joystick has a 'program' associated with it that controls what functions the different switches will activate. There are some joysticks, however, that use 'analog' switches. These joysticks require special calibration, and prevent the simultaneous use of throttle and rudder controls, so we decided to support only the 'digital' switches on your joystick. Q. Can I customize or remap the joystick buttons? A. YES! Run the INSTALL program and select CONFIGURE BUTTONS after selecting your joystick. Q. Does JF3 support 3D accelerator cards? A. Yes, we currently support cards based on the 3Dfx Voodoo Graphics chipset. We hope to add support for 3Dfx Voodoo Rush soon. Because JetFighter III uses a very sophisticated rendering system, we will be focusing our energies on supporting the 'high-end' 3D cards first. Please check missionstudios.com periodically for updates. Q. I just got JF3 and can't find any selection for general MIDI in the sound setup. Specifically the Roland SCC-1. Does JF3 support this board? A. Try using the setting for Ensoniq SoundScape. That is a general MIDI device. We will post an update to the install program which will include selections for more sounds cards, including general MIDI devices. Q. Where are the Thrustmaster joystick custom files? A. We have posted a set of Thrustmaster calibration files on the download sites. Thanks to Bill "DJ" DiGiacomo and Scott Wolf for building these files! Q. I have a Soundblaster AWE32 and have the correct IRQ & DMA settings in DOS yet my soundcard will still not work? A. With this advanced card (and some others) you need to "wake up" the card for use in DOS. Run the DIAGNOSE utility that came with your AWE32 to enable the soundcard in DOS. If you do not have this utility, please contact Creative Labs for technical support. Also, some sound cards have a software volume control which is often set to a VERY LOW setting when you turn on your computer. You will need to run 'volume control' software provided by your sound card manufacturer. Q. When I try and calibrate my joystick I get a red message stating "invalid center or incompatible joystick?" A. Check and make sure your joystick is plugged into the proper sound board or game card port at the back of your computer. You may also have to "wake up" your advanced sound card in DOS. Q. My video graphics card (Cirrus Logic, etc.) doesn't seem to work with JetFighter III. I can only run the simulator in low-res. A. You need to get the latest VESA driver. The best place to get this would be from your video board's manufacturer. They probably have a website where you can download this file. Otherwise try the shareware VESA driver, Scitech Display Docter, located in the /DRIVERS directory on the JetFighter III CD. Be sure to try all high-res modes! Due to your specific video board's capabilities, one or two high-res modes may not be available. Q. The Install program acts strange after I successfully install the game. A. On some systems with a SoundBlaster Pro sound card, the Test routine may cause the install program to act strange when it is finished. Everything should be OK, you should just avoid pressing TEST if you ever need to re-install. DELETING JFIII Completely deleting JetFighter III from your hard disk is easy. From Windows 95, simply drag the JF3 folder to the recycle bin. From DOS, you can use the DELTREE command to delete the JF3 directory and all its subdirectories. This example is for people who installed to the default drive and directory C:\JF3: - change to the correct drive: C: [Enter] - delete the directory: DELTREE JF3 [Enter] That's all there is to it. Unlike many other programs, JetFighter III does not put lots of files in hidden places. If you think you may want to re-install later, and you're an expert at file management, you can back-up your JF3.CFG file and any PILOTxx.DAT files from the \USER directory under JF3. After re-installing, simply copy those files back to their locations and you can pick up from where you left off. ------------------------------------------------------------ KNOWN BUGS Users with certain sound boards may not hear any music when they TEST the MUSIC in the INSTALL program. However, the music plays just fine in the game. We are working to solve this problem, but it does not affect the game at all, the music plays perfectly. On some systems, we have heard reports of a DOS Extender error. (CauseWay error #09). If you have any information on this, please contact our customer support staff. We are trying to solve this problem and provide a downloadable patch for our users. ------------------------------------------------------------ GEAR-HEAD FEATURES The following points may be of interest to the more technically inclined user. - Real world contiguous and seamless navigation. We model huge areas of the world, not just little 'mission zones'. If you had enough gas (use the unlimited fuel cheat), you could fly thousands of miles and never see any repetition! - Real 'polar' navigation. We simulate a spherical world. This means that 1 degree of arc at the equator covers more distance than it does down south in Chile! Also, try flying to 40,000 feet and look at the horizon! - No 'speed compression'. In most sims, when your airspeed indicator shows 1,400 Kts, you're really only flying 200 MPH. Everything feels like 'slow motion'. Not so in JetFighter III, we don't 'fake' speed or time. You REALLY feel like you're moving FAST! - No 'altitude compression'. Again, most sims 'fake' your altitude. When the altimeter reads 40,000 feet, it still looks like you're at 10,000 feet. JetFighter III does not 'compress' altitudes. - Lots of objects on the ground. Most sims with 3-D terrain don't have many objects on the ground. JetFighter III has many thousands of objects. You can even follow power transmission towers from city to city! - Enemies use countermeasures. You will see flares and clouds of chaff popping out of enemy aircraft. MAPS, MAPS and MORE MAPS! If you want to order maps of the mission areas in JetFighter III (and see just how accurate JetFighter is), you can contact the Defense Mapping Agency. There are two types of maps that we think are most helpful: ONC or Operational Navigation Charts are rendered at a scale of 1:1,000,000 and show most major features and airports. They are great for large area coverages. TPC or Tactical Pilotage Charts are at 1:500,000 scale and show more detail than ONC charts. We recommend these maps for mission planning. 4 TPC maps cover the same area as 1 ONC chart, and they are named with the same code The following codes will help you order the maps that cover the JetFighter III mission areas: MAP NAME AREA COVERAGE ONC J-27 Haiti and the Dominican Republic ONC J-26 most of Cuba, Jamaca and the Cayman islands TPC J-26A western Cuba including Havana and Santa Clara TPC J-26B eastern Cuba ONC Q-26 extreme northern Chile ONC Q-27 northern Chile and Argentina ONC R-23 north Chile, Argentina including Santiago ONC S-21 southern Chile and Argentina, Gulfo Corcovado ONC T-18 extreme south, Strait of Magellan ------------------------------------------------------------ NEAT THINGS TO DO! Because there is so much to see and do in JetFighter III, we are always worried that people may not experience some of the highlights of the game. Here is a short list of things to try: EXTERNAL VIEW: Many people never experiment with the external views. Press [-] and use the numeric keypad or the joystick to pan around your aircraft. When on the carrier deck, use the external view to get a look at the cockpits of other aircraft EJECT! After ejecting, use the view controls to look at... yourself! When in an external view, move the joystick around. If you are using rudder pedals, give them a try for another treat. JET BLAST DEFLECTORS: Use the new carrier views [Numpad *] to check out the jet blast deflectors on the carrier. ZOOM... ZOOM...: Don't ignore the zoom controls [<] and [>]! In dogfights when using the cannon, it may help to zoom way in on your target. Not only will this help your shot, but you will better be able to see how your target is maneuvering. IMPORTING YOUR OWN PILOT PHOTO If you are good with graphics programs, you can import your own pilot portrait to use in the Roster menu. Here are the technical details: - The image must be a standard .PCX file. - The image MUST be 200 x 200 pixels in size. - The image can ONLY use palette entries 128-248 (inclusive). The first 128 and last 8 colors are reserved for JetFighter III. - When done, you must put the image in the \USER directory under the JetFighter III subdirectory and name it PHOTOxx.PCX where xx is a 2 digit number like 09. Here is a step by step guide to importing a photo: 1) Take the image you want to use, and sample or clip the image to be exactly 200x200 pixels in size. Most paint programs will have an option for doing this. 2) Next, you will need to reduce the number of colors the image uses down to 120. JetFighter requires the other colors for the background, so be sure you are only using 120 colors! Make sure these colors are in palette entry numbers 0-119. 3) Save that 200x200, 120 color image as a standard 8-bit .PCX file in the \USER directory which you'll find under the main JF3 directory. (something like C:\JF3\user) 4) Now we must 'move' the new image's palette to use slots 128-248. To do this, we provided a utility program called "MAKEPLT.EXE", which can be found in the \USER directory on your hard drive under the directory where you installed JetFighter III. This program is command line driven. From a DOS prompt, type "makeplt ", where imageName is the name of the .PCX file you wish to import, and newName is the name of the new file to create with the utility. Here's an example - c:\makeplt mypic.pcx photo09.pcx This will take the picture "MYPIC.PCX" and turn it into a valid JF3 pilot image file called photo09.pcx. In order to see what number to use for your new image, look at the files in the \USER directory which are named "PHOTOxx.PCX" and find out what the next number in the sequence needs to be. You can delete the source image from the \USER directory at this point if you want (i.e. mypic.pcx). 5) Run JetFighter III and go to the ROSTER screen in Operations and click on the portrait window to change your pilot image to the picture you just created!! 6) Voila, QED. If you don't understand some of these directions, see if you can get a friend to help you out! But please don't call our technical support line for assistance with importing images into the game. This feature is for image processing experts only! IMPORTING YOUR OWN DECAL IMAGE Think you could make a better decal using a more sophisticated paint program? Go ahead! Here's what to do if you want to use another application to generate a JF3 aircraft decal: Step 1: Load up your paint program of choice. Step 2: Grab the "BLOCKED.PCX" file from the \USER subdirectory of your main JF3 folder. This image contains a palette in which the invalid colors have been blocked out in purple (yuck!). Those colors which are NOT purple can be used to draw a decal. Step 3: Create a decal image using your graphics software that uses only valid colors, and is 64 x 64 pixels in size. Step 4: Save the picture you have created into your \USER directory, naming it "DCAL_XXX.PCX", where "XXX" is a 3 digit number (the first 1 or 2 digits may need to be zeroes!) that isn't currently being used by another JF3 decal. You may have to look at the files in your \USER directory before deciding on a name. You're done! Step 5: From the front end, visit the PAINT ROOM on the hangar deck and select the new decal for your plane just like you would any other decal. Please don't call our technical or customer support lines for help importing decals created with other paint programs. This is for experts only and we won't be able to give you any assistance with this. Sorry! ------------------------------------------------------------ UPDATES / PATCHES AND FEEDBACK UPDATES We will try to provide updates to JetFighter III as soon as enhancements are made and problems are fixed. Most updates will consist of a self-extracting file that needs to be 'extracted over' your currently installed version of JetFighter III. There are several good places to check: www.missionstudios.com www.interplay.com America Online - visit the Flight Sim Resource Center Compuserve GAMCPUB and FSFORUM MISSION OF THE WEEK The mission of the week program has been suspended. Instead, we will create an area where users can submit their own mission created with the mission editor. DECAL OF THE WEEK Have you painted a cool decal for your aircraft? If so, visit www.missionstudios.com and submit the decal for our weekly competition. Winning decals will be posted and made available for downloading. MISSION EXCHANGE We will be starting a new area on our website, the Mission Exchange. If you have created an interesting and fun mission, feel free to send it to us. We will verify that the mission works, and then post it on the website for others to download. Be sure to include your name, and a description of the mission. ------------------------------------------------------------ REBOOTING IN DOS MODE For the very best performance, we recommend that you re-boot to "pure" DOS mode. Doing this will prevent the Windows memory manager from slowing down JetFighter III. Rebooting to DOS from Windows 95 is usually very easy. In some cases, however, your computer dealer may not have configured your machine to use your CD-ROM, mouse and sound card in DOS mode. If this is the case, additional steps may be necessary to get these items working in DOS. Option #1: RESTART IN DOS MODE - Left-click on the Start button. - Left-click on Shut Down. - Select "Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode" and left- click on OK. If, after restarting in DOS mode, you don't have access to your CD-ROM, mouse, or sound card, you may need to try option #2. Additionally, you may need to consult your computer dealer for help on where to find the drivers you will need. Option #2: CREATE A DOS REBOOT SHORTCUT We have created a 'skeleton' DOS Reboot Shortcut to help you out. (This is the reboot system that our lead developer uses to run games!) It is only an example and not to be used verbatim for your system. If you have any questions regarding setting up a DOS Reboot Shortcut please contact your computer manufacturer's technical support. This is an easy question for them, one that they answer every day, and this is what they are paid to do! - Use the Windows Explorer to find the file DOS_BOOT.PIF in the folder where you installed JetFighter III. - Right click on DOS_BOOT and select Properties. - Select the Program tab - Click on Advanced. - Edit the config.sys and autoexec.bat entries to load your CD-ROM, mouse and sound card drivers (if necessary). We have created a good example, but your CD-ROM driver may be named differently, or your mouse driver may be in a different directory. This is the tricky part, and you may need to talk to your computer dealer to get the specific information about your drivers. Our technical support staff is willing to help with any problem, but they have no way of knowing what type of CD-ROM drive or sound card you have and where your DOS drivers might be located. After you have updated DOS_BOOT to be compatible with your system, simply double-click on it and it will re-boot your machine in DOS mode. To exit DOS mode and return to Windows 95, just type EXIT [Enter]. +----------------------------------------------------------+ | END OF FILE | +----------------------------------------------------------+