This is the DEMO version of SF2000, many features are not included in this version, atlhough the entire manual is included.
Overview:
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WWII SkyFighters 2000, here after referred to as SF2000, is a WWII era flight sim featuring realistic performance of historic aircraft. The focus of SF2000 is dogfighting, both against the computer, and against other humans.
SF2000 is not specifically a re-creation of any individual historical battle or even a particular theater of WWII. Rather, the focus of SF2000 is dogfighting with WWII era aircraft. Therefore, you will find some historic missions, but you will also find fanciful missions, meaning, missions where aircraft types are found in unusual surroundings, or fighting aircraft they never met historically.
These instructions are also included in a separate file for your convenience, and for ease in printing.
Getting Started - Fly/Pause Mode:
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SF 2000 has two modes, the pause mode and the fly mode. When you first start the program, it is in the pause mode. While paused, you can see the menu list and arrow cursor. The fly mode is where the action takes place, to enter the fly mode, press 'p'. You'll know you're in the fly mode because the menu list will disappear. To return to the pause mode, press 'p' again. The 'p' key is a pause/fly mode toggle.
Flight Controls:
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SF2000 is controlled in the usual flight sim manner. Use the mouse or joystick to control the ailerons and elevator. The rudder is controlled via the keyboard or with rudder pedals.
SF2000 uses Apple's InputSprockets to read input devices. If your joystick is not InputSprockets compatible, you may not be able to use it. See the joystick manufacturer for an InputSprockets upgrade.
You can define your joystick buttons and change the keyboard assignments by selecting "Configure Input" from the "Game" menu.
InputSprockets allows you to define keyboard input for ailerons and elevator. This is a feature of InputSprockets, but SF2000 is not designed to be controlled in this manner and it is not advised, use the mouse or joystick for aileron/elevator control.
Camera Angles:
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There are many different camera angles you can use to view the action. When you begin SF2000 the camera is inside the pilot's head. To view your aircraft from outside the pilot's head, use Command 0-9, where command 1 returns the camera to inside the pilot's head.
Command 2-5 view the aircraft from the south, west, north, and east. Command 6 is looking down at your aircraft. Command 7,8,9,0 are views that are 'mounted' on the aircraft's left wing, nose, right wing, and tail.
Command-T is a tower view. There are several 'tower' camera positions throughout the world. Command t will select the nearest tower mounted camera.
Command-C is a chase view.
Command-Y is a flyby view.
Command-B will toggle between the bomb view and the current camera position. If a bomb is in the air, this will be the bomb viewed. If there is no bomb in the air, but there is a bomb crater on the ground, this is the view selected. If there is no bomb in the air and no bomb craters, the view will not change until a bomb is dropped.
Aircraft Specs:
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Aircraft Type/Top Speed/Climb/Fire Power
P51D 427 3475 1.0
FW190A 402 3450 1.6
Flight Performance:
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The aircraft in SF2000 are as realistic as I can make them. They are generally fairly easy to fly, once you get the hang of it. Remember that these aircraft have a lot of power and are pretty heavy for their size. This means that if you get them out of sorts, they can bite you. While you are getting familiar with the aircraft performance, try to fly smoothly, not using the full throw of the elevator. Where you can get into trouble is stalling the aircraft. The aircraft will stall when the angle of attack becomes to large. The angle of attack refers to the angle of the wing compared to the flight path. So that if you are flying slow and pull the nose up, you are increasing the angle of attack of the wing. As this angle increases, at some point the wing will stall, which means it very nearly stops producing lift. You will hear a stall warning horn and see the stall warning light as you stall the wing. Generally, recovery from a stall is simply a matter of lowering the nose until the angle of attack is reduced and the wing begins to 'fly' again. You can do this by pushing forward on the 'stick'.
So far, so good. Generally, a low speed stall is just that straight forward. However, you can also stall these aircraft at higher speeds. A stall doesn't necessarily happen because of low speed, rather, it's only a matter of the angle of attack. These aircraft are very responsive and simply pulling back quickly on the elevator can stall the wing at nearly any speed! This can be dangerous. If the aircraft is turning, or for any reason has a yawing speed to it, then the wing will not stall completly along the length of it at the same time. If this happens, you'll notice a fairly violent 'snap' roll in the direction of the stalled side of the wing. This will roll you quickly. The panic response is to pull back on the 'stick' in a death grip. THIS WILL NOT GET YOU OUT OF THE SITUATION. The first thing you must do is get the wing flying again, which probably means you need to push forward on the 'stick'. Once the stall horn stops and the stall warning light goes out, then you can apply aileron input to recover your original flight attitude.
The reason you should recover from the stall before applying aileron input is that during a stall you may notice apparent aileron reversal. When this happens, a left input will produce a slow right roll and visa versa. So, trying to stop a roll while stalled can get very confusing.
You should get sensitive to the stall horn and light. When you begin to stall, immediatly ease forward on the 'stick'. This should keep you from getting into stall/snap trouble.
Remember, pulling back on the 'stick' will only increase the angle of attack to a certain point, beyond this point, it will stall the aircraft.
One last thing, when pulling more than 5 Gs, you will notice that you begin losing consciousness and your view will darken. At some point, you will lose consciousness and your ability to fly your aircraft will be lost. This can, of course, be very dangerous, especially at low altitudes. After a few seconds you will regain consciousness and therefore control of your aircraft.
Missions:
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You choose a mission from the Missions menu. Each mission has a specific objective that you much achieve before getting credited with completing the mission.
SF2000 keeps track of items destroyed and aircraft killed during a mission. And, if you die during a mission, your pilot and his stats will be lost (except perhaps on the top ten list) and you'll have to start building your career with a new pilot.
Missions can be flown either by yourself or with others over a network. During network play your career stats are put on hold and your pilot does not get killed. You can, of course, still be shot down during the mission, it just doesn't effect your pilot stats.
You can change the aircraft types used in each mission. The mission will define the default types but feel free to change them.
There is a check box labeled, "Team ID Help" at the bottom, middle of the dialog box. This turns on/off a feature that helps you identify the team of distance aircraft. It will put a colored box around aircraft beyond 1000 feet. The color of the box tells you which team the aircraft is with, red, blue, yellow, or black. The box will disappear when the aircraft get's close.
There is a 'Dogfight Only' button in the mission description dialog box. If you select this, you will be flying a 'quick dogfight' game instead of the mission you selected. This quick dogfight will use the 'world' that the mission was set in, but the mission completion rules no longer apply. Instead, each aircraft begins in the air facing a center spot, close together. You decide the rules of the game in the Dogfight Set-up dialog which appears when you click on 'Dogfight Only'.
The Dogfight Set-up dialog allows you to turn aircraft on or off, so you can have any number of aircraft flying, up to 8. To select the aircraft type. Which team they will fly with. Their AI Skill, which is how good they dogfight. The AI Skill has 4 settings, 1,2,3, and R, where 1 is the best AI pilot level and 3 is the weakest. R means that each time the aircraft is killed and comes back to life it's AI Skill is set randomly. You can also give the aircraft bombs, or not.
You can then select the 'Victory Conditions'. In a 'Dogfight Only' game, a victory is based on 'kills'. The kills can be either individiual kills, team kills, or 'round' kills. A round lasts until only 1 team is still flying, then all aircraft are reset. The last team flying gets credit for 1 kill.
You also select the number of kills that decide the length of the game.
Below Victory Conditions is Aircraft Reset Conditions. This is either 'Normal Reset' or 'Reset when 1 team alive'. If normal reset is selected then each aircraft will come back to life after a short pause. If reset when 1 team alive is selected then you will remain dead until only 1 team is alive.
Finally, you can select the 'Camera Rule'. This allows you to restrict where the camera can go during a game. This is useful in a network game when you want to enforce each player keeping the camera in his own head, which can make it easier to hide yourself from view. There are 3 settings for camera rule, no restricts, camera must stay on your own aircraft, and, camera must stay in your own pilots head. When you pause the game or bail out, the camera restrictions are removed.
During a dogfight only game you cannot lose your pilot stats and new stats are not added. Only during regular missions are pilot stats recorded.
Replay:
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There are two replay options, Quick Replay and Full Replay. You can select Quick Replay either from the menu or by pressing command-r. The Quick Replay option starts the replay going back 30 seconds. The replay will then progress through to the end and 'wrap' back to the beginning of the replay buffer. Press 'p' or 'delete' to end the replay and return to where you were before viewing the replay.
The Full Replay option begins the replay at the start of the replay buffer. The entire replay buffer will hold approximately 5 minutes of action. You select Full Replay from the menu.
During a replay you can speed up the action, freeze it, or go backwards through the replay buffer. Replay speeds can go from fast reverse to fast forward with freeze frame in the middle. Use the left and right arrow keys to select the replay speed where the left arrow key moves the replay toward fast reverse and the right arrow key toward fast forward.
Custom Paint Jobs:
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You can create your own paint job for your aircraft. Simply go to the Custom Paint Jobs folder, which is inside the Necessary Data folder, and open the 'template' file with a paint program. Do NOT change the size of the template file, it must be 256x256. You can paint the wings, fuselage, and elevator in the areas shown. Then, save the file with your flying name. Make sure your custom paint job is inside the Custom Paint Jobs folder. When you sign in at the beginning of SF2000, use the same name as the name of your custom paint job. You will then see your paint job on your aircraft.
You can make certain areas of your paint job be invisible. For example, you use this feature to design the shape of your landing gear in the paint job. The way you do this is you decide on a particular color that will be invisible. You must make the upper left hand dot in your texture this color. Then, any where in the texture that this color appears will be invisible.
During a network game, the program will check each players custom paint job in the Custom Paint Jobs folder. You have to trade custom paint jobs with others and put their paint jobs in your folder. If you do this, then you will see other people's paint jobs on their aircraft during a network game.
Multi-player, Hosting:
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SF2000 allows network dogfights between up to 8 aircraft with up to 8 humans. Both AppleTalk and Internet games are supported.
One person is the "host" of a network game. The host decides on the type of game and assigns aircraft types, then "accepts" people into "his" game. The host should be the person with the fastest computer, and/or the fastest Internet connection. With 7 or 8 humans, you may notice things get a bit "warpy". This is because with 8 humans connected over the Internet, the volume of data being sent and received by the host is near the limit of a 28,800 speed modem connection. Internet game quality is dependent on Internet connection quality. Bullseye Software can not guarantee that Internet games will work well. It should work well with less than the max number of humans, though.
Ideally, if you want to fly SF2000 with 7 or 8 players over the Internet, the host should have some type of high bandwidth connection such as a cable modem, ISDN, T1, or similar. As long as the host has a high bandwidth connection, 8 player net games should work.
To host a dogfight, select "Host/End Network Game" from the "Game" menu. Then click on either "Local" or "Internet". You'll have to tell the people you want to join your game your IP address if you are hosting a game over the Internet, or your AppleTalk address for a "Local" game. SF2000 will display this number on the bottom left hand of the screen, after selecting "Host/End Network Game". Or use your connection control panel to see your IP address, after connecting to the Internet.
Next, the host can wait for joiners, or begin flying. Then, as joiners 'arrive' you'll see a message at the bottom of the screen telling you the joiners name. You can then accept or reject the joiner. If you choose to accept the joiner, you "place" him into an empty "slot" by pressing command and the number of the slot you want him to appear as. There are 8 aircraft "slots". You are always aircraft #1. Be sure to put each joiner into a unique slot.
You type messages by pressing 'm', typing your message, and pressing return. Remember that while in the message mode, all key presses are considered text. This means that if you press 'm' and start typing a message and then press 'd' to drop a bomb before pressing return to send the message, you will not drop the bomb, you will add a 'd' to your message.
Joiners can come and go without ending the game. If the host stops hosting, the entire network game is ended.
The host can reset the current scenario by pressing command-n. He can also change the aircraft type/team assignments in a "Dogfight Only" game by pausing and going to that dialog box. You cannot, however, change the mission number while in a multi-player game. The Host must end the game first, change the mission, and then connect with the players again.
Warning: During a multi-player game, pausing the game will make your aircraft be shot down!
Multi-player, Joining:
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To begin a multi-player dogfight with several people you must first decide which person will "host" the game. There is only 1 host, everyone else will be "joiners". If it's an Internet game, all the joiners will need to get the host's IP address. For most people, this number changes each time they log on to the Internet. Therefore, you'll have to get the host's address before you launch SF2000. You can get the host's address using a chat program like PAL, or AbbottChat, or by getting together with the host using IRC, or meeting on the Dogfight City chat page.
If you are joining an AppleTalk game you'll need to ask the host what his AppleTalk address is. The host will see this number on the bottom left hand of the screen, after selecting "Host/End Network Game" in SF2000.
When you are ready to join a multi-player dogfight select "Join/End Network Game" from the "Game" menu. Then click on either "Local" or "Internet" depending on which network you are using. Finally, enter the host address, which the host has given you. Once this is done, you'll have to wait for the host to either accept or reject you. Once accepted, you can then type messages by pressing 'm', typing your message, and pressing return. Remember that while in the message mode, all key presses are considered text. This means that if you press 'm' and start typing a message and then press 'd' to drop a bomb before pressing return to send the message, you will not drop the bomb, you will add a 'd' to your message.
If you are rejected, you'll see a line of text telling you that you have been rejected.
Joiners can leave the game and join again later, all without disturbing the multi-player game. (At least you won't disturb it too much.)
Warning: During a multi-player game, pausing the game will make your aircraft be shot down!
Keyboard Controls:
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Following are the default settings for the keyboard assignments. You can change them in the "Configure Input" section of the "Game" menu.
Pause/Fly Toggle = P
Shoot Guns = Mouse Button or Space Bar
Aircraft Control:
Elevator Up = Move Mouse or Joystick Back
Elevator Down = Move Mouse or Joystick Forward
Ailerons - Bank Left = Move Mouse or Joystick Left
Ailerons - Bank Right = Move Mouse or Joystick Right
Rudder - Left = Q or Left Rudder Pedal
Rudder - Right = E or Right Rudder Pedal
Rudder - Center = R or Center Rudder Pedals
Throttle Up = = or Throttle Forward
Throttle Down = - or Throttle Back
Throttle Full = shift =
Throttle Idle = shift -
Engine Off = option -
WEP = option +
Bail Out = `
Brakes Toggle = B
Gear Toggle = G
Flaps Up = [
Flaps Down = ]
Drop A Bomb = D
Elevator Trim Up = I
Elevator Trim Down = K
Aileron Trim Left = J
Aileron Trim Right = L
Rudder Trim Left = U
Rudder Trim Right = O
Auto Pilot Toggle = command A
Pilot View Control:
Look Straight Forward = W
Look Up 45/90 Toggle = X
Look To The Left = A
Look Right = S
Look Down = C
Look Incremental Up = F
Look Incremental Down = V
Look Forward = keypad 8
Look Left Forward = keypad 7
Look Left = keypad 4
Look Left Rear = keypad 1
Look Rear Left = keypad 2
Look Right Forward = keypad 9
Look Right = keypad 6
Look Right Rear = keypad 3
Look Rear Right = keypad 0
Camera Control:
View From Pilot = command-1
View From North = command-2
View From East = command-3
View From South = command-4
View From West = command-5
View From Above = command-6
View From Left Wing = command-7
View From Nose = command-8
View From Right Wing = command-9
View From Tail = command-0
View From Tower = command-T
View From Chase = command-C
View From Fly By = command-Y
View From Bomb = command-B
Zoom In = Up Arrow Key
Zoom Out = Down Arrow Key
Change Camera To Each Aircraft:
Aircraft #1 = control-1
Aircraft #2 = control-2
Aircraft #3 = control-3
Aircraft #4 = control-4
Aircraft #5 = control-5
Aircraft #6 = control-6
Aircraft #7 = control-7
Aircraft #8 = control-8
Multi-Player Text:
Start Typing Message = M
Send Auto Message 1-8 = 1 - 8
Other Controls:
New Game = command-N
Quit = command-Q
View Replay = command-R
Forward Replay = Right Arrow Key
Reverse Replay = Left Arrow Key
Save Screen = command/shift-3
Sound Toggle = command-H
You can reassign the keyboard/joystick inputs using "Configure Input" from the "Game" menu.
Auto Messages:
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There are 8 messages that you can send with a single keystroke, during a Multi-player game. You can change the text of these messages by selecting "Edit Auto Messages" from the "Game" menu.
Monitor Prefs:
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You can change the monitor resolution SF2000 plays at using the Monitor Prefs dialog box. Simply click on the resolution you want to use and click okay. SF2000 will attempt to use that resolution and you will see either a dialog saying the change worked and asking you to confirm the change, or a dialog saying that the resolution change failed.
The resolution change can fail for a few reasons, 1) your monitor couldn't switch to the selected resolution, 2) your monitor couldn't use the selected refresh rate, or 3) your 3D accelerator doesn't have enough VRAM to use the selected resolution.
You'll get the fastest performance at 640x480. If you have a very fast accelerator, like ATIs RAGE 128, then you may be able to run at higher resolutions without any noticeable decrease in performance.
If you have 6 megs VRAM, you can probably run up to 832x624. With 8 megs VRAM, you can probably run up to 1024x768. With 16 megs or more of VRAM, then you should have enough VRAM for any resolution, although your monitor may still prevent you from seeing some resolutions.
SF2000 picks a 'likely' refresh rate for each resolution. This may be the wrong refresh rate for your monitor. You can find a refresh rate that works by going to your 'Monitors' or 'Monitors and Sound' control panel and finding a resolution/refresh rate combo that works, before running SF2000. Then, run SF2000 and go to the Monitor Prefs dialog box and click on the resolution you desire. The refresh rate is listed in the lower right hand corner of the dialog box. To change it, press delete and then enter the refresh rate you want.
SF2000 supports using more than one monitor, although it does not draw to more than one monitor at a time. To use a monitor different than the menu line monitor, click on 'Use Monitor #2'. If your second monitor is not plugged into a 3D accelerator, you will see reduced performance.
Desktop:
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Selecting "Desktop" from the "Game" menu allows you to stop SF2000 and go to your desktop. This will allow you to switch to another program without quitting SF2000. Be careful not to change the monitor resolution while SF2000 is running.
About SF2000:
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SF2000 was created by Donald A. Hill, Jr. and is published by Bullseye Software. Send comments or questions to dah@dogfightcity.com.
Special thanks to:
Hiram C. Wilson
and
Micheal Shackelford
SF2000 is organized into two pieces, the application itself, and a data folder titled, "Necessary Data". It is required that the Necessary Data folder be in the same folder as the SF2000.
Inside the Necessary Data folder are 4 folders titled, "Custom Paint Jobs folder", "Missions folder", "Objects folder", and "Textures folder". You will probably never have any need to change or add to the Missions folder or the Objects folder.
The Custom Paint Jobs folder is where you put your own personal paint job, and the paint jobs of the people you will be flying against during a network game. SF2000 looks in the Custom Paint Jobs folder for a match of the pilots handle. If found, it will use that paint job for that player.
The Textures folder is where all the textures for ground objects and terrain are stored. Basically, you need never muck with this folder. But, you can change the look of SF2000 missions substantially by changing terrain textures. The textures are stored as PICT files and you can change them with a paint or draw program. There are 2 rules to follow, 1) NEVER change the dimensions of the textures, 2) NEVER change the names of the textures. If you decide to try changing the textures you should first make a copy of the textures folder. This way if you muck things up and break the program, you can simply put the original textures folder back and everything will work again.
Requirements:
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* PowerMac
* 12 megs free RAM
* 3D hardware accelerator (works best with ATI chips)
* RAVE
* InputSprockets
* 4 megs VRAM
* CD-ROM drive
* 10 megs hard disk space, or can be run directly from CD
Frequently Asked Questions:
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Q: How do I get rid of the constant engine sound?
A: SF2000 has a three position sound toggle. The three positions are: 1) All sounds on, 2) All sounds on except engine sound, and 3) All sounds off. Use 'command h' to change the toggle position. While flying, press 'command h' to toggle the engine sound off.
Q: I landed softly on the ground with my gear up and my plane blew up, how come?
A: It is assumed you have crashed if you land away from a friendly hanger and cannot take off again. Landing with your gear up would mean you were stuck where you landed. So, for scoring purposes, the program makes your aircraft blow up. If you have to crash land, make sure it's near a friendly hanger!
Q: How come I don't hear the engine sound anymore?
A: SF2000 has a three position sound toggle. The three positions are: 1) All sounds on, 2) All sounds on except engine sound, and 3) All sounds off. Use 'command h' to change the toggle position. Try pressing 'command h' while flying until you hear the engine sound.
Q: How come sometimes I'm just flying around and I get bullet hits?
A: If you fly low over the enemy territory, the fellows down in the mud may take pot shots at you. Beware flying low over the enemy territory.
Q: How come I don't see fog or haze?
A: SF2000 fog and haze effects do not work on older 3D accelerators, namely voodoo1.
Known Problems:
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There are currently a few problems with SF2000:
1) If you get the message, "OTClientLib not found" when you try to run SF2000, then it's probably because you've turned off a necessary extension. You should go to your Extensions Manager control panel and make sure both "Shared Library Manager" and "Shared Library Manager PPC" are enabled.
2) It is possible for SF2000 to lock up your computer. This can happen if, while flying SF2000, another program issues a dialog box. One situation when this can occur is if you are connected to your ISP while SF2000 is running but not involved in a network game. Your ISP may ask you if you want to be discounected because of lack of use. Currently, InputSprockets does not have a way to detect that this dialog box needs attention and thus SF2000 doesn't know to turn InputSprockets off. This means that you will have no way to click in the dialog box, or press return. (Apple is working on a fix.) If this happens you'll have to force quit the application. You can use control-option-command-ESC to force quit SF2000.
3) There appears to be a conflict between CodeWarrior 4 and SF2000. If you run CW4 you will need to restart your computer before running SF2000. No word yet from Metrowerks on this.
4) Some users have reported problems with the Sound Manager 3.4 extension. The problem causes the sound in SF2000 to cut out.
If you experience these or other problems with SF2000, please send a description to dah@dogfightcity.com
Thanks:
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Thank you for giving the SF2000 DEMO a try. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please email us at dah@dogfightcity.com.
Check our website for bug fixes, news, and details about other Bullseye games.
