BigMax 17/BigMax nº 17 MDK.iso/misc/readmeb.txt

Text File | 1997-02-28 | 22KB | 453 lines

Contents
--------
1)  System Requirements
2)  Installation
3)  Main Menu Screen
4)  Controls
5)  Troubleshooting
6)  Game Play Tips
7)  Customer Support
8)  Legal Stuff


System Requirements
--------------------
Pentium 60 or better
16 Megs required
SVGA Video Card
100% Sound Blaster compatible Sound Card
12 Megs of Free Hard Disk Space


Installation
------------
Win95
Place MDK into your CDROM drive.  A setup program will automatically start the installation process.
After the setup program has run, there will be an MDK folder on your Start menu.
Select MDK95 to start the Win95 version, or select the MDK to start the DOS version depending
on which one you chose to install.  If you select the DOS version, you will need to setup your sound card.
You can do this in the 'Options' menu.

**IF YOU DO NOT HAVE DIRECTX 3.0 OR LATER FROM MICROSOFT, MDK WILL NOT RUN
UNDER WINDOWS95.
YOU WILL BE GIVEN THE CHOICE TO INSTALL THIS AT THE END OF THE INSTALLATION
PROCESS.

DOS
From the MDK root directory type "INSTALL".  This will start the installation process.

**YOU WILL NEED TO SET UP YOUR SOUND CARD IN THE OPTIONS MENU IN ORDER FOR
THE DEMO TO PLAY MUSIC AND SOUND EFFECTS.
**DIRECT X IS NOT REQUIRED TO RUN MDK IN DOS MODE.

Main Menu Screen
----------------
All menus can be accessed by using the mouse or arrow keys.

NEW GAME
By selecting this you will immediately enter the MDK universe

OPTIONS
HELP
All the default keyboard controls are listed here.  During gameplay, if you need help at
any time pressing the F1 key will bring up this help menu.

SOUND SETUP - DOS
Select the 'Detect All' to find your particular sound card.   You can manually set the
sound card's configuration.  If the game locks up or crashes when you test the sound,
please refer to the troubleshooting section at the end of this guide for some helpful
hints.  You can change your soundcard settings (IRQ and DMA channels) manually if the
autodetection process did not find your soundcard.  You should hear sound when you select
the 'Test' option, if not, your sound card has been improperly set up.

JOYSTICK
MDK can be played using a joystick or joypad.  You must select the 'Enable Joystick' option
to use a joystick.  You can then arrange the button configuration to your preference.  To
return to the standard setup, select 'Default Buttons'.  Note: If playing the WIN95 version,
your joystick should be calibrated already by using the WIN95 calibrating software.(IN YOUR
"CONTROL PANEL")

KEYBOARD
You can change the function of most keys and customize the controls to your preferences
by highlighting the action and then pressing the key you would like to assign to this
function.  To save your preferences, select 'Quit' when you are satisfied with your
control options.  To return to the default keyboard configuration, select that option.

PERFORMANCE
Selecting this option, MDK will perform a hardware test of your system and compare it
to some standard systems.  Your system may vary from the benchmark systems due to
several factors, including type of RAM used (SRAM or standard), video card and video
RAM available, CD-ROM speed, 32-bit Disk access enabled or disabled, etc.  Do not be
concerned if your system performs below the benchmark level.  This program is helpful
to reveal hardware that may limit your experience with MDK.

SKILL
There are 3 settings available, 'Easy', 'Normal', and 'Difficult'.  Select whichever skill
level is appropriate for your ability.

DISPLAY
Selects the screen brightness.  This option can also be changed during the game by
pressing the F11 key at any time.  To increase the frame rate if you are experiencing any
slowdown in the performance of MDK, you can turn the detail level to 'Low', which
should help.


Controls (Default)
--------

Arrow keys    - Will move Kurt in that direction.  Also controls aiming in sniper mode.
Space Bar       - Toggle in/out of Sniper mode
A/Z        - Zoom in/Zoom out in Sniper mode.  In normal mode, it shifts the camera to look
                      up or down.
Control key    - Fires selected weapon
Alt key        - Jump.  While in mid-air pressing the alt key a second time will activate the
                  ribbon chute.
Enter key    - Will use/activate the selected pickup
0-9        - Select specific pickup item...
[ and ]        - Toggle left and right through different ammunition and pickup items
Shift key    - Selects turbo mode which speeds up Kurt's running and turning speed
Caps Lock    - Keeps turbo mode on
X        - When used with the left and right arrow keys will make Kurt sidestep
, or .        - Sidestep left or right.  Can be used In conjunction with Control Key to make
        Kurt strafe left / right.
Esc        - Quit game

Function Keys
F1  - brings up the help menu which gives all the keyboard controls
F10 - Quit game.
F11 - Adjust brightness
F12 - Brings up the Options screen.

Additional Information

BONES AIRSTRIKE - While in sniper mode, the center of the targeting display will
change to red when aimed at an area that Bones can hit.   If it is not a valid target, Bones
will alert you by a rather rude noise.  Simply press the fire button to call Bones in to
bomb the area.


Trouble Shooting
----------------
Q: Help!  I can't get MDK to run!
A: MDK requires 16 Megs of RAM to run.  If you do not have this, MDK will either not
   run, or may crash often during gameplay.

Q: I can't select any of the options in the main menu.
A: If you are in DOS mode, make sure that you have loaded your mouse driver before
   starting MDK.  Although the mouse is not necessary to play MDK, it is needed to select
   some options.

Q: My joystick won't work.  What's the problem?
A: Check to make sure your joystick is set up correctly.  Then check in the MDK
   'Joystick' options to make sure the joystick is enabled.  In DOS mode you may need to
   load your joystick's drivers that came with it prior to running MDK.  Please check
   their documentation for further help.

Q: The game is running slowly on my machine, what can I do?
A: MDK will run faster in Win95 or DOS due to your hardware configuration.  Some
   video cards, for example, work best in DOS or only Win95.  Try playing the game in the
   other mode to see if there is an increase in performance.  You will not need to reinstall
   the game, but simply run the other MDK executable (MDK95 for Windows95 or
   MDK.exe for the DOS executable) to see which gives you the best performance on your
   machine.

Q: The sound doesn't work!
A: That's not a question.

Q: The sound doesn't work on my machine.  Can you help?
A: Sure! First off, we'll assume that you've checked to make sure that the speakers are
   turned on and plugged in correctly to your PC and you're running a 100% SoundBlaster
   compatible card.  As a note, not all sound cards are truly 100% compatible, in which case
   you may not be able to get sound from MDK.

   Now, if you're running in Win95, check to make sure that your soundcard is operating
   correctly.  Remember that in Win95 you can have a correctly operating soundcard but
   have the sound muted.  Double click on the speaker icon on the task bar to see if the
   sound is set to 'mute all'.  If you are trying to run the game in DOS, make sure that your
   sound card and mouse drivers are being loaded for your DOS session.  Consult your
   sound card instruction manual on loading the DOS drivers.



Game Play Tips & Techniques
---------------------------

Q: How do I get out of the practice room?
A: See the guy on top of the tower in the distance?  Back away from the
   red wall a little (behind the depression in the floor is good), go into
   sniper mode, and blow him away by shooting either their targets or
   their heads.  Kill the next two guys in the same way.  Now the aliens are
   behind the glass...Can't hit them? Shoot the skull and crossbones
   "deathcrate" on the platform slightly below the middle tower top.  Now
   use the handgrenade that falls in front of you to blow up the red glass
   wall.  See the mortar on the pillar in front of you?  Jump off the top
   step and use the parachute to pick this up.  Now change to sniper mode
   and shoot one of your newfound mortars through the black hole above the
   middle window...
   There are arrows painted on the building pointing to this.  When one
   goes through, wait and watch the fireworks...

Q: Why doesn't the Bones Airstrike work in some areas?
A: When you have picked up the Bones airstrike power-up, you must go into sniper
   mode to use it.  Make sure the airstrike power up is the ammunition selected.  The center
   of your targeting system will turn white when it is focused in on an area that Bones can
   bomb.  Bones can't 'Deliver Kindness' in enclosed environments or under overhangs
   since he's got to fly in to bomb the area.  When you have selected the target, press the
   weapon fire button.  This tells Bones that you have set your target and it is OK for him
   to start his bombing run.

Q: I don't know what all the weapons do!  Help!
A: Whenever you pick up an item, the name of the weapon appears.  This should give
   you some clue as to the item's abilities.   You are receiving the new weapons as soon as
   the good doctor invents them, so  there's not a lot of advanced documentation on these
   items.  If you don't know what a weapon does, then find a quiet area and fire one off to
   test it.

Q: I'm having trouble aiming quickly enough in sniper mode. Any suggestions?
A: Keep the zoom level very low when finding targets.  Put the crosshairs on the target
   and then zoom in.  This method is much more effective than zooming in and then trying
   to acquire the target.

Q: How do I set up MDK to play with a joystick or mouse?
A: Well, go to the options screen for whichever device you would like
   to use.  Each menu lets you assign a button to any number of actions.
   By pressing the button on the joystick, you will see a light in the top
   column light up.  Use the arrows on the keyboard, or the mouse, to
   highlight the action you would like assigned to that button in the same
   vertical column.  Then either left-click or hit the Enter key to assign
   that button to the action.
   We suggest that you only assign one action to a button when beginning
   to play MDK.  As you become more experienced, you may wish to assign
   two or three actions to a button.

Q: Why would I want to assign two actions to one button? Wouldn't that
   be confusing?
A: Some actions, like 'Zoom In' are only available in sniper mode while
   other actions like 'Jump' can't be used in sniper mode.  One button can
   be safely assigned to both of these actions.  Notice that the same
   default button works for 'Zoom In' and 'Look Up'?  As you get used to
   MDK, you can customize the controls to your liking.
   Assigning a button to two actions like 'Change Weapon' and 'Jump' isn't
   very practical and is very confusing, which is why we don't do that.

Q: Why doesn't my performance test figure match the default ratings?
A: Or, why doesn't it tell me what I want to hear?
   The performance test basically does what the game does, and measures
   the framerate (although the number displayed is NOT frame rate).  This
   depends on many factors, NOT JUST YOUR PROCESSOR SPEED.  The test
   figures were done on machines with 32Mb of RAM and 4MB Matrox Millenium
   graphics cards.  Factors which can possibly affect your performance
   figures are: - Video card transfer speed, bank switching, memory speed,
   cache size, processor speed, processor type...

Q: But still, my performance figure is way off what it should be...
A: We are planning a new version of the performance test that starts
   with the question "What rating would you like to get?" and then
   displays this rating on screen with a bit of variance and some nice
   swirly graphics that make it look like we're doing something
   impressive.

Q: I have a Cyrix x86, why doesn't MDK detect my FPU?
A: The performance section of MDK does not currently detect the Cyrix
   FPU, since the Cyrix chip does not support the CPUID function.
   However, the game will still do all of the floating point stuff, since
   it presumes that, no matter what the state of the FPU bit, if a machine
   passes the 486 lockout, IT WILL HAVE AN FPU.

Q: My joystick won't work.  What's the problem?
A: Check to make sure your joystick is set up correctly.  Then check in
   the MDK 'Joystick' options to make sure the joystick is enabled.  In
   DOS mode you may need to load your joystick's drivers that came with it
   prior to running MDK.  Please check their documentation for further
   help.  Under Windows95 you need to set up your joystick through the
   Control Panel.  Look at your Windows95 documentation for more
   information.

Q: The game is running slowly on my machine, what can I do?
A: MDK will run faster in Win95 or DOS due to your hardware
   configuration.  Some video cards, for example, work best in DOS or only
   Win95.  Try playing the game in the other mode to see if there is an
   increase in performance.  You will not need to reinstall the game, but
   simply run the other MDK executable (MDK95.exe for Windows95 or MDK.exe
   for the DOS executable) to see which gives you the best performance on
   your machine.

Q: The sound doesn't work!
A: That's not a question.

Q: The sound doesn't work on my machine.  Can you help?
A: Sure! First off, we'll assume that you've checked to make sure that
   the speakers are turned on and plugged in correctly to your PC and
   you're running a 100% SoundBlaster compatible card.  As a note, not all
   sound cards are truly 100% compatible, in which case you may not be
   able to get sound from MDK.

   Now, if you're running in Win95, check to make sure that your soundcard
   is operating correctly.  Remember that in Win95 you can have a
   correctly operating soundcard but have the sound muted.  (Double click
   on the speaker icon on the task bar to see if the sound is set to 'mute
   all'.)  If you are trying to run the game in DOS, make sure that your
   sound card and mouse drivers are being loaded for your DOS session.
   Consult your sound card instruction manual on loading the DOS drivers.

Q: I set the sound card settings manually, and now I can't even run MDK.
   How do I fix this?  Do I have to reinstall the game?
A: Ok, calm down.  Go to the directory that you installed MDK in. Now,
   (assuming your CD drive is the D: drive) at the DOS prompt, type this
   while still in the MDK directory on your hard drive: d:\mdkzap.
   This should remove the soundcard settings in the MDK configuration file
   and you should be able to start MDK and try setting up the sound card
   again. If you're having troubles under Windows95, call Microsoft or
   consult your Windows95 manual.

Q: Does MDK use Direct3D?
A: No. There may be a Direct3D patch available after the retail release
   of the game (see next question).

Q: Will there be a version for the xxxx 3D card?
A: There will be no 3D acceleration on initial release. Although we
   have made no firm commitments in this area, expect 2 or 3 specific card
   versions and a Direct3D version (for all the other cards) to be
   released a few weeks after general release.

Q: How about a multi-player version?
A: We don't have plans to do this yet.  It may happen but our resources
   are limited, we're still a small group making only a few games each
   year.  Would you rather see a multi-player version of MDK, or a
   completely new multi-player game that's even better than MDK? Not that
   we've been tossing around ideas for one for a while now...

Q: What does MDK stand for?
A: It stands for whatever we say it stands for on any given day.
   I.e., today it stands for Mother's Day Kisses...

   Feel free to send comments, suggestions, bugs, to [e-mail]

Q: Where can I get further technical assistance or ask game play questions?
A: See the section entitled MDK Customer Support.

Check out our website at http://www.interplay.com or http://www.shiny.com


MDK Customer Support OUTSIDE of the United States and Canada
============================================================
If you purchased your game outside of the United States or Canada then please note
the below Customer Service methods:

UK & EUROPE
--------------------
Interplay Productions, Ltd.
Harleyford Manor
Harleyford
Henley Road
Marlow
Buckinghamshire
SL7 2DX
ENGLAND

tel: [phone]
fax: [phone]

email: [e-mail]


OTHER TERRITORIES
(not including the
United States & Canada)
------------------------------
Contact your local distributor for support as listed
in your manual, or if no support number is listed
contact Interplay UK for a local reference.


Legal Stuff
========
MDK and all related characters/artwork (c) 1997 Shiny Entertainment,
Inc.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

'Other Territories' [as outlined above]
----------------------------------------------
Consult your manual or local distributor for applicable Legal information.


UK & Europe Limited Warranty
--------------------------------------
If within the first ninety days of purchase you have any problems with
the product please return it to the retailer.

After ninety (90) days, you may return the software program to
Interplay Productions, provided the fault is not due to normal wear and
tear and Interplay will mail a replacement to you.

To receive a replacement you should enclose the defective medium
(including the original product label) in protective packaging
accompanied by:

1) A cheque or postal order for ú10 sterling (to cover postage and
packaging).

2) A brief statement describing the defect.

3) The original receipt or address of the retailer

4) Your return address

Registered mail is recommended for returns.

Please send to:
Warranty Replacements, Interplay Productions Ltd., Harleyford Manor,
Harleyford, Henley Road, Marlow, Buckinghamshire SL7 2DX, ENGLAND

SOFTWARE USE LIMITATIONS AND LIMITED LICENSE

    General Product License.  This copy of MDK (the 'Software')  is
intended solely for your personal noncommercial home entertainment use.
You may not decompile, reverse engineer, or disassemble the Software,
except as permitted by law.  Interplay Productions and Shiny
Entertainment retain all right, title and interest in the Software
including all intellectual property rights embodied therein and
derivatives thereof. The Software, including, without limitation, all
code, data structures, characters, images, sounds, text, screens, game
play, derivative works and all other elements of the Software may not
be copied, resold, rented, leased, distributed (electronically or
otherwise), used on pay-per-play, coin-op or other for-charge basis, or
for any commercial purpose. Any permissions granted herein are provided
on a temporary basis and can be withdrawn by Interplay Productions at
any time.  All rights not expressly granted are reserved.

    Modem and Network Play.  If the Software contains modem or
network play, you may play the Software via modem transmission with
another person or persons directly without transmission through a third
party service or indirectly through a third party service only if such
service is an authorized licensee of Interplay.  For the purposes of
this license, a third party service refers to any third party service
which provides a connection between two or more users of the Software,
manages, organizes, or facilitates game play, translates protocols, or
otherwise provides a service which commercially exploits the Software,
but does not include a third party service which merely provides a
telephonic connection (and nothing more) for modem or network play.
Authorized licensee services are listed on the Interplay Productions
World Wide Web Site located at http://www.interplay.com. This limited
right to transmit the Software expressly excludes any transmission of
the Software or any data streams thereof on a commercial basis,
including, without limitation, transmitting the Software by way of a
commercial service (excepting those specific commercial services
licensed by Interplay) which translates the protocols or manages or
organizes game play sessions.  If you would like information about
obtaining a pay-for-play or commercial license to the Software, please
call Interplay Productions in the US at +[phone].

    Acceptance of License Terms.  By acquiring and retaining this
Software, you assent to the terms and restrictions of this limited
license.  If you do not accept the terms of this limited license, you
must return the Software together with all packaging, manuals and other
material contained therein to the store where you acquired the Software
for a full refund.


Published by Shiny Entertainment, Inc. and distributed in the rest of
the world by Interplay Productions.

Published by Shiny Entertainment, Inc. and distributed in Europe by
Interplay Productions, Ltd.