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MULTIPLAYER RELEASE NOTES FOR DESCENT 3 INTERACTIVE DEMO v1.0 __________________________________________________________ TABLE of CONTENTS -- DESCENT 3 DEMO MULTIPLAYER README __________________________________________________________ 1. General Multiplayer Info 2. Starting A Multiplayer Game a. Parallax Online b. DirectPlay Modem c. DirectPlay Serial d. IPX e. Direct TCP/IP 3. Starting (Hosting) A New Game 4. On-Screen F6 Multiplayer Menu 5. Multiplayer Control Commands 6. Firewalls And Proxies 7. Running A Dedicated Server _______________________________ 1. GENERAL MULTIPLAYER INFO _______________________________ We hope you have as much fun playing multiplayer games of Descent 3 as we do! This demo includes Capture-The-Flag and Anarchy games. The full version of the game of course includes new multiplayer games, weapons, powerups, and multiplayer levels! You can play multiplayer games of Descent 3 on a LAN (Local Area Network), over the Internet via your modem connection to an ISP (Internet Service Provider), or directly against another single computer via a modem or serial cable connection. If you're playing over the Internet, you can use the free matching service from Parallax Online ("PXO" for short) to find other Descent 3 players on the Internet to play against. PXO works with when connecting to the Internet via modem, cable modem, ISDN, or other connection. For this demo, we recommend 8 players or fewer in a network game. This file contains details on how to start (or join) a multiplayer game, and also contains troubleshooting suggestions, and all the details on the many multiplayer menus and options available while playing. __________________________________ 2. STARTING A MULTIPLAYER GAME __________________________________ After you click "Multiplayer" from the main menu, a dialog presents you with several options: Parallax Online: Play over the Internet via the PXO matching service DirectPlay Serial: Play against one other computer over a serial cable DirectPlay Modem: Play against one other computer over the modem IPX: Play over a LAN using the IPX network protocol Direct TCP/IP: Play over a LAN or the Internet using the TCP/IP network protocol Click the type of game you want to play and then click OK. Following are details on joining, and starting, each type of game. Parallax Online --------------- Parallax Online ("PXO") is a free matching service with a lobby and chat rooms. You'll be able to chat with other Descent 3 players worldwide, and play against them. This service is free, for no additional matching or connect time charges. Before you choose a PXO game in Descent 3, you must first register on PXO to get a user name and password. To do this, just click the "PXO" button on the Descent 3 Launcher, or visit http://www.parallaxonline.com to register. Once your account is validated, which should take just a few minutes, you'll be able to play a game of Descent 3 over PXO. The login name you enter when registering for PXO is only used to connect to the service -- no one else will ever see it. On PXO you'll be identified to other players by the Pilot name you set in Descent 3. When you register, you're given the option of allowing other players to see your real name and email address, or you can choose to be totally anonymous. Parallax Online Details ----------------------- After you select Parallax Online, the "Login to PXO" window appears. Type in your PXO login name and password as given to you when you registered (see above). After a few seconds, you'll enter the PXO screen. (If you get to the login window and haven't yet registered with PXO, click on "Create New Profile" to go to the PXO registration page.) To chat before you begin a game, double-click the name of one of the chat rooms at the top of the PXO window. A dialog box will appear letting you know what chat room you're in. To type something that everyone in the chat room can view, just type something and hit Enter. To send a private message to another pilot, click "Send Private Message", then type the message and pilot name in the dialog box that appears. You can find a pilot if you know his name by clicking "Find Pilot" and typing his or her name in the dialog box that appears. (This option will only find pilots in PXO Chat, not pilots who are in the middle of a PXO game.) After entering a chat room, you can get any pilot's stats by clicking on his name in the leftmost column then clicking "Get Pilot Info". When you're ready to start or join a game, click "Go To Games" and start or join a game as detailed below. In addition to the Chat and Game Matching services, PXO also gathers statistics from games played, including kills and deaths for each player. Visit the PXO web page at http://www.parallaxonline.com/ to view your stats, see the latest rankings, or see a list of games currently being played. A note about firewalls and proxies: You can't host a PXO game from behind a firewall. You can join a PXO game just fine, as long as the appropriate ports are up. See "Firewalls and Proxies", below. DirectPlay Modem ---------------- This option lets you use your modem to directly play against another player. Note that this is not for Internet games when you use your modem to dial an ISP (Internet Service Provider) -- it's to let you directly call a friend over the modem to play. You need DirectX 6 to play a direct modem game, so Windows NT users can't use this option. Before you try to play Descent 3 over a direct modem connection, you must configure your modem through Windows. You can do this with the "Modem" option in the Windows Control Panel. After you choose a Direct Modem game, a screen appears letting you choose your modem, in case you have more than one. Click on your modem. If you want to host a game -- that is, your modem will be set to answer the phone when a friend calls -- click "Answer/Host Game", and see "Starting A New Game", below. If you want to join a game -- that is, your computer will call a friend who has already chosen to host a game -- type the phone number and click "Dial". Troubleshooting: DirectX 6 is required for direct modem games; we use DirectPlay for modem games. If the error "Unable to connect." appears when looking for games, or you get other communication problems, you should quit the Descent 3 demo on both machines and make sure they can talk to each other in the first place. To do this, run a terminal program like HyperTerminal on both machines -- Windows 95 and 98 include HyperTerminal in the Start menu, under Programs->Accessories. Configure HyperTerminal on both machines to use the same settings, have one computer call the other, and type to each other in the window that appears. If you don't see the text that each other person is typing, you aren't set up correctly. Make sure you have selected the correct modem in the "Modem" Control Panel, with all the correct settings, including baud rate and COM port. DirectPlay Serial ----------------- This option lets you play a two-player game in which both computers are connected directly to each other via a null-modem cable attached to each computer's serial port. You need DirectX 6 to play a direct serial game, so Windows NT users can't use this option. After you choose a Direct Serial game, a screen appears letting you set up your COM port. The default settings are COM1, 38400 baud, 1 stop bit, no parity, and RTS/DTR flow control. Make sure both computers are set to the same settings on this screen, and then set the COM port to whichever COM port you have plugged the null modem cable into on each computer. Then one player should click "Start A New Game" and begin a new game as detailed in "Starting A Multiplayer Game", below. THEN, after that player is already in the game and flying around, the second player should click "Look For Games" and connect on the following screen. If the game plays slowly, try increasing the baud speed on both computers. We chose 38400 baud as a default speed to accommodate slower computers. You can increase the baud speed and you'll probably get faster game play. Make sure you set the baud speed to the same number on both computers. Troubleshooting: DirectX 6 is required for direct serial games; we use DirectPlay for serial games. If the error "Unable to connect." appears when looking for games, you should quit the Descent 3 demo on both machines and make sure they can talk to each other. To do this, run a terminal program like HyperTerminal on both machines -- Windows 95 and 98 include HyperTerminal in the Start menu, under Programs->Accessories. Configure HyperTerminal on both machines to use the same settings, and type in the window that appears. If you don't see the text that each other person is typing, you aren't set up correctly. Make sure you have selected the correct COM port, and make sure you are using a null-modem cable and not a straight-through serial cable. (There are also null-modem adapters you can attach to a straight-through serial cable.) IPX --- This option lets you join or start a game using the IPX network protocol to play over a LAN. After choosing this option, you can join an IPX game in progress by simply clicking the name of the game, then clicking "Join Selected". To start a game, click "Start A New Game", then see "Starting A New Game", below. Troubleshooting: Run NETTEST.EXE if you experience problems with IPX games. It may be able to detect certain problems with your network configuration. Beyond that, it's beyond the scope of a game readme file to attempt to troubleshoot an IPX network. Try using Windows' Network Control Panel, and take it from there. Direct TCP/IP ------------- This option lets you join or start a game using the TCP/IP network protocol to play over a LAN, or over the Internet. To join a game on your local LAN, just choose this option, click the name of the game you want to join, and click "Join Selected". To join a game across the Internet via TCP/IP, first find out the IP address of the server. Click in the text box under the words "Search For Games At Address". Type in the IP address you wish to search (example: 127.0.0.127) and press Enter. If a game is available at that address, click the name of the game and click "Join Selected" to begin. To start a TCP/IP game, click "Start A New Game", then see "Starting A New Game", below. Troubleshooting: Run NETTEST.EXE if you experience problems with TCP/IP games. It may be able to detect certain problems with your network configuration. Again, it's unfortunately beyond the scope of a game readme file to attempt to troubleshoot a TCP/IP network. Try using Windows' Network Control Panel, and take it from there. ____________________________________ 3. STARTING (HOSTING) A NEW GAME ____________________________________ Once you've chosen one of the preceding network options and clicked "Start A New Game", Descent 3 presents you with a screen listing your multiplayer options. Mission Name: Lets you choose the level to play. Choose "The Core" for a multiplayer level designed for 2-4 players. Choose "Polaris" for a multiplayer level designed for 4 players and up. Game Name: The name that will appear when other players attempt to join your game. Game Type: The demo version supports Anarchy and Capture-The-Flag. Anarchy is a big free-for-all: Everybody against everybody. In Capture-The-Flag, all players are assigned to either the Red Team or the Blue Team, and the goal is to find the other color's base, grab their flag by flying through it, fly back to your base, and drop off the enemy flag at your base. Your flag must also be at your base, so if someone on the enemy team already grabbed your flag, you must find him, blow him up, and return your own flag to your own base before you can score points for capturing the enemy flag. Multiplayer Options: Another screen appears with multiplayer options: Time Limit: The level automatically ends after this many minutes. Kill Goal: The level automatically ends after a player achieves this many kills. Max. Players: The maximum number of players that will be allowed into the game. We recommend 8 or fewer for the demo. Packets per second: The number of position update packets that all the computers in your game will send per second. (Technically, you also send packets when you fire a weapon.) In most cases, just 5 packets per second is a good setting. You can set this number lower to allow more people in the game, and with less bandwidth requirements. Note that it's usually not a good idea to increase this number, because this will just result in a flood of superfluous data being transmitted over the network, and your game lag will probably increase. Respawn rate: Amount of time before a fixed powerup reappears. Client-server: You can choose either client-server or peer-to-peer. Client-server is best when the server has a fast connection. This option lets the most people join the game with lesser bandwidth requirements for each client. If you ever have problems with games becoming extremely lagged after playing for a while, try playing with a dedicated server (see below), or play peer-to-peer. Peer-peer: You can choose either client-server or peer- to-peer. Peer-to-peer is good for games when all the clients and the server have the same amount of bandwidth. In peer-to-peer, all clients will see player updates more quickly, but they will all need more bandwidth. In general, we predict peer-to- peer may be better for fewer people, but maybe not. Use rotational velocity: Produces smoother enemy ship movement, but requires a little more bandwidth. Drop out of order packets: Prevents out-of-order packets from causing a ship to ever appear to move backwards or pop around, but requires a little more bandwidth. Configure allowed ships/items: Displays a screen on which you can change what items are allowed and disallowed in your game. If you want to play a game in which the Vauss Cannon isn't allowed, this is how. Save Settings: Saves all the above settings in a file. If you always start games with the same multiplayer options, save them with this option. Load Settings: Load multiplayer settings which you previously saved with the "Save Settings" option. Start Game: Launch! ____________________________________ 4. ON-SCREEN F6 MULTIPLAYER MENU ____________________________________ Press F6 while playing to display the on-screen multiplayer menu. While displaying this menu, use the following keys: Up Arrow: Move up to highlight the previous menu item Down Arrow: Move down to highlight the next menu item Right Arrow: Enter a submenu Left Arrow: Leave a submenu to enter the menu to the left Enter Key: Activate highlighted option in menu ESC Key or F6: Hide the on-screen menu Description of items in On-Screen menu -------------------------------------- 1) Server Commands Menu (only displayed on the server) This menu contains various options and commands that only the server can issue. This menu contains the following submenus: A) Kick This command will kick a player from the game. When you highlight this submenu you will get a list of all the players currently in the game. The number that is between the brackets ([]) is the player number of the player. To kick a player from the game, highlight their pilot name and activate (press Enter key). B) Ban This command will kick and ban a player from the game. This ban will only last as long as the server is up. When you highlight this submenu you will get a list of all the players currently in the game. The number that is between the brackets ([]) is the player number of the player. To ban a player from the game, highlight their pilot name and activate (press Enter key). C) End Level This command will end the level that is currently playing, and will send the game to the post-level results screen. To end the level, highlight this submenu and activate (press Enter key). D) Max HUD Name Level This command determines whether players will be able to display the pilot names of the other players on their HUD. There are three options: None - If this is set, the players will not be able to display any names on their HUD. Team Only - If playing a team game, players will be able to display the names of their teammates, but not of their opponents. In a non-team game, this option is the same as None. Full - Players will be ale to display the names of all players. E) Team Control (only available in team games) This submenu contains submenus with commands to change options for team games. 1.) Balance Teams This command will automatically balance the number of players on the teams to make the teams fair. It balances based on seniority. Those that haven't been in the game as long as another player on their team will be have a greater chance of being forced to another team. To automatically balance the teams, select this option and activate (press Enter key). 2.) AutoTeam Balance This command turns on/off the automatic placement of a new player to a game to the team with the least number of players. If this option is turned off then the player must either change his team to the team he wants to be on, or the server must force change him to a team. To turn on/off this option select On or Off from the sub menu of "AutoTeam Balance" and activate (press Enter key). The item with the arrow pointing at it is the current state of the option. 3.) Allow Team Changing This command enables/disables allow players to change teams. If this option is off than the teams are essentially locked (until this option is turned on). To turn this option on or off, select On or Off from the sub menu of "Allow Team Changing" and activate (press Enter key). The item with the arrow pointing at it is the current state of the option. 2) Observer Mode Menu This menu contains the commands to enter/exit observer mode to watch the game as a spectator. There are two different kinds of observer mode, roaming and piggyback. Roaming Observer mode lets you fly around freely. In piggyback mode you must select the player you want to observe, after doing so you will watch the game through their eyes. A) Observer Mode In this submenu you can turn on roaming observer mode, or turn off observer mode completely. To turn on/off this option select On or Off from the sub menu of "Observer Mode" and activate (press Enter key). The item with the arrow pointing at it is the current state of the option. B) PiggyBack Observer In this submenu you can select what player you would like to observe through the piggyback observer mode. Selecting this menu will give you a list of players currently in the game. To start piggybacking a player, highlight their pilot name and activate (press Enter key). If you select yourself, it will end the observer mode session. 3) OnScreen Background In this menu you can enable or disable the backdrop of the On-Screen menu. To turn on/off this option select On or Off from the sub menu of "Background" and activate (press Enter key). The item with the arrow pointing at it is the current state of the option. 4) Max HUD Name Level This command determines whether player names are visible on your HUD. Note that these settings are subject to the limitations set by the server; see "Max HUD Name Level" above. There are three options: None - If this is set, no names will appear on the HUD. Team Only - If playing a team game, the names of the player's teammates will appear on the HUD, but the names of the opponents will not. In a non-team game, this option is the same as None. Full - The names of all players will appear on the HUD. 5) Game Stats To File Menu This menu contains the options and commands that deal with the saving of game stats to file. This file will be located in your /netgames directory of where you installed Descent 3. A) Save Stats To File Activating this command will immediately save the current stats to file. To activate highlight this command and press Enter key. B) AutoSave On Level End This submenu is used to enable/disable the automatic saving of the stats when the level ends. To turn on/off this option select On or Off from the sub menu of "AutoSave On Level End" and activate (press Enter key). The item with the arrow pointing at it is the current state of the option. C) AutoSave On Disconnect This submenu is used to enable/disable the automatic saving of the stats when or if you disconnect from the game. To turn on/off this option select On or Off from the sub menu of "AutoSave On Disconnect" and activate (press Enter key). The item with the arrow pointing at it is the current state of the option. 6) Get Player Info Menu This option allows you to choose a player currently in the game and it will display information about the player on the screen. It contains information like what team they are on (team games only), their player number, network address, ship they are using and total time in game. After you are done using the information displayed, simply select and activate the same pilot (or select <none>) and the display will go away. 7) NetGame Info Menu This option turns on/off the displaying of detailed information about the netgame currently being played. This display contains information like the name of the game, mission being played, the multiplayer game being played, the packets per second threshold, the max players allowed in the game, the time limit per level (if enabled), the goal score per level (if enabled) and the respawn time for powerups. To turn on/off this option select On or Off from the sub menu of "Netgame Info" and activate (press Enter key). The item with the arrow pointing at it is the current state of the option. 8) Statistical HUD Messages Menu This options turns on/off the displaying of the random statistical HUD messages, that can occur after a player scores a kill. To turn on/off this option select On or Off from the sub menu of "Netgame Info" and activate (press Enter key). The item with the arrow pointing at it is the current state of the option. 9) Change Teams Menu (team games only) This menu allows you to change the team you are currently on. This is more of a request to change teams, as the server can deny the request if the option to allow team changing is disabled (or the multiplayer game will not allow it, for instance, in a CTF game, if you have a flag and try to change teams, the request will be denied). 10) Exit Menu Exits from the On-Screen Menu ____________________________________ 5. MULTIPLAYER CONTROL COMMANDS ____________________________________ Here is a list of commands you can give to the Descent 3 demo -- both to your copy of the game and to the server -- while playing a multiplayer game, or while running a dedicated server. To enter a command, press the F8 key, then type the command and press Enter. For example, to show player info for player 0, you would press F8, then type: $playerinfo 0 then press return. Many of these commands are available from the F6 multiplayer menu that's available while playing the game. If you run a dedicated server, you'll need to type in these commands, since the multiplayer menu will be unavailable. Command List ------------ $team <Team_name> From a client, changes your team. Team_name is the name of the team you want to change to. $changeteam <Pnum> <Team_name> From the server, changes a player to a team. Pnum is the player number, and Team_name is the name of the team. $playerinfo <Pnum> From a client, request information about a player. Pnum is the player number. $balance From the server, automatically balance teams. $autobalance <off/on> From the server, turn off or on the autobalancing of teams. $allowteamchange <off/on> From the server, turn off or on the ability of clients to change their teams. $kick <Pnum> From the server, kick a player out of the game. Pnum is the player number to kick. $ban <Pnum> From the server, ban a player from the game. Pnum is the player number to ban. $banlist On a dedicated server, shows the list of banned players so you can removeban that player. $removeban <Playernum> Removes a ban from a player. Playernum is the player number as listed when you typed $banlist. $endlevel From the server, ends the current level. $players Shows all players in the game. $scores Shows the scores and stats of the game. $savestats Saves the game stats to a file. $statmsgs <on/off> Turns on or off the stats messages during a multiplayer game. $autosavelevel <on/off> Turns off or on the saving of game stats to a file at the end of the level. $autosavedisconnect <on/off> Turns off or on the saving of game stats to a file upon disconnect. $settimelimit <Minutes> Changes the level time limit of a multiplayer game. Minutes is the number of minutes; the level will end after that many minutes. $setgoallimit <Goal> Changes the level goal of a multiplayer game. Goal is the number of points at which the level will end. $setmaxplayers <Max> Sets the maximum number of players in a multiplayer game. Max is the maximum number of players. $setrespawntime <Seconds> Sets the respawn time of the powerups on the current level of a multiplayer game. After a powerup is picked up, after this many seconds, it will respawn. $netgameinfo From the client, request net game info. $setpps <Number> From the server, set the maximum number of packets per second that will be exchanged. Number is the maximum number of packets per second. $killmsgfilter <full/simple/none> Changes the kill messages you get on this machine. "full" is the normal set of messages. "simple" will simply say who killed who. "none" will display no kill messages. $hudnames <full/team/none> In a multiplayer game, sets whether your HUD displays the pilot names of all other ships you see (full), only your team members (team), or no pilot names at all (none). This command may be restricted if the server has used the $serverhudnames command (below). $serverhudnames <full/team/none> From the server, sets the maximum value that users can set $hudnames to. $serverhudnames full : Users can set $hudnames to any value. $serverhudnames team : Users can set $hudnames to 'team' or 'none'. $serverhudnames none : Users can set $hudnames to 'none'. ____________________________ 6. FIREWALLS AND PROXIES ____________________________ You can play a Descent 3 Demo net game over the Internet from behind a firewall or proxy, if you can talk your network administrators into opening the following ports: UDP 6493 UDP 6440 UDP 6200 UDP 6201 TCP 7070 If you experience problems, run the NETTEST.EXE program that's included in the Descent 3 Demo directory. It will verify that your network and firewall configuration is operational, and will give you specific reasons for any failures that it finds. You can get help by launching the program by typing NETTEST.EXE --HELP for some information on its use. You can join PXO games from behind a firewall, but you can't host them. Someone who isn't behind a firewall will have to host the game. _________________________________ 7. RUNNING A DEDICATED SERVER _________________________________ If you are lucky enough to have a spare computer on your network that nobody uses, put it to good work! Set it up as a Descent 3 dedicated server. This may help the speed of network games for all clients. To start a dedicated server, install the Descent 3 Demo on the machine, and in the Misc. tab in setup, type: -dedicated example.cfg where "example.cfg" is the name of the dedicated server configuration file. This is a file you can configure yourself with various commands. The commands are: PPS <num> - Sets the packets per second that the server sends out. Timelimit <num> -How long (in minutes) each level lasts Killgoal <num> - End the level after this many kills RepsawnTime <num> - How long (in seconds) it takes powerups to respawn Gamename <string> - The name of the game MissionName <string> - The mission you're playing ScriptName <string> the name of the netgame you want ConnectionName <string> the name of the connection you want MaxPlayers <num> - The max numbers of players in the game In addition, you can type: Quit Endlevel while the game is running to quit the game or end the level, respectively. NOTE: The first line of the server config file must read: [server config file] A sample dedicated server .cfg file might look like this: ---------------------------------- [server config file] PPS=8 TimeLimit=10 KillGoal=0 RespawnTime=60 GameName=Dedicated Server! MissionName=Polaris.d3l Scriptname=Anarchy ConnectionName=Direct TCP~IP ---------------------------------- There is an example server config file included with the demo. Its filename is "dedicated.cfg" and it can be found in the same directory as the demo. END OF MULTIPLAYER README FILE. HAVE FUN.