500 Game Surplus/XSurplus.iso/631/README.ENG

Text File | 1996-03-22 | 14KB | 347 lines

Here is the ReadMe. It contains the following sections:

. Watching the Demo Movie from DOS
. Playing the Game
. Helicopters
. The Joystick
. Steering wheels and pedals
. The sound
. 2PL Split Screen
. 2PL Modem Game
. Network Options
. Command Line Options
. and finally ...



Watching the Demo Movie from DOS
--------------------------------------------
Type "VIDEO" from the directory where you installed the game

 A note to shop type people: you can type "DEMO" which loops
 this video as a rolling demo (we try!)


Playing the Game
---------------------
** Controls **

 Default keys ( which you can change in the game) are

  Cursors for left/right/accel/brake
  Keypad-0 for nitro.
 Right-CTRL  puts you back on the track if you get hopelessly lost.


** Extra Keys **

 Pause  pauses
 PrtSc  saves a PCX to the racing directory (for the journos: see
        we do try!)

 Escape quits the game, or takes you up a level in the menus

 Ctrl-Escape is instant-quit from wherever
 (unless you're in a Windows DOS shell(!))


 F1 is "view the other cars" (shift-F1 cycles in reverse order)
 F2 selects the "Elasticam"(TM) behind-car view, and then either
       (1) forces the camera behind the car
    or (2) switches between 3 different heights.
 F3 is the cabin view
 F4 is the trackside view.


 +/- are the screen size.
     At full-screen VGA there's a debounce before switching to
     SVGA mode.
     (Full-screen SVGA is only recommended for people with Pentiums.)
     (or better!)


** Extra Keys **

 Pause  pauses (maybe DOS only)
 PrtSc  saves a PCX to the racing directory (for the journos: see
        we do try!)

 Escape quits the game, or takes you up a level in the menus

 Ctrl-Escape is instant-quit from wherever
 (unless you're in a Windows DOS shell(!))

 +/- are the screen size. (DOS)
     At full-screen VGA there's a debounce before switching to
     SVGA mode.
     (Full-screen SVGA is only recommended for people with Fast Pentiums.)

Helicopters
--------------
There's no doubt about it, the helicopters take some getting used to...
 (Well, it'd be pretty boring if all the cars behaved exactly the same
 way, wouldn't it?)

 SO: The controls are BASICALLY the same as all the vehicles, except that
 the nitro key behaves as "upward thrust", and you fall gently under gravity.

 However, you occasionally want to go down faster, and this can be achieved
 by pressing "decelerate" without letting go of the accelerator.
 (not possible on a joystick, but you can't have everything!)

 Oh, and to save you having to use the "up-thrust" key ALL the time, there's
 a sort-of "low-altitude automatic hover" built in. You'll still need to
 thrust up to get over hills & stuff, though.

 General advice: How to turn a tight bend at speed:
 Anticipate the corner, turning the chopper to skid sideways through the
 corner (even face back at the camera if necessary).
 Don't forget to straighten out "early" as well, or you'll run into the inside
 of the bend.

 (For what it's worth, even Domark's testers had trouble when they first
 tried flying the choppers. Perseverance is all! Trust us: they're great
 when you're used to them!)

The Joystick
---------------
Note that re-calibration is meant for DOS users. Please use the Windows '95
 joystick calibration routine if you're using Windows '95

 There's a joystick configure screen under "Options...Joystick"

 Plug in your stick.
 Click on "Recalibrate"
 Waggle the joystick(s) around to its extremities.
 Centre it/them.
 Hit a fire button.

 Click on "analogue" if the stick is an analogue one (ie - not a
 "gamepad") and you'll get true "stick position = steering wheel position"
 steering.
 You'll find it feels totally different (less prone to oversteer).

 If you tick the "pl1"/"pl2" options, it automatically sets that player
 to use that joystick as accelerator/brake and steering.

 If you want to arrange things in another manner, you can do it on the
 "control defining" screen by moving the stick instead of pressing a key.

 Win 95 has proven to be a big obstacle in the selection of joysticks
 and wheels. Please please please check that you have calibrated your
 wheel or stick correctly. Here's how we did it....

 Select the preferences box (START -> SETTINGS -> CONTROL PANEL) then
 choose joystick option. For a "normal" stick usually choose joystick
 one with 2 axis and 2 buttons then click calibrate waggle the thing
 around and test it to make sure.

Steering wheels and pedals
--------------------------------

 Support has been added for the Thrustmaster formula T1 and
 virtual pilot pro wheels and sticks..

 Choose "configure joystick" and click on the control mech for the
 player you want to have wheel control.

 "PEDALS" is for pedals where the two pedals are totally independent: e.g.
 ch-pedals in "car mode": The brake pedal is mapped onto the X axis of
 stick 2, and the accelerator to the Y axis of stick 2.

 "PEDALS2" is for ch-pedals, thrustmaster and others, in "aeroplane mode",
 where the brake pedal and accelerator pedal both share the X
 axis of stick 2.

 For pedals where the brake & accelerator share the Y axis of stick 1,
 "joystick" mode is the one to choose.

 We suggest that you use analogue control for a realistic feel to the
 game.

 Again Win95 confused some of our guys in testing

 Wheels are done in the same way select as joysticks custom select
 2 axis and waggle wheel in calibrate then test to make sure.

 Pedals gave us the most problems... Usually you have to have an additional
 joystick. Plug the pedals into the joy port and the wheel/stick into
 the double adapter then coming out of the port.

 Configure the wheel/stick on joystick 1 and the pedals on joystick 2.
 We used the pedals as a custom 2 axis (2 button for what it was worth) and
 then tested it (calibration wasn't really needed for some reason).
 One pedal adjusted one axis and the other adjusted another axis
 in plane mode. We then chosen "PEDALS2" as the chosen joystick controller.

 We have found that the Thrust Master pedals should be configured as second
 joystick like the cp products pedals. However these pedals affect the x
 axis in the test program. Having successfully calibrated the pedals, chose
 option "PEDALS2" as the joystick controller.

The sound
-------------
We use the Miles drivers for creating sound effects in Big Red
 Racing. These drivers have been used in many games before so you
 may find you have another game which works with them.

 The install utility runs a program called SETSOUND. This
 establishes which card is installed in your machine. Should you
 change your sound card after installing the game
 : run SETSOUND to create a new sound driver.

 Next time you run the Racing, and are prompted with enter your
 name, type in a new name. You will then be prompted with a
 create new config. By answering yes to this (hit Y), the new name
 will use the new sound driver yet keeping the old driver intact.

2PL Split Screen
--------------------

 Player 2's default keys (again, alterable) are:-

 Q,A,R,T for driving
 ALT     for nitro

 Left-CTRL for "putting on track"

 Player 2, being on the left end of the keyboard, gets F1..F4 for the views.

 F1 gives PL2 control of the mouse
 F2,F3,F4 are the same as 1PL mode

 ...And Player 1 gets to use F9...F12 instead

 F9 gives PL1 control of the mouse
 F10,F11,F12 are PL1's view keys (see F2,F3,F4)

2PL Modem Game
----------------------

 The modem game has to be played by launching it through the
 modem launch program called modem. This is a similar
 program to that that DOOM uses so people should be reasonably
 aware of what's going on. You simply type modem at the
 command line.

 First select you name using the cursory up and down thing
 like the install program. The instructions I think are quite
 explanatory and easy to understand.

 Now select your modem type from the list provided once you
 have both got the right modem set up, choose the connect
 option. To establish if you have got the right modem strings,
 try to connect. If the modems response to initialization is to
 return an error or even not answer at all, try returning to DOS
 and attempt to connect again, try switching the modem off then on
 and attempt to connect again and finally try to switch your
 computer off then on and attempt to connect again. The init
 strings used are the same that are used on DOOM, so if all else
 fails, check that DOOM works and edit the MODEM.INI file.

The MODEM.INI file looks something like this :-

;
 ;Big Red Modem Interface
 ;

 DEVICE      Pace Linnet 32 Plus vfx
 INITSTRING  AT &C0 F8 \N0
 HANGSTRING  AT Z H
 DIALSTRING  ATDT
 BAUD        9600
 PORT        1
 LINE SPEED  19200
 TELEPHONE
 NAME

Hopefully the above should be fairly self explanatory. But
 just in case:

 Note all strings and numbers start at the 13th position in!

 DEVICE        is the name of the modem.
 INITSTRING        is the string used to initialize the modem.
 HANGSTRING        is the string used to hang up the phone.
 BAUD            is the speed the modem talks to the outside world.
 PORT            is the serial port the modem is connected to.
 LINE SPEED        is the speed the serial port talks to the modem.
 TELEPHONE        is the default number to call when you dial.
 NAME            is your name.

 Having corrected the strings and the correct baud rates
 again attempt to connect upon getting your strings right you
 should see you modem respond with an OK. You can experiment
 with the modem strings by using the chat mode to chat directly
 to your modem. When in chat mode, all modems should respond with
 OK when you type +++ (then wait a second or two) +++ and then
 then AT followed by enter. If this doesn't work then its likely
 you haven't set the baud rates properly.

 Assuming your modem choice is correct, (read what
 appears in the modem response box if ), one person must choose
 to dial while the other chooses to answer the phone.

 Having established a connection, you will then be able to chat to
 each other by typing stuff on the keyboard and watching the
 response box.

 Press escape to exit and then choose to play the game. At the time
 of writing, you still then have to select the modem game from
 within racing, (short cut keys M for multi play then M for modem).
 By the final cut this will be the defaulted to when the game
 is run.

Network Options
---------------
DOS Racing runs on IPX network we use Novell although it has been tested on
 other networks with an IPX protocol driver running on top.

The problem with network driven games are usually due to a disparity with
 the speeds of the various computers on the net.

If you have problems with the network version of racing there are a few
 parameters that you can play around with. These parameters are stored
in the config file that is loaded in when you choose your name at the start
 of the game. To look at your config file use a text editor such as edit to
 load in the file "YOURNAME".CFG. Look through the file and find the
 reference to netspeed followed by three numbers separated by spaces.

The first parameter is the number of 70ths of a second that have to have
 passed between the computer sending out packets during the game. If your
 computer is particularly fast say a p120, you may find that it is flooding
 the network with game packets. Slower computers have no choice but to
listen to what the fast computer is saying and therefore not redraw the
 screen smoothly. In instances like this slow down the fast PC by increasing
 this number and speed up slower computers by reducing this number.

The second parameter is a similar value, but it is for the original
signing up the particular player to the net game. As the net game
starts, the game BROADCASTS to the entire net that it is about to
start playing racing. A broadcast is received by all PC's on the net
and so you should try to reduce the amount of these particular writes.
Do this by increasing the second parameter.

The third parameter was added to help the computer that could not
keep up with the rest of the game. Simply put, if the game received
a message updating the position of the other players at relatively
long pauses in time, the car would appear to jerk from it current
place to the next. The third value adds what is called interpolation.
What this does is to make a guess at where the car is going and
let it continue in that direction until it is told next time where it is.
By its very nature, the computer is guessing where your opponent is
going and so sometimes depending on how regularly its getting messages
from the other player, it gets it wrong. The result is a warping effect.
A car will warp from one location to another. If you find this effect
irritating to remove it, make the third parameter a zero.

Command Line Options
--------------------
use "RACING -CFG <yourname>" to bypass the name-entry screen
use "RACING -NOSOUND" to avoid loading a "wrong" sound driver

and finally ...
----------------
A big thank you  to the "Flying Wolfpack" group here at Domark US for
their many hours of network play testing....... James.