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Text File | 1994-11-09 | 13.0 KB | 261 lines

README.TXT **** CyClones Notes: **** This file contains any pertinent information about the game that was not able to make it into the regular documentation. Version: 1.00 CD ERRORS --------- If the game has trouble with the CD: Some CD-ROM drives on some specific machines may have trouble reading from the CD on the first try. The game may show symptoms such as being unable to play the music off of the CD during the game introduction, or displaying a error such as "Cannot read from Drive D" (or your CD drive letter) during the video sequences. If the game appears to be having such trouble, try simply getting a directory of your CD at the DOS prompt (by typing "DIR D:" (or E: or whatever your CD drive happens to be) before running the game. This can clear up any problems your computer may have. ITEMS ----- Activated Items: Items that can be activated in your inventory (that is, "turned on" for a continuing effect and later "turned off" to conserve power) did not make it into the final game. The only types of items available are instantaneous use items (such as bio-kits and mech-kits) which are used as soon as they are clicked on in your inventory, and readied items. Readied Items: Items that can be readied in your inventory (that is, readied then used on a target in the world, such as a door) work slightly differently than described in the manual. When an item is readied (right clicked in the inventory), the frame around it turns red. At that point, right clicking in the world will use that item upon whatever is click on in the world. IN ORDER TO CLOSE THE INVENTORY OR USE ANOTHER ITEM, YOU MUST RIGHT-CLICK AGAIN ON THAT ITEM TO UNREADY IT. CONTROLS -------- Key remapping: Several of the keys described on page 15 of the manual are designated as "Changable" (remappable, using the Configure section of the options screen), when in fact they are not. The following keys are permanently placed on the keyboard, and no other function can remap to that key: I = Inventory: Brings up items, if any exist, that Havoc possesses. C = Weapons Cache: Brings up weapons that Havoc possesses. O = Options Screen: Accesses all off-line game functions. Also works well as a gameplay pause. M = Automapper: Shows everything that Havoc has seen, in 3D. P = Detonate Demolition Packs: If any demo packs have been used, a "DP" button appears on the right of the screen. The 'P' key duplicates clicking on that icon, blowing them up. J = Toggle Jump-jet: If Havoc has the jump jet with any charges remaining, a "JJ" button stays on the left of the screen. The 'J' key duplicates clicking on that icon, which toggles the jumpjet on and off. Alternate key remapping: We at Raven Software feel that the default key configuration is the best all-around setup for easy movement, centered around the keypad. KP 1 = Slide Left (Keypad) ENTER = Select (Right-click) KP 2 OR 5 = Back up (Keypad) 0 = Fire KP 3 = Slide Right Page Up and (Keypad) * = Look up KP 4 = Rotate Left Page Down and (Keypad) / = Look down KP 6 = Rotate Right KP 7 = Forward and Left KP 8 = Straight Forward KP 9 = Forward and Right However, some people find it awkward to use the right side of the keyboard when the mouse is directly to the right of it as well. So, here are a few remapping suggestions that we have found to our liking: Left side of the keyboard for movement: A = Turn Left D = Turn Right S = Back up W = Move Forward Q = Slide Left E = Slide Right In this setup, Z and X, 1, 2, 3, and TAB all make excellent keys for other game functions. The "Forward and Left" and "Forward and Right" keys can be duplicated by holding down both the forward and the left or right keys. Cursor Keys for movement: For people who prefer using the standard inverse-T arrows on their keyboard because of its use in other games, a player can easily remap their movement keys here, moving the cursor movement to A/D/W/S if it is needed. < and > can be used for sliding keys in this configuration. Experiment! We have found that in many instances, a slight variation on a certain setup is more to the liking of a certain person. We encourage you to try out a few setups if you feel uncomfortable, and we promise you will be blasting CyClones like a pro in no time! Having more than one key setup: The key setups are stored in the file KEYMAP.BIN on your hard drive. If there is more than one person using the game on your machine, each person can have their own key setup if they back up the file under another name, such as KEYMAP.TIM after they exit the program, then copy their own special setup before running the game. JOYSTICK SUPPORT ---------------- One feature that was completed after the creation of the manual was the joystick support in the game. The game will support any standard two-button PC joystick, analog (any joystick that can be pushed "part-way" to "all the way" in a particular direction) as well as digital (like the Gravis Gamepad, which only can be pushed in the eight directions, with no finer control). Joystick Setup (Calibration): When the game is started up, the joystick is not hooked up to the control of the character, as it needs to be calibrated before it can be used. The JOYSTICK SETUP button is in the Options Screen, inside the SETTINGS menu. Just click on the button, which lies right next to the AUDIO SETUP button, and you will be put into yet another page of the Options Screen. There you will be asked to calibrate your joystick. It begins by asking you to center your joystick and press button 1. This usually is the "top" button or the trigger on the joystick. It will then ask you to define the four corners of the joystick, in a configuration like the letter 'Z'. Finally, it asks you to re-center the joystick and press the button again. From this information, the program determines where the four corners of your joystick are and how to read them. If for any reason that information is bad, if, for example, you did not go to the corners in the correct order, the program will tell you the configuration was bad, and return to the SETTINGS page. The joystick will be disabled until you run the configuration program again. This setup must be run every time the program is started up for use with a joystick, because many joysticks tend to lose their calibration over time. If, during play, you feel that your joystick is getting uncalibrated, or "off center", return to the Options Screen and run JOYSTICK SETUP again. Run the calibration as many times as you need to in order to get the "feel" of the joystick to your liking. Joystick Movement: The joystick movement is quite simple. Pushing the joystick left or right will turn Havoc left or right. Pushing it forward or back will move Havoc forward or backwards. The sole difference between the movement using the mouse reticle and the joystick is that pushing the joystick backwards and to the left or right does NOT slide Havoc to the left or right. It moves backward while rotating him in the corresponding direction. Pressing Button 1 on the joystick (frequently the trigger or the top button on most models) will fire Havoc's current weapon. Pressing Button 2 will act in the same way that right-clicking will with the mouse: that is, open doors, pick up objects, and click icons. Also, holding Button 2 and moving the joystick will slide the cursor around the screen. When the button is released, the cursor will remain in its new position. SOUND CARD SETUP ---------------- SSETUP, Autodetect, and Manual Setup: The program SSETUP on your hard drive will set up CyClones to the proper configuration for your sound card. The easiest way to use it is to, when asked if you want the program to auto-detect your sound card, to answer "Yes". Usually, the program will find the right hardware settings to make your card sing! Unfortunately, on some cards, most notably the Soundblaster 16, our autodetect program may have trouble. The program may hang when autodetect is selected, or improper settings may be given. DON'T PANIC if this happens! All is not lost! If necessary, use the manual card setup (say "No" to autodetect). The first part involves selecting a card type. If you don't see your card listed, usually a setting of Soundblaster (number 0) is the best bet. After selecting your card, the technical specifications are needed. The numbers it needs are an IRQ (interrupt), a DMA channel, and a port address. If you are uncertain of what values you need, try running the setup program included with your sound card. If you keep a sharp eye out when running it, this will tell you the three values you need to know. Another place to look is to simply type "SET" at the DOS command prompt. In the list of names and values, you may see a line like this: BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 which tells me that my Soundblaster needs an address of 220, and IRQ of 7 and a DMA of 1. These, incidentally, are the most common sound card settings that exist, and could match your own. NOTE ON 16-bit cards: The autosetup part of the program has a tendency to detect an improper DMA channel (the high-bit channel instead of the low 8-bit channel). For example, a Soundblaster 16 will often register as having a DMA of 6, rather than a proper channel, such as 1. The result is that the sound with be scrambled or buzzing. Use the manual setup in this case. Improper Sound Setups: If the sound card is improperly set up, the program may do strange and nasty things. At best, there will be no sound, the sound could be scrambled or sound terrible, or the game could even crash at the moment the first sound is played. If such a thing occurs, try running the game with No Sound set up. If your game works correctly without sound, you can assume that there is some problem with your sound setup or the card's compatibility with this game. If you cannot rectify the problem on your own, contact your sound card's manufacturer. CHANGING THE PATHS FOR THE GAME FILES ------------------------------------- The file CYCLONE.CFG on the hard drive tells the program the location of all the different files of the game. Normally, the program SSETUP rewrites this file every time it is run, storing a standard path configuration based off of the CD drive letter you specify. However, if for any reason you need to change the paths, the file is set up as follows: D --The first line is the CD drive letter. D is standard. .\ --This indicates where the regular game files are located. The default is the current directory. D:\game\ --This indicates where the reference game files are located, such as the maps and video. The default is the GAME directory on the CD. .\sound\ --This shows where the game sounds are located. It defaults to the sound subdirectory under the regular game playing dir. D:\game\sound\ --The last line is where the sound for the video is located. It usually is in the sound subdirectory on the CD. So, if you somehow have 100MB of disk space handy (we sure don't) and wish to play CyClones at its absolute optimum performance, all the data can be copied manually from the CD to any directory on your hard drive. All that needs to be done after that is to change lines 3 and 5 to the proper path on your hard disk so that the game can find the proper files. You'll still need the CD to get the game's soundtrack, but otherwise everything will work fine from your hard drive. TUTORIAL -------- There was only the briefest mention of the tutorial in the manual, so we will rehash it here: In the Options Screen, if the TUTORIAL button is selected, the game will go into an automatic demonstration of the basic controls of CyClones. The mouse will be under control of the computer, and will move and click by itself during its demonstration. In fact, all input by the user will be locked out. There is only one exception: The ESC key will cancel the tutorial and return to the Options Screen. NOTE: As the game will warn when the button is pressed, the player's current game will be lost when the Tutorial is started. If you care about your position in the game, make sure you SAVE your position before watching the tutorial. The game you save may be your own. --November 6, 1994 --Pat Lipo CyClones by Raven Software. Published by Strategic Simulations, Inc. Copyright 1994 Strategic Simulations, Inc. All rights reserved.