Star Fighter 3000 Pilot's Manual

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- Using the Desktop Interface -

This version of Star Fighter 3000 runs under the Window Manager, allowing you to return to the desktop at any time to continue with other work. You can even play the game in a window, whilst other applications continue to run in the background! Interactive help is provided on all aspects of the desktop interface, and in most cases this should be sufficient.

The Icon Bar

When you run the game its application icon is installed on the icon bar. Clicking SELECT on this icon will open the main game window, whilst clicking ADJUST will open the Choices dialogue box.

The icon bar menu provides the following options:

Info
Leads to a window giving information about the program.
Help...
Opens this game manual.
Choices...
Opens the Choices dialogue box.
Quit
Quits the application.

The Main Window

The main window displays the same graphics that you would see in full-screen mode. Mouse clicks (except for MENU) and key presses are passed on to the game, though the latter only when the window has the input focus. The window will gain the input focus when you click on it - to get the input focus without side-effects hold down the Shift key when clicking.

If the mouse is being used for flight control then the pointer will be hidden and all mouse clicks (including MENU) will be claimed by the game. You can free the pointer by pressing F12 to remove the input focus from the game window; this will also pause the game if 'auto-suspend' is configured.

The game window provides a menu:

Full screen
The game takes over the entire screen, removing the distractions of window furniture. Multi-tasking is suspended when not in the desktop, which allows the game to run much faster. You can return to the desktop by pressing F12.
Suspend
Ticking this option will pause the game and free up CPU time for other tasks. Suspension of the game is total, and thus distinct from the in-game pause facility (which allows continued control of camera views, for instance). You also can configure 'Auto-suspend' (see 'General options').
Scale view
Leads to a dialogue box, which allows you to change the extent of the game window so that it takes up more or less space on the desktop. Either enter a percentage scale in the writable field, use the adjuster arrows, or select from one of the standard scales.
Screenshot
Leads to a standard save box from which you can drag a file icon to a directory display or type in a complete file path. The game's current screen display will be saved to this location as a Sprite file.
Choices...
Opens the Choices dialogue box.
Help...
Opens this game manual.

The Choices Dialogue Box

This dialogue box is split into several pages in order to keep it to a manageable size. Use the radio buttons down the right-hand side of the window to control which page is displayed.

The 'Cancel' button discards all changes. The 'Set' button confirms any changes and configures the game appropriately. The 'Save' button acts like 'Set', with the addition that it writes the new configuration to file so that it is remembered next time the game is run.

You can keep the dialogue box open by clicking any of these buttons with ADJUST rather than SELECT. This is particularly useful with 'Cancel', to reset the dialogue box from the internal configuration.

a) General options

Speed limiter [Value]
This value sets the maximum speed of the game in centiseconds per frame. Reducing it will speed the game up, whilst increasing it will slow the game down (and increase the time available to other desktop tasks). The values that correspond to the standard speeds available in the configure menu are 5 'Slow', 4 'Medium', 3 'Fast' and 0 'Max'.

The game will only run up to the configured speed if your computer is fast enough. In full screen mode it will also be restricted by the monitor frequency (typically 1 to 2 cs per frame).

War backdrop for menu [Off / On]
Turning the backdrop off should make the in-game menus more responsive on slow computers.
Big ships launch missiles [Off / On]
A-T-A missile launch from big ships and space stations was broken in earlier versions of the game and hence has not been thoroughly play tested. You may wish to disable this option if a mission seems unreasonably hard.
Lasers hit bonus coins [Off / On]
In earlier versions of the game, lasers would hit any bonus coins in their path. The default is now for lasers to pass straight through coins, but you can restore the original behaviour by setting this option.
Start in full-screen mode [Off / On]
You can configure the game to start in full-screen mode, as did earlier versions of Star Fighter 3000 (although you will still be able to return to the desktop by pressing F12). You must save the configuration for this option to take effect.
Initial scale [Percentage]
This percentage scale dictates the size of the main window when the game is first loaded (hence you must save the configuration for it to take effect). To change the current display scale, you should instead use the 'Scale view' dialogue box.

The lower button will insert the current game window scale into the writable field; clicking this and then 'Save' is the easiest way to save the current scale.

Auto-suspend [Off / On]
If enabled, the game will be suspended when the main window loses the input focus. This can prevent a potentially fatal loss of control whilst playing the game in the desktop.
Scale mouse pointer [Off / On]
You may find that in the desktop the game's larger pointer shapes are cropped (only part is visible), due to a restriction in the computer's video hardware. By configuring 'Scale mouse pointer' off you can force the pointers to always appear the same (small) size regardless of screen mode or game window scale.

b) Graphics options

Detail level [Very low / Low / Medium / High / Very high / Max / Custom]
This controls the quality of graphics rendering in the game. You can select from one of a number of pre-set detail levels (which correspond to those in the in-game menu) or else select 'Custom' and change the individual settings yourself. Choosing a pre-set detail level will update the sliders to show the new values. 'Custom' detail will automatically be selected if you change any of the sliders.
Texture map detail [Very low / Low / Medium / High]
You can select from a number of texture mapping algorithms, each of which gives a different trade off between accuracy and speed.
Objects plot distance [Slider]
The distance beyond which no objects are plotted.
Objects height cut-off [Slider]
The height above which no ground installations are plotted.
Hills & clouds cut-off [Slider]
The height above which no objects are plotted (not even mountains or clouds).

c) Sound options

Sound enabled [Off / On]
Allows you to completely disable all sound output from the game.
4 channels / 8 channels
Use these radio buttons to select the maximum number of simultaneous sounds to allow. Mixing 8 channels of 16 bit linear sound is quite CPU intensive, so it is only recommended for more powerful machines (e.g. StrongARM).
Volume [Slider]
Allows you to set the volume of game sound output with finer accuracy than the pre-set levels available in the in-game configure menu. The volume does not change as you drag the slider; to hear the new volume level you must ADJUST-click the 'Set' button.
Play game music [Off / On]
Allows you to disable the game music, for instance to listen to an audio CD instead.
Sound effects [Mono / Stereo / Reverse stereo]
Stereo sound effects require more calculation than mono effects and thus may slow the game down slightly on old machines. You should select reverse stereo if your speakers are the wrong way round.

d) Key definition

This window lists the keyboard controls used by the game, all of which may be redefined (except for return to desktop, which is always F12). The current key definitions are displayed down the right-hand side, adjacent to their function name.

Click SELECT on one of the displayed keys to redefine it - the icon will be highlighted to show that it is awaiting your input. You may press any key except F12. When a key press has been recorded the highlight will move on to allow rapid definition of multiple keys. You can de-select the highlighted icon by ADJUST-clicking on it.

The flight control keys may only be used when neither mouse nor joystick control is enabled.

(Note: Users with a non-UK keyboard configured will see only key numbers rather than key names. Foreign keyboard layouts may be defined by adding a suitable message file to the !Star3000.Keyboards directory.)

e) Mouse options

Enable mouse control [Off / On]
When mouse control is enabled you cannot use keys for flight control, though you can still use the keyboard for other commands (e.g. camera views, ECM, map). Selecting this option will de-select joystick control, if it was enabled.
Auto-centre flight controls [Off / On]
With auto-centring enabled the flight controls will gradually return to a neutral position when mouse movement ceases.
Intercept mouse driver [Off / On]
To allow mouse control in the desktop without disrupting other applications, the game intercepts low-level communications between the mouse driver and OS kernel. If you disable this option then the game will revert to more conventional methods, but mouse control will only operate in full screen mode (as is the case on RISC OS 3.1 machines).
Sensitivity [Slider]

The sensitivity of flight control using the mouse can be varied from very low (takes a long time to react) to very high (reacts quickly, but can be difficult to control). This slider allows finer adjustment than selecting one of the pre-set levels from the in-game menu.

Note that control sensitivity will also be affected by the OS's configured mouse pointer speed, unless mouse driver interception is enabled (see above).

Mouse buttons

Configuration of mouse buttons works on the principle of tying actions to buttons. A display field shows the action currently configured for each mouse button. To choose from a list of available actions, click on the adjacent pop-up menu icon.

Some actions replace the flight control keys ('Fire weapon', 'Thrust') whilst others give access to commonly used commands. 'Change weapon' cycles through your available weapon systems (skipping any that have been exhausted) so that you don't have to reach for the keyboard in the heat of battle. 'No action' does nothing.

f) Joystick options

Enable joystick control [Off / On]
When joystick control is enabled you cannot use keys for flight control, though you can still use the keyboard for other commands. Selecting this option will de-select mouse control, if it was enabled.
Port number [Value]
Some interfaces support more than one joystick, which are then identified by a number from 0 to 255. Generally you will want to leave the port number configured to 0.
Type [Switched/Analogue]
Joysticks essentially come in two varieties, switched (Atari) and analogue (PC). Both are supported, but you must specify which type or else the flight controls will behave strangely.
Calibrate joystick
Click this button and follow the on-screen instructions to calibrate your analogue joystick to return its full range of values. This will only work if your joystick software supports Acorn's calibration SWIs.
Joystick buttons
This is similar to the configuration of mouse buttons. Up to eight joystick buttons are supported, and you can choose an action to tie to each. For more details see 'Mouse options'.

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