M. U. G. E. N beta release version 2000.01.01 1999 Elecbyte --------- Please read this whole document before proceeding. This is a public beta test version. You may use it to create your own game, but please take note: we may change specifications at any time during the beta phase, so anything you make now may not necessarily work with later versions of M.U.G.E.N. Not all docs are complete yet. Unless you are an official beta tester, please hold off all bug reports until a public release is available. Please check mugenfaq.txt for answers to common problems and questions. If you downloaded the distribution that includes the character Kung Fu Man, you can check his movelist in the readme file in his directory: chars/kfm -------------------------------------------------------------- UPDATE NOTICE: - Characters from previous version of MUGEN are not fully compatible with this version. Please refer to incompat.txt for details on how to make your character up-to-date. - data/mugen.cfg and data/select.cfg have new parameters added to them. Please overwrite your existing files if you have an older version of MUGEN. -------------------------------------------------------------- Updates ------- Please check updates.txt for updates. Please check incompat.txt for incompatibility notices. System requirements ------------------- Minimum: 486 DX2-66 Recommended: Pentium 166 M.U.G.E.N is not set up for maximum performance by default. See "Speed Issues" (section IV) for information on how to optimize this program for a slower computer. Note: We are not sure of the minimum requirements. What is listed above is only our guess. It is hard to calculate memory requirements. 16 MB should suffice, although 32 MB is probably much safer. Simultaneous team battle modes will require more memory, as it needs to load up more than two characters. For larger characters, more memory may be required. Contents -------- I. MUGEN Info II. Key Configuration III. Running the Game IV. Game HotKeys V. Speed Issues VI. Memory Issues A. Thanks B. Disclaimer ===================================================================== I. MUGEN Info ===================================================================== If you have any questions, please refer to mugenfaq.txt. What MUGEN? ----------- MUGEN is a 2D fighting game engine, but you probably knew that already. MUGEN is also an acroymn for something, but we forgot what it is. :) We created MUGEN not only to make a fighting game, but also to let others create their own fighting games. You can control almost every aspect of the engine to suit your tastes. That's the primary goal of MUGEN. Since this is a work in progress, there are many things that it can and cannot do, but here's a short list of some of the things you can do... - Customizable title screen - Customizable character select screen (theoretically infinite number of characters) - Characters can have any number of sprites of any size limited by your computer's memory - Up to 12 different color schemes for each character - Background music can be mp3, mod or midi files - Supports keyboard, joystick and Playstation joypads (through the use of a converter). Game Engine - Use up to 6 buttons for a character (7 if you count the Start button) - Regular moves/Special moves/Supers - Projectiles - Multiple air jumps - Move cancel/2-in-1 or whatever you want to call it - Multi-part moves/throws How MUGEN? ---------- MUGEN is being developed in C with DJGPP and Allegro. It is being compiled with gcc 2.8.1 and linked with Allegro 3.9.25 WIP. Where MUGEN? ------------ www.elecbyte.com/games Why MUGEN? ---------- To tell you the truth, we were making a shooting game and all of a sudden it turned into this. Although we were making a shooting game in the beginning, we noticed that there weren't any good commercial fighting games on the PC. Who MUGEN? ---------- If you want to contact us about something, send an email to games@elecbyte.com. When MUGEN? ----------- I don't quite remember when we started this project. ===================================================================== II. Key Configuration ===================================================================== This is the default key configuration. You can change it from the options menu when you run the game. Button Player 1 Player 2 ------ -------- -------- Up Up arrow Numpad Up Down Down arrow Numpad Down Left Left arrow Numpad Left Right Right arrow Numpad Right X L Numlock Y semicolon Numpad slash Z double-quote Numpad asterisk A comma Numpad - B period Numpad + C slash Numpad Enter Start Enter Numpad PgDn No joystick configured by default. To enable, edit data/mugen.cfg and change corresponding joystick types to 2,4 or 6 buttons. Most popular joysticks work in 6 button mode. PSX joypad support (through a converter) is under testing. We support the DirectPad Pro PSX converter. You can find it at www.ziplabel.com You may want to know that the given schematics operate the PSX pad at a higher voltage than is recommended. Neither us nor the DirectPad Pro people will be liable for any damage that may result. Support for the pads through the converter is native; you do not need the DirectPad Pro software drivers to run. Refer to the mugenfaq.txt for more information on PSX joypad converters, including how to enable it in M.U.G.E.N. ===================================================================== III. Running the Game ===================================================================== At the prompt, type MUGEN to begin (if in Windows, double-click MUGEN.EXE) M.U.G.E.N supports most Sound Blaster-compatible soundcards. To run this beta release, you will need a VESA 1 or VESA 2 compatible video card. VGA is NOT supported. Main menu: ---------- Arcade - Go 1 on 1 against the computer Versus - Go 1 on 1 against your friend Team Battle - Play various team-up modes Training - Try out moves and combos Watch - Watch two AI-controller characters fight Options - Set up basic game options Exit - Returns you to the DOS prompt M.U.G.E.N accepts optional command-line parameters for Quick-VS mode. The format is (optional parameters are enclosed in square brackets): MUGEN [player1 player2 [stage]] For example, to start quick versus between players named KFM and Suave, you can type: MUGEN kfm suave To play the same two characters in a stage named TEMPLE, type: MUGEN kfm suave temple Training Menu: -------------- A training menu has been added to Training mode. To access it, press M when paused in Training Mode. You can choose menu items with your directional keys and exit Pause Mode by pressing any attack key or Pause. The following options are available: Dummy control: Cooperative, AI, or Manual When in cooperative mode, the dummy will perform the actions you specify elsewhere in the training menu. When in AI mode, the dummy will act like a normal computer opponent. When in manual mode, the dummy can be controlled with the opponent's keys. Guard mode: None, Auto If guard mode is set to Auto, the dummy will attempt to block most attacks. If guard mode is set to None, the dummy will not block any attacks. Dummy mode: Stand, Crouch, Jump, W Jump Depending on your selection, the dummy will stand, crouch, or repeatedly jump. If you choose W Jump, the dummy will keep air jumping as long as it can. Distance: Any, Close, Medium, Far If you choose Close, Medium, or Far, the dummy will try to keep the appropriate distance from you by walking forward/backward as necessary. If you choose Any, the dummy will not move forward or backward. Button jam: None, A, B, C, X, Y, Z, Start The dummy will repeatedly mash the selected button. Good for testing a character's blocking. You can re-minimize the training menu by pressing M while it is active. ===================================================================== IV. Game HotKeys ===================================================================== These are the hotkeys recognized at the fight screen: Key Function --- -------- F1 Sets Player 2's life to zero F2 Sets both players' life to 1 F3 Gives both players full power F4 Reset the round F5 Time Over F12 Take a screenshot (saved to mugen?.pcx) Ctrl-C Toggles display of collision boxes, target data (including remaining juggle points) and NotHitBy attributes Ctrl-D Toggles debug information display Ctrl-I Forces both players into stand state Ctrl-L Toggles display of the life and power bars Ctrl-S Run the game as fast as possible Ctrl-V Enable V-sync (stops "shearing") Ctrl-# (where # is from 1-4) Toggles AI for the #th player Ctrl-Alt-# (where # is from 1-4) Enables/Disables the player Space Restores full life and power to all players Pause Toggle pause ScrollLck Frame-step within pause Esc Quit ===================================================================== V. Speed Issues ===================================================================== If you find this runs slowly on your machine, there are several things you can do to improve its performance: i. Select the most efficient video mode Open up data/mugen.cfg. Under the [Video] section, experiment with the "Vesamode" option. Try "Linear", "Banked" and "1" to see which gives you a better framerate. Using programs such as Scitech Display Doctor can sometimes help with the speed too. ii. Select the correct resolution M.U.G.E.N is meant to run under 320x240 in 16-bit colour. Anything larger or in a different bit depth may decrease the speed. iii. Turn off stretching If you find you cannot run in 320x240, you can choose 640x480 and keep the "stretch" option off. iv. Turn off shadows You can turn shadows off to speed up drawing. Look in data/mugen.cfg and set the "DrawShadows" option under [Config] to 0. v. Turn off sound or music Playing music during the game takes up CPU power. This is true especially for MP3s. To turn off the background music, open data/mugen.cfg and set "PlayMIDI" and "PlayMP3" to 0. To turn off all sounds and music, set "Sound" to 0. vi. Use frameskip Auto-frameskip is enabled by default. The game will not draw some frames in case the computer is not fast enough, and this helps maintain a constant game speed. If you'd like to run at a constant framerate, you can hit Ctrl-F repeatedly to adjust the frameskip. It will switch from "auto" to "skip none" to "skip 1" to "skip 2" and then back to "auto". This works only when you are in the fight screen. vii. Free up memory Memory may be swapped to the hard disk when you run low, and this will severely impact performance. See the next section on how to free up memory. ===================================================================== VI. Memory Issues ===================================================================== If you find the program exiting or running slowly because you don't have enough memory, here are some solutions: i. Run in DOS If you are running Windows, select "Restart in MS-DOS Mode" in the "Shut Down" menu. This will free up a good deal of memory. ii. Reduce the player cache M.U.G.E.N will try to keep players in memory in order to reduce loading times. You might want to reduce the number of players that are kept in memory at any one time. Open up data/mugen.cfg and look under the [Misc] section. Change PlayerCache to a smaller number. 0 will save you the most memory. iii. Turn off sound or music You can save some memory by disabling sound and music. See part v. under "Speed Issues". iv. Disable helper frame effects Set the HelperFrameEffects option under [Config] to 0 to slightly reduce memory usage. ===================================================================== A. Thanks ===================================================================== DJ Delorie - For DJGPP Shawn Hargreaves and many others - For Allegro Tomislav Uzelac and Ove Kaaven - For LibAmp, and its Allegro port Guan Foo Wah - JGMOD Earle F. Philhower, III - For DirectPad Pro converter schematics All our beta testers Everyone who gave feedback to us ===================================================================== B. Disclaimer ===================================================================== Elecbyte will not be held liable for any damages to either the user or the system it is run on, that may occur as a direct or indirect result of the use of this program.