============================================================================== "STRIKE SQUAD" Manual Additions/Changes -------------------------------------------- To print this file, copy "README.TXT" to printer! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Machine Requirements IBM and 100% Compatibles Required: IBM-PC/AT 16 Mhz '386 or faster 2 MB Memory Hard Drive 256 Color VGA graphics Mouse, 100% Microsoft (or Logitech) Compatible Supported: XMS Memory Music & Digitized Sound Effects with 2 MB available XMS memory on Adlib, Disney Sound Source, Sound Blaster and Compatibles Recommended: 20 Mhz '386 or faster DOS 5.0 3 MB memory (at least 2 MB XMS) =============================================================================== MANUAL ADDITIONS/CLARIFICATION/CHANGES ---------------------------------------- Explosive Devices: Demo Charges, Blister Charges, and Explosive Charges all explode with the same radius, though they all do different amounts of damage. Also, all the explosive devices act on a timed detonation process, where they automatically count down once dropped. To determine the name of the mercs' current location, hit hot key "L" when on a location and the information will appear in the LCD message screen. Knowing where you're at and where to go next is important for a successful completion of "Strike Squad." Hints For Staying Alive - You should constantly keep check on the mercs' pool of credits. Things like deploying mercs, buying weapons, betting, and interacting with hookers, can take up credit points rather fast. That's why it is smart to snag weapons off of dead bodies and sell them to the handful of gun salesmen throughout the game. They will give you a fair deal for the used items, and in turn will sell you some high quality new and rebuilt weapons. Look for the salesmen on Rogonde of planet Trindor, Jalaak of planet Lusios, and Vos Legas of planet Apatos. Keep in mind that when your mercs run out of credits, you lose the game. - When a merc is wearing a Ghost Cloak he is theoretically invisble to any and all enemies on the screen. These enemies, however, can sense when a merc's gun is drawn and will appropriately try to take him out if he is a threat. Click on the Engage/Ignore icon and set this invisible merc to "Ignore." This way the enemies will not detect his presence and the merc will not start a fight without your order. - "Strike Squad" comes with its own built-in list of help screens to aid you in performing the most common of functions throughout the game. Type "H" anytime during gameplay to bring up these screens. - When playing on a slow machine (386 33mhz or lower) you may find that the game runs a lot faster when taking only one or two mercs down to a location at a time. The more mercs you use, the more information the program has to process, and thus the slower the execution. ============================================================================== ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ------------------------ Virtual Memory The "Strike Squad" program uses a process called Virtual Memory to access and execute code. In order for VM to function properly there must be an adequate amount of space on the hard drive for swapping files. Having at least 4 megabytes of reserved space on the hard drive during gameplay will guarantee a smoothly functioning game. Help Program Type HELP for help with memory problems, soundcards, and making a boot disk. See the troubleshooting section of the Strike Squad manual for other information. Saving Games Because of the numerous amount of files that are used during game play, saved games in "Strike Squad" can take up to 1.5 megabytes of room on the hard drive. If your hard drive is low on space, you may want to use only one or two save game slots when saving. Deleting Saved Games Located in the "Strike Squad" directory is a batch file called DELSAVE.BAT which deletes specific saved game files filling a particular saved game slot. To delete a saved game type "DELSAVE " and then the saved game slot number. For example: DELSAVE 3 will delete all the saved files in slot 3. Sound Boards Use the SETD.EXE program to select sound boards and to configure the sound driver for that board if not using default values. The SETD.EXE program is automatically loaded the first time that you start the Strike Squad game. If your sound board changes then run the SETD.EXE program from the DOS prompt inside the Strike Squad subdirectory. If you do not see your sound board listed and it is Sound Blaster compatible then choose the option for "Sound Blaster and compatibles". Music/SFX Switches To turn off the music and/or sound effects during the game, you must do this from the DOS prompt before entering the game. To play the game with the music off type "SS MOFF". To play the game with sound effects off type "SS SOFF". To play the game with the music and sound effects off type "SS MSOFF". (Note: when using an Adlib sound card, the sound effects have trouble initializing properly. The game must be played with the sound effects off to avoid a crash.) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Troubleshooting -- Error messages during the game are displayed to be self explanatory, for example "Mouse driver not detected" would tell you that you forgot to the load the 100% Microsoft or Logitech compatible mouse driver before running Strike Squad. Error messages related to memory problems will display what type of memory is insufficient such as "insufficient XMS memory" and what the results are, such as "Sound effects not available". You will need to read the "Troubleshooting" section of the manual or run the HELP program to get help in clearing memory. Please see the "Troubleshooting" section of the manual and/or the options on HELP program for Sound Board, memory, and boot disk help. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- MANUAL INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS In some rare cases it is possible that the Strike Squad game may have a problem installing to your specific hard drive setup. If problems occur be sure to clear TSRs from memory. You may also try creating a boot disk to see if that fixes the problem (refer to the section "Troubleshooting" for information on TSRs and creating a boot disk or use the included HELP program). To manually install the game: 1) On the hard drive build a subdirectory for Strike Squad: C: CD \ MKDIR SS 2) Change directory to the Strike Squad directory: CD \SS 3) Copy all files from each of the game disks into the Strike Squad directory. COPY A:*.* C:\SS Repeat this step for each game disk until all files are copied. 4) The game is shipped on several disks, each disk contains a compressed file (STRIKEx.CMP - x being the disk number) that must be uncompressed before game play by typing: DCMP STRIKE1.CMP DCMP STRIKE2.CMP Repeat this for each .CMP file, STRIKE1.CMP, STRIKE2.CMP, etc depending on the number of disks in your boxed game. 5) Delete the original compressed files from hard drive when Step 4 is completed: DEL *.CMP 6) Type SS to start the game. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- INFORMATION ON OTHER MINDCRAFT PRODUCTS: - Type PREVIEW to access Mindcraft online text information catalog. View descriptions of games currently available, upcoming game descriptions, information on Mindcraft's BBS, and The Mind's Eye - Mindcraft's very own Newsletter. ================================================================================ - END OF FILE -