Shattered Steel README.TXT FILE ============================================= Last Updated : 11-11-96 by Reginald J. Arnedo Version : 1.11s Enhanced Demo ============================================= Hi, Welcome to the Shattered Steel Interactive Demo. This new version of the Shattered Steel Interactive demo is a better representation of what the full retail version contains. I have put a number of sections into this README file to answer many of the questions that you might have. The first section discusses the basic background of the game, while subsequent sections explain how to install and how to play. There is also a new "history" section which explains some of the new functionality of the product. I hope you enjoy what you see. If you have any comments, I would like to hear them. Please E-mail me at support@interplay.com. Reginald J. Arnedo Associate Producer Interplay Productions INTRODUCTION ============ The Year is 2132. Deep space exploration and colonization have become reality. The human race is growing at an incredible rate; man's sphere of influence has been expanding unchallenged for 150 years. Man's universe has split into 2 distinct societies, the highly structured and lawful core worlds and the lawless frontier worlds. The Core Worlds represent the best that humanity has to offer; a peaceful application of technology used for the betterment of mankind. The Frontier Worlds hold the seamy underbelly that the Core Worlds want to forget; a greedy race for the elements the Core Worlds need for expansion. Huge mining and manufacturing corporations compete in the pillage of the outer worlds purely for the generation of profit. To maintain basic "order" on the outer worlds and to "compete" with rival companies each corporation maintains a private force for "problem solving". It was in 2102 when these private forces reached the level of companies and fleets that the Core Navy stepped in at Tarnok IV. The Raw Materials division of Ford Toyota Co. wanted Tarnok IV for the vast minerals that could be stripped from the planet, while Universal Pharmaceuticals saw the planet for its industrial and crop potential. The legal ownership of the planet had been in dispute for more than twenty years so the Sato Group decided to take the planet by force and dedicated 75% of their forces to do so. Universal Pharmaceuticals also sent in their own force. As the first shots began to be fired, the 142nd Battle Fleet, commanded by Rear Admiral Davies, came out of HyperSpace. The Core Navies ships came out with their plasma cannons hot, and torpedoes locked. Without warning the ships opened fire. When the first barrage was over, they had destroyed over three quarters of the ships from both companies. Admiral Davies then demanded a cease fire from all parties. His orders had been given days before when it was decided that such a precedent as mass fleet battles by corporations to decide planetary ownership could not be set. The repercussions of this were that the percentage of total employees of a corporation dedicated to security could not exceed 1%. Furthermore the corporations were only allowed to hire mercenaries if they did not employ their own security force, and even then they were restricted in the number that could be hired. Because of these restrictions it became necessary for the corporation to hire or employ heavily armored individuals. They needed to be able to send in one man where they had previously dedicated a thousand. Therefore each of these individuals needed to be a one man army. With enough fire power that they would not need to depend upon reinforcements, or help in any way. The Planet Runner was developed specifically for this purpose. The Planet Runner could navigate over most terrain while carrying the fire power of a light armored division, and the defense strength of a small battle ship. A modified corvette class starship provided the living quarters for the one or two man crew, and a highly functional and adaptable computer that could also strip down and rebuild any Planet Runner operating out of the corvette. The back half of the corvette was dedicated to storing parts, and repairing and building Planet Runners. While these one man armies could pacify small towns and uprisings single handily, the Core Worlds do not see them as a threat and allow their existence. You play the role of a freelance mercenary on a limited protection contract with a large mining corporation. You operate a Planet Runner used for deep recon missions and planetary pacification. You patrol a section near the edge of known space which is frequently plagued by pirates and subject to frequent raids. At the start of the game a mining camp on Lanios 3 (a planet under your jurisdiction) has stopped following the usual communication protocols. You are called in to investigate. The corporation is quite certain that an extensive pirate raid is occurring on the surface of Lanios 3, there were numerous disturbances reported just prior to the loss of contact. As per standard defense protocol you have been given free reign to react to any threat. INSTALL INFORMATION =================== 1) You will need to run the Install program, by either double clicking on it from Win95, or entering it at the DOS Prompt. The Install program will install Shattered Steel onto your Hard Drive and then have you configure your Sound Card. 2) The sound card configuration program works reasonably well, however it can have problems with auto detecting your sound card. Generally just Auto Detect once, that should configure your card correctly. If the Auto detection fails, just manually input your sound card settings and it should work fine. You will have to input your MIDI settings separately. 3) If you are configuring your sound card manually and you have a 16 bit sound card, you will need to enter the High DMA Channel for the DMA channel entry. Generally for most 16bit Sound Blaster cards this is 5. 4) To run Shattered Steel, you should either double click on Ssteel.exe, or just enter SSTEEL and hit return from the DOS prompt in the directory where you have installed Shattered Steel. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS =================== General Requirements: 33 Megs of Hard Drive Space 8 Megs of RAM (Win95 users see below) From Win95: To run Shattered Steel under Win95 in a DOS BOX (Double Clicking on it from your Desktop) you will need at least a 486 DX2 66MHz machine with 16MEGS of RAM. However, it is suggested that you quit out of all your other applications before playing. If you only have 8 Megs of RAM you will need to restart your machine in DOS Mode. This can be done by going to the START Menu and choosing exit. Then choose the selection that allows you to re-boot in DOS Mode. From DOS: You will need a 486 DX2 66MHz machine with 8 Megs of RAM. Known Problems: If you have 8 Megs of RAM and are having problems, free up as much memory as possible by running a minimal config and autoexec which only loads a mouse driver and no memory manager. If you have problems running on a Cirrus Logic machine, try using a univesa driver. If you have a 16bit sound card you must use DMA channel 0, 1, or 3. If you have a 16bit Creative Labs sound card set to 260 or 280, auto detect may detect it as a Roland RAP-10. You must use manual setup. We have encountered problems with a select few machines/sound cards running with 8 megs of ram. This problem will crash/hang your computer upon launching a mission. If this occurs, re-enter the sound setup program and select no midi music. The demo should run fine after this. If you are having problems running this game with the graphics card in your computer, try the following steps: 1. If you have a VESA VBE driver that came with your graphics card, install the driver and try to run the game. Consult the documentation that came with your graphics card for installation instructions. 2. If you can not find a VESA VBE driver for your graphics card, call your graphics card or system manufacturer or dial up their BBS, CompuServe forum or Internet site. You will most likely be able to download a driver or have them send you one by mail. 3. If you do not have a VESA VBE driver for your graphics card or your VESA VBE driver does not work with the game, then try the Universal VESA VBE driver, UniVBE, that was included with this game. To install UniVBE in DOS, run INSTALL located in the SciTech directory. To install UniVBE in windows, run SETUP located in the SciTech directory. Please note that although we have included UniVBE for your convenience, this is a shareware product produced by another company. If it works for this game and solves compatibility problems for you, then you may want to continue using it for this and other games. To register your copy of UniVBE, follow the instructions on screen during the installation process. PRODUCT REGISTRATION ===================== If you plan on mailing in your registration card, please mail it to our new address instead of the one listed in our Electronic Registration program. Interplay Productions 16815 Von Karman Irvine, CA 92606 PLAY INSTRUCTIONS ================= The Planet Runner controls much like the player does in many first person perspective games. The Arrow Keys allow the player to move forward and backward, and turn left and right. A few default configurations are already set up to show the extent of play controls. 1) The Options Menu is placed to the left within the primary interface screen just below the Graphics and Realism selection. 2) Go to Options and pick your controller type. This should configure the program to show off most of what it can do. You could go to the Arming Bay and change the weapons on your Planet Runner at this point, but it is not necessary to play the game. If you do enter it then you will need to click on the EXIT sign to go back to the main menu. Now go to the Holoprojector Screen off of the Campaign Screen. Pressing the Mission Briefing part of the control panel will give you a quick run down on the mission that you are scheduled to go on. The other option on the control panel of the Holoprojector Screen is Intelligence which will allow you to look at the enemy and friendly units that will be in the mission that you are going on. To actually Launch the mission you can either click on the Left Side of the screen on the Holoprojector Screen, or on the Left Side of the Campaign Screen. Once you have entered the mission you will use the arrow keys to move the Planet Runner around and the Mouse to fire weapons and move the turret. That is if you used the mouse and keyboard default setting as your controller type. If you look at the radar screen, the "V" represents your field of vision. This will change if you move the mouse around, however your Planet Runner will continue to move in the same direction. The direction that your Planet Runner will move is represented by the vertical line on the radar screen. Press the left mouse button and your lasers will fire. You will also see your laser counter go down on the left side of your Weapon MFD (Multi-Function Display). This is how much laser energy you currently have stored. If you have chosen a joystick as your controller type then you can move the Planet Runner around by pressing forward and turning right or left. The trigger under you index finger will fire your lasers, and the secondary button on the joystick will fire the missiles. The Missiles are highlighted in the upper left and right (if available)of the Weapon MFD, you can test them by pressing the right mouse button. One missile will fire off for every press of the button. You can press f4, to show the map. The cursor keys will spin the map right and left, and zoom in and out. The Green Dots are friendly units, while the red dots represent enemy ones. Press f1 to return to your cockpit view. Those are the basics, you should be able to get through a number of missions using the above controls. HISTORY ======= Changes to Shattered Steel in version 1.11 NEW CONTROLS Help screen added to view controls. - Type help at console to view currently configured controls. - Change controls during game play. To change controls during game play enter 'command x' where x is the control you want to remap. To get a listing type in help. The numbers are listed before each function. Once you have entered the 'command x' command enter the function to map. For example, to change primary fire to the '5' key type 'command 0' at the console then hit the 5 key. This also works for mouse, joystick etc. There are new controls that keys may be mapped to. - Pickup primary and secondary weapons have been added so you do not accidentally pick up a weapon while firing. - Toggle secondaries have been added so you can link certain combinations. Support for combinations of controllers have been added: - Flight Stick Pro, Rudder Pedals and Throttle Should work for any CH Products Rudder/Throttle combination MULTI-PLAYER FIXES TEAM ANARCHY: - if more than 2 teams were playing, the last team wouldn't show up in the game. Fixed. voting screen: selecting team 16 disabled, the functional maximum is 15 (i.e., you can be team 0..15) GENERAL ANARCHY: - some problems with kill screen fixed (e.g. exiting would sometimes skip it) - some bugs related to problems with joining anarchy games fixed. - sometimes when another player would respawn the 'appearance door' would pop up in the wrong location on other machines (making you think your opponent was near you, when they weren't). Fixed. - total kills used to be total kills vs. current *playing* players, so if 'Bob' left the game and you had killed him 5 times you would lose 5 total kills. This has been changed. - regeneration: to control small 18 pack population (which was effectively unlimited) small 18 packs disappear if you drop them with <= 75% the number of players (e.g. 3 rockets in a 4 player game) - When you die it waits till you hit your fire button before respawning. - no regeneration: dead computer players dimmed out in kill screen - no regeneration: game informs you when all enemies are dead - Computer bots pop up immediately in single player anarchy voting screen. Before there was a 1-2s delay before they appeared - arming screen: the load/save buttons are enabled so you can load/save bot configurations. Make sure you have the right chassis selected and the right weapons. - added longest kills streak/killed streak to the score screens to make anarchy games more interesting TEAM COOP: - team scores fixed - World 5: mission complete when all opposing team members are killed COOP: - transport pods were in slightly different positions on each machine, making them difficult to kill with non-explosives. Fixed. - when you join a coop game you receive both the 'arrow' information (for which mission led to which mission) and what bots are available in the intelligence screen - when you save a game it tells the others (via chat). Works like loading game GENERAL FIXES: - made a bit more KALI friendly - New command line parameters related to multiplayer games - voting screen: right-clicking on a player will increment the team # (for convenience in those 4-player single anarchy games). It warps around to 0 if you click enough times - doubled the time-out period for slow networks or machines. NOTE: this means if a machine in the game crashes, it will take twice as long to realize this and to kick it out. You can control this setting via either the command line or the SSTEEL.INI using: -time-out 15 (where 15 is the time-out period. Note the minimum value is 10). For Kali games you can increase this amount as needed; remember when you do increase the time-out period players that have left by turning off their machine or dropping their connection remain until the time-out period has elapsed. MISC OTHER FIXES AI - Computer players no longer attack weapons they are trying to pick up - human turrets lack of accuracy fixed CONTROLS - using keyboard control as an alternate to the joystick (when joystick is the selected controller for that axis) now works properly - problems with secondary weapon pickup fixed - added 'DROP x' console command ("cheat code") RUNNERS (PLAYER BOTS) - death animation would play twice if leg was blown up. Fixed. - were invulnerable in certain locations. fixed. - Shields would light up when turret or computer players 'looked' at you. - secondary weapons converge on center of the reticle (using the nearest bot to the center if there is one) GENERAL NEW FEATURES - Transport Pod now shows up in intel screen - support for more CD drivers added, polling is temporarily disabled on some drives (especially useful for some Mitsumi drives) - options screen: mission voice (On/Off) now affects the briefing speech cockpit voice (On/Off) now affects all voice cues in mission - Support for playing world 6 (custom world created with the map editor) via the voting screen (multiplayer and the 'Single Player Game' button). World 6 is for coop and single player, to make your own anarchy missions edit world 4. - Added two new cheat codes (one is to get an enemy to become your ally) - weapons picked up in mission are not kept unless the mission was completed (i.e. it cannot be replayed). This was to prevent abuse. - many fixes related to stereo vision adapters (SimulEyes). GENERAL FIXES IN VERSION 1.03 - On game startup, several informational messages were added - including messages detailing which (command-line parameters/SSTEEL.INI) parameters were in use. - Copy protection now works properly with the '-nocd' option - CD read errors (for minimum install) under DOS have been repaired - you cannot map the enter key to any function. It is reserved for chat mode. - the intelligence screen would not show the Spectre, this has been resolved. NETWORK PLAY FIXES IN VERSION 1.03 - Weapon packets were redesigned, to lessen the chance of duplicate weapons appearing in anarchy - Improved network synchronization - Computer-controlled players (added in the voting screen) will now never attack a teammate (this happened in some cases) - Joining non-team anarchy game bugs have been fixed NOTES: ------ SELECT CONSOLE COMMANDS: (push enter while in the mission, like sending chat) EJECT eject, destroying your runner PLAYCD x play CD song x DROP x drop secondary #x (range 1-4) HELP shows control configuration screen COMMAND x remaps control button x (x in Command screen) SELECT FIXED KEYBOARD COMMANDS: ENTER enter chat/console mode SELECT COMMAND-LINE PARAMETERS: either use these on the command line or put them in the SSTEEL.INI file. -window windowed movies rather than full screen -nocd Turn off CD audio -nopoll Turn off CD polling -socket x use socket 'x' for IPX games (range 0-99) -handle blah set your handle to 'blah' -netgame jump immediately to IPX game -time-out x set opponent time-out to 'x' (default is 20, min 10) NEW CONTROLS These are new controls that keys may be mapped to. Pickup primary and secondary weapons have been added so you do not accidentally pick up a weapon while firing. Toggle secondaries have been added so you can link certain combinations. Change Visual quick change resolution (320x200/640x480) Capture Screen screenshot (SCREENxx.PCX) Pickup Primary Picks up a primary weapon (instead of fire) Pickup Secondary Picks up a secondary weapon (instead of fire) Toggle Sec 1 Turns first secondary on or off Toggle Sec 2 Turns second secondary on or off Toggle Sec 3 Turns third secondary on or off Toggle Sec 4 Turns fourth secondary on or off SOFTWARE USE LIMITATIONS AND LIMITED LICENSE ============================================ SOFTWARE USE LIMITATIONS AND LIMITED LICENSE This special 5-level preview version of Shattered Steel (the "Software") is intended solely for your personal noncommercial home entertainment use. You may not decompile, reverse engineer, or disassemble the Software, except as permitted by law. Interplay Productions and BioWare retain all rights and title in the Software including all intellectual property rights embodied therein and derivatives thereof. You are granted a revocable, nonassignable limited license to create derivative works of this Software solely for your own personal noncommercial home entertainment use and may publicly display such derivative works to the extent specifically authorized by Interplay in writing. A copy of this authorization, if any, will be provided on Interplay's World Wide Web site, located at http://www.interplay.com, or by contacting the legal department at Interplay at (714) 553-6655. The Software, including, without limitation, all code, data structures, characters, images, sounds, text, screens, game play, derivative works and all other elements of the Software may not be copied (except as provided below), resold, rented, leased, distributed (electronically or otherwise), used on pay-per-play, coin-op or other for-charge basis, or for any commercial purpose. You may make copies of the Software for your personal noncommercial home entertainment use and to give to friends and acquaintances on a no cost noncommercial basis. This limited right to copy the Software expressly excludes any copying or distribution of the Software on a commercial basis, including, without limitation, bundling the product with any other product or service and any give away of the Software in connection with another product or service. Any permissions granted herein are provided on a temporary basis and can be withdrawn by Interplay Productions at any time. All rights not expressly granted are reserved. Modem and Network Play. If the Software contains modem or network play, you may play the Software via modem transmission with another person or persons directly without transmission through a third party service or indirectly through a third party service only if such service is an authorized licensee of Interplay. Authorized licensee services are listed on the Interplay Productions World Wide Web Site. This limited right to transmit the Software expressly excludes any transmission of the Software or any data streams thereof on a commercial basis, including, without limitation, transmitting the Software by way of a commercial service which translates the protocols or manages or organizes game play sessions. If you would like information about obtaining a pay-for-play or commercial license to the Software, please call Interplay Productions at (714) 553-6655. Acceptance of License Terms. By downloading or purchasing and then retaining this Software, you assent to the terms and restrictions of this limited license. If you purchased the Software and do not accept the terms of this limited license, you must return the Software together with all packaging, manuals and other material contained therein to the store where you purchased the Software for a full refund. If you downloaded the Software, you must delete it. INTERPLAY SUPPORT INFORMATION (United States) ============================================= Hours: 8:00 am to 5:45 pm Pacific Time Telephone: (714)553.6678 Fax: (714)252.2820 Att: Customer Service Internet E-mail: support@interplay.com Web Site: http://www.interplay.com BBS: Telnet: 199.182.211.86 or bbs.interplay.com Modem Phone #: (714)252.2822 American On-line: Keyword INTERPLAY or E-mail IPTECH Compuserve: GO GAMBPUB or E-mail 76702,1342 GEnie: Type M805;1 Prodigy: E-mail PLAY99B FTP Site: ftp.interplay.com INTERPLAY SUPPORT INFORMATION (United Kingdom) ============================================== Write to: Customer Support Interplay Productions, Ltd. Harleyford Manor Harleyford Henley Road Marlow Buckinghamshire SL7 2DX ENGLAND Telephone: +44 (0) 1628 423723 Fax: +44 (0) 1628 487752 SHATTERED STEEL COPYRIGHT (C) 1996 BIOWARE SOFTWARE CORPORATION COPYRIGHT (C) 1996 INTERPLAY PRODUCTIONS ALL RIGHTS RESEVERED ALL TRADEMARKS ARE PROPERTY OF INTERPLAY PRODUCTIONS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERPLAY PRODUCTIONS IS THE EXCLUSIVE LICENSEE AND DISTRIBUTOR.