Big Red Racing Here's the readme.txt file incase you didn't read it before loading. It contains some information not included in the manual coz to be honest we did the manual before the game was finished. We know you wont read it now, but when things start to go wrong try reading this as well as the manual to see if we thought of it ... we should of coz we've been playing it long enough!! First a quick note on the big changes AS an attempt to please our public in the final weeks before launch we decided to pull the release date to improve our game yet further. As a bonus, you now have an extra 6 levels including 4 extra vehicles namely Big Rigs and Helicopters. Due to the hurried nature of the computer biz, these have not been described in your manual. They are a bonus so in the words of our US buddies, enjoy.... *NOTE FOR TESTERS* ------------------ If you've been playing a "beta version",you'll need to delete your ".CFG" file from the racing directory, because otherwise some of the defaults won't be sensible. First, some instructions for those reading this before they installed ..... Installing (DOS mode) 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� Get onto the CD Type INSTALL Now type where on your hard drive you want the game data do go (ie - C:\BIGRED) .After installation, either type VIDEO If you want the gripping movie video thing. A note to shop type people: you can type "DEMO" which loops this video as a rolling demo (we try!) RACING if you want to play the game. Guide to the root directory of the CD 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� This file(!) README.TXT The DOS installer: INSTALL.EXE The WINDOZE 95 installer: SETUP.EXE Stuff to do with the dos installer: DOS4GW.EXE COPYIT.BAT Stuff to do with the windows installer: COPYIT.BAT DSETUP.DLL DSETUP16.DLL BRR.ICO AUTORUN.INF SETSOUND RACING VIDEO MODEM DIRECTX Playing the Game 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 ** Controls ** Default keys ( which you can change in the game) are Cursors for left/right/accel/brake Keypad-0 for nitro. Right-CTRL puts you back on the track if you get hopelessly lost. ** Extra Keys ** Pause pauses PrtSc saves a PCX to the racing directory (for the journos: see we do try!) -Additional: use SHIFT-PrtSc if you're feeling rotten & don't like the way we move the horizon to full-distance on the screenshots! Escape quits the game, or takes you up a level in the menus Ctrl-Escape is instant-quit from wherever (unless you're in a Windows DOS shell(!)) F1 is "view the other cars" (shift-F1 cycles in reverse order) F2 selects the "Elasticam"(TM) behind-car view. F3 is the cabin view F4 is the trackside view. +/- are the screen size. At full-screen VGA there's a debounce before switching to SVGA mode. (Full-screen SVGA is only recommended for people with Pentiums.) Helicopters 컴컴컴컴컴� There's no doubt about it, the helicopters take some getting used to... (Well, it'd be pretty boring if all the cars behaved exactly the same way, wouldn't it?) SO: The controls are BASICALLY the same as all the vehicles, except that the nitro key behaves as "upward thrust", and you fall gently under gravity. Hovever, you occasionally want to go down faster, and this can be achieved by pressing "decelerate" without letting go of the accelerator. (not possible on a joystick, but you can't have everything!) Oh, and to save you having to use the "up-thrust" key ALL the time, there's a sort-of "low-altitude automatic hover" built in. You'll still need to thrust up to get over hills & stuff, though. General advice: How to turn a tight bend at speed: Anticipate the corner, turning the chopper to skid sideways thru the corner (even face back at the camera if necessary). Don't forget to straighten out "early" as well, or you'll run into the inside of the bend. (For what it's worth, even Domark's testers had trouble when they first tried flying the choppers. Perseverence is all! Trust us: they're great when you're used to them!) The Mouse:- 컴컴컴컴컴� Mouse movement looks around, but homes back to the "normal" angle. On the external view, a "Left-Click" will stop the camera from moving back down (For that "looking straight down at the car" viewpoint that you've always wanted...) Keeping the "Right button" pressed while dragging up & down controls the camera's Zoom. The Joystick :- 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� There's a joystick configure screen under "Options...Joystick" Quickly:- Plug in your stick. Click on "Recalibrate" Waggle the joystick(s) around to its extremities. Centre it/them. Hit a fire button. Click on "analogue"(*) if the stick is an analogue one (ie - not a "gamepad") and you'll get true "stick position = steering wheel position" steering. You'll find it feels totally different (less prone to oversteer). If you tick the "pl1"/"pl2" options, it automatically sets that player to use that joystick as accelerator/brake and steering. If you want to arrange things in another manner, you can do it on the "key defining" screen by moving the stick instead of pressing a key. Support has been added for the Thrustmaster formula T1 and virtual pilot pro. (*) Or Analog. Hello, American type people. The sound :- 컴컴컴컴컴컴 We use the miles drivers for creating sound effects in Big Red Racing. These drivers have been used in many games before so you may find you have another game which works with them. The install utility runs a program called SETSOUND. This establishes which card is installed in your machine. Should you change your sound card after installing the game, or say if you have installed Racing on a file server and more than one person plays the same copy of the game with different sound card options: run SETSOUND to create a new sound driver. Next time you run the Racing, and are prompted with enter your name, type in a new name. You will then be promted with a create new config. By answering yes to this (hit Y), the new name will use the new sound driver yet keeping the old driver intact. 2PL Split Screen:- 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 Player 2's default keys (again, alterable) are:- Q,A,R,T for driving ALT for nitro Left-CTRL for "putting on track" Player 2, being on the left end of the keyboard, gets F1..F4 for the views... F1 gives PL2 control of the mouse F2,F3,F4 are the same as 1PL mode ...And Player 1 gets to use F9...F12 instead F9 gives PL1 control of the mouse F10,F11,F12 are PL1's view keys (see F2,F3,F4) The Tapedeck:- 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 When playing a recording... F5 is "slow down / rewind" (let go, & the speed speeds up to normal) F6 is "pause" F7 is "speed up" (again, let go & it slows back down) F8 is the "play" key ESC quits the recorder F1,F2,F3,F4 behave as for the normal game. 2PL Modem Game 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 The modem game has to be played by launching it thru the modem launch program called modem. This is a similar prog to that that DOOM uses so people should be reasonably aware of whats going on. You simply type modem at the command line. First select you name using the cursory up and down thing like the install program.The instructions I think are quite explanitory and easy to understand. Now select your modem type from the list provided once you have both got the right modem set up, choose the connect option. To establish if you have got the right modem strings, try to connect. If the modems response to initalisation is to return an error or even not answer at all, try returning to DOS and attempt to connect again, try swithing the modem off then on and attempt to connect again and finally try to switch your computer off then on and attempt to connect again. The init strings used are the same that are used on DOOM, so if all else fails, check that DOOM works and edit the MODEM.INI file. The MODEM.INI file looks something like this :- ; ;Big Red Modem Interface ; DEVICE Pace Linnet 32 Plus vfx INITSTRING AT &C0 F8 \N0 HANGSTRING AT Z H DIALSTRING ATDT BAUD 9600 PORT 1 LINE SPEED 19200 TELEPHONE NAME Hopefully the above should be fairly self explanitory. But just in case: Note all strings and numbers start at the 13th position in! DEVICE is the name of the modem. INITSTRING is the string used to initialize the modem. HANGSTRING is the string used to hang up the phone. BAUD is the speed the modem talks to the outside world. PORT is the serial port the modem is connected to. LINE SPEED is the speed the serial port talks to the modem. TELEPHONE is the default number to call when you dial. NAME is your name. Having corrected the strings and the correct baud rates again attempt to connect upon getting your strings right you should see you modem respond with an OK. You can experiment with the modem strings by using the chat mode to chat directly to your modem. When in chat mode, all modems should respond with OK when you type +++ (then wait a second or two) +++ and then then AT followed by enter. If this doesn't work then its likely you haven't set the baud rates properly. Assuming your modem choice is correct, (read what appears in the modem response box if ), one person must choose to dial while the other chooses to answer the phone. Having established a connection, you will then be able to chat to each other by typing stuff on the keyboard and watching the response box. Press escape to exit and then choose to play the game. At the time of writing, you still then have to select the modem game from within racing, (short cut keys M for multi play then M for modem). By the final cut this will be the defaulted to when the game is run. Command Line Options 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 use "RACING -CFG " to bypass the name-entry screen use "RACING -NOSOUND" to avoid loading a "wrong" sound driver