METALTECH: BATTLEDROME
						Install Instructions

1.	Exit Windows
2.	At the DOS prompt, access your CD-ROM drive by
		typing: D: (if your CD-ROM is "D" drive) and press 
		[ENTER]
3. 	Type: cd BATTLEDR and press [ENTER]
4.	Type: INSTALL and press [ENTER]
5.	Follow the on screen instructions, including making a 
		"boot disk," if necessary
6.	Have FUN!!!

        	METALTECH: BATTLEDROME
        	Demo Version 1.0 Release Notes

I. GAME INSTRUCTIONS

	BATTLEDROME DEMO INSTRUCTIONS

	This demo provides a limited version of Battledrome that lets you play computer opponents. In the full game, you can also play friends over a modem or IPX network. The Menu Bar screens use an intuitive point-and-click interface. You'll see grayed-out buttons for functions are not available in the demo.

	These instructions provide a very brief description of Battledrome's functions, including a quick reference. You may want to print it out for convenience while playing.

	OVERVIEW

	Battledrome is a virtual robotic combat simulator. Once you set up your fighting vehicle, or HERC, you challenge an opponent to a match. When an opponent accepts your challenge, you will negotiate a wager and combat conditions, and then proceed to the Arena to battle for the agreed-on prize money. As you win prize money, you will be able to buy better weapons, and will be able to challenge better opponents. You cannot buy new HERCs in this demo version.

	CONTROLS SETUP

	Your first step is to set up and calibrate your controls. Select Preferences from the Main Menu. Go to Controls. Select the controllers you want to use, and what you want them to control. (See Joystick Information at the end for details.) If you are using a joystick, click Calibrate and follow the on-screen instructions. When done, click on the Main Menu to back out.

	INSTANT ACTION

	If you wish to jump right into Arena combat, you can click INSTANT ACTION on the Main Menu. This places you in the Arena in a Barreta-class HERC. See THE ARENA section for controls. If you prefer to select and arm your own HERC and challenge your own opponents, go instead to the following screens.

	LOGIN and HERC SETUP

	To start, go to LOGIN and select or create a Pilot. Then click LOCAL to login against the computer. You can then click HERCS on the Main Menu to Select and Setup your HERCULAN fighting vehicle. Your Wealth determines which HERCs and which weapons, engines, armor, etc. you can buy. More and bigger is better. In this demo version you cannot purchase new HERCs.

	REPAIR/RELOAD

	Before each match, you come to this area to Reload cannons, missiles, and mine launchers, and to Repair any battle damage (assuming you can afford it.) 
 
	OPPONENTS

	Once your HERC is armed, click on the Main Menu Opponents button to challenge another pilot to a match. You can only challenge "Idle" opponents. Once an opponent accepts a challenge, you go straight to negotiations.

	NEGOTIATIONS

Here you negotiate the ground rules under which the match will be conducted. You may propose wagers, weapons, and arena conditions, and SUBMIT them. It may take several rounds of proposals until one of you accepts or withdraws. Once one of you ACCEPTS, you go to the Arena and begin Combat.

	THE ARENA

	In the Arena, use every weapon and trick you have to win. If you do something illegal, the Referee will tell you. Other than that, the only rule is to destroy. Once combat ends, you can repair your HERC and try again to move up in the rankings.

	Remember that you can move the HERC and the Turret separately. If you get tangled up, press [Backspace] to realign the Turret.

	Explore all of the displays and functions on your Heads Up Display (HUD). The more you play, the more you'll discover of Battledrome's tactical subtleties. Experiment with the probes and weapons, try different strategies and Arena conditions, and above all, have fun!

II. GAME CONTROLS

	ARENA CONTROLS

	Surrender Match   	Esc
	Preferences      	Alt+P or F12
	Calibrate Joystick 	Ctrl+J
	Brighten Screen   	F8
	Quit to DOS     	Ctrl+Q

	VIEW CONTROL

	Cockpit         		F1
	Probes         		F2-F5
	Attach Probe On/Off   	A
	Next Probe       		Alt+N
	Toggle Control
	Between HERC/Probe   	Tab 
 		(must be in a Probe)
	Controlling Attached Probes:
  	Move around herc  		Arrow Keys
  	Zoom In/Out     		Up/Down Arrow + >
	Controlling Detached Probe:
  	Change view dir.  	Arrow Keys
  	Probe Forward    	>
  	Probe Backwards   	<

	HERC CONTROL

	Change Between
		HERC/Turret    	Insert or Button 2
	Forward/Reverse  	Up/Down Arrows
	Left/Right    		Left/Right Arrows
	HERC Left      	[
	HERC Right     	]
	Turret Up 		I
	Turret Down     	M
	Turret Left      	J
	Turret Right     	K
	Turret Centered   	Backspace
	Throttle
		Zero       		0
		Decrease     	-
		Increase     	+
		Full or Reverse 	/

	WEAPON CONTROL

	Fire Next Weapon    	Space
	Single-Fire Weapon   	1-6
	Add/Remove Weapon 
 		from Chain       		Alt+1-6

	HEADS UP DISPLAY (HUD)

	HUD On/Off       	U
	Reset HUD        	Ctrl+U
	Energy Allocation    	E
		Shields
			to 80%     	X
			+10%      	Shift+X
			 -10%      	Ctrl+X
		Engine 
			to 80%     	C
			+10%      	Shift+C 
			-10%      		Ctrl+C
		Weapons 
			to 80%     	V
			+10%      	Shift+V 
			-10%      		Ctrl+V
		Balance Energy  		Z
		Weapons Display     	W
		Target Info       		T
		View/Control Status   	B
		Throttle/Heading    	H
		Probe List       		P
		Probe Orientation    	O
		Damage/Shield     	D
		Internal Systems Status 	S
		Game Message Display	G

	JOYSTICK

		HERC MODE
			Button 1 (Trigger): 	Fire Weapon
			Button 2:      		Switch to Turret Mode
			Forward/Back:    	Forward/Reverse
			Left/Right:     		Steer

		TURRET MODE
			Button 1 (Trigger): 	Fire Weapon
			Button 2:      		Switch to HERC Mode
			Forward/Back:    	Turret Down/Up
			Left/Right:     		Turret Left/Right

		PROBE ATTACHED MODE
			Normal:
				Forward/Back: 	Move Up/Down around HERC
				Left/Right:   		Move Left/Right around HERC
			Button 1 (trigger) depressed:
				Forward/Back: 	Move towards/away from HERC
				Left/Right:  		Move Left/Right around HERC

		PROBE DETTACHED MODE
			Button 1 (Trigger): 	Move Probe Forward
			Button 2:      		Move Probe Backward
			Forward/Back:    	Look Down/Up
			Left/Right:     		Look Left/Right

		If available: 
			Button 3:		Align Turret
			Button 4: 	Zero Throttle

		"Hat" Button:
		If Joystick Controls:  Hat Controls:
			HERC			Turret
			Turret 			HERC
			Probe  			Probe

  When in a Probe, the Tab key switches from HERC/Turret mode to Probe mode.

	THRUSTMASTER WCS MK. II (WCS)

	The first bank of six buttons corresponds to the six weapons [1]--[6]. Reconfigure as you wish.

	THRUSTMASTER RUDDER CONTROL SYSTEM (RCS)

	The default setting is for Turret Control. Otherwise, RCS will control HERC steering.

III. INCOMPATIBILITIES

	TSR VIRUS DETECTION PROGRAMS AND "UNDELETE" UTILITIES:
	When installing or operating Metaltech: Battledrome, we recommend that you disable any "undelete" utilities including Norton Smartcan or Mirror. You will also want to disable any TSR Virus Detection programs as each of these utilities might cause install problems or random lockups during game play. An easy and effective way to accomplish this is to create a boot disk using the install program's boot disk creator. For more information, please refer to your simulation documentation.

	MEMORY MANAGEMENT:
	Metaltech: Battledrome runs in 32-bit protected mode and may suffer from incompatibilities with older memory managers including QEMM 6.02 and early versions of EMM386. If you experience lockups or other problems when running the simulation, try the following suggestions:

	a) Make a boot disk using the boot disk creator option in the install program. This option will create a custom boot-up configuration on a floppy disk and allow BD's own memory manager to better utilize all of your computer's available memory. Once the BD install routine has successfully created the boot disk, restart your computer with this disk in your A drive.

	b) Try an updated or newer memory manager. Many of the updated memory managers work more effectively with 32-bit protected mode applications. Check with your memory manager manufacturer for upgrade information.

	MOUSE DRIVERS
	In order to insure complete mouse compatibility within BD, we recommend that you use one of the following mouse drivers:

	- Microsoft Mouse driver version 8.20a or above
	- Logitech Mouse driver version 6.23 or above 
  
	The above mentioned mouse drivers have been tested and found to work effectively within this simulation. Other drivers may cause program lock-ups, video distortion (in the form of white lines on the screen), or mouse control problems.
  
	SOUND BLASTER 16 AND BOOT DISK CREATOR:
	On occasion, the boot disk creator might not copy the SBCONFIG.EXE line onto the AUTOEXEC.BAT file of the boot disk. This may result in the introduction and the game running without any sound or music. If this occurs, you will need to manually insert the SBCONFIG.EXE line from your standard boot-up configuration into the AUTOEXEC.BAT file on the boot disk. Below is an example of how the line should look:

	C:\SB16\SBCONFIG.EXE /S 
  
	NOTE - the above line should appear immediately after all other Sound Blaster statements within the AUTOEXEC.BAT file of your boot disk. For assistance or more information about completing this step, please refer to your sound card documentation or call Creative Labs Technical Support.

IV. MISCELLANEOUS

	SOUND CARD PROBLEMS
	While we have made every effort to support as many sound cards as possible, there are a few sound cards that are not supported directly within Battledrome. You may have to configure your card for Sound Blaster emulation if you have a card that is not directly supported by the game drivers. Some Sound Blaster emulation utilities might not work properly with Battledrome.
	NOTE - not all sound cards are compatible with the Sound Blaster card. Check your hardware documentation to determine if your card is compatible.

	SOUNDSET SOUNDCARD DETECTION

	Soundset's autodetection feature is highly dependent on having the correct environment variables set and device drivers loaded in your autoexec.bat file for some kinds of cards. If soundset does not detect your card make sure that you have installed your soundcard properly in your machine and that you have run the installation software that came with your soundcard. If all else fails, you can set the parameters for your soundcard manually in soundset.
  
	GRAVIS ULTRASOUND

	Gravis Ultrasound and Ultrasound Max cannot be detected from Soundset. There is a utility called GRAVBD.exe in your BattleDrome directory that will properly configure your resource.cfg for the Gravis cards. At this time the Gravis drivers only supprt digital effects not MIDI music.

	CREATIVE LABS AWE-32

	You cannot adjust the volume of the midi music on an AWE-32.

	ROLAND MT-32

	The SRL on Battledrome's box is incorrect. Battledrome does not directly support the ROLAND MT-32. However, you can still use the MT-32 as your music output device. To configure Battledrome for the MT-32, select MPU-401 for your MIDI music driver in Soundset. This sets MIDI music output to go to a General MIDI output device. 
	Because the MT-32 is not a true General MIDI device, you may experience some missed or substituted instruments in the MIDI music track, however most tracks will play fine.

	SCSI DRIVERS
	If your system is equipped with a SCSI hard drive, you will need to make sure that you are loading the appropriate SCSI driver in your CONFIG.SYS file. For additional information or instructions on how to accomplish this task, please refer to your hard drive or SCSI controller documentation or manufacturer.

	To run BD on a 4 Meg machine, you will most likely need to make a boot disk or remove your high memory driver from your config.sys file. BD doesn't require a high memory driver, and such drivers can take up enough memory to cause BD not to run.

	CONFIGURING YOUR JOYSTICK
	The first time you run Battledrome after installing it onto your computer, you must manually select and calibrate your joystick. Once you have done this, the computer will automatically remember your settings. 

	THRUSTMASTER DEVICE SUPPORT

	We have added additional key combinations that Thrustmaster users may wish to use in .adv files for the WCS Mark II or in .B50 files for the FLCS. BD does not support the WCS MK I.

	Thrustmaster throttle keys:
		Ctrl-9 toggle fwd/reverse gears
		Ctrl-8 max fwd throttle
		Ctrl-7 3/4 fwd throttle
		Ctrl-6 1/4 fwd throttle
		Ctrl-5 all stop
		Ctrl-4 1/4 rev throttle
		Ctrl-3 3/4 rev throttle
		Ctrl-2 max rev throttle  

	There is a default BD.ADV file for the WCS Mark II shipped with Battledrome. A .B50 file for the FLCS was not available at the time of duplication.

	You can reach Thrustmaster technical support at (503) 968-3400, 9-5 Pacific time weekdays if you have questions about Thrustmaster controls. 

	GRAVIS GAME PAD
	We have found that BD works well with the Gravis Game Pad. To use this device, select and calibrate the pad as 1 Standard Joystick. Make sure you set the game pad to ANALOG rather than DIGITAL. Check your game pad documentation for instructions on how to accomplish this.

	CUSTOMIZING YOUR BOOT DISK
	Because Metaltech: Battledrome uses a 32-bit DOS extender, you do not need to load a memory manager as outlined in the game documentation on page 68. The automatic boot disk creator in the install program will create a boot configuration that is optimized to run this game. It will allow BD's built in memory manager to optimize your full computer's memory to run the game as effectively as possible. 

	IMPROVING PERFORMANCE

	To increase performance, try the following:

	-Use a smartdrive if you have enough memory in your machine
	-Decrease the arena detail in the simulation (F12 or Control-P)
	-Avoid selecting arenas with "Many" obstacles or blaster turrets
	-Take only 1 or 2 camera probes into combat
	-Select "None" for sound and music in the install program
  
	CONTACTING SIERRA CUSTOMER SERVICE:
		Sierra On-Line Direct Sales  	
		P.O. Box 3404         		
		Salinas, CA 93912      	

		Phone: (800) 757-7707     	
		Fax:  (408) 644-2018     	

		Sierra On-Line Customer Service
		P.O. Box 3404_
		Salinas, CA 93912

		Phone: (800) 743-7725 
		Fax:  (408) 644-2018