What you need to know
To Install Screamer:
1)Insert the CD into your CD-ROM drive (usually D:)
2)From the DOS prompt, type D:\VIRGIN\SCREAMER\INSTALL and press Return
3)You will be asked to install either a NORMAL game or a NETWORK game. (The Network option will allow friends who do not have a Screamer CD to play with you in a special network game). Select Normal Installation and follow the on-screen prompts to copy the game to your hard drive.
4)Once the game has finished copying the Setup program will automatically run and allow you to customise your game settings
Once everything's copied to your hard drive, run Setup ad wait a couple of seconds while the program looks in side your machine and tells you what you've got (clever, eh). You can now eject to change various parameters.
VGA or SVGA. If you've got the required amount of RAM available on your machine your can elect to run Screamer in VGA (looks excellent, moves really fast), or SVGA (looks even more excellent but doesn't run quite as fast – but if you've got a fast Pentium machine you're unlikely to even notice a loss of speed. At least 12Mb needed).
Thank goodness you don't need to worry about complex controls when you're playing Screamer, all you've got to do is go forwards and turn left and right – and brake if you're a wuss.
Four keys are all you need worry about (six if you go for a manual transmission car, but we'll get to that later ) and you can pick any ones you like.
The default keys are the cursor cluster to the right of the Enter key where:
Up Arrow = Accelerate
Left Arrow = Left
Right Arrow = Right
Down Arrow = Brake
CTRL = Change up a gear
Left ALT = Change down a gear
You can reconfigure the keys to suit by following the on-screen instructions.
Of course, if you've got a joystick plugged in and set up, you're doing to want to use that. If you need instructions on how to use a joystick in a driving game then maybe you shouldn't be driving!
Screamer's advanced diagnostic program will already have looked to see if, and what kind of sound card you've got fitted to your machine. If you want to change things, simply press Enter and use the cursor keys to cycle through all the sound cards available. Select None if you want to run Screamer silently.
Once you've change all you to change, press Esc and the program asks if you want to save and Quit Y/N. Press Y to save the setup information, or N if you've made a mistake and want to do it again.
Once you've run Setup and made any changes, type SCREAMER at the dos prompt. If should look something like this: C:>SCREAMER
Once it's up and running, press Enter to stop the demo, and press Enter again to select Normal Game. Use the cursor keys to enter you 3 letter name (using left and right to circle through the letters and the down arrow to select that letter.)
Press Enter the select the track (the default one is Palm Town, which is as good a place to start as any) and Enter again to select the Shadow car This is an automatic so you don't have to worry about changing gears and stuff, just concentrate on driving like a loony.
Now the screen wipes to show you outside your car, with the countdown commencing. Press the accelerate button and away you go. You'll notice a small map in the bottom left of the screen. This is a short range scanner telling you what's coming up. You're the red triangle and the other cars are represented by blue dots.
When the three lap race is over, you are then treated to a splendid action replay of the race – crashes and all. Press Esc to stop the replay and you're offered the chance to Play Again if you wish. Select Yes and you're back on the start line. Select No and you're back at the main menu.
You may not life the default view setting, so to change it anytime during a race simply press:
F1. Now you're strapped to the bonnet of the car with your head about 2 inches from the ground. It's exhilarating stuff, and surprisingly good to drive from
F2. Inside the car. There's a dashboard with a Rev counter and Speedometer for added realism. An excellent driving viewpoint.
F3. Above and behind your car. The default setting and a viewpoint you'll enjoy time and time again.
F4. Above and slightly more behind your car. Gives you a feel for how the car's handling.
A one course race. You versus the other drivers and the timer. Decide how many laps you're going to do for each race (go to the Options screen). Select the course you want to race on, select the car you want to drive and put yourself in last place on the grid. Select the viewpoint you want and the rest is up to you. The lights change from red to green and you have to drive yourself to the chequered flag – bashing and crashing the other cars out of the way if necessary (see Hints and Tips). But you'll notice there's a timer at the top of the screen. And it's counting down. This is how much time you've got to make it to the next checkpoint. If you make it, you'll get some more time to tray and make it to the next. Finish a lap and you're given some more time If everything's going well and you haven't crashed too much (don't worry about car damage, all crashing does to you is lose you time – and about 8 positions) you'll have plenty of time to complete the race. Spend too much time looking at the scenery pr with your finger off the accelerator you're not going to finish.
Press Esc at any time during the race and you can then start the race again or go back to the main menu.
Finish the race and after you've watched a replay of the whole race you can either race again (same course, same car) or go back to the main menu where if you elect Normal Game again, you can change which course you want to race on using left and right cursor keys and Enter to select, and do exactly the same for whichever car you want to drive.
Choose your car and you're away. You race each course and have to finish in the top three to progress to next course. No matter how well you did in the last race you're always going to be starting from the back of the grid (10th position).
You're going to start in the Rookie league because you haven't proved yourself yet and the same time rules apply as in the Normal game. Should you fail to make the top three on a course you're dumped back to the menu screen where you can either try the whole league again by choosing New, or you can elect to Resume the league where you can try the fast course again. You can keep doing this as many times as you life (until you've managed a top three place anyway).
Once you've finished all the courses and won enough points – there's 9 for a win, 7 for second place and 5 for third with nothing but failure for anything below third – you can progress to the next league: Amateur. In Amateur league the courses are the same, but your competition is tougher (both in the other drivers and the time allowed to make it to the next checkpoint). Finish the Amateur league and you join the ranks of the Pro's. But it doesn't end there. Prove yourself to be the best of the Pro's and you then get to join the Bullet league.
The Bullet league is bit different, it's you versus the Bullets! In order to win this league you've got to win on every single course. But it's worth it, believe me.
If you fancy a break from all that serious competition, have a blast at Screamer's , competitive Special Modes.
No prizes for guessing that this is all about fastest lap times. Pick your course and you get one shot at breaking the course's lap record. Now you might think that this is best designed for the fastest car, but sometimes you might find that a car's grip and acceleration are better than it's top speed. Once you've got the record and want to try and better it, you'll notice you're racing a "ghost car". This is ghost image of the current fastest lap record holder and a good indication of how well you're doing is whether you're beating the ghost car. Just don't try ramming the ghost car because you can't.
Mean and difficult this – especially on the longer courses. You've got a mere handful of seconds to make it to the next checkpoint, nowhere near enough to manage it really. Your only hope is to drive into as ma y cones that have been carefully laid out along the course (in really difficult places, natch) because each cone you hit gives you another second.
Make the checkpoint and you get a few extra seconds to start on your way towards the next (you'll never do it…)
This works on the same principle as Cone Carnage in that you've only got a few second to make the next checkpoint. The way to gain extra time in Slalom though is to drive your car between the pairs of cones that are laid out on the course. It's sort of like skiing really except that if you miss on of the cones "gates" you don't get disqualified, you just don't get any time.
In all cases press Esc to go back to the Main Menu.
Detail – Hi, Mid or Low
Press Enter to change the level of detail. Bear in mind that the higher the detail level the slower the game will run. If you've got a fast Pentium machine then you should be able to crank the detail up to Hi and everything will still zip around!
Difficulty – Rookie, Normal or Pro
Press Enter to change the difficulty setting from the default, Normal, to Rookie – to make your life easier, or Pro – to beef up the opposition and increase the challenge. This option has an effect in a network game so watch out!
Sometimes 3 laps isn't enough to get used to the car you're driving, or isn't long enough for you to recover from a couple of crashes early on. Press Enter to cycle through the number of laps you want to race.
Fed up with that bloke telling you "You've run out of time"? Turn him off here.
Not everyone appreciates the great soundtrack, so here's where you can turn it off.
Come here to see who hold lap records for any course. Press Enter when you've used the up and down cursor to select the course. Press Esc to go back to the options menu and Esc to go back to the main menu.
But this is what Screamer's really all about. You competing with other humans, who are more competitive, devious and often better than computer-controlled drivers. Thankfully though, humans are also more prone to getting things wrong under pressure, so drive like mad and use any cunning plan you can think of to harangue and harass whoever's in front. and don't let whoever's behind get the better of you!
Starting a network game is pretty simple. First you have to make sure there is a set of IPX network drivers loaded and running on your PC (if you don't know what they are, ask your Systems Support personnel!)
In the game, select network mode and you will be presented with the familiar selection screens asking you to enter your name and choose your car. Once this has been done your car will appear on a screen which informs you the game is waiting for other players to join in.
Up to eight players can participate in any one race, although if you only want a small game with one or two people you can press the accelerator to start the action. When the chosen amount of players are ready, a participant is randomly selected to pick the track on which the race will tale place (at this pint all the other players can relax and watch!). Once the track is chosen the race begins! Best racer wins!
In the event of a tied finish on a network game, the computer will judge the winner to be the driver who gave the best all round performance during the race.
If you are using the special Network Installation of Screamer, at least one player must have the original CD in their CD-ROM drive, and must run the "Normal Installation" of the game. Without this the game will not work for the other players.
Picking the right car for the right course can give you a distinct advantage over the other drivers. You don't really want a car that's got loads of acceleration and grip but a low top speed if the course you are about to drive on has few corners and long straights. Likewise the reverse is true for a short course with loads of twists and turns.
Experiment with the different cars on the same track, Palm Town, for example, and you'll be able to compare how far you can push each car round a corner before the back end slides right out and you lose control.
You'll find that just because a car's got a good top speed doesn't mean it's quickest round a course that has lots of corners where you have to brake early and accelerate late.
In Screamer there are extra MPH to be squeezed out of a car by selecting a manual transmission. Another advantage to be had by driving manually is that instead of having to take your finger off the accelerate button and hitting the brakes to get round a tight corner, you can drop the car down a gear or two and make the same corner without having to step off the accelerator.
Drive round the same course for while and try find the highest gear you can to get round each of the tricky corners.
Some are hard than others, especially if you're driving in one of the Special Modes. When you first install the game only three tracks are available: Palm Town, Lake Valley and Lindburg. You can reveal another three by competing – and winning – in the Championship game.
The corners and bends and checkpoints don't change on a particular track though and the only way to really get to grips with them is to race 'em.
The quickest way to get a feel for how the various cars handle and how the game plays is to do a couple of 25 lap races around Palm Town. Once you've done that you'll be ready for competitive driving. And when you're driving against the computer controlled cards, the best thing to remember is that you can use them to help you get round the course. Suppose you're going round a tight right hand bend – you're going too fast and sliding out to the left, there's a computer car on the left – great! Smash into the side of the other car with the side of your car and you'll find it does him no good at all and at the same time it will keep you on the track!
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