Daggerfall Demo ReadMe =========================================================================== Welcome to the The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall interactive demo. =========================================================================== To Install: =========================================================================== *** IMPORTANT NOTE ON DEMO *** In order to minimize the size of this demo copy of The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall, we had to make some tough decisions about what to include and what to leave out. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. The outside world in the actual game, the hills and valleys, swamplands and deserts, are roughly twice the size of Great Britain and therefore we had to exclude them from the demo. The thousands of cities, farms, shrines, temples, inns and other places that populate the landscape are also too large to include in this demo. What we did provide are sample versions of The Character Generator(tm), SpellMaker (tm), ItemMaker(tm), PotionMaker(tm), Bestiary and a little bit of the history should give you a tantalizing glimpse into the breadth of Daggerfall. As for the sample dungeon, The Pit of Jagadha may seem huge, but it is actually dwarfed by many of the dungeons in the complete Daggerfall game. It is not meant to represent more than just that. After all, nothing short of the game itself would do justice to the size, detail, and depth of the world. The towns and wilderness of Daggerfall are far more grand and spacious than that in Arena. The landscape rises and falls with hills and valleys. Towns are replete with completely furnished houses. You can even choose to buy a home to hold your prize possessions. Travel from town to town can be done on foot, horseback, or with a horse drawn wagon. Distant cities can be reached by sailing a ship. Not some flat 2D graphic, but a real 3D ship. The high seas are dangerous, so be prepared for encounters to be fought on the decks. In the full game, you will be able to talk to thousands of NPCs. There are thousands of adventures and quests that both noble and notorious folks can give you. Each is uniquely detailed and richly described. As you complete quests and interact with the people of Tamriel, your reputation with them will ebb and flow. Treat the guards of Wayrest poorly and eventually the king himself will learn of it and no longer speak to you. No role-playing game has ever had this level of social interation. The final version of the game will include features to improve performance on slower computers or those with only 8MB of RAM. This demo does not. If you have only 8MB of RAM, Bethesda Softworks recommends that you do not run a disk caching program, such as Smartdrive, or any other TSR software that uses extended memory. If your computer has more than 8MB of RAM, a disk caching program like Smartdrive will significantly improve performance. We hope you understand that in order to have a demo small enough to meet magazine and on-line service requirements, major cuts have to be made. That being said, if you enjoy the taste, you will love the meal. BETHESDA =========================================================================== Now about the system requirements. The demo requires between 35 and 50 MB of hard drive space. 20 MB of that is used as a virtual swap file. Also the minimum system requirements are: 486DX2/66 8MB of RAM VLB/PCI or other fast graphics card. =========================================================================== Within the Game: =========================================================================== Exit: Clicking this exits you from the Daggerfall demo Character Generation: Clicking this brings you to character generation Begin by selecting a home province. Be sure to read all the text carefully, so you can create the character you want. *IMPORTANT NOTE* Character Generation is for demonstration purposes only. You cannot save the character you create. Go to Dungeon: Clicking this brings you to the Pit of Jagadha off Sentinel See the INTERFACE section below for details on handling inventory, spellcasting, movement, and combat. SpellMaker: Clicking this brings you to the new, graphical SpellMaker To create a spell, click the name bar and give the spell a name. Next, click on the large Effects button to select the spell effects. These effects can be adjusted by clicking on the up and down arrows, with an equivalent adjustment in the cost of casting and buying the spell. You can also choose an elemental base for the spell so you can create fireballs, lightning bolts, and other effects. Finally, choose a means of spell delivery. The default level is always the least expensive means. For example, damage spells will default to casting when you strike another object with your hand or a weapon. If you wish to cast a spell at a distance, or have it explode in a radius around you, you can, but it will cost more. *IMPORTANT NOTE* Right-clicking on any button gives a description of that button. ItemMaker: Clicking this brings you to the Daggerfall enchantment menu. To enchant an item, first find the item in your inventory. Double-left-clicking on a sack opens it. You can scroll through the items in a sack using the arrow buttons. When you find the item, a left-click picks it up. Drop it in the box to the left of the inventory list with another left-click over the box. The information box in the upper left-hand corner of the ItemMaker shows the item's inherent enchantment points. Normally, this is the limit to the degree the item can be enchanted. Adding powers to the item costs enchantment points, and adding side-effects buys back enchantment points. PotionMaker: Clicking this brings you to the Daggerfall cauldron On the left-hand side of the screen are all the sundry ingredients you have in your inventory. Clicking on an item sends it to the cauldron on the right. Once you have all the ingredients you want in the cauldron, press the MIX button, and you will create a bottle of a potion called Unknown. In this demo, unfortunately, you cannot sample your creation. In the game, of course, you can, for better or for worse. The more you play with the PotionMaker, the better you will become at creating the exact potion you want. But you're going to have to make some mistakes first ... If you click on the RECIPE button, the cauldron will be automatically filled to create the potion desired if you have all the items the recipe calls for. If you do not, you will be told what you are missing. History: Clicking this brings up a scroll describing the story background To scroll down, click on the bottom part of the scroll. To scroll up, click on the top part of the scroll. About the Game: Clicking this brings up a scroll describing the features of Daggerfall To scroll down, click on the bottom part of the scroll. To scroll up, click on the top part of the scroll. Bestiary: Clicking this brings up animations and text descriptions of nine of the adversaries you will face. There are over forty others not pictured. To see a new creature, click on one of the nine creature names under the animation. Keys and Commands: Clicking this brings up the interface description, also given below. To scroll down, click on the bottom part of the scroll. To scroll up, click on the top part of the scroll. Hot Keys: Clicking this brings up a list of hot keys as shortcuts to some of the features of Daggerfall. To scroll down, click on the bottom part of the scroll. To scroll up, click on the top part of the scroll. Quotes: Clicking this brings up a selection of critical reaction to The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall. To scroll down, click on the bottom part of the scroll. To scroll up, click on the top part of the scroll. =========================================================================== Interface: =========================================================================== Mouse General Controls: If you have played Arena, you will find the controls very similar: - Moving the cursor around the screen turns it into an arrow pointing in any one of eight different directions. - At the center of the screen, the arrow turns into an X. - Holding down the left mouse button while the cursor is an arrow moves you in the direction of the arrow. The further the arrow is located from the center of the screen, the faster you will move. - Holding down the SHIFT key while moving the mouse rotates your view around. Thus, you can look down into pits or up a set of stairs. Releasing the buttons holds your view. Pressing the HOME button returns your view to the default setting. - Left-clicking an object when the cursor is in the X position allows you to interact with the object. This may be anything from entering into dialogue, casting a spell, picking a pocket, picking up treasure, pressing a button, or opening the door. - Right-clicking while the left mouse button is depressed makes your character jump. Combat: - Make certain you have readied a weapon. To ready a weapon, go to your inventory, select the Armor and Weaponry section, select a weapon with a left-click, and drop it to your character with another left-click. If the item appears on your character portrait, it is ready to be used. - Click on the clashing swords icon on your character bar to bring your weapon up. If a fist appears, you do not have any other weapon ready. - To swing a weapon, hold down the right mouse button and move your mouse in the direction you want your weapon to move. - If you have a spell or a bow-and-arrow ready, left-clicking when the cursor is in the X position, fires the spell or arrow in that direction. The Bar: Across the bottom of the screen when you are in the 3D world is a bar with a series of icons across it. Some of these are similar to icons in Arena, some are quite different. Left-clicking on the following icons have the following effects. - The face icon brings you to the character sheet. - The Starburst icon brings you to the spellbook. From here you can cast any spell in your spellbook. - The Bags icon brings you to your inventory screen. - The Wand icon brings a list of magic items and other items that must be used to be activated. Clicking on the item from this list activates the item's effects. - Right-clicking on the Eye icon scrolls it through a group of four icons: the Eye the Picking Fingers, the Word Balloon, and the Grabbing, Hand. Clicking on these icons activates, the Observe, Steal, Dialogue, and Grab modes with a click of the X cursor. - The Ear icon allows you to eavesdrop on all conversations in the area. - The Map icon activates your automap. *IMPORTANT NOTE* The automap is disabled in this demo. - The Crossed Blades readies whatever weapon you have equipped. - The Compass shows the direction you are facing. Clicking on it brings you a status report -- your location, the time, and the date. Character Sheet: - INFO BOX: clicking on the top left-hand corner information box allows you to rename your character whenever you like. - INVENTORY: clicking on this button brings you to your inventory. - SPELLBOOK: clicking on this button brings you to your spellbook. - AFFILIATIONS: clicking on this button and holding down brings up a list of all guilds, orders, and temples to which you belong. - SKILLS: clicking on the primary, major, minor, and miscellaneous skills buttons and holding down brings up a list of all your skills at that level. - NOTES: clicking on this button brings you to your notebook. - LOG: clicking on this button brings you to your logbook. - MAPS: clicking on this button brings you to all your saved automaps. * IMPORTANT NOTE * This feature is disabled in this demo. - DONE: clicking on this button exits you from the character sheet. - STR, INT, WIL, AGI, END, PER, SPD, and LUC: clicking on any of these buttons and holding down brings up a text description of that attribution, describing how that score affects your character. Inventory: Items currently in your inventory are divided into groups: Armor and Weaponry, Magic Items, Clothing and Miscellaneous, and Ingredients. Click on the category you are interested in viewing. All items within that category will be shown on the left-hand vertical column. If you want to get information on an item, select it with your left mouse button and press the INFO button. If you want to use an item, select it with your left mouse button and press the USE button. If you want to hide an item to avoid detection by city guards and other interested parties, select it with your left mouse button and press the HIDE button. If you want to equip an item on your character, ready a weapon, for example, or put on a pair of boots, select it with your left mouse button and click on the image of your character. If you want to drop an item to the ground where you are standing, select it with your left mouse button and press the DROP button. The right-hand vertical column shows any items you can view, but you have not placed in your inventory yet. There may be items here if you have just clicked on a treasure pile or a book shelf, but have not taken everything yet. From the right-hand vertical column, you can get INFO on the items in the standard way, equip your character with the items, or place the items in their appropriate place in your inventory. To bring an item to inventory, right-click on it. Spellbook: - To cast a spell, double-click on one of the spells listed on the left-hand side of the screen. - On the left-hand side of the screen are the specifics of the spell. Across the top of the spell description is the icon that represents the active spell, which can be changed with a left-click. Next to the active icon are the icons representing the area of effect and the elemental composition of the spell. Under the icons are three boxes listing the spell's effects. Clicking and holding the left-mouse button over these boxes gives a complete description of the spell effect.