Welcome to the demo version of Flight Unlimited for the Power Macintosh. Flight is the most realistic flight simulator ever for the Macintosh, with photorealistic terrain of actual locations and accurate physics modeling of each airplane. No other simulator gives you the feeling of real flight like Flight Unlimited.
The demo version limits you to flying one plane at one location. In the retail version of Flight, you get:
- 6 locations
- 5 planes (including a sail plane)
- Over 30 interactive lessons that teach aerobatic maneuvers, from beginning to advanced
- 48 Hoops courses, where you can put your aerobatic skills to the test
The retail version is available in stores now, or you can order directly from Looking Glass Technologies at 1-800-360-7455. You can also check out our web site at http://www.lglass.com.
This rest of this document details some last-minute information we think will help you get the most enjoyment from our software. Included are some tips for installing and running the game, as well as critical information for owners of Power Macs and compatibles with only 8 megabytes of RAM.
II. Virtual Memory
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Flight Unlimited is not compatible with some Power Macs running Virtual Memory. During our testing phase, we found conflicts between Apple's Virtual Memory system and our sound drivers. Although many Macs with VM seemed to run the software just fine, we recommend that you turn off Virtual Memory (via the Memory Control Panel) before playing Flight.
If you simply must run with Virtual Memory, please note that you do so at your own risk. We do, however, suggest that on 8 megabyte machines, you keep your memory partition sizes to a minimum. You can do this by setting the Minimum and Preferred sizes in Flight's "Get Info" window to equal amounts. We recommend setting both these values to between 5000 & 5500k. Doing so will keep Virtual Memory access down to a minimum while you play.
III. Macs With 8 Megabytes of RAM
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Although we recommend that you have 16 megabytes of RAM to play Flight, you can still enjoy the game on a computer with only 8 megs. However, it may be necessary to free up system resources before first running our software. If you're familiar with Apple's Extensions Manager Control Panel, we recommend that you use it to turn off all Extensions except for the following:
Apple CD-ROM
Sound
QuickTime™
QuickTime™ PowerPlug
Joystick software such as FlightstickPro, ThrustMaster Driver, or MouseStick II
For those of you unfamiliar with using this piece of software, you may wish to read Appendix A: Using The Extensions Manager at the end of this file.
Unfortunately, on the newer PCI-based Power Macs, you may not be able to free up enough system resources with the Extensions Manager to be able to play Flight. In this case, our recommendation is to remove all Control Panels and Extensions from their respective folders manually. To do this, follow these instructions:
1. Open your System Folder.
2. Create a new folder and name it "Extensions (disabled)"
[this folder may already exist].
3. Drag all the files in your Extensions folder (except for Apple CD-ROM,
QuickTime™, QuickTime™ PowerPlug, Sound Manager, System Update, and
your joystick extensions, if any) into this new folder.
4. Create another new folder and name it "Control Panels (disabled)"
[this folder may already exist].
5. Drag all the files in your Control Panels folder (except for the joystick control
panel, if any) into this new folder.
6. Restart your Macintosh.
7. Double-click on the Flight icon to start playing.
One last thing. Please note that the Flight Installer will place the Sound Manager 3.1 extension into your Extensions folder. Users of MacOS 7.5.3 or later can safely remove this extension, as the software has been integrated into the operating system
IV. Performance Tips
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• Turn off Virtual Memory.
Although Flight may run just fine on your system with Virtual Memory turned on, VM can degrade Flight's frame rate by as much as 20%. Keep it off for maximum playability.
• Upgrade your RAM to 16 megabytes.
With 16 megabytes of RAM, you'll probably see a higher-resolution FBO, switching between cockpits will be faster, the game will play slightly faster, and you might see prettier landscapes. As of this writing, RAM can be purchased for as little as $25 per megabyte. Upgrading your Mac's RAM won't just help Flight, it will allow you to run more apps on your computer which will ultimately help you to be more productive. Consult your Apple dealer for more information.
• Upgrade your Mac with a 256K Level 2 Cache.
Many Power Macintoshes and compatibles sold in the past two years lack a secondary cache. Due to the nature of RISC chips, the PowerPC microprocessor in your computer can perform 10 - 40% more efficiently if a secondary cache is installed. Installing an L2 cache can make a marked difference in the overall speed of your Power Mac. Consult your Apple dealer for more information.
• Disable Unnecessary Extensions & Control Panels.
Disabling certain Extensions and Control Panels can help in two ways. First, it can free up valuable system RAM needed to play the game. Remember, the more free RAM you have, the better. Second, some Extensions and Control Panel use up CPU time which will slow down Flight's performance.
• Upgrade to MacOS version 7.5.3.
During testing, we found that the new MacOS version 7.5.3 (or System 7.5 Update 2.0) can give Flight a 10-20% speed gain over previous version of the operating system. Consult your local Apple dealer for complete information on upgrading your System Software.
• Pay attention to the Speed Bar.
At the bottom of Flight's Preferences Window (accessed via the Escape key), is a yellow and black striped bar. This bar will give you a general idea of how fast your game will perform with the options you've chosen. Some options, such as changing the screen resolution will have a dramatic effect on game speed. Other options, such as increasing the haze, have a more minimal effect. Experiment with the options to achieve a frame rate that you're satisfied with.
• 603-equipped Power Macs.
Apple uses the PowerPC 603 CPU in many of its Performa and PowerBook line of computers. The PowerPC 603 is a scaled-down version of the PowerPC chip, and doesn't have the full capabilities of the PowerPC 601 or 604. Also, many 603-based computers don't have an L2 cache, which further impedes the 603's performance. Because of this, Flight's performance may suffer dramatically on 603-equipped machines.
• Install Flight directly to your hard drive.
If you've got roughly 200 megabytes of hard drive space you can do without, you may want to consider copying all of Flight Unlimited to your hard drive. Doing so will dramatically speed up loading times. To do this, open your Flight Unlimited folder. Create a new folder and name it "CDROM". Then copy the contents of the EngPile, GenPile, and Cats folder from the Flight CD into this new folder. That's it!
VI. Q & A
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Q: Hey, my joystick doesn't work! What gives????
A: After you launch Flight, press the Escape key while in the FBO. You will be taken to the Preferences Window. From there, select the Hardware icon on the left side of the window. Cycle through the various Control options until you reach the joystick icon. If you have a joystick that "simulates" a mouse, such as the Gravis Mousestick II, then leave the right button on "Standard Joystick". If you have a Thrustmaster or CH Product's Flightstick Pro, click on the right button until you see your brand of joystick. After that, click on "OK" and you should be in business.
Q: How do I raise the landing gear?
A: The planes in Flight Unlimited have "fixed" landing gear -- their position cannot be changed.
Q: How do I raise and lower the flaps?
A: These planes are not equipped with flaps.
Q: I've got a Daystar PowerPC upgrade card. Every time I run Flight, it crashes immediately. What's wrong?
A: We've experienced problems running Flight on older Macs upgraded with Daystar cards. As of this time, we don't have a fix for the problem, but we're still investigating.
Q: Why is Flight Unlimited a Power Macintosh-only game?
A: There are two answers to this question. First, Flight Unlimited displays its terrain environment using a graphical technique called "texture mapping". Texture Mapping requires a huge amount of processor time, but the results are truly breathtaking (just look out the cockpit!). Second, the software uses a mathematical process known as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to calculate the physics used to simulate flying on your computer. With CFD, we can actually compute how air would flow over the wings and superstructure of a real airplane -- that's why our simulator's feeling of flight is second to none. But like texture mapping, CFD is a CPU-intensive process and requires a lot of horsepower to run.
Q: Why doesn't Flight Unlimited seem as fluid as other flight simulators such as Graphic Simulation's F/A-18 Hornet or Parsoft's A-10 Attack?
A: See above.
Q: Does Flight support multiple monitors like Hornet and A-10?
A: Sorry, no. Possibly sometime in the future it might.
Q: I'm running Flight on an 8 megabyte Power Mac. Why does the software tell me that I can't run in a higher resolution such as 832x624 or 1024x768?
A: Higher resolutions are not available when running Flight on a computer with only 8 megabytes of RAM.
Q: I'm running Flight on a computer with 16 megabytes of RAM, and I know that my monitor can run in resolutions greater than 640x480, so why does the software keep telling me that I can't change to higher resolution?
A: To run Flight in higher resolutions such as 832x624 or 1024x768, you must make sure that the software has a high enough memory partition to run in. Check the "Preferred Size" in Flight's "Get Info" box. Make sure that before you run the game, you have that much free memory available (you can check this via the "About this Macintosh" menu in the Finder). If necessary, use the Extensions Manager to turn off unnecessary Extensions and Control Panels to help free up RAM to play Flight.
Q: After playing Flight for a while, why does the terrain starts to look "blocky" in some areas?
A: On 8 megabyte Macs, memory may become fragmented after playing for long periods of time. This in turn causes the "blockiness" you see. Try bringing up the Preferences Window, or end your flight, return to the FBO, and try flying again.
Q: Does Flight Unlimited use QuickDraw 3D or QuickTime VR?
A: No. Flight's rendering engine is completely proprietary, and is fine-tuned specifically for Macs without any kind of graphical enhancements. In the future, it's possible that we might add QD3D support to Flight, but only if the demand is high and the technology is good enough to handle our demanding tasks.
Q: So where are the guns?
A: Sorry, acrobatic planes (for the most part) aren't equipped with life-threatening weapons of mass destruction. But hey, when was the last time you saw anyone perform an inverted flat spin in a fly-by-wire F-16?
Thanks again for purchasing our product. We hope you enjoy the game!
Looking Glass Technologies
Austin, TX Development Group
Appendix A: Using Extensions Manager
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Extensions Manager is a Control Panel that Apple wrote to help Mac users more easily fine-tune their systems in times of software conflicts. Game players, however, more frequently use Extensions Manager to help give the operating system more RAM and CPU time. It's important to note that incorrect use of Extensions Manager can result in a crash during startup time.
To use Extensions Manager, first open your System Folder, and find the Control Panels folder with. Open the Control Panels folder, and find the item called Extensions Manager. Double-click to open it.
Once you open Extensions Manager, you'll see a list of all the extensions and control panels the operating system will allow you to turn on and off. To the left of each item is a column for check marks -- if the item has a check mark next to it, it's on, else it's off. You can click in this column to toggle each item yourself, and then save the result in specific "set" that you can access later.
On an 8 megabyte machine, we recommend turning the check marks off on all the items except for the following:
Apple CD-ROM
QuickTime™
QuickTime™ PowerPlug
Sound Manager
Joystick software such as FlightstickPro, ThrustMaster Driver, or MouseStick II
Once you've done that, you can create a "set" which you can recall whenever you play the game. To do this, click on the pop-up menu labeled "Sets:" and select "Save Set...". From there, you'll be prompted to give a name to your new set (we suggest "Flight" or "Flight Unlimited"). After you've saved your set, close the Extensions Manager window, and restart your Mac.
To allow your Mac to restart with all of the Extensions and Control Panels on, return to the Extensions Manager, and again click on the "Sets:" menu. Select the set called "All On". After that, close the window and restart your Mac. After your Mac restarts, you should be back to normal.
