DOS/V Power Report 1997 May/VPR9705A.ISO/P_AND_A/sscampgn/ssteeldm/SSTEEL.INS/README.TXT

Text File | 1996-11-21 | 26KB | 539 lines

Shattered Steel README.TXT FILE
=============================================

Last Updated    : 11-11-96 by Reginald J. Arnedo

Version         : 1.11s Enhanced Demo
=============================================

Hi,

Welcome to the Shattered Steel Interactive Demo.  This new version of
the Shattered Steel Interactive demo is a better representation of
what the full retail version contains.   I have put a number of
sections into this README file to answer many of the questions that you
might have. The first section discusses the basic background of the game,
while subsequent sections explain how to install and how to play.  There is
also a new "history" section which explains some of the new functionality of
the product.

I hope you enjoy what you see.  If you have any comments, I would like to
hear them.  Please E-mail me at [e-mail].

Reginald J. Arnedo
Associate Producer
Interplay Productions


INTRODUCTION
============

The Year is 2132.  Deep space exploration and colonization have
become reality.  The human race is growing at an incredible rate; man's
sphere of influence has been expanding unchallenged for 150 years.  Man's
universe has split into 2 distinct societies, the highly structured and
lawful core worlds and the lawless frontier worlds.  The Core Worlds
represent the best that humanity has to offer; a peaceful application of
technology used for the betterment of mankind.
The Frontier Worlds hold the seamy underbelly that the Core Worlds
want to forget; a greedy race for the elements the Core Worlds need for
expansion.  Huge mining and manufacturing corporations compete in the
pillage of the outer worlds purely for the generation of profit.  To maintain
basic "order" on the outer worlds and to "compete" with rival companies each
corporation maintains a private force for "problem solving".

It was in 2102 when these private forces reached the level of companies and
fleets that the Core Navy stepped in at Tarnok IV.  The Raw Materials division
of Ford Toyota Co. wanted Tarnok IV for the vast minerals that could be
stripped from the planet, while Universal Pharmaceuticals saw the planet for
its industrial and crop potential.  The legal ownership of the planet had
been in dispute for more than twenty years so the Sato Group decided to take
the planet by force and dedicated 75% of their forces to do so.  Universal
Pharmaceuticals also sent in their own force.  As the first shots began to be
fired,  the 142nd Battle Fleet, commanded by Rear Admiral Davies, came out of
HyperSpace.  The Core Navies ships came out with their plasma cannons hot,
and torpedoes locked.  Without warning the ships opened fire.  When the first
barrage was over, they had destroyed over three quarters of the ships from
both companies.  Admiral Davies then demanded a cease fire from all parties.

His orders had been given days before when it was decided that such a
precedent as mass fleet battles by corporations to decide planetary ownership
could not be set.  The repercussions of this were that the percentage of
total employees of a corporation dedicated to security could not exceed 1%.
Furthermore the corporations were only allowed to hire mercenaries if they
did not employ their own security force, and even then they were restricted
in the number that could be hired.  Because of these restrictions it became
necessary for the corporation to hire or employ heavily armored individuals.
They needed to be able to send in one man where they had previously dedicated
a thousand.  Therefore each of these individuals needed to be a one man army.
With enough fire power that they would not need to depend upon reinforcements,
or help in any way.

The Planet Runner was developed specifically for this purpose.
The Planet Runner could navigate over most terrain while carrying the fire
power of a light armored division, and the defense strength of a small battle
ship.  A modified corvette class starship provided the living quarters for
the one or two man crew, and a highly functional and adaptable computer that
could also strip down and rebuild any Planet Runner operating out of the
corvette.  The back half of the corvette was dedicated to storing parts, and
repairing and building Planet Runners.  While these one man armies could
pacify small towns and uprisings single handily, the Core Worlds do not see
them as a threat and allow their existence.

You play the role of a freelance mercenary on a limited protection
contract with a large mining corporation. You operate a Planet Runner used
for deep recon missions and planetary pacification. You patrol a section near
the edge of known space which is frequently plagued by pirates and subject to
frequent raids.  At the start of the game a mining camp on Lanios 3 (a planet
under your jurisdiction) has stopped following the usual communication
protocols.  You are called in to investigate.

The corporation is quite certain that an extensive pirate raid is
occurring on the surface of Lanios 3, there were numerous disturbances
reported just prior to the loss of contact.  As per standard defense protocol
you have been given free reign to react to any threat.



INSTALL INFORMATION
===================

1) You will need to run the Install program, by either double clicking on
it from Win95, or entering it at the DOS Prompt.  The Install program will
install Shattered Steel onto your Hard Drive and then have you configure your
Sound Card.

2) The sound card configuration program works reasonably well, however it can
have problems with auto detecting your sound card.  Generally just Auto Detect
once, that should configure your card correctly.  If the Auto detection fails,
just manually input your sound card settings and it should work fine.  You
will have to input your MIDI settings separately.

3) If you are configuring your sound card manually and you have a 16 bit
sound card, you will need to enter the High DMA Channel for the DMA channel
entry.  Generally for most 16bit Sound Blaster cards this is 5.

4) To run Shattered Steel, you should either double click on Ssteel.exe, or
just enter SSTEEL and hit return from the DOS prompt in the directory where
you have installed Shattered Steel.


SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
===================

General Requirements:

33 Megs of Hard Drive Space
8 Megs of RAM (Win95 users see below)

From Win95:

To run Shattered Steel under Win95 in a DOS BOX (Double Clicking on it from
your Desktop) you will need at least a 486 DX2 66MHz machine with 16MEGS of
RAM.  However, it is suggested that you quit out of all your other
applications before playing.  If you only have 8 Megs of RAM you will
need to restart your machine in DOS Mode.  This can be done by going to the
START Menu and choosing exit.  Then choose the selection that allows you to
re-boot in DOS Mode.


From DOS:

You will need a 486 DX2 66MHz machine with 8 Megs of RAM.


Known Problems:

If you have 8 Megs of RAM and are having problems, free up as much memory as
possible by running a minimal config and autoexec which only loads a mouse
driver and no memory manager.

If you have problems running on a Cirrus Logic machine, try using a univesa
driver.

If you have a 16bit sound card you must use DMA channel 0, 1, or 3.

If you have a 16bit Creative Labs sound card set to 260 or 280, auto detect
may detect it as a Roland RAP-10. You must use manual setup.

We have encountered problems with a select few machines/sound cards running with
8 megs of ram. This problem will crash/hang your computer upon launching a mission.
If this occurs, re-enter the sound setup program and select no midi music.  The demo
should run fine after this.

If you are having problems running this game with the graphics card in your
computer, try the following steps:
1. If you have a VESA VBE driver that came with your graphics card,
install the driver and try to run the game. Consult the documentation that
came with your graphics card for installation instructions.
2. If you can not find a VESA VBE driver for your graphics card, call your
graphics card or system manufacturer or dial up their BBS, CompuServe forum or
Internet site. You will most likely be able to download a driver or have them
send you one by mail.
3. If you do not have a VESA VBE driver for your graphics card or your VESA
VBE driver does not work with the game, then try the Universal VESA VBE driver,
UniVBE, that was included with this game. To install UniVBE in DOS, run
INSTALL located in the SciTech directory. To install UniVBE in windows, run
SETUP located in the SciTech directory. Please note that although we have
included UniVBE for your convenience, this is a shareware product produced by
another company. If it works for this game and solves compatibility problems
for you, then you may want to continue using it for this and other games. To
register your copy of UniVBE, follow the instructions on screen during the
installation process.

PRODUCT REGISTRATION
=====================

If you plan on mailing in your registration card, please mail it to our new
address instead of the one listed in our Electronic Registration program.

Interplay Productions
16815 Von Karman
Irvine, CA 92606


PLAY INSTRUCTIONS
=================

The Planet Runner controls much like the player does in many first person
perspective games.  The Arrow Keys allow the player to move forward and backward,
and turn left and right.  A few default configurations are already set up to
show the extent of play controls.

1) The Options Menu is placed to the left within the primary interface screen just below
   the Graphics and Realism selection.
2) Go to Options and pick your controller type.

This should configure the program to show off most of what it can do.

You could go to the Arming Bay and change the weapons on your Planet Runner
at this point, but it is not necessary to play the game.  If you do enter it
then you will need to click on the EXIT sign to go back to the main menu.

Now go to the Holoprojector Screen off of the Campaign Screen.  Pressing the Mission
Briefing part of the control panel will give you a quick run down on the
mission that you are scheduled to go on.  The other option on the control
panel of the Holoprojector Screen is Intelligence which will allow you to look at
the enemy and friendly units that will be in the mission that you are going
on.  To actually Launch the mission you can either click on the Left Side of
the screen on the Holoprojector Screen, or on the Left Side of the Campaign Screen.

Once you have entered the mission you will use the arrow keys to move the
Planet Runner around and the Mouse to fire weapons and move the turret.
That is if you used the mouse and keyboard default setting as your controller type.
If you look at the radar screen, the "V" represents your field of vision.
This will change if you move the mouse around, however your Planet Runner will
continue to move in the same direction.  The direction that your Planet Runner
will move is represented by the vertical line on the radar screen.
Press the left mouse button and your lasers will fire.  You will also see your laser
counter go down on the left side of your Weapon MFD (Multi-Function Display).  This
is how much laser energy you currently have stored.

If you have chosen a joystick as your controller type then you can move the
Planet Runner around by pressing forward and turning right or left.  The
trigger under you index finger will fire your lasers, and the secondary button
on the joystick will fire the missiles.

The Missiles are highlighted in the upper left and right (if available)of the
Weapon MFD, you can test them by pressing the right mouse button.  One missile will
fire off for every press of the button.

You can press f4, to show the map.  The cursor keys will spin the map right
and left, and zoom in and out.  The Green Dots are friendly units, while the
red dots represent enemy ones. Press f1 to return to your cockpit view.

Those are the basics, you should be able to get through a number of missions
using the above controls.

HISTORY
=======
Changes to Shattered Steel in version 1.11

NEW CONTROLS
Help screen added to view controls.
- Type help at console to view currently configured controls.
- Change controls during game play.
To change controls during game play enter 'command x' where x is the
control you want to remap. To get a listing type in help.  The numbers
are listed before each function. Once you have entered the 'command x'
command enter the function to map.  For example, to change primary fire
to the '5' key type 'command 0' at the console then hit the 5 key. This
also works for mouse, joystick etc.

There are new controls that keys may be mapped to.
- Pickup primary and secondary weapons have been added so you do not
  accidentally pick up a weapon while firing.
- Toggle secondaries have been added so you can link certain combinations.

Support for combinations of controllers have been added:
- Flight Stick Pro, Rudder Pedals and Throttle
  Should work for any CH Products Rudder/Throttle combination

MULTI-PLAYER FIXES
  TEAM ANARCHY:
- if more than 2 teams were playing, the last team wouldn't show up in the game.  Fixed.
  voting screen: selecting team 16 disabled, the functional maximum is 15 (i.e., you
  can be team 0..15)

GENERAL ANARCHY:
- some problems with kill screen fixed (e.g. exiting would sometimes skip it)
- some bugs related to problems with joining anarchy games fixed.
- sometimes when another player would respawn the 'appearance door'
  would pop up in the wrong location on other machines (making you think
  your opponent was near you, when they weren't).  Fixed.
- total kills used to be total kills vs. current *playing* players, so if
  'Bob' left the game and you had killed him 5 times you would lose 5
  total kills.  This has been changed.
- regeneration:  to control small 18 pack population (which was
  effectively unlimited) small 18 packs disappear if you drop them with <= 75%
  the number of players (e.g. 3 rockets in a 4 player game)
- When you die it waits till you hit your fire button before respawning.
- no regeneration: dead computer players dimmed out in kill screen
- no regeneration: game informs you when all enemies are dead
- Computer bots pop up immediately in single player anarchy voting
  screen.  Before there was a 1-2s delay before they appeared
- arming screen:  the load/save buttons are enabled so you
  can load/save bot configurations.  Make sure you have the right chassis
  selected and the right weapons.
- added longest kills streak/killed streak to the score screens to
  make anarchy games more interesting

  TEAM COOP:
- team scores fixed
- World 5: mission complete when all opposing team members are killed

  COOP:
- transport pods were in slightly different positions on
  each machine, making them difficult to kill with non-explosives.  Fixed.
- when you join a coop game you receive both the 'arrow'
  information (for which mission led to which mission) and what bots
  are available in the intelligence screen
- when you save a game it tells the others (via chat).
  Works like loading game

  GENERAL FIXES:
- made a bit more KALI friendly
- New command line parameters related to multiplayer games
- voting screen:  right-clicking on a player will increment the team #
  (for convenience in those 4-player single anarchy games).  It warps
  around to 0 if you click enough times
- doubled the time-out period for slow networks or machines.   NOTE: this
  means if a machine in the game crashes, it will take twice as long to
  realize this and to kick it out.  You can control this setting via
  either the command line or the SSTEEL.INI using:  -time-out 15
  (where 15 is the time-out period.  Note the minimum value is 10).
  For Kali games you can increase this amount as needed; remember when
  you do increase the time-out period players that have left by turning off
  their machine or dropping their connection remain until the time-out period
  has elapsed.


MISC OTHER FIXES
  AI
- Computer players no longer attack weapons they are trying to pick up
- human turrets lack of accuracy fixed

  CONTROLS
- using keyboard control as an alternate to the joystick (when joystick
  is the selected controller for that axis) now works properly
- problems with secondary weapon pickup fixed
- added 'DROP x' console command ("cheat code")

  RUNNERS (PLAYER BOTS)
- death animation would play twice if leg was blown up.  Fixed.
- were invulnerable in certain locations.  fixed.
- Shields would light up when turret or computer players 'looked' at you.
- secondary weapons converge on center of the reticle (using the nearest
  bot to the center if there is one)

  GENERAL NEW FEATURES
- Transport Pod now shows up in intel screen
- support for more CD drivers added, polling is temporarily disabled
  on some drives (especially useful for some Mitsumi drives)
- options screen:
   mission voice (On/Off) now affects the briefing speech
   cockpit voice (On/Off) now affects all voice cues in mission
- Support for playing world 6 (custom world created with the map editor)
  via the voting screen (multiplayer and the 'Single Player Game' button).
  World 6 is for coop and single player, to make your own anarchy missions
  edit world 4.
- Added two new cheat codes (one is to get an enemy to become your ally)
- weapons picked up in mission are not kept unless the mission was
  completed (i.e. it cannot be replayed).  This was to prevent abuse.
- many fixes related to stereo vision adapters (SimulEyes).

GENERAL FIXES IN VERSION 1.03
- On game startup, several informational messages were added - including
  messages detailing  which (command-line parameters/SSTEEL.INI) parameters
  were in use.
- Copy protection now works properly with the '-nocd' option
- CD read errors (for minimum install) under DOS have been repaired
- you cannot map the enter key to any function.  It is reserved for chat mode.
- the intelligence screen would not show the Spectre, this has been resolved.

NETWORK PLAY FIXES IN VERSION 1.03
- Weapon packets were redesigned, to lessen the chance of duplicate weapons
  appearing in anarchy
- Improved network synchronization
- Computer-controlled players (added in the voting screen) will now never
  attack a teammate (this happened in some cases)
- Joining non-team anarchy game bugs have been fixed



NOTES:
------

SELECT CONSOLE COMMANDS:  (push enter while in the mission, like sending chat)

EJECT                   eject, destroying your runner
PLAYCD x                play CD song x
DROP x                  drop secondary #x (range 1-4)
HELP                    shows control configuration screen
COMMAND x               remaps control button x (x in Command screen)


SELECT FIXED KEYBOARD COMMANDS:

ENTER                   enter chat/console mode


SELECT COMMAND-LINE PARAMETERS:  either use these on the command line
or put them in the SSTEEL.INI file.

-window                 windowed movies rather than full screen
-nocd                   Turn off CD audio
-nopoll                 Turn off CD polling
-socket x               use socket 'x' for IPX games (range 0-99)
-handle blah            set your handle to 'blah'
-netgame                jump immediately to IPX game
-time-out x             set opponent time-out to 'x' (default is 20, min 10)


NEW CONTROLS
These are new controls that keys may be mapped to.  Pickup primary and
secondary weapons have been added so you do not accidentally pick up a
weapon while firing.  Toggle secondaries have been added so you can
link certain combinations.

Change Visual           quick change resolution (320x200/640x480)
Capture Screen          screenshot (SCREENxx.PCX)
Pickup Primary          Picks up a primary weapon   (instead of fire)
Pickup Secondary        Picks up a secondary weapon (instead of fire)
Toggle Sec 1            Turns first secondary on or off
Toggle Sec 2            Turns second secondary on or off
Toggle Sec 3            Turns third secondary on or off
Toggle Sec 4            Turns fourth secondary on or off


SOFTWARE USE LIMITATIONS AND LIMITED LICENSE
============================================

    SOFTWARE USE LIMITATIONS AND LIMITED LICENSE

    This special 5-level preview  version of Shattered Steel  (the
"Software")  is intended solely for your personal noncommercial home
entertainment use.   You may not decompile, reverse engineer, or disassemble
the Software, except as permitted by law.  Interplay Productions and BioWare
retain all rights and title in the Software including all intellectual
property rights embodied therein and derivatives thereof.  You are granted a
revocable, nonassignable limited license to create derivative works of this
Software solely for your own personal noncommercial home entertainment use
and may publicly display such derivative works to the extent specifically
authorized by Interplay in writing.  A copy of this authorization, if any,
will be provided on Interplay's World Wide Web site, located at
http://www.interplay.com, or by contacting the legal department at Interplay
at [phone].  The Software, including, without limitation, all code,
data structures, characters, images, sounds, text, screens, game play,
derivative works and all other elements of the Software may not be copied
(except as provided below), resold, rented, leased, distributed
(electronically or otherwise), used on  pay-per-play, coin-op or other
for-charge basis,  or for any commercial purpose. You may make copies of
the Software for your personal noncommercial home entertainment use and to
give to friends and acquaintances on a no cost noncommercial basis.  This
limited right to copy the Software expressly excludes any copying or
distribution of the Software on a commercial basis, including, without
limitation, bundling the product with any other product or service and any
give away of the Software in connection with another product or service. Any
permissions granted herein are provided on a temporary basis and can be
withdrawn by Interplay Productions at any time.  All rights not expressly
granted are reserved.

        Modem and Network Play.  If the Software contains modem or
network play, you may play the Software via modem transmission with another
person or persons directly without transmission through a third party service
or indirectly through a third party service only if such service is an
authorized licensee of Interplay.  Authorized licensee services are listed
on the Interplay Productions World Wide Web Site. This limited right to
transmit the Software expressly excludes any transmission of the Software
or any data streams thereof on a commercial basis, including, without
limitation, transmitting the Software by way of a commercial service which
translates the protocols or manages or organizes game play sessions.  If you
would like information about obtaining a pay-for-play or commercial license
to the Software, please call Interplay Productions at [phone].

    Acceptance of License Terms.  By downloading or purchasing and then
retaining this Software, you assent to the terms and restrictions of this
limited license.  If you purchased the Software and do not accept the terms
of this limited license, you must return the Software together with all
packaging, manuals and other material contained therein to the store where
you purchased the Software for a full refund.  If you downloaded the
Software, you must delete it.


INTERPLAY SUPPORT INFORMATION (United States)
=============================================

Hours:            8:00 am to 5:45 pm Pacific Time

Telephone:              [phone]

Fax:                    [phone]  Att: Customer Service



Internet E-mail:        [e-mail]

Web Site:               http://www.interplay.com

BBS: Telnet:            199.182.211.86 or bbs.interplay.com

Modem Phone #:          [phone]

American On-line:       Keyword INTERPLAY or E-mail IPTECH

Compuserve:             GO GAMBPUB or E-mail 76702,1342

GEnie:                  Type M805;1

Prodigy:                E-mail PLAY99B

FTP Site:               ftp.interplay.com



INTERPLAY SUPPORT INFORMATION (United Kingdom)
==============================================

Write to:               Customer Support
            Interplay Productions, Ltd.
            Harleyford Manor
            Harleyford
            Henley Road
            Marlow
            Buckinghamshire
            SL7 2DX
            ENGLAND

Telephone:              [phone]
Fax:                    [phone]



     SHATTERED STEEL COPYRIGHT (C) 1996 BIOWARE SOFTWARE CORPORATION
      COPYRIGHT (C) 1996 INTERPLAY PRODUCTIONS ALL RIGHTS RESEVERED

           ALL TRADEMARKS ARE PROPERTY OF INTERPLAY PRODUCTIONS
                           ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
     INTERPLAY PRODUCTIONS IS THE EXCLUSIVE LICENSEE AND DISTRIBUTOR.