Joystick Magazine 1995 May/CdJoystickN°2.iso/fldemo/fldemo.exe/FLDEMO/READ.ME

Text File | 1995-03-28 | 25KB | 541 lines

          FRONT LINES
        ---------------
             v1.02

       Copyright (c) 1995, Impressions

             DEMO

         =============
         Release Notes
         =============


ABOUT THIS READ.ME

    This READ.ME will provide you with instructions on how to install
the FRONT LINES demo, how to configure the sound, and how to load the
game.

    This FRONT LINES demo will occupy about 5 megabytes of space
when fully installed.  If you do not have sufficient hard drive space available,
the installation program will alert you; free up more disk space and restart the
installation.

    After downloading the demo go to the DOS prompt.  The prompt
should look like this: C:\>.  Exit completely out of any other programs you may
have running, such as Windows or Dosshell.  The downloaded file is a self-
extracting archive.  At the prompt type in the file name and hit the enter key.
The demo will create a directory called FLDEMO, and will extract all of the
necessary files to the FLDEMO directory.  Once all the files are extracted,
change directories into the FLDEMO directory (type CD\FLDEMO).

    Before starting the FRONT LINES demo, run the SETUP.EXE
that is provided.  After you have begun the Setup program, you will
notice that in the lower right corner of this screen is a box with options which
will allow you to assign sound card settings.

    You can move between the boxes on the Sound Card Setup
screen with the Tab key, the Arrow keys, or by clicking on your
selection with the mouse pointer.  Set the sound card type, port,
IRQ, and DMA to the correct values, then press Enter or click on the
button labeled Accept to return to the Current Settings screen.  If you
do not have a sound card, set the first box to No Sound and press
Enter.  If you don't wish to change the current settings, press
Escape or click on the button labeled Abort to return to the Current
Settings screen.

    From the Current Settings screen, press Enter to complete the
installation.

    If you want to change the sound card settings at any time, you can do
so by exiting out to the DOS prompt, changing to the FRONT
LINES demo directory, and typing SETUP. The Current Settings
screen will appear. Press S  or click on the option itself to bring up
the Sound Card Setup screen, and set the values as described above.


LOADING FRONT LINES

To play the FRONT LINES demo, start with the computer turned on and the
DOS prompt showing. Exit completely out of any other programs you
may have running, such as Windows or Dosshell. Don't try to play the
game by just shelling out to the DOS prompt _ get all the way out.

A)      Change to the drive where you installed FRONT LINES by
typing the drive letter followed by a colon. If you installed the game
to your "C" drive, type C: and press <ENTER>.

B)     Change to the game directory by typing CD FLDEMO at the DOS
prompt.

C)      To run the game, type FLINES and press <Enter>.


MULTIPLE PLAYER GAMES

 There are two ways to enter Modem, or Null Modem play.  The first
 method is to select the Modem Play box, at the end of the introduction
 sequence.  After you have selected this box, you will be able to enter
 your name.  This name will not appear again, untill you have linked up,
 selected your scenario, and begun play.

 The second way to set up a two-player game over a modem link is to
 click on the Modem button on the Load Scenario sceen. This method will
 not allow you to add your name.

 Both of these methods take you to the Modem Play screen.

Two Players: Dial Modem Play

To set up a two-player game over a modem link, begin by clicking the
Modem button on the Load Scenario screen. The modem link screen will
appear.

* Select the communications port using the right and left arrows.
* Select Dial Modem.
* Select a speed using the right and left arrows.
* Type in the number to be dialed.
* The player who will be on the receiving end of the link should click
the button marked Wait For Connection - Slave.
* The player who will initiate the call should then click Make
Connection - Master. The number will be dialed and the modem
game set up.


Two Players: Null Modem Play

Use this type of connection if the game is to be played on two computers
connected directly by a null modem cable. Select the Modem button
from the Load Scenario screen. the modem link screen will appear.

* Set the communications port using the right and left arrows.
* Select Null Modem.
* The player who will be on the receiving end of the link should click
the button marked Wait For Connection - Slave.
*  The player who will initiate the call should then click Make
Connection - Master. The connection will be made and the modem
game set up.

Chat Mode for Modem Play

During a modem game, you can chat with your human opponent by pressing
the F10 key.  This will display a chat panel on both machines; players
can then type messages to each other in real time.

NOTE :  The machine that initiates chat mode is also the only
machine that is allowed to terminate it.


GETTING STARTED

When you start FRONT LINES, a series of title screens and animations
will appear. Click any mouse button or hit any key on your keyboard to
get through these screens quickly.  At the prompts, choose Saved Game
or New Game by clicking on the appropriate choice with your mouse.
Select One Player or Two Player. At the next prompt type your name in
the box and hit <Enter>. The Load Scenario screen will appear.

This screen allows you to do all your game file management from one
place.

To start a new game, click on the button labeled Scenario. This will bring up a
list of the available scenarios in the file list box on the left.  The demo only
contains one scenario. Click on the scenario name and then click on the Load
Scenario button.


GAME FILE MANAGEMENT

Game file management may be done through the options available on the
File Menu, located at the left end of the Menu Bar on the Tactical Map
Screen, and in the Load Scenario screen. You can save games, load old
games, or exit FRONT LINES entirely. This menu gives you three
options:

Exit: Select this option to exit back out to DOS without saving your
game.

New Game: Select this option to load a previously saved game for play
or to start a new scenario. The Load Game screen will appear. To load a
new game, select the scenario you want from the file list and click on
Load Game. To load a new scenario, click on the Scenario button,
select the scenario you want from the file list, and click on Load
Scenario.

Save Game: This option is not available in the Demo Version.


Frontlines Situation Report
Dec, 7th, 2044.

The dawn of the 21st Century spurred the governments of the world to a
new spirit of democratic change, and the media proclaimed the 21st
Century to be the "Century of the Global Economy."  After fifteen
years, the EEC (European Economic Community) finally pulled together
and began competing in the world market with a vengeance.

Other governments began to panic. Fearing they would be left out of
vital trade,  many banded together, and the world found itself with seven
major governments which divided it into seven major economic powers.
After ten years, the conglomerate governments finally formed economic
partnerships, while at the same time developing their own identities as
large nations. In the "Golden Dozen" years, from 2028 to 2040,  the
people felt united in a quest for world peace through economic
enrichment.  People across the globe realized that bad weather in one
part of the world may cause them to go hungry.  Or that an unstable
government in Asia, could cause a major price fluctuation of durable
goods in the United States.  Throughout history, global unity had never
been so strong.

    For the first time, man felt that there was a long term chance for
peace. Then a growing group emerged, composed of  individuals who had
amassed untold wealth and power in the world market. These men and women
were convinced that they could run things more efficiently that the
governments that had provided the environment for their wealth.  After
four years of drought and bickering over world grain prices, the huge
government machines had lost track of the everyday needs of the many
nations that they oversaw. And the powerful and wealthy renegades
formed into Cartels, each with its own private mercenary army, and each
with sights trained on world-scale revolution.

    Comparing themselves to Napolean, Alexander the Great, and other
"benevolent dictators" of the past, the Cartels mobilized on the 100th
anniversary of  Pearl Harbor, unleashing their huge private armies on the
sleeping forces of
the world.


QUICK START TUTORIAL

Before You Begin

First, make sure that your game is properly installed and running. If you
have problems, refer to the Technical Tips section of this readme. If you
can't find the answers there, call the Impressions Technical Support line
(see the Technical Support section of this readme) and get help.

If you wish to leave the game, select File from the menu bar at the top
of your tactical map screen, and click Exit. Make sure to save your
game before exiting if you would like to continue it later.

A mouse is required to play Front Lines.

Whenever this tutorial asks you to click your mouse, assume that you
should click the left mouse button unless the tutorial specifically says
otherwise.

Tutorial

This tutorial will take you through the basics of game play in Front
Lines: how to move your units, attack the enemy, and monitor your
progress to accomplish the objectives of the battle.

Set Up Your Game
You should begin this tutorial with the game loaded and running, after
the title screens have passed. When the first selection panel (Select Game
Type) appears, select New Game by moving the mouse pointer over the
box containing the words New Game, and clicking.

The Load Scenario panel will now appear and you are ready to start the
game.


Begin the Battle

Front Lines is a turn-based hex wargame, with each turn consisting
of a movement phase and a combat phase for each player.

From the load scenario screen, select the only scenario under the listed
scenarios. If this option is not displayed, click the Scenario button to
display the scenario. Make sure Player 1 is switched to Human and
Player 2 is on Computer. Then click the Load Scenario button to begin.
A summary screen will appear, giving you an briefing about the scenario
you chose. The summary screen will tell you the objectives of the battle
and show you what the battle field looks like. Click on the Map/Text
button (the left-most button) to switch between a map of the battlefield
and the text describing your objectives. See below for an explanation of
the objectives in this scenario. To continue, click the Accept button.
Your Tactical Map screen will appear.

Under Options in the menu bar at the top of the screen, set the
following options accordingly: Automatic Unit Selection - On, Indirect
Fire - Off, Simultaneous Resolution - Off, Opportunity Fire - Off,
One Hit Resolution - Off, Disruption - Off, Limited Visibility - Off,
and Quality - Off. Note that the on\off setting that appears is the one
that is currently set. For example, if you see Opportunity Fire - Off,
that means that opportunity fire is currently off, and if you click on it,
you will turn it on.

On the control box at the lower left of your screen, you will see two
buttons marked Accept and Redeploy. Click Accept to choose the
default deployment of your units.

The largest section of this screen is the tactical map, which displays part
of the battlefield. A smaller overview map is in the top right corner, and
an action box and control box are beneath the overview map (for a
picture, see page 6 of your Front Lines Game Reference). On the
right side of the menu bar at the top of the screen are four screen icons,
that control which items will be displayed. For this tutorial, click on the
far right screen icon. This will display the vertical choice bar between
the tactical map and the overview map.

On the top left and bottom right corners of the overview map is a
scattering of red and blue dots. These are the units of both forces
deployed for battle. In this scenario, your units are the blue ones. The
white square on the overview map shows the section of the battlefield
shown in the larger tactical map. Drag your mouse pointer to the very
edge of the screen to scroll around the tactical map.

In each battle, you will have a number of specific objectives you must
try to fulfill for victory. To review your objectives and those of your
opponent, click on the Objectives button on your choice bar, or click
Reports on the menu bar, and from the drop-down list, choose
Objectives.

The Total column tells you the goal for each category, and the
Remaining column tells you the objectives you still need to meet. You
can review your opponent's objectives by clicking Player Two.

Look at the Turn panel on the menu bar. Each turn consists of  a
movement phase and a combat phase for each player.

Consider the battlefield terrain and the military hardware of both
combatants when you devise a strategy. To check your unit roster, select
Unit Sum under Reports on the menu bar. You will see what types of
units you have at your disposal. Click on Unit Sum again to switch it
off.

After you have accepted the default deployment, you will enter the
movement phase for Player One (you).  On the overview screen, you
will see that one unit is blinking. This is the selected unit. Find the unit
on the tactical map. Its hex has a white outline. The control box displays
information about the unit: its type (Infantry), and its class (also
Infantry). This is a unit of plain and simple fighters. To move a unit,
just left-click on the hex you would like to move it to.

Move all you units in this manner.  If you should wihs to end the phase
before you have moved all of your units, hit Done on your control box
and it will end your movement phase.

The computer will then move its forces.

When the computer player is finished moving, your combat phase will
begin. When the combat phase begins, one of your units will be
automatically selected. Any area that is not dark is the selected unit's
range of fire. If an enemy is within that range, you may attack it (as
long as the unit can see its target). During the first turn, you and your
enemy may not be within range to fire at each other. You may have to
wait for the next turn. When an enemy unit is within your selected unit's
range and line of sight, left-click on the enemy unit you want to attack.
Watch the control box for a report on whether your shot hit or missed its
mark. If you hit your target, the report will give you a general
description of how much damage the enemy sustained (for example,
"Armor Pierced," or "Destroyed"), and how much the enemy's
efficiency rating dropped after the hit.

If an enemy is within firing range but out of a selected unit's line of
sight, you will not be able to fire at it, except in the case of Indirect
Fire. After you have cycled through all of your units, hit End Combat
Phase on your action bar. The computer player will take its combat
phase, and the turn will end.

Check your objectives report periodically for updates on your victory
status. Note: you do not have to achieve all of your objectives to win the
battle, you just have to outperform your opponent.

Most of your combat will take place in the combat phase of the game.
But, for more realism, go back to Options on the menu bar and switch
Opportunity Fire on. With this option activated, you will not have to
wait for the combat phase to attack. Instead you will have the option to
strike as soon as your enemy moves into firing range. (Likewise, your
enemy can attack you as soon as you move into range.) When you see
the Opportunity Fire indicator blinking on your control box during
your opponent's Movement Phase.

  Opportunity Fire is available when the text on the Opportunity Fire panel
is flashing in red letters. On faster machines, you may wish to press a key
several times to activate the Opportunity Fire.
  Once Opportunity Fire has been chosen you must right click to select
which of your units you wish to fire.  To fire, left click on your
selected unit.

   Note: a unit that shoots during opportunity fire will
not be able to fire during the next combat phase.

You now have the basic skills needed for combat in Front Lines.

The Enemy Awaits!


TECHNICAL TIPS

Question: "In modem play I've noticed it every once in a while the game will
     pause when a new unit is selected?"

Answer:   This can happen from one of two ways.  First, if you have a bad
     connection line the game may pause while resending data.  Second, for
     some machines having sound effects and music on may be the cause of the
     problem.  Try reconnecting without music or sound effects.


We have found that many of the common problems our customers
experience with their machines have simple answers.  If you are
experiencing one of the problems listed below, please try the solution(s)
provided before searching elsewhere for answers.

1. WHY DOES IT SAY "NOT ENOUGH MEMORY FOR WORK
AREA" WHEN I TYPE THE GAME COMMAND?
This game is a protected mode program which may be incompatible with
some of the other programs that load into your machine when it boots
up, including memory managers.

There are three ways to deal with this:
a. Press down and hold the <F5> key as soon as you see the words
"Starting MS-DOS" when starting or restarting your machine.  This will
bypass your configuration files, so that you won't be loading in the
things that you don't need.  If you use this approach, you will need to
manually load your mouse driver and, if necessary, your VESA driver
(see below);  manual loading is usually a simple matter of finding the
device driver(s) and typing their name(s).
b. Make a game/boot disk according to the instructions in the "How do I
make a game/boot disk" section below.
c. If you are comfortable with editing your configuration files, edit your
config.sys file to create a boot configuration that disables references to
all memory managers, such as HIMEM.SYS, EMM386.EXE, QEMM,
386Max, etc. as well as disk cacheing programs such as
SMARTDRV.EXE or Opticache and anything else you don't explicitly
need to run the game.  Edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT to create a
configuration path that removes references to disk caches and all other
TSRs beside your mouse driver and, if necessary, your VESA driver.

2. WHAT IS A VESA DRIVER?
To access the extended VGA mode used by the game, you may need to
load a VESA graphics driver to enhance the functionality of your video
card.  Consult the manual of your video card to find out whether or not
you need to run such a driver, what the name of the driver is and the
location of it on your hard disk or on a floppy.

3. WHY DOESN'T MY MOUSE WORK?
If your mouse does not work at all:
-Is the mouse installed for DOS?  Windows uses its own drivers, and
therefore works without a properly installed DOS mouse driver;  For
this reason, you cannot assume that because a mouse works with a
Windows system that a mouse driver for DOS programs is currently
installed.

To find out whether or not such a driver is installed: -enter a DOS
application that supports a mouse, such as the EDIT utility (DOS 5.0 or
later) or a DOS word processor (or anything else, besides Windows, that
loads from the DOS prompt and uses a mouse).  If the mouse does not
respond at all in such a program, then the DOS driver is not properly
loaded.  Check the disk or manual that came with your mouse for
instructions on how to install it.

If the mouse works sporadically (jumping around, not clicking properly,
etc.):
-You may not have a 100% Microsoft compatible mouse driver (this has
nothing to do with hardware, only software).  Check your hard disk for
a file called MOUSE.COM, as some upgrade versions of DOS include
this Microsoft mouse driver (type "dir mouse.com /s<enter>" at the
C:\ root directory
prompt).  If not already on your system, such a driver can be obtained
from either the vendor or manufacturer of your computer or mouse.

4. HOW DO I MAKE A GAME/BOOT DISK?

-  Place a blank formatted floppy disk into drive A: and type:
C:<enter>

- SYS  A:<enter>
(If the disk you have has not already been formatted, place a blank disk
into A: and type:

-  FORMAT A: <enter>
(follow the onscreen instructions;  if an error message is encountered,
make sure the disk is the correct density for the drive and then consult
your DOS manual).

You must copy your DOS mouse driver and, if necessary, your VESA
graphics driver to the boot disk (in drive A:);  these drivers might be
found either on your hard drive or on floppy disks that came with your
system for the mouse and video card respectively.  The mouse driver
may be called MOUSE.COM, MOUSE.EXE or MOUSE.SYS or
something similar, and the VESA driver, may be called VESA.COM or
VESA.EXE or something similar.  If you do not know how to copy
files, consult your DOS manual.

After copying the above files, create the configuration files on your A:
drive.  If your mouse driver has an extension of *.SYS, create a
CONFIG.SYS file by typing:
COPY CON A:CONFIG.SYS<enter> (It is normal that the prompt no
longer appears when you type <enter>)
now type:
DEVICE=A:\MOUSE.SYS<enter>
(change this line depending on the name of your file)
then to close the first file:
<ctrl>-Z<enter> (hold down the <ctrl> key and type "z", then
press the <enter> key)

The boot disk must contain an AUTOEXEC.BAT file, which is created
by typing:
COPY CON A:AUTOEXEC.BAT<enter>
PROMPT $P$G<enter>
PATH C:\DOS<enter>
if you need to load a VESA driver, enter it here:
VESA.COM<enter> (alter this line depending on the name of your
VESA driver)
if your mouse driver is a *.COM or an *.EXE file, enter it here:
MOUSE.COM<enter> (alter this line depending on the name of your
mouse driver)
C:<enter>
<ctrl>-Z<enter> (hold down the <ctrl> key and type "z", then
press the <enter> key)

If the hard drive is configured with auto-compression software, such as
Stacker or DoubleSpace, refer to that package's manual for instructions
on loading the driver.

To boot from this floppy disk, leave it in drive A: and restart the
computer.  Change to the directory that holds the game, then type in the
command appropriate to run the program (then have fun).

5. HOW DO I SET UP MY SOUND CARD?
Setting sound card parameters:
To use a sound card with an Impressions program, it is sometimes
necessary to set a number of parameters using the setup utility located in
the game directory.

The significant values are the I/O Address, the Interrupt Request
Channel (IRQ) and the Direct Memory Access (DMA) values of the
relevant sound card.  Boot from your hard drive (ie. without a special
boot disk) and type "SET<enter>" and look for a line that begins with
"BLASTER=" followed by a sequence of letter/number combinations
including: Annn, In, Dn (where n represents a numerical digit);  Annn is
the address, In is the IRQ and Dn is the DMA value.

The setup program allows for specification of the type of sound card as
well as the Address, IRQ and DMA values of the installed card;  If any
of these are incorrectly set, sound will not work with the program.

If no BLASTER variable is found from SET, consult either the sound
card manual or the technician who installed the device to obtain the
Address, IRQ and DMA values.

Sound card emulation:
If you are using a card that is not listed as an option in the setup
program, it probably emulates something else.  It is usually a good idea
to use the oldest version of whatever card your system is emulating (ie.
choose SoundBlaster over SoundBlaster pro), as the older cards are
usually better documented so that emulation of those works better.

6. MEMORY MANAGERS
Don't use them because they may cause conflicts with the protected
mode runtime program.  Memory managers include programs such as
HIMEM.SYS, EMM386.EXE, QEMM, 386Max, etc.

Enjoy the demo!

IMPRESSIONS SOFTWARE