PC/CD Gamer UK 29/PCGAMER29.bin/readme.txt

Text File | 1996-01-18 | 10KB | 349 lines

Big Red Racing


Here's the readme.txt file incase you didn't read it before
loading. It contains some information not included in the
manual coz to be honest we did the manual before the game
was finished. We know you wont read it now, but when things
start to go wrong try reading this as well as the manual
to see if we thought of it ... we should of coz we've been
playing it long enough!!


First a quick note on the big changes

AS an attempt to please our public in the final weeks before
launch we decided to pull the release date to improve our
game yet further. As a bonus, you now have an extra
6 levels including 4 extra vehicles namely Big Rigs and
Helicopters. Due to the hurried nature of the computer biz,
these have not been described in your manual. They are a
bonus so in the words of our US buddies, enjoy....

*NOTE FOR TESTERS*
------------------


If you've been playing a "beta version",you'll need
to delete your ".CFG" file from the racing directory, because
otherwise some of the defaults won't be sensible.


First, some instructions for those reading this before they
installed .....


 Installing (DOS mode)
───────────────────────

Get onto the CD

Type

 INSTALL

 Now type where on your hard drive you want the game data
 do go (ie - C:\BIGRED)


.After installation, either type


 VIDEO

  If you want the gripping movie video thing.

  A note to shop type people: you can type "DEMO" which loops
  this video as a rolling demo (we try!)


 RACING

  if you want to play the game.



 Guide to the root directory of the CD
───────────────────────────────────────


This file(!)
 README.TXT

The DOS installer:
 INSTALL.EXE

The WINDOZE 95 installer:
 SETUP.EXE

Stuff to do with the dos installer:
 DOS4GW.EXE
 COPYIT.BAT

Stuff to do with the windows installer:
 COPYIT.BAT
 DSETUP.DLL
 DSETUP16.DLL
 BRR.ICO
 AUTORUN.INF


SETSOUND <dir>
RACING   <dir>
VIDEO    <dir>
MODEM    <dir>
DIRECTX  <dir>



 Playing the Game
──────────────────

** Controls **

 Default keys ( which you can change in the game) are

  Cursors for left/right/accel/brake
  Keypad-0 for nitro.
 Right-CTRL  puts you back on the track if you get hopelessly lost.


** Extra Keys **

 Pause  pauses
 PrtSc  saves a PCX to the racing directory (for the journos: see
        we do try!)
        -Additional: use SHIFT-PrtSc if you're feeling rotten & don't
        like the way we move the horizon to full-distance on the
        screenshots!

 Escape quits the game, or takes you up a level in the menus

 Ctrl-Escape is instant-quit from wherever
 (unless you're in a Windows DOS shell(!))


 F1 is "view the other cars" (shift-F1 cycles in reverse order)
 F2 selects the "Elasticam"(TM) behind-car view.
 F3 is the cabin view
 F4 is the trackside view.


 +/- are the screen size.
     At full-screen VGA there's a debounce before switching to
     SVGA mode.
     (Full-screen SVGA is only recommended for people with Pentiums.)

Helicopters
───────────

 There's no doubt about it, the helicopters take some getting used to...
 (Well, it'd be pretty boring if all the cars behaved exactly the same
 way, wouldn't it?)

 SO: The controls are BASICALLY the same as all the vehicles, except that
 the nitro key behaves as "upward thrust", and you fall gently under gravity.

 Hovever, you occasionally want to go down faster, and this can be achieved
 by pressing "decelerate" without letting go of the accelerator.
 (not possible on a joystick, but you can't have everything!)

 Oh, and to save you having to use the "up-thrust" key ALL the time, there's
 a sort-of "low-altitude automatic hover" built in. You'll still need to
 thrust up to get over hills & stuff, though.

 General advice: How to turn a tight bend at speed:
 Anticipate the corner, turning the chopper to skid sideways thru the
 corner (even face back at the camera if necessary).
 Don't forget to straighten out "early" as well, or you'll run into the inside
 of the bend.

 (For what it's worth, even Domark's testers had trouble when they first
 tried flying the choppers. Perseverence is all! Trust us: they're great
 when you're used to them!)


The Mouse:-
───────────
 Mouse movement looks around, but homes back to the "normal" angle.

 On the external view, a "Left-Click" will stop the camera from moving
 back down (For that "looking straight down at the car" viewpoint that
 you've always wanted...)

 Keeping the "Right button" pressed while dragging up & down controls
 the camera's Zoom.


The Joystick :-
───────────────
 There's a joystick configure screen under "Options...Joystick"
 Quickly:-
 Plug in your stick.
 Click on "Recalibrate"
 Waggle the joystick(s) around to its extremities.
 Centre it/them.
 Hit a fire button.

 Click on "analogue"(*) if the stick is an analogue one (ie - not a
 "gamepad") and you'll get true "stick position = steering wheel position"
 steering.
 You'll find it feels totally different (less prone to oversteer).

 If you tick the "pl1"/"pl2" options, it automatically sets that player
 to use that joystick as accelerator/brake and steering.

 If you want to arrange things in another manner, you can do it on the
 "key defining" screen by moving the stick instead of pressing a key.

 Support has been added for the Thrustmaster formula T1 and
 virtual pilot pro.


(*) Or Analog. Hello, American type people.


The sound :-
────────────
 We use the miles drivers for creating sound effects in Big Red
 Racing. These drivers have been used in many games before so you
 may find you have another game which works with them.

 The install utility runs a program called SETSOUND. This
 establishes which card is installed in your machine. Should you
 change your sound card after installing the game, or say if you
 have installed Racing on a file server and more than one
 person plays the same copy of the game with different sound card
 options: run SETSOUND to create a new sound driver.

 Next time you run the Racing, and are prompted with enter your
 name, type in a new name. You will then be promted with a
 create new config. By answering yes to this (hit Y), the new name
 will use the new sound driver yet keeping the old driver intact.



2PL Split Screen:-
──────────────────

 Player 2's default keys (again, alterable) are:-

 Q,A,R,T for driving
 ALT     for nitro

 Left-CTRL for "putting on track"

 Player 2, being on the left end of the keyboard, gets F1..F4 for the views...

 F1 gives PL2 control of the mouse
 F2,F3,F4 are the same as 1PL mode

 ...And Player 1 gets to use F9...F12 instead

 F9 gives PL1 control of the mouse
 F10,F11,F12 are PL1's view keys (see F2,F3,F4)

The Tapedeck:-
──────────────

 When playing a recording...
 F5 is "slow down / rewind" (let go, & the speed speeds up to normal)
 F6 is "pause"
 F7 is "speed up" (again, let go & it slows back down)
 F8 is the "play" key

 ESC quits the recorder
 F1,F2,F3,F4 behave as for the normal game.

2PL Modem Game
──────────────

 The modem game has to be played by launching it thru the
 modem launch program called modem. This is a similar
 prog to that that DOOM uses so people should be reasonably
 aware of whats going on. You simply type modem at the
 command line.

 First select you name using the cursory up and down thing
 like the install program.The instructions I think are quite
 explanitory and easy to understand.

 Now select your modem type from the list provided once you
 have both got the right modem set up, choose the connect
 option. To establish if you have got the right modem strings,
 try to connect. If the modems response to initalisation is to
 return an error or even not answer at all, try returning to DOS
 and attempt to connect again, try swithing the modem off then on
 and attempt to connect again and finally try to switch your
 computer off then on and attempt to connect again. The init
 strings used are the same that are used on DOOM, so if all else
 fails, check that DOOM works and edit the MODEM.INI file.


 The MODEM.INI file looks something like this :-


 ;
 ;Big Red Modem Interface
 ;

 DEVICE      Pace Linnet 32 Plus vfx
 INITSTRING  AT &C0 F8 \N0
 HANGSTRING  AT Z H
 DIALSTRING  ATDT
 BAUD        9600
 PORT        1
 LINE SPEED  19200
 TELEPHONE
 NAME


 Hopefully the above should be fairly self explanitory. But
 just in case:


 Note all strings and numbers start at the 13th position in!

 DEVICE      is the name of the modem.
 INITSTRING  is the string used to initialize the modem.
 HANGSTRING  is the string used to hang up the phone.
 BAUD        is the speed the modem talks to the outside world.
 PORT        is the serial port the modem is connected to.
 LINE SPEED  is the speed the serial port talks to the modem.
 TELEPHONE   is the default number to call when you dial.
 NAME        is your name.

 Having corrected the strings and the correct baud rates
 again attempt to connect upon getting your strings right you
 should see you modem respond with an OK. You can experiment
 with the modem strings by using the chat mode to chat directly
 to your modem. When in chat mode, all modems should respond with
 OK when you type +++ (then wait a second or two) +++ and then
 then AT followed by enter. If this doesn't work then its likely
 you haven't set the baud rates properly.


 Assuming your modem choice is correct, (read what
 appears in the modem response box if ), one person must choose
 to dial while the other chooses to answer the phone.

 Having established a connection, you will then be able to chat to
 each other by typing stuff on the keyboard and watching the
 response box.

 Press escape to exit and then choose to play the game. At the time
 of writing, you still then have to select the modem game from
 within racing, (short cut keys M for multi play then M for modem).
 By the final cut this will be the defaulted to when the game
 is run.



Command Line Options
──────────────────────

use "RACING -CFG <yourname>" to bypass the name-entry screen
use "RACING -NOSOUND" to avoid loading a "wrong" sound driver