PC Gamer 9/1995-08_Disc_9.iso/cyber/read.me

Text File | 1995-05-30 | 16KB | 307 lines

CyberBykes (Preview release)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     CyberBykes is a virtual reality experience allowing a full 6 degrees of
freedom.  With the user-configured byke of your choice, you enter an arena
where the only limits to your freedom are the physical laws governing the
world.  Once inside, you will meet stiff opposition as you race to collect
various objects of military importance.

Hardware requirements
---------------------
     CyberBykes requires a 486/33 or higher processor with 8mb of RAM.

     A local bus video card, Pentium, and 12mb of RAM are highly recommended
and will allow for the full experience possible.  A sound card is required in
order to get three dimensional spacial sound effects and music.  High
resolution modes require a VESA compatible video card.

Installation and configuration
------------------------------
     To install the program, run the INSTALL program.  You will be prompted
for a directory to install CyberBykes in.  This directory will be created if
it does not exist.

     Note: This program is a 32-bit protected mode program and may not run
properly under Microsoft Windows (particularly if a Midi sound device is
selected during configuration).  The program has successfully been executed
under Windows NT 3.5 and OS/2 Warp.

     Run CYBER to configure the program for the first time (or CYBER SETUP if
this is not the first time).  You will be presented with a configuration
screen that will allow you to pick the resolution that you wish to run the
game in, as well as information about your sound card.

     Use the up/down arrow keys to highlight an item; use the left/right
arrow keys to change an item.  When asked to enter a new Base Address, enter
'0' to have it use the default location for the selected sound card.  Note:
Base address values are specified in hexadecimal.

     The screen resolution picked will have a dramatic effect on performance.
Unless you are using a Pentium, either VGA 320x200 or X-MODE 360x240 is
recommended.  The extremely high resolution modes are primarily useful during
board construction where fast frame rates are not as critical.

     If you have a network that properly supports file sharing (you may need
to load SHARE.EXE from DOS), you can play head-to-head against other players.
To do this, you should specifify a path where the shared files are to be kept.
All people playing the game should configure their installations to point to
the same path.

     If you have a high speed (9600 baud or higher) modem or a direct serial
connection (null modem), you will be able to play head-to-head against one
other player.  To enable this option, you must specify a communications port
for your modem.

     When you have completed setting up the resolution and sound card
information, press 'Escape'.  You will be returned to the DOS prompt.  Running
CYBER again will take you into the game.  To return to the setup screen at a
later time run CYBER SETUP from the DOS prompt.

Optimizing performance (OPTIONS)
--------------------------------
     There are many options that allow you to optimize the performance of the
game for your particular hardware setup.  As mentioned in the installation,
the screen resolution that the game runs at will make the biggest difference
in performance.  From the main menu, picking OPTIONS will allow you to
configure other aspects of the game.  The default values chosen should work
well on most machines.  If you have a fast machine (local bus 486/66 or
higher), you may wish to adjust some of these options to further enhance game
play.

     As a general rule, the sound settings have very little effect on
performance.  Stereo/6 channel is recommended for most machines.  The voices
options is more of a preference/memory-requirement option than it is a
performance option; likewise for Midi music.  In low detail mode, all objects
are made up of flat shades of color.  In high detail mode, the objects are
smoothly shaded based on light sources by using dithering.  High detail mode
requires more than 8mb of RAM to play some cities.

     During game play, the program will automatically try to maximize the
distance that you can see while still keeping the frame rate up.  The View
Distance setting allows you to configure the game to favor a further view
distance at the possible expense of frame rate.

     Turning the background bitmap (not in all levels) off will allow for a
significantly faster frame rate (and thus a further view distance).

     The mouse is the preferred input device (trust me).  You must have DOS
mouse drivers loaded.  IMPORTANT!:  The mouse should be configured to be in
un-accelerated mode in order for the byke to drive properly.

     Until you are an experienced player, the difficulty level should be left
at low.

Beginning a mission
-------------------
     Select  Begin Mission' from the main menu to begin the game.  You will
then be asked to identify yourself.  The game keeps track of the user profile
for each person seperately.  You will then be greeted with a short memo.
After accepting your mission call, you will be briefed on your first mission.

     You will then be presented with a globe of the world, and allowed to
pick the location you wish to go to (use the Tab key).  Each city will list
how many objects it contains that you need to retrieve or destroy.  It will
also list how many of them you have already gotten or destroyed.  At the top
of the screen, it will list how many you have to get from all the cities to
complete the first mission.

     Pressing  Enter' will take you to the currently selected city.  Before
leaving for the city, you will be asked to configure your CyberByke.  At
first, your options will be limited, but over time you will get a whole range
of weapons and bykes to choose from.

The Drop Zone
-------------
     After you have configured your CyberByke, you will be picked up by a
drop ship which will fly you to the city.  The next scene you see will be the
drop ship carrying your CyberByke around the city.  You can enter the city at
any location that the drop ship goes, by pressing the space bar.

Playing the game (mouse)
------------------------
     Pressing the left mouse button accelerates the byke.  Pressing the right
mouse buffer brakes the byke.  Pressing both mouse button at the same time
allows you turn your head relative to the byke (even if the byke is moving).
Moving the mouse left and right turn the byke left and right.  Moving the
mouse backwards and forwards does nothing unless you are in look-around-mode
(both buttons).  In look-around-mode, moving the mouse backwards and forwards
looks up and down.

     The following keystrokes also work during game play:

     Space Bar -      Fire current weapon (in direction looking)
     Tab -            View/zoom map of entire city (blinking red dot is you)
     F1,O -           Overview mode (first person, low, medium, high)
     Z,T -            Thrusters (small upward boost)
     Shift,R -        Quick rear view (learn to use this one)
     Alt -                Extent view to maximum (while held down)
      Ctrl -           Look around (same as both mouse buttons)
     PgUp/PgDn -      Scale screen for better performance

     Other miscellaneous keystrokes can be found in the CYBER.TXT file.

Weapons
-------
     At the highest mission, there are many weapons to choose from.  Each
weapon has it's own characteristics as follows:

     Scatter guns (3) -  Slow firing, shoots a spread of 5 to 15 shots,
                         minor damage.
     Chain guns (3) -         Very rapid firing, 1 to 3 shots, minor damage.
     Laser guns (3) -         Medium firing, fast moving, minor to heavy
                              damage.
     Missiles (3) -      Slow firing, straight, heavy area damage.
                         Slow firing, guided, heavy area damage.
                         Fast firing, guided, heavy area damage.
     Grenades (3) -      Ballistic (look upward to 'lob' them).  Very
                         heavy area damage depending of type of grenade.

Heads up display (HUD)
----------------------
     The critical gauges on the byke are overlayed on the screen in a HUD.
The speedometer is on the left side of the screen and is in kilometers/hour.
The compass is along the top edge of the screen.  The right side of the screen
contains an armor guage and a fuel guage.  In the bottom-center of the screen
is the amount of time remaining before they figure out that you are there and
begin a massive assault (I recommend aborting the mission before this
happens).  The right side of the screen contains damage lights that will light
up as damage occurs to the byke.

     The entire screen is overlayed with a radar system.  The radar gives you
a top view of various objects in the game, and is relative to your current
point of view.  Imagine yourself being located in the center of the radar
looking toward the top of the screen.  To move toward an object on the radar,
position the objects radar dot between the center mark on the screen and the
top of the screen and drive forward.  If the dot is directly below the center
mark on the screen, and you cannot find it, it may be because it is straight
above your head on a floating platform.  There are several items that appear
on the radar -- each has a different color dot.

     Turrets -- gray dot (do not appear in difficult mode).
     Enemy Vehicles -- red dot.
     Missiles (launched) -- white dot.
     Objectives -- green dot.
     Network players -- yellow dot.

     The radar has a range of about 1/6 of the world size.

Prizes
------
     There are many prizes available to do things such as replenish
fuel/ammo, repair broken systems, make you invisible to enemy radar (and
network player radar), and various other things.  You collect a prize simply
by running over it with your byke.

Network Play
------------
     In order to play against others on the network, you must first run CYBER
SETUP and configure the network path.  All users who wish to play on the
network should configure this to point to a common path on the server (or
possibly on a peers hard drive).  After this has been completed, the player
turns on network play by pressing F12 at the city selection screen.

     Other players who are in the selected city will be listed in the left
hand window.  Up to 8 players per city are currently allowed.  Once you pick a
city to play, you will be presented with the multi-player setup screen.  If
nobody has entered the game yet, you will have the option of configuring how
the game will be played.  If others have already entered the game, all options
will be locked out and if you wish to join, you simply press 'Enter', to abort
press 'Escape'.

     If nobody has entered the game yet, as you change the options on your
screen they will also change on the screen of others who are waiting to enter
the game.  This can be used as sort of a negotiation.  When somebody presses
'Enter' to begin the game, the setup screen is frozen for all other players.

     You should configure your CyberByke as you see fit before entering the
game.  For network play, you will be able to pick any chassis and weapon that
you wish.  Note: The weight of the byke effects the performance of the byke.

     Network game play is different from regular game play.  In network game
play there is only one flag that is randomly placed in the world.  Players
race to get the most flags.  When a flag is captured, there will be a brief
delay and then it will randomly appear some place else.  At any time, a player
can pause the game by pressing escape.  He will then have the usual choices
(quit/volume) plus the ability to view the statistics of who is playing the
game.  While the player is paused, he will appear to other players as frozen
and will appear white to signify that shooting him is a waste of time.

     When a player is killed he will be shown the current statistics and then
allowed to re-drop into the city.  Players may also enter and leave the game
as much as the want.  When a player leaves the game, all of his statistics are
erased.

     On the HUD radar, other players appear as yellow dots and the flag
appears as a green dot.  Additionally, the flag appears as a flashing cross on
the map.  On the compass across the top of the screen, the direction that the
flag is in will appear as a green tick mark to aid you in finding the flag.

     If you are racing another player to get a flag, shooting them will slow
them down (or kill them).

Modem Play
----------
     In order to play across a modem (or null modem), you must first run
CYBER SETUP and configure the modem communications port.

     Playing CyberBykes against another modem player is very similar to
Network Play (see above).  If you already have a connection established (or a
null modem connection), you can immediately begin.  When at the city selection
screen, hit F11 to enter modem play mode.  You will have to wait for the other
player to do the same.  Once the machines are syncronized, one of the machines
will randomly be designated as the slave and the other the master.  The master
will be allowed to pick the city, and configure the game play.  The slave will
display "Waiting for Master" until this is completed.  Both players will then
be allowed to configure their bykes and enter the game.

     If you do not have a connection, you can pick the Modem command from the
main menu to establish one.  The dialer requires a Hayes compatible modem.
The default modem initialization and dial strings should work for most modems.
If you need to change the modem init string, you can do so by setting the
MODEMINIT environment variable to the correct modem initialization command.
The MODEMDIAL environment variable defaults to "ATDT" and can be changed as
well.

Construction
------------
     All of the cities shown were constructed by picking the CONSTRUCTION
menu option.  Users can construct their own levels, or modify the existing
levels.  Cutting and pasting between levels is also possible.  To create a new
level, hit the 'Insert' key while at the world map.  A new city will appear
and you will be asked for it's name.  Use the arrow keys to position the city
correctly on the globe.  Press  R' to rotate the globe to a new position.
Press 'Enter' to edit the currently labeled city.

     The editor is a WYSIWYG editor.  Nevertheless, there are many things
that the editor can control (even gravity) and a fair amount of practice will
be needed to get good at it.

     A mouse is required for editing.  Pressing the left button allows you to
look around.  Pressing the right mouse button allows you to move up and down.
Pressing both mouse buttons causes you to fly around the level like an
airplane.  You can skip to any part of the level by hitting F9 (map) and using
the arrow keys to move the red blinking dot (you) around.

     There is a red-wire-frame cube floating around, you can think of this as
your cursor.  Pressing the space bar will create a block at the cursor in the
current color.  Pressing R will start a ramp (you then move the selector with
the arrow keys), and pressing R again will end the ramp.

     The very bottom level of the world is reserved for floor blocks (ramps
and polygon objects should not be placed down there).  You can quickly try out
anything you place in the world by pressing F10 (escape returns you to
editing).

     There are dozens of other keystrokes that can be used in editing.  These
keystrokes are outlined in the CYBER.TXT file.

     This demonstration release of the program does not include the
construction kit.


Contact information
-------------------
     For more information regarding this product, contact GameTek.


CyberBykes - Copyright 1995 Artificial Software.  All rights reserved.