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Table of Contents for HyperBlade(tm) Demo ------------------------------------- 1. About The Full Version of HyperBlade 2. Ordering Information 3. Game Goals For Demo Version of HyperBlade 4. Game Features For Full Version of HyperBlade 5. System Requirements 6. Installation Instructions 7. Keyboard Commands 8. Heads Up Display Description 9. Drome Objects Description 10. DirectX(tm) Information 11. Known Bugs And Incompatibilities 12. Hardware Compatibility 13. Activision Customer Support 1. About The Full Version of HyperBlade --------------------------------------- It is the year 2065. You are one of the sporting elite, a player in the Transnational HyperBlade(tm) League, battling for the World Championship against eleven of the toughest, dirtiest, and deadliest teams ever to skate onto a Drome. Your opponents will try to stop you any way they can -- even if it means taking off your head in the process. But you can get the edge. Skate, pass and score your way to victory. Or simply fight your way to survival. It's all up to you. Category: Sports/Action Publisher: Activision(R) Designer: WizBang! Software Productions in collaboration with Activision Platforms: Windows(R) 95/MS-DOS(R) hybrid CD-ROM, Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn Availability: November 1996 for the PC and Spring 1997 for the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn 2. Ordering Information ----------------------- See your local retailer or in the United States call 1-800-477-3650. 3. Game Goals For Demo Version of HyperBlade -------------------------------------------- HyperBlade is a futuristic sports game, played in a large drome with goals at both ends. The object of the game is to score more goals than your opponent. Each team has three players, two forwards and a goalie. You are the Los Angeles Shockwave (the blue team) playing against the Seattle Fury (the red team) in the Los Angeles Drome. The game begins at the Startgun, which launches the ball (the Rok) to the right or left. Players carry the ball in the scoop attached to their right hand (the Jak). To score a goal, you must throw the Rok into the opponent's goal past his goalie. After every score, the players return to the Startgun. There are 3 five-minute periods in the full version of the game. This demo version allows you to play one five-minute period. There are numerous objects you can use to gain an advantage over your opponent in HyperBlade. A description of the objects currently implemented follows below (there will be more objects in the final game). Also, there are no penalties in HyperBlade. To get the ball from another player, you have to beat it out of him. When a player is injured and his health rating reaches 0, he will fall to the ground and a substitute will be put in at the next Startgun. In the demo, you have as many substitutes as you need to remain at full strength through the period. The final version of the game will include a limited bench of substitutes and the ability to control substitutions in season mode, so you can manage your team's strength over a season. 4. Game Features For Full Version of HyperBlade ---------------------------------------------- This demo version of HyperBlade provides you with a small sample of the hard-hitting action and scoring excitement of HyperBlade. The full version of the game provides numerous features not found in this demo, including: - 12 distinctive teams - 12 different arenas with varied layouts and designs - Network play (up to four players) - Ability to run offensive and defensive play sets - Additional arena objects, providing more dangerous obstacles, scoring multipliers and power-ups - Season, and Exhibition modes - Trackable game and season statistics - Selectable camera views - Complete league history, team descriptions and virtual player trading cards - Original music soundtrack - Fully texture-mapped players, arenas and game objects (ONLY AVAILABLE on systems with Direct 3D-compatible video acceleration cards) - Texture mapped players, arenas and game objects - Bi-linear filtering for smooth texture shading - Mip mapping for detailed close-up textures - Anti-aliasing for smooth edge definition - Perspective correct textures - Hardware acceleration for polygon drawing provides performance boost - Special effects (explosions, particle effects, trail effects, etc.) Check the .AVI movie that is included on the HyperBlade Demo to see a sample of the action-packed gameplay available in the full version of HyperBlade! With the CD in your CD ROM drive, click "Game Preview" from the HyperBlade Splash Screen. NOTE: You must have Video For Windows installed in your computer to play the movie and have your display settings at 16-bit High Color. 5. System Requirements ---------------------- Minimum System Requirements for Demo: - A 100% Windows(R) 95-compatible computer system (including compatible 32-bit drivers for CD-ROM drive, video card, sound card and input devices) - Microsoft Windows(R) 95 operating system - Pentium(R) processor - 16 MB RAM - Double-speed CD-ROM drive (300K/second sustained transfer rate) - 32 MB of uncompressed hard disk space plus 20 MB free for virtual memory swap space - 256 color VGA 320 X 200 graphics (Recommend: SVGA 640 X 480 graphics with a VESA local bus (VLB) or PCI video card) - 100% Sound Blaster 16-Compatible sound card (for digital and general MIDI audio) IMPORTANT NOTE: This demo requires your system to have the latest Windows(R) 95 drivers that can fully support Microsoft's DirectX(tm) 2 technology, and requires that your system have hardware drivers that fully support DirectX(tm) 2. NOTE: This demo does not include the Direct3D enhanced features of HyperBlade. The full version supports texture-mapping of all objects, hardware accelerated polygon drawing, and many more special effect features on computers equipped with Direct3D-compatible video acceleration cards (see Section 4). Recommended System: - Intel Pentium 90 processor or higher - 16 MB of RAM or higher - 4x CD-ROM Drive - 100% Sound Blaster 16-compatible sound card 6. Installation Instructions ---------------------------- Windows(R) 95: 1. Insert CD into your CD-ROM drive. 2. Double click the My Computer icon on your desktop. 3. Double click the CD-ROM drive icon. 4. Double click to open the "HBDEMO" folder. 5. Double click on SPLASH.EXE. 6. On the HyperBlade screen click the "Install" button and follow the on screen instructions. If you have installed DirectX, then you will have to restart your machine before playing the demo. 7. Once the demo has been installed to your hard disk, you can just click the Start button on your taskbar and select Programs/ HyperBlade Demo/HyperBlade Demo. Or, you can open the HYPERBLADE_DEMO folder on your hard disk and double-click on the HYPERX.EXE icon. To uninstall - From your desktop, click the Start button and go to Programs/HyperBlade Demo. Click on the "HyperBlade Demo Uninstall" option and then follow the on screen instructions. Note: ONLY ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS SUPPORTED IN THIS DEMO. WARNING: HyperBlade uses Microsoft DirectX(tm) 2 technology for Windows(R) 95. You will need drivers for your hardware that support DirectX(tm) 2 to play the HyperBlade Demo. If you are not sure whether your hardware and drivers support DirectX(tm) 2 please consult the hardware manufacturer. 7. Keyboard Commands -------------------- Arrow keys on the keyboard steer your movement Up Arrow FORWARD (You must press and hold to maintain forward thrust) Down Arrow STOP Left Arrow Turn LEFT Right Arrow Turn RIGHT Double Up-Arrow JUMP Double Down-Arrow CROUCH Double Left-Arrow SIDE PUNCH (left) Double Right-Arrow SIDE PUNCH (right) S or CTRL ATTACK/FIGHTING move. S + arrow keys gives you special fighting moves: S + UP-ARROW = slash S + DOWN-ARROW = leg sweep D or SHIFT SPEED BURST. Very important. Your speedburst bar appears in the upper left corner of the screen to show how much speed-burst you have available. HINT: If you tap Speedburst while down, you get up more quickly. C or Z PASS -- while on Offense. CHANGE PLAYER -- while on Defense. Spacebar SHOOT or THROW Rok. Hold the spacebar down to power up shot, then let go to release. The Shot Cam appears in the upper right corner when you are shooting. HINT: If you shoot while jumping, you can get a trick shot. F9 Switch between alternate keyboard configurations. ESC Quit the demo. 8. Heads Up Display Description ------------------------------- TIMER The Period Timer displays in the top center of the screen, along with the period indicator. RADAR The Radar in the lower-right of your screen shows the location of the Rok and the players (the Rok is yellow, your teammate is blue). Rok Finder/Goal Finder A white line drawn from the center of the Radar shows you where the Rok is. If you have the Rok, you'll see an arrow rotating around the radar that points to the goal. TEAM SCORE/HEALTH The Score and the Health Indicators are displayed in the lower-left of your screen. The Health bars get lower as you take hits and lose health. When your Health rating is reduced to zero, you will be knocked out of the game until the next score. You can change players after you are knocked out of the game. At the next Startgun, a substitute will come in for the injured player. SHOT CAM A Shot Cam appears when you are in position to take a shot, along with a Shot Power Meter. The cross hairs in the Shot Cam indicate where your shot will go when it is released. The Shot Power Meter indicates how much velocity your shot will have when it is thrown. Hold down the spacebar to increase the shot power, and then release the spacebar to throw the Rok. PASS METER The Pass Meter appears when you press the pass button, and can be used to locate your teammate, and to center your pass. REAR VIEW CAM The Rear View Camera appears to show if an opponent is coming up behind you. 9. Drome Objects Description ---------------------------- RAMP Used for spectacular jumps, and to elude your opposition. TURNSTILE Used to elude your opposition. Skate through the arm to make it swing, and watch it hit the players who try to follow you through! Be careful if your health level is low - you may lose your head if you run into the spikes. HURDLE Don't run into these -- you'll regret it. MULTIPLIER The Multiplier looks like a spiky flagpole rising out of the drome floor. Use the multiplier to change the next score by multiples of 2. To use the multiplier you must be in possession of the Rok. Skate through the Multiplier and touch it with the Rok. The multiplier acts like a switch, changing the value of the next score x 2, up to 4 points per goal scored. The Multiplier effect lasts for the entire period, unless it is changed by the opposition. If the opposition grabs the Rok and touches the Multiplier, they will reduce your multiplier advantage until it is nullified - each subsequent time the Rok is multiplied, their score will be multiplied x 2 up to 4 points per goal scored. KILLBALL CHARGER The Killball Charger is an arch-shaped object. When carrying the Rok, skate through the Killball Charger to charge the Rok. You'll see the Rok change shape to indicate its electrically-charged nature. You can now throw the Rok at an opponent by pressing the S key. Your opponent must be in front of your player. When the Rok hits the opponent, he will receive an electroshock and sustain health damage. ARMORY The Armory is a large cone that has opened into a crown-shaped set of spikes. Inside the spikes are two weapons, a land mine and a Swarf. (The final version of the Armory will open and close.) Skate through the Armory to pick up the weapon. MINE: A red cone-shaped object. To drop the mine, press the S button. The next player who skates over the mine will set off the explosion. Otherwise the mine will self-detonate after ten seconds. SWARF: A green object that looks like three balls. Press the S button to throw the Swarf at an opponent. It will hit him and toss him in the air, causing health damage. RANDOMIZERS Along the lips of the drome are a series of Randomizer poles. When you carry the Rok and skate through a Randomizer pole, you will receive a random power-up. The Randomizer will change color and a sound will play to indicate the powerup. Some of the available powerups include: LONGSHOT: Enables you to shoot the Rok farther. IMMUNITY: Gives you immunity from damage for a short time. TUNE: Plays your team's fight song. SLOWDOWN: Slows down opposing players for a short time. LONGPASS: Enables you to pass the Rok farther. RE-ENERGIZER: Restores your health rating, either 10% or all the way back to full strength. MULTIPLIER: Multiplies the score of the Rok. 10. DirectX(tm) Information --------------------------- Upon completion of the HyperBlade setup, the install process will continue by determining if Microsoft DirectX(tm) 2 needs to be installed on your computer. If so, the Microsoft DirectX(tm) 2 setup program will install the appropriate files on your computer. If you choose not to install DirectX(tm) 2, and you find that later you need to install DirectX(tm) 2, follow these simple directions. a. With the disc in your CD-ROM drive, you can install the Microsoft DirectX(tm) drivers by double-clicking on the CD, then double-clicking the HBDEMO folder. b. Double-click on the DirectX(tm) folder. c. Double-click DXSETUP.EXE, and follow the on-screen instructions. What is DirectX(tm) 2 and why do I need it? Microsoft's DirectX(tm) 2 is an API (Application Programming Interface) set that increases the speed at which games play under the Windows(R) 95 operating system. These APIs allow direct access to the enhanced features of hardware under Windows(R) 95. With DirectX(tm) 2, a program has instant access to the hardware, allowing for great advances in graphics, sound, video, 3-D, and network capabilities of games. Since Windows(R) 95 and DirectX(tm) 2 are relatively new in the computer world and have not achieved compatibility with some older video cards, many manufacturers are releasing updated drivers for Windows(R) 95 to meet the DirectX(tm) standard. If you are not sure about your video card's compatibility, consult the company that makes your video card. If the Microsoft DirectX(tm) Installer does not detect DirectX(tm) 2 on your computer, it will install DirectX(tm) 2 for you. After installation is complete, you will need to restart your computer in order for DirectX(tm) 2 to take effect. If you have other Windows(R) 95 games on your computer, chances are you already have an earlier version of DirectX(tm) installed on your computer. In this case, the Microsoft Installer will write over that version with DirectX(tm) 2. At that point, the game installation process will be complete. You will need to restart your computer for the changes to take effect. If however, you already have DirectX(tm) 2 installed on your computer, the Microsoft DirectX(tm) 2 installer will detect that and not overwrite any DirectX(tm) 2 files. You will not need to restart your computer after installation in order to run HyperBlade. DirectX(tm) 2 should not affect any titles designed for the original version of DirectX(tm). Should you encounter difficulties with DirectX(tm) 2, please contact Microsoft for further information. 11. Known Bugs And Incompatibilities ------------------------------------ PROBLEMS PLAYING SOUNDS AND MEMORY ERROR MESSAGES - If you are not hearing sounds or getting memory error messages (For example, "Cannot open streaming sound file," or "Streaming sound buffer creation failed," or "Warning! In C++ new method: memory pool empty," or "Not enough storage to process this command"), you may need to free more hard disk space for use as a virtual memory swap file. Check your hard disk and try to free up more disk space. Under most circumstances, having 50 MB or more free space on your hard disk will solve this problem. GRAVIS GAMEPAD - We have experienced problems using the Gravis Gamepad with the demo. Specifically, the dromer tends to pull left or right and circle around a spot in the drome. There is no fix available at the present time. We will fix this problem for the final version. DISPLAY PROBLEMS - In most cases, display problems are related to your video card drivers not being fully compliant with DirectX 2. The game will display in neon rainbow colors instead of the correct color palette, and will be compressed into the left side of the screen. The problem can usually be solved by setting your Display to 256 color mode. To set your color display, right-click on your desktop and select Properties. Click the Settings tab and change the Color Palette to 256 Colors. Click the Apply button. You will need to restart your computer for the settings to take effect. If this does not work, check with your video card manufacturer for the latest driver updates. SCREENSAVER - If a Windows screensaver is activated while playing the game, the game may crash. If this happens, you will return to your Desktop with the HyperBlade Demo automatically minimized to the Windows taskbar. You may need to press CTRL-ALT-DEL to activate the Close Program menu. Select HYPERX and click the End Task button. 12. Hardware Compatibility -------------------------- MATROX MGA POWER GRAPHICS 64 The HyperBlade demo does not work with this video card at present because the current Matrox video card driver does not support DirectX 2. Contact Matrox for more information about driver updates. PLAYING WITH A GRAVIS GAMEPAD The Gamepad does not work consistently with the demo and is not recommended for gameplay. See Known Bugs And Incompatibilities, above, for more information. We plan to resolve this problem for the final release of HyperBlade. If you would like to try the Gravis Gamepad, you should set it to work in four-button mode. The default configuration is: Top: Pass/Change Player Left: Shoot Right: Attack Bottom: Speedburst 13. Activision Customer Support ------------------------------- NORTH AMERICA: Online Services: Services with Activision Forums, E-Mail and File Library Support: Microsoft Network: From any MSN window, pull down the Edit menu and select Go To and then Other Location. At the prompt, type "Activision" and click OK. America Online: Use keyword "Activision" to locate the Activision forum. CompuServe: 76004,2122 or [GO GAMBPUB] GEnie: ACTIVISION (E-mail support only) Prodigy: ACTI10B (E-mail support only) Activision BBS: 310-479-1335 Up to 28,800 baud; Settings: 8 Bits, No Parity, 1 Stop Bit (8, N, 1) Internet E-mail: support@activision.com World Wide Web: http://www.activision.com Fax: 310-479-7355, 24 hours a day FaxBack: 310-473-6453, 24 hours a day Mail: Activision Customer Support P.O. Box 67713 Los Angeles, CA 90067 Telephone: Call our 24-hour voice-mail system for answers to our most frequently asked questions at 310-479-5644. Contact a Customer Support representative at the same number between the hours of 9:00AM and 5:00PM (Pacific Time) Monday through Friday, except holidays. UNITED KINGDOM AND AUSTRALIA: For Technical Support: - In Australia, please call 1902 962 000. - In the U.K., please call 0990 143 525. If you have any comments, questions or suggestions about this game, or any other Activision product, you can contact us in the U.K. on 0181 742 9400 between the hours of 1:00 PM and 5:00 PM (UK time) Monday through Friday, except holidays. Activision is a registered trademark and HyperBlade is a trademark of Activision Inc. (C) 1996 Activision, Inc. Wizbang! is a registered trademark of Wizbang! Software Productions, Inc. All rights reserved. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.