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============================================================ MissionForce: CyberStorm v1.1 Patch Copyright 1996 -- Sierra On-Line Inc. ============================================================ INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS To install the patch, locate the CSPAT11.EXE in the directory where you have placed the patch file(s), and double-click it. Then follow the directions (you will be prompted) from there to install the patch and update your game. NOTE: This document is long, but contains some very important information about using the new features correctly. Your patience will be rewarded with information you should not miss!) Thank you for your support of CyberStorm. To return the favor, we are offering this CyberStorm v1.1 patch. We hope this provides many hours of improved game play for you. Many of these features are a direct result of the great user requests and early feedback we received. So, keep those comments coming. This patch officially updates the English version of CyberStorm 1.00a to version 1.10a. You may verify your version of CyberStorm by running it and picking 'About' from the 'Help' menu. This patch will not update the foreign language versions of CyberStorm, though many of the bugs fixed here are already fixed in those releases. As some of you have noted, this update was originally intended for a fall `96 release. Due to some extra features we added and other tasks that were required to fine-tune our Holiday-products, it released now. We never forgot our users and our promise of a free update. Once again, we appreciate your patience. SIERRA ON-LINE, INC. DOES NOT WARRANTY OR PROMISE THAT THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL WORK WITH ANY OR ALL COMPUTER SYSTEMS. SIERRA DOES NOT ASSUME ANY LIABILITY, EITHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL, FOR THE USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN, INCLUDING ANY AND ALL DAMAGE TO OR LOST USE OF COMPUTER HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE PRODUCTS, LOSS OF WARRANTIES, OR LOST DATA BY THE CUSTOMER OR ANY THIRD PARTY. NO ORAL OR WRITTEN INFORMATION OR ADVICE GIVEN BY SIERRA, ITS EMPLOYEES, DISTRIBUTORS, DEALER OR AGENTS SHALL CHANGE THE RESTRICTION OF LIABILITY OR CREATE ANY NEW WARRANTIES. IN NO CASE SHALL SIERRA'S LIABILITY EXCEED THE PURCHASE PRICE OF THE SIERRA SOFTWARE PRODUCT. Important Compatibility notes: ============================================================ * Saved Games: Because of some internal difficulty level changes, there has been a change to the single-player- career saved games. Any old single-player games loaded will automatically be reset to the `Normal' difficulty setting. You can change this to suit your level of play from the HercBase screen under a new `Special' menu. Select the difficulty for the game under the new scheme and save it. This has to be done only once for each saved game you want to use. We apologize for this inconvenience. * MultiPlayer: Version 1.1 of CyberStorm can only play MultiPlayer games with Version 1.1 of CyberStorm. You will not be able to see sessions of Version 1.0 games to join, and the Version 1.0 gamers will not see your Version 1.1 sessions. Though this is a minor inconvenience, it was required to get the features you requested. * What if I Don't like it: Though we anticipate this update will be well received, you can go back to your original CyberStorm version fairly easily. There are two files on your original CyberStorm CD (in sub- directory called CSTORM) that can be used to restore your game to its original condition. Copy CSTORM.EXE and CYBDATA1.RBX over the versions you patched and things will be right back where you started from. Patch features: ============================================================ * Difficulty level tweaks: The first elite military mission has been softened up, and the final two missions are notably tougher. We also have a much wider variety of difficulty levels now. 'Hard' will now mean something more to those who found the game too simple before. The wider variety of difficulty levels should offer more replayability. The final elite mission can draw from 8 new Cybrid configurations, which will be a better match for their human counterparts. * New Play Modes: Hotseat and Play-by-EMail modes let you play large detailed games that can be saved and continued at your pace. We think this is a feature that suits CyberStorm very well. * Cheat codes released! These codes activate a variety of options through out the product. Many are purely cheats, though some codes can turn some new features on/off. See the CHEAT.TXT file for more information. These are mostly the same cheat codes released some time ago, although they have been updated for extra version 1.1 codes and better documented in places. * New Features: - True Opportunity fire - Special HercBase menu options These are some new features we are glad to see. We hope you will also, but if you decide you do not like them you can turn them on/off using our cheat-code mechanism. See the CHEAT.TXT file for more information. * New MultiPlayer Gaming area: You may now play games over the Sierra Internet Gaming System (SIGS). This provides another mechanism for meeting players and starting games. More information may be found in a section below. * Minor bug fixes wherever possible: Nothing of real significance here, but several minor bugs have been fixed. These are things that you likely never noticed, but now we can be sure that you are not bothered by them. * Better Multiplayer-Cheating protection: When a battle starts, you will be warned if any of the enemy units look as if they have been altered illegally. This will help keep battles fair. * Misc. minor tweaks: HOG missiles have been reduced to 750 points of damage. Antigravity devices have also been reduced in effectiveness. The old AntiGrav units could make a large unit move so quickly, that there are less strategic reasons for bringing lighter units. You can view the exact effects by viewing the INTERNAL.TXT file and searching for "Anti". Both of these components were too powerful, particularly in multiplayer games. These changes make the battlefield more balanced, since they expand the strategies and tactics you may try, rather than focusing on a few small areas. We hope it expands your enjoyment of the game. * Enhanced documentation and stats: See the section below, for explanations of the files. Enhanced documentation and stats: ============================================================ With CyberStorm, we made a conscious effort into having a game with an intuitive interface and abundant help at your fingertips. However, the choice to not have a paper manual was not one that many were, shall we say, fond of. In addition to the lack of heft in the box, many missed explicitly detailed statistics for the weapons. Some wanted more things to be able to read off-line. Others had trouble printing sections of the manual on their printer. For this patch, we have tried to address this as much as possible. We have included some very detailed information about CyberStorm in a basic text format for use in whatever method you choose. We have also built a very large weapons Excel spreadsheet ready for you to format however you like. All the documents will be placed in a DOC subdirectory under the directory where CyberStorm was installed. If you have trouble reading some of the tables with your editor, try to select all the text and pick a `Courier' font that can help the text stay lined up. A list of files is as follows: General information: CHEAT.TXT Information about special cheat codes and how to turn on/off new optional features. KALI.TXT Includes notes on how to play CyberStorm over Kali. This is something that many people have asked about. Component information: CHASSIS.TXT Statistics for all basic chassis types ARMOR.TXT Statistics for all types of armor BATTERY.TXT Statistics for all types of batteries DRIVE.TXT Statistics for all types of drive systems LIFE.TXT Statistics for all types of life-support systems LIMBS.TXT Statistics for all types of legs REACTOR.TXT Statistics for all types of reactors SENSORS.TXT Statistics for all types of sensors SHIELDS.TXT Statistics for all types of shields TCOMP.TXT Statistics for all types of targeting computers TABLES.TXT Includes all the above basic component files in one file. INTERNAL.TXT Statistics for every internal device WEAPONS.TXT Full statistics for all weapons (long text format) WEAPONS.XLS Full statistics for all weapons (Excel table format) Cybrid Intelligence: CYBBUILD.TXT Information for every Cybrid building configuration CYBHERC.TXT Information for every Cybrid unit configuration Also, don't forget about right-click help. This can reveal all sorts of information. Much of the information relates to how to use the game interfaces, but some of the information is unique. Example: Mid-battle, you may right click on a weapon to get its statistics. Example: Right click on the planet bitmap when configuring a multiplayer or hotseat game to get its statistics and attributes. Example: Right click on a pilots face in the BioFacility to get a background on their biogenetic source. Notes on Hotseat or Play-by-EMail (PBEM) play: ============================================================ CyberStorm v1.1 now has Hotseat and Play-By-Email games. Hotseat play will let several people play a mission against each other on a single computer. Play-by-EMail play will let people play a purely turn-based game across the world at their own leisure. Each person takes their turn, and gives a saved-game file to the next person in line to continue. You may start such a game by selecting "Multi Player" and then "Hotseat game" from the game menu. After selecting the desired number of players you will be in the Hotseat launch screen. This startup screen is similar to the screen used to configure a multiplayer game, with some notable differences: 1) You can enter a name and color for each player. Tip: It is easiest to set the colors from top-down in the list. People higher in the list have priority in color choices. 2) You can specify a force to use for each player by clicking on the large button to the right of their name. This force can be either a custom force of your own building or one of 130 default forces that shipped with CyberStorm. You can even adjust the sliders before loading each force, so that each user can use a different default force. After finishing adjusting all the options and launching the game, you have the choice to activate an automatic-save option that is useful for Play-By-EMail games. If you select the Play-By-EMail option, the game will be automatically saved at the end of your turn and you will be given some brief instructions on whose turn is next. You can attach that saved-game-file to an EMail message to the next player. The recipient can transfer this file from the EMail to their disk, load it into CyberStorm (from the Menu bar: "Load Game"), and play their turn. This cycle repeats until the battle is complete. NOTE: All Play-By-EMail game participants must have the updated CyberStorm v1.1, or they will get an error trying to load that saved game. The rest of the game will proceed much like a normal CyberStorm game with a few exceptions: Exceptions: For fairness, you cannot watch the Cybrid turn if you have the Fog-of-War activated. This was done because we have no way of knowing who is or is not watching the screen at any time, and having one player know the exact Cybrid locations and force strength was unfair. The Cybrid turn can be viewed only if you set the Fog-of-War to `None'. Unlike CyberStorm on-line multiplayer games, you may save your game at any time through the normal 'Save Game' menu option. You may reload your game and continue through the normal 'Load Game' menu option. This lets you run the game at your own pace and schedule. Notes on Opportunity Fire: ============================================================ Opportunity Fire (OpFire) is a feature that lets you automatically fire on an enemy who advances into your range. They will only fire if they have saved energy for shots and if the shot is a smart one. In the original rules for CyberStorm, when it wasn't your turn you could only fire back when fired upon. This upgrade improves CyberStorm to allow your targeting computer to auto-fire at an enemy whenever it sees a good `opportunity' to make a shot. For multi-player and Hotseat games, a new option is available on your launch screen to turn OpFire on or off. This affects the OpFire settings for that game only. Normally we think you want this option ON, though during a team-play game you may want it off to avoid having your computer auto-fire on your allies. For single-player games OpFire is turned ON by default, though if you like you can turn it off. (See the CHEAT.TXT file for more information.) CyberStorm uses some intensive 3D line-of-sight computations to determine weapon AI. Having the OpFire option turned on may slow the game down at times, as it runs this logic to decide who gets to fire as you move. This is included as an option, since it changes the nature, tactics, strategies, and difficulties of the game somewhat. Some may choose to stick with the 'Return-fire' approach, for speed and simplicity. When you are firing at a moving target, as with OpFire, you are charged a penalty on your chance to hit. Because of this, your units may choose to hold their OpFire until they have a very good shot. If you have a good shot during your turn, you may have better luck taking the shot yourself rather than just letting the OpFire handle your firing. Also, note that Cybrids sometimes do not use OpFire -- if they see a good shot during their turn, they tend to take it immediately and not save the shot for later. Notes on playing over the Sierra Internet Gaming System (SIGS): ============================================================ You can play CyberStorm v1.1 through the Internet with players around the world by using the Sierra Internet Gaming System (SIGS). To use SIGS itself, only a PPP internet connection with WinSock32 support is required. Players need only a web browser to view SIGS on-line help. Installing SIGS: The SIGS drivers should have been installed when you installed the patch. If you did not install them at that time, you may run SIGSINST.EXE located in the CyberStorm directory. If you had any problems installing that are not solvable by rebooting & retrying, you might consider downloading the SIGS-BlackJack program from the Sierra web site since it has a larger, more robust installation program. Connecting to SIGS: 1. SIGS should work with any Internet Service Provider with true 32-bit access. Because of this requirement, SIGS will not work with: America On-Line, Prodigy, WOW, and some others. 2. Start a multiplayer game normally. However, if you have SIGS installed you will see a new `SIGS' option after your old Modem / IPX / TCP options. Select the SIGS option to connect to SIGS. 3. Your system will establish an internet connection, if necessary, and link to the SIGS game servers. SIGS itself is free. (Your costs for Internet connect time to SIGS depends on your Internet provider.) If you are a NEW MEMBER, you will be asked to enter your name, a password, and other information the first time you visit and download the SIGS software. Either write down your user name and password somewhere, or tell SIGS to remember them for you by checking the `Save password' option. Joining or Starting a Game: 1. After you sign into SIGS, you will see the "Gaming Rooms" screen. Here you can join a room for the type of game you want to play, or Create a Room if you want to start something on your own. Use the SIGS Chat window to find out about games that are starting. 2. When you see a game you want to join, simply click on it and then click `Join Game'. That Game's Master will decide if you can join or not. (Don't be hurt if you're not let in -- some folks just want to keep their games private.) You can also choose to `Create Game,' and invite others to join. 3. When the game has enough players, the Master clicks `Start Game' to get things rolling. 4. The rest of CyberStorm should proceed normally. 5. When you leave a battle under normal conditions, CyberStorm will escort you back to the SIGS waiting rooms where you can chat or join another battle. In some cases, such as when a connection was lost, you may be placed back at your HercBase. If this happens, you can click on your HercBase launch-pad to connect back into SIGS and continue as you please. If were placed back in SIGS, but would rather be at your HercBase to adjust your forces, simply close the SIGS window to see your debriefing and return to your base. Important SIGS Notes: When you replay several SIGS games in a row, you keep the forces left from the previous battle. This is a feature to let you keep existing forces and work on building your pilot's experience and ratings. However, if your force is mostly destroyed in a battle, you will probably want to reload some fresher forces when you get to the launch options screen. SIGS Help and Support: SIGS is a product that is constantly improving. It represents the direction that Sierra is going with on- line gaming, not a final destination. Whenever you use SIGS, your computer will automatically be updated with the latest features and improvements from the SIGS team. For further information about using SIGS, see the `Online Help' option in the SIGS screens (for this you need a web browser). Other useful information, answers to frequently-asked-questions and technical support may be found through the Internet at: http://www.sierra.com/sigs Coming Soon! ============================================================ CyberStorm will be on the next generation of the Imagination Network 3.0. You may get information at: http://www.inngames.com/ Other interesting sites you should check out and bookmark: Sierra On-Line: http://www.sierra.com/ Sierra's MissionForce: CyberStorm Home Page: http://www.sierra.com/cyberstorm/ Sierra's MissionForce: CyberStorm Message Forum: http://www.sierra.com/messages/cyberstorm/index.html Sierra Internet Gaming System (SIGS) Home Page: http://www.sierra.com/sigs Official CyberStorm Page: http://www.techline.com/~outlaw/guns/cs/ (Lots of information, including Internet tournaments, and FAQs) Herc Base Alpha: http://www.uncg.edu/~jsrobard/cs_index.htm (All-around great site) CyberStorm RP (Role-Playing) Home Page: http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~gaastra/CSRP/CSRP.html (Information on playing CyberStorm in a unique role-playing context) StormWatch: http://stallion.jsums.edu/~redmax/ (Was Sierra's official tournament site) We hope this update keeps our CyberStorm fans happy until the release of our CyberStorm sequel, which will be cool indeed! So, stay tuned. -- The MissionForce:CyberStorm team