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- README.DOC
- 7/21/95
-
-
- This document details what is available in this Chronomaster Demo
-
-
- The demo opens with a conversation between Rene Korda (the Chronomaster) and
- the Terran Regional Representative. Korda is aboard his private starship,
- the Jester. Pocket universes are being shut down by an unknown agent.
- Korda agrees to find the criminal responsible.
-
- Moving the mouse cursor to the left or right of the screen and left-clicking
- rotates the cockpit view.
-
- Rotate the cockpit view to the right to operate the information screen.
- Left-clicking on the CD icon brings up the Encyclopedia. Left-clicking on
- a letter brings up any subjects available under that letter. Left-clicking
- on a subject brings up that subject. Subjects available are: Bottled Time,
- Direction Finder, Old Terra, PDA, Pocket Universe, Resonance Tracer, Stasis,
- Universal Tool, and World Key. Left-Clicking on the icon of the jester
- starship brings up an information screen about the starship.
-
- Note: the Cycle Arrow icon takes you back one step when viewing
- Encyclopedia Information.
-
- To leave the information screen view, left-click on the left side of
- the game screen at any time.
-
- Rotate the cockpit view to the left to operate the navigation screens. The
- planet Urbs is available for exploration in this demo. Left-clicking on
- the screen with the cross-hairs brings up a list of available landing sites
- on Urbs. It is advisable (but not necessary) to land at magnetic north.
- As explained in the Encyclopedia, a pocket universe can be turned on and
- off using its World Key. To find the World Key, a Resonance Tracer and
- Direction Finder must be used, with the Resonance Tracer set up on magnetic
- north.
-
- Once a landing sight is chosen (left-click on landing site), a left-click
- on the jester starship icon to speed the jester to the selected landing site.
-
- Functions available on a game screen:
-
- To move Korda, left-click at any position on the game screen where you wish
- Korda to go. Korda walks as close as possible to the position you indicate.
- Positioning the mouse cursor over an object or destination often brings up a
- "Walk to" message on the menu bar. A left-click walks Korda to the object
- listed.
-
-
- To scroll through mouse cursor functions, right-click. A description of
- the function always appears in the information bar at the top of the screen.
- Options are: Walk, Use, Take, Open, Talk to, and Look at.
-
- Left-clicking at any point on the game screen where the cursor icon animates
- performs the function of that icon.
-
- Left-click on the information bar to bring up the menu bar. Mouse cursor
- options are also available on the left of this larger menu bar (left-click
- over the icon to activate it). Inventory slots occupy the center. To the
- right are standard tools used by Korda, including the Resonance Tracer
- (larger cylinder), a hand held Direction Finder, and the Universal Tool.
- In this demo, the Resonance Tracer, Direction Finder, Bottled Time, and the
- Universal Tool are available for use. Left-clicking on the object icon
- activates the object.
-
- In this demo, the Save Option (shown as a life preserver on the menu bar)
- works as a limited quick save option. Save saves your game to
- the file QUIKSAVE.DAT on your hard drive. When you restart the demo, you
- will start at the position last saved. To start over at the beginning,
- delete QUIKSAVE.DAT.
-
- Objects in inventory. Left-click on an object in inventory to select that
- object. (Note: you must left-click on a selected object to deselect it
- before another object in inventory can be selected.). Once selected, an
- object can be used by left-clicking with the use mouse icon over the
- object on which the selected object is to be used. Example: Select Armor.
- Use Armor on Korda. Korda is seen wearing the armor.
-
- Picking up an object. To take an object and put it in inventory, left-click
- over the object using the "take" mouse cursor icon. The object is in
- inventory and can be selected for use by activating the large menu bar
- and left-clicking on the image of the object.
-
- Using an object. Select an object from inventory. With the "use" icon,
- select one of the tools from Korda's supplies and "use" that object on the
- first object. For example; Using the hammer function of the Universal Tool
- on a rock in inventory (found in Sculpture Garden) makes "rock dust."
- Rock dust can then be used on the control panel to the door in the Fort.
- This allows Korda to see the previous numbers punched and he opens the door.
-
- Using the PDA on Korda allows him to access the information screen from his
- ship. To get back to the game screen from THIS part of the information
- screen, move the mouse to the bottom off the screen. The mouse will become
- an arrow pointing down. Left click at this point to return to the game
- screen.
-
- Using Bottled Time on the rockets for the rocket launcher in the fort enables
- them to be loaded and fired.
-
- Note: Whenever Korda returns to his ship, his supply of Bottled Time is
- replenished.
-
- Landing Sites:
-
- Sculpture Garden (Magnetic North)
-
- Read plaque messages at the base of the sculptures
- to gain clues. Note: Pop-Up messages and Korda's text box can be moved by
- left-clicking over the box, holding the mouse button down, and dragging
- the box to another position. Left-click on a Pop-Up message to remove it
- from the screen.
-
- The goal is to move the giant robot sculpture off of magnetic north so that
- the Resonance Tracer can be used. Korda can talk to the robot sculpture,
- eventually removing him from magnetic north by either trickery or force.
-
- Moving to the bottom of the first screen returns Korda to his ship.
- A bird perched on the gate post is activated by Korda's bottled time.
-
- Ground Zero
-
- A rag and crowbar are found at the landing site.
-
- From the landing site of this city, Korda can choose
- walkways to the north and east. Moving to the north, Korda's bottled time
- activates a citizen jumping away from a bomb planted before a door. If
- Korda stays near the bomb, he dies when it explodes. He can reverse
- course or attempt to run past the bomb before it explodes. Using Bottled
- Time on the bomb and moving Korda off the screen allows the bomb to explode
- without injury to Korda.
-
- If Korda moves to the east from the landing site, he enters the museum of
- Ground Zero. A guard is asleep to his right, a newly arrived shipping
- container is to his left. The shipping container can be opened (by using
- the crowbar found at the landing site). A shield within can be taken and
- put in inventory.
-
- Walking to the bottom of the museum screen, Korda moves to a display of
- several museum items. As he passes each, his bottled time activates
- their displays. A laser defense system keeps the pieces from being stolen.
- The general bars are necessary in a later puzzle, but to get them, Korda must
- find some polish, use the rag on the polish, and then use the polished rag
- on the ancient shield. By using the polished shield on the general bars,
- Korda deflects the laser security system and acquires the bars.
-
- Moving Korda down the corridor to his right as he leaves the museum places
- him in a junction area. Once in the elevator, left-clicking on the elevator
- control sends him down to the level below or up to the level above. The
- bottom level leads to the door behind which the bomb has been planted.
- The upper level leads to a confrontation with a guard before the chamber
- of the Council of the Wise. If Korda insists on seeing the Council, he
- is killed by the guard.
-
- Fort
-
- Upon landing at the Fort, Korda finds a rocket launcher. By using bottled
- time on a rocket, Korda is able to load the rocket into the launcher. The
- control panel for the gun is nearby. Near the gun lies a body. Korda may
- take the uniform off the slain soldier and use it on himself.
-
- The control panel for the gun allows directional change of the gun's facing.
- If a rocket has been loaded, it may be fired from the control panel.
-
- Two flags are set on the battle field. Both can be taken as objects. One
- aids in solving the puzzle of tricking the Robot Sculpture off of magnetic
- north.
-
- At the entrance to the Fort a scanner activates a bridge over the lava moat,
- but only if it recognizes authorized personnel. The general bars are needed
- to solve this puzzle.
-
- Within the fort, a firing squad is in the process of executing a spy. The
- shield can be used to get past the firing squad, and it is possible to talk
- to the spy, gaining more information on the mystery of Urbs, as well as a
- contact name on Aurans. A nearby folder of information on the spy affects
- the outcome of the encounter.
-
- An elevator doorway in the fort can be opened, either by using the PDA on the
- control panel to the door, or by using rock dust. Using the hammer function
- of the Universal Tool on a rock in inventory (found in Sculpture Garden)
- makes "rock dust." Rock dust can then be used on the control panel to the
- door in the Fort. This allows Korda to see the previous numbers punched and
- he opens the door.
-
- Once inside, Korda must decide whether to allow Joe to destroy Urbs, or
- allow Frank to save it. This is the last puzzle in the demo, to be followed
- in the game by the World Key puzzle and a confrontation with the Council of
- the Wise.
-
- Miscellaneous:
-
- F9 toggles music volume through three settings: Full, Half Volume, Off.
- TO QUIT: ALT-Q
-
- VESA Drivers
-
- If you experience difficulty with game graphics, there may be an
- incompatability with your SVGA card or VESA driver. In this case, we have
- included a number of public domain VESA drivers which may remedy the problem.
-
- To see which VESA driver works with your system, run "DETECT.EXE."
- At the bottom of the display is video card information. Note this
- information. Type CD\D:\CHRONO\VESA where D: is your CD drive. Look for
- the filename that most closely resembles the video card requirements noted
- when you ran DETECT.EXE. If there is more than a single choice, try one at
- a time to see which one works best (remember to reboot your machine each
- time you try a new VESA driver).
-
- These include:
-
- Appian, ATI, Chips & Technologies, Cirrus, Diamond (older Diamond cards) &
- Diamond 2 (newer Diamond cards), Everex, Genoa, Oak, Orchid, Paradise, Sigma,
- STB, Techmar, Trident, Tseng, and Video 7. Most include their own readme
- file.
-
- We take no responsibility for the drivers and make absolutely no warranties
- as to their use. The safest option is to obtain the appropriate Vesa driver
- directly from your graphics card manufacturer.
-
- We will say that if you have a HiColor graphics card, then the Tseng driver
- is one that you might try after trying the driver for your specific graphics
- card. If the video chips for your graphics card were made by
- Chips & Technologies, then you may want to try the driver provided by
- Chips & Technologies in addition to a driver which was made for your graphics
- card. If your video card is based on the Western Digital 24 bit chipset, you
- may want to try the vesa driver from Western Digital in DIAMOND2.ZIP which
- supports the Diamond 24X.
-
-
- This collection of graphics card VESA drivers are provided
- without charge or support, and are only provided for your convenience.
- NO WARRANTIES ARE APPLICABLE.
-
- This demo contains a readme text display program. Type "README" at the
- DOS prompt of the game directory and press Enter to read this file. Type
- "README" and the name of any text file to read that file. A biography of
- Roger Zelazny is included in RBIO.TXT.
-