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X-WING SPACE COMBAT SIMULATOR READ.ME FILE CONTENTS: I) Notes on Gameplay II) Undocumented Keyboard Functions III) Other Undocumented Functions IV) FlightStick Pro and Thrustmaster Flight Control System V) Memory Requirements VI) SoundBlaster Issues VII) ProAudio Spectrum 16 VIII) Installing on Removable Hard Drives (Bernoulli, Syquest, etc.) IX) Miscellaneous I) NOTES ON GAMEPLAY Unlimited weapons mode: The unlimited weapons setting gives your craft an unlimited supply of missiles or torpedoes. You are limited, however, to 16 missiles and/or cannon bolts active at once. As they hit their targets or expire, more may be fired. II) UNDOCUMENTED KEYBOARD FUNCTIONS: Some keyboard functions were left out of the printed documentation. These functions are summarized below. The "o" (the letter "oh") key will turn the targeting computer and the CMD display OFF. The ";" (semi-colon) key functions exactly the same as the Shift-F9 key, that is to say, it transfers partial energy from the Shields system to the Laser/Ion Cannon system(s). The "'" (apostrophe) key functions exactly the same as the Shift-F10 key, that is to say, it transfers partial energy from the Laser/Ion Cannon system(s) to the Shields system. III) OTHER UNDOCUMENTED FUNCTIONS Some other (non-keyboard) functions were left out of the printed document- ation. These functions are summarized below. At the Pilot Registration Desk, there is an extra button labeled "Modify Pilot". Clicking on this button will bring up a window with three more buttons, "Revive", "Delete", and "Cancel". Clicking on "Revive" will cause an inactive (either dead or captured) pilot to become active again. Revived pilots will have a score of 0, but will otherwise be the same as they were when they were killed or captured. Clicking on "Delete" will cause the currently selected pilot's file to be deleted from your hard drive. A deleted pilot cannot be revived and will no longer appear in any pilot selection screen. Clicking on "Cancel" will do nothing, except close the window. IV) FLIGHTSTICK PRO AND THRUSTMASTER FLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEM Some newer joysticks have extra buttons on them which allow more functions to be performed without using the keyboard. X-Wing's use of these extra buttons is summarized below. FlightStick PRO: The gray button on the top of the stick is equivalent to the "r" key. That is, it will select the nearest enemy starfighter as your current target. The lower gray button is equivalent to the "." key. That is, it turns the cockpit instrument panel either ON or OFF. The "hat" or "cooly" on the top of the stick has the following functions: Pressing FORWARD on the "hat" (labeled "D") is equivalent to the "w" key. That is, it cycles through your weapons systems, selecting Lasers, Ion Cannons, Torpedoes, and Missiles, as available. Pressing BACKWARD on the "hat" (labeled "U") is equivalent to the "s" key. That is, it cycles through the three possible Shield System settings, Full Shields Forward, Full Shields Aft, and Shields Even. Pressing to the RIGHT on the "hat" (labeled "R") is equivalent to the Shift-F10 or "'" (apostrophe) key. That is, it transfers partial energy from the Laser/Ion Cannon system(s) to the Shields system. Pressing to the LEFT on the "hat" (labeled "L") is not very useful. This is equivalent to pressing the trigger and the top button at the same time. The result is to fire your weapons and to either target any enemy in your sights or activate your "Roll" thrusters. ThrustMaster Flight Control System: The second thumb button is equivalent to the "r" key. That is, it will select the nearest enemy starfighter as your current target. The bottom "pinky" button is equivalent to the "." key. That is, it turns the cockpit instrument panel either ON or OFF. The "hat" or "cooly" on the top of the stick does not perform any useful function. Two Joysticks or other sticks with extra buttons: Joystick 2, button 1, is equivalent to the "r" key. Joystick 2, button 2, is equivalent to the "." key. All buttons simultaneously is equivalent to the "w" key. Both buttons on stick1, and stick2,button1 is equivalent to the "s" key. Both buttons on stick1, and stick2,button2 is equivalent to the Shift-F10 key or the "'" (apostrophe) key. V) MEMORY REQUIREMENTS EMS MEMORY: On IBM PC's there are three basic kinds of memory, Main memory, Extended (XMS) memory, and Expanded (EMS) memory. If you have DOS 5.0 (or higher) you can use the DOS command "mem" to see how much of each of these three types of memory you have available. In addition, the Install program included with X-Wing will tell you how much Main memory, and how much EMS memory you have available. X-Wing CAN use Main Memory and Expanded (EMS) memory, but it CANNOT use Extended (XMS) memory. If you have Extended (XMS) memory available, but no Expanded (EMS) memory available, you may wish to convert some (or all) of your Extended (XMS) memory into Expanded (EMS) memory. If you have a 386 or 486 CPU, you can use the DOS 5.0 device driver EMM386 to accomplish this. If you do not have DOS 5.0, or you prefer, you may use a third party device driver such as 386MAX or QEMM386, to obtain Expanded (EMS) memory. Consult the documentation for DOS 5.0 or for your third party software for more info- rmation on how to set up your system to make EMS memory available. NOTE: Some older software or hardware may have a version of Expanded Memory which is incompatible with X-Wing. The X-Wing Install program will warn you if this is the case. LOW MEMORY: Under certain low memory conditions, X-Wing may disable features such as digitized sound effects, or even all sound and music. The various low memory conditions and the related consequences are summarized below. NO EMS MEMORY, OR EMS MEMORY <= 64K: Main Memory > 602,000 bytes. Digitized speech and sound effects are disabled always. Main Memory < 602,000 bytes and > 571,000 bytes. All sound and music disabled. Main Memory < 571,000 bytes. X-Wing will not run. EMS MEMORY >= 80K and < 256K: Main Memory > 543,000 bytes. Digitized speech and sound effects are disabled always. Main Memory < 543,000 bytes and > 512,000 bytes. All sound and music disabled. Main Memory < 512,000 bytes. X-Wing will not run. EMS MEMORY >= 256K: Main Memory > 563,000 bytes. All features enabled. Main Memory < 563,000 bytes and > 543,000 bytes. Digitized speech and sound effects are disabled always. Music is disabled during flight. Main Memory < 543,000 bytes and > 512,000 bytes. All sound and music disabled. Main Memory < 512,000 bytes. X-Wing will not run. EMS MEMORY REQUIREMENTS DURING FLIGHT: During flight, EMS memory is used to store music, digitized sound effects and speech, and the various cockpit interiors. The music requires 384K of EMS memory. The digitized sound effects and speech require 320K of EMS memory. The cockpit interiors can use as much as 192K of EMS memory. If EMS memory is not available, the cockpit interiors are loaded from disk as needed. X-Wing attempts to load the music first, then the digitized sound and speech, and lastly the cockpit interiors. X-Wing does not attempt to load music if the MUSIC OFF option has been selected. X-Wing does not attempt to load digitized sound and speech if BOTH the Digital Sound Off and Speech Off options have been selected. To hear both music and digitized sound and speech, you must have 704K of EMS memory available. NOTE: X-Wing will not use more than 896K of EMS memory. VI) SOUNDBLASTER ISSUES There are several hardware compatibility issues related to SoundBlaster sound cards. These are summarized below. DELAY WHEN FIRING WEAPONS. If you experience a brief but noticeable delay whenever you fire your weapons, then you should select the "Digital Sound Off" option in the Inflight Options screen (press ESC during flight). This delay is due to the chip on your sound card, which is not as fast as more modern boards. If you notice this delay at other times during flight (when a TIE fighter comes close by, or when another pilot speaks) then you may want to select the "Digital Speech Off" option. DMA CONFLICTS. While playing X-Wing, it is possible to trigger a digitized sound effect or speech and then immediately thereafter to cause an access to your hard drive. If your sound board and your hard drive controller are both configured to use the same DMA channel (usually channel 1), then this may cause your system to lock up, or to freeze for a period of time. TESTING FOR A DMA CONFLICT. On some systems a DMA conflict may occur during the opening sequence or at the registration desk. If your system locks up at any of these points, try disabling digitized speech and sound (see OPTION 2, below). If your system no longer locks up, then you have a DMA conflict. If your system still locks up after you have disabled digitized sound and speech, call LucasArts Product Support for assistance. If your system does not lock up at any of these points, but does lock up occasionally during flight, we suggest you perform the following test: Enter a mission in which you have a wingman, and there are enemy fighters present (for example, Y-Wing Historical Mission #2). Press the "r" key to target an enemy fighter. Press Shift-A to order your wingman to attack (this will trigger a digitized speech). While your wingman is talking, press the "c" key to turn your camera on (this will cause your disk drive to be accessed). If your system locks up or behaves strangely, then you have a DMA conflict. WHAT TO DO IF YOU HAVE A DMA CONFLICT. If you have a DMA conflict, you have three choices. First, you could disable digitized sound and speech in X-Wing, thereby avoiding the problem. Second, you could re-configure your sound board to use a different DMA channel. Third, you could re-configure your hard disk drive controller to use a different DMA channel. Most people prefer the second option, but all three are discussed below. OPTION 1, DISABLE DIGITIZED SOUND AND SPEECH. Run the X-Wing Install program (to do this change to the directory where you installed X-Wing (usually C:\XWING) and enter INSTALL). Select "Set Sound Board Configuration" from the MAIN MENU. Select "AdLib and Compatibles" (or "Roland" or "GMIDI" if appropriate) from the menu. Select "Exit" from the MAIN MENU. No digitized speech or sound will be triggered. OPTION 2, RE-CONFIGURE YOUR SOUND BOARD. If you have a SoundBlaster, you cannot change the DMA channel. Try Option 3 or Option 1. If you have a SoundBlaster PRO, you can try either changing the DMA channel jumpers, or enabling DMA sharing. See the SoundBlaster PRO documentation for details. If you have a ProAudio Spectrum 16, you can change the DMA channel by running the ProAudio Spectrum Install program. If you have some other SoundBlaster compatible board check the documentation that came with your board. OPTION 3, RE-CONFIGURE YOUR HARD DISK DRIVE CONTROLLER. This is a pretty risky thing to do to your system, just so you can hear digitized speech in a game. If you really want to try, however, consult the documentation for your hard drive controller. VII) PROAUDIO SPECTRUM 16 Please note that when you use this sound card with X-Wing, you must have installed the ProAudio Spectrum software that came with the card. VIII) INSTALLING ON REMOVABLE HARD DRIVES (BERNOULLI, SYQUEST, ETC.) X-Wing's Install program will not allow you to select a removable disk drive for installation. If you want to install on a removable drive, such as a Syquest cartridge, or a Bernoulli drive, you must specify the removable drive you want to install X-Wing on when you start the install program. You can do this by using the following command: A:INSTALL ON DRIVE D where, A: is replaced by the drive letter of the floppy drive you are installing from, and D is replaced by the drive letter of the removable drive you want to install X-Wing on. IX) MISCELLANEOUS SCREEN SPARKLING/SNOW -- If you see "snow" on the screen during flight, and it bothers you, it can be removed by setting the Engine Glow Off in the inflight options screen (press ESC during flight).