Amiga CD-Sensation: Golden Games/Amiga CD-Sensation - Ausgabe 2 - Golden Games (1996)(GTI - Schatztruhe)(DE)[!].iso/Various/AirWarrior/DOCS/Read.Me

Text File | 1994-06-27 | 27KB | 641 lines

Amiga Air Warrior, Copyright 1994 Kesmai Corporation
----------------------------------------------------

           Version 2.9c


Files enclosed in this archive are:

    airwar        The program itself.
    airwar.dat    A file containing miscellaneous data required
            for program operation.
    terrain.dat    The newest composite terrain file.
    config.air    A file containing your latest configuration options.
    airwarP.snd    The digitized sound file archive.
    CorsairD    The F4U-1D cockpit art file.
    gunnery.cam    A sample camera file you can playback through the
            program to get a feel for real combat.
    fencer.lbm    A map for one of the special purpose terrain areas
    oceania.lbm    A map for one of the special purpose terrain areas
    rteuro.lbm    A map for the real-time European style terrain
    rtpac.lbm    A map for the real-time Pacific style terrain
    read.me        The text file you're reading.


June 27, 1994:

To run the program, place all of the unarc'ed files into a directory, CD to
that directory, and type "airwar" from the CLI.  Amiga Air Warrior requires
1 megabyte of CHIP and 2 megabytes of FAST memory to run optimally.  It may
be possible to operate with less in a degraded mode.  The airwar program
is optimized for 32-bit memory and 68020 or better CPU's, although it will
run on a 68000-based Amiga.  Due to the very large size of the terrain file,
a Hard Drive is required.

Air Warrior will run on both WB1.3 and 2.0(+) systems.



Accessories
-----------

The Air Warrior libraries online contain many files which improve the
appearance and play.  Sound files for Inline and Radial engines, Vehicles,
Tanks, Bombers and Jet aircraft are available for downloading.  Art files
for nearly all of the other aircraft are available as well.  Camera files
(AKA "films") are very popular, as are maps and hint files.



The Game
--------

Air Warrior is a real time air combat simulation which uses the GEnie network
and a high speed RISC-based UNIX host.  Players fly vintage aircraft in combat
with up to 60 people simultaneously.  They may also board another player's
bomber and man a gunner position to repel attacking fighters.  Other missions,
such as dive bombing fuel tanks, attacking radar towers and destroying hangars
and ammunition buildings are also available.

Due to the complexity of the Air Warrior environment, novice players are en-
couraged to join the Air Warrior Training Academy (AWTA), a facility designed
and managed by players to familiarize newcomers with the basics, and speed
their success.  The AWTA provides 7 weeks (3 hours/week) of instruction, along
with a Cadet Guide and Arena Map for a one time charge of $59.95.




Online Play
-----------

The MOST important thing to remember as a new user in the on-line game is
that you have friends as well as enemies.  The players of the online game
are divided into three countries A, B, and C.  A different color is assigned
to each of the three countries.

If you inspect your dashboard the far left side has the three country symbols
outlined in their respective colors.  When on-line, below the three
country symbols is the symbol for your country of allegiance.

In the on-line game, planes that are 5000 yards or less distant from yours
will be tracked by a symbol in the row between the picture and the dashboard.
This symbol will be surrounded by a square colored appropriately for their
country of allegiance.

If you shoot down planes of the same country as yourself, you will be
rendered PNG (persona non grata) and will not receive any further ammo on
takeoff.  To clear the condition you will have to change to a different
country (which you can only do once every 24 hours).  Not unsurprisingly,
you team-mates also tend to get miffed if you shoot them.

Each country in the on-line game has a unique set of airfields.  Ergo, if a
plane is taking off in front of you it is virtually guaranteed that it is the
same country as you.  Typically, all the planes around the airfield will also
be 'friendlies' though occassionally enemy planes brave ack-ack fire to make
excursions to enemy airfields and harass pilots taking off or make bomb runs.






The Controls
------------


Menus

Most of the menu entries I won't try and explain in this short guide.
I will comment on some of the ones that seem to cause the most confusion.

Hangup - Air Warrior will not drop DTR if hangup = NO is selected.  You
should be able to switch to Air Warrior from another comm program given that
the comm program will also not drop DTR.

Dial string - If you have a problem with the dial string, be sure you enter
the ATDT before the number.  The requested dial string must include the
ENTIRE string needed to make your modem dial out.  You can, of course, just
type the commands to the modem since once you enter terminal mode you are
directly connected to the modem.

Joystick menu - The joystick menu contains three entries: enable, calibrate
center, and calibrate corner.  The first is self expanatory.  When you first
put a joystick on the machine (or change joysticks) you need to select both
calibrate options, center first (with the joystick centered) and then
corner (with the joystick in any corner).  Note that occasionally a new
release of the Air Warrior software will change the format of your config
file and remove your old one requiring you to set up your various
configuration options anew.  When this happens you will also have to
recalibrate your joystick.

Note that this is a true analog joystick (not one of those crappy
switchy things which are worse than useless).  It should work with
an honest to god Amiga proportional joystick if such a beast exists (not
something that emulates a mouse).  I adapted an IBM style joystick and
while it is functional the resistance of the joystick makes a poor match to
the Amiga and thus has limited resolution.  The resolution it offers seems
quite acceptable for flight uses but poor for use in turret mode.  For the
hardware types, I have been told that adding a .1 uf capacitor between
pot wipers and ground will give more appropriate resolutions from an
IBM joystick (I haven't tried this yet, however).  I have added a 3%
deadband so these higher resolution joysticks can be 'trimmed'.

Resolution - Air Warrior has the capability for using different resolution
picture screens.

In-Mem views - Air Warrior can use artwork files to replace the computer
generated views.  As loading an artwork file from the disk can be quite slow
the option allows you to specify how many views to hold in memory in expanded
format.  '0' will always load the view from the artwork file while '1-10'
will hold that number of views in memory.  Be judicious in choosing this
number because too large a number can exhaust the available memory.

Gun camera - There are four menu options for controlling the gun camera and
two new touch keys which are active in gun camera record/playback.  The first
of the two touch keys is the '9' key.  Touching '9'  while in flight will
start the gun camera filming, touching it again will disable recording.  The
gun camera can be enabled and disabled any number of times in a given flight
and will produce a concatenated film of all the recordings.  The film is
written to a temporary file called 'awcamera.tmp'.  Three options on the gun
camera menu will manipulate this temporary file.  The max film size option
limits the maximum size to which this file will grow and is entered in K
bytes.  The temporary file directory option allows you to specify the
directory where the file will be created.  For maximum performance if you
have the memory put the file in the ram disk i.e. just enter ram:.  If you
want to put the file in a directory be sure to enter a trailing slash i.e.
ram:films/.  The Save option allows you to put the temporary file created
from a flight into a more permanent name/location.  If you do not save the
film between flights it will be overwritten by the next flight.
The remaining menu option, playback, will either playback the contents of
the temporary film file or a film previously recorded or downloaded.  The
one remaining key to remember is the second touch key which is 'n'.  Touching
'n' while in playback will put your viewpoint outside the plane.  You can
use the zoom keys '[', ']' to alter your distance from the plane and the
view keys to change your viewing location.


Flight controls

Mouse
-----
The mouse controls most of the important controls: ailerons, elevators,
throttle, and guns.

In the normal state of the mouse it controls as follows.
    Rolling the mouse left and right banks the plane left and right.
    Pushing the mouse forward and back pitches the plane up and down.
    Holding the left mouse button down and pushing the mouse forward
        and back adjusts the throttle.
    Double clicking the left button centers the stick.
    Clicking the right button fires the guns.
You can 'shift' the mouse by hitting key '9' on the keypad.  In this
state the mouse will no longer control the throttle and holding the
left mouse button down locks the pitch of the plane while you can
still adjust the bank.

Joystick
--------
When in joystick mode, the joystick controls the bank and pitch in a similar
function to the mouse and the buttons on the joystick fire the guns.  The
mouse still controls the throttle but not the bank and pitch.  Moving the
mouse left to right adjusts the rudder and double clicking centers it.

Autopilot
---------
Air Warrior supports two control systems 'expert' and 'autopilot'.
The 'expert' control system is the standard emulation of a control stick
in a real plane.  The box in the center of the dashboard indicates the
current location of the head of the stick.  The 'autopilot' control system
translates any deviation from center into a nose attitude change or bank
and holds that position.  'autopilot' is easier to fly and less touchy but
doesn't allow many of the maneuvers absolutely necessary for dogfights.
Entry into 'autopilot' mode is now restricted to near level flight
conditions.



Short command guide


Touch keys
----------
Touch keys are keys that you simply touch while in flight and they
perform a command.

b   Drop bombs (joystick button 2 also does this once bombs are enabled).
f   Fire guns.
n   Toggle gun camera playback location (inside plane/outside plane).
x   Toggle expert/autopilot mode.
;   Raise gear.
1   Full picture range.
2   Medium picture range.
3   Short picture range.
4   Combat picture range.
5   Abridged range.
7   Toggle war emergency power.
9   Start/Stop gun camera recording/playback.
\   Shift mouse control toggle.
]   Increase view magnification.
[   Decrease view magnification.
'   Enter command mode with intercom communication.
/   Enter command mode with radio communication.
ESC Enter command mode.
<, ,, w, keypad 7
    Raise flaps.
>, ., e, keypad 1
    Lower flaps.
*, 8
    Start engine
a, keypad 0
    Rudder left.
    Down shift. (vehicles only)
d, keypad .
    Rudder right.
    Up Shift. (vehicles only)
s, keypad 3
    Rudder center.
    Neutral or Reverse (when stopped and in Neutral). (vehicles only)


Hold Keys
---------
Hold keys only perform their function while they are held down.

View keys:
    h, keypad 7
        look left
    l, keypad 6
        look right
    m, keypad 2
        look back
    j, keypad 5
        look down
    g, keypad -
        look front
    View keys can be combined to give intermediate views.
    A lean direction is available combining left or right and back.
    Intermediate forward views that give no new information but
    provide a different perspective are available through combining
    the left or right and the front keys.
    Left, right, front, or the leans can be combined with up or down.
    The view keys will also work in camera film playback.  In the out of
    plane mode, your viewpoint location will be outside the plane in the
    direction of the view key looking back towards the plane.
Radar display:
    =, keypad ENTER
        Will replace the picture screen with the radar display.

For the A1200, due to the new keyboard encoder chip used by CBM, a different
keymap is necessary to prevent two keys on the same row of the keyboard
matrix being held down at the same time:

  KEYPAD '('     = LOOK DOWN
  KEYPAD ')'     = LOOK UP
  KEYPAD '/'     = LOOK FORWARD
  KEYPAD '*'     = LOOK BACK
  KEYPAD '-'     = LOOK FORWARD

  KEYPAD '7'     = LOOK LEFT AND FORWARD
  KEYPAD '8'     = LOOK UP AND FORWARD
  KEYPAD '9'     = LOOK RIGHT AND FORWARD
  KEYPAD '4'     = LOOK LEFT
  KEYPAD '5'     = LOOK DOWN
  KEYPAD '6'     = LOOK RIGHT
  KEYPAD '1'     = LOOK LEFT AND BACK
  KEYPAD '2'     = LOOK BACK
  KEYPAD '3'     = LOOK RIGHT AND BACK

  KEYPAD '0'     = LEFT RUDDER
  KEYPAD '.'     = RIGHT RUDDER
  KEYPAD [ENTER] = RADAR

  Note that, due to internal considerations, some conflicts are going to
  arise with the use of the corner view keys while in turret mode.  This
  is currently unavoidable, the turret keys take precedence in these
  situations.


Brakes:
    Holding the space bar will apply the brakes.  This is true also of
    dive brakes for planes so equipped.
Text buffer:
    p
       Will replace the dashboard with back text.
Turret keys:
    When flying as a turret on a bomber, depending on the type of turret
    (remote or gunner controlled), the turret will either automatically
    track the mouse or it will require to be controlled by the turret
    keys.
    keypad 0
        Rotate turret left.
    keypad .
        Rotate turret right.
    keypad 3
        Incline turret down.
    keypad 1 or 9
        Incline turret up.


Command line keys
-----------------
The command line supports a number of commands.  Hit return to terminate
entry on the command line CTRL X will clear the line, BACKSPACE will delete
a character.

a   Arm the bombs.
e   Exit the plane (must be on the ground and stopped).
j   Move to a new position on the plane (follow by the characters of the
    position) i.e. j u (for upper).
m   Set radar map range.  Adjusts the sector size of the radar.  2 gives
    maximum range, 0 gives minimum range but largest image.
o   The 'o' command prefixes a number of two-letter commands which toggle
    values that were selected from the menus.
        oj  Toggle analog joystick.
        ot  Toggle visible tracers.
p   Parachute from the plane.  Now a 2-3 stage key.  In either local or
    on-line the first parachute will exit the plane as a skydiver.  The
    next time the parachute command  is entered you will open the chute.
    In off-line mode a third time will go to the bail-out requester.
r   Request a roster.
s   Enable/Disable sight toggle.
sb  Lead gunsight indicator set for bombers at 400 yards.
sd  Set to dive bombing sight mode.
sf  Lead gunsight indicator set for fighters at 400 yards.
sg  Set to gunnery sight mode.
sr  Enable/Disable sight rectangle.
t   Tune the radio channel (follow by the channel number).
w   Where am I?  Reports the sector number and country allegiance.
z   Switch to bombsight mode.



Information display


As this is a quick guide I'm not going to explain the instrumentation.
If you have any knowledge of planes it's pretty straightforward anyway.
I shall, however, quickly review the plane tracking system.  When a plane
gets within 5000 yards on the current view (or approx 16000 yards on the
radar), their symbol on the screen will have an 'icon' tracking it on
the line underneath the picture.  The color of the icon indicates their
country of allegiance (a - blue, b - yellow, c - red), the number inside
it is irrelevant except to match the same number in the lower left on the
screen.  When you find the matching symbol it is followed by the unique
plane number assigned to that person and their range from you in yards.

Very close planes have full polygonal rendering of their aircraft.
Distant planes render as a dot.



Radar


The radar renders all planes (at under 16000 yards) as lines of the
color appropriate for their country.  If the plane has a 'tail' that
indicates it is a bomber.

In addition to the range information for targets under 16000 yards,
the radar supports reports on more distant planes.  Each sector
on your screen may have a line or two of light green blocks at the top of
the grid and a line or two of darker green blocks just beneath them.
The light green blocks indicate the number of enemy planes in that
sector the dark green blocks indicate the number of friendly planes
likewise in that sector.




Digital sound


Air Warrior supports digital sound.  There is a different sound file for
the prop planes, the jet, the bombers, the WWI planes, and vehicles.  At
the present time only the prop planes and the jet have a file in the library
but you can copy the prop plane file to the bomber name to get digital sound
in the bombers and or WWI planes.  If you have a sound digitizer you can
also roll your own sound files, see 'sndcreat.arc' in the software library
for details.
The names are:

prop planes    airwarP.snd
jet plane      airwarJ.snd
bombers        airwarB.snd
wwI            airwarW.snd
vehicles       airwarV.snd
tank           airwarT.snd



Resolution selection


Air Warrior has the capability for using different resolution picture
screens and adding artwork views.  At the same time it also makes it quite
possible to run out of memory even in expanded memory systems if you choose
an improper configuration.

Picture resolution selections:

There is a menu entitled 'Resolution' which allows you to select a different
screen from the default.  The default mode has a dot density on the screen
of 320hx128v.  It uses 3 bit planes for the scenery (which gives 8 colors)
and 2 bit planes for the plane outline (which allows 3 colors for the plane).
The other modes change the number of planes allocated to the scenery and/or
plane outline and are slower than the default.  Some of the higher
resolution modes have fewer colors available than the default but make up
for it by using what is called 'dithering' where two colors are placed next
to each other and give the effect of a third 'intermediate' color.  Note
that the resolution modes with fewer than 3 colors for the plane outline
will not allow the use of an artwork view.

Some of the higher res's will cause a 512K CHIP machine to run out of
memory.

I would suggest either Low or Lace.  Lace has all the colors of Low with
an almost 'high res' appearance, yet incurs less speed penalty than high res.
Lace varies from (31%-8%) slower than low res.  The largest speed difference
is when very few objects being rendered.  As more objects are rendered the
lace approaches the same speed as low res.  The effect is that it is slower
than low res when the speed is fast enough to be unimportant and when speed
becomes important it is very close to low res speeds.  Unfortunately, due to
the doubling in size of lace screens, the lace resolution mode is marginal
on a 512K amiga.


Every time you switch views the particular view from the artwork file that
is needed will be loaded from the artwork file.  If no view for that
direction is available it will use the computer generated one.  The
restriction for swapping in views from a hard disk or floppy has been
lifted.  Now the program will first look in 'RAM:' and if it doesn't find
the artwork file there it will check in the directory with airwarrior.  In
high-res even uncompressing the image from 'RAM:' is very slow.  This is
where a feature called 'in mem pictures' under the options memory comes in.
Basically,  this feature allows you to specify how many views Air Warrior
will hold in memory in expanded format.  '0' will always load the view from
the artwork file while '1-10' will hold that number of views in memory.
The in-mem feature now uses any kind of memory so that expanded memory users
can fully utilize their ram. Be judicious in the choice of 'in mem pictures'
because it can cause you to run out of memory.

Memory usage per in-memory view.

Resolution:
Low(3 color)      10.7K
Low(7 color)      16K
Lace(3 color)     21.3K
Lace(7 color)     32K
Med(3 color)      21.3K
Low(32 color)     26.7K
Lace(32 color)    53.3K
Med(16 color)     42.7K
High(16 color)    85.4K
--------------

Performance testing
===================
    This version of Air Warrior has undergone very stringent testing
between the different computers (Macintosh, Atari ST, Amiga, and IBM PC)
to ensure that the flight performance of the different planes is the
same.

    The testing was performed by internally instrumenting the
program, to eliminate the errors that would occur by reading the
instruments or following a stop watch. Not only were the observable
variables instrumented, but also internal aerodynamic quantities such as
thrust, engine horsepower, drag, lift, angle of attack, lift
coefficient, air density, and so on. The magnitude of the differences
being sought was smaller than could readily be seen on the instruments,
since split second timing was often required to make valid comparisons.
Initial conditions for the various tests were established exactly by an
automated facility, so that no human error or influence would be
present.  The tests were performed on a number of different aircraft,
representing the various extremes of both performance and certain
critical properties.

    The following tests were performed:

    An instrumented take off roll, followed by an 11 minute climb,
a minute of level acceleration, then a 60 degree dive, usually into the
ground, or 3 minutes, whichever came first. Acceptance was based on the
point at which the plane reached full throttle, the point at which the
plane left the ground, the altitude, speed, angle of climb, and engine
horsepower at the peak of the climb, the speed reached by the end of the
acceleration, the time and speed at which buffeting began during the
dive (if it did), the peak Mach number in the dive (for the F-86), and
the time and speed of impact.

    A 2/3 aileron deflection roll in expert mode. Acceptance was based
on rate of roll, and loss of altitude and change of attitude during
one complete roll. A roll time varied from 1.5 seconds for the Sabre to
40 or so for the B-17 (the B-17 did not complete the roll before the
test ended.)

    A test of full rudder deflection at an exact speed and altitude.
Acceptance was based on the amount of course change, amount of roll,
and amount of altitude lost during a one minute deflection.

    A full elevator deflection loop starting at an exact speed and
altitude. Acceptance was based on the g's pulled at various points in
the loop, the altitude gained during the loop, the final altitude at
the end of the loop, the time at which various points in the loop
were reached, and the velocities at various points in the loop.

    A test of the top speed of the plane, at two or more different
altitudes representing different performance regimes. The plane was
placed at the correct speed, and acceptance was based on comparison
of internal values during a one minute run at that speed.

    A test of stall performance. The plane was placed in a known
climb attitude at a known speed, then throttle was reduced by the
program. Acceptance was based on the speed of the stall, altitude of
stall (a check on the climb), various internal values at the stall,
the time required for the nose to drop through horizontal, the time
required for recovery from the stall, and the altitude changes
associated with those points.

    In addition, tests were run at several different settings on the
Mac II, to quantify the effect of monochrome vs color, that is, the
frame rate, on aerodynamic performance (the Mac II was the easiest
machine to perform this test on, it was also done on the IBM PC with
its variable clock speed.) Several equations were changed to retain
better numerical accuracy in accounting for very fast update times and
better accuracy in handling unusual clock frequencies.

    Lastly, a drag race was run with a jeep and a tank, to measure
the acceleration, turning radius, and roll performance (grin) of the
vehicle under an automatically controlled test. A bug in the rollover
point in the jeep was found and corrected.

    In conclusion, we now feel that the machine to machine
performance is identical, to far greater than the accuracy at which a
user can read the instrument panel and control an airplane manually. One
thing that became apparent early on was how sensitive the planes are,
and how even a very small difference in control setting or initial
conditions can produce results different enough to mislead the observer.
Automated testing was essential.




Some notes:

* It is now possible to specify a directory from which to look for artwork, sound
  files and even the airwar.dat file.  This is intended to allow a single storage
  spot for these voluminous data files while still using multiple concurrent
  versions of the Air Warrior FE software.  The config.air file, since it is so
  closely tied to each version of the executable, will continue to be written in
  the current working directory.

  NOTE:  When using this feature with the full file selection requester (if you
  have "req.library" in your LIBS: directory this applies to you), it is VERY
  IMPORTANT to actually select a file in the directory you have chosen before you
  click on the "OK" button.  Otherwise, the requester will return a blank string
  to the AW program, and thus default to the current directory.  For example, if
  you want to use artwork in your "AW:Art" directory, click on "AW:", then on "Art",
  and then click on a file inside that directory, like "P51D", then click "OK".  To
  verify that you have done this correctly, select the artwork directory option
  again, and check the path box to ensure the correct path is there.  If the box is
  blank, you didn't do it right.




Cheating
--------

Kesmai's policy on cheating.  Due to the distributed nature of this program
it is more susceptable to 'hacking' to gain an unfair advantage.  The whole
concept of Air Warrior is that it will reward a 'skilled' pilot.  No one is
particularly interested in a players ability to 'hack' code.  At the present
time the host has a fairly extensive amount of checking for 'cheating'.
If the program reports to us that you are cheating we will 'blacklist' you
from the game.  Just so there is no confusion, not only will hacking the
program get you backlisted, so will running someone else's hacked version.

Deliberately hunting for and exploiting aspects of the game that allow
anti-social behavior (like shooting down teammates) under the guise of
looking for 'bugs' isn't doing us any favors.  The time spent fixing these
'bugs' is really better spent improving the game especially since such 'bugs'
aren't a problem if no one exploits them.

There are limits to how far we can go in programmatically limiting
anti-social behavior without spoiling the game for everyone.  Human
intervention is the only way to fill that gap between where the
program's limitations leave off and acceptable behavior begins.

Generally, we won't step in unless someone is abusing the game in a
way that is spoiling the game for other people, but we certainly
reserve the right to do so.

Artwork file checking simply rejects a view it doesn't like we won't
ever consider it 'cheating'.

We are grateful for any bug reports you can give us even though we won't
always be able to recreate and fix the problem.