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1994-04-18
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EXCELSIOR
Phase One: Lysandia
Player Reference Manual
Castle Software
Excelsior Phase One: Lysandia
By Daniel Berke and Matthew Engle
Reference Manual Edition 2.0
(C) Copyright 1994 by Daniel Berke and Matthew Engle
All Rights Reserved.
CASTLE SOFTWARE PROVIDES THIS SOFTWARE "AS-IS" AND DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES,
WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY
OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NEITHER CASTLE
SOFTWARE, DANIEL BERKE, MATTHEW ENGLE, NOR ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED
IN THE CREATION, PRODUCTION, OR DELIVERY OF THIS SOFTWARE SHALL BE LIABLE FOR
ANY DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED
TO, LOSS OF PROFIT, DATA OR USE OF THE SOFTWARE, OR SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR OTHER SIMILAR CLAIMS. THE PERSON USING THE SOFTWARE
BEARS ALL THE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE. SOME
STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF THE LIMIT OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL
OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Overview 2
Installing Excelsior
System Requirements 3
Installation Instructions 3
SoundBlaster Sound Support 3
Compatibility Notes for OS/2 Users 3
Troubleshooting 4
Game Startup 5
Character Creation 6
Resuming Games 8
Playing Excelsior 9
Commands
Movement 10
Action Commands 10
Special Commands 13
2
OVERVIEW
Excelsior is a role playing game (RPG) designed for one player. It was
designed in the tradition of many other RPGs that have been available for
computers since the early eighties. If you are familiar with RPGs, you may
choose to skip ahead to the installation instructions. For those who are not
familiar with RPGs, the idea is simple. An RPG places you in the role of a
person in a fantasy land with a task to complete. At the beginning of the
game, you get to design your character by defining his or her physical and
mental attributes. Your character is then placed in the fantasy world - a
world filled with monsters, magic, ordinary people, and all sorts of other
wondrous things. Your goal will be described to you at the outset of the
game, and it is up to you to figure out how to achieve it. You communicate
with the people in the game, gather clues, and perform tasks which draw you
closer and closer to your final goal. In addition, as you progress, your
character develops both physically and mentally. In the end, if you have
prepared well, you will achieve your ultimate goal and bring your quest to
completion.
3
INSTALLING EXCELSIOR
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Excelsior requires an IBM PC with the following minimum hardware:
1. A hard drive with 4.5 megabytes of free space
2. VGA graphics
3. 640k of RAM
In addition, Excelsior supports the use of SoundBlaster sound cards.
INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
Excelsior is supplied in a self-extracting archive. All that is necessary to
run Excelsior is to create a directory on the hard drive (normally called EX),
and decompress the files. The easiest way to do this is as follows:
Step 1: Create the EX directory on your hard drive.
Step 2: Copy all the files from the source disk to the EX directory.
Step 3: Switch to the EX directory on the hard drive.
Step 4: Uncompress the files by typing EXLSIOR.
When the process is finished, Excelsior will be set up completely and ready to
play by typing EX. If for some reason you have difficulty in setting up the
game, please contact Castle Software for assistance.
SOUNDBLASTER SOUND SUPPORT
To enable SoundBlaster sound in Excelsior, you must use the CT-VOICE.DRV
driver file which is supplied with the SoundBlaster card. Excelsior needs
access to this file, which can be done one of two ways. The simplest option
is to copy this file into the Excelsior game directory. Your other option is
to provide the path to this file through the use of the SOUND environment
variable set in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. (Note that the default SOUND path is
not to the directory in which CT-VOICE.DRV was placed by the Sound-Blaster
installation software.)
To configure Excelsior for use with a SoundBlaster, you need to set the
address and IRQ which your card uses. To do this, run Excelsior with the -sb
option. For example, if your card is at address 220h and on IRQ 5, type
"EX -sb220,5" to configure the game. This only needs to be done once; the
values are automatically set the next time you run the game.
COMPATIBILITY NOTES FOR OS/2 USERS
There are three issues which OS/2 users must be aware of when they run
Excelsior in a virtual DOS session.
1. Excelsior must be run in a full screen DOS window.
2. The PC speaker sound effects may not function properly. On
some systems, the entire machine may lock up, while on others,
the sound simply distorts. As a result, we do not guarantee
that these sounds will work while running under OS/2.
3. When using a SoundBlaster card if the sound effects sound
scratchy or completely garbled, exit the current DOS session
and open a new one. If this does not work, end any other
programs running concurrently and open a new DOS session.
4
TROUBLESHOOTING
Problems with running Excelsior generally are related to either sound or
expanded memory (EMS) support.
If you are experiencing problems with SoundBlaster sound, first be certain
that the CT-VOICE.DRV driver file is installed as discussed earlier and the
address and IRQ are properly set. In addition, verify that sound is enabled
in the Game Setup menu (press Alt-G while playing). OS/2 users who are
having trouble with sound should refer to the above section on OS/2
compatibility issues.
If you have an expanded memory manager installed (such as EMM386, QEMM, etc.),
Excelsior will detect and attempt to use up to 1.5 megabytes of expanded
memory (EMS). This memory used for various game data which would otherwise
be read off of disk, such as SoundBlaster sound. As a result, you should
notice a significant increase in game speed when using EMS.
Unfortunately, as is often the case, various other programs which you may be
running (such as disk compressors and other TSR programs) may also be
attempting to use EMS. Sometimes this can cause conflicts, which leads to
unpredictable behavior. If you experience any "lockups" or other bizarre
problems while running Excelsior, we suggest that you disable EMS. This can
be done by using the -e option at the command line. Run Excelsior by typing
"EX -e" to disable EMS use. If this does not solve the problem, please
contact Castle Software so that we may diagnose the problem.
5
GAME STARTUP
To run Excelsior, type "EX" at the DOS prompt. The title screen will be
displayed. Upon pressing a key, the main menu will appear. At this point,
you have four choices:
(C) Continue your adventure
(S) Start a new adventure