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The Best of Select: Games 9
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CD_1.iso
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thunzone
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readme
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1994-04-30
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20KB
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376 lines
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THUNDER ZONE 1.0 Documentation
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1/ Introduction
2/ System Requirements
3/ Installing
4/ Running the game and setting up
5/ Playing the game
6/ General Comments
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1/ Introduction
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This concept behind this game came from an ancient classic PC game called
"SpaceWar". The idea behind the 'over the modem' idea was originally thought of
by Peter Cellik (Sphinx) sometime in 1990. Sphinx's efforts to make a better
"SpaceWar" culminated in a prototype game called "WarSpace", which was never
released. A similar type of game to WarSpace which was not an 'over-the-modem'
game was released by myself called "HarshGame". HarshGame was definitely a
first-generation game for me, but I think it made it as far as some CD-ROMs that
are full of PD software, although I'm not sure.
In an effort to enhance "HarshGame", I wrote a next-chapter game called
"HarshGame II : The second conflict", which was a game modelled after Star
Control, but where both players had half the screen (left/right) and could fly
around and shoot at each other. This game was never finished, although I think
I uploaded it to a programming board somewhere with full source code.
Thunder Zone is an expansion and an enhancement on the original concept, with
some new ideas added that I thought were cool. I hope you enjoy it. Many hours
of programming/tweaking/debugging have gone on to get the game to this state.
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2/ System Requirements
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DO NOT RUN THE GAME FROM A FLOPPY DISK. Thunder Zone loads data from the disk
on the fly and running the game from a floppy will slow it down. Also, you MAY
experience program delays at some points if you use some types of disk
compression programs. The game seems to run fine with DoubleSpace and Stacker,
but I haven't tested other programs.
The game requires at least 550k of free base memory at the DOS prompt, less if
you have a Gravis UltraSound card. If you are not sure of how much memory you
have available, run the DOS 'MEM' program. The game doesn't care about EMS or
XMS memory or drivers for them since it doesn't use any memory above 1 meg.
The game will refuse to run under Windows or DesqView, so don't try it.
It is not recommended, but the game WILL run under OS/2 2.0 and above in a full-
screen DOS session. However, you must give the game EXCLUSIVE COM port access.
If you don't you'll probably hang the DOS session during the initial load and
set-up. Make sure that the video settings you use for the dos box (i.e.
VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION) are set appropriately or you'll get major jitters while
playing the game.
Although you can use a SoundBlaster for low-quality sound effects, Thunder Zone
was designed to be played with a Gravis UltraSound sound card. The Ultrasound
provide 16-bit CD-quality sound with 32 digital voices at the same or lower
price to lower-quality sound cards. Those people not owning an UltraSound will
also not get the background music since no music at all is better than FM-
synthesis.
UltraSound users will hear a mix of 8 and 16-bit quality sounds at high sampling
rates, as well as rockin' digital background music. To hear the accompanying
music, you probably need to have 512k of RAM on your GUS. (Sorry, I could only
squeeze so much into the thing!)
You need to have a standard VGA graphics controller to play the game. If you
don't have a VGA by now you are missing out on life.
The game can be played with a Gravis PC GamePad, although you may find you
prefer the keyboard. You MAY use another type of joystick, but it is not
recommended and will be hard to use. The game uses ALL FOUR buttons on the
GamePad - other joysticks probably don't support this type of functionality.
Thunder Zone can be played over the modem or over a network between two people.
If you play over the modem, the modem must be able to transmit and receive data
at least at 2400 baud. If you used a lower baud rate, the game would become
unbearably slow. There is no significant difference between playing at 9600
baud and playing at 14.4k, so I didn't bother adding options for faster speeds.
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3/ Installing the game
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If you are reading this document, then you have successfully decompressed the
game files to a directory. The game can coexist with other files in the same
directory. At least the following two files should be in the directory you
decompressed the files into:
TZONE.EXE 69,189
TZONE.MFF 1,191,101
The '.MFF' file is the core data file. TZONE will not run unless this data file
is in the same directory as the EXE file, and the file is readable AND
writeable. This means that if you place the game on a network drive, you must
make sure that you have write access to the directory.
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4/ Running the game and setting up
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Running THUNDER ZONE is easy. Just type "TZONE" at the DOS prompt and press
<ENTER>. If you want to run the game over a network, type "TZONE /network"
instead - at which point you will be asked some questions in order to set up the
game.
The game will first initialize itself and check your machine's configuration.
If you wish to use a Gravis Gamepad, you will be asked whether or not you wish
to calibrate it. If you want to use the pad, you should choose to calibrate.
Please note that the game is easiest to play using the keyboard.
As was mentioned above, without an UltraSound with 512k of RAM on it you will
probably not hear the background music as the game is playing.
Once the brief title screens have been shown, you will be presented with the
main menu. To select and change options in the game, you use the cursor keypad.
The main menu has four choices:
i) Options
This choice can be used to change from using the keyboard to using the
joystick. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A JOYSTICK INSTALLED, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO
SELECT THE JOYSTICK OPTION . Also, UltraSound users can change the volume
level of the background music and the sound effects.
ii) Help and Credits
This choice shows the credits for the game and displays the controls that
are available to be used. If you are using a Gravis Gamepad instead of the
keyboard, the following joystick movements and buttons are used instead: