View manual text
DROME RACERS Manual
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DROME RACERS Manual
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Warning: To Owners of Projection
Televisions
Still pictures or images may cause permanent picture-tube damage or mark the
phosphor of the cathode ray tube. Avoid repeated or extended use of video
games on large-screen projection televisions.
Epilepsy Warning
Please read before using this game or allowing your children to use it.
Some people are susceptible to epileptic seizures or loss of consciousness when
exposed to certain flashing lights or light patterns in everyday life.
Such people may have a seizure while watching television images or playing
certain video games. This may happen even if the person has no medical history
of epilepsy or has never had any epileptic seizures.
If you or anyone in your family has ever had symptoms related to epilepsy
(seizures or loss of consciousness) when exposed to flashing lights, consult your
doctor prior to playing.
We advise that parents should monitor the use of video games by their children. If
you or your child experience any of the following symptoms: dizziness, blurred
vision, eye or muscle twitches, loss of consciousness, disorientation, any
involuntary movement or convulsion, while playing a video game, discontinue use
IMMEDIATELY and consult your doctor.
Precautions to Take During Use
• Do not stand too close to the screen. Sit a good distance away from the
screen, as far away as the length of the cable allows.
• Preferably play the game on a small screen.
• Avoid playing if you are tired or have not had much sleep.
• Make sure that the room in which you are playing is well lit.
• Rest for at least 10 to 15 minutes per hour while playing a video game.
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CONTENTS
Controls ....................................................................................................................3
Menu Controls ......................................................................................................3
Gameplay Controls ..............................................................................................3
Introduction ..............................................................................................................3
Playing the Game ......................................................................................................4
Main Menu ................................................................................................................4
Quick Race ............................................................................................................4
Arcade ..................................................................................................................5
Career ........................................................................................................................5
The Pits ..................................................................................................................6
Shicane ..................................................................................................................6
Slot ........................................................................................................................8
Rocket ....................................................................................................................8
Challenges ............................................................................................................8
Multi Challenge Racing ........................................................................................9
Power Ups ..........................................................................................................10
Speeders ............................................................................................................11
Pause Menu ........................................................................................................11
Options ....................................................................................................................12
Game Set-up ......................................................................................................13
Sound Set-up ......................................................................................................13
Controller Set-up ................................................................................................13
Graphics Set-up ..................................................................................................14
Credits ....................................................................................................................16
CONTROLS
Menu Controls
Mouse control is not supported. All menu navigation is done by assigned controls.
Note: All controls listed are default control setings. To change your control
settings see Controller Set-up on p. 13.
ACTION
Menu Left
Menu Right
Menu Up
Menu Down
Confirm
Go Back
PLAYER 1 CONTROLS
LEFT CURSOR
RIGHT CURSOR
UP CURSOR
DOWN CURSOR
RETURN
ESCAPE
PLAYER 2 CONTROLS
X
C
Q
A
SPACEBAR
'
Gameplay Controls
These are the basic controls
ACTION
Steering
Accelerate
Reverse
Brake
Use Power Up
Gear Up
Gear Down
Look Behind
Change Camera
Pause
PLAYER 1 CONTROLS
LEFT/RIGHT CURSOR
UP CURSOR
DOWN CURSOR
RIGHT SHIFT
RETURN
PAGE UP
PAGE DOWN
RIGHT CTRL
BACKSPACE
ESCAPE
PLAYER 2 CONTROLS
X/C
Q
A
Z
SPACEBAR
F
V
TAB
LEFT SHIFT
'
INTRODUCTION
The year is 2015, it’s a wired world and what that world wants is entertainment in
ever more thrilling forms. And that’s exactly what the Drome offers, whether you
tune in via TV or the Net, or travel to the Drome to experience the spectacle of the
greatest racing teams in the world, competing across the most hazardous, most
extreme range of race tracks ever assembled. There are flying cameras, giant
screens and terraformed landscapes. For spectator and competitor alike, it’s a
once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Squatting at the junction of six sixteen-lane superhighways, it’s impossible to miss
the Drome: the Las Vegas of racing, the creation of the mysterious impresario,
Dromulus. The roar of the crowds within is only drowned out by the ear-splitting
cacophony of the engines.
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The Drome isn’t just a racetrack, or several race tracks.
It’s a city in its own right. Above it all stands the tower,
Dromulus’s lair and the nerve centre of the Drome. As
the sun moves overhead, the tall, asymmetrical needle
casts a moving shadow across the pit areas at its base,
like the second hand of a clock or the marching shadow
of a sundial, reminding the teams (and the players) that every minute they spend
adapting their cars is vital to their success or failure in the coming race.
Here you can test your driving skills against the very best, where racing is not just
winning but about surviving.
PLAYING THE GAME
From the Main Menu, select a game you want to play.
MAIN MENU
Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to cycle through the menu choices.
QUICK RACE
Start racing straight away with either a single player or two
player game.
ARCADE
Create the race of your choice from the available cars, tracks
and race conditions.
CAREER
Take on the racing career of ‘Max Axel’ – a new driver who
has just joined Team Nitro (see Career on p. 5)
OPTIONS
Change game settings (see Options on p. 12)
CREDITS
View the credits.
EXIT
Quit the game and return to Windows.
Quick Race
The Quick Race option lets you start racing straight away. You can choose
between racing with one person or two against the best of the rest. There is no
introduction – you go straight to the race with a car and track chosen at random
from those unlocked in the Arcade game (see Arcade on p. 5).
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To begin a Quick Race game:
1. Select QUICK RACE from the Main menu.
2. Choose either ONE PLAYER or TWO PLAYERS.
3. Press RETURN.
Arcade
To begin an Arcade game:
1. Select Arcade from the Main Menu and press RETURN.
2. Choose either ONE PLAYER or TWO PLAYER.
3. Select either a SINGLE RACE or a TIME ATTACK.
SINGLE RACE pits you against the 5 other lead drivers in a race to the flag.
TIME ATTACK allows you unlimited laps on your own, to beat the lap record on
the track of your choice.
4. Now, select the track you want to race on by pressing the LEFT/RIGHT arrow
keys to cycle through the available tracks and then the RETURN button to
select.
5. Select the route you want to take, how many laps, what time of day and the
type of weather.
Note: More tracks and routes are unlocked as you progress through Career
mode (see Career on p. 5)
6. In the Car Select screen, press the LEFT/RIGHT arrow keys to cycle through
the available cars and UP/DOWN arrow keys to change its colour.
7. Select the transmission you want to use from either MANUAL or AUTOMATIC.
Note: Drag cars use MANUAL gears only.
8. Finally, check all your choices on the confirmation screen and press RETURN
to begin the race, or press ESC to go back any number of steps and change
your selection
Single Race
In the Single Race, Single Player option you race on a single track against 5
other lead drivers. In the two player option you just go head to head with your
opponent, no other racers are on the track.
Time Attack
The Time Attack game allows you to set your best time on your selected track.
Note: There are unlimited laps in Time Attack; to exit the player must select
QUIT RACE from the Pause menu.
CAREER
Welcome to your new career as a hotshot racing driver. Your name is Max Axel,
and you have recently joined the fledgling Team Nitro. Your task is to take Team
Nitro from the start of the Novice Championship, through the Intermediate
Championship and all the way to the end of the Expert Championship, to win the
Drome Championship.
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To play in Career Mode:
When you select Career Mode from the Main
Menu, choose NEW CAREER. Choose a slot to
save your game in and press RETURN. After the
animated film has finished, you’ll find yourself in
the Team Nitro Pits.
The Pits
The Team Nitro Pit area is where you access all the information you need to win
the Championship. You do this by interacting with the characters you find there,
namely Shicane, Slot and Rocket.
Each character has their own section of the Pit. Use the LEFT/RIGHT arrow keys
to move between them, and press RETURN to talk to a character.
Shicane
Shicane is the Chief Mechanic who looks after all
the cars in the Team Nitro Garage and makes
sure you’re always ready to race. When you
select Shicane, you have the options of
GARAGE or RACE.
Garage
Change Car
This option lets you select a different car from
your underground garage. In the Car Select
screen, press the LEFT/RIGHT arrow keys to
view the cars available, and UP/DOWN arrow
keys to choose a new paint job. You can then
chose either Automatic or Manual gears. Press
RETURN to confirm your choice and go back to
Shicane’s menu.
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Upgrade Car
Shicane will take you to the list of available car upgrades that can be bought with
credits earned during your races. The upgrades available are:
Engine: Increases your top speed and gives you slightly better acceleration.
Turbo: Boosts the car’s acceleration and gets slightly more from the engine.
Aerodynamics: Cuts wind resistance, giving you better handling and a slightly
higher top speed.
Tyres: Increases traction for better cornering.
Armour: Reduces the amount of damage from collisions and opponents’
power ups.
Each car has a different capacity for being upgraded in each area. You can tell
how much a car can be upgraded by the number of ‘slots’ in its statistics. For
instance, some cars can accept a lot of Turbo upgrades but are too light for a
bigger engine. Others can take a lot of armour but aren’t built to have their
aerodynamics modified.
Each upgrade that is bought will be transferred to every car that will accept it. Not
every car can use every upgrade you buy, in which case they will not be
discarded, but stored until you race in a car they can be fitted to. Every car that is
raced in will be upgraded to its limit.
Build Car
You can only build a new car once you possess one or more Build Tokens (see
Build Tokens below). The Garage will build your new car to any specification.
1. To build a car, first choose whether it will be a road car, off-roader or dragster,
by pressing the LEFT/RIGHT arrow keys to select the appropriate tyre type.
2. Then select a Chassis type (Light, Medium, Heavy) – different chassis types
directly affect the handling of the finished car.
3. Now select a body style to fit your chassis. You will see the statistics for each
are slightly different, but you’ll soon learn what suits you as a driver!
4. Finally, press the UP/DOWN arrow keys to select from the available car
colours.
Credits: Shows the amount of credits in the bank. Credits are gained depending
on your final position in each race during each MCR.
Build Tokens: These are awarded at various points throughout the
Championship.
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Slot
Multi Challenge Racing
Slot is Team Nitro’s Data Analyst who will keep
you up-to-date with your progress through the
Championship, and lets you save or load your
games.
Save & Load Career: You can load any of the
saved games from the three save slots or save
your current game.
Within each Championship there are a number of Multi Challenge Races (MCRs),
which must be won in order to unlock the next one.
By selecting RACE from Shicane’s screen, you can choose which MCR you want
to compete in. Each MCR is made up of at least two stages that are located in
different areas of the Drome. To win each MCR, you need to come first at the end
of the last stage.
• When you first embark on your new career, you will only be offered the Novice
Championship and MCR1. But as you progress, you’ll be able to race in a
variety of different races, in a number of different conditions and locations.
Progress: Here you can monitor your progress
through the Championships, the challenges and
the cars you’ve built, by pressing the LEFT/RIGHT
arrow keys.
Dragster Race Qualifying
Rocket
Rocket is the mysterious racing guru who hangs
around the Team Nitro Pit area. He provides you
with useful tips and provides access to Practice
Races and Challenges.
Challenges
At various points in the Championship you may
be offered a one on one challenge by the other
lead drivers. If you take up the challenge you may
be able to win extra credits and the all important
kudos of showing them who’s the best! You don’t
have to take up the challenge when it’s offered,
and can return to it at any point between MCRs
by visiting Rocket.
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At the start of every MCR, you have the option of trying to improve your start
position by entering the Qualifying dragster tournament. If you decide not to enter
the Qualifying session, you’ll start the first stage of the MCR from the back of the
grid in 6th position.
To enter the Qualifying Session:
• Select QUALIFY from Shicane’s Race menu and press RETURN.
The Dragster Qualifying session works like a 3-round knock-out tournament. In
round one, each of the 6 drivers has a head to head race with one of their rivals,
and the slowest 2 drivers overall get knocked out. These will start the MCR in 5th
and 6th place respectively. In round 2, the same happens with the remaining 4
drivers to determine the 3rd and 4th places on the grid, and finally round 3 is the
race for pole position, with the runner up starting the MCR in 2nd place.
To Race a Dragster:
During the race countdown, rev your engine
using the UP arrow key. The key to getting off
the start line quickly is to find the right amount of
revs. Too many, and you’ll sit there spinning your
wheels while your opponent blasts down the
track. Too few, and you’ll crawl off the line
instead of tearing down the drag strip.
Once safely away, the revs will quickly rise.
When the rev indicator reaches the ‘sweet-spot’, press PAGEUP to change up a
gear. If you let the revs rise beyond this point, you may get a bit more power, but
run the risk of blowing your engine.
• When your race is over, select VIEW RACE to watch the other drivers in their
head to head races or CONTINUE to the next round.
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Stage Racing
Speeders
The number (minimum of 2) and mix of stages within each MCR are pre-selected
for you by Dromulus. He decides the terrain (city, mountain or canyon) and the
track type (road or off-road). If you've taken the Dragster Qualifiying session you
will start on the grid in the position you earned. Otherwise you'll have to start at
the back and race through the pack!
You'll need to finish well in the first stage to ensure a good position for yourself in
the rolling start of the next stage!
Your racing screen looks like this:
Race Position
Lap counter
Map
Power up icons
Speed
Health gauge
Revs
Power Ups
Within each race (except drag racing and Time Trial) there are various power ups
to collect:
Repulsor The car’s wheels fold in under itself, jets emerge from them
and blast the car along the track. Repulsor is most effective when used
on a straight part of the track.
Hatchet Fires a ‘dumb’ missile, which looks like a spinning disk. It
travels in a straight line causing light damage to any opponent car it hits
Mine This is dropped on the road behind the car. When a car drives
over the mine it suffers serious damage. Watch out you don’t drive over
one by mistake!
RC Missile Once fired this missile will inflict serious damage to the
targeted car!
Flare Fired into the sky, the flare will blind all other competitors for a few
seconds.
On the road and on off-road race tracks you will notice
green double arrows on the track surface.
When you drive over these you get a speed-kick, giving
much greater acceleration.
Damage
When a player’s car is damaged during a race, the damage is displayed on the
Health Gauge.
After a few collisions or hits from opponents’ power ups, smoke will
appear from the car. Use this warning to start aiming for the green health
orbs floating on the track. If you continue to take damage, bits will be
knocked off your car and its performance will suffer. You’ll really struggle to keep
up with the leaders with a severely damaged car.
Pause Menu
To pause during a race and bring up the Pause
menu, press ESCAPE.
RESUME RACE
Return to the action.
RESTART RACE
Restart the race from the beginning.
OPTIONS
Change the volume of the music and the car sound effects.
QUIT
Quit the race.
Note: These options vary depending on the game mode — e.g. In Career
mode you have the option to RETRY STAGE, whilst Arcade mode has
RESTART RACE.
Disruptor Field This power up surrounds your car with a powerful force
field that destroys anything in its path.
EMP Drone Once fired, the EMP electrifies the target car disabling the
electrical systems and prevents them releasing a power up.
Energy Pod Collect these to repair your car when it is damaged (see
Damage on p. 11).
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Race Result Screen
Game Set-Up
When you cross the finish line, the race result
screen is displayed.
Along with the race results, the following options are available:
CINEMATICS
Watch the drivers in action from various trackside cameras
Note: This is not a replay of your race.
CONTINUE
Takes you back to the pits to prepare for the next stage.
CHANGE TRACK This lets you select a new race venue.
Note: In Career mode CHANGE TRACK is replaced by QUIT MCR, which
takes you back to the pits ready to start a new MCR.
RESTART RACE
Restart the race you have just completed.
Note: In Career mode RESTART RACE is replaced with RETRY STAGE during
an MCR.
EXIT
Leave the race altogether, returning to the Main Menu. Only
appears in Arcade mode.
OPTIONS
From the Options menu you can adjust many of
the game settings as follows:
Catch-up
Leave this on to allow the game to help keep the racing close. Turn it off to
disable any artificial assistance.
Speedometer
Use this option to select either KPH (Kilometres Per Hour) or MPH (Mile
Per Hour).
Sound Set-up
Change the volume levels for Music and Sound Effects.
Use the UP/DOWN arrow
keys to highlight an
option and then the
LEFT/RIGHT arrow keys
to adjust the volume
slider
Change the sound quality
between LOW, MED and
HIGH using the
LEFT/RIGHT arrow keys.
The default is HIGH
• Press RETURN to accept changes and return to the Options menu
Controller Set-up
Restore Defaults
This option restores all the options to the game’s original settings.
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Here you can choose to remap in-game controls to other keys on the keyboard,
or configure another input of your choice, e.g. steering wheel/joystick. You can
set the game up for either a single player or for two players, with each player
having individual, different settings. This means that both players can either use
the same keyboard – with each using different sets of keys – or one player can
use the keyboard and the other player an external-connected device
• Simply select the Control you wish to remap, press RETURN, then press
another key or move your controller to the function you wish to re-map and
press RETURN again.
• You can reset all keys to their original state at any time by choosing RESTORE
DEFAULTS.
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Graphics Set-up
Vertical Sync (ON/OFF)
Chooses the quality of the in-game graphical display – the higher the setting, the
lower the framerate. If you find you aren’t getting the framerate you need, you will
need to try dropping the screen resolution.
PC monitors have a variety of capabilities and the graphics card matches those
capabilities. One of these is the Vertical Sync rate. It can range from 60Hz to more
than 100Hz and is dependent on the hardware that you have. If your hardware is
capable of giving information about the Vertical Sync rate and this option is
switched on, then the game will lock Vertical Sync rate and you will get a better
display, similar to Anti-Aliasing. The game can run faster if the Vertical Sync rate is
turned off but you may get graphical glitches (mainly a tearing effect of the
image).
Screen Resolution
Triple Buffer (ON/OFF)
Changes the overall sharpness of the screen. Higher resolutions look better, but
may slow down the game and your monitor may not support really high
resolutions. If you want a really high resolution but aren’t getting the framerate
you need, try reducing the Master Graphics setting.
Triple buffering improves the speed and quality of the graphics, but requires a lot
of video memory to do so. You may wish to switch this off if your graphics card
has very little memory.
Advanced Settings
Mip Mapping improves the way in which objects in the game change as they
approach you. Without Mip Mapping you may notice visible jumps and
distortions. However switching this option on may reduce your framerate. Trilinear Mip Mapping is not as good as Anisotropic Mip Mapping but has a lesser
effect on the game's speed.
Although Drome Racers should select the best possible graphics options for your
PC automatically, you may wish to change these settings to improve the overall
look or game speed (framerate).
Master Graphics (MINIMUM/LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH/MAXIMUM)
The Master Graphics slider adjusts these settings for you but you can also adjust
them yourself.
Detail Level (MINIMUM/LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH/MAXIMUM)
Increasing the detail level increases the number of polygons displayed (increased
detail on car, tracks, environments etc) but consequently may lower the
framerate. Lowering it drops the number of polygons but may improve the
framerate.
Tri-linear Mip-Mapping (ON/OFF)
Anisotropic Mip-Mapping (ON/OFF)
Anisotropic Mip Mapping is better than Tri-Linear Mip Mapping, but has a greater
impact on the game’s speed.
Texture Quality (MINIMUM/LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH/MAXIMUM)
Increasing the texture quality improves the look of any surfaces in the game,
particularly when up close. Higher Texture Quality takes up more video memory,
so may slow things down.
Shadow Detail (MINIMUM/LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH/MAXIMUM)
Improves the detail and sharpness of the shadows cast by the cars and weapons.
Increasing it may reduce the framerate.
Anti-Aliasing Quality (MINIMUM/LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH/
MAXIMUM)
Anti-Aliasing makes lines and edges look smoother – when it’s turned off you may
notice jagged edges on objects. Increasing the quality may lower the framerate.
Hardware T&L (ON/OFF)
Hardware transform and lighting should always be used when your card supports
it (contact your card manufacturer to find out) since it will always produce an
improvement in graphical speed and quality. However, if you have problems with
the game crashing, turning it off may help.
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CREDITS
Audio Motion
Speech: Dez Tong
ATD
Lead Programmer: Dr Andrew Hague
Programmers: Jack Aidley, Rob Baker, Jay Bell, David Christie, Stuart Clarke,
Lyndon Sharp, Oli Renault, Stephen Wright
Engine Team: Julian Thomas, Darren Vine, Andrew Wright
Additional Programming: Justin Eames, Pete Long, Derek Pettigrew, Steve
Wilcox
Artists: Tony Heap, Phil Irving, Rob James, Ken Jarvis, Jimmy O’Ready, Chris
Oxenbury, Richard Priest, Marco Segers, Matt Stephens, Neal Sutton, Graeme
Wilson
Additional Art: Gillian Bertram, Colin Dempsey
Design: Michael Benfield, Ian Mayor, Mike McCurdy
Sound Design: John Davies
Additional Thanks: Simon Goodwin, Dene Landucci, Tom Straub
Initial Concept & Production: Gavin Cooper, Stuart Tilley
Technical Manager: Steve Bennett
Creative Producer: Drew Wilkins
Team Producer: Jonathan Eardley
Managing Director: Chris Gibbs
Special Thanks:
Emily & Baggy, Jo Balcombe, Emma & Matilda Bell, Gillian Bertram, Matt’s Brick,
Suzi Brown, Chrissy Cameron, Joanne Cushion, Claire Deakin, Ingo, Jessica,
Dawn, Kerry, Jake, Joseph Oxenbury, Mrs Pline, Gillian Rourke, Tommy &
Shannen, Snoop, Hayes Muay Thai, Ironia Malisa, Peligra Massive, Liz & Melissa,
Danny & Philip, Paula Wilcox, Karen, Daniel & Xander.
LEGO® Interactive
Global Vice President of Software: Tom Stone
Director of Production: David Ratcliffe
Senior Producer: Pete Murphy
Associate Producer: Gary Simmons
Head of Software Operations: Kevin Turner
Project Manager: Geoff Smith
Head of Technology: Ian Johnson
Software Analysts: Warren Leigh, Eddie Hayden
Global Brand Director: Sean Ratcliffe
Global Marketing Manager: Helen Nicholas
Head of Business Affairs: Clive Illenden
Business Affairs Executive: Staci Kalama
Market Research Manager: Tim Price
Thanks to everyone in LEGO Interactive for their feedback and support.
Special Thanks: Lawrence Doyle, Barbara Barnes, Gary Martin
Silicon Dreams
Music: John Hancock, Stafford Bawler, Steve Gow, Mark Hyett
Artists: John LeBurn
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Software and Documentation © 2002-2003 The LEGO Group. LEGO, the LEGO logo and the
brick configuration are trademarks of the LEGO Group.
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The Williams name, WilliamsF1 Team icon and Williams car design are intellectual property rights
owned by Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited. All rights reserved.