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Necromania: Trap of Darkness
Game manual
1.
Hardware requirements
a)
-
Minimum:
CPU: 350 Mhz
RAM: 128 MB
OpenGL compatible graphic card, 16 MB video RAM (TNT2)
DirectSound compatible sound card
OS: Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP
DirectX 8
Keyboard, mouse
370 MB free space on Hard Drive
b)
-
Recommended:
CPU: 700 Mhz
RAM: 192 MB
OpenGL compatible graphic card, 16 MB video RAM (GeForce 2 MX)
DirectSound compatible sound card (surround, quadraphonic)
OS: Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP
DirectX 8
Keyboard, mouse
370 MB free space on Hard Drive
2.
Game installation
a)
Installation:
Prior to the installation, insert the Necromania CD into the CD-ROM drive. The installation
program that will guide you through the installation process will then start. If your CD autorun feature is off, run the NECROMANIA.EXE file on the CD manually. If the software
drivers DirectX 8 (or newer version of DirectX) is not installed on your PC, install it with the
help of the Installation guide and then restart the system.
b)
Un-installation:
If you want to un-install the game, insert the Necromania CD into the CD-ROM drive. The
installation program that will guide you through the un-install process will then start. If your
CD auto-run feature is off, run the NECROMANIA.EXE file on the CD manually.
3.
Special skills of Necromania characters
a)
Stone Golem – the strongest character, however his movement speed is the
slowest. His special skill is throwing stones accurately at a selected target (preferably the
enemy).
Recommendation: Since it is the slowest character, hiding keys pays off only in the most
urgent cases (e.g. a critical shortage of the mana).
b)
Knight – possesses the second strongest striking power. He is only a bit faster than
the Golem. His special skill is the ability to conjure a magic circle that considerably reduces
the mana of enemies.
Recommendation: just like the Golem, hiding keys pays off only in a state of emergency.
c)
Orc the Sleuth – he is the fastest runner with the ability to trace enemies.
Recommendation: he excels at tracing hidden keys.
d)
Beast Master – his speed and striking power are well balanced. With the help of a
special magic technique he can encircle himself with vermin that helps him fight enemies.
Recommendation: Make sure he is constantly surrounded with vermin to help him fight.
e)
Magician – a bit slower and weaker than the previous characters, yet, it is
difficult to defeat him. His special skill is invisibility. During invisibility he cannot use other
spells nor lay traps. Moreover, he leaves traces.
Recommendation: invisibility is highly effective, especially when the character has got keys.
f)
Fog Woman – like the Magician, her striking power is weaker than that of the
previous characters. This weakness however is compensated with the ability to transform her
physical body into fog. She’s invulnerable in such a state.
Recommendation: being transformed into fog, she doesn’t leave traces, lava bomb and other
forms of enemy attacks cannot hurt her.
g)
Skeleton Warrior – his attack power is the weakest, however, fast run - his special
skill – gives him a great advantage.
Recommendation: if the keys have not been collected by the enemies yet, then fast run is very
helpful because it can aid the player in searching many hiding places in a short period of time.
In combination with the movement acceleration spell it causes the skeleton warrior to reach
very high speed but it costs a lot of valuable mana.
4.
Traps and spells
a)
Speed – accelerates the speed of a character for a short period of time.
Recommendation: it is not advisable to accelerate too often since it uses up a lot of the
player’s manna. It serves above all as an escape spell or when a quick escape to a selected
spot is needed.
b)
Bomb – when thrown, the bomb explodes and bursts into hundreds of flaming pieces
that take a lot of the enemy’s mana away.
Recommendation: outstanding when used while being chased by an opponent, or during mass
battles.
c)
Fire – having stepped on this trap, the player faces destructive power of burning
flames.
Recommendation: highly efficient when used in narrow spaces through which an opponent is
supposed to pass.
d)
Mana sucker – this powerful and felonious trap can be laid only in hideouts, such as
barrels or chests. The trap sucks mana from the careless opponent and adds it to the player
who has laid it.
Recommendation: it is very useful to secure hidden keys with multiple instances of this spell.
e)
Magnet – holds an opponent stationary for a limited period of time.
Recommendation: outstandingly effective when placed in dangerous paths such as ones
blocked by fire or guillotines.
f)
Teleport – designed to transfer an opponent from one place to another. The caster of
the spell designates the final target spot at first, and then the initial position.
Recommendation: very useful when teleporting opponents to dangerous places, especially
deadly when used in combination with the magnet spell!
Using all the spells (traps) costs a player specific amounts of mana. However, when used
correctly, the player will gain more mana in the end. The best way of obtaining mana is to use
the spells Mana Sucker and Teleport together; in conjunction with the Magnet spell and
teleport enemies to deadly locations, killing them (killing an enemy adds 50 % of mana to the
player).
5.
Boosts
a)
Mana Bottle - adds 25 % to mana.
b)
Shield – increases the resistance of a character against all traps and enemies. One
character can pick up a maximum of three shields – at that moment he/she becomes twice as
resistant to attacks.
c)
Sword – increases the striking power of a character. One character can pick up a
maximum of three swords – at that moment he/she becomes twice as strong.
d)
Boots – increases the speed of a character for 30 seconds.
e)
Vision – enables a character to see the traps laid by enemies for 30 seconds. (The
enemies’ traps will blink, thus distinguishing them from the player’s own).
6.
a)
Keys
Key – opens doors and has various shapes that must match to the appropriate door.
b)
SkullKey – a key consisting of three parts. Only after having assembled the
SkullKey can a player can pass through a magic gate.
c)
Key Bag – a sack with keys. It remains lying on the ground after death of a
character until the first opponent picks it up.
7.
Cursors
a)
Walk – a cursor for character movement.
b)
Open – a cursor for opening hiding spots and hiding keys.
c)
Switch – a cursor that changes the state of a switch.
8.
Game strategy
The principle of TOD is simple – the player has to search a level, find keys to the gates
preventing him/her from proceeding to the next part of a level and discover, obtain and
assemble a sacred key – Skullkey, which opens a magic gate into the next level. It’s not an
easy task at all because various opponents strive for the same goal. Moreover, when a player
dies, he/she looses all the collected items they have amassed. The items are dropped at the
point where the player died and are often collected by the character that did the killing increasing their chances of winning the level. The mana/life of each character is limited and
decreases over time. The environments the player explores are packed with aggressive
dangers; attacks from omnipresent vermin and enemies increases expenditure of energy.
Laying traps and combining them feloniously with the natural pit-falls ingrained in the
environment is one of the game’s basic tactics. It consumes a lot of everybody’s energy (trap
layer and his/her victim) – the focus of the fight is thus transferred to places of magic – Mana
Pools, where the mana can be refilled given time. The energy can also be recharged outside
the Mana Pools - by killing an enemy. Each game environment contains numerous lethal
traps, which can be used to eliminate enemies, or, in the case of carelessness, even for selfdestruction.
9.
Single Player Mode
In the single player mode, a player walks through a dungeon, magic forest, viscid caves
bellow the Black mountains, and finally through the mountain range itself and dangerous rock
spires. After having successfully finished each level, the player can upgrade one of the main
basic skills of each character – strength or speed. The number of points available for a
character’s parameter upgrade depends on the difficulty of a particular level (the more
difficult level, the more points). After having walked through each level, the player’s current
position in the campaign is saved automatically and the entry into another level is enabled.
Obviously, it is possible to walk through previously accomplished levels again with no further
points added.
10.
Multiplayer Mode
In the multiplayer mode, it is possible to play via local network (LAN) or via Internet. A
maximum of seven players can take part in a network game. AI players can be added to any
game missing the maximum number of players and their AI difficulty can be set to easy,
normal or hard.
a)
Joining a created game via Internet
Click the Multi Player option in the main menu
Click Join Game
Click the IP address option
Enter the IP address of the player who created the game (this IP address is displayed in
the game menu of the player who created the game)
Enter the port – default port is 2350
Enter the name of the player who created the game (the data will be recorded in the IP
address book under this name)
Select a character with which you want to play
Click the I’m ready option
b)
-
Joining a created game
Click the Multi Player option in the main menu
Click Join Game
Click a created game that is found
Select a character with which you want to play
Click the I’m ready option
c)
-
-
Joining an existing game via Internet
Click the Multi Player option in the main menu
Click Join Game
Click the IP address enter
Enter the IP address of the player who created the game (this IP address is displayed in
the game menu of the player who created the game)
Enter the port – default port is 2350
Enter the name of the player who created the game (the data will be recorded in the IP
address book under this name)
Select a character with which you want to play
Click the I’m ready button.
11.
Game History
-
After having finished each level, the Game History appears. It is an exact record of match
history and a performance record.
a)
The player found a key.
b)
The played unlocked a door.
c)
The player hid a key.
d)
The player killed him/herself .
e)
The player was killed by the Player No. 3.
f)
The player was killed by vermin.
g)
The player assembled the Skull Key.
h)
The player entered the magic gate and won.
12. Hints
a) The original installation of Windows XP does not contain full OpenGL hardware
support; therefore it is necessary to install the graphic card drivers provided by the
manufacturer.
b) If you install the game on a PC with hardware configuration closer to the
recommended minimum and the game is not running smoothly, we recommend
selecting the 16bit colour mode in the Options menu, and switch off the vertical
synchronisation in the Windows setting; providing that the graphic card drivers
support it.
c) When fighting an enemy, the enemy can sometimes throw you away, push you
against a rock or knock you off the rock (in the Rocks world). You can do the same
in combat by holding left and right mouse button in the same time (in the standard
mouse operation setting of the game).
d) Other hints can be found on the web site for the game www.necromania.cz,
www.trapofdarkness.com.