Fly! v1.0 README FILE July, 1999
Installation
Should your computer system have difficulty installing from the
Installation CD, or stop responding during the installation process,
please try the following procedure:
Copy the contents of the Fly! Installer CD to a temporary folder on
(one of ) your computers harddrive(s). Run the Setup Program from
this temporary directory. Follow the Installation instructions
detailed in the User Manual. You may delete the temporary folder
after installation is complete.
Should you still encounter difficulties installing the program,
please contact Technical Support.
For product technical support, you can first check the official
Fly! website at http://www.iflytri.com for the latest updates, hints,
tips, and discussion groups. You can also send questions by e-mail to
[email protected].
If you prefer to speak to someone in person, you can reach our
tech support staff at (214) 303-1202. Hours of operation are seven days
a week from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Central Time.
If you prefer to send U.S. mail correspondence, please mail to:
Gathering Of Developers
P.O. Box 565032
Dallas, TX 75356
Attn: Technical Support
Updating Scenery or Maps after initial Install
Any items that are hi-lighted in blue are installed as far as the
install program is concerned. Unhi-lighting them and then continuing
with the update process, will cause the install program to remove
those scenery areas and/or maps from the installed location. If you
want to install additional items, it is not necessary to unhi-light
them, as the install program will not try to install them if they
were already hi-lighted.
Keys
Option ... Controls ... Airplane Keys ... Mixture Power|Economy, when the
Realism Option "Manual Mixture" is unchecked (Auto Mixture), this key
toggles between the Maximum Power Mixture and the Least Fuel Used Mixture.
The thrust reverser key may not be mapped as a default. It can easily
be assigned (to the R key for example) in the Options/Controls menu
in the Aircraft section. Consult the User Manual for additional
information on how to use the Controls menu.
Weather
Automatic Overcast Layer
When the visibility is very low an overcast cloud layer will be created
automatically.
Abrupt changes in cloud altitudes
Overcast cloud layers that intersect the ground (i.e. cloud layer is
lower than highest peak of visible terrain) will be treated as a fog
layer over the ground. Because of this, it is possible to set your
cloud layer low enough so that when flying from an area of low
elevation terrain into an area of higher elevation terrain (high enough
to peak above the overcast cloud layer) the layer will immediately
change into a fog layer.
Because of the nature of broken cloud layers, they cannot (by definition)
be treated as fog layers. Therefore, if a broken cloud layer is created
at an altitude lower than the highest peak of the visible terrain, the
broken layer will not be drawn. As in the case of the abrupt change in
overcast layers, it is possible to fly from a low elevation area into a
higher elevation area causing the broken layer to simply disappear.
Multi-player Issues
Host Slow-Downs
The multi-player was designed such that no one machine would experience
an excessive load (including the host.) However, host slow-downs have
been reported (usually only in LAN games.) If you experience slow-downs
of this nature, we recommend dedicating a machine as the host. To do
this, simply go to the Briefing Room and click the Host Session button.
This machine can be used as the host without entering the simulator.
Removing Players
Due to technical issues, the Remove Player button has been disabled. We
hope to enable this button in future releases or updates.
Session Player Limitations
There is no inherent limitation to the number of players that
multi-player will support. We recommend limiting sessions to eight
players or less. Keep in mind that as more players are added to the
session, the slower the session will run due to higher bandwidth,
memory and CPU requirements. Faster machines with higher bandwidth
connections will, of course, improve performance.
Multiplayer Restrictions
The following features are unavailable while participating in
multiplayer network games:
- Switching vehicles with the 'V' key
- Dynamic scenery
- Air Traffic Control
Question and Answer
1. How do I change the date of a simulation: (ie, Fly out of Chicago
in the Winter time, when it is currently Summer).
Ans.: You will need to change your System date PRIOR to starting Fly!
To do so, right click on the clock on the desktop toolbar and
select "Adjust Date/Time", make the date change and select Apply
and then OK. Repeat this process for flights on other than the
current system date. This is a limitation of Fly! version 1.0.
2. I want to set my aircraft at a specific location. How do I do this?
Ans.: Select an airport that is near the location you want to go to.
When the Flight Plan is loaded, slew to the desired location and
then Save the Scenario. When you want to start at that location
again, simply load the saved scenario.
3. I know the airport has runway lights, but I don't see any for that
airport in Fly!
Ans.: Fly! has the ability for turn on runway lighting using the Comm
Radios Microphone. To turn on the lights, simply tune to that
airports Tower Frequency and click the microphone (Backspace key
on keyboard) 5 times within 3 seconds. The lights will then
stay on for 15 minutes. If they turn off, reclick the microphone
to turn them back on.
4. My graphics are not displaying properly in a Scenario or Flight.
Ans.: Be sure to install the latest drivers for your video cards
operating system. These can be downloaded from the Graphics
Chip or card manufacturer. It is best to download the latest
REFERENCE drivers that are designed for your computers operating
system. Consult your graphics card documentation for additional
information. A 4 Megabyte Video Card is required to run Fly!
in other than software mode.
Some graphic cards do not support the latest DirectX drivers.
Try selecting the Directx5 compatible graphics selection in the
Options/Graphics menu.
Check the www.iflytri.com web site for updated files and drivers.
Check the Gathering of Developers web site at www.godgames.com for
updated troubleshooting information.
Upgrade to a newer video card.
5. I do not want the default rivers and roads in the scenery.
Ans.: Simply delete, rename, or move the following files from the
System directory:
For the U.S.A. roads; Roadusa.epd
For the U.S.A. rivers; Riverusa.epd
For the European roads; Roadeur.epd
For the European rivers; Rivereur.epd
6. When trying to run Fly!, I get the following error message:
"Mutual exclusion prohibits this".
Ans.: This is caused by a conflict between your primary video cards
Direct3D driver and that of a secondary Voodoo graphics card.
Disable Direct3D support for Glide. (Right click on Windows
Desktop, select Properties, Voodoo2, Advanced, Disable Direct
3D support). Some cards may have some different label, such
as "Disable ArcadeFX2 Direct3D Support". In either case,
Direct3D needs to be disabled in the Voodoo driver. Please
consult your operating system/video card documentation for
further information on how to modify your Video Card
configuration.
7. Fly! doesn't startup. What can I do?
Ans.: If you have problems on startup, your file in the system
directory called user.rio could be corrupt. Rename it to
another name and try again to start Fly!. Your automatically
saved data is in this file so you won't be able to use it.
8. While running Fly! in full-screen mode, the system just freezes
up and the sound stutters.
Ans.: There are two possibilities:
First, you may have pressed a key combination that included
the ALT key (i.e. "ALT-V".) Windows reserves these
key-combinations for menus (in the case of Fly!, ALT-V brings
down the 'view' menu.) To fix this, simply press ESC twice.
The first ESC hides the view menu, and the second ESC returns
focus from the menu bar to Fly!. Note that some video cards
will allow the menu to be visible even when using 3D hardware
acceleration.
Second, you may have discovered a bug in Fly! While we have
done everything we can to prevent system crashes at all costs,
it is possible that we've missed something. If this is the
case, and you'd like to help us fix the problem by notifying us,
simply go to the Intro screen in Fly! and click on support.
9. Sometimes after opening and closing a window, or using the full
screen menu bar, camera keys (Ctrl+arrows) seem to stop responding.
Ans: This was a known bug that is believe to be resolved. If you
experience this problem, simply cycle the camera using the camera
key ('C'), and control will return to the camera panning keys.
If you experience this problem, please notify technical support
of your machine configuration and operating system version.
General Simulation Performance
If performance is slow, try ratcheting down the various Graphics and
Sound options (see User Manual, pp. 10-13). In particular, items such
as Shadows and Clouds can significantly increase drawing time per frame,
and Terrain Visibility can impact the number of textures drawn each frame.
Some scenery areas are also more processor intensive than others,
particularly those with mountain ranges.
Application and saved game load times can be considerably decreased by
adding more physical RAM to your machine, particularly machines with 64MB
or less installed. If you believe low memory may be affecting your load
times, make sure the Texture Cache Size option in the Graphics dialog is
set as low as possible to conserve free memory.
If you are seeing video "artifacts" or drawing problems, or Fly! fails to
detect your video card, make sure you have the latest drivers available
from the video card manufacturer. Having the correct drivers installed
is absolutely critical to the correct operation and best performance of Fly!
Graphics Card/Chipset specific issues:
The Diamond Viper 770 video card has a bug in the driver and does not
draw the overcast layer properly.
Some 3Dfx cards will incur a large frame rate penalty the first time
you enter Fly! If you believe your frame rates are much lower than you
typically see during flights, press the Escape key (Esc) to return to
the Fly! user interface, press the Fly! button in the lower right corner,
then press the Resume Flight button. Frame rates will correct if your
card has this particular anomoly.
Certain cards that use the Velocity 128 Chipset (i.e. STB Velocity 3D)
do not render properly in other than DirectX5 Compatible (640x480x16)
mode. If your computer has a card with this chipset, and is
experiencing graphics problems (especially aircraft rendering) in
Fly!, please try selecting the above setting in the Fly!
Options/Graphics menu.
We have experienced problems when using Diamond Monster 3D drivers
(up to version 4.01.10.1600). We found that switching to 3DFX's
REFERENCE drivers alleviated these problems. These drivers can be
found at HTTP://www.3dfx.com/.
For best results, Fly! will attempt to auto-detect and configure your
video card. If your video card is properly detected, but you still
experience poor performance, try selecting the generic DirectX6 or
DirectX5 video card from the video card list.