FLYING CORPS GOLD(tm)
This readme.txt file is available in other languages. Look in the relevant
sub-directory of the game. The following languages are available:
Language Subdirectory\file
English english\readme.txt
French french\readme.txt
German german\liesmich.txt
Italian italian\readme.txt
Spanish spanish\readme.txt
Portuguese brazil\readme.txt
History.
--------
v2.0 Flying Corps Gold with Mission Editor, enhanced multiplayer,
more aircraft and shapes etc.
v1.1 3D card support, enhanced view system, numerous fixes,
multiplayer and improvements suggested by users.
v1.00b Demo - Contains a fraction of the landscape available in the full game.
v1.00a Patch to include fixed views and various other view problems.
v1.00 Big Demo
v1.00 Compiled December 1996
-------------------------------------------
CONTENTS
-------------------------------------------
Important DirectX Notes
3d cards
Power VR
Views
Joystick Support
Controlling data rate for multiplayer games
FAQ's (technical issues)
FAQ's (in-flight & other gameplay issues)
f22 pro and tqs config files
Customer Service Information
-------------------------------------------
IMPORTANT DIRECTX NOTES (Windows 95 Users Only):
To run the Windows 95 version of Flying Corps you will need to
use DirectX components. You may already have DirectX installed.
The game will run with version 3.0 upwards.
We offer to install DirectX 5.0 during the installation process.
IF YOU HAVE PREVIOUSLY EXPERIENCED PROBLEMS WITH THE USE OF
DIRECTX, WE STRONGLY ADVISE YOU TO SKIP THE DIRECTX INSTALLATION.
IN THESE CASES, PLEASE ATTEMPT TO USE THE DOS VERSION OF THE GAME
BY RESTARTING IN DOS MODE.
See INSTALLATION UNDER DOS in the Technical Supplement.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
3D CARDS
3D cards are supported using Windows 95 Direct3D. On 4Mb 3Dfx and
Rendition cards, there are two significant improvements:
improved framerate
16 bit colour
The 3Dfx can be used at 640x480, however on a 4Mb Rendition card the
resolution must be dropped to 320x240 to avoid "texture swopping" when
flying long distances. The higher resolution is possible on the 3Dfx
card because it supports 8 bit imagemaps.
A Rage II card has been tested successfully with Flying Corps.
If the driver for your card is not present or is "greyed-out",
please read "3Dfx.txt".
Matrox Cards
------------
Older Matrox cards are not supported on this version. They do not support
all the features required.
On older Matrox cards the display can be improved by selecting "horizon
fade far".
Power VR
--------
To run correctly Flying Corps Gold requires PowerVR drivers version
4.01b1 or later. The latest drivers for PowerVR can be downloaded from
their web site at http://www.powervr.com
To allow Flying Corps Gold to run with the PowerVR 3D accelerator card
vertex fogging needs to be enabled. To do this, right click the mouse
on the Windows 95 desktop and select 'properties' from the pop-up menu.
Now, select the 'PowerVR' tab. Click on the 'Advanced' button to display
the application hints dialogue.
On the application hints dialogue select 'Add'. This will display a dialogue
box asking for details of the new application to add. In the box labelled
'Enter description of application' type 'Flying Corps Gold'. In the box
beneath it labelled 'Enter application filename' type 'wfly.exe'.
Now, select OK. This will return you to the main application hints dialogue
where you can now tick the box labelled 'Vertex Fog'. Do this and then select
OK. Flying Corps Gold should now run correctly.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
VIEWS
Track view has been changed so that the camera is no longer fixed.
It now appears to be on a chase aircraft. This effect can be
toggled on/off using the shift w key.
Shift f1-f5 can be used to view the previously targetted item.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
JOYSTICK SUPPORT
Basic 2-direction, 2-button joysticks are supported.
In addition, Throttle, rudder and 4 buttons can be supported through
the full PC joystick port.
A coolie hat compatible with Thrustmaster or Flightstick standards
is also recognised.
If you have more advanced joystick and throttle hardware which plugs
into the keyboard port then you should use the software provided with
the hardware to program the coolie hats and additional buttons.
We have provided the files ROWAN.B50 and ROWAN.M50 to program the
Thrustmaster F-16 and F-22 sticks. These are text files that can be
converted for use with similar hardware.
We advise you to continue to access the throttle through our
analogue interface.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTROLLING DATA RATE FOR MULTIPLAYER GAMES
In multiplayer games the host may adjust the data rate in order to get
a game running on different services. The values range from 1 (fastest) to
5 (slowest). As a guide default values are:
Network/Serial connection 1
Modem 2
Internet 5 (with poor ping rate)
For internet gamers with fast pings a rate of 4 or 3 may be possible.
Notes:
- Adjusting the rate may cause the game to exit quickly, if this
happens increase the number and try again.
- Most games will work well with the default setting.
- Wireplay games are a fixed rate and cannot be altered.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (TECHNICAL ISSUES):
Q. What level of install is recommended?
A. The MEDIUM level is recommended. The SMALL does use less hard
disk space but you will encounter delays as sound effects are
loaded in from the CD.
Q. Running under Windows I sometimes get an out of RAM error.
A. Your hard disk may be full and so Windows cannot page out.
Q. I installed the game in Windows then played the game under
DOS. The game played ok but I didn't get any sound.
A. The DOS install includes a sound configuration stage. By
installing under Windows, this stage was bypassed. To configure
the sound after installation, run the DOS install program THAT
IS ON THE HARD DISK in the Flying Corps directory.
Q. My session is freezing in Windows 95.
A. If the game freezes when playing under Windows, press the
ENTER key to attempt to return to Windows. If this happens it is
safest to shut down before playing again.
Note1: Do not play Flying Corps with other applications loaded.
Note2: Disable Windows screen savers when playing Flying Corps.
Q. Running under Windows 95, the game seems to slow down when
the music starts and the music seems fragmented.
A. If you experience this problem then you most probably have an early
SoundBlaster card fitted. Either play the game with music disabled
or use midi output or try the DOS version of the game. The music
requires 18+ channels which can be supplied by a SB16 card in mono.
Q. Sometimes after flying straight and level for a period the game
pauses while the CD is accessed. Can the pause be eliminated?
A. On some machines the cache-ing of the CD can interfere with the
spooling of the landscape data. Experience has shown that this
effect can be reduced or eliminated by one or both of the following
actions:
reduce the size of the CD cache,
disable SmartDrv cache-ing of the CD.
The size of the CD cache can be reduced by editing the MSCDEX line in
your autoexec.bat file. Find or add the /M parameter. Try /M:1. You may
also be able to modify the CD cache by editing the appropriate line in
your config.sys file.
SmartDrv cache-ing of the CD can be disabled by either removing the
SMARTDRV line in your autoexec.bat file or placing it before the
MSCDEX line.
In Windows '95 look in
Start:settings:controlpanel:
system:
Performance:filesystem:
cd-rom
Reduce the cache size to Small;
reduce the access pattern to double-speed.
These modifications may reduce the efficiency of some other software so
remember to reverse them if you find this is so.
Included on the CD is a CD access tuning utility called FixSeek.exe.
By following the instuctions in this program, the CD accesses in Flying Corps
can be minimised.
Q.Why does the music sound poor on the Windows version of the game? It
was fine on DOS version. I have an AWE32 card, so it should sound good.
A.Windows may have automatically selected the wrong MIDI device
for output. Here is the solution:
1) Under Windows, choose SETTINGS menu, and double click on the
CONTROL PANEL icon.
2) From there select MULTIMEDIA, then select MIDI.
3) You will see a list of MIDI output devices to choose from.
4) Select the MIDI output device of your choice.
Note:
If you know you have an AWE32 device, but it doesn't
appear in the MIDI device list, then it means Windows does not
know it is present in your machine; this is remedied by
installing the device using the Windows Device Manager.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTHER FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Q. Why do my aircraft numbers change from mission to mission?
A. We change the numbers to be appropriate for each mission. The
player can then go to the squadron screen to override these
defaults.
Q. If I am not in command, which position do I fly?
A. This depends on how many aircraft are flying on the day. Until
you get squadron command you will be in flight B. However if only
one flight is going up on the day, then you will be bumped
into Flight A. Select the squadron icon to see the flight
details for the day.
Q. What does the Assigned aircraft message mean?
A. This means that the computer has information about the
aircraft that the ai has assigned to the player. The assigned
aircraft is the best option for the player to attack, however
the player can please himself whether or not he takes the advice.
To padlock on the assigned aircraft press f5 when the "Assigned
Aircraft" message is displayed in yellow.
Q. Why does the second line of messages on the info line get
printed in different colours?
A. The messages to the left are brighter because they are the
most recent messages. Messages to the right could be very old.
Q. Why doesn't the aircraft fly straight and level when I take my
hand off the joystick? The aircraft will fly straight and level
when under keyboard control.
A. WW1 aircraft were tail heavy and forward pressure was required
on the stick. In particular, on the Camel this pressure was not
necessary at the end of a patrol because the centre of gravity
changed as fuel was used up.
On our model, you will find that the effect is most noticeable at
low altitudes and disappears at high altitudes.
Trying to fly an aircraft from the keyboard is tricky. The pilot
needs help and so most of the time we automatically trim the
aircraft whenever he releases a control key. This trim is
disabled when the aircraft is at a steep roll or is about to
stall.
If you want to try keyboard control without the trim, then
configure the joystick as normal but fly using the keyboard.
Q. Take-off: Sometimes I pull back on the stick but don't go up.
A. Possibly you are trying to drag the aircraft into the sky by
pulling hard on the stick. The aircraft tail is probably
digging into the ground and so the aircraft is being slowed down.
Q. Pressing tab when flying gives accelerated time. The display
changes to a map which shows the route, waypoints and an
aeroplane icon indicating the progress of my aircraft. Why does
the aeroplane icon sometimes not follow the route?
A. The icon will move away from the straight line route if there
is an interesting item nearby. An example would be for the
aircraft to follow a railway line that runs parallel to the
route rather than follow the route itself.
Q. Why can't I do a snap or flick roll in any of the aircraft?
A. This manoeuvre consists of pulling back on the stick until the
wings are nearly stalled and then applying full rudder. If the
joystick is not correctly calibrated it is sometimes not
possible to move the elevators sufficiently to generate the
stall. You can see if this is the cause of the problem by trying
the following test:
go to a scramble mission and get straight and level
get the angle of attack indicators up on the top line of the
screen (press I key)
roll the aircraft into a 90 degree roll
pull back on the stick as far as it will go
One or both of the angle of attack indicators should go red and
the aircraft should enter a spin. Release the stick to recover.
You can use opposite rudder to exit the spin quicker.
If you don't get a red indicator then you need to recalibrate the
stick.
We have found that it is possible to get false readings during
calibration if the stick is moved quickly and bangs against the
stops. When you recalibrate try moving the stick slowly.
Also, check that the joystick position icon covers the whole box
area during the final test phase of calibration.
Q. Why do I start to roll quickly when I push the stick forward
when in a steep dive?
A. When trying to maintain a steep dive it is likely that you
will be flying with a negative angle of attack. Push too far and
it is possible to stall the wings and if there is any difference
between the lift on the two wings a spin is induced.
Q. Why can't I do a snap roll on the Camel when Gyroscope effect
is enabled?
A. Possibly you haven't done 180 degrees of the roll before the
nose starts to come down. The gyroscope effect will then oppose
the roll. One technique used by WW1 aviators was to remove power
just before entering the manoeuvre. The gyroscope effect is then
reduced and also the asymetric rigging designed to oppose the
engine torque helps the roll.
Q. Why does the aircraft icon on the in-flight map sometimes
cycle between two waypoints?
A. The two waypoints will be the beginning and end of the patrol.
Q. Sometimes I set up a large squadron of aircraft in the Mission
Editor and when I play the mission I see some of the aircraft crash
into airfield items like crates and drums. How can I avoid this?
On some airfields there is not much space for large formation
takeoffs. There are two ways of improving the situation:
set the wind direction so that the squadron takes off
in the direction with the biggest open space. This will
require some trial and error,
instead of having one big squadron takeoff, each flight
could take-off separately.
Q. Compared with the single player mode, do the f1 and f2 keys work
differently in multiplayer?
Yes, in single player the f1 key is used to padlock unfriendly aircraft
and the f2 key is used to padlock friendly aircraft.
In multiplayer the function of the two keys is identical: they padlock
the next nearest aircraft.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
F22 Pro and TQS config files
=============================
These have been supplied by Len "Viking1" Hjalmarson -
[email protected]
CUSTOMER SERVICE DETAILS
In the United Kingdom -
Customer Service Hotline: 0181 343 9143 (Mon-Fri 9:30-6:00)
Fax: 0181 343 7447
email: [email protected]
Our Address: EMPIRE INTERACTIVE
677 High Road
North Finchley
LONDON, N12 0DA
In the U.S. -
Technical Support: (415) 439 4859
Customer Service/Sales/
Product Information: 1 800 216 9706
email: [email protected][email protected]
Our Address: EMPIRE INTERACTIVE
580 California Street, 16th Floor
San Francisco
CA94104