Grom Readme File v 1.0
November 2002
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
1.1 Minimum
1.2 Recommended
2. GAME ISSUES
2.1 Installation
2.2 Starting the Game
2.3 Mouse control and default keys
2.4 FAQs
3. SUPPORT
3.1 Support contact
3.2 Updates
3.3 Grom online
1. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
1.1 Minimum
Pentium II 350 MHz or better
128 MB RAM
MS DirectX compatible graphics card with 32 MB and latest drivers
12 x CD-ROM drive
MS DirectX compatible soundcard
MS Windows compatible mouse and keyboard
MS Windows 95B/98/ME/2000/XP
800 MB free hard drive space
MS DirectX 7 or higher
1.2 Recommended
Pentium III 800 MHz
256 MB RAM
MS DirectX compatible graphics card with 64 MB and latest drivers
MS Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
Remaining requirements: see above
2. GAME ISSUES
2.1 Installation
To install Grom on your machine, start "setup.exe" with a left double-click.
Follow the instructions for a full installation of the game.
2.2 Starting the game
Start Grom by double-clicking the Grom shortcut on your desktop or
double-clicking on the Grom icon located in the Windows start menu.
2.3 Mouse control and default keys
You can play Grom by using the mouse and/or the keys of your keyboard:
Left mousebutton:
Select character click on a character or on his portrait
Select several draw a selection box around the characters
characters
Move character(s) click the spot where character is supposed to go to
Move character(s) double-clicking the spot where the character is
supposed to go to activates the running mode
Choose a weapon click object menu in the upper right corner, choose
weapon in dropdown menu and release the mousebutton
Use weapon place crosshairs on an enemy and fire weapon when
bright red crosshair is visible
Open map click on the map icon in the inventory
Open documents click on the documents icon in the inventory
Right mousebutton:
Choose character AI click anywhere and set mode on wheel menu to 'defend',
mode 'attack' or 'fire at will'
Choose character's click anywhere and set mode on wheel menu to 'stand',
stance 'lie down' or 'crouch'
Open rucksack click on a character or his portrait
Close rucksack click anywhere next to the rucksack
Show item info with rucksack open, click on item
The following key configuration is set by default and can be changed in the
game menu’s options:
~ selects all characters in the team
1 to 5 select individual characters
Shift modify selection
Space toggle the pause mode on or off
Esc, M show the main menu
F2 quick save
F3 quick load
Delete hide/show desktop icons
+/- zoom in/out
Arrow scroll background
Ctrl (held) make characters invisible to the mouse pointer (useful
when trying to select items screened by character models)
Enter in wide-screen mode: fast forward cutscenes
Backspace reload weapon
Q to P and A to L select Weapons
Z make activated character(s) stand
X make activated character(s) crouch
C make activated character(s) lie down
V AI mode "Attack"
B AI mode "Fire at will"
N AI mode "Defend"
G small medkit
H medkit
J the stone of health
K mine detector
2.4 FAQs
"When is the game over?"
The game is over as soon as one of your character dies - or you have
successfully completed the whole game!
"Sometimes a book-symbol pops up with some text next to it - what is it
for?"
Whenever this symbol pops up, a new entry was added to the documents in
your inventory. To see the new entry, right-click on the character and
left-click on the documents symbol left of the rucksack.
"How can I best act in a fight?"
Fighting is a very important element of the game. Characters will engage in
combat with various of enemies and use a variety of weapons. At the very
beginning of the game, it is important to remember a few key fighting tips:
- If any character led by the Player is killed the game is over.
- If you don’t kill all the enemies in a particular location, most of the time
you may not be able to leave that location.
- Not all enemies can be killed just by shooting at them.
- You can fight only against specific enemies; you cannot shoot at a non-enemy
NPC, nor can you kill it. An enemy may be recognized by moving the mouse
cursor over it if the mouse cursor changes into the crosshairs icon.
- Characters led by the Player can wound each other.
"What is the Yak for and how can I control it?"
The Yak carries an extended inventory for your use, but it won't be there
throughout the entire game. It has its own artificial intelligence and you can
set it this way:
Comma key: the Yak will follow you
Period key: the Yak will move away from you
Slash key: the Yak will stay where it is
"How can I pick up objects that are hidden by a character?"
Simply hold down the Ctrl key and move the cursor over the spot where you
think an object is located behind a character. Now the object is "visible" to
the cursor and may be picked up.
"How can I skip dialogues?"
During cutscenes you can accelerate time by pressing ENTER, which will
fast-forward the scene like a film. This is useful if you have already seen
the cutscene before. While scrolling through a cutscene, scrolling will stop
if there are some dialogue lines to choose from. Be careful!!! If you scroll
a cutscene and don’t remember what the characters in it were talking about you
may miss some key information about what to do next!!! Like regular
conversations, while a cutscene is playing, you cannot perform any other
actions.
"What do yellow and red lines between an enemy and one of my characters
tell me?" A yellow line tells you to be careful: you are close to the enemy
and he might see you if you act conspicuously. The red line means the enemy
has spotted you and will immediately attack or move into position to attack.
"How does the life energy status bar work?"
Energy bars appear as the following colors:
- Green color = condition
- Red color = life Points
- Violet Color = the character has a very small number of Life Points
remaining (the character may die very soon)
- Navy Blue color = time left for the character that lost consciousness
to regain it (see Blue).
- Blue color = time left for the character that lost consciousness
to get up by itself.
Two colors can be shown at the same time on the Energy Bar – for example,
green and red (Condition and Life Points). In this situation Condition will
be smaller than the number of Life Points. Energy Bars make it possible to
quickly see what shape your characters are in. If the green bar falls to zero,
the character will lose consciousness (if this is a player-led character) or
it will die (if this is an enemy). If the red bar falls to zero, the character
will die. Navy blue and blue colors are related to losing consciousness and
they are shown only on Energy Bars placed under Character Icons. A character
that loses consciousness cannot do anything - it just lies still and appears
to be dead. Enemies will not attack such a character, though they may stand
next to it and guard it. In the meantime the Energy Bar of the unconscious
character fills slowly with navy blue color. When it fills up it starts to
flicker faintly and fill with blue color. In the meantime you can select this
character to become an Active Character and start to control it in the usual
way. After selecting this character as the Active Character the enemies will
still ignore it and its Energy Bar will continue to fill with light blue
color. Only after performing any kind of action – changing the gun, opening
the rucksack, healing, making a movement or shooting will the enemies react
to the character and attack it. Because a character that regains consciousness
is very weak (it has only a few points of Condition), you will only have a
short time to shoot at the enemy before he reacts.
3. SUPPORT
3.1 Support contact
If you have any questions concerning the game, you can email us at
[email protected].
3.2 Updates
There is a built-in program that can check if there is a patch available for
the game. Choose the Grom group from your Windows start menu and click on
"check online for updates".
3.3 Grom online
You can find more information on Grom in the internet at
http://www.gromgame.de.
Information about the developer can be found on http://www.rebelmind.com.
Information about CDV and upcoming products are available at
http://www.cdv.de.
(c)2000-2002 CDV SOFTWARE ENTERTAINMENT AG. All rights reserved. CDV, the CDV
logo and GROM are either registered trademarks or trademarks of CDV Software
Entertainment AG or Rebelmind in Germany and/or other countries.
CDV Software Entertainment AG, Neureuter Str.37b, 76185 Karlsruhe, Germany
Tel: +49-(0)721-97224-0, Fax: +49-(0)721-97224-24
Ogg Vorbis. Copyright (c) 2001, Xiphophorus
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
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