Arena Wars Readme Version: 1.0.5 (09.08.2004) Contents 1. General <#1> 2. Changes and Additions to the Manual <#2> 3. Tips and Tricks <#3> 4. Known Technical Issues <#4> 5. System Requirements <#5> 6. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) <#6> 7. Technical Notes <#7> 8. Driver Help <#8> 9. Customer Support <#9> 10. Technical Support <#10> 1. General (top) <#top> Welcome to *Arena Wars*! This readme contains helpful information and should be your first stop if you experience technical difficulties. The official * Arena Wars * Homepage with more information and a community site can be found at http://www.ArenaWars.net. 2. Changes and Additions to the Manual (top) <#top> _Voice:_ You can always use voice recording when gaming, even if you just play a singleplayer mission. It is of course much more fun in a multiplayer game when you can talk directly with your team mates. It is even possible to talk to other observers while watching a game or a replay. For example, you can talk with all your team mates in a 4 vs 4 game or if you are watching a replay with some friends you all can talk to each other. To test voice recording and playback just go in /Options/ and activate /"Voice Recording"/, then press /"Test Voice Recording" /and see if you can hear yourself when speaking into the microphone/headset. If this does not work, try recording in windows with the audio recorder. If you have multiple soundcards, you can also specify the one you want to use for voice recording/playback. Edit this in the config.txt. The voice will be transmitted in a highly compressed format and is also saved into the replay. 10 minutes of voice will only use 100-500k in the replay depending on the voice quality used. Even the lowest voice quality with around 0.5k uses 16bit 16kHz decoding and will produce a high quality playback. Higher voice quality modes are a bit better and will not only transmit the voice, but also a lot of surrounding sounds (like if someone knocks on your door ^^). Voice is only recorded/transmitted if someone is actually speaking. Even in a 10 minute conversation between 2 people each participant only talks for about 30-50% of the time (most of the time the others are listening to what is being said and there are always some pauses when speaking). This means for the lowest voice quality a 10 minute game will only transmit around 100-200kb/player (this is effectively less than 0.2-0.3kb/s network traffic for each player's voice). It is also possible to disable voice recording completely and use other voice communications programs to talk with your friends, but this way other players in the game will not be able to hear you and the voice data is not recorded into the replay. _Webcam:_ Similar to voice recording it is also possible to record video data with the help of a webcam. Enable webcam recording in /Options/. Please read the descriptions for a better understanding of how your webcam will work in * Arena Wars*. The default quality is not set to the best quality possible, but it will allow up to 4 players with enabled webcams (e.g. 4 vs 4 game) to transmit all webcam, voice, game and player views even with a slower connection such as a modem or isdn. For higher quality you should connect using dsl or cable. If the bandwidth limit is reached, some data will be automatically cut off. The great thing about *Arena Wars * is that the webcam data of all players is recorded into the replay. This way you can look at the webcam videos when watching a replay. Webcam data is highly compressed (similar to voice data), 10 minutes of webcam data will use only 500-1000kb, depending on the quality and how much motion is going on. If you don't have a webcam you will still able to see other players' webcam video data in a game or when watching a replay. This feature is very cool and will hopefully get your buddies to buy a webcam too. _Command Line Arguments:_ You can use either / or - for command line arguments. /-ReplayManager/ Will NOT start AW, but will instead show the AWReplayManager application, which is useful to manage, browse, load and save replays with different settings (no voice, no webcam, or add voice, etc.) AW can be started from the ReplayManager (e.g. if you just want to watch a replay selected in the AWReplayManager). /-Fastest/ Start the game with the fastest graphic settings, see /Options/. /-Nicest/ Start the game with the nicest graphic settings (all effects on), see /Options/. / Resolution:(width x height [x refresh rate]) / Uses this resolution instead of the one in the / config.txt / file. You can also use an optional refresh rate. Examples: Resolution:800x600 Resolution:1024x768x75 If the resolution was not found or is not supported the program will automatically choose the best possible mode! /-OnlyChat/ or /-NoLoading/ No loading is performed at startup. When connecting online with these arguments joining or creating games is not possible, you can simply use AW as a chat client like mirc to chat on the exDream network. /-StartInternet/ Will immediately start Multiplayer Internet from the main menu when starting the game. /-Windowed/ Forces game to start in windowed mode. Useful in combination with -OnlyChat. /-NoSound/ Will not play any sound effect files. Music can still be used. /-NoMusic/ Will not play any music (from your music folder), sound can still be used. /AWOnlyChat.exe/ executes /ArenaWars.exe/ with following arguments: /-Resolution:800x600 -OnlyChat -StartInternet -windowed./ /AWReplayManager.exe/ executes just "/ArenaWars.exe -ReplayManager/" You can create a .bat or .cmd file and write all command line arguments in there, then just execute this new file. 3. Tips and Tricks (top) <#top> * Make sure your middle mouse button (if available) is activated. Certain drivers deactivate the middle mouse button or use it for another function. The middle mouse button is very important for the game and used for fast scrolling (ALT-Key + right-mouse button has the same effect) * If you want to play multiplayer mode but do not have a CDKEY you can still connect in DEMO-Mode to find out what is happening on the gameservers... * Always try and read the additional information at the bottom of the screen when hovering the mouse over units, menus, buttons etc. 4. Known Technical Issues (top) <#top> * _Network does not start_: You cannot start *Arena Wars* if .Net security settings do not allow it. You can only start it from a local hard drive. * _CD not found_: If you receive the error that your CD is not found, you should deactivate your anti- virus software as well as additional applications running in the background before starting *Arena Wars*. Virtual CD-ROM drives should be deactivated, especially if you have an SCSI-System. 5. System Requirements (top) <#top> In order to play *Arena Wars*, you need the following minimum requirements: * Pentium III (or compatible) 700MHz Processor * 128Mb RAM for Windows 98SE or Windows ME * 256Mb RAM for Windows 2000 or Windows XP * 250Mb HDD Space * DirectX8 Graphic Card with 32Mb (GeForce 2MX or Radeon 7500) * DirectX Sound Card * Quad-Speed CD/DVD Drive * Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP * For Multiplayer: 56K Modem or Network Card * DirectX 9.0b and .NET Framework 1.1 (both installed from CD) The following is the recommended specification: * Pentium IV (or compatible) 1.4GHz Processor or higher * 256Mb RAM for Windows 98SE or Windows ME * 512Mb RAM for Windows 2000 or Windows XP * 250Mb HDD Space * DirectX8 Graphic Card with 128Mb (GeForce 4 Ti or Radeon 9600XT) * DirectX Sound Card * Quad-Speed CD/DVD Drive * Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP * For Multiplayer: 56K Modem (or higher) or Network Card * For Multiplayer: Headset and Webcam for Voice and Video transmission * DirectX 9.0b and .NET Framework 1.1 (both installed from CD) *Important Notice: * We cannot guarantee that *Arena Wars* will run on all Laptops and Notebooks. Since there are so many different types of systems on the market, it is impossible to test all of them. The graphics chips are also not the same as on a desktop computer. If your Laptop/Notebook has the minimum requirements, we still cannot guarantee that *Arena Wars* will run and can therefore offer no guaranteed Technical Support. 6. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) (top) <#top> More information can be found at the complete FAQ at http://www.ArenaWars.net. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Q:* After the installation of *Arena Wars* I suddenly have to log in to my Windows 2K or Windows XP system. What happened? *A: *This happens automatically after installing .NET Framework 1.1 which is required for *Arena Wars*. This can be changed in Control Panel at any time though. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Q:* Why is Windows 98 (First Edition) and Windows 95 not supported? *A:* Due to the age of these operating systems the ability to run the game is not guaranteed. The minimum required operating system therefore is Windows 98SE as described on the packaging of *Arena Wars*. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Q:* Voice and Video quality is not optimal and jumps when playing, why? *A: *A possible cause is that you have set the quality setting to "high". This should only be done for Network or Broadband Connections. Try putting the setting to "minimum". Webcams should be configured for optimal settings using the delivered Driver. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Q:* I get unhandled exceptions when I try to start the game! *A:* Make sure Microsoft .NET has been installed correctly. If *Arena Wars* still does not work, there may be a problem with a disabled Performance Counter, which is used by Microsoft .NET by default. To check that download this . This will install itself in c:\program files\Resource Kit\. Execute / exctrlst.exe / and make sure that the checkbox / Performance Counters enabled / is enabled. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Q: *The Game runs really slowly. What can I do? *A:* There are a number of optimization methods: * Make sure you have the minimum requirements. See Chapter 5: System Requirements <#5> * You might have old drivers. Please install the latest drivers. A guide can be found under Chapter 8: Driver Help <#8> * . Reduce the Resolution of *Arena Wars* under "/Settings/". * Make sure you have enough HDD space and you have the minimum RAM and Video Memory requirement. * Defragment your HDD using DEFRAG from Microsoft (Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Defrag * Make sure there are no applications running in the background when starting *Arena Wars*. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. Technical Notes (top) <#top> *Windows 98SE / ME* Please make sure that you have no programs running in the background (like anti-virus software). If there are programs running in the background please deactivate them. *Windows XP / 2000* With Windows XP / Windows 2000 always make sure you have the latest updates and Service Packs installed. When this readme was created; Windows XP had Service Pack 1 available, whilst Windows 2000 had Service Pack 4. In order to be up to date you need to run a Windows Update, which can be found in Internet Explorer under "Tools > Windows Update". 8. Driver Help (top) <#top> WARNING: Always make sure you deactivate your Anti-Virus software when installing a driver. If you are experiencing problems with your game, then an old driver is usually the cause of the problem. Here is how you can find the latest drivers for most systems: *Please make sure you know the chip-set type of your graphics card before you download!* *NVIDIA* (e.g. TNT2 und GeForce) http://www.nvidia.com (International) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *ATI* (e.g. Radeon) http://www.ati.com (International) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Further Graphic Card Manufacturers* http://www.matrox.com - Matrox http://www.sis.com - SIS http://www.powervr.com - PowerVR (Kyro I / II) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Mainboard Manufacturers* http://www.intel.com - Intel Inc. http://www.sis.com - SIS http://www.viaarena.com - Via http://www.nvidia.com - nVidia ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Sound Card Manufacturers* http://www.creative.com - Creative Labs (Soundblaster) http://www.terratec.com - Terratec ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9. Customer Service (top) <#top> Please visit our website for information on products, hints & tips, and troubleshooting advice: http://www.ascaron.com or directly to the forum at http://www.ascaron-forum.com For gameplay issues please visit the official site http://www.arenawars.net 10. Technical Support (top) <#top> Due to the huge variety of hardware on the market today, it is impossible to absolutely guarantee that software will run without error on all machines. We try to ensure the highest possible level of compatibility by going through extended 'Test Runs' and subjecting the software to extensive 'Beta Tests'. If you do experience technical issues you can contact our Technical Hotline in Germany: *+49 (0) 52 41 / 96 69 0* (from Monday to Friday, 13hr00 - 16hr00, GMT, London). Please make sure you have all the details of your technical problem ready before phoning. Alternatively you can reach us through the Technical Support form: Ascaron Support-Form . Please have your DxDiag information to hand. You create this diagnostics file by doing the following: 1.) Down at the left click on "Start" and click on "Run...". 2.) Type "dxdiag" in the window and then click on "OK". 3.) When the program has finished loading simply click on "Save all information" to save the file (save it with a .txt file extension). 4.) If the program hasn't successfully loaded and resulted in going back to desktop or a system crash, there is a general severe problem on your PC which should be solved first. As long as this program can't be started the game won't most probably be able to start either. Please contact you PC dealer for further help. 5.) Attach the DxDiag.txt to your email along with a problem description. You can also contact us by standard mail: ASCARON Entertainment GmbH Dieselstr. 66 D-33334 Gütersloh Germany Fax: +49 (0) 52 41 / 96 66 10 also: ASCARON Entertainment UK Ltd Chantry House High Street Coleshill Birmingham B46 3BP United Kingdom Fax: +44 (0) 1675 465570 *Have Fun Playing!* Copyright Notices: Copyright exDream entertainment and Ascaron 2004. All rights reserved. All names, trademarks and logos are property of their respective owners.