------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dirt Track Racing 2 version 1.00 Copyright + 2002 Ratbag, Pty Ltd. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Installation 2. System Requirements 3. Input Configuration 4. Multiplayer 5. Multiplayer Commands 6. Video Options 7. Other Options 8. Troubleshooting - Video Problems 9. Troubleshooting - Sound Problems 10. Troubleshooting - Other Problems ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Installation ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dirt Track Racing 2 (DTR2) can be installed by selecting the "install" option on the program that runs when the CD is inserted, if Autorun is enabled. If you do not have Autorun enabled, select Start -> Run, then type in D:\setup.exe, where D: is the letter of your CD-ROM drive. After installation, you can run the program by selecting "Dirt Track Racing 2" from the appropriate shortcut directory (the default is "Infogrames\Dirt Track Racing 2") on the start menu. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. System Requirements ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Minimum System Requirements OS: Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP CPU: Pentium II 400 MHz or equivalent RAM: 64 MB VIDEO: DirectX 8 compatible video card with at least 8 Mb RAM SOUND: Any DirectX compatible card DISK SPACE: 200 MB CD-ROM: 4X Recommended System Requirements OS: Windows 98/2000/XP CPU: 800 MHz or higher RAM: 128 MB VIDEO: nVidia GeForce, ATI Radeon, or better DISK SPACE: 520 MB CD-ROM: 8X CONTROLLER: DirectX compatible force feedback device The latest version of DirectX can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/directx/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3. Input Configuration ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The input options section of DTR2 allows you to set up your keys or other input device. If you have a joystick, wheel or gamepad, before running DTR2 ensure that it is properly set up and calibrated in the "Game Controllers" application under the Windows "Control Panel". You should then calibrate the device in the input options of DTR2. It is only necessary to calibrate a particular joystick once. The default keys for control are: left, right - Steer. up - Accelerate. down - Brake. space - Change camera view. left shift - Half lock steering. X - Change gear up. Z - Change gear down. T - Use tearoff. [ - Look left. ] - Look right. Other keys you can use when in a race are: escape - In multiplayer, quits the race. In single player, pauses the race and provides a few options, such as exit, resume, and replay. F3 - Toggle display of the HUD (race information). F4 - Toggle display of the rear view mirror. F12 - Take a screenshot (useable when in a race and when in the interface). Screenshots are saved to c:\snap*.tga. When watching a race in multiplayer, the tab key can be used to switch between the free camera mode and following each of the cars in turn. While following a car, the normal change camera view key (space by default) can be used to change views. When in the free camera mode, use the mouse to aim the camera. Hold down the left button to accelerate in the direction the camera is facing, and hold down the right button to slow down. If you wish to pause the rotation of the car meshes in the interface, hold down the right mouse button. The rotation will resume when the button is released. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4. Multiplayer ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From within the interface, you can create a new game by selecting "new game" on the multiplayer server list screen. Other players on your LAN will then be able to see the server in their server list, and will be able to connect to your game. For Internet play, the simplest way to connect to other games is to use GameSpy Arcade. This can be installed either during the DTR2 installation process, or by double-clicking on the .exe file in the "GameSpy" directory on the game CD. GameSpy Arcade will help you join multiplayer games on the Internet more easily; you can access it by either clicking on "Play DTR2 Online with GameSpy Arcade!" in the DTR2 shortcut folder on the Start Menu, by running GameSpy Arcade itself directly, or by using the server browser in DTR2's multiplayer menu. Alternatively, you can specify the IP address of the machine to connect to. This can be done by selecting "Join IP" on the multiplayer server list screen. The player who hosts the game can determine their IP address by clicking on "Multiplayer Server" in the DTR2 shortcut folder; this will display the computer's IP address in the "Interface" box. DTR2 only supports TCP/IP, so in order to play on a LAN each machine will need to have TCP/IP networking for the network card set up. To set up TCP/IP networking, follow these steps: 1. Open My Computer -> Control Panel, then run the Network application. 2. If TCP/IP for your network card is not in the list, then: a) Click Add. b) Double-click Protocol. c) Select Microsoft on the left hand side, and TCP/IP on the right hand side. d) Click OK. 3. Select the TCP/IP item in the list, for your network card (not for dialup networking, if you have that installed). 4. Click Properties. 5. Select the IP Address tab. 6. Click "Specify an IP address", then enter an IP address of 192.168.0.xxx, where xxx is 1 for machine 1 on your LAN, 2 for machine 2 on your LAN, etc. 7. Enter a Subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. 8. Click OK, then OK on the next screen. You will probably need to restart your computer. The "Multiplayer Server" icon installed in the start menu can also be used to start a dedicated server, which other players can connect to. When the server program is run, it will prompt for some values. If desired, you can select to register the server with GameSpy, meaning that other players on the Internet will be able to connect to the server using GameSpy Arcade. Note that the server executable does not require the data in order to be able to run. When installing the game, you have the option to install the game as a "Multiplayer Spawn". This option is the same as a full installation, except that it installs a cut-down version of the main executable. The cut-down version will run without the CD, but will only be able to join multiplayer LAN games. In this way, many players can race together on a LAN with only one CD. Note that at least one player with a CD must be present to start the race, and that this player must host the game. If your system is running behind a firewall, you will need to go through several steps to allow DTR2 to run properly. Refer to the game manual for details. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5. Multiplayer Commands ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DTR2 contains multiplayer commands which can be typed in the chat room entry box. Note that some of these commands do not work unless everyone is chatting. These are: /gethost [password] If a dedicated server is set up with a password, you may obtain host status with this command. Note that password is case sensitive. /listids Displays a list of players and their IDs. /givehost [id] Makes the specified player the host. This command can only be issued by the host. /setplayerlimit [limit] Prevents more than [limit] players from joining the server (can be 1-10). This does not kick out existing players if there are already more than the limit. The limit is reset to 10 when the server empties of all players. This command can only be issued by the host. /resetlimit Resets the player limit to 10. This command can only be issued by the host. /playerlimit Displays the current player limit. /resetpoints Sets all currently connected player's points to zero. This command can only be issued by the host. /setplayerpoints [id] [points] Gives player [id] the number of points specified by [points]. This command can only increase the player's points, and you cannot assign points to yourself. This command can only be issued by the host. /setgridmode [gridmode] Specifies the way the cars are ordered on the starting grid. Grid modes are "random", "rank", and "reverserank" (don't include quotation marks). For example, "/setgridmode reverserank" will make players with the least points start at the front of the pack. The default is random. The grid mode is reset to random when the server empties of players. This command can only be issued by the host. /gridmode Displays the current grid mode. /kick [id] Removes the specified player from the server. However, the player can connect again immediately. This has the same effect as clicking the kick button alongside the player in the chat room. This command can only be issued by the host. /kickban [id] Removes the specified player from the server and prevents that player from connecting to the server again until bans are cleared or the server empties of players. You can not kickban yourself. This command can only be issued by the host. /clearbans Allows any banned players to connect to the server again. This command can only be issued by the host. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6. Video Options ------------------------------------------------------------------------ When you first run the game, DTR2 will set the video options to some values that are appropriate for your video card. You may wish to change some of these to improve performance at the expense of visual quality, or vice versa. Note that the user interface is not affected by most of these options, and changes to the few that do (e. g. specular) will only take effect after starting a race and returning, or exiting and restarting the game. Device - If you have multiple video cards, you can choose which to run the game on by changing this setting and clicking on the "Apply" button that appears. Resolution - The screen dimensions to display races at. Note that the modes listed are supported by your video card, but some may not be supported by your monitor. Colour Depth - Choose 32 bit (if available) for higher visual quality, but much slower performance. Filtering - This smooths out the "sparkling" of textures. Higher settings look better, but decrease performance. Multisampling - This smooths out the final screen image. It improves visual quality noticeably, but can slow down the game a lot. Monitor Refresh Sync - This synchronises the screen drawing to the refresh rate of your monitor. Turning it off will reduce problems with inconsistent frame rates, but you may occasionally notice a slight "tearing" of the image. This also causes problems on a few video cards. High Resolution Textures - When enabled, some game textures (e. g. the player's car) will be loaded at a higher resolution, which makes the image look sharper. Some cards do not support this option. 32 Bit Textures - When this option is on, alpha textures will be loaded in 32 bit colour instead of 16 bit, improving visual quality. Some cards do not support this option. Shadow Detail - Higher settings use more complicated methods of rendering car shadows, which look better and run more slowly. Particles - This changes the amount of dust and grass that is thrown up behind the cars. Having this set to high can cause frame rates to become inconsistent. Skidmark Detail - This sets the amount of skidmarks drawn at a time. Lighting Detail - The normal setting uses four lights for calculating the lighting on the cars, and the high setting uses seven. Cards with Hardware Transformation and Lighting capability (generally those at or above the recommended specifications) can set this to high with no noticeable performance penalty. Specular - Turns specular lighting (car shininess) on or off. Alpha - Turning this option off means that no objects with alpha textures will be rendered, so things like fences, light glows, and crowds will disappear. This makes the tracks look very empty, and is only recommended for systems with serious performance problems. Environment Mapping - This turns on or off the reflections of the track on the car. Brightness - Sets the overall brightness of your display. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. Other Options ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Various options for DTR2 can be selected by using the "Options Editor" on the Start Menu. These options can also be entered by adding the command line option to the shortcut used to run the game, if you prefer. A description of each of these options can be found in the Options Editor, by clicking on the various "Help" buttons. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8. Troubleshooting - Video Problems ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Always make sure that you have the latest drivers for your video card. Some older drivers may not support all features used in the game, run more slowly, or cause bugs. DTR2 has been tested on the following cards with the latest drivers: - nVidia: TNT to GeForce 4. No known problems. http://www.nvidia.com - ATI: Rage 128 to Radeon 8500. On Radeons with some driver versions, textures very near to the camera may appear to "wobble". Updating may help. http://www.ati.com - 3dfx: Voodoo 3 to Voodoo 5. Many driver versions will cause DTR2 to display in incorrect colours. 3dfx are no longer releasing drivers; we recommend you try downloading unofficial third party drivers from links on one of the following sites, which may peform more correctly: http://www.voodoofiles.com/3dfxhelp.asp http://www.x3dfx.com (Drivers section) - Diamond Stealth III S540, Viper II Savage 2000: these cards are not fully DirectX 8 compatible, and are not supported. You may experience some slight discolouration of particles in certain situations. If this occurs, running in 32 bit colour will fix the problem; decreasing the number of particles may also help. Some cards may also have problems when you press Alt+Tab within DTR2; this is most likely a driver issue. If you continue to have problems, reinstalling the latest version of DirectX may help in some cases. Also, downloading the latest drivers for your motherboard (particularly for AMD Athlons on operating systems earlier than Windows XP) may help improve performance and stability. See your motherboard manual for details, but the following sites may prove useful: AMD - http://www.amd.com VIA - http://www.viahardware.com Intel - http://www.intel.com If you are having trouble with low frame rates and have already updated your drivers, try turning some options to lower settings on the two Video Options screens. If the frame rate is inconsistent - speeding up and slowing down a lot during a race - then turning down the number of particles displayed may help. For users with video cards that support multisampling (or "full scene anti-aliasing") we recommend that you choose this option within the game, rather than turning it on in your video card settings in Windows. Having multisampling on all of the time may cause the game menus to display incorrectly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9. Troubleshooting - Sound Problems ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Always make sure that you have the latest drivers for your sound card installed. If you do not hear sound while the in-game movies are playing, this may be because you do not have an ADPCM audio codec installed. To install the codec, go to Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs. Click on the Windows Setup tab, and then double-click Multimedia. Tick Audio Compression, and then click OK. Make sure that you do not have hardware acceleration turned off. On the Control Panel, click on Multimedia (Windows 95, 98, ME; click on Sounds and Audio Devices in Windows 2000 or XP) -> Audio -> Advanced -> Performance. Make sure that the Hardware Acceleration slider is at least one stop from the left end, or preferably at the far right. ("Full") If you have a Yamaha sound card, look through the FAQ on http://www.ratbaggames.com for a number of things you can try to fix game crashes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10. Troubleshooting - Other Problems ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If the movies crash or do not play at all, it is possible that the Indeo 5 video playing codec has not been correctly installed. To check if it is installed in Windows 95, 98 or ME, go to Control Panel -> Multimedia Properties -> Devices -> Video Compression Codecs, and look for "Indeo video 5.10" (or greater). In Windows 2000 or XP, the codec can be found under Control Panel -> Sounds and Multimedia -> Hardware -> Video Codecs -> Properties -> Properties. If the codec has not been installed, you will need to reinstall the game. Close down any unnecessary applications before running DTR2. In particular, some virus checkers will decrease the game's performance, and some older versions may even cause the game to crash. Note that some virus checkers are still active even when not visible in the system tray. Look through the options available in the Options Editor. Some of them may help you fix specific problems with the game. If you have added data to the game, e. g. custom skins, try removing these and see if it helps. If you edit your original game files, we cannot predict what might happen. We highly recommend that you do not do so. Finally, if you experience a CRC error when installing from the CD-ROM, copy the CD's contents onto your hard drive and run Setup.exe from your computer. This problem only seems to occur on NTFS drives in Windows 2000 or XP, so installing onto a FAT32 partition would also help. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dirt Track Racing 2 + 2002 Ratbag Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Dirt Track Racing 2, Ratbag, the Ratbag logo, and the Difference Engine are trademarks.