Fighting Force - Readme File VER 1.0 ==================================== Contents -------- Hardware Requirements Installation In-game Hot Keys 3D Graphic Cards CD-ROM Drives Sound Cards Technical Help Setup Joysticks & Gamepads Fighting Force Related Web Sites Hardware Requirements --------------------- * Windows '95 compatible computer system, requires DirectX 5.0 (included) * Pentium 133 processor (166 MHZ or greater recommended) * 16 MB RAM required (24 MB RAM recommended) * 4X CD-ROM drive required * 100% Windows '95 compatible sound card required Fighting Force will not run on Windows NT 4.0, and was not designed to run on Laptops. Installation ------------ To install Fighting Force: 1. Place the Fighting Force CD in your CD-ROM drive. 2. After a few seconds, the Autorun Menu will come on screen. Select the Install option. If this menu does not appear, click the Start button, select Run and type D:\autorun (where D is the letter of your CD-ROM drive), then click OK. 3. The program will detect whether you have certified DirectX 5 drivers which allow Fighting Force to run properly under all configurations. Your current drivers may be updated as necessary. 4. The Fighting Force installation routine will then install the game files to your hard drive. At the end of the installation, you may be prompted to Restart your computer. 5. Upon completion of installation, run Setup to make sure your graphics card is configured properly. 6. Click the start button on the Autorun Menu or select Fighting Force in the Core Design folder on the Start Menu to begin the game. In-game Hot Keys ---------------- F1 Turns Bi Linear filtering On & Off F2 Turns Fog On & Off 3D Graphic Cards ---------------- Fighting Force supports most 3D accelerator card, providing that you have installed DirectX 5.0, and you have installed drivers for your 3D card which support all of the features of DirectX 5.0 required by Fighting Force. Due to the fact that DirectX 5.0 is a very recent release, there are a few known problems with the current sets of drivers that are available for the various 3D graphic card chipsets. As new drivers become available, many of these problems will be fixed. Graphics card manufacturers constantly update their drivers. Make sure you have the latest drivers available for your card. See the Fighting Force Related Web Sites section for a list of web sites where you will be able to obtain the very latest drivers for your graphics card. 3Dfx Voodoo Rush (All Types) The 3Dfx Voodoo Rush cards are properly detected by Fighting Force. The game will list the available driver under Graphics Card as "Primary Display Driver". This is the Direct3D driver that enables Fighting Force to run properly with a great number of 3D cards, including the Voodoo Rush cards. CD-ROM drives ------------- If you have a computer system with more than 1 CD-ROM drive, or a CD changer - Fighting Force runs most efficiently when the Fighting Force CD is in the first CD-ROM drive. The game will run in any of the CD drives, but you may not get redbook CD audio, and you may experience some slowdown. Depending on your hardware configuration, the game will sometimes try to stream data from the primary CD drive. In order to get the best performance, we recommend using the first occurring CD-ROM drive (or slot if a multi-changer) with Fighting Force. Sound Cards ----------- Fighting Force requires that you have a sound card which fully supports DirectX 5.0. If you are getting loud static popping, or get no sound effects at all, you will need to update your sound card drivers to drivers that are compatible with DirectX 5.0. Please note that some sound card manufacturers do not have DirectX 5.0 compatible drivers yet. Until there is a driver available, you can try reducing the Wave volume in Volume Control. Double-click on the small speaker on the Windows task tray to open Volume Control. Technical Help -------------- There are many 3D accelerator cards available on the market, and they all will perform differently under the same conditions, depending on the chipset, amount of video memory, and drivers installed. The key to getting the best performance out of your graphics card is to set the card to a higher resolution, while maintaining a good frame rate with no texture loss. Many accelerator cards will run Fighting Force very efficiently at 640x480 High Color. If you notice texture drop out - white blank spots on menu text, objects, terrain and characters including the characters, you will need to lower the graphics resolution. The card has run out of texture memory. The graphics resolution can be changed in the setup window. If you are experiencing very low frame rates, you may want to lower the screen resolution. You can also reduce the screen size, which will leave a border around the viewable area. Reducing the resolution and screen size will help Fighting Force run faster. You may also want to choose frame rate compensation and Z Buffering to On, this will also help speed things up. On some 3D cards, seaming may occur, drawing borders around polygons. This is most apparent when looking at the sky, which will have a tiled look to it. Turning off bi-linear filtering may help to fix this problem. Some of the graphic options such as Z-Buffering can be supported at lower resolutions, but may not be supported at higher resolutions. If you are having problems with the CD music or the game keeps experiencing difficulties, with a 24x CD drive, try turning the music volume down to zero in the options. If you continue to have problems, please contact your hardware manufacturer. Setup ----- There are a large number of options available in the Setup window, which allow you to configure the graphics and controls within the game. You may need to change some of the graphics settings to achieve the best possible performance (frame rate and detail level) on your particular 3D card. Please refer to the Technical Help section for more details on graphics configuration. The Setup window is accessed by clicking the Setup button on the Autorun Menu, or by selecting Setup Fighting Force from the Start menu. Fighting Force Setup Program This page displays a list of your current graphics and joystick settings. Hardware Devices ---------------- You are able to completely configure your 3D card settings on this page. Direct Draw Devices Switch between your Primary Display Driver and other 3D cards. Rendering Options ----------------- Z Buffering Speeds the process of drawing polygons to the screen. Bilinear Filtering Smoothes out textures Perspective Correction Eliminates inaccuracies and warping Full Screen Modes If Full Screen is selected, you will be able to select the resolution in this drop down menu. The higher you set the resolution, the higher the detail will be, but there will also be a loss of frame rate and possible texture drop out. Many cards run very efficiently at 640x480. Run in a Window When this is selected, use the sliders to set the resolution. You can select the Width:Height ratio with the window size sliders. Compensate for low frame rate Select this if the game is running slowly. Fog Enables fog effects on some levels, this can also speed the game up. Direct Input Settings --------------------- Attached Joysticks Select which joystick or gamepad to use Run Control Panel Setup the joystick Refresh device list Click this if a joystick has been removed or connected. Joysticks & Gamepads -------------------- Fighting Force supports a wide variety of Windows 95 compatible game controllers. You can assign the various controls to the joystick buttons yourself. At the Main Title screen, highlight Options and press Enter. Then goto configure Controls and press the Enter key. The Default Keys should now appear on screen. Press the right cursor key to bring up the User Keys screen. It is here that you will be able to assign the joystick buttons. Highlight the particular control you want to assign by using the cursor keys. Press the Enter key to select that control, and then press the joystick button you wish to use. Once you have assigned controls for all of the joystick buttons, press the Backspace key to exit the Controls screen. Fighting Force Related Web Sites -------------------------------- Fighting Force http://www.fightingforce.com Eidos Interactive http://www.eidosinteractive.com http://www.eidosgames.com Eidos Company Store http://www.eidosstore.com Core Design http://www.core-design.com DirectX information http://www.microsoft.com/directx/enduserguide.htm Win95 End User support http://www.microsoft.com/support/ Video Cards 3Dfx http://www.3dfx.com 3D Labs http://www.3dlabs.com ATI Technologies http://www.atitech.com Canopus http://www.canopuscorp.com Cirrus Logic http://www.cirrus.com Diamond Multimedia http://www.diamondmm.com Hercules http://www.hercules.com Intergraph http://www.intergraph.com Matrox http://www.matrox.com Number Nine http://www.nine.com NVidia http://www.nvidia.com Oak http://www.oaktech.com Orchid http://www.orchid.com PowerVR http://www.powervr.com Rendition http://www.rendition.com S3 http://www.s3.com Sierra http://www.sierra.com STB http://www.stb.com Trident http://www.tridentmicro.com TSENG Labs http://www.tseng.com/download/index.cgi Videologic http://www.videologic.com Soundcards Aztech labs http://www.aztechca.com Creative Labs http://www.creativelabs.com Ensoniq http://www.ensoniq.com Opti http://www.opti.com Turtle beach http://www.tbeach.com Yamaha http://www.yamahayst.com Control Devices CH Products http://www.chproducts.com Gravis http://www.gravis.com InterAct http://www.interact-acc.com Logitech http://www.logitech.com Microsoft http://www.microsoft.com/products/hardware/ sidewinder/sidewinder.htm SpaceOrb 360 http://www.spaceorb.com Saitek http://www.saitek.com Thrustmaster http://www.thrustmaster.com