V2000 Copyright © 1998 Frontier Developments Ltd Published (p) Grolier Interactive (UK) Ltd September 1998-09-04 For the latest news and updates visit http://v2000.grolier.co.uk Technical Support: Email to support@grolier.co.uk ================================================================================ Index to Readme1. Troubleshooting & Help Guide 1.1 .1 Riva 128 based Cards 1.2 Virge based Cards and Matrox Mystique 1.3 3D Graphics and Hardware Cards Generally 1.4 Reasons Why V2000 Might Not Run in a Window 1.5 Software Render Speed 1.6 Windows NT 2. Network Gaming 2.1 Network Games Speed 2.2 My machine cannot see a network game that I know is being played 2.3 Customising Network Messages and Setting up A Score Limit for Network games. 2.3.1 KILL.TXT - eg Fred killed Jim 2.3.2 SELFKILL.TXT - eg Fred killed himself 2.3.3 DIE.TXT - eg Fred had a nasty accident 2.3.4 NAMES.TXT - temporary override of your name as given in the installer 2.3.5 HOST.TXT - Gives the victory threshold score, and the messages that will be printed 2.4 Game Screen Information. 2.5 Network Game Screen Information 2.6 Forcing a deathmatch world 3. Hints & Tips for winning a Network Game 3.1.1 Get the Large Cargo Hold 3.1.2 How to spot the large Cargo Hold 3.1.3 Rip off points 3.1.4 Keep the points you have 3.1.5 Hide the weights 3.1.6 Keep moving 3.1.7 Learn the powerups 3.1.8 Stealth Craft 3.1.9 Don't waste homing missiles 3.1.10 Conventional rockets are plentiful 3.1.11 The problem with high explosives 3.1.12 Megablasts 1.0 V2000 Troubleshooting & Help Guide ====================================== 1.1 Riva 128 based Cards ======================== If you have an Nvidia Riva 128 based graphic card (eg the STB Velocity 3D) and have the program "NVtweak", then the levels of MIP mapping should be set to 0 as this feature of the card does not work correctly with V2000. Most cards default to MIP mapping set to 4. V2000 will run but with a slight patchwork quilt quality to the landscape and some slowdown when new objects appear on screen. 1.2 S3 Virge based Cards and Matrox Mystique ============================================ If you have an "S3 Virge" graphic card (like the Diamond Stealth 2000 3D), or a Matrox Mystique, then select "Software Render" under "Display" in V2000. This is because DirectX detects that this card is Direct3D capable, so V2000 will run in Direct3D, but you will probably find that it is unacceptably slow and has a number of rendering glitches. 1.3 3D Graphics and Hardware Cards Generally ============================================ We have found numerous small problems with old drivers for hardware cards. If you are having a problem and have internet access, it is worth updating to the latest set of drivers for your card, just in case. Otherwise it is worth trying software render as it may be faster than some older cards in any case. 1.4 Reasons Why V2000 Might Not Run in a Window ================================================ V2000 runs in 16 bit colour (or "Hi-Colour") in all resolutions. If your windows desktop is set to something other than 16 bit colour, then V2000 will not switch into a window. Also some hardware cards (eg secondary cards like 3Dfx and Voodoo 2) cannot run hardware rendered in a window. If you want to run in a window, then you may need to switch to software render first. This can be done from within a game using "Options" then "Display". Tip: ALT-ENTER is a shortcut for switching between windowed and full screen, if your card is capable of running with your current settings in a window. Useful if you are playing V2000 at work! 1.5 Software Render Speed ========================= For some older graphic cards running in Software Render, you may find V2000 runs faster in a window than full screen. This depends on how the graphic card transfers its data. You may find that running in a full screen window (by clicking the full screen icon in the top right of the V2000 window) runs faster for this reason. You may find putting Windows into 640x480 will make this a lot faster. 1.6 Windows NT =============== V2000 will in theory work under Windows NT apart from DirectX5 not yet being available for NT, so if you now have access to DirectX5 of later for NT (or NT5) then V2000 should work, though please bear in mind this is untested and therefore unsupported. 2.0 Network Gaming ================== 2.1 Network Games Speed ======================== V2000 runs the network games at different speeds on different computers, in other words the network layer speed is independent of the graphical frame rate. Nevertheless it can cause slowdown (especially when new people join and when the network is busy). The limiting factor is the bandwidth from the host machine, so it helps to choose a host machine with the best network card, ideally a PCI network card, even if the machine is not the fastest one otherwise. 2.2 My machine cannot see a network game that I know is being played ================================================================ There could be several reasons for this. If there are already eight people playing, then V2000 simply does not offer the option for a ninth player. You could always start a second V2000 session on the same network, and poach some players from the first game! The people already playing may be using a different protocol. V2000 supports various protocols. If the people playing are using TCP/IP and you select IPX then your computer will not be able to see the other session. There may be a "Network Bridge" between your machine and the host, and whether it works well depends on how the bridge is set up. Tip: If you select TCP/IP and you don't know the IP address of the host machine, you can leave this dialogue blank and V2000 uses DirectPlay to try and find any local sessions available. 2.3 Customising Network Messages and Setting up A Score Limit for Network games =========================================================================== V2000 looks for certain text files in the directory that you configured V2000 to save its positions to. If it finds them, then it replaces the standard messages with whatever messages you would like, for the appropriate situation. It gets these from the machine of the victim, and broadcasts the message to everyone, with the exception of HOST.TXT, which determines the target score and victory messages, which it always gets from the host. If these are not present then V2000 will use its defaults. For any of these files, you may make them as long as you like, and V2000 will choose randomly which line to use. If there is a HOST.TXT file, then the score of the person who is about to win will flash. Once they have won, the different messages will print as the victor gloats over their victory. The host has to quit out to restart the session when everyone is ready. The files are: KILL.TXT - eg Fred killed Jim SELFKILL.TXT - eg Fred killed himself DIE.TXT - eg Fred had a nasty accident NAMES.TXT - temporary override of your name as given in the installer HOST.TXT - Gives the victory threshold score, and the messages that will be printedYou might want to make messages more adventurous than our examples! Some examples of these files are listed below (# is used to start a comment line): ------------------------------------------------------------ 2.3.1 "KILL.TXT" ------------------------------------------------------------ Evil @2 murdered @1 Ugly @2 killed @1 @1 was slain by horrid @2 Poor @1 was slain by evil @2 @1 died fighting @2 Traitorous @2 killed @1 @2 will be haunted by @1 @2 was nasty to @1 ------------------------------------------------------------ 2.3.2 "SELFKILL.TXT" ------------------------------------------------------------ @1 needs more weapon training. @1 self immolated @1 was very careless Doh. @1 died ------------------------------------------------------------ 2.3.3 "DIE.TXT" ------------------------------------------------------------ @1 died An accident happened to @1 @1 R.I.P. Ooops @1 is dead. ------------------------------------------------------------ 2.3.4 "NAMES.TXT" ------------------------------------------------------------ # Full name on line 1 and initials on line 2 Jonathan JSR ------------------------------------------------------------ 2.3.5 "HOST.TXT" ------------------------------------------------------------ # Put the victory threshold score on the first line and any number of victory messages afterwards # 200 Victory is won. @1 slaughtered you all. @1 is top banana. We lost to @1 Who will win next time? @1 is smug @1 is most vicious Who will challenge @1? Can @1 be defeated? 2.4 Network Game Scoring ========================== The Network Game has been designed for players to enjoy for as long as they wish to play. Victory conditions can be set by making a HOST.TXT file (see above for instructions on how to do this), or play can continue forever with players joining and leaving at will. The scoring mechanism is constructed to be rewarding for experts but also to give some help to novice players, or players joining an existing game late. The players with the best scores have the most to lose and this is reflected in the way the scoring adds up. Score 1 point for hitting a player with a lower score than you. This is regardless of whether the hit was caused by a chain gun or missile. Score 2 points for hitting a player with a better score than you. 1 point for hitting the player + a further point stolen directly from that players score. Score 20 points for killing a player with a lower score than you. Score 30 points for killing a player with a better score than you. Lose 1 point for getting hit, and an additional point for getting hit by a player with a lower score than you. Lose 10 points for getting killed. This includes deliberately killing yourself! 2.5 Network Game Screen Information. ===================================== During Network play the following information is displayed for each player. [Short Name] / [Score] / [Number of Kills] / [Number of Times Killed] 2.6 Forcing a deathmatch world =============================== There are 6 different deathmatch worlds. These are chosen randomly from the first five, but a host may force a world to be selected by holding down one of the number keys 1 - 6 (across the top of the keyboard - not the numeric keypad) on entering a game. This is the only way to get to the hidden deathmatch arena 6. This only works on the host. There is no need to do this while joining a session, as the choice has already been made by the host. 3. Hints & Tips for winning a Network Game. ============================================ 3.1.1 Get the large cargo hold and fill it. ===================================== If you are fortunate enough to find the large cargo hold fill it with scientists as your ship will get repaired fast. There is a finite number of these supplied per world, not enough for everybody! Cargo holds are culled naturally during play. A player can pick up more than one but the extra ones will be removed from the game. Eventually only one large cargo hold will remain. 3.1.2 How to spot the large cargo hold. ========================================= You can spot players carrying natives or scientists on the radar. Players ships show up as a white dot but a craft carrying people will show up slightly yellow. A craft with a large cargo hold full of people will show up with a small yellow trail as it moves. This isn't a planned feature but a useful side effect of the radar plotting. It's a useful tip to know 3.1.3 Rip off points ====================== Attack players with a better score than you. Do this with a rapid fire weapon (the standard chaingun is the most rapid) as you get double points. Not only this but you rip away your opponents score. 3.1.4 Keep the points you have ================================ Players with the biggest scores have the most to lose. Avoid getting into prolonged dogfights with lesser beings. You need quick kills with destructive weapons. 3.1.5 Hide the weights ======================= A number of the worlds have underwater factories which can only be reached by carrying a weight. Drop any spare weights you find in deep water so other players can't use them, or hide them behind buildings. Either carry or hide the remaining weight. 3.1.6 Keep moving ================== The small flying creatures which don't yield powerups are deliberate. Linger in one position for too long and they will home in on you. This is to discourage people just sitting on guided missile factories! 3.1.7 Learn the powerups ========================= Each creature you kill yield the same type of powerup each play through of a world. Take advantage of this. Look at creatures as mobile weapon sources to be selectively preyed upon. 3.1.8 Stealth Craft =================== Players craft names loom out of the fog before the craft. Enter your short player name as three spaces. Your craft will not been seen by opponents until later. The downside to this is your opponents will do exactly the same thing in the next game and you won't know which player (or score) is which. Repeated use will just irritate your opponents. Ha ha 3.1.9 Don't waste homing missiles ================================= These are effective weapons and therefore come in limited packs. However, they are relatively easy to out run. If you use them in a frontal attack the chances are you will succeed in making your opponent run away but you won't get a kill. These are most effective when used as a nasty surprise. Unfortunately the sound of the missile launching may be enough to make your opponent run. 3.1.10 Conventional rockets are plentiful ========================================== It is difficult to tell the difference between these and homing missiles. You can scare other players into thinking you have homing missiles. This ploy may only work for a moment - this is the point you select your real homing missiles and launch a little surprise. 3.1.11 The problem with high explosives ======================================== They go off easily! Grenades, Missiles, Rockets, are easily set off. A shot from a chaingun is enough to bring them to a premature end. Try to avoid situations where they may explode in your face. Avoid flying into your own projectiles, you are faster than them. Avoid using them as rapid fire weapons as they have a tendency to collide just outside the launch bay. Avoid using them near the ground or in a confined space as they have a fine blast radius 3.1.12 Megablasts ================== These are a really useful find. There aren't many about, and the game will occasionally introduce a new one hidden on a level. Watch out though, as it takes a few seconds to go off, and you will come to recognise the tell tale shock waves. It is just possible to get out of the blast zone if you are quick, and not too close to the centre when it is detonated. If you have one, try saving it until there is a real firefight on, with lots of craft really close together, so you may get several kills at once. Good hunting!