Xtreme Air Racing README
							========================

			Dedicated to the pilots--past, present, and future--who race at Reno.


This is only a simple instruction guide to help you get started playing the game.

Be sure to go on line at www.xtremeairracing.com for a more detailed manual, gameplay advice,
and technical support.

Part 1: The Program
-------------------

Install Reno/Xtreme Air Racing via the autorun on the CD.  The autorun also lets you specify
such vital parameters as resolution and graphics mode, and is by far the preferred way to
run the game, unless you feel like messing around with command-line parameters.  You can
also run the game from the start menu.  There are folders for OpenGL and Glide modes, and
icons for choosing resolution in these folders.  So to run using OpenGL drivers, at 800x600,
you would choose the OpenGL mode folder, and the 800x600 shortcut icon.

If your card is a 3dfx Voodoo-series card, you'll want to select "3dfx Glide" on the autorun
menu.  This will give you the best performance and graphics quality on those cards, but ONLY
on those cards.  If you have any other card (GeForce, TNT2, Rage 128, etc) you'll want to 
select OpenGL.  Some 3dfx cards also support OpenGL, but Glide is still a better choice 
for all 3dfx cards.

Pick a resolution of your choice.  Higher resolutions generally result in slower framerates,
but prettier graphics.  Be sure and choose a resolution your card supports--not all 3d
cards can handle 1280x1024, even if you can run your desktop in that resolution.

If you are having sound problems, you may wish to turn off the audio code.  You can do that
by clicking

Part 2: The Menus
-----------------

Once you have the program running, you'll first be presented with a Pilot Roster.  Here's where
you need to type a name for yourself (or accept the default, "Pilot").  Certain data (such as
last-selected aircraft, skill levels, and race stats) are saved along with the pilot.  Thus,
multiple players can keep track of their own progress through the game.  The first time you
get this screen, the list will be empty, and you'll have to type a name.  Afterwards, though,
there'll be a list of pilots you can choose from with the mouse.

In any case, pressing Enter, Escape, or clicking Okay should accept the currently-selected
pilot, and take you to the main menu, where you should see your pilot's name at the top.

Main Menu
---------

This is fairly straightforward.  Single Race lets you run a race, on any track, at any skill
level, and using any airplane that you've "unlocked" by completing race seasons.  This is a
good way to get a feel for a particular track, or re-race a track you especially like.  Race
Season lets you race a season of races (a group of races in which a common score is maintained
and after which a final ranking is determined).  Free Flight puts you in any course, in any
airplane (even those which haven't been unlocked), alone, and without the need to follow the
race track, although the pylons and navigational aids will appear.  You can fly around the 
terrain database and explore, as well as learn the controls and the characteristics of your 
selected plane.  Pilot Roster returns you to the pilot roster menu, and lets you choose a 
different pilot.  Multiplayer lets you host or join games over a network. Settings lets you 
modify various audio, video, control, and game settings.

Along the bottom of the screen are three smaller buttons.  "Exit" is used to exit the
program.  "Combat" lets you load one of the special combat tracks and try to shoot down
an airplane.  "Replay Race" lets you load a saved race replay file and view it.

Single Race/Free Flight
-----------------------

These two sets of menus are very similar.  Both allow you to select an airplane, modify it, 
choose a racing area, and so on.  However, there are slight but significant differences.

Both menus start out taking you to the airplane/class select screen.  At the right are six
buttons depicting airplanes.  Clicking on a button selects that airplane, and the large
picture to the left will change to reflect the currently-selected airplane.  Clicking the
left and right buttons beneath the airplane buttons will bring a new page of airplanes into
view for you to select from.  Airplanes that appear dark, and don't highlight when you move
the mouse over them are not selectable, generally because you're in Single Race mode, and 
you have not completed enough seasons to unlock the airplane.  Clicking on the large picture
of the current airplane replaces the picture with a text description of the airplane and 
clicking it again brings back the picture.

Above the airplane buttons is a clicker indicating the current class of airplane.  Currently
there is only one class of aircraft available, "Unlimited."  These are mostly converted
WWII warbirds, and are the fastest class.  The game is expandable, and later airplane and
track packs will introduce other classes, such as Sport Biplane, Formula 1, and T6.

The "Back" button returns you to the main menu (pressing Escape will also do this).  The
"Okay" button takes you to the course selection menu (see below).  "Aircraft Setup" takes you
to the aircraft setup menus where you may modify your airplane and adjust fluid levels for
the race.

Single Race/Free Flight Course Select
-------------------------------------

This menu allows you to choose a terrain database to fly in, and a track layout to fly.  If
you are in free flight mode, the track will appear in the game, but you will not be compelled
to fly the course.

The Difficulty clicker (Single Race Only)lets you choose from Bronze, Silver, and Gold difficulty 
levels.  In real air racing, airplanes in the Bronze category tend to be the slower airplanes 
of a given class, and Gold would have the fastest airplanes.  In our game, difficulty level 
modifies the base speed of the AI-controlled airplanes, as well as how closely the airplanes 
fly the course, how aggressively they react to the player's speed, and how accomodating they 
are in avoiding collisions with the player.  In addition, computer-controlled aircraft in
higher difficulty settings will be more highly modified to suit the course.

Beneath this is the clicker for selecting a racing area.  This will determine the terrain 
database used in the race, and also your choice of racetracks.  A given racing area (such as 
Reno) may have more than one race track for a given class of airplane.  Changing racing area
will also set the currently-selected track to one of the tracks in that racing area.

Below the picture of the currently-selected track is the clicker by which a track can be 
selected from among the tracks for the current racing area. Each of our current racing areas
contains three tracks.  One is a medium-length track which is generally comparable to the
Unlimited track flown at Reno.  Another is a shorter track which usually features many tight
curves.  The third is a long, endurance track, which is about three or four times the length
of the regular track.

The "Back" button takes you to the previous menu (Escape takes you to the Main Menu).  
Aircraft Setup does the same thing it does on the previous menu.

The Single Race menu gives you a choice of "Practice," "Qualify," and "Race."  Practice puts
you on the selected track, alone, but with all the "trappings" of a race--pylon cuts are 
noted, lap times are recorded, and so on.  This lets you fly a track without the pressure of 
being in a race.  It also lets you test out custom aircraft settings on the track you'll be
flying.

Qualify is used to determine your starting position in a race.  By default, you'll start in
last place, but if you do especially good on a Qualifying run, you could start in a better
position in the race.  In a Qualifying run, you race alone, but your final time is compared
to precomputed digi times in order to give you a ranking.  Qualifying runs are always only
two laps.

Race, of course, takes you into an actual race.  Free Flight mode gives only a single option,
the "Okay" button, which loads the course and lets you fly around it.

Aircraft Setup
--------------

Here is where you can customize your airplane.  Unlimited aircraft, as the name suggests, 
are highly-modified, and pretty much anything is allowed, including more powerful engines, 
bigger props, and modified airframes.

There are four submenus, which can be selected using the buttons at the top.  The starting
submenu is Engine, and the others are Prop, Airframe, and Fluids.

The Engine submenu has only a single setting--the airplane's engine.  Unlimited racers
typically use highly-modified engine, and each airframe has a variety of engines to choose
from.  Use the clicker to change the airplane's engine.  Each engine has a picture that
appears below, and a bit of descriptive text that can be used to help pick the best engine
for a particular course.  The choice of engine will affect the available prop gearing ratios
on the Prop menu.

The Prop submenu has three settings.  Prop Diameter lets you choose the physical size of your
airplane's propeller.  Higher settings will result in better acceleration, but worse 
performance at high speeds, or at high altitudes, due to the prop tips breaking the sound 
barrier.  Prop Gearing Ratio lets you choose the ratio of engine RPM to Propeller RPM.  
The higher this setting is, the faster the prop will turn.  Like the previous parameter, 
this affects acceleration, but can result in prop buffeting at high speeds if set too high.  

The Airframe menu also has three settings.  Fair In Flaps allows you to disable the
airplane's flaps, fairing them over to reduce drag.  This results in a slight increase
in speed, but also means that the flaps are not available to help in emergency landings, or
to assist in making tight turns.  Wingspan allows you to shorten the aircraft's wingspan.
Most Unlimited racers feature shortenened wings, many drastically so.  Reducing wingspan
decreases drag, making the airplane go faster, but also decreases lift.  Low Drag Cooling
Duct allows you to replace the airplane's cooling duct with a smaller, more streamlined 
duct.  As with the other modifications on this menu, this reduces drag and increases speed,
but also makes the engine more prone to overheating.

The Fluids menu lets you change the amount of various fluids carried by the airplane.  Fuel
is what powers the airplane--run out of this and your airplane quickly becomes unable to
fly.  However, Fuel has weight, which makes your airplane slower, and it is common to fly
with less than a full tank, to save weight.  Spraybar Water is sprayed on the radiator to
keep it cool.  Not having enough of this can result in the engine overheating, but again,
carrying too much makes your airplane heavier than it needs to be.  ADI Fluid is a 
water/alcohol solution injected into the engine to prevent engine "knocking" that can harm 
performance.  Nitrous Oxide is injected into the engine in short bursts for a quick boost 
of power. Using it can damage your engine, but since engines take a beating in air racing 
anyhow, it's not uncommon to carry a bottle or two of this stuff.

The "Back" button returns you to the previous menu.

Race Season
-----------

Selecting the Race Season button on the main menu takes you into the season selection menu.
The box on the right contains the season types available to you.  There are three, a regular
season containing medium-length tracks, including the one actually flown at Reno, a 
tight-track season, and an endurance season with extra long tracks.  The right box contains
the seasons.  These change when you click one of the season types.  Each season type will
generally contain three seasons, one for each difficulty level.  When a given player (chosen
on the pilot selection screen) first plays the game, only the Bronze seasons are available.
These are the shortest seasons (generally only three tracks) and the easiest to fly.  Once
you have beaten a Bronze season (by scoring in first place after all races are completed and
points are tallied) the Silver seasons are unlocked, and may be selected and played.  In
addition, more aircraft are available to choose from.  Similarly, once you have beaten a
Silver season, the Gold seasons open up, and once you have beaten Gold, you get access to
some bonus aircraft, such as the Bf 109 and Shinden.

The Race Season menu appears before every race in the season, and allows you to review your
current standings, prepare your airplane for the next race, and so on.  The "Race" button takes
you straight to the next race, while Practice and Qualify work similarly to the way they work
for Single Race.  Aircraft Select lets you change airplanes (but, obviously, not choose a
different class).  Aircraft Setup is identical to Aircraft Setup in Single Race and Free Flight.
Review Stats lets you see your current standings, and the number of points you scored on
each race you flew this season.  Exit takes you back to the Main Menu.  If you later choose
to fly a Race Season again, you will be given the option of continuing your previous season,
or starting a new one.  If you choose to resume, your scores will be whatever they were when
you exited the last season.

Also present on the Season menu is a picture of the track you will be flying next.  Clicking on
the track gives you a description of the track. Beneath this button is the name of the 
track, the name of your currently-selected airplane, and the total number of races this 
season, along with which race you will fly next.  Bronze seasons have only 3 races, but 
Gold and Silver ones are longer.  At the end of each race, the pilots recieve a number of 
points based on their final ranking, and, at the end of the season, the pilot with the 
most points wins.

Multiplayer
-----------

This brings up a short menu with only two options (other than returning to the main menu).
Internet Connection and LAN Connection are similar--the only difference is that if you choose
LAN Connection, the game will scan your LAN for servers that you can join, while Internet
Connection requires you to type in the IP Address of the server (which may be anywhere on
the Internet, not just on your local network). A game hosted from the Internet Connection
menu is still visible to other machines on your LAN, and can be joined using LAN Connection.

Both the Internet and LAN menus give you similar options.  You can host a game or join one
already in progress. Choosing to Host a game brings you to the server version of the multiplayer
lobby.  You (and only you) may change the Class, Racing Area, and Track settings.  These 
determine the valid choices of aircraft (right now only Unlimiteds are selectable, but more
will be made available with future expansions) and also which track the players will fly.  
You may also set the AI Difficulty level on the Track Select menu, as for Single Race, and 
choose the number of players you will allow.  If fewer than this number of players join, 
the remaining airplanes will be piloted by AI.

Choosing to Join a game (either specifying an IP in Internet Connection, or selecting from
the list of servers in LAN Connection) also brings you to the Lobby menu.  However, clients
can only choose their aircraft, and cannot select a different track, class, skill level, or
number of players.  Also, any player (client or server) may type messages which will be sent
to all other players on the server.  Thus, a player may request to fly a particular track, or
simply taunt another player before a race.

Pressing "Race" exits the lobby and puts you into wait mode, until everyone has selected "Race."
then, the race data loads on everyone's machines, and, when everyone's finished loading, the
race begins as normal (only with multiple, human-controlled airplanes)

After a race, the players return to the lobby where they can chat and prepare for the next
race.

Settings
--------

There are four settings submenus.  Audio, Graphics, Controls, and Gameplay.  These are selectable
from the buttons at the top of the menu, as for Aircraft Setup.

The Audio menu lets you make changes to your sound configuration (these are, of course, 
meaningless if you chose to run without sound).  There are separate volume controls for
engine sounds, miscellaneous sound effects, music, announcer, and hints.  Setting a volume to
zero turns off the corresponding sounds completely.  In general, you'll want to leave 3D 
Sound turned on, as it's always better than 2D on cards that support it, and if your card 
does not support 3D sound, this won't make any difference anyhow.  You may choose the number 
of sound that can play simultaneously using the Sound Channels clicker, although it's not 
advisable to set this too low.  Staccato DSR is the biggie--we're using a library called 
Staccato Synthcore to dynamically generate engine sounds.  This, in general, sounds much 
better than pre-recorded WAV files, but also requires some CPU time.  Setting the "Use 
Staccato DSR" to "Low" turns off Staccato completely--only WAV files are used, which are 
much faster.  Setting it to "Medium," the default, enables Staccato only for your 
airplane--the other airplanes use WAVS or are simply silent, depending on distance.  
Setting the clicker to "High" enables Staccato for all airplanes (no WAVS are used, but
a particular airplane may still be silent if it's not close to the viewpoint).  In general, 
"Medium" is the best, unless you really need more performance (or are having problems with 
Staccato) in which case you'll want to use "Low"

Xtreme Air Racing does not come with any music files, but you are free to supply your own
WAV files of whatever music you prefer.  When music files are available, the "Music" clicker
will work, but if there are no music files, the only option will be none.  Two announcer
voices come with Xtreme Air Racing, and you can add your own.  Select the announcer voice to
use (if announcer volume is not zero) using the Announcer clicker.  Note that in addition to
the regular announcer, the game features hints done in the voice of Bob Hoover himself.
There is only one hint voice (Hoover) and the hint volume can be set separately from the
announcer volume.  For more information on custom announcers and music, see 
www.xtremeairracing.com.

Graphics lets you change visual settings.  The Multitexturing clicker allows you to turn off
multitexturing (use of two textures per polygon) on those cards which support it.  If you are
having texture problems, you may want to turn this off.  Level Of Detail is fairly useful.  
It lets you turn on and off extraneous details in the models.  For instance, Miss America 
has little sponsorship stickers on the nose.  These look cool, but are unnecessary and can 
slow down the renderer, especially on cards with little texture memory.  The Level of Detail
clicker lets you turn these off.  There's no hard and fast rule to what gets changed, but in
general, Medium is best, with Low good for those who need the performance boost.  Fog can 
be turned off for older cards that don't handle it properly.  The sky detail can also be 
changed.  High detail has clouds, Medium doesn't, and Low doesn't even have sky at all, 
just a solid blue background.  In general, High is best, unless you need the speed boost.  
Course Markers, Air Hoops, and Pylon Lasers are visual aids to flying the course that can 
be turned on and off here.  Course markers are red-and-white cones, colored lines, or both,
that outline the course, Airhoops are giant, floating, translucent hoops of various sizes,
and Pylon Lasers are laser-like beams that extend vertically from each pylon.  In general,
it's best to leave one or more of these turned on, as they're a great help in navigating, 
but if they slow down your system, you can turn them off.  Finally, you can turn particle
system effects, such as fire and water vapor, off if they seem to be slowing the game down.

The Control menu displays a list of keyboard commands and lets you change joystick 
sensitivity.  In general, it's a good idea to leave Roll sensitivity at max, but lower 
Pitch sensitivity if you have a tendancy to pull back too far and stall out during a race.
Also, some people may have joysticks that have rudder pedals, but no throttle.  With this
setup, the rudder pedals may be misinterpreted as a throttle.  To get around this, turn on
"Reverse Rudder/Throttle"

Gameplay lets you choose game-specific settings.  Air-to-Ground collisions (crashes into the
ground) can be turned on and off.  If off, airplanes take no damage on collision with the
ground, and simply bounce off.  Air-to-Air collisions (crashes into other airplanes) can be
set to three values.  Off (airplanes pass through each other), Bounce (airplanes bounce off
each other), and Damage (airplanes cause damage to each other in a crash).  Engine Damage
can be turned off, for those who want less realistic gameplay, but in general the game is
more enjoyable with it turned on.  Nitrous mode has two settings, Realistic, in which 
Nitrous injection provides a minor speed boost, and Arcade, in which it provides a huge
boost.  G-LOC effects (the blackout and redout of the screen that occur in high-G turns) can
be disabled, as can wake turbulance (the twisting force that results from passing behind
another aircraft, in the wake from its prop).

Part 3: Playing the game
------------------------

Once you've started a race, free flight, or the like, and the data has loaded, you will find
yourself in the cockpit of an airplane.  You control this like a real airplane, by using the
joystick.  Moving the joystick left or right causes the airplane to bank, or lean, left or right.
(of course, to the pilot, it looks as if the world is leaning the opposite direction).  Moving
it backwards (towards the player) causes the airplane to point upwards (relative to the pilot).
Thus, if the pilot looks straight ahead and sees, say, a balloon, and then pulls back on the 
stick, the balloon will appear to move towards the floor of the airplane.  If the airplane is
flying straight and level, pulling back on the stick will result in the airplane pointing up,
and flying up (called "Climbing").  Pushing forward on the stick makes the airplane move down
("Dive").  However, if the airplane is currently banking left or right, pulling back on the
stick will make the airplane turn in the direction it's banking (possibly climbing as well, depending
on how steeply the airplane is banking).  This is how you steer an airplane--bank in the direction
you want to turn, and pull back on the stick.  Don't pull back too hard, though, or the airplane
will start to stall--you need to be fairly gentle with the stick, and not yank it like you would
a joystick at a video arcade.  Either that, or you need to change your joystick sensitivity.

The speed of an airplane is controlled by the Throttle.  Most likely, your joystick came
with one, or you have a separate throttle unit.  On many joysticks, the throttle is a knob 
or slider to the left of the main stick.  Typically, moving the slider forward makes the 
engine go faster, while moving it backwards makes it go slower. This being a racing game, 
you'll typically want your throttle as high as it will go, as the idea is to go fast.
However, unless you have engine damage turned off, going full throttle for an entire race
can lead to engine failure, especially at low altitudes, or with engines that can reach high
manifold pressures.

Some joysticks also have rudder control.  This is typically controlled by twisting the
joystick.  Rudder causes the airplane to turn, and also induces a certain amount of roll 
(banking). The AI uses rudder, but it's not necessary for a player to use--it's quite 
possible to fly and win a race without using rudder.  However, if you find yourself going
to high on the turns, you may want to kick a little downside rudder to counteract this.
Some players may have separate rudder pedals, similar to those on a real aircraft.  If these
show up as rudder pedals in the Windows control panel, then they will work as pedals in the
game.

Aside from these basic controls, there are four others that are commonly used.  If your joystick
has four or more buttons, they can all be accessed using the joystick.  Button 1 (typically
the trigger button) is Nitrous Injection.  Press this button for a quick boost of speed (especially
on biplanes and formula-1's).  Button 2 is supercharger.  Some Unlimiteds (such as P-51 Mustangs)
have two-setting superchargers.  High-Blower is used at high altitudes, and can make your
airplane go faster at any altitude, but also makes the engine wear out quicker.  Press this button
to toggle between High and Low Blower.  Button 3 turns ADI injection on and off.  ADI injection makes
your engine run better, but also uses up ADI fluid, so you may want to turn this off when you
don't need it.  Button 3 turns Spraybar Water on and off.  If your engine starts to get too
hot, you'll want to turn on Spraybar Water.  If it cools down, you can turn it off to conserve
water.

For those who don't like being in the cockpit, you can choose from a couple of other views.
Pressing the F1 key puts you in chasecam mode.  This is a camera that sits off the tail of the
airplane, and generally offers a better view, but doesn't let you see the airplane's gauges
(fortunately, there's a HUD that has most of the important information on it).  For those who
get motion sickness when the airplane rolls, F2 gives a chasecam mode in which the airplane, not
the ground, appears to bank.  F3 brings you back to the cockpit.  F4 is the same view as F3,
but the airplane is invisible, giving you an unobstructed view.

If you don't like trying to figure out the gauges in an airplane (and each type of airplane
has its own gauge layout) there's a HUD with various information.  To the right, you'll find
the airplane's speed in miles per hour, altitude above the ground, angle of attack (if this 
goes above about 14 degrees, you'll start to stall out), acceleration in G's (if you pull too
many G's for too long a time, the screen will start to black out--this can be disabled in
Gameplay setup), Manifold Pressure in Inches of Mercury (basically an indication of how 
hard you're running your engine), Engine RPM (like a tach in a car), and Throttle Setting 
(100% = full throttle, 0% = idle).

To the left are indicators that come on when Nitrous ("NO2"), ADI ("ADI") or Spraybar ("H20")
are enabled.  Also is an indicator that gives your current Supercharger (Blower) setting. 
You probably won't use flaps (F extends them and Shift-F retracts them) unless you have to
make an emergency landing (or you just want to practice landing) or you're in an extremely
twisty course where maneuverability is more important than speed, but if you do, this
tells you how far they're extended, and below that is an indicator as to whether or not your
landing gear are down ("GEAR").  L extends and retracts the landing gear.  As with flaps,
these are not normally used in a race.

At the top right of the screen are lap number, position of your airplane relative to the
other airplanes in the race, and you lap times for this lap and the previous two.  When you
pass a pylon, an indicator will briefly appear here giving you two numbers.  These are a
rough estimate of how far away the airplane in front of you, and the airplane behind you are.
If you cut a pylon (Fly over it, or to the side inside the track) a buzzer will sound and the
message "Cut Pylon" will appear on the left side of the screen. You will be penalized a number
of seconds equal to 2 times the number of laps, for each pylon you cut.  This can add up quickly
and take you from first to last place in a hurry, so don't cut any pylons.  If you have Pylon
Lasers or Course Marker lines turned on, the red lines/lasers should be kept to your left,
and the green ones to your right.

In the upper left corner of the screen are a couple of gauges.  The big round colorful one
is the engine damage indicator, or "Life-o-meter".  It technically represents mean time to 
engine failure, but it's simpler to think of it as a measure of your engine's hit points.  
As the race progresses, the meter will slowly shrink counterclockwise, starting with the 
green part.  When it's gone completely, your engine dies.  Even before that point, your
performance may start to suffer, so it's best to conserve your engine health.  The black and 
white circle in the center gives you an estimate of the rate at which your engine is 
dying--the faster it turns, the quicker you lose hit points.

Beside the Life-o-meter is the Height-above-terrain indicator.  This is a visual measure of
height above ground.  When it drops to the bottom, you crash (or land, if you've got your
gear down and are flying straight enough, level enough, slow and enough, and are descending
slowly enough).  The horizontal line about a quarter of the way up is the 50-foot
indicator.  Pylons are 50 feet above ground, and for safety reasons in a real race 
the pilots are not allowed to fly below this height.  We don't disqualify players for this 
reason, but it's still not a bad idea to keep this indicator in the green range, for the
sake of safety.

Below the two gauges are three indicators labeled "OIL," "TEMP," and "FUEL."  These are normally
green, but turn yellow when they start entering a danger zone, and red when you're basically dead.
The "OIL" indicator measures oil temperature (may change this to pressure later), the "TEMP"
indicator measures engine temperature, and "FUEL" is amount of fuel remaining.  If either
temperature indicator turns red, an alarm sounds alerting you to this fact.  This is a good time
to pull back on the throttle and turn on your spraybar water.  To turn off the alarm sound,
press the space bar.

There is one other alarm that you will likely hear.  Particularly when flying an unlimited, 
it is possible to pull back too hard on the stick and make the airplane start to stall.  When
this happens, the camera will start to shake if you're in cockpit view, and an alpha stall
warning buzzer will play.  To turn this sound off, simply ease off the stick and the airplane
will stop stalling and the buzzer will turn off.

Now that you know how to fly an airplane, it's time to start racing!  In an actual race, you
will have to fly a set course, marked by pylons. Pylons in this game look like black and
white checkered obelisks.  There aren't very many pylons in a race, and they're pretty far 
apart, so they're often hard to see (even the pilots in real races sometimes have problems, 
particularly with pylons such as Pylon 4 in Reno, which is down a hillside).  There are a 
couple of navigational aids that can be turned on and off in the Graphics menu.

Once you reach a pylon, it is important to fly to the correct side of it. This is easiest if
you have Course Markers turned on--fly to the side of the pylon that's between the two sets
of course markers.  Flying to the other side results in a pylon cut penalty.  If you have 
Pylon Lasers or Course Marker Lines turned on, keep anything red to your left, and
anything green to your right, and if you have airhoops, just aim for the hoops.

Other than that, it's best to go as fast as you can without a) going off course or b) blowing
up your engine.  The goal of the game is simple--make it across the finish line before anyone
else!

Appendix: Eyes On Target (EOT)
------------------------------

What follows is a technical guide to the Eyes on Target (EOT) system that is in the game.
This is a de-classified version of the EOT we originally developed for the US Naval Air 
Warfare Center for situational awareness.  The abbreviated guide to EOT is simple. Choose
a combat mission from the combat menu (it works just like single race as far as choosing
airplane and track, with the only difference being that there are only three combat tracks).
Once the terrain and airplanes have loaded and you're in the game, press the "E" key to 
turn on EOT.  If the color is hard to see, press "C" to change it.  If the opponent airplane
is in your field of view, a small box will surround it.  As soon as the other airplane goes
off the screen, a larger box will appear, containing an arc.  Roll so that this box is 
centered at the top of the screen, and pull back on the stick until the opposing airplane
comes back into view.  Press fire to shoot your machine guns when the opposing airplane is
close to the center of the screen.  You have infinite bullets, so don't worry about running
out.

--

The EOT display tells you the relative position of another object in space.  It has nothing 
to do with the ground.  Your position relative to the ground is not important - all that 
counts is the relative geometry between you and the target object.

The EOT display employs line based symbology to show these spatial positions of other 
objects in space relative to one's self.  The goal is to give the simulator pilot the same 
data and visual clues he or she would get in the cockpit by looking at on object, hence 
the name of the display, "Eyes On Target" or EOT. The commercial version of the EOT 
display is known as the HawkEye display.

The enemy will be coming straight at you.  Move your joystick to the right and pull back 
slightly.  Your plane will break to the right.  Avoid a head on pass with this guy - he’s 
a very good shot.

As soon as the enemy aircraft (E/A) moves out of your field of view, you will see the EOT 
display pop up where he left the screen.  Click on pause and stop the simulation.

Look at the EOT and notice what looks like an arc with a small period or “meatball” as we 
like to call it sliding along an arc.  This is the basic EOT display.

The arc represents the arc of space that the enemy is in.  The meatball indicates his 
position in that arc of space.   

The correct terms for the arc is the ROLL PLANE and for the meatball, it shows the ROLL 
ANGLE or ANTENNA TRAIN ANGLE.  For now don’t let these terms confuse you.


Roll Plane

The roll plane is one of an infinite number of planes of space oriented along the long 
axis or fuselage of the aircraft.  This "plane" of space is defined by three points - 
the "x-y" of one's fuselage with the position of the adversary or object forming the 
third point or "z" point of the "plane."  

Think of the roll plane as a circular arc of space with the fuselage of your aircraft 
forming the axis of the sphere in which an adversary or other object can be located.  

Think of yourself at the core of an apple.  The target object is located on the skin.  
If you were to slice out that part of the apple with both you and the target object in 
it, that slice is the roll plane.

The arc drawn on the screen is thus a pictorial representation of the roll plane, a 3-D 
projection of space onto a 2-D or flat surface, a type of hieroglyph if you will.  The 
back of the roll plane, the part nearest to the observer, is shown slightly thicker and 
brighter to give the display perspective.  

The roll plane is thus depicted as an 180 degree arc or ellipse, with perspective clues 
making the back part, the part closest to the observer or that part from 91 to 180 degrees 
thicker and brighter while the front half from 0 to 90 is thinner.  

Another way to visualize roll plane is to think of a protractor with a moving angle 
locator.  Place the base protractor along the fuselage or long axis of ownship, 
rotating the entire protractor so that it's in the correct roll plane position.  
Then move the angle measurement bar to where the target object is.  

Thus you have an arc of space showing the roll plane with the angle being the roll 
angle. Now imagine the arc of the protractor, ie roll plane, being projected onto the 
screen with a perspective of the pilot's eyepoint standing slightly behind tail of his 
ship and slightly above centerline looking forward.  

Note that the direction the target object is flying has no importance - consider the enemy 
aircraft just to be a point in space for now.  The position of this arc or icon on the 
edge screen thus only indicates the roll plane that an object is in.

As the target object moves, so will the position of the arc on the edge of the screen.  
As it moves, it’s telling you that the object is somewhere in that general direction - 
you don’t know if its towards the front, even with you, or behind you.


Roll Angle

In order to know that, you must know the roll angle.  Look at the screen and the EOT.  
Assume its in the left side of your screen somewhere.  The enemy is somewhere in that 
plane of space shown by the position of the arc.  Point you arm forward at the level of 
the EOT and the swing it back in that plane.  All you know is that if you turn in this 
direction, sooner or later you will see the target object.

To localized the object in this roll plane, you thus need to know the roll angle.

 


Within a specific roll plane, to localize an object one must know its roll angle or the 
angle that one must rotate his nose so that it is pointing at your target.  In the example 
above, the roll angle for the pilot in the blue ship would be 135 degrees.  It’s the angle 
you would have to turn your head so that you’d be looking at the object.  

If the object in the example moved up to where he was right off your right wingtip, the 
roll angle would be 90 degrees.  If he was directly overhead, the roll angle would still 
be 90 degrees.  Or is he was off your left wingtip, again 90 degrees.  However, for each 
of these, the roll PLANE would be different.

Consider an enemy aircraft who is level with oneself and directly right in front of 
oneself.  The roll angle is 0 degrees.  If the adversary goes vertical, pitching upward, 
the roll angle increases.  If he is 45 degrees above ownship's flight path, the roll 
angle would be 45 degrees.  And the roll plane would be straight vertical position in 
the longitudional plane of your head.

The bogey continues to climb, looping over the top of ownship.  When the you can look 
out the top of your canopy and the target object is directly overhead, the roll angle 
is 90 degrees.  Note that if the adversary aircraft was directly off your right wing 
tip, the roll angle would also be 90 degrees.  Or directly off the left wingtip.  Or 
directly below ownship.  In fact there are an infinite number of roll planes for which 
the roll angle could be 90 degrees.

Thus for any roll plane, the roll angle can be any number between 0 to 180 degrees.  

To show the roll angle, a knob or "meatball" moves around this arc to show the angle in 
pictorial terms.  Thus if the meatball is at the center of the arc, the roll angle is 
90 degrees.  If it is halfway between the front and the apex of the arc, the roll angle 
is 45 degrees.  The roll plane arc is thus the framework thus for showing roll angle.  
The display becomes a "microcosmic" picture for the true 3-D position.  It allows the 
pilot to "see" or visualize the position of the object immediately.  The size of the 
arc varies with the distance the target object is away from you.

In a dynamic situation, the meatball will be constantly moving as the angles between 
ownship and the adversary change.  The rate of change tells the user the rate of relative 
angular closure.  In other words, it tells relative roll rates in the roll plane.  This 
comparison is very important in dogfights to see if you're gaining or losing in a turning 
fight.

Fly with the EOT for a while, stopping the sim and going to the Flight Controller by 
hitting F1 and At anytime, you can press F1 correlate the EOT with the positions in 
space of your aircraft (always blue) and the enemy (red). 


How to Use the EOT to engage the enemy

Wherever you see the arc on your display, roll you aircraft so that the arc is at the top 
of the screen.  Now pull back the stick so that your lift vector is on him.  He may move 
around so you will have to move your stick around to keep the arc centered at the top of 
your screen.

Watch your airspeed and don’t let it get below 130 mph.  Pop on a couple of notches of 
flaps by hitting “F” so you turn better. 

The arc should be at the top of your screen.  This tells you that he is somewhere in the 
vertical plane of space over the top of you and continuing onto the back.  Remember that 
he position of the meatball on the arc shows you his position in the roll plane.

It the meatball is in the middle of the arc, he is at 90 degrees in that plane of space.  

You really don’t even have to worry about the figuring out the angle.  Just look at the 
picture that the arc and meatball present and you can visualize immediately if he’s in 
front, even, or back of you.  One advantage of the display is that it thus functions at 
an intuitive “picture” level.

One feature of the EOT we haven’t discussed is how it shows you range. Visual range under 
ideal conditions is 20 miles according to USAF tactical doctrine.  That means the pilot 
can see a fighter aircraft at distances up to 20 miles.  The EOT duplicates this pilot 
eye acuity.  The closer an aircraft is, the bigger the EOT display is.  Objects further 
away than 20 miles are not displayed in this build.  The EOT will grow larger in size up 
to a range of 1 mile where the display will be the largest.

The use of the EOT display in combat can be mastered by a novice in a matter of minutes.  
Simply tell him to roll the display is at the top of the screen and pull the stick back.  
And the enemy will come into view.  As users get more proficient, they can select the more 
advanced features and maneuver out of plane.  And since the OTW (Out The Window) view is 
always to the front, aircraft control and orientation is always maintained.

Credits
=======

Game Design and Production:	Pat Hunt
Lead Programmer:		Jason Lescalleet
Additional Programming By: 	Tony Sawyer, Eitan Levy, Dave Woldrich
Special Thanks to: 		RealTimeFX