This is a limited play demo of Warlords II Deluxe for IBM. Details on the game are listed below, followed by operating instructions for the demo. Warlords II Deluxe is a full commercial game, not shareware. This demo contains two full scenarios plus a tutorial, and will run for 40 turns. Saving and loading are disabled. Warlords II Deluxe features an upgraded version of Warlords II, with enhancements such as network play, an improved Warlords II Scenario Builder, plus over twenty four brand new scenarios, all on CD-ROM. The total value of this package is $160.00, if purchased separately. Warlords II was created due to overwhelming demand from players of the original Warlords game. The Warlords II Scenario Builder was likewise released because warlords fans demanded the ability to create their own scenarios. Warlords II Deluxe is the product of users' desires for a networkable version of Warlords II. To create Warlords II Deluxe, with all its enhancements and network features, the entire program had to be rewritten. SSG also took the opportunity to make a number of improvements to the Warlords II Scenario Builder, and to redo all scenarios in 256 color SVGA graphics. New features include: * Support for networks (NETBIOS), E-Mail, modem and null- modem play. * Improvements to Warlords II game options. * Improved movement system and faster gameplay * Much requested Undo function for movement. * New 256 color SVGA graphics for all scenarios. * Enhancements to Warlords II Scenario Builder to make scenario creation easier. * Over 24 brand new scenarios (60 scenarios total) with many different army and city sets. * New underground scenarios and terrain types. * Improved computer routines. * New musical score, with audio tracks on the game CD * New painting tools for Warlords II Scenario Builder. * Conveniently presented on CD-ROM. * Special upgrade offer for existing Warlords II owners. How to get Warlords II Deluxe 1. Existing owners of Warlords II products may upgrade. 2. Buy direct from SSG. 3. See your local software retailer or games outlet. UPGRADES: SSG has announced a special upgrade offer. The upgrade conditions from Warlords II IBM or Warlords II Scenario Builder are as follows: 1. Send in any Warlords II or Warlords II Scenario Builder disk OR 2. Send the front page of Warlords II or Scenario Builder manual OR 3. Send proof of purchase of Warlords II or Scenario Builder OR 4. Be a registered owner of Warlords II or Scenario Builder If you're not sure that you fit the criteria, just call. North American customers can send their upgrade orders to our US office. Cost is $US35.00 plus $2.00 postage or $4.50 Second Day Air. Strategic Studies Group P.O. Box #30085 Pensacola, FL 32503-1085 Ph: (904) 469-8880 Fax: (904) 469-8885 Customers outside of North America can send their upgrade orders to our Australian office. Cost is $AUD45.00 plus $2.00 postage in Australia or $10.00 International Air Mail. Strategic Studies Group P.O. Box 261 Drummoyne, 2047 Australia Ph: +61 2 819-7199 Fax: +61 2 519-3397 Upgrade orders may be sent now. BUYING DIRECT FROM SSG: North American Customers: Warlords II Deluxe is available direct from SSG at the address below, for $49.95 plus $2.00 postage or $4.50 Second Day Air. SSG accepts VISA, Mastercard, checks and money orders. Strategic Studies Group P.O. Box #30085 Pensacola, FL 32503-1085 Ph: (904) 469-8880 Fax: (904) 469-8885 Customers outside North America: Warlords II Deluxe is available direct from SSG at the address below, for $Australian 89.95 plus $2.00 postage or $10.00 international airmail postage. SSG accepts VISA, Mastercard, checks and money orders. Strategic Studies Group P.O. Box 261 Drummoyne, 2047 Australia Ph: +61 2 819-7199 Fax: +61 2 519-3397 BUYING VIA EMAIL: Credit card orders (VISA or Mastercard) can be sent via EMail to the addresses below. Compuserve: 72662,3471 Internet: gwhiley@ssg.com.au MSN: SSG_oa REQUIREMENTS FOR WARLORDS II DELUXE FULL VERSION. Processor: 386 or better, 486 highly recommended Memory: 4 Mb RAM (8 Mb recommended) with 2 Mb Expanded Memory (EMS) available, and at least 520K of conventional RAM free Video: VESA compatible SVGA card OS: DOS 5.0 or higher Hardware: CD-ROM drive, Hard Disk and mouse required Sound: Ad-Lib, Sound Blaster Family including AWE 32, Pro Audio Spectrum, Gravis Ultrasound, Windows Sound System, Roland MT-32, and Roland Sound Canvas, General Midi (MPU-401) and compatible Network: NetBIOS Supports Hayes compatible Modem and Null-Modem play for two players. Memory Requirements Warlords II Deluxe uses both conventional memory and Expanded Memory (EMS). Your machine will need a minimum of 4Mb of RAM installed, and at least 2Mb of EMS free. An Expanded Memory Manager, such as EMM386.EXE will be needed to provide the EMS memory. In addition, you will need at least 520K (532,480 bytes) of conventional (DOS) memory free. To determine the memory configuration of your machine, use the MEM command from DOS. The field Largest Executable Program Size is the amount of free conventional memory available. You can also choose the About Your PC from the SSG menu while the game is running. System Requirements Warlords II Deluxe needs a certain number of file handles to run. Your CONFIG.SYS file should contain the following lines. FILES=30 BUFFERS=30 Pentium systems should have FILES=66. Other Operating Systems Windows 3.x or Windows for Workgroups. Warlords II Deluxe is completely incompatible with these versions of Windows. You must exit Windows and run Warlords II Deluxe from DOS. Windows 95 Warlords II Deluxe runs under Beta versions of Windows 95, although there may be problems with Sound FX and/or Music. To run Warlords II Deluxe, from within Windows 95, locate the batch file WAR2 and use the right hand mouse button to click on its icon, and bring up the Properties dialog. In the Properties dialog, select the Program option, and then the Advanced Program Settings option. Select the MS-DOS Mode check box. You may also wish to specify CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files for specific use with Warlords II Deluxe under Windows 95. You can also run Warlords II Deluxe from the MS-DOS prompt in Windows 95, and this is the preferred way to run the game. If you have a fresh setup for Windows 95 that has not been installed over previous DOS versions, you may be missing several vital items that DOS programs still need, but Windows 95 doesn't. These include: A mouse driver The FILES= and BUFFERS= statements. The EMM386 statement. You will have to supply these items in the appropriate CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. Sample files are listed below. N.B. Testing for Warlords II Deluxe under Windows 95 has been carried out with Beta versions of Windows 95. Your results with the real system may vary. INSTALLATION Installing the Demo from Floppy Disks. 1. Insert the first floppy disk into your A: drive 2. Type A: and then press the ENTER key. 3. Type INSTALL then press ENTER Installing the Demo from a downloaded file. 1. Make a directory W2D_DEMO 2. Copy the downloaded file to \W2D_DEMO 3. Decompress the file. STARTING THE GAME 1. Change to the \W2D_DEMO directory 2. Type WAR2 [ENTER] NEEDING TO RUN WARLORDS II DELUXE IN VESA MODE The game needs to run in SVGA mode. Our SVGA routines autodetect all major video cards. However, if the game won't run, or runs with distorted video, then the game *MUST* be run in VESA mode. All SVGA video cards should provide a VESA standard driver. Most cards have this driver built in. Other cards may require a driver to be from the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Consult your video card manual for more details. To run the game in VESA mode type: WAR2 -v [ENTER] Sample CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files These sample files are only meant to indicate certain statements that you will require for the game to run. They are not necessarily complete, and your system will certainly vary from these. CONFIG.SYS FILES=30 BUFFERS=30 DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE 2048 RAM (if you have Windows 3.x, this above lines may read DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE 2048 RAM DOS=HIGH,UMB SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS /P DEVICEHIGH=C:\<path>\<CD-ROM driver> AUTOEXEC.BAT PROMPT $P$G PATH=C:\DOS LH C:\MOUSE\MOUSE.COM C:\<path>\MSCDEX.EXE <exceptions> INTRODUCTION Warlords II Deluxe is an eight player game of conquest and empire. Different worlds are provided as a stage for your ambitions, and as a test of your capabilities. In the quest for final victory, you will assemble vast armies, conquer and loot mighty cities, undertake perilous quests, make and break alliances, and wield magical artefacts of great power. TUTORIAL We strongly suggest that you run the tutorial scenario first. It has many helpful information screens. (a) . Starting the Tutorial Choose the tutorial scenario from the list presented. As the tutorial starts, the first of a number of help screens built in to the tutorial appears with some useful information. (b). Your First Hero Your side is the Knights. Click on the turn number message when it appears to start your turn. On the first turn of every Warlords II Deluxe game, a hero appears in your capital. A help screen appears with some info about heroes. Click on the help screen to make it go away, and then examine the hero dialog. You can rename your hero by clicking in the text box containing his name. When you�ve finished, click on the OK button. (c) . Producing an Army After confirming the arrival of your Hero, your next job is to order the production for your city. Another help screen will pop up and explain this process. Click on the help screen to make it go away, then examine the production screen. You only have one army type that you can produce, so click on the army icon. The highlight circle will turn white, and the Current: line will show that the army will arrive in one turn (abbreviated as 1t). The details of your army are shown on the right hand side of the dialog. Click on the Done button when you have finished. (d). Selecting Armies for Movement Once you�ve ordered production of a new army, it�s time to start moving the ones you already have. The help screen appears to explain how you select an army, or armies, for movement. Click on the help screen, and examine the map. On the large map you will see a white castle, with an icon representing your hero standing on the castle. Move the cursor directly over the hero. It will change into a circle with a dot in the middle. This indicates that you can select the army beneath it. Click on the hero icon. Another help screen appears to explain moving armies, which is what you will do next. Click when you have finished, and look at the screen. Your hero icon is surrounded by a moving highlight, indicating that it has been selected for movement. Looking at the small box at the bottom of the map, you can see the hero icon displayed again. It is highlighted, indicating that any movement orders will apply to that army. Just to the right is another icon. It is greyed out and has a highlight ring that is yellow rather than white. As it stands, this army won�t be affected by any movement orders you give. Choose the Stack command from the View menu. This brings up the Stack Dialog. You can see that your hero has a +2 hero bonus. Hit the Group button. Now both armies are highlighted, and will move together. Notice also that the Light Infantry gets the bonus added to its strength, as it is now grouped with the Hero. Hit the OK button. (e). Moving Your Armies With a group of armies selected, the cursor will change to a pair of walking feet as you move it over the map. Click on the road to the left of the castle. Your group will move along the road to the point where you clicked. Keep clicking to the left until your group reaches a junction in the road. At the bottom of the screen is a grey castle. This is your first objective. Click on the road just outside the castle, so that your group moves there. (f). Your First Battle With your army sitting outside the castle, move the cursor over the grey army inside. It changes into a sword, indicating that you can attack the castle. When the cursor is a sword shape, hold down the SHIFT key. The cursor changes into a question mark. Click with mouse button. A sagacious looking advisor will appear, and advise you that the coming battle will be a walkover. Click on the Done button. Move the cursor back over the defender and click. The combat dialog appears, and the results are shown and announced. You should win the battle. (g). Your First Victory When you take a city, you have four options, as explained in the ubiquitous help screen. Click on the screen, and then click on the Occupy button in the dialog. You now get to specify more production for your newly conquered city. Read the help screen and then click on the middle army type (Light Infantry), to begin producing that. (h). What To Do Next First, choose the End Turn Command from the Turn Menu. This will bring you to Turn 2. The help screen brings up some more advice. We�re going to take some of that advice by searching a ruin. Click on the hero icon. Then use the Stack command to group him with the new army. Then move the group to the ruin that is just to the north west of your new city. Its the straggly lump of stones that looks, well, ruined. When you get there, a help screen tells how to search ruins, and what you can expect to receive. Click on the help screen, and then choose Search from the Hero menu. If you meet monsters, they might fight you, or join your side. If you find a sage, take the money. After searching the ruin, move back to your city. (i). Dealing with Computer Players Since this is a tutorial, your opponent will be a bit of a patsy. That doesn�t mean that you can take too many chances. Always garrison your cities with at least three armies, and try to attack with a large stack. This may mean sitting around for a little while you build up your armies. There are a few ruins on the tutorial map. Choose the Ruins command from the View menu to see which sites are unexplored, and take your hero exploring. Make sure you take some armies along with him when you do. When you are ready to attack the computer�s cities, use the advisor to check things out first. (j). Messing About in Boats There is one city not on the centre islands; that's the one in the bottom right hand corner. This is not a problem. When you have your attacking group assembled, just select it, and click on the road just outside the castle. The computer will work out a path, and move your group to the mainland by boat. All you have to do is keep moving the group along its path, by using the walking feet button in the bottom right of the screen. (k). Winning If you hold most of the cities, your opponent will offer to surrender. If you accept the offer, you have won. If you don�t, you will have to take every enemy city on the board to win. Good luck! NETWORK GAMES This section covers connecting machines via Modem, Null Modem and Network. All connection methods use the same program CONNECT.EXE to set up a connection before running the game. To run the connect program type: CD \W2DELUXE [ENTER] CONNECT [ENTER] When the connect screen appears, there are four choices for connection method. Null Modem A Null Modem cable is a special serial cable which allows for very fast serial communications between two computers. Only two machines can be connected this way. The Help screen in the Connect program has more details. The only parameter that needs to be configured for a null modem connection is the Comms (serial) port that the cable is connected to. Hit the Configure button, and select the appropriate port. When the other computer has also been configured, both players should hit the Connect button. Modem A modem connection is made between two computers linked over a phone line, with Hayes-compatible modems at either end. Each modem will need to be configured. In a modem connection, one person originates the call, and the other person answers the call. If you will be originating the call, you need to supply the phone number of the person you are calling in the Dial field. If you are answering the call, the Dial field should contain the command ATS0=0, which tells your modem to answer any incoming calls. There are two preconfigured answer configurations, which can be selected from the list box. You can make your own configuration by selecting the Blank configuration, renaming it and putting in your own settings. The other fields that have to be filled in are explained below. Cmds: All modems require a command or initialisation string to set them up. The program supplies a default string, which will work in most circumstances, but your modem may require a different string. Check your modem documentation, and any other comms programs you may be running, which should already have the correct configuration. Port and Speed: You need to tell the program which Comms (serial) port you are using, and the speed of the connection. The speed should be the highest possible speed that is supported by both modems. Consult the Help function in the program for more details. When you have set the modem up, hit the Configure button. When the other player is also ready, both players should hit the Connect button. Network (2) and Network (3-8) There are no configuration options for a network connection. You must have NetBIOS running on all machines that wish to run the game. All players must run the CONNECT program and hit the connect button. The Network (2) option is a special case for two players laying over the network. Most games will involve three to eight human players, and players should select the Network (3-8) option. Once the CONNECT program is running, and the network option chosen, the first player to hit the Connect button becomes Player 1, with the power to make a number of choices, so you may wish to negotiate this point. As each player establishes their network connection, their NetBIOS name is registered, and their chat window appears. You can use the chat windows to talk amongst the various players until all players are connected. When all potential players have registered, hit the ESC key. You will be returned to DOS but a connection will have been established between all the players. All players should now start Warlords II Deluxe with the WAR2 batch file. However, they will have to wait until Player 1 has started their game before the game screens will appear for the other network players. Once Player 1 has started the game, the Program verify screen will appear on all machines. This will determine whether all players are running the same version of the game, or at least running compatible versions. Warlords II Deluxe version numbers will take the form V2.x.y. For games to work across a network, the .y number can be different, but all players must be running the same game at the V2.x level. Player 1 must also supply the network save game name, taking care not to overwrite previous games. Player 1 should then choose a scenario. Once the program and scenario have been verified, the Game Start screen will appear. Initially all players are set to computer. Each network player is allowed to choose which side they will play, and it's first in best dressed. Game options can be edited by any player, up till the time that the player hits the Begin button. We're assuming that you're going to be sensible about this, but the game options will those set at the time that the last player hits the Begin button. The game starts when the last person hits the Begin button. Load and Save Games Any player can issue a Save command. All machines will save the game. To load a game, Player 1 must be at the Start Game screen and issue a Load command. At any time, a player can issue a New Game command. This will end the game for all players, so be careful. Disconnecting After running a network session, the DISCONN command must be run. If this is not done, then all future games will try to start up as network games, with a conspicuous lack of success. Warlords Deluxe Troubleshooting Problem: Game won't install - locks up after first install screens. Solution: Run Installer in VESA mode (check box on bottom of install screen). Note: If the Installer had to run in VESA mode, then Deluxe, the Scenario Builder and all other game programs also have to run in VESA mode, using the -v switch. Note: Most modern SVGA cards have VESA mode built in, most older SVGA cards require a TSR program to be run to setup the card in VESA mode. Problem: Installer or Game sort of runs, but looks funny, or gets garbage on screen. Check: Has program correctly detected SVGA card? See the About Your PC under the SSG menu, or run the program SSG from the \W2DELUXE directory to check whether the program's guess is right. Solution: If the program gets the SVGA card wrong, run in VESA mode described above. Problem: I've done everything possible to get the game to run in VESA mode, but the game either hangs immediately, crashes randomly, or leaves small images behind on the screen. Solution: The problem is that a lot of SVGA cards are somewhat erratic in their adherence to the VESA standard. There is a program called UniVBE by SciTech software which is designed to iron out all these problems. It recognises over 160 cards, and guarantees that recognised cards will operate correctly according to the VESA standard. There is a shareware version available which would allow you to try this out. You can find it in the following locations: Compuserve: UVBE51A.ZIP in Lib 12 of PCPROG FTP: ftp.scitechsoft.com WWW: http://www.scitechsoft.com Problem: Game refuses to run, complains about a lack EMS memory. Solution: User must make at least 2 Mb of EMS memory available. This is done in the file CONFIG.SYS with a line that looks something like; DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM HIGHSCAN If the EMM386 command has a parameter NOEMS, this must be removed. Problem: Installer refuses to recognise CD at all. Check: Is user running MSCDEX (the Microsoft CD extensions). Some people use other CD software. Solution: W2 Deluxe must have MSCDEX present to run. Problem: Install from CD won't go. Solution: Run the program INSPROB.BAT from the CD. This will do an emergency install. Then run the INSTALL program from the HD to install the game as desired. Problem: After a while, EMM memory runs out, and the screen fills with EMM error messages, often while Talking Head or other Sound Effect is playing. Workaround: Turn off Speech and Effects from Settings Dialog under Game Menu. Solution: Problem only occurs in versions before v2.2.4. Supply patchto v2.2.4 or greater. Problem: Game runs slow, with frequent disk accesses. Workaround: Run SMARTDRIVE or other disk caching software as possible preferably 512K or greater, but anything should be better than nothing. Solution: Upgrade to v2.2.4, then if not running SMARTDRIVE, try running WAR2 -o20 which will reserve 320k of memory for the game overlays to run in. The actual number can be experimented with. Problem: Midi sound is too loud. Solution: Upgrade to V2.2.4 then start the game with WAR2 -m5, to set midi volume to 5 out of 10. Number can be changed to suit user from 0 to 10. Problem: Running out of memory, or having trouble getting game to run on a 4 Mb machine. Solution: Do not install sound or music. If using a Sound Blaster AWE 32 for music, consider using the SB 16 driver. This will save memory. Problem: Some dialogs take a long time to draw. Solution: The system will add drop shadows to dialogs, if it thinks the drawing speed of the video card is fast enough for adequate results. If you disagree and want the dialogs to draw faster run the game with the -s option. WAR2 -s will turn off the shadowing. Problem: Save Games for random maps look funny after running other random map games. Solution: You must rename any random map games you create, otherwise any subsequent random map game will overwrite yours, resulting in the loss of the game details. Problem: Free memory, as revealed in the About Your PC dialog gets very low, causing occasional game problems. Solution: You can force the game to use less memory. Starting the game with WAR2 -4 forces the lowest memory model, WAR2 -8 forces the next size up. Problem: Need to run the game in WIN 95 or OS/2. Solution: See the files WINREAD.ME and OS2READ.ME in the \W2DELUXE directory. Problem: CONNECT program does not run properly, display is bad. Solution: CONNECT needs to be run in VESA mode. Versions before V2.2.4 cannot be forced into VESA mode. Apply patch to V2.2.4. Problem: Need to run in VESA mode, or use other command line switches under Windows 95. Solution: Create a Shortcut to the program. Edit the Cmd line setting of the Program tab in the Properties for the Shortcut to include the command line parameters. For example: WAR2 -v -ns will run Warlords II Deluxe in VESA mode and without the intro. OR: Edit the file WAR2.BAT. There is a line which reads W2 %1 %2 %3 %4 (in later versions the parameters go to %8) Edit this line to replace each % parameter with the command line switch you wish to use. For example: W2 -v -ns %3 %4 will run Warlords II Deluxe in VESA mode and without the intro. Leave any unused % parameters untouched. Problem: CONNECT program crashes as soon as I try to run it, or gives strange video. Solution: Early versions could not accept the -v parameter to run under VESA mode. V2.2.3 had a separate problem. Upgrade to v2.2.4 or later. Problem: CONNECT program runs, but modem connection cannot be made. Get error message that modem driver not loaded. Solution: SSG provides default modem initialisation strings, but these will only work in about 80% of cases. Your modem may require a different string. Consult your modem documentation. Any string that has worked with other games has a good chance of working here. Try running the connection at 9600 Baud. Many PCs have an old UART chip in their serial ports, which has problems at higher speeds. You need a 16550 UART to guarantee success at 14,400 or 28,800 Baud. Make sure that the modems at both ends of the connections are running at the same speeds. Check your COM port allocation. Remember, most PCs have Serial mice, usually on COM 1. Problem: I've tried everything, and CONNECT still doesn't work. Solution: You don't actually need CONNECT to create a connection. The instructions below show how to dispense with CONNECT. This means that you can use your own terminal programs to create a modem connection, and run Deluxe over that connection once it is established. Here are some brief instructions on how to run SSG's connection drivers without using the CONNECT program: 1. NULL MODEM ------------- From the \W2DELUXE\ directory type: CONN\COMIO 1 (if your null modem cable is on COM 1) CONN\COMIO 2 (if your null modem cable is on COM 2) CONN\COMIO 3 (if your null modem cable is on COM 3) CONN\COMIO 4 (if your null modem cable is on COM 4) When the game has ended, to unload the driver, type: CONN\COMIO U 2. 2 PLAYER NETBIOS ------------------- From the \W2DELUXE\ directory type: CONN\NETB2 When the game has ended, to unload the driver, type: CONN\NETB2 U 3. 3-8 PLAYER NETBIOS --------------------- From the \W2DELUXE\ directory type: CONN\NETB8 When the game has ended, to unload the driver, type: CONN\NETB8 U 4. MODEM CONNECTION ------------------- The modem connection is a little more complicated to establish. Firstly, in your main (\W2DELUXE\) directory, you should have a file named MODEM.DAT This is a text file containing 5 lines: Comm Port Baud Rate Telephone number to ring Modem Initialization string (sepated by '|'s) Command string Some examples follow using generic initialization strings. A MODEM.DAT file to call a friend at 2400 baud (Com port 2). 2 2400 5551234 ATZ0|AT&F|AT&C1 ATDT A simple MODEM.DAT to answer at 9600 (note the phone number is blank) 1 9600 ATZ0|AT&F|AT&C1 ATS0=1 After you have created a modem.dat file, you run the driver by typing: CONN\MODEM When the game has ended, to unload the driver, type: CONN\MODEM U General Diagnostic Procedures Check Video - in about your PC, the SSG program or run the DIAGNOSE program. If the DIAGNOSE program fails, the results are written to a file called DIAG.TXT. Check Sound - are the various settings correct? Run INSTALL to make sure. Try running without Sound or Music. Check Memory - must have at least 2 Mb of EMS free. Is EMM386 being called in CONFIG.SYS? Are its parameters correct? Try increasing the amount of EMS memory available. WHERE TO GET HELP Compuserve: 72662,3471 Internet: gwhiley@ssg.com.au MSN: SSG_oa