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METALTECH: BATTLEDROME
Demo Version 1.0 Release Notes
I. GAME INSTRUCTIONS
BATTLEDROME DEMO INSTRUCTIONS
This demo provides a limited version of Battledrome that lets
you play computer opponents. In the full game, you can also play
friends over a modem or IPX network. The Menu Bar screens use an
intuitive point-and-click interface. You'll see grayed-out buttons
for functions are not available in the demo.
These instructions provide a very brief description of Battledrome's
functions, including a quick reference. You may want to print it out
for convenience while playing.
OVERVIEW
Battledrome is a virtual robotic combat simulator. Once you set up
your fighting vehicle, or HERC, you challenge an opponent to a
match. When an opponent accepts your challenge, you will negotiate
a wager and combat conditions, and then proceed to the Arena to
battle for the agreed-on prize money. As you win prize money, you
will be able to buy better weapons, and will be able to challenge
better opponents. You cannot buy new HERCs in this demo version.
CONTROLS SETUP
Your first step is to set up and calibrate your controls. Select
Preferences from the Main Menu. Go to Controls. Select the
controllers you want to use, and what you want them to control.
(See Joystick Information at the end for details.) If you are using
a joystick, click Calibrate and follow the on-screen instructions.
When done, click on the Main Menu to back out.
INSTANT ACTION
If you wish to jump right into Arena combat, you can click
INSTANT ACTION on the Main Menu. This places you in the Arena in a
Barreta-class HERC. See THE ARENA section for controls. If you
prefer to select and arm your own HERC and challenge your own
opponents, go instead to the following screens.
LOGIN and HERC SETUP
To start, go to LOGIN and select or create a Pilot. Then click
LOCAL to login against the computer. You can then click HERCS on
the Main Menu to Select and Setup your HERCULAN fighting vehicle.
Your Wealth determines which HERCs and which weapons, engines,
armor, etc. you can buy. More and bigger is better. In this demo
version you cannot purchase new HERCs.
REPAIR/RELOAD
Before each match, you come to this area to Reload cannons,
missiles, and mine launchers, and to Repair any battle damage
(assuming you can afford it.)
OPPONENTS
Once your HERC is armed, click on the Main Menu Opponents button to
challenge another pilot to a match. You can only challenge "Idle"
opponents. Once an opponent accepts a challenge, you go straight to
negotiations.
NEGOTIATIONS
Here you negotiate the ground rules under which the match will be
conducted. You may propose wagers, weapons, and arena conditions,
and SUBMIT them. It may take several rounds of proposals until one
of you accepts or withdraws. Once one of you ACCEPTS, you go to the
Arena and begin Combat.
THE ARENA
In the Arena, use every weapon and trick you have to win. If you do
something illegal, the Referee will tell you. Other than that, the
only rule is to destroy. Once combat ends, you can repair your HERC
and try again to move up in the rankings.
Remember that you can move the HERC and the Turret separately. If
you get tangled up, press [Backspace] to realign the Turret.
Explore all of the displays and functions on your Heads Up Display
(HUD). The more you play, the more you'll discover of Battledrome's
tactical subtleties. Experiment with the probes and weapons, try
different strategies and Arena conditions, and above all, have fun!
II. GAME CONTROLS
ARENA CONTROLS
Surrender Match Esc
Preferences Alt+P or F12
Calibrate Joystick Ctrl+J
Brighten Screen F8
Quit to DOS Ctrl+Q
VIEW CONTROL
Cockpit F1
Probes F2-F5
Attach Probe On/Off A
Next Probe Alt+N
Toggle Control
Between HERC/Probe Tab
(must be in a Probe)
Controlling Attached Probes:
Move around herc Arrow Keys
Zoom In/Out Up/Down Arrow + >
Controlling Detached Probe:
Change view dir. Arrow Keys
Probe Forward >
Probe Backwards <
HERC CONTROL
Change Between
HERC/Turret Insert or Button 2
Forward/Reverse Up/Down Arrows
Left/Right Left/Right Arrows
HERC Left [
HERC Right ]
Turret Up I
Turret Down M
Turret Left J
Turret Right K
Turret Centered Backspace
Throttle
Zero 0
Decrease -
Increase +
Full or Reverse /
WEAPON CONTROL
Fire Next Weapon Space
Single-Fire Weapon 1-6
Add/Remove Weapon
from Chain Alt+1-6
HEADS UP DISPLAY (HUD)
HUD On/Off U
Reset HUD Ctrl+U
Energy Allocation E
Shields
to 80% X
+10% Shift+X
-10% Ctrl+X
Engine
to 80% C
+10% Shift+C
-10% Ctrl+C
Weapons
to 80% V
+10% Shift+V
-10% Ctrl+V
Balance Energy Z
Weapons Display W
Target Info T
View/Control Status B
Throttle/Heading H
Probe List P
Probe Orientation O
Damage/Shield D
Internal Systems Status S
Game Message Display G
JOYSTICK
HERC MODE
Button 1 (Trigger): Fire Weapon
Button 2: Switch to Turret Mode
Forward/Back: Forward/Reverse
Left/Right: Steer
TURRET MODE
Button 1 (Trigger): Fire Weapon
Button 2: Switch to HERC Mode
Forward/Back: Turret Down/Up
Left/Right: Turret Left/Right
PROBE ATTACHED MODE
Normal:
Forward/Back: Move Up/Down around HERC
Left/Right: Move Left/Right around HERC
Button 1 (trigger) depressed:
Forward/Back: Move towards/away from HERC
Left/Right: Move Left/Right around HERC
PROBE DETTACHED MODE
Button 1 (Trigger): Move Probe Forward
Button 2: Move Probe Backward
Forward/Back: Look Down/Up
Left/Right: Look Left/Right
If available:
Button 3: Align Turret
Button 4: Zero Throttle
"Hat" Button:
If Joystick Controls: Hat Controls:
HERC Turret
Turret HERC
Probe Probe
When in a Probe, the Tab key switches from HERC/Turret mode
to Probe mode.
THRUSTMASTER WCS MK. II (WCS)
The first bank of six buttons corresponds to the six weapons
[1]--[6]. Reconfigure as you wish.
THRUSTMASTER RUDDER CONTROL SYSTEM (RCS)
The default setting is for Turret Control. Otherwise, RCS will
control HERC steering.
III. INCOMPATIBILITIES
TSR VIRUS DETECTION PROGRAMS AND "UNDELETE" UTILITIES:
When installing or operating Metaltech: Battledrome, we recommend
that you disable any "undelete" utilities including Norton
Smartcan or Mirror. You will also want to disable any TSR Virus
Detection programs as each of these utilities might cause install
problems or random lockups during game play. An easy and effective
way to accomplish this is to create a boot disk using the install
program's boot disk creator. For more information, please refer
to your simulation documentation.
MEMORY MANAGEMENT:
Metaltech: Battledrome runs in 32-bit protected mode and may
suffer from incompatibilities with older memory managers including
QEMM 6.02 and early versions of EMM386. If you experience lockups
or other problems when running the simulation, try the following
suggestions:
a) Make a boot disk using the boot disk creator option in the
install program. This option will create a custom boot-up
configuration on a floppy disk and allow BD's own
memory manager to better utilize all of your computer's
available memory. Once the BD install routine has
successfully created the boot disk, restart your computer
with this disk in your A drive.
b) Try an updated or newer memory manager. Many of the updated
memory managers work more effectively with 32-bit protected mode
applications. Check with your memory manager manufacturer for
upgrade information.
MOUSE DRIVERS
In order to insure complete mouse compatibility within BD, we
recommend that you use one of the following mouse drivers:
- Microsoft Mouse driver version 8.20a or above
- Logitech Mouse driver version 6.23 or above
The above mentioned mouse drivers have been tested and found to work
effectively within this simulation. Other drivers may cause program
lock-ups, video distortion (in the form of white lines on the
screen), or mouse control problems.
SOUND BLASTER 16 AND BOOT DISK CREATOR:
On occasion, the boot disk creator might not copy the SBCONFIG.EXE
line onto the AUTOEXEC.BAT file of the boot disk. This may result
in the introduction and the game running without any sound or music.
If this occurs, you will need to manually insert the SBCONFIG.EXE
line from your standard boot-up configuration into the AUTOEXEC.BAT
file on the boot disk. Below is an example of how the line should
look:
C:\SB16\SBCONFIG.EXE /S
NOTE - the above line should appear immediately after all other
Sound Blaster statements within the AUTOEXEC.BAT file of your
boot disk. For assistance or more information about completing
this step, please refer to your sound card documentation or call
Creative Labs Technical Support.
IV. MISCELLANEOUS
SOUND CARD PROBLEMS
While we have made every effort to support as many sound cards as
possible, there are a few sound cards that are not supported
directly within Battledrome. You may have to configure your card
for Sound Blaster emulation if you have a card that is not
directly supported by the game drivers. Some Sound Blaster
emulation utilities might not work properly with Battledrome.
NOTE - not all sound cards are compatible with the Sound Blaster
card. Check your hardware documentation to determine if your
card is compatible.
SOUNDSET SOUNDCARD DETECTION
Soundset's autodetection feature is highly dependent on having
the correct environment variables set and device drivers loaded in
your autoexec.bat file for some kinds of cards. If soundset
does not detect your card make sure that you have installed your
soundcard properly in your machine and that you have run the
installation software that came with your soundcard. If all else
fails, you can set the parameters for your soundcard manually in
soundset.
GRAVIS ULTRASOUND
Gravis Ultrasound and Ultrasound Max cannot be detected from
Soundset. There is a utility called GRAVBD.exe in your
BattleDrome directory that will properly configure your
resource.cfg for the Gravis cards. At this time the Gravis
drivers only supprt digital effects not MIDI music.
CREATIVE LABS AWE-32
You cannot adjust the volume of the midi music on an AWE-32.
ROLAND MT-32
The SRL on Battledrome's box is incorrect. Battledrome does not
directly support the ROLAND MT-32. However, you can still use the
MT-32 as your music output device. To configure Battledrome for
the MT-32, select MPU-401 for your MIDI music driver in Soundset.
This sets MIDI music output to go to a General MIDI output device.
Because the MT-32 is not a true General MIDI device, you may
experience some missed or substituted instruments in the MIDI music
track, however most tracks will play fine.
SCSI DRIVERS
If your system is equipped with a SCSI hard drive, you will need to
make sure that you are loading the appropriate SCSI driver in your
CONFIG.SYS file. For additional information or instructions on
how to accomplish this task, please refer to your hard drive or
SCSI controller documentation or manufacturer.
To run BD on a 4 Meg machine, you will most likely need to
make a boot disk or remove your high memory driver from your
config.sys file. BD doesn't require a high memory driver, and
such drivers can take up enough memory to cause BD not to run.
CONFIGURING YOUR JOYSTICK
The first time you run Battledrome after installing it onto
your computer, you must manually select and calibrate your
joystick. Once you have done this, the computer will
automatically remember your settings.
THRUSTMASTER DEVICE SUPPORT
We have added additional key combinations that Thrustmaster users
may wish to use in .adv files for the WCS Mark II or in .B50 files
for the FLCS. BD does not support the WCS MK I.
Thrustmaster throttle keys:
Ctrl-9 toggle fwd/reverse gears
Ctrl-8 max fwd throttle
Ctrl-7 3/4 fwd throttle
Ctrl-6 1/4 fwd throttle
Ctrl-5 all stop
Ctrl-4 1/4 rev throttle
Ctrl-3 3/4 rev throttle
Ctrl-2 max rev throttle
There is a default BD.ADV file for the WCS Mark II shipped with
Battledrome. A .B50 file for the FLCS was not available at the
time of duplication.
You can reach Thrustmaster technical support at (503) 968-3400
9-5 Pacific time weekdays if you have questions about Thrustmaster
controls.
GRAVIS GAME PAD
We have found that BD works well with the Gravis Game Pad. To
use this device, select and calibrate the pad as 1 Standard
Joystick. Make sure you set the game pad to ANALOG rather than
DIGITAL. Check your game pad documentation for instructions on
how to accomplish this.
CUSTOMIZING YOUR BOOT DISK
Because Metaltech: Battledrome uses a 32-bit DOS extender,
you do not need to load a memory manager as outlined in the
game documentation on page 68. The automatic boot disk
creator in the install program will create a boot configuration
that is optimized to run this game. It will allow BD's built
in memory manager to optimize your full computer's memory to run
the game as effectively as possible.
IMPROVING PERFORMANCE
To increase performance, try the following:
-Use a smartdrive if you have enough memory in your machine
-Decrease the arena detail in the simulation (F12 or Control-P)
-Avoid selecting arenas with "Many" obstacles or blaster turrets
-Take only 1 or 2 camera probes into combat
-Select "None" for sound and music in the install program
CONTACTING SIERRA CUSTOMER SERVICE:
Sierra On-Line Direct Sales Sierra On-Line Customer Service
P.O. Box 3404 P.O. Box 3404
Salinas, CA 93912 Salinas, CA 93912
Phone: (800) 757-7707 Phone: (800) 743-7725
Fax: (408) 644-2018 Fax: (408) 644-2018
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