ABSOLUTE ZERO README.TXT 3/14/95 ======================================================================== Welcome to the Absolute Zero Demo CD-ROM! You are about to experience an alpha version of the game, but we think you'll find it entertaining. In it, you'll move through the Europan Mining Consortium's Virtual Tunnel interface, fly around the colony on Europa, see mining operations, the floating city arcologies, and even experience battle with the aliens. Enjoy! ======================================================================== Final Game System Requirements: 486-33 MHz (66 MHz or better required for SVGA) 8 MB RAM DOS 5.0 or better CD-ROM Drive Supports S3, ATI and Weitek Accelerator chips Most major Sound Cards supported ======================================================================== Table Of Contents: Section I: Installation Section II: Controls Section III: Playing The Game Section IV: Commonly Asked Questions Section V: Ordering Info Section VI: Credits ======================================================================== SECTION I:INSTALLATION 1) Installation Instructions To install the necessary files to your Hard Disk, insert the CD into your CD-ROM drive and type INSTALL from the AZ directory. You MUST be in DOS to run the installer, make sure you are completely out of Windows by selecting End your Windows Session. You need to decide whether to install either the FULL version or the PARTIAL version of the demo. The FULL version installs about 40MB of files on your hard drive. It's advantage is twofold: a) the demo runs faster from hard drive; and b) if your machine has 8MB RAM, it allows you to create a simple boot disk (see below) to run the demo. The other option is PARTIAL install. This only installs the game files -- the interface portion of the game (about 25MB) is left on CD. This creates a smaller footprint on your hard drive, but you will notice a performance difference. If your run from a boot disk, it also requires you to set up CD drivers in stripped down versions of AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS. 2) Setup Once you have finished installation, type SETUP. This walks you through the Sound Card, Video Mode, and Controller Selection screens and creates a file used by the demo when running. NOTE: The current demo uses heavy texturing on many objects. Therefore, SVGA settings are suggested for Pentiums only. When the final product comes out, textures will be optional and may be toggled off for speed enhancements. Speed does vary from machine set-up to machine set-up, so you can try it on 486s if you want to -- at least you'll be able to see what the graphics will look like. If your machine has 8MB RAM, we suggest you create a BOOT DISK to prevent memory conflicts. If you did a FULL install, then you only need to copy your COMMAND.COM file onto a blank, formatted diskette and use it to boot your computer from. If you only did a PARTIAL install, then you'll need to add an AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS file to your boot disk (in addition to the COMMAND.COM file), that has your CD drive information in it. Since that varies from computer to computer, we leave it up to you to configure those files. 3) Running the Demo Once your boot disk is completed, then move to the appropriate directory (default is c:\AZ), and type AZDEMO to begin playing. If you have not run SETUP you will be asked to do so before running the game the first time. ======================================================================== SECTION II:CONTROLS Joystick controls: The stick will move the entire turret as you move it. Control is like in an airplane, where pulling back on the stick angles the turret up, and pushing forward angles it down.Button 1 (the trigger) will fire the selected weapon while Button 2 will cycle through your available weapons. Keyboard Turret Movement- Pitch Up Down Arrow Pitch Down Up Arrow Rotate Left Left Arrow Rotate Right Right Arrow Weapon Systems- Select Next Weapon Backspace Fire Weapon Spacebar Mouse Moving the mouse will swing the turret up, down, or sideways, matching the movement of the mouse. Clicking Left mouse button will fire your weapon. ======================================================================== SECTION III:PLAYING THE GAME Background: Europa City, the largest arcology on Jupiter's moon Europa, was destroyed recently by aliens who have been living under the moon's icy surface. The resulting explosion of the city leveled 30 square kilometers of the moon's surface. Areas on the outskirts of the explosion were pounded by the massive shockwave. Playing the game: You play a newly arriving SysDef Commander coming to replace the resident commander, Toshiro Watanabe. When you were arriving in orbit, the aliens erupted from the moon's interior, thus putting you on uncertain footing and in a hostile situation. You meet with a resident maglock pilot who plans to take you on an inspection tour of Europa. You will be in a controllable turret on a Maglock Cargo Carrier. The Maglock has been refitted with weapons to better defend itself in case of alien attack. Control with a joystick is simple, push the stick left to rotate the weapons platform left, and push right to rotate it right. The tricky part is that up and down on the stick act like an aircraft, where pulling down on the stick will angle the turret up, and pushing forward will angle the turret down. Your viewing angle up and down is restricted to about 60 degrees from horizontal. You will be looking out of the helmet of a Vac-Suit, with your view of the world out the faceplate. Two monitors below the faceplate are used for displaying various system status screens and incoming information, but are not implemented in the demo. You have the ability to switch between three weapons while in the turret, the Laserlance, Fusion Cannon and the Gatling Blaster. You can do this by using the "Backspace" key. The Blaster and Cannon generate heat and require a cool-down period when it reaches it's tolerance level of 100%. The two numbers next to the weapon show the ammo count and heat level. The ammo count is not used in the demo, so you only have to worry about heat. Targets will appear on your Top-Down radar (the circular radar on the right). The red blips near the top of the radar are in front of you, while those near the bottom are behind you. Blue blips are "friendlies", so you won't want to shoot at them. Get a target in front of you, and use the Bore Sight to locate them. The nearer to the center of the radar, the closer the target is to you. Line the sight up on the target and fire. The Bore Sight Radar is the Box to the left, and shows targets that are directly ahead of you. To center these targets onto the crosshairs, bring the diamonds to the center of the box. The selected target should be in the center of your screen. The Laserlance needs very little lead time, so try to advance the sight just in front of the target. The Gatling Blaster has slower projectiles, so you will need to lead moving targets by an inch or two, depending on the alien's distance and speed. The Gatling Blaster also fires in a spiral pattern because of it's barrel configuration, so you may have to adjust for that. The Fusion Cannon fires balls of super-heated Plasma, which are slow but do devastating damage. You will need to lead these on moving targets as well. Listen to your pilot as he will point out areas of interest. You'll start out over friendly territory, and they don't want you firing at the valuable equipment, but there will be targets soon enough. ======================================================================== SECTION IV:COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS Questions: Q: Why can't I control my vehicle's movement? A: You're not driving it. Greg (your pilot) is. Don't worry. You'll drive, fly and move your way through the world in a lot of different scenarios in the real game. But, in the demo, you just man the weapons. Q: How do I get my turret to face forward? A: Just move the turret sideways until the landscape is moving toward you. In the final game, you'll see "ghost line" computer imaging of the vehicle you're in so you'll have easy referenceas to which way the vehicle is moving. Q: Why does the Gatling Blaster fire slower sometimes? A: It's overheating. Watch the numbers on the bottom of the screen and wait for it to cool down to 50% or so. When it does, you'll be able to volley fire again. Q: Why does my machine lock-up after I calibrate my joystick? A: There are a few machines out there (about 20%) that have a conflict with our calibration routine. Don't worry. It will be fixed before the game comes out. In the meantime, we suggest you use the mouse. It works well with turret movement. Q: Why can't I see my vehicle? A: Your computer is showing you a virtual display of the world in your VR helmet. This eliminates "blind spots" in your vision by not drawing the vehicle you're in. However, since the inception of this feature, the company has found that some pilots are acrophobic, so the "ghost line" feature has been implemented to give pilots a frame of reference. Q: How can I speed up my Frame Rate? A: Switch to VGA in the Setup program. Q: How do I exit the game? A: Hit "Esc" and say yes to "Quit Absolute Zero?" ======================================================================== SECTION V: ORDERING INFO Absolute Zero will be available May 1995 at Software Etc., Babbages, Electronics Boutique, as well as other fine stores. Or, if you'd like direct order information, call 1-800-695-GAME. Suggested retail price for PC: $54.95, Macintosh: $49.95. ======================================================================= SECTION VI:CREDITS Producer: Dave Georgeson Lead Programmer: Colin Boswell Programmers: Francine Hunter, Michael Kelly Engine Design: David Payne and Jonathan Newth SGI Art & Animations: Andrew Osiow, Rebecca Shearin In-Game Art: Jesse Conklin, Joe Marullo, Matt Miller, Andrew Osiow, Rebecca Shearin Scenario Design: Dave Georgeson, Matt Miller, Joe Marullo This document and the demo game it describes are both (C) 1995 Domark Software, Inc.