Big Red Racing
Here's the readme.txt file incase you didn't read it before
loading. It contains some information not included in the
manual coz to be honest we did the manual before the game
was finished. We know you wont read it now, but when things
start to go wrong try reading this as well as the manual
to see if we thought of it ... we should of coz we've been
playing it long enough!!
First a quick note on the big changes
AS an attempt to please our public in the final weeks before
launch we decided to pull the release date to improve our
game yet further. As a bonus, you now have an extra
6 levels including 4 extra vehicles namely Big Rigs and
Helicopters. Due to the hurried nature of the computer biz,
these have not been described in your manual. They are a
bonus so in the words of our US buddies, enjoy....
First, some instructions for those reading this before they
installed .....
Installing (DOS mode)
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Get onto the CD
Type
INSTALL
Now type where on your hard drive you want the game data
do go (ie - C:\BIGRED)
.After installation, either type
VIDEO
If you want the gripping movie video thing.
A note to shop type people: you can type "DEMO" which loops
this video as a rolling demo (we try!)
Alternatively, the game itself runs a rolling demo mode if
you leave it alone on the title page.
RACING
if you want to play the game.
Guide to the root directory of the CD
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This file(!)
README.TXT
The DOS installer:
INSTALL.EXE
The WINDOZE 95 installer:
SETUP.EXE
Stuff to do with the dos installer:
DOS4GW.EXE
COPYIT.BAT
Stuff to do with the windows installer:
COPYIT.BAT
DSETUP.DLL
DSETUP16.DLL
BRR.ICO
AUTORUN.INF
SETSOUND
RACING
VIDEO
MODEM
DIRECTX
Playing the Game
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** Controls **
Default keys ( which you can change in the game) are
Cursors for left/right/accel/brake
Keypad-0 for nitro.
Right-CTRL puts you back on the track if you get hopelessly lost.
** Extra Keys **
Pause pauses
PrtSc saves a PCX to the racing directory (for the journos: see
we do try!)
-Additional: use SHIFT-PrtSc if you're feeling rotten & don't
like the way we move the horizon to full-distance on the
screenshots!
Escape quits the game, or takes you up a level in the menus
Ctrl-Escape is instant-quit from wherever
(unless you're in a Windows DOS shell(!))
F1 is "view the other cars" (shift-F1 cycles in reverse order)
F2 selects the "Elasticam"(TM) behind-car view, and then either
(1) forces the camera behind the car
or (2) switches between 3 different heights.
F3 is the cabin view
F4 is the trackside view.
+/- are the screen size.
At full-screen VGA there's a debounce before switching to
SVGA mode.
(Full-screen SVGA is only recommended for people with Pentiums.)
(or better!)
Helicopters
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There's no doubt about it, the helicopters take some getting used to...
(Well, it'd be pretty boring if all the cars behaved exactly the same
way, wouldn't it?)
SO: The controls are BASICALLY the same as all the vehicles, except that
the nitro key behaves as "upward thrust", and you fall gently under gravity.
Hovever, you occasionally want to go down faster, and this can be achieved
by pressing "decelerate" without letting go of the accelerator.
(not possible on a joystick, but you can't have everything!)
Oh, and to save you having to use the "up-thrust" key ALL the time, there's
a sort-of "low-altitude automatic hover" built in. You'll still need to
thrust up to get over hills & stuff, though.
General advice: How to turn a tight bend at speed:
Anticipate the corner, turning the chopper to skid sideways thru the
corner (even face back at the camera if necessary).
Don't forget to straighten out "early" as well, or you'll run into the inside
of the bend.
(For what it's worth, even Domark's testers had trouble when they first
tried flying the choppers. Perseverence is all! Trust us: they're great
when you're used to them!)
The Mouse:-
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Mouse movement looks around, but homes back to the "normal" angle.
On the external view, a "Left-Click" will stop the camera from moving
back down (For that "looking straight down at the car" viewpoint that
you've always wanted...)
Keeping the "Right button" pressed while dragging up & down controls
the camera's Zoom.
The Joystick :-
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There's a joystick configure screen under "Options...Joystick"
Quickly:-
Plug in your stick.
Click on "pl1" or "pl2" to choose between keys, sticks 1 & 2, or a
"steering wheel-plus-pedals" combo.
Click on "Recalibrate"
Waggle the joystick(s) around to its extremities.
Centre it/them (or leave "pedals" in their "off" position).
Hit a fire button.
Tick "analogue" if the stick is an analogue(*) one, and you'll get true
"stick position = steering wheel position"steering.
You'll find it feels totally different (less prone to oversteer).
Un-tick "analogue" if the stick is a "gamepad". This gives the same
movement type as with the keyboard.
If you've got a really weird joystick setup, do the "recalibrate",
and set both players to use "keys".
Then go to the "key defining" screen, but move the stick instead of
pressing a key.
Support has been added for
the Thrustmaster formula T1 steering wheel
the virtual pilot pro steering wheel
the ch "pro pedals" ** IN "CAR" MODE **
(*) Or Analog. Hello, American type people.
The sound :-
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We use the "miles drivers" for creating sound effects in Big Red
Racing. These drivers have been used in many games before so you
may find you have another game which works with them.
The install utility runs a program called SETSOUND. This
establishes which card is installed in your machine. Should you
change your sound card after installing the game, or say if you
have installed Racing on a file server and more than one
person plays the same copy of the game with different sound card
options: run SETSOUND to create a new sound driver.
Next time you run the Racing, and are prompted with enter your
name, type in a new name. You will then be promted with a
create new config. By answering yes to this (hit Y), the new name
will use the new sound driver yet keeping the old driver intact.
2PL Split Screen:-
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Player 2's default keys (again, alterable) are:-
Q,A,R,T for driving
ALT for nitro
Left-CTRL for "putting on track"
Player 2, being on the left end of the keyboard, gets F1..F4 for the views...
F1 gives PL2 control of the mouse
F2,F3,F4 are the same as 1PL mode
...And Player 1 gets to use F9...F12 instead
F9 gives PL1 control of the mouse
F10,F11,F12 are PL1's view keys (see F2,F3,F4)
The Tapedeck:-
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When playing a recording...
F5 is "slow down / rewind" Hammer it for extreme rewind.
F6 is "pause"
F7 is "speed up" (again, hammer it for extreme fast-forward)
F8 is the "play" key
ESC quits the recorder
F1,F2,F3,F4 behave as for the normal game.
Note that things like the nitro display are not updated during recordings.
Also note that the dust effects aren't stored as part of the recording,
so they behave rather oddly during rewinds!
2PL Modem Game
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The modem game has to be played by launching it thru the
modem launch program called modem. This is a similar
prog to that that DOOM uses so people should be reasonably
aware of whats going on. You simply type modem at the
command line.
First select you name using the cursory up and down thing
like the install program.The instructions I think are quite
explanitory and easy to understand.
Now select your modem type from the list provided once you
have both got the right modem set up, choose the connect
option. To establish if you have got the right modem strings,
try to connect. If the modems response to initalisation is to
return an error or even not answer at all, try returning to DOS
and attempt to connect again, try swithing the modem off then on
and attempt to connect again and finally try to switch your
computer off then on and attempt to connect again. The init
strings used are the same that are used on DOOM, so if all else
fails, check that DOOM works and edit the MODEM.INI file.
The MODEM.INI file looks something like this :-
;
;Big Red Modem Interface
;
DEVICE Pace Linnet 32 Plus vfx
INITSTRING AT &C0 F8 \N0
HANGSTRING AT Z H
DIALSTRING ATDT
BAUD 9600
PORT 1
LINE SPEED 19200
TELEPHONE
NAME
Hopefully the above should be fairly self explanatory. But
just in case:
Note all strings and numbers start at the 13th position in!
DEVICE is the name of the modem.
INITSTRING is the string used to initialize the modem.
HANGSTRING is the string used to hang up the phone.
BAUD is the speed the modem talks to the outside world.
PORT is the serial port the modem is connected to.
LINE SPEED is the speed the serial port talks to the modem.
TELEPHONE is the default number to call when you dial.
NAME is your name.
Having corrected the strings and the correct baud rates
again attempt to connect upon getting your strings right you
should see you modem respond with an OK. You can experiment
with the modem strings by using the chat mode to chat directly
to your modem. When in chat mode, all modems should respond with
OK when you type +++ (then wait a second or two) +++ and then
then AT followed by enter. If this doesn't work then its likely
you haven't set the baud rates properly.
Assuming your modem choice is correct, (read what
appears in the modem response box if ), one person must choose
to dial while the other chooses to answer the phone.
Having established a connection, you will then be able to chat to
each other by typing stuff on the keyboard and watching the
response box.
Press escape to exit and then choose to play the game. At the time
of writing, you still then have to select the modem game from
within racing, (short cut keys M for multi play then M for modem).
By the final cut this will be the defaulted to when the game
is run.
Command Line Options
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use "RACING -CFG " to bypass the name-entry screen
use "RACING -NOSOUND" to avoid loading a "wrong" sound driver