Army Men RTS Demo

The 3DO Company Army Men(R): RTS PC DEMO March 2002 Version 1.0 Thank you for downloading the Army Men: RTS PC Demo! We recommend that you read this file to get the most up-to-date information about playing, installing, running, and maximizing performance of the demo. This document contains information you might find useful, and we think it will help you to get as much enjoyment out of this game as possible. This demo was developed for use with English (United States) versions of Windows. Use of the game on other language versions of Windows may result in errors that can render the game unplayable on your system. Note: The information within this document is accurate as of the date of the release of this demo. ------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------------------- 1. Installation and Uninstall 2. System Requirements 3. Game Information 4. Basic Game Controls Information 5. Video Card And Other Hardware Drivers / DirectX(R) 6. Troubleshooting Installation Issues Problems Running the Game General Solutions --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Uninstall Uninstall: Use Add / Remove Programs in the Control Panel. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. System Requirements The following are minimum system requirements to play Army Men RTS. If these requirements are not met, the game may not work properly. Computer System: IBM PC and 100% compatibles Operating System: Windows(r) 9X/Me/2k/XP home CPU: Pentium(r) 233 (PII 400 Recommended) Memory: 64MB RAM minimum; (96MB RAM recommended) Free Hard Disk Space: 50 MB Sound Card: All major DirectX 8.0 compatible sound cards Video Card: DirectX(r) 8.0 compatible with at least 16MB VRAM (32MB recommended) Peripherals: Keyboard and mouse Note: If your system has a later version of DirectX, make sure that your hardware drivers are updated and comply with that version of DirectX. Windows 2000 requires local administrator access. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Game Information From the Main Menu, you can select the following: BOOT CAMP (TUTORIAL) This is shut off for the demo - please see game instructions in this file. In the full game, this is a 3 level comprehensive tutorial. GREAT BATTLES This is shut off for this demo. In the full game, this is 8 additional levels of action-packed gameplay. CAMPAIGN GAME This is where the demo level resides. It is level 4 from the full Campaign of 15 levels. The full Campaign mode takes you on 15 exciting missions through the backyard and into the house in your search for the renegade soldier, Colonel Blintz. LOAD GAME Here you can load a previously saved game. MULTIPLAYER GAME This is shut off for this demo. In the full game, you can challenge friends to tactical battles online, either on a Local Area Network or over the Internet. Join up as teammates or play head-to-head. The goal is simple: defeat your opponent's troops and destroy his or her Headquarters. There are 10 different levels in multiplayer. OPTIONS Here you can adjust video and audio options. For slower PCs, we recommend that you use lower resolutions (like 640x480) and that you set the "WORLD DETAIL" and "TEXTURE DETAIL" to "LOW" to increase performance. QUIT Click here to exit the game. First you will go to a screen about the game and given the opportunity to click on web sites to order the game immediately. --------------------------------------------------------------------- BASIC STRATEGY There are several steps you will need to follow in the mission. 1) Begin mission by building a Headquarters. This allows you to build one or More Bulldozers and several Dump Trucks. 2) Use a Bulldozer to build a Resource Depot reasonably close to any resources you see, and then send your Dump Trucks to the resource to collect it. 3) When your Headquarters are built, you're ready for recruits! Use one of the Bulldozers to build a Barracks and create a basic squad comprised of Grunts, Grenadiers and a couple of Mine Sweepers. With your squad ready for action, send them out to explore the area immediately around your base. 4) Once you've sent your squads out to explore the area, you'll have a general idea of where the Tans attack from and the basic layout of the land. With these things in mind, it's a good idea to put a few Guard Towers up to protect your base. The tower functions as a lookout and has the firepower of several Grunts. 5) When you've got the resource reserves built up enough, upgrade your Headquarters to a Super Headquarters and build a Garage. Use the Garage to build Medic Trucks that can heal your troops, your buildings and each other. You can also create Machine Gun Trucks (aka: Half-Tracks), Minelayers and Tanks. 6) When you have the resources, upgrade your Barracks to Super Barracks. You can use this new structure to pump out a more specialized platoon including Bazooka Men and Machine Gunners. NOTE: If any icon in the Construction Menu appears shaded in red, you don't have the necessary requirements available to build that item yet. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Basic Game Controls Information FUNCTION MOUSE Select Unit/Issue Left Mouse Button Default Command Deselect Unit Right Mouse Button Change direction of Middle Mouse Button, building before "<" and ">" Keys construction Scroll Camera Around Right Mouse Drag Camera Height Mouse Wheel FUNCTION KEYBOARD Create squad with Ctrl + [number key] currently selected units Select Squad [number key] Bring up Game Menu ESC Move camera to the Space Bar last game message (i.e. "Enemy sighted!") Stop Units S Center Camera Over H Headquarters Camera Height F1 - F4 Save Game F9 Load Game F10 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Video Card And Other Hardware Drivers / DirectX Sound Card: All major DirectX 8.0 compatible sound cards Video Card: DirectX(r) 8.0 compatible with at least 16MB VRAM (32MB recommended) Please ensure that you have the latest drivers for your hardware. You can get more information on which version of DirectX is supported by your version of the device drivers. Contact either the original manufacturer (such as ATI, Hercules, etc.) of the component, or the maker of the entire system (such as Compaq, Dell, etc.) that uses the component. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Troubleshooting Installation Issues Problem: The computer freezes during install, or you receive an error message during install. Answers: 1. There may not be enough space on your hard drive for temporary files to expand and/or you need to free up resources. To free up Resources: - Close all unnecessary programs running in the Background. (See "Resources and Background Tasks.") - You need to keep free space on your hard drive that the game is installed to equal to at least twice the amount of your RAM. - Delete all files in your C:WindowsTemp folder, and then empty the Recycle Bin. Problems With Running the Game: - The game does not launch properly: If the game gives an error message, locks the system, blanks out the screen, or simply returns to the desktop with no activity when attempting to launch: A) Resources and Background Tasks, B) Display Settings, and C) Direct X Troubleshooting below. - During normal gameplay, the game crashes and returns to Windows or locks the system: A) Resources and Background Tasks, C) Direct X Troubleshooting, and - The game runs slow or choppy or with blurry graphics: A) Resources and Background Tasks, B) Direct X Troubleshooting, and - Sound skips, repeats, or is garbled: A) Resources and Background Tasks and B) Direct X Troubleshooting below. General Solutions: A) Resources and Background Tasks: Windows may be running any number of background tasks that hog the system resources so that it cannot run your game smoothly. Before you start the game, press the CTRL+ALT+DELETE keys at the same time to bring up the Close Program window. End Task on all programs except Explorer and Systray, then try running the game. If this worked and you are running Windows 98, you'll want to go to the Windows Start menu and click on Run, then type in "MSconfig" and hit Enter. Go to the Startup tab and uncheck everything here except for System Tray. This will disable those programs from loading when the system starts, but you can re-enable them any time by running this program again and re-checking the Startup options. You may also want to run Scandisk and defrag utilities within Windows for basic preventive system maintenance. Consult the Windows help files for more information. B) Display Settings: Many 3DO games require Windows to be set in a certain display mode in order for the game to operate. In your Display Settings (Right-click on the desktop and select "Properties" and the "Settings" tab) make sure that your Colors are set to 16-Bit High Color (maximum) and the screen area is set to 640x480 (minimum). If you are not able to move the slider for your screen area to at least 800x600 pixels, make sure that your monitor type supports this resolution. To do this, click on the "Advanced" button and the "Monitor" tab. If necessary, change the monitor type to "Plug & Play Monitor" under the standard types that Windows offers. "Super VGA 640x480"should also work. If your monitor is already identified as one of these types and you still can't move the slider, your video card may not be capable of supporting a high enough resolution. Consult the video card's manufacturer for more information about supported display modes. C) DirectX Troubleshooting: DirectX: DirectX is a program incorporated into the Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME family that allows various hardware-intensive programs, particularly games, to take direct control of all the hardware components within your system. Nearly all PC games currently on the market make use of DirectX, and Microsoft periodically updates DirectX to allow PC-based games to take advantage of new technologies. A current version of the DirectX installer is always available at in the Download Center. Device Drivers: Many of the hardware components in your computer, such as the video card and the sound card, require software programs called drivers to function properly. Drivers contain vital information about these devices, like the instruction sets the computer uses to call on them. DirectX coordinates these drivers and manages the way that they interface with the Windows environment for running games and programs. How it all works: DirectX interfaces directly with the device drivers to enhance the quality of graphics and sound in multimedia programs. To give a rough idea of how game software works, all the instructions originate from the game and are then passed to DirectX. Then, DirectX gives them to the driver software and the driver software ultimately interprets those commands for the hardware to execute the operation. Because Microsoft periodically updates DirectX, games are usually written for the latest version available and shipped with it. However, when you update your version of DirectX, in order for your hardware to interface with it properly, it is sometimes necessary to obtain updated drivers for your hardware. The hardware manufacturers usually provide updates as a free download. What to do: DirectX includes DXDIAG, a very complete and comprehensive tool for DirectX troubleshooting and settings. To use it, follow these directions: ·Press the 'Start' button on the Windows 95/98/ME-task bar and select 'Run'. ·Type "dxdiag" (do not include the quotes) then click on the 'OK' button. This will run the DirectX Diagnostics Tool. ·To make sure all your files are DirectX compatible, select the 'DirectX Files' tab to ensure that there aren't any exclamation points next to the file names. If you find exclamation points under this tab you will probably need to reinstall DirectX by either reinstalling the game, or visiting and downloading their latest version of the game installer. ·By clicking on the Display and Sound tabs, make sure all of your drivers are DirectX compatible. Select the 'DirectX Drivers' tab and make sure there are no exclamation points next to any of the file names. If you find exclamation points under this tab, you will need to update your drivers by contacting the manufacturer of the hardware through their phone support or through their website. You can get more information on which version of DirectX is supported by your version of the device drivers. Contact either the original manufacturer (such as ATI, Hercules, etc.) of the component, or the maker of the entire system (such as Compaq, Dell, etc.) that uses the component.