Ascaron Software, Gamer's Hell and HD Interactive present Ballerburg Demo (c) Ascaron Software Vertriebs GmbH 2001-2002 ------------------------------------------------ Contents ------------------------------------------------ Welcome to Ballerburg. This Readme consists of the following parts: Contents System requirements Changes and additions to the User Guide Network play without the original CD In-game sound options Scoring system in action mode Key mapping in 3D sector Technical notes 3Dfx Voodoo cards DirectX Network Windows 2000 with GForce2 Starting play Animated mouse pointer Copy protection Driver information Network with Winsock2 using Windows95 FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) ------------------------------------------------ System requirements ------------------------------------------------ Minimum: Pentium II - 350, 64 MB RAM, 16 MB D3D compatible graphics card, operating system Win 95/98/2000/Me ------------------------------------------------ Changes and additions to the User Guide ------------------------------------------------ Network play without the original CD If you want to play Ballerburg over a network (not the Internet), you only need one CD for two players. The first player inserts his original Ballerburg CD into his CD-ROM drive and starts the normal program. The second player starts the "BALLERBURG LAN CLIENT". The player who started the "BALLERBURG LAN-CLIENT" can take part in a network game but may not initiate a game. If you want to play over a network with four players, you only need two original CDs. In the Multiplayer menu (see page 16, section 3.3.6.1) you will see a CD symbol before the player name when the player has an original CD in his drive. In-game sound options, page 37, section 3.4.11 In the in game options you can limit the number of comments, e.g. if you do not wish to hear any more game hints from Prall or Proll. The following settings are possible: Info Only comments by queens, mages and universal wizards The most important "Info" & important hints e.g. lost stone-mason Few "The most important info" & own loss comments, e.g. lost weapon Many "Few" & comments on building hits and bull's-eyes Most All comments except game hints of type "overshot" All All comments which occur in the game Scoring system in action mode, page 38, section 3.4.12 The point scoring system in action mode is calculated differently from the other modes, so differences may occur. ------------------------------------------------ Key mapping in 3D sector ------------------------------------------------ Key: Function Left cursor, Numpad 4 Turn weapon left Right cursor, Numpad 6 Turn weapon right Up cursor, Numpad 8 Increase charge/distance of shot Down cursor, Numpad 2 Decrease charge/distance of shot Home, Numpad 7 Set weapon settings to those of previous shot End, Numpad 1 Hit view Space, Numpad 0 Fire weapon Ctrl Accelerator key for various functions F1 Show help screen ------------------------------------------------ Technical hints ------------------------------------------------ 3Dfx Voodoo cards There are no official DirectX8 drivers for the 3Dfx Voodoo cards. Owners of Voodoo cards should therefore leave DirectX7 installed on their systems. DirectX Ballerburg has been optimised for use with DirectX8. Please ensure that DirectX8 has been installed on your system. The current version of DirectX can be found on the cover CDs of most gaming magazines or on the Microsoft homepage. Network Ballerburg uses the TCP/IP protocol to establish a network connection. Please ensure that this protocol is installed on your system if you want to play a network game. Windows 2000 with GForce2 Driver version 12.41 must be installed to make Ballerburg runs properly. Using driver version 21.83 may lead to problems with the graphics display. Starting play If programs are running in the background, this may occasionally lead to errors with the initialisation of Ballerburg. Please shut down all programs running in the background before starting Ballerburg. Animated mouse pointer If you are using an animated mouse pointer, the cursor may not display correctly. If this is the case, please switch to the "Windows standard" screen. CD-ROM + copy protection When using Teac CD-ROM drives built in or after 2000, problems may occur during game initialisation which prevent Ballerburg from starting. Driver information Please ensure that you always have the current release versions of drivers installed on your system. Please use the reference driver of the chip manufacturer for graphics cards. For all graphics cards using nVidia chipsets, there is a folder called "DIV\nVidia" on the CD containing the latest driver version at the time of release. ------------------------------------------------ Network with Winsock2 using Windows 95 ------------------------------------------------ The network routines in Win 95 differ from the ones are installed from Win 98 onwards. Anyone wishing to use Win 95 during network play needs the 32 bit network implementation from Win 98. In addition, Ballerburg cannot be started if Winsock2 (WS2_32.DLL) is not installed. This file is installed automatically by Win 98 and later operating systems. After the installation of Ballerburg on a Win 95 native system and the installation of ws32.dll and the ensuing request to install the TCP/IP protocol, this could present a problem for casual users, and I was asked to install DX8.1. Shortly before the end of the installation process, I was instructed to go to the following URL after the end of the install: http://www.microsoft.com/com/dcom/dcom95/relnotes.asp so as to download DCOM95. Brief description: "DCOM95 provides Distributed COM support for Microsoft(r) Windows(r) 95. The DCOM wire protocol transparently provides support for reliable, secure, and efficient communication between Component Object Model (COM) components such as ActiveX(r) controls, scripts, and Java applets residing on different machines in a LAN, a WAN, or on the Internet. With DCOM, your application can be distributed across locations that make the most sense to you and to the application." ------------------------------------------------ FAQ (Frequently asked Questions) ------------------------------------------------ Q: I can't finish entering a name during game initialisation. A: Names used in Ballerburg must not have a space at either the beginning or the end of the name. Q: The Hit view does not work. Every time I use Hit view, the picture reverts back immediately. A: You have to place the mouse pointer, with the mouse button held down, over the "Hit view" button. As long as this button is depressed, Hit view will be displayed. Alternatively, you can call up Hit view by pressing the "End" key. Here, too, you will remain in Hit view only for as long as you keep the "End" key depressed. Q: I have Windows 95. Ballerburg will not start. A: You have probably not installed Winsock2. Please have a look at "Network with Winsock2 using Windows 95" above in this Readme. You will find additional info on this there. Q: When I start Ballerburg, the 3D landscape always appears white or the program crashes immediately. A: Your graphics card probably has too little memory to be able to display the required resolution. Set the resolution to a lower setting and/or reduce the number of colours in Options. Alternatively, you can call up "Ballerburg setup" from the Start Menu and choose a lower PC specification from there. Q: Even though I have a very good graphics card with 64 MB RAM, Ballerburg does not start in 2048x1536 resolution. A: This is to do with the operating system. With Windows 9x/ME the maximum resolution may not exceed 1600x1200. Q: After a network game, the statistics were not displayed correctly. A: At present, correct statistics can be displayed after a network game only if a single player game was started first. Q: I have a problem that has not been covered before. Is there anybody I can ask about it? A: Yes, you can either send a mail to our support address (service@ascaron.com), or visit our forum at www.ascaron.com. On our website you will find wallpapers for Ballerburg and you can give us your feedback on what you think of Ballerburg. Q: I can't build any buildings. A: Either you have too little money, or there are already more than 149 objects on your plateau. In this case no further buildings can be built until the ones already there are destroyed. Q: I have selected "High End" during setup, but I still only get a very low resolution. A: Using this option, the game resolution setting is 1600x1200 pixels. Depending on the monitor driver selected, it is possible that your monitor is unable to display this resolution. In this case the programs automatically sets the resolution to 640x480 pixels. If you would like to run a higher resolution, please set this in Options/Resolution according to your requirements. Have lots of fun destroying castles! Your Ascaron Team Note: This demo is exclusive to Gamer's Hell (http://www.gamershell.com) and cannot be distributed on any site or media without the written permission of HD Interactive and Gamer's Hell.