Welcome to STRIFE(TM)! STRIFE MULTI-PLAYER README 5/20/1996 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0. Table of Contents ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0. Table of Contents 1. Getting Started in Multi-player Mode 2. Rule Changes in Multi-player Mode 3. Winning at Deathmatch 4. Multi-player Demo Recording 5. Network Play 6. Modem Play 7. Command Line Parameters 8. Adding More Phone Numbers to Your List 9. Legal Stuff -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Getting Started in Multi-player Mode -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Install STRIFE as described in the manual. 2. To launch STRIFE, go to the directory in which you installed STRIFE, type SETUP, and press the ENTER key. Unlike STRIFE in single-player mode, STRIFE in multi-player mode must be run either from the SETUP program or by using the command line parameters mentioned later in this addendum. 3. The SETUP program allows you to configure STRIFE to your system and lets you provide STRIFE with programming information that is necessary for the multi-player game (number of players, skill level, mode, etc.). The SETUP program is simple to use and provides context-sensitive help at the bottom of the screen. NUMBER OF PLAYERS: A maximum of eight people can play multi-player STRIFE on a networked game. COMPATIBLE NETWORKS: To play the multi-player version of STRIFE, you must have a network that uses the IPX protocol. Check your network manuals for information regarding protocol. Novell networks use the IPX protocol. MULTIPLE GAMES ON THE NET: To play a multi-player game while another group is also playing the multi-player game, you'll need to change your network port address from the SETUP application. The port address tells your server where to send information over the network. Network addresses range from 1-64000. You should refer to the person in charge of your network for possible port addresses. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Rule Changes in Multi-player Mode -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Many of the rules for multi-player STRIFE are different from those for the single-user game. Read the following information carefully before you begin to play STRIFE in the multi-player mode. MENUS: When you activate the Options menu or sub-menus, the game KEEPS RUNNING so that other players can continue with the action. It is best to find a safe place where your character can hide before adjusting screen sizes or sounds. PAUSE: A single-player may pause the game by pressing the PAUSE key, but any other player can resume the game by pressing the PAUSE key again. Make sure it's OK with your buddies before taking a breather. SAVE: You cannot save a game during network play. LOAD: You cannot load a saved game while playing a multi-player game. WEAPONS: When a player runs over a weapon, he picks it up, but the weapon remains in the game for other players to take. With the RESPAWNING ITEMS option on, the items will disappear, and will come back in about 30 seconds. With the RANDOM RESPAWN option (`-RANDOM' from the command line) places from which items are picked up will have items randomly reappear in them after the 30 second interval. RESTART: If you die and restart within the level, the level will NOT reset like it does in multi-player STRIFE. Life goes on without you. DEATH: When you die, you will often leave behind a little mound of goodies from your inventory. KEYS: There are no keys in the game. Doors open without keys, or never. UNIFORM COLORS: In multi-player games, each player's uniform is a different color. The color of your uniform is the color next to your name on the kills screen. The colors are Tan, Red, Rust, Grey, Dark Green, Gold, Bright Green, and Blue. CHAT MODE: In a multi-player game you can communicate with other players in the chat mode. To enter into chat mode which will broadcast a message to all the players, press [T]. A cursor will appear where your messaging is normally placed. To broadcast to a specific player, after pressing [T] you'll need to press the number of that player (1-8). You can change your name by pressing the [T] and [$] keys, then entering your new name. CHAT MACROS: In a multi-player game you can send your own pre-defined macros (defined in the SETUP program) by initiating chat mode (as explained above), then holding [Alt] and pressing the number key that corresponds to the macro you wish to send. For example, if macro #2 is "I got the Sigil!", initiate chat mode by pressing [T], then hold down [Alt] and press [2] to send "I got the Sigil!" to everyone else in the game. EXITING A LEVEL: When one player exits a level, all players instantly exit to the new level with him, regardless of their position or their status. KEY SCREEN: In deathmatch mode, the key screen shows each player's kill count - the number of times each has been killed by another player. AUTOMAP: In deathmatch mode, on the Training skill level the automap works the same way it does in single-player mode. Each player is represented by a different color arrow. SPY MODE: If you're playing with the Training skill level, press [F12] to toggle through the other players' viewpoint(s). Press any other key to return to your view. You still retain your own status bar at the bottom, and if your view reddens from pain it is YOU, not the person whose view you're looking out of, who has been hit. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Winning at Deathmatch -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The rules for completing or winning a deathmatch game have intentionally been left general. Any player can exit an area and force all of the players to move to the next area. Also, there is no limit to how many kills are required to declare a player the winner. That's completely up to you, since you know what you like best! Remember that you can have a ton of fun without killing each other. Invent new games like Capture the Chalice, Monster Bash (gang up on the baddies, not each other), or use deathmatch to give inexperienced players a virtual guided tour through the world of STRIFE. Note: Before you play STRIFE in deathmatch mode you might want to become familiar with the layout of every area in STRIFE. As you know, in deathmatch mode your starting location is random and often in an area that is very hostile. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Multi-player Demo Recording -------------------------------------------------------------------------- You can record your tournaments for posterity! To record multi-player demos, add the line "-RECORD " (i.e. "-RECORD demoz") to the command-line. Make sure the other players are recording also, or it won't work. If you need more time, add the "-MAXDEMO " option to increase demo buffer space. Make sure both of you specify the same amount. STRIFE defaults to 128K of demo buffer space, to specify 1meg you would type "-MAXDEMO 1024" on the command-line. IF STRIFE CRASHES TO DOS WITH A "Z_MALLOC" ERROR, IT'S BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE ENOUGH MEMORY FOR THE MAXDEMO AMOUNT SPECIFIED! When you are done recording, press the [F10] key and all players will exit to DOS. To play the demo back, type "STRIFE -PLAYDEMO " and the demo will play back. To see from the other players' point of view, press the [F12] key. Press [F12] to toggle between all players in the demo. The TAB key will display the automap. Area transitions are not good for records, so try to stay in one area. We recommend that you record 64k demos or smaller for maximum reliability. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Network Play -------------------------------------------------------------------------- When you want to run a network game, use IPXSETUP.EXE which is the device driver for STRIFE's network mode. The parameters are as follows: -NODES <# of players> - starts STRIFE as a network game and sets the number of players who are going to play. If you don't specify the number of nodes, the default is 2. -PORT <# of the port> sets the port from which to play STRIFE multi-player on the network. By setting a different port, more than one group of players can play STRIFE on a single network. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Modem Play -------------------------------------------------------------------------- When you want to play a modem or null-modem game, run SERSETUP.EXE which is the device driver for STRIFE's serial communications mode. The parameters are as follows: -DIAL tells the program which number to dial, if you're going to do the calling. -ANSWER puts your modem into Answer mode so someone can call you and play STRIFE. -COM1, -COM2, -COM3, -COM4 specifies the COM port to which your modem or serial cable is connected. It is very important that you specify! 8250 tells SERSETUP to set the UART to 8250, just in case your 16550 UART is acting up at the higher speed. -IRQ sets the IRQ for the COM port. -PORT sets the COM I/O port that SERSETUP uses to communicate with your modem. To use hexadecimal, such as the number 0x3f8, you would type "-PORT 0x3f8". -<#> sets the baud rate of your COM port, overriding the value in the MODEM.CFG if you're running a modem game. Legal values are 9600, 14400, 38400, 57600. Note that to run a null-modem game, you must have a null-modem cable plugged into a serial port on both computers and have each computer run SERSETUP.EXE with a -COM# parameter as well as any General Parameters. Do not use the -ANSWER or -DIAL parameters, or SERSETUP will think you're using a modem. To get a null-modem cable, go to CompUSA or Radio Shack and say, "I need a null-modem cable to run a STRIFE multi-player game." VERY IMPORTANT! You will need to run the SETUP program and select Choose Modem from the Network/Modem/Serial menu so you can set your modem init string correctly. Select the modem and press [Enter] and SETUP will create a new MODEM.CFG file that corresponds to your modem (the MODEM.CFG file is used by SERSETUP for initializing the modem.) If your modem is not in the list, you will most likely need to edit the MODEM.CFG file in the STRIFE directory. The first line of the file is an initialization string that: 1. Turns off error-correction and 2. Turns off data-compression. The MODEM.CFG file has a Hayes-standard init string like this: AT Z S=46 &Q0 &D0 You just add your own commands after the "AT Z " if your modem doesn't work with these settings. Dig through your modem manual for the correct settings. The second line is a hang-up string used when you quit STRIFE. The third line is the baud rate at which you want your COM port set. The legal settings are: 9600, 14400, 38400, 57600. If the modem connection isn't working when you call your friend, have him call you instead. Try setting the modem to GENERIC (in the SETUP.EXE program) if your modems don't connect. If you STILL can't get the modems to connect, both of you should run your favorite COMM programs and connect with 9600, no error correction and no data compression. Then quit the COMM program and keep the connection going. Then just run SERSETUP with a -COM# parameter (as if you were running a null-modem game) since you're already connected. If you had trouble connecting, but figured out some settings that work, please fax them to us at (415)956-9184 so we can expand our modem init string database and perhaps have the SETUP program ask you for your modem type in a future version of STRIFE. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. Command Line Parameters -------------------------------------------------------------------------- These parameters can be passed straight to STRIFE, or passed to IPXSETUP or SERSETUP, each of which will pass them to STRIFE. -DEATHMATCH starts STRIFE as a deathmatch game. This is the default mode for a network game. -ALTDEATH specifies respawning items during deathmatch. -RANDOM items picked up will be randomly respawned. This is only useful with -ALTDEATH -SKILL <# of skill level> sets the skill level (1-5) you wish to play. -CONFIG allows you to use your configuration file from any directory you choose. This is primarily for diskless workstations that don't have a C: drive on which you may save config information. You need to rename the DEFAULT.CFG file created by the SETUP program to a directory and filename of your choosing to avoid conflicts. -NOMONSTERS allows you to start playing with NO Enemies shooting you! This is great for deathmatch where, really, the enemies just get in the way. -NOJOY isn't what it sounds like. It just disables your joystick. -NOMOUSE disables your mouse. -NOSOUND turns off sound effects. -NOMUSIC turns off music. -NOSFX turns off both sound and music. -NOVOICE turns off the voices. There are, however, no voices in deathmatch play. -PLAYDEMO runs a demo you've previously recorded, see -RECORD. -RECORD tells STRIFE to record the game you are starting. Demo files will be saved as .lmp. -MAXDEMO If you want to record a demo bigger than 128k, use this option. will be the size (in kilobytes) of the demo. example -MAXDEMO 1024 will record a 1 megabyte demo. -RESPAWN tells STRIFE to respawn some robots 12 seconds after you kill them. The robots that explode and go away when killed, will not respawn. The BLOODBATH skill level already does this. Note that using -RESPAWN and -NOMONSTERS at the same time is a dumb thing to do. -TURBO gives you a speed boost. This is great in deathmatch! The value xxx can be from 0 to 250. The other player(s) will be notified of your speed increase! THIS IS CONSIDERED CHEATING! @ will allow you to specify a Response file from which STRIFE will read additional command-line parameters. For example, typing `STRIFE @MYPARMS' will tell STRIFE to look in the MYPARMS file for additional command-line parameters. The file format is simply one parameter per line with a carriage return to terminate the line. Each parameter is typed exactly as you would type it on the DOS command- line. -FAST will make the enemies move and shoot up to 3 times faster, just as if you were playing in Bloodbath mode, but without the respawning. -TIMER <# of minutes> will prevent STRIFE from exiting the level until after a specified number of minutes. This is for you level scroungers! This option is only useful in deathmatch mode. An example line for entering the above information would be: STRIFE -DEATHMATCH -SKILL 4 -TIMER 10 NOTE: Without using the -WARP parameter in single-player, all of these game options will be reset to the defaults. Network games will auto- matically warp to the start level without this parameter. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8. Adding more numbers to your list -------------------------------------------------------------------------- You must use a text editor (such as EDIT that comes with DOS) to edit the MODEM.NUM file. The format is simple; The first line is the person's name (which will appear in the list), the second line is the phone number. The third line should be blank. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9. Legal Stuff -------------------------------------------------------------------------- STRIFE (TM), the STRIFE logo and STRIFE likenesses are trademarks of Velocity, Inc. All rights reserved. STRIFE Copyright 1996, Velocity, Inc., All rights reserved. Velocity (TM) is a trademark of Velocity, Inc., All rights reserved. This product contains software code owned by Id Software, Inc. (the "Id Code") Id Code copyright 1993, 1996 Id Software, Inc. The Id Software, Inc. name is a trademark of Id Software, Inc. DOOM(TM) is a trademark of Id Software, Inc. IBM(TM) is a registered trademark of International Business Machines, Inc. Sound Blaster(TM) is a registered trademark of Creative Labs, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. --------------------------------------------------------------------------