PC Gamer 13/1995-12_Disc_13.iso/chrono/readme.txt

Text File | 1995-07-23 | 12KB | 239 lines

README.DOC
7/21/95


This document details what is available in this Chronomaster Demo


The demo opens with a conversation between Rene Korda (the Chronomaster) and
the Terran Regional Representative.  Korda is aboard his private starship,
the Jester.  Pocket universes are being shut down by an unknown agent.
Korda agrees to find the criminal responsible.

Moving the mouse cursor to the left or right of the screen and left-clicking
rotates the cockpit view.

Rotate the cockpit view to the right to operate the information screen.
Left-clicking on the CD icon brings up the Encyclopedia.  Left-clicking on
a letter brings up any subjects available under that letter.  Left-clicking
on a subject brings up that subject.  Subjects available are: Bottled Time,
Direction Finder, Old Terra, PDA, Pocket Universe, Resonance Tracer, Stasis,
Universal Tool, and World Key.  Left-Clicking on the icon of the jester
starship brings up an information screen about the starship.

Note: the Cycle Arrow icon takes you back one step when viewing
Encyclopedia Information.

To leave the information screen view, left-click on the left side of
the game screen at any time.

Rotate the cockpit view to the left to operate the navigation screens.  The
planet Urbs is available for exploration in this demo.  Left-clicking on
the screen with the cross-hairs brings up a list of available landing sites
on Urbs.  It is advisable (but not necessary) to land at magnetic north.
As explained in the Encyclopedia, a pocket universe can be turned on and
off using its World Key.  To find the World Key, a Resonance Tracer and
Direction Finder must be used, with the Resonance Tracer set up on magnetic
north.

Once a landing sight is chosen (left-click on landing site), a left-click
on the jester starship icon to speed the jester to the selected landing site.

Functions available on a game screen:

To move Korda, left-click at any position on the game screen where you wish
Korda to go.  Korda walks as close as possible to the position you indicate.
Positioning the mouse cursor over an object or destination often brings up a
"Walk to" message on the menu bar.  A left-click walks Korda to the object
listed.


To scroll through mouse cursor functions, right-click.  A description of
the function always appears in the information bar at the top of the screen.
Options are: Walk, Use, Take, Open, Talk to, and Look at.

Left-clicking at any point on the game screen where the cursor icon animates
performs the function of that icon.

Left-click on the information bar to bring up the menu bar.  Mouse cursor
options are also available on the left of this larger menu bar (left-click
over the icon to activate it).  Inventory slots occupy the center.  To the
right are standard tools used by Korda, including the Resonance Tracer
(larger cylinder), a hand held Direction Finder, and the Universal Tool.
In this demo, the Resonance Tracer,  Direction Finder, Bottled Time, and the
Universal Tool are available for use.  Left-clicking on the object icon
activates the object.

In this demo, the Save Option (shown as a life preserver on the menu bar)
works as a limited quick save option.  Save saves your game to
the file QUIKSAVE.DAT on your hard drive.  When you restart the demo, you
will start at the position last saved.  To start over at the beginning,
delete QUIKSAVE.DAT.

Objects in inventory.  Left-click on an object in inventory to select that
object.  (Note: you must left-click on a selected object to deselect it
before another object in inventory can be selected.).  Once selected, an
object can be used by left-clicking with the use mouse icon over the
object on which the selected object is to be used.  Example: Select Armor.
Use Armor on Korda.  Korda is seen wearing the armor.

Picking up an object.  To take an object and put it in inventory, left-click
over the object using the "take" mouse cursor icon.  The object is in
inventory and can be selected for use by activating the large menu bar
and left-clicking on the image of the object.

Using an object.  Select an object from inventory.  With the "use" icon,
select one of the tools from  Korda's supplies and "use" that object on the
first object.  For example; Using the hammer function of the Universal Tool
on a rock in inventory (found in Sculpture Garden) makes "rock dust."
Rock dust can then be used on the control panel to the door in the Fort.
This allows Korda to see the previous numbers punched and he opens the door.

Using the PDA on Korda allows him to access the information screen from his
ship.  To get back to the game screen from THIS part of the information
screen, move the mouse to the bottom off the screen.  The mouse will become
an arrow pointing down.  Left click at this point to return to the game
screen.

Using Bottled Time on the rockets for the rocket launcher in the fort enables
them to be loaded and fired.

Note: Whenever Korda returns to his ship, his supply of Bottled Time is
replenished.

Landing Sites:

Sculpture Garden (Magnetic North)

Read plaque messages at the base of the sculptures
to gain clues.  Note: Pop-Up messages and Korda's text box can be moved by
left-clicking over the box, holding the mouse button down, and dragging
the box to another position.  Left-click on a Pop-Up message to remove it
from the screen.

The goal is to move the giant robot sculpture off of magnetic north so that
the Resonance Tracer can be used.  Korda can talk to the robot sculpture,
eventually removing him from magnetic north by either trickery or force.

Moving to the bottom of the first screen returns Korda to his ship.
A bird perched on the gate post is activated by Korda's bottled time.

Ground Zero

A rag and crowbar are found at the landing site.

From the landing site of this city, Korda can choose
walkways to the north and east.  Moving to the north, Korda's bottled time
activates a citizen jumping away from a bomb planted before a door.  If
Korda stays near the bomb, he dies when it explodes.  He can reverse
course or attempt to run past the bomb before it explodes.  Using Bottled
Time on the bomb and moving Korda off the screen allows the bomb to explode
without injury to Korda.

If Korda moves to the east from the landing site, he enters the museum of
Ground Zero.  A guard is asleep to his right, a newly arrived shipping
container is to his left.  The shipping container can be opened (by using
the crowbar found at the landing site).  A shield within can be taken and
put in inventory.

Walking to the bottom of the museum screen, Korda moves to a display of
several museum items.  As he passes each, his bottled time activates
their displays.  A laser defense system keeps the pieces from being stolen.
The general bars are necessary in a later puzzle, but to get them, Korda must
find some polish, use the rag on the polish, and then use the polished rag
on the ancient shield.  By using the polished shield on the general bars,
Korda deflects the laser security system and acquires the bars.

Moving Korda down the corridor to his right as he leaves the museum places
him in a junction area.  Once in the elevator, left-clicking on the elevator
control sends him down to the level below or up to the level above.  The
bottom level leads to the door behind which the bomb has been planted.
The upper level leads to a confrontation with a guard before the chamber
of the Council of the Wise.  If Korda insists on seeing the Council, he
is killed by the guard.

Fort

Upon landing at the Fort, Korda finds a rocket launcher.  By using bottled
time on a rocket, Korda is able to load the rocket into the launcher. The
control panel for the gun is nearby.  Near the gun lies a body.  Korda may
take the uniform off the slain soldier and use it on himself.

The control panel for the gun allows directional change of the gun's facing.
If a rocket has been loaded, it may be fired from the control panel.

Two flags are set on the battle field.  Both can be taken as objects.  One
aids in solving the puzzle of tricking the Robot Sculpture off of magnetic
north.

At the entrance to the Fort a scanner activates a bridge over the lava moat,
but only if it recognizes authorized personnel.  The general bars are needed
to solve this puzzle.

Within the fort, a firing squad is in the process of executing a spy.  The
shield can be used to get past the firing squad, and it is possible to talk
to the spy, gaining more information on the mystery of Urbs, as well as a
contact name on Aurans.  A nearby folder of information on the spy affects
the outcome of the encounter.

An elevator doorway in the fort can be opened, either by using the PDA on the
control panel to the door, or by using rock dust.  Using the hammer function
of the Universal Tool on a rock in inventory (found in Sculpture Garden)
makes "rock dust."  Rock dust can then be used on the control panel to the
door in the Fort.  This allows Korda to see the previous numbers punched and
he opens the door.

Once inside, Korda must decide whether to allow Joe to destroy Urbs, or
allow Frank to save it.  This is the last puzzle in the demo, to be followed
in the game by the World Key puzzle and a confrontation with the Council of
the Wise.

Miscellaneous:

F9 toggles music volume through three settings: Full, Half Volume, Off.
TO QUIT:  ALT-Q

VESA Drivers

If you experience difficulty with game graphics, there may be an
incompatability with your SVGA card or VESA driver.  In this case, we have
included a number of public domain VESA drivers which may remedy the problem.

To see which VESA driver works with your system, run "DETECT.EXE."
At the bottom of the display is video card information.  Note this
information.  Type CD\D:\CHRONO\VESA where D: is your CD drive.  Look for
the filename that most closely resembles the video card requirements noted
when you ran DETECT.EXE.  If there is more than a single choice, try one at
a time to see which one works best (remember to reboot your machine each
time you try a new VESA driver).

These include:

Appian, ATI, Chips & Technologies, Cirrus, Diamond (older Diamond cards) &
Diamond 2 (newer Diamond cards), Everex, Genoa, Oak, Orchid, Paradise, Sigma,
STB, Techmar, Trident, Tseng, and Video 7.  Most include their own readme
file.

We take no responsibility for the drivers and make absolutely no warranties
as to their use. The safest option is to obtain the appropriate Vesa driver
directly from your graphics card manufacturer.

We will say that if you have a HiColor graphics card, then the Tseng driver
is one that you might try after trying the driver for your specific graphics
card. If the video chips for your graphics card were made by
Chips & Technologies, then you may want to try the driver provided by
Chips & Technologies in addition to a driver which was made for your graphics
card. If your video card is based on the Western Digital 24 bit chipset, you
may want to try the vesa driver from Western Digital in DIAMOND2.ZIP which
supports the Diamond 24X.


This collection of graphics card VESA drivers are provided
without charge or support, and are only provided for your convenience.
NO WARRANTIES ARE APPLICABLE.

This demo contains a readme text display program.  Type "README" at the
DOS prompt of the game directory and press Enter to read this file.  Type
"README" and the name of any text file to read that file.  A biography of
Roger Zelazny is included in RBIO.TXT.