Stardock Systems presents B.U.G.S. DEMO for Windows 95/98/NT Bill's Unbelievable Ghastly Spaceships -------------------------------------- Version 1.55 (C) Cramon Utilities 1997-99 (C) Stardock Systems Inc. 1997-99 Requirements: ------------- Operating System.: Windows 95/98 or Windows NT Video............: DirectX 3 (or higher) compatible video card running at 640x480 with 256 colors Sound............: DirectX 3 (or higher) compatible sound card (optional) Hardware.........: (Minimum) : 486 DX2 66 MHz with 8 MB RAM (Recommended) : Pentium 100 MHz with 16 MB RAM Concept: -------- You must save the universe from Bill's Unbelievable Ghastly Spaceships! The evil Bill wants nothing less than to rule the universe and you are Earth's only hope. Take command of the defender and blast the BUGS from the galaxy. Limitations in the DEMO: ------------------------ There are only 6 levels in the DEMO version of B.U.G.S. where as there are 50+ levels in the Commercial version. The commercial version also has 7 Bugs and 2 Master Bugs more spread out over the 50 different levels. Except for this the DEMO is equally functional to the Commercial version. Instructions: ------------ Keys control ARROW KEYS = Directional movement SPACE = Fire CTRL = Fire torpedo ALT = Activate shield Quick keys ESC = Options F1 = Help F2 or Space = Start game F3 or R = Restart current game F4 or S = Stop current game F5 or P = Pause current game F6 = Set resolution to 640x480 F7 = Set resolution to 800x600 (only works if you have enough video memory) F8 = Set resolution to 1024x768 (only works if you have enough video memory) F9 = Set resolution to 1152x864 (only works if you have enough video memory) F10 = Exit B.U.G.S. Settings Difficulty -You can set the difficulty to : Rookie, Veteran or Elite. The difference between these are the number of shots fired by the Bugs, how often they attack, and the speed of the game. General - "Sound" You can choose to enable or disable sound in B.U.G.S. by changing the state of the "Sound" checkbox. Notice: If the "Sound" checkbox is disabled - meaning that you can not change the state of the checkbox - and you are sure you have DirectX installed, please delete the BUGS.CFG file in the game directory and try again. This problem may occur when B.U.G.S. fails to initialize DirectSound, because another program might be using it. - "Confirmations" You can choose to have "Confirmations" enabled. This way can not accidentally stop a game or exit B.U.G.S. without being asked. - "Random Levels" You can choose to run the game with "Random Levels". If "Random Levels" is enabled, the order of the levels will be totally random. After playing B.U.G.S. for a while without random levels you will find that random levels can be much more difficult, as your attack and preparation patterns no longer apply. - "Use joystick" If you have a joystick installed and your current version of DirectX supports joystick you can enable or disabled joystick usage from the submenu "Use Joystick" in the "Options" menu. To activate the shield when playing with joystick press both buttons at the same time. Notice: B.U.G.S. only supports 2 button joysticks. If you joystick has more than 2 buttons, you will still only be able to use two of the buttons. Resolution In the Resolution groupbox you can specify which resolution you want B.U.G.S. to be run under. The options are: 640 x 480 (at 256 colors) 800 x 600 (at 256 colors) 1024 x 768 (at 256 colors) 1152 x 864 (at 256 colors) The higher resolution you use the slower the game will run. - Use Hardware Accelleration This option allows B.U.G.S. to use the videocards memory for storing the graphics instead of using the computers memory. This ofcourse requires that your videocard has sufficient memory available. Enabling this option will make B.U.G.S. run faster. Highscores - By pressing the Reset Highscores button all highscore will be erased. Notice: If "Confirmations" is turned off you wont be asked if you're sure that you want to erase the scores. They will be erased immediately! Graphics Thread Priority - By changing the priority of the "Graphics Thread" you can decide how much processor time B.U.G.S. may consume. Idle Time is the lowest priority (B.U.G.S. will not consume much processor time) and High is the highest priority. High will use most of the processor time. On slow computers, using High priority graphics thread may make the game unresponsable. This especially applies to Windows NT, whereas Windows 95/98 often requires High priority graphics thread to make the scrolling smooth. Processor Class - The Processor Class is used to control the speed of the game. The first time you run B.U.G.S., it will try to auto-detect your Processor Class. If it fails (which may happen because of heavy processor load by other applications), just change the class of the processor to the correct setting. If you think B.U.G.S. is running too slow or too fast, just change the processor class. Processor Class 486 on a Pentium 100 will run faster than Processor Class Pentium 100 on a Pentium 100. All settings are saved each time you close B.U.G.S. Notice: Should you under any circumstances experience problems with a setting and B.U.G.S. refuse to run next time you start it (because of this View setting) you can also clear the settings by deleting the BUGS.CFG file in your B.U.G.S. directory. Special weapons and items (dropped by the Bugs): ------------------------------------------------ Occasionally a Bug, when shot, will drop a PowerUp. These rotating gizmos provide extra features on the Defender when picked up. Each PowerUp will rotate 10 times on the game field before vanishing. Green PowerUps The Green PowerUp provides you with shields. One PowerUp gives one more shield. Blue PowerUps The Blue PowerUp mounts the Defender with torpedos. One PowerUp mounts one more torpedo. Orange PowerUps The Orange PowerUp makes the Defender shoot faster (the delay between the shots is shorter, but the actual shot will not move faster). One PowerUp charges the lasers with 10 more fast shots. Notice that you can shoot even though the counter for the Orange PowerUp says 00. This just means that the rate of firing has returned to normal. Shields When activated the shield will absorb enemy fire. The duration of the shield has a limit. It will last for a total amount of 6 seconds or until a level dependant amount of fire has been absorbed. It can absorb: 4 shots from Bugs on level 1-30 2 shots from Bugs on level 31-50 2 meteor hits on level 10-30 1 meteor hit on level 40-50 It will render the Defender immune and destroy one Bug in case of collision, given that the shield has not been harmed at all before the collision. The shield will not harm a MasterBug upon collision. You will die. Torpedos Fired torpedos will track the nearest Bug until impact or until the Bug is out of range. On the MasterBug levels the torpedos will track the mouth of the master, hitting him where it hurts. Torpedos have no effect on shots from Bugs or on meteors! Masterbug: ---------- The MasterBugs are an especially nasty breed of bugs. Far superior to the other Bugs and very tough and aggressive! A Master has only one weak spot: The area around the mouth. This is the place you have to hit him, but beware of his lasers and his arms whirling meteors at you. A Master will die after absorbing 11 shots, but you have to hurry as he will regain one hit every third second. Points: ------- Shooting down the Bugs gives you: 5 points when they are moving normally (not attacking) 10 points when they are attacking 1 point when shooting down their shots Shooting down a MasterBug gives you: 10 points when moving normally (not attacking) 20 points when attacking 2 points for shooting down its shots 4 points for shooting down its meteors Support: -------- Vendor Info..........: Cramon Utilities Homepage..........: http://www.cramon.dk B.U.G.S Homepage..: http://www.stardock.com/products/bugs Publisher Info.......: Stardock Systems, Inc. Homepage..........: http://www.stardock.com Support, E-mail......: bugs@stardock.com ** NOTE: Stardock itself is not handling technical support ** Known Problems: --------------- Video related problems: Non known. Sound related problems: Non known. Other: In rare cases B.U.G.S. will suddenly gets unresponsive to keyboard and mouse events under Windows 95/98. This is due to Windows 95/98's poor multithreading capabilities. We have provided a workaround for this situation where you automatically assign both keyboard/mouse and graphics threads with a higher priority therefore not allowing Windows 95/98 to interfere. In order to use this workaround you need to start B.U.G.S. with the -f option. Example from the commandline: bugsw -f You can also add this to the "Target" editfield on the B.U.G.S. Shortcut property page. Notice: This option only works under Windows 95/98! What's new/updated in version 1.55: ----------------------------------- - Fixed that annoying keyboard lock problem. - Other minor fixes Disclaimer: ----------- B.U.G.S. is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall Cramon Utilites or Stardock be liable for any damages whatsoever including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, loss of business profits or special damages, even if Cramon Utilities or Stardock has been advised of the possibility of such damages. B.U.G.S. is (C) Cramon Utilities 1997-99. All rights reserved. (C) Stardock Systems Inc. 1997-99 Game Over Dead sound (from Aliens) is (C) Copyright Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation 1986. Enter Highscore list sound (from Ace Ventura) is (C) Copyright Warner Bros. Pictures 1994.