Gangsters 2 Demo
README file		16/05/01	Version 1.00

Contents

Part 1 – Playing the Demo
Part 2 – Things you should know
Part 3 – Technical issues

Part 1: Playing the Demo

This section of the Readme is provided to help you get to grips with some of the features that appear in the Gangsters 2 Demo. It is also recommended that you run through the tutorial to learn some more of the basic controls.

1.1	Game Controls

This section describes in brief the game controls. See section 1.5, Game Control Keys for a full list of mouse and keyboard controls.

Menus.

The in game menu can be viewed by hitting the ‘Escape’ key.

Active Pointers

Gangsters 2 features Active Pointers. These are ‘intelligent’ pointers that give you a number of order options when a gangster is selected. 

Some of the actions are default orders. For example, if you have a gangster selected and hover the pointer over his car, the enter car icon will appear – all you have to do is left click the mouse and your gangster will receive the order and carry it out.

Activities associated with special skills require you to select the appropriate order from the interface. For example, if you have a bomber and click on the “bomb” button, the pointer will change to the bomb pointer. Moving the pointer over an enemy building or anywhere in the road or street will change the background of the pointer to green, showing that the order can be given. A red background in the pointer shows that the object under the mouse is not a valid target.

Interface Buttons.

The four buttons on the lower left are orders that can be given to all gangsters: Flee, Guard, Patrol and Tail. The two gold buttons below these are reserved for orders only accessible to gangsters with a specialist skill (such as Explosives). These will appear when you select the appropriate characters.

Flee is a general ‘get out of there and go for cover’ order. 
Guard – set guard(s) for your own business or any character (except enemy gang members).
Patrol – the gangster will patrol in a standard route around your business site. If you hold down SHIFT and click on a route you can set your own patrol waypoints.
Tail – order the gangster to tail a selected character (applies to anyone except your own gang members).

Building Window Orders.

Building Windows show order buttons appropriate to the site and to the skills of the selected gangsters. For example, if you open any ordinary Building Window (SHIFT + LMB) you may see the order ‘Go To’ at the bottom. To get a gangster to carry out this order simply select him, click on the button then close the window (nothing will happen until you close the window). The gangster will then travel to the building.

1.2 	Game Interface

This section outlines in brief some of the more important features of the game interface.

The Clock.

The Clock displays the current time in the game. The demo begins at 0900 hours on Wednesday 12th September 1928, and runs until 0900 hours on Saturday 15th September 1928, so you have until then to kill Clarke ‘Steamboat’ Hamilton. Below the clock is the money counter. This displays how much cash you have. If this gets close to zero, your gang members will start deserting. If you go into debt, the game is over. The map buttons below the money counter are used to change the map view (Schematic, Overhead and Street view).

Top Bar.

The top bar of the interface displays your gangster windows. Displayed details include their name, the health of the gangster and any muscle that they have, their current action (shown by the figure in the window), and their aggression setting (shown by the colour of the weapon).

Click on a gangster window to select a particular gangster. Right clicking on the window selects the gangster, and scrolls to their location in the current map view.

The character in the first gangster window is your gang leader. Lose this character and the game is over!

Side Bar.

The side bar of the interface shows the details of a selected gangster and gives other character and game options. Next to a selected gangster’s face is shown his or her aggression setting (see section 1.3, Aggression Settings). The gangster’s name and personal weapons are shown below their portrait. To change a character’s nickname, click on the nickname with the mouse, then type in a new nickname and hit Return. 

Below a gangster’s name are displayed their skills, with a rating from one to five stars. This determines how effective they are at particular tasks.

The vehicle button only appears if the character has a vehicle but is not currently using it; clicking with the mouse sends the character back to the vehicle, right clicking scrolls to the position of the vehicle. Next to the vehicle button is the office button. Again, click to send a selected gangster to the office, right click to scroll to the office itself.

A gangster’s weapons cache and any muscle that are part of the gangster’s team are displayed under the vehicle and office buttons (see section 1.4, Resources), and below that are shown some of the orders available to the gangster (see section 1.1, Game Controls).

The final buttons are the Newspaper and Advisor buttons. The newspaper appears twice daily, once in the morning and again as night falls, although you can open it at any time during the game to view information and recruit gangsters and business specialists. The advisor button flashes to inform you when he has a message for you, although like the newspaper the advisor panel can be opened at any time to view past messages and to view map information.
 
Building Windows.

Every building contains information, displayed in the site’s Building Window. To open a building window, click the mouse on the building with the SHIFT key depressed (alternatively, click the middle mouse button or wheel if you have one). 

Building Windows contain information about a site and its occupants, displayed on panels that are accessed by clicking on the tabs across the top of the panels (simple sites will only contain one panel). If a site contains an illegal business, this is accessed by clicking on illegal business type displayed in the top bar.

Any orders that a selected gangster can perform on the site or a selected occupant are displayed at the bottom of the building window.

Building Removal.

Gangsters 2 automatically removes buildings from your field of view in the isometric Street View, allowing you to view what is happening on the streets and roads behind the blocks. You can cycle the method of building removal (off, partial and transparency) using the F9 key. Alternatively, you can remove the buildings altogether using the F10 key.

1.3	Aggression Settings

To the left of the Portrait is the gangster’s Aggression level. There are three adjustable levels Yellow (Evasive), Orange (Cautious), and Red (Aggressive). Left-click on a level and the gun icon will move (and change color).

When a gangster is set to aggressive, they will attack enemies on sight, and will always return fire to any character who attacks them.

Gangsters set to evasive will always flee from combat.

When set to cautious, gangsters will evaluate the situation before deciding whether to fight or flee. In this, they will consider the number of opponents and allies in the immediate area, as well as the numbers of police, FBI and army personnel.

You can force a character to ignore their aggression settings with the TAB key. If you give an order with the TAB key held down, the gangsters attempt to perform the action without consideration for large numbers of opponents or people actually trying to shoot them.

1.4 	Resources

This section describes how to buy and sell the resources in the Gangsters 2 Demo.

Gangsters.

Gangsters are recruited through the ‘Gangsters’ section of the Newspaper. Click on the button next to a character to recruit them. The character will then appear in the first free Gangster Window at the top of the interface.

All gangsters are paid according to the number of specialist skills that they possess; $100 per hour for a gangster with no special skills, plus $50 per hour for each additional special skill.

Business Specialists.

Business specialists are recruited through the ‘Business Specialists’ section of the Newspaper. Click on the button next to a character to recruit them. The character will then appear in the ‘business specialist’ panel of the Office Building Window. From here, they can be selected and sent to other sites using the ‘relocate’ button.

All business specialists are paid $100 per hour.

Muscle.

‘Muscle’ can be hired at Recruitment Sites.

To recruit ‘muscle’ to accompany your gangsters:
•	Select one of your gangsters in the top panel of the main game interface.
•	Left click on an empty slot in the gangster’s list of ‘muscle’, half way down the left side of the interface. 

A number of ‘muscle’ will be recruited to fill the empty slots (names will appear in the slots as you click on them), and will immediately begin to draw pay (muscle are paid $50 per hour). Once they have joined your gangster, they will take the weapons from his cache. Muscle cannot be controlled independently of your gangster.

If you have recruited every available muscle in your territory, you will see “None” displayed when you click on an empty muscle slot. If you do not have the money to recruit muscle, you will see dollar signs flash in the panel.

To dismiss ‘muscle’, left-click on the name in an occupied muscle slot. 

Weapons.

You can only buy or sell weapons from your business contact, or from any Gunsmith in your territory. Weapons are bought using the Building Window for the office/hideaway or Gunsmith.

To buy or sell weapons, the selected gangster must be in either the office or the appropriate Gunsmith. Weapons are then bought and sold using the ‘Buy’ and ‘Sell’ buttons.

Vehicles.

You can only buy or sell vehicles from your business contact in the office or from Auto Dealers in your territory that are also open for business. Buy vehicles using the office/hideaway or Auto Dealer’s Building Window (see the Business section above). 

To buy or sell vehicles, the selected gangster must be in either the office or the appropriate Auto dealer. Vehicles are then bought and sold using the ‘Buy’ and ‘Sell’ buttons. Gangsters can only sell the vehicles that they have been using, although they can buy as many as they like.

Stealing Vehicles
No one steals from the Mob, except perhaps another mobster! Gang members never lock their vehicles, which means that a good supply of vehicles can often be stolen from rivals if you are quick enough. This is a good tactic for reducing the efficiency of an enemy gang; if they have no vehicles, the gang members on the streets will be slower and more vulnerable to attack.

1.5	Expansion

Expansion can be made into both neutral and enemy territory, albeit by different methods.

Expansion into Neutral Territory

Neutral areas are stretches of land that are not controlled by any gang leader i.e. the key site is coloured silver. You cannot expand into these areas by force; you can only buy the sites.

Expansion into Enemy Territory

Buildings can be “claimed” from rival gangs. This allows you to expand and gain valuable sites at no cost. Only unoccupied sites can be claimed from opponents; if the site has a manager, you will either have to kill them or wait for them to go home.

Claiming Enemy Sites

If an enemy site is unoccupied, it can be claimed by either of the following methods:

•	Click on the site with a gangster selected.
The mouse will be showing the default “claim” cursor.

•	Open the target site building window; click on “claim” then close the building window.

1.6	Allocating Business Specialists to Buildings

Illegal businesses require a business specialist with an appropriate skill to manage it; a card sharp is required for a card game, a distiller for a moonshine still etc.

Business specialists are allocated to illegal businesses from any of the following building windows:

The Office or Hideaway

•	Open the building window and selected the third tab, labelled “Business Specialists”.
The list of business specialists in your gang will appear.
•	Click on the name of a specialist whose skill matches that of the illegal business to be managed.
The specialist’s skills are displayed under their name in the top half of the building window.
•	Click on the “Relocate” button at the bottom of the window.
A list of your illegal businesses will appear in the right panel.
•	Click on the illegal business that you want the specialist is to run.
•	Close the building window.

The Illegal Business

•	Open the building window and select the right tab in the very top of the window, displaying the type of illegal business.
The window for the illegal business will appear.
•	Click on the second tab at the top of the panels.
A list of suitable specialists will appear. Those with an icon next to their name are already managing sites. 
•	Click on the name of the specialist that you want to manage the site.
The character’s details are shown at the top of the window.
•	Click on the “Relocate” button at the bottom of the window.
•	Close the building window.

1.7	Game Control Keys

Map Views

Scroll Screen (all map views)				 Hold Down RMB + move mouse	
Select Gangster 		 Click LMB on Gangster 	
Give Order to currently selected Gangster 		 Click LMB using Active Pointer	
Deselect currently selected Character 		 Click RMB away from Character	
Center Character/Vehicle and Track			 Click RMB on Character/Vehicle 	
Select all Characters in Bound Box			 Hold Down LMB and Drag Box	
Open the Building Window 				 Point to Building, hold SHIFT + LMB	
Open the Character Details Window 			 Point to Character, hold SHIFT + LMB  	

(Note: If the selected character is one of a group, the details of the group leader are shown)

Gangster Windows

Select/Deselect Gangster				 Click LMB on Gangster Window	
Scroll to Gangster and Track				 Click RMB on Gangster Window	
Select additional Gangster 		 Point to Gangster Window Hold Down CTRL + LMB	

Middle Mouse Button (if applicable)

Open Building Window details (for Building under pointer) 	 MMB on Building	
Open Character Details (for Character under pointer) 		 MMB on Character	

(Note: If the selected character is one of a group, the details of the group leader are shown)

Mouse Wheel (if applicable)

Zoom City Map in/out 				 Mouse Wheel up/down	

Control Keys

Show Selected Area in Street View (from Schematic\Overhead View only) 		 Key F11	
Pause/Unpause 					 Spacebar	
Select Gangster in Gangster Windows 1- 8 		 Keyboard Keys 1- 8  	
Scroll Map 						 Numeric Keypad Keys 1 – 9 (Except 5)	
Street/Overhead/Schematic Views			 Numeric Keypad + Plus / - Minus	
Building Removal (Cycle through 3 levels)		 Key F9	
Remove all buildings					 Key F10	
Save/Load Menu Options 				 ESC	
Exit to Windows					 ALT + F4	
Minimize Window					 ALT + Tab	

Game Screen Interface Controls

Minimize Interface (3 levels) 			 Click LMB on Minimize Activity (top right) 	
Toggle Gangster Activity/Nickname 		 Click RMB on Minimize Activity (top right)	
Change Map Zoom Level 			 LMB (Map View Buttons) 	
Set Aggression Level (3 levels) 		 LMB (Thermometer/Gun) 	
Selected Character(s) Return to Base 	 LMB (Office Icon)	
Scroll back to Base View 			 RMB (Office Icon) 	
Selected Character(s) Return to Car 		 LMB (Car Icon) 	
Scroll Display to Character’s Car 		 RMB (Car Icon) 	
Show Newspaper  				 LMB (Newspaper Icon)	
Show Advisor 				 LMB (Advisor Icon)	

Part 2: Things You Should Know

Please read through the DirectX section of this document.  This section has information that is vital to successfully running Gangsters 2 Demo on your system.

2.1	DirectX

You must have DirectX 7.1 or later installed on your system to run the Gangsters 2 Demo.

This game is optimised for Microsoft's DirectX 7.   In order for you to play the game, you must have DirectX 7-compliant drivers for your video card and sound card.

You will need to obtain the latest DirectX 7 drivers from your card manufacturer. 

2.2	Memory and Performance

While the game will run fine in 64 Mb of RAM, your playing experience will be smoother if you have at least 128 Mb.

Regardless of how much memory you have, you can maximize your available memory and increase the overall performance of the game engine by doing the following:

•	Closing any open windows
•	Shutting down all other programs, including menu-bar programs like ICQ
•	Defragmenting your hard drive

Eidos recommends that you have no other programs running at all while playing Gangsters 2 Demo.

Part 3: Technical Issues

3.1	Installation & Set-up

System Requirements

The minimum system requirements are as follows:
	
	COMPUTER:
	IBM PC or 100% compatible
	OPERATING SYSTEM:
	Microsoft Windows 98, ME
	CPU:
	PII 266mhz or equivalent
	RAM:
	64 Mb
	GRAPHICS:
	100% DirectX 7-compatible 4 Mb Graphics Card
	SOUND:
	Windows 98, ME-compatible sound card (100% DirectX 7-compatible)
	CD-ROM:
	Quad-speed (4x) CD-ROM drive
	HARD DRIVE:
	300 Mb free disk space
	INPUT DEVICES:
	100% Windows 98, ME-compatible mouse and keyboard

The recommended system requirements are as follows:

	CPU:
	Athlon / PIII processor
	RAM:
	128 Mb 
	GRAPHICS:
16 Mb Graphics Card -100% DirectX 7-compatible 
SOUND:
	Windows 98, ME-compatible sound card (100% DirectX 7-compatible)
	CD-ROM:
	Eight-speed (8x) CD-ROM drive or faster
	HARD DRIVE:
	300 Mb free disk space

Preparing Your Hard Drive

To ensure that your installation is trouble free, you should check to see that your hard drive and file system are both tuned for optimum performance. Windows 98 comes with two utility programs that find and fix any errors and optimise your hard drive performance. The first of these programs is called scandisk. Scandisk will check your hard drive for problems and can fix any that it finds. You can run scandisk by clicking on the Start button from the Windows Taskbar, followed by Programs, then Accessories, then System Tools, and finally scandisk.

Once scandisk has finished running, you should next optimise your hard drive's performance by running a program called Disk Defragmenter.. You can run Disk Defragmenter by clicking on the Start button from the Windows 98 desktop, followed by Programs, then Accessories, then System Tools, and finally Disk Defragmenter.

Uninstalling Gangsters 2 Demo

If you need to UNINSTALL Gangsters 2 Demo, you may do any of the following two things: 

•	Click on the Start button.
•	Choose Programs from the pop-up menu.
•	Drag your mouse to the right and click on Gangsters 2 Demo from the list.
•	Click on UnInstallShield from the ensuing pop-up menu and follow the onscreen instructions.

OR

Go to the Control Panel and choose Add/Remove Programs. Click on Gangsters 2 Demo from the pop-up panel to follow, select the Add/Remove button, and follow the onscreen prompts.

3.2	CD-ROM Problems

Gangsters 2 requires at least a Quad-Speed CD-ROM drive with 32-bit Windows 98, ME drivers.

I receive a "xxxxxx.xxx not found" error message when installing or running Gangsters 2 Demo

This error message is usually the result of your computer using MS-DOS (16 bit) drivers instead of Windows (32 bit) drivers for your CD-ROM drive. You can easily check to see if this is causing problems by opening the Control Panel (either click on the My Computer icon or click on the Start button followed by Settings, then Control Panel). 

In the Control Panel window, double-click on the System icon then click on the Performance tab. You should now see a summary of the performance status of your computer. One of the lines should say “File System: 32-bit” and the last line should say "Your system is configured for optimal performance." If you see a message saying "Drive X is using MS-DOS compatibility mode," then you will need to contact your system vendor to obtain and install 32-bit drivers for your CD-ROM drive.

3.3	Crashes and Lock-Ups

When I start Gangsters 2 Demo, my mouse cursor disappears and my computer locks-up.

Chances are your installed audio card drivers are not compatible with DirectX. The only solution is to get a DirectX 7-compatible driver from your audio card manufacturer.

When I start Gangsters 2 Demo, I receive the following error message:

"The application Gangsters 2 Demo.exe referenced memory at address xxxx:xxxx that can't be read from."

Chances are your installed video card drivers are not compatible with DirectX. The only solution is to get a DirectX 7-compatible driver from your video card manufacturer.

The Installer keeps stopping when a certain percentage is complete.

There are three likely causes:

•	You may have run out of free space on your hard drive. Please remove unwanted programs to free up additional space for the game, and then reinstall Gangsters 2 Demo.
•	Files are possibly being copied to a corrupted area of your hard drive. If this is so, you'll need to run the scandisk program and make sure to use the Thorough option (see previous). After scandisk has finished running and has informed you that your drive is free of errors, try to re-install.
•	There may be dirt or fingerprints on the CD-ROM disc itself. Examine the bottom of the disc; if you see any fingerprints or dirt, carefully clean the disc using a clean, soft, lint-free cloth by wiping from the centre of the disc (near the hole) towards the outer edge in a straight line.

Gangsters 2 Demo is crashing to the desktop with no error messages.

This problem can be caused by several different things. Here's a list of the most common culprits associated with these crashes:

•	Make sure the CD-ROM is clean (check for both scratches and smudges on the reading surface of the CD). 

•	Make sure the game has been installed properly. 

•	Make sure DirectX 7.1 has been installed properly. 

•	Make sure you have the latest drivers for your video card and that they are DirectX 7-compatible. 

•	Make sure you have the latest drivers for your sound card and that they are DirectX 7-compatible. 

•	Make sure Virtual Memory is enabled on your system. 

•	Run Scandisk. 

•	Run Disk Defragmenter. 

•	Clean out old temp (.TMP) files from the C:\WINDOWS\TEMP or C:\WINx\TEMP directory on your hard drive (from Windows Explorer). 

•	Make sure you do not have any Anti-Virus utilities (like Norton's AntiVirus) running resident prior to playing Gangsters 2 Demo.

•	Make sure you do not have any 3rd party Windows memory management utilities (like QuarterDeck's QEMM 8.0 for Windows 95) running resident prior to playing Gangsters 2 Demo. 

•	Make sure you do not have any 3rd party Windows disk caching utilities running resident prior to playing Gangsters 2 Demo. 

•	Make sure you do not have Norton's Crash Protector running resident prior to playing Gangsters 2 Demo. 

•	Try uninstalling and then reinstalling the game. 

•	Try exiting the game, rebooting your machine, and re-entering the game.

Note that if your system crashes to the desktop while playing Gangsters 2 Demo, you should probably reboot your computer before starting a new play session.  Otherwise, DirectDraw or DirectSound may be in a locked state, and the game will be unable to use your sound or video hardware.

3.4 	DirectX-Related Questions

DirectX has become the new standard in Windows application development. Nearly all high-performance software will be geared around this technology, so we do not normally recommend that customers attempt to alter its installation on their system

Undoing Changes To Your System

Help! Gangsters 2 Demo has caused my system to become unstable, and I suspect that DirectX is the culprit. How can I restore my original drivers? 

Unfortunately, there are some systems or hardware devices that just don't work with DirectX yet, and installing DirectX on these systems might cause driver-related problems. You cannot remove DirectX from your system, but you can restore the original audio and video drivers which the installation of DirectX will have replaced. 

If you currently have DirectX 7 installed you should be able to restore the original drivers by going to the Add/Remove Programs section in the Control Panel.

If you enter the Control Panel and click on the Add/Remove Programs icon, you should see a list of all of the programs that are registered with Windows in the Add/Remove Programs Properties panel.

If you see a listing for "DirectX Drivers", double-click it to open the DirectX Set-up panel. At the bottom of this panel, there should be a button labelled Restore Display Drivers. Clicking on this button should restore the original video drivers.. After that, click on the other button labelled Restore Audio drivers. Though DirectX will remain on your system, the restoration of the older drivers may then allow you to run the program. If not, you may want to consider contacting your system vendor for 100% DirectX-compatible drivers for your video and/or sound cards OR visit the web site of the respective hardware manufacturer[s].

Can I Run Without DirectX?

I cannot use DirectX on my computer! Is there any other way to run Gangsters 2 Demo? 

If you do not have DirectX installed on your computer, you will not be able to run Gangsters 2 Demo.