This document helps you get started with Cobra Gunship. It contains:
• Revision History
• Overview
• System Requirements
• Installation
• Getting Started
• Registering
• Known Issues and Incompatibilities
• Display Configuration
• The Mac Menu Bar
• Troubleshooting
• Fine Print
• License
Additional information can be found in the Manual. There is both a text version and an Adobe Acrobat (PDF) version of the Manual. The Acrobat version includes pictures and tables. The Acrobat Reader is available from <http://www.adobe.com/>
This is version 1.2 of Cobra Gunship. Please check our web site at:
<http://www.elys.com/>
to verify that this is the latest version of this program. If not, please download the newer one. It may contain program improvements, bug fixes or documentation changes.
Cobra Gunship is a side-view scroller helicopter arcade game. Using the keyboard, mouse or joystick, you control your chopper, flying it through a variety of missions. Along the way, you will use an arsenal of weaponry to destroy your opponents. Between missions, you will customize your chopper, adding newer engines, better armor, and improved weapons.
Double-click the installer. If you choose the "Easy Install" option, it will install all files necessary to run Cobra Gunship. You may also choose to perform a custom installation, which will allow you to install only the application, or support libraries independently.
When you start the game, you will see the Elysium Digital, L.L.C. logo and then the game startup screen. After that, the game will take you to the Main Menu.
Click on NEW GAME. On the right side of the screen, the stats for your new game will appear. Now, click on MISSIONS. This takes you to the Mission Tree. Click on MISSION 0, and read the Mission Briefing that pops up. Click ACCEPT to start playing the mission.
How you control your Cobra during a mission depends on your settings. If you have a mouse, then the default settings are to use the mouse for control. Move the mouse crosshairs to where you want the Cobra to fly, and your chopper will accelerate towards the cursor. The further you move the cursor away from your Cobra, the faster it pursues it.
If you have no mouse or have turned off mouse control, you can use the keyboard to control your Cobra. The default settings have you use the arrow keys to move the Cobra up, down, left and right.
Regardless of how you move the chopper, you will also need to flip which way it is facing, select weapons and fire. The default keys for these are:
Flip Direction: E
Select Primary: S
Select Secondary: F
Fire Primary: [Space]
Fire Secondary: D
You can also use keys (1, 2, 3, 4) to select a particular primary weapon, and keys (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, -) to select a particular secondary.
When you first download your copy of Cobra Gunship, it is unregistered. You will be allowed to play only missions 0-5, you can't load external missions, and some of the weapons are turned off.
To play all 31 levels, be able to load external map files and buy all weapons, you need to purchase a serial number by registering. There are 3 ways to do this:
1. Order on our web site (credit-card only) for a $1.00 discount:
http://www.elys.com/
2. Fill out this form and mail or fax it to us for a $0.50 discount.
EMania
c/o Agile Systems, Inc.
P.O. Box 221
Raritan, NJ 08869-0221
(908) 369-1317 FAX
3. Place an order by telephone (credit-card only):
(888) 369-0047 (Toll-free U.S. only, 9am-5pm Eastern Time)
or
(908) 369-0084 (International, 9am-5pm U.S. Eastern Time)
Once you have you serial number, just click REGISTER from the Main Menu. You will see a window with entry buttons for your name and serial number. Enter them here and click OK.
NOTE: Both your name and your serial number must be entered EXACTLY as they are listed. If you make a mistake entering one or the other, the game will tell you which one is incorrect. Just correct your typo and hit OK.
That's it! Once that is done your purchase is complete. The entire game will be available to you.
• Cobra Gunship is not compatible with RAM Doubler. You must turn off RAM Doubler in order to play Cobra Gunship.
• Joysticks are not supported.
• Sound on the internal speaker is very quiet. (This may be due to the fact that your computer is sitting on the floor or under your desk.) It is also partially due to the large number of sounds the game can play simultaneously. Individual sounds are relatively quiet to allow up to 32 sounds to play simultaneously with minimal distortion. In any case, we highly recommend using external speakers or headphones -- without them you can miss important audio cues.
• In some very heavily populated missions your frame rate may drop below 30 frames per second on slower machines (68040's). The lowest frame rate we've observed on a 25MHz 68040 is 15 frames per second on the worst-case level. There's nothing we can do about this. The settings we were using were:
Cobra Gunship requires a monitor which supports 256 colors and at least 640 by 480 pixels. If you have more than one monitor, or your one monitor is not set to these dimensions and depth, Cobra Gunship will ask you how you prefer to run the game:
Specifying a Monitor:
If you have multiple monitors, the "Use Chosen Monitor" radio button will be enabled. If you would like to specify the monitor on which the game runs, select "Use Chosen Monitor" and click on "Choose Monitor..." to pick your preferred monitor. If you're content to let the game find the monitor it considers best, leave the "Find Best Monitor" radio button selected.
Specifying a Resolution:
Cobra Gunship requires that the monitor support dimensions of at least 640 by 480 pixels. If your monitor is set to larger dimensions (a "higher resolution"), you may elect to leave the monitor in that higher resolution and have Cobra Gunship run in a 640 x 480 "window." The disadvantage of such an arrangement is that the 640 x 480 window will be a small area on your monitor. If you check "Switch Resolution to 640x480" the game will switch your monitor's resolution so that the game takes up the entire screen if possible.
You generally want to switch your monitor's resolution to 640 x 480 if possible. Some common reasons you might not want to check this option are:
• Your monitor does not support a resolution of 640 by 480 pixels.
• You do not have a multisync monitor (capable of supporting multiple resolutions).
• You are running some applications which have trouble with switching monitor resolutions.
• You have an older multisync monitor with analog controls, which forces you to adjust them every time you switch resolutions. Newer multisync monitors have digital controls, which remember the proper settings for each resolution. If your monitor has twistable knobs for setting the horizontal and vertical position of the image on the screen, chances are that it's analog.
Saving Your Preferences:
Cobra Gunship will remember your choices the next time you launch the program, and will typically avoid asking you for input. However, if it detects a major change in your monitor configuration, this window will appear at launch. If you would like this window to appear every time you launch Cobra Gunship, check the "Ask Me Every Time" check box.
Changing Your Mind:
If, for some reason, you need to change these settings the next time you start Cobra Gunship, hold down the Command () key when you launch the application until this dialog box appears. Alternatively, this dialog box is accessible from the menu bar when the game is suspended ("Configure Displays..." from the "Options" menu).
From the Main Menu of the game, you can press the Escape key to suspend the game and show the Mac menu bar:
From the menu you can launch an Apple Menu item or bring up an About... dialog box displaying some copyright information.
From the File menu you can Resume the game (hiding the Mac menu bar) or Quit the application. Selecting the "Quit" menu item is equivalent to resuming and clicking on the "Quit" button.
The Edit menu exists solely for user interface consistency. You can't select any of its options. From the Options menu you can change your display settings.
From the application menu at the far right side of the menu bar, you can switch to another application. So if you need to do some productive work on your computer in the middle of a mission (heaven forbid!) you needn't lose your progress.
A low-level diagnostic window will automatically appear if any fatal error occurs during startup. If there are no fatal errors (if everything is fine or there's a nonfatal warning) the window will only appear if you hold the Option key down when you launch the application.
Q: Cobra Gunship crashes on my 68K Mac with a Type 10 error.
A: Cobra Gunship requires a 68040 processor with FPU. It will not run on a 68LC040, as found in the Centris 610, some Performa models, and unmodified 68K PowerBooks.
Q: Cobra Gunship crashes horribly right after I begin to play a mission.
A: The only known incompatibility is with RAM Doubler. If you are using RAM Doubler, you must turn it off to play Cobra Gunship. If you are not using RAM Doubler and Cobra Gunship is still crashing, please contact us.
Q: After I set my display settings, the screen fades to black and hangs. Hitting return exits the application.
A: Make sure you are using Cobra Gunship 1.1 or later. If you are, your display settings are probably incompatible with your hardware. You may change the settings from the "Configure Displays" dialog. See the "Changing Your Mind" paragraph of the "Display Configuration" section above. If you're sure that your settings should be working (but aren't), please contact us.
Q: I can't hear any sound.
A: First, go to the Options menu in the game and select Audio options. Make sure that the volume is not set to 0. If you still can't hear any sound, quit the game and open the Sound control panel from the menu. From the pop-up menu, select Volumes. Make sure that your speakers and/or headphones are not muted.
Q: I have my Mac's sound turned all the way down, but Cobra Gunship still makes a lot of noise.
A: Cobra Gunship manipulates your machine's volume directly. In general, if you want your computer to be completely silent, go to the Sound control panel, select Volumes from the pop-up menu, and mute your speakers and headphones. If you just want Cobra Gunship to be quieter, go to the Options menu in the game and select Audio options. Lower the volume and click OK.
BY COPYING, USING OR DISTRIBUTING THIS SHAREWARE PROGRAM, YOU INDICATE YOUR AGREEMENT TO THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE:
Terms: "Program" shall refer to the game "Cobra Gunship", with all associated files. The "Trademarks" consists of "Elysium Digital, L.L.C.", any Elysium Digital, L.L.C. logo, "Cobra Gunship" name, and any associated labels and trademarks.
Ownership: The content, layout and format and associated Trademarks of this Program are the property of Elysium Digital, L.L.C.
Terms of Distribution and Use:
1. The unregistered version of this Program may be freely copied or distributed, provided that:
• All of the files from the original archive are distributed together, unmodified. The distributor
is responsible for making sure that he distributes no version of the Program that is missing
files or contains modified files.
• No charge of any kind is levied for distribution of the Program. If a charge is to be levied,
specific written permission must first be obtained from Elysium Digital, L.L.C.
Walnut Creek CDROM is exempt from this limitation.
2. The registered version of this Program may NOT be distributed in any way. The Program and its
accompanying documentation are protected by United States copyright law and also by
international treaty provisions. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this package, or any
portion of it, may result in severe civil and criminal penalties.
3. Any distributor or user agrees not to modify, reverse compile, disassemble, or reverse engineer
the Program, or use or disclose any confidential information that it contains.
4. Any distributor or user agrees to the Warranty below.
Warranty: This program is provided "as is" with no warranties of any kind, including implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Under no circumstances will Elysium Digital, L.L.C. provide any remedy for direct, indirect, special, consequential, incidental or other damages arising from the use of this Program, including such from negligence, strict liability, or breach of warranty or contract, even after notice of the possibility of such damages.
