Simply run RRDEMO.EXE and choose one of the rendering methods:
a) 3Dfx native version (Glide)
b) Direct3D hardware acceleration
c) Software rendering
If you have a 3Dfx card with the Voodoo Graphics-, Voodoo Rush-, or Voodoo2 chipset, you will want to choose a). You should have Glide 2.43 or higher installed on your system. Visit the Internet site www.3dfx.com for details.
If you have problems in this mode, choose b).
If you have another hardware accelerator, you should also choose b). This mode has been tested on the following graphic cards and chipsets:
ATI Rage Pro
S3 Virge
Matrox Mystique
Matrox Millennium II
Voodoo Graphics
Voodoo Rush
Voodoo 2
3Dlabs Permedia
nVidia Riva 128
NEC PowerVR
If you have problems with b), please select c).
Software rendering is different on MMX and non-MMX computers. The former
has colored lighting effects, while the latter hasn't. Without MMX, the screen resolution on the battlefield is always low. If you have a slow MMX-PC, be sure to switch SCROLL MODE to FAST in the OPTIONS menu.
2. How Do I Play?
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After the speech by the UN President, you choose your fighting side. Select one of the portraits on the right-hand side of the screen to choose either "Firepower" or "Brainpower". Once you've chosen, five portraits show up at the bottom of the screen. Start a dialog with any of them simply by clicking your mouse button on the portrait. Here is a description (from left to right):
- President's Representative: You start the mission here. You can also ask
for the mission briefings.
- Advisor: You can buy hints for the upcoming mission here. He's also the guy
who will give you reports after the mission.
- Spy: You can buy info about your enemy's units and strategy for the mission.
- Professor: You can develop/buy new units (weapons, chassis, boosters) here.
- Robo Assistent: You can load/save games here, set options, choose players in
multi-player mode, etc.
3. What Keys Do I Use to Play the Game?
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During the game, watch the lower area of the screen for HINT messages, which help you get used to the game's user interface. In addition, you can hit F1 at any time for a keyboard description. Here is the full list of commands:
a) In the MENU screen:
Everything is done here with your mouse: simply left-click to close the current
window and open the next one, or to select an option. You only use the right-click in the OPTIONS menu (for example you increase the sound volume with a right-click, and decrease it with a left-click).
b) During the game:
ESC : switch to menu/briefing and back
DELETE and PAGE DOWN : rotate the camera left/right
INSERT and PAGE UP : zoom the camera in/out
HOME and END : change the camera angle
F1 : show keyboard commands
F4 : rotate the scene by 180 degrees
Shift + F5-F8 : save camera 1-4
F5-F8 : recall camera 1-4
SPACE : enter the robo-construction screen
SPACE or right-click : leave the robo-construction screen
ENTER or double-click : order a robo (in the robo-construction screen)
left-click on robo : select the robo
left-click on ground : order robo(s) to go there (if any selected)
left-click on enemy : attack this enemy and/or show its statistics
right-click on ground : de-select the robo(s)
Shift + 1-6 : remember selected group of robos
1-6 : recall the group
D : take a screenshot
F : texture filtering on/off
M : mipmapping on/off
S : robos' shadows on/off
P : Pause on/off
ENTER : birds-eye view
If you point your cursor over a robo in the battlefield and hold it there
(without clicking) for half a second, you will see the list of things the
robo is built from. If you do the same in the robo-construction screen, you
will see the full data about the robo.
To select a group, hold the left mouse button and drag the
pointer over the robos.
4. Units in the Game
---------------------
As you can see in the robo-construction screen, you don't have pre-designed units. You need to build a robo from at least two components: a weapon (on the left)and a chassis (on the right). If you like, you can add a booster (bottom), but you have to buy this from the Professor first.
The demo only offers a few of the unit types in single-player mode. All unit types are available in multi-player mode.
5. Alien Boosters.
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Sometimes you will come across some strange glowing objects on the battlefield.
When your robo touches them, it changes. These objects are Alien Boosters -
the remainder of the energy which the Aliens used to build the Gun. You don't know beforehand what effect the Boosters will have upon your robos, but we've managed to separate them into three different types:
Red star-like object : Alien Weapon Booster : turns a robo's weapon into
something different. The effect is unknown, but it
always change the given weapon into something much
more powerful.
Blue flashing ball : Alien Speed Booster : dramatically increases the robo's
Speed.
6. Multi-player Mode
--------------------
It's more fun to play with others than alone. That's why RoboRumble supports up to 4 simultaneous players in a network. The demo version offers one two-player battle with a 15 minute time limit. The basic requirement is a network card in each computer and the TCP/IP network protocol. This is either delivered standard with Windows 95 or added as a driver with your network card. As an alternative to a direct network connection, you can also hook up with other players over the Internet via modem or ISDN. Here too, the TCP/IP network protocol is required. The network mode works on a simple principle - one of the players is the "game leader" (also called the HOST). The HOST prepares the game and chooses all the settings. The HOST's computer is the game-server and organizes the smooth data flow between the players. That's why the HOST should be the one with the fastest computer.
The multi-player mode is a pure "deathmatch" format. That means the winner is the one who manages to destroy all other bases and units. To take part in a multi-player battle, just click on the portrait of the Robo Assistant in the initial dialog screen. A menu will come up, from which you select "Start Multi-player Game". Now you need to decide if you want to be the HOST, or join another game. If your computer should be the HOST, just click on "I would like to host a game". A new window will open, allowing you to set the parameters. You have the following options:
1. Map - There are different battle maps to choose from in multi-player mode. Here you choose which of these you want to play on. Since there's only one available in DEMO mode, this is an easy choice.
2. Money - Here you can increase (left-click) or decrease (right-click) the amount of money available to each player for building robos.
3. Units - Here you specify what components are to be offered for robo construction.
4. Alien Booster - If you want to have Alien Boosters in the network match, you can select the parameters here. The possibilities are:
a) Off - No Alien Boosters will appear on the battlefield.
b) Once - The Alien Boosters disappear the first time they are discovered and don't appear again.
c) Respawn - The Alien Boosters disappear the first time they are discovered, but appear again later at the same location.
d) Permanent - The Alien Boosters remain on the battlefield and can be discovered and utilized repeatedly.
5. Name - Enter your player name here.
6. Side - Decide which side you want to fight on (i.e. Firepower / Brainpower).
Hit the Option button to display information about the different players. The available information is (from left to right)-
- The color of the players battlefield units/base
- The player's name
- The IP address of the player's computer
- The player's status (READY/NOT READY)
The bottom half of the screen is reserved for the "Chat Window". Using this window, the players can communicate with each other. Just type a message and hit ENTER. The message shows up in the Chat Window, where all other players can read it.
After you've set all the parameters, click on "OKAY" to start the game.
NOTE: The game can only start when all players have logged on and clicked "OKAY". You'll see this when the word "READY" appears after the player's name.
If you want to join a game, you also need to choose the menu command "Start Multi-player Game", which shows up after you've clicked on the portrait of the Robo Assistant. This time you click "I want to participate in a game". You can then search for a server, or specify the IP address directly (if you know it). As soon as you've chosen the server, you'll see the menu described above, though you now only have options 5 and 6 to choose from. After you've entered the information, click on "OKAY" to let the HOST know you're ready to go.
When the action starts you soon find yourself on the battlefield which the HOST chose. An overview map in the upper-right area displays the enemy bases and units in the specified color for each player. To send a message to the other players, hit "C" on the keyboard. You'll see a cursor appear. Now you can type in your message. Hit the ENTER key when you're done typing.
7. How to Contact Us
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Please send comments, questions or any other feedback to:
usmidt@topware.com
For more info on upcoming and current games, visit
