PC PowerPlay 61/CDPowerplay61Disc2.iso/README.TXT

Text File | 2000-10-12 | 27.0 KB | 637 lines

              Baldur's Gate(tm)II: Shadows of Amn(tm) Demo
                       Readme and Control Guide


Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn(tm)

Contents
1. Getting Started
   a. System Requirements
   b. Installation
   c. Running the Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn Demo
   d. Configuration Program - Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn Config
   e. Visit the Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn Web Site
2. How to Play the Game
3. Demo Specific issues
4. TroubleShooting
   a. Tweaking Performance
   b. Known Problems
5. Interplay Customer Service Information (North America)
6. Legal Information


------------------
1. Getting Started
------------------

1a.  System Requirements

Required:
Pentium (or compatible) 200 MHz
32 MB RAM
Windows 95/98 with DirectX 7.0 or higher
600 MB of Hard Drive Space
4X or faster CD-ROM
DirectX Certified Video Card with at least 2 MB of video RAM
DirectX Certified Sound Card
Keyboard, Mouse

Recommended:
Pentium (or compatible) 300 MHz or faster
64 MB RAM
600 MB (or more) of Hard Drive Space
8X (or faster) CD-ROM
DirectX certified Video Card with at least 4 MB of video RAM

Notes on Video Cards:
While you can still run Baldur's Gate II with a 1 meg video card, we highly
recommend against it - performance will be very poor.  To check if your video
card is 2 meg, go to the Display folder in the Control Panel and choose
Settings.  If your video card can display 800x600 resolution at 24-bit color
depth, then it is capable of running Baldur's Gate II.  We do recommend that
you obtain the latest DirectX drivers for your video card, direct from the
video card company that makes your card.

WINDOWS NT 4.0 and Windows 2000:
Although Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 are not supported in an official
capacity, Baldur's Gate II can be run correctly under Windows NT 4.0 if the
following conditions are met: You will need at least 32 MB of RAM and must
have NT 4.0 Service Pack 3 installed.  If you wish to run multiplayer, then
Service Pack 4 is required.  Slow downs during gameplay have been reported
under NT.  These are due to the way that Direct Sound and the System Timers
interact.  This may be corrected in future version of NT.


1b.  Installation

Insert the CD-ROM labeled Baldur's Gate II Disc 1 into your CD-ROM drive and
follow the onscreen instructions.  If your autorun is disabled, find the
Baldur.exe application in the root of Disc 1 and double click to launch the
Installer.

After installing Baldur's Gate II, you will have options for installing
DirectX 7.0.

Later versions of DirectX might have driver updates which will make Baldur's
Gate II run better on your system.  However, Baldur's Gate II only requires
v7.0.

You should regularly defragment your hard drive, as fragmentation can result
in poor performance.

Minimum install versus recommended install:
A minimum install represents the base information required to be on the hard
drive to play. A recommended install includes more information that would
otherwise have to be loaded each time - for example, there are more custom
sound sets available for use by your created characters and there is more
music available in the recommended install.  You must leave the CD in the
drive at all times when playing with a Minimum Install.

Custom installs:
You choose custom install if you wish to install more than recommended - all
the way up to a full install.  The more areas you load to your hard drive, the
shorter the load times while in the game.

Note on Full Installations:
Windows 95 does not correctly report the free space on hard drive partitions
larger that 2 gig.  Because of this, you may get an "insufficient disk space"
if you decide to install everything from the CDs, even if you do have the disk
space available.  To bypass this, just choose to "install anyway" when you
receive this error and installation will proceed correctly.

1c.  Running Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn

If you use the default installation settings for Baldur's Gate II, it will be
installed in a 'Black Isle Studios' Program Group in your Start menu.


1d.  Baldur's Gate II Config

One program of note in your game directory is the Baldur's Gate II Config
program.  This application will allow you to allocate various hotkeys for the
game as well as set up several other options.  The various options are
contained within the tabs.  The various Shortcut tabs allow you to modify the
different 'hotkeys' for the game.  Refer to your Game Manual for information
about these.  The Options tab contains various game settings:

1. Cache Size:  The Cache is Hard Disk space that is reserved by Baldur's Gate
II for storing area data.  The more cache you make available to the title, the
less loading you will have to do when returning to areas in the game.

2. Game Speed: The Game Speed setting allows you to speed up EVERYTHING in the
game.  Because Baldur's Gate II is real time, allowing running unbalances the
game.  The Game Speed option allows the user to speed up the overall play of
the game.  This option is not officially supported and could cause problems,
especially in multiplayer.  The default setting is 30 AI Updates/Second.
Note: increasing this option will result in a performance hit on any machine
because the game is attempting to process all data at a higher speed.  This
will cause slowdown in various places in the game.


1e.  Baldur's Gate II Web Page

If you continue to have problems, stop by the Baldur's Gate II Web Page at
http://www.interplay.com/bgate2.  Aside from cool game materials and errata,
you may be able to find an answer for whatever question you might have.

-----------------------
2. How to Play the Game
-----------------------

The mouse is the tool primarily used to maneuver through the interfaces.
Pointing your mouse over a button and leaving it there will bring up a tool
tip that tells you what that button does.  Below is a list of hotkey commands
that can be used as shortcuts instead of the buttons.  Also listed are the
"Hide Interface" keys.  These allow you to get rid of the interface in parts
or in whole.  You can bring it back up by pressing the "H" key again or by
pausing the game.

Inventory=I
Character Record=R
Return To Game=G
Journal=J
Map=M
Wizard Spells=W
Priest Spells=P
Options=O
Hide Interface=H
Right Interface=U
Left Interface=Y
Chat Window=T
Location=X
Quick Save=Q
Toggle AI=A


Quick Save:
At any time during play you can press 'Q' on the keyboard to save the game.
This 'quick' save is always saved in the same slot and will overwrite itself.
Using the Quick Save will not touch any of your other save games.

Party Order:

To change the order of the characters in your party, drag and drop their
character portraits to exchange them in the party order.  For example, to
switch the order of "Char1" and "Char2", left click on Char1, continue to hold
down the mouse button and move the cursor over the portrait of Char2.  Release
the mouse button and Char1 and Char2 will change places.

Items in the Game World:

If you leave items on the ground in the game world, they will disappear after
a period of time (with a few key items as exceptions).  Bodies will begin to
decay from the world after about half a day.  Items will begin to decay from
the world after a day or two.  The decay represents the effects of scavengers
and other folk.

If you want to stash items, put them inside any container. For example: a
chest, bookshelf, or box.


Custom Portraits:

The measurements for player portraits are 38X60 pixels for the small ones
(8-bit color runs faster but it can be up to 24 bit color) and 110X170 pixels
for the large ones.  Put these in the Portraits directory (in the install
directory for the game) and add an S to the end of the small portrait name
and an L to the end of the large portrait.  The names must be 1-7 letters
long, maximum.

For example:
XXXXXXXS.bmp for small (38x60, 8-bit)
XXXXXXXL.bmp for large (110x70, 24-bit)
For multiplayer, each player must have a copy of the portraits, otherwise they
will see a blank icon where the other player's custom portraits would be.

Custom Sound files:

The following is a list of the WAV files for the custom sound sets. The list
has been increased and modified since Baldur's Gate, so if you already have a
custom sound set you will need to update it to match the current format.
Replace each 'XXXXXXX' in the filenames with the name of the sound set (MAX 7
CHARACTERS).  All the WAV files should be 22 khz, 16 bit mono sounds.  Copy
the WAV files to the Sounds directory located in the directory that Baldur's
Gate II was installed in, and then select this sound set either in character
creation or in the "Customize" button off of the Character Record page.  For
multiplayer, merely send your custom sounds to all of the people you are
playing with and have them copy them to the Sounds directory - if you have
installed the sounds to your character in your game, everyone will hear your
sounds once they copy them into the correct directory.

XXXXXXXa.wav     : Battle Cry
XXXXXXXb.wav     : Becoming Leader
XXXXXXXc.wav     : Tired
XXXXXXXd.wav     : Bored
XXXXXXXe.wav     : Badly Wounded
XXXXXXXf.wav     : Selected 1
XXXXXXXg.wav     : Selected 2
XXXXXXXh.wav     : Selected 3
XXXXXXXi.wav     : Action Acknowledgement 1
XXXXXXXj.wav     : Action Acknowledgement 2
XXXXXXXk.wav     : Action Acknowledgement 3
XXXXXXXl.wav     : Being Hit
XXXXXXXm.wav     : Dying
XXXXXXXn.wav     : In Forest
XXXXXXXo.wav     : In City
XXXXXXXp.wav     : In Dungeon
XXXXXXXq.wav     : Daytime
XXXXXXXr.wav     : Nighttime
XXXXXXXs.wav     : Action Acknowledgement 4
XXXXXXXt.wav     : Action Acknowledgement 5
XXXXXXXu.wav     : Action Acknowledgement 6
XXXXXXXv.wav     : Action Acknowledgement 7
XXXXXXXw.wav     : Reaction to Party Member Death
XXXXXXXx.wav     : Rare Select 1
XXXXXXXy.wav     : Rare Select 2
XXXXXXXz.wav     : Critical Hit Given
XXXXXXX1.wav     : Critical Miss
XXXXXXX2.wav     : Target Immune
XXXXXXX3.wav     : Inventory Full
XXXXXXX4.wav     : Successfully Picked A Pocket
XXXXXXX5.wav     : Successfully Hid In shadows
XXXXXXX6.wav     : Spell Disrupted
XXXXXXX7.wav     : Set A Trap
XXXXXXX8.wav     : Battle Cry 2
XXXXXXX9.wav     : Battle Cry 3
XXXXXXX0.wav     : Selected 6
XXXXXXX_.wav     : Action Acknowledgement 8


Modal actions for characters:

If your AI button is turned ON you may notice your character's modal abilities
turn OFF occasionally.  Modal abilities are those abilities that you can turn
on and leave on (e.g. thieves' detect traps mode).  These modes can be turned
off when a script action occurs for that character.  If this is causing
problems for you, you can either load "None" as the script for your character
or click the "AI on/off" button (on the main game screen at the lower right)
to toggle this.

The To-Hit Roll:

If you have turned on 'To-Hit Rolls' in your Feedback settings, the game will
display the rolls on each attack.  The roll will display

X + Y = Z

Where
X = base to hit
Y = any bonuses to hit
Z = total to hit roll

Y is the total non-character related bonuses/penalties.  These include spell
effects, fatigue and the like.  Strength, Dexterity, and magic weapon bonuses
and penalties are applied directly to the character's THACO.

Reading dialogue stored in the buffer:

In many cases, you may want to scroll up through the dialogue in the text
window.  If you find that game messages are interfering with this (the window
will reset to display new messages), hold down the left mouse button while
using the slider thumb.  While the left mouse button is depressed, you will
not be returned to view the new messages.

Dual Classing - Required Attributes:

When you dual class a character, you must possess the attributes required to
be able to dual class to that new class.  If you do not see the class that you
wish to dual class to in the available classes (i.e., it is dimmed out), then
this means that your character does not possess the required attribute(s) for
that class.  However, any classes to which the character CAN dual class WILL
always be displayed as available.

2a.  Design Notes

* NPCs are sometimes removed from the game world.
NPCs in the game often need to become inactive to preserve the integrity of
the storyline.  These characters will attempt to leave the current area they
are in via an exit.  If they cannot find one, we remove them from the map and
they effectively vanish.  This is not a bug - just how we have dealt with the
need to remove them.

* Magic Resistance
Magic Resistance affects all spells and magic.  A character with this

resistance is as likely to resist a healing spell as they are to resist a
Fireball.  We have chosen not to differentiate as selective magic resistance
proved too powerful in the Baldur's Gate II environment. In Baldur's Gate II,
Magic Resistance is both a curse AND a blessing.  Used correctly, you will
still find it quite powerful.

* Spells not affecting Party Members and Neutrals
Several spells are completely ineffective against party members or neutral
characters.  These spells are Sleep, and Hold Person.   These spells
do not affect these characters because they are area affect spells and in
testing we found that they were extremely frustrating.  In order to make these
spells worthwhile, we have made them only affect hostile characters.

* NPCs initiating dialogue with Invisible/"in shadows" characters.
You will find that some NPCs in the game will initiate dialogue when you
should not be seen by them.  In order to ensure that the player receives all
critical game dialogue, all game critical dialogue will be received.

* Unjoined NPCs not worth XP.
NPCs who can join your party are not worth XP if killed.  This is not a bug.

* Items transferred to the ground.
If your character's inventory is full, and an NPC gives you an item, you will
receive the message about the party receiving an item, but your character will
say that the item has been dropped.  The item will be at the feet of the PC
and must be picked up to use.



------------------
3. Demo Specific Issues
------------------
Below are a few features that have been omitted or changed for this build

Graphical notes:

- Paperdolls (Inventory avatars) and new portraits may not be in their final
state.
- Not all background animations have been added to this build.
- Not all monsters have been added to this build, there are some we are
keeping a secret =)
- Movies have been omitted due to space concerns
- Not all portraits have been put into this build

Gameplay notes:

- Class and kit abilities are not finalized for this build.  Since at the
time when this demo was created, we were currently balancing the game.  So any
of the class/kit abilities may change between now and ship.  This includes the
addition, or deletion of any kit listed from the game.
- Audio may not be in its final state, music, voice over, or sound effects
- The ability to import Baldur's Gate (TM) characters has been disabled for
this demo

Programming notes:

- Although 3d is implemented, at the time of the creation of this demo it has
not been tested on all cards, or optimized on them fully.
- Multiplayer has been disabled in this build because it is not in a state
that we feel comfortable showing (AKA, quite buggy).  Gameplay in this mode
has a very similar feel to the original Baldur's Gate, with several major
improvements pertaining to pausing of dialogue and stores.

------------------
4. TroubleShooting
------------------

4a.  Tweaking Performance

Increasing Performance:

Translucent Shadows.  In the options menu under 'Graphics', turn off
translucent shadows.  Turning this off will cause all shadows to appear solid,
rather than blending a dark shadow onto the background.

Character Movement Sounds.  In the options menu under 'Sound/Character Sound',
turn off Character Movement Sounds.

Other Audio.  Turning off any of the audio may result in a performance
increase.  Moving the sliders in the options menu under 'Sound' all the way to
the left will completely disable the playing of these sounds.

Virtual Memory.  WE DO NOT RECOMMEND ADJUSTING YOUR VIRTUAL MEMORY.  Baldur's
Gate II will eagerly use up any Virtual Memory (hard drive) and non-Virtual
Memory (RAM) you allocate to it.  If you choose to add more memory to your
system, or increase the size of your Windows swap file, the game speed MAY
increase.  However, as you increase your Virtual Memory, expect longer
clearing times to remove this 'Virtual Memory' from the hard drive after the
game is terminated.

Things that will Decrease Performance:

Brightness/Contrast.  Adjusting the default settings for these options
(located in the options menu under 'Graphics') will result in a performance
hit.  If you find the game is too dark, we suggest adjusting your monitors
brightness.

DirectX Hardware Calls.  In the options menu under 'Graphics' there are three
toggles for various 'BLTS'.  Enabling these will result in a (sometimes
drastic) performance hit.  We recommend enabling these only if you have
graphics glitches that you have been unable to resolve.

Running the game in Windowed Mode.  Running the game in a Window on your
desktop will decrease the overall game performance.

Pathing Performance:

To increase the path searching AI, the following entry can be modified in the
baldur.ini file that is installed in the root of the installation directory:

[Program Options]
Path Search Nodes=32000

To increase or decrease the AI, vary the number of Nodes (4000 above).  The
range can vary from 32000 to 400000.  Increases the number above will increase
the number of nodes in path searching at the expense of responsiveness to
movement commands.  Note that unless your machine is slower than a P2 you can
probably set the value to 32000 and not notice any speed difference.  This
will help fix getting stuck on terrain obstacles.


4b.  Known Problems

* Graphic Errors
Some video cards may experience graphics glitches while playing the game.
These problems are caused by DirectX Hardware Calls to your video card that
are not functioning.  We have written software renders for all of these calls
to allow people to play even with drivers that are not 100% compatible with
the DirectX standards.  You can enable a software render for these calls if
you have the most recent drivers for your video card and are still
experiencing problems.  Using the software render will probably fix the
graphic glitches, but WILL result in a performance hit.

IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING PROBLEMS WITH THE GRAPHICAL DISPLAY OF BALDUR'S
GATE II, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE LATEST VERSION OF YOUR VIDEO DRIVERS.
DRIVER UPDATES ARE AVAILABLE AT MOST (if not all) HARDWARE MANUFACTURERS AND
CHIPSET MANUFACTURERS SITES ON THE INTERNET.

You may also try installing DirectX 7.0+ if you are experiencing graphical
problems.

If you have the most recent drivers for your video card, and you are still
experiencing problems, you can enable software renders for these calls. The
options are available in the options menu under 'Graphics'.  The following
list describes the known graphics glitches and which Call should be disabled
to fix them.  If in doubt, try different combinations and this may help.  You
can always turn off all software renders to return to the default settings.

------------------------------------------------------------
Glitch                        Disable
------------------------------------------------------------
Green boxes surrounding      Software Transparent BLT
any object in the game

Box surrounding mouse
cursor

Animations appearing         Software Mirror BLT
'reversed' -Fog-of-War
appears in a 'semi-
checkerboard' pattern

Fog-of-War has edges
that look 'spiky'

Vertical lines down          Software Standard BLT
the main game screen

The game Cursor is
leaving 'artifacts' of
itself on the game screen

Any other non-resolved
graphics problem


Specific Video Cards and Fixes
------------------------------------------------------------
Matrox Millenium (1) : Enable Software Mirror and Software Transparent BLTs.

Permidia : Enable Software Standard BLT.

* Minimizing Baldur's Gate II
If you minimize Baldur's Gate II using either Alt-Enter or Alt-Tab (and then
bring it back up by left clicking on the minimized application), the sound
effects for the game will stutter, loop, and skip.  This is caused by a lack
of resources available to Baldur's Gate II after you go from full screen to a
minimized screen, and it will correct itself after a short period of time.  If
you minimize Baldur's Gate II and then bring it back up, the game may run more
slowly for a time.  This is caused by the game re-accessing resources that
become tied up by minimization.  Running the game in a window may result in
lower performance overall.

* Quick Weapon Switching
If you use Range scripts for your characters, they will switch to their most
powerful melee weapon.  This may cause your character to change from one melee
weapon to another under certain circumstances.  Most powerful melee weapon is
the one delivering the most damage.


* NT 4.0: Screen-Saver
While running under Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3, we have experienced
intermittent problems with Screen Savers.  We recommend disabling your Screen
Saver while playing Baldur's Gate II.


-----------------------------------------
5. Interplay Customer Service Information
-----------------------------------------

This information is only valid in North America.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT TROUBLESHOOTING DOCUMENTS ONLINE!  Interplay Entertainment
Corp. Technical Support now offers troubleshooting guides with complete
installation and setup instructions as well as information that will help you
overcome the most common difficulties.  If you have access to the World Wide
Web, you can find these at:

www.interplay.com/support/

Here you will find troubleshooting information on as well as information on
regular system maintenance and performance.

DirectX                 www.interplay.com/support/directx/
Joysticks               www.interplay.com/support/joystick/
Modems and Networks     www.interplay.com/support/modem/

(For game-specific information and additional troubleshooting, visit our main
page at www.interplay.com)

If you have questions about the program, our Technical Support Department can
help. Our web site contains up-to-date information on the most common
difficulties with our products, and this information is the same as that used
by our product support technicians. We keep the product support pages updated
on a regular basis, so please check here first for no-wait solutions:

www.interplay.com/support/

If you are unable to find the information you need on our web site, please
feel free to contact Technical Support via e-mail, phone, fax, or letter.
Please be sure to include the following information in your e-mail message,
fax, or letter:

Title of Game
Computer manufacturer
* Operating system (Windows 95, Windows NT, Windows 98, etc.)
CPU type and speed in MHz
Amount of RAM
Sound card type and settings (address, IRQ, DMA)
Video card
CD-ROM
Mouse driver and version
Joystick and game card (if any)
A copy of the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files from your hard drive
A description of the problem you're having

If you need to talk to someone immediately, call us at [phone] Monday
through Friday between 8:00AM-5: 45PM, Pacific Standard Time with 24 hours, 7
days a week support available through the use of our automated wizard.
Please have the above information ready when you call. This will help us
answer your question in the shortest possible time. When you call you will
initially be connected with our automated wizard.  For information pertaining
to your specific title, press "1" on the main menu and listen carefully to
all prompts.  All titles are listed alphabetically.  After you have selected
your title, the most common difficulties will be listed.  If the difficulty
you are having is not listed or you need additional assistance, you may press
"0" on your games main menu, and you will be transferred to a Technical
Support Representative.  No hints or codes are available from this line.   You
must call Interplay's HINT Line for hints, tips, or codes at 1-900-370-PLAY
(1-900-451-6869 $1.25 in Canada only). You must be 18 years +, have a
touch-tone phone, and the cost is $0.95 per minute.

Interplay Entertainment Corp. Support Fax: [phone]
Interplay Entertainment Corp. Technical Support
16815 Von Karman Avenue
Irvine, CA  92606

HOW TO REACH US ONLINE
INTERNET E-MAIL: [e-mail]
WORLD WIDE WEB: www.interplay.com
FTP: ftp.interplay.com


--------------------
6. Legal Information
--------------------

General Product License. This copy of the Demo of Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of
Amn (the Software) is intended solely for your personal noncommercial home
entertainment use. You may not decompile, reverse engineer, or disassemble the
Software, except as permitted by law. Interplay Entertainment Corp. and
BioWare Corp. retain all right, title and interest in the Software including
all intellectual property rights embodied therein and derivatives thereof. The
Software, including, without limitation, all code, data structures,
characters, images, sounds, text, screens, game play, derivative works and all
other elements of the Software may not be copied, resold, rented, leased,
distributed (electronically or otherwise), used on pay-per-play, coin-op or
other for-charge basis, or for any commercial purpose. Any permissions granted
herein are provided on a temporary basis and can be withdrawn by Interplay
Entertainment Corp. at any time. All rights not expressly granted are
reserved.


Acceptance of License Terms. By acquiring and retaining this Software, you
assent to the terms and restrictions of this limited license. If you do not
accept the terms of this limited license, you must return the Software
together with all packaging, manuals and other material contained therein to
the store where you acquired the Software for a full refund.

============================================================================================
BALDUR'S GATE II: SHADOWS OF AMN Developed and (c)2000 BioWare Corp.  All
Rights Reserved.  Baldur's Gate, Shadows of Amn, Tales of the Sword Coast,
Forgotten Realms, the Forgotten Realms logo, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, the
AD&D logo, TSR and the TSR logo are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.,
and are use by Interplay Entertainment Corp. under license.  All Rights
Reserved. BioWare and the BioWare logo are the trademarks of BioWare Corp.
All Rights Reserved.  Black Isle Studios and the Black Isle Studios logo are
trademarks of Interplay Entertainment Corp.  All Rights Reserved.  Exclusively
licensed and distributed by Interplay Entertainment Corp.  All other
trademarks and copyrights are property of their respective owners.
============================================================================================
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