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Absolute Zero Release Notes 1.0.4
(c)1995 Domark Software, Inc.
12/22/95
General MIDI timbres for Yamaha OPL-2- and OPL-3-based sound cards were
produced by The Fat Man(TM) and developed by K. Weston Phelan and
George Alistair Sanger. Copyright 1993, The Fat Man(TM)
IMPORTANT:
=========
Running SMARTDRV.SYS greatly increases the speed of the interface. This is
particularly noticeable in machines with 8Mb of RAM. In general, you can run
SMARTDRV by typing smartdrv from your DOS directory. In Windows 95, exit to
DOS and type smartdrv in your drive:\windows\command directory. Then run
Absolute Zero (type "az" in the directory where Absolute Zero was installed).
NOTE: You must have at least 4Mb of RAM free after running smartdrv.
Contents
1. Welcome to Absolute Zero
2. Installation Options
3. Memory
4. Known Problems
5. Key Settings
6. Joystick Selection and Calibration
7. Hints
8. TroubleShooting
9. How to Contact Domark
10.Thanks
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to Absolute Zero
==========================
Absolute Zero is the culmination of eight man-years of challenging
(and in the end, rewarding) work. We hope you have as much fun playing
Absolute Zero as we did creating it! Please take the time to fill out the
registration card and return it to us - your comments and suggestions are
extremely valuable to us and are used when we come to design our future
products.
Please take the time to read the manual, and more importantly, these release
notes, before playing Absolute Zero. There is an abundance of important
information contained herein.
That's it! Good luck, and have fun!
THE DOMAIN
NOTE: The manual was, unfortunately, designed for an earlier release date and
many "facts" stated therein are inaccurate. ALL of these inaccuracies have
been corrected in the "Addendum" booklet. Take a few minutes to review the
addendum before you begin playing and your gaming experience should be a lot
more fun.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Installation Options
======================
DOS
------
To install Absolute Zero from DOS, change the prompt to your CD-ROM drive
(e.g., "D:"), and type "INSTALL". Then follow the on-screen instructions.
Please note that Absolute Zero requires at least 6Mb of free space on your
hard drive while you're playing a mission. It uses this space to cache data
for things like textures and sounds. The files it creates are deleted when
you quit the program.
Full Install
==============
If you want to install the whole thing onto your hard drive, select the
"Full Install" option. A complete installation requires about 350MB of
hard disk space. This option allows maximum performance, but you will only
notice a slight improvement over the dual combination of "Big Game Speedup"
and "Big VR Tunnel Speedup", so it may not be worth it to you. However, this
is the only option that allows you to play AZ without the Absolute Zero CD in
the drive.
Custom Install
===============
NOTE: The following installation options are designed to give you a mix of
better performance and small hard disk footprint. You can chose any of the
four options individually OR chose one each of the Game and VR Tunnel
speedups to install even more onto your hard drive.
Game Speedup Options
--------------------
These options affect performance while playing the game missions, and the
speed at which the missions load. You may choose one of the following game
speedup options:
- Small Game Speedup -
This option installs the files needed to run Absolute Zero from your hard
drive, plus some files that improve game performance and mission loading
speed. If you want to improve game performance while using the smallest
amount of hard disk space possible, select this option.
- Big Game Speedup -
This option installs everything installed by the Small Game Speedup, plus
some files that make mission loading even faster. This option uses a lot
more hard disk space, however. If you want to get as much game performance
as you can, and you're not concerned about hard disk space, this option is
probably your best choice.
VR Tunnel Speedup Options
---------------------------
These options affect performance while in the VR Tunnel interface. You may
choose one of the following VR Tunnel speedup options:
- Small VR Tunnel Speedup -
This option installs the files needed to run Absolute Zero from your hard
drive, plus some files that improve performance in the VR Tunnel interface.
If you want to improve VR Tunnel performance while using the smallest amount
of hard disk space possible, select this option.
- Big VR Tunnel Speedup -
This option installs everything installed by the Small VR Tunnel Speedup,
plus some files that improve performance in the VR Tunnel interface even
more. This option uses a lot more hard disk space, however. If you want to
get as much game performance as you can, and you're not concerned about hard
disk space, this option is probably your best choice.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Memory
========
Absolute Zero is designed to push your hardware to its fullest potential.
We put a lot of really cool stuff in this game, but unfortunately this really
cool stuff takes up a lot of RAM. If you're lucky enough to have a machine
with 16MB or more of RAM, you don't have to worry about AZ's memory
requirements. But if you're one of the many people who only have 8MB of RAM,
you'll probably soon discover that AZ wants to use every little bit of it.
If you're running from Windows 95, we recommend you enable the Smartdrive
utility as well, Dos4gvw Virtual Memory Manager will take care of the rest.
If you're running from DOS, again make sure Smartdrive is enabled and that
you leave at least 4Mb of free Ram.
If after running smartdrv you still end up with less than 4Mb try the
following:
1) Make a boot disk with a stripped-down version of your CONFIG.SYS,
AUTOEXEC.BAT, and COMMAND.COM on it. Be sure the device line for your
CD-ROM drive is still intact, as well as your sound card setup.
Once this is complete, reboot your system from that floppy and try again.
Memory and the Frame Rate
---------------------------
Absolute Zero has a lot of really cool sounds and object textures, which
take up a lot of memory. If the program doesn't have enough memory to hold
it all at the same time, it will reload these sounds and textures repeatedly
as it needs to use them. This could have a considerable impact on the frame
rate, especially if you're using virtual memory. If you are experiencing
long pauses in game play while you're playing a mission, try to improve the
memory situation.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Known Problems
================
If you are experiencing any problems with Absolute Zero, please contact
our support staff (see How To Contact Domark below). They will be happy
to send you the latest version of AZ when updates become available. Or if
you have access to a network such as America Online, Compuserve,
or the World Wide Web, check for updaters occasionally. We almost
certainly will be releasing a patch with the inevitable bug fixes as soon
as we are able. Our America Online address is DomarkUSA, our World Wide Web
address is http://www.domark.com/domark, our internet address is
techsupp@domark.com, and the Domark forum in Compuserve can be accessed
by typing GO DOMARK for a Keyword after logging in.
If you are playing a mission, and you have the VR Helmet turned on, you
may hear the message notification sound but no message scrolls across the
top. This indicates that you are running very low on memory, and the
program doesn't have enough memory to display the message banner. The same
sort of thing can happen with the MFD windows if they display incorrectly
it's likely that the program doesn't have enough memory to display them.
See the Memory section of this document for details.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Key Settings
==============
Despite our best efforts, the numeric key pad sometimes conflicts with the
cursor control keys and the "home-end-pg up-pg dn-help-del" keys. Therefore,
when modifying key sets within the game, try to use one group or the
other, not both.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joystick Selection and Calibration
====================================
When you go into the "Visor Controls" section of the VR Tunnel, you are
able to calibrate your joystick by clicking on the "Calibrate" button
next to the "Joystick" button.
When the Calibration window comes up, you will see the calibration area
and the word "Standard" in a small window below that area. This means
that the "Standard" type of joystick is selected for calibration. There
are three joystick settings: Standard, Flightstick Pro, and
Thrustmaster.
NOTE: A standard joystick is any two-button stick that does *not* have a "hat"
switch on it.
You can change the type of joystick you are calibrating by hitting the space
bar. Each tap on the space bar toggles the joystick type to the next
kind. Once the correct type of joystick is selected, then follow the
on-screen instructions to quickly set up your stick.
NOTE: If you are using a Thrustmaster stick, you *MUST* not only move
the stick to all extremes, but you must also move the hat switch up,
down, left, and right in order to calibrate that switch.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hints
=======
In each mission, you are playing one of the seven main characters in the
story. The person you are playing is almost always the one giving the
mission briefing (in the Overlink section of the VR Tunnel). For instance,
in the first mission (What's Out There?) you are playing Greg Foss.
You know this not only because he gives the mission briefing, but also
because while the game is loading there is a message on the screen that
says Login for Greg Foss in progress. While you're flying the mission,
when you hear Greg Foss speak, that is YOU speaking.
Absolute Zero is mainly an action game, but it also has a complex storyline
that unfolds through the news reports and the diaries and email of the seven
main characters. While your mission briefing gives you most or all of what
you need to know to complete a mission, you may find yourself wondering
what's going on, especially on the higher levels. There are even one or
two missions where it is somewhat critical for you to understand what
people are talking about. You should at least skim through the news and
the diaries and emails for each mission, so that you don't get lost later
on in the game.
It is important to know about the targeting recticles and the virtual
targeting arrow if you want to be able to hit what you're shooting at.
When you have an object targeted, there will be an orange box around it.
There will also be a yellow box somewhere near it, but probably not on top
of it. The orange box tells you where the object is, and the yellow box
tells you where you should aim your selected weapon when you fire at the
object. These boxes are the targeting reticles. The virtual arrow appears
in the bottom center of your screen whenever you have an object targeted,
and points toward the object. The red ball at the point of the arrow is
there to help you discern whether the arrow is pointing toward or away from
you.
Your targeting computer will automatically acquire targets for you when an
object comes into range, but it doesn't necessarily pick the best target.
To switch targets, point your weapon toward the object you want to target,
and press the acquire target key (the default key is the tab key).
Here is a walkthrough of the first mission (What's Out There?):
1) Don't alter your speed at the beginning of the scenario.
2) Fly with your wingmen to Nav 1.
3) Hit the weapon change key (the default key is 'w') to switch to the Mole
Pod.
4) The Nav point marks the place you're supposed to plant the pod.
5) The targeting recticles should appear when you are about 10km away from
Nav 2.
6) Wait until you hear yourself say (in Greg Foss' voice) 'I'm going to drop
this pod...'
7) Fire the pod by pressing the weapon fire key (the default key is the space
bar).
8) Switch your weapon back to the Laserlance by pressing the weapon change
key.
9) Help dogfight the Shards in the area. They only need two hits to kill
them.
10) Once they are both dead, head for Nav 3. Mine Alpha will transmit a
message to you.
11) Don't stray from your wingmen. You should be okay if you haven't changed
your starting speed.
12) Go to Nav 3 and then head for Nav 4. You'll be about 15 kilometers out
when two more shards will appear. Attempt to dogfight them. One of your
wingmen should kill one, and either you can kill the last, or you can let
a wingman do it.
13) With both dead, head for Nav 4. A pod needs to be dropped here. Do what
you did to drop the first pod. You can fire the pod anytime after the
targeting recticles appear.
14) Once that pod goes in hit the full throttle key (the default key is the
zero key on the main key island).
15) Fly to Nav 5.
16) Blow past Nav 5 and head for Nav 6. Nav 6 is the next Pod drop, at the
ruins of Europa City.
17) Ignore ANY enemies you see, they will ignore you.
18) Once you get out of the valley, you can't lose anymore wingmen, so get
out ASAP.
19) A pod needs to be dropped at Nav 6. You can fire the pod anytime after
the targeting recticles appear.
20) With the last pod in, fly full throttle to Nav 7. You can outfly the
Web Flyers that are launched at you. After a few moments you should
hear Bax die. You have won the mission.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
< TROUBLESHOOTING >
The two potential problems will be VESA compatibilty and Memory.
FOR VESA DRIVER CONFLICTS:
****usually irregular graphics or a blank screen at startup
1. Contact either the maker of your video card and ask them for:
A: their latest drivers
B: how to load their UNIVESA drivers (then load them on your machine)
C: any possible solutions
2. Remember you need to have a 1MB SVGA capable card (use the MSD utility
at the DOS prompt to check) to play AZ. If you still have problems,
contact Domark Customer Support.
FOR MEMORY (mainly 8MB memory machines):
CREATE A BOOTDISK:
1. Get a blank floppy disk and insert this into your Floppy Drive
2. From the C:\ prompt (out of Windows) type FORMAT A: /S
3. When the disk is formatted as a system disk, TYPE:
COPY CONFIG.SYS A:
COPY AUTOEXEC.BAT A:
4. Once these files are on your boot disk, type A: and then ENTER
5. At the A:\ prompt type EDIT to access the MSDOS EDITOR
(IBM users need to type " E " instead of EDIT)
What needs to be in these files:
(These files were created on a Pentium System, with a Creative Labs CD-Rom,
and a SoundBlaster AWE-32 soundcard.)
************ THESE ARE EXAMPLES! Do not copy verbatim! ***************
< CONFIG.SYS >
FILES=50 (keep above 40)
BUFFERS=40 (keep above 30)
DEVICE=C:\SB16\DRV\CTSB16.SYS /UNIT=0 /BLASTER=A:220 I:5 D:1 H:5 (optional-not needed)
DEVICE=C:\SB16\DRV\CTMMSYS.SYS (optional-not needed)
DEVICEHIGH=C:\CDROM\MTMCDAI.SYS /D:MTMIDE01
<AUTOEXEC.BAT>
@ECHO OFF
C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX /D:MTMIDE01
C:\MOUSE\MOUSE
C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE 2048 /x /r (You can use 1024 or 2048, if your wish)
SET SOUND=C:\SB16
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P300 E620 T6
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E MODE:0
C:\SB16\DIAGNOSE /S
C:\SB16\AWEUTIL /S
C:\SB16\SB16SET /P /Q
SET LMOUSE=C:\MOUSE
SET PATH=C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS
C:\
Everything above is what is needed for the game.
WE DO NOT RECOMMEND HARD DRIVE COMPRESSION!
Note that Absolute Zero DOES NOT need any "memory managers" to run.
This included HIMEM.SYS, EMM386.EXE, EMM386.SYS, or QEMM.SYS. Eliminating
these managers will not only help you obtain more free RAM, but also provides
a slight speed increase to the game.
===== WINDOWS 95 USERS =====
Absolute Zero will run under Windows 95 as a DOS application. Depending on
your system, you may have to Restart your machine inn DOS mode to play.
We'd like to emphasize that if you are running Absolute Zero from within
Windows 95, that Smartdrive is loaded before you run the game.
TO RUN AZ under WIN95:
1-Locate the AZ batch file az.bat (it should be in the directory
that you installed Absolute Zero into on your hard drive).
2-Go to the DOS prompt from inside Windows 95, and type:
drive:\windows\command\smartdrv. (drive: being the letter of the hard
drive where Windows 95 is installed. This will usually be C:) If the
program does not run, open up the Windows Explorer while inside Windows 95
and look for the file smartdrv.sys. Once you know where it is located in
your hard drive, go to that directory from a Dos window and run smartdrv.
Exit back to windows.
3-Click on the az.bat file. When Windows asks you whether you
want to exit to Dos, click on Yes. When you finish the game, the
computer will automatically reset and restart Windows 95.
************************************************************************
How to Contact Domark
=======================
Domark Software
1900 South Norfolk Street, Suite #110
San Mateo, California 94403
Voice: (415) 513-8933
Fax: (415) 571-0437
Internet: techsupp@domark.com
AOL: DomarkUSA
CompuServe: GO DOMARK
Our customer support staff is available Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm.
If you would like to contact our sales staff, you may call
(415) 513-8929 x105, or send email to paulbald@domark.com.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Special Thanks To:
John Miles at Miles Design, Incorporated
Linden at Big Red
John Wilkinson at Domark UK
James Poole at Domark US
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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Press [ALT]-[F]
Press [X]
