
Assault Rigs ReadMe
===================

Please read ALL of this before you install Assault Rigs...

To print this document out please go into Windows and double
click on "Notepad" (it is usually in the accessories folder)
Once the application is loaded, please go into the menu 
"File", choose "Open" and go into the directory in which 
the game was installed to. Open "README.TXT", then once 
this file is loaded, go back in to the "File" menu, and choose 
"Print".
 


Installation
============

After displaying this Readme, the installation program will allow you 
to install Assault Rigs to your hard disk in one of four ways:

    Game Save Only: This requires just 1kByte of hard disk
                    space. All the FMV and game data remain on the
                    CD. This is the recommended option on most machines.

    FMV Only:  This copies the program and the FMV (Full Motion Video)
               files to the hard disk. This requires about 31MBytes of
               hard disk space. This is best on a slow machine for 
               smoother movie playback.

    Data Only: This copies the program and data files to the hard disk.
               This requires about 86MBytes of hard disk space.
               This will make the levels load in more quickly than they 
               would from the CD.

    Full Installation: This copies all the program code, data files and
                       FMV files to the hard disk. About 116MBytes of 
                       space are needed for this option.

    Note: Whatever installation you choose, you'll still need the 
          Assault Rigs CD in your CD-ROM when you run the game.

Next the installation program will prompt you for a directory to 
install the game to. By default this is 'c:\rigs' but any other 
directory may be created.

Once the directory is created, the installation program will attempt to
determine which sound card you have installed. The program will show
you the sound card settings it has found. If these are incorrect, you'll
have the chance to change them during the installation, however, a 
complete sound card installation is recommended. The settings must match
the card for the sound effects to work.
    
If you've selected to copy data to the hard disk, the installation 
program will do this now. This may take a little time as some of the 
files are quite large.

Once all the files are copied, the installation should be complete. The
program will exit to the installation directory. 

To run Assault Rigs, just type:
              rigs

Sound Effects Options
=====================

The Assault Rigs options allow you to alter a number of the sound 
effect features. These include:

Music Volume
------------

The Assault Rigs in game music is played from the CD. To hear the 
music with the sound effects you need to connect your CD-ROM to the 
sound card with the audio lead supplied with the CD-ROM. The volume 
of the music can be controlled on most sound cards, however on some 
cards the CD volume is fixed.

FX Volume
---------

The sound effects volume can be controlled with this feature.

FX Mode
-------

This gives you a choice of Mono, Stereo, Phased, QSound and Surround 
settings.

Mono: The only choice for a Mono sound card like SoundBlaster 2

If you have a SoundBlaster Pro or better (eg SB16 or AWE32), you can 
also select one of the following:

Stereo: Normal stereo effects. 

Phased: Phased stereo. This is an alternative stereo, especially suited 
        for headphones. As well as adjusting the volume level, a short 
        delay is used between the left and right to create a more 
        realistic stereo effect.

QSound: Speakers only! This mode enhances the stereo further by making 
        sounds come from either side of your speakers as well as between. 
        However, the positioning of the speakers is important! please 
        make sure they are set at the same angle either side of your 
        monitor.

Surround: The sound effects will run in Dolby Surround Sound Mode. 
        If you have a Dolby Prologic decoder, you should hear sounds 
        from in front, to your side and behind you!


Note: Selecting stereo/phased etc with a mono sound card still just 
      gives mono!

No. of FX
---------

This sets a limit on how many effects may be mixed at any one time. 
Mixing more effects sounds better, but may cause the game to slow 
down on slower machines. If this is a problem, limit the game to 
just a few effects.

Sample Rate
-----------

Two sample rates may be selected: 11kHz and 22kHz. The higher sample 
rate produces better quality effects, but is more intensive and may 
slow down the game on a slow machine. Needs machines with more than 
8Mb memory though!

Reverb
------

Assault Rigs contains a Reverb processor which makes sounds played 
in enclosed spaces sound more realistic. When your rig goes through 
a tunnel, the reverb will kick in and the sound effects will sound 
even better. It works best with 16bit sound cards (SB16 and AWE32 etc) 
so you can turn it off with 8bit cards and for slower machines.



Network Games
=============

During a network game, the names of your opponents and their kill and
gem counts will be displayed when appropriate. Also each player rig 
will have the name of the player displayed above it.

F10 toggles the name list display.
F11 toggles names above rigs display.


Serial Games
============


The port being used for a serial game can be set with the following:

        rigs -serial n

where n is the port number.



Network Chat
============

If you're playing in a network game, you can hook up a microphone 
to your sound card and send messages, chat or just verbally abuse your 
opponents at any time during the game. 

The game will display the names of the other players beside a function
key. To send a message, hold down this key and talk into the mic. 
Any combination of keys can be held down to talk to one or more 
players in the game.

Please read the sound card advice below for info on how to setup 
your microphone.



Sound Card Advice
=================

SoundBlaster
------------

Assault Rigs is compatible with all SoundBlaster cards and all
cards offering 100% compatibility with SoundBlaster.

The sound effects in Assault Rigs need a BLASTER environment to be set.
This is data the game can use to get the sound card settings. 

The BLASTER environment variable is usually set in the autoexec.bat file 
and looks something like:

    SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5
                ^    ^  ^  ^
                |    |  |  |
                |    |  |  --- 16bit DMA channel, choice: 5,6 or 7
                |    |  |
                |    |  --- 8bit DMA channel, choice: 0,1 or 3
                |    |
                |    --- Interrupt number, choice: 2,5 or 7
                |
                --- Base Address, choice: usually 220 or 240

It can also be set at the DOS prompt by typing in the above line.

It is important that each part of the line is correct and matches the
setting on the card. 

The Assault Rigs installation program will check to see if a BLASTER 
line is set. If not, or if the currently set line is not correct,
you will have the chance to change the settings in the installation 
program. This will then add a line in the rigs.bat batch file, which 
should be used to run the game. This will ensure that the BLASTER line 
is set each time you run Assault Rigs.

If you're using a microphone for network speech, make sure it's 
plugged into the mic input socket, not the Line input!

The network speech was a fairly last minute addition to the game, so
there aren't any controls in the game's option screens. However sound
card setup programs, such as SB16SET.EXE for the Sound Blaster 16 
allow you to make some alterations to the sound card settings. 
The game controls the mic volume slider, but you can toggle the 
AGC - Automatic Gain Control, and Microphone Gain control
to boost the level on some microphones. Make sure that the microphone
is turned on by toggling the mic input box.


If your sound card is not a SoundBlaster card, but a compatible one, 
please ensure that it is in SoundBlaster mode before running Assault 
Rigs. A full sound card installation is recommended for all cards.


Gravis UltraSound
-----------------

Assault Rigs also works with the Gravis Ultrasound sound card. 
The GUS needs an ULTRASND environment variable to be set. This contains 
the sound card settings needed for the game's sound effects.

The ULTRASND environment variable is usually set in the autoexec.bat 
file and looks something like:

    SET ULTRASND=220,1,3,7,5

The Assault Rigs installation program will check to see if a 
ULTRASND line is set. If not, or if the currently set line is not 
correct, you will have the chance to change the settings in the 
installation program. This will then add a line in the rigs.bat 
batch file, which should be used to run the game. This will ensure 
that the ULTRASND line is set each time you run Assault Rigs.

If you are using the network chat feature with a GUS, ensure that the
play and record DMA channels are different, these are the second and 
third numbers in the above ULTRASND line.

The GUS needs a microphone with a high output level to work effectively.



