
                        --  S T A R S H I F T  --

                              Version 1.01
                         FREEWARE ARCADE PREVIEW
                         (Disccover competition)

                       ..From the author of KOPS..

-=- Contents -----------------------------------------------------------=-

I.   Introduction and information
        - What, how, where and why.

II.  Technical highlights
        - Highlights, bevels, chisels and a drop shadow.

III. Legal stuff
        - Prepare to fall asleep.

IV.  Questions And Answers
        - What's this thinamajig? Read here to find out.

V.   Troubleshooting
        - The most hopefully unneccessary chapter.

VI.  Acknowledgements
        - See who's to blame this time.

-=- I. Introduction and information ------------------------------------=-

  Generally speaking, this is a cab-driving game in space. The space is,
as everyone knows, two-dimensional. Erm. Right.

  Seriously, this is arcade preview of a game being built. It is hastily
put together for the Disccover competition in Finland. The final version
is supposed to have a bit rpg-like (?) single-player game mode with a
storyline and stuff. The registered version is not yet available. When
it is, a shareware version of Starshift will be released (with reduced
functionality compared to the registered, but still better than this
freeware preview).


  Keys during the game:

  In addition to the freely definable control keys (in control setup)
Starshift includes the following system keys:

  ESC - Pause during game. (Press esc again to un-pause)
  F10 - Abort game (pause game first with esc).
  F12 - Screen capture. Works in pause-mode, and pictures taken do
        not look as they were taken in pause-mode.
        Please note that truecolor pictures take a lot of space!
        The files will be named S0000000.PCX, S0000001.PCX etc.

  Due to the preview nature of this version, fire and action buttons
don't do anything in the game.


  Currently available game modes:

  Visit all platforms in order - Run from platform to another as fast
as you can. Each level has its top-10 best times list.

  Arcade taxi drivers - Go to platforms to pick up people, and
drop them off at their target platform to get a point. Your score
is zeroed if you die (and the passenger dies too if you are carrying
one). You can recharge shield at repair platforms (those are marked
with X instead of a number). The one with most points wins the round,
and the one who has won most rounds wins the game.


  Known bugs:

  Game may hang if joystick is selected as controlling device for a
player and the joystick is not found when game starts. If the game
doesn't hang, it may act unexpectedly.


  System requirements:

  - Pentium 133 class computer
  - Fast graphics adapter
  - 16 megs of RAM
  - DOS or Win95

  Preferred system:

  - Pentium 200 class computer or faster
  - Very fast graphics adapter
  - At least 32 megs of RAM
  - Gravis Ultrasound, Soundblaster or compatible soundcard
  - DOS or Win95 and SciTech Display Doctor
    (http://www.scitechsoft.com)

  While the game should work fine with mere 16 megs of RAM, more is
preferred.

  Go play the game! Return here (specifically to the "questions and
answers" and "troubleshooting" sections) if you have any questions.
Contact information can be found at the "Acknowledgements" section.

-=- II. Technical highlights -------------------------------------------=-

  Internally fully 32 bpp truecolor game engine which can render game
screen to 32,24,16,15 or 8 bpp screen using VBE 2.0 (linear frame buffer
mode) or VBE 1.2 (banked mode) in different resolutions also with image
zooming and interpolation.

  Parallax scrolling with alpha blended edges and transparency support
between layers. 32 bpp sprites with full alpha channel support and
alterable hue using HLS color space.

  Includes a face generator which can create millions of unique face
images with slightly different outlook compared to the other faces.

  Includes fully digital wavetable soundtrack with real-time processed
effects.

  The source code is almost completely pure C++ with some C functions.

  The source code is approximately 20000 lines long (not including
jpeg library code and mikmod sound library code).

  The bathtub is dedicated to the memory of Jari Komppa. He tends to
forget things :-).


-=- III. Legal Stuff ---------------------------------------------------=-

You must read LICENSE.TXT which comes with the game.


-=- IV. Questions And Answers ------------------------------------------=-

  Q:  What are those '*'-marks in front of some of the level
      and vehicle names?
  A:  The '*' means that the level or vehicle is official
      (.CLM/.CVM file, made or verified by the author).
      If some levels or vehicles do not have the '*' mark,
      it means that they are just made by some other people
      (.CLE/.CVE files). Only registered versions of the game
      can use external non-official components.

  Q:  ?
  A:  Email me if you have more questions to ask.

-=- V. Troubleshooting -------------------------------------------------=-

Problem:
    The game does not work.
Solution:
    Try changing display resolution and amount of colors.
    Notice that your graphics adaptor MUST support at least
    VBE 1.2 standard (VBE 2.0 or newer is preferred).
    Using Scitech Display Doctor can improve VBE support on
    most gfx adaptors. You can download SDD from their web
    site:  http://www.scitechsoft.com

Problem:
    The game hangs when I try to start game.
Solution:
    If you are trying to play with joystick, it may be that
    for some reason the joystick is not found or couldn't
    be calibrated properly. Check that you have connected
    the joystick to your computer and try calibrating it
    in the controls setup. If this does not help then try
    playing with keyboard (although it is not currently
    possible to play 4-player game on same computer without
    one player using joystick).

Problem:
    The game suddenly hangs and reports 'Not enough memory',
    'Allocation error' or something like that.
Solution:
    Most probably you do not have enough free unused memory
    left. You may want to make sure that you don't have any
    big programs consuming most of the free memory. Or then
    it may be possible that your computer just does not have
    enough RAM to play the game. If you're under Win95, try
    booting into Single Application Mode.

Problem:
    Better bit depths don't work. Game uses 8bpp modes and
    warns me about bad looking graphics.
Solution:
    Your graphics adaptor most probably does not support them.
    Notice that your graphics adaptor MUST support at least
    VBE 1.2 standard (VBE 2.0 or newer is preferred).
    Using Scitech Display Doctor can improve VBE support on
    most gfx adaptors. You can download SDD from their web
    site:  http://www.scitechsoft.com

Problem:
    The game is too slow to be played.
Solution:
    Try fewer players or buy a new computer or better graphics
    adaptor. Starshift is truecolor game (with support for
    lower bit depths for compatibility) and that takes up
    pretty much more processor power and requires fast graphics
    adaptor. Using lower bit depths can result in faster refresh
    rates in some cases although in some cases it can just slow
    down the game more.

Problem:
    Sound does not work.
Solution:
    1.  If you are using sound device autodetection, make sure
        that your ULTRASND, BLASTER or SNDSCAPE environment
        variables are correct. Refer to your sound card's
        manual about how to configure the card properly for
        DOS.
    2.  If you use manual sound setup, make sure you have
        choosed exactly right Port, IRQ and DMA (+Hi-DMA)
        values. You still should have the environment variable
        or your soundcard available.
    3.  Try IRQ 7 or lower. Starshift uses DOS4GW dos extender
        as the default. It does not support high IRQ's (IRQ's
        above 7) and because of this your sound card should not
        be configured to use IRQ higher than 7 if you want
        sound support to work. It is still possible to choose
        higher IRQ than 7. Under Windows 95 the sound support
        seems to work even if higher IRQ than 7 is selected.
        This problem also probably occurs only with Gravis
        UltraSound.

Problem:
    Sometimes there is "skipping" in the sound. (SB/ESS)
Solution:
    Use manual sound setup and choose bigger dma buffer size
    (default is 8192). Using big buffer may cause slight delay
    before sound effects start playing.

Problem:
    There is small pause before sound effects start. (SB/ESS)
Solution:
    Use manual sound setup and choose smaller dma buffer size
    (default is 8192). This may cause "skipping" in the sound
    sometimes.

Problem:
    Graphics are too dark or too light.
Solution:
    Adjust your monitor's lightness and contrast. If that does
    not help enough, play the game with a better monitor.

-=- VI. Acknowledgements -----------------------------------------------=-

Credits:

    Main programming, graphics, music and sound effects by
        Jetro Lauha

    Some image loading code is based in part on the work
    of the Independent JPEG Group.

    MikMod sound library by Jean-Paul Mikkers.

    Big thanks to Jari Komppa for general help with the game
    and this infofile.

Thanks:

    Juha Leinonen
    Pepe Taskinen
    Lars R”kman
    Allan Per„m„ki
    Tero Kostermaa
    All beta testers who gave me feedback


Author contact info:

    Snail mail: Jetro Lauha
                Hansakallionkuja 3B10
                FIN-02780 Espoo
                Finland

    E-mail:     jetro@mindless.com
                jlauha@cs.helsinki.fi
                tonic@mbnet.fi

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