= MonsterLand documentation =
= build 252 =
Command-line parameters:
<any number> - MUST BE EITHER USED AS *FIRST* PARAMETER OR NOT USED AT ALL
(changes game speed... the lower the faster)
don't use unless needed ! (look "modem play")
8bit - force 8-bit SOUND mixing (try if the game hangs on startup)
nomouse - force no mouse support
nosound - force no sound whatsoever, no XMS required in this case
___________________________________________________________________________
Controls:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
E
S D F <==== go in 4 directions
7 8 9
4 5 6 <==== shoot in 8 directions (* standard mode *)
1 2 3
A <=== stop shooting chaingun/flamethrower/minigun and duck
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 <==== choose active weapons
F1 F2 F3 F4 <=== choose item 1,2,3,4 from top correspondingly
SPACE <=== use selected item
F5 <=== HELP. Not complete but allows to get a name of some items
on the map by pressing the corresponding key (ex.:W for water).
F6 <== Save in singleplayer and 2-player games.
F7 <== Load.
I <==== toggle split-screen mode in a 2-player game/replay.
Right+Left mouse button <=== enable enhanced control mode+get out of tank
right mouse button <==== disable enhanced control mode
======================================================================
** ENHANCED CONTROL MODE means : left hand on keyboard, right on the mouse.
======================================================================
T <===== start typing
ENTER <== quit typing
<GRAY PLUS> <=== *DEBUG* player 1 only | sends a file to player 2 from
directory of your choice to directory/filename of your choice on his HD.
Much slower than Zmodem.
********* When in tank : ************
(mouse is disabled automatically... remember you can press
right+left mouse button to get out of tank and hold it a little
bit longer to enable mouse control again)
LEFT/RIGHT rotate turret
FORWARD shoots
BACKWARD toggles permission for the other player to hop in (reflected by color)
0-INS leaves tank
Once 2 players are in a tank, one player drives and the other one
has turret control.
Tank is flashing blue if it's not occupied, Red if occupied and you are
not permitted to enter, and green if occupied and you can enter.
********* Miscellaneous ***************
* (on the keypad) toggles sync checking, off by default since it
slows the game down significantly (modem/serial only).
But good to turn on for a sec once in a while.
***********************************************************************
Press ` to toggle alternate, bigger and more proportionate screen mode.
***********************************************************************
Press [ to toggle presence of player 2 for hotseat play.
Player 2 always uses gamepad, which must be calibrated (settings are saved).
Press GRAY MINUS to swap players.
TAB switches from coop to dmatch(2-player only).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gameplay :
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Goal: travel between levels, find keys, open doors, defeat monsters.
And boss(es).
** Items:
AXE : Use axe to kill a nearby monster or to make Trees into Boats.
* Axe disappears when you kill a monster but you can use it infinitely
to make boats.
BOAT: When you come to Water, press the direction you want to "swim over it"
in and then use boat with Use key (SPACE by default).
It will work if there's nothing on the other end of Water.
BOOTS: allow you to go through Swamp unharmed. The more boots you pick, the
more durable they become.
@ (RESURRECTION SPELL) use it near the place where the other player died
to resurrect him. Works even if you went to another level after he died
but he didn't reappear yet.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Modem play :
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
MODEM.INI contains your modem init string.
It's HIGHLY recommended to use a DOOMish init string which turns off
everything (or almost everything) possible.
There's absolutely NO desyncs over modem games since a long time ago.
If a desync DOES occur , its probably for some reason like
* somebody called you
* you tripped on the wire
* somebody else tripped on the wire
* COM code I am using is buggy...I know I NEVER got desyncs
when connecting 33.6 USR Sportster to 14.4 USR Sportster
NOTE: WHEN SOMEONE INTERRUPTS THE CONNECTION, IT COULD BE INDICATED
BY SUDDEN SPEEDUP OF THE GAME. IF YOU ENCOUNTER THAT, QUIT IMMEDIATELY.
NOTE#2: IF A GAME IN PROGRESS FREEZES BECAUSE OF THE INTERRUPTED CONNECTION,
WAIT FOR ABOUT 60 SECONDS, IF THE GAME DOESN'T QUIT BY ITSELF,
THEN IT FROZE FOR REAL (never happened to me).
******************************* ACTUAL MODEM PLAY : **********************
Go to PLAY OVER LINK ...
VERY IMPORTANT:
I found the games over the modem to be much much slower than normal
(due to some bug in my comm driver obviously), so run
modem.bat for modem games <*****************
All it does is run main executable
with a number, which sets the game delay.
1 means no delay. That's what we often use in modem games.
Since for some reason modem games are excruciatingly slow on
default speed
(and I KNOW it's driver's fault), you should run modem.bat which
by default specifies to have no delay (1).
If the game runs too fast, then increase the delay to
reach optimal speed (close to single-player).
********************************* CRYPTING GAMEPAD CALIBRATION ****************
I am using an awkward routine there so...
It's pretty intuitive... That is, requires a lot of intuition on your
part... But I got it to work flawlessly with my old
2-button PC Gamepad PRO , at least under Win95 when its also properly
calibrated in Control Panel.
Doesn't work properly with a bunch of other gamepads or even with same gamepad
a Packard Bell PC... Don't ask.
The numbers like 1000 to the right are numbers of hits a certain
value got from the gameport.
In case of
1. 1000
2. 700
3. 300
4. 0
5. 0
You will choose N 3 ... Thats one of the "ideal" cases.
The real ideal case is
1. 1000
2. 0
3. 0
4. 0
5. 0
Where you choose 1.
Usually its something like
1. 1000
2. 764
3. 222
4. 100
5. 30
Thats a tough one. Choose 3 and you might suffer from it not reacting
all the time to your movement in this direction, choose 4 and you might
suffer from some random spontaneous movements.
Choose 5 and you'll definitely have a lot of erratic interference...
This concludes MonsterLand documentation at the moment.
semi-aut0.