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                                      v 1.65



****************************************************************************
 0.  Index
****************************************************************************

     1  Rocket Chase
       1.1  Legal
       1.2  Hardware Requirements

     2  Setup and Options
       2.1  Setup
       2.2  Options
       2.3  Player Statistics
       2.4  Command Line Options

     3  The Game
       3.1  Choosing Levels to Play
       3.2  Playing the Game
       3.3  Weapons
       3.3.1  Cannons
       3.3.2  Special Weapons
       3.3.3  Bonus Items
       3.4  Ships

     4  Creating Levels
       4.1  How To Draw the PCX Pictures?
       4.1.1  Restrictions
       4.1.2  Features of a Level
       4.1.3  Parallax And Its Size
       4.1.4  The Colour Table
       4.2  MakeLev.Exe - The Level Converter
       4.3  Auts2RC - Auts to RC Converter
       4.4  LevUpd - Rocket Chase Level Updater

     5  Misc
       5.1  Misc Misc
       5.2  Problems / Troubleshooting

     6  Registering
     7  Credits, Greetings and Contacting

     8  History
     9  Closing Words



****************************************************************************
 1.  Rocket Chase
****************************************************************************

 Thank you for downloading Rocket Chase. This document should include a
 description or at least a remark of every feature in the game, so reading
 the next 1000 lines will probably help you find out things you may not
 discover yourself.

 The game, "Rocket Chase" is a fast blow'em up game for 2-4 players. The
 purpose of the game is to fly in a tiny rocket and destroy all your
 opponents with a wide variety of cannons and special weapons. The source of
 inspiration to make this game was found from an excellent Amiga game called
 Turboraketti.



****************************************************************************
 1.1  Legal
****************************************************************************

 *This applies to the entire package, not only this document*

 The game, "Rocket Chase" and all its files, also referred as "the product"
 are / is Copyright (C) 1995,96,97,98,99 by Olli Haanper, Kaj Bjrklund
 and Mikko Haanper, also referred as "the authors". All rights are
 reserved.

 THE PRODUCT, "ROCKED CHASE" IS SUPPLIED "AS-IS". THE AUTHORS DISCLAIM ALL
 WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. THE AUTHOR ASSUMES NO LIABILITY FOR ANY
 DAMAGE, DIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL, WHICH MIGHT RESULT FROM THE USE/ABUSE OF
 THE PRODUCT. HOWEVER, THE PRODUCT IS NOT KNOWN TO CAUSE ANY DAMAGE. IT IS
 ILLEGAL TO MODIFY, STEAL, REVERSE ASSEMBLE ETC. ANY OF THE FILES INCLUDED
 IN THIS PACKAGE. IT IS FORBIDDEN TO CRACK THE PRODUCT. IT IS ALSO ILLEGAL
 TO DISTRIBUTE (INCLUDING SELLING) THE REGISTERED VERSION (OR THE
 REGISTRATION KEY).

 You may (and you are encouraged to) spread the shareware package of RC
 *unmodified* as much as you please on any media including CD-ROMs, FTP-
 and WWW-sites, BBS-systems etc. You may charge a small fee of the copying
 process; however, you are not allowed to *sell* RC.

 Rocked Chase is shareware. This means that after testing the product for a
 while, you have to register it. For more information about registration,
 please check out section 6 in this document. You are not allowed to sell or
 in any other way let the registration key spread.

 All trademarks mentioned belong to their legal owners.



****************************************************************************
 1.2  Hardware Requirements
****************************************************************************

 Rocked Chase requires :
    - 386 or better.
    - 4 MB total RAM (might run even with less..)
    - MCGA/VGA.
    - about 200 kB free base memory.
    - ~8 MB HD space should be enough.

 It supports :
    - 2 joysticks with configurable stick positions.
    - Sound Blaster, all models/versions.
    - Gravis Ultrasound, all models/versions with RAM installed.
      Now even those with 1 megabyte of it :)
    - CD-ROM for audio, mscdex required.

 And we recommended :
    - a fast 486 or better.
    - a good video card.
    - a good keyboard.
    - a sound card.
    - extra RAM won't hurt.



****************************************************************************
 2.  Setup and Options
****************************************************************************

 Before actually playing the game, you should configure the game to work
 properly on your machine. This is done in the setup program and the options
 menu of the game.



****************************************************************************
 2.1  Setup
****************************************************************************

 In the setup program the following selections are available.

  1. Select soundcard
     - Autodetect the sound hardware.
       - Notice: This might hang your machine, so use the manual setup when
         possible.

     - Sound Blaster (or a compatible).
       - Default settings are read from BLASTER-environment variable, so
         just press enter to confirm settings.
       - The playback is done at 22050 Hz 8-bit mono, 18 channels.
       - SB 1.0 and SB 2.0 are supported. Later SBs work fine in the SB 2.0
         mode. Compatibles and emulators should also work (try "/sb10").

     - GUS: Gravis UltraSound.
       - Default setting is read from ULTRASND-environment variable, so just
         press enter to accept it.
       - 256 kB memory required, 512 kB recommended.
       - The playback is done on gus at 34300 Hz, 18 channels. If your gus
         has only 256 kB memory, the samples' quality will be a bit lower
         than with 512 kB.

     - None: Silence.
       - You will still be able to control the CD-ROM.

  2. Control Options
     - Player 1-4: Setup the controls to use in the game. You may pick
       keyboard or joystick, and choose the keys/joystick positions to use.

     - Joystick 1-2: Setup joystick!
       - Calibrate: Move the joystick to each corner, and when finished
         center it and press a button (or a key). This is _very_ important
         if you are using a joystick. The same thing can be done in the
         options menu of the game.
       - Set x/y-sen: How much (in percents) the stick has to be moved
         before it's interpreted as movement.

  3. Quit



****************************************************************************
 2.2  Options
****************************************************************************

 In the options menu of the game the following selections are available.

  1. Number of Players
     - The number of players to participate in the game.

  2. Game Play Options
     - Number of lives. How many ships you have in every level. This
       allows you to play some kind of "Deathmatch".

     - Sudden Death. The mode for true professionals. The ship explodes
       immediately when it collides with wall. In this mode you should set
       the number of lives bigger than one.

     - Damage in Collisions. If you tend to collide with ground a lot, this
       might help you :)

     - Unlimited weapons on/off.
     - Unlimited ammo on/off.
     - Unlimited gas on/off.
     - Gas consumption.
     - Ship weight.

     - Choose weapons. If you like to choose weapons in the beginning of
       every duel then choose ALLWAYS otherwise AT START.

     - Choose a ship. See Choose weapons.


  3. Ban Weapons
     - If you think that a special weapon is too powerful or you dislike it
       for some other reason, you are able to disable it by using this
       option.

  4. Game Details
     - Parallax scroll on/off. If you have a slow machine, turn this OFF.
       Anyhow, a parallax scroll looks very nice in the background..

     - View size with 2 players. Again, if you have a slow machine, adjust
       this to 2/3 for some speed-up.

     - Water transparency on/off.
     - Waves on/off.
     - Bubbles on/off. This means bubbles in water.
     - Bonuses on/off.
     - Destructable ground on/off.
     - Meter bars. Either informative or simple style.

     - Global parallax brightness %. Works as a multiplier for the levels'
       parallax brightness values.

  5. Master Volume
     - Master volume for the sound effects.

  6&7. Setup Joystick 1&2
     - Configure your joystick(s). Similar to the setup program's setup
       joystick option.

  8. *Timer Mode!*
     - Either Fast+Accurate or Secure. The secure mode should be used under
       multitaskers such as Windows 3.1/95 and OS/2 or if the F+A doesn't
       work. It slows the game down a bit, but you won't probably even
       notice it. Anyway, use Fast+Accurate if you have a slow PC!



****************************************************************************
 2.3  Player Statistics
****************************************************************************

  Player statistics adds some depth to the game offering you a chance to
  find out, who's the best pilot. Choosing Player stats in the main menu
  opens a window containing the list of pilots in the order of rank points.
  The amount of rank points depends on your success. When you win a duel,
  you "take" some points from your enemy/enemies, when you lose, you have to
  give some of your points to the winner. This means that beating a skillful
  pilot having lots of rank points gives you more rank points than winning a
  novice, whose points are modest. Naturally, the more players join the duel
  the more the winner gains points.

  A new pilot gets 100 rank points. That's why the ranking works best when
  all pilots have played several matches.



****************************************************************************
 2.4  Command Line Options
****************************************************************************

 Usage: RC.EXE [option1] [option2] [etc]

 /?        -  Show usage.
 /nosound  -  Use nosound even if a soundcard is selected in setup.
 /nocd     -  Don't check whether a cd-rom device is present or not.
 /nocheck  -  Do not check CPU nor VGA.
 /fps      -  Show FPS during the game.
 /gus256   -  Force low quality mode for GUS. (use only 256 kB gusmem)
 /gusmeg   -  Assume 1024 kB of GUS memory.
 /sb20     -  Force SB 2.0 mode.
 /sb10     -  Force SB 1.0 mode. Might also be useful with some compatibles.
 /kb1      -  If you have problems with the keyboard,
 /kb2      -  you may want to try /kb1 and /kb2 switches.



****************************************************************************
 3.  The Game
****************************************************************************

 How do I operate the actual RC.EXE once I get it to execute properly?



****************************************************************************
 3.1  Choosing Levels to Play
****************************************************************************

 Before starting the game, you may choose the levels you wish to play. When
 entering the levels menu, two windows are opened. The one on the left side
 is a list of selected levels ("playlist"), and the other one on the right
 side is a list of the levels that can be selected. Moving between these two
 windows is done by arrow left and right keys.

   These keys can be used in the "levels" menu:
    SPACE - Put a level to playlist.
    C     - Clear the current slot.
    S     - Preview a level. Shows a thumbnail picture of a level.
    R     - Select some random levels.
    D     - Delete level.
    A     - Adjust level settings. Here is an option to adjust the
            brighteness of the parallax of certain level. You can also
            "flip" the level picture.
    ESC   - Exit the level selection menu.



****************************************************************************
 3.2  Playing the Game
****************************************************************************

 To start the game, press the "Let's Play" button. After a level has been
 loaded, you see a window on the level view. Here you can select a pilot if
 you want to use one. First, when there are no pilots available, you have
 to create one. Using a pilot brings you an advantage to compare your
 statistics with other pilots. In the pilot statistics (main menu/player
 stats) all pilots are ranked in the order of rank points.

 After having selected a pilot, simply choose a ship (see section 3.4) and
 weapons you desire.

 The playing itself is quite easy once you get a grip of it. Ship can be
 controlled with the keys assigned to the player in the setup program. If
 you want to change your cannon or special weapon, find a place where to
 dock. At the docking spot, press the key assigned to the special weapon,
 and change your weapons. A short description of the weapons available can
 be found in the next section (3.3).

 There are four bars in the top of your screen. These meters show vital
 statistic of your current condition. You can select either a simple bar
 style or the good old informative bars. The bar for the item "Special"
 will be gray if the special weapon is still loading..

  RED / E - Energy. When you run out of energy, you're gonna explode.
            Nice explosion though.

  YELLOW / G - Gas. When this runs out, your ship starts using shield
               energy as gas. Lethal in the long run.

  GREEN / A - Ammo. How much ammo do you have for your cannon. When this
              hits zero, you have to dock in order to make the cannon work
              again.

  BLUE / S - Special. How much special weapons you are carrying.

 Like said in the beginning of this document, the purpose of the game is to
 destroy your enemy ships. Rather brutal but it's only a game :) The one who
 does it and finds his/her way to a docking spot is the winner of the level.
 When all levels are played, the one who has won the most of the levels, is
 the winner of the match. For some strange reason, we have noticed that
 losers tend to want a rematch ;)



****************************************************************************
 3.3  Weapons
****************************************************************************

 Rocket Chase has quite a large selection of cannons and special weapons.
 Here's a list of them and a brief description of their behaviour.



****************************************************************************
 3.3.1  Cannons
****************************************************************************

  Bi
    A bidirectional cannon. Shoots both forward and backward.

  Double
    Shoots 2 bullets at a time. Makes hitting a bit easier, but doesn't
    shoot as rapidly as a single cannon.

  Random (Only in the registered version)
    Shoots as rapidly as a single, but not exactly forward. Hitting is
    easier, but all bullets aren't going to hit your enemy/enemies.

  Single
    Just a single cannon, shoots rapidly.

  Swinging (Only in the registered version)
    The shooting direction swings a bit but the launching position remains
    the same. Nasty little thingy.

  Triple (Only in the registered version)
    Shoots 3 bullets at a time! When you hit someone with this, it does some
    damage, but doesn't (naturally) shoot as rapidly as a double cannon.

  Wavy
    This shoots as rapidly as a single cannon. It also shoots straight
    forward but the launching position swings a bit.

  Widening (Only in the registered version)
    Shoots 3 bullets at a time to different directions, but it's quite hard
    to hit with all the three bullets.



****************************************************************************
 3.3.2  Special weapons
****************************************************************************

  Air Mine
    A simple mine floating in air. Be careful when launching these, it's
    very easy to get hit by one yourself..

  Attackers
    Three lumps which will land on the ground. When someone flies near
    enough to one of them, it attacks from the ground at high speed causing
    moderate damage.

  Bouncy Blast
    A sort of a mine like device that bounces on the ground. A few of these
    should create rather an efficient barrier.

  Burr (Only in the registered version)
    Something to tease your friends with. At collision this attaches itself
    to the ship causing some weight increase to the innocent victim. A few
    of these and the sudden death mode .. need I say more?-)

  Cannon Blast
    A big cannonball which explodes when it hits something.

  Chlorine Gas
    Get yourself and your friends high with this.

  Death Rain
    A weapon that leaves exploding stuff in its path; great if you are
    *chasing* someone!

  Demons Pot (Only in the registered version)
    Drops a pot. When the pot hits ground, it is opens itself and starts
    shooting to air. Bypassing definitely not recommended.

  Drop Bomb
    A bomb launched from the back of the ship. Try to fly over your enemies
    and drop a set of these.

  Dual Laser (Only in the registered version)
    Shoots two high speed laser beams with no air resistance.

  Dynamite
    An immense pack of explosives ready to blast away just about anything.

  Elastic Plasma (Only in the registered version)
    These fast, elastic plasma balls really hurt your enemies. Beware
    rebounding plasma.

  Electric Wall
    A true obstacle, don't you think? Causes minor damage to colliding
    ships.

  Energy Blast
    A ration of pure energy, so air resistance does not affect it. Walls
    are no obstacles at all.

  Flame Thrower
    Very efficient when hitting, but flames naturally fade pretty fast, so
    you have to get rather close to your opponent in order to do some
    damage.

  Fog (Only in the registered version)
    Some fog hurting visibility. Spooky.

  Grasshopper
    Shoots a bomb that explodes in air several times. Each time it explodes,
    it releases a group of bullets.

  Grenade
    A group of bullets spreading. Very efficient if used right.

  Guard Cannon
    A "mine" that shoots at closing ships. Put a few of these near the
    docking spots..

  Heavy Blast (Only in the registered version)
    A larger version of the Cannon Blast with some characteristics of a
    Grenade. It's really worth being the hell out of the way when someone
    decides to blast with one of these. Ilkka's favourite weapon :)

  Jammer (Only in the registered version)
    This device uses ultra-high frequencies to jam your enemies' sensories.
    The closer they are the more they suffer.

  Machine Gun
    Shoots quite rapidly. Bullets are very fast, so the only thing you have
    to do is to point yourself at an enemy and shoot!

  Magnetic Mine (Only in the registered version)
    Like a mine, but is magnetic and therefore seeks towards the nearest
    ship. Put a few of these in a narrow cave and that particular cave will
    be a true hell for trespassers.

  Meteor (Only in the registered version)
    A .. thing that seeks its way to the *nearest* ship. A bit easier to
    mislead than minimissiles but if you get hit by this.. well things don't
    look too bright. To avoid collision, try to get a wall (or an enemy ;)
    between you and it. Has the ability to fly underwater..

  Minimissiles
    Launch three missiles, which will lock themselves to the nearest enemy
    ship and follow it until hitting something.. Unlike meteor, these are
    not able to fly in water!

  Multigun (Only in the registered version)
    Shoots bullets to all directions at three different speeds and three
    different calibers.

  Ship Rejector
    A nice peace of device for slowing down your opponents.

  Shock
    This is a powerful weapon as long as you are close to an enemy ship.

  Snare (Only in the registered version)
    This weapon makes it easy to prison an enemy, but only for a few
    seconds!

  Soap Bubble
    Inverts gravity. Makes flying underwater a hell.

  Super Flamer (Only in the registered version)
    A HUGE multidirectional Flame Thrower!! Close combat, here we come.

  Twin Missile
    Launches two heavy missiles. These aren't those "fire and forget" ones,
    so remeber to aim before launching!



****************************************************************************
 3.3.3  Bonus Items
****************************************************************************

 During the game it's possible to pickup bonus items, which'll help you win
 the game. The following bonus items are available:

  Power Ups: (30% each)
    Ammo
    Energy
    Gas
    Special weapons
  Firepower: (30 seconds)
    Sidefire
    Backfire
    Smartfire
    Wall penetrating bullets
    Bouncing bullets
  Other:
    Teleport
    Cloaking device (for 30 seconds)
    Radar (well, this'll last until you explode)

 As you may see, there's a rather a wide variety of bonuses, so use 'em
 wisely.



****************************************************************************
 3.4  Ships
****************************************************************************

  Since the version 1.5 of RC there has been a possibility to select the
  ship to be used. Each ship has its strengths and weaknesses so it's up to
  you to choose the one that fits you and your strategy best. Yet another
  brief list follows :)

  Classic
    The good old vessel. Not particularly good at anything, but on the other
    hand it has no real weaknesses either; it's a good all-around choice.

  Battle Ship
    Can you believe the firepower of this beauty? Your plain regular cannon
    becomes an amazing firing machine!

  H-Fighter
    This light baby accelerates like a porsche! Shields could be better.

  UFO
    Extraterrestial demolition? Good shields and big cargo are
    tempting. What comes to engine, it's quite a diesel.

  V-Cruiser
    V-shaped supermodel!-) Quite a handy ship in terms of flying.



****************************************************************************
 4  Creating Levels
****************************************************************************

 If you're a talented graphic artist, you might want to draw some levels of
 your own, spread them to your friends, and so on. Read this section and get
 started!



****************************************************************************
 4.1  How To Draw the PCX Pictures?
****************************************************************************

 There are a few things that should be considered before starting to paint
 those pixels.



****************************************************************************
 4.1.1  Restrictions
****************************************************************************

  A level (=playfield) must be drawn with a regular drawing program, like
  deluxe paint, etc. The drawing program must not rearrange the colors! The
  level is built from 2 pictures, the level-PCX and the parallax-PCX. The
  parallax is not absolutely necessary, but it's recommended to draw one.

  Both pictures must be in standard 256 color PCX-format. Notice: since the
  version 1.5 the parallax-PCX doesn't have to use the same palette as the
  level-PCX. In other words, any PCX-picture will do!

  In order to use the PCX pictures in RC, you must then use MakeLev.exe to
  convert them to RCL-format. See section 4.2 for more information.



****************************************************************************
 4.1.2  Features of a Level
****************************************************************************

  Size:
   minimum - it makes no sense drawing a level smaller than 640x480 or so..
   maximum - 1600x1200.
  Colors:
   128 colors which the objects collide with.
   32 colors on which the objects move.
   32 colors under which the objects move.
   4 colors for dockings/bases.
   1 color for liquid/water.
   1 color for water going down. (Not working, do not use)
   16 colors for burning material. (Not working, do not use)
   16 colors for indestructable material.

   (see COLORMAP.PCX and section 7A.4 for color table)

  A good size for a level is 800x600, but also 640x480, 1024x768 and every
  size within these boundaries are ok. The levels are meant to be cave-like,
  so it would be nice if the level had walls surrounding it. The level
  should not be too narrow/tight so that it's possible to actually fly there
  and so on, but challenging tunnels are naturally an essential part of the
  game.



****************************************************************************
 4.1.3  Parallax And Its Size
****************************************************************************

  The parallax should scroll in about the scale of 1:3 or 1:4. The size of
  the parallax can therefore be calculated like this:

  parallax_xsize = (level_xsize/3(*) + 100)
  parallax_ysize = (level_ysize/3(*) + 150)

  (*)The scale of the scrollspeed. In this case it's 1:3. By placing for
  instance 5 in the equation, the scale would be 1:5.

  By using the formula above, it's easy to calculate the size of the
  parallax for the standard sized levels :)
   640x480  :  (640/3 + 100) x (480/3 + 150) = 315x310
   800x600  :  (800/3 + 100) x (600/3 + 150) = 360x350
   1024x768 : (1024/3 + 100) x (768/3 + 150) = 440x405

  However these figures/scales are not absolute, so parallaxes don't have to
  be exactly this size. For instance, "dragon's cave" is a 800x600 level,
  but the parallax is "only" 255x255. Also note that some drawing programs
  have difficulties to handle levels with odd width. So if you for example
  try to draw a parallax with a width of 315 and you just can't get it to
  work, try making it 316 or 314.



****************************************************************************
 4.1.4  The Colour Table
****************************************************************************

  For the level PCX:

     +-----------+-------- -- -
     | colour(s) | behaviour
     +-----------+------------ -- -
     |  0        |  background
     |  1-128    |  objects collide
     |  129-160  |  under the objects (the ships fly on these colors)
     |  161-192  |  on the objects (the ships fly under these colors)
     |  193-196  |  docking / base
     |  197      |  liquid / water
     |  198      |  water going down (not working, do not use)
     |  199-214  |  burning material (not working, do not use)
     |  215-230  |  indestructable material
     +-----------+---------------------- -- -

     ** You may freely change the palette of colours 1-230 **


  For the parallax PCX:

     The palette can be anything and the order of colours if free.



****************************************************************************
 4.2  MakeLev.Exe - The Level Convertor
****************************************************************************

 With MakeLev you are able to convert your own levels to Rocket Chase Level-
 format (RCL). The converting itself is quite easy: just execute MakeLev and
 fill in the fields.

 The .RCL files have to be moved to levels\ directory.

 Notice: Feel free to distribute levels you have created in BBS's, Internet
 etc.



****************************************************************************
 4.3  auts2RC - Auts to RC Converter
****************************************************************************

 Usage: auts2rc autslev.lev outfile.pcx

 The PCX which will be the result of the conversion must then be converted
 to .RCL with Makelev.exe. The auts level must not use more than ~128
 colours, but that really is no problem since none of the auts levels we
 have seen use more than (or even as many as) that.

 We are not sure though whether auts levels are suitable for RC as they are
 so small, only 320x400!



****************************************************************************
 4.4  LevUpd - Rocket Chase Level Updater
****************************************************************************

 Usage: levupd oldlev.rcl

 The purpose of levupd.exe is to update your old RCL-files (from the RC
 v1.0) to the brand new rcl-format. In other words the levels converted
 with the level converter of RC v1.0 are not functional in this version
 before they have been updated. At startup the game detects if a level is
 using a suitable format.



****************************************************************************
 5.  Misc
****************************************************************************

 Miscellaneous thingies.

****************************************************************************
 5.1  Misc Misc
****************************************************************************

 In the menu press F1 to get a info window and a toolbox for CD-audio
 functions. If you change the disc during the game, you should use CD-CHECK
 so that the cd-player notices the change.

 During the game, press ESC or F5 for pause menu. CD-CHECK has the same
 purpose here.

 During the game press F10 to save a screenshot. The screenshot will be
 named RCPIC_??.PCX.



****************************************************************************
 5.2  Problems / Troubleshooting
****************************************************************************

 Rocket Chase has been tested under MS-DOS 6&7, PC-DOS 7, OS/2 Warp, Win9?
 and even Win 3.1. It has worked under these environments. With multitasking
 operating systems the timer mode should be set to secure. We found RC quite
 unstable under Windows NT, so you'll probably have to boot to DOS. RC has
 also been tested with (several) Gus Max 1MB, (several) Gus Ace 512 kB,
 (several) SB 16(s) and with a Logitech Soundman Games (sbpro) and has
 worked fine.

 However, if problems do occure, try reading this section.

     Problem:
      - The game runs out of memory!
     What to do:
      - Boot clean.
      - Play smaller levels.
      - Buy more memory.

     Problem:
      - The scrolling isn't smooth!
     What to do:
      - First try fast&accurate timer, if it doesn't work then use secure
        timer!
      - Put the screensize to 2/3 with 2 players
      - Try turning off parallax scroll or/and water effects.
      - If you run the game under Win95 or OS/2, try booting to a real DOS
        session.
      - Try nosound.
      - Buy a faster computer.

     Problem:
      - Sound autodetect hangs my machine!
     What to do:
      - Don't use autodetect, define your soundcard manually. The selection
        bar should be on the right port/irq/dma-setting as it is read from
        BLASTER/ULTRASND environment variable.

     Problem:
      - I don't hear any sound effects!
     What to do:
      - Use setup to configure your soundcard.
      - Check that card/port/irq/dma-settings are correct.
      - Check master volume from options menu and from your speakers.
      - If you have a GUS (P&P), check that you have memory installed.
      - If you're using a SB clone, try to execute RC with the option /sb10.
      - Check that all Rocket Chase datafiles exist. (reinstall)
      - If you do not have a SB/GUS compatible soundcard, buy one.

     Problem:
      - My joystick doesn't work.
     What to do:
      - (Re)calibrate your joystick.
      - Check x-sen and y-sen values.
      - Make sure you have assigned the joystick to someone in the setup
        program.
      - If you have a GUS, and your joystick is not connected to it, try
        running "ultrinit -dj", and if the joystick is connected to the GUS,
        run "ultrinit -ej".
      - Check that your joystick is connected properly.

     Prolem:
      - My keyboard doesn't always react to keypresses!
     What to do:
      - Use setup to reconfigure the keys used for playing, some
        combinations of keysets work _much_ better than others (this is due
        to PC, not us). The default keysets should work on most keyboards.
      - Use a joystick.
      - Buy a better keyboard.

     Problem:
      - The set of keys used in the game doesn't satisfy me!
     What to do:
      - Redefine the keys in the setup-program.

     Problem:
      - I don't hear any music!
     What to do:
      - Play an audio CD by pressing F5/ESC during the game.
      - Put your radio on.

     Problem:
      - "Can't handle 16-bit apps. Sorry!"
     What to do:
      - Remove cwsdpmi.exe. (djgpp's pmode extender)

     Problem:
      - There ain't enough levels nor special weapons!
     What to do:
      - Register the game. It'll be worth it! You will get lots of new
        weapons and levels, free updates, etc. Check section 6 for more
        information.



****************************************************************************
 6.  Registering
****************************************************************************

 Rocket Chase is spread under shareware concept. Basically this means that
 you are allowed to test the product before you buy it. You may test Rocket
 Chase for 21 days, and during that time you should send your registration.
 If you feel that the game isn't worth registering you should delete it
 after the 21 day test period. Anyhow, as you probably won't go bankrupt
 because of paying us a few dollars, it is highly recommended to register.

 We hope that you'll find Rocket Chase a pleasant experience, we certainly
 do. We have invested a huge, huge amount of time, effort and sweat in order
 to bring you this product. Therefore, we hope you respect our efforts, and
 let us know that we didn't do all the work in vain, and that you want the
 development of Rocket Chase to continue. You can do this by mailing us a
 nominal registration fee of 15(/20) USD or any other currency worth 15(/20)
 USD. (50(/60) FIM only inside Finland)

 When you register, you'll..

  - get more levels!
  - get more special weapons!
  - get more cannons!
  - receive your own personal registration key which will work in the future
    versions of RC. In other words: FREE updates!
  - receive the latest version of RC (in case you register via snail mail).
  - encourage us to continue the development of Rocket Chase.
  - be allowed to continue to play RC after the 21 day test period.

 Please support quality shareware and take a look at REGISTER.TXT, or
 FIN_REK.TXT if you live in Finland.



****************************************************************************
 7.  Credits, Greetings and Contacting
****************************************************************************

 Credits & Greetings
 -------------------

  Olli Haanper      - main code, all sprite graphics, many levels, design.
  Kaj Bjrklund      - code, sfx, documentation, design.
  Mikko Haanper     - code, most of the utility programs, sfx, design.

  Pasi Skkinen,
  Matti Laine,
  Timo Mkimattila,
  Ilmo Mikkola       - level graphics, good work! You've helped us a lot.

  Markku Ekblom      - beta testing, ideas, sfx.
  Antti Qvickstrm   - drew the ascii, beta testing.

  Mike Chapin,
  Ed Ross,
  Andrew Eigus,
  Andy Tam,
  Douglas Webb
  Info-Zip Team      - compression stuff.

  Roger Dunk         - cd-rom stuff.

  We would like to say hello to the these people:

  Registered users, Thank You.
  Sampsa Lehtonen    - thanks for the color quantizing info.
  Antti Karjalainen
  Ilkka Pelkonen     - check 3dica*.zip. it's finnish.
  Tapio Vuorinen
  Timo Turunen
  Jukka Kantanen
  Sampo Tolonen
  Jere Sanisalo
  Joonas Pihlajamaa
  Pekka Nurminen
  tAAt members
  Hubris members
  Aki Puustinen
  Juha Leinonen

  ..most of them have been helpful in some way, and the rest are 'just' nice
  people :)

 Contacting
 ----------

  If you find bugs, have some good ideas, want to send us gifts :) or have
  some other good reason(s), feel free to contact us.

    Who                 E-Mail                  Address

    Mikko Haanper      mikko.haanpera@mbnet.fi Vuorenpeikontie 3 B 65
                                                FIN-00820 Helsinki Finland

    Kaj Bjrklund       kaj.bjorklund@mbnet.fi  Roihuvuorentie 18 D 164
                                                FIN-00820 Helsinki Finland

    File attachments    chemhubris@hotmail.com  Send your levels here.


  Our WWW-page is located at http://www.hut.fi/~kbjorklu/rc/. Also
  http://www.hut.fi/~ipelkone/ contains some RC-related stuff.



****************************************************************************
 8.  History
****************************************************************************

 version 1.65
  * transparent water.
  * meter bars have now two optional styles.
  * added an option for gas consumption.
  * several bugs fixed.
  * small adjustments.

 version 1.6
  * some new levels drawn.
  * new level format, which allows a smaller game package.
  * couple of bugs fixed.

 version 1.5
  * new levels drawn.
  * new special weapons added.
  * 5 different ships.
  * Player statistics works at last.
  * sprite engine rewritten.
     - sprites are now able to collide with each other. you can, for
       example, shoot a mine if it's in your way.
  * colour routines (re)written.
     - now parallaxes may use 256 colours, and the palette may differ from
       the level's palette.
     - you can adjust the brightness of parallaxes.
     - you may delete the .EIF files from the LEVELS\ -directory; they are
       no longer used.
  * this document was manually reformatted, now it uses max. 76 chars/line.
  * lots of new graphics and sounds.
  * v1.1 had some minor bugs/things, too many to list here...

 version 1.1
  * v1.0 appeared to have quite many bugs, we're very sorry about that.
    hopefully this version works a bit better.
     - bug in the gus support. in other words: it didn't, er, work at all
       with 1 megabyte cards. fixed.
     - some problems with the keyboard. well, /kb1 and /kb2 switches added,
       try them if you suffer problems.
     - the timer didn't work too well either. added another timer mode,
       "secure", use it if you have problems.
     - weapon selection menu didn't work with *fast* machines. fixed.
     - some other minor&rare bugs fixed.
  * new special weapons added.
     - attackers,burr,bouncy blast,dynamite,fog,chlorine gas.
  * some new levels drawn.
     - cube, crystal.
  * tuned some of the old special weapons.
  * new bonus items added.
     - radar, bouncy bullets, cloaking device.
  * lotsa new options created.
     - game types (normal, sudden death, deathmatch) added.
     - unlimited ammo/gas/specials.
     - ban weapons. if you find some weapon too good for instance in sudden
       death mode, this is the solution.
  * now explosions look even better than before!
  * due to some requests: the ground will now explode when it gets blasted.
    the implementation is quite nice, if i may add :)
  * now the engine of the ship puffs smoke when the ship is in bad
    condition.
  * a fancy 'press special for menu' -text added for those who hadn't
    noticed the possibility to change weapons during the game.
  * you may now setup separately the keys used in the docking menu.
  * replay removed.
  * a ridiculously slow auts(lev) to RC(pcx) convertor written. don't know
    though if auts levels are suitable for RC. judge for yourself i suppose.
  * RC Level Format Updater, which updates levels using older level format.

 version 1.0
  * first released version.



****************************************************************************
 9.  Closing Words
****************************************************************************

 Let's hope we didn't make too many typos in this text :) Thank you very
 much for taking the time to read this document. Now would be a good time to
 go and enjoy the game itself!










<end of document>
