------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PARSEC LAN-TEST (build 0196) September 7, 2001. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ mailto:parsec@parsec.org http://www.parsec.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. INTRODUCTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is an update to the Parsec LAN-Test version. It is the second playable release of Parsec, a 3D space-combat game currently in development. In this version of the game, up to eight people can play together on the same local area network (LAN) using the TCP/IP protocol. If IPX is used, the limit is four players. However, it is not possible to play on the Internet. This feature will follow in a future release. This version does not use a client/server architecture. A peer-to-peer protocol is used to easily find other players without the need for starting a server. This is not a commercial product, Parsec will be a free Internet game for non-commercial purposes. Please see http://www.parsec.org for more details. This release is mostly intended to serve a testing purpose, and can be considered to be of beta quality (i.e. not finished, optimized, or fully debugged yet). Problems and limitations that may be evident will be addressed during the further development of the game. Please keep this in mind when playing the game and when submitting bug reports or comments. You should expect to see several minor updates to this game release that fix bugs or other issues in the near future. Therefore it is recommended that you frequently check our webpage at http://www.parsec.org for updates. These updates will most likely not require full downloads, but be released in the form of small patches. If you want to stay up-to-date on Parsec, there are public mailing-lists for announcements and general discussions available. Take a look at http://www.parsec.org/mailinglists/ for subscription details. Alternatively, there are public web-based discussion boards available at http://www.parsec.org/forum/ where people can discuss Parsec issues. If you think that you have discovered a bug and can reproduce it, we would be glad to receive your bug report. However, please don't send your reports via e-mail. Instead, to report a bug go to http://www.parsec.org/bugs/ Bug reports that we receive via e-mail will most likely not be processed. Parsec generates a log file called "parsec.log", which should be included in any bug report. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. LICENSE AND DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Parsec program, artwork, music, sound effects, and associated documentation (the "software") are the copyrighted work of Markus Hadwiger, Andreas Varga, Clemens Beer, Michael Woegerbauer, Alex Mastny, Stefan Poiss, and Karin Baier. It is protected by copyright law and international treaty provisions. Provided this document accompanies each copy you make of this software, and as long as you fully comply at all times with this agreement, the authors grant you the non-exclusive and limited right to copy this software and to distribute such copies of this software free of charge for non-commercial purposes. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED TO YOU "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE APPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. YOU ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE ACCURACY AND THE USE OF THE SOFTWARE AND ALL OTHER RISK ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION. THE AFOREMENTIONED AUTHORS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF THEY HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, OR OTHER DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION, OR OTHER PECUNIARY LOSS) EVEN IF THE AUTHORS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. BECAUSE SOME STATES/JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY. The Parsec launcher for the Linux version was written by Tamer Fahmy . This software contains the "amp MPEG audio decoder version 0.7.6", Copyright (c) Tomislav Uzelac 1996, 1997. The Windows version of this software uses the QMDX.DLL library by QSound Labs, Inc. The included QMDX.DLL may only be used for running the Parsec game and not for any other purpose, as specified by the QMDX End-User License Agreement. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Please note that the current system requirements are higher than what will be required for the full game, since there are a lot of optimizations missing in this release. This is especially true for the OpenGL rendering subsystem, as well as the amount of RAM required. As a general rule of thumb, the OpenGL rendering subsystem uses considerably more system resources than the Glide (3dfx) renderer. That is, if you want to use the OpenGL renderer we recommend at least 128MB of RAM and a third-generation graphics accelerator, combined with a CPU of at least 300MHz. PC/Win32 (98/NT/2K) ------------------- CPU: minimum: Pentium 200MHz recommended: Pentium II 300MHz or higher Memory: minimum: 64MB for Glide/3dfx, 128MB for OpenGL recommended: 128MB or more Harddisk space: About 100MB disk space are required. Please note that the game will use about 15MB more disk space after you have started it for the first time, compared to immediately after installation. Graphics card: * 3dfx Voodoo Graphics hardware accelerator (recommended Voodoo 2 or 3), or * OpenGL compatible hardware accelerator (recommended NVIDIA TNT family, NVIDIA GeForce family or ATI Radeon family) Additional requirements: DirectX 3 or higher (will be used for input only). Optionally, a DirectInput-compatible joystick is supported. PC/Linux (x86) -------------- CPU: minimum: Pentium 200MHz recommended: Pentium II 300MHz or higher Memory: minimum: 64MB for Glide/3dfx, 128MB for OpenGL recommended: 128MB or more Harddisk space: About 100MB disk space are required. Please note that the game will use about 15MB more disk space after you have started it for the first time, compared to immediately after installation. Graphics card: * 3dfx Voodoo Graphics hardware accelerator (recommended Voodoo 2 or 3). * OpenGL compatible hardware accelerator, with GLX-capable X Server, i.e. XFree86 4.x with NVIDIA drivers. See section 11 (Linux-specific issues) in this document for details. Additional requirements: Linux Kernel 2.2 or higher, glibc 2.1.x or higher, X11 (for Voodoo1/2/3 or OpenGL) or svgalib (for Glide version on Voodoo1/2 only) Mac (MacOS 8.5 or later) ------------------------ CPU: minimum: PowerPC G3 233MHz recommended: PowerPC G3 400MHz Memory: minimum: 64MB for Glide/3dfx, 128MB for OpenGL recommended: 128MB (with virtual memory enabled) or more Harddisk space: About 100MB disk space are required. Please note that the game will use about 15MB more disk space after you have started it for the first time, compared to immediately after installation. Graphics card: * 3dfx Voodoo Graphics hardware accelerator (recommended Voodoo 2 or 3), or * OpenGL compatible hardware accelerator with at least 8MB of VRAM (e.g. ATI Rage128 or NVIDIA GeForce2 MX) cards with less than 8MB VRAM are unsupported, but may work, with poor performance Additional requirements: Apple GameSprockets Optionally, a InputSprocket-compatible joystick is recommended. Mac (MacOS X) ------------- CPU: minimum: PowerPC G3 233MHz recommended: PowerPC G4 400MHz Memory: minimum: 64MB for Glide/3dfx, 128MB for OpenGL recommended: 128MB or more Harddisk space: About 100MB disk space are required. Please note that the game will use about 15MB more disk space after you have started it for the first time, compared to immediately after installation. Graphics card: * 3dfx Voodoo Graphics hardware accelerator (recommended Voodoo 2 or 3), or * OpenGL compatible hardware accelerator with at least 8MB of VRAM (e.g. ATI Rage128 or NVIDIA GeForce2 MX) cards with less than 8MB VRAM are unsupported, but may work, with poor performance Additional requirements: none ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4. THE LAUNCHER ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Parsec features a launcher application that allows you to select the video subsystem, resolution, color depth, and other options prior to starting the actual Parsec game. On Win32 and Linux, the launcher is a separate executable. Therefore, you should start LAUNCHER.EXE (on Win32) or launcher (on Linux) instead of PARSEC.EXE or parsec. On Linux, the 'startparsec' script will automatically start the launcher. On MacOS, the launcher will start automatically the first time you start Parsec. On all systems you can alternatively use command line options if you wish to override the default settings (the most important of which will be saved on program exit and restored automatically on restart). See section 10 for a description of the most important command line options. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5. THE MENU ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Parsec menu has the following structure: GAME ----- + --- CONNECT / JOIN GAME ...... connect to other players on the LAN | or join the game if already | connected | + --- STARMAP .................. disabled in this version | + --- PLAY DEMO / DISCONNECT ... play a demo (if not connected), | or disconnect from a game | + --- BACK ..................... go back to main menu SERVER .................................... disabled in this version CONFIG --- + --- SPACECRAFT ............... select your spacecraft | and view power-ups | + --- CONTROLS ................. not available yet | + --- OPTIONS .................. activate options menu | + --- BACK ..................... go back to main menu QUIT ...................................... exit Parsec You can start a network game by choosing "CONNECT" from the "GAME" submenu. Parsec will search for other players on the LAN (this may take a few seconds). The player list window on the right-hand side of the menu will show the other players after you have been connected. You can then choose "JOIN GAME" to enter the action. By selecting "PLAY DEMO" in Parsec's "GAME" submenu the cursor will enter the demo list window. Select a demo to play by navigating using the cursor keys and to start playback of the highlighted demo. Demo playback can always be stopped with . Alternatively, you can also use the mouse to select a demo from the list. The most important demo is called "START PARSEC DEMO", which is a 11:40 movie showing lots of network game action and the capabilities of the engine. It also features great background music. A special demo called "FREE FLIGHT MODE" is actually not a real demo, but can be used to enter the game. This mode is very similar to the actual game mode, although there are no opponents. Still, you can steer your ship and fly around, to get a feeling for the controls, before you enter a real network game. The key brings up the online help window, listing the most important (default) keys for spacecraft navigation. Use to leave the game, this will bring up the game status window. Pressing again will bring you back to the menu. In the CONFIG submenu you can choose SPACECRAFT to enter the spacecraft viewer. Here you can select one of eight spacecraft by using the left/right arrow keys and pressing . You can also use the mouse by clicking on the little arrows. Select a ship by clicking on it. By pressing the up/down arrow keys you can switch from the spacecraft viewer to the power-up viewer, where you can take a look at most of Parsec's power-ups with short descriptions. You can use the options menu by selecting "OPTIONS" from the "CONFIG" submenu. Use the mouse and/or the arrow keys and to navigate and select items in the options menu. Here you can configure your display resolution and color depth, rendering subsystem (OpenGL/Glide), and various detail settings. You can also toggle sound/music and joystick/mouse support on and off, and configure the mouse control settings. You can also select wether you want to play using TCP/IP or IPX, and select game-related options, such as the kill limit after which the game ends, and the solar system to play in. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6. THE GAME ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Parsec is a fast-paced space-combat action game. The current mode of game play is traditional death-match, where all players, in this release up to eight (four using IPX), compete for the highest number of kills. As soon as the kill limit has been reached, the player with the most kills wins. The kill limit can be configured in the options menu. One of the most important things to do, while trying to avoid getting shot down by other players, is to collect power-ups floating through outer space. These get you powerful weapons, energy, are able to repair damage, and so on. You can take a look at the available power-ups in Parsec's spacecraft viewer (use or click on one of the vertical buttons to switch from the spacecraft view to the power-up view). The cockpit layout is as follows: The monitor in the upper left-hand corner shows your currently selected target spacecraft (select the next target using ). The colored bar beneath the targeted ship's image shows its current damage. Targeting spacecraft is useful for better recognizing them, since they will be surrounded by a target reticle as soon as they come into view, and for firing guided missiles. In order to fire guided missiles, a target has to be selected () and then locked, by bringing the reticle into the center of the screen. While a target is locked, the color of the reticle will change from red to white. The monitor in the upper right-hand corner shows your own ship and its damage. The two vertical bars to the left of the monitor show (from left to right) the current energy level and your ship's speed, respectively. There are two basic types of weapons: Energy weapons (the laser, the lightning cannon, the helix cannon, and the photon cannon), and projectile weapons (dumb missiles, guided missiles, swarm missiles, and proximity mines). The currently selected energy weapon is shown in the lower left-hand corner. Cycle to the next energy weapon with . The currently selected projectile weapon is shown in the lower right-hand corner. Cycle to the next projectile weapon with . Energy weapons consume energy when fired, watch your energy level and regularly collect energy power-ups. If you have no energy left, you can only use your basic EMP device with which is available all the time. The EMP can be upgraded, but the upgrades require energy to work. Projectile weapons can only be collected in discrete quantities (say, five dumb missiles). You can fire as many as you have collected. Throughout space, there might be teleporters present. Each teleporter has an entry gate and an exit gate, connected by a propulsion tunnel. A ship entering the entry gate, is quickly propelled to the exit of the tunnel. Be careful though, if you entry angle is too flat, the teleporter won't work. The radar is located in the center of the bottom of the screen. It shows all joined targets in red, the currently selected target will be drawn in white (cycle targets with ). Teleporters are shown as green dots on the radar. The small monitor mounted on the left side of the radar will show "incoming" when enemy guided missiles have locked onto you. The three little lights below detect proximity mines. The more lights are active, the nearer you are to a mine. The center of the top of the screen shows an iconbar with which you can see all weapons and special items (like invulnerability and afterburner) you have collected. Gray icons denote items you can collect but have not done so yet. Blue icons denote items you have already collected and can be used immediately. The icons from left to right are: Laser - Helix Cannon - Lightning Cannon - Photon Cannon - Dumb Missiles - Guided Missiles - Swarm Missiles - Proximity Mines - EMP Device (always available) - Invisibility (always disabled) - Invulnerability - Afterburner The currently selected weapon (cycle with for energy weapons, with for projectile weapons) will be surrounded by a white square. You can also select weapons directly by pressing the corresponding number keys <1> to <8>. This is the default keyboard configuration of Parsec: Function Key ---------------------------------------- escape to menu escape turn left cursor left turn right cursor right dive down cursor up pull up cursor down roll left q roll right w shoot weapon space launch missile enter next weapon g next missile m accelerate r deccelerate f afterburner left shift slide left a slide right s slide up e slide down d next target t show framerate i show playerlist tab decrease cockpit size numpad - increase cockpit size numpad + show wc-like radar home show elite-like radar end increase radar range page up decrease radar range page down toggle console tilde toggle help f1 toggle object cam f6 switch to window mode f9 switch to fullscren f10 save screenshot f12 speed zero backspace target speed z emp device x quickchat c To view the keyboard configuration during the game, press . The keyboard configuration can be changed by using the "bind" command in the console (see next section). In a future version there will be a much simpler method to change the keys. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. THE CONSOLE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Parsec's command console can be opened at any time by pressing the tilde (~) key. The console is a transparent window that can be used to enter console commands and display various information. Console input is enabled if the console is visible and the cursor is blinking. If the cursor is not blinking it can be enabled by pressing the caps lock key. Parsec's command console features tab completion which is able to complete a partially supplied command. If multiple commands start with the entered string a list of valid commands will be displayed. Please note that the console exposes many features of Parsec's game engine, even low-level functionality that can cause unexpected behavior if not used properly. If you have altered the settings beyond repair, simply exit, delete the PARSECRC.CON file and restart Parsec. Use at your own risk! Some interesting things to try: build listcommands listintcommands cockpit.scale ++1 cockpit.scale --1 con.winx con.winy con.width con.height panelback paneltext listbindings listgamefunckeys bind summon class firebird summon class hurricane aux_enable_trilinear_filtering 1 aux_enable_elite_radar 1 aux_enable_free_camera 1 aux_draw_wireframe 1 aux_draw_normals 1 The summon command for creating arbitrary objects will only work while not connected to a network game (i.e., in free flight mode). We will document all major console commands in a future release. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8. TIMEDEMO ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Use "timedemo 1" in the console to enable the benchmarking function for demo playback. After demo playback has completed the console will contain the obtained performance statistics. Return to normal demo playback mode with "timedemo 0". ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9. PARSECRC.CON ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Parsec saves configuration information into a file called "parsecrc.con" on program exit. If you want to start with the default settings, simply delete this file. If this file cannot be created, is write protected, etc. the current settings will not be saved on exit. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10. COMMAND LINE OPTIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Some important command line options are: --vidmode : override startup vidmode. syntax like "640x480x32". --windowed : start in windowed mode. --fullscreen : start in fullscreen mode. --nojoystick : disable joystick code. --nosound : disable sound code. --log : enable log window (Windows and MacOS 9.x only) --noflipsync : disable sync-to-screen option --vidsys : select video subsystem. use like --vidsys