Aliens versus Predator 2 Single-Player Demo English (North America) version 1.0 README 11/07/01 _______________________________________________________________________ [ To read this file, select Edit/Word Wrap from the menu above ] TO ORDER: Please call Sierra On-line sales support at 1-800-757-7707 _______________________________________________________________________ TABLE OF CONTENTS I] MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS II] HOW TO START THE DEMO III] HOW TO PLAY THE DEMO IV] CUSTOM PERFORMANCE OPTIONS V] GENERAL TECHNICAL ISSUES VI] SIERRA WARRANTY & LEGAL INFORMATION I] MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS ======================================================================= P3 450 or equivalent processor 128 MB RAM 16 MB DirectX 8-compatible D3D video card 16-bit DirectX 8-compatible sound card 250 MB free hard drive space (410 MB needed during installation) English Windows compatible keyboard and mouse English Windows 95, 98, Me, 2000 DirectX 8a or higher - DirectX can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/directx - DirectX installation on Windows 95 machines requires DCOM, which can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/com/dcom/dcom95/eula.asp Note: This demo is for release in North America, English release only. Certain controls and text may function incorrectly on non- English versions of Windows. The retail game is localized regionally. II] HOW TO START THE DEMO ======================================================================= INSTALLATION: Double-click the "avp2spdemo.exe" to launch the demo installer. Follow the prompts in the installer to select where the demo will install on your hard disk. RUNNING THE GAME: Once the demo has installed, run it by double-clicking the Avp2.exe icon at that location. UNINSTALLING: 1) Click on the Windows Start Menu. 2) Select Settings-->Control Panel. 3) Double-click the "Add/Remove Programs" icon in the Control Panel window. 4) Select "Aliens vs Predator 2 Single-Player Demo" in the program list. 5) Click the "Add/Remove..." button and follow the prompts. III] HOW TO PLAY THE DEMO ======================================================================= This demo consists of a small section from a single mission of each of the Marine, Alien and Predator campaigns in the full retail version. Certain details of the gameplay will be different in the full version of the game. This demo does not include the Save/Load, Multiplayer or player Profile features found in the retail game. To start playing, select "Single-Player" from the main menu. The following screen allows you to select which species you would like to play. After selecting your species you will be presented with the mission selection screen: since the demo only has one level per species, that level is already selected and you can simply hit the "LAUNCH" button in the lower right corner to load the level at default Medium difficulty. To play at another difficulty level, choose the desired setting from the list in the lower right before clicking the LAUNCH button. MENUS Main Menu: The main game menu has the following options: SINGLE PLAYER Takes you to the Single Player screen. Here you can choose a campaign to begin. OPTIONS Takes you to screens allowing you to adjust game controls, game options, graphics, sound settings, and to view the game credits. Pause Menu: You can access the menu system while playing the game by pressing the ESC key. OPTIONS Takes you to the Options screen. ABORT GAME Ends the current mission and returns you to the main menu. RESUME Returns to game play. QUIT Exits the demo. GAME CONTROLS - Fixed Controls: ESC Takes you to the Pause Menu. F8 Stores a screenshot in the game directory in .bmp format. - Adjustable Controls: The user can assign many of the game's controls to whatever keys they wish. The default controls are as follows (they may be changed to your liking in the Options-->Controls menus): Shared controls: Forward: [W] Moves forward. Backward: [S] Moves backward. Turn Left: [Left Arrow or Mouse] Turns to the left. Turn Right: [Left Arrow or Mouse] Turns to the right. Strafe Left: [A] Sidesteps to the left. Strafe Right: [D] Sidesteps to the right. Strafe: [K] Changes Turn controls to Strafe controls while held. Run: [CapsLock] Hold to run. If Run Toggle is on, hold to walk. Run Toggle: [M] Toggles between walking and running movement. Jump: [Space] Jumps up, climbs ladders. Fire: [Mouse Button 0] Use the primary fire of the item. Alt-Fire: [Mouse Button 1] Use the alt-fire of the current item. Next Vision Mode: [V] Switches to the next available vision mode. Look Up: [Home or Mouse] Looks up. Look Down: [End or Mouse] Looks down. Center View: [Delete] Centers the view horizontally. Mouse Look: [Insert] If Always Mouse Look is off, hold to aim with mouse. Objectives / Scores: [Tab] Hold to view your mission objectives. Send Message: [Enter] Toggles the chat/command line open/closed. Team Message: [\] Not used in the demo. Taunt: [Backspace] Not used in the demo. Crosshair Toggle [.] Toggles crosshair on/off. Alien Controls: Pounce: [E] Launches the alien forward and slightly up in a fierce leaping attack that stuns and damages the target. Wallwalk: [Left Shift] Hold this control down to walk along walls and ceilings. Wallwalk Toggle: [G] Toggles between wallwalk and normal navigation modes. Crouch: [Left Ctrl] Crouches. Crouch Toggle: [/] Toggles between crouched and standing positions. Marine Controls: Crouch: [Left Shift] Hold to duck. If crouch toggle is on, hold to stand. Crouch Toggle: [/] Toggles between standing and ducking. Use: [E] Activates the object highlighted by the crosshair. Next Weapon: [Q, Mouse wheel down] Cycles to the next available weapon. Previous Weapon: [Z, Mouse wheel up] Cycles to the previous available weapon. Reload: [R] Reloads the weapon if clips are available. Shoulder Lamp: [G] Toggles the Shoulder Lamp on/off. Flare: [F] Lobs a flare. Marine Hacking Device: [H] Selects the Hacking Device. This can be used to disrupt certain electrical devices. Welding Torch: [T] Not used in the demo. Knife: [1] Selects the Knife. Pistol: [2] Selects the Pistol. Shotgun: [3] Selects the Shotgun. Pulse Rifle: [4] Selects the Pulse Rifle. Grenade Launcher: [5] Selects the Grenade Launcher. Flamethrower: [6] Not used in the demo. Smartgun: [7] Not used in the demo. SADAR: [8] Not used in the demo. Minigun: [9] Not used in the demo. Railgun: [0] Not used in the demo. Last Weapon: [X] Selects the previously selected weapon. Predator Controls: Crouch: [Left Shift] Hold to duck. If crouch toggle is on, hold to stand. Crouch Toggle: [/] Toggles between standing and ducking. Use: [E] Activates the object highlighted by the crosshair. Next Weapon: [Q, Mouse wheel down] Cycles to the next available weapon. Previous Weapon: [Z, Mouse wheel up] Cycles to the previous available weapon. Reload: [R] Reloads the weapon if clips are available. Zoom In: [PgUp, Mouse wheel up] Zooms the view in if the player has a mask. Zoom Out: [PgDn, Mouse wheel down] Zooms the view out if the player has a mask. Charge Emitter: [H] Can be used to hack certain electrical devices. Cloak: [C] Activates the predator's cloaking device which hides him from normal vision. Disc Retrieve: [F] Recalls the predator's disc to his hand. Wristblades: [1] Selects the Wristblades. Combistick: [2] Selects the Combistick. Pistol: [3] Not used in the demo. Speargun: [4] Selects the Speargun. Plasmacaster: [5] Not used in the demo. Disc: [6] Selects the Disc. Netgun: [7] Not used in the demo. Remote Bomb: [8] Not used in the demo. Last Weapon: [X] Selects the previously selected weapon. Energy Sift Device: [T] Activates the Energy Sifter which collects ambient energy to recharge the predator. Medicomp Device: [G] Activates the Medicomp which heals the predator, at the cost of some energy. Previous Vision Mode: [B] Cycles backwards through the predator's vision modes. NOTES: Movement: You can move up and down ladders by looking up and down and holding the Forward key, or by using the Jump and Crouch keys. Predators and Aliens can leap, or jump extra high, by pressing Jump while crouching. Vision Modes: Each species has unique vision capabilities: Aliens: Aliens can see colored pheromone auras around living organisms, allowing them to spot targets clearly in dark areas. They can also activate a special vision mode which allows them to see clearly even in the dark, twisting tunnels of the Hive. Marines: Marines can activate light-amplification goggles which enhance ambient light to allow them to see even in very dark areas. They cannot use their motion trackers or smartgun tracking while using the goggles. (Light-amp goggles and smartguns are not included in this demo.) Predators: The Predators have three vision modes built in to their mask. The predator's tracking weapons (Plasmacaster, Disc) will lock on to targets highlighted by the vision modes. Thermal: A blue-tinted vision mode in which humans stand out due to body heat. Electrical: A red-tinted vision mode in which aliens stand out due to their unique bio-electric signatures. Navigation: Inverts colors allowing for navigation in dark areas. Other predators stand out in this vision mode, even while cloaked. Items: Marines will find useful weapons, ammunition, health and armor items in the game. The health packs (a green backpack with a red "H" in a white field on the top) will restore 100 points of health before disappearing. Armor packs (a green chestplate) will add 100 points of armor before disappearing. You cannot go over 100 health or armor, so remaining points will stay in the pack and can be retrieved later. Screen Display and Weapons: Alien: The usual Alien screen display features only the health bar at the bottom of the screen. This bar shrinks inward as the player takes damage: the player character will die when the bar disappears entirely. Aliens can regain health by headbiting their prey, or simply clawing the bodies of fresh kills. When an alien wall-walks, two indicators around the sides of the screen represent the alien's orientation. When he is on the floor they are at the bottom of the screen, when he is on a wall they are on the sides of the screen, when he is on the ceiling they are at the top of the screen. A blue glow at the top of the screen indicates that the player's objectives have been updated. Claws: Primary fire causes the alien to swipe his razor-sharp claws. Tail: Alt-fire whips the alien's tail forward with deadly speed. A direct hit will temporarily paralyze most organisms. Blood: The blood of the alien is a molecular acid which causes severe damage to other creatures if it touches them. Pounce: The alien's pounce attack is so devastating that it will either paralyze or rip right through its victim. Marine: The crosshair in the center of the screen changes if you are aiming at something with which you can interact: Green box: press Use to activate a door, button or switch, or to pick up an item. Yellow icon: use the Hacking Device here. A flashing radar icon at the bottom center of the screen indicates that your Objectives have been updated. Hold the Objectives key to view them. Using your Shoulder Lamp slowly drains your Battery, whose status appears along the left side of the screen. When the Battery depletes the Shoulder Lamp switches off and the Battery recharges. Your Health and Armor indicators in the upper left corner show your current status--be sure to monitor these carefully. Armor will partially absorb some types of damage. The Motion Tracker in the lower left corner of the screen shows moving objects in a 180 degree arc in front of you to a range of 30 meters. This is very useful for detecting moving aliens; be sure to turn around from time to time to scan behind you as well as in front. Ammunition for the current weapon appears in the lower right corner in two amounts: remaining clips and shots currently loaded in the weapon. The Pistol, Shotgun, Pulse Rifle and Grenade Launcher have multiple ammo types, additional types are accessed with Alt-fire. Knife Fire: slashes sideways with the knife Pistol Fire: fires the selected ammo type Alt-fire: switches between regular and armor-piercing rounds Shotgun Fire: fires the selected ammo type Alt-fire: switches between buckshot and slugs Pulse Rifle Fire: fires bullets Alt-fire: fires impact grenades Grenade launcher Fire: lobs a grenade of the selected ammo type Alt-fire: rotates between Timed, Proximity, EMP and Spider grenades Timed: Bounce and then explode after a few seconds. Proximity: Stick to whatever surface they hit and explode when a target approaches. EMP: Fire a powerful electromagnetic pulse on contact which disrupts most electrical systems and stuns aliens. Spider: Stick to whatever surface they hit. When a target approaches, the grenade extends robotic legs and pursues the target, exploding on contact. The LED in the upper right corner shows the number of flares in your inventory. Flares stick to walls and provide temporary spot lighting. Predator: The predator has a health meter down the left side of the screen and an energy meter down the right side. These meters shrink toward the top as the predator loses health and energy, respectively, and can be restored by use of the Medicomp and Energy Sifter. The predator's energy level can be drained by weapon use, use of the Cloak, or by human EMP grenades. Humans will have difficulty spotting the predator while he is cloaked. The predator's current and available weapons and ammo are displayed in a weapon chooser which slides down from the top of the screen when he switches weapons with the Next/Previous Weapon controls. Ammunition for the current weapon is shown in the lower left. The ticks next to the skull icon in the lower left show how many trophies the predator has collected: a trophy is tallied each time the predator beheads a target. Objective updates are indicated by a red icon in the lower right corner of the display. Weapons: Wristblades Fire: slashes with the blades Alt-fire: holding the control pulls his arm back for a deadly thrust which fires when the control is released Combistick Fire: slashes from side to side Alt-fire: slashes from high to low Speargun Fire: fires a single spear bolt Alt-fire: fires three bolts at once Disc Fire: hurls the razor-sharp disc forward. The disc can track to targets when the correct vision mode is being used--use the Thermal vision mode to lock on to human targets, for instance. The predator can pick the disc back up or recall it to his hand, at the cost of a little energy, with Disc Retrieve. IV] CUSTOM PERFORMANCE OPTIONS ======================================================================= The "Options-->Graphics-->Custom Performance" menus contain advanced user options you can use to tweak the appearance and speed of the game. GENERAL: Texture Depth: Toggle between 16 and 32-bit textures. 32-bit textures are much smoother and more detailed than 16-bit textures, but increase load times, require more video and system RAM and may slow down the framerate on some video cards. If you have an older video card, particularly one with only 16 MB of RAM, it is recommended that you keep this setting on "16-bit." Lightmap Resolution: Toggle between 16 and 32-bit world shadows. As with textures, 32- bit shadows are smoother in appearance but require more RAM, loading and processing time. Shadows: Toggle character shadows on/off. Turning them off give a slight performance boost on slower systems. Detail Textures: Toggle detail textures on/off. Detail textures provide the tiny details you see on the world when you look at objects at close range. Turning them off will yield a slight increase in framerate. Some older cards may not support detail textures: if everything in the game looks flat white, try turning detail textures off. Environment Chrome: Toggle environment chrome mapping on/off. Environment maps provide the shiny surface effects you see on some metallic surfaces in the game. Turning this off will improve performance, particularly on older video cards. Model Chrome: Toggle model chrome on/off. Model chrome is the shiny surface effects you see on some glass and metal models, such as certain of the predator's weapons. Turning this off will improve performance, particularly on older video cards. Trilinear Filtering: Toggle trilinear filtering on/off. Trilinear filtering makes textures look smoother when viewed at an angle. It is not supported by all video cards, and may also decrease performance. Triple Buffering: Toggle triple buffering on/off. Triple buffering can provide smoother framerates by causing the video card to store an extra rendered frame before sending it to the monitor. Triple buffering requires additional video RAM; 16 MB card users may want to keep this setting off if they are running the game in a high screen resolution. Draw Sky: Toggles sky rendering on/off. When off, the sky will just be a flat color but rendering performance will be slightly higher. EFFECTS: Draw Weapons: Toggles player-view models such as your hands and gun on/off. When turned off you won't be able to see your hands, however since the game no longer has to draw these models the framerate will improve slightly. Muzzle Flash Light: Toggle muzzle flash dynamic lighting on/off. Turning this off may improve performance in intense gunfights. You may also wish to turn this setting off if you find the flashing irritating. Shell Casings: Toggle shell casing models on/off. Turning them off will improve performance on slower systems. Weapon Impacts: Toggle Weapon impact detail between Low, Medium and High. Higher settings create more effects (sparks, smoke, debris) where weapons hit solid surfaces. Turning this setting down may improve performance on slower systems when weapons are firing. Debris: Toggle Debris detail between Low, Medium and High. Higher settings create more pieces when objects break. Turning this setting down may improve performance on slower systems when objects break. TEXTURES: Overall: Toggles overall game texture detail between Extra-low, Low, Medium, High and Extra-high. Higher settings provide more surface detail. Lower settings decrease load times and may improve performance, particularly on systems with low RAM. World/Sky/Characters/Weapons/Props/Effects: You can set texture detail for specific types of objects using the arrow sliders. Experiment with different settings to find your own preferred balance between visual detail and game performance. V] GENERAL TECHNICAL ISSUES ======================================================================= - To increase the rendering speed of the game, go to the Options--> Graphics menu and lower the "Resolution" and/or the "Performance" settings. - Users with 128 MB system RAM and/or 16 MB video cards, particularly cards which do not support S3TC compression, may improve game performance by setting "Texture depth" to "16-bit" in the "Options--> Graphics-->Custom Performance-->General" menu. Lowering "Overall" texture detail in the "Options-->Graphics-->Custom Performance--> Textures" menu may also boost performance. - If you are experiencing periodic hitches in performance, try setting sound detail to "Low" in the Options-->Sound menu. - Shut down all non-essential programs before you run the game. - If you haven't done so in several weeks of use, you may find that defragging your hard drive will yield improved performance. Window's disk defragmentation tool is generally found in the Start Menu at "Programs\Accessories\System Tools\Disk Defragmenter." - Task-switching with ALT-TAB back to the desktop while running the game is not recommended. - Make sure your sound, video and motherboard drivers are up to date. We recommend using the latest reference drivers available from your chip manufacturer. Major vendor sites include: http://www.soundblaster.com - Drivers for Soundblaster sound cards. http://www.nvidia.com - Reference drivers for TNT and GeForce video cards. http://www.3dfx.com - Reference drivers for 3dfx Voodoo video cards. http://www.ati.com - Reference drivers for ATI video cards, including the Radeon. http://www.matrox.com - Reference drivers for Matrox Graphics video cards, including the G400 and G450. http://www.viatech.com - Reference drivers for VIA-based motherboards. http://www.amd.com - Reference drivers for AMD motherboards. Operating Systems: Windows 95: DirectX installation on Windows 95 machines requires DCOM, which can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/com/dcom/dcom95/eula.asp Windows XP: While not officially Windows XP certified, preliminary testing has not uncovered any WinXP-specific compatibility issues. Hardware-specific Notes: Sound: Diamond MX400: - May hear static when sounds play while running under Windows 95 or 98. TBS Daytona: - "Illegal Operation" error may occur during game installation under Win98SE or WinMe, and the system loses sound until rebooted. Yamaha YMF719: - This sound card is unsupported by AVP2. ESS Maestro1-ES1948F: - May not get sound using the current drivers under Windows XP. Video: General: - On a multimonitor system, changing your screen resolution in-game may change your display back to the first monitor. To correct this, run avp2.exe, click the Display button and re-select the correct display. - The demo defaults to a screen resolution of 640x480, 32-bit. This may cause issues with certain video cards that do not run correctly at 32-bit color (including the Voodoo 3 and Kyro). If your video card cannot run in 32-bit and you find that the demo won't launch correctly, use the following procedure to force it to start in 16- bit: 1) Open the "autoexec.cfg" file in the root directory with Notepad or some other text editor. 2) Go down to the line that says "BitDepth" "32" 3) Change "32" to "16" on this line. 4) Go down to the line that says "GameBitDepth" "32" 5) Change "32" to "16" on this line. 6) Save the file. 7) Run the demo. It will now start in 640x480, 16-bit. 3dfx Voodoo Cards: - The mouse pointer may flicker on the menu screens. 3dfx Banshee and Voodoo 3: - The Options-->Display menu on the avp2.exe game launcher and the Options-->Graphics menu in the game will allow you to select 32-bit color resolutions but these resolutions are not supported by the video card, and the resolution will reset to the previous 16-bit depth. - Detail Textures and Environment Maps will not display. 3dfx Voodoo 4: - The game may crash when run on a Voodoo 4 in Windows 95. 3dfx Voodoo 5: - The user may encounter rare crashes when running in High or Best detail. It is recommended that you use Medium or Low detail for the "Performance" setting on the "Options-->Graphics" menu screen when running the game on this video card. ATI Radeon: - There may be some artifacting around lettering on the menus. - Fog does not render with the Radeon's default driver settings. - The smartgun's crosshair may look like a green square. Matrox G200: - May experience low framerates during gameplay. - The smartgun's crosshair may look like a green square. - Does not run the game under Windows XP. Matrox G400, G450: - May experience low framerate in vision modes. - The smartgun's crosshair may look like a green square. - May experience some odd lighting artifacts. Nvidia GeForce 2: - User may find areas in the game where sections of the screen lose textures. This bug appears to have been introduced with the Nvidia 21.81 drivers. It may be resolved with a future driver release. It can be avoided in most cases by setting "Detail Textures" and "Environment Chrome" to "Off" in the "Options-->Graphics-->Custom Performance" menu. Power VR Kyro and Kyro 2: - Menu options do not display at 32-bit screen depths. They show up at 16-bit screen depths. If using a Kyro card, it is suggested that you follow the instructions above under "General" video issues to make the game start up in 16-bit color. - Polygon distortion may be visible in the skies when using vision modes. - Certain trim textures may appear unusually bright. - Blocks may appear around certain objects. S3 Savage 2000: - User may encounter some odd lighting artifacts. S3 Savage 3: - AVP2 does not run on the Savage 3. This card no longer has active driver support. S3 Savage 4: - Significant graphical corruption. This card no longer has active driver support. Input Device: Logitech Mice: - When the scroll wheel is set to a special function in Mouseware, activating the scroll wheel during gameplay may have undesired results. Setting the scroll wheel's function to "Middle Mouse Button" in Mouseware should resolve the issue. Mad Catz Panther DX: - Binding a control to "Z rotation" will cause the view to spin in circles. All joysticks: - Joystick hats are not supported by the control binding system. Your joystick software may be able to bind the hat to equivalent keyboard keys. - If your analog joystick doesn't seem to be working after you've set up the control bindings, try setting "Analog" to On for the non- working axes. Note that this won't actually provide true analog control. CONTROLS: To delete a control binding in the Options-->Controls menu, highlight the control, but don't click on it, and press the [DELETE] key on your keyboard. VI] SIERRA WARRANTY & LEGAL INFORMATION ======================================================================= Sierra's end user license agreement, limited warranty and return policy is set forth in the EULA.txt installed in the demo directory and is also available during the install of the product. (c) 2001 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation Copyright (2001 Sierra On-Line, Inc.)