8/16/99 Braveheart 3.22 Patch - North American Version ______________________________________________ [Instructions] ======================================================================= You must FIRST delete these files in the root of your game directory: BHD3D.EXE BHD3D.ICD BHSOFT.EXE BHSOFT.ICD BRAVE.EXE BRAVE.ICD ======================================================================= Extract the new patch executables into your Braveheart Root Directory and all them to overwrite the previous executables. The default installer directory is C:\Program Files\Eidos Interactive\Braveheart This is for the North American and Japanese versions of the game. If you box has a flap, you have the correct version. This patch updates your game from version 3.09 to 3.22. Your version can be verified in the main menu. [Patch Fixes] > Improves the performance and stability of the multiplayer game > Improves the stability of the single player campaign game > Improves the AI of single player campaign game > Improves the building of stockades and keeps along with their 3D world rendering > Fixes catapult animation > Fixes minor siege weapon and castle defense issues > Fixes time crash advancement issue > Fixes use of Prisions > Fixes Rage II and Riva 128 texture corruption problems > F4 Camera is now more stable Important Note: to increase realism, we have added this feature: Your clan will start the game with two armies with REGULAR soldiers. However, you only will be able to carry out military operations with REGULAR soldiers. GREEN troops (MUST) be trained to REGULAR before they can be used in the field. *** YOU CANNOT USE OLD SAVE GAMES *** [Remaining Issues] 1. Braveheart uses copy protection that is certified compatible with 99% of all CD ROM and DVD ROM units. However, there are some incompatible DVD ROM units currently in production. If you have a legitimate copy of the game and it will not be recognized while the load screen appears, please contact technical support at 415-547-1244. 2. Leader Surrender in multiplayer games will crash the user out of the game. 3. Allied players in multiplayer games receive no benefit; their men still will fight each other. 4. Mplayer support is under review, if it can be implemented, it will occur in September 1999. 5. The sword mouse cursor in the 3D world while running Software or D3D may become stuck in the upper left corner of the screen, however, a functional arrow mouse cursor can be seen and used. 6. When playing in advanced stages of the Strategy game, saved game file size can reach over 100MB, please make sure you have 200MB+ of free Hard Drive space. 7. Matrox G400 users, please use version 5.11 drivers. [Notes] 1. In multiplayer games, the maximum number of troops per player is 75 for 2 players and 50 for 4 players. 2. In multiplayer games, Leaders cannot be assigned Calvary. 3. Shields are not represented in the 3D world, but add to the defense of the unit 4. A Calvary unit is best used by the CHARGE command. They will charge and then retreat to again charge, they will only stop when surrender. A Calvary unit is destroyed when runs from combat. 5. If your men in combat become scared, they will run. You can personal control them to prevent this. 6. Weather and daylight patterns change in the 3D world. 7. Right clicking on your mini-radar will take you to that unit or area. 8. After playing a multiplayer game, it it recommended that you quit to the main menu and then reenter the multiplayer menu. 9. Maxiumum number of AI players in a Skirmish game is three. 10. Retreating archers can be caught if you command pursuing troops to run ahead of them and ambush. [Strategy Game] 1. The USE INITIATIVE feature in campaign games is best used when you have a leader who is highly rated in combat and leadership. 2. For Diplomacy, the leader's ratings in Diplomacy, Fame and Leadership play a major factor. 3. The higher the leader's fame rating, the easier it is to attract other leaders to the clan. 4. For keeps and lookout towers, you need to assign troops to GARRISION the structure. Rotate the troops every month prevent desertion. 5. Armies who have access to a barracks train faster and desert less. 6. Always guard your towns with at least 30 well armed men 7. Plague attacks can be minimized by creating other towns in your clan and keep the people's morale at high level. 8. Your spies usually last three days, remember to recall them. 9. Not all armies are seen on the map since usually they are only reported by caravans. Position a patrol on major roads or having a lookout tower prevents surprise attacks. 10. If the British decide to invade Northward, they will attack all clans in their path, even allied clans. [FAQ] On the Eidos Interactive Braveheart page, we hope to have a FAQ available by the end of August. Here is information from the Red Lemon Producer - Dave Sharp __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The best desktop resolution for the game is 800x600x16. Clan Selection The strategy for the game starts right here. By careful choice you can make the game easier or harder for yourself, depending on what your after. If you're looking for easier, Clan Keith is a good one to start with. They have only a couple of fairly non-aggressive clans on their borders at the beginning of the game (backs to the sea) and that can give you more time to get a foothold in the game. A similar strategy can be applied to the Munro Clan. If you're looking for a slightly harder route, try choosing Clan Scott. They have to defend against aggressive neighbors and have an open flank to the English from the off. Its quite tough to be a Scott in 13th Century Scotland. An alternative Strategy is to choose one of the Island Clans, either the MacDonalds or the MacLeods. They are slightly protected by their Island homelands but its also a little harder to attack the mainland clans. Personally, I usually go for Clan Keith if I am looking for a slightly easier game and Clan Lamont if I am looking for a slightly harder one. Advancing Time in 2D Using F1 in 2D :- The 2D section is there to allow you to manage your campaign at a high level and decide on an overall strategy to win control of Scotland. Using F1 will advance time, day by day, to progress the campaign. When you press F1 the game goes through a system of updates (peoples movements, all the trade caravans, army movements, updates all the diplomacy etc.) which can take some time. It must finish each loop of updates before it can accept another keyboard or mouse command. To stop it advancing time you need to press F1 again ONCE. It will then stop at the end of the next round of updates. The problem seems to stem from people just repeatedly pressing F1 to get it to stop rather than waiting. This just keeps telling the game to start and stop advancing time so it appears not to stop and just keep going. Alternatively, people keep their finger down on F1 which has exactly the same result. My advice is to use the N key to advance each day at a time; especially when you first start playing the game. It's a lot more controllable. No towns in the 3D battles This is part real and part technical limitations. We had to set a limit to the number of polygons on the screen and to have large armies and big towns in the view would just not work technically. The real point of view is that if you being attacked the last thing you would do would be to let the enemy come into your settlement. Most clan battles were fought out in the open ground of the highlands and well away from the settlements. The film 'Highlander' gave quite a good impression of this. Retreating Units When the troops are placed on the battlefield, we put a radius around them called 'the retreat radius'. In an effort to stop the battle spreading halfway across Scotland and localize the action, if troops go outside the retreat radius they are lost to the player. The manual failed to explain this in enough detail. Combine this with enemy AI which told the opposing troops to either retreat to a different position or hide, this meant that the player could mistakenly advance in the wrong direction and inadvertently go outside the retreat radius and loose both troops and the battle. We have amended the radius and the AI to stop this from happening. This will be in the patch. The Military Screen Players seem to be complaining about not being able to pick the required number of peasants up to place in the army boxes. Here's how it works. Left click on the peasants box once...get one peasant. Left click on the peasant box and hold the button down and it will increase the number selected by increments of one. Double left click on the peasants box and it will take all the peasants available. Trade Routes Having created a very accurate map of Scotland we then had to create a realistic trading system. Using the height information from the map, the game generates a route that is realistic between 2 points. It doesn't allow a trade caravan to go straight over a mountain. Its a bit like a 13th Century version of Auto route. Caravans are forced to use realistic routes which are why they appear to wander around the map. They are traveling along valley bottoms or along routes of equal height. As with most things there is a downside to this. As the game expands so does the trading. A game with 16 Clans can generate in the region of 500 trade routes which all need to be monitored and updated. This can slow the game down heavily (depending on the machine spec). If you find this is the case then I suggest you select 'Simplified Trade' from the options menu when you set the game up. You could also try selecting 'More Starting Stores' at the same time. Because you have more supplies (and so do the other clans) there is less of a need to trade. I nearly always play the game with either one or both of these options on. Morale There have been various mails about how to keep your troops and stop them from deserting. Firstly, if you have troops based at a location, you must build a barracks for them; they don't like sleeping rough! Next, keep them fed. If troops are not getting the correct food their loyalty will wane. Thirdly, don't leave them doing the same job forever. Highlanders were born to fight and not to sit around with their thumbs up their arses or spend a year on guard. Rotate their duties so they don't get restless. The leader is also a vital part of the equation. Better leaders inspire the troops and keep them keen. [Legal] All data in this patch is copyrighted to Eidos Interactive and Red Lemon.