REX BLADE DEMO RELEASE .666 READ ME FILE February 21, 1997 I. Installation II. Playing the Game III. Troubleshooting IV. Teleporting V. Using REX++ VI. Using the Level of Detail Control VII. Getting the latest info on Rex Blade. --------------------------------------------------------------- I. INSTALLATION Minimum Requirements Pentium 75 (Pentium 100 recommended) 16 MB Ram 10 MB Free Hard Disk DOS Based Installation The Demo Release .666 of Rex Blade is contained in a single .ZIP file REXDEMO.ZIP. From MS-DOS or Windows 95 simply create a directory for the game and unzip the game in the directory using PKUNZIP or WINZIP. The only setup that is needed is to run the sound utility SETSOUND.EXE. SETSOUND.EXE will prompy you with a number of menus to allow you to select your appropriate digital and MIDI sound source. Once you have ran the sound setup program simple type: REXDEMO.EXE To launch the Rex Blade Demo. II. PLAYING THE GAME Rex Blade is controlled from the keyboard and has a number of options such as Heads Up Display, Wetware Gadgets and a lot of weapons. Take a look at the manual for a complete description of the game play, but if you want to get right to it, here are the control keys: Rex's Control Keys - Display Control Panel - Rotate Left - Rotate Right - Move Forward. - Move Backward. - Enable Strafing. - Toggle Level of Detail on the fly. - Inspect/Use Object. - Fire Weapon. - Jump Up. - Crouch Down. - Engage Site to Site Teleporter. - Select Previous Weapon in Arsenal. - Select Next Weapon in Arsenal. - Toggle System HUD. - Toggle Bio-Stats HUD. - Toggle WETWARE HUD. - Toggle Weapon Display HUD. - Toggle Ammunition stores HUD. - Toggle all HUDS. - Quick Load. - Quick Save. - Scroll Down on WETWARE Menu HUD. - Scroll Up on WETWARE Menu HUD. - Toggle current WETWARE item On/Off. Game play is simple: kill everything, collect everything and when you find a computer hack around in it. To complete a level you must use a computer to teleport out (which you will have to figure out how to do)! II.I USING THE NEW CD-PLAYER WETWARE Rex Blade - "The Final Conflict" contains a new CD-Player that can be found in the first world of Sexterra. The CD-Player can be operated as follows: 1. Place your favorite music CD into the CD-Player before or after launching Rex Blade. 2. Acquire the CD-PLAYER wetware device by picking it up in the world. 3. Control the CD-PLAYER with the following controls: 1) Play 2) Stop 3) Next Track 4) Eject CD Door 5) Close CD Door If you don't hear any sound then make sure that the analog cable from your CD-ROM is interfaced correctly into your sound card. III. TROUBLESHOOTING * Crashes in Windows 95 * Rex Blade is a 32-bit Protected mode application and likes to run in pure DOS rather than from a DOS session under Windows 95. So if you are having trouble running Rex from a Windows 95 DOS session try re-starting in MS-DOS mode. You can start MS-DOS mode from the Windows 95 Start Menu by choosing shutdown and selecting restart the computer in MS-DOS mode or by rebooting the computer and pressing the F8 key during the start up phase. If you are still experiencing crashes in Rex Blade, try changing your EMM386 line in your CONFIG.SYS file to no EMS. To do this, edit your config.sys file with any text editor and look for the line that reads EMM386.EXE. Add NOEMS to the end of this line. If there is RAM statment or any numbers then you must delete them. For example, if your EMM386.EXE line reads something like: device=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM 1024 then you would change it to: device=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS * Sound Problems * Rex Blade uses the Miles Sound System. If your sound or music is not audible or doesn't sound correct then try running SETSOUND.EXE and re-selecting a different sound card for either digital or midi. If problems continue, try running the game in MS-DOS mode or changing the settings of your sound card and setting up the sound again with SETSOUND.EXE. Rex Blade allows you to change the volume of both the digital and MIDI channels under the OPTIONS of the Main Menu. However, on some sound cards changing the volume of the MIDI channel doesn't seem to work. * Memory Problems * Rex Blade has a virtual memory manager and should run fine in 16MB of RAM. Rex may run on some systems with less than 16MB of RAM, but performance may be degraded. * Speed Problems * If you find that Rex doesn't run fast enough then try running the game from pure DOS and make sure you have a disk caching program such as SMARTDRIVE. Or buy a faster computer! You can also try switching to low detail mode (see section VI. below). IV. TELEPORTING To exit a level you must find a computer workstation that has teleporter software and then engage the teleportation program. The only way for you to determine if a workstation has teleporter software is to "hack" around in the computer looking for commands and programs to execute. Once you have found the teleportation program and launched it, you will undoubtedly need a password. The password can be found somewhere within the computer. After teleporting you will see a statistics screen that will show you how you did on the level and your time verses the par time. When you have finished the levels of a world then you will be teleported to the next world (long range teleport) and receive the thanks of of any remaining organic creatures. When you have finished the three worlds then you...I guess you'll just have to play! V. USING REX++ * Programming * REX++ is a programming language created specifically for the game Rex Blade. REX++ is based on the BASIC programming language with the free form syntax found in C. The programming language can be found within the virtual computers in the game. To use the language you must run the interpreter from within a virtual computer, this is accomplished by typing "REX++" at the virtual computer command prompt. A manual on the use of the language and its keywords can be found on the Rex Blade CD-ROM under the name REXPP.DOC. Read this document using a MS Word compatible program such as MS Word or MS Wordpad. The manual will give you enough information and examples to create cool little programs. * Troubleshooting REX++ * REX++ gives you a lot of freedom when programming and it's possible that you might be able to create a program that crashes the language interpreter. Therefore, when you are programming in REX++ keep in mind that you are using a real language and a real IDE, so if you really try to write bad programs then you will probably be able to do so! Some common errors that can cause problems are: 1. Defining variables more than once. 2. Sending parameters that are out of range. 3. Performing illegal or non-real mathematical calculations. If you avoid the above pitfalls then you shouldn't run into any problems with REX++. TIP: if you are going to do something risky then be sure to save your position in the game first! VI. USING THE LEVEL OF DETAIL CONTROL In the main control panel of the game under OPTIONS you can switch the level of detail from low to high. Low detail speeds up the game by flat shading the floors and removing the ceilings instead of using full texture mapping. Alas, there is a small penalty for doing this! There are a few secrets in the game that won't be so obvious without the texture mapping and floor lighting. So, to help you out we have added a quick Level of Detail Toggle, so that you can switch the LOD on the fly. While playing Rex Blade, simply press and the Level of Detail will toggle from low to high and back. However, even without the extra hints a real Cyborg could carry out his mission! VII. GETTING THE LATEST INFO ON REX BLADE You can find the latest tips, bug fixes, patches, and general information about Rex Blade by loging into the official Rex Blade Web Site at: http://www.rexblade.com