Windows 95 or Windows 98.

DirectX 5.0 or greater.

Pentium 200Mhz, or faster Intel processor (A Pentium II 300Mhz or faster CPU is recommended).

32 MB of RAM (64 MB of RAM or more is recommended).

3D graphics accelerator required. Must be compatible with: Glide 2.43 (Voodoo I and Voodoo Rush); Glide 2.5 (Voodoo II); or Direct3D. Please see list of supported chipsets (below).

This WWII Fighters Demo features two playable missions that will load in alternating order. Each mission will end and return to Windows after six minutes. You may bypass each cinematic after three seconds by pressing the Space Bar. The historical theme and timeline of WWII Fighters is based on the Battle of the Ardennes, which took place from late 1944 to early 1945.

If you are having trouble running the WWII Fighters Demo, please make sure you have the most recent drivers available for your video card(s). Consult your video hardware documentation for information about where to find the latest drivers -- usually they can be downloaded from the manufacturer's website. Occasionally, video card manufacturers do not have a driver that works correctly under DirectX 5.0 in D3D mode. Installing DirectX 6.0 may fix the problem by updating the driver. There are also a few video cards (especially older ones) that might have trouble switching out of any display mode other than 16-bit color. When trying to run the Demo, the screen will appear black after the second splash screen (before going into flight) and will not recover. Please adjust your desktop display settings to 16-bit color if you have a different mode selected. Please refrain from using the Alt-Tab keys, "Windows" keys, or any other applications that might cause WWII Fighters to become minimized, as they will cause trouble with the Demo.

Changing the following settings can increase frame rate, or compensate for D3D limitations or problems. Adjust these settings in your WW2.ini file, which is created in the WWII Fighters Demo directory after the first time you run the game. Just double-click on the file to open it and edit the contents.

• Turn off the Cockpit (Backspace button toggles the cockpit on and off during flight; use the pop-up instruments)
• Set Cloudlayers to 'NO' (default is 'YES')
• Effect Detail is adjustable from 0 to 4 (4 is the default).
• Object Detail is adjustable from 0 to 4 (2 is the default).
• Terrain Detail is adjustable from 0 to 4 (1 is the default).
• Set ComplexEngineSound to 'NO' (default is 'YES')

Note: If you're having trouble running the game, try setting ComplexEngineSound to 'NO'. 

WWII Fighters will automatically try to detect the best 3D mode for your hardware. It will: first, try to initialize Glide (if you have a 3Dfx card); second, try to initialize D3D on a secondary 3D card; and last, try to initialize D3D on your primary card. These settings can be adjusted in your WW2.ini file - this gets created in your WWII Fighters Demo directory after the first time you run the game. Just double-click on the file to open it and edit the contents. Look for the .3DAPI line, and choose one of the following three settings:

The WWII Fighters Demo defaults to a resolution of 640x480. If you have an 8 MB 3Dfx card you can try running the game in 800x600. In Direct3D mode, you will need to check your card manufacturer's documentation to find out which resolution your card supports. To change the resolution manually, look for the Resolution line, and choose one of the following three settings:

You can also adjust the gamma setting anywhere from 1.0 to 1.8 (settings higher than 1.8 can wash out your screen). This can be set in the WW2.ini file by changing the Gamma line from:

WWII Fighters requires a 3D capable card to run, and supports 3Dfx and Direct 3D. (OpenGL with ICD will be supported in the full version of the game.) Again, it is very important to have the most recent drivers for your video card(s)! Please read the following for some insight on 3D technology.

3Dfx is a company that manufactures 3D chipsets such as the Voodoo, Voodoo2, Voodoo Banshee & Voodoo Rush. Voodoo2 based cards are stand-alone 3D cards that work alongside your 2D card, while Voodoo Rush and Banshee cards provide a 2D/3D solution, with separate chips for 2D and 3D.

Glide is a proprietary API (Application Programming Interface), especially designed for 3Dfx.

If you have a 3Dfx card, you will want to run WWII Fighters in Glide mode. WWII Fighters requires Glide 2.43 or greater (Voodoo 1 and Voodoo Rush) and Glide 2.5 or greater (Voodoo 2 and Banshee). Make sure you have the latest drivers for your 3Dfx card, your vendor will have a driver set that contains both Glide and D3D runtime drivers. You can download them from your card manufacturer's homepage. If your card manufacturer does not include the required Glide version or greater in their driver package, or if you are having trouble with their latest drivers, we suggest using the reference drivers available from 3Dfx. Please refer to the following link for more information, drivers, and links to manufacturers' websites.

WWII Fighters requires DirectX 5.0 or greater. If you are having trouble with DirectX, please refer to the customer support web link at the bottom of this file. There is a Help Guide for DirectX and Windows 95 and Windows 98. You may also refer to the following two Microsoft links for more general information on DirectX.

Direct3D is a universal API from Microsoft providing a standard interface for programmers to access your 3D hardware without having to write for specific devices. Most 3D cards support Direct3D. The latest driver package for your card should contain D3D drivers for your video card. You may also refer to the following two Microsoft links for more general information on DirectX.

In order to get optimum Input Device performance with WWII Fighters, you must setup your peripherals with the Windows 95 or Windows 98 joystick calibration program. Below are the steps to follow in order to setup your peripherals:

1. Click on your START button, highlight SETTINGS, and then click on the CONTROL PANEL icon.

2. When the CONTROL PANEL window appears, double-click on the JOYSTICK icon. If you have installed a Microsoft or Gravis joystick, this Icon may appear as "Gaming devices" or "Gravis Joystick applet" or "Game Controllers".

3. Now you should be in the JOYSTICK PROPERTIES window. The first thing you need to do is to use the pull-down menu under CURRENT JOYSTICK to set it to "joystick 1".

4. The next step is to use the pull-down menu under JOYSTICK SELECTION to set it to the type of joystick you have.

NOTE: if you do not see the name of your joystick or if you are unsure of the type of your joystick, contact your manufacturer for this information.

5. If you have rudder pedals, make sure that you put a check in the box next to rudders.

6. The next step is to click the CALIBRATION button. This will take you to the JOYSTICK 1 CALIBRATION window. At this point it is very important that you follow the instructions under the CALIBRATION INFORMATION section (at the top of the window). MAKE SURE TO TEST YOUR JOYSTICK BEFORE YOU CLICK THE OK BUTTON.

7. Click the OK button to finish up.

NOTE: If you experience any sort of "spinning" or if your plane seems uncontrollable and you have a joystick, try re-calibrating your joystick.

If you have any questions or comments you may contact an Electronic Arts Product Support Technician in any of the following ways:

Note: E-mail will be answered by e-mail, fax by fax, mail by mail.

EA Tech Support website:

EA Phone Tech Support:

(650) 628-8468

HOURS: (Pacific Standard Time)

8:30AM to 4:30PM M-F

EA Tech Support Fax:

Electronic Arts

P.O. Box 7578

San Mateo, CA 94403-7578

Internet: For technical support and upgrade questions

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