---------------------------- Rage of Mages 2: Necromancer ---------------------------- README.TXT Version: May 28, 1999 ****************************************************************** This document contains valuable information about running Rage of Mages II on your PC. For more information about gameplay and general Rage of Mages II information, please refer to the Rage of Mages II Manual that came with this CD. ****************************************************************** Warning ------- The game can not be installed in a directory whose name contains '.' symbols. System requirements ------------------- Windows 95/98, DirectX 6.1 (included) Pentium 166 (Pentium 200MMX recommended) 32 Mb RAM PCI SVGA 1 Mb (640x480, 65536 colors) 4X CD-ROM drive (8X recommended) Windows compatible sound card (16-bit stereo recommended) Mouse 150 Mb on hard drive Hotkeys ------- ESC - menu F1 - help menu F2 - save game F3 - load game (single player) / diplomacy (multiplayer) ~ or I - open/close inventory Q or B - open/close spellbook W - open/close quest log (multiplayer only) SPACE - open/close inventory & spellbook, return to game after death (multiplayer) TAB - stats/picture mode in info panel CTRL+O - smoothing on/off CTRL+H - show health on/off CTRL+L - flying damage on/off CTRL+W - change retreat mode CTRL+F - change formation mode CTRL+N - day/night changes on/off CTRL+U - change autocasting mode CTRL+K - show player names and clans on/off (multiplayer) CTRL+T - network statistic on/off (multiplayer) CTRL+C - switch color pattern of messages (multiplayer) Keypad+, Keypad- - change game speed M - move A - attack G - guard D - defend C - cast S - swarm (move & attack) T - stand ground R - retreat P - pickup all sacks (for heroes only) L - stand still (do not attack anybody) E - select all of your mercenaries ALT+CLICK - force move CTRL+CLICK - force attack/swarm SHIFT+CLICK - force add/remove unit to selection CTRL+<1..9> - save group selection CTRL+SHIFT+<1..9> - save group selection (multigroup mode) <1..9> - restore group selection ALT+<1..9> - restore group selection with screen centering SHIFT+<1..9> - add group to selection CTRL+ - set spell shortcut SHIFT+ - set inventory item shortcut - use spell/item shortcut CTRL+A - select/deselect spell for autocasting ENTER - send message (multiplayer) BACKSPACE - clear all messages ALT+F4 - quit game Entering console messages ------------------------- BACKSPACE - delete left character CTRL+BACKSPACE - delete left word TAB - player name tab extension - return previous input [message] - message addressed to everyone in close proximity =[message] - message addressed to all players -[message] - message addressed to all allies -[message] - message addressed to a particular player #kick - remove player from the game #locate - locate player Server Command --------------- To get the server list, enter the URL http://www.rageofmages.com/r2servers/text.asp (or just www.rageofmages.com/r2servers/text.asp). When running a Server, Rage will report your server to the Monolith Rage server page. To do this, you will need to know your IP address and edit the following lines in the server.cfg file: [Settings] IPAddress=255.255.0.255 ; Enter your IP address Description=ROM2 Server ; Enter your server's name [ReportToWWW] http://www.rageofmages.com/r2servers/server.asp Make sure each of the lines you edit are uncommented. To uncomment a line, simply remove the semicolon at the start of the line. This will enable the option described in that line. To find your IP, Go to the Windows Start menu, Choose Run and type "winipcfg". A dialog box will appear with your machine's IP address. What can I do to improve my Internet connection? ------------------------------------------------ If you use a large Internet Service Provider (ISP) such as AOL or MSN, download any updates to make sure you have their most current version. Check to see if your ISP supports v.90 protocol. Most ISPs support this and if yours does, you may be able to download some software from your modem manufacturer to increase your baud rate. Check to make sure you are using the correct phone number for you ISP. You may still be using an older number that may not have 56K support. Check for updates for your modem. Many older 56K Flex or X2 modems, for example, can not exceed rates of 28K or 33K without upgrading to v.90 protocol. However, upgrading to v.90 protocol won't do you any good if your ISP doesn't support it, so make sure to check that out first. Rage of Mages 2 - Known Issues ------------------------------ Items and Inventory: - At certain times it may become impossible to sell specific items in the shop. Saving and loading will resolve this problem. - Inventory items may disappear if the player quickly switches between them. Saving and loading will resolve this problem. Graphics: - If hit by the Stone Curse while standing between squares on the game grid, characters may become slightly displaced. When this happens, the spot that the character occupies on the game grid is not accurately represented on screen. Saving and loading will resolve this problem. - At 800x600 and 1024x768, some icons briefly flash on the border of the screen. Interface: - Clicking both the right and left mouse buttons at the same time may cause the cursor to become stuck briefly on some screens. Saving and loading will resolve this problem. - Players may run into some difficulty picking up bags. If the "P" key is used, the selected character will not always automatically pick up all available bags. Also, in some instances the player has to stand directly on top of the bags in order to pick them up. - If the Spell Quick-Keys are used to switch from Area Effect to Homing, the Area-Effect pointer may remain onscreen. Switching spells again should resolve this problem. Spells: - Autocast will not work with all spells and at all times. For example, Summon, Wall of Fire, and Wall of Earth spells do not cast when set to Autocast. Additionally, the Mages' range may be slightly reduced when Autocast is used. - Flying damage is not shown with weapons that cast Drain Life spell. - The curse animation may remain on a cursed character if they end a mission while cursed. If the animation is visible when the next mission begins, saving and loading will resolve the problem. Mission Specific: - In the "Killer Dragon" stage, the character sprite for the Mage does not appear on the shoreline after the water for the spell is found. - In the "Magic Source" levels, creatures from the center isle sometimes teleport to the character's destination, making the mission extremely difficult to complete. This is a random occurrence so restarting the mission will likely solve the problem. - In the "Talena's Request" stage, Talena's statistics for Fire and Water are not accurately represented. Multiplayer: - While in the shop, certain items may disappear for periods of time. Similarly, it may become difficult to buy or sell items. These problems are dependent on the quality of the player's Internet connection, so waiting and re-entering will most likely help. - In rare instances, the player can be reduced to 0 health and enemies will cease attacking. To regain control at this point, the character must be healed or killed by another character, or the player must quit and rejoin the map. - Since the Multiplayer Quests are generated at random, the directions to the towns may not always be accurate. Some exploration may be necessary to find them. - If a player's Internet connection experiences a spike (pronounced lag) the connection with the server may be severed. To rejoin, the character may have to close the game entirely and then launch the game again. Similarly, joining a server using TCP/IP over the Internet can be difficult with slower Internet connections. Backing out to the desktop and then launching the game again may resolve this. - If a non-existent IP address is entered into the IP Address field, the game may appear to lock-up. While the game may search for the address for several minutes, control will eventually return to the user. - In rare instances, allies may not be visible to other characters on the map. - Patches as well as a dedicated Internet Server program will be made available to registered users of Rage of Mages II. For more information, visit the Rage of Mages II website. Technical Help -------------- Direct Draw Error: If you are receiving a Direct Draw error message, make sure that your desktop color depth is set to 16bit or less and then try running the game again! C++ Error: If you are receiving an error message that says, "Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library, runtime library error, abnormal program termination, (directory)", you have a bad CD. Something on the CD disc is corrupted or damaged. Make sure that you have the latest drivers installed for your computer and then re-install the game and try again. RoM II TCP/IP (Internet) Ports: Rage of Mages II uses ports 8000, 8001. There is no way to specify the port as it is hard-coded into the game. Also, your machine needs access to a DNS server to resolve domain names. It's possible to play without DNS server, but only using a 'dotted' IP address. Stuttering Sound: If you are receiving stuttering sounds or jerky movies, check in your Control Panel/System/Performance/File System and make sure that your CD cache size is set to LARGE on your CD-ROM and your Read-ahead Optimization is set to FULL on your Hard Disk. Make these changes and then re-boot and try again! If that doesn't help, there could be something wrong with the MIDI setup of your sound card. Please make sure that all the settings on your sound card are correct. Then check your Multimedia Properties in your Control Panel and make sure that your sound card is the preferred device selected for MIDI and AUDIO playback, then try running Rage of Mages II again. You may need to select a different device for playback than what you have now. Can't Select Character in Game: CTRL+E will select all of your party members. You can then try moving them to another location on the map. Error Starting Program - A required dll file, wininet.dll was not found: Some users of the first or second revisions of Windows 95 may encounter this problem when they attempt to start the game. For this reason, the file has been included on the ROM2 CD. If you encounter this problem, try the following: 1. Put the ROM2 CD in your CD-ROM drive. 2. Double-click on My Computer on the Windows desktop. 3. Right-click on your CD ROM drive (Drive D in most cases) and then choose "Explore" from the menu. 4. Copy the wininet.dll file from the folder named "Wininet" and then paste it into the ROM2 folder on your hard drive. Installation Problems If you are having installation problems, it could be that the CD is defective. To test this all you need to do is try installing the game on someone else's computer. If it takes forever to load, it's probably a bad CD, in which case, take it back to the store for an exchange. If the install on a different computer works perfectly, then it could be that your CD drive has a problem, or needs new drivers. NT 4.0 questions Rage of Mages 2 will not run correctly on Windows NT. Windows NT only supports up to Direct X3 and Rage needs Direct X6 to run properly. Win95 or Win98 is required. Map Editor ---------- Installation: To install map editor: 1) unpack the archived rom2me.exe file into the game directory. 2) Run "ROM2 Map Editor.exe". Requirements: The map editor requires 65535 color mode and no less than 1024x768 screen resolution. For work with the Map Editor, the following configuration is recommended: - 64Mb RAM, - Pentium II or faster. Server configuration -------------------- Start the game with -cfg"server.cfg" command line option to customize multiplayer game server configuration. Here is the description of a sample server.cfg file from the game CD. Several features are available only if WWW reporting is enabled (i.e., if [ReportToWWW] line contains some addresses). RepopDelay=100 - shows how fast monsters reappear after death GameSpeed=4 - adjusts game speed. 0 - slowest, 4 - normal, 8 - fastest IPAddress=192.168.0.104 - shows your server address to be reported to WWW (IP address of your machine) SayRange=256 - shows max scope of 'say' command in tiles (at what max distance your message will be heard) ShoutDelay=20 - shows interval between 'shout' command messages (in seconds) MaxPlayers=16 - shows max number of players (1..16) Description=ROM2 Server - server description to be reported to WWW [BannedPlayers] - a list of "illegal" player names [ReportToWWW] - a list of URLs to be reported to. ROM2 Server will report to them periodically Final changes and additions --------------------------- The system of skills acquisition/increase has been changed. The present version features the 'priority skill' system: the skills of wielding the initially selected weapon (magic sphere) increase faster than the others. The automatic saving of the current game in town immediately before entering mission has been added. It is available in the 'Load game' option as 'Abort mission and return to town' option. Here is some more detailed information on the 'Game options' menu: 'Tips'. This option is only available for the single player game mode. When turned on, hints will appear automatically when applicable. 'Names of characters and clans'. This options is only available in the multiplayer game mode. When turned on, names of characters and their clans are shown above the heads of characters. When turned off, names of characters and clans are not shown. Moreover, when the option is turned off, the mission objective will not be shown over the heads of characters and monsters. 'Shadows'. All objects on a map cast shadows according to the position of the light source (sun). This effect can be either turned on or off. 'Dynamic Lighting'. The terrain and objects in the game are lit differently in accordance with position and relocations of light sources (sun, magic effects). This option can likewise be turned off. 'Objects animation'. When turned off, all objects on a map are not animated. When turned on, part of the objects becomes animated: windmill sales start rotating, leaves stir on the trees, etc. Note: It can be useful to turn off 'Day/Night changes'. 'Smoothing', 'Shadows', 'Dynamic lighting' and 'Objects animation' options when your machine is not very fast. Turning these options off may result in better performance. 'Auto Cast Mode'. Mages under player's control can use certain spells automatically without a special command. You can change the list of characters affected by these spells, and also select the number and set of spells used automatically. The choice of characters affected by the automatically used spells is determined by the following options: 'Own'. The spells will be automatically cast on the characters controlled by the player. 'Allies'. The spells will be automatically cast on the characters allied with the player. 'Neutral'. The spells will be automatically cast on the neutral characters. These options can be turned on and off independently from each other. If all options belonging to this group are turned off, the mage will cast the spells automatically only on himself. The spells used automatically are determined by the following options: 'Minimal'. The 'Heal' and 'Shield' spells are used. 'Average'. The 'Bless' and 'Haste' spells are added to the above mentioned ones. 'Maximum'. The 'Protection form Magic' and 'Invisibility' spells are added to the above mentioned ones. The Auto Cast Mode should be selected with care. The continuous use of 'maximum' mode may result in fast decrease of a character's mana supply. 'Alternative message colors'. When turned off, the color of messages in a multiplayer game corresponds to the player's personal color. When turned on, the color of messages depends on the message type, and not on the sender. Web --- For information about Rage of Mages 2, visit http://www.rageofmages.com For support questions or problems, visit http://support.lith.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please do not make unauthorized copies of Rage of Mages 2. The program you've purchased was produced through the efforts of many people who earn their livelihood from its lawful use. Don't make copies for others who have not paid for the right to use it. To report copyright violations to the Software Publishers Association, call 1-800-388-PIR8 or write: Software Publishers Association 1101 Connecticut Ave., Suite 901 NW Washington, DC 20036 This program is protected by United States federal and international copyright laws.