WARLORDS II DELUXE READ ME NOTES

Version 2.1


COMMAND LINE OPTIONS
Warlords II Deluxe has two command line options for starting
the game:

	Typing WAR2 -V [ENTER] will start the game in VESA mode.
	Do this if the installation process gets your video card wrong,
	or your video display is bad.

	Typing WAR2 -NS [ENTER] or WAR2NS [ENTER] will start the
	game without the startup sequence.


INSTALLATION
V2.0 release comes with a patch disk to create V2.1. Install V2.0
from the CD first, then install the patch from the floppy disk.

You can always install a bigger install over a smaller one. If
you do this, you will need to reapply the patch from the floppy
disk.


INSPROB.BAT
If you cannot get the install procedure to work from the CD-ROM
run the batch file INSPROB from the CD. This will do an
emergency installation onto your hard disk. You can then run
the install program from the hard disk to move any other files
across.

To use INSPROB type
   INSPROB pathname [ENTER]
where pathname is the location to install Warlords II.
A W2DELUXE directory will be created automatically.


WINDOWS 95 USERS
Please see the file WINREAD.ME located in the \W2DELUXE directory.

OS/2 USERS
Please see the file OS2READ.ME located in the \W2DELUXE directory.

LOSING THE GAME
A human or computer player is now out of the game at the
moment that their last city falls.
 
 
SOUND PROBLEMS
1. I Don't Get Any Sound! 
	Make sure you have installed the sound for the correct
	Sound Card. For example, if you have an Adlib card and you
	select PAS sound, the game will not run. 
 
	Type INSTALL to re-install your sound, then press the 
	SOUND SETUP button. You will be presented with SSG's list of
	supported sound cards.  You can test your music and 
	sound fx here.
 
	If you have a Sound Blaster, make sure you have set the correct 
	MEMORY/IRQ/DMA settings.  The install program should
	automatically detect these values - if in doubt, use this 
	program's suggestions. 
 
2. The Music on My Sound Blaster Pro is Weird! 
	You may have installed the wrong Sound Blaster Pro drivers.
	Most cards just use the "Sound Blaster Pro II (OPL)" driver,
	but an older card may use the "Sound Blaster Pro I (Yamaha)"
	driver instead. Try both - you'll know which one is right! 
 
3. I've Changed My Sound Card, What Now? 
	Run the program INSTALL.EXE (from the W2DELUXE directory, type 
	"INSTALL"),  then press the SOUND SETUP button. You will now
	be offered a list of new sound cards. 
 
4. I have an ADLIB GOLD and the game won't start
       (generating a 'Can't Init Sound' message) 
	This particularly applies to ADLIB GOLD 1000 owners! If the game
	fails to start and gives an error message "Can't Init Sound", 
	then your ADLIB GOLD card is not set up properly (for a DMA 
	Channel) and you must do the following:  
 
	  a) Put the ADLIB GOLD install disk in a drive 
	  b) Go to that driver and type SETUP 
	  c) Select the option CONTINUE 
	  d) Select the option <2 - Configure Card and Drivers> 
	  e) Select the option <2 - DMA Channels> 
	  f) Select a DMA Channel (e.g. DMA Channel 1) by moving the
	     highlight (with TAB) and pressing 'O' to select it 
	  g) Keep selecting CONTINUE, and then REBOOT 
	  h) That's it! 


FIGHTS COMMAND
The "Fights" command under the "Report" menu brings up a dialog
showing you a history of all combats involving your side since
the end of your last turn. You can click on the strategy map
to select a particular combat, or you can move between them
using the arrow buttons.

There is also a list of options for displaying the dialog in a
network or modem game.


DEEDS COMMAND
The "Deeds" command under the "Hero" menu gives you a history
of the actions of each of your heroes in the game.


MESSAGE COMMAND
The "Message" command under the "SSG" menu is used during
network and modem game to send messages to the other players.
To send a message, open the dialog, type the message, and then
type RETURN. The message will be sent to all players and the
message dialog will open on all computers displaying your
message.

You can select which players the message is sent to with the
buttons on the right. The buttons with the red highlight
indicate the players your message will be sent to. This
allows you to conspire against the winner. (Just make sure
your screens can't be seen!)

If a computer player is having a turn when a message is sent,
the message will be received by players, but the message dialog
may not be displayed.


NULL MODEM
If you are experiencing problems with your NULL MODEM
connection then there are 3 possible causes:

	1. You have not configured the game for the correct COM
	port with the CONNECT program.

	2. You are not using a NULL MODEM cable. These cables are
	not the same as ordinary parallel or serial cables. If you
	have any doubts, ask at your local computer store.

	3. You have a hardware fault (Bad Cable, Bad Port)


RUNNING OVER A NETBIOS NETWORK
You will need to take a little care when starting a network game in order
to run WL2 DELUXE over a NetBIOS network.

1. You may have to disable sound to get enough memory to run it!
   Network drivers take up a lot of your DOS memory. This may be 
   a good idea anyway, because program execution, and hence
   sound effects, will never be exactly synchronised on all machines.
   Also, the extra work caused by the network may cause the
   sounds to play unevenly.
 
2. When using the CONNECT program to establish a network
   connection, things must be done carefully and in the right order.

   Each player must take turns in pressing the "Connect" buttons.
   The first player to press the "Connect" button becomes player
   one, and gets to choose the scenario.

   If possible, we recommend that all the computers used to play
   Warlords II Deluxe should be of similar speeds (and the faster
   the better).

   If you have different speed computers, then we recommend that
   one of the slower computers in the game be used for player
   one. If the fastest computer is used, the game play will be
   slowed significantly.

   The game will also slow down as you increase the number of
   computers you have playing Warlords II Deluxe. We have
   experienced a slowdown of about 10% as a machine is added.
   If you want to play an eight player game, we strongly
   recommend you use the fastest machines possible.

   Once all machines have registered their names, press ESC on
   each machine in turn to exit to DOS. As you press ESC on a
   computer , look at each screen to ensure that the ESC
   message was received. If it wasn't, hit SPACE (on the
   machine you just hit ESC on) then try ESC again.

3. Don't forget to use the DISCONN command at the end of your
   network game.


SCENARIO BUILDER
Hero Names
In defining a hero list for a scenario, you must define at least
8 hero names. You don't have to define the maximum number of
100. The program will just use the ones that you have defined,
as long as there are 8 or more names.
 
Defining Army Sets 
When creating your own army set, try to place the armies in
roughly ascending order of strength. Also, please consider giving
armies plenty of movement points. Scenarios can now have very
large maps, and armies with only 10 or 12 MPs are going to take
a long time to get anywhere.

Scenario Text Files
At the main screen in the Scenario Builder, pressing ALT-F5
will produce a text file in the SCENDATA directory. For the
Erythea scenario, for example, the file would be called
ERYTHEA.TXT. The file contains:
1. All the details of the army set used by the scenario
2. The items used in the scenario
3. The monsters inhabiting ruins in the scenario
Also, if any of these items are that same as in the Erythea
scenario, this is also indicated.
 

TERRAIN EDITOR 
As promised in the manual, here is an explanation of the Terrain 
Editor options. These functions are quite complicated, and are not 
easy to explain. If you do have questions about them, please put 
them in writing or EMail and send them to the Australian office. 

1. OPTIONS ON THE STRATEGIC MAP DIALOG 
	This dialog lets you define that colors that will appear on your 
	strategic maps and how those colors will be drawn.  Next to each 
	of the terrain types (e.g. Water, Plains, Marsh...) you will see
	a message and some colors.  To change these colors, simply click
	on them - you will then bring up the Colors Dialog. 

2. THE COLORS DIALOG 
	This is where you define the actual colors. There are 9 ways to 
	draw a color on the Strategic Map. Each of them is discussed
	below. 
 
	a. SOLID 
	  This is just a solid block of 1 color with jagged edges. 
	  Pretty ugly.  Sort of like the old Warlords I Map!  Good for 
	  doing ruins.
 
	b. FEATURE 
	  This is a solid block of color with smooth edges. It needs 
	  another color defined - the EDGE color.  This is the color 
	  it uses to smooth out the edges.  For example if you wanted 
	  your forests to look smooth with their adjoining plains, you 
	  would set the EDGE color to the same color as your plains. 
 
	c. RAISED 
	  This is much like FEATURE - a smooth edged block of a single 
	  color. But a raised effect is achieved by defining highlight
	  and lowlight colors, much like a 3d button. 
 
	d. SUNKEN 
	  Almost the opposite of raised, except that there is no highlight 
	  color, only a lowlight one. This looks good on the water. You
	  set your edge color to green (like plains) your lowlight to
	  Dark Blue and your main color to Medium Blue.  If you have a 
	  nice watery background picture, you can even set the main 
	  color to Transparent (the First Color).
 
	e. RANDOM 
	  Four colors are sprinkled randomly onto the map. The edges are
	  smoothed, like a FEATURE, but instead of a block of one color,
	  there are four randomly sprinkled colors. It's good with very 
	  dark grays for doing walls. 
 
	f. PATTERN 
	  This uses a repeating 8x8 pattern, defined in the grid on the
	  right of the dialog. The pattern is made up of four colors and 
	  an EDGE color. 
 
	g. RANDOM-RAISED 
	  Exactly like RANDOM, but it has its edges given a "raised" 
	  effect by using highlight and lowlight colors. (See the RAISED 
	  option above.)
 
	h. PATTERN-RAISED 
	  Exactly like PATTERN, but it has its edges given a "raised" 
	  effect by using highlight and lowlight colors. (See the RAISED 
	  option above) 
 
	i. FRACTAL 
	  This option gives a fractally generated landscape. It is much 
	  rougher and more realistic than any of the options above when
	  used for large expanses of terrain.  In short, the area will
	  look "textured".

	  You will need to define seven colors (from Darkest to Lightest
	  for a raised effect or vice versa for a sunken effect).  No
	  EDGE color is used. Two more things need to be defined:  If
	  PEAKS is turned on, then more "peaks" appear  in your
	  landscape (eg Mountains). An elevation needs to be defined.
	  By default, most ground is at an elevation of 10 units.


GEOMORPH EDITOR
There are two types of random maps in Warlords II Deluxe.
The first kind are identical to Warlords II random maps (ie a
large expanse of land with mountains, hills, forests, etc...)
But what do we do when we have terrain as in the Dungeon or
Cavern Terrain Sets?  Answer: We use method two - Geomorphs.

So what is a Geomorph?
	A Geomorph is an 8 x 12 block of terrain.  If we
	define enough geomorphs (about 100) and then we
	put enough of them together in a sensible fashion, 
	we get a good-looking random map.
	The Geomorph Editor (W2GEO.EXE) is used to create
	these blocks of terrain,  Warlords II Deluxe handles
	putting them all together for you.

How do I use the editor?
	You may never *need* to use the editor, unless you
	want to create a new terrain, or tinker with an old
	one.
	The editor is simple to use and understand.  It only
	has 4 screens.  They are described below:

The Main Screen
	The first thing you will want to do here is load the
	terrain you will be working on.  All loading and 
	saving is done from this screen.
	Once a terrain has been selected, you will see a list
	of the 6 major tile-types contained in that terrain.
	Beside each tile-type are 2 options: Color & Background.

	The "Color" represents the color that will appear in
	the geomorphs you create.  This does NOT affect the
	game at all!  You can make your mountains purple if
	you want!  The only place they'll appear purple is
	in Geomorph Editor.

	The "Background" Option is more important.  It defines
	the tile type that will be used to pad out the
	empty spaces around the edge if a small random map is
	chosen.

	On the bottom of the main screen, you will see a
	setting labelled "Chance".  It varies from 0% to 100%
	It is the chance of the Geomorphs being used for a
	random map.

Vertical Edges & Horizontal Edges Screens
	Warlords II Deluxe identifies which geomorphs to
	put together by matching their edges.  You will
	need to define both horizontal and vertical edges
	to construct your blocks of terrain.  About 20
	of each is usually an acceptable number.
	Each individual edge can be given a name for
	easier reference later.

Blocks (Geomorphs)
	To define a geomorph, you must do 4 things:
	1. Give it a name.
	2. Choose two horizontal edges (top & bottom)
	3. Choose two vertical edges (left & right)
	4. Fill in all the squares in the middle.

Some Advice on Using Geomorphs
	Geomorphs are saved in the GEOMORPH.DAT
	file in the individual terrain directories.

	About 20 horizontal & vertical edges (40 total)
	and 80 geomorphs gives quite good results.

	Beware!  You can end up with some cities locked
	away where nobody can get to them.  To avoid this,
	define more geomorphs with open terrain in them
	(ie less with impassable walls or mountains).
	This is no big deal unless it's somebody's capital
	city!


WHERE TO CONTACT SSG

Customers in North America:
PO Box 30085,
Pensacola FL 32503-1085
USA
Tel (904) 469 8880
Fax (904) 469 8885

Customers in Australia and Elsewhere:
P.O.Box 261, Drummoyne,
NSW. 2047  Australia
Tel (02) 819 7199
Fax (02) 819 7737

SSG's Online addresses are:
Compuserve 72662,3471
GEnie or eWorld SSG
Internet gwhiley@ssg.com.au
WWW http://www.ssg.com.au

