================================================================== Battlefield 1942(tm) v1.0 Read Me File August 16, 2002 ================================================================== Thank you for purchasing Battlefield 1942. This readme file contains last minute information that did not make it into the manual, as well as more detailed information on various features already covered in the manual. ================================================================== System Requirements ================================================================== Minimum: 500 MHz CPU 128 Megabytes of RAM 3D accelerated 32 MB video card or equivalent with HW-T&L (Hardware Transform & Lighting) and 24-bit z-buffer 1.2 GB free hard disk space plus space for saved games (additional space required for Windows swap-file and DirectX 8.1 installation) 16X Speed CD-ROM/DVD-ROM Directx 8.1 Compatible Sound Card MS compatible mouse Keyboard Recommended: 800 MHz CPU 256 Megabytes of RAM 3D accelerated 64 MB video card or equivalent with HW-T&L (Hardware Transform & Lightning) and 24-bit z-buffer 1.2 GB free hard disk space plus space for saved games (additional space required for Windows swap-file and DirectX 8.1 installation) 16X Speed CD-ROM/DVD-ROM Directx 8.1 Compatible Sound Card MS compatible mouse Keyboard Required Operating Systems: Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows XP or Windows 2000 Note that Windows 95 is not supported. ------------------------------------------------------------------ 32 MB video cards with HW-T&L will be supported and should work. If you do have such a card and experience problems please report type of card and drivers used. These are known to have issues: ------------------------------------------------------------------ Hercules Prophet FDX 8500 LE AGP 64MB ATI Radeon 8500 Nvidia GeForce2 Integrated GPU AGP 32MB Nvidia nForce (nForce) ATI Radeons - Some cards in the Radeon family may have graphical issues such as texture flicker and some drop-out. By the time you read this the latest drivers form ATI should be available to address these issues. SETTING 16-bit - Setting the color depth to 16 bits will give you more flickering (z-buffer errors). - When playing the game with 16-bit you might experience flickering on the buildings if LIGHTMAPS under video options is turned on. - VIDEO SETTINGS Read the section Improving Gameplay Performance below to help minimize some of the above video card issues. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Cards that are not HW-T&L compatible will not be supported! Known soundcard issues: ------------------------------------------------------------------ AOpen AW320 PCI Audio PCI Windows 2000 All sounds (vehicle, gun, etc.) cut in and out while in a game. The computer will also randomly briefly flash a blue screen error message right before the computer re-boots while in a game. Aureal Vortex PCI Windows XP Aureal Vortex 2 PCI Windows XP Aztech A3D PCI Windows XP Diamond Monster Sound II MX300 PCI Windows XP Turtle Beach Montego A3D Xstream PCI Windows XP Turtle Beach Montego II PCI Windows XP Turtle Beach Montego II Quadzilla PCI Windows XP The seven cards above all experience the following: Vehicle sounds are distorted. This includes tanks, jeeps, AA- guns, etc. Voices play too fast. Yamaha Xwave-192 PCI Sounds cut in and out intermittently during gameplay. Engine noise will turn off and on. Avance AC97 PCI Voices and soundfx will be sped up. This is known as the 'chipmunk effect.' ================================================================== Hard Drive Space ================================================================== 1.2 GB free hard disk space plus space for saved games (additional space required for DirectX 8.1 installation) In addition to the installed game, Windows will require additional free hard drive space for its operating system (virtual memory). If you encounter the following message in an error dialog: "Ran out of virtual memory" Free up some more hard drive space. ================================================================== Installing DirectX 8.1 ================================================================== If you declined to install DirectX 8.1 when initially installing Battlefield 1942, you can install at a later time by simply in- serting Disk 1 into your CD-ROM drive and running "dxsetup.exe", located in the DirectX directory on the install CDROM. This is found on Disk 1 under the "Redist\DirectX81" folder. Just double- click on "dxsetup.exe". Latest version of DirectX can be downloaded from: www.microsoft.com\directx Previous versions of DirectX are not fully supported. ================================================================== Improving Gameplay Performance ================================================================== Some machines will benefit from experimenting with your Network/ Video/Sound options: INTERNET/NETWORK PERFORMANCE THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR A GOOD INTERNET PERFORMANCE! - Before joining an Internet game you should check the settings under CONNECTION SPEED in the Internet tab to make sure that you have the appropriate connection type set. If you experience lag or jitter while on an Internet game, try setting your CONNECTION SPEED to the next lowest setting. - JOINING MULTIPLAYER GAMES: To get the best performance given your computer we recommend you follow these guidelines: HARDWARE Minimum system - Join servers that have up to 20 players Recommended systems - Join servers that have up to 32 players High end systems - Join servers that have up to 32+ players BANDWIDTH Modem users - Join games with a maximum of 16 players. ISDN users - Join games with a maximum of 24 players. ADSL/Cable users - Join games with a maximum of 32 players. T1/LAN users - Join games with a maximum of 32+ players. VIDEO SETTINGS - Systems with 128MB of RAM should always run the game with video settings set to "LOW". - From the Main Menu choose the "Options" menu. Then select the "Video" menu, select "Texture Quality" and experiment with the slider in order to find the best setting for your computer. You can also try lowering the "Graphics Quality" and "Effect Quality" in order to meet your machines level of performance. - Also from the "Video" menu, uncheck the "SHADOWS" check box. This will prevent the game from creating dynamic shadows for soldiers and vehicles and should improve performance. - Also from the "Video" menu, uncheck the "LIGHTMAPS" check box. This will prevent the game from adding detailed shadows on the buildings, which should improve your performance. - Also from the "Video" menu, uncheck the "ENVIRONMENT MAPPING" check box. This will remove the environmental effects on vehicles and weapons. This should improve your performance. - Also from the "Video" menu, try to reduce your view distance in order to increase performance. This will impact on gameplay since your opponents will see you before you can spot them. - Also from the "Video" menu, check the "ALTERNATIVE SPAWN INTER- FACE" which will give you a black background when you bring up the spawn interface while playing instead of keeping the game view in the background. This should improve mouse control in that menu on slower machines. - Try reducing your video resolution to 640x480 in your "Video" menu. The lower the resolution, the easier it is for your computer to run the game. - From the "Video" menu you can try to lower your color depth from 32 to 16 bit by picking your desired resolution with the color depth of 16 (800x600x16). SOUND SETTINGS - From the "Sound" menu you can try to lower your audio quality by checking the 22 or 11khz checkbox. Also test with lowering the number of channels used to 24 or 16. - Systems with 128MB of RAM should always use 11khz. - From the "Sound" menu you can try to lower your sound detail to "MEDIUM" or "LOW". This will prioritize sounds harder so that only the core sounds of the game get played. - From the "Sound" menus second page you can activate "HARDWARE ACCELERATION" given that your soundcard supports this. This should improve your performance. GAMEPLAY SETTINGS - Turning the CPU-TIME GIVEN TO AI slider down will improve performance in the single-player maps. Experiment with the setting which best suits your computer. - Turning the NUMBER OF BOTS slider down will improve performance in the single-player maps. Experiment with the setting which best suits your computer. MODEM USERS - Software compression can impact performance for online games. We advise that you turn all software compression off when playing Battlefield 1942 over a modem. IN GAME - By always keeping your command interface hidden (toggle with F8) you should improve your performance while playing. If you still want to leave it up you can make sure that you have turned your Radio Tooltips off in the "Options" > "Customize". This should give you better performance. Both of these changes will most be most noticeable on low end systems. ================================================================== RADIO COMMANDS ================================================================== The bots in Single-player and COOP will respond to a limited set of radio/voice commands (F1-F7). NOTE: As when playing with actual players, sometimes the bots will not respond to your commands. This is usually because the Strategic AI has given them an over- riding command. F6 Alarms - F4: Fire in the hole! - F5: Medic! - F6: Take cover! or Check your six! (if in plane) - F7: Bail Out! This makes the bot jump out of the vehicle you are both in currently. F7 Tactics - F2: Hold position! - F5: Get in! (when in vehicle with multiple positions) - F7: Go! ================================================================== DEDICATED SERVER ================================================================== We highly recommend Battlefield servers to be run on dedicated server platforms. Currently, the best performance is on a machine with the following specifications: 8-player WinOS/800Mhz processor/256MB RAM/ADSL connection 16/32-player WinOS/1Ghz processor/256MB RAM/T1 connection 64-player WinOS/2Ghz processor/256MB RAM/T3 connection (You will need at least 4Mbit of bandwidth) As always if you can increase any of the above hardware you will improve your overall gameplay experience. ------------------------------------------------------------------ The following functionality exists in the Dedicated Server GENERAL: - Server Name: set the name which will display in the in-game browser window. - Password: set a password to allow people to connect to your server. NOTE: DO NOT USE ANY SPACES IN YOUR PASSWORD. - Time Limit: Set the time limit for certain game-modes. In CONQUEST ASSAULT if the timer reaches zero the defender will win. In CONQUEST HEAD-ON if the timer reaches zero the side with the most tickets will win. - Score Limit: Set the score limit for certain game-modes. In CAPTURE THE FLAG you get 2 pts for stealing the flag, 5 pts for recovering and 10 points for actually bringing the flag back for a capture. - Max number of player: Set the maximum number of players you want to allow on your server. NOTE: EXPERIMENT WITH LOWER SETTINGS DEPENDING ON YOUR SERVER HARDWARE AND BANDWIDTH. - Rounds per level: This determines how many rounds will be played before the map ends. - Welcome Message: Set important information here for people to see as they join your server. - Bandwidth Limit: Based on your bandwidth connection, set the appropriate limit to the information to and from your server. - Internet/Local: Select if you want to start an Internet or Local Area server. MAPS: - Game Mode: Select the game mode you wish to host: CAPTURE THE FLAG, CONQUEST, TEAM DEATH MATCH or COOP. NOTE: FOR COOP YOU MUST SET THE AI AND CPU INFORMATION EITHER FROM THE IN-GAME SERVER. - Map List: Select the maps you want to have in your server rotation. Each map has been designed with a specific number of players in mind. Keep that in mind when setting the maximum number of players for your server. Feel free to experiment with more or fewer. - 16-player: Bocage, Kursk, Wake, Berlin, Stalingrad, Battleaxe, Tobruk, - 32-player: Gazala, Midway, El Alamein, Kharkov, Battle of the Bulge, Market Garden, Guadalcanal, Omaha Beach, Iwo Jima NOTE: Depending on your hardware and bandwidth you may be need to set the max players lower to limit lag. If you have a high- end server with a bandwidth which allows 1MB or higher upload you can experiment with setting the max number of players higher than 32. GAMEPLAY: - Spawn Time: This sets the delay before the player can spawn. - Start Delay: This sets the delay before players start each map. - Ticket Ratio: Set the ratio between each side. Use this to make the tickets per side uneven...this makes for some interesting games. - Friendly Fire on/off: Toggle whether Friendly Fire is on or off. - Infantry: Set the percentage of damage a player would take if shot by another teammate. - Vehicles: Set the percentage of damage a player would take if shot by another teammate who is in a vehicle. - Infantry Splash: Set the percentage of damage a player would take if a teammate exploded a bomb or grenade nearby. - Vehicles Splash: Set the percentage of damage a player would take if a teammate in a vehicle fired a shell or dropped a bomb nearby. - Projectile backfire: Set the percentage of mirror damage to a player if he shoots another player on his team with any bullet or shell. - Explosion backfire: Set the percentage of mirror damage to player if he explodes a grenade or bomb near another player on his team. ADVANCED: - Target nametags: Set the distance at which enemy nametags appear. - Friendly nametags: Set the distance at which friendly nametags appear. - Free spectator camera: Toggle this to allow the spectator camera. - External views: Toggle this to allow external 3rd person camera views in vehicles. - Nose Camera: Toggle this to allow players to turn off the cock- pit view while in airplanes. - Autoswitch teams: Toggle this to have balanced numbers of players per team according to current map. IP SETTINGS NOTE: This functionality is to be used if you are running Battlefield 1942 on a dual-processor system. In order to make this work do the following: - Install the game as usual - Make a copy of the installed directory - Run one dedicated server from the original install and another dedicated server from the copy. - Detect Automatically: check this if you want the game to check for the IP automatically. - IP Address: manually set the IP address you want the game to use. - Port: manually set the port you want the game to use. ================================================================== SERVER ADMIN COMMANDS ================================================================== GENERAL COMMANDS: - Game.listplayers Every player has an ID number, which is used for kicking/voting off the player. This command lists those numbers. - Game.listmaps Every map on the server has an ID number, which is used for voting to change maps. This command lists those numbers. - Game.enablefreecamera * This enables free look mode on clients who are waiting to spawn. For *, 1 turns free look on, 0 turns it off. Note that this command can only be run from the server, or by a user that has remote server access. ADMIN COMMANDS: - Admin.kickplayer * * is equal to the player id number. Note that this command can only be run from the server, or by a user that has remote server access. - Admin.banplayer * * is equal to the player id number. Note that this command can only be run from the server, or by a user that has remote server access. - Admin.removeaddressfrombanlist * * is equal to the IP of a banned player. Note that this command can only be run from the server, or by a user that has remote server access. - Admin.changemap * * is equal to the map name. Note that this command can only be run from the server, or by a user that has remote server access. - Admin.addaddresstobanlist * * is equal to the IP address to the client that is to be banned. Note that this command can only be run from the server, or by a user that has remote server access. - Admin.clearbanlist This allows all users that were previously banned to once again connect to the server. Note that this command can only be run from the server, or by a user that has remote server access. - Admin.externalviews * This command enables/disables external camera views on clients connected to the server. For *, 1 turns external views on, 0 turns it off. Note that this also disables the nose cam. Also, note that this command can only be run from the server, or by a user that has remote server access. - Admin.listbannedaddresses Lists the IP addresses that are banned from connecting to the server. Note that this command can only be run from the server, or by a user that has remote server access. - Admin.allownosecam * This command enables/disables the ability for clients to turn off the airplane HUD. (Allows easier flying.) For *, 1 turns nose cam on, 0 turns it off. Also note that if external views are turned off, nose cam cannot be used. Note that this command can only be run from the server, or by a user that has remote server access. VOTING COMMANDS: - Game.votemap * This command will initiate/cast a vote to change maps on the server. * is equal to the map id number. - Game.votekickplayer * This command will initiate/cast a vote to kick a player. Players on both teams can participate in this vote. * is equal to the player id number. - Game.votekickteamplayer * This command will initiate/cast a vote to kick a player. Voting is restricted to the team of the player who initiated the vote. * is equal to the player id number. - Admin.votingtime * This command sets the amount of time clients have to cast a vote after it has been initiated. * is equal to the number of seconds clients will have to vote. Note that this command can only be run from the server, or by a user that has remote server access. REMOTE CONSOLE ACCESS: - The server needs to have this command executed every map. The password can include numbers OR letters, but not a combination of the two. NOTE: DO NOT INCLUDE ANY SPACES IN YOUR PASSWORD. Admin.enableremoteadmin password - The client that is to have remote admin access is to execute this command. The password must be the same as the one set on the server Admin.enableremoteadmin password - To execute a command from a client, one would type the admin.execremotecommand, followed by the desired admin command in quotation marks. For example, to kick someone with the player id of 7 from a client machine, one would type the following (after going through the first two steps of this section.) admin.execremotecommand "admin.kickplayer 7" Or, to change maps, one would use this command: admin.execremotecommand "admin.changemap tobruk" OTHER HELPFUL COMMANDS: - Console.showfps * This toggles the FPS display on and off. For *, 1 turns FPS on and 0 turns it off. - Console.showstats * This toggles the debug stats display on and off. For *, 1 turns the debug stats display on and 0 turns it off. - Game.changeplayername * This allows a user to quickly change his name. * is equal to the player name. ================================================================== MISCELLANEOUS ================================================================== LANDING CRAFT RAMPS - When commanding a landing craft (the driver seat) use the arrow keys up/down to lower and raise the ramp. This helps your team clear the landing craft quickly. SINGLE-PLAYER GAME - Battlefield 1942 will set your default number of bots in singleplayer for best performance based on your hardware configuration. If you have a Recommended system (800 Mhz/256MB RAM/64 MB video card) this should fall around 12-20 depending on the map. Systems which meet the minimum requirement will be under that, and systems above the Recommended system requirements will be above that. You can always adjust that number if you desire prior to playing a map. CLEAR KEY-BINDING - If you have mapped a key to a command in the Options section you can clear it one of two ways: 1) You can map another key to that command or 2) You can select that mapped key and press the ESC to delete all keys bound to that command. PLAYER LIST - The in-game player list (TAB) will only show the first 20 players in each team on a map. If your score sets you as the 20+ player, your name will be displayed as the 20th player on the list. IWO JIMA/OMAHA BEACH - These two maps are special CONQUEST ASSAULT maps. For both of these, once the attacking player takes the beach landing, the defender CANNOT retake it. It will not appear as a non- captureable flag. However, as long as the defender holds the other flags on the land the attacking tickets will slowly degrade as in other ASSAULT maps. LANDMINES/DEMOLITION PACKS - An engineer can disarm these by crouching and using the wrench. When this is done, they will appear in your inventory up to the maximum allowed. SNIPER ZOOM - To stay zoomed in while sniping, keep the FIRE button depressed AFTER you shoot. As long as you keep that button pressed you will remain zoomed and can see the chaos your shot caused. Once you release the button, you will unzoom and reload. COMMAND INTERFACE SPAM - When you use the command interface too many times in a row which could be considered as spamming, your interface will be disabled for a short while. YELLOW ICONS on MINIMAP - When someone use the command interface their icon will flash in yellow on the minimap for a brief moment. This is to give you quicker feedback on their location and thereby the importance of that message for you. ALT-TAB - Battlefield 1942 does not support the ALT-TAB functionality. WinXP ISSUES - Fast-User Switching is not supported by Battlefield 1942. - Limited User accounts are not supported by Battlefield 1942, you must have administrator access to install or uninstall Battle- field 1942. If you are playing under a Limited User account, you must use the Run as Administrator option. RED SERVER NAMES - Red server names indicate a password protected server. ================================================================== Flight School 101 ================================================================== Are you having trouble flying? Do you consider those airplanes as nothing more than flying coffins? Are your buddies making fun of you while they fly upside-down underneath those bridges? Well, read the following and soon they'll be the ones running for cover when you appear in the skies overhead. If this is your first time flying, you'll want to try the single-seat fighters first. Then the dive-bombers and finally the B-17 Heavy Bomber. Good luck and good hunting! KEYBOARD FLYING - Is the fine art of flying with the mouse eluding you? If so, try the style preferred by the developer, DICE, keyboard combat. You can have a more stable flying experience by using the arrow keys on your keyboard, without all the ups and downs of mouse flying. And if that doesn't suit you, grab a joystick and try flying with that. But be warned, this isn't a flight-simulator...so the game won't support all of those nifty features like a hat-switch and whatnot. MOUSE FLYING - Is your natural inclination when flying to pull back or push forward to go up? In either case, Battlefield 1942 supplies you with the controls to do either. To toggle the invert function on/ off go to Main Menu>Options>Controls>AIR tab and check or uncheck the INVERT MOUSE box. MOUSE SENSITIVITY - Setting the sensitivity of the mouse control can affect how easy you control your airplane. To change this setting go to Main Menu> Options>Controls>AIR tab and move the slider up or down. To see if the setting suits you, try climbing to altitude and dive then pull up abruptly. You can always PAUSE the game; press ESC to go the main menu and change the setting on the fly. Press ESC to go back in the game and see if it's how you like it. BOMBS AWAY - Dropping bombs is all about skill and putting the iron on the spot. Practice makes perfect, but in general you'll always want to drop that bomb sooner than you might think. The bomb will arc forward because of momentum. Use the camera controls F11-12 to see how the bombs drop. COCKPIT VIEW - While in the cockpit, hold the mouse-look button down (default is Left SHIFT) and use the mouse to look around. Release the button to go back to regular flying with the mouse NO COCKPIT VIEW - If you want to really experience flying as it was meant to be... press F9 when you are in the cockpit. This will turn the cockpit view OFF (provided the server has Nosecam turned on). You can also fly in 3rd person mode by pressing F10. ================================================================== Troubleshooting ================================================================== VIDEO CARD DRIVERS - It is highly recommended to go to your video card manufacturer's website and download updated drivers for your card. SOUND CARD DRIVERS - It is highly recommended to go to your sound card manufacturer's website and download updated drivers for your card. ================================================================== Other Issues ================================================================== SOUND CARD - Note that the game might not run if your system lacks a sound card. Also, your soundcard must support DirectX 8.0. This differs depending on operating system. GAME RESOLUTION - Changing resolution might affect the quality of the fonts in the menu. The game operates best with the default resolution of 800x600x32. DESKTOP RESIZING - Some systems may not resize the desktop upon exiting the game. The user can manually go into desktop properties and reset this. KEYBOARD CONTROLS - Some PC keyboards cannot recognize certain combinations of 3 or more simultaneously pressed keys. This is an inherent problem unrelated to Battlefield 1942. EJECTING CD-ROM - Do not eject the CD-rom while installing the game. This has resulted in blue screen crashes on some systems. CHANGING RESOLUTION WHEN HOSTING A GAME: - When hosting a non dedicated server you should avoid changing your settings as some clients may get disconnected while the changes are being set. ================================================================== Useful Web Sites ================================================================== http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com Keep your Windows installation up to date. http://www.battlefield1942.com The official Battlefield 1942 website. http://www.dice.se Developer’s homepage. ================================================================== Third Party Legal Information ================================================================== Battlefield 1942 uses Bink Video Technology. Copyright © 1997-2000 by RAD Game Tools, Inc. ================================================================== DICE Copyright ================================================================== Copyright © 2002 Digital Illusions CE AB. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.