                   Theater of War - Addendum  June 17 1992

                 (things that didn't make it into the manual)



Configuration Problems
======================

Theater of war needs lots of memory to operate.  One of the most common
problems with getting the game to work is a configuration that doesn't
leave enough memory for Theater of War.  Besides the usual technique of
removing TSRs (memory resident programs) and drivers, you have to deal
with extended memory managers (EMM386, QEMM386 and so on).  The memory
manager has to be told to leave enough expanded memory for Theater of
War to use (a couple of megabytes of expanded should be sufficient, less
memory slows down the game by making it reload graphics and sound from
disk, more makes it a bit faster).


EMM386.SYS
----------

If you are using Microsoft's EMM386, set it up so that it sets aside a
couple of megabytes of expanded memory for the game to use.  The
relevant line in the C:\CONFIG.SYS file should look something like the
line shown here (consult your DOS manual for details).  You should also
try to use the latest (DOS 5.0) version if you are having problems with
an older version.  Finally, if you have a Soundblaster, you may have to
add a "d=32" to the line.

DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE 2000 ram auto


QEMM386.SYS
-----------

If you are using Quarterdeck's QEMM386 then set it up so that it gives a
couple of megabytes of expanded memory to the game.  Its default setting
will probably do this.  If you have a Soundblaster, you may also have to
add a "DMA=32" to the C:\CONFIG.SYS line that activates QEMM386.


VESA Super-VGA Video Drivers
----------------------------

Theater of War uses a VESA video driver to talk to your VGA graphics
hardware.  If you don't already have a VESA driver installed, the
Theater of War install program will try to add one.  If it fails, you
will have to manually add a VESA driver.  The driver is usually in the
form of a small file which gets invoked from your C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

Your video card should come with one and with instructions for
installing it.  If it doesn't (possibly because your computer came
bundled with a pre-installed VGA card), contact the bundler and ask for
the VESA driver.  Alternatively, you can try finding out what make of
VGA board is in your computer and obtain the appropriate VESA driver.


SoundBlaster Installation & Selection
-------------------------------------

During the installation of Theatre of War, you are asked if you have a
SoundBlaster compatible card, and if so which type. You can select '0'
to have Theatre of War try to automatically figure out which card you
have, but you must have used the SoundBlaster installation software or
modified your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to include the SoundBlaster environment
variables. Without this information, '0' will result in AdLib sound.


SoundBlaster & DMA Problems
---------------------------

Creative Lab's Soundblaster hardware (and clones) uses DMA (direct
memory access) to play the sound waveforms.  If your memory manager
(EMM386 or QEMM386) isn't set up to allow DMA or doesn't allow DMA
transfers of size 30k (30000 bytes) then you will get warnings from the
memory manager about DMA transfers being too big.  You then have to add
a parameter to your C:\CONFIG.SYS file telling the memory manager to
allow such transfers.  Add a parameter of "DMA=32" for QEMM386, "D=32"
for EMM386.


AdLib Problems
--------------

While playing Theatre of War with the AdLib sound option, occasionally
the sound may become 'garbled'. Should this happen, the system is likely
to lock up shortly thereafter. This can be avoided by turning the sound
on and off. To do so, press the 'M' key twice after hearing garbled sound.


Mouse & COM Port Confusion
--------------------------

If you are using a serial port mouse and specify that the serial two
player game uses that port for the remote link, the mouse will stop
working when you try to play a remote link game.  You will also see lots
of meaningless text in the serial chat box.  That text is produced by
the mouse whenever you move it.

You can attempt to switch to the other COM port by using the keyboard in
this situation.  However, the switch might be unsuccessful if your
computer uses certain mouse drivers.  In that case, reboot the computer
and change the default COM port by either running Theater of War's
CONFIG.EXE or by editing the TWAR.BAT file (details in the command line
parameters section of this ReadMe file).


Keyboard Layouts
================

The keyboard keys for selecting different pieces use the top row of keys
on a standard keyboard from left to right.  Unfortunately, there are
several different "standard" keyboards so the keys may be partially out
of sequence on your keyboard.


Main Menu Keys
--------------

The main menu responds to some keys as well as to the mouse.  They are:

A - Scroll warrior set up arrow.
B - Scroll warrior set down arrow.
C - Pick first warrior set.
D - Pick second warrior set.
E - Pick third warrior set.
F - Player vs Scenario.
G - Player vs Player - same machine.
H - Player vs Player - remote link.
I - Board selector up arrow.
J - Board selector down arrow.
K - Pick first board.
L - Pick second board.
M - Pick third board.
N - Pick fourth board.
S - About box.
T - Options box:
    A - Low resolution graphics for extra speed.
    B - Background music.
    C - Sound effects.
    D - Flat board.
    Return - Exit options.
Return - Play game.
ESC - Exit to DOS.



Game Clarifications
===================

A few things have been added to the game since the manual was printed
and some things need to be explained better.  There are also a few
secret keystrokes which we won't mention :-).


Modem Play
----------

The two player remote link game needs either a direct connection between
two computers (use a null modem and a cable) or a modem connection over
the telephone system.  Here's the procedure for modems:

1)  Attach the modem to an available serial port, either COM1 or COM2.

2)  Make sure that TWAR.BAT contains the word "L0" if you are using COM1
    or the word "L1" if you are using COM2.  If you are lucky you can
    change it during the game, but that feature doesn't work with
    certain mouse drivers.

3)  Start up your usual telecommunications program and make a connection
    at the highest feasible baud rate to the other player's modem or
    to a network such as CompuServe which provides a modem to modem facility.

4)  Once the connection is complete, negotiate with the other player about
    which warrior set to play.

5)  Exit from your telecommunications program, without dropping DTR (don't
    hang up the phone).  Not all telecom programs have this feature.

6)  Start up Theater of War and pick the warrior set, two player remote
    link mode, and the board you want to play.  Then press the play button.

7)  A chat box and baud rate / COM port menu should appear.  Make sure that
    the baud rate is set to the one you used when making the connection.
    When both players are at the menu, messages typed in the chat box should
    be visible to the remote player too.  If not, then either the connection
    has been broken (look at the modem status lights to check) or the baud
    rate or COM port settings need adjusting.

8)  The player on the faster computer should press the start button.  Both
    players will then see a message saying that the board data is being
    transfered.

9)  Game play will commence.  The player who pressed the start button will
    be playing red while the other will have blue.  The blue player's
    display updates will be somewhat jerky because of the slowness of
    the serial connection.  The red player's machine is the master one
    where the game is actually being executed, blue's computer is only used
    for displaying the board and getting blue's moves.

10) Pause the game (press the space bar) if you want to chat with the
    other player.  The chat box will reappear on both computers until
    the resume button is pressed.

11) When the game ends, a chat box will appear for the last time so that
    the players can decide what to do next.  After leaving that last
    chat box, the main menu will appear.  Either play another game (go to
    step 6) or exit back to DOS from the main menu.

12) Restart your telecommunications program and use it to shut down the
    connection. You can also hang up the modem from the chat box by typing
    '+++', waiting for the OK from the modem, then type 'ATH'.

Note that if you don't have a telecommunications program, you can use
the chat box to send commands to the modem for making a connection.
Just start a two player remote link game (step 6) and then use the
startup chat box to talk to your modem.  See your modem's manual for
details about commands like ATDT555-5555 which dials a number.  It's
awkward to use a 3 line display for making a connection, but it's
possible, and often quicker than using a telecommunications program.


Direct Connection Play
----------------------

This is similar to modem play except that you don't need to use a
telecommunications program.  A null modem cable is attached between the
two computers and the procedure is shortened to steps 6 to 11 from Modem
Play.


Medieval Warrior Set
--------------------

The retreat command (keystroke R) only makes pawns retreat.  Other
pieces go into recover mode and head back towards the emperor as usual.

Pieces (except pawns and the emperor) need to go back to the emperor to
recover strength and damage.  If a piece is next to the emperor or in a
healing line then it can stop and heal, otherwise it moves towards the
emperor if possible.  The healing line-up consists of a row, column or
45 degree diagonal line of pieces starting at the emperor.  The pieces
in the line-up can't have any gaps between them and the emperor.


Great War Warrior Set
---------------------

The supply lines are similar to the ones in the Medieval Warrior Set
except that they start at the general or at a supply tent.  The general
can recover strength and health on its own.  The supply tents can only
recover from the general.  Everything else can recover from either the
general or a supply tent.  If you watch the information screen (the one
that shows bar graphs for all the men), you will see strength and health
being transfered from the supplyer to the recovering unit.  One catch is
that when the general or supply tent runs low on strength or health,
units resupplying from it stop resupplying.


Contemporary Warrior Set
------------------------

After noticing the R command in the manual, we decided to add a retreat
command to the third warrior set so that the R keystroke would do
something :-).  All the pieces have a new action button (the dog running
away icon) that makes the piece retreat.  Pressing R on the keyboard
makes all pieces retreat.

For most pieces, the retreat makes the piece move to the base.  Using
retreat while the piece is at the base makes it go into recover mode.
Pressing the base's retreat button sounds a general recall which makes
all pieces retreat.  The base repeatedly sounds the recall about once
every five seconds until it either runs out of strength or you cancel
it.

Known bug: airplanes fly backwards and tanks shoot facing in the wrong
direction for the blue player when playing over a remote link.  It looks
strange but shouldn't affect game play.

Supply lines for the Contemporary Warrior Set don't have to be straight
(the pieces in the supply line just have to be next to each other) and
can come from the base or tanks with surplus fuel.

The fighters scrambled by a radar merely get told to go to where the
enemy is.  If you have turned on hunt mode for the fighter (the heads up
display button), they will follow the enemy if he leaves the square.  If
the enemy is a ground unit, the fighter will hover over the enemy unit,
waiting for you to give the firing commands.  For aircraft enemies, the
fighter will automatically start a dogfight as long as the enemy isn't
moving away.

The rocket launchers commanded by a radar are the ones that are in the
scanning range of the radar (a diamond shape with a radius of about 8
squares).  If a rocket launcher is near two radars, it can be commanded
to fire by either one.  The radar will also only command the rocket
launcher to fire at an enemy if the shot would be within range from the
launcher.

A similar diamond shape is used for other ranges.  A bomber's shooting
range is a diamond shape with a radius of 1.  That's why the bomber can
drop a bomb in adjacent squares but not diagonally adjacent squares.

Theater of War uses binary values in the DATA_D.DAT file to set the
ranges, among other things.  At the moment the file format is
undocumented, but curious people can try experimenting with it to alter
the basic characteristics of the game.

Use of Range                        Range (radius of diamond shape)
--------------------------------    -------------------------------
Radar seeing range when on          8
Radar visibility when turned on     8
Radar command range                 8
Flying aircraft visibility          3
Flying aircraft seeing range        3
Tank visibility                     1
Tank seeing range                   0
Base visibility                     Infinitely large
Most pieces normal visibility       0
Most pieces normal seeing range     0
Ground to ground tank shell         5
Ground to ground rocket             7
Ground to air rocket                5
Air to air missile                  8
Air to ground missile               8
Air to ground bomb                  1



Command Line Parameters used in TWAR.BAT
========================================

For advanced users who know about batch files.  If you don't like the
defaults set by the CONFIG.EXE program, you can edit the TWAR.BAT file
to change the options used to start the game.  The command line
parameters for the game consist of a letter immediately followed by a
value.

B BoardFileName     Name of the board to be loaded, B????????.??? format.

D GameDirectory     Name of the subdirectory where the boards and game
                    executable are stored.  D????????.??? format.  Currently
                    not used by the games, just by the main menu to remember
                    the last warrior set played.

E SoundEffects      True (E1) if sound effects should be heard.  The effects
                    can be played by either the Soundblaster (prefered) or by
                    the Adlib device if the Soundblaster isn't there.  Can be
                    changed by the user in the middle of a game, turning on
                    and off the sound effects.

F FlatBoard         True (F1) if a flat board is to be used, false for the
                    normal bumpy board.  Note that once a board is flattened,
                    it will stay flat, even after saving and reloading it.

H HalfRes           True (H1) if the user wants to use 320x200 VGA even
                    though the computer may have higher video modes.  Forced
                    to true by the menu program  if the user only has
                    320x200 VGA.

J ShowOpening       True (J1) if the opening animation should be shown before
                    the main menu.

K SerialBaud        Current baud rate to use for the two player serial game.
                    The actual baud number is used (K110, K150, K300, K600,
                    K1200, K2400, K4800, K9600, K19200, K38400).  Note that
                    baud rates which aren't on the startup menu will be
                    displayed as 1200 baud even though they aren't.

L ComPort           Which COM port should be used for the serial modem
                    during remote linked games.  If you see garbage text
                    in the chat box when moving the mouse, you have picked
                    the mouse's COM port by mistake, possibly requiring a
                    reboot of the computer to make the mouse work again.
                    L0 COM1
                    L1 COM2

M PlayMusic         True (M1) if the music should be playing.  False (M0) for
                    quiet, the user can change this during a game, turning on
                    and off the music.

N MovesPerTurn      Number of moves player can make in one turn.

O PlayMode          O0 for one player scenario
                    O1 for two local players
                    O2 for two players over the serial port.

T TimePerTurn       Number of seconds time limit per turn.

V VideoMode         Highest video mode supported by the user's computer.
                    This mode will be used to display the main menu and
                    may be used for the game depending on the HalfRes setting.
                    All of the video modes use 8 bit (256 colour) images.
                    V0 320x200 VGA
                    V1 640x400 SVGA
                    V2 640x480 SVGA

X AdlEnable         True (X1) if Adlib sound is available.  Will load the
                    Adlib drivers for playing music.  Note that Soundblaster
                    boards also emulate Adlib boards, so both AdlEnable and
                    SblEnable will be true for a Soundblaster.

Y SblEnable         True (Y1) if Soundblaster is to be used for digitized
                    sound effects.  Will attempt to load the digitized sound
                    Soundblaster driver.  If false (Y0), Adlib sound effects
                    will be used instead, if they are available.

Z SblDriver         Z0 System automatically figures out which Soundblaster.
                    Z1 SB15 driver used.
                    Z2 SBPRO driver used.
                    Z3 SB20 driver used.
