Fighter Duel 1.95 update   September 2,1996

(c)1996, Philips Media Publishing, Inc.
Written by Jaeger Software, Inc. and SPGS, Inc.
in association with Philips Media Publishing, Inc.

Portions (c) 1993-1996 SciTech Software
Portions (c) 1996 Miles Design

***************************************************************************
IMPORTANT: This update must be setup to work correctly.
See the Installation section below.
***************************************************************************

This archive updates all versions of Fighter Duel, USA and International
editions.

This update addresses all known repairable situations encountered
with the version 1.0 update release.

It also includes several new features not included with the version 1.0 update.

It WILL be necessary to recalibrate your controls with this new update.

Please also see the original README.TXT below the update text for more
information and or troubleshooting.

The file PERFORM.TXT contains updated performance data on the Fighter Duel
aircraft.

The file KEYS.TXT contains a listings of all keyboard commands for Fighter
Duel.
____________________________________________________________________________

Fighter Duel Update

Installation:
This update works on minimal and full installations.
The contents of this update should be placed into the FDUEL directory on your
hard disk. It is a self extracting archive. Uncompress by typing
its name and hitting enter.

EXAMPLE:
        FDUPDV3.EXE (enter)

When asked, allow it to overwrite files.

After installing this update into the FDUEL directory, type setupFD and
hit enter. The video driver will be updated.

Once installed and setup, run FD as usual.
Please check and if necessary reset your flight, rudder, and throttle controls.
If you are upgrading from anything, but the version 2 update, recalibration
will be necessary.

Please read the New Features section for new program operation.


New Features:

VIDEO
*****************************************************************************

This update includes Scitech's Univbe 5.2 for SVGA
video compatibility and 32bit access.


AIRCRAFT
*****************************************************************************

Several new aircraft are included with this update, the Japanese A6M2,
A6M3, and A6M8 Zeros. The addition of these Zero models follows the development
of the Zero through the course of WWII.  


JOYSTICK
*****************************************************************************

Many new joysticks are supported. Programming files for joysticks such as the
Thrustmaster FLCS are included in this archive.  As some keyboard behavior has
changed, it may be necessary to either use the enclosed files or to reprogram
any flight controller that outputs keyboard hits.


Joystick calibration has been significantly enhanced.
To calibrate the stick and rudder, start flying in any mode, center the
all controls including joystick and its trim if equipped, and rudder pedals.
Press and release the "0" (Zero) on the main keyboard.
Move the stick and rudder pedals through their extremes of travel.
The limits of controller movement are monitored for approximately thirty
seconds. During this time, the gunsight will flash on and off as confirmation
that the limits are being checked.
The aircraft may appear unstable until you complete this.

To calibrate the throttle, set it to minimum, press the "-" (Dash).
Move the throttle to full.
The limits of controller movement are monitored approximately thirty seconds.
During this time, the gunsight will flash on and off as confirmation
that the limits are being checked.

The center calibration and controller limits will now be saved on program exit
and reloaded the next time you fly.

Due to the processor overhead in two player, you may need to recalibrate while
flying in two player mode. This is especially true if you attempt to fly two
player from a Windows 95 MS-DOS prompt. We do not recommend flying two player
from a Windows 95 MS-DOS prompt.
Calibration is now allowed in two player modes.

The new file CONTROLS.CFG controls top hat views, fire button function, and
joystick/rudder deadzones and some other misc. extra settings. Editing this file
with an ASCII editor such as the DOS Edit program or Windows Notepad/Word to
change from the default settings. This is a feature for advanced cyber pilots
to allow maximum configurability of Fighter Duel.
The controls.cfg file contains instructions on its use.

You may setup two sets of views for the top hat switches on
CH FlightStick Pro and Thrustmaster FCS style joysticks. The program starts with
the primary set and you can switch to the secondary set by hitting the user
configurable button.(See above paragraph) Which of the keypad views you have can be
selected in the controls.cfg file.

You may optionally add a deadzone to the joystick and rudder. This is very
helpful in smoothing out the joystick when running in a MS-DOS box under
Windows 95.  Again, this amount is altered by editing the CONTROLS.CFG file.  The file contains

Partial instruments display has been added.
The second fire button of the joystick used to toggle between instruments and
full screen view.  Whatever button is now set for instrument change now switches
from full instruments to just the top half of the instruments, and then to full
instruments. 

The armament of the aircraft is now divided into two banks. The CONTROLS.CFG
file may be edited to allow you to have a stick button fire just the first
set, the second set, or both. If an aircraft has machine guns and cannons, the
first bank is machine guns and the second is cannons. Aircraft that have three
different kinds of weapons will put two on the primary and the other on the
secondary. When one bank runs out, it will no longer fire.
Default configuration is to fire both gun banks with fire button 1, the primary
trigger.


Support for the Gravis PC GamePad has been added. Similar to the new keyboard
control, roll input will stop when the controller centers and the pitch will
accumulate.



KEYBOARD
*****************************************************************************
Several changes have been made to the keyboard commands.
The file KEYS.TXT details the entire program command set.

Screen saving is now done with the TAB key.

The "a" key now cycles through three modes. It starts with the aiming
reticule and hit counter, then the hit counters are removed, and finally
no aiming reticule or hit counter is shown and guns are disarmed.

Switching between the primary and secondary hat views for the non-programmable
joysticks such as the CH FlightStick Pro and the Thrustmaster FCS may be done
with the Backspace key.

Keyboard flight control is now an option in the pre-flight interface.
The directional arrow keys control pitch and roll. You cannot use the arrow
keys on the numeric keypad. The guns may be fired with the spacebar, right
CTRL key, or "0"(ZERO) on the numeric keypad.  The right CTRL key fires just
the primary armament bank and the "0"(ZERO) on the numeric keypad fires the
second bank. Roll will stop when you release the directional arrow keys, pitch
will accumlate. This allows one to stay with the enemy more easily.

The out the cockpit views on the numeric keypad do not stick on by default.
They remain only as long as you hold down the key.  Stickiness is selected
by editing the CONTROLS.CFG file.

Aircraft trim adjusted by the directional arrow keys is now saved individually
for each aircraft. The trim is zeroed by hitting the "+"(plus) key on the
main keyboard and when the flight control is calibrated.

While in the aircraft viewer, the left and right directional arrow keys now
change the plane selection. The right arrow is the same as hitting the NEXT
button and the left arrow goes backward in the list.

The + and - keys on the numeric keypad will increase and lower the throttle
as well as the z and x keys.

When stalls are enabled, you may toggle off the stall beep sound with the
k key.  Your preference for stall beep at start of flight is configurable
from the CONTROLS.CFG file.

The airspeed indicator can be toggled from IAS Indicated Air Speed to TAS, True
Air Speed with the m key.  Your preference for IAS or TAS at start of flight
is configurable from the CONTROLS.CFG file.

A limited data display or HUD is available by hitting the j key.  Text will
appear showing your IAS Indicated Air Speed, TAS True Air Speed, Heading,
and Altitude. The HUD will display in miles per hour and feet for English
installations and in kilometers per hour and meters for all other languages.
It will display during all views including out the
cockpit and exterior views. You may select the HUD to be on by default by
editing its entry in the CONTROLS.CFG file.


TWO PLAYER
*****************************************************************************

Please note that this update is NOT compatible with the original release of
Fighter Duel OR the update in two player modes.

Fighter Duel now sends a message about its version to the opponent when you
hook up. If you don't see this message from your opponent on your machine, the
opponent does not have an equivalent version.

This message will also help your opponent realize you have a newer version.
Please feel free to send him or her a copy of this update archive
when released.

Radio communication has been added in this release. Radio communication is
turned on with the / (slash) key and off with the Enter key. Once you press /,
you are in Talk mode. A prompt character, the > along with a flashing cursor
will appear. When in Talk mode, you cannot use the keyboard to control the
aircraft. Only ESC will work. Joysticks that output keyboard commands will
not control the aircraft, they will type output on the Talk Out line.
Press Enter to quit Talk mode. When you quit Talk mode, the text you
entered and the cursor will disappear.  When your opponent Talks to you, the
text will appear on your screen.
If you or your opponent types more than the 79 characters that fill the screen,
the entire text line will scroll to the left. The Text display on your
opponent's screen will clear when you enter Talk mode again or after about
20 seconds of no input from you.

If the HUD is enabled, the incoming and outgoing text will appear slightly
higher on the screen to leave room for the HUD.

Two player also has a macro chat feature. The file CHAT.TXT contains twelve
lines of text that will be displayed when you enter Talk mode and hit the
F1 - F12 keys. You may edit the file with any ASCII text editor or word
processor that can load and save ASCII. Some examples are in the file.


GENERAL CHANGES:
******************************************************************************

If your computer does not have enough free ram to load an enemy aircraft,
they will fly the same aircraft as you do with whatever skill level you set for
them.  The flight log and pre-flight interface however, will not report them
as the same as your aircraft. 

The Turn Indicator on the instrument panel now reflects rate of turn as it
should. One needle width shows a rate of turn of approximately 180 degrees
in one minute.

When you are killed, the view now changes to an outside view and you will see
your plane and an explosion or splash.

Catch wires on the aircraft carrier are limited to the south end of the
carrier unless Full Force Flight Model is turned off.

Quite a bit of tuning has gone into the aerodynamic model  and armament
performance of each aircraft.

You will find that the roll rates and response at a given airspeed are very
closely modeled.

Prop induced drag is now part of the flight model. You may now throttle down
to help slowdown in fast dives or on landing.

The Full Force Flight Model button now makes a more apparent change in
flight behavior.  When FFM is off, spins are not allowed, the roll rate is
always pretty fast, etc.

Historically, most machine guns and cannons on WWII aircraft could only safely
fire 75 or so rounds so that the weapon would not overheat or jam.
A pilot would be instructed to then wait 1 minute and fire 20 rounds and 20
rounds each minute thereafter. This would result in a firing time of only a few
seconds at a time. In the interest of gameplay, the guns in Fighter Duel do
not jam, but the lethality of all weapons have been reduced to force you to
hit the enemy more often to damage them.

Fighter Duel can run in six languages, English, German, French, Spanish,
Italian, and Dutch. To change languages, run Fighter Duel with a lang argument.
Example: FD LANG <enter>
This will bring up the language choice screen.

The conventional memory requirements are now about 400k, down from 500k.


REPORTED PROBLEMS AND FIXES
******************************************************************************

Problem: Program wouldn't fly with Matrox Millenium video boards.

The Matrox Millenium is not properly supported by the UNIVBE video driver
software version 5.1. Use the UVSETUP.EXE program to switch to 5.2.


Problem: Pre-flight interface sometimes appears black after a flight on ATI Mach
32 and Mach 64 video cards.

Fixed


Problem: Plane movement of enemy sometimes not smooth in two player.

Fixed. Please note that Fighter Duel provides a tremendous amount of real-time
data to make your flight path appear very smooth to your opponent.  This means
that good phone lines, high speed FIFO serial port hardware, and quality modems
all help your Fighter Duel two player duels work better.

Problem: Joystick doesn't appear to be read at all.

Fighter Duel was sometimes fooled into thinking that a Colorado Systems Notebook
Gameport was installed when it wasn't.
Fixed.

Problem: There doesn't seem to be enough joystick response.

Fighter Duel now proportions the joystick response over the sticks whole range,
see the New Features section on calibration.

Problem: The video display is all garbled on my video card which has an
ARK2000PV video chipset.

The ARK2000PV chipset is not properly supported by the UNIVBE video driver
software version 5.1.  Use the UVSETUP.EXE program to switch to 5.2.

Problem: The video display is all garbled on my Diamond Viper video card.

The Weitek chipset on the Diamond Viper card does not allow some of the
advanced, but VESA standard commands that Fighter Duel uses.  This causes the
instrument panel to display in odd places and a lot of flicker.
This is in fact a hardware limitation that as far as we know only exists
on this video chipset of the 160+ that Fighter Duel supports.
Scitech software, the makers of Univbe are attempting to make a software work
around for this situation for the next release of Univbe.

*****************************************************************************
Original Fighter Duel readme.txt file follows.

Thank you for purchasing Fighter Duel.
This file contains general information and last minute notes that became in
effect after manual preparation.


The contents are:

1.  Memory

2.  Windows 95

3.  Video

4.  Sound

5.  Two Player

6.  Screengrabs

7.  Digital Simultaneous Voice & Data modems

8.  Notebook Gameport

9.  Troubleshooting


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. MEMORY:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fighter Duel Memory Requirements:

400k of conventional ram,
7 megs of XMS or EMS.

To see the free memory, type Mem and hit return on DOS 6.X or higher machines.
The output should look something like this. This system is pretty well
optimized.

Memory Type        Total       Used       Free
----------------  --------   --------   --------
Conventional          636K        34K       602K
Upper                 107K       107K         0K
Reserved                0K         0K         0K
Extended (XMS)     23,445K       181K    23,264K <----Should be 7,000 or larger
----------------  --------   --------   --------
Total memory       24,188K       322K    23,866K

Total under 1 MB      743K       141K       602K

Total Expanded (EMS)                   23M (24,543,232 bytes)  
Free Expanded (EMS)                    16M (16,777,216 bytes)  

Largest executable program size       602K (616,224 bytes) <-----400k or larger 
Largest free upper memory block         0K       (0 bytes)  
MS-DOS is resident in the high memory area.

To get more conventional memory please see your DOS manual for usage of
the Memmaker program.

Seven megabytes of XMS/EMS ram is the minimum Fighter Duel needs to safely run.
If your computer does not not have enough free ram to load an enemy aircraft,
they will fly the same aircraft as you do with whatever skill level you set for
them.  The flight log and pre-flight interface however, will not report them
as the same as your aircraft. 


You should be able to get all eight different enemy at once available with about
7.3Mb of XMS available.

Do NOT edit or delete the CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT on your hard disk with out
making a backup copy first. It is safest to copy them to a floppy for backup.

The largest memory consumer on modern Dos machines is the SmartDrive hard disk
caching program used in DOS and Windows 3.1.

On an 8 meg machine unless set otherwise, it will use 2 megs of ram for its
cache. The line in the autoexec.bat line that launches usually is something
like "C:\Windows\Smartdrv" Either comment the line in the autoexec.bat file
with a leading ; or reduce Smartdrive''s cache size. The number at the end of
the Smartdrive line sets the cache size in bytes. Try 256 or 512. Disabling
Smartdrive entirely will usually significantly slow down Windows 3.X
performance. Especially loading and exiting of Windows 3.1.

If you still cannot get enough free memory to run Fighter Duel, it will be
necessary to make a boot disk.

To make a Fighter Duel boot floppy:

Format a floppy with the option to make it bootable.
Example:  FORMAT A: /S
Copy your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT from your hard drive to the floppy.
Change to the floppy.
Edit the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files on the floppy.

See your DOS manual for details on how to work with CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT.
The only items Fighter Duel requires are a mouse driver and a CD-ROM driver.

Here is an example of a minimum startup:

[CONFIG.SYS]

DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DOS=HIGH
FILES=50
BUFFERS=30
<< ANY SOUND RELATED COMMANDS >>
<< CD-ROM DRIVER >>

[AUTOEXEC.BAT]

PROMPT P$G$
PATH C:\DOS
<< ANY SOUND RELATED COMMANDS >>
<< MOUSE DRIVER >>
<< VESA DRIVER IF NEEDED >>
C:\DOS\MSCDEX << some additional text follows here >>
CD C:\ << CD to the logical drive to which you installed Fighter Duel >>
CD FDUEL << CD to the directory in which Fighter Duel is installed >>
FD

Include only the items listed above. Delete or add the word "REM" to the start
of any line that is not mentioned above.

Restart your computer with your new boot disk in drive A:
The machine should boot, not show any error messages and directly run
Fighter Duel.



----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. WINDOWS 95
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fighter Duel will generally perform better when not run from a Windows 95
MS-DOS prompt.

When Fighter Duel is run from a Windows 95 Ms-DOS prompt, it will
attempt to determine if you in fact have enough actual free memory available.
Depending on programs run in the Windows startup and or other
Windows features such as networking, you may not have enough actual free
memory to run Fighter Duel. Windows does have a memory virtualizing system
that usually can give Fighter Duel the memory it needs by shifting other
programs in memory temporarily to the hard disk.  We found the delays and
and or large pauses during flight unacceptable. We recommend that you either
shutdown Windows 95 and restart the computer in MS-DOS mode or create a shortcut
to put your computer into MS-DOS mode while running Fighter Duel.
memory. 


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. VIDEO:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fighter Duel requires VESA compatibility for video access.
VESA stands for the Video Electronics Standard Association.
VESA video programming standards allow programmers a common way to access
video cards.

Modern video cards usually offer VESA software compatibility via either a
built-in chip called a BIOS chip or a small TSR program run from the
autoexec.bat file.

Fighter Duel utilizes some standard high performance VESA commands that are not
properly implemented on some video card VESA bios. For compatibility and speed,
we provide VESA compatibility through the Scitech Univbe Ultra VESA graphic
library. It provides fast 32 bit protected mode VESA 2.0 graphic compatibility
on over 200 video chipsets. Most video cards do not come with the newer VESA 2.0
standard which Univbe provides. Fighter Duel has been designed to automatically
detect and use Vesa 2.0. For best performance, use the Univbe driver with
Fighter Duel.

Univbe is updated regularly. As updates become available, a patch for Fighter
Duel will be made available.

If after installation, no error messages about VESA compatibility are reported
on the command line, but the opening title pictures do not display properly or
the screen does not display properly during flight, your video board may not
be compatible with Univbe.


The first thing to try is to use your video card's built-in VESA BIOS.
Please note that some built-in VESA BIOS on some cards are not Fighter Duel
compatible.

To disable UNIVBE:

Type NOUVESA from the FDuel directory.  This will delete the Univbe driver
file and Fighter Duel will then use your video card's built-in VESA.
Please note that some video cards require that you run a small VESA
compatibility program for VESA compatibility.


To reenable UNIVBE,
Type UVESA from the FDuel directory. This will generate a Univbe driver and
Fighter Duel will use it the next time it is run.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. SOUND:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Miles Design AIL sound system is used for universal sound support.
On installation, the AIL Setsound.exe program is run. Follow its instructions
to configure for your sound board.

You may reconfigure or check your configuration later by typing
Setsound.exe while in the FDuel directory.

Please note that the master volume level for your sound card is a combination
of its volume knob (if equipped) and sound levels set via program command
parameter set in either your autoexec.bat file or by Windows. If the sound
seems too low, check the master volume levels in the autoexec.bat file and or
Windows sound control first.

Windows 95 will set the volume on Reveal Se400- Rev3 and Aztech Gold Washington
Sound Galaxy 16 sound cards to zero when restarting into MS-DOS mode.
The Volset.exe program will need to be run and the volume set back up before
running Fighter Duel.

Please refer to your sound card manual for details on the possible autoexec.bat
program command parameters.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. TWO PLAYER:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please note that Fighter Duel provides a tremendous amount of real-time
data to make your flight path appear very smooth to your opponent.  This means
that good phone lines, high speed FIFO serial port hardware, and quality modems
all help your Fighter Duel two player duels work better.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. SCREENGRABS:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fighter Duel has the built-in ability to screen grab what you are seeing
while either viewing the aircraft or flying.
Hit the TAB  key to save a 256 color 640x480 PCX format file.
Fighter Duel saves the file as a sequence beginning with FDuel0001.pcx.
Please note that screengrabbing during two player flight will interrupt the
flight for a second or two, causing an interruption in your movement to the
opponent. Screengrabbing is only allowed in the Standard Two player situation.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. DIGITAL SIMULTANEOUS VOICE & DATA MODEMS:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fighter Duel supports the new Digital Simultaneous Voice and Data Modems (DSVD)
created by a joint a venture of Intel, U.S. Robotics, Rockwell, Creative Labs,
and Hayes. These new line of V.34 28.8 modems allow you to have two computers
transfer data at up to 14.4bps while you are simultaneously talking on the same
phone line. When the voice line is not used, they function as standard V.34
28.8 modems. You may call your Fighter Duel opponent and then have Fighter Duel
start with only a quick interruption of your call as the modems negotiate the
connection. Most modem playable software requires you to set your modem to turn
off error correction, data compression, etc.
Fighter Duel is designed to work well with your modem set with error correction
and data compression on which not only improves connection reliability, but is a
requirement for DSVD modems.


Using a DSVD modem with Fighter Duel:

Enter the special DSVD init string in the Fighter Duel communications Init CMD.
This init string will function properly for connecting to DSVD as well as
non-DSVD modems.

The initialization strings for the U.S. Robotics 28.8 Digital DSVD and the
Rockwell 28.8 Digital DSVD are:

USR 28.8 Digital DSVD      | AT&F1-SSE=1
Rockwell 28.8 Digital DSVD | ATQOE1V1-SSE=1

Place a voice call to your opponent with a phone attached through the modem.
Set up Fighter Duel as if you are making a regular modem duel call including
setting the connection type to modem and selecting a phone number to dial.

When you both are ready, the Caller will click the "Dial Phone" button and
the Answerer will click the "Answer" button.  The voice line will temporarily
be disconnected as the modems negotiate their connection.  You will then hear
a beep and the voice line should be reestablished. Fighter Duel should show
the normal connect messages and be ready for the duel. You can then talk freely
as you fly duels. To fully hang up the line, disconnect Fighter Duel and hang
up both phones.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. NOTEBOOK GAMEPORT:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

In addition to supporting standard PC gameports, Fighter Duel supports the
Colorado Spectrum Notebook Gameport (NG). The NG allows you to connect your
joystick, yoke, and/or rudder pedals to your notebook or desktop PC via a
standard serial port. To use the NG with Fighter Duel, install the hardware
as outlined in the NG manual, install the NG software driver, and check
its operation with the NG diagnostic program, NGDIAG.EXE. Whenever the NG is
attached and the software driver, NG.EXE is run, Fighter Duel will
automatically use it for all joystick, yoke, and/or rudder pedal functions.
Set the Flight, Throttle, and Rudder controls in the Fighter Duel pre-flight
interface as you would normally. Please note that toe brakes are not supported
through the NG.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. TROUBLE SHOOTING:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"FIGHTER DUEL REPORTS THAT I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH VIDEO MEMORY"

FDuel requires 1 meg of video ram.  If in fact you do have 1 or more megs of
video ram, you may have to manually configure the Univbe video driver.
To do this, enter the FDuel directory, type "uvconfig" and hit enter. A screen
will display that shows your detected video chipset and a guess at the video
memory. If the memory figure shows 256 or 512, use your mouse pointer to click
the down arrow to the far right of the video memory number.

Change it to match the amount of ram on your video card. Do not adjust it for
more memory than your card has.

Do not select or change the options labeled "Ignore old VBE BIOS",
"Disable VBE 2.0 extensions", or "Disable Linear Frame Buffer".
Click "OK". Uvconfig may ask to do some quick tests on your video board.
Allow it to do so. When it exits, try Fighter Duel again.

"I ONLY GET A FEW ENEMY"

In low memory situations, Fighter Duel will reduce the number of foes.
See the section above regarding memory.

"FIGHTER DUEL REPORTS I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH CONVENTIONAL OR XMS MEMORY"

See the section above regarding memory.

"WHILE FLYING THE GUNSIGHT AND OR THE OVER THE SHOULDER VIEW FLICKERS"

Fighter Duel is very optimized to go as fast as it can at all times.
On very fast systems with very fast video cards flicker may occur.
On systems where you may use the UNIVBE video driver, the "Decrease Frame rate
to Reduce Flicker" option in the graphics control window should stop the
flicker. Unless you experience flickering, do not use
this option as it will needlessly reduce your frame rate.

"I GET NO SOUND"

The sound volume on your sound card may be too low. See the section above on
sound.

