'Commando enhanced' - by dynamite!^tlp^rmtz^ctl^d4n     Last Update: 23 Oct 98
This archive contains 'Commando enhanced' version 1.42, compiled on 23 Oct 98.
==============================================================================

-*- table of contents -*-

 1. introduction
 2. controls
 3. game elements / screen elements / goal / how to play
 4. the options menu
 5. dynamite!'s guide on how to play correctly
 6. how to contact the author / where to download future versions
 7. user levels
 8. obtaining the level editor
 9. what about graphics?
10. troubleshooting
11. closing

==============================================================================

1. introduction

    this is the enhanced version of my supposed-to-be mekka 32k entry
    'Commando 32k'. It features many new things. Check it out!

    sadly, from version 1.2 on, Commando Enhanced won't run in a Windows DOS
    Box due to limitations in the MIDAS Soundsystem, which it is using.

    btw: Someone wants to draw a gfx-set for us?? Look in the 'what about
    graphics?' section for more infos!

  #dynamite! (dn.tlp@gmx.net)

2. controls

  controlling is very easy. The game only works with keyboard. Here's the
  keytable which works in the whole game:

  +--------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
  | key:   | description:                                                |
  +--------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
  | Cursor | Any cursor keys for movement (up, down, left right)         |
  | Ctrl   | Fire Button 1 (for firing rifle & flamethrower)             |
  | Enter  |  "     "    "   "      "    "   "      "                    |
  | Space  | Fire Button 2 (for firing Grenades if available)            |
  | Alt    | Jump                                                        |
  | P      | Pause                                                       |
  | S      | Switch between scroller and statusbar                       |
  | ESC    | Quit to Highscore / Quit Game / Leave Options Menu          |
  +--------+-------------------------------------------------------------+

3. game elements / screen elements / goal / how to play

  All elements should be self explanatory. If you played shoot'em ups before,
  you shouldn't have any problems.

  short explanation of the screen elements:
  On the lower side, you see from left to right: Your score, your remaining
  grenades, your remaining lives & the current 1st place highscore.

  The lower side is always visible. When picking up specials, you will see
  that there are some infos also on the upper side. Here's the explanation:
  In the middle of the upper side, the game shows what you just picked up or
  gives other (more or less) important infos, sometimes with a time counter
  attached. The counter is _not_ a time limit in which you have to finish the
  level but it is set to the limit in which you will get time bonus points.
  In the left corner you see your remaining ammunition when carrying any
  special weapons. In the right corner there's the armor energy bar, which is
  refilled every time you pick up an armor.

  the goal of the game is (as always) just to play through all the levels,
  nothing more, nothing less.

  Playing is as easy as the rest: Just move as quickly as you can, shoot on
  anything that moves and try not to be killed. Thinking is not required but
  sometimes recommended.

  Every destroyed thing increases your score. Here's the itemtable:

  items (listed in order of their skills):
  +------------+-------+---------------------------------------------------+
  | itemname:  | pts:  | description:                                      |
  +-enemies:---+-------+---------------------------------------------------+
  | trooper    | 150   | tracks player, moves, fires rifle & grenades      |
  | gunner     | 150   | hides behind stuff, fires rifle & grenades        |
  | MG-gunner  | 150   | hides behind stuff, fires standing position MG    |
  | missileman | 300   | can only strafe left/right, fires missiles        |
  | biker      | 500   | moves to one position or just through screen,     |
  |                      fires grenades, only destructable by grenades     |
  | truck      | 700   | moves to one position and lets troopers hop out   |
  |                      of it, only destructable by grenades              |
  | jumper     | 750   | jumps from hills, then transforms to trooper      |
  | SAM-site   | 1000  | can't move, fires cannonballs, only destructable  |
  |                      by grenades                                       |
  | Tank       | 2000  | just drives downwards, fires rockets              |
  | M60-Tank   | 5000  | can only move up/down, fires rockets and grenades |
  +-other:-----+-------+---------------------------------------------------+
  | grenades   | ?/100 | gives 3 grenades + random(100) pts when picked up |
  | airstrike  | N/A   | pick up an airstrike radio and take cover         |
  |                      immediately! Don't walk into line of fire!        |
  | shotgun    | ?/500 | gives shotgun + 16 shells + random(500) pts       |
  | armor      | ?/200 | gives armor. how good the armor is depends on the |
  |                      skill level. It also gives random(200) pts.       |
  | level end  | 10000 | finishing a level gives you 10000 pts             |
  +------------+-------+---------------------------------------------------+
  Every enemy takes just 1 shot to kill. Every shot kills you. An armor
  protects you from shots for a limited time. End-Bosses take ofcourse much
  more shots but you will see that in the game.

  To kill enemies, shot them with your rifle [Fire Button 1, pressed normally]
  (good for some lonely troopers and for all-purpose things; your standard
  weapon), throw grenades at them [Fire Button 2, pressed normally] (good for
  small masses because grenades have some blast radius and can kill multiple
  enemies at one time; some items have to be destroyed by grenades) or
  fire-up your flamethrower [by holding Fire Button 1] (good for big masses;
  you will use this weapon mainly at the end of the levels).

  You can also jump [Alt, pressed normally] to avoid cannonfire or to pass
  normally unpassable places. Your man can jump over things and also fire
  while jumping.

  Before you start to play, the game will ask for a skill level. I always
  recommend to play on 'easy' because the game gets very hard at higher
  skills.

  If you play the game the first time, it's probably best for you to first go
  to the training grounds by selecting 'training' and learn a bit more about
  the game elements.

  If you played older versions of this game (those without skill levels),
  here's a short comparison between the new skill levels and the only skill
  level in the older versions: Playing on easy is not very comparable because
  it's _much_ easier than the old versions. Medium is a bit easier and Hard a
  bit above the old skill.

  There's also a 'Custom' option in that menu. Selecting this one will give
  you the settings you selected in the Options Menu. So if you try to change
  options which have to do with skills, always make sure you selected 'Custom'
  in this menu, otherwise they will get overwritten by the skill selection.

  One sidenote: When selecting 'Custom' without ever changing a skill option,
  you will get the skill level of the previous game versions (v1.2 actually,
  which was the hardest version ever, so be careful)!

4. the options menu

  To get to the options menu, you have to press fire2 at the title screen.

  To select items press up or down. To change or activate items just press
  fire button 1 or left/right. To go back to previous menu or back to game
  press esc.

  menu description:
  +-------------------------+------------------------------------------------+
  | itemname:               | description:                                   |
  +-main:-------------------+------------------------------------------------+
  | User Level Selection    | Go here to play User Levels, if any available  |
  | Sound Options           | Check all Sound effects and tunes              |
  | Game Options  Screen 1  | View/Change Game Options (be careful!)         |
  | Game Options  Screen 2  | 2nd game options screen                        |
  | Load Options            | Load Options from file COMMANDO.CFG            |
  | Save Options            | Save Options to file COMMANDO.CFG              |
  +-User Level Selection:---+------------------------------------------------+
  | [filenames]             | Just select the user level filename to play it |
  |                         | further explanation on user levels in sect. 7  |
  +-Sound Options:----------+------------------------------------------------+
  | Sound Effect Nr         | Select Sound Effect to test                    |
  | Music Name              | Select Music to test                           |
  | Music volume            | Change Music volume, sounds are not affected   |
  | Sounds                  | Turn sounds on/off                             |
  +-Game Options  Screen 1:-+------------------------------------------------+
  | Starting Lives          | How many lives at start (1)                    |
  | Compiled Levels         | How many internal levels. Do _not_ tune this   |
  |                         | options higher than its original value or the  |
  |                         | game will crash! (1)                           |
  | Starting Grenades       | How many Grenades at start (1)                 |
  | Enemies at Level End    | How many Enemies are coming out at level end(1)|
  | Maximum Sprites/Screen  | Maximum number of sprites per screen (2)       |
  | Extra Live at           | Get Extralive at which number of points (1)    |
  | Speed Calibration delay | How fast the enemy reacts (1)                  |
  | Scroll follow Y Coord.  | At which Y Coordinate the screen goes with p1  |
  | Flamethrower start time | How much time it takes to start flamethrower   |
  | Statusbar delay         | How fast the statusbar is updated. Tuning to a |
  |                         | higher value gives much more speed!            |
  | Text Color              | The color of all texts                         |
  +-Game Options  Screen 2:-+------------------------------------------------+
  | Ricochets               | Turn ricochets on/off                          |
  | Grab Retrace            | Should the game wait for retrace? Not waiting  |
  |                         | for retrace causes flicker but gives speed.    |
  | Start in Level          | Start at which level (1) (3)                   |
  | Expand Explosions       | Expanded explosions look cool but slow down the|
  |                         | game a bit and can be irritating for someone.  |
  | Expand Ratio            | How much the explosions should be expanded     |
  |                         | greater value=lesser expansion; 0=unlimited    |
  | Optimize for            | Speed or Motion Quality; It is always best to  |
  |                         | leave this on "Speed", but some people want to |
  |                         | see every frame - like it was in old versions -|
  |                         | causing the game to slow down.                 |
  | Rotation Reaction Time  | How fast should our man react, when rotating   |
  |                         | with the flamethrower                          |
  | Spawn Fires             | Should fires be spawned or not?                |
  | Blood                   | Wimps turn this off                            |
  | Tileset                 | Which tileset (=gfx) to use? tileset info:     |
  |                         | tileset 0 : the original c64 set               |
  |                         | tileset 1 : Jaguar's tileset (improved set 0)  |
  |                         | tileset -1: the c64 read-error set ;) try it!  |
  | Scroll between menus    | Should we scroll between menus?                |
  +-------------------------+------------------------------------------------+
  (1) Changing this option will disqualify you from the Level Editor Contest!
      Any try to play the game to the end will be disqualified, even if the
      option is changed back to its standard value. If you want to take part
      in the contest, you have to restart the game from DOS and leave all
      options marked with (1) on the standard value.

  (2) This option is hard-coded and cannot be changed by the player. You can
      only ask us to compile a version with more/less sprites per screen in
      it.

  (3) This option can only be changed if you once got through the game.

5. dynamite!'s guide on how to play correctly

  i've seen that many people are having problems with this game, saying that
  it is far too hard. I wonder how this is possible because i once finished
  the whole game without losing a life. So here are some techniques for the
  wimps out there, who didn't even managed to finish the first level.

  ## For all Levels ##

  - Move Around!
    Don't stay still for a longer time, especially in the first levels. Later,
    when it comes to the forest levels, you may have more time to stay around
    and think (that's why i sometimes call them the "think" levels). In the
    first 5 levels it's just to quickly go to the end and not run into
    cannonballs.

  - Fire all the way!
    We didn't gave you endless bullets and fuel for your flamethrower to not
    use them all the time! When you run around, you have to fire everytime.
    That counts for all levels. It doesn't matter if there isn't even one
    person on the screen. Just fire everywhere you can!

  - Use your grenades!
    There are MANY places where using the grenades is the perfect way! Just
    try and use them behind barricades or for killing the installed enemy.

  - And ofcourse: Use your flamethrower!
    As in mission briefing #2: [...]It destroys big masses very effective[...]
    And that means every mass! Not just the masses at the end of every level.

  ## Especially for later Levels (4 and higher) ##

  - Think!
    But only from level 4 on. Level 4 is a good example because it is a tricky
    one. You can go easily through it without losing a live. There are some
    ways, where no installed enemy can shoot. I even managed to come through
    without using the airstrikes.

    And there's another good 'Think!' example: Look around for secret places
    or ways which make live much easier! There's one in level 5, for example.

  - Search good shooting positions!
    In later levels, we put some lonely stones or barricades. These are for you
    to hide! And you also have to use some of the enemy installations for use
    as barricades. From there you can easily throw grenades to the next enemy
    installation. Then go there and do the same over and over again.

6. how to contact the author / where to download future versions

  here are some ways you can use if you consider to contact us:

    email: dn.tlp@gmx.net
    homepage: http://www.lostpatrol.home.ml.org (future versions here!)
    fidonet: 2:2426/2310.11

    the official commando enhanced homepage is available under:
    http://www.comenh.home.ml.org

7. user levels

    playing user levels is very easy. You normally get 1 or 2 files which are
    important for playing. First, there is the data file which carries the
    level itself (e.g. "MYLEVEL4.DAT") and maybe a textfile which carries the
    mission briefing and sometimes some extra infos (in this case
    "MYLEVEL4.MIS"). Just copy the 2 files into your commando main directory
    and start the game. Go to 'Options Menu/User Level Selection' to select
    the user level. You can take a glance at the level by waiting at the
    title screen which reappears after you selected the level. If it is the
    right level, press fire and select 'Custom' at the skill level selection
    to start playing.

    After playing the level, you maybe want to go back to normal game mode.
    This is done by again going to 'Options Menu/User Level Selection' and
    pressing esc instead of fire. Normal game mode is also restored by just
    selecting one of the other skill levels or by going to the training
    grounds.

8. obtaining the level editor

    since version 1.1 you can participate in our level editor "contest"!
    everyone, who played the game to the end can get the level editor for
    free!

    All you need to do to get the editor is to send your highscore file
    to 'dn.tlp@gmx.net'. I'll check your submission and send the editor +
    test level + instructions back to you. You also get support for the
    editor by sending questions to the same address.

9. what about graphics?

    As once stated in the WHATSNEW.TXT file, we also encourage you to draw
    your own gfx-set for Commando! We would also be happy if you share your
    set with us because we want to get rid of the oldskool C64 set.

    If you drawed gfx-sets before, you don't have to be afraid of something
    special. Our gfx-set works in the same way as every normal game gfx-set.
    Just a 320x200 arrangement of 16x16 tiles. Best way to create a new set
    is to use deluxe paint 2 enhanced, but i think this will be very hard to
    find anywhere. You can ofcourse also render a set with your brandnew,
    state-of-the-art 3D Studio for us, provided you know how to render them
    in 16x16 with 256 colors and using the same palette for every tile.

    You only need to contact us before you begin, so we can send our set to
    you. Taking a glance at our set, you know how it looks and where to place
    all the tiles. If you're finished with your set, you easily send it back
    to us and we see if we can implement it in our game!

    The email address is as always: dn.tlp@gmx.net

10. troubleshooting

    1. I don't get sound

      There are several sources for this type of problem:
      1. You don't have a soundcard. ;)
      2. Your sound environment variable settings are incorrect.
      3. Your soundcard is incompatible to those MIDAS supports.
      4. MIDAS can't figure out your settings automatically.

      And here are the solutions:
      1. Buy one! ;)
      2. Those settings are stored in the BLASTER or ULTRASND variables, for
         example. Just type 'SET BLASTER=A(base) I(irq) D(dma) T2' for SBPro,
         for example. A typical setting is 'SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T2'.
      3. Buy a better soundcard! ;)
      4. This is the easiest way to get around all above problems, but it
         requires internet: Download the sound setup program from the
         Commando Homepage and configure your sound settings manually.

    2. I get a 'Runtime Error 200 at xxxx:xxxx' at startup

      Source: Bug in the game
      Solution: Worked on...

11. closing

    well, i hope you enjoy the game!
    look out for future versions on our homepage!

  #dynamite! (dn.tlp@gmx.net)
