ELITE PLUS: PLANETSIDE version 2.50 build 206 release date: April, 2006 program's website: www.planetmic.com/elite contact: mic@planetmic.com copyright: Mic Healey 2000-2006 FLY.EXE ver. 3.25c, a.k.a. FST3 copyright: Dave Daniels: 2002-2006 This document last updated: April 3rd, 2006 Table of Contents:
A. What's New in Ep2 B. System Requirements C. Starting The Program D. Menu Options E. Simulation Controls F. Background G. Reverting for DOS | H. Known Problems I. Questions and Answers J. Legal Disclaimer of Warranty K. License & Distribution L. Shapes Files Copyright M. Credits & Acknowledgements
A. What's New in Ep2: Ver. 2.50 of Ep2 incorporates the latest FLY.EXE program and utilises some of its excellent new features. You will notice this now when you start the program and are presented with proper introduction to Discovery Base. Additionally, you can now use the new :Onboard Help System" - accessed via the H key. This provides much needed information. Also new in 2.50 is the inclusion of a VOR / NDB navigation system to compliment the new auto pilot routines and its nifty ability to fly directly to a selected NDB. You may now go where ever you would like on New P8 and "George" will take you safely back to the area around the Discovery Base field. You may also use the two NDBs lined up with Discovery Base's western approach to easily set yourself up for an easy landing. All you need to do is switch to the correct NDB when inbound, and lastly - take the ship off auto pilot to commence your final landing. "Finally, some Federal funding has come in and we have been able to travel out a bit further and explore. You may wish to "go on down" to the Two Tetons Wilderness Area, located 70 nm S/W of the base... and have a look see. Its an interesting formation to visit. If you are a good enough pilot you can even set your ship down (find a flat spot and use the auto-braking system) - take a little rest before coming back. Remember, you can record pictures of your adventures via [alt+g]. Oh, and don't forget to keep an eye on you fuel situation... there's no services that far out." Ep2 Version History: Ver. 2.50: April 2006 Ver. 2.00: November 2005 Ver 1.10: March 2000 B. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Pentium P100+, Windows 98 through XP C. STARTING THE PROGRAM: The distribution program package is a self-extracting executable that by default will create a directory in the root section of your C:\ Drive, called - ep2 (c:\ep2). It will then unpack all the files related with the program into this directory. Also created is a subdirectory within Ep2 called README. All documentation pertaining to this program is located here. This is a very "self-contained" and safe type of program install and should not present a problem. Later, if you wish to delete the program, simply delete the directory: ep2 and all its contents. Start the program by simply going to its directory and clicking on the icon EP2 (a DOS shortcut pif file). This engages the program's Mission Launch System (MLS) which allows different scenarios to be selected and or evaluated. Other information may also be available. Note that the MLS works in conjunction with the FLY.EXE program which is the basic module that puts together the separate components of the sim. The MLS must be allowed to close completely, after FLY.EXE has shut down, and should NOT be shut down while FLY.EXE is operational. Failure to observe procedure the above can cause certain files not to be reset on FLY.EXE's exit. If this happens, the easiest solutions is simply to reinstall the program over itself. Once the sim starts you will automatically proceed past the start screen and stop at the first introduction screen. After you have reviewed the information, simply advance by pressing the spacebar. Once in the cockpit you must start your engines by pressing the "E" key. (Notice your throttle will jump up to idle at 25%). Press the H key to engage the "Onboard Help System". I have taken the liberty of already saving and including preferences file (MENU.CFG) which initially selects mouse controlled flight. If you are okay with that, use the keyboard number keys (1 thru 0) to power up and take off. See if you can make an orbit of the base. Flying by a mouse is a bit tricky (and much easier if the application is NOT in a window). If you start to get out of control, a useful feature is that you can re-center your mouse/stick by clicking the third mouse button (if you have one). Also If you start to get messed up - hit the AutoStab key "A" and the craft should level out. Under AutoStab (Auto-Pilot), you can alter your auto-pilot's heading by using the ",<" key for left and the ".>" key for right. This also provides rudder and ground steering control within the sim. The auto-pilot will also slave to the NDB of your choice. To do this, cycle through the NDB's by using the / Key. Then press CTRL+D while the auto-pilot is engaged. D. MENU OPTIONS: Hitting the "Esc" key will take you to the main Configuration Menu. From here you can adjust many items. If you wish to fly with the joystick, you can select it here - however, I have had some problems with joystick flight under WIN98 (XP is fine), so I have set a default to mouse at present. If you do use a joystick, the program seems to perform correctly (sometimes) with a USB connecting joystick plugged into a 2.0 USB port. I have also had some success with a Gameport to USB analog joystick converter box called: "Super Joy Box 6" (found on eBay) - it works with older joysticks and gamepads. Don't forget to calibrate your stick through the Control Panel under "Game Controllers" and delete any unused joysticks in the list. Finally, if you don't have a joystick that works or if you really dislike the mouse, you can select the keyboard as flight control. I think you will find that if you fly with the mouse for a while - you will actually begin to like it! As mentioned above - the mouse control is more sensitive when running the program in a window then in full screen mode. It is strongly advised to run the sim in full screen mode. To help totally educate you on all the Menus and Controls, an excellent HTML document on the subject is available here called: COMMAND.HTM. Please bring it up and study it. E. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIMULATION CONTROLS: Here is a small review of sim controls. Full documentation of simulation operations is available here. Esc key activates pull down menu for configuring program Q turns engine sound on off. E turns engine on/off 1 to 0 Throttle controls (36% to 100% power in prop aircraft) (1 to 0 normal power) + - fine throttle control (On top number row) W Wheel brakes. B Air brakes. G landing gear up/down S/X Flaps 10 to 30 degrees / ADF beacon scan up (Waypoints for Navigation around the World) ? ADF beacon scan down. (Waypoints for Navigation around the World) Space bar Fires weapon (Or joystick button 1) Backspace or Joystick button 2 selects weapon . F Drop flares F1 through F10 are view keys. F4 toggles between full cockpit display and Heads up only Shift F1 is the rear view. F7 F8 look around F9 look down F10 look up F2 look left F3 look right F5 look back left F6 look back right ALT V restores full cockpit view from any other view. ALT X quits the game. NUM PAD + - TRIM CTRL M In flight map CTRL P Pause game External view keys are as follows: V external track view (F1-F10 then rotates view.) O Fly past view ALT M missile view ALT V return to cockpit ALT T produces a version number/frame rate/objects active/memory used. ALT S reduces shading of world objects (Increases frame rate.) ALT G screen grab CTRL S Increases shading. You must turn off the engine (E key) on a runway after landing to re-arm and refuel A note on the padlock view: Pressing P in flight will lock your visual view onto the nearest enemy air target, provided they are in visual range. Pressing P again will return your view to the cockpit. F. BACKGROUND: There was a serious and wondrous change in the FST (Flight Sim Toolkit) world with the release of a new quite stable "drop in" engine replacement for the original FLY.EXE (ver. 1.47, etc.) file. This was big news as these once "near dead" sims, needing specific old CPUs, DOS versions, & Soundblasters - would now run on most all newer Win98 thru WinXP platforms... With the above in mind, I have begun to revisit and augment Ep2 (beginning with ver. 2.00), updating it to include the newest fst engine and taking advantage of its new abilities. The new flight engine adds many cool and fun improvements that will greatly increase your enjoyment within the sim; including such things as an advanced auto-pilot with terrain following and auto fly to waypoint destination options. If you have downloaded Ep2 (ver. 1.10) in the past, just to find it would not run on your system or there was no decent sound - you should be quite happy with ver. 2.00+. Also, many long standing goofs in the FST flight engine have now been addressed. I must give a great bow of gratitude, appreciation, and respect to Dave Daniels, who is the genius behind figuring out the original FST's FLY.EXE code and fixing the flight engine to work with newer platforms / operating systems - as well as correcting so many long standing and annoying flaws in the program's initial design. Further, Dave Daniels has continued to do even more, greatly improving many aspects of the base concept. The intermediate result (he's still working on it) - is a much finer program than the FST world of users ever had in the past. Dave Daniels is also the author of the excellent FLY manual: COMMAND.HTM. This is a must read for all serious users of this program (or any FLY.EXE powered FST based sim). G. REVERTING THE PROGRAM FOR USE UNDER DOS: It is no longer easily possible to "revert" the program back for use under old versions of FLY.EXE. In the past, this allowed the sim to run on an MS-DOS type platform. There has been enough changes now to the operation of the new flight engine, supporting file structures, shape file design, and how these relate to the front end program - that this is no longer a supported option. H. KNOWN PROBLEMS: Simulation Won't Run: The new version of FLY.EXE seems to not like video cards with the ATI based graphics chipset. (Either do I for that matter - they have been nothing but trouble to me). FLY.EXE likes the Nvidia chipset just fine. If your ATI card is having problems running FLY.EXE and Ep2, there is currently no easy fix. Joystick Issues: As mentioned above. FLY.EXE can have problems using the joystick. It seems to prefer a USB type stick. Sometimes the problem is in calibration and can be fixed by another run though the calibration routine under Windows before entering the sim. This is much more of an issue under Win98 than XP. Unclear Graphics: There has been a minor degradation in the overall graphics quality with the inclusion of the new FLY.EXE and its z-buffer routines of polygon sorting. This can cause the edges of some objects to get "the fuzzies" at times. The upside of the z-buffer routine is that it nearly eliminates "bleed-thru", a long standing and annoying issue with previous FLY.EXE versions. O (Outside View) Key Shows Underground View: Yes, sometimes on the initial press of the O key, (If you are landed) your view will be from a "beneath the ground plane" level prspective looking up. Its weird, I know. Simply hit the O key again and it will usually correct itself. I. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: Q. You are giving this thing away as giftware? There must be a catch? A. No catch. But It might transfer to a shareware product someday. Q. Oh really? How would going to shareware change the product? A. Hmmm, I think You would not receive the latest full program in the free download. There might be nag screens, missing features, etc. Q. How would I pay for the program? A. I like Paypal. I might use that. Q. What might the full program cost? A. I was thinking about a $20.00 token registration fee. Q. How come it cannot remain free "giftware"? A. It can, but - It takes a lot of time to build this this out and add to it... Q. What if I buy it and then decide I don't like it? A. Sorry, the sale is usually final. Q. Will I be able to upgrade to new additions in the future for free? A. Yes, you will receive 1 years worth of free upgrades. Q. How come there is no texture mapping of objects in this sim? A. There is no texture mapping routine in this FST simulation. J. LEGAL DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: Elite Plus: Planetside (inclusive of all associated programs and files) is provided "As-Is", without warranty of any kind; either express or implied. The user assumes the entire risk of using it. The author makes no claims regarding warranties of functionality, merchantability, and or fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality, performance, and operation of this program (and how it interacts with your system; and or associated other software) is with you. Should the program prove defective; you assume the entire liability and or cost of any and all necessary servicing, repair, and or correction. The author cannot be held liable or responsible for any Loss of Data claim arising out of use or misuse of this program. In no event shall the author be liable for any damages arising out of contract or tort from you and or any other party; inclusive of loss of data, profits or business or other special, incidental, exemplary or consequential damages; even if the author has been advised of the possibility of such loss or damages. This section shall survive termination of this License. By using this software, you agree the author will not be liable for any incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages resulting from the use of this software. In no event will the author's liability ever exceed the price paid for the license to use the software, regardless of the nature of the claim. K. LICENSE & TERMS OF DISTRIBUTION: You -as the end user- are given one single exclusive user's license. You have absolutely no right what so ever to distribute, covey, sell, or post for download on a website. You must not modify and or utilise any of these files without the expressed written permission by the author. L. *.FSD FILE SHAPE FILES COPYRIGHT: In addition to general copyright claims, all custom designed and or created *.FSD shape files within this application are held under exclusive copyright to the author. No user may copy, utilise, modify, incorporate, export, and or use in any fashion or manner outside of this program - any of these files without the explicit written consent of the author and or the possession of a license code number. Utilisation of any custom *.FSD shape file within the confines of another FST simulation, like FST simulation software, or converted for use with another application is expressively forbidden and will be considered willful copyright infringement subject to punitive damages. M. CREDITS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Special Thanks to: Dave Daniels for his fantastic efforts with FST3! Simis Ltd. for developing Flight Sim Toolkit. Domark, Ltd. for publishing it to the masses... Kuju, Ltd. (Simis successor) for releasing the source code of FST. Microsoft, for the awesome power of QBasic. Members of the FST Yahoo Groups for proving I am not the only one left on the planet still using Flight Sim Toolkit! Ian Bell & David Braben for the creation of Elite Plus. Frontier Developments, Ltd. for the creation of Frontier Elite II. (This sim is in tribute to the above.) Rob Sharrock: for is faithful dedication to FE2. Stephen Zattini: For being one of the long time - Elite Faithful. Right On Commanders!