************************************************************************** Copyright and Disclamier notice -------------------------------------------------------------------------- MECHFORCE V3.65 ©1989 By Ralph H. Reed This software is very similar to the BattleTech system which is copyright 1985-1989 © FASA Corporation. However it not exactly the same. Some ideas have been used without permission of FASA Corporation. Some areas and ideas have been changed to protect the rights of FASA Corporation and others. The Mechforce program, its code, ideas, pictures and documentation within are Copyright © 1989 by Ralph H. Reed. MechForce is a utility system which allows people to test "mechs" in a "game arena" for the purpose of seeing how they would do against other mechs. Previous version of BattleFort and BattleForce are no longer supported. *************************************************************************** MechForce Setup MechForce is a ShareWare program. If you play the game and decide you like it, a contribution of $25 is requested. Those that contribute will become registered owners. All registered owners will receive a disk with the latest version of MechForce. The disk will also include several support programs; Warrior, a character generator/update program; Factory, a mech building/repair program; HQ, a program to create your own Combat Orders for the game; and a Map Editor program. To register, send your contribution to: Ralph H. Reed P.O. Box 1497 Eglin AFB, FL 32542 GAME SETUP: Format and Install a blank disk. Copy the MechForce ARC file onto the disk. CD to the disk and UnARC the file with "ARC e MechForce". This will UnARC the file. Once you have the file UnARCed you will find this file and three "ExecuteMe" files. These are used to set up your disk and rename files. They all assume the MechForce disk is the current disk. Use the CD command to make the MechForce disk the current disk if necessary. Before you start delete the MechForce ARC file. This will give you more room on the disk, but make sure it isn't your only copy. The "Execute.1st" will create all of the directories that you need. The "Execute.2nd" file will rename all of the files and put them into the correct directories. The "Execute.3rd" file will copy certain Amiga files from a WorkBench disk into the appropriate directories on the MechForce disk. This file assumes that the WorkBench disk is in drive DF0: and the MechForce disk is in drive DF1:. If you are using any other configuration either transfer the files manually or modify the Execute.3rd file. Once you are done your disk should look like the "Listing" file. Now boot the disk, read the "ConfigEd_doc" file, and run the ConfigEd program to set up your configuration. HARD DRIVE SETUP: MechForce multi-tasks and works fine on a hard drive. Copy all of the program files over too your hard drive. Make sure and keep the sub-directories. I put all my game file sub-directories in a directory called "gamefiles", but you can do it any way you want. When you are done, run the "ConfigEd" program and change all of the paths to match the way you have set up your drive. When you "Save" from the ConfigEd program it will create a file called "MechForce.cfg" in the S: directory of your boot disk. All MechForce programs use a wide variety of support files. It is important that the programs be able to FIND these files. The programs will look for images files in a subdirectory called "Images" on the boot disk. It will look for sound files in "SND", map files in "Maps", saved games in "Games", unit files in "Units", warrior and technician files in "Warriors" and mech files in "Mechs". In addition, it expects mechs to be subdivided into four classes of mechs, "Light" 20-35 tons, "Medium" 40-55 tons, "Heavy" 60-75 tons, and "Assault" 80-100 tons. If you create new mechs and put them in the wrong subdirectory some parts of the programs will have trouble finding your new mechs. To help you set up your disk ALL programs try to read a file called "MechForce.cfg" in the S: directory of your boot disk. You can change the included config file with the included "ConfigEd" program. Make sure the paths are valid paths and correct. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. If the programs can not find the files they need they will not work. If a program can not find the config file it will default to just the subdirectory name on the boot disk. In addition, The config file will set some variables in MechForce. Please read the ConfigEd_doc file. *** IMPORTANT *** The DEFAULT for MechForce is NOT to save characters at the end of the game. For the ShareWare version this should NOT be changed. If you do you will eventually destroy the few warriors included with no way to repair them. If you are a Registered Owner you can change the default with the ConfigEd program. If you have any questions, bug reports or just want to talk about MechForce, I can be reached on the Hobbit Hole BBS, one of the best in the southeast. Their number is (904) 243-6219 and they support 1200/2400/9600 baud with 630 megs of Amiga files online.