AIRCRAFT v0.9 (Public Beta, First release)
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READ BELOW OR DIE:
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THIS SOFTWARE MAY NOT BE REVIEWED, PUBLISHED, OR OTHERWISE COMMERCIALLY
EXPLOITED, PROMOTED, OR EVALUATED. If wish to promote this project,
or promote yourself through use or exploitation of this project, contact
me first. (wedge@nuc.net) 

What you have now is a very rough, but functional BETA version of our
Aircraft project. Everything 'works', but I know everything doesn't work
quite right. That's what makes this a BETA. I expect to receive bug reports
and maybe a few suggestions. DO NOT Email me nitpicky bullshit based on this
version. There's too much important stuff to take care of FIRST. Do not write
and complain about how long something takes to reload or respawn, or how much
damage is done or not done by the weapons. Help us concentrate on actual
problems. We are not idiots. If you see something obvious, be sure that we
already know about it. We are, after all, the guys that made it.

** Some debugging information may print to the screen/console at certain
times. Just ignore it. :)

BUG REPORTING:
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PLEASE, before emailing, visit Quake Command QuakeC Page
(http://www.nuc.net/quake/quakec) and go to the AIRCRAFT BETA section and
Check the list of problems and suggestions that we have already received. If
you find your problem/suggestion on the list, don't EMail me. If I spend 2
hours each day deleting redundant email, I don't get to work on the aircraft.

Credits:
--------
Quake C Code : Steve Bond       wedge@nuc.net
ALL MDLS     : John Guthrie     choryoth@nuc.net

Awesome HANGAR Level made by Marc Fontaine (mafon@stud.uni-sb.de)

Aircraft sounds submitted by Ray Loggins  (loggins@avana.net) (Great Job!)

Some Aircraft sounds also submitted by Shakath Jei (shakath@im4u.net).
Shakath's sounds were not used, but the effort is appreciated.


Installation:
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It's easy. Make a directory called ACBETA in your Quake directory, and move
the PAK0.PAK file from this archive into the ACBETA directory.

Start Quake by typing "QUAKE -GAME ACBETA +MAP HANGAR" along with your other
normal game parameters.

** There are TWO levels included with this BETA. HANGAR, which is an excellent
level made by Marc Fontaine, and TESTAREA that I made :( Testarea is really
crappy, but it's the level that almost all aircraft testing was done on, and
may provide some entertainment. (I mean, TESTAREA is really, really crappy.)

To play the HANGAR level type "MAP HANGAR" into the console.

To play the TESTAREA level type "MAP TESTAREA" into the console.


Controlling The Aircraft:
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Here are the key bindings I use, and their functions:

Key             Impulse                 Function
------------------------------------------------
SPACEBAR        Impulse 101             Eject
z               Impulse 15              Ready Stinger Missile (If owned)
,               Impulse 102             Hover Mode
.               Impulse 103             Slow Speed
/               Impulse 104             Fast Speed
[               Impulse 100             INSTANTLY puts you in an aircraft.
                                        Useful for exploring regular Quake
                                        levels with an aircraft.*


* Don't cheat, dammit. Impulse 100 only works in Single Play and COOP mode.


Basically, you get into an aircraft, and select a throttle setting (hover,
slow, or fast) and the craft will begin moving. Point the nose of the vehicle
using MOUSELOOK, and it will fly in the direction you are pointing it.

Aircraft Weapons:
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When in the aircraft, you may select one of the two weapons systems by
hitting 1 or 2 on the keyboard:

1 - 'Vulcan' cannons. Not really Vulcans, vulcans are much larger and spin...
but I called them vulcans for this release anyway. They are twin rapid-firing
machine guns that will gnaw on a player or another plane like a pit bull on
rawhide. Unlimited ammo, but you must wait for them to reload after firing
a certain number of rounds.

2 - FFARs (Folding Fin Aerial Rockets) There is a missile pod situated on
either side of the vehicle. Each of the pods will fling two missiles every
time you touch the button. This is a slighty-spread 4 rocket death blossom
that screams towards your target at high speed. Unlimited ammo, but requires
3 seconds to reload between volleys.

Other Weapons:
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On each of the two provided levels you will find a Stinger Missile Launcher.
This is a good thing. When you ready the stinger launcher, you will see the
tube resting on your shoulder and a Square recticle in front of your face.
Inside of the recticle you will see a few red dots that move (Particles).
Aim so that the red dots are on top of a person or aircraft, and HOLD the
target under the dots for a moment, and you will see "LOCK." As soon as you
see this message, FIRE. The missile will take off slowly at first, then fly
very quickly, tracking it's target. A stinger will most times knock a
completely healthy Aircraft right the hell out of the air. And people... well.

        Stinger Notes:
        --------------
        The 'beam' that controls the locking has a limited range. So if you
        can't get a lock on a distant target, get a little closer.

        The missile arms one second after you fire it. If you fire a stinger
        at a target that is very close, the missile may strike the target
        before it arms, and it will just bounce harmlessly to the ground.


Notes:
------
You can blow up planes that other players eject from. You cannot blow up
planes that are spawned by the world. ONLY explosive weapons will damage
empty aircraft.

If you don't eject from the aircraft BEFORE all of it's health/fuel is gone,
then you are stuck for the long ride to the dirt. Know when to bail. 

Empty planes take damage when they hit the ground. Eject from a good height
when your plane is damaged and it may blow up on impact.

This is primarily a multiplayer add-on. Quake's levels are a little cramped
for something like this, so please test the aircraft on the supplied levels
first, then creep around in some Quake levels. If you don't have the
opportunity to play multiplayer, you will have fun, but not as much fun as
the 4 guys slugging it out over a LAN. :) It's NOT fun to fly around bouncing
off of walls and shooting ogres.

We did a six player Internet test recently, and found many many features
in this add-on that create TONS of lag for Modem players... some of those
features are the BEST part, so we've decided to Produce a FULLBLOWN
Just-for-LAN version with all the fire and chunks that make it fun. After
that is completed, we will cut back on some of the gibbage, etc and try to
make a decent 'net version. Some of the lag had to do with the huge wide
open map (house of Cthon syndrome) where all the players can always see all
the others and there is tons of crap flying everywhere. ANYWAY -> the version
that you have here is a prerelease of the HIGH DETAIL, LAN RECOMMENDED version
Expect adjustable detail levels in the next version.

Oh yeah, when you are in an aircraft, I know the cockpit looks crappy (well,
the model is excellent, but the texture is crap) John modeled that cockpit,
and I, Steve, painted the ridiculous texture. :( Working on it.

IF YOU WISH TO MAKE A LEVEL FOR THE AIRCRAFT:
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You may place an Aircraft in a level by placing an entity with the classname
"item_aircraft"

You may place a stinger missile launcher in a level by placing an entity
with the classname "weapon_stinger"

If you like the aircraft, and can build levels, we encourage you to work on
levels for this thing, because standard Quake levels are NOT aircraft
friendly.


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That's all I can think of. If I find that I have overlooked something of dire
importance, I will post it to QUAKE COMMAND. (http://www.nuc.net/quake) This
readme file was a rush job, and for that I apologize. Just mess around in the
game, you'll find all the goodies.

-Steve  9/10/96
wedge@nuc.net

