Documents for SKIDMARKS from ACID SOFTWARE! Cracked By FAIRLIGHT! ***Important note for the cracked version When playing the AGA version, and are asked for the AGA Cars disk, insert Disk 3, then when the screen flashes different colours, insert disk 4. Precautions 1. If you are playing for a long period of time change control methods to avoid repetitive strain injury. Also drive in pairs, allowing one driver to sleep while the other races. 2. The disks are incredibly sensitive. Do not place in microwave oven or shower them. Unlike the Amiga Format cover disk the disks included in this package will not fit in your ear. 3. Surgeon Generals Warning: DO not make copies of the track disks for your friends or attempt to crack the protection system. Having your finger nails removed with a large pair of pliers may affect your ability to play Skid Marks. 4. Not registering your copy of Skid Marks will mean you wont receive upgrades to your game including more trackdisks, more cars and fixes to the software. What You Get The SkidMarks package includes this manual and three disks. The main program disk should be backed up on floppy or installed on the hard drive. Use any copy program to make a backup of the floppy of from WorkBench, simply drag the SkidMarks disk into an empty drawer on youy HardDisk. As configuration files are saved on the program disk, also ensure the disk is not write protected. The track disks are copy protected and in no situation should copying these disks be attempted. Not only is this illegal but it will affect our sales, sales which will allow us to develop the game and others for your enjoyment. Large corporate money bags we are not, smalltime hardworking computer programmers we are. Please, do not pirate SkidMarks. Either we continue working on more enhancements for the Amiga version including a track editor, car designer and super AGA version or we spend our time converting it to Japanese consoles, the choice is yours. Getting Started To run SkidMarks place the program disk in the Amigas floppy drive and power up. Double click on the SkidMarks disk and the double click on the SkidMarks icon. The main menu allows you to select the number of players, control methods and of course start the game. If you are plaing one player modem with joystick control simply select START by pressing the joystick button or hit the RETURN key on the keyboard. Options Once SkidMarks has loaded you can choose to start a 1 or 2 player game, change your options or exit back to Workbench. Use the joystick or the Up/Down/Return keys to select. If you are playing SkidMarks bewteen two computers select 1 or 2 players depending how many players are playing on your computer, the computer will then wait for the computer to select 1 or 2 player mode. This way you can have 2,3 or 4 player linked play. From the options screen you can choose from the following: Select Car: after loading the select car screen you can then use fire to change the type of car and left/right to change colour. The number of different cars you can have will depend on the amount of memory in your computer and whether you are using the enhanced AGA cars. Select OK to return to the main Options screen. Computer Team: there are four different computer teams to race against each with their own characteristics. Difficulty: Noice, Rooky and Pro will determine how fast SkidMarks will play and hence the reaction times required to master the tracks. Game mode: the three modes of play in SkidMarks are Practice, MatchRace and Championship. Practise lest the individula player race the tracks without competition (alone). MatcRace is for competing in one off racers on any track while Championship ;ets the player participate in a 6 track series competing for points. START! After the game has loaded the cars it will ask you to insert a track disk. SkidMarks comes with two track disks, more will be available shortly. From the track disk the options screen will be loaded. If PRACTICE or MATCHRACE was selected from the main screen you will be able to select from any of the 6 tracks. When in CHAMPIONSHIP mode tracks must be raced in order. Once you have selected a track the game will take a few seconds to load and then its race time. Linking two Machines. Using either a standard null modem cables between two Amigas (two male DB25 connectors with pins 2 and 3 crossed and pin 7 joined (up to 60 feet)) or via modem, SkidMarks can be played on two machines at once. See the README file on the Program disk for details on connecting with the SkidSerial option. Using SkidSerial up to 6 players can participate. While four drivers race (two on each machine) two others can act as managers via the chat-libe raising stakes, developing strategy... The true purpose of the chatline is however for sending abuse and profanities to opposing players, a macro key system is provided for off the cuff commentary. HINTS AND TIPS General: Spend some time learning each track. Knowing the corners and finding the best approach to jumps is the best way to achieive good lap times. There are two strategies for good cornering. Either hug the inside of the corner at all times or use the banking on the outside of the corner to increase speed. When taking jumps ensure you are not turning. Also attemp to approach the jump so that when you land you are ready for the next corner. If others are attempting to pass: Try and get them to ram you by blocking their way, such collisions will increase your own speed. Keep on the side of the conrer and attempt ro push your opposition into the outside barrier. Accidently spill your drink in their lap. If playing by modem hit them with a disconerting message via the macro keys to destroy their concentration. It usually pays to make all your keyboard macros disconcerting to avoid mistaken pleasantries. If you are losing badly: Concentrate on you own driving and learning the track rather than losing you cool. If playing locally use verbal obscenities to offput your opposition and perhaps spill more beer/fanta in their lap. If all else fails, stop, turn around and speed head on into the opposing traffic, always a good options if you are certain or being lapped.