Warbirds III Online Public Beta

Warbirds III Online Public Beta

Here is the public beta of Warbirds III for all you WWII flight combat sim fans. This file contains the Data file, Hi and Low res cockpit files, and the main files for both the PC and the Mac. The Mac file is named with the extention of .sit.

WARBIRDS III

Copyright(c) 2001 by iEntertainment Network, Inc.

All Rights Reserved.

http://www.warbirdsiii.com

http://www.ient.com

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SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

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WARBIRDS III for Windows SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

--- Pentium II, 400Mhz.

--- 128 Mb RAM, Recommended 256 Mb RAM

--- DirectX 7.0a compatible sound and video cards, with drivers

Windows 95, 98, and 2000

--- 16 Mb 3D card minimum

--- Supported 3D cards:

3DFX Voodoo 5

ATI Rage 128

ATI Rage Mobility 128

ATI Radeon

Matrox G400

NVidia GeForce 256

NVidia GeForce 2MX

NVidia GeForce 2

NVidia GeForce 2 Ultra

Nvidia Quadro

Nvidia Quadro 2 Pro

--- A joystick (we recommend using a flight control system

consisting of a joystick, throttle, and optionally rudder

pedals. Several manufacturers make models of their flight

control systems for the PC.)

--- A 14.4K or faster connection to the Internet

To connect via PPP/SLIP/LAN, you must have Win95's Dial-up

Networking and TCP/IP drivers installed (included with Win95)

WARBIRDS III FOR THE Macintosh SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

--- PowerPC-based Macintosh or compatible computer 300 MHz

or faster

--- MacOS version 8.6 or higher

--- 256 MB RAM required

--- 3D accelerator card with Direct Support for Apple's OpenGL

--- OpenGL version 1.2.1 (comes with download)

--- Supported 3D cards:

ATI Rage 128 VR

ATI Nexus

ATI Radeon

Voodoo 5

Nvidia GeForce 2 MX

Nvidia GeForce 3

--- A 14.4K or faster connection to the Internet for online play

--- A joystick (we recommend using a flight control system

consisting of a joystick, throttle, and optionally rudder

pedals. Several manufacturers make models of their flight

control systems for the Macintosh.)

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INSTALLATION:

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Installing from a Download:

WarBirds III ZIP FILE PACKAGES:

For the Open Beta only the player will have to download three

zip files.

The first file (WBWUmmddyy.zip,

WBMUmmddyy.sit) will be an

update for either the PC or Mac. This will allow us to update

players quicker.

The last two (WBDATAmmddyy.zip, WBHCOCKPITmmddyy.zip,

WBLCOCKPITmmddyy.zip) will have files that are shared by both

the PC and Mac and don't change that much. The point is that

once the player downloads the WBDATAmmddyy.zip (data and

configuration files), and WBHCOCKPITmmddyy.zip,

WBLCOCKPITmmddyy.zip (either hi or low resolution cockpits)

files they will not have to again unless we find bugs in these

files.

We'll be deploying updates pretty quickly so by placing the

update in a separate file (WBWUmmddyy.zip, WBMUmmddyy.sit) the

player will only have to download a small update file. Also

the version number of each WarBirds III build is the date stated

in the zip file. For example WBWU031401.zip (03/14/01) is the

version of number of this zip file.

For example if a PC player wants to download WarBirds III for

the open beta for the FIRST TIME they will have to download

the following files:

WBWU031401.zip

WBDATA031401.zip

WBHCOCKPIT031401.zip

WBLCOCKPIT031401.zip

Also if a Mac player wants to download the WarBirds III

open beta for the FIRST TIME he will have to download

the following files:

WBMU031401.sit

WBDATA031401.zip

WBHCOCKPIT031401.zip

WBLCOCKPIT031401.zip

When we deploy an update two days later the PC player will have

to download only one file - WBWU031601.zip. Also if a Mac

player wanted to update all he would have to do is download

WBMU031601.zip. Please note that the date stamp changed

(031601) designating a new version.

-Download the WARBIRDS III zip file packages to your hard drive

that include,

WBWU031401.zip <-- Update or executable for the PC

WBMU031401.sit <-- Update or executable for the Mac

WBDATA031401.zip <-- Data and configuration file for the PC

and Mac

WBHCOCKPIT031401.zip

WBLCOCKPIT031401.zip <-- either

high or low resolution cockpits

Install Instructions For the PC

-- Using Windows Explorer find the files you download above

(WBWU031401.zip, WBDATA031401.zip, WBHCOCKPIT031401.zip).

-- Using WinZip uncompress the WBDATAmmddyy.zip first then the

other two files to your root directory (c:\). The zip file will

create a directory called \WarBirds III

-- You can launch WarBirds III for Windows using Windows Explorer

and go to the directory above \WarBirds III and double clicking

on the file WB3.EXE

Install Instructions For the Macintosh

-- Using StuffIt Expander uncompress the WBDATAmmddyy.zip first.

The zip file will create a folder \WarBirds III then

uncompress the WBHCOCKPIT031401.zip file into the folder

\WarBirds III

-- Unstuff the WBMU031401.sit file, creating a "Mac WB III

Install" folder.

-- Inside the "Mac WB III Install" folder, there is a "OpenGL

1.2.1 Installer" file and a "Drag Contents to WarBirds III"

folder.

-- Drag the contents of the "Drag Contents to WarBirds III" to

the folder \WarBirds III

-- Double-click on the "OpenGL 1.2.1 Installer" application if

you need to Install OpenGL 1.2.1.

-- You can launch WarBirds III for the Macintosh by double

clicking on the WarBirds III application.

Installing from a CD-ROM

-If AutoPlay is enabled on your computer, simply click the

"Install Warbirds" button on the startup screen after

inserting the CD in your CD-ROM drive. Follow the

instructions carefully from there. If you do NOT have

AutoPlay enabled on your computer, proceed to the next

step below.

-Double-click Setup.exe on the Warbirds CD-ROM and follow the

instructions. You can launch WarBirds III for Windows by

selecting START ,iEntertainment Network, then WarBirds III

from the Windows Start menu.

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ONLINE QUICK HELP GUIDE, FAQ AND MANUAL:

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-The online manual is on the WarBirds III web sight at

http://www.warbirdsiii.com

If you have questions or need additional assistance with WarBirds

feel free to call our Technical Support Department at

(919) 461-0948, between 12PM - 9PM Eastern Standard Time,

Friday through Sunday, or send email to [email protected]

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OTHER PROGRAMS RUNNING IN THE BACKGROUND:

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-If you discover any performance or interface problems while

trying to run the game, try the following:

Turn off animated cursors, any other large programs

currently running, any special anti-virus or system maintenance

utilities, any crash protection software, any ICQ or EMail

programs or web browsers running in the background prior to

starting the game. If using Microsoft Plus! software, choose

the Windows Standard Desktop Theme prior to starting the game

(you can switch back to your preferred theme after exiting the

game). If using Microsoft Intellipoint software, turn off the

Pointer Wrap feature for your mouse prior to starting the game.

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CUSTOMER SERVICE:

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WarBirds III Web site: http://www.warbirdsiii.com

iEntertainment Web site: http://www.ient.com

Tech Support email [email protected]

Billing & Account Information: 1-800-438-4263

Phone Tech Support: 919-461-0948

Please visit our website at http://www.warbirdsiii.com

for the latest in news, support, updates, and FAQs.

If you have questions or need additional assistance with WarBirds

feel free to call our Technical Support Department at

(919) 461-0948, between 12PM - 9PM Eastern Standard Time,

Friday through Sunday.

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COMMON KNOW PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS:

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POOR FRAME RATE (fps)

Some system configurations might produce only 15fps should be

exceeding 60fps. I can only conclude there are hardware setup

problems. On the PC I've seen three different ways to get reduced

frame rate:

1. If you have a VIA chipset on the motherboard, INSTALL THE

DRIVERS FOR THE MOTHERBOARD. Look for newer AGP drivers

(sometimes part of the 4 in 1 driver set). Without the

additional drivers installed you will never get full

performance.

2. Interrupt conflicts can cause a major performance drop.

Make sure none of the interrupts overlap. DMA conflicts

are also possible.

3. Make sure AGP is enabled. GeForce cards will drop to 1/4

performance if AGP isn't working. Check the DirectX

diagnostics to see if AGP is enabled.

Just as a sanity check, we're running debug builds on a P2-400

with a G400 at 30 fps. GeForce cards and release builds do even

better. Also, if you have a Radeon or a GeForce, you should be

selecting the T&L HAL otherwise all transforms will be done on the

CPU. These cards are designed to get better performance when the

T&L pipeline is used (less traffic on the AGP bus).

STUTTERING

There are two ways you can see a stutter:

1. Some resource is requested that either hasn't been loaded

yet or has been moved to the swap file. In this case

there will be a slight pause while it loads.

2. You are getting a frame rate JUST on the threshold of a

factor of the refresh rate so the frame update is

"toggling" between two different rates.

Number two above needs some additional explanation. Double

buffering means there are only 2 screen surfaces to render into

and display on the monitor. For aesthetic reasons, you do not

want to render into the surface being scanned out by the card

to the monitor so you wait for the screen update to complete

after swapping buffers before you erase the contents and draw

on it. This means the "real" frame rate is tied to the refresh

rate of the monitor. But it gets worse; if you take JUST longer

than the refresh rate to create a new surface, you MISS an update

and have to wait for the next one. This causes the apparent

frame rate to drop in half. This would be fine, but we're far

more sensitive to changes in rate of motion than detecting

constant motion so this looks very "wrong" and is noticible.

This is why even a constant 20 fps "feels" better than

constantly oscillating between 30 and 60.

Here is an example:

60 Hz refresh rate. This means the ONLY possible frame

update rates are:

60/1=60, 60/2=30, 60/3=20, 60/4=15, 60/5=12, 60/6=10, 60/7=8.5

Let's say you're getting 60 fps and occasionally it takes a

little longer to render a frame and you drop to 59.4 fps. This

means the apparent rate toggling between 60 and 30. This looks

bad. The solution is to detect it and increase the amount of

work done to make sure you always meet at least 30 but never let

it achieve >=60 fps. The other way around this is to use triple

buffering. This relaxes the restriction a little since there are

now 3 buffers so as long as you don't get too far behind you can

go ahead and start rendering since you now have one surface for

the screen update, one with the scene about to be displayed, and

a spare surface to start rendering into now without disturbing

the screen update. The down side with triple buffering is it

uses more VRAM so there is less available for textures which can

be a more severe performance drop than continuing with

double-buffering instead. Another alternative is to try a

different refresh rate, but remember, higher refresh rates mean

less bandwidth is available during rendering so it may be SLOWER.

TEXTUES SHOW UP AS WHITE ON A MACINTOSH

On a Macintosh some textures show up as white. Whenever

OpenGL doesn't have enough memory to load a texture,

it comes out as white. Try increasing your virtual memory, and

see if the white areas are still there. Then, if they aren't,

you can lower the VRAM for performance reasons.

It appears OpenGL is running out of memory to hold its texture

cache in system memory. Memory is shared between OpenGL and

the application so giving more to the application takes it

away from OpenGL. OpenGL renders in white if the texture isn't

loaded.

Appears each Macintosh graphics artifact can be traced back to

a texture load fail due to memory so only one thing has to be

fixed to correct them all, fortunately. We're working on

reducing the memory requirements.

FLICKERING WATER AND COASTLINE

This is a Z-Buffer artifact. At a distance from the camera you

lose precision in the depth determination so polygons "fight"

over the same pixel, very slight changes in the camera position

and orientation cause the choice to switch from frame to frame.

We're still looking for a good way to eliminate it, but for now

stay away from 16-bit Z-Buffers to minimize it.

Note: NVidia hardware ALWAYS uses a 16-bit Z-Buffer if the video

mode is not also 32-bit. Running in a window with the desktop

less than 32-bit will also select a 16-bit zbuffer. The

GeForce 2 MX and GeForce 3 supposedly have this fixed, but we

haven't tested it; and prefer the 32-bit frame buffer for nicer

graphics (the frame rate hit is barely noticeable.)

INPUT SPROCKETS CRASHES ON A MACINTOSH

Some beta testers have reported a problem with using Input

Sprockets configuration button in settings with the ATI Radeon

1.1.1 drivers. Note these drivers are installed on all

Built-to-Order containing the Radeon card. If you experience

this problem, pressing return should recover but you may

want to look for alternate drivers. We will update you when

we have more information.

VISUAL ANOMALIES

The Voodoo5 will probably have some visual anomalies. We are

aware of the problem and are working to fix them now.

SKINS EXPLAINED

Typing ".planeskin" by itself will disable custom skins.

Typing ".planeskin

" (where path is the name of the

directory to load custom skins from UNDER THE PLANE'S skin

path) activates it.

The files must have the names "fuse.tga", "wing.tga", and

"extra.tga" (extra.tga is a spare for anything you have

on the third texture... dive brakes, etc).

*Examples:

c:\wbiii\skins\bf109e\offline\yellow

c:\wbiii\skins\bf109e\offline\hotseat

Switching between them you would use ".planeskin yellow" or

".planeskin hotseat". Doing a ".planeskin"

alone would return to using the normal artwork.

Note: ALL aircraft will look for the current planeskin

directory in their path so setting ".planeskin yellow" would

mean P-51B's would look in skins\p51b\offline\yellow for .TGAs

as well. Nothing bad happens if they aren't there... it just

falls back on the default artwork.

Plane display list (these will be the directory names for the

current planes in the game):

JU52

B25C

JU88A

B24J

B24D

B17

BF109E

BF110G

JU87G

JU87D

YAK9D

YAK3

P51B

P51

KI84

HURRI1

F6F5

F4F3

ME262

SPIT9

SPIT5

SPIT1

ZERO52

ZERO21

ZERO

FW190D

FW1908

FW1904

P38

P38L

P38F

F4U4

F4F4

F4U1

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KEYBOARD COMMANDS QUICKLIST:

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//General Keys

F - Fires Primary Guns

B - Fires Secondary Guns

G - Toggle Gear

E - Toggle Engine

Q - Flaps Down

W - Flaps Up

K - Elevator Trim Up

I - Elevator Trim Down

V - Zoom In (FOV smaller)

Z - Zoom Out (FOV larger)

X - Auto Trim on Level

Y - Bombadier station

down arrow - Activates the Norden if in "Y" mode and plane is so

equipped

O - Opens bomb bay doors

[ - Ext view zoom in

] - Ext view zoom out

/ - Toggle Radio Bar

Esc - Toggle Console

backspace - Selects next secondary weapon

Tab - Toggles min/max radio buffer

Enter^3 - Eject

Enter^1 - Open's chute (after ejecting)

1 - Pilot Station

2 - Tail Gunner Station

3 - Nose Gunner Station

4 - Left Gunner Station

5 - Right Gunner Station

6 - Top Gunner Station

7 - Bottom Gunner Station

//Alt Function keys

Alt-K - Toggle Clouds

Alt-S - Screenshot (shot0000.tga)

//Crtl Function Keys

Ctrl-B - Bail Out

Ctrl-C - Toggle Cockpit

Ctrl-E - Toggle External View

Ctrl-G - Toggles Gunner Maintenance screen (online only)

Ctrl-H - Toggles Removal of most 'red text'

from screen (great for screenshots)

Ctrl-O - Toggles Ocean

Ctrl-P - Toggle Pickle Mode

Ctrl-S - Toggle Slew Mode

Ctrl-X - Auto Trim on Angle

Ctrl-#4 - autopan left (#5 = numpad5)

Ctrl-#5 - autopan up

Ctrl-#6 - autopan right

//Shift Function Keys

Shift-[ - zooms out on map scale

Shift-] - zooms in on map scale

Shift-O - toggles scroll-around in 3d cockpit

Shift-X - Auto Trim on Speed

Shift-8 - Toggles "view badguy" mode where player views other

planes from outside

Shift-9 - Selects next badguy to view

//Function Keys

F1 - Toggles overlay map

F2 - Toggles Icons

F9 - WEP

F11 - Toggle Ground Clutter

F12 - Center Joystick

//Misc

-Arrow keys move you around while in external view

//MAC ONLY command

Cmd-C - Toggles use of software cursor

//Dot commands

.varlevel

- (x=250-50,000) changes # of polys rendered

for the terrain

.conv <1-999> - convergence distance

.destroyall - Destroys all objects (except the tower) to begin

takeover of field more quickly during test

.destroyob <#> - Destroys a single object given the object number

.e - Exits plane when at full stop (or while moving

offline)

.ez - enables EZ mode

.field -1 - air start

.field

.flightstart - FLIGHTSTART [x pos] [y pos] [alt] - Starts

flight at designated coordinates

.fly - duh?

.fuel <0-100> - percentage of fuel

.grndlabels - Displays id of ground objects

.ignore

- Ignores named player

.invulnerable - makes player's plane invulnerable to weapon hits

.listen

- Cancels an ignore to the named player

.loadout

- Select loadout (0 - ?)

.masterview - Slaves an observer's view to your own

.radiolines <#> - number of radio buffer lines displayed (n=1-64)

.runway <#> - Selects runway -1 defaults offline to air start

.setautologin - (0-1) Toggles auto login

.setsavepass - (0-1) Toggles saving of password

.shanghai - Steals another player and sets him ovserver in

your cockpit

.slewfeet

- Sets the number of feet to slew per frame (for

slew mode-modified by throttle)

.unlimitedammo - No limit on ammo (works with bombs & rockets)

//AI Dot Commands

.offrps show all Display all the available AI-controlled

aircraft.

.offrps add [model] Adds [model] to the user-selected list of

AI-controlled aircraft. Once the user has

created this list, the AI-controlled

aircraft are chosen from it.

.offrps show selected Displays the current user-selected list of

AI-controlled aircraft.

.offrps random Returns to the normal, randomlyselected

AI-controlled aircraft.

.offrps nme [n] Sets number of enemy aircraft (1-4).

Specifying 0 returns to random numbers of

friendly and enemy.

.offairattack Sets offline game to air attack(AI planes)

.offfreeflight Sets offline game to free flight

.offbomberambush Sets offline game to bomber mission

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Host and Clint dot commands for autogunners (otto) on bombers

Host Settings

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To change a setting (CMs/Trainers only)

".sset [param] [value]"

Setting Name Range Desc

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OTTO_ACCURACY 1 - 10 A general accuracy setting,

this affects the otto's

accuracy, reaction time and

tracking rates.

OTTO_RANGE 1 - 12 100yds Determines the range at which

the otto will commence firing.

As different weapons have

different exit velocities,

this range is adjusted slightly

per weapon. Note that although

otto range can be extended to

D12, the chances for even the

highest accuracy level otto of

achieving hits are significant

only for ranges D8 and under.

OTTO_BURSTON_BASE 0.5 - 4.0 secs This parameter helps determine

the length of a burst. It is

divided by the target distance

so the burst length will

increase as the target gets

nearer. Increasing this value

increases the volume of fire

put out by the otto, at the

cost of more ammunition

expended.

OTTO_BURSTON_MAX 0.5 - 4.0 secs This works with the parameter

above in determining burst

length. It is multiplied by a

hit ratio, so the effect is

that the otto will increase

burst time as more hits are

achieved. Increasing this

value increases the chances

of inflicting damage on

targets, again at the cost

of more ammunition expended.

OTTO_BURSTOFF_BASE 0.5 - 4.0 secs This determines the length

of time the otto pauses in

between bursts. It is

proportional to the target

distance, so that the pause

in between bursts will

decrease as the target gets

nearer. Increasing this value

will produce longer pauses

between bursts.

OTTO_RETARGET_TIME 0.0 - 10.0 secs This determines the frequency

at which the otto will look for

new targets. The value is the

time in between new target

evaluation, so, for example,

setting this value to 5.0 will

mean the otto will wait 5

seconds between each search

for targets.

OTTO_OVERRIDES 0 - 511 This determines which of the

above settings the player can

override while online.

Each parameter is turned on

(made overrideable by the

player) by the values

below. To turn on multiple

parameters, add them

together.

1 OTTO_ACCURACY

2 OTTO_RANGE

8 OTTO_BURSTON_BASE

16 OTTO_BURSTON_MAX

32 OTTO_BURSTOFF_BASE

128 OTTO_RETARGET_TIME

Here are some useful values:

0 Prohibits the player from

overriding any

otto setting while online

511 Allows the player to override

all otto parameters

58 Allows the player to override

the

OTTO_RANGE,0TTO_BURSTON_BASE,OTTO_BURSTON_MAX,

OTTO_BURSTOFF_BASE parameters

186 Adds OTTO_RETARGET_TIME

to above overrides

BUFF_HARDNESS_MULT 1 - 10 This is a multiplier for buff

hardness. Setting it greater

than 1 will increase buff

hardness, allowing bombers

to take more damage.

***NOTE***

You must do a .save and

a .load immediately after

setting this value, or it

will not take effect!

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Client autogunners (otto) Dot Commands

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.OTTO PARAMS Displays the current settings for the

otto. If online, does not show settings

which player cannot override.

.OTTO [param] [value>] Allows the player to override an otto

setting. If online, only those

parameters permitted by the arena

OTTO_OVERRIDES setting can be changed.

When playing offline, the parameters set

will apply to both the autogunners in

the player's plane and those in the

AI-controlled planes.

.OTTO STATUS Displays the current status of each

ottogunner

.OTTO SHUTUP Stops otto chatter

.OTTO TALK Resumes otto chatter

The .otto parameter command applies only to the otto on

your client. When you are online, the host's "otto_overrides"

setting determines which parameters you control, and which

are set by the host.

To display current settings:

".otto params"

To set accuracy level:

".otto accuracy [level]" OR

".otto ac [level]"

Where [level] is from 1 - 10. Example ".otto ac 10"

sets accuracy to highest level.

To set the range:

".otto range D[range]" OR

".otto rg D[range]"

Where [range] is from 1-12 ... don't forget to put the "D".

Example: ".otto rg D10" sets range

at which otto will commence firing

to D10.

To set the target refresh time:

".otto retarget_time [time]" OR

".otto rt [time]"

Where [time] is from 0-10 seconds.

Example: ".otto rt 3.5"

has otto look for new targets

every 3.5 seconds.

To set the base burst period:

".otto burston_base [period]" OR

".otto b+ [period]"

Where [period] is from 0.5 - 4.0 seconds.

Example: ".otto b+ 2.2"

has otto burst for at most

2.2 seconds before pausing.

To set the "max" burst period:

".otto burston_max [period]" OR

".otto b++ [period]"

Where [period] is from 0.5 - 4.0 seconds.

Example: ".otto b++ 3.0" has

otto burst for at most an

additional 3.0 seconds when

it is hitting the target.

To set the pause in between bursts:

".otto burstoff_base [period]" OR

".otto b- [period]"

Where [period] is from 0.5 - 4.0 seconds.

Example: ".otto b- 1.0" has

otto pause for at most 1 second

in between bursts.

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Offline Dot Commands

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Air Attack Mission

.offrps show all Display all the available

AI-controlled aircraft.

.offrps add [model] Adds [model] to the user-selected

list of AI-controlled aircraft.

Once the user has created this list,

the AI-controlled aircraft are

chosen from it.

.offrps show selected Displays the current user-selected

list of AI-controlled aircraft.

.offrps random Returns to the normal, randomly

selected AI-controlled aircraft.

.offrps nme [n] Sets number of enemy aircraft

(1-4). Specifying 0 returns to

random numbers of friendly

and enemy.

Bomber Ambush Mission

.offbombers [n] Sets the number of AI-controlled

bombers, where [n] is from 1 - 8.

.offbombermodel show Displays the available AI-controlled

bomber models.

.offbombermodel [model] Specifies the AI-controlled bomber

model, instead of a random selection.

.offbombermodel random Returns to random selection of

AI-controlled bomber models.

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