Ground Control 2: Operation Exodus Demo file

MAY 27, 2004

=== README.TXT

Ground Control(R) II: Operation Exodus -- MP DEMO

Welcome to the Ground Control II: Operation Exodus Multiplayer Demo. Ground
Control II is a 3D action-strategy game and the sequel to the 2000
award-winning Ground Control.

The complete game will be available in stores worldwide in late June 2004.
Check out below for a few of the features that come with the full game!

* 24 action-packed missions

* Keep your enemy on the defensive by creating new unique units by melding
your Viron troops together on the battlefield.

* Drop-in Multiplayer – Unique drop-in multiplayer game servers allow up to
8 players to join an on-going game at any time.

* Cooperative Multiplayer – Play through the entire single player campaign
with up to 2 of your friends.

* Gripping Storyline – Immersive plot written in collaboration with
acclaimed sci-fi and fantasy author Joe Dever.

* Full Set of Game Editing Tools – Create your own multiplayer maps, single
player missions, full campaigns or modify almost any other aspect of the game.
Included in the package are the same powerful tools that the developers used to
create the game.

* The Massgate(TM) online community system gives immediate access to online
matchmaking, hi-score ladders, tournaments, chat rooms and much more. Join
thousands of players online to get a quick adrenaline rush at any time.

The following websites provide more information about the game and how to buy
it:

www.groundcontrol2.com
www.vugames.com
www.vugames-europe.com
www.massive.se

This Readme file is laid out in the following order:

System Requirements
Default Hot Keys
Camera Controls
Known Issues
Network Troubleshooting
End-User License Agreement

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: Windows(R) 98/ME/2000/XP
* 800Mhz Intel(R) Pentium(TM) III processor or AMD(R) Athlon(TM) processor or
equivalent
* 128Mb RAM (256 Mb RAM for Windows 2000/XP)
* Nvidia(R) Geforce(TM), ATI(R) Radeon(TM), or equivalent 32MB Video Card
supporting Hardware Transform and Lighting with DirectX(R) 9.0b or higher
compatible driver
* DirectX(R) 9-compatible sound card and speakers or headphones
* 500MB available hard drive space
* 24X or faster CD-ROM
* Keyboard and Mouse
* 56K dial-up modem for online play, optimal multiplayer online play is
achieved using DSL, Cable or faster internet connection.

RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS: Windows(R) XP
* 1.5Ghz Intel(R) Pentium(TM) 4 processor or AMD(R) Athlon(TM) XP or faster
processor
* 256Mb RAM or more
* 128Mb AGP(R) video card or more recent chip set
* Broadband / LAN, DSL, Cable or faster internet connection for online play.

This game was tested using the latest video driver updates available at the
time, as follows:
* Nvidia(R) - 56.72
* ATI(R) - Catalyst 4.4

DEFAULT HOT KEYS

Note that most hot keys can be reconfigured in the options menu.

Up Arrow Move camera forward
Down Arrow Move camera backward
Left Arrow Move camera left
Right Arrow Move camera right
Page up Increase Camera Altitude
Page down Decrease Camera Altitude
A Attack
M Move
C Hold down for Reverse Move
R Repair
Z Select Landing Zone
W Move camera to currently selected Landing Zone
L Load APC / Enter building
U Unload APC / Exit building
E Meld (Viron only)
F Cycle formations
H Send dropship home to base
D Send reinforcements buy order & deploy units
V Toggle dropship status (return to base / stay on battlefield)
X Switch between primary and secondary mode
I Activate Upgrade dropship screen
K Activate Reinforcements screen
B Cycle fire behavior (Free, Return, Hold)
N Displays mission objectives
S Halt. Orders the selected unit to stop moving and cease fire
R Repair
Backspace Displays the multiplayer score board
SHIFT-C Toggle between Free Camera and Classic RTS camera modes
ALT Hold down to view health and team color of all visible units
SHIFT Hold down to queue multiple orders
SHIFT Hold down to select multiple units or groups of units
TAB Switches selection focus in current selection
ESC Close active window or abandon game if no window is open
Mouse1 (Left) Select units
Mouse2 (Right) Give order depending on context (e.g. attack, move,
etc.)
Mouse3 (Middle) Press to look around freely with the camera
LEFT CTRL Create Squad modifier
Force fire
Strafe/rotate camera
Pause Pause
Print Scrn Screenshot
Numpad + Zoom in on map
Numpad - Zoom out on map
LEFT CTRL+ENTER Chat
ENTER Team Chat

CAMERA CONTROLS

The battlefield in Ground Control II consists of truly three-dimensional
terrain and is viewed with either the free-flying camera or a traditional
top-down camera similar to most RTS games. The traditional top-down camera can
be pitched and swiveled by pressing the middle mouse button to look around.

Moving the camera is easy. In both modes, the arrow keys will move the camera
forward, back, right and left. In RTS mode these always correspond to north,
south, east and west because the camera always points north by default.

Press SHIFT + C to toggle between the two different camera modes in the game.

KNOWN ISSUES

* Hosting multiplayer games with 56k modem access is not recommended.

* Using a USB modem may cause lag issues.

* Massgate(TM): Switching the team chat and all chat buttons in options
disables team chat.

* Massgate(TM): 56k modem users can crash to Massgate(TM) lobby if 56k modem
user has more than 32 units and orders some to move.

* Load error message after disconnecting network cable from computer.

* Error message in Windows 2000, with no Service Pack update and 128Mb RAM, in
the first 2 to 3 minutes of a game. This can cause a one time freeze, but after
re-starting the machine this message is not seen again. Service pack 4 is
recommended for playing Ground Control II: Operation Exodus.

* When installing DirectX 9.0b it states version 9.0 runtime, when it is
actually installing DirectX 9.0b.

* Visual Options Menu: Contrast settings are reversed, setting the contrast to
a lower level equals a brighter screen and setting the contrast to a higher
level equals a darker screen.

* Skirmish Mode: Setting timer to 1 minute results in automatic Mission
Accomplished.

* Credits: To exit viewing the credits, press the escape button.

VIDEO CARD ISSUES:

* XGI Volari V8 Ultra - You may experience slow, choppy performance on Windows
98SE/ME/2000/XP when using this video card.

* PCI Graphics Card: Windows ME: You may get an error message when trying to
launch the game. The message says “Potential problems found when starting
Ground Control II. AGP acceleration is not enabled. It is highly recommended
that you update your motherboard drivers or game performance may suffer.”

DISABLED FEATURES

The following main features have been disabled in this demo but are included in
the final game:

* Hi-resolution cinematics
* Most single player campaign missions
* Skirmish missions
* Multiplayer on LAN
* The ability to play custom maps

NETWORK TROUBLESHOOTING

If you have an internet connection (e.g. DSL, ADSL or Cable modem) and have
installed a “personal firewall” on your computer such as Black Ice, Zone Alarm,
Norton Internet Security, etc., you may experience problems joining one of the
multiple games found on the Massgate(TM) servers. Servers are currently setup
in Europe, North America and Asia.

If however you do NOT see multiple games on your chosen regional server, you
may have to allow or teach your personal firewall to open access to play Ground
Control II: Operation Exodus.

To avoid problems with joining and hosting Ground Control II multiplayer game
sessions make sure that the ports below are open for UDP/TCP two-way traffic on
your firewall. Some personal firewall applications do this setup automatically,
depending on how your firewall is configured. Please refer to your firewall
instruction manual for information on how to do this.

The following UDP ports need to be opened:

6500 to 6520
13139
29910
42000 to 42200

The following TCP ports need to be opened:

80
6667
27900
28910
29900
29920
42000 to 42020

If you want to host a game using the game application you need to open up the
above ports for outgoing and incoming traffic. If you are behind a NAT/IP
firewall you can only host a game by setting up a separate Dedicated Server
application and forwarding the required ports to it.

Please refer to Groundcontrol2.com for further information about
Dedicated Servers.

END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

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(C) 2004 Massive Entertainment. All rights reserved. Ground Control, Massive
Entertainment and the Massive Entertainment logo are registered trademarks of
Massive Entertainment AB in the U.S. and/or other countries. Published by
Vivendi Universal Games International. Sierra and the Sierra logo are
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