======================================================================== MEDIEVAL CHESS for the PC Medieval Chess is a try before you buy program. If you like Medieval Chess, you can register the game from JV Enterprises for only $14.00! When you register, you will then have access to Modem/Null modem play in a two player mode. Also, you will have access to computer levels medium and hard in a one player mode. You can register credit card orders by Mail, Fax, E-Mail, or Phone. If you wish to send a check or money order you can to so by Mail. If you live outside the United States, and you do not have a credit card, you can send a Money Order in US funds, or send us the equivilent of $14 in your currency (please make sure that you wrap the money in foil or paper.) Mail Address : JV Enterprises PO Box 97455 Las Vegas, NV 89193-7455 Phone Number : (702) 734-9689 (10am - 6pm PT, Mon-Fri) Email Adrress: jvent@vegas.infi.net Fax Number : (702) 433-3973 Web Page : http://jvent.pho.com ======================================================================== All music in Medieval Chess was written by Eric Richardson at EMU Studios. Eric invites music comments and questions. You can write to him at: EMU Studios PO Box 1992 Oak Harbor, WA 98277-1992 ======================================================================== Disclaimer: This product is released on an AS IS basis without any kind of warranty. This inlcludes product quality, condition, perfomance or merchantabilty. JV Enterprises, the programmers, and its distributors shall not be held liable to the purchaser or any other person or entity for any liability, loss damage or disappointment directly or indirectly involving this product. (c)1996 by JV Enterprises ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Version 1.0 M E D I E V A L C H E S S -------------------------- NOTE:If you are having any problems loading or running Medieval Chess be sure to check the Troubleshooting guide at the end of this file. Contents ............. I. Chess vs. Medieval Chess II. The Rules III. Controls and Quick Reference IV. Playing over the Phone or with a Direct connection (Registered users only) V. Playing the Game VI. Troubleshooting I. Chess vs. Medieval Chess ======================== There are many similarities between the rules of chess and the rules of Medieval Chess. However, because of the content of the game some rules of chess do not apply. First, there is no check or check-mate in Medieval Chess. The object of the game is to defeat the king, in combat. Placing the king in check-mate does not constitute a win. Second, when a pawn reaches the other side. It will automatically replace itself with a missing piece. If there is no pieces missing, the pawn will wait till one is defeated. Finally, the el-passant rule was eliminated. A player combats for the same square as their opponent. All other rules of chess apply. This includes rules of movements and attacking. King-side and Queen-side castling are also available, so long as the King or corresponding Rook has not moved during the game. II. The Rules ========= The object of the game is to defeat your opponent's king in battle. There are six diffenent pieces that you can use. Each piece has a different ability and strength. The most important piece of the game is the King. Then comes the Queen, Rook, Knight, Bishop, and finally the pawn. Yes, we know that the Knight and Bishop are rated about the same. But after you play and get the hang of Medieval Chess, you will see why we rated the Knight higher. When a piece confronts an opponent, the screen then changes into an attack arena. The player that instigates the attack gets the advantage: extra strength. Attacking a King, however, will not award you with any advantage. In the attack mode, each piece differs in speed, strength, weapon type, weapon recharge, weapon speed, and weapon damage. The king also has a magical defense that is stronger when more of his pieces are remaining on the board. The battle will continue until a piece is defeated. Any damage sustained in battle is permanent, but each piece will slowly heal as the game continues. The Pawn The Knight Speed: Medium Speed: Fast Strength: Very low Strength: Low Weapon: Spear Weapon: Sword Damage: Very low Damage: Low Recharge: Very fast Recharge: Fast Speed: N/A Speed: N/A The Bishop The Rook Speed: Slow Speed: Very slow Strength: Medium-high Strength: Very high Weapon: Spark Weapon: Boulder Damage: Medium-low Damage: Medium Recharge: Medium Recharge: Medium-fast Speed: Very Fast Speed: Medium The Queen The King Speed: Medium Speed: Slow Strength: Medium-low Strength: High Weapon: Fireball Weapon: Electrical charge Damage: Very high Damage: High Recharge: Slow Recharge: Medium-slow Speed: Fast Speed: Very fast III. Controls and Quick Reference ============================ These keys are available from the Game Menu only, except as noted. ESC: Quits the game, and hangs up modem (if connected.) From inside the game or anywhere else, returns to Game Menu. TAB: Pauses game. (Does not work in modem or direct connection game.) F1: Player one selection of control device. If playing modem or direct connection game, use this to set your computer's control device. F2: Player two selection of control device. F3: Toggle between four levels of volume for sounds and music. (F3 works from inside the game as well) For registered users.... F4: Hang up and reset modem. F7: Setup a SLAVE Null (direct) connection. F8: Setup a HOST Null (direct) connection. F9: Setup a SLAVE Modem connection and wait for ring. F10: Setup a HOST Modem connection and dial number. Medieval Chess allows play from a keyboard, joystick, or mouse. Only one player can use the joystick or mouse at one time, unless you are playing over a modem or direct connection. The keyboard will automatically be split if both players choose keyboard. Otherwise keyboard control is set to setup #1. Joystick Mouse -------- ----- up up | | left - + - right left - + - right | | down down button #1 = Action left button = Action Keyboard Setup #1 Keyboard Setup #2 ----------------- ----------------- 7/home 8 9/PgUp E R T \ | / \ | / 4 - * - 6 D - * - G / | \ / | \ 1/End 2 3/PgDn C V B Enter, 0/Ins = Action SPACE Bar = Action IV. Playing over the Phone or with a Direct connection (REGISTERED USERS) ================================================== If you have registered the game, you can also setup the Modem/Null modem connection as well. To play with a modem connection you will need a modem with Error Correction available. Most modems have this feature. Null Modem (Direct Connect) - To setup a direct connection you must have a Null Modem cable connected between your computer and another PC. One system will then press 'F8' for host, and the other 'F7' for the slave. The systems will ask you what Com port you have the connection made in. Enter a number from 1 and 4 which represents what port you have a connection in. Then both computers select 'Modem/Null Play' from the menu and select 'Begin Game'. A "please wait" message will appear, then the game will start. If the game does not start after you both selected 'Begin Game,' you have the wrong com port setup. Modem Play - To setup a modem play, one system will dial with 'F10' and the other will wait for a ring with 'F9.' Both will ask you what com port you have a modem in. Select 1 to 4. If you don't know what com port your modem is in, you can test for it, explained below. Once you have selected a com port, the person who pressed 'F9' will then wait until the phone rings. If there is no connection within 3 minutes, the program will go back to the game menu. With, 'F10' there will be a brief pause as the program sets up the modem, after a "#:" will appear on the screen. At this time, type the phone number you wish to dial. You can use '*70,' to cancel call waiting before you start to dial. (The Shift key is not active in this game, to type in the '*,' press the '*' key above the number pad on the far right of your keyboard.) When you hit RETURN/ENTER, the modem will start to dial. Both computers will notify you of a connection when one was made. (You can use 'F10' to test to see if your modem is on the com port you selected. Just follow the instrutions above, and enter any number, like '118.' If your modem does not begin to dial, the com port is setup incorrectly.) Once a connection is made, both computers select 'Modem/Null Play' from the menu and select 'Begin Game'. A 'please wait' message will appear, then the game will start after a brief pause. NOTE: In both Null or Modem play you can cancel waiting at the 'please wait' message with the 'ESC' key. Hanging up: While playing you can go back to the game menu with the 'ESC' key. Once in the game menu, pressing 'F4' will hangup the modem and disconnect the line. V. Playing the Game ================ After the game loads, the game board will appear and a scroll will open. This is the game menu. you can select the number of players, the color of the opponent, and the difficulty of the comptuer. After you have made your selections, the computer will display: Re-select, Begin Game. If you have made an error, You may choose Re-select to change your selections for the game. If you wish to exit the game Pressing 'ESC' from the game menu will do so. Pressing 'ESC' from anywhere else will return you to the game menu. Some selections will not be available until you register the game. You can get a Passcode by registering the program from JV Enterprises. The white player always make the first move. The cursor will appear on the King's starting location. To select your character, move the cursor with the joystick, keyboard, or mouse to the desired position and press the action button. The cursor will then disappear andyou will now have control of that piece. If you select the wrong piece, press the action button again, and the cursor will appear. Guide the character to the desired location. All pieces may move freely around the board. The Knight will jump over a square that is occupied. To make your move, press the action button after you have moved your piece. If you make an illeagal move, the character will automatically relocate to its previous position and the cursor will again appear. In the attack mode, there are two swords located on opposite corners of the screen. The upper-left one corresponds to the white player, while the lower-right one corresponds to the black player. The length of the sword determines your strength. The handle, if red, warns you that your weapon is recharging, and that you cannot fire. To move your player, in the attack mode, direct it with the joystick, keyboard, or mouse. To fire your weapon, press the action button. You may use a blocker as a shield, and the blocker will absorb projectile weapons. However, after a few hits, the blocker will vanish. Be careful, as projectile weapons can go over the corner of blockers. VI. Troubleshooting =============== Q. My mouse is not working? A. You must have a mouse driver installed for DOS. You will find the driver under CONFIG.SYS as: Devicehigh=\dos\mouse.sys or in AUTOEXEC.BAT as: mouse The name of the mouse driver may differ from computer to computer, check with the computer manual to find out how to add the driver to the computer. Q. I get a 'Not enough Memory' message? A. You need at least 1040k of XMS, EMS, or DPMI memory. If you have enough of one, and it still does not work, check to make sure that you have enough EMS. Because of a bug/feature of EMM386.SYS program, EMS memory is the first thing DPMI uses if available. If you only have 256k of EMS memory, that is all Medieval Chess will find. It is best if you can change the line to have no EMS or change it to a number larger than 1040. To change, edit the CONFIG.SYS file: ...\WINDOWS\EMM386.SYS RAM 1280 or ...\WINDOWS\EMM386.SYS NOEMS If there is more on the line or the name is not identical, don't worry. The important part is the 'RAM' & 'NOEMS' The number is how much RAM you wish to reserve, if you wish to turn off EMS, 'NOEMS' is used in place of 'RAM.' Q. I get the game up, but it locks up usually at the title screen, or hangs sometime in the game? Q. The game runs, but I have no sound; and when I exit, the message "IRQ Timeout" appears? A. If you are running Medieval Chess from Windows 95, and you are using a 486 or 386, Windows 95 sometimes does not seem to handle DOS interrupts correctly. We did our best to minimize this with our interrupt coding. However, we could not eliminate it. If it occurs often, we suggest that you boot the game from DOS, either by restarting under DOS, or by going into the Proporties with a right click on the Medieval Chess' short cut. Under Program, in the 'Advanced' section, change 'suggest MS-DOS ...' to 'MS-DOS Mode', see online help in Windows 95 for more details. Restarting the game a second or third time, from Windows 95 usually works fine. Also try not to have any ohter applications running while playing Medieval Chess, they could conflict with it. :) Q. The game runs, but there is no sound? A. In order to get sound and music, you need a Sound Blaster or compatible sound card. If you have one, and are running the game from Windows 95, see Question above. Q. When I run the program, I get an "Error opening file" or "Error reading file?" A. All the files contained in the 'MEDIEVAL.ZIP' file must be in the same directory in order for the game to run. If you have all files and you are running from Windows 3.1x or Windows 95, make sure that the working directory in Proporties is the same directory as where all the files are. See documentation for Windows 3.1x or Windows 95 for more details. Q. After I played for a while, my screen saver came up! What can I do to stop that? (under Windows 95) A. Check the Proporties for Medieval Chess under Misc, Make sure that there is no check mark under "Allow Screen Saver", then click on Apply. Q. All this talk about shortcuts, what are they? A. A shortcut is a file that Windows 95 creates to make it easy for you to start an application. Shortcuts also store specific settings that an application uses, that can be changed by right clicking on the shortcut, then clicking on Proporties. Q. I read all the questions, and my question is not listed? A. You can send your question to us at: jvent@vegas.infi.net, we will try to answer your question as quickly as we can.