Myth II: Soulblighter v1.3 (C) 1999 Bungie Software Products Corporation IMPORTANT NOTE: This CD-ROM includes version 1.3 of Myth II: Soulblighter. For more info on v1.3, read the last section of this Read Me. _____________________________________________________ Thank you for purchasing Myth II: Soulblighter. This document contains essential information on installation procedures and game performance. For additional troubleshooting assistance, please refer to the Myth II: Soulblighter manual, or visit . CONTENTS _____________________________________________________ I. Contact Information II. Installation III. RAM Requirements IV. 3D Audio and Graphics Hardware V. Performance VI. Multiplayer VII. Fear and Loathing VIII. Changes in Gameplay from Myth I to Myth II IX. Bungie.net Rules & Official Admin Site X. List of Major Fixes for v1.2, v1.2.1 & v1.3 I. CONTACT INFORMATION _____________________________________________________ Technical Support (Not Hints) TEL: (312) 255-9600 FAX: (312) 397-0502 EMAIL: support@bungie.com WEB: http://www.bungie.com When contacting us for technical support, we will likely need to refer to the "myth_log.txt" located in your Myth II directory. Please do not delete this file. Orders: (800) 295 0060 Hints: (900) 740 HINT Hint calls are $0.95/minute for automated hints, or $1.35/minute to speak to a live operator from 9:30am - 5:30pm CST, Monday through Friday. You must be 18 years old or have a parent's permission before calling. A touchtone phone is required. Bungie Software Products Corporation P.O. Box 7877 Chicago, IL 60680-7877 II. INSTALLATION _____________________________________________________ Run the Myth II: Soulblighter installer from your CD-ROM. Click the button labeled "Install Myth II: Soulblighter." You will see four installation options: (1) Custom: free hard drive space required depends on options chosen. (2) Small: requires approximately 100 MB of free hard drive space. (3) Large: requires approximately 500 MB of free hard drive space. (4) Network: requires approximately 500 MB of free hard drive space. If you choose the Small installation option, Myth II: Soulblighter will use disk-caching to significantly boost load-times of single-player levels. For even faster level-loading, choose the Large or Network installation Option. See section VII, "Fear and Loathing," for information about installing Myth II: Soulblighter's Tools via the Custom installation menu. IMPORTANT NOTE: The Network installation option is used to make netplay copies of Myth II: Soulblighter. You will not need the Myth II: Soulblighter CD-ROM to play the Network version. IMPORTANT NOTE FOR v1.3: The installer will place the following files in your "plugins" folder: Patch 1.2 Patch 1.3 Bungie.net DNS These files are essential for the proper operation of v1.3. Do not delete them or move them from the "plugins" folder. III. RAM REQUIREMENTS _____________________________________________________ Simply put, the more free RAM you can give Myth II: Soulblighter, the better. If you are running Myth II: Soulblighter on a PC with only 32 MB of RAM, be prepared for frequent Virtual Memory access. If you are running Myth II: Soulblighter on a Macintosh with only 32 MB of RAM, you will need to turn on Virtual Memory. For optimal performance, you should play Myth II: Soulblighter on a computer with at least 64 MB of RAM. This is especially true if you are using 3D graphics hardware (such as a Voodoo 2 card). If you have a 3D graphics card-equipped computer with less 64 MB of RAM, you may find that running Myth II: Soulblighter in Software Rendering mode (see the Preferences dialog) yields higher frame-rates. IV. 3D AUDIO AND GRAPHICS HARDWARE _____________________________________________________ Myth II supports the 3D audio features of Creative Labs Environmental Audio Extensions (EAX) and Aureal's A3D. If you have the proper hardware, and would like to take advantage of Myth II: Soulblighter's 3D audio capabilities, make sure you check the "3D Sound" box (in the Preferences dialog). Myth II: Soulblighter uses Microsoft Direct 3D, 3Dfx's Glide and Rendition's Redline to support 3D hardware acceleration. Myth II: Soulblighter has been tested on computers with many, but not all, major cards incorporating chipsets by the manufacturers listed below: - 3Dfx (http://www.3dfx.com) - ATi Technologies (http://www.atitech.com) - Matrox (http://www.matrox.com) - nVIDIA (http://www.nvidia.com) - Rendition (http://www.rendition.com) To ensure optimum performance with any 3D graphics card, please be sure to download the absolute latest drivers from you card manufacturer's website. Do not assume that the drivers that shipped with your card are up-to-date. The 3D fog option in Myth II: Soulblighter especially will not work unless you are using at least Glide 2.4.5. More detailed 3D hardware trouble-shooting information is available online at . V. PERFORMANCE _____________________________________________________ To optimize Myth II: Soulblighter's performance, run the game on the fastest computer you can. Regardless of the speed of your computer, never, ever run another program while you are running Myth II: Soulblighter. If, by chance, your computer isn't all that fast, try one or more of the following: 1) Make sure you have a lot of RAM allocated to Myth II: Soulblighter 2) Run the game in "Low Res" mode (see the Preferences dialog) 3) Turn off "Landscape Filtering" (see the Preferences dialog) 4) Turn off modem compression and error correction while playing over a modem. Turn on TCP/IP header compression (if available). 5) Get a faster CD-ROM drive (Myth II: Soulblighter's movies have been optimized for 4X drives and higher). 6) Get a 3D graphics card VI. MULTIPLAYER _____________________________________________________ With your purchase of Myth II: Soulblighter you get unlimited free access to bungie.net, our online gaming service. Before you can play over bungie.net you must register a login and password at . You will need to have your serial number (located on the inside of the Myth II: Soulblighter CD-ROM's jewel case) handy when you register. VERY IMPORTANT NOTES: (1) Do not lose this serial number. Without it you cannot register or change your account information. (2) Do not EVER give your serial number to anyone else. Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES will someone you meet on bungie.net need to know your serial number. If they ask for it, they are trying to do harm to your bungie.net account. Once you have your login and password, select "Multiplayer Game" from Myth II: Soulblighter's main menu. Enter your login and password in the appropriate text fields, click the "Login" button, and you'll automatically be connected to bungie.net. IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure you write down your login and password in a safe place (like the back of the Myth II: Soulblighter manual). If you lose them, you'll have to call us up, and we'll make fun of you for not following instructions. As an advanced option, we've included the ability to play Myth II: Soulblighter over TCP/IP via a user defined port. If you are playing over a user-defined port, you MUST join by address. Searching for local network games on a non-standard port will not work. This option is included to allow users to play through existing firewalls and/or avoid conflicts with other existing network services. Please refer to the TCP/IP section of the Myth II: Soulblighter manual for additional information. If you are unable to access the Multiplayer option on the main menu you may want to try deleting the "preferences" folder located inside the Myth II directory. VII. FEAR AND LOATHING _____________________________________________________ OK Myth map-makers. This is the moment you've been waiting for. You can install "Fear" (our tags editor) and "Loathing" (our map editor) via the Custom installation menu. Chose the option marked "Tools." Written in HTML, the Fear and Loathing manuals will tell you all you need know to begin making single and multi-player maps for Myth II: Soulblighter. You will need an internet browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator to read the Fear and Loathing documentation. The manuals are located in the "Tools Docs" folder on the Myth II: Soulblighter CD. Unfortunately, we cannot provide phone-support for Fear and Loathing. Any updates to their documentation (or to the applications themselves) will be made available via Bungie's website. Keep tuned to for details. NOTE: You cannot run Fear and Loathing directly from the Myth II: Soulblighter CD-ROM. To use these editors, start-up the Fear or Loathing applications that were installed into the Myth II folder on your hard-drive. VIII. CHANGES IN GAMEPLAY FROM MYTH I TO MYTH II _____________________________________________________ Whether you're a first time Myth player, or a hardened veteran of The Great War against the Fallen, there are a few important differences in Myth II: Soulblighter's gameplay that all players should know about: (1) "Timid" and "Simple" difficulty levels (see the Preferences dialog) are now slightly more challenging than they were in Myth: The Fallen Lords. If you are new to Myth, we suggest starting-out on Timid, and working you way up to higher difficulty settings as your skills improve. "Normal" difficulty has been balanced so that the transition between Simple and Normal isn't so rough. Don't worry Myth I champions, "Heroic" and "Legendary" difficulty levels in Myth II: Soulblighter are still as tough as ever. (2) In Myth: The Fallen Lords, when you wanted to attack one type of enemy in a mixed group (say, for example, just the Warriors in a jumble of Warriors and Archers), you selected some of your units, and then clicked one of the enemy Warriors. In Myth II: Soulblighter, you need to hold down the SHIFT key while attacking if you want to attack one type of enemy in a mixed group of enemy units. In this example, you would have to select your attacking units, hold down the SHIFT key, and then click on one of the enemy Warriors to target them alone. We added the SHIFT-click attack system so that new players would have an easier time dealing with mixed groups of enemies. Effectively micro-managing your forces is essential if you want to beat Soulblighter, but learning how do do this takes time. In Myth II: Soulblighter new players will be able to charge into a fray without worrying about who is attacking who, and gradually begin using SHIFT-click attacks as they become more adept. IX. BUNGIE.NET RULES & OFFICIAL ADMIN SITE _____________________________________________________ In order to promote fun, fair play on bungie.net, we've created a list of Official Rules. This list is posted on our Admin site which is located at the following URL: http://www.bungie.net/admin/ Please take time to swing by and familiarize yourself with this list. Break these rules, and we'll bust ya. Follow them, and we'll all continue to enjoy the greatest multi-player gaming experience ever: Myth II over bungie.net! X. LIST OF MAJOR FIXES FOR v1.2, v1.2.1 & v1.3 _____________________________________________________ (Note: This is a delineation of "major" fixes only. If you don't see a fix listed here, we may still have included it in v1.3. Please check to see if this version resolves your problem before calling Bungie Tech Support.) FIXES FOR v1.3 - A new multiplayer game type: Deathmatch. How's it work? Essentially, whenever one of your units dies in a Deathmatch game, it'll re-spawn at your start location. Can you say porci infiniti? - Reduced chat lag. - Reduced option screen lag when the host has a large number of plugins. - Password settings remain constant between multiplayer games. - Start locations in multiplayer games are now truly random. - Myth II will continue playing in the background if the host of a multiplayer game Alt-Tabs to another application. - Postgame statistics fit the screen for all multiplayer game types. - Fixed a bug that would cause crashes when switching bungie.net rooms. - Films of blind games are no longer blind. - Ball for Captures on "If I Had a Trow..." no longer below water. - You don't lose control of the journeyman on "The Great Library" if he goes back into the library. - Removed a path around the wall on "Walls of Muirthemne." - Support for SLI cards. - New map actions that allow mapmakers to tell which patch version a player is using and how many players or teams are in a game. - A new Unit Control parameter that allows mapmakers to assign specific units to be given to specific players. - Players using v1.3.x will be able to join games hosted using v1.2.x, but players using v1.2.x will not be able to join games hosted using v1.3.x. FIXES FOR v1.2.1 - Increased stability during pre-game chat and when players enter or leave games. - PC Voodoo Banshee cards will now work with Myth II. - SLI support is now properly disabled. - Pressing Alt + Tab under Windows NT will now safely take you to the desktop. - Myth II will now correctly display imported netgame preview screens. FIXES FOR v1.2: (1) Hardware - Multiple fixes for issues with 3D-accelerator cards. If we couldn't fix a particular problem, we alerted card manufacturers who told us they would be working on new drivers that would address the issue. Please check with your manufacturer to make sure you are using the most up-to-date drivers. - Myth II now runs on machines with fixed-resolution monitors. - Added an option to turn-off cutscenes (MacOS). - Fixed problem (MacOS) where Myth II would quit unexpectedly after extended gameplay. - "Tab" key can now only be assigned one function. - Fixed problem with Kensington 4-button mice. - Myth II now works with MultiMon under Windows98. - Fixed swap space error (Windows). - Myth II now recognizes Drive Z (Windows). (2) General Gameplay - Right mouse button now de-selects units. - Auto-camera no longer dwells on pus-packets and mortar shells. - Lowered Spiders' activation range. - F8 now displays more key commands. (2) Multi-Player - Reduced typing lag on bungie.net. - No more nasty graphic artifacts when you pull down the list of bungie.net rooms. - Booting anyone from a team now unreadies everyone on the team. - Holding down the mouse button on the start button will no longer allow you to disregard future unreadiness (you jump-starting bastards!) - Plugin maps now show the proper pre-game data (number of start spots, etc.) - Provided more room in the Stats dialog for worldwide ranking info. - Fixed problem with overhead map and alliances. - If there are more teams than starting locations, all extra teams will be auto-disbanded, and their members re-assigned before a game begins. - Lock/Unlock button now works properly. - Alliance data now displayed when you press f7. - Assassin works on "Plains" maps. - Scavenger Hunt works on "Venice". - Stampede works on "Drowned Kingdom". - Wights are now tradable on "Dead of Winter". - Media-height problems fixed on "Desert". - Killing your own Assassin units and/or wildlife no longer gives you Assassin points. - Veterans now work. - If you lose all your troops while playing stampede, but still have stampede units, you will not be eliminated until you lose your stampede units--capiche? - Balls on Parade and Scavenger Hunt now listed in overall stats. - Having the most kills, not the last kill, now wins you a game of Hunting. - Decreased the Stampede flag radii on all maps. - Fixed it so that you can't move units during planning time. - Hitting Stygian Knights with arrows no longer counts as damage for Body Count. - Positive healing (adding health) no longer counts as damage for Body Count, while negative healing (as when healing the undead) does count as damage. - Killing ambient life no longer counts as damage for Body Count. - When the captain of a team with the host as a member drops, units are properly distributed to remaining team members. - Fixed problems with Server is Observer.