Readme 2-26-6


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******************************STARFIGHTER*****************************
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                          WARNING STARFIGHTER

This game (like every other videogame) uses light and
flash effects. If you have seizures, you should not be playing
this game (or any videogames for that matter). You also should
not play videogames while walking or operating machinery
(including flying a Gunstar unless you want earth to fall prey
to Xur and the Ko-Dan. Your decision man). Don't play videogames
near ledges, stairs, or the edge of a cliff.


		         LEGAL STUFF STARFIGHTER

"The Last Starfighter" is copyrighted by Lorimar-Universal.

	THIS IS FREEWARE. IT IS NOT TO BE SOLD OR MARKETED.
	THIS IS FREEWARE. IT IS NOT TO BE SOLD OR MARKETED.
	THIS IS FREEWARE. IT IS NOT TO BE SOLD OR MARKETED.

Did I mention? ...
	THIS IS FREEWARE. IT IS NOT TO BE SOLD OR MARKETED.

This is an entirely fan-based effort. If you like this project
and wish to endorse it with your dollars, please buy licensed
"Last Starfighter" or Universal stuff. If you don't own the DVD,
shame on you.  Go buy it now. The Craig Safan soundtrack is also
more than worth the purchase. It is the good will of the studios that
allows projects like this to go forward so please support them. If
this does inspire you to build/create, please let us know how. If you
build a Starfighter cab, please email us pics. That is what makes
these projects worthwhile.






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*******************THE FUN PART*****************************
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Greetings Starfighter, you have been recruited by the Star
League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan
Armada. Good Luck!!!

The Starfighter program is an attempt to recreate the game
from "The Last Starfighter" film. This is purely a fan-based
effort and has no commercial ties whatsoever. It is designed to
ultimately run in a prop cabinet but control allowances have
been made for easy computer play and adaptation to MAME cabs.

Ultimately, I hope we will supply you the information and software
necessary to create your own Starfighter arcade cabinet.






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Requirements:
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The game is written in Dark Basic (www.darkbasic.com) so the very 
minimum requirements are set by the DB compiler. I have run this without
difficulty on P3/256 DDR ram/128 AGP. It did take a bit to reach full speed.
The game does use rapid texture swapping which is the primary source of slow-
down I have noted. The game runs under Windows 98 and up.
I will update compatibility issues as I get feedback.


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Getting Started:
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UNZIP THE DOWNLOAD TO THE DESIRED LOCATION.
INSTALL THE ENCLOSED FONTS (USUZI, LASTSTAR, and STARF7) FOR PROPER TEXT APPEARANCE.
USUZI IS A FREEWARE FONT AND NOT CREATED SPECIFICALLY FOR THIS PROJECT.

DOUBLE CLICK THE STARFIGHTER EXECUTABLE TO START.

IMPORTANT: DO NOT REMOVE STARFIGHTER FROM THE FOLDER AS THE PROGRAM WILL FAIL.
CREATE A SHORTCUT TO ACCESS THE GAME FROM OUTSIDE THE FOLDER.

Problems? See Troubleshooting below


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How to play:
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The game is a dual joystick game with 2 fire buttons, 3 weapon
toggles and a coin switch. In addition for MAME adaptation, there
is a weapon toggle set to a single button to cycle weapons. There
is also a button for diagnostic mode (all dipswitches).

In the film, the left joystick moves the turret and the right moves
the targeting. This seemed left-handed to me. Currently, the keys are 
mapped in a reverse fashion on the key board (aswd controls the reticle
 and jkil rotates the turret). Arrows are default turret always. Left 
alt and space are fire. "m",",", and "." are laser, particle beam, and 
missiles respectively. "1" is MAME weapon cycle. "0" enters diagnostic 
mode while in attract mode. "5" is coin up. Pressing all weapons at 
once or MAME toggle with left fire activates Death Blossom (if enabled). 

The HUD is relatively complex. The right upper sphere is 3d targeting scanner.
The red circle within is roughly your field of view. On levels where the
full HUD is visible (the green full screen HUD), there will be blinking white
dots visible between the inner and outer rings (within the red weapon gauges)
which also direct you to targets (like the arrows in some FPS style games). The
right upper sphere shows the orientation of the gunner turret to the ship. The 
skeleton ship within changes color with player damage. The right lower sphere is
enemy damage. It will read "Hull Temp" when an enemy is in your sights. I had it 
set originally to show remaining shields on enemies but changed it to be more in
line with the film (now fills and empties with enemy explosion). The left lower 
gauge is your hull temperature. This "cools" over time assuming no enemy hits in
the meantime.

The red semicircles on the HUD are weapon gauges. The top two are laser 
energy remaining. The left lower is Photon Bolts (missiles) and the right 
lower is particle beam. Score and number of enemies encountered per level
are displayed in the lower center region.

An animated explanation of all controls occurs in the attract mode under 
"Gunstar Turret Control." If you leave the game on without playing, it will
cycle through to this subroutine (be patient).

The goal of the game is to survive as many levels as possible while destroying
as many enemies as possible. Enemy missiles can be destroyed with laser or 
particle beam but will not missile lock.

If you succeed in destroying the Command Ship and your score is worthy, you will
join the Star League list of heroes.




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Dipswitches:
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Hitting the diagnostic mode button during attract mode brings up a set of 
game options. Most are self explanatory.


	Music- Toggles the music on or off during attract.

	High score reset- Resets high scores to default.

	Free Play- Toggles free play on or off (sets credits to 10).

	Death Blossom- Toggles Death Blossom on or off (Alex Rogan didn't have DB
		in the arcade game, you pansy).

	Text- Toggles explanatory text seen between levels on or off.

	Coins to start/continue- coins needed to start/continue.

	Continue- Toggles continue possible on or off (Alex also didn't have this).

	Shields- Sets player shields at start and continue.

	Weapon recharge rate- Sets recharge rate during combat and between levels.

	Enemy accuracy-Sets likelihood of enemy hitting you. Setting either "Close" or
	       "Bullseye" to "0" means enemy accuracy 100%. Lower is deadlier.

	Level planner- This allows you to map out your arcade game in terms of level
	       order. You can program in up to 50 levels. The last level will
	       be the Command ship level by default (i.e. the first "0" that occurs-
	       all levels after the first "0" are deleted). The level by number 
	       is described in the on-screen text at the top of the screen.

	Mouse Control- Toggles mouse control of the reticle on or off.

	keyboard mapping- Allows you to map keyboard/MAME controls.

	Refresh rate- Sets the sync rate or refresh rate (fps- speed of the game).
	       If you set this too low, the game will run too slowly to reset.
	       If this occurs, look in the "Arrays" file and copy "syncrate30.dat".
	       Rename it "syncrate.dat" and replace the syncrate file in the "arrays"
	       folder. This will set the syncrate back to 30 fps.

	Default control- Restores all controls to original settings.

	settings- This saves your preferences in a data file (i.e. the game will run
	       that way until new changes are saved).

	Restore Defaults- Restores all dipswitches to original settings. THIS DOES NOT 
	       SAVE THE SETTINGS AUTOMATICALLY (You have to save them for the
	       changes to persist).



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CREDITS
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The STARFIGHTER program is a RogueSynapse(TM) creation. Code was entirely by doc.
Models, images, sounds were based on/extracted from the film. The film is of course
Lorimar-Universal.



Contributors:

	Miniaturizer Ray 	RPF		-Gunstar Model and Fonts-
	Blue Fugu 				-sounds-
	Rook3	 		RPF		-fonts and design-
	Trixter 		RPF		-design-
	Strmhawkx				-models and design-
	Vegas Vader 		RPF		-art-
	Starfighter66 				-Blueprints-
	Gawker 					-Website-
	Clandeggin 		BYOAC		-art and Fonts-
	98Pacecar 		Digit Press	-design-
	All contributors on the RPF
	All contributors on BYOAC
	All contributors at Digital Press

Freeware models were used for the 3d Starfield and the asteroid on stage 2. The 
Starfighter MIDI is also a freeware download on multiple sites and does not represent
the work of this team. If you know who to credit, please contact us.


I tried to get this out as quickly as possible so, if I forgot anyone, please
let me know and I will fix it (doc@roguesynapse.com).

Pressing Laser toggle or MAME weapon toggle during the floating text in attract
mode (the first subroutine) will bring display credits adn cue music.


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Trouble Shooting
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This is essentially the beta version so trouble shooting recs will be ongoing.
Three important things to note. The program reads and writes to dat files (arrays
folder). If program errors occur causing the game to exit or halt, make sure that
all files in all folders are NOT "Read Only" or "Archive" (change in Windows under
properties). The second thing is to install the fonts in th font folder or the text
won't look right. Beyond this, will add fixes as problems arise. Third, DO NOT ALTER
THE FILE HIERARCHY IN THE MAIN FOLDER. If you move files around (like moving the
Starfighter executable to your desktop), this will cause the program to fail as
resource files will not be loaded or accessed properly.

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Contact
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Please let us know if you have problems or suggestions (or really liked it). 
This is likely not the final version of the software but will be the only version
for a while.

Please email us with questions/concerns/criticisms/suggestions/praise at:

doc@roguesynapse.com (software)
gawker@gawkerweb.com (webmaster)



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MAY THE LUCK OF THE SEVEN PILLARS OF ULUU BE WITH YOU AT ALL TIMES.


Sincerely,

		Doc


















