Delta Force - Black Hawk Down

README FILE

Introduction
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Thank you for purchasing Delta Force - Black Hawk Down.
This README contains updated game and manual information and technical FAQ's.

Banning and Punting Multiplayer Players

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Banning and Punting Multiplayer Players - Anyone who hosts games with the "Require
NovaWorld Login" box checked can ban a player from future games. To ban a player,
look up their #ID on the player stats page (K Key). You will see each player listed
with their:
<rank> <#ID> <Name> <Ping>
Press the ~ to open a command line and type "Ban" followed by their ID number (do
not type the # symbol). It will look like this: "Ban 02"

This enters their PCID number in the banlist.txt file. The "banlist.txt" file is
created the first time you host a game and the PCID numbers are generated when a
player logs into NovaWorld and is linked to their CD Key.

To remove someone from your banned list, you must manually delete their entry. You
may also manually add entries (so hosts can share banned player ID's).

Banlist.txt entry examples:

BAN "<pcid goes here>" <optional name>
BAN "A-M4-RAALAG" QUESTION
BAN "A-M2-KRROA3" WERKSHERE

Once a player is banned, you will need to "punt" them from the game. You do this by
simply opening a command line with the ~ key and typing "punt" and the player's
#ID. It looks like: "punt 02". Whether you have banned them or not, this will
immediately eject them from the game.

Advanced Multiplayer Settings

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The host of a multiplayer game can edit certain strings in the DFV.cfg file using
notepad.
Two important strings you can edit are:

oneshotonekill = 0 - Changing this to 1 will allow one hit from any weapon to kill
the player.
fatbullets = 1 - Changing this to 0 will change ammunition to a much smaller size,
making it harder to hit opponants.

Keyboard Changes
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Added Keys:

The A key, when viewing the Multiplayer end-game stat screen, will display
additional stats.
Known Issues
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Bitdepth
DF-BHD requires a high-resolution Z-buffer, which some video cards can only access
when in 32-bit color mode. If your video card supports 16-bit color with high-
resolution Z, then this option will be enabled, otherwise the game will only run in
32-bit color. Performance tests with DF:BHD have shown little difference in
performance between 16 and 32 bit for many modern video cards, so setting the
bitdepth to 16 is provided only for consumer convenience. Any further problems
related to bitdepth settings may be directed to Novalogic Technical Support.

Windows XP ALT-TAB Issue

When running DF:BHD under WindowsXP, you may experience problems task switching
(i.e. using ALT+TAB) if you have set your game resolution and bitdepth to the same
settings as your desktop. You are advised to either choose a different resolution
in the game Options menu, or change your desktop resolution before running the
game. Alternatively you may choose to run the game at a different bitdepth
setting to your Windows desktop. We do however recommend that you run the game
with the bitdepth set to 32 bit, and therefore suggest you switch your desktop to
16 bit color. If you don't plan on task switching in the game, then these
measures are not necessary.

Technical FAQs
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What is "Ping Time"?

Throughout Delta Force Black Hawk Down, you will see references to what is known as
"Ping Time". A "Ping" is when one computer sends a message to another computer and
that computer sends a reply back to the first computer. The "Ping Time" is the
time it takes for the ping process to occur. Ping times are used to determine how
well your computer, their computer, and the network are operating. Ping Time's are
usually measured in milliseconds. Low ping times means you, the network between
you and the other computer, and the other computer are all relatively fast, and,
generally, yield the best possible playing environment. Large ping times means
some or all the components involved in the Ping process are slow, and, generally,
yield a poor playing environment.

What affects "Ping Time"?

Generally, there are 3 components that affect ping times, and they are (1) your
computer, (2) the network, and (3) the computer you are pinging.

1. Your computer

Your computer is responsible for generating the ping message, and for placing the
ping message on the network. Then, some time later, is responsible for retrieving
the ping time from the network, and then, finally, processing the ping message and
calculating the ping time. If your computer is underpowered and is taking time
doing things other than managing the ping time, you can introduce lag into the
system. Having a slower speed CPU, insufficient RAM, a fragmented hard drive, or
low-end video card all contribute to higher ping times. If you have joined a game
server, options such as render detail, screen resolution, etc. all contribute to
ping times. Having a faster render rate will usually help decrease ping times. If
you serving a game, then using the dedicated server option over using a serve-n-
play option will help decrease ping times.

2. The network

Most of the time the only control you have over the network is your ability to
select what ISP you use and what type of connection you are using (i.e., DSL, Cable
Modem, dialup, etc). Broadband networks yield in higher throughput and usually
handle load much better than, say, dial up connections. "Time of day" plays a
factor in the performance of a network....morning, evenings and weekends tend to be
the busiest times and therefore cause more load on the network, which yields in
higher ping times. The distance between you and the other computer plays a big
factor as well. Connecting to game servers that are geographically near you help
lowers ping times.

3. The other computer

The computer you are pinging may be accepting a large amount of network traffic, or
they may be a slow computer, or they may contain low resources. The computer you
ping may be CPU or memory limited, and therefore the time it is spending doing
those things is it not spending sending your ping reply. If you are a client and
you are joining a serve-n-play server, then your ping times may increase because
the server is spending more time rendering, playing sounds, accessing RAM, hard
drives, etc., than a dedicated server would.

Where do I find the "Ping Time"s and what do they mean?

There are 3 places in the game where Ping Times are displayed: in the game server
list, on the Hud, and in the Player Kill List.

1.In the Game Server List

When you click on "Play on NovaWorld", and you see a game list, the ping times are
listed next to each game servers. These ping times represent the time from the
game to their machine and back. Usually, this time is the lowest out of all the
ping times listed because, in this instance, the game server you are pinging uses
the operating system to handle retrieving the ping request and sending the ping
reply.

2.On the Hud

In the upper left corner of the hud (Heads Up Display), you'll see the ping time.
In this case, this ping time represents the round trip time from your computer to
the server and back to your computers. This Ping Time will usually be higher than
that listed in the game server list because this ping time represents the time from
when your game decides to send out the ping, the game running on the server
computer retrieving it, processing it, sending a reply back to you, and finally
your game getting the response and processing it.

3. In the Player Kill List

When you bring up the player kill list (by pressing K), you'll see the ping times
next to each player. This ping time represents the round trip time from the server
you are connected to each of the players listed and back to the server. If a
server is hosting with ping min. or ping max. limit, these are the values to which
the server uses to perform the range checks. This Ping Time will usually be higher
than that listed in the game server list because this ping time represents the time
from when the game server decides to send out the ping to each of the client game
computers, each of the clients retrieving their ping requests, processing them,
sending replies back to the game server, and finally the game server getting the
responses and processing them.

Copyright Novalogic 2003

Version: March 10, 2003 6:07pm