
			  VIRTUAL COMBAT (UNIX VERSION)
			  =============================


LICENCE
    Copyright 1993-1996 by David Jameson
    All Rights Reserved
    This software may be freely distributed without restriction


INTRODUCTION

    This is the second release of virtual combat, a multi-user 3d
    game running under X11 and Windows.  The game is a battle
    simulation, with each player being represented by a 3d object.  The
    idea of the game is to be the last person left alive in the game.

    The following versions of the game are available:

    ftp.winsite.com:/pub/pc/win95/games/
	VIRCOM20.ZIP  -  Windows 95/NT version of client and server &
		         Windows 3.1 version of client

    ftp.x.org:/contrib/games/multiplayer/vircom/
	vircom-2.0-mips-ultrix.tar.Z  -  MIPS-Ultrix (e.g. DECStation) version
	vircom-2.01-intel-linux.tar.Z  -  Intel Linux (a.out) version
	vircom-2.0-sparc-solaris1.tar.Z  -  SPARC Solaris 1 (SunOs 4) version
	vircom-2.01-sparc-solaris2.tar.Z  -  SPARC Solaris 2 (SunOs 5) version

    The source code is not being distributed.


REQUIREMENTS

    - A UNIX, Windows 95 or NT machine to run the server on
    - Either an X-server or Windows (3.1, 95 or NT) PC to run the client
    - TCP/IP
    - Hardware floating point


AUTHOR
    David Jameson (freeside@dircon.co.uk or ae553@yfn.ysu.edu)


HISTORY
    Version 1.0 (UNIX only), released November 1993.

    Version 2.0, released February 1996:
	- Windows versions of client and server written
	- Robots added
	- New 3d world designed
	- Improved 3d engine
	- Added configuration options to server
	- Added team games
	- Increased max number of players
	- Lots of minor bug fixes and improvements

    Version 2.01, released March 1996:
	- Fixed some signal handling problems in the Linux version
	- Included statically linked Linux version of executables
	- Fixed problem in Solaris 2 version which caused the server
	  to use 100% of CPU time when a player logged off


INSTALLATION

    Untar the archive into a directory.  A 'vircom-2.0' directory will
    be created in the currect directory and the game files will be
    untarred into this directory.  If you install the vircom-2.0
    directory in /usr/local/games then you'll be able to run the game
    without having to 'cd' into the vircom-2.0 directory each time
    (if you do this then you'll also need to copy "combat" and "combats"
    into some directory which is your path, e.g. /usr/local/bin).


STARTING THE GAME

    To start the server:
    In a shell window, cd into the directory where the game is installed
    and type "combats".

    By default the server will also start up one robot player.

    To start a client:
    In a shell window, cd into the directory where the game is installed
    and type "combat".  If you want sound effects, type "combat -s".
    You will be asked for a name and password - log in as "admin" with
    password "admin".


SHUTTING DOWN THE GAME

    Either
    [1] If you have admin status in the game, type "shutdown".

    or

    [2] Press ctrl-C in the server window.

    Doing either of these will log off all players (saving their scores
    first), and shut down the server.


3D WORLDS
    
    The game comes with two 3d worlds: "compound" (the default world) and
    "platform" (a simple platform world).  The world used in the game
    can be changed by using the "world" command in the server, or by
    specifying a different world when starting the server.


GENERAL

    Don't try running the Solaris 1 version of the server on a Solaris 2
    machine.  It might appear to work okay, but it will hang if you try 
    to log onto the server from another machine.  This is due to a bug in
    Solaris 2.4's select() function, and a workaround has been put into
    The Solaris 2 version of the server to fix this.
