			       Hot Potato CTF
				Version 1.6
				for Quake II

		      by Cyberdog and Quake Innovations

Pass the Flag or DIE!!! Welcome to Hot Potato CTF, the exciting CTF variant 
that requires stronger coordination between teammates than any other CTF
mod! All teams fight over a single flag and need to return it to their team 
base. One small problem though: Players can only hold on to the flag for a 
limited time before having to pass it off to a teammate. Hold it too long 
and you gib!

Hot Potato CTF is brought to you by Quake Innovations, leaders in providing
quality Quake addons. Some of our other works include Paintball, Capture the
Shambler, Capture the Shambler, Quake Easter Egg Hunt, and The Original 
Capture the Flag for Quake. There are many other games and original concepts 
that were developed by us. Please visit our main website at 
http://qteam.stomped.com.

Of course there's also a Quake I version of Hot Potato CTF available

1. Running Hot Potato CTF and finding Hot Potato CTF servers

   The installation instructions are in the file readme.txt. Instructions for
   running a server are in server.txt. If you do not know what a server is 
   then you do not need to view server.txt. Hot Potato CTF is not designed to
   run single player. In fact the game requires at least two players per team
   in order to play and have a fair game. 

1.1. Using GameSpy

   The easiest way of finding Hot Potato CTF servers and connecting to 
   them is to use a program called GameSpy. 

   GameSpy is a Windows 95/NT program that automatically gathers lists of 
   active Quake servers, and for each server, tells you what game it is 
   running, how many players, names of the players, and more. Once you 
   find a server that you want to join, just double click. There's no need
   to enter a complex command line or know the server IP or port! GameSpy 
   is the successor to QuakeSpy, and supports many more features.

   This program is highly recommended. More information about GameSpy and
   download information can be found at http://www.gamespy.com

   Once you have installed GameSpy according to its instructions you can
   add specific support for Hot Potato CTF by following these 
   instructions:

      * Launch GameSpy
      * Go to the "View" menu 
      * Highlight "Custom Tabs" 
      * Click "Import" 
      * Then browse and select hpctf.qst (it's in c:\quake2\hpctf or 
	wherever you installed Hot Potato CTF)

   Now, in order to get a list of which servers are running Hot Potato 
   CTF, simply launch GameSpy and click on the Hot Potato CTF tab! When 
   you find a server you want to join, just double click on the server 
   line!

1.2 Finding and connecting to a server if you are not running GameSpy

   From your quake2 directory type the following command line:
       quake2 +set game hpctf +connect <server ip>
   
   For server ip you must type in the address of a Hot Potato CTF server. 
   The list of available servers can be found at www.captured.com/hotpotato

   e.g. quake2 +set game hpctf +connect 144.118.13.2

2. How to Play

2.1. There is one flag in each map
2.2. Teams score points only by returning the flag to their team base
2.3. The flag can be in one of four states
   2.3.1. Home 
       Every map has a home position for the flag. This is where the flag
       will initially appear when the map loads. Additionally the flag gets
       returned home after it has been returned to base by a team or it has
       been left untouched away from home for 30 seconds. Any player can
       pick up the flag when it is home.
   2.3.2. Carried
       When a player picks up the flag they become the flag carrier and the
       status bar will show a flag icon in the color of the owning team.
       Additionally, the flag carrier will have white markings on their skin.
   2.3.3. Free
       A free means that the flag is away from home and available to all
       players except for the last player to possess it. Free flags will 
       emit a blip sound that will asist players in locating it. Free flags 
       that have been left untouched for 30 seconds will be returned home.
   2.3.4. Passing
       When the flag carrier passes the flag it drops in place and appears
       in the color of the flag carrier for 5 seconds. During this time
       only teammates of the flag carrier may pick up the flag. If a teammate
       hasn't picked up the flag within 5 seconds the flag becomes free.
2.4. Flag carriers can't hold on to the flag forever
   Once a player picks up the flag he has a number of seconds in which to 
   either pass the flag or get the flag back to the team base. This is known
   as the hold time. The hold time will vary by map and is chosen such that
   players can never make the run from the flag home to their team base
   without having to pass the flag. If the player holds the flag too long
   they gib and the flag is freed. 
2.5. Pass the flag by using the command dropflag
   You will not have enough time to drop the flag if you have to go to the 
   console to type this command every time you want to drop the flag, so 
   use a key binding to make this simpler.

   e.g. bind p "cmd dropflag"
   Type this from the Quake console or put this in a file called autoexec.cfg 
   in your quake2\hpctf directory. If this doesn't make sense to you, most
   players will be able to assist you once you are connected to a server. 
   
   Now whenever you need to pass the flag just hit the letter p
2.6. Once you have passed the flag you cannot pick it up again until someone
   else picks it up first or the flag returns home because it has been 
   untouched for 30 seconds.
2.7. Killing flag carrier frees the flag
   Killing the flag carrier always causes the flag to be freed

3. But wait, there's more...
   There are additional commands that aren't necessary to play but will 
   greatly enhance the game. Just like the dropflag command if you find
   these useful you can bind them to a key for easy access. For all commands
   listed here, with the exception of say_team, you must prefix the command
   with cmd. 

       e.g. cmd flagstatus
   
   3.1. say_team
        This is a Quake II command that lets you send messages to teammates
        only. Using this you can tell your teammates where you have dropped
        the flag. 
        
        e.g. say_team Flag in crawlspace by ladder room
   3.2. flagstatus
        This will show you some vital information about the flag such as 
        whether it's at home or away, and if carried which team owns it.
        There's more information that gets displayed; try it, you'll like it.
   3.3. passflagmsg [on | off]
        If you don't like the countdown that appears in the middle of your
        screen when you are the flag carrier, you can get rid of it by using
        this command. You will still see the countdown on the status bar.
   3.4. join [team1 | team2]
        If you find that the teams have become unbalanced, possibly because
        players have dropped from the game, you can change teams manually
        by using this command. team1=red, team2=blue
   3.5. sound_team [1-9]
        When team sounds have been enabled on the hot potato server you can
        play a prerecorded sound to your teammates. The set of sounds that
        gets used depends on your team and map. Sounds are team specific 
        because you will want to convey different status information 
        depending on where you are bringing the flag.

        e.g. quake2\hpctf\sound\maps\base1
                     11.wav - Sound 1 for team 1 on map base1
                     12.wav - Sound 2 for team 1 on map base1
                     ...
                     19.wav - Sound 9 for team 1 on map base1
                     21.wav - Sound 1 for team 2 on map base1
                     22.wav - Sound 2 for team 2 on map base1
                     23.wav - Sound 3 for team 2 on map base1
                     ...
        There is no default set of sounds yet but this feature is available 
        for clans who would like to try it out. You will have to record them, 
        pass them out to all team members, and get the server admin to 
        enable team sounds as they are disabled by default.
        
4. Contact information
   Email              : Gary Griggs (cyberdog), qteam@stomped.com
   Main Website       : http://qteam.stomped.com
   Hot Potato Website : http://www.captured.com/hotpotato


