MindRover: The Europa Project
  V1.07a Upgrade - Release Notes
       10/11/00

=================================================
Copyright CogniToy, LLC, 1999-2000.  All rights 
reserved.
=================================================

The most up to date information can be found at 
our website. Please read this file and then come 
to our website for updates: 

        http://www.cognitoy.com

Contents of Release Notes:
  - Install
  - Graphics card settings
  - Vehicle Recompile
  - Uninstall
  - Features and Fixes in this release
  - Gamma (brightness) Control
  - Scripting Support
  - Known Bugs
  - Contacts at CogniToy

=================================================
Install Instructions
=================================================
To install the upgrade, download the file, 
MRV107setup.exe to any folder and double click 
on it. Follow the install instructions and
install this upgrade in the same folder as
the original game. The default folder should
be where you installed the game.

At the end of the installation you will get a 
notice about recompiling your old vehicles to
run with this new version. You should do this
recompile. If you choose not to, your old
vehicles (older than v1.06) will not show up 
in the game. It is not necessary to force this 
recompile if you are sure that all your vehicles
are already at v1.06 or higher.

=================================================
Graphics card settings
=================================================
We have included a program called Settings.exe, 
which will test your openGL drivers and let you 
set the desired screen resolution. You can run 
this program from the Start Menu, Programs buttons
or you can find the Settings.exe in your MindRover 
install directory.

When you run the settings program it will spin
a cube on your monitor and give you a resulting
frame rate.

Frame rate, measured in frames per second, is an 
indication of how fast your graphics are being
displayed. The MindRover Settings program reports
the frame rate it calculates while spinning a 
cube with the settings you chose. These frame
rates will be much higher than what you will see
in the actual game. You can compare the frame
rates that you get using various settings to
decide what settings you want for the game.

Our recommended resolution is 800x600 with 16 bit
color.

Please note: As of this writing, the voodoo III 
drivers crash when exiting this program (as well 
as when exiting the game). The crash is recoverable
but you may want to save the settings without
running the test to change your resolution.

=================================================
Vehicle Recompile
===============================================
When installing this upgrade you will be asked
if you want to recompile all your old vehicles.
You must recompile them if you would like to use
them with this version of the game.

If you decide not to recompile them at the time
of the install, or if you receive older vehicle
files from someone else later on, you can 
recompile them by hand following the procedure 
below.  

Please note: you must have the .wst file
to recompile the vehicle. If you only have the 
.vmf file, you cannot upgradethem.

First open a Dos Prompt window by finding a
'MS-Dos prompt' icon in your Start menu, or
click on Start, Run, and type 'Command' in the
text box.

Next change to the directory where you installed
MindRover by typing: 
    cd \games\mindrover
'c:\games\mindrover' is the default directory. 
If you did not install the game there, substitute
the directory path where MindRover is installed.

Recompile all the vehicles in your custom
directory by typing:
    recomp <name> *
where <name> is the login name that you used to
create the vehicles. If you wish to recompile
only some vehicles, you can substitute the name
of the vehicle in place of the asterisk.

If you wish to recompile all vehicles from more
than one user, then type:
   recompusrs <name1> <name2>
where <namex> is the user name where custom 
vehicles are stored.

=================================================
Uninstall
===============================================
We have included an MRUninstall.exe program for
removing MindRover from your registry and 
directories. You can find this file in the 
directory where you installed MindRover. 

It is also accessible from Start menu, Programs,
MindRover. 


=================================================
Features and Fixes in this Release
=================================================

------ 1.07 and 1.07a differences ---

The wheeled vehicles no longer have repeatability
problems across machines. If you start with the 
exact same starting conditions and vehicles, you 
will get the exact same results.

Also, the F1 help can be closed with F1, ESC or
by using the Close button.

Vehicle descriptions will keep the formatting that 
you specify if you edit that text field.

----- New features -----
 * Compare component now has a "Calc" property.
 * Vehicle slots can now have multiple loaded 
   vehicles. User slots often have tutorial 
   vehicles, and competitor slots often have 
   multiple competitors to choose from. 
 * You can now "win" a scenario by beating any of 
   the "official" supplied vehicles. 
 * Flyover help shows you the status of the vehicle 
   in the current slot, as well as in the next 
   and previous slots.
 * Gamma slider now on the options screen.
   (Works only for Win9x versions)

----- Tutorial changes -----
 * Tutorial now pops up automatically on tutorial 
   scenarios, and turns off automatically for 
   non-tutorial scenarios.
 * Improved help files for many scenarios and 
   objects.
 * New tutorial level, MindRover Basics; other 
   tutorials edited and improved.

----- Security changes -----
 * Some security fixes to prevent obscure cheats.
 * Points and weights now checked at runtime as 
   well as design time.

------ Bug fixes -----
 * Loop timer can no longer cause a crash if vehicle
   dies.
 * Help no longer crashes if you click on a graphic.
 * Raised the maximum number of objects in the 
   holobox (vehicles, components, etc) to 2000.
 * Too many mines or missiles should no longer cause
   a crash; also improved performance in this case.

----- Performance and correctness fixes -----
 * Found and fixed a large memory leak when returning
   to the console.
 * Fixed several collision response problems that 
   caused unpredictable teleportation.
 * Attempted to improve repeatability between 
   different computers, but wheeled vehicles are 
   still a problem.
 * Vehicle description field no longer gets confused
   when you change scenarios; several other minor UI
   fixes.
 * Slider/Spinner increment and decrement now work 
   better.

----- Fixed some scenario problems -----
 * Most scenarios now report more useful information 
   when you hit ESC, such as elapsed time and score.
 * Goals in hockey are now more solid on the sides
 * Hockey no longer grabs the camera away from you 
   when a goal is scored
 * Hockey countdown is shorter
 * CTF flags now always return to base after a 
   capture
 * Fixed some 3D sound problems in a few scenarios.

=================================================
Gamma (Brightness) Control
=================================================
If your monitor is too dark, then login to the
game, click on Options in the upper left and
adjust the gamma setting.

The smaller the number, the brighter the game 
will appear. The default setting is 1, so you 
can get a brighter picture by choosing a value 
between .6 and .8. Greater than 1 will be darker.

The gamma setting will be saved automatically
and re-used on your next use of MindRover.

Note: This does not work on WinNT or Win2k.

=================================================
Scripting Support
================================================
Scripting allows you to run multiple scenarios 
automatically. This can be used for running
contests. Supported commands include: 

Login <username> - log in as the given user (must 
be before the first LoadScenario)

LoadScenario <scenarioname> - makes the named 
scenario the current scenario. Scenario name must 
be the full scenario filename, including the path 
to the scenario. Looks like this:
    scenarios/s_goldrush.vmf

LoadVehicle <team> <slot> <vehiclename> - loads 
the named vehicle into the team and slot for the 
current scenario (teams are 1 and 2, slots are
1 and 2 per team). Vehicle name is the full 
filename:
    vehicles/username/vehiclename.vmf

StartScenario <seed> - equivalent to hitting the 
GO button with the specific seed. The seed is an 
optional integer. Useful if you want to run all 
of the matches in a tournament with the same 
starting configuration. 

SetConsoleLog <logname> - all messages sent to 
the console get recorded in 
MRInstallDir/logname.log. If logname is empty, 
console messages are not recorded (the default).

ReturnOnEndScenario <1/0> - if true (default is 
false), when the scenario ends the scenario 
automatically returns to the console.

Clearslots - clears the vehicles from the slots.
This is important when you are running the
same scenario with the same vehicles in opposite
locations back to back. First clear the slots 
before loading the second set of vehicles. 

Exec <scriptname> -- executes the given script. 
This is a subroutine call; when the exec 
terminates, the previous script is continued. 

Rem <any text> -- This command is ignored. Used 
for placing remarks in the script file.

SetScenarioTimeOut <seconds> - will force a 
scenario to end after the specified number of 
seconds.

Quit - exits back to the operating system

Example script file:

Login Tournament1
ReturnOnEndScenario 1
SetConsoleLog Tournament1.log
SetScenarioTimeOut 300
LoadScenario scenarios/s_hotpotato.vmf
LoadVehicle 1 1 vehicles/Tournament1/contestant1.vmf
LoadVehicle 2 1 vehicles/Tournament1/contestant2.vmf
StartScenario
Clearslots
LoadVehicle 1 1 vehicles/Tournament1/contestant3.vmf
LoadVehicle 2 1 vehicles/Tournament1/contestant4.vmf
StartScenario
Quit

It is used with the /exec command line parameter 
or the Exec console command.

The command file MUST reside in a subdirectory
of MindRover (you may want to create a subdirectory
for this purpose), and you must specify its path 
relative to the MindRover root:

    mindrover /exec commands/test.cfg

Or pop up the command console within MindRover
(found at the bottom of the command screen) and 
type:

    exec commands/test.cfg


=================================================
Known Bugs 
==================================================

The shift-0 (free-flying) camera can get lost in 
space. Simple workaround is to press 1 and the 
camera will fly back to watching your vehicle 
automatically.

The BumpSensor may detect invisible objects. This
is most noticable in scenarios with racetracks since
invisible objects are used at the start/finish line
and at a few other locations around the track to 
determine if a vehicle has traversed the track in 
the right direction. You may want to avoid using
a BumpSensor in these scenarios or you can develop
a more sophisticated strategy for reading your
bump sensor.

There is a 'Known Bugs' list at our website where
we keep this information up to date.

Additional component changes and new components 
and scenarios are available at our website for
download!


=================================================
Contact Us
=================================================
If you have questions or comments, you may find
a quick response from someone at our forums or
to join a chat room:

   http://www.cognitoy.com/players/players.htm

Or if you would prefer to send us a direct email:

   bugs@cognitoy.com (for problems/bugs)
   support@cognitoy.com (general support issues)
   webmaster@cognitoy.com (general website support)

Or call us at our toll free number (US and
Canada):
  888 788-1792

Or our regular phone number (and international):
  978 264-3945


