================================================================
Title           : Nuclear Countdown
Filename        : countdown.bsp
Release Date    : 11/28/99
Game            : Action Quake 2
Author          : Markus "Shadowfire" Uhlar 
Email Address   : m.uhlar@gmx.de

Description     : This map combines the themes of 
                  the Interstate 666 mapping contest and the
                  movie "Twilight's Last Gleaming" with Richard
                  Burton. The movie is also known in other 
                  countries as "Nuclear Countdown" and in Germany
                  as "Das Ultimatum". 
                  The summarized story:
                  Richard Burton plays the leader of a group of
                  "terrorists", who hijack a nuclear missile silo
                  and threat to launch the missiles, triggering
                  the third world war. The military responded
                  quickly, surrounded the silo and prepared to
                  storm it...
                  This map resembles the nuclear missile facility
                  including the underground bunker, located
                  somewhere on the I666 close to the Rocky
                  Mountains in the middle of nowhere.
                  In the movie, the silo was not stormed, because
                  even the military leaders didn't risk the
                  possible consequences, but who knows how the
                  story would end, in case of a firefight...

                  Is this place on the Interstate 666 the cradle
                  of the last world war?
                  Is this the twilight's last gleaming before
                  the nuclear apocalypse?

Credits         : the A-team
                  Tim "Argh" Wright, the author of Arghrad


================================================================
* Play Information *
================================================================

Single Player       : Only for exploring
Cooperative         : No
Deathmatch          : Yes, 4-30 players
Teamplay            : Yes
New Sounds          : Yes
New Graphics        : Yes, textures and sky environment maps
                      /* Note */
                      This map does not contain any original
                      Quake 2 texture - all textures are custom
                      and were all made by myself using Wally
                      and Photoshop.

================================================================
* Hints & Remarks *
================================================================

- the wall separating the road and the complex is climbable
- the elevator is broken beyond repair - you can use the
  rope, the stairs or the ladder in the small shed outside to
  descend into the bunker, or get out of it.
- pushing the red alert button only opens the silo hatches and
  sounds the sirens. The nukes don't explode.
  It was planned to have also another button, which unlocks when
  the alert is on, which starts a countdown. On zero, everybody
  outside would be killed instantly by the nukes.
  This countdown could be stopped by a second push of the button.
  Although in a small testing map it worked, I could not manage
  to make it work in the countdown map.
  I skipped this "feature" in the map, so I can enter the contest
  now and perhaps add this one in an update later.
- people with slower machines might experience a slowdown while
  playing this map. To speed things up, you can try to lower
  your desktop color depth to 16bit and/or lower the texture
  detail.
  People with average and hi-end computers should have no
  problems.


================================================================
* Construction *
================================================================

Base                : New level from scratch

Editor(s) used      : bsp building: Qoole
                      textures    : Wally and Photoshop 4.0
                      env sky     : Bryce 3D
                      sounds      : Goldwave

Known Bugs          : The map is larger than the default Quake
                      viewing distance. This results in clipping
                      and some unpleasent visual side effects.
                      It is actually a compromise between
                      visual quality and frame rate, because the
                      far objects, that are clipped out of view
                      must not be rendered, increasing rendering
                      speed.

Build Time          : 4 weeks

Compile Time        : bsp:  26s
                      vis:  2622s
                      rad:  14763s  (used arghrad)
                      -------------
                            17411s  - about 5 hours 

Compile machine     : Pentium II 300, 96MB RAM

================================================================
* Installation *
================================================================

unzip all files into your quake2\action folder, with
the restore paths option enabled.

In case, something goes wrong, extract the

bsp file to quake2\action\maps folder
wal files to quake2\action\textures\shadowfire folder
wav files to quake2\action\sound\shadowfire directory
tga & pcx files to quake2\action\env folder

================================================================
* Copyright / Permissions *
================================================================
This level may not be distributed on any CD-ROM
without prior, explicit permission of author.

Custom textures, sounds and sky environment maps
may NOT be used by other map authors without
the permission of author. 

