This is the README file for the Windows version of BZFlag.
BZFlag is a network multiplayer 3D tank battle game. You can play against several other people anywhere on the Internet. BZFlag is freeware and Open Source; please read the file COPYING found where you installed BZFlag.
BZFlag should run well on a Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP system with 64MB RAM, though 128MB is recommended. Current versions of Windows may require more memory. Any graphics card will work but a 3D graphics card with OpenGL acceleration is highly recommended.. A network card or a modem with a connection to the internet is required. BZflag requires at least DirectX 7.0 or higher to run. Windows XP ships with acceptable versions of all DLLs and librarys, and users of it should not have to download or install anything other then the game.
BZFlag requires, but does not come with, three free "libraries." Note that Windows 98 and later ship with these libraries, so unless you are using Windows 95 or NT4, Most users do NOT need to download them.
The easiest way to find out if you have the necessary libraries installed is to run bzflag.exe (you can find a shortcut in your start menu if you chose to install one). Look for these errors:
Many game servers require users to be globally registered to play. Global registration is free and handled by the official BZFlag forums. Please go to http://my.bzflag.org/bb/ to create a global account. A valid e-mail address is required.
Run Add/Remove Programs (from the control panel), select BZFlag, and press Add/Remove....
To begin playing BZFlag, launch bzflag.exe using the start menu or quicklaunch shortcuts. The game will go fullscreen (unless you are starting in windowed mode), load its data files, and show the main menu.
Use the arrow, enter, and escape keys to navigate the menus. You should first browse the `Help' menu. Use Page Up and Page Down to cycle through the help pages. These pages explain the game, how to play, and which keys are bound to which controls. You can change the key bindings from the `Change Key Mapping' menu under `Options' menu.
To play you must join a game using the `Join Game' menu. You have the option of starting a server on your own machine using `Start Server.' Once started you'll still need to choose which server to connect to.
Use `Find Server' to search for an existing server. Select a server from the list and press enter (press escape to cancel). This sets the server name and port number in the `Join Game' menu. You can enter a name manually if `Find Server' doesn't show the server you want. You may need to set the port too. The default port number is 5154 and most servers will use this.
If you haven't entered a callsign before, you need to type one before connecting to a server. This is the name you'll be known by during the game. You should also choose a team before joining the server. Note that some servers will reject Rogues; you'll need to choose a team color to join those servers. You cannot change teams once you've joined a game, though you can reconnect later with a different team and/or callsign.
Once you have your callsign, team, server, and port set up, use `Connect' to join the game. If anything goes wrong, the game will show an error message telling you how to correct the problem. Otherwise, you'll find yourself ready to play.
Your name and score are shown in your team color in the upper left. The scoreboard lists all the players (in order by score), their scores, what flag they are carrying (if any), and the number of times you've killed and been killed by that player. Your current status is at the top center. Press the right mouse button to start playing!
Typical problems with BZFlag involve either the graphics or the network.
Graphics: BZFlag uses OpenGL for rendering. If you don't have a graphics card that accelerates OpenGL you'll never get a good frame rate. Some cards support OpenGL better than others so you may want to fiddle with the graphics options in the `Options' menu if your frame rate is low or the graphics look wrong. The `t' and `y' keys toggle frame rate and time-per-frame readouts. If you are having very low framerates, ensure that Lighting and Shadows are off.
If the game runs but the rendering is wrong, your OpenGL driver is broken. It is not a problem with BZFlag. Try getting the latest OpenGL drivers from your card manufacturer (or the latest reference drivers from the chipset manufacturer).
99% of graphics problems are caused by old or incompatible video drivers. The video drivers that come with Windows or are distributed through Windows Update are never current and do not provide the OpenGL functions BZFlag needs. Always get the current driver for your video card from the card manufacturer or chipset company. This is almost always one of the companies below. If you are using a laptop you may have to get the current driver from your laptop manufacturer.
Common video chipsets:
nVidia
accelerated reference drivers
ATI accelerated
drivers
Matrox
accelerated drivers
SiS reference drivers
BZFlag prints the renderer name when it starts up in the message window. If it says `Generic' then you're using software only. You either haven't installed the OpenGL ICD correctly, or you are not using the right drivers. Quit the game, fix the problem and run BZFlag again.
One exception to this is if the rendering is too dark. This is because BZFlag assumes a linear brightness mapping, but this isn't true unless you've set the appropriate gamma correction for your display. If your graphics card supports `gamma correction' in the `Advanced' section of the display control panel, then modify the gamma to a level that makes BZFlag look better. Gamma correction should be a standard part of the operating system, but as of Windows 98 and NT 4.0 Microsoft has neglected to do this. If your card doesn't support gamma correction, you'll simply have to adjust the brightness slider in the options to get the brightest results you can.
Network: Network problems can be more difficult to track down. If BZFlag complains that it Winsock isn't available or is the wrong version, download Winsock 2 from the Microsoft website and install it. Watch out for beta versions of Winsock. One beta version has a bug that causes BZFlag to run at no more than one frame per second.
If you can start BZFlag but can't seem to join any servers, try starting one on your own system. If this fails, it's probably because bzfs.exe wasn't found. You should put bzflag.exe and bzfs.exe in the same directory and run BZFlag from that directory. This is how the installer sets things up. Quit BZFlag, fix the problem, and restart.
If you're sure bzfs.exe is being found, check that you've got TCP/IP networking setup. If you can access the network using a web browser then TCP/IP should be setup correctly. If not, try getting the browser working then try BZFlag again.
If you can connect to a server on your own host but not other hosts then your TCP/IP networking probably isn't setup properly or your network cable isn't hooked into the network. Again, try to get a web browser working across your network then try BZFlag again.
If you can't find servers on your network, there either aren't any servers or they're running on nonstandard ports. Either `Start Server' or enter the server host name and port manually on the `Join Game' menu then Connect.
If you're using BZFlag over a modem, you'll need to start Windows' Dial-up Networking and connect to the internet before starting BZFlag.
Visit the BZFlag Home Page for more information and online help.