Why can't I find      Battlezone II         in stores?

Initial sales of BZ2 have been brisk and we have heard reports that bz2 is difficult to find or even sold out in some cities. Not to worry, more copies will be available at your local retailer soon.


What are the minimum system requirements?
. 3d Graphics Accelerator
. 100% Windows 95/98 compatible computer system (Including compatible 32-bit drivers for CD-ROM, Video Card, Sound Card and Input Devices)
. 200 MHz Pentium(r) processor
. 64 MB of RAM
. Requires DirectX 7.0 (or higher) - included on CD
. Requires 500 MB of uncompressed disk space for game files, plus an additional 100 MB for the Windows swap file
. Quad Speed CD-ROM drive (600 K/second sustained transfer rate)
. 100% DirectX 7.0 compatible sound card
. 100% Microsoft compatible mouse and driver
. 100% Windows 95/98 compatible joystick (optional)
. CD Audio (Redbook) support

When does the action of Battlezone II take place (i.e. future, past present)?
Battlezone II is set in the present.

Why can't I find Battlezone II in stores?
Initial sales of BZ2 have been brisk and we have heard reports that bz2 is difficult to find or even sold out in some cities. Not to worry, more copies will be available at your local retailer soon.

How can I make explosions more impressive on my computer?
In the graphics options screen set particle detail to high and object detail to high. Sometimes the computer will skip past a vehicle exploding in order to keep the multiplayer game in sync. The best way to avoid this problem is to play in games with high bandwidth servers that you have a low ping time with.

Why does my mouse lag?
Did you change your VSYNC settings? Many hardcore gamers tweak their systems to get maximum frame rate.

On some video cards, notably nVidia TNT2 based cards, it is possible to significantly improve the frame rate, by disabling VSYNCH (normally the driver will wait for vertical synch before doing a page flip to the next frame), and/or by buffering up to 16 frames worth of commands before the page flip is done. With such settings, you will not see any changes, caused by mouse movement, until 16 frames later. At 16fps, that will be 1 second later!

So make sure that 1) VSYNC is enabled and 2) that PRERENDERLIMIT is set to low number (say 1). Unfortunately, there are many manufacturers using the TNT2 chip, and each controls it differently. Most will let you change it by changing registry settings using the REGEDIT utility, others let you do it from the control panel (display properties). Contact your card manufacturer technical support for details.

Note: changing registry settings is very dangerous, but if you know what you are doing, try the following:

Some useful registry settings for VSYNC for nVidia reference drivers:

NOVSYNC 0
NOVSYNCPRERENDERLIMIT 1
SCENEVSYNC 1

in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Nvidia Corporation\RIVA TNT\Direct3D

to get to the default settings, just delete the directory
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Nvidia Corporation
and it will get rebuilt.

How can I make my modem servers more stable?
We have discovered some problems which may cause multiplayer games from modem servers to experience instability. We will address these problems soon with a patch. In the meantime, it is recommended that you try to play in games that are hosted by the highest bandwidth, lowest ping possible server.

How do I get past mission 11, "On Thin Ice", in the single player game?
Some of you have come up with crafty ways to win mission 11, which unfortunately the mission script does not recognize. We will fix this problem in the patch, but in the mean time if you are stuck follow these instructions from Lead Designer Wil Stahl:

Do the mission over without saving AT ALL.

Start the mission over from the top. Destroy the ship you came in with a satchel charge to cover your tracks. Drive north to the Recycler. Once there DON'T MOVE IT AT ALL. Instead look for the 3 Ice Rhinos that are around it (From the Recycler there is 1 to the north-east, 1 to the north-west and 1 to the west). When you attack them they will get angry and chase you. Lead them out over the ice. They will fall through the ice.

Once all three rhinos have fallen through the ice (make sure to lead them over DIFFERENT ice patches), THEN take command of the Recycler.

You must order the Recycler THROUGH the ice and not around it. To do this order in this sequence:

1. south for about 50-100 meters
2. west about 50-100 meters
3. NORTH (over a thin strip of land) about 100-200 meters
4. WEST over another strip of land about 50-100 meters
5. SOUTH over another strip of land about 100-150 meters
6. Then west to the nav.

If you cleared enough ice caps the Recycler (at some point) will tell you he has a good line of site to the nav. At that time he will try to drive there himself. IF that happens DO NOT STOP HIM.

When the Recycler gets to the nav you should get a movie of a Condor looking for a dust off site. DO NOT SPACE BAR THROUGH THE MOVIE unless you absolutely have to.

When the Condor tells you to take out the turrets, start building your forces to do so. When you take out the turrets the Condors should land. When they do, move the Transport to them. The Transport must get within 100 meters of the Condors for the mission to end.

TIP: DO NOT delete any of the navs placed on the map. Killing the Scion base will not end the mission no matter what happens.

How do I send text messages quickly in multiplayer?
Hit the enter key. This will allow you to chat with all players or your team. To change settings hit ESCAPE.

Does the game have to pause every time a new client joins?
Pausing the game while a client joins was something we did initially to increase stability while the computer downloads the gamestate. In part this was a consequence of a network architecture that was designed to deal smoothly with low lag and prohibit cheating. Further experimentation has shown that this pause was unnecessary. The new patch will allow clients to join games without pausing.

When I start a team game why can't my opponents see what I am saying?
In teammplay games you are defaulted to only chatting with your team. If you want to send a message to your opponent click on "Chat with all" in either the multiplayer set up screen or by pressing during your multiplayer game.

I'm having problems with my joystick.
The release version of Battlezone 2 has a problem where the joystick sometimes calibrates whether you want it to or not. Also, many of you have asked us to give joysticks more of a dead spot (or a configurable dead spot) and an easier way to reverse the joystick. We will address these issues with a patch.

Will Battlezone 2 work with beta copies of Windows 2000?
You should only use Battlezone 2 with final release copies of Windows 2000, not pre-release beta test versions. Although there are many pirated versions of Windows 2000 beta, we will only support actual copies of the retail version of the operating system when it comes out.

If I have more questions about multiplayer, where can I look for info?
Check out Nathan's excellent web site at http://www.matesfamily.org/bz2/nettips.html