Carmageddon (e)
Written by: Kevin Podszebka 05/20/1997
kgp@usa.net
for: The Unofficial Carmageddon U.S. Site
http://www.aiusa.com/noyzrulz/carma
1) CARMAGEDDON KEYS
*2) POWER UPS
*3) THE CHARACTERS
*4) NOTES
5) MIDI PLAYING
*6) AUTOMOTIVE REVIEW(Thanks Tony Lai)
*7) HONOR ROLLS
8) LINKS
*9) POSSIBLE FUTURE
| Latest known release date: |
| JUNE 20 - UK JULY - US 3DFX August |
| Sci-"3DFX *MAY* come out with the first |
| US release. It all depends on how |
| much is done by then." |
* = added or changes since last FAQ
*Sci = direct from Sci since last FAQ
Sci = direct from Sci
This FAQ is to remain true to the most current release. You will find
no reference to the CV editor in here. If you are curious enough, you
can look for yourselves. And don't forget, all that you see in the game
with that editor can change before the release..
1) CARMAGEDDON KEYS
----------------
1 - Car Simplification Level 0 1 2 3 4 0=best
2 - Shadows On/Off
3 - Wall Textures None/Linear/Best
4 - Sky Texture On/Off
5 - Track Appears Quite Quickly/Quite Late/Very Late/Very Quickly
6 - YON decrease by 5
7 - Sounds Fewest/Partial/All
SPACE BAR - Emergency Brake(Air Brake in air)
Directional Arrows - Camera angle while playing
Sh 1 - Car Texures None/Transparent Only/Full
Sh 2 - Smoke On/Off
Sh 3 - Road Textures On/Off
Sh 4 - Depth Cueing(Fog) On/Off
Sh 5 - Accessories On/Off
Sh 6 - YON Increase by 5
Sh D - Screen Shot
Ctrl D - ??
Ctrl L - ??
Ctrl Q - Quit
Ctrl A - Quit Immediately
"-" on the keypad - Nice -N- Fluffy Mode/Let The Carnage Continue
or Peds On/Off
-/+ Shrink/Grow Screen
P - Helmet Picture On/Off
S - Sound On/Off
H - Horn
M - Mirror On/Off
Z - Shift Down(Hold down to lose traction control)
X - Shift Up
TAB - Map On/Off
Print Screen - Screen Refresh(??)
INS - Recover Vehicle
ESC - Quit Game in Progress
Power Up Timer On/Off - ????
There are others saying that holding left and right helps you straighten
out better. That is only if you can't drive properly! :)
2) POWER UPS
---------
Pedestrians Glued to the Ground
Frozen Opponents
Instant HandBrake
Instant Repair (Yellow Barrels)
Jelly Suspension
Turbo
Turbo Pedestrians
Hot Rod (Silver Tanks located in Contruction Zone)
Under Water Ability (2 or 3 minute powerup) -[XTWiggyL7@aol.com]
Invulnerability
*More can be found by renaming the POWERUP.TXT file in your DATA
directory to DPOWERUP.TXT I will not list those here until the actual
release. sorry :(
3) THE CHARACTERS
--------------
NAME OF DRIVER NAME OF CAR
Max Damage Red Eagle
Die Anna Yellow hawk
Otis P. Jivefunk Caddy Fat Cat
Kutter Countslash
The Brothers Grim Stiffshifter
Don Dumpster The Plough
Screwie Lewie The Twister
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx
not yet implemented..
Agent Orange Leadpumper(will it have guns and oil slicks?)
Autoscum(team of 4) Streeteater(looks like a cool 40's dragster)
Ed Hunter ???
Heinz Faust ???
Firestorm ???
Hammerhead ???
Halfwit Harry ???
Mech Maniac ???
Ivan The Bastard ???
Wanda Lust ???
Psycho Pitbull ???
Burly Shirley ???
Madam Scarlett ???
Ed101 ???
Val Hella ???
Vlad ???
Stella Stunna Electric Blue(nice looking car!)
Stig O 'Sore ???
??? Pink Pulveriser(looks like a jeep)
??? Volkswerker(guess, with spikes)
4) NOTES
-----
*Sci-"The cursor keys are reserved for camera views only. Sorry."
*Sci-"There will be no FFback support, but it is on our agenda. We have
only recieved the Microsoft forcefeedback joystick last week."
What is the longest possible record time?
The saying is "I WAS IN THE WAR.", not "AGAINST THE WALL."
Sounds play backwards while playing recording in reverse.
You CAN get on the Metroliner by jumping off the building after checkpoint
#4. It is a long, narrow open tunnel that leads nowhere.
Speed will be in MPH rather that KPH because England still uses Imperial
measurements rather than metric. - Mal Ross (em84@cityscape.co.uk)
The Kutter car has a tendency to wipe out at higher speeds when
hitting the sidewalks or curbs. -Waterman Family
[WatermanFamily@worldnet.att.net]
Sci-"This due to cars and surroundings being to bloody real!! If the
front spoiler of the car is too low it will smash into the curb.
The only problem is that the curb is solid and will not crumple."
Timer only goes to 19:59. Additional time is given but just not shown.
-Jason Wilson [jpwilson@guildford.ac.uk]
Sci-"The timer on the main screen will only go to 19:59 because of
space limitations on the screen. If you bring the map up - there
is the total counter in the top tight."
The 26meg movie that is on the page is NOT the same as the one on PC
Zone magazine. The magazine shows; the cars in the city revving up on
the starting line, with the starter with a chequered flag in front of
them. People run from the streets, dash into their houses, close the
curtains, the starter gets ready to start when the cars all leap away
from the grid mowing down the starter. The title screen moves into view:
a torn and bloody chequered flag with Carmageddon written on it.
-Jason Wilson [jpwilson@guildford.ac.uk]
Sci-"The movie WAS on PCZone- but the month before the demo was
released. The bit with the starter guy being run over is in the
intro in the demo. It was left off the internet version for faster
download. The actual game is exactly the same."
If you go to the pixmap directory the color schemes or graphics that
wrap around the cars are there. I tried moving the apc.pix file out making
a copy of the kutter.pix and renaming it apc.pix. Then loaded the game and
the apc was red with yellow wheels. Probably a palette effect. Any chance
of knowing where a editor is for these pix files?
-Allen Bond [althrox@worldnet.att.net]
Sci-"If you change these then it will merely change the appearance and
of nothing else, Probably make the game a bit more unstable!!"
There will be snow, ice, sand and mud to deal with on the tracks.
Sci-"There WILL be 3DFX support. But it may be a patch after release.
D3D is currently being planned for all other 3D cards."
Sci-"There are no plans for a map/car editor, but it is something that
we will look into."
Pressing "Z" while the announcer is counting lets you start before
anyone else. But you do get a 1000 credit "Bad Boy" deduction!
-CurtMac@aol.com
Sci-"The first level of the game(full release) does have a football
field and players that you are more than welcome to mow down."
Screenshot coming for the page.
Sci-"You can get bonuses from breaking down scenery and killing with
it. Be creative."
Sci-"Game engine is BRender from Argonargt. Since the standard UK
version uses Brender, so any built in enhancements will be there
- ie MMX."
5) MIDI PLAYING
------------
I have not found a way for the game to play the HMI format MIDIs while
in the game. You CAN hear them by copying them from the SOUNDS dirctory
to the CARMDEMO directory and renaming them CARMID06.HMI or...
edit the INSTALL.INI and under [PROGRAM], replace the Miditest line to
the HMI song you would like to hear.
Then run SETUP and test the MIDI to hear them.
Sci-"Originally Midi was going to be in the game!!! But after hearing
FM midi for more than 5 minutes in a row we scrapped it for CD
audio instead... Can you imagine playing a game with continuous
FM midi and NOT being able to turn it OFF. AAAAARRRGGG enough to
drive you insane."
6) AUTOMOTIVE REVIEW (I am looking for a newer review, send yours to)
----------------- (kgp@usa.net Thanks)
THANKS: Tony Lai(tlai@orion.ign.com.au
Carmageddon seems to be all the rage now. It a seems to
be overshadowed by its more pretty cousin, Interstate '76
but there's no doubt in my mind it will be popular even
when we're all playing Mechwarrior III. It has depth where
I76 has flash and hype. Not that I76 is shit, but I loved
Mech2, just couldn't love her past the honeymoon.
So here is my review of the vehicles available in the demo.
I assume the speedo is kilometres per hour (seeing the game
is English) and all seem to be 5-speed autos.
Top speed are typical speeds you will reach while on the
course. True top speeds will be much higher.
Excuse me while I go all Brock Yates on you.
Dumper (Don Dumpster)
---------------------
This is the biggest (and the meanest) of the vehicles
available. It's a JCB wheeled bulldozer and comparing it
to cars is like comparing a real bulldozer to cars...
it's heavy, it's very strong and it's very slow.
Top speed is about 80 mph which means going anywhere is a
bore. It also seems to be to be top heavy (or have a
high centre of gravity for you physics types) so you seems
to get knocked over a lot. When you go a for a rhino charge
(you know, head-to-head torque fest) you WILL undoubtdly win.
Seems to be like a sumo wrestler; you can always push the
little guys around. It's also very strong; I've played it heaps
but have never damaged it. Fun for while but ultimately boring.
Has that incredibly cool 'diesel' sound.
Kutter
------
This car is a Lamborghini Countach. Incredibly fast
(like 240 mph) but also incredibly fragile.
And that damn razor cutter in front of you takes away
all your vision. The low body means you point of view
is also lower. Engine sounds muted. Handling seems
a better that the default car. Of course, the speed
means you can outrun everybody.
I completed the
course the quickest with this but that's not the point
is it :-)
The Brothers Grimm
------------------
This car is a real loser. Slow (about 130 mph) and has about
the same body strength as the default car. Also seems to use
the same dashboard. The long wheelbase kills the handling.
Rarely drive it. Not so cool.
Original/Default Car (Max Damage)
---------------------------------
Not a bad car. Fast enough (about 180 mph). The body is
reasonably strong. A good thing is that it looks great
in the replays. Handling is very nice coz it has a short
wheelbase. Can negotiate the tight bends that are required
in the course. Light weight means it does get tossed around
a bit. I come back to it because it's fun to drive which just
about says it all.
Otis P. Jivefunk
----------------
Now this car is FUN! It's a big pimp style 60's cruiser.
The engine is a big block V8. It looks like a Cadillac
or Chevrolet or something. The engine is extremely powerful
(can easily top 200 mph). And torquey. The fluffy soft 'ocean
liner' style suspension means that handling is actually shit.
But its so 'bad' its actually good. The car squats heavily
under acceleration. It dives when it brakes. It wallows and
body rolls when cornering heavily. It understeers when you slam it
into corners. The long wheelbase means it's hard to maneuovre.
It sooo fun to drive! All you need is the 'Shaft' soundtrack.
It's also very resilent like 60's Detroit iron.
It's hard to damage and it seems to hold it own against the
diesel-powered crew. Out of all the cars I drive this the most.
Get outa my way, you ho-bitch!
(Excelsior: It's a Caddilac)
Police Car
----------
This 'car' is actually a army wheeled-APC. It looks like the
sort of APC the British Army use when they 'cruise' Belfast.
It's fast (about 180mph), handles well (remarkably well) and
it feels nimble. The diesel engine sounds great (chugga-chugga).
This APC actually handles and 'feels' better that it should.
Perhaps they need to make it handle worse so it's more like an APC.
This is a great car to learn on. It's very strong and it has a
high mass so when you ram someone you do the mega damage.
The minigun on the side is decorative (unfortuately) but maybe
that will be added later.
Screwie Lewie
-------------
You Monster Truck Madness fans out there will feel straight
at home. It has heaps of speed (up to 200 mph) and the handling
is very good. The body seems to lean a lot but that's fine.
You sit high in the raised body. It also seems to have some kind
of sports car body on top of the typical monster truck chassis.
It is highly resilient. You also seem to climb over a opponent
when you do a head-on charge. Oh, and there's a giant rotating
screw at the front.
Afterword:
Maybe a faq should be written detailing the sites of interest
one can visit in Maim Street.(See NOTES above) I like the chicks swimming
in the fountain. The cows in the park are also neat (heh heh...)
(Excelsior: You are reading it now!)
I also hear that SCI may not make Carmageddon because the British
Censorship Board don't like it. That would be a real shame because
in that case SCI would be responsible for exactly zero (0) good games.
Who can forget the Lawnmower Man or the upcoming SWIV3D? (ewww....)
(Excelsior: I think that was just a rumor)
Sci-"It WIILL be released :->"
In that case I would not miss running over pedestrians too much...
I think the main attractions behind Carmageddon are a., the incredible
drive models and b., the physical model. Running over pedestrians is
secondary to actually driving the cars (although I must say the grannies
with the walking frames and the grandads with the canes are excellent!)
SCI should think seriously about writing a serious sim based on the
BTCC or the German DTM series. I love the amount of car control necessary
in negotiating the rooftop courses.
*7) HONOR ROLLS
-----------
There USED to be an honor roll here. But since that CV-Editor is out,
ANYONE can get ANY speed and kill ALL the people easily. Sorry :(
If you have any ideas to replace this spot in the FAQ, please write me.
8) LINKS
-----
For links, please refer to the page
http://www.aiusa.com/noyzrulz/carma
9) POSSIBLE FUTURE
---------------
..all written below may not be true when the game comes out. But it is
all I could get from the game itself so far. Everything has a tendency
to change in the final stages. If I find it to be 100% true, I will add
it to the notes section or another section of the FAQ.
NETWORK Play will be open. Meaning that players can join in after the
race has started.
Sci-"Some games will be closed due to the nature of the game type."
You will be able to make challenges to people.
Sci-"Untrue - But an idea for Carmageddon2."
Sci-"Other computer players will issue challenges to you on occasion."
Handling looks like it will also be adjustable.
Sci-"Untrue - but you can buy upgrades for Armour, POWER and offensive.
These do affect handling. All other handling stuff is tweaked by
us - So you will just have to blame us if you don't like the way
we drive!! :)"
You will be able to steal things.. Maybe get out of your car(become a
pedestrian) and steal anothers car or a cop car.(this will be VERY
interesting)
Sci-"You will be able to steal other cars!!! I shall tell you that it
won't involve getting out of the car or anything like that."
Sci-"Stealing cars will start at a ranking of 89. The better your
ranking, the better the chances of stealing a car."
Maps can be selected by their Distance, Hostility, Population Density
and NSP Presence(???)
Sci-"Maps do have this data attached to them, but the map selection is
determined by your rank. You will then have about 5 or 6
different races to choose from."
RANKS
Ranks will be given by credits.
CREDITS EARNED - CREDITS LOST = TOTAL CREDITS
This will show your rank increase and your present rank
So, the more credits, the higher the rank. I do not know how this
will work exactly for network games vs solo games.
Sci-"SOLO GAMES - Basically more credits = higher ranking.
NET GAMES - Credits have no meaning long term. They will only
affect the player in the game.(ie.. need credits to buy powerups,
repair car, etc.. But overall net game winners are added up by
how many times 1st(10 points). 2nd(6 points) etc.."
NETWORK OPTIONS
Time Limits of 1, 3, 5, 10, 20 or NONE.
Toggle for showing other players on map.
Toggle for showing powerups on map.
Toggle for showing Pedestrians on map.(can you say slow down?)
Toggle for swapping powerups on impact.
Option to fill in opponents with computer players.
Toggle for including cops.
Toggle for powerups reappear after time delay.
Toggle for turning pedestrians off.(shame...)
Toggle for open games.(allow latecomers)
Car choice of Red Eagle, Yellow Thingy(??), either or other.
Abuse-o-Matic(tm) text messages
CAR POWER UPS(can be done automatically if you wish)
OFFENSE DEFENSE(ARMOUR)
Level 1 Steel Fender Studs Steel Rollcage
Level 2 Titanium Studs Carbon Steel Cage
Level 3 Dual Titanium Studs Cage With Kevlar Skin
Level 4 Micro Fender Rams Carbon Steel Plate
Level 5 Dual Fender Rams Steel, Kevlar Skin
Level 6 CHEAT(???) CHEAT(???)
MOTORS
Level 1 4. Litre In-Line 6
Level 2 5. Litre V8
Level 3 5.7 Litre Twin Carb V8
Level 4 7.6 Litre Blown V8
Level 5 11 Litre V12 Nitro(I can only imagine!)
Level 6 CHEAT(???)
GAME OPTIONS
These are the type of games you will be able to choose from.
Driven to Destruction(was: Fight to the Death)
Car Crusher
Carnage Accumulator
Checkpoint Stampede
Sudden Death
Terminal Tag
Fox 'n' Hounds
CARMAGEDDON 2
Sci-"It will have Internet play other than Engage Games and Kali."
Sci-"Carm2 will support ALL 3D cards, (also)using Direct 3d."
Sci-"We may not use BRender from Argonargt."
Sci-"We MUST stress that Carma 2 has not gone past the "Oh, that would
be good" stage.
*I have made a few .FLI files. If any of these interest you, just
E-Mail me the one you want and I will send it.
BNCE1FLI.ZIP 935k Me bouncing onto the METRTO LINK
BNCE2FLI.ZIP 1.4m Same as above, different view
KILL1FLI.ZIP 545k A boring kill
1WHEEL.ZIP 640k Me on ONE wheel doing circle!
FALLFLI.ZIP 155k Is it a bird, plane? Its EXCELSIOR! AAAGHHH!
LAMPFLI.ZIP 400k I killed him with the lamp! COOL!
LANDFLI.ZIP 290k You couldn't ask for a better landing. :)
PKILL.ZIP 900k I kill her with the post! NICE SHOT SIR!
PKILL2.ZIP 1.06m Same as above, different view
Please send suggestions for the FAQ, too. I would like to add more
ideas to it.
more later..
Info From SCI:
[Q1.] Why does the UK version have zombies and green blood in it.
[A.] The original version has been refused a classification by the BBFC so
it is illegal for anyone in the UK to sell the version with blood in. The
official notification of this was only given on the 19th June. We are very
disappointed with this decision from the BBFC. The version that has been
released is the only version that can be sold in the UK.
We have contacted all the UK magazines and have issued a press release to
the general press and retailers informing them of these changes. The PC
magazines such as PC Zone, PC Format and PC Gamer have all given us their
endorsement to the new version and all stand by initial reviews and scores.
In PC Zone's case this is a 95% and a classic game award. The magazines
will be running features and articles in their forthcoming issues, the
first of which will be PC Zone on 27th June.
PC Zone are also covering this story on their website so if you are on the
Internet we recommend that you go to the PC Zone homepage www.pczone.co.uk
and check out the bulletin area for the latest news and stories. If you do
not have internet access we suggest that you look out for the August issue
of PC Zone - which will be carrying a feature on the censorship issue.
[Q2.] I have got Carmageddon and when I try and run the game in DOS it goes
all black or even reboots the machine.
[A.] You will need to install Univbe 5.3a (disk doctor) as it sounds like
your card is not Vesa 2 compatible. We can send you a copy via post or you
can get it from www.scitechsoft.com or it is even available on cover disks
[Q3.] How Do I steal cars?
[A.] You can only steal cars from about rank 75 or below. And then only can
you steal certain cars. Also it depends on the difficulty level, the easier
the level the better odds you have of stealing a car. By destroying a car
in game it will say "car stolen for next race" then before the next race
you can change cars.
[Q4.] How do I run Carmageddon in Hi res. in Win95?
[A.] OK, to get into high resolution you need to edit your shortcut
properties. To do this, click on Start, Settings, Taskbar, Start Menu
Programs, Advanced, double-click on the Programs folder, then the
Carmageddon folder and right-click on the Carmageddon icon. This will bring
up a small menu.
Click on properties then go to the shortcut tab at the top. Now click in
the "Target" box and press "End", then just after the " mark, type -hires,
Leaving a space before the "-". You should now have something like:
"C:\Program Files\Games\Carmageddon\Carma95.exe" -hires
Now Apply it and go to OK. If you now run the game it should be in high
resolution.
[Q5.] I can not run Hi-res. on Carmageddon in DOS.
[A.] Use the -hires switch after the carma.exe and make sure you have got
24mg of ram. I.e. in DOS type carma -hires from the directory where you
installed the game.
[Q6.] I am having trouble running Carmageddon as whenever I run the
carma.exe file it says low mem mode and I have 16 meg.
[A.] If you have a 16 Meg machine you will have to play the dos version in
dos and the win95 version in win95 or it will say this. Also make sure you
do not have things loaded into memory you do not need like DosKey or virus
scanners.
[Q7.] When I restart in dos mode from Windows 95 I can not get my CD-ROM
working what do I do?
[A.] You will need to contact your machine manufacturer for help on
inserting the correct CD-ROM drivers in your Dosstart.bat file.
Unfortunately we can't help set up your CD-ROM in DOS as we do not know
what CD-ROM you have or where its drivers are.
[Q8.] Whenever I run the win95 version of Carmageddon it says can't start Ddraw.???
[A.] Try reinstalling directx3a again and rebooting your machine. If this
is this the first time you have installed direct X then you may have to
install direct X3 from another game/cover disk to get the game working.
Check that all the directX3a things were installed by running the Dxsetup
in the win95 DirectX directory. Worse comes to worse you will have to play
the DOS version. It is no different to the Win95 version it is still VGA
and still can be put into Hi res.
[Q9.] When is the 3dfx patch for Carmageddon coming out?
[A.].The Carmageddon 3dfx patch will be about in 6 weeks time. Look at the
www.3dfx.com and www.sci.co.uk sites for them to appear. Also look on cover
disks of magazines or you can write to us at Techsupport@sci.co.uk and we
can tell you when its ready or send you a copy.
[Q10.] Carmageddon just keeps crashing in Win95.
[A.] Make sure you have not got any strange memory manager stuff loaded.
I.e. Magna Ram as this will stop it working or make it crash. Also make
sure you have got nothing loaded you do not need. I.e. Word, Flexi-cd and
anything else in the background and see if this helps. Also make sure you
are using up to date Graphic card and sound card drivers that are direct X
compatible. Try the DOS version also as if it is Win95 Being strange then
the DOS version will work.
[Q11.] How do I get CD audio?
[A.] Make sure you do a full install or you will not get CD audio as the CD
is being accessed to much.
[Q12.] Do I need a copy of Carmageddon for each machine in a network game?
[A.] No only the host needs a copy. Make sure all the machines have got a
full install on them though for it to work. And the host needs to start a
game with the CD in the drive.
[Q13.] When I type Carmagdn.exe the game does not run in dos. Why?
[A.] This was a late change to the manual. You need to type carma.exe to
run the game.
[Q14.] When I try and start a new race the game says please insert the CD,
but it must know its in there as the music is playing.
[A.] There is a patch.bat file in your directory where you installed the
game to. Try running this and it will give you a new exe which should fix
the CD problem. ONLY DO THIS IF YOU ARE HAVING CD PROBLEMS.
Other Q & A:
[Q] - What is the difference between the UK and the US demo versions of Carmageddon?
[A] - The only difference is that the names of the track is different along with the "naming" of other
things. As for gameplay goes, there is no difference.
[Q] - I HATE the "zombies" version of Carmageddon (UK Version). Is there any way I can change it
back to the "blood" version?
[A] - There is a patch available to change the zombie version into the blood version. It is located in the
Download Area.
[Q] - What are the cheat codes for Carmageddon?
[A] -The new cheat codes are unknown right now. Only two people on the world know what the
codes are, and they aren't about to give'em out.
[Q] - Does Carmageddon include modem support?
[A] - There is no modem support right now. Multiplayer network games requires IPX network along
with 16 megs of RAM.