Get the Midnight Outlaw: Illegal Street Drag Nitro Edition demo off Worthplaying (91mb)

1. INTRODUCTION

Thank you for purchasing Midnight Outlaw: Illegal Street Drag, NITRO EDITION.

This is a high stakes world where nothing matters but speed. Let the roar of supercharged engines and the hiss of nitrous oxide propel the night into a high
octane fury as you compete against the best on the road. You're racing for more than the money, you're racing for respect and rule of the streets.

2. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Pentium II 400MHz. or 100% compatible processor
Windows 98/ME/XP
128MB RAM
200MB HD Space
8MB 3D Accelerator with DirectX 8.1 compliant video drivers
DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card
200MB HD space
4X CD-ROM Drive
Internet connection for Multiplayer play

Recommended

Pentium III 500MHz. or 100% compatible processor
16MB 3D Accelerator with DirectX 8.1 compliant video drivers
Broadband Internet connection for multiplayer play

3. INSTALLATION

Insert the Midnight Outlaw: Illegal Street Drag:Nitro Edition CD into your CD-ROM drive. The installation process should begin automatically. If Autorun is not enabled you must manually install the game. Click Start and Run. Next type D:setup.exe where "D" is the letter of your CD-ROM drive. Click on OK to begin the installation process. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation. You may need to restart your computer before you begin playing.

4. GETTING STARTED

To get started double click the Midnight Outlaw: Illegal Street Drag: Nitro Edition shortcut on your desktop or select Start, Programs, ValuSoft, Midnight
Outlaw: Illegal Street Drag: Nitro Edition, and the Midnight Outlaw: Illegal Street Drag:Nitro Edition shortcut. When you begin a game for the first time a system profiler will check your system for optimal display settings. Choose a resolution from the menu and click OK. The game will begin. You can change this setting at any time from the Options-Graphics menu (see Options section in this manual for more information).

5. MAIN MENU

The Main Menu offers four selections: New Game, Options, Multiplayer, Outlaw Challenge, and Quit. A full description of each menu item is detailed in this
manual. Quit will immediately exit the game.

6. PROFILE MENU

The profile menu keeps track of your progress through the game. Up to eight profiles can be stored here, so multiple users can play, or you can play through with different body styles. To start a game, click on the profile desired and proceed, or click load profile once selected. The selected profile will be highlighted. To start a new profile, click on New Profile and enter the name you desire. You'll be prompted to choose a body style of car. There are no differences in performance in the initial cars, it's just a matter of style preference. Performance depends on your own ability to drive and your choice of upgrades. To delete a profile, select the profile you want to delete and click on delete profile. A confirmation message will ask you if you are sure. Once deleted, a profile can not be restored. You'll be able to save your profile on this screen, and you'll also be able to save after each race in the "Stats" screen. If you exit the game without saving, you'll be taken back to your last saved profile the next time you play.

NEW PROFILE--Activates the Body Style selection screen and allows you to start a fresh profile.
REMOVE PROFILE--Permanently deletes a profile.
LOAD PROFILE--Loads the selected profile.
SAVE PROFILE--Saves your current progress. This option is also available after each race, in the "Stats" screen.
BACK--Returns you to the previous screen.
NEXT--Takes you to "The Dash" to make your preparations to race.

7. "THE DASH" SCREEN

THE DASH is the area where you track your progress, buy upgrades, and test your new purchases before taking to the streets.

The CURRENT STATUS area displays the following:

NAME: This is your current profile name.
GREEN: The amount of money you currently have available.
RESPECT: How many respect points you have on the street.

CLASS: The current race class that you are in. You will be allowed to race in new areas as you progress in class. Graduating to a new class is accomplished
by earning enough respect on the street to be invited to the next secret racing area.

BEST TIME: This shows the best time you have raced with your car, derived from either the Test Drive, or in a race.

WIN/LOSS: This is your career win/loss statistics.

COST/RACE: Cars require maintenance, and expensive parts require expensive maintenance. Each time you race, your money will be deducted based upon the
parts you need to maintain. This money goes for gas, tire wear, repairs, etc.

After buying upgrades, you may want to take your vehicle out for a TEST DRIVE. You will be taken to your favorite abandoned drag strip to test your driving
skills. This will help you determine who you should challenge when you get on the streets.

PARTS CHECK: The parts check feature lets you see the part chosen for upgrade and read additional information about what that part will do for your car or
respect.

BUYING UPGRADES is a simple matter, if you've got the green. Clicking on an available upgrade will bring up more information about that particular item.
The UPGRADES AVAILABLE screen will tell you the name, cost, and effects of the upgrade. Note that some items will upgrade your performance only, some will upgrade your respect only, and some will affect both. Once you have chosen your upgrade, click on the "Buy Upgrade" button to purchase it. You'll see your
current car package listed on the left.

VIEW CAR: Clicking on this button will let you see the latest upgrades to your vehicle. When in the view car environment, moving the mouse will let you rotate
around the car, and hitting the Escape button, or Space Bar, will bring you back to the dash.

The RACE CLASS buttons are where you select the street you'll be racing on. When you start the game, you'll be racing CLASS "D". As you gain respect at
that secret race venue, you'll be allowed to follow the best racers to the next secret drag area. You can always go back and race a lower class once you've
been there. To advance to the next class, you need a certain level of respect.

Once you're done tweaking your ride and testing it, click on "HIT THE STREETS" to go to the secret race area and see what you're made of.

8. "THE STREETS" SCREEN

The Streets screen is where you challenge other racers to see who rules the night! At the top of the screen, you'll see a summary of your current status,
including your class, current respect, best time, and cash on hand. Use these indicators to help you decide whom to challenge.

TIME OF DAY SELECTOR: Allows you to race at dawn, dusk or midnight on any of the tracks. Midnight gives you the best cover from the cops. If you want to take a risk and increase your reward, try racing without the cover of night, at dawn or dusk. The amount you can win goes up, but so does the chance that
you'll be busted by the cops. Give it a shot!

Here's what you need to know about challenging other racers:

-You can single click or double click on racers to highlight and challenge them.
-Each racer's display tells you their name, the class race they qualify for, their respect value, their bet amount, and their "rumored" best time. Note the word "rumored". Until you race them, you won't really know what they are made of. They could have been boasting about times that they can't meet, or they may actually be faster than the talk on the streets would indicate. The only way to find out is to challenge them and do your best!
-Each racer will decide whether or not to race based upon your respect value. If you're not cool enough, they'll send you away without racing. To get them to
race, you'll have to win a little more respect.
-The first time you beat someone, you'll be given 2 respect points. After that, you'll see a checkmark in their picture. You can not gain any more respect by
beating that person, but you can still race them for money as many times as you want.
-You'll notice that after racing an individual several times, the bet amount will decrease. They're getting wise to you, so they're not willing to risk as much, but they still want the chance to beat you.

9. GAMEPLAY

Once you're on the streets, the rules are quite simple: Speed rules!

Here are some tips to help you rule the night:
-Watch the starter girl or guy and the color bands, to pick your best time to
shift into first and hit the accelerator. You can't jump the line, but you can
mis-shift and blow your chances at winning the race early.
-You'll have to get used to your car and its engine as you upgrade it in your
test drives to determine your optimum time to shift and (if you have it) boost.
This is what racing is all about, feeling the timing of your machine and
hitting the shift at just the right moment.
-Sure, you can steer, but the best option is to head straight for the finish,
one-quarter mile ahead. If you collide with the other car, the race will stop
and you'll be assessed a damage penalty. So keep your foot on the pedal and
your eyes on the finish line.
-Despite the best efforts of the scanning crew, every aggressive racer gets
busted every now and again. You'll be given a ticket if you are. The results of
the race won't matter if you're busted. If you want to improve your chances
with the cops, buy a scanner in the upgrade path, the better your scanner, the
less chance you'll be busted.
-Don't be afraid to take on someone who has beaten you. If the race was close,
maybe you'll do a little better, and they'll blow a shift... it can happen, and
you'll gain those all important respect points.

10. STATS

When the race is over, you'll be taken to a "Stats" screen. This screen will
display YOUR RACE TIME, your RIVAL'S TIME, the MONEY WON/LOST, and RESPECT
EARNED, if any. If you were the winner, you'll probably want to save your
profile to retain the record of your victory. Here you can also instantly race
the same rival again, if you're looking to build up your cash, or if you lost
by a narrow margin and want to try again. Otherwise, click on "Return to Hub"
to get you back to the streets.

11. OPTIONS

Clicking on the Options button on the main menu brings you to the Options menu.
Here you can select either Display, Controller, or Sound options, or view the
Credits.

a)DISPLAY

The settings within the Display menu are very important to the game's
performance. Graphics detail depends heavily on your processor speed and the
power, memory, and functions supported by your video card. The higher the
detail, the more processing is required. On slower computers high detail may
cause the game to slow down or run poorly. We have provided a wide range of
options that can significantly affect the playability of the game over a wide
range of systems.

Detail-There are three preselected options, and a custom option that allows you
to tailor the display to your own liking.
-LOW-Low Detail, best suited for computers that meet the minimum system
specifications. Lower resolution, less game objects, no special FX.
-HIGH-All options are turned on and high detail is enabled. Intended
for fast systems with a good 3D accelerator card.
Resolution-This selection displays the pixel resolution and color depth. The
resolution depends on both the functionality of your 3D card and the rendering
options selected. Higher resolutions achieve better picture quality, but may
lower performance. World Detail-Set to High or Low to increase or decrease
world detail. Non-essential items will be removed from the scene in Low detail
mode.
Gamma--Increases or decreases overall screen brightness.
Texture Detail-Set to High or Low. Increases or decreases the amount of detail
in the graphics of the environment, bikes, and riders.

b)CONTROLLER

The keyboard controls for competing in Midnight Outlaw: Illegal Street Drag
have been preset, but can be reconfigured easily. To configure your keyboard
controls click on the action name and then hit the key of your choice to "map"
that key to the action. You can adjust your mouse sensitivity by clicking on
either end of the sensitivity button. See CONTROLS for an explanation of the
control functions.
Reset to Defaults: Resets keys to the factory configuration.
Back: Takes you back to the Options menu.

c)SOUND

There is only one option on the sound menu, to adjust overall game volume.

d)CREDITS

If you enjoyed the game, this screen will scroll a listing of all the people
who worked very hard to bring you this product. If you didn't enjoy the game,
it will be a list of people who had nothing to do with this product.

12. MULTIPLAYER

Once you've practiced your racing against the computer, hook up through a
network of the Internet to take on your friends for some intense drag racing
action. Select MULTPLAYER from the Main Menu to begin.

OUTLAW CHALLENGE is different from standard multiplayer. Regular Multiplayer
represents an even playing field, and everyone that plays has the same power of
car. In Outlaw Challenge, you can choose any car from your profiles, with all
your hard won upgrades and respect. Respect values don't matter with regards to
who you can race. You can race for money that you can use to buy upgrades in
the single player game. The amount you race for is determined by the lowest
class car that is participating in the challenge. Class D races for $50.00,
Class C races for $100.00, Class B races for $150.00, and Class A races for
$200.00. So take your single player car online and show off to your friends!

Midnight Outlaw: Illegal Street Drag supports multiplayer through Internet
TCP/IP network connection. An easy and fun way to play other people over the
Internet is with GameSpy Arcade, a simple to use program that lets you find
other people who want to play Midnight Outlaw with you over the Internet.
GameSpy Arcade is included on the CD. To setup multiplayer, click on
Multiplayer in the main menu. You'll have 3 choices, HOST GAME, JOIN INTERNET
GAME, or JOIN NETWORK (LAN) GAME.
If you choose to notify GAMESPY ARCADE, the gamespy network will list your game
as an available multiplayer race.

MULTIPLAYER - TCP/IP

This option connects you to other players using the TCP/IP protocol. Select
this if you are connected to the Internet or network using the TCP/IP protocol.

To host a game: Click the HOST button. Your computer's IP address is shown in
the Multiplayer Lobby. Other players will need your IP address to join your
game over the Internet. Click the Next button from the Multiplayer Setup screen
to set up the game and proceed to the Multiplayer Lobby.

To join a game via a LAN/Network: Click join. Click GET SESSIONS, select the
session you want by using the arrow buttons and click the NEXT button.

To join a game via the Internet: Get the IP address for the Host's machine.
Inter the IP address into the enter address button and click SEARCH. Once
you've found the game you want to join, select it in the session's status list
and click the NEXT button.

NOTE: If playing on the Internet via modem, be sure you've established a
connection with your Internet Service Provider before starting the game.
Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher is required for Internet multiplayer and can be
obtained for free from Microsoft at www.microsoft.com.

MULTIPLAYER LOBBY

The multiplayer lobby is the screen where players wait for the game to be
launched. There are several functions available here:

Racer Listing: Shows name, last raced time and cumulative wins.
Race Location: Choice can be made by the host of any of the available racing
venues.
Body Styles: Pick any body style. You'll each be given fully maxed out versions
of that car, equally matched.
Chat: Type in this window to communicate with your opponent.

GAMESPY ARCADE

Gamespy Arcade makes it easy to play Midnight Outlaw on-line for free. Arcade
also makes it simple to communicate with other players and keep track of your
game playing buddies. You must be connected to the Internet to setup and use
Gamespy Arcade! More information is available at www.gamespyarcade.com.

When you start Gamespy Arcade, you use the Login Wizard to set up your user
profile, set your Internet connection and generally configure Arcade to suit
your needs. All you'll need to do is enter your e-mail address, pick a password
and a user name, and you're good to game.

The first thing you'll see when you login for the first time is a big welcome
message from the folks at Arcade. After you've given it a quick read, click on
the "x" in the upper right-hand corner of the window. This will close the
message and take you into the main room, which is where you'll start off in
Arcade from now on when you login.

Main Window: The first thing you'll probably notice when entering the main room
is the large window in the upper center of the screen. When you first enter,
this window should be displaying the Arcade Daily, Arcade's newsletter. This
window is probably the most important area of Arcade, because when you navigate
into a room for a particular game, this is where the list of available games
servers will appear.

Chat Window: Below the main content window you'll find a chat room and, on its
right side, a list of all the people occupying the room you're currently in.
Whenever you venture into a specific game's room or into one of GameSpy's
sites, you'll be automatically dropped into the chat room specific to that site
or game, and you'll once again see a list of all the other people currently in
the room with you. If you want to take part in the chat, just type some text in
the bottom most area of the chat window and press ENTER.

To join a game, follow these steps:

-Click on the icon for the game you want to play in the navigation bar menu
under the "Games" tab (Midnight Outlaw)
-You should now be in the main chat room/staging area for the game you've
chosen. A list of game servers will appear in the main content window. A chat
session for the game, along with a list of people in the chat room, will appear
in the chat window.
-Select a game to join.
-Get in the Game! Double clicking on the server listing will take you into a
staging area for the server, where you'll be able to chat with the other
players about to enter the game with you. Click the ready button when you're
ready to play. Once everyone is ready, the person running the game will launch
it, and Arcade will automatically start the game for you.

13. CONTROLS

Following is a description of the available actions and the default assignments
for them.

KEYBOARD ACTION MOUSE KEYBOARD ACTION MOUSE
W Forward -- Space Brake --

E Shift UP -- Q Shift --
DOWN

A Turn Left -- B Nitrous --
(when
available)

D Turn Right -- P Pause --
game

14. GENERAL TROUBLESHOOTING

I get a message that says the game can't find a certain file or the game won't
run. - When you install Midnight Outlaw: Illegal Street Drag there are files
that must be installed or the game will not run correctly. If you were asked to
overwrite any files during the installation process and did not, reinstall
Midnight Outlaw: Illegal Street Drag and allow the installation to overwrite
the files. Restart your computer and run the game.

The game runs slowly on my computer - Click on the Options and Graphics buttons from the Main Menu. Turn the Graphics settings down (see Options-Graphics on page __) until you find an adequate setting for your game tastes. A 3D accelerated video card is strongly recommended and will greatly improve the
performance of all your games.

What is a 3D video accelerator card? - It is a hardware component that will greatly increase the speed that your computer can deal with displaying graphics. They are easy to install and can be found at most computer stores.

The colors look wrong or the textures are off on my screen. - Close down the game and try again. You should also make sure you have the latest video drivers
for your video card. See the DirectX help section.

15. DIRECTX TROUBLESHOOTING

The most common and prevalent errors are related to video and sound card drivers. Midnight Outlaw: Illegal Street Drag installs and requires DirectX 8.1. If your drivers are not certified, please download or obtain the latest drivers from your card manufacturers. This is the number one problem people have with DirectX games. After you have updated your drivers, you must reinstall DirectX from the Midnight Outlaw: Illegal Street Drag CD. You can obtain the latest drivers free from your card of computer manufacturers' web sites. For diagnosing tools, open Windows Explorer and go to the C:Program FilesDirectXSetup directory. Run the program named Dxdiag.exe. This will give you detailed information for all your drivers and other directx components. This will also help tech support if you should need to call them. If you see a DDRAW error, please try to obtain the latest drivers for your video card.

Related articles, Click here!