Rally
Championship
Rally Championship
Introduction
Congratulations!
You are now the owner of the most sophisticated and realistic rally
simulation on the market. Rally Championship is the fifth in a
series of rally games from Europress
that have included Network Q RAC Rally
Championship and International Rally
Championship, all three of which have been developed by veterans Magnetic Fields.
This latest version of Rally Championship simulates the Mobil 1 British Rally Championship,
which is made up of six rallies spread across the British Isles. A total of 36 stages, featuring varied
terrain and weather conditions, have been painstakingly recreated from detailed
reference material including Ordnance Survey maps, filmed footage and
photographs. Add to this over twenty of
the worlds most exciting rally cars, accurately modelled in every detail, and
support from some of the biggest names in rallying, and you have the most complete motor racing game available;
the most immersive driving
experience possible.
Contents
Section 1 Getting Started
1.1 Quick
Start
1.3 Installation
1.4 Loading
2.2 Start
Rally
2.3 Networked Rally
Section
3 Game Modes
3.1 Simulation
(1 & 2) Modes
3.3 Time Trial Mode
3.4 Single Mode
Section
4 In-game Features
4.1 In-game
Overlay
4.3 Service Area
Section
5 Options
5.1 Overview
5.2 Player
Details
5.4 Video Replay
5.5 Audio Set-up
5.6 Advanced Visual Options
5.7 Return to Intro
Section
6 About Rally Championship
6.1 Product
Support
6.3 Credits
6.4 Acknowledgements
Section
7 Appendixes
Appendix 1: Rally and Stage Details
Appendix 2:
Car Specifications
Appendix 3:
Driving and Rallying
Appendix 4:
Background
Section 1
Getting Started
Let’s face it, when we buy a game,
most of us just want to get it up and running as quickly as possible. For impatient gamers, follow these simple
steps and you will be playing the game within minutes.
·
Insert the Rally Championship CD,
which should auto-run, and follow the on-screen instructions to install and
load the game
·
All the screens are controlled in
the same way, using the cursor and ‘enter’ keys to move around and select
options. Once Rally Championship is
running, press either the ‘enter’ or ‘escape’ keys to move from the intro onto
the Main Menu
·
Select Start Rally on the Main Menu
·
Select Single rally mode on the Start
Rally screen
·
Select the number of players on the Number of Players screen
·
Select a car from those available on
the Select Car screen
·
Select a stage from those available
on the Select Stage screen
·
The stage will then load and after a
few seconds the game will appear
·
To play the game with the keyboard
use the following keys:
Left arrow Left
Right arrow Right
Up arrow Accelerate
Down arrow Brake
‘ Handbrake
# Gear up
Shift Gear down
Enter Camera
P Pause
Esc Retire / Quit
·
To play the game with a joystick,
the device will need to be selected and set-up in both Windows control panel
and the Player Details screen
·
Have fun!
For more details on any of the
above, please see the appropriate section later in the manual. To get the maximum enjoyment from Rally
Championship we would suggest you read the Driver’s Manual in full when you
have a spare hour.
Rally Championship is designed to
run on a wide range of PCs but because of its technical advancements it does require
a reasonable specification machine with a 3D card. We would suggest a minimum specification as follows:
Minimum Specification
Windows 95 or 98
Intel Pentium II 266MHz / AMD K6-2 300MHz
32Mb Ram
20Mb Hard Disk space
(PCI/AGP) video card with 8Mb RAM with 3D
4x speed CD ROM
Direct X 5
The game will run satisfactorily on
a machine with the above specification, but for optimum performance we would
recommend a machine of the following specification or higher:
Recommended Specification
Windows 95 or 98
Intel Pentium III 500MHz / AMD K7 500MHz
128Mb Ram
650Mb Hard Disk space
(PCI/AGP) video card with 16Mb+ RAM with 3D
32x speed CD ROM
Direct X 6.1
1.3 Installation
Place the Rally Championship CD-ROM
into the CD-ROM drive of your computer.
The disc should auto-run and begin the installation process. If not, you probably have the auto-run
feature switched off in which case run ‘RAL.EXE’ from the CD-ROM to begin
installation.
The main install screen will then
appear. Select Install to install the game to hard disk. You will then be asked what type of install you want: small,
medium or large. The smallest amount
will copy only the executable files and use the hard disk for temporary data
and save games. The medium amount will
copy everything except rarely used files.
The largest amount will copy everything. The next screen asks you for the destination drive letter and
directory respectively. If you have
several drives, make sure you pick one with enough memory. The installer now has enough information to
start copying the files and will begin.
When installation is complete, the game will run.
To reinstall the game either
auto-run the CD-ROM or run ‘RAL.EXE’ off the CD-ROM. To uninstall the game select Uninstall
on the menu.
1.4 Loading
To load and run Rally Championship
you must first put the CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive. The disc should then auto-run with a menu appearing where you
should simply select Play. Alternatively you can select the Rally
Championship / Rally item from the Start menu.
On loading, the Rally Championship
title sequence will appear. Once Rally
Championship is running, press the ‘enter’ or ‘escape’ key to move from the
intro onto the Main Menu.
Section 2
Starting a Rally
The Main Menu is the control hub for the entire game. As with all screens, use the cursor keys and
‘enter’ to move around and select an option.
The Main Menu has five available
options:
Select this option to start a
rally. On selecting Start Rally you
will be taken through the start rally sequence – a number of screens allowing
you to select various options including what type of rally you wish to play,
number of players involved, and choice of car to be used.
Load Championship
Select this option to load a
pre-saved championship from those available.
The screen is divided into two with the top half containing file spaces
and the bottom half information. As you
move onto each file, details are given about it in the information
section. This includes championship
type, rally name or round number and stage reached within; below this is
information on number of players and their details, class and overall position
in the current rally and the same for the championship. There are several of these screens. To cycle through them use the selector at
the bottom of the screen. Make your
selection and the championship will resume taking you to the Next Stage screen for the stage you
have reached in the current rally.
Select this option if you wish to
play a networked multi-player rally.
Obviously, you need to be connected to a network along with the other
players – up to 8 in total – or you will not get far!
Select this option to modify
player details, audio set-up and visual preferences, and to view various
information and video replays (see separate section for more details).
Select this option to exit Rally
Championship and return back to Windows. If selected, you will be asked for confirmation.
For more details on Start Rally, Networked Rally and Options,
please see the relevant sections below.
2.2 Start Rally
Select Start Rally on the Main Menu to start a rally and go
through the start rally sequence. This
begins with:
Start Rally
On this first screen, you select the
type of rally (or game mode) you wish to play from the five available: Simulation 1, Simulation 2 (initially not available), Arcade, Time Trial and Single (for more information on these
rally modes see the separate section below).
Make your selection and you will then move onto…
Select Arcade Level (dependant)
This screen appears after Start Rally only if you have
selected Arcade as your game mode
with only Arcade Level 1 available initially.
Each time an arcade level is won the next level becomes available with
old levels remaining available so they can be replayed – perhaps to achieve a better
result. Make your selection and you
will then move onto Select Car.
Select Number of Players
Here, you select the number of
players who will play the game on your machine (nothing to do with network
play). The choice is dependant on which
game mode you have selected. A 1 Player
game is straightforward, with you playing on your own. 2 Player Split-Screen allows you to
simultaneously play against a friend with each of you having half of the screen
(with either a horizontal or vertical split – see Visual Preferences). 2, 3
and 4 Player Alternate allows up to four players to play against each other
taking it in turns. Neither of the
multi-player modes are available in Arcade. Make your selection and you will then move
onto…
(Player #) Select Car
Here, you select your car and
transmission type. There are over 20
cars available (or so it would seem!) in classes A5-A8. Cars in classes A5-A7 are all front-wheel
drive with different levels of power: A5 = maximum 1400cc, A6 = maximum 1600cc,
and A7 = maximum 2000cc. Cars in class
A8 have 2000cc, turbo-charged engines and four-wheel drive. There are seven of these although initially
only one is available (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V). For more information on the cars see Appendix 1 or view Car Specifications in the Information section of the game.
There are two different ways to
unlock the A8 cars. For access to the
A8 cars in Simulation, Simulation 1 – Mobil 1 BRC must be
won. This makes all A8 cars available
to you as part of Simulation 2 – A8 Championship. Access to A8 cars in Arcade is a more gradual process with one being won for each of the
six arcade levels. You cannot use the A8
cars won in one mode, in the other.
However, cars won in either mode can be used in Single and Time Trial.
There are three transmission types
available: manual, semi-automatic and full automatic (default). With manual you change gear yourself giving
you more control but also more to think about.
With semi-automatic the computer changes gear for you when it thinks
appropriate, giving you less control but also less to think about, although you
do still have to put the car in gear or select reverse if required. Full automatic works in the same way as
semi, except the car never goes into neutral and brake reverses the car once it
has stopped. To begin with, either
automatic mode makes an easier choice but for the true professional manual is a
must, ultimately leading to better times.
In multi-player modes each player
will be prompted to select a car and transmission type of their choice. Make your selections and the game will start
(see individual game modes).
2.3
Networked Rally
Overview
Rally Championship allows Network
rallies of up to eight players to compete head-to-head over a LAN (local area
network) using a basic game structure similar to that of Single mode (see separate section). The game lists the DirectPlay service providers allowing support
of networks other than those supplied as standard with DirectX such as
Wireplay, for example.
The Networked Rally menu has icons for three main options.
Set-up Set-up some host and remote settings
Host Rally Host a network game
Join Rally Join a network game
Set-up
This option allows you to set some
host information and remote connection parameters and features the following
options:
Connection
You can set this option to specify
which service provider you wish to use.
If you leave it on the default setting, then whenever you attempt to
host or join a game you will first be asked which service provider you wish to
use. After playing a game this option
remains set to the last service provider used and will be used for subsequent
games unless changed.
Host name
This option defines the name of your
machine – the name that appears on other machines when they look for sessions
to join. It is completely separate from
your player / driver name.
Maximum players
This option specifies the maximum
number of players that can be part of a session although the actual number
playing can be less.
Remote host IP address / domain
When using TCP/IP protocol to join a
game you may wish to specify the IP address or domain name of the host
computer. Setting this option is of
particular importance when playing the game over the Internet, as DirectPlay
will not be able to find host machines from everybody online! If using TCP/IP over LAN you can leave this
option blank (default) and the search for hosts will be limited to the local
subnet.
Host Rally
This creates a new game session,
which other players can then join. If
you have not defined a connection type in the Set-up menu, you will be asked to select one here. The game will then make a connection to the
service provider. Depending on which
you chose, DirectPlay may need more information from you before it can create
the connection. If this is the case, a
dialog box will appear asking for more information. Enter the requested information and click on OK.
The session and player information
is then created so that others can join in.
If it was successful then you will be taken to the chat zone (see
below), otherwise an error message will be displayed and you will be taken back
to the Networked Rally menu.
If you are unsuccessful, you may
need to check the system settings of your machine. Apart from the obvious (like trying to play a modem game without
a modem!) you may need to check your network settings (such as IPX or TCP/IP)
are installed and properly initialised.
See your network manual for more information.
Join Rally
This allows you to join a game
created on another machine. If you have
not defined a connection type in the Set-up
menu, you will be asked to select one here.
The game will then make a connection to the service provider. Depending on which you chose, DirectPlay may
need more information from you before it can create the connection. If this is the case, a dialog box will
appear asking for more information.
Enter the requested information and click on OK.
The game will search for hosts and
sessions on those hosts and display any found.
Select the one you wish to join.
The session and player information is then created so that others can join
in. If it was successful then you will
be taken to the chat zone (see below), otherwise an error message will be
displayed and you will be taken back to the Networked Rally menu.
Chat Zone
The chat zone (a kind of player
lounge, meeting room and staging area) is where the players meet-up online
before rallying. They can chat to each
other here and select stages and cars.
Also shown are the players current times and ranking.
The screen is divided into two main
areas. The top half features the player
list showing who is online, the country they represent, the car they are
driving, the time they took on the last stage and their total time. The lower half features the message board
and the following options:
Chat
Use this option to begin a chat
sentence. Just start typing and press
Enter. If you change your mind and do
not want to chat press ‘escape’. The
message is sent to everyone currently online (if you want to talk privately you
will need an alternative medium or devise your own secret code!). The message is displayed in the message
board alongside your player name.
Select Stage
This option selects the stage that
will be driven and uses the standard Select
Stage screen seen in other game modes.
Only the host of the session can pick the stage – for everyone else this
option will not appear.
Select Car
This option selects your car and
uses the standard Select Car screen
seen in other game modes. The new car
type chosen is sent to all players so that they can weigh up the competition!
Ready
When you are ready to start the
rally, click on this option and a message is sent to all other players telling
them that you are now ready to start a rally.
As each player selects Ready, all menu options become unavailable except
Chat, allowing talk to continue. When
everybody is ready, you will be taken to the main game (see Rallying below).