******* ******** /**////** //////** /** /** ****** ****** ******* ***** ** /** /**//**//***////**//**///** **///** ** /** /** /** //** /** /** /**/******* ** /** ** /** /** /** /** /**/**//// ** /******* /*** //****** *** /**//************** /////// /// ////// /// // ////////////// dronez FAQ (PC windows) version: 0.60 last update: 12/06/2003 author: super lowie e-mail: dynamicrex@hotmail.com contents: --------- 1) Introduction 2) Version history 3) Hardware 4) Story 5) Controls 6) Characters 7) Weapons/items/ZNRG 8) Walkthrough 9) FAQ 10) Next version 11) E-mail 12) Thanks to 13) Copyright ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1) Introduction: This is a futuristic action game with a strange story and weird gameplay, the game is not really that fun, but I think I must write a FAQ for everyone who has problems with this game. This FAQ is also copyright of me, so you can't use this FAQ on your own website ask my permission first by mailing me. These are the sites allowed to use my FAQ: *GameFaqs.com *Neoseeker.com *dlh.net *Ign.com and remember this: "Science fiction is the search for a definition of man and his status in the universe which will stand on our advanced but confused state of knowledge" Brian Aldiss, "Billion year sphere", 1973 (I found that in the manual) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2) Version history: 8/21/2003: version 0.05 An early version, only the beginning of the FAQ. 8/23/2003: version 0.10 Worked on weapons/items/ZNRG section. 8/25/2003: version 0.15 Finished level 1 and 2 walkthrough. 9/2/2003: version 0.18 worked out a little more. 10/19/2003: version 0.50 finished walkthrough level 3 and 4. 10/19/2003: version 0.51 made this incomplete FAQ ready to post. 10/31/2003: version 0.52 made the ASCII. 11/5/2003 : still version 0.52 Added dlh.net to the list of allowed sites. 12/6/2003 : version 0.60 Added FAQ section. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3) Hardware: The minimum PC configuration for is: -Intel Celeron or better CPU -OpenGL© compliant GPU (6th generation GPU recommended) -128 Megabytes of RAM (or better) -CD-ROM drive -Microsoft© Windows© 98 or better with DirectX©7 or better -Compatible soundcard (3D sound recommended) (taken from the manual) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4)Story: (taken from the manual) In a Planet Earth where pollution and neglect created a hostile environment where nobody wants to wander, people are reduced to stay connected all the time, because all the social life has been transferred to the V-Space: the total-feedback 3D network that envelopes everything. While machines take care of the physical needs of the individuals, mankind forgets the existence of a physical world. Unmotivated people spend most of the time playing network games, while Artificial Intelligences of diverse structures are trying to takeover mankind: computers continuously need the input of human beings to develop their own programs, thus they don't want people to disconnect or to do anything else than being connected. But there are individuals who have the feeling that they're being manipulated: some of them are strong enough to decide to break through the barriers of conventional networks, to destroy the Artificial Intelligences who control their lives. The electronic protections of these programs are represented, in the V-Space, by creatures that these humans must fight. Doing this, they discover that some people are already disconnected and living in the real world: they are hackers who need somebody in the V-Space to break the protections of the AI's, so to free mankind. As a counterpart, the hackers can provide support for the humans. You will be the V-Space operator who must destroy the protection of enemy AI's providing support for the hackers, so they can analyze the code and push you farther and farther. With your help, the hackers will become able to "code" new weapons, shields and tools that you can use to defeat other enemies. In fact, hackers are also a valuable source of information: pay attention to their messages. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5)Controls: -Keybord arrows: Move your player. -up: Run and jump. -Move the mouse to the left: Move laser scanner left and right. (for aiming) -Move the mouse up and down: Move laser scanner up and down. (for aiming) -Left mouse button: Shoot. Hold button to launch secondary/extra weapon. -Right mouse button: Activate shield. -Space bar: Skip hacker's help. -esc: Quit menu. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6) Characters: Sidd Roxe (playable): Sidd is a flatlined; he can exist only in the V-Space. He's no longer alive, at least not as a physiological being. Ironically, although there's no physical V-Space anywhere, the feedback makes it somehow tangible for the people who interact in it. Sidd longs for the revenge of his right to live and die as a natural being, thus bringing back the roots of life to Mankind. Eva Tharr (playable): Student of logic and information technology, Eva came in touch with the hackers while exploring the boundaries of the network. She longs for knowledge, as a standard bearer for all the people who don't accept things as they are offered on a silver plate, but try to go beyond, to the root of the Truth. Doku (hacker/unplayable): One of the very first rebels to unplug himself from the V-Space connection. A deep knowledge of the coding techniques allows him to hack into enemy software, thus being able to rip weapons and create bonuses for the player. He will also directly interact with the action in a couple of situation. Doku will contact the player at the very beginning of the game, to explain the situation: who are the enemies, what lies beneath V-Space and why joining the rebellion. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7) Weapons/items/ZNRG: -Main weapon: Fires a single shot of blue laser bullets at your opponent. You can use unlimited bullets until your ZNRG is low, then recharge your ZNRG and you can fire again. -Secondary main weapon: Keep pressing the left mouse button and you will see a green shine in your hand and then you will fire a stronger shot. Unlimited shots until your ZNRG is low. -Rocket: Found in the third level, when fighting the MK-11 boss. Hold left mouse button and release to fire a strong red rocket. One shot per icon you take. -Power-up: When you find this your power will raise by 1/3rd and your shooting power will increase until you die. Maximum of 3 power-ups. -Health pack: Restores your health a little. Very usefull (of course) -ZNRG: This is used for giving your character the energy to shoot laser bullets When you heve no ZNRG you can't shoot and you must find a ZNRG spot, it's a blue bowl on the walls in the level, you just have to point at it, not shoot it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8) Walkthrough: -Level 1: The real world: "The dawn of a day in the city where life is frozen. The spark of rebellion starts this juorney through the meanders of V-space." I don't know why they call this level 1 because it's just an opening movie. You see the city they where talking about and then you will see a big bug, the camera will follow it into a building. In that building you will see your character naked being reanimated inside a big tube with a liquid, now the bug flies away and the second level will start... -Level 2: The run: "Welcome to droneZ. You will have to run if you want to survive to all the bullets and tazers you'll meer here. Do you like to run? I hope you love running as much as you love using your shield..." Well, this is actually a sort of tutorial level where you learn all the basics. The first room is full of things that shoot bullets at you. Just jump to the platform in front of you and then to the platform on the left. Now the mozzles will change direction and the bullets will change direction hitting the mozzles. Just jump further until you reach the second platform, now you will see a health pack, so take it and go to the third platform and you will fly to the next room. In this room there are also bullets shooting at you, but no platforms to jump on, so use your shield and wait for the platforms to come and jump on them. There is a ZNRG spot at the end of the room. If you reach the fifth platform you will be transported to the next room. Take the health pack there and go through four tazers. So jump from platform to platform at the right time, when the tazers stop, now you will fly to the next four tazers. Go thruogh them and then there are three platforms with teleports, when the teleport quits on the first platform, jump on it and keep jumping to the other platforms. Now you will be brought to a room with 8 platforms and in the middle a mozzle that will let the bullets come your way, just be fast and hope you will survive, that's the only tactic in here. Now comes the last part, You stand on a platform and You must wait for other platforms to come, but there are bullets shooting at you, so you have 2 strategies here: Keep strafing on the platform avoiding the bullets or use your shield (There is a ZNRG spot in front of you). Now a boss will appear on the red platform! ***BOSS 1: BRONTO *** You stand on the platform in front of him, just strafe from the left platform to the right and keep shooting at him. He only uses some weak bullets. Point at the ZNRG spot when your ZNRG is low; This boss isn't really hard. If you defeated him, just jump to the platform behind you. -Level 3: Safecracker: The first real level in the game. In the first room thre are 2 platforms, the first one with bullets flying around and the second one with some tazers. Then there are 2 other platforms. Jump on them and go to the second room. This is a room with 3 platforms and there are bullets flying around. BE quick and use your shield. Go to the other room. ***BOSS 2: MK-11 *** You have one platform in the middle, go stand on it but don't go to the platform on the right because it will take you back to the begin of this level. Take the rocket at the right. Now shoot the MK-11. Shoot him in the head or in the legs, if he uses a blue laser shield, stop shooting and reload your ZNRG. He always uses fireballs, but just avoid them. If you kill him after a while, you get a health pack. Now you will see a small switch on the wall behind the boss, shoot the switch once. Now go to the platform on your left. You are back in the second room now, go to the platform in front of you and then go to the platform on your left. You will see another switch on the wall, shoot it once and you will go up. ***BOSS 3: ROBOT *** Strafe between the platforms and shoot the boss, you get a health pack afterwards. Then you will see 2 more switches,but you have to shoot them very quickly. If you do this correct, there will be a third switch, shoot it. Then go back. Now go to the room with the tazers. NOTE: There is a health pack in this room. Go to the third platform and shoot the switch left in front of you on the wall. You will go up now. This one is hard: you have to shoot the two switches without hitting the moving mozzles. If you hit the mozzles, you will be shot! If you do this correct, then go back down to the tazers. Go to next room. This is the room where you fought the MK-11. Go to the platform behind you. You will go up. ***BOSS 4: 2 ROBOTS*** These are 2 robots, strafe between the platforms and shoot them. They will shoot a lot of bullets at you, but there not very strong. If you defeat them you will get another platform and go to that platform to go to the next level!!! -Level 4: HG-1, the big robot: This is just a big boss fight! Prepare yourself... Take the power-up and go to the other platform. ***BOSS 5: HG-1 *** Wow, what a big robot this is! You will have 8 platforms to strafe on and 3 ZNRG spots, you'll need them! Just always strafe between the platforms and shoot the robot very quickly. Reload as soon as needed and don't use your shield, it's a waste of time. Always aim for his back and arms, that's his weakest point. He also shoots bullets at you, but when you strafe fast enough you can be faster. Also always try to shoot his little red heet-seeking missles out of the air. After a while you will kill him and go to level 5. -Level 5: The parallell shrine: COMING IN NEXT VERSION... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9) FAQ: "Taken from the DroneZ website" Q: Is DroneZ compatible with Windows 98 / 98SE / ME / 2000 / XP / NT4? A: DroneZ is compatible with all the family of Windows products as long as they are correctly installed with: *The latest video drivers with accelerated OpenGL support *The latest version of DirectX (version 7 or better required) Q: I have DroneZ under Windows XP but it deosn't perform well - how do I fix this? A:The default video drivers that are included in Windows XP don't support OpenGL acceleration on most videoboards. You have to download the latest driver from your hardware vendor. If you are using an nVidia chip, we recommend you to download the Detonator XP drivers from www.nvidia.com Finally, be sure to have the final version of Windows XP - DroneZ doesn't work on earlier versions. Q: Where can I download new levels and characters? A: They are not available yet. They will be announced clearly when available. Please note that we are working on them to provide the best possible gameplay. Q: Which hardware is supported by DroneZ? Does DroneZ run on any machine? A: DroneZ runs on any machine we've tested it on, as long as it complies with the system requirements. Specifically, DroneZ can run on any OpenGL-enabled videoboard (e.g. nVidia, Ati, Matrox, PowerVR, ecc.) and on any Intel compatible CPU (e.g. Intel Celeron, Pentium II and III, AMD Athlon, Duron, etc.) Q: Is DroneZ optimized for the Pentium 4 processor? A: Yes, DroneZ is finely optimized for the Pentium 4 processor, with a performance benefit that can touch 40% on some systems. Q: What GeForce 3-specific features are available in DroneZ? A: Here are some GeForce 3-specific features in DroneZ and DroneZmarK: *High polycount featuring extremely smooth characters, objects and detail of the environment *Exploiting of four texture units for custom lighting effects combined with multitexturing and custom, glossy bump mapping w/texture shaders and special effects. *Use of (a big amount of) Vertex Programs not only to achieve better performance on the usual tasks like skinning and animation, but also to help achieving our unique custom illumination system *Texture-Shaders for high quality per-pixel, per-light bump-mapping with reflective metallic surfaces ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10) next version: -I'll write walkthrough of level 5 and 6. -Info on the menu's. -Info on secret characters and movies. -More hints and tips. -More on weapons. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 11) E-mail: You can e-mail me if you want about this FAQ : * With questions about this FAQ. * Questions about the game. * Tips for next FAQ version. Things you musn't send to me: * Questions that are in the FAQ. * Don't send junk mail and chain mail. * Don't send attachments please. * Don't use words like f%ck etc. * Don't send spam mails. If you do one of the "things you musn't send to me" that mail won't be answered. So don't hesitate to e-mail me! E-mail: dynamicrex@hotmail.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 12) Thanks to: -Zeta games for creating this game! -Sony for creating PlayStation and PlayStation2. -Myself for writing this FAQ. -CjayC for posting all my FAQs and making GameFaqs -You for reading my FAQ! -www.network-science.de for the ASCII. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 13) copyright: This FAQ is copyright of me, super lowie, so you may NEVER use this FAQ on other websites than listed in the introduction . You may use it for yourself, but if you do want to use my FAQ on your own website, e-mail me and ask my permission!!!! Copyright super lowie 2003