Ground Control 2: Operation Exodus SP Demo file

APRIL 19, 2004

=== README.TXT ============================================================================================

Ground Control(R) II -- Single Player Demo (B62)

Welcome to the Ground Control II: Operation Exodus pre-release Single Player Demo. Ground Control II is a 3D action-strategy game and the sequel to the 2000 award-winning Ground Control.

The complete game will be available in stores worldwide in the summer of 2004. Check out below for a few of the features that come with the full game!

* 24 action-packed missions

* Keep your enemy on the defensive by creating new unique units by melding your Viron troops together on the battlefield.

* Drop-in Multiplayer – Unique drop-in multiplayer game servers allow up to 8 players to join an on-going game at any time.

* Cooperative Multiplayer – Play through the entire single player campaign with up to 2 of your friends.

* Gripping Storyline – Immersive plot written in collaboration with acclaimed sci-fi and fantasy author Joe Dever.

* Full Set of Game Editing Tools – Create your own multiplayer maps, single player missions, full campaigns or modify almost any other aspect of the game. Included in the package are the same powerful tools that the developers used to create the game.

* The Massgate(TM) online community system gives immediate access to online matchmaking, hi-score ladders, tournaments, chat rooms and much more. Join thousands of players online to get a quick adrenaline rush at any time.

The following websites provide more information about the game and how to buy it:

www.groundcontrol2.com
www.vugames.com
www.vugames-europe.com
www.massive.se

This Readme file is laid out in the following order:

System Requirements
Default Hot Keys
Camera Controls
Known Issues

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MINIMUM

* Intel(R) Pentium III processor or AMD(R) Athlon(TM) processor
* Processor Speed: 800 MHz
* Windows(R) 98/2000/ME/XP
* 128 MB RAM
* DirectX(R) 9.0b or higher
* 32 MB AGP(R) video card supporting Hardware Transform and Lighting capability using NVIDIA(R) GeForce(TM), ATI(R) Radeon(TM), or a more recent chipset with a DirectX(R) 9-compatible driver
* DirectX(R) 9-compatible sound card and speakers or headphones
* 400 MB hard drive space
* Keyboard and mouse

RECOMMENDED

* Intel(R) Pentium 4 processor or AMD(R) Athlon(TM) XP processor
* Processor Speed: 1.5 GHz
* Windows(R) XP
* 256 MB RAM
* 128 MB AGP(R) video card

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DEFAULT HOT KEYS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note that all hot keys can be reconfigured in the options menu.

Up Move camera forward
Down Move camera backward
Left Move camera left
Right Move camera right
A Attack
M Move
C Hold down for Reverse Move
R Repair
Z Select Landing Zone
W Move camera to currently selected Landing Zone
L Load APC
U Unload APC
E Meld
F Cycle formations
H Send dropship home to base
D Send reinforcements buy order & deploy units
V Toggle dropship status (return to base / stay on battlefield)
X Activate secondary mode
I Activate Upgrade dropship screen
K Activate Reinforcements screen
B Cycle fire behavior (Hold, Free, Return)
N Mega-map. Displays objectives on a large version of the map
S Halt. Orders the selected unit to stop moving and cease fire
CapsLock Toggle Fixed or Rotating Minimap
Backspace Displays the multiplayer score board
SHIFT-C Toggle between Free Camera and Classic RTS camera modes
ALT Hold down to view health and team color of all visible units
ALT Display view and fire range radius for selected units
SHIFT Hold down to queue multiple orders
SHIFT Hold down to select multiple units or groups of units
CTRL Hold down to order forced fire on a position
TAB Switches selection focus in current selection
ESC Close active window or abandon game if no window is open
Mouse1 (Left) Select units
Mouse2 (Right) Give order depending on context (e.g. attack, move, etc.)
Mouse3 (Middle) Press to look around freely with the camera

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CAMERA CONTROLS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The battlefield in Ground Control II consists of truly three-dimensional terrain and is viewed with either the free-flying camera or a traditional top-down camera similar to most RTS games. The traditional top-down camera can be pitched and swiveled by pressing the middle mouse button to look around.

Moving the camera is easy. In both modes, the arrow keys will move the camera forward, back, right and left. In RTS mode these always correspond to north, south, east and west because the camera always points north by default.

Press SHIFT + C to toggle between the two different camera modes in the game.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KNOWN ISSUES
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since this demo is based on a pre-release version of Ground Control II it contains a number of issues that are fixed in the final version of the game. We apologize for any inconvenience that these issues may cause while playing the demo.

The following main features have been disabled in the demo but are included in the final game:

* Hi-resolution cinematics
* Most single player campaign missions
* Skirmish missions
* Cooperative Multiplayer
* Multiplayer on LAN and Internet (Massgate)
* In-mission Load & Save
* The ability to play custom maps
* While running the game in a 128 Mb RAM machine running windows 2k without service pack 4 you get an error message in the first 2-3 minutes of game in the background, it does not interfere with the game 3 out of 4 times and will only happen once, during the first game you play. When the bug interferes with the game it just freezes you have to reboot and then the problem is gone for ever.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* NOTICE: Intel and Pentium are Trademarks property of the Intel Corporation. Athlon and AMD are Trademarks property of the Advanced Micro Devices Corporation. Windows and Microsoft are Trademarks property of the Microsoft Corporation. NVIDIA and GeForce are Trademarks property of the NVIDIA Corporation. ATI and Radeon are Trademarks property of ATI Technologies Incorporated. Logitech is a Trademark property of the Logitech Corporation.

(C) 2004 Massive Entertainment(R). All rights reserved. Massive Entertainment(R) and the Massive Entertainment logo are registered trademarks of Massive Entertainment AB. Ground Control(R) is a registered trademark of Massive Entertainment AB. Published by Vivendi Universal Games International. Sierra and the Sierra logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sierra Entertainment, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All rights reserved. The NVIDIA logo and the "The way it's meant to be played" logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation.

YOU SHOULD CAREFULLY READ THE FOLLOWING END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT.

This software program, any printed materials, any on-line or electronic documentation, and any and all copies and derivative works of such software program and materials (the "Program") are the copyrighted work of Massive Entertainment AB its subsidiaries, suppliers, and licensors, specifically including Sierra Entertainment, Inc.

All use of the Program is governed by the terms of the End User License Agreement which is provided below ("License").

The Program is solely for use by end users according to the terms of the License. Any use, reproduction or redistribution of the Program not in accordance with the terms of the License is expressly prohibited.

END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

1. Limited Use License.
Massive Entertainment AB, by and through Sierra Entertainment, Inc. who is the designated distributor of the Program in the United States of America, ("Licensor") hereby grants, and by installing the Program you thereby accept, a limited, non-exclusive license and right to install and use one (1) copy of the Program for your use on either a home or portable computer. The Program is licensed not sold. Your license confers no title or ownership in the Program. You may not utilize this Program on a network the Program or otherwise install it or use it on more than one computer at a time.

2. Ownership.
All title, ownership rights and intellectual property rights in and to the Program and any and all copies thereof (including but not limited to any titles, computer code, themes, objects, characters, character names, stories, dialogue, catch phrases, locations, concepts, artwork, animations, sounds, musical compositions, audio-visual effects, methods of operation, moral rights, any related documentation, and "applets" incorporated into the Program) are owned by the Licensor or its licensors. The Program is protected by the copyright laws of the United States, international copyright treaties and conventions and any other applicable laws. All rights are reserved. The Program may contain certain licensed materials and the Licensor's licensors may act to protect their rights in the event of any violation of this Agreement.

3. Responsibilities of End User.

A. Subject to the Grant of License herein above, you may not, in whole or in part, copy, photocopy, reproduce, translate, reverse engineer, derive source code, modify, disassemble, decompile, create derivative works based on the Program, or remove any proprietary notices or labels on the Program without the prior consent, in writing, of the Licensor.

B. The Program is licensed to you as a single product. Its component parts may not be separated for use on more than one computer.

C. You are entitled to use the Program for your own use, but you are not entitled to:

(i) sell, grant a security interest in or transfer reproductions of the Program to other parties in any way, nor to rent, lease or license the Program to others without the Licensors prior written consent;

(ii) publish and/or distribute the computer images, sound, files, fonts, graphics, clipart, animations, photographs, databases or other content of the Program;

(iii) use any of the computer images related to identifiable individuals or entities in a manner which suggests their association with or endorsement of any product or services;

(iv) exploit the Program or any of its parts, computer images, sound files, fonts, graphics, clipart, animations, photographs, databases or other content in the Program, for any commercial purpose including, but not limited to, use at a cyber café, computer gaming centre or any other location-based site;

(v) host or provide matchmaking services for the Program or emulate or redirect the communication protocols used by the Licensor in the network feature of the Program, through protocol emulation, tunneling, modifying or adding components to the Program, use of a utility program or any other techniques now known or hereafter developed, for any purpose including, but not limited to network play over the Internet, network play utilizing commercial or non-commercial gaming networks or as part of content aggregation networks without the Licensors prior written consent. The Program may include functionality designed to identify nonstandard software or hardware processes or functionality that may gives a player an unfair competitive advantage when playing multiplayer versions of any Massive Entertainment software or modifications thereof ("Cheats"). You agree that you will not directly or indirectly disable, circumvent, or otherwise interfere with the operation of software designed to prevent or report the use of Cheats. You acknowledge and agree that Massive Entertainment or the online multiplayer host of the Program (or any other Massive Entertainment product) may refuse to allow you to participate in online multiplayer activities relating to this Program (or any other Massive Entertainment product) if you use Cheats in connection with the Program (or any other Massive Entertainment product). Further, you acknowledge and agree that an online host may report your use of Cheats to Massive Entertainment, and Massive Entertainment may communicate your history of use of Cheats to the online hosts of the Program (or any other Massive Entertainment product).

4. Program Transfer.
You may permanently transfer all of your rights under this License, provided the recipient agrees to the terms of this License and you agree to remove the Program from your home or portable computer.

5. Termination.
This License is effective until terminated. You may terminate the License at any time by destroying the Program and any New Material. The Licensor may, at its discretion, terminate this License in the event that you fail to comply with the terms and conditions contained herein. In such event, you must immediately destroy the Program and any New Material.

6. Export Controls.
The Program may not be re-exported, downloaded or otherwise exported into (or to a national or resident of) any country to which the U.S. has embargoed goods, or anyone on the U.S. Treasury Department’s list of Specially Designated National or the U.S. Treasury Department’s Table of Denial Orders. By installing the Program, you are agreeing to the foregoing and you are representing and warranting that you are not located in, under the control of, or a national or resident of any such country or on any such list.

7. Limited Warranty.

The entire risk arising out of use or performance of the Program and Manual(s) remains with the User, however the Licensor warrants up to and including 90 days from the date of your purchase of the Program that the media containing the Program shall be free from defects in material and workmanship. In the event that the media proves to be defective during that time period, and upon presentation to the Licensor of the defective media Licensor will provide you with another disk. The Licensor expressly disclaim any other warranty for the Program and manual(s). EXCEPT AS PROVIDED ABOVE, THE PROGRAM AND MANUAL(S) ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NONINFRINGEMENT. ANY WARRANTY AGAINST INFRINGEMENT THAT MAY BE PROVIDED IN SECTION 2-312(3) OF THE UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE AND/OR IN ANY OTHER COMPARABLE STATE STATUTE IS EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of implied warranties, so the above limitations may not apply to you.

8. Limitation of Liability.
NEITHER THE LICENSOR ITS PARENT, SUBSIDIARIES OR AFFILIATES SHALL BE LIABLE IN ANY WAY FOR LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND RESULTING FROM THE USE OF THE PROGRAM INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOSS OF GOODWILL, WORK STOPPAGE, COMPUTER FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION, OR ANY AND ALL OTHER COMMERCIAL DAMAGES OR LOSSES. ANY WARRANTY AGAINST INFRINGEMENT THAT MAY BE PROVIDED IN SECTION 2-312(3) OF THE UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE AND/OR IN ANY OTHER COMPARABLE STATE STATUTE IS EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. I UNDERSTAND AND ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE LICENSOR CANNOT AND WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY SOFTWARE OR HARDWARE FAILURES OR ANY OTHER EVENT WHICH MAY RESULT IN A LOSS OF DATA OR DISRUPTION OF SERVICE. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitations may not apply..

9. Equitable Remedies.
You hereby agree that the Licensor would be irreparably damaged if the terms of this License were not specifically enforced, and therefore you agree that the Licensor shall be entitled, without bond, other security, or proof of damages, to appropriate equitable remedies with respect to breaches of this License, in addition to such other remedies as the Licensor may otherwise have available to it under applicable laws.

Miscellaneous.

This License Agreement shall be deemed to have been made and executed in the State of California, and any dispute arising hereunder shall be resolved in accordance with the law of California. You agree that any claim asserted in any legal proceeding by one of the parties against the other shall be commenced and maintained in any state or federal court located in the State of California, County of Los Angeles, having subject matter jurisdiction with respect to the dispute between the parties.

This License Agreement may be amended, altered, or modified only by an instrument in writing, specifying such amendment, alteration, or modification, executed by both parties. In the event that any provision of this License Agreement shall be held by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be unenforceable, such provision will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible, and the remaining portions of this License Agreement shall remain in full force and effect.

You hereby acknowledge that you have read and understand the foregoing License and agree that the action of installing the Program is an acknowledgement of your agreement to be bound by the terms and conditions of the License contained herein. You also acknowledge and agree that this License is the complete and exclusive statement of the agreement between the Licensor and you and that the License supersedes any prior or contemporaneous agreement, either oral or written, and any other communications between the Licensor and you including any inconsistent written license agreement or on-line help accompanying the Program.