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Odyssey By Car - ReadMe | Language/Sprache: | |
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Odyssey By Car is a 3D car racing game for Linux and Windows (PC). In this physically realistic simulation you can drive around freely in varied landscapes. You are not bound by the road network. The goal of the game is to collect all the points within a time limit. The points lie at different places and are in no particular order. You must find as short a way as possible through all points. The game has six levels with increasing difficulty which have to be solved one after each other. The levels play in different worlds and partly they require unusual driving skills. There is a two-player mode with split-screen. In the freely available demo version the first level is contained fully playable.
Click the links below to see some pictures of the game.
Picture 1 (Level 1)
Picture 2 (Level 1)
Picture 3 (Level 2)
Picture 4 (Level 2)
Picture 5 (Level 2)
Picture 6 (Level 3)
Picture 7 (Level 3)
Picture 8 (Level 4)
Picture 9 (Level 4)
Picture 10 (Level 5)
Picture 11 (Level 5)
Picture 12 (Level 6)
Minimum requirements:
Also supported:
Download and ordering information is available at: http://www.odyssey-by-car.de/
Installing the demo version
The demo version of Odyssey By Car is available as a ZIP archive. To install the demo version, simply unpack the ZIP archive to your hard disk. Be sure that the ZIP program creates subdirectories too (when using pkunzip, you must give option -d).
Installing the full version
The full version of Odyssey By Car comes on a CD. The game can be started direct from the CD, but installing has the advantage of loading the game faster.
These are the steps to install Odyssey By Car under Linux:
The installation program needs X11. If not already done, start the X server (see: Important note for starting X11 more below).
Insert the CD, mount it, and start the program install.elf from the CD. Example, if /mnt/cdrom is the mount point:
mount /mnt/cdrom
/mnt/cdrom/install.elf
If that does not work, you may have to replace /mnt/cdrom with /cdrom or something else, see the file /etc/fstab. Some systems do not allow programs to be started from a CD. In such a case you must log in as root and mount the CD with the option -o exec (e.g. mount -o exec /mnt/cdrom).
The installation program suggests the target directories. You can change them.
Press the Install button to start installation. Now the files are copied to the hard disk.
These are the steps to install Odyssey By Car under Windows:
Insert the CD. A menu should then appear automatically. If not, start the program install.exe manually from the CD.
Choose Install Odyssey By Car to hard disk.
The installation program suggests the target directories. You can change them.
Press the Install button to start installation. Now the files are copied to the hard disk.
Starting under Linux
Important note for starting X11
Odyssey By Car for Linux needs X11. To get best results for the graphics display, the X server should run in 16 bit graphics mode. Otherwise Odyssey By Car may perform very slowly, or the graphics display may look unsightly. To start the X server in 16 bit graphics mode use the command:
startx -- -bpp 16
or on newer systems (see man XFree86 ):
startx -- -depth 16
If that fails, the values 15, 24 or 32 may work. But Odyssey By Car has been optimized for 15 or 16 bit (better 16). Try to configure the X server accordingly.
Starting the program
Go into the directory where Odyssey By Car has been installed, or go to the CD, and start the program odysscar from there.
Activating the full screen mode
If the X server has the XF86VidMode Extension, and if corresponding graphics resolutions have been configured, then you can use Odyssey By Car in full screen mode. Press the F12 key to switch between window and full screen mode. Alternatively you can start Odyssey By Car with the option -fullscreen to get the full screen mode right away.
Starting under Windows
If the full version has been installed, the program can be started from the Start Menu, usually with Start->Programs->Odyssey By Car->Odyssey By Car.
Otherwise go into the directory where Odyssey By Car has been installed, or go to the CD, and start the program odysscar.exe from there.
At the first start of Odyssey By Car, the Options menu appears automatically. Later you can call it from Main Menu.
All settings and game states are saved into a small file. This file is named "c:\odysscar.sav" under Windows and "~/.odysscar.sav" under Linux. When saving for the first time you are asked whether the file may be created.
You can reset all settings by starting Odyssey By Car with the option -reset. Another way is to delete the file mentioned above, but saved games will be lost.
Note that the settings for Graphics and View have a great influence on display speed. Try out different settings to get the best balance between speed and quality.
These are the menu items of the Options menu:
Language/Sprache
Choice of language: English or German.
Graphics
Here you can set up the graphics mode and resolution. In the Conventional mode the graphics are displayed software accelerated. This should always work. If you have a hardware accelerated 3D graphics card and a corresponding driver installed, than you can try the modes Direct3D (Windows only) and OpenGL. Unfortunately the OpenGL mode works with only few graphics cards because many drivers do not support the full functionality of OpenGL. Some Direct3D drivers may also create problems.
Sound
Here the sound can be switched on and off. Under Linux the sound output goes to /dev/dsp (or see option -sound-device). Under Windows the multimedia interface is used. A corresponding driver must have been installed previously if you want to activate sound.
Control
In this menu you can setup the control of the car for each player. Click on the button next to Device to select an input device: Keyboard, Joystick 1-4 or Mouse. Click on the button next to Shifting to decide between manual and automatic shifting. If you use a force feedback joystick (or wheel) under Windows, than you can switch force feedback on and off.
By clicking on Axes & Buttons you can assign individual axes and buttons of your joystick to the control functions (this is very useful for example when you have a wheel, which has its pedals not combined on one axis). A menu appears, where the control functions are listed with assigned axes and buttons. Each function can have two assignments. To change an assignment, click on it. Thereby another menu appears where you can choose a joystick axis or button for the function. The desired control can be highlighted by pushing it on the joystick. Note that analog joysticks may have to be calibrated at operating system level (jscal under Linux, Control Panel under Windows).View
The View menu allows setup of Window Size, Visibility and Texture Filter. These settings can also be changed while playing (see Control). With Window Size you can set up the size of the view. Visibility specifies up to which distance landscape items are displayed. Note that Visibility has a decisive influence on display speed. Texture Filter is available in the graphics modes Direct3D and OpenGL only. It allows you to avoid aliasing of textures.
These are the menu items of the Main Menu:
New Game
Click here to begin a new game. A dialog appears where you decide between a one-player game and a two-player game. Additionally you can select a level, but this is restricted by the rule that the levels have to be solved one after each other.
Load Game
Here you can load a previously saved game. Click on Load Game and choose a game state from the popup menu. Then click on Continue in the Main Menu to continue the loaded game.
Save Game
To save the current game, click on Save Game and choose a place for the game state in the popup menu. After that you can enter a description for the game.
Continue
While playing a game, you can get the Main Menu by pressing the Escape Key. To return to the game, click the Continue button.
Options
Here you can call the menu Options.
Help
Click on Help to display help for Control
Exit
This button terminates the program.
In Odyssey By Car you are the driver of a car. Have a look at Control and Dashboard, and drive around a little for practice. Because of the physically realistic simulation and the relatively powerful engine, the car is not so easy to keep under control. Therefore accelerate carefully.
There are points on the roads which can be collected by simply driving over them. The goal of the game is to collect all these points within a given time. In this way the levels have to be solved one after each other.
Before driving off, you should have a look at the road map (press the key 'M' to display the map). Search for as short a way as possible which leads through all the points and then drive this way quickly and safely.
If you collect all the points within the given time you will get to the next level automatically.
In two-player mode the screen is divided into two views. Player 1 gets the upper view, player 2 the lower one. You may solve a level together, or you may play against each other for the points.
The dashboard contains the following elements:
Dashboard in one-player game
Dashboard in two-player game
Keyboard control
ESC................Main Menu
Cursor left/right..Steer
Cursor up/down.....Accelerate/brake
A or PgUp..........Shift up
Z, Y or PgDown.....Shift down
M or TAB...........Show/hide map
H..................Handbrake
F1.................Show help on control
F2.................Decrease window size
F3.................Increase window size
F4.................Decrease visibility
F5.................Increase visibility
F6.................Decrease texture filter
F7.................Increase texture filter
F9.................Restart player 1
F10................Restart player 2
F12................Under X11: toggle full screen
1..................Player 1 external view on/off
2..................Player 2 external view on/off
3..................Turn left external view
4..................Turn right external view
5..................Turn down external view
6..................Turn up external view
7..................Nearer external view
8..................Farther external view
C..................Reset kilometer counter
Joystick control (customizable)
Left/right......Steer
Up/down.........Accelerate/brake
Button 1........Shift up
Button 2........Shift down
Button 1 and 2..Show map
Button 1 or 2...Hide map
Mouse control
Left/right......Steer
Up/down.........Accelerate/brake
Left button.....Shift up
Right button....Shift down
Both buttons....Show map
Any button......Hide map
General options
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-reset or -r
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Linux options
License for software, levels and documentation of the game Odyssey By Car, copyright (c) 2001 by Oliver Hamann Software, all rights reserved.
You may use the game exclusively for the purpose of game playing under the following conditions: The game comes "as is". The author cannot guarantee error-freeness or correctness of the software or documentation. Use is at your own risk. To protect yourself, it is not allowed to use the game on hardware which is unreasonably expensive, or which runs important processes, or which contains valuable data without appropriate backups. To protect your health, it is not allowed to play the game for excessively long periods, or to play it without sufficient breaks. In no event will the author be liable for any damages arising from the use of the software to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law.
It is not allowed to pass on copies of the software or the levels or portions of same. Exception: the demo version, which contains only the first level, may be freely distributed on condition that it is transferred unmodified and complete with all original files, and that no money is taken (except for the technical transfer itself), and that it is clearly identified as a demo version.