X-Wing Alliance Technical
SCREEN SHOTS
There are two types of screenshots in XWA, Menu and Flight shots.
To take a Menu screenshot just hit "Alt-O" (oh not Zero) when you are at any "non-flight" screen. For example, the scores after a game, or the Concourse of the Mon Calmari Cruiser. A Menu screenshot will be saved in your XWA directory as "Frontscreen#" and as you take multiple screenshots the # increases.
To take a Flight screenshot, press "Ctrl-PrntScrn" at any time you are flying. It works in external view, and if you angle and zoom using the "Free-Look" button, you can get some nice pictures. Flight Screenshots are saved in the XWA directory as "Flightscreen#".
SETTING UP MULTIPLAYER GAMES
First of all if you are interested in reading on suggestions on how to help set up a multi-player mission, then go to the FTSTO Missions page. This section will help you out with basic Melee settings. For starters, there are three main screens that you will use in a Multiplayer set-up and a bar that will remain at the bottom of the screen.
The first screen you will be brought to is the "Flight Group Assignment" screen, or more simply the Ship management screen. From here you can manage the ships, and click and drag pilots into the slots that you want them in. Beside every slot there should be either a ship name, or INACTIVE. By clicking this area you can gain access to the "Ship Selection Screen".
The Ship selection screen is where you can pick your ships, their skill, and their duty. Some tournaments are Point based, and selections in this screen should be equal so that the points match up. First of all is the "Wingman Skill Level", which doesn't effect much if you have only one ship in your wave and you are flying it. But it will affect your point value, the default setting form Online games is "Super Ace AI". You can also select your craft per wave, and your armaments such as Warheads and Counter measures. Most games don't use Warheads and Counter measures because they cause allot of lag, so defualt settings are none for each.
The last screen is a "Goals" Screen, which contains an option to select between game settings and can be found by the link at the top that switches between "Flight Group Assignments" and "Goals". There are Two basic settings that in a Multiplayer XWA, Skirmish and Melee. Skirmish mode is basically a mission, and will finish when one of the teams obtains their Goals. In a Skirmish you must select the number of waves each ship has, and after they run out of waves they will stop appearing, and there is no Time limit.
In the other setting, MELEE, ships will have unlimited waves and the game will end when the clock runs out of time. Most internet games are played in Melee settings, so you should double check to see if you have selected it properly.
The bar at the bottom of the screen will contain allot of usefull settings, so take a good look at it. Most of the options are self-explanitory, but here is a brief description of each:
- Craft Selection (ON or OFF): this setting will allow you to block other players from selecting their ship settings. Good if you have a New pilot, or somebody who's messing around. But it is rude to have sometimes, because it blocks the other pilots from making any selections, and will block them from changing their ships name.
- Number of Teams (2, 4, 8): Allows you to select the number of different teams, and will adjust the team bracket sizes.
- Setting (Deep Space, Asteroid Field, Mine Field): This will change where your battle will take place. Deep Space is the default setting, and will have the least lag. Asteroid field will fill your battleground with Asteroids. It's fun to play, but will cause a little lag. Mine Field is the worst setting for Multiplayer games. Unfourtunately, the Mine Field contains both laser and Warhead mines which will launch missles at you. Missles will make the game allmost unplayable, because the lag is Increadibly Bad.
- Time Limit (1 to 20 Mins): Let's you select the time that you will play in a Melee match. Most matches are 10 mins long, but if you are flying a 1v1 game, you should set it to 5 mins and switch hosts when the game is over. This helps to even out the lag disadvantage that comes with hosting. The Skirmish Time settings will determine the amount of time that you float around in space after a team finishes their goals, usually is set at 1 min.
- Start Distance (1 to 9 Km): The default setting for this is 3km, and is a good distance that allows people just enough time to prepare an aproach.
- Craft Collisions (ON or OFF): Simple enough, if you are tired of losing points because you crash into other ships and die you can set this off. The default is ON, and you should keep it that way for most games because some people plan to die Kamakazi stile and take the other ship out with them. But if the game is laggy and you are taking out your opponent because of lag collisions, by all means take it off.
Key Map
Lost your key map that came with your game? (Or *cough* never bought the game?), well here is the key map:
COMING SOON, be patient
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