First Start Network Play Configuration FAQ Bugs Todo List Changelog Compilation

First Start

WARNING: (READ IT! it's NOT legaleese, I mean it!)

Some people react on flashing lights in a very unpleasant manner: they experience epileptic seizures. Even if you did never have such a seizure, you may still be affected by those induced seizures. Since ArmageTron contains rhythmic flashing lights (the grid you race over...), there is a higher risk of induced seizures than in normal computer games. FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY, do NOT play ArmageTron on a wide TV screen or in a dark room and allways keep a good eye distance form your monitor. I DO NOT FEEL RESPONSIBLE for anything that might happen to you while playing ArmageTron, even if you do respect these advices (See legal stuff below).

Legal stuff: license and warranty

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.

Installation

Installation and start is system specific; read the Linux or Windows instructions.

You should end up with a directory called "armagetron" containing the following directory tree:

Additionally, if you installed the moviepack/moviesounds from the addons page at armagetron.sourceforge.net/addons.html, you'll see the two directories containing ONLY files and no subdirectories. When you have run Armagetron, you'll see the additional files Inside the log directory (resp. for Linux: inside the directory .armagetron in your home directory) You may want to create your own configuration file inside the log directory (rep inside ~/.armagetron for Linux) or the config directory for your custom modifications; that way, they don't get overwritten by the defaults the next time you install an update.

Command line switches

-h, +h, --help get help
-v, +v, --version print version number
--datadir read game data (textures, sounds and text from this directory; overrides previous --configdir and --logdir options
--configdir read game configuration (.cfg-files) from this directory.
--logdir save game logs and highscores in this directory
-f, +f, --fullscreen start in fullscreen mode
-w, +w, --window, --windowed start in windowed mode
+directx, -directx enable/disable usage of DirectX for screen initialisation under MS Windows
-d, +d, --daemon allow the dedicated server to run as a daemon (will not poll for input on stdin)

How to play

The rules are simple: you ride a lightcycle (a kind of motorbike that can only turn 90 degrees at a time, leaves a wall behind and cannot be stopped). Avoid running into a wall. Make your opponent run into a wall. (Just in case you do not know: this idea is stolen from the Disney movie "Tron" from 1982 (did they steal the idea from someone else? I don't know).)

One thing is different than in other Tron-Clones: You can accelerate. Oh, not by pressing an acceleration button, that would not be new. You accelerate by driving close to walls (Only player walls count, the rim has no such effect.) That allows some interesting tactics. (of course, the AI players are not smart enough for that..) Every time you make a turn, you loose 5% of your speed, so don't be to nervous; speed is your only resource against other players!

First start:

First thing you shold do is go into the "Player Menu", set your name and your keyboard and mouse configuration. Then, go into the "Game Menu" and start a single player game against one AI opponent (the game mode does not really matter here). Then, get some friends together and try the multiplayer modes!

Menu navigation:

Move up one itemCURSOR UP
Move down one itemCURSOR DOWN
Change itemCURSOR LEFT/RIGHT
Enter Submenu/Activate itemRETURN/ENTER/SPACE
Leave MenuESCAPE

change controls (in "Player Menu"/"Player x"/"Input Configuration"):

Press ENTER or SPACE on the control you wish to change, then press the key/mousebutton you want to assign to that control. Moving the mouse also works.
Press DELETE or BACKSPACE to reset the control binds for the selected functions.

Special keys during the game:

g:grabs/ungrabs the mouse pointer
p:pauses/unpauses the game; not allowed in client mode
q/ESC:quits to the game menu


From everywhere: SHIFT-ESC is the "boss key" and quits Armagetron as fast as possible.

Default keyboad configuration:
Player 1 turn left : y,z
Player 1 turn right : x
Player 1 chat : s
Player 1 switch camera : c
Player 2 turn left : cursor left
Player 2 turn right : cursor right
Player 2 switch camera : cursor down
show scores : TAB
scroll message console : page up/down


If you want some speed control, you have to assign a key to the brake function. As you usually want to go as fast as possible, there is no default bind for that.

Credits:

Thanks go out to:

Author of this piece of shit:

This software was written by the ONE AND ONLY ME, Manuel Moos ( :)

Website:

Check the main site at armagetron.sourceforge.net/tron.html

Feedback:

I created three mailing lists: you can join them on the links below. The purpose of the lists is:

Subscription is as easy as it can be: just enter your email address in the form, pick a password and hit the subscribe button. Then, you'll get a mail you just have to reply to to acknowledge your subscription. I am on all three lists and will reply to general questions there.

Alternatively, just mail me at

I am glad about all kind of feedback (Bug report, found spelling mistakes, telling me how great I am,....). Of course, you should check the FAQ before asking a question, the Buglist before sending a bug report and the Todo list before suggesting a new feature. And if you think your message may be of public interest, consider posting it to the armagetron-users mailing list instead. You can do so without subscribing.
If you have a bug to report, don't forget to tell me as well as And, most importantly, if I give you suggestions how to work around the bug/fix it, MAIL ME IF IT WORKS! That way, you can help me improve Armagetron.

This document was created by Manuel Moos.

Last modification: Fri May 24 06:38:11 CEST 2002

First Start Network Play Configuration FAQ Bugs Todo List Changelog Compilation