
                   1 ..... Introduction to XRacer
               2 ..... Building and installing XRacer
                       2.1 ..... Requirements
                        2.2 ..... Compiling
             2.2.1 ..... Compiling in language support
                    2.3 ..... Installing XRacer
                         2.4 ..... Running
                         2.5 ..... Problems
                         2.6 ..... Controls
                        2.6.1 ..... Joystick
                        2.6.2 ..... Keyboard
                         2.6.3 ..... Mouse
                     3 ..... Submitting patches
                           4 ..... Notes
              4.1 ..... Commercial versions of XRacer
                                  
1 Introduction to XRacer

   XRacer is a clone of the popular Psygnosis game Wipeout. At
   present, it is incomplete, but playable.
   
   XRacer is distributed under the terms of the GNU General
   Public License. Please see the file COPYING for details.
   
2 Building and installing XRacer

  2.1 Requirements
  
   For best results, this program requires Linux 2.2 or above,
   X11, Mesa 3.1 or above, GLUT 3.7 or above, libjpeg and a
   supported 3D accelerator card.
   
   An analogue joystick is highly recommended. In fact, it is the
   preferred way of controlling the game.
   
   Periodically, I add patches to support other operating
   systems, and periodically I break support for other operating
   systems. However, at time of writing, XRacer is (or has been)
   compiled on the following platforms:
     * Windows 95/NT with the Cygnus Cygwin library,
     * Sun Solaris for Sparc (requires 2.6 or above),
     * FreeBSD,
     * MkLinux and LinuxPPC,
     * IBM AIX,
     * SGI Irix.
       
   You should be able to use any OpenGL 1.1 compliant library. I
   have also compiled XRacer using the Matrox G200 GLX driver.
   
   The GLUT library is commonly distributed in the MesaDemos
   package. Note that you have to install this package as well as
   MesaLib to play XRacer.
   
   A 3D accelerator card is really required. It is unlikely that
   I will ever do a version of XRacer that can be played without
   3D acceleration. Sorry.
   
  2.2 Compiling
  
   Type:
./configure && make

   The configure script takes a number of arguments. Try:
./configure --help

   for more information.
   
   If the configure script fails to detect something about your
   system, then please tell me. The most common problem is that
   you have glut and a GL library installed, but in a strange
   place, and the configure script can't find them. Use the
   configure options ``--with-gl-libs=DIR'',
   ``--with-gl-inc=DIR'' etc. to tell it where you installed
   these libraries.
   
    2.2.1 Compiling in language support
    
   If you want to include support for multiple languages, you
   should define the LINGUAS environment variable. This should
   list the message catalogues which you want installed. To get a
   full list of available message catalogues, look at po/*.po.
   
   For example, this would compile in support for French and
   Spanish (Espanől):
LINGUAS="fr es" ./configure

  2.3 Installing XRacer
  
   Type:
make install

   (You may need to be root).
   
  2.4 Running
  
   After installing XRacer, type:
xracer

   In previous versions of XRacer, you were allowed to run the
   game before installing it. This is no longer the case. You now
   have to install the game before you can play it.
   
  2.5 Problems
  
   Before mailing me, check that you can get any GL program to
   compile and run on your system. If you can't do that, then
   please ask your local guru, or subscribe to a newsgroup such
   as 3dfx.glide.linux at news.3dfx.com.
   
   If you have an XRacer-specific compilation problem, then ask
   first on the xracer mailing list. Copy and paste all the
   compilation messages, not just the ones you think may be
   relevant.
   
   If you have a problem when running XRacer, then ask first on
   the xracer mailing list. Run XRacer with the ``verbose''
   (--verbose) option, and copy and paste all the debugging
   output into the message.
   
  2.6 Controls
  
    2.6.1 Joystick
    
joystick left      bank/turn left
   "     right     bank/turn right
   "     up        pitch nose down
   "     down      pitch nose up
   "     button1   fire weapon or use powerup
   "     button2   accelerate

    2.6.2 Keyboard
    
PAGE UP            accelerate
PAGE DN            brake
LEFT               bank/turn left
RIGHT              bank/turn right
UP                 nose down
DOWN               nose up
SPACE              fire weapon or use powerup
s                  take a screenshot
r                  reset position to beginning of track
f                  display frame rate
n                  invert mouse controls
d                  use mouse to control
.                  increase mouse sensitivity
,                  decrease mouse sensitivity
f                  toggle FPS display
ESC                quit game

    2.6.3 Mouse
    
   Move the mouse to the centre of the XRacer window and press
   `d' to activate it. Move the mouse around to go up, down, left
   and right.
   
3 Submitting patches

   Patches are most welcome. Please send them to my email
   address: Richard Jones <rich@annexia.org>.
   
   Please send me UNIFIED DIFFS only! I will ignore other types
   of patches. The FAQ explains how to create unified diffs.
   
4 Notes

  4.1 Commercial versions of XRacer
  
   Periodically people ask me if they can produce a commercial
   version of XRacer, for example for the cover of a magazine or
   a Linux distribution.
   
   The short answer is that XRacer is covered by the GNU General
   Public License (GPL) and so you may produce commercial
   versions of XRacer without being subject to any license fees
   provided that you comply with the terms of the GPL. You should
   read this license in more detail to find out the exact
   requirements. It can be found here. In particular, if you
   produce a modified version, you are required to distribute the
   source code changes that you make along with the binary
   program.
   
   The slightly longer answer is that some parts of XRacer are
   (possibly) covered by patents. In particular, the MPEG
   decompression algorithms are (possibly) covered by patents and
   commercial versions may require license fees. To remove the
   video codec from XRacer, you should configure with the
   --disable-video option.
     _________________________________________________________
   
   
    Richard Jones
    
   Last modified: Sun Mar 19 14:37:07 GMT 2000
