#
Earl Biohazards Book of Survival

## Editorial

Welcome to the Disconnecter-Busters ! This document is the best start against all un-dividuals disturbing data transfer, in order to stop the permanent "... the line was dropped" - messages forever !

## Content

1. How it started...
2. System requirements
3. Mission Goals
4. Control
5. How to use the game
6. Tips
7. Further Informations / FAQ
8. Copyright, Liscence and legal issues

## The beginning...

Actually our hero was a lazy bum: His own hobby is using the for-free online CDs for getting into the net. With only one aim in his mind:
COLLECTING SCREEN SAVERS !!!
However, there is a small problem: Everytime he nearly succeded in getting a new item for his collection, the connection crashed and everything was lost. Because he is not aware of anything apart from screen savers he founded an "Organization against fucking bastards dropping the line just before the end of the download (Oafbdtljbteotd)", in short: The Disconnecter-Busters or -Bashers. Now, the first time since online test CDs have been common, he is outside his house. Of course he needs some help...

## What you need for Earl Biohazard:

No way without this:

- A PC with Keyboard and Monitor
- Windows 95, 98, etc. with DirectX 6.0 (or higher) supported graphic card

Really useful for better performance:

- at least 16 MB RAM
- Graphic card with LFB (lineare frame buffer, nearly all cards since 95 or all with VESA 2.0)
- A sound card with windows drivers

Optimal configuration:

- Stereo-Soundcard, 16 Bit, 44 kHz
- DirectSound directly supported
- Dolby Surround - Decoder (or a surround amplifier)

## Your Mission:

Each level has only one goal: Earl Biohazard has to reach the exit. But be aware of enemies and laser barreers. If he dies, you can start the level again... there is no limited life or something like that. Donīt panic, youīll get an education at startup. And the game does not use user unfriendly things like limited lifes, items needed from other levels, holes in the floor, etc...

## Controls:

The control is quite common:
Using theLeft-Right-Arrow-Keys, no matter if they are the one from the number pad or the one next to them, one moves our hero in the according direction. Jump using the spacebar or the Up Arrow Key, you can go down with the Down Arrow Key or the ALT-Key.
Anything left ?!? Of course, what is a game worth without a fire button ? We know: NOTHING. Thatīs why this game is also having one: The CTRL - Key.
What, the small shooting beans are out ?!?
Press "1" and get 6 new ones. Select with "2" or "3" other "Tools", if youīve found them...

Other Keys: Use ESC to return to the menu, with + and - one can change the game speed (useful in difficult situations) and with * and / one can adjust the sound volume. These keys work within a level as well.

## How to use:

Navigate through the menus using the cursor keys and press ENTER / RETURN or spacebar for selecting the menu item.

### Main Menu:

Start a new game or continue an old one
Adjust the game settings here
This item is useless and just there for optical reasons because it ends the program.

### Configuration:

Adjust the volume and the speed here. The settings can be saved or abandoned. For testing the settings without saving them leave the menu with ESC.

### Missions:

The current and all solved Missions are available here. Change the current one with the cursor keys. (Note: Only the currently selected one is shown, the others are hidden).

### Some Items (there are more) :

| A first aid kit ? What is it good for :-)
| Hmm... Can we light a flame thrower with it (Key 2) ?
| This explosive looks dangerous... (Key 3)
| This pharmaceutical is called R.A.G.E. (Rapid Agression Generator, Edible). Some call it DoubleDamage. Thats how it works.

### Tips:

- Everything following Earl Biohazard or shooting at him are enemies. The other things can be enemies as well (or maybe something useful ?).
- Some switches require a corresponding key. But it need not to look like one ;-).
- If you cannot collect something although it is not an enemy you can try to destroy it.
- Too difficult ? Reduce the game speed.
- If you throw the PC out of the Window youīll get a marvellous system crash.
- Watch your enemies: All behave different, but each one moves quite predictically.
- Knives, Forks, Grenade Launchers are not a toy for little Earl Biohazards. Read: If he throws a grenade which hits himself it wonīt be healthy for him.
- If you canīt get further into one direction you may check the others again.
- Collecting screen savers included in the OSses are considered as uncool even among screen saver collectors.
- You do not have to kill enemies to get to the exit. But it is really helpful to blast them up.
- Not everything with ears is a face.

### FAQ, Problems, ...

The most important Questions:

Q: | How can I change the sound settings ?
A: | Start Earlbio.exe with the parameter /S . This works in a DOS-Box, using a link or through Start Menu, Run, select Earlbio.exe , add a space and the string "/S" to the command line and click OK. The settings made in the config dialogue are applied by pressing OK there. However, it is only required for slow 486ers or trashy soundcard drivers. The standard setting is optimal for all standard and better systems.
Q: | There can I save a finished level ?
A: | This is not necessary: Each completed level is saved instantly. in the "Next Mission" menu you can select all finished and the current mission with the cursor keys: The selected one is shown.
Q: | I cannot change my weapon
A: | Press 1, 2 or 3 for doing so. However, you need ammo for it. The amount of ammo is shown at the bottom, if there are more than 8 units of one ammo, only 8 are shown. But there is no limit for collected ammo within a level.
Q: | I cannot collect an item
A: | Maybe it is a switch which can only be activated with a special item, or you have to get it by jumping on it. Maybe it isnīt an item at all ?
Q: | If I jump on an enemy the enemy is still alive but Earl Biohazard is killed. Whats that ?
A: | This game is NOT Super Mario Brothers and NOT Giana Sisters. Atomize, not squish your enemies, OK ?
Q: | What are the cheatcodes?
A: | LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMER !!! ;-)))
Q: | I am dying of boredom.
A: | Start Earl Biohazard. Helps instantly.
Q: | Is this game causing violence ?
A: | NO, AND IF YOU DO NOT BELIEVE THIS I WILL DO A LOT OF ...
Q: | There is GlideVoodoo3DFx-Support ?
A: | There isnīt any coz 1. the Engine was started under DOS and ported to Win32 later, 2. it would make the game run bad or slow on hardware without it 3. I prefer OpenGL and DirectX to proprietary APIs. However, aside from the explosions the game would not have benefited from 3D hardware at all..
Q: | Why arenīt there higher resolutions than 320*200 * 256 colours ?
A: | Under DOS, the OS the engine was created under, it was the only mode working on ALL machines. VESA-Modes are - especially on low-cost PCs - buggy like hell. And higher resolutions and more colours would have increased file size a lot, not a good thing for a game available on the net. Under DirectX the next unproblematic mode on all machines is 640*400*8, with four times the data at only double resolution.
Q: | How is it realized technically ?
A: | The program is entirely written in 32 Bit protected mode assembler. The Soundengine (dynamically linked as a DLL) is a complete separate software from Housemarque Games, formerly Sahara Surfers and is called MIDAS, which is used in a lot of programs and tested well yet. The graphic uses DirectDraw and GDI of Windows. The description of a level is quite abstract so that it offers a high amount of flexibility, the objects in a level are described through their behaviour, so that a lot of possibilities are offered there we used only a part of them. The graphic is compressed using the GIF file format. All settings are saved in the registry so that you can run the game from CD-ROM or network without write access as well. A setup or installation program sucks, so that I decided to give it inside a simple zipped archive to you..
Q: | Why is the sound player not written on your own ?
A: | For the music technique used herein (MODule files) which offers high quality sound at acceptable file size there are hundreds of different players available. About a dozen of it could be implemented easily in this game. So I decided to take the most common and unproblematic one. A self-coded player would have required a large amount of time for writing and testing. Why reinventing the wheels when there are thousends of them around you ? Thats how I reduced the work for sound and music code down to some hours.
Q: | How can I contact you ?
A: | E-Mail: Programmer, Leveldesigner, SFX, Coordination, Support: webmaster@deinmeister.de Homepage: www.deinmeister.de (Programming, Downloads)

### Legal issues and license:

Copyright:
All rights of this software are reserved by the author. You are not allowed to use it or parts of it in your own programs without permission.
Excluded from this are the graphics in this HTML-document (Freeware) and the MIDAS Sound System (midas11.dll), which is copyrighted by Housemarque Games.
Windows, Windows 95 and 98 are (TM) of Microsoft.

Private use, spreading and copying on a per-free base is explicitly granted.
The use on CD-ROMs including Shareware/Freeware/PD-collections as well as software bundles requires the permission of the author and is generally not for free (usually 2 copies of the media containing this software are required). Contact me at: webmaster@deinmeister.de