Running the Game

Installation

There is no installer for Retro Tank Super Attack yet. I did try to make an installer for Windows, but it seemed to insure the game could not find required run-time libraries. I haven't yet attempted an installer for Gentoo Linux, but maybe I'll find the time.

Windows

Put the files for the game somewhere on your system in their own directory. Try to run rtsa.exe. If it fails to run, download vcredist_x86.exe and run it. The vcredist_x86 program will add Microsoft's redistributable run-time libraries needed for things, like rtsa, that are compiled with Visual C++ 2005. Hopefully the next time you run rtsa.exe it will work. Then, make a shortcut if you want one.

Linux

If you want binaries for Linux, or anything else, build them yourself. Its pretty easy on Linux once the development toolchain (gcc and gang) and the development versions of the dependent libraries are installed.

Support for other languages

Retro Tank Super Attack will attempt to use strings that are in the language you have selected for your computer's user interface. If a translation to your language is not available, English will be used instead. The font used is a True Type font in the file font.tff located in the same directory as the program binary. The font included in the download is a Bitstream Vera font that was intended for English; you'll need to supply a different font for most other languages.

Run rtsa

The program to run is called rtsa. When it starts, it looks for a server on the LAN. If it can't find one, it will become a server. This makes starting a LAN game very easy. However, if everyone starts the game at the time, everyone will be running a server. Wait for the first one to start to show that it is a server before running clients.

Figuring out problems

If there is a problem running the game, or a problem making a new battle field, usually there will be an error message on the game's window to tell you what went wrong. If there isn't enough detail, or no message at all, there may be more output to the console.

Those of you not running Windows can easily see this output by running rtsa from a shell. If you are running Windows, then you'll need to use an English-only build of the game (it avoids some Windows specific bugs I haven't been able to fix yet). One is included in the binary download as rtsa-en.exe. By default, it will write status messages to stdout.txt and error messages to stderr.txt. If the game crashes, these files may not have all the messages output right before the crash. In that case, use the -d command line argument to get a console window with the messages.

Command line Arguments

Since the menus are mostly unimplemented, command line arguments must be used to specify options. The arguments are:

Success

To be successful in the game, you'll need to use obstacles to your advantage, and you'll need skill to guide your shots into your opponents. You can get your tank to occupy the same space as an obstacle -- let's say its equipped with an oscillation overthruster. While colliding with an obstacle, your tank will move in the opposite direction you command, and will be much faster than normal.

Also, don't shoot teammates.


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