Myth II: Soulblighter Playable Demo (version 1.8)
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This demo offers but a taste of the endless 3D Real Time carnage that is, 
Myth II: Soulblighter. It includes a tutorial, four levels from the single
player campaign, and two multiplayer maps.


THE FULL VERSION INCLUDES:
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- An epic 25 level single-player campaign complete with animated cut-scenes, 
narration, and an original musical score.

- Over 20 unit types for you to command. We've brought back Trow, Soulless, 
and Berserks (to name a few) from Myth: The Fallen Lords, plus added new units 
such as Warlocks, Mortar Dwarves, and Ghasts. With the inclusion of ambient 
creatures (wolves, deer, and others--oh my!) the world of Myth is more alive 
than ever.

- 20 network maps configured for all the good ol' Myth TFL net-games ("Steal the 
Bacon," "Body Count," etc.) as well as 4 new net-games: "Assassin," "Stampede," 
"Hunting," and "King of the Hill."

- The mapmaking tools, Fear and Loathing, so that you can create your own maps 
filled with unique objects, sounds, artifacts, and units.

- Ability to play virtually hundreds of community-released maps and campaigns,
which expand on the game using Myth's excellent plugins system. Some of these
literally change Myth II into a completely new game, like the WW2 plugins.


PROJECT MAGMA
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The updated demo was created by Project Magma in order to bring it up to date
with the current full version of the game. Project Magma is a dedicated group
of artists, programmers, and gaming fanatics committed to updating and extending
the Myth series of games originally written by Bungie Game Studios. For more
information on Project Magma, as well as an area to submit your feedback and
get technical support, visit Project Magma's website at:

http://projectmagma.net/


THE INTERFACE
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To begin playing a single-player game of Myth II, click the New Game button on 
the main menu. 

When the level begins, a brief message describing the objective(s) of the level 
will appear in the middle of the screen.

STATUS BAR
At the top of your screen is the status bar. When you select a single unit, the 
name and type of that unit are displayed in the Status bar, along with some 
background information on that unit. When multiple units are selected, the 
names, types, and quantity of units will appear in the status bar. The brief 
paragraph of descriptive text will not appear.

On the right edge of the status bar is a large square button, often called the 
"pause" button. If you click this button, you will be given a chance to revert 
to a saved game, restart the current level or quit the game entirely. You can 
access this same menu by pressing the Escape key.

Also at the right edge of the Status bar is a small triangular button. This 
controls the overhead map. For more information about the overhead map, see 
below.

ACTION WINDOW
This window consists of everything underneath the status bar. This is your 
window to the battlefield, and you can look at different parts of the 
battlefield by moving the camera. The action window is where all the actual 
combat takes place.
				
OVERHEAD MAP
To the right of the pause button in the status bar is a small triangular 
wedge. Clicking this wedge toggles the overhead map on and off. You can also 
toggle the map by hitting your Tab key. If you hold Shift and click drag on the 
the overhead map, you can increase/decrease the size of it.

The overhead map appears in the upper right corner of the action window. It is a 
semi-transparent, top-down view of the battlefield. Your units appear as green 
dots. Enemy units appear as red dots. Friendly units (non-player characters 
like villagers, or teammates in network games) appear as blue dots. A yellow 
trapezoid denotes your current camera position. The arrow in the trapezoid 
denotes the direction your camera is facing.

Clicking a spot on the overhead map will instantly move your camera to that spot 
in the Action window. Clicking the right mouse button (Option-click on the Mac) 
on the overhead map will send your troops to that location. Pressing F8 will 
display team colors for units on the map.

CONTROL BAR
The control bar appears at the bottom of the screen. It can be toggled on and 
off by pressing shift + F6.

On the left of the control bar is the Whisper button, which you can use to type 
private messages to your teammates during network games. The Stop button will 
halt a moving unit; the Hold button will cause selected units to stand guard. 

The Scatter button sends selected units scurrying away from their current 
location; the Retreat button will cause them to run from the nearest enemy. The 
Special button will allow the unit to use its Special Ability, if it has one.

To the right of these keys are formation buttons. Clicking one of these buttons 
and then clicking on the ground will assemble selected units in the appropriate 
formation.

All of these commands have keyboard equivalents. See below.

KEYS
Please note that you can change the commands assigned to the keyboard in the 
Preferences menu. The keyboard commands mentioned in this section are just the 
default settings; we like them, but you're free to change them.

CAMERA
Myth II's advanced 3D engine allows you to move the camera independently of your 
units. Clever players will exploit this feature to see as much of the landscape 
- and the enemy's forces - as possible.

FORWARD/BACK
These keys move your camera back and forth in a straight line. The default 
Forward key is W. The default Back key is S.

PANNING LEFT/PANNING RIGHT
These keys move your camera sideways while keeping it pointed straight
ahead. The default Pan Left key is Z. The default Pan Right key is X.

ORBIT LEFT/ORBIT RIGHT
These keys keep your camera trained on a single spot while making a full 360-
degree circle around it. The default Orbit Left key is Q. The default Orbit 
Right key is E.

ROTATE LEFT/ROTATE RIGHT
When using these keys, your camera remains in the same spot but your point of 
view moves sideways across the landscape. The default Rotate Left key is A. 
The default Rotate Right key is D.

ZOOM IN/ZOOM OUT
You can zoom the camera in to get a better look at the bloody remains of your 
enemies, and zoom back out to get a look at the battlefield around you.
The default Zoom In key is C. The default Zoom Out key is V. 

CENTER
You can center the camera over a selected group of units by hitting H.

MOUSE             
You can also use the mouse to move the camera back, forward, left and right. 
Using the mouse, move your cursor to one of the four edges of the screen; the 
camera will move in that direction. You can also orbit the camera by pushing the 
mouse to the lower left/right corners of the action window, or rotate it by 
moving the mouse to the upper left/right corners.

If you're accustomed to the mouse controls in Myth: The Fallen Lords and don't 
want the corners to rotate the camera, go to the preferences and turn off mouse 
controlled camera rotation.

FUNCTION KEYS
The function keys at the top of your keyboard have the ability to modify some of 
Myth's preferences on the fly, while you are playing the game.

F1 - Decreases game speed to a minimum of 1/4 times normal speed for single 
player and Stopped for films.

F2 - Increases game speed to a maximum of 64 times normal speed for single 
player and films.

F3 - Turns the sound volume up. 

F4 - Turns the sound volume down.

F5 - Toggles the Auto Camera on/off.

F6 - Toggles the status box at the top of the screen on/off.

Shift + F6 - Toggles the control bar on/off.

Ctrl + F6 - Toggles the semi-transparency of the status and control bars.

F7 - Brings up stats during multiplayer games.

F8 - Toggles team colors on the overhead map (net-games only).

F9 - Does nothing.

F10 - Highlights all of your visible units. The Caps Lock key does a 
similar thing but toggles is on/off. It can be changed in control preferences.

F11 - Turns landscape filtering on/off in Software rendering. Toggles 
Detail Textures on/off in OpenGL rendering if the preference is on.
The Page Up key does the same thing.

F12- Same as F5.

Selecting shift while clicking a function key sets that attribute to its maximum 
value. For example, shift + F3 turns the sound off, while shift + F4 increases 
the volume to 100%.


SELECTING UNITS
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Before you can give your troops orders, you must learn how to select them.

SELECTING INDIVIDUAL UNITS
To select a single unit, click it once. A yellow box will appear around this 
unit. While the yellow box is visible, this unit will actively respond to your 
commands.

SELECTING MULTIPLE UNITS
To select all nearby units of a given type (for example, all of your archers), 
double-click on one unit of that type. While these units are selected, they will 
respond as a group to any commands you give them.

You can select multiple units of different types (for example, one Dwarf and two 
Warriors) by Shift-clicking: hold down the Shift key and click on each 
individual unit to select them. You can also de-select a unit by Shift-clicking 
on it, or by hitting the Deselect key. The default Deselect key is the 
Backquote/Tilde key (~).

You can also select multiple units with a technique known as "band selection." 
Click and hold the mouse button on spot on the ground, then drag the cursor 
across the screen while holding down the button. A yellow box will appear 
onscreen, growing and shrinking as it follows the cursor's movement. When you  
release the mouse button, all of your units within the yellow box will be 
selected.

You can select all of your visible units by hitting the Select All key. The 
default Select All key is Enter/Return. Pressing the select all key again will 
deselect all units.

PRESET SELECTIONS
Myth II allows you to easily create custom preset groups of mixed types (i.e. 2 
Archers, 2 Dwarves and 6 Berserks). Assigning presets is like setting stations 
on a car stereo. Select the units and hit Alt (on PCs) or Command (on Macs) and 
one of the ten number keys to create a custom preset. Make sure you hold the 
Alt/Command and number keys for a second or two for the preset to "set." From 
that point on, you can select all units in that preset by hitting Alt/Command 
and the number you assigned to it. You can cycle through presets using the F 
key, and to clear them use BackSpace (on PCs) or Delete (on Macs).


COMMANDING UNITS
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MOVING
Select a unit, then click on a spot of ground. The unit will move to that spot 
and await further orders.

MOVING TROOPS USING THE OVERHEAD MAP
You can order your troops to move anywhere on the visible portion of the 
overhead map by selecting the units and right-clicking (PC) or pressing option 
and clicking (Mac) on the overhead map.

WAYPOINTS
Waypoints are a somewhat advanced technique that lets you tell your troops what 
route to take to their destination. With a group of troops selected, designate 
waypoints by holding the shift key while clicking on the ground. Yellow circles 
will appear, indicating the path your troops will take. You can designate up to 
four waypoints before clicking on the unit's final destination.

PATROLLING 
You can make your troops patrol waypoints in one of two ways. After setting up 
to four waypoints, while still holding down the Shift key, click on the first 
point you designated. Units will travel the points of the route and circle back 
to the first one, cycling indefinitely. Conversely, after setting the points you 
can click on the last point, and units will stop at each end of the route, 
reverse direction, and travel back, cycling indefinitely.

STOPPING
To immediately stop a selected unit or group, hit the Stop key. The default Stop 
key is the Spacebar.

ATTACKING
Select a unit, or units, then click on an enemy unit. A red box will flash 
around the enemy, indicating you have targeted him. Your unit will attack the 
enemy unit until he is killed, the enemy is killed, or you give him other 
instructions. Units that use projectile attacks, such as Dwarves or Bowmen, may 
actually need to move back if their target is too close.

Sometimes it's useful to have a projectile unit attack a piece of ground. For 
example, if enemy forces are storming right over the carpet of satchel charges 
your Dwarves placed earlier. To do this, select the unit, hold down the Control 
key, and click the spot on the ground you wish to attack.

HOLDING
When you move a unit to a certain area, he will stay there and await further 
instructions - unless he is attacked, in which case he will chase down his 
attacker. If you would like a unit to move to a spot and remain there no matter 
what, use the Holding function. Select a unit, click the spot where you want him 
to stay, then hit the Hold key. He will stay rooted to the spot  (although he 
will attack any enemy who wanders into range). The default Hold key is G.

If a projectile unit is attacked, he will not stay in place, but will retreat to 
a safe distance and open fire.

SCATTERING
It is often useful to scatter a tightly clustered group of units when they come 
under attack from dwarves or other enemies with massive destructive potential. 
To quickly scatter a group of units, select them and hit your Scatter key. The 
default Scatter key is B.

RETREATING
Sometimes fighting to the death is not an option...not a smart option anyway. 
Select a unit or group of units and hit your Retreat key; they will retreat from 
the nearest enemy. The default Retreat key is R.

UNIT ORIENTATION AND FACING
It's important to control the direction your units are facing. Formations are 
oriented by the direction in which characters are facing, and units looking the 
wrong way will die quickly if an enemy approaches from the rear. 

For this reason, you can control their facing by selecting a formation and 
hitting the left or right arrow key to rotate the entire formation to the left 
or right. Even before units have arrived at the area you want them to form up, 
you can fine-tune the direction they'll face when they get there.

UNIT FACING
Select a unit, hold the mouse button, and drag in the direction it should face.

FORMATION FACING
Select a unit, or units, then click on the ground with the right mouse button 
(PC) or option + click (Mac), and drag in the direction you want them to face.

FORMATIONS
Formations are incredibly important in Myth II: Soulblighter. Orienting your 
troops in different formations allows you to strike effectively, rather than as 
a mob. You will need to learn how to use formations if you expect to hold your 
own in a network game.

There are ten preset formations that correspond to the ten number keys at the 
top of your keyboard. Following is a description of each.

1 - Short Line: Units will line up four abreast.

2 - Long Line: Units will line up eight abreast.

3 - Loose Line: Units will line up four abreast, but spaced widely.

4 - Staggered Line: Units will assume a staggered line.

5 - Box: Units will move in a perfect square.

6 - Rabble: Units will spread out in random positions.

7 - Shallow Encirclement: Units are in a wide, shallow arc.

8 - Deep Encirclement: A tighter, smaller arc.

9 - Vanguard: A V-shaped formation.

0 - Circle: Units form...er...a circle, facing outward.
                            

MULTIPLAYER
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Myth II: Soulblighter is able to connect to a central network game server where
players can play and chat online, as well as having the ability to play directly
with an opponent using TCP/IP.


MULTIPLAYER GAME SERVERS
-------------------

Myth II has the ability to log on and play online on one of the several free
game servers which allow players from around the world to gather to play Myth
net games. The default server configured for the demo version is MariusNet,
and players are able to log on and play games in guest mode (simply don't enter
a password in the login screen in order to log in as guest).
Please keep in mind that the demo version contains only two network maps and
four cooperative maps to play on, so it is likely that players using the full
version will host games that you are not able to join on other maps (such
games will appear red in the game list).

To start playing on a multiplayer game server you must first be connected to
the internet. When you are connected, simply launch Myth II, and click the
Multiplayer Game button. The Multiplayer Game Setup dialog appears. Near the
top on the right hand side will be the logo of the active game server (by
default, this is MariusNet). Click on this icon to select it, then fill out
the following fields:

PLAYER NAME
Enter the name you will use during gameplay here. It doesn't have to be your 
real name; fanciful names like "Ungar The Bloodthirsty" are wholeheartedly 
encouraged.

TEAM NAME
Only necessary when playing in a team game. Again, you can name your team 
whatever you like, and the more creative your name is, the better.

PLAYER ICON
Each player has an icon that appears beside his or her name in player lists,
making it somewhat easier to differentiate players. Click and hold the mouse
button on the icon to bring up a menu of available player icons. Highlight 
the icon you want and let go of the mouse button to select it.

COLORS
You can choose a primary and secondary color for your forces. The clothing or 
flesh of your units will take on these colors, making it easy for you to see
which troops on the battlefield are yours.

To select a color, click that color in the color wheel. You can make the
color lighter or darker by clicking on the color bar to the right of each color
wheel.

If two players in a network game have selected the same colors, the game
will automatically reassign a new color to one of those players.

LOGIN AND PASSWORD
If you already have registered for an account with the game server, you may
enter your login name and password here, otherwise you should leave one or
both of the fields blank, which will log you in as guest.

Click the Login button and you should soon be connected to the game server.

THE MAIN GAME SERVER SCREEN
After logging on to the server, you'll arrive at the main game server screen. 
Here you can chat with other players and find opponents for network games.

ROOM BANNER
At the top left corner of your screen is the room banner. Click on this banner 
and hold down the mouse button for a list of all available rooms. To change to 
another room keep the mouse button down and move the cursor so that it 
highlights another banner. Release the mouse button and you'll be taken to the 
selected room. 

To the right of the room name there are two numbers- the top number (next to the 
skull) is the total number of players in the room. The bottom number (next to 
the axe) is the total number of open and closed games being hosted in the room.

PLAYER LIST
Beneath the room name is a Player List with three tabs.

(1) ROOM : This tab shows all the players present in your current room.

(2) BUDDY: The Buddy tab shows a list of players you've personally selected as 
your buddies. It's useful for quickly finding your friends online. Each player 
is limited to eight buddies.

(3) ORDER: The Order tab shows all the other players online who are in your 
Order. Similar to the buddy list, it is useful for quickly finding members of 
your Order.

To the right of the room name are two buttons:

NEW
Click New Game to create a new network game. It will appear in the list of
available network games directly beneath the four buttons. If you'd like to
change the parameters of a game, click Options. 

JOIN GAME
Select a game from the list of available games directly beneath these four 
buttons and click Join Game to enter that game. You can also double
click a game to join.

When you join a game the buttons under the player list will change to:

JOIN TEAM
Highlight a player name and click this button to join that player's team.

LOCK/UNLOCK TEAM
Click Lock Team to prevent any other players from joining your team. The
button will change to Unlock Team, which you can click if you change your mind 
later.

BOOT FROM TEAM
Click on a player and use this button to remove him from your team.

MULTIPLAYER GAME OPTIONS SCREEN
If you create a game, you will be taken to this screen to set the parameters of 
the game you're about to play.

NAME
The name that will appear in the list of available games.

PASSWORD
If you only want certain people to join the game you're in, enter a password here 
and give that password to the players of your choice by whatever means you prefer.

LEVELS
The menu on the far left side of the screen allows you to select the map you'll 
play on. If you check the Use Single Player Levels checkbox, you'll also be able 
to play cooperatively on the maps from the single-player scenario.

GAME TYPE
Allows you to choose what kind of multiplayer game you'll play.

DIFFICULTY LEVEL
This menu lets you set the difficulty of the game. This mostly affects games 
played on the single player (or cooperative) levels.

HOST IS OBSERVER
Enabling this check box will allow the host to watch the entire battle without
controlling any troops, and without affecting his rank.

PLAYER LIMIT
Allows you to set the maximum number of players in your game. The most players 
you can have is 16. (14 for cooperative games)

TIME LIMIT
Allows you to set the length of the game. Multiplayer games can be set for up to 
450 minutes long.

PLANNING TIME
If this box is checked, players will have an additional amount of time to scope 
out the map and plan their strategy. You can increase or decrease the length of 
the planning time using the arrows to the right of this option. The maximum 
planning time is 10 minutes.

ALLOW UNIT TRADING DURING PLANNING TIME 
If this box is checked, players will be allowed to exchange the units they start 
with for more desirable units. See the Unit Trading section for info.

ALLOW VETERANS FROM LAST GAME
If this box is checked, surviving units from your current multiplayer game will 
join your force in the next multiplayer game. This can be a real boon if
the units have built up a great deal of experience. Veteran units will also 
be seen in cooperative games if the map was designed that way.

ALLOW ALLIANCES
Checking this box gives you the ability to ally with players during the course 
of the game.

To ally with another player, hit the + key while playing. A numbered list of 
other players appears; type the number of the player you wish to ally with. To 
break an alliance hit the key again and select the number corresponding to your 
ally (yes, back-stabbing an ally is acceptable...and wholeheartedly encouraged). 
Allied units will not appear as enemies to your own units.

ALLOW TEAMS
Checking this box allows players to team up and fight cooperatively against
other teams or another player, rather than pitting all against all.

SHOW ENEMY ON MAP
When this is turned on, enemy units will appear on the map as usual. When it's  
off, you're flying blind.

MAXIMUM NUMBER OF TEAMS
If this box is checked, you can set a limit of how many teams are allowed.

PLUGINS
If you have any additional maps for Myth II, you can simply drop them in
your plugins folder (inside your Myth II directory) and they will show up in
your map list. (*** Not active in the Demo)

THE PRE-GAME CHAT
After creating a new game, or joining an existing game, you'll be transported to 
a screen similar to the main game server screen, also known as the pre-game chat. 
The list of players is still on the left, but now there are only those players 
who have joined the game. To the right, the list of available games is replaced 
with a map of the level and a description of the game parameters. The chat 
function at the bottom of the screen works the same as on the main game server 
screen. The buttons at the top of the screen are different:

BOOT PLAYER
Select a player from the list and click this button to kick him out of the game 
and onto the main game server screen.

JOIN TEAM
Select a player, and click this button to join that player's team.

CLOSE GAME
Remove the game from the list of available games to prevent additional players 
from joining. The button then changes to Open Game in case you change your mind 
later.

OPTIONS
Allows you to change the parameters of the game. 

START GAME
Begins gameplay, after all players who want to join have hit the Ready button.

LEAVE GAME
Delete the game from the list of available games and drop everyone back to the 
main game server screen. You can also use the Esc key for the same effect.


TCP/IP
-------------------

At the Multiplayer Game Setup dialog, click the "Other" box. Beneath it, 
highlight the "TCP/IP (Internet)" option and click the OK button.

You will now see a screen that allows you to create or join TCP/IP games. On the 
right side is a list of games available for you to join; double-click a game name 
to join it. If you'd like to create your own game, fill out the following fields 
on the left side:

NAME
This name will appear in the list of available games.

PASSWORD
If you only want certain people to join a game, type a password in this box and 
only distribute it to the people you would like to include in your game.

CREATE GAME
Clicking this will create a game using the Name and Password supplied.

PORT
The port on which the game will be created. Unless you know what you're doing, 
it's usually best to leave this set to 3453.

JOIN BY ADDRESS
By checking this box, you'll be able to link up over the Internet for network 
games with a machine that is not on your local network. Enter the host machine's 
IP address in the field below. Note that you must set up a connection to your 
ISP before launching Myth II for this to work. It works best with dedicated 
Internet connections (cable modems, T1 lines, etc.).

Once you have created or joined a TCP/IP game, the game progresses as described 
above.


COMMUNICATION DURING MULTIPLAYER GAMES
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THE WHITEBOARD
During network games - especially team games - you may find it useful to draw up 
a battle plan on the overhead map. Small pencil and eraser icons will appear 
beside the overhead map during multiplayer games. Clicking on the pencil puts 
the map in draw mode. Click on the pencil icon with your mouse, then click and 
hold the mouse button to draw on the overhead map. Clicking on the pencil again 
turns off draw mode. Clicking the eraser icon clears the map.

YELLING
YOU CAN SEND MESSAGES TO TEAMMATES AND OPPONENTS 
DURING A GAME. HIT THE YELL KEY THEN TYPE YOUR MESSAGE 
AND HIT RETURN/ENTER. YOUR MESSAGE WILL APPEAR AT THE 
BOTTOM OF EVERY PLAYER'S SCREEN. THE DEFAULT KEY IS SHIFT-Y.

whispering
You can also whisper to your teammates during team games using the Whisper key.
The default Whisper key is Y.

UNIT TRADING
If you have clicked the Allow Unit Trading checkbox in the Game Options screen, 
you can exchange some of your units for others at the beginning of a multiplayer 
game. Trading can only occur before any of a team's units have moved. To trade, 
consult the scoreboard that will appear at the top of the screen during planning 
time. Each unit is worth a certain number of points. Click the down arrow next 
to a unit type to remove one of those units from your force. Your available 
points will increase accordingly. You spend points by clicking the up arrow next 
to another unit. If you have enough points, you will add another of those units 
to your force.
