Overview

» Introducing TrueCombat
» General
» What Makes TrueCombat Unique
» Player Movement
» Weaponhandling
» Gametypes
» Equipment Menu
» Callvote Menu
» The HUD
» Cvars

Introducing TrueCombat

TrueCombat is a realism modification for Quake 3 that all started back way when sometime in 2000 with a couple of Germans by the name of Tier and Coroner. Their initial tinkerings weren't even for a realism mod, however. Their first work started with a modification for a Terminator style game. A little way through their developement, they opted for a slight change of plans... they did a 180 and decided to go with a realism mod instead, using what they could from their Terminator experiment in this new mod. The team name "TeamTerminator" stuck, despite lacking anything to do with Terminator after the major change in direction. Alright, so we fast forward about a couple years until we get to Christmas time, 2001. The powers that be are busy cranking out another release before the years end, all the while real life issues catching up to them. They finish the release, kick it out the door, and have to, unfortunately, call it quits because of the aforementioned real life getting all uppity and shiznit. So, what happens next is the transfer of power... from Tier and Coroner to Acrid's capable hands (as seen by his prior work on Weapons Factory Arena) and developement picks up again...
Which brings us to the present. After a year and several months of being in developement from a little bit of old and new TeamTerminator members, we now have the much anticipated 1.0 release of TrueCombat.

Have a nice day,

Syprous_O'vair, Public Relations

General

Like most realism mods, things tend to die a lot quicker in TrueCombat. Whether that be from lead in your nether regions or you figured a 20 foot drop from a building wouldn't be "too" bad, you'll notice quickly that your enviroment and the players you share it with are a lot more lethal than your standard Quake 3 counterparts. Also, player movement and physical capabilities have been approximated to more realistic values. You can't bunny hop, run at a sprint for an eternity, hop a dozen meters into the air because of some flashy floor tiling, or find mystical, magical health kits spread across the map to heal yourself when you've been damaged.
With that said, let's get onto the specifics.

What Makes TrueCombat Unique

While everything mentioned so far helps make TrueCombat a unique experience, there are a number of other things that don't really fit into the above categories that help define what this game is about. So, without further adieu, I give you more list type action!

• Tactical Mode
  Basically, using the iron sights of the weapon models in game as your means of aiming (that, or the scope if the weapon has one). If you're not in Tactical Mode (which you go into by hitting the Tactical button), you're shooting from the hip (read: no crosshairs). When you're shooting from the hip, think of it as being more an educated guess than pin point targeting. When you go into Tactical Mode, your field of vision (FoV) decreases while also zooming in just a bit. The weapon that you currently have unholstered moves to the center portion of the screen and moves up closer to the player model. You then aim using the iron sights on the gun. Pretty simple, eh? Oh, and gets better! Not only do you have a means of making targeted shots now, your weapon is also far more accurate. However, there is a trade off. You can't Run or Sprint while in Tactical Mode. You can't swim or jump either. You're stuck at a walk. If you try to do any of those things, your weapon stance goes back to normal. That's the price you pay for being able to hit things at more than 30 meters. How often you'll use tactical depends entirely on your style of play and what role you're trying to fulfill on your team. Just keep at it and you'll find the right mix for you.
  
  
  
• Bleeding and Bandaging
  Occasionally, you'll be hit by a round that'll cause excessive amounts of bleeding. Such injuries have to be dealt with as soon as possible or you risk bleeding to death. To bandage yourself you simply hold still and hit the bandage key. After a couple seconds (moving while bandaging means you'll have to start over), the bleeding stops with only the accumulated damaged to show for it. Obviously not the most realistic way to deal with it... but then again, who really wants to call in an evac and drag a man on a stretcher back to safety :).
  
  
  
• Holstering and Climbing
  On occasion, you'll find yourself in a situation where you will need (or will be forced) to holster your weapon (climbing ladders or hitting the holster button will do just that). When you holster your weapon (in essence, put it away) you are now capable of climbing various ledges in the map allowing you to go places you previously couldn't go. See a crate standing next to an open window that leads into the enemy base? Why take the front door! Hop on up and climb on through! Places and situations like this are scattered about in each map, so take advantage where you can. On a side note, you'll also need to holster for certain objective based missions. Setting the C4 explosives for example. A message pops up in game when you're in position to set the C4 (or whatever it is that requires two hands) stating that you need to holster. Think of it as Explosives for Dummies :D.
  
  
  
• Leaning
  Added in the last release and refined in this one, leaning is one of those quintessential fundementals of TrueCombat that most must master to be effective. Snipers down at the other end of the corridor but you just don't know where? No problem! Take a quick peak by pressing either the lean left or right button (depending on which side of the corridor you're on of course) to find out! Once you have their positions, you can try straffing out and popping off a quick round (burst... clip... whatever) or you can try my personal favorite, the Kamikaze Nade Run! Bwuhahaha! Ahem. Anyways, leaning is their so you can deal with static defenses or for peaking around a corner to make sure you aren't running into a swarm of enemies. Keep in mind, however, that your player model does lean with you... so if you see them (and they're paying attention) chances are, they saw you too. Oh well. The TeamTerminator giveth and the TeamTerminator taketh. So sayeth the Holy Manual of TrueCombat.
  
  
  
• Bullet Penetration
  Multilayer bullet penetration system for different kinds of objects. Bullets - depending of the weapons power - can get trough wood and small metal plates (like doors, etc..). So dont think you are save behind a wooden box, or a door !
  
  
  

Player Movement

The 3 Basic Movement Speeds:

• Walking
  Walking is... well... walking. You can have your weapon out, in tactical or not, and still remain very accurate while still on the move. You're slow, though. Very slow. You're also quiet. Very quiet. Best used when suprise is paramount to whatever it is you're doing.
  
  
• Run
  Think jogging. Most people use this as their normal means of moving about in TrueCombat. You can still fire your weapon, although not as accurately, and you can get to and fro a lot quicker than the snails pace offered by walking around. You can't, however use tactical while running. So don't expect to be hitting much off in the distance. Also, expect to make a bit of noise when running... you'll get there faster, but chances are, someone will know you're coming.
  
  
• Sprint
  This is classified as 'hauling ass'. You can't shoot while at a dead run and you sure as hell aren't going to remain audibly unnoticed. However, when you have to get somewhere quick, nothin' beats it. Just try and keep your use of the sprint down to a minimum... a target without his weapon at the ready is an easy target.
  
  

Next, here's a list of things that affect your movement speed negatively:

• When walking backwards.
• When sidestepping (strafing).
• When crouched.
• When you're injured and/or fatigued.
• When moving through water.
• The more weight you're carrying (e.g. weapons, body armor, etc.,).

Crouching & Strafing:

• Crouching
  when crouched you're more accurate with less recoil, quieter, and pose a smaller target for your adversaries. The bad news is you're also slower. Smaller frame doesn't necessarily mean they'll miss, so you'll have to pick and choose when it's a good idea to crouch. Usually the stance of choice for snipers or for those moments when it's a good idea to keep your head down.
  
  
• Strafing
  a.k.a. sidestepping, is simply walking sideways. Allows you to keep your weapons bared in the direction you want at all times. Good for going around corners or when setting yourself up to take a peak with a quick lean. Remember, though, that your speed drops drastically while straffing.
  
  

Fatigue

Endurance plays a key factor when playing TrueCombat as most everything involving movement (except when walking or crouching) will drain your stamina. When you run out of stamina, you're forced to walk everywhere and you'll be panting like a sweltering puppy drawing all kinds of unwanted attention. So don't try sprinting everywhere or even running for long periods of time. And when your stamina does get low, go ahead and find a nice safe spot to hide in so you can rest and start moving at normal speeds or even save up your juju for that mad flag dash into the enemy base. Just make sure you leave yourself enough juice to get out just as quick as you came in... as your opponents tend to like slow, noisy targets.

Weaponhandling

Real life firearms have many characteristics that define they're use and capabilities. TrueCombat does much the same thing with a few exceptions (some things don't crossover well from reality to the virtual, and others just haven't been implemented). Basically, each weapon 'feels' different from all the others. Things like rate of fire, recoil, power, accuracy, and weight all play a part in making each weapon unique. Here's where we list what each of these variables do. For more information about how each of the weapons handle specifically, go to the weapons section of the manual.

• Rate of Fire
  (RoF). This one is pretty self explanatory. It's the amount of rounds a weapon will fire within a minutes time. Because of limitations with the Quake 3 engine, the RoF has been rounded up to whatever number it's closest to; 600, 900, or 1200.
  
  
• Recoil
  The rate of climb for a weapon when fired is it's recoil. The more powerful the weapon and/or the higher the RoF, the more the weapon will climb on you when fired; more so when in full-automatic mode as opposed to semi or burst.
  
  
• Power
  The amount of damaged inflicted is determined by the power of the weapon as well as the amount of damage dissapation over longer distances. Basically, your sniper rifles are top tier when it comes to knock down power and the pistols and sub-machine guns are your weakest. Also, penetration through the various surfaces in TrueCombat (metal, wood, and concrete) depends on how powerful the firearm is. In other words, don't try taking cover behind a wooden crate when a sniper knows you're there.
  
  
• Accuracy
  Not only is the accuracy deteremined by the weapon itself, but also by your stance and movement. Generally speaking, the sniper rifles are the most accurate weapons in the game... unless you try shooting from the hip or even try moving yourself around a bit. The least accurate would be the pistols and shotguns. Trying to take pot shots at something from 50 meters away is difficult to say the least (neverminding the amount of damage drop off you have at that distance).
  
  
• Weight
  Everything you carry (ammo, weapons, vest, etc.,) adds to your combined weight that affects the rate at which your fatigue drains. Or, in other words, filling up every weapon slot and adding as much ammo as possible isn't necessarily a good idea. Just because you're loaded for bare doesn't mean you'll live long enough to use it. Mobility can often play a far more lethal role in your loadout than any number of weapons.
  
  

Gametypes

TrueCombat supports several gametypes. New in Beta 1.0 is the Mission based gametype with different missionobjectives. While other gametypes are still funny, the best provided gametype is "mission", and we suggest to play missions in prior. Anyways, lets have a look at the supportet gametypes.

• Free for All
  (FFA) think of it as an orgy of wholesale, unbiased, death to anything that moves and/or doesn't kill bath! That... or deathmatch.
  
  
• Team Deathmatch
  (TDM) think of it as an orgy of wholesale, biased, death to anything that moves and/or doesn't that isn't on your team kill bath! That... or team deathmatch.
  
  
• Survivor
  think of it as an orgy of wholesale, unbiased, death to anything that moves and/or doesn't kill bath but with one life! That... or deathmatch... with one life. The last man standing is the winner of the round. And yes, I did copy and paste that.
  
  
• Team Survivor
  (TS) You know it's coming. Think of it as an orgy of wholesale, biased, death to anything that moves and/or doesn't that isn't on your team kill bath but with one life! That... or team deathmatch... with one life. The team with the last standing man wins. And now a moment of reflection...
  
  
• Missons
  The bread and butter of TrueCombat! Map builders script it, the players have to do it. Well, to win anyways. For some people that's not important. We don't like those people, though. Ahem. Basically, you can have one or a huge list of things that need accomplished in order for your team to win. That broad statement ranges anything from planting a bomb and blowing the hell out of something to meeting with your teammates in the disco lounge for a night out on the town.
  
  

Equipment Menu

• 1) Item Informations
  here you'll get a small closeup to the selected item, further informations.
  
  
• 2) Select an Item
  To choose your weapons and items, just click on the picture of it in the proper box to change it. In the background of each itembox, the kind of the it is drawed. like "Primary", "Secondary", "Sidearm"...
  
  
• 3) Clips
  The amount of additional clips for the weapon will be set there. Same for Grenades.
  
  
• 4) Weapon Addons
  to some weapons, you can add addons. Choose them by clicking in the marked field.
  
  
• 5) Helmet
  If you want to have your brain protected, check the box. Green filled checkbox (as it is on the picture) means you'll have a helmet with you.
  
  
• 6) Weight
  As mentioned before, the weight of your equipment is a very important Point. As more you carry, as faster you will be out of power to sprint, you'll take more falling damage, just play around with the amount of Clips you carry, and you'll find whats best. More ammo or faster movement ?
  
  

The HUD

Your general information store ingame. Provides you with your health, stamina and weapons status. Some peoples like the great colorful ones, others love the old one from the post builds. We serve both. You can select from 4 different huds in the Options -> HUD menu. Lets have at the hud options.

• 1) Sytle
  Choose one of the 4 different HUD's.
  
  
• 2) Nametags
  Depending if its serversided enabled, here you can turn on or off the (nick)nametags over the Players heads.
  
  
• 3) Others
  Wellknown options like FPS, LAGoMeter etc.. can be turned on off here.
  
  
• 4) Message displays
  Another nice feature here. Change color size and of the Teamchat Box. Just play around and youll figure out how it works.
  
  

About the HUD informations:

• 1) Ammo Infos
  The top number next to the bullet displays how much bullets left in the current clip. The image of the bullets also shows which kind of you use :-)
  
  
• 2) Clip Info
  Shows how much Clips left. Hm.. It doesnt realy make sense for me, since you dont loose the remaining bullets in the clip when you reload before its empty. So the number of clips doesnt decrease everytime you reload. Dont get confused :-)
  
  
• 3) Body Status
  This small pic changes its color to red if you're bleeding.
  
  
• 4) Health and Stamina
  The opinions are different. If you dont like such bars in a realiy shooter, choose the "old" hud which doesnt have those. Anyways.. those bars shows how much health and stamina left.
  
  
  

Callvote Menu

• 1) Kick Teammate
  Mark the teammate you want to call a vote on here and click on 1b to see him ( maybe ) get booted.
  
  
• 2) Change Gametype
  With this button you can call a vote on changing the gametype, it will change when the next round starts. Choose a gametype and click on the "Type" button.
  
  
• 3) Change Map
  Here, you can call a vote on a new map. Choose the map you want and click on "map".
  
  
• 4) Kick any Player
  Finally with this you can call a vote on any player to be kicked if the others agree. Click on the players name and then on "Kick" ( 4b ).
  
  

Cvars

cg_hudFiles ui/file.txt [ui/hud1.txt] After it is set, use the cmd /loadhud to change the hud.
cg_tc_sun_altitude [50] Used by mappers to adjust temperary sun.
cg_tc_sun_degree [135] Used by mappers to adjust temperary sun.
cg_tc_sun 0-1 [0] Used by mappers to place a temperary sun in maps.
cg_commoninfo 0-1 [1] Show Common server info during warmup.
cg_lowEffects 0-1 [0] Lowers rendering on rain/snow for better performance.
cg_toggleCrouch 0-1 [0] Makes crouch button a toggle.
cg_particleEffects 0-1 [1] Disable particles.
cg_trailEffects 0-1 [1] Disable trails.
cg_drawFriend 0-1 [1] Draw floating name tag.
cg_namescale 1-4 [3] sets the text size on the floating names.
cg_firstpersonspec 0-1 [1] when 1 will change follow view to first person.
cg_weaponselect 0-1 [1] Draw the slot icons when changing weapons.
cg_autoholster 0-1 [1] Auto holster when facing and touching ladders.
cg_autoswitch 0-1 [1] auto switch when picking up weapons.

say_team chat box:

cg_chatboxTime [5000] The time a line will stay on the screen. 5000 is 5 seconds.
cg_chatboxLines 0-1 [4] The amount of lines to show. 0 turns off the box and puts the text back in the console.
cg_chatboxWidth [40] The width of the box, and wrapping of text.
cg_chatboxStyle 1-3 [3] The color style of the box and text.
cg_chatboxScale 8-10-12-14 [10] The scale of the chat text.
cg_chatboxX 0-640 [110] Move the box left or right on the screen.
cg_chatboxY 0-480 [434] Move the box up or down on the screen.

Server Cvars:

g_forcefollow0-1 [0] forces a player to follow his last team.
g_nospecchat 0-1 [0] spectators and ghost cant chat to the living.
g_nospectalk 0-1 [0] spectators and ghost cant talk or chat to the living.
g_autoreload 0-1 [0] Allows fire button to reload gun when empty.
g_complaintlimit # [4] Amount of Tk complaints before player is kicked.
g_spawnpro # [5] Spawn protection time.
g_roundwarmup # [15] Warmup time between rounds.
g_rounds # [0] Number of rounds per map.
g_roundtimelimit # [0]Time limit per round.
g_roundfraglimit # [0]Kill limit per round.
g_maxlives # [0] Lives per map.
g_teamflagkillPenalty # [-4] Score penalty for killing team mates with the flag.
g_teamkillPenalty # [-2] Score penalty for killing team mates.
g_handleCheaters 0,1,2. [2] 1 will print message about players trying to use various cvar settings, 2 will also kick player.
g_forcefollow 0-1, [0] forcers players from free floating spectator to chase.
g_realism 0,1,2 , [0] 1 will disable means of death messages, 2 will also disable floating nametags.
m_scriptRounds # [0] Used to set number of mission rounds. Removed control from scripts.
g_rotation "" or "filename.cfg" used for restarting the map rotations when gametype is changed by console, gametype voting or can be voted for directly.
Gametypes

0 ffa
1 lastman (survivor)
3 team dm
4 reverse ctf
5 ctf
6 team lastman (teamsurvivor)
7 mission