-=Hell Fighter need-to-know's=-
- Newbie FAQ
Please put in your Location(Continent&/Country&/State&/City) and Connection(Bandwidth) from Settings, located on the top bar.
Press and hold yourself in Ready-mode in the top player list so you can play. If a host presses Ready, the current battle is sent to players. Before Ready, they can't see the new map.
Ping means latency, it is how long it takes for your control commands to reach the server (and back?). Host should have under 10ms ping because the Host's ping is the time that it takes the data to go from his computer back to his comp.
Drops are how many packages have been lost during the time you have been on the server. If ingame drops are shown as jumpiness: Lag spikes (also known as Ping spikes...whatever does it for you).
If your game is warping: By putting in a higher number for Smooth Latency, or SL, in Settings, you reduce the amount of lag spikes but at the same time you increase your ping. Increase your SL to stop the game's jumping around.
Dark Bot's server is an automated delivery system for suplying players with the latest battles. It does not host battles, except on special occations. Its main purpose is to let people know that the Directory Listing is functional.
Lowering your FPS has reportedly no affect on your latency(ping). If your computer is man enough, you might as well keep it at 75.
Important HF sites to see: http://www.dracova.com/hellfighter/ http://www.hellfighterdatabase.com http://de.geocities.com/bodydrive/hfbg/ http://zibzib.sandwich.net/hf/newbfaq.html http://www.geocities.com/greener555/
- Keys
Basic keys for keyboard are as follows: ctrl, alt, space and arrows. Ships have different functions for the fire buttons, so you have to test which do what for each ship, though main guns are usually space.
Esc is of course End. When you are hosting, it also ends the whole game. For everyone.
By pressing Tabulator once ingame, a chat screen will appear. Click on the screen to activate it. Enter to send the message. Press Tab again to get rid of it. Be careful not press Esc by mistake when getting rid of chat.
With 'numpad 5' you can cycle through ships when you are dead and in observer mode. Also, arrow keys move the view when you are dead/have jumped.
To disable autozoom, use the - and + on the numpad. With these you can zoom your screen closer or further away from your ship. In my opinion, autozoom is of no use. If you feel differently, then use it by all means.
Do not press F1 ingame, or Hell Fighter might(probably will) crash.
- Problems
Make sure you have DirectX 8.1 or higher and Hell Fighter version v.21.01 installed. Let's look at your problems after those are installed on your computer :)
As a general rule, don't have anything downloading, and keep the amount of programs, that use bandwith, running at a minimum while playing Hell Fighter.
If you are stuck in xFer, try reconnecting to the server.
If you can't connect to a server, then it's down or has firewall or has other problems. It could also be that you have something wrong with your connection.
If you have been cursed with the necessity for firewall, then make your firewall listen to port 10666 so you can host games. Also routers will cause problems like this.
If you can't see Dark Bot's server on the list, it might just mean his server is down. To test if the list works, host your own game and then start another HF and check the list with that. If that doesn't work, there's propably a problem with your connection.
- Battles
If you go through a jumpgate you end your game, Period. It does not move you to another location. If you like, you can try jumping through the JG at the end of the battle, or escape through it when in trouble.
When jumping through a jumpgate, you may not disappear like you should. You will fly normally for a while more and then suddenly disappear. It has been known to happen. If you die because of this, just deal with it. ;-)
In your main HF folder you see the file "current.hfb". That is the battle you see in Hell Fighter's Battle window when you play. Copy that and change its name to your liking if you want to save the currently played battle.
- Things you might not have known
Don't worry, the first game played is always the laggiest one.
For mp3 music, make a 'music' folder to your main HF folder and move/copy mp3s in the folder. Select mp3 from Settings and change tracks with numbers. ie. 01, 02, 03... 00 is randomizer.
The chat is recorded into HellFighter.log in your main Hell Fighter folder. If you restart your Hell Fighter or open a new HF window, the log will be deleted.
Hell Fighter version 21.01 doesn't have AIs under 4. You can see this when you load a battle and look at the current.hfb with a text editor. All the AI 3's and 2's have turned into 4...
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