The Insurgent ReadMe File
Updated October 2008
(c) Biotech Game Productions, 2008. All rights reserved.

Welcome to the The Insurgent!

This file contains information to help you troubleshoot issues with the The Insurgent and also provides basic game information. For the latest support or additional information, please visit our website (http://www.biotechgaming.com). Alternatively, you may also visit the BZPower Biotech topic (http://www.bzpower.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=204351).

Contents:

A. System Requirements
Minimum Requirements
Optimum Requirements
B. Installing and Running the The Insurgent
Installation
How to Run the Game
C. Playing The Insurgent
Keys
Additional Information
D. Optimizing Your Experience
Settings
E. Getting Help and Support
Forums
Website
Direct Contact
F. Video and Audio Troubleshooting
Video Drivers
Audio Drivers
System Updates
Incompatibilities

Copyright Notice:

This game, including visual and audio resources, are copyrighted Biotech Game Productions 2008 unless otherwise noted. Use of these resources without explicit permission of the author is not permitted. Biotech retains the right to prosecute violators as permitted under federal law.




A. System Requirements

The Insurgent requires a personal computer with the following minimum requirements:

* Personal computer with a 1 GHz or faster processor
* Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Vista
* 512 Megabytes (MB) of RAM
* 40 MB of available hard disk space
* 64 MB video card capable of a resolution of at least 640x480 and 16-bit color
* Keyboard and Mouse or compatible pointing device
* Sound card and speakers, headphones, or equivalent
* DirectX 8 or later (this can be downloaded at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/) 
For optimum performance:
* Personal computer with a dual-core 1 GHz or faster processor
* Windows XP or Windows Vista
* 1 Gigabyte (GB) of RAM or more
* 50 MB of available hard disk space
* 256 MB video card capable of a resolution of at least 800x600 and 32-bit color
* Keyboard and Mouse or compatible pointing device
* Sound card and speakers, headphones, or equivalent
* DirectX 8 or later (this can be downloaded at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/) 
* Internet Access (needed for support only)
Note: While The Insurgent cannot be played on a Mac using OSX, it will run on a Mac running Windows XP/Vista via BootCamp.

B. Installing and Starting The Insurgent

To Install The Insurgent:

There is only 1 step involved in the installation process: Unzip the file. After it has been unzipped, the game can be run from its current location, or any other location that you may happen to place it in.

To Run The Insurgent:

Simply double click the icon, this will load and run the program.

C. Playing The Insurgent

Keys:

There are a number of keys that you will use throughout the game to blast your way through the levels. They are as follows:

* WASD - Move
* Q - Drop mine
* E - Action
* R - Reload
* Mouse Left - Shoot
* Mouse Scroll, F - Cycle Weapons
* F3, P - Pause
D. Optimizing Your Experience

Due to the extensive use of high level graphics features in the game, some very old computers may not be able render all of them simultaneously without experiencing lag. This occurs when there is too much data for a system to process in time for it to display it onscreen (for a game this is usually about 30 to 60 times per second). While The Insurgent's engine is heavily optimized to perform well on even very old computers, the following steps may improve your performance:

* Close Open Applications - Applications such as other games and virus scans are very taxing on system resources. Quitting them frees up resources and processing power for use in The Insurgent.

* Change the In-Game Graphics Settings - Another easy way to increase performance is to simply reduce the amount of effects the computer needs to display in the game.

o Particles - This option controls the use of particle effects within the game. Such effects include sparks, dust, water droplets, and the like. If you need to turn this down, "Normal" provides the best balance between visual quality and performance.
o Debris - This setting regulates the amount of debris generated within the game. As this is often the most taxing graphics feature (closely followed by particles), reducing this setting is often the best way to increase performance.
o Shader Detail - Unless your video card has relatively little VRAM (128MB or below) or low 3D capabilities, changing this setting is less likely to increase your performance except in select areas. We recommend not reducing this setting unless you experience lag with effects such as distortion ripples rendered with some explosions.
o HDR Lighting - Like with the Shader detail setting, unless you have relatively little VRAM/system RAM, changing this setting is less likely to impact your performance. However, turning these effects off will result in a noticeable visual difference, so we recommend trying to optimize other settings before removing this one.
o Frameskip - In this version this setting is disabled. If you find that the game regularly lags on your system, you may want to enable frameskipping. This will essentially tell the computer to skip frames when necessary in order to avoid having the lag of rendering every single frame. The advantage is that you will effectively have zero lag. The disadvantage is that, depending upon how severe the original load was, the game may appear less fluid and smooth. Having this enabled or disabled depends entirely upon user preference, as it will only kick in when the lag reaches a certain, noticeable threshold (no point in skipping frames when you don't need to).

* Confirm that Your System Meets the Minimum Requirements - If your system does not meet the minimum specifications, it will likely have difficulty running the game. We recommend playing it on a system that meets or exceeds the optimum requirements see Section A) for the full experience.






E. Getting Help and Support

You can find or receive help and support resources in the following ways:

* Go to the Biotech Support Forums located at http://forums.biotechgaming.com.

* Go to the BZPower Biotech Topic located at http://www.bzpower.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=204351.

* If neither of these locations methods provides an answer to your problem, you may contact Biotech directly at http://www.biotechgaming.com/contact.php.

F. Video and Audio Troubleshooting

At the moment, there are no known video or sound errors. However, to minimize the chances of one occurring, please make sure that:

* Your video card has the latest DirectX compatible drivers. Your card manufacturer's website should contain updates and update information.

* Your sound card also has the latest drivers. Check with your card manufacturer for updates.

* Your operating system is completely up to date and that it meets or exceeds the system requirements stated above in section A.

Incompatibilities: The following are known hardware incompatibilities with The Insurgent.

Video Cards:

* Microsoft S3 ProSavageDDR (Integrated GPU)
* Via S3 Unichrome (Integrated GPU)




















Biotech, The Insurgent, and all related content are (c) Biotech Game Productions 2006-2008
Mac, OSX, and all related content are (c) Apple Computers Inc. 2008
BZPower is (c) BZPower.com 2008
DirectX 8, DirectX, etc. are (c) Microsoft Corporation 2008
