To set up any of the options in HardWar, just start the game from any shortcut provided by the installation. They lead to a file called HARDMAN.EXE located in the main directory where you loaded the game's files. This is in you "Program Files" folder by default.

The screen that appears is the Main Launch Screen and it has several tabs. Click a tab to go to that set-up window. The options are pretty simple and easy to set up.

This page covers audio and video options. To set up your game controllers and keyboard, go here.

VIDEO

The game's video output can be configured from the Main Menu's 'Display' tab. Click the tab and all of the display options will be available to you. A list of these is below.

3D Rendering -- Let's you pick the method of rendering or acceleration you'd like to use. It's a simple drop down box activated by the arrow on the far right of the box. Just select from the available options.

IMPORTANT NOTE: At this time, HardWar does NOT support most 3dfx devices. There is a work around that works in many cases. You can read about the 3dfx work around here. The anticipated patch should clear up this problem. There is often a warning box that pops up during HardWar's game loading stating that the game may not render properly. Ignore this. It generally does just fine.

You can always go back to Direct3D. It looks and performs quite well. It's about the only way I play the game.

Resolution -- Refers to the overall screen size and level of detail. The game works best at 600x400 on most systems.

Pointer -- Lets you choose between using the game's mouse pointer or your Window's one. If the game pointer operates erratically changing to your Window's pointer usually clears this up.

Fog Depth -- Is a slide bar that allows you to adjust how thick the fog is. I use 'Far' for better visibility.

Lens Flare -- Check this box and a glow appears around lights, etc. Adds a lot to the appearance of the game, but may slow things down on slower machines. Not a necessity.

Clouds -- Adds clouds. Adds to the game's appearance, but like 'Lens Flare', it's not essential. Uncheck the box if your game's running slowly.

Building Smoke -- Similiar to the above. It lets you see smoke coming from some of the buildings in Misplaced Optimism.

CD-ROM Settings

Some people may have trouble with the movies in the game not displaying or taking forever to load. This can be overcome by setting your CD-ROM to a "no read ahead" setting. The default read ahead setting allows for a very large cache of CD-ROM data and slows down CD initialization and loading except on machines with an exceptional amount of RAM.

These settings are made in Windows and effect overall CD preformance. Here's how to remove your read ahead:

1) Right click the "My Computer" icon on your desktop. Next, click the "Properties" options from the shell menu that pops up.

2) You'll see a tabbed dialog box come up. Click the "Performance" tab.

3) At the bottom of the Performance Tab window, click the button called "File System". Another tabbed dialog box will appear.

4) Click the "CD-ROM" tab in this box. Record the current settings so you can reset to default if you want to. In the CD-ROM window, set the selection in the select box to "no read-ahead". Set the slide bar above this to "Large" (all the way to the right. This is generally the default slide-bar setting.

NOTE: On some older machines you may get even better performance by moving the slide bar to "small" or somewhere less than "large". A 1MB supplemental cache is generally enough.

5) Now click the "Apply" button and all of the "OK" buttons to close the boxes. At some point you will be asked to reboot. Reboot when required. You will have to reboot before the new settings take effect.

6) Now try playing Hardwar and you'll have a better chance of seeing the movies if CD-ROM reading was the problem.

AUDIO

Like video, you access the audio features of HardWar by clicking the 'Audio' tab on the main menu. The major features are described below.

Sound Effects -- A must. These are the sounds of explosions, firing missiles, blazing cannons, etc. Don't disable this unless you're desperate to speed up the game.

Stereo -- Lets you choose between Stereo or Mono sound.

Computer Voice -- Not essential, but very handy. You are audibly warned of stalls and new messages. You are also warned of low shields or power. This frees up your eyes for targeting and shooting.

Music -- The music in HardWar is good. It really gets you in the mood. It's taken directly from the CD so it requires very little RAM. You can turn the music on or off by checking or unchecking this box.

Levels -- This button opens Window's volume controls. You can adjust the relative sound levels of the music and sounds with these controls as well as set the overall volume.