* Neverball *

Tilt the floor to roll a ball through an obstacle course within the
given time. If the ball falls or time expires, a ball is lost.

Collect coins to unlock the exit and earn extra balls. Red coins are
worth 5. Blue coins are worth 10. A ball is awarded for 100 coins.

* INSTRUCTIONS

Click Play to begin. Mouse motion tilts the floor. Mouse buttons
rotate the viewpoint. The following keyboard controls are defined by
default; most of them can be changed in a configuration file. See
below for details.

ESC Pause and resume / Exit

SHIFT Fast camera rotation

1 Chase Camera (default)

2 Lazy Camera
3 Manual Camera

F9 Toggle frame counter

F10 Hide HUD
F12 Snap a screenshot

UP Tilt the floor forward

DOWN Tilt the floor backward
LEFT Tilt the floor left
RIGHT Tilt the floor right

D Rotate the view right

S Rotate the view left

R Restart the current level

TAB Cycle through scores in high-score table

* LEVEL PROGRESSION

Neverball levels are grouped in level sets. There are two game modes
or ways of progressing through the levels: the Normal mode and the
Challenge mode.

In Normal mode, no track of lives or balls is kept. Each

unlocked/completed level is immediately accessible and can be retried
and restarted at any point.

In Challenge mode, the player is given a limited number of balls and

attempts to complete all of the levels in turn, starting with the
first level. The game ends once the balls run out or the set is
completed. A set score is recorded upon completion. Levels cannot be
restarted freely.

A set may contain a number of bonus levels. Bonus levels are unlocked
by playing Challenge mode and completing all of the levels leading up
to each bonus level. After unlocking a bonus level, it becomes
playable in Normal mode.

* USER DATA FILES

Neverball creates a directory in which it stores user data files.

These files include addons, screenshots, high scores, replays, and
configurations.

Under Unix, Linux, and OSX this directory is called ".neverball" (a

hidden folder) and is created in the user's home directory.

Under Windows it is created in "Documents\My Games\Neverball".

* ADDONS

Additional Neverball content is usually distributed as a ZIP or PK3 (a

renamed ZIP) file. A properly packaged ZIP file can be installed by
dropping it into the user data directory. After a restart, the game
will automatically use the new content.

* SCREENSHOTS

Screenshots taken in-game with the F12 key are stored in PNG format in
the user data directory.

* HIGH SCORES

The top three fastest times through each level, the top three coin
scores and the top three fastest unlock scores for each level are
stored in the Scores directory within user data directory.

The top three fastest times and most coins scores for each level set
are also stored. To achieve a set score, the player must play through
all levels of a set in Challenge mode.

The total set time will include time spent during both successful and
unsuccessful level plays, thus time-outs and fall-outs count against
the total time.

* REPLAYS

Neverball includes a mechanism for recording and replaying levels.

The player may enter a name for each replay at the end of the level.
By default, the most recent unsaved level will be saved to the replay
file named "Last.nbr".

Replay files are stored in the Replays directory within the user data
directory. They may be copied freely. To view a replay, simply open
it with the Neverball executable. You can also move it to the Replays
directory and it will appear in the Replay menu in-game.
* CONFIGURATION

Game settings are stored in the file neverballrc in the user data
directory. This file is created when the game exits. It consists of
key / value pairs. Some of these values are configurable using the
in-game options screen. Other meaningful keys and their default
values follow.

width 800
height 600

These keys determine the effective display resolution. If for

any reason the resolution you're looking for isn't available
in the in-game settings, you can modify these values instead.

fullscreen 0

This key determines whether or not the application starts full

screen.

display 0

Selects on which display the game window is placed.

mouse_sense 300

This key controls mouse sensitivity. The value gives the

number of screen pixels the mouse pointer must move to rotate
the floor through its entire range. A smaller number means
more sensitive.

mouse_invert 0

This key inverts the vertical mouse axis if set to 1.

key_camera_1 1
key_camera_2 2
key_camera_3 3
key_camera_l s
key_camera_r d
key_camera_toggle e

These keys define keyboard mappings for camera selection and

rotation. The three camera behaviors are as follows:

1 - Chase camera stays behind the ball by cueing off of the

velocity of the ball. It is very responsive, but sometimes
confusing.

2 - Lazy camera chases a point a set distance from the ball.

It is seldom surprising, but at times it is not sufficiently
responsive.

3 - Manual camera does not rotate except by player command.

key_camera_toggle toggles camera behaviour between 1 and 3.

mouse_camera_1 none
mouse_camera_2 none
mouse_camera_3 none
mouse_camera_l left
mouse_camera_r right
mouse_camera_toggle middle

These keys match the respective key_camera_* options.

Accepted values are: "none" (for no mapping), "left", "right",
"wheelup", "middle", "wheeldown" or a numeric mouse button
index.

key_forward up
key_backward down
key_left left
key_right right

These keys define keyboard mappings for tilt control.

key_restart r

This key defines a keyboard mapping for a mid-game restart of

the current level. Handy when trying to record a new
high-score, this function isn't available in challenge mode.

key_score_next tab

This key defines a keyboard mapping for cycling through Most

Coins / Best Times / Fast Unlock score tabs in the high-score
board.

view_fov 50
view_dp 75
view_dc 25
view_dz 200

These keys define the view of the ball. They give the field
of view in degrees, the height of the view point, the height
of the view center, and the horizontal distance from the ball
in centimeters, respectively. (The ball is 50 centimeters in
diameter in most levels.)

The default values for these keys changed with version 1.2.6.
Some players may be interested in using the old values. They
were as follows:

view_fov 40
view_dp 400
view_dc 0
view_dz 600

rotate_fast 300
rotate_slow 150

These keys control the rate of camera rotation. Roughly, they

give the rate of lateral camera motion in centimeters per
seconds, so the actual rotation rate depends upon view_dz,
above. The fast rate is used when the Shift key is held down.

fps 0
 This key enables an on-screen frames-per-second counter. Press
F9 to toggle this flag in-game.

nice 0

This key enables a delay function after each frame is

rendered, forcing a context switch and ensuring that the game
does not utilize 100% of the CPU. 0 is off, 1 is on.

If the frame rate is not fast enough for you, or you simply
want to test the performance of the game on your hardware,
disable it.

ball_file ball/basic-ball/basic-ball

This key determines the model used for the ball.

replay_name %s-%l

This key specifies the format of the default replay name

generated when saving replays.

The value of replay_name can include regular characters and

special character sequences which act as place-holders for
certain "dynamic" text. These sequences are recognised:

%s current set identifier (such as "easy" or "mym")

%l current level identifier (such as "03" or "IV")
%% single percentage sign

Any other sequence starting with % is ignored.

The resulting replay name is also suffixed by an underscore

and a unique 2-digit number to avoid name collisions with
existing replays.

stats 0

This key enables print-out (to standard output) of running

statistics of the current frame time and frames-per-second,
averaged over one second. Most people won't need this.

screenshot 0

This key holds the current screenshot index. The number is

incremented every time a new screenshot is taken (by pressing
F12) and it is appended to the image file name.

stereo 0

This key enables quad-buffered stereo viewing for those with

the hardware to support it. 1 is on, 0 is off.

vsync 1

This key controls vertical blanking synchronization. 1 is on

(and is the default), 0 is off.

multisample 0
 This key enables multisample full-screen antialiasing. Values
can be 2, 4, 8, etc., and can be overspecified; in such case
the game will search for the highest level of multisampling
supported by your hardware. (The best value eventually gets
written to the config file.)

mipmap 1
aniso 0

These keys control mipmapping and anisotropic filtering,

respectively.

With mipmapping, smaller versions of each texture are kept in

video memory, and are referenced when a texture is viewed
from a distance. This improves video cache coherence and
eliminates texture "swimming" on detailed textures when seen
from afar. To disable mipmapping, set mipmap to 0.

Related to mipmapping is anisotropic filtering. "Anisotropic"

basically means "not the same from all directions". It refers
to cases where a texture might need to be compressed more
vertically than horizontally. For example, if a texture is
applied to a flat surface and seen from far away then it
appears much wider than high. Anisotropic filtering takes
care of this. To enable it, set aniso to a small power of
two. If you have weak hardware, this feature won't do
anything.

joystick 1

This key enables joystick control. 0 is off, 1 is on. The

game may still be controlled with the mouse even while gamepad
control is enabled. However, random noise from an analog
controller at rest can disrupt normal mouse input.

joystick_device 0

This number selects which joystick to use if more than one

joystick is found. 0 is the first joystick, 1 is the second
and so on.

joystick_axis_x 0

Joystick horizontal axis number

joystick_axis_y 1

Joystick vertical axis number

joystick_axis_u 2

Joystick axis number for view rotation control

joystick_button_a 0

Joystick menu select button

joystick_button_b 1
 Joystick menu cancel button

joystick_button_r 2

Joystick counter-clockwise camera rotation button

joystick_button_l 3

Joystick clockwise camera rotation button

joystick_button_exit 4

Joystick exit button

wiimote_addr

This key specifies the address of your Nintendo Wii Remote.

For more information, see the section on using Wiimote with
Neverball.

* WIIMOTE SUPPORT

For information on how to build the game with Wiimote support under
Linux, see instructions in the file INSTALL in the source archive.

To use it, first make sure you've set up all the Bluetooth mumbo-jumbo
in your kernel and what-not. Once this is done, you'll need to find
out your Wiimote's address like this:

$ hcitool scan
Scanning ...
00:1B:7A:3E:45:7F Nintendo RVL-CNT-01

This hexadecimal string must go in the neverballrc file as

"wiimote_addr 00:1B:7A:3E:45:7F" so that the game knows that there's a
Wiimote to be used.

Now, when you start the game everything will proceed normally but a
background thread will place your Bluetooth device into discoverable
mode. You've got about 15 seconds to press 1 and 2 on your wiimote.
The Wiimote's LEDs will flash, and once the game makes friends with it
the Player 1 LED will be lit. If you don't activate your Wiimote then
the game will behave normally and the Bluetooth discovery will
eventually time out.

From there, the Wiimote digital pad works like a joystick for
navigating menus. A and B buttons are the A and B buttons. Home is
Pause. Plus and Minus are camera rotation controls. Also, the tilt
sensor controls the floor.

The Wiimote tilt sensor is a surprisingly noisy device, so heavy

filtering is applied to the input. For this reason, the controls may
feel sluggish. This might improve with an IR sensor bar, but has not
been tested.

* HILLCREST LABS LOOP SUPPORT

For information on how to build the game with Hillcrest Labs Loop
support on all platforms, see instructions in the file INSTALL in the
source archive.

To use a loop to control the game, it must be plugged in at startup.

If the loop is plugged in, it will be chosen as the default
controller. Hold the loop upright, and tilt it left/right and
forward/backwards to control the game. Occasionally the sensors will
get miscalibrated; to fix this, simply set the loop on a table or
stable surface for about 5 seconds, and the controls should be back to
normal.

When not in game mode, the loop will act like a mouse to control
menus. When the game is playing, the left and right buttons control
the camera and the middle button will bring up a pause menu.

Web: <http://neverball.org/>