A short user guide

by R. Niehoff, edited by Kristian Picon from ETR

Important keys

1, 2, 3 - different camera modes (standard is 2)
f - hide or show fps display as part of the hud (heads-up display)
s - screenshot (in folder "screenshots")
h - hide or show hud
u - toggle snowflakes on menu screens

There are some special functions which might be relevant for newcomers who are interested in the compoments of the scenery. You can toggle the following elements: 

F5 - skybox
F6 - fog
F7 - terrain
F8 - trees and objects

For generating the item list by parsing the trees.png file the following keys might be helpful: (these option will be obsolete in future versions)

t - sets priority to trees.png and generates an items.lst
c - value of size of trees (1 ... 5)
v - value for size variation (1 ... 5)

The configuration screen

The most important adjustments can be done at runtime at the config screen. Most options should be self-explanatory. "Auto" for resolution means that the program uses the same values as set in the basic computer configuration. That's not convenient in windowed mode since it ignores the menu/task bar on the screen.

There are 3 levels of detail:

1 - for very slow computers (no trackmarks, particles etc.)
2 - most details are shown but on an lower level
3 - best appearance, today's computers should have no problems with this

The adjustments are entered and stored in the file "options". Editing this file is possible, but not necessary.

# 0 = framed window | 1 = fullscreen
[fullscreen] 1

# resolution type: 0 = auto | 1 = 800 x 600 | 2 = 1024 * 768
[res_type] 0

# level of details 1 ... 3
[detail_level] 3

# maximal values are 120
[sound_volume] 60
[music_volume] 30

The options file

The following adjustments must be done by editing the options file, they don't appear on the config screen. The file is not commented yet, that will be done in a future version.

# Index to a language list
[language] 0

# the distances where the course clipping begins
[forward_clip_distance] 75
[backward_clip_distance] 20

# field of view, similar to the focal length at a camera lens
[fov] 60

# color depth, 0 = auto, 1 = 16, 2 = 32
[bpp_mode] 1

# some performance parameters
[tree_detail_distance] 20
[tux_sphere_divisions] 10
[tux_shadow_sphere_div] 3

# This parameter should be obsolete soon. It's the distance where
# the trees are not drawn crosswise but as simple plane textures.
[course_detail_level] 75

# You can choose between 2 font styles: 0 Helvetica, 1 Papercut
# If the value is 2, the huds are drawn with Papercut, too
[use_papercut_font] 1

# Cursor style: 0 normal alrrow cursor, 1 icicle
[ice_cursor] 1

# Normally the sky is drawn with 6 textures (a cube). In the Tuxracer scene
# are only 3 textures visible (left, front, right). So it's faster to draw
# only the visible textures. In addition, it spares resources.
# If set to 1, all 6 textures will be drawn (they have to exist!).
[full_skybox] 0