DUELERS/JA README
=================


Title			: Duelers/JA Mod 1.1
Author			: Lee Oattes
E-Mail			: oattes@not4hire.net
Website			: duelers.jk2files.com

File Name		: Duelers_1_1.zip
File Size		: 1.6 Mbytes
Date Released		: March 19 2004

Description		: Duelers/JA Mod

Comments		: THIS MODIFICATION IS NOT MADE, DISTRIBUTED, OR SUPPORTED
                          BY ACTIVISION, RAVEN, OR LUCASARTS ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY LLC.
                          ELEMENTS TM & © LUCASARTS ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY LLC AND/OR
                          ITS LICENSORS.



Preliminary Rant ;-)
====================

Welcome to the second generation of Duelers. This time around we are building on
the base Jedi Academy game. Duelers/JA will develop many of the same features of
the original Duelers for Jedi Outcast. However, this will not happen all at once!
As dicussed on the Duelers Web Page (http://duelers.jk2files.com), Duelers/JA will
develop over time with a series of releases. Each release will have a set of new
features drawn from the ideas in Duelers/JO and also completely new ideas generated
by the players of Duelers/JA.

Raven did some great work to improve the base Jedi Academy game over Jedi Outcast.
The dual sabers and staff sabers with new custom animations are very well
done. The elimination of the all too powerful kick was, I think, appropriate -- but
I do really miss that dimension of combat! The best idea of all, I my opinion, was to
set up the system where special moves consume force power. This, again in my view, is
probably the best way to prevent the endless spamming of a single power move that we all
saw in Jedi Outcast.

That having been said, I also think that they nearly ruined the game by nerfing the
blazes out of every fricking move! The base game has been reduced to a slash and spin
saber fight with all of the cool multi-dimensional moves effectively removed by making
each of them useless in an attack! Many of the people I know who really liked the "art"
of JO simply did not play JA after a while as it was simple too boring. I agree with
them.

So, my first work in building Duelers/JA is aimed at restoring all of the special moves
and removing all the "nerfing". The consumption of force power for all specials as in
the base JA should prevent the abuse of same. Feedback from the players will be important
in achieving balanced fighting, but I think this approach is much better than the one
taken in JA where everyone is stripped of potential "skill" and forced to play at 
"novice" levels.


Installation
============

Unzip the zipfile provided into ../Gamedata. It should create a directory named duelers
with all the required elements. Note, when you run the mod, additional *.dll files will
be created in this directory by the game. This is normal. You don't need to remove these
before installing a new version.

While the game will run if you just launch JKA normally and then connect to a duelers
server, it is best to launch the game with the '+set fs_game duelers' command line
argument (or load the mod from the menus). This ensures that any duelers menus and
configuration options are available *before* you join a duelers server.


Feature Summary
===============

Duelers 1.0

- Extensive support for dueling including multiple duel types.
- Complete (full weapons) non interference for duelers -- other players are not seen
  and cannot influence the duelers in any way.
- Un-nerfs -- play a much more challenging, wide open style of battle. You can enable or
  disable all nerfs, but try the game un-nerfed and see what you are missing.
- A bevy of emotes.
- Clan Chat for FFA clan servers.
- Macro Scanning. Get rid of those pesky macro fighters -- well, not the fighters themselves,
  only their fake skillz.

Duelers 1.1

- Grapples are available!
- Jetpacks are available!
- Advanced Ban capabilities to make it easier to ban players and to manage a large list of
  banned players simultaneously.
- Enhanced Time out support to reap players to spectator status quickly if they are AFK.
- Complete voting control for server admins and extensions to allow server admins to
  create completely custom votes. Allow your clients to control more features!
- User Interface Menus updated to allow Duelers control configuration, custom votes and to
  search for Duelers Games
- Crosshair and scoreboards show dueling partners
- Jedi Council Force power rank is available
- two new user commands "motd" and "showadmin"
- kicking and saber throws enabled for all stances
- improved saber collision and damage consistency


Documentation
=============

See the accompanying HTML docs for a full description of Duelers/JA.


Thanks!
=======

JK2Files for hosting the Duelers Web Page, providing a Forum for Duelers discussion, and
for providing a download service to distribute the mod.

Inskipp and his Shadows of the Sith clan colleagues for beta testing and lots of great
constructive criticism!

