Front Line

Unknown

Front Line Force
Instruction Manual v1.1

Table of Contents:

     1.    Overview
     2.    Getting Started
     3.    Controls
     4.    Classes
     5.    Weapons
     5.    Capture Points
     6.    HUD
     7.    Radar
     8.    Timer
     9.    Team Bonus
     10.  Stamina
     11.  Command Menu
     12.  Console Commands
     13.  Miscellaneous
     14.  Credits

Overview

In Front Line Force the players are divided into two teams: Attackers and Defenders. The object for the Attackers is to capture various Capture Points spread throughout the map. The object for the Defenders is to defend those points. Once a point is captured by the Attackers it cannot be taken back. The round is over when either the Attackers capture all the Capture Points or when the round time runs out, in which case the Defenders win. After the round is over, the roles of are switched. If you were previously attacking, you are now defending, and vice versa.

The weapons, player models, and maps are all based on realistic situations, but the damage system and the way the game itself plays is NOT based on realism. Players do NOT die in one or two shots, but rather it takes a few shots from even the strongest gun to kill them, similar to Team Fortress Classic or other traditional multiplayer games. When a player dies, he does NOT sit out the rest of the round like in other games, rather he will respawn after a designated number of seconds has elapsed.


Getting Started

When you first join a Front Line Force server you will be presented with a menu where you can select your team. You are then presented with a Class Selection screen, where you choose the class (Recon, Assault, Support) you wish to play as. You will then be presented with a choice of pistols to use.

After you choose a pistol, you are presented another screen where you may choose your primary weapon. Depending on the class you chose, certain weapons may or may not be available for you to use. For example, only the Recon class may use the Sniper Rifle, so the choice is not there for the other classes. After you have chosen your primary weapon, you are then presented with another screen similar to the last one where you pick your secondary weapon.

After you choose your weapon you will spawn in your team's spawning area, the location of which will depend on whether your team is currently attacking or defending. The words "You are Attacking" or "You are Defending" will appear in the middle of your screen to let you know what your role is to be for the round.

Before the round begins, there is a small "set up" time in which the Attackers cannot move and the Defenders prepare for the coming assault. Use this time to pick your weapons and communicate a plan of action to your teammates. When the time is up, the Attackers will be able to start their assault, and the Defenders will try their best to defend the Capture Points.


Controls

In addition to the regular Forward, Strafe, Jump, etc. commands that you will want to bind, there are a few new ones you will need to use as well. Using the Half-Life Controls menu, make sure that you have a key defined for each of the following:
USE The USE key that opens doors and activates switches in Half-Life is also used in Front Line Force to capture Capture Points when on the attacking team. To capture a Capture Point when you are an Attacker, stand near the Capture Point and press and hold down the USE key. A timer will appear near the bottem of your screen indicating how may seconds remain before the point is captured. During this time your weapon will holster and you will be venurable, so make sure you have teammates covering you from enemy fire! After the point is captured, your weapon returns and your team should advance your way to the next point. To stop the processes of capturing a point after you have begun to do so, simply either let go of the USE key or walk/run away from the Capture Point. Defenders cannot capture Capture Points.
PRIMARY ATTACK This key triggers the normal fire mode of your weapon just like in Half-Life.
SECONDARY ATTACK This key currenly only functions as the "zoom" key for the Sniper Rifle. For all other weapons it does nothing.
RELOAD This key reloads your weapon when its clip has ran out of ammo.
COMMAND MENU This key is used to active that ingame Command Menu, where you can send Radio Messages to other teammates, check the status of all Capture Points, or change your team, class, or weapons.
DROP ACTIVE WEAPON This drops the current weapon you are holding so that you may pick up another weapon from the ground. Not all weapons can be dropped.
TOGGLE PRONE This button toggles the "prone" position, where the player lies flat on his or her stomach. While in prone mode, you can crawl around using the Forward, Backward, and use the Strafe Left and Strafe Right keys to roll. You cannot fire your weapon while moving in prone.

Prone is useful for the sneaky player who likes to attack his enemies while giving them little clue to his or her location. It takes a small moment to go from standing to prone position (or vice versa) in which time you cannot move, cannot fire, and are vunerable to attack. So make sure you don't go prone in a firefight!
CAPTURE POINT STATUS This key brings up the "Capture Point Status" display, which can also be activated via the Command Menu. This screen tells you the current status of all the Capture Points. It displays the Name of the Capture Point, your current role (Attacking or Defending), and whether the point is "Captured" or "Free", which is also displayed in the color of the team who controls the Capture Point.
RADIO This button brings up a menu of radio commands that can be activated via the number keys. Some people like to use it rather than the Command Menu.



Classes

There are three different classes you can choose to play as: Recon, Assault, and Support.

Recon - Fastest speed, but can take less damage before dying. Only class that can use Sniper Rifles. Gets 2 Flashbangs and 1 Frag Grenade. Can capture points faster than normal.
Assault - Medium speed, medium damage. Gets 1 Flashbang and 1 Frag Grenade.
Support - Slow speed, can take the most damage. Gets 1 Frag Grenade. Takes longer to capture a point.


Weapons

There are several different weapons at your disposal in Front Line Force. Here is a breif list of them all, along with a list of their advantages and disadvantages:
     Pistols
      Beretta .92fs             Medium Rate of Fire. Low Damage. Medium Accuracy.
      Mk. 23       Slow Rate of Fire. Medium damage. Medium Accuracy.

     Shotguns
      SPAS-12                  Medium Rate of Fire. Medium Damage. Medium Accuracy.

     Sub-Machineguns
      MP5A2       Fast Rate of Fire. Medium Damage. Medium Accuracy.
      MP5SD       Medium Rate of Fire. Medium damage. High Accuracy. Silencer attached.
      Ingram MAC-10       Very Fast Rate of Fire. Low damage. Low Accuracy. Silencer attached.
      UMP .45       Slow Rate of Fire. High damage. Medium Accuracy.

     Rifles
      M4 Carbine             Slow Rate of Fire. Medium Damage. Medium Accuracy. Only usable by Assault & Support class.
      Famas              Fast Rate of Fire. High damage. Very Low Accuracy. Only usable by Assault & Support class.
      AK5              Medium Rate of Fire. Medium damage. Medium Accuracy. Only usable by Assault & Support class.
      MSG-90              Slow Rate of Fire. High damage. High Accuracy (Zoomed). Only usable by Recon class.

     Heavy Weapons
      H&K21                    Slow Rate of Fire. High Damage. Medium Accuracy. Only usable by Support class.


Capture Points

Capture Points are the main focus of Front Line Force. The capturing of these points determines whether your team loses. The object of the game is for the attacking team to capture these points, or for the Defending team to successfully stop the Attackers from capturing them.

As an Attacker, press and hold your USE key when standing near a Capture Point to capture it. Your weapon will holster while you are capturing the point making you vunerable to attack, so make sure you have some team members backing you up. Each capture point takes a different amount of time to capture, and the class you are playing as effects the time it takes for you to capture a point. Recons can capture points faster than Assault, who in turn can capture faster than the Support class. When all Capture Points are captured, the Attackers win the round.

As a Defender, your job is to protect the Capture Points at all costs. The only way your team can win is if the time left in the round runs out before the Attacking team can capture all of the points. Once a Capture Point is captured by the Attackers it cannot be "recaptured" back to your side. It is lost for the rest of the round, so you should move on and protect the remaining Capture Points. If your team successfully holds off the Attackers until the round time runs out, the Defenders win the round.

HUD

There are many new onscreen elements added to your Heads Up Display in Front Line Force.


1.   Location
2.   Health & Armor
3.   Radar
4.   Timer
5.   Stamina
6.   Ammo

Radar

Your radar can be used to find other teammates or Capture Points near you. The bright dot in the center is you, with the triangle representing your current field of vision. Yellow dots on the radar are capture points, and green dots are your teammates.

You can move the position of the radar in the "Advanced" menu under Multiplayer->Customize (where you set your player name). The positions can be Off, Bottem Center, Upper Right, or Upper Left.

Timer

The timer marks how much time is left during the round. Before the round begins it marks how much time is left in the warm-up period. As time runs out, the timer begins to flash, signifying that you are running out of time.

Team Bonus

Team bonus is a new, unique feature in Front Line Force. It rewards players by staying with their team and using teamwork to accomplish the goal rather than going off on their own and getting themself killed. The more team mates are around you, the better your "Team Bonus Factor" is. Team Bonus slightly improves your accuracy as well as your Stamina rating. You also slowly regain health when you are near your teammates! The more teammates around you, the faster you regain your health.

You can see how many team mates are affecting your "Team Bonus" by the number of helmets in the lower right of your HUD. If there is one red helmet, that means there is one teammate near you. Two yellow helmets mean there are two teammates near you. Three green helmets mean there are three or more teammates near you. No helmets mean you are all alone, and you should try to regroup with your team.

Stamina

Your Stamina Meter is on the lower right of your screen. It measures how much "Stamina" you have left. When you jump, your stamina goes down and recharges back up. Don't worry, you have plenty of Stamina to help avoid enemy fire or jump over a few crates, but if you are a "bunny hopper" then you will have to get used to not jumping around every 5 seconds. :)

**NOTE** Stamina does NOT affect your speed of running, ducking, or anything else. It ONLY affects jumping.

Command Menu

The Command Menu (using the VGUI) can be a very helpful tool to you. Make sure you bind a key to it in the Controls menu! Using the Command Menu you can use a variety of Radio Commands that audibly broadcasts a message to your entire team, a very useful thing to have instead of typing. Be careful though, if an enemy is near you when you use the radio they can hear your voice!

You can also use the Command Menu to change your team, your class, your weapons selection, or check the Capture Point Status menu.

Console Commands

Server Commands:

mp_autoteambalance
This automatically balances the teams at the beginning of each round, making it more of a fair fight.

mp_timelimit (default 0 min)
Period between map rotations. If timelimit is hit before a round is over, the round will finish before changing levels.

mp_flashlight (default 1)
Set to 1 to enable the use of flashlights, 0 to disable.

mp_forcebalance
This makes it so that a player cannot join a team that already has more people than the other team. This helps balance out the teams and is highly recommended.

mp_roundlimit
When a team reaches the round limit (number of wins), then the map switches.

mp_teamchange (default 1)
Allows players to switch teams after warm-up time.

mp_friendlyfire (default 0)
Friendly Fire (players can damage their teammates).

mp_footsteps (default 1)
Plays footstep sounds.

mp_allowspects (default 1)
Allows Spectators.

mp_spectchat (default 0)
Spectators can talk to Players currently playing the game.

mp_allowicons (default 1)
Allows Team Icons (triangles).

sv_startmatch
This "restarts" the map without causing the players to load the map. Highly recommended for clan matches and tournaments, this lets the map "start over" without having some players join later than others.


Client Commands:

mp_decals (default 300)
Decal Limit (reduce for better performance).

cl_radar (default 2)
Radar Position.
 0 - Off
 1 - Bottom Center
 2 - Upper Right
 3 - Upper Left

cl_detail (default 1)
Detail Level. Change to 0 for better performance.

cl_cphelp (default 1)
Capture Point Help (for new players).

cl_teamicons
Shows an icon over your teammate's head, identifying them as on your team.

cl_traceshots
Toggles whether you see the "tracer" effect some guns have.

+commandmenu
Brings up the Command Menu VGUI, where you can send radio messages and change your settings.

+teamstatus
Shows Team Status menu

drop
Drops current weapon so that you may pick up another.

toggleprone
Allows you to go prone and get up again. When in prone you can crawl forward and roll left/right, but you can only fire when not moving. When you go into water you automatically go un-prone.

cpstatus
Displays Capture Point Status screen.

changeclass
Brings up the Change Class menu to change your class.

changeteam
Allows you to change your team.

changeweapons
Brings up the Weapon Selection menu to change your weapons.

radio
Displays Radio menu.

radio 1
Displays Radio Report/Responces Menu

radio 2
Displays Radio Emergency Messages Menu

radio 3
Displays Radio Orders Menu

NOTE: All the radio menus can be accessed from the Radio menu.

timeleft
Displays the time left before the map changes.

Miscellaneous

Q: I'm having troubles with the mod acting strangely...
A: Try deleting your CONFIG.CFG file in your /half-life/frontline/ folder.
  if that doesn't fix it feel free to email one of us or visiting our "Help" forum on the web site.

Q: Some people have a radar, but I don't. How do i get one?
A: Go to Multiplayer->Customize->Advanced Options. There is an option there labelled
   "Radar Status". Simply select where on the screeen you'd like your radar to appear.

Q: Some people have icons above their teammates heads, but i don't! How do i get them?
A: Go to Multiplayer->Customize->Advanced Options. There is an option there labelled
   "Icons over Teammates". Checking it puts an icon above your teammate's head easily
  identifying him as on your team.

Q: Why can't I pickup a weapon on the floor?
A: To pickup a dropped weapon, you'll need to drop one of yours first, you will not be able to pickup
   more than 1 rifle or more than 1 heavy weapon at a time. If you are a class that normally is not
   allowed to choose a weapon, you CAN still pick it up from the floor, but your accuracy will not be
   as good, only use this as last resource.

Q: Hey, I can't hit anything, my accuracy sucks, whats up with it?
A: Accuracy is modified by movement, rate of fire and other factors. We suggest using short controlled
   burst to mantain a good accuracy, if you are crouched or in prone position, you'll get a higher
   accuracy than if you were running. Jumping will give you the worst accuracy.

Q: I'm getting low FPS while playing Front Line, can't I do anything to fix this?
A: You can lower the detail level by using cl_detail 0, wich should help a bit your framerates, also
   you can always use our low poly player models, using cl_himodels 0. NOTE: All these changes are
   applied on the fly, so no need to restart or reconnect are necesary.

Q: I'm a mapper who would like to make an Front Line Force map, where can I get started?
A: We have a Mapping Tutorial for mappers who wish to quickly set up their map for use with
    Front Line Force! It is available at the Front Line Force Web Site: http://www.frontlineforce.com/

Credits

   The Front Line Force Team is:

     Adrian "Pink" Finol - Code/Lead Designer

     Ildegardis "Deimos" Briceño - Models, Animations and Graphics

     Russell "DOOManiac" Weed - Beta Testing Coordinator, Mapper, Manual, Readme

     Mary "MaryB" Beth - Mapper

     Alfred "Alfred" Reynolds - Linux Porter

     Jorge "Nava" Nava - Player model creator

     Tom "Guiver" Guiver - Models, Skins, Graphics

     Sterling "BigGuy" Greene - VGUI Programmer, Assistant Coder

     Ted "Cipher" Nugent - Graphics, Web Guy


   Special Thanks To:

     Valve Software
     Frank "SiTh" Nuccio
     Rewolf Software
     Christopher McArthur
     Shrike
     Brandon "Schrade" Renfrow
     Phil "Fuel" Sanford
     Lance
     Eric Cherry
     Paul 'MoOg' Samways
     Michael "ADSquirrel" Melgares
     Gooseman
     Mr_Grim
     Kwakkasaki
     relic
     Timay
     All of the FLF Beta Testers

   Skins by:

    Musicmad
    tekk

   Textures by:

    -DzeN-
    Andrew Aumann
    Cid
    DigiChaos
    Evile Dick
    George_Pooshoes
    Gorified
    Kevin "Relic" Roberts
    Maarten Bouwman
    MacMan
    Mazy
    MikeZilla
    TelNets
    Russell 'DOOManiac' Weed
    and various unknown artists

   Manual by Russell "DOOManiac" Weed

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