LAG Tolerance

This setting determines whether LAG should be considered or not. LAG is a phenomenon which often appears in online-matches: It is a result of bad or slow connection between players, caused by geographical distance and / or by insufficient WAN-capacity like slow modems or overloaded web-nodes. This often results in severe problems during the game: The enemy-bikes are more or less only appearing from time to time, or you can track their constant movement, but even though you see your bullets hit the other player he just doesn't die, alternatively you may receive ghost hits where you take damage even though you didn't actually get hit!

If Lag-Tolerance is set to ON, time differences are ignored: If you see your bullets hit another player he is hit regardless from his real position. So, if there is much lag in a game you might be killed without seeing any player in range (called ghost hits/kills). On the other hand, you should have no problems killing other people. When Lag-Tolerance is set to OFF, you might have problems killing others with bad connection, but they will also have problems hitting you. It is considered fairer to give this 'benefit of the doubt' to the target and not the attacker so that each party has a fair chance of avoiding enemy fire.

 

In Summary: Lag Tol ON:  (Shooter decides if target is hit). Lag Tol OFF: (Target decides if it is hit).

But careful: This might be the other way round with your version of Forsaken. In some versions a typo caused Lag Tol OFF to actually be Lag Tol ON and vice versa. For most versions however, the above rules apply.

In LAN games both settings should result in approximately the same effect, since a ping of lower than 50ms and high network bandwidth make lag a rather subordinate issue.

Textures and sounds

Another interesting feature of Forsaken can be found in the file-formats of textures and sounds. All textures and sounds can be easily edited since they are based on the Windows media-formats *.bmp and *.wav.
The textures are located in the ..\data\textures containing biker-skins and other various textures. Additionally you find the textures used for each level in the ..\data\levels folder.

If you edit the *.bmp-files you should be aware of the fact that you are changing your individual FS-files on your hard-disk. Only on your system will the altered textures appear. If you want others to see it, you have to give them the altered files, so they can replace the original ones on their system.
A good tool to view the textures is ACDSee, which is a shareware program. You can edit the textures with almost any program that can read the bmp-format, one of the most common is Paintshop - also available as shareware. When you play around with the bikers skins you should remember that the darker you make a texture, the more transparent it appears in the game. So if you paint all black over an existing skin these texture will make the bike completely invisible in the game (for those who have this skin installed on their system). It is advisable to keep backups of the original texture-files.

Editing the textures can be very useful: It is often said biker beard would be unfair because his bike is hardly visible in the game. To change this, you can edit the skin-file brdall.bmp in the ../data/textures folder, adjust brightness, contrast and hue so it grabs your eye when you look on the monitor. You can also download the changed file from files-section. The same applies to the secret bike, flygirl.

The sound files are located in the ..\data\sound folder. There are simple to use shareware sound-editors out there, like GoldWav and CoolEdit. So it is possible to use your own voice samples in the game. Imagine being successful with a titan kill and your biker saying with the voice of Duke Nukem: "Come get some!". In theory this should be possible, however you have to take care of the sample- and bit-rate, the appropriate settings are:

Sample Rate: 22050Hz

Bit-Rate: 8 Bit

Mode: mono

Generally the sound files should not be too big in size, also it is not that easy to implement them since they tend to be replayed at a lower volume in the game. However having your own sound files with forsaken is quite possible and is as easy as replacing the original files with the new ones you created. Backup copies of the old files are recommended :)

Different Versions / Patches

There are three versions of the game: Unpatched (Original version), Patch 1.00 and Patch 1.01.
You can download the patches from the files-section

Patches are usually meant to ameliorate things, removing bugs optimising routines within the program, but most of all making the game more fun and more playable. However, the majority of the online community prefer the original, unpatched version. To explain this, let us look at some features that have been changed in the subsequent patches:

Reduction of Trojax efficiency

Quoting Acclaim: The power of a Trojax for a quick tap of a button has been corrected (it used to be far too powerful). Now to get full power you must fully charge the Trojax. While a few players appreciate this change, the majority of gamers don't agree with it. They claim it would be useless to reduce the power of Trojax because it then has very little to no advantage against pulsar, which has a higher fire rate. So they would hardly use it.

Golden power pod drop

When a player is hit by a Scatter or killed when he has the Golden Power Pod (gpp) he now drops it along with the other weapons he was carrying. While this was meant to increase speed and fairness of the game it is not appreciated by most. With this feature it is indeed very hard for people who have just respawned to successfully defend a gpp-attack with the scatter-missile. Once scattered the attacker just has to pick up gpp again with the defender now having nothing at his hands to use to stop him. It also means that in certain situations it is actually an advantage to let the scatter hit you. You pay the price of little bit of damage, but you can regain the shield which was scattered and then pick up the gpp and have the full 30 seconds of unlimited Nitro and ammo all over again!

Slow motion

The overall speed of the games seems to have slowed down, meaning players cannot move as fast as they used to and the bike seems harder to control.

Lag issues

The patch was also released to solve problems mainly related to lag. Unfortunately most players were disappointed by the online-performance of the new version. Problems for many seemed to have increased.

Save-games incompatibility

The save-games (single player) from the original version do not work anymore once you applied the patch. This is because changes have been made to single player-mode also: The difficulty on modes easy and normal has been reduced by "at least 50%" (acclaim).

Patch 1.01 New Features (From Acclaim):

Language text is now correctly localised for each territory.
Lan Play is now working better than ever, some earlier patches caused some havoc with this mode. Beware all you Lanfest players.
Now supports Wireplay.
The join game menu now gives you information regarding the type of game being played.
Multiplayer patched games are incompatible with non-patched games.
Both easy and normal mode for single play have been made easier by at least 50%
CD is no longer required for multiplayer games provided you did a Custom install that included the level data (and preferably the sound effects as well). You can spawn multiplayer deathmatch games from 1 CD. (Note: CD still required to play the single player game).
The option to reset the frag counter after every game has been added. (selectable from Multiplayer option menu).
Bike headlights (Can now be toggled on and off and will light up dark areas of the map and cloaked bikers if in range). Selectable from in game key configuration menu.
Fullscreen rear view (Can now be set up from the in game key configuration screen).
There is now an option to toggle the amount of primary weapons available at the beginning of the level to a maximum of 3. This evens out the playing field, e.g. you can now have 3 Trojax on a level etc. This is selectable from the 'more multiplayer options' menu for the Host.
The damage from a ricochet of a Transpulse blast has been reduced to 25% instead of 50% this should stop people from camping out of harms way.
When Titan explodes all shrapnel should no longer flood the game.
There was a problem with being killed that has now been fixed...this was a nasty one


From the launcher the following are selectable:
Normal start: As name implies)
Quick host: Will take you directly to the 'host a game' screen
Quick join: Will take you directly to the 'join a game' screen
Skip splash screens: Bypasses all logos and introductory movie


Bugs that have been fixed:
Choppy FMV bug under Windows 98 and 95 now fixed. Now uses Direct Show to play FMV. All necessary DirectX components now automatically installed.
Ammo on all levels now regenerates properly
No cheats allowed in multiplayer games.
SLI 1024x768 mode for Voodoo 2 is now fixed and is a selectable setting in the launcher.
A cure has been found for the Starfighter AGP card crash. Please download the latest drivers from the Real3D website. www.real3d.com
Crashing when re-spawning in a multi-player game has now been fixed.
SetViewport failed crash bug has now been fixed.
Flying backwards with nitro bug on the sidewinder joystick is now fixed.
The lumberjack cheat no longer leaves stationary Mug missiles in mid air for single player games
The power of a Trojax for a quick tap of a button has been corrected (it used to be far too powerful). Now to get full power you must fully charge the Trojax.
 

 

Bugs / hidden features

Naked Flygirl and Nubia

Just go to the folder ..\Forsaken\Data\Textures and rename nbutgrid.bmp to butgrid.bmp. (You might want to change the name of the original butgrid.bmp first.) Next time you go into the game and pick the Flygirl bike, she's naked as a jay bird!  You can also do the same with Nubia by changing nngrid8bt.bmp to ngrid8bt.bmp.

Ammo respawn in some multiplayer levels

Ammo for primary weapons that need shared ammo (Pulsar, Trojax, Laser, Transpulse) does not respawn in some multiplayer-levels. Therefore you may find yourself pretty fast helpless if you can not manage to get a weapon that comes with separate ammo (Pyrolite or Sussgun) or happen to find the golden power pod.
There are patches available for all the levels that are concerned. Alternatively you can get patch 1.00 or 1.01 which fixes this as well.

Military level bug

There is a sound bug on the military level of the game, it is not an every time bug, if it does happen, you will get an error that says "Can't load Que" or something like that. Players can get out of this bug 99% of the time via hitting the enter key around 10 times. There is also a patch that you can download: (see Files-Section). To install the Military patch, the user must do a custom install. They should then exit out of the game and go to the Forsaken directory, Default is program files. Go into the levels folder and either delete the current military or overwrite the current military level via dropping the new Military folder into the levels folder.
[Note: This only effects the U.S version of Forsaken.]

Flying freely around in a recorded demo and being able to shoot at other players

You may already know about the free-cam view available by selecting player 16 before a recorded game has started playback. Ever thought how cool it would be to be able to fly around in this view and shoot at the other players? Well its possible, when a recorded game has been started hit F4 and save the game, then hit escape to return to the game and that's it, you should now be in full control of the bike in the recorded game and be able to fire.

[Note: You cannot kill any of the players in the demo (it is still a recorded demo only), but you will be able to fire and guided missiles guide in on the other players. You will also die occasionally and it will appear to be ghost deaths.]

Flying backwards with nitro (Nitro Reverse)

It is possible to fly backwards at nitro-speed with certain types of controls. To be able to move in nitro reverse you will need any type of control where the sensitivity can be changed, for example a throttle on a control stick or pad. You then set the throttle or whatever axis you wish to control foward/reverse in the options for the stick or pad. You then set the sensitivity to 100% for that axis. When you next hold down Nitro button move the axis into reverse and it over-rides the Nitro command and moves the bike in Nitro Reverse. It will only work on axis where it over rides the nitro key. For example a mouse button or a key on the keyboard will be over ridden by the axis of the throttle on a control stick.

[Note: This is cheating and not many players will be impressed seeing you use this manoeuvre against them. Therefore I suggest that the only time you use it is in single player and against a player that also has this ability and/or doesn't mind you using it.]

Pyro- / Suss-ammo trick

Ever noticed that when you have Sussgun or Pyrolite and you are scattered and drop either one and then pick them up you have more ammo for that weapon than you did before you were scattered? Well another way to achieve this is to simply drop the weapon and pick it up again. The ammo increases in amounts of 3000. For single player this is ideal since there is not much ammo around and especially on Total Mayhem where there is just no ammo (using this is the only way to be able to complete single player on Total Mayhem without the use of trainers.). In single player you have time in-between meeting the swarms of enemies and so you can find a quiet spot and then drop and pickup the weapons a few times and therefore have the ability to have unlimited ammo. In multiplayer the trick still works, however you take a big risk because while you have dropped the weapon anybody could sweep in and steal the weapons and/or shoot you while you have no ammo left because you have just dropped the only weapon that uses ammo you have left.

Whisper message (sends to same team players only) in multiplayer

Hit control+enter while in a game then a message box appears saying "Whisper Message:  ".

[Note: The other players who will be able to see the message won't know that it is a whisper message, it will just come up on their screens as though it was a normal message typed to all members. Therefore it is advisable to type "w. (then message)" so that the players seeing the message know that only their team can read it.]

Cheating

You can find the cheats in the singleplayer-section.
Since there are ways to cheat in multiplayer as well we will now try to explain why doing so is not an act of courtesy and is regarded as one of the biggest sins in online gaming. All guys who have ever cheated against human opponents and did not admit it before -or at least after- the game was played are complete losers. Either they cannot accept others being better or they just want to destroy the game. In either case it is obvious those guys never felt what Forsaken really is: fun - even if one loses. This is also why hardly any skilled players ever cheated.  Now that we have cleared this a little we may add some other notes: hmm, I cant remember now. So don't cheat! Or you will find yourself pretty fast in the hall of shame!

There are ways of exploiting the possibilities the game offers which are not regarded as cheating. Double- or Triple-chording is explicitly recommended by Acclaim in the instruction manual. Although Nitro Reverse is not actually hacking the game (see above paragraph) it is still classed as cheating, this is because one player has the option to perform a manoeuvre that the other players cannot, whereas if all players in the game have this ability and all players in the game agree that it is OK to use it then is not cheating.

A different issue can be found when you look at the common choices of bikes for use in multiplayer. There is one obvious reason why bikers Beard and Flygirl (the secret biker) are usually NOT allowed in tourneys or in other official events - like clan matches: They have no or little engine glow and their textures are hard to see in the game. Since all the bikes in multiplayer are identical (except look) there is clearly only one reason to use those bikes which is to make it hard for the other players to see them.

Few seem to know the Pyro- and Suss-ammo trick. Using this unintended feature can indeed be an advantage in case one has run out of ammo. It has however not yet been an issue of deeper discussion.

Some people are known to win a game by not respawning again after they have been killed or killed themselves. This has been the case mainly in timed ladder or tourney games: Those players had a higher score than the opponent (e.g. 2-1) and "saved" this score by not pressing the fire button after they died. Thus they were not visible or "killable" for the rest of the game (or as long as they decided to not respawn). This behaviour is another reason why tourney or ladder-games are recorded as demo in many cases.

There are also trainers which are available to some players and have the ability for unlimited shields, unlimited ammo, ability to use any weapon even though they have not picked them up and to have unlimited secondary missiles and mines. One trainer also has the ability to be able to use the two different Lasers and the spider mines and the thief missile, which are usually only available in single player with God Mode. Whereas the later trainer is pretty much obvious and will be spotted by any recorded game of this, this shield hack is not. However the maker of the shield hack designed it so that only the host can use it (probably to stop other players from using it against the designer). Therefore if there if you want to be sure of no shield hackers in your game make sure you host or get someone who you trust to host. Also it is recommended that a neutral player hosts a game and then exits before the players start therefore blocking out all players from being able to use this. Unfortunately the other trainers still work even when the player using it is not the host.

All people who cheat in any way are complete losers!!!

Original intro-text

Did you fully understand the story told in the original intro-avi cinematic of forsaken? Well for those who did not, here it is:

Interview with Tony Beckwith (Probe)