FULL MANUAL FOR MEAN STREETS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (RIPPED BY TEDDYSTACKER) Docs written by MIKEY THE STORY A steaming layer of thick fog hangs over the city . It's late Wednesday night. The weather report says the next few days will get warm. It's the kind of day that moves with the mercury ... thick and slow. Funny how the work drags out with the humidity. My body and brain are trying to talk me into taking a few days vacation when the office door swings open. The silhouette in the doorway tells me this isn't the pizza man. My eyes curve up to where the lady's silken blonde hair kind of clasps her cheek near her eyes, which are exotic, not blue exactly ,deeper than blue ,sad and dangeruos. If ever a woman is trouble - she's it. 'Are you Tex Murphy ?' she asked . 'Thats me,' I said, 'Ms ?... ' 'Linsky, Sylvia Linsky.' Her eyes cloud over suddenly , like mud puddles on a wet road . 'It's my father. I want you to investigate his death.' 'Have you been to the police ?' 'Of course I've spoken to them . Detective Clements thinks daddy committed suicide . It wasn't suicide ! Daddy would never kill himself. It's murder , I know it's murder'. The careful line of her lipstick drew my attention to her mouth and chin that trembles slightly . 'How did you find me ? ' I asked her . 'Detective Clements said that if I insisted on throwing money away, you were the one to throw it to '. 'Well, Ms Linsky, before we play catch, give me the background on your fathers death then I'll decide if there's a ball game '. Ms. Linsky started her story . 'My father was a professor of neuropsychology at the University of San Francisco for fifteen years. About eight months ago , he took a leave of absence from the university to work on a independent consulting contract . When I asked about it, he said he couldn't tell me anything. Not even who hired him. I rarely saw him after that. One night i went to his home. He was terribly upset. It was obvious that he had been drinking. He was very evasive when I questioned him, I was worried about him, he was not a drinking man. I asked if I could stay with him, but my persistance only made him more angry. Finally, he agreed to come to my apartment for dinner the following Sunday, that was three days ago '. Ms. Linsky's body is very still. While she's looking right at me, her eyes which are as shiny as glass, melt. Two tears spill from them and run down her cheeks. 'Last sunday morning I got a call from the San Fracisco police department. They told me that my father had apparently jumped off the golden gate bridge. They needed someone to come and identify the body. They said a witness had seen my father jump. His car was found on the bridge. Because there was no sign of foul play, they're calling it a routine suicide'. I interrupted her . 'The police are usually pretty good in these matters, from what you've told me ..' 'My father did not kill himself! ' 'He was in serious danger. Even if he had, he never would have thrown himself into the bay '. 'Why not ? ' I asked . 'As a child he nearly drowned swimming in the bay. From then on he'd been afraid of water. He never went swimming. He wouldn't even go to the beach for picnics'. ' There's one more thing. I found this Fax note in his desk, when I went through his things '. She slipped the note out of her bag and across my desk top . It read Professor, You were right about these boys. They play for keeps. Watch your step. 'Did you show this to clements? ' 'Yes, but he didn't consider it to be very important. He wasn't able to connect it to anyone or anything. I just know that whoever wrote this note, knows what happened, and I'm willing to back up my belief '. Ms. Linskys's hand went back into her bag, this time it came out with $10,000 cash . I sit straight up . 'This is my life savings ', she said ' I want you to find out the truth. If this is a suicide. I want to know. I will accept whatever evidence you can find, but if this is a murder, and I know it is, I want to know who did it and why ! ' Her story didn't convince me that this was a murder, but it did pique my curiosity. So did her face and her 10 Gs'. 'O.K. I'LL do some checking for you '. Ms. Linsky, suddenly cool, straightened her skirt, and offered me her hand 'Thank you, Mr murphy, I trust you will find the truth '. She turned then and walked out of the office . My gut feeling tells me something is wrong. Maybe I'm just to cynical. I scribble a note to my secretary, ' Dig up any and all infomation on Dr. Carl Linsky '. I'll start my investigation in the morning . OVERVIEW Mean streets is an interactive movie where you become the main character, Tex Murphy. Tex is a private investigator with a typical P.I. mentality that sometimes gets him into trouble. The movie takes place in the year 2033 in San Francisco , Los Angeles and other cities along the west coast. WHO'S TALKING There are two basic levels of narration. The first level uses the pronoun ''I'', as if Tex Murphy is narrating his own story. The second level uses the pronoun '' YOU '', and is reserved for the room search sequences. This gives more of a feel that '' you're actually there '' and the usual '' adventure game ghost '' is talking to you and executing your requests. WHAT'S YOUR GOAL ? Your goal is to solve the mystery of what happened to Sylvia's father, Professor Carl Linsky. Find out why Professor Linsky was murdered and who was behind it . ASK FOR HELP IF YOU NEED IT If you find yourself in a situation where you don't know what to do try pressing ''H'' or typing ''HELP''. Most sections of the game have HELP SCREENS to assist you . GETTING AROUND FROM PLACE OT PLACE Your vehicle is a 21st century '' flying car '' called a speeder. You'll be travelling up and down the west coast of the U.S. following leads and seaching. The speeder is very easy to fly , and it should take only a few minutes to learn to use the manual controls. It does however, have an '' AUTOPILOT '' which will take you anywhere in the data base under full computer control. WHAT DOES NC MEAN NC stands for NAVIGATION CODE. All important places (places you must visit) have navigation codes. For example, Dr Linsky's office is NC4663. You will be entering the NC into the navigation computer. GETTING STARTED Here is the infomation you have to begin the case. 1 Carl Linsky is the professor that jumped to his death. He worked at the University of San Francisco (NC 4663). 2 Sylvia Linsky is the person who hired you, and lives at (NC4421). 3 John Richards is hte medical examiner. His office is at (NC4670). 4 Delores Lightbody was Carl Linsky's fiancee. She lives at (NC4920). 5 Steve Clements is the police detective in charge of the case. The police station is at (NC4680). Go visit these people (or places) and ask questions about names you've found. Be sure to set use people's FULL NAMES. In addition to questioning them about other people, you can ask about the folowing: MTC CORP GIDEON ENTERPRISES OVERLORD PASSCARD PASSWORD NEXUS LAW AND ORDER INSURANCE USING THE NAVIGATION COMPUTER Your speeder is equipped with a very sophisticated navigation system, called the NAV computer. You can bring up the NAV computer by pressing ''N'' while in yor speeder. Infomation on how to use the computer is available on screen. If you want to fly to a specific location for which you have a NC code simply press ''N'' then enter the 4 digit code and press ENTER. The auto pilot is now programmed to take you directly to the NC address. If you wish to fly to the location manually, the destination ''bearing'', ''distance'' and ''bearing bar'' readouts on your dashboard will point to the NC address. USING THE AUTO PILOT The auto pilot is engaged or disengaged simply by pressing ''A'' key while in the speeder. It will take you anywhere you'll want to go, but it must be programmed. Programming is done on the navigation computer in one of two ways. 1 Entering a NC as explained previously will set the auto pilots destinationto the NC address. 2 Moving the destination cursor cross hair with the cursor keys will set the auto pilots destination to the location shown by the cross hairs. Use the ''< '' and ''>'' keys to zoom in or out as needed and press ''ESC'' when you're finished. LANDING AT YOR DESTINATION When an NC address is programmed into the NAV computer, the location will be shown as a flashing landing pad. If you're using the auto pilot, landing will be done for you automatically. If you're flying manually, you must bring your speeder to a full stop at altitude = 0 on the pad. When you do, a message will appear on screen that says '' landing pad contact ''. To exit a speeder press ''E''. Note : only locations with valid NC addresses will have landing pads. A flashing pad means there is something to see or to do outside your vehicle at that location. To avoid confusion, only one flashing NC pad will be accessible at a time, and thats your programmed NV destination. USE YOUR SECRETARY AND INFORMANT Your secretary, Venessa and your informant, Lee Chin are valuable sources of infomation. Call them on the video phone by pressing ''V'' or ''L'' from your speeder. QUESTIONING WITNESSES AND SUSPECTS As you begin your investigation, you'll learn the names of several persons that may know something or be involved in the case. Visit these people and question them. Be thorough... 1 PEOPLES NAMES , be sure to use the entire name and spell it correctly. 2 MTC CORP 3 GIDEON ENTERPRISES 4 OVERLORD 5 PASSCARD 6 PASSWORD 7 LAW AND ORDER 8 NEXUS 9 INSURANCE Some people may have to be bribed or threatened. SEARCHING A ROOM Several of the locations you'll visit are rooms that contain clues, objects, money, messages, etc. The objects are hidden and you must search carefully to find them. Look at everything, and unless you sense danger, you should also try to move and open everything. TO SEARCH A ROOM 1 Move around the room using the cursor keys. 2 When '' PRESS '' appears in the lower window press to bring up the search system. 3 Use the up or down cursor to select an item from the item list (ie DESK, KEY,ETC,). 4 Use the left or right cursor to select a command from the command list (ie LOOK, GET, ETC ). 5 When the appropriate command and item are highlighted (ie LOOK, DESK), press . The program will then execute your request, such as to open drawer, get key, look chair, etc. 6 Use the get command to take an item with you. It's best to look at it before you take it, but if you forget, you can always look at it from your inventory screen. 7 Use the ''B'' key to go back to moving the man. WRITE DOWN CLUES Write down everything that seems important, especially NAV CODES, peoples names, company names, passwords, etc. TAKE THINGS WITH YOU While searching rooms, you'll find things that will be useful in other places. For example, a key found in one room may open an important drawer in another room. Use the GET command to take things with you. DEFEND YOURSELF Occasionally you'll find yourself in a gun battle with underworld goons. Learning to fight is easy, but will take a little practice. When you first enter a gun fight, quickly press ''H'' for help and follow the instructions on screen. OBJECT The object is to move across the screen and get to the opposite side. If you don't cross, the goons will just keep coming. Remember, it's not how many goons you shoot, but whether you get to the opposite side of the screen. HINT The secret of successful gun fighting is to fire several shots quickly and look for an opportunity to move forward. THE INVENTORY SYSTEM An inventory of all items you have collected is available by pressing ''I'' while in your speeder. You can also pawn items for cash from the inventory screen. Be selective about pawning things, though, since it will cost you twice as much to reclaim them. HOW TO GET CASH There are several ways to get cash. 1 You'll find some cash as you search through rooms. 2 You can pawn items for cash. 3 You can go bounty hunting. HOW TO GET AMMUNITION 1 You'll find ammunition as you search through rooms. 2 You can go bounty hunting. BOUNTY HUNTING You can aquire extra cash and ammunition by flying to bounty areas and fighting. Bounty areas are places where no law exists and where gangs of thieves and murderers control the streets. The goverment has placed a bounty on the gang members in an attempt to bring the problem under control. Bounty areas have solid black landing pads but do not have NC addresses. The bad guys you encounter in these areas are more formidable opponents than you'll meet during the normal course of your investigation. The following are coordinates of bounty hunting pads these can only be used once. PAD X-COORDINATE Z-COORDINATE 1 1286093 137280 2 893393 422400 3 1364633 487424 4 2287478 1362240 5 1148648 834240 6 78539 580800 7 657772 538560 FLYING CONTROLS Forward/REVERSE +/- Turn Left/Right Cursor Left/Right Pitch Up/Down Cursor Up/Down Stop Space bar External Views F5 F6 F7 F8 F9 Hover Up/Down 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Warp Speed On/Off W Phone Venessa V Phone Lee Chin L Navigation Computer N Inventory/Pawn Shop I Load/Save Game D Abort Game ESC Help H Engine Sound On/Off S Bank Control On/Off B Auto Pilot Centre P Auto Pilot On/Off A Solid Fill F ----------------------------------- Edited by Sewercide 04/91.