*IMPORTANT NOTICE!*

It is cruicial that you UNCHECK the "UT Minigun" box in the OLDSKOOL OPTIONS MENU! Zephon DOES NOT provide ammunition for the UT version of the minigun. Playing with the UT Minigun will hinder your gameplay experience. Use at your own risk.

------------------------------------

Project Zephon: Battle for Freedom

------------------------------------

***
Team Zephon is:

Cedric Pierron aka "Derdak2rot"          - Mod founder, mapper, texture artist
Kimmo Kontto aka "Cardiologist"          - Mapper, coder, texture artist
Tobby Ong aka "GTD-Carthage"             - Mapper, texture artist
LJParanoid                               - Mapper
WhirlWindWabbit                          - Story writer, mapper
milb                                     - Mapper
NR.2000                                  - Mapper
Mgo                                      - original idea and discussions about the map pack (left during early development)
***
Raven (for version 2.0) 		 - Script changes in the 2.0 version

-------------------------------

Version 2.0 (August 2010)

Fixes in this version:

- Fixed the intro bug reseting the game difficuly to "Medium",
- Major overhaul of all translator messages, including proof-reading & design tweaks,
- Improved A.I. paths,
- Massive redesign of the Military Bot (no more rocket spamming, deals less damage, has less health etc.),
- Fixed doors,
- Improved other movers,
- General overhaul of gameplay (health and ammo supplies changed, some enemy tweaks),
- Fixed broken map scripting,
- Fixed some BSP and collision problems on ZP01, ZP08 and ZP11,
- Fixed low performance issues on ZP01. There remains one low-performance area in the map due to heavy usage of dynamic lights.
- Added a coop failsafe in ZP10 for the Skaarj ambush, preventing the map from becoming stuck. Doors auto-release after 5 minutes after invoking the ambush.
- Fixed annoying music loop in map 5 after reloads.

Mod patched up by WhirlWindWabbit in the summer of 2010. Special thanks to:

- Raven from UnrealSp.org for help with the Military Bot script,
- MMan for additional help on proof-reading the translator messages,
- UBerserker, Mister_Prophet, Stakhanov and MMan for beta-testing,
- Everybody who participated in the creation of this mod in the first place.

*PLEASE NOTE*

The new version of Zephon has been tweaked for a more enjoyable SP experience. There is more health, shields and ammo, especially in the later levels, and some of the enemies are easier (most notably the Military Bot). Consequently, the COOP version has also been watered down as far as difficulty goes. If you want a hardcore challenge, you can download Zephon 1.20 from FileFront (link: http://www.filefront.com/9010375/SP-ProjectZephonV120.zip), but this version is meant to bring the mod closer to an enjoyable SP experience.

Also keep in mind, that while I did do my best to fix the gameplay issues, Zephon is a big mod, so there are bound to be some errors still, and that it is impossible to bring the game to a level of comfort that will be equally shared among all the players. I hope you will enjoy it none the less!

-------------------------------

Version 1.20:

- fixed various bugs reported on zp01 , zp09, zp10 and the intro,
- added missing files from previous pack version,
- fixed difficulty and gameplay problems on maps zp09 and zp10,
- added non-umod version of olskool239 (in the Extras folder).

Thanks to everyone at UnrealSp.org and UnrealPlaygroundForums for these bug reports.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Special thanks goes to:

- 3 for extensive help with online testing, running a test server and reporting feedback and bugs on the coop tests :)
- Hourences and Mister_Prophet for various use of textures, meshes and prefabs from Xidia Gold
- Excalibur Holland***** for hosting our forum, and particulary El_Chicoverde for the support with the FTp server and forums :)
- Everybody at Excalibur Holland***** and UnrealSp.org forums for continuos support and helpful feedback over the course of the development.

For more info and some insight as to how the mod was created please visit Excalibur Holland*****:

http://www.excalibur-holland.net/phpnuke/index.php

Other pages here :

http://www.unrealsp.org/
http://www.beyondunreal.com/

-----------------------------

1. Installation
2. Getting started
3. Mission
4. Infos/developments
5. Credits

-----------------------------

1. Installation

Zephon requires you to have your Unreal Tournament game installed and patched to the latest version (version 436). 
You also need oldskool to play Zephon which is included in the zip file. No additional bonus packs are required.
	
To install Zephon first make sure your Unreal Tournament game is patched to the latest version. To get the latest 
patches please visit www.beyondunreal.com. After patching your game extract the oldskool239.zip file in the "Extras" folder to your Unreal Tournament folder.d file which can be found.
Finish your installation by unzipping the contents of the "projectzephon.zip" file into your Unreal Tournament directory (e.g. C:\UnrealTournament). All files should automatically be placed in their appropriate folders.

Every files should be installed this way :

".umx" in your "UnrealTournament/music" folder
".u" and ".int" in your "UnrealTournament/System" folder
".utx" in your "UnrealTournament/Textures" folder
".unr" in your "UnrealTournament/Maps" folder
".uax" in your "UnrealTournament/Sounds" folder

-----------------------------

2. Getting Started

To play Zephon:

- go to the main menu inside your Unreal Tournament game,
- under the tab that says "Mods", first enable the "oldskool" mod,
- under options choose "OldSkool configuration -> SinglePlayer and uncheck "UT Minigun" (this is imporant, as Zephon doesn't provide ammo for this weapon!),
- choose "New Singpleplayer Game", select "Project Zephon" from the list of available packs, set your difficulty level and hit start.

*NOTE*

If your game difficulty gets reset to "medium" still,  follow the first two steps, and than, instead of choosing a new single player game, bring down your console (the tilde key - the one below ESC that no one ever uses) and write (or copy/paste) this: open zp01-umssakuracrashsite.unr?difficulty=0 (please note that you can change the last digit from anywhere in between 0 to 3, 0 being Easy and 3 being Unreal difficulty).

-----------------------------

3. Mission

>>>> Incoming message from Captain Dirk. C Capwell, chief commander of SCTC
>>>> SCTC stands for Surveillance & Control of the Terran Colonies attached to the NEG
>>>> Message received by UMS-Raven, Class B destroyer
>>>> 21st of September, 3:32 pm

Current status update from marine HQ regarding the recent events on Zephon:

Zephon was a hostile planet at first, the cold atmosphere (up to -50° C) made life on this planet impossible.
It all started with the beginning of the terra-forming wars, when human colonies like Mars and Venus attacked the
terra-forming installations of the NEG on various planets all across the known universe. They attempted in stealing 
their technologies and invading planets which have just fallen under the occupation of Terran forces. The Skaarjs took a 
large profit of the situation and took control over a series of strategically important planets.

Zephon was one of these planets, and the battles that took place on its surface were immense. Source of infinite nitrogen
due to the high numbers of glaciers and underground exploitations, humans used terra-forming to use nitrogen as primary
energy. The Skaarj made several attempts to take control of the planet, but received heavy resistance from the Terran forces
based on the surface of the planet. We suppose a mother ship crashed high in the mountains during one of those battles, but we 
found no evidence what so ever verifying that, so we are unable to prove it.

After the battles which left the Terran forces on the planet in victory, the marines established a series of security installations
so extraction and processing of nitrogen started again.

Fifty years have passed since than, the colonists have build countless factories, expanded underground mines and improved cities
 on the planet’s surface and the planet gradually won independency from the NEG. Marines left the planet after the Skaarj had been taken care of.

But problems arose now. A few months ago we received strange messages without any real significations and we haven’t heard from the planet since.

We must discover what happened on the planet and resolve any problems that might have occurred.

I already talked to commander Riley about this problem and he left towards Zephon with UMS-Sakura and a group of marines to investigate recent events.

>>>> Message end <<<<

****

Once in the game we advise you to read various translator messages throughout the game to fully experience the story.


-----------------------------

4. Info and Development

there are lot to say about the mappack development , it started in the mind of Mgo and Derdak2rot , when discussing on Unrealsp.org . we thought about a unknow snowy planet were all humans got killed by skaarjs and invaded by their tribes , the idea was to make this planet frozen with lots of
cool environements and stuff .

ZP02 was the first map started , ( probably few months after , a revamped version for MH was realesed called MH-Hellfire ) and zp03 and zp04 followed the progress within the next months . a problem came though , as Mgo did have problems with reallife commitments , and only one mapper was working on the three maps at the moment . so Derdak2rot asked some of his mapping friends , Cardiologist , GTDcarthage and Whirlwindwabbit to help him in the task of bringing zephon to life . maps started to progress heavily and some mappers did bring lot of works in short time ;)

after 6 months of hard work , we finally got 12 of 14 maps almost done , only left the very last map zp12 and zp07 , which was assigned to LJ paranoid, but at this moment , some stuff kept busy some of the members of the team , and no progress were made during the next months , though Cardiologist provided some new actors stuff and two news scripted pawns for the project . Derdak2rot asked then to NR2000 a bit of help on zp12 , which got finished a few weeks later .there was still problems with the development of zp07 , as LJ paranoid did have reallife troubles and was not able to deliver his map in time , so Derdak2rot asked him in a hurry if he could use one of his CTF map as a base , which became later the newer version of zp07 , the nurgle village . we profited of this quiet period to polish some of the latest maps , like Carthage did and added new cool stuff to zp01 ... Derdak2rot then put the final touch to the maps gameplay helped by Whirl on the overall story line ..

there no doubt the development took long time , and lot of people were waiting for this to be realesed , we apologizes for the troubles met during development , but the result is there , now the mappack is fully supported for Single Play as long as Coop . and all the stuff were heavily tested online to offer quality and bug-free maps .. we hope you will enjoy playing the mappack as we enjoyed working for this .. we thanks everyone who still support these awesome games that are Unreal and UT , which are far for being dead seing all the quality stuff realesed after al these years , we wish the game to have more good years in future and encourage newer projects for it .. long life to the unreal community !!

---------------------------------

5. Credits :

The Zephon team used quite some thingsf from various other authors and sources. Everything was used with permission:

Hourences and Mister_prophet ....... for textures packs, meshes and prefabs from Xidia Gold,
Evil Lair .......................... provided textures (which Derdak2rot modified a bit for that icy feeling),
Epic and Digital extremes .......... textures from Ut2004 and various stuff from the original UT and Unreal,
[UnFramed Productions].............. for the Unreal movie studio tool for Unreal/UT, which was used for the intro and outrŽ sequences,
Usaar33............................. for the olskool mutator,
Steve Nabors ....................... for the particle effects used in various maps, 'Particle Sprayers' and 'precipitation generator'

Of course, everyone that helped the development of the map pack also needs to be credited: :)

El_Chicoverde
NR2000
Azzco
Mgo
Newb (aka ThugLife)
L4dy_4bys
Steves
XYZ_8000
Mister_Prophet
Uarchitect
Kea
Neonite
3
Angel
milan
Drew
Hellscrag
Darkon
Uberserker
Kaka
hal
FragnBrag
milb
Swanky
Dark_Jaxx
Xceptizz


And everyone who was supporting us since the start of the development! :)

---------------------------------

Copyright / Permissions

-----------------------

Project Zephon is copyrighted by Team Zephon, 2010.

Authors CAN NOT use these levels as a base to build additional levels.

You are NOT allowed to use these levels for any other game types or whatever without our
explicit permission.

You are NOT allowed to commercially exploit these levels, i.e. put them on a CD
or any other electronic medium that is sold for money without our explicit
permission!

You MAY distribute these levels through any electronic network (internet,
FIDO, local BBS etc.), provided you include this read-me file and leave the archive
intact.

----------------------

UNREAL (c)1998 Epic Megagames, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.  Distributed by
GT Interactive Software, Inc. under license.  UNREAL and the UNREAL logo are
registered trademarks of Epic Megagames, Inc. All other trademarks and trade
names are properties of their respective owners.
