====================================================== VIRTUAL POOL 3 (tm) (c) 2005 Celeris Inc.

All rights reserved Virtual Pool 3 is a trademark of Celeris Inc. All rights reserved ======================================================= Thank you for choosing Virtual Pool 3. This product was developed and published by Celeris, Inc. This readme file contains important information about VP3. If you have any questions or are having problems, please read this first. ============================================================================== Table of Contents ============================================================================== I) Setting Up Virtual Pool 3 II) Playing Virtual Pool 3 III) Quick Reference (controls) IV) Compatibility Between VP1, VP2 and VPH and VP3 V) Playing Over the Internet VI) Connecting Through a Firewall or Proxy Server VII) Rules Deviations VIII) Cautionary Notes IX) Performance / Viewing Quality X) Video Card Problems XI) TroubleShooting XII) FAQ's XIII) Technical Support Information XIV) Legal Information =========================================== I) Setting Up Virtual Pool 3 =========================================== To setup Virtual Pool 3, open the self extracting installer by double clicking on it in Explorer. Note: If you have a previous version of a Virtual Pool on your system, make sure to install Virtual Pool 3 into a separate directory. Note: You MUST have DirectX 8 or newer installed on your system to play Virtual Pool 3. If you do not have DirectX 8 or later, the installer will install Direct 8. Once installed, you may now play Virtual Pool 3. You may need to install DXMedia too. Most systems will already have the necessary components installed. If movies do not work properly, install DXMedia. Please see the Cautionary Notes below if this causes any problems on your system. ========================================= II) Playing Virtual Pool 3 ========================================= Once Virtual Pool 3 is installed, you can run the game from the Start Menu under Programs/Virtual Pool 3.

This will take you to an opening screen. From there you can click "Quick Play" to enter a game, "Career" to start a career, "Tournament" to play a tournament against computer opponents, "Internet" to play online or click "Settings" to change the game settings. Clicking "Quick Play" takes you to the Quick Play menu. There you can change game, match length, table setup and shot clock. Your first time in you need to click the "Player" button. This takes you to the "Player Selection Screen". There you can select "Create Character". This takes you to the "Create Character" Screen. Type in the name you would like to be called, then click "ok" You will be brought back to the "Player Selection" screen. Highlight your name in the list box on the left, click "Add Player", then click "OK". You can change game, location, table setup and shot clock parameter. Now click "Ok" to start a game. =========================================== III) Quick Reference =========================================== A: Aim B: Raise Butt of Cue C: Move Center Point E: English: Move Cue Tip F: Vary Tracking Force G: Toggle Ghost Ball H: Select Another Ball To Move L: Toggle Table Lines M: Move Ball O: Overhead View R: Replay Last Shot S: Shoot T: Toggle Tracking U: Undo V: Change View W: Walk Back From Table X: Examine Table Y: Your User View Z: Zip To Result >: Toggle Amplify <: Toggle Fine Tune +/=: Increase Replay Rate -: Decrease Replay Rate / : Type Chat Message L Mouse: Zoom Ctrl-A: Set Adversary View Ctrl-B: Spot Lowest Ball Ctrl-C: Call Shot Ctrl-D: Draw Game Ctrl-G: Return To Game Ctrl-K: Kibitz Shot Ctrl-L: Load Saved Game/Position Ctrl-M: Miscall Last Shot Ctrl-P: Push Out

Ctrl-Q: Quit Current Match Ctrl-S: Save Game Or Position Ctrl-T: Change Player Turn Ctrl-V: Return To Video Ctrl-W: Set User View Ctrl-[: Called Safety INS: Spot/Pocket Ball Menu ESC: Enter Menu System

==================================================== IV) Compatibility Between VP1, VP2 and VPH and VP3 ==================================================== The physics model and online capabilities for Virtual Pool 3 have been improved. Because of this, there are some compatibility issues between them. 1) Remote Play: Remote Play is not available between versions. 2) Save Games/ Trick Shots: VP3 can open saved games from VP1 and VP2 and VPH. Due to the changes in the physics model, most shots will have to be adjusted. ================================================ V) Playing Over the Internet ================================================ Virtual Pool 3 can be played over the internet via GameSpy Arcade. GameSpy Arcade is included as part of the VP3 installation. GameSpy Arcade (GSA) has Virtual Pool 3 support built in. When you start it look for Virtual Pool 3 under "Games" on the left menu panel.Selecting Virtual Pool 3 will take you to the VP3 lobby. If you started GSA by selecting "Internet Play" from the VP3 main menu, you will be put into the VP3 lobby. Here you can meet and chat with other VP3 players. The chat area is the panel of GSA. The upper panel will have the list of pool rooms currently in existence. To join a room just double click it. You can create a room to play in by clicking "Create Room" on the top bar. For VP3 tournaments, leagues, ladders and other VP information, click on "Game Info" to bring up the VP3 web site. The tabs on the top bar will switch you from the VP3 web site page to the VP3 lobby. There are problems playing online through a firewall or proxy server. GSA will warn you if it detects a firewall or proxy server. In this situation you can join games but can not create rooms. If you join a challenge room other players may get locked out and not able to join the room. It is possible to solve these problems. See the next section for details. There may be problems when playing hardware acceleration vs software mode games. Because of the physics differences in the tables, pool balls and the pool cue may show minor adjustments after movement stops. ================================================ VI) Connecting Through a Firewall or Proxy Server

================================================ If you connect to the Internet through a firewall or proxy server you might have problems playing a remote game against an opponent on the Internet due to the firewall or proxy server. Your firewall or proxy server might need to be configured for Virtual Pool 3 in order for remote Internet play to work. Setting up firewalls can be complicated. You can find more information and help at the forum on the Virtual Pool fan site at http://www.vphq.com. You will also find people Online at the Virtual Pool lobby on GSA very helpful. The best and probably first place to check for instructions on setting up a router is the manufacturers web site. Most of them have a knowledge base that have instructions for setting up the router to use Gamespy. Be aware that XP has a built in software firewall that may need to be configured or disabled. If you are running a hardware firewall, disable the XP firewall and only use your hardware firewall. To test to see if you can really connect you can configure your firewall to put your computer in the DMZ. This opens all ports. Use this only to test! It is not safe to leave all ports open on your computer. Once you know you can connect then it is just a matter of configuring your firewall properly. The following table (from the Microsoft DirectX SDK help file) gives your firewall administrator the information needed to configure your firewall. Connection Client configuration configuration Initial TCP Connection 47624 Outbound Subsequent Inbound TCP Connections Subsequent Outbound TCP Connections Subsequent Inbound UDP Connections Subsequent Outbound UDP Connections Host 47624 Inbound 2300-2400 2300-2400 2300-2400 2300-2400 2300-2400 2300-2400 2300-2400 2300-2400

How to configure Sygate 3.1 from Sybergen Networks if you want to join games (connect to games created by someone else): Add the following lines to the Sygate apprule.cfg file after the line containing the comment ## USER DEFINITION ##. Make sure that the ports mapped here don't conflict with other game rules already defined. If there is a conflict you can comment out the other rules if they are not needed, or one set of rules might work for both applications. # Virtual Pool 3 Client :INIT "Virtual Pool 3 OUT TCP 47624 :SUB IN TCP 47624 IN TCP 2300 IN UDP 2300 OUT TCP 2300 OUT UDP 2300 :END Client" 47624 0.0.0.0 47624 2400 2400 2400 2400 0.0.0.0 0 0.0.0.0 0 0.0.0.0 0 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0

0 0 0 0 0 0

R AD AD AD

How to configure Sygate 3.1 from Sybergen Networks if you want to host games (be the game creator):

Add the following lines to the Sygate apprule.cfg file after the line containing the comment ## USER DEFINITION ##. Make sure that the ports mapped here don't conflict with other game rules already defined. If there is a conflict you can comment out the other rules if they are not needed, or one set of rules might work for both applications. # Virtual Pool 3 Server :INIT "Virtual Pool 3 IN TCP 47624 :SUB IN TCP 2300 IN UDP 2300 OUT TCP 47624 OUT TCP 2300 OUT UDP 2300 :END Server" 47624 192.168.0.1 0 2400 2400 47624 2400 2400 0.0.0.0 0 0.0.0.0 0 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0

0 0 0 0 0 0

A AD AD R

How to configure Microsoft Proxy Server 2.0 if you want to join games (connect to a game created by someone else): (from the Microsoft DirectX SDK help file) Example of a Microsoft Proxy Server 2.0 Configuration: Internet Service Manager, Windows Sockets Proxy service: Service Properties Add protocol "DirectPlay (client)" under Protocols tab. Initial connection 47624 TCP Outbound Subsequent connections 2300-2400 TCP Inbound 2300-2400 TCP Outbound 2300-2400 UDP Inbound 2300-2400 UDP Outbound Give appropriate permissions to "DirectPlay (client)" under Permissions tab. Add to file "mspclnt.ini", which is in the C:\Msp\Clients folder by default. [Common Configuration] RemoteBindUdpPorts=2300-2400 ServerBindTcpPorts=2300-2400 KillOldSession=1 How to configure Microsoft Proxy Server 2.0 if you want to host games (be the game creator): (from the Microsoft DirectX SDK help file) Theoretical Microsoft Proxy Server 2.0 configuration: Internet Service Manager, Windows Sockets Proxy service: Service Properties Add protocol "DirectPlay (host)" under Protocols tab. Initial connection 47624 TCP Inbound Subsequent connections 2300-2400 TCP Inbound 2300-2400 TCP Outbound 2300-2400 UDP Inbound 2300-2400 UDP Outbound Give appropriate permissions to "DirectPlay (host)" under Permissions ta b. Add to file "mspclnt.ini", which is in the C:\Msp\Clients folder by default. [Common Configuration] RemoteBindUdpPorts=2300-2400

ServerBindTcpPorts=2300-2400 KillOldSession=1 In addition to the VP3 required ports there are additional GameSpy Arcade ports that may need to be open: 6667 (IRC) 3783 (Voice Chat Port) 27900 (Master Server UDP Heartbeat) 28900 (Master Server List Request) 29900 (GP Connection Manager) 29901 (GP Search Manager) 13139 (Custom UDP Pings) 6515 (Dplay UDP) 6500 (Query Port) ======================= VII) Rules Deviations ======================= Virtual Pool 3 has fairly accurate rules. There are some deviations from the current rule books and future rule books may cause other differences. Known differences are: 1) 3-Ball - this is not the tried and true way to play 3-Ball but is a fun game anyhow. Virtual Pool 3 does not correspond to any known 3-Ball rules. 2) Jump shots are supposed to be illegal in 8-Ball Pub rules. Virtual Pool 3 does not call illegal jumps. 3) Jump shots by digging under the cue ball are not legal. Virtual Pool 3 does not call fouls on jumps made by digging under the cue ball. 4) Spotting balls off the table. Virtual Pool 3 uses the coin op option for 10-Ball and 6-Ball and pockets all balls knocked off the table except for the money ball. 5) Bank Pool rules specify that the rails hit have to be part of the called shot. Virtual Pool 3 provides no way to specify rails for called bank shots. The user must manually Miscall the shot for banks using the wrong rails. 6) Games that have a stalemate rule can be implemented using the Draw Game option. Virtual Pool 3 does not call stalemates. 7) Balls are never considered frozen to a rail. Safeties can be played to balls that are frozen. 8) On ball in hand behind headstring situations where there is no ball to shoot Virutal Pool 3 automatically spots the ball except in rotation where you must specify spot low ball from the Game options menu (CTRL-B). ======================= VIII) Cautionary Notes ======================= * Uninstalling Virtual Pool 3. If you want to uninstall VP3, you must do it using the Uninstall selection on the Virtual Pool 3 menu or Add/Remove Programs in your Control Panel. If you simply delete it from your system, the Registry files will remain and you will not be able to re-install the game. * Do not remove the CD while a movie is playing. Because Virtual Pool 3 is reading directly off the CD while the movies are playing, this can cause your game to hang or crash.

* Do not change color palettes, or the size of your Desktop Area while playing Virtual Pool 3 in a Desktop Window. Virtual Pool 3 can only be played in a desktop window with the destop in 16 bit color mode (High color) or 32 bit color mode. * Closing programs using the Ctrl-Alt-Delete End Task function can cause problems when attempting to run the program later unless Windows has been restarted. To exit Virtual Pool 3, select Exit from the File menu. * If you are running Windows 2000 with an AMD Athlon processor, and some AGP video cards and are experiencing hang problems during intense graphics use, please go to the following website for help: http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q270/7/15.ASP * You must have Virtual Memory on to run Virtual Pool 3. =========================================== IX) Performance / Viewing Quality =========================================== If you have a fast system with a good 3D accelerator you should be able to run Virtual Pool 3 with all the graphics goodies turned on. To turn on all options go to the "Graphics Menu" under "Settings" and select all check marks under "Drawing Options". You want to run a 32 bit color mode in full screen. Go to the "Video Mode" menu under "Settings" and select a 32 bit mode. Try starting with 1024x768x32. If the performance is good you can try higher resolutions. If the performance is not good you can try lowering the resolution or going to 16 bit color. Many 3D accelerators are much faster in 16 bit modes. VP3 plays best at resolutions of 800x600 and higher. If your frame rate is still low, you can try turning off one or more of the following drawing options to improve frame rate: * High Resolution Textures * Lightmaps * See Through Status If you frame rate is still to low you can turn off the "Room Background" If you are running in software mode, the only performance boosting option is turning the "Room Background" off. =========================================== X) Video Card Problems =========================================== Virtual Pool 3 runs on most 3D accelerators. There may be problems on some older 3D cards. If you are having problems the first thing to do is go the card manufacturers web site, download and install the latest driver. If the latest driver from the card manufacturer does not fix the problem, go the chip manufacturers web site, download and install the latest driver. You can usually find out the chip manufacturer by looking at the first information shown after a power on or reset. If this does not work you can try examining

the video card. Look at the largest chip on the board. Some boards have heat sinks on the graphic chips that may prevent this. Some cards don't support lightmaps or run very slowly with them enabled. Lightmaps can be disabled by unselecting the "Lightmaps" check in the "Graphics Menu" found via "Settings" on the main menu. If the game runs slow or you experience graphic problems, try reducing textures. To do this, click the settings menu, then click graphics, then deselect "high resolution textures". You will be prompted to quit and restart VP3. The most common problem found on older video cards is the pool ball textures cutting up or flashing the wrong texture on the ball. This can be corrected if the manufacturer has released a fully functional DirectX 8 driver. Because manufacturers and chip vendors do not support products past a certain age, you may not be able to get a driver that works. In this case you need a new video card to run with hardware accleration turned on. If Virtual Pool 3 will not start there are some command line arguments to force it into different graphics modes. If your card is not DX8 compatible or has driver problems it may not start or may crash in D3D hardware accelerated mode (the default mode). All the settings specified by the command line arguments can be set in VP3 in the "Graphics" menu. The arguments should only be specified if you can't get VP3 to start. If you are successful in getting VP3 running with these arguments then later correct your D3D problem (most likely by getting a driver update), you will need to remove the command line arguments as they override the Graphics menu settings on startup. The command line arguments are placed at the end of the Target line. You can access the Target line by: bring up the Start Menu, go to Virtual Pool 3, highlight it, click the right mouse button, and select properties. The target line may be in double quotes. The command line arguments should go outside the quotes. All arguments start with a dash (-). The arguments are: Argument -soft -vlight -lowrestex Description Force VP3 to start in software mode Use vertex lighting Use low resolution textures

This is a list of known problems on cards. If you have one of these cards you may see these problems. Any limitations or suggested fixes are listed with each card. Always try getting the latest drivers no matter what you see in this list. Diamond Speedstar A70 8 MB SGRAM AGP Chipset -- SiS 6326 AGP Driver -- 4.10.0208 This card may experience texture problems and low frame rates.

Diamond Monster Fusion 16 MB SGRAM AGP Chipset -- 3DFX Voodoo Banshee Driver -- 4.12.1222 This card only works with the 3DFX driver. The Diamond driver (4.10.0213) fails to launch. You can get the driver at www.3dfx.com in the drivers section. Diamond Stealth II G460 8 MB SDRAM AGP Chipset -- Intel i740 Driver -- 4.10.1346 The game will not run with this video card and the above driver. Please check D iamond regularly for driver updates. Diamond Viper II 32 MBSDRAM Chipset -- S3 Savage 2000 Driver -- 4.12.9007 The game will not run with this video card and the above driver. Please check D iamond regularly for driver updates. Diamond Viper V330 4 MB SGRAM AGP Chipset -- Nvidia Riva 128 Driver -- 4.11.0337 Virtual Pool 3 will not run with the Diamond drivers, please use the Nvidia driv ers. If you still experience a low frame rate, go into the settings menu, select grap hics, then deselect high resolution textures. This will correct the problem. Number 9 Revolution IV 16 MB SDRAM Chipset -- Number 9 T2R4 (L2A1188) Driver 4.10.9433 The game will not run with this video card and the above driver. Please check regularly for driver updates. Hercules Terminator Beast 16 MB SDRAM AGP Chipset S3 Savage 3D Virtual Pool 3 will not run in 800x600 on this video card. TNT2 Chipset This chipset may have problems running in software mode. =========================================== XI) TroubleShooting =========================================== Q: I cannot hear any music playing in Virtual Pool 3. What could be wrong? A: Virtual Pool 3's music is stored in Red Book audio CD format. If you cannot hear music, your CD-ROM/DVD drive may not be set up correctly to play audio CDs. To fix this, try 'enabling digital CD audio for this device'. To do this in Windows, go to 'Control Panel' and then 'System'. At this point either click on 'Device Manager' (Win98) or click on 'Hardware' and then 'Device Manager' (Win2000/XP). In the list of devices, locate CD-ROM DVD Drives and find your drive. Double click on the drive and

select the 'Properties' Tab. Place a tick in the box named 'Enable digital CD audio for this CD-ROM device' and ensure the volume of the CD Player is NOT set to low and click 'OK.' Follow any remaining Windows instructions and then try to run VP3 again. Q: I closed Virtual Pool 3 by using an End Task. The next time I ran it I received an error that said: Preference data damaged. Restoring default user preferences. What's that mean and why is my preferences data getting damaged? A: If Virtual Pool 3 is terminated without properly exiting the game, it cannot properly de-initialize and save off user preferences. The game installation is OK and is not damaged, the preferences were not saved properly. Always remember to exit out of pool from within the game window or File menu. Q: I have Direct X installed from one of my other games so I skipped the Direct X installation in the Setup program. But for some reason, I am having a bunch of problems with the game. Is there something wrong with my version and how can I fix this? A: Virtual Pool 3 requires DirectX 8. Your other game may have used an older version of DirectX and this could be the problem. To update your DirectX run the setup program and select Install DirectX. Q: I had to install DirectX 8, but after my system was restarted by the Setup program, I found out that some of my newer drivers were replaced by DirectX with older ones. What's going on? A: DirectX 8 has its own set of drivers that have been certified for use with it. In some situations, you may have a driver that is newer than the one from DirectX or one that isn't certified. If this occurs, you can either use DirectX's driver, or re-install your previous driver after DirectX has been installed. Q: My system will only run in software mode. Why can't I use my 3D hardware acceleration. A:Try setting the "Hardware Acceleration" in the Settings/Graphics menu. If you still can't get hardware acceleration, your 3D video card is probably not DirectX 8 compatible. Q: My system will not run Virtual Pool, the program exits when I start it. I have installed the latest video drivers. What should I do now? A: There still may be problems with your video driver that prevent you from running. Try the command line arguments detailed in the paragraph in Video Card Problems on forcing VP3 graphics parameters. Q: My performance is too low. What should I do? A: Read the section in the readme on Performance. Q: Why do the sound effect play but no music? A: Music is played as CD audio and requires that your CD audio connector

on your CD/DVD drive is connected to your sound card. Q: I've read the readme and I'm still having problems. Where can I go to get more help. A: Never fear. Celeris Technical Support is always available to help. You can reach us at: www.celeris.com/support/vp3.html =========================================== XII) FAQ's =========================================== Q: When I click the VP3 shortcut, it brings up the play menu. Is there a way to bipass the play menu? A: Yes, drag the VP3.EXE icon from the installed directory to your Windows task bar. Q: Can you change your brightness settings in desktop mode? A: Unfortunately because of resizing issues, brightness can't be changed in desktop mode. Q: I select see through status and the status box is not see through, what am I doing wrong? A: If you are running in software mode, see through status bars are not availab le. Q: I have played several careers and my stats don't appear to be adding up corr ectly on quick play? A: Stats are kept separate for each career and for quick play by user name. =============================================== XIII) Technical Support =============================================== If you are having problems check the FAQs at www.celeris.com/support/vp3.html. ==================================== XIV) Legal Information ==================================== COPYING PROHIBITED This software product and the manual are copyrighted and all rights are reserved by Celeris Inc. and are protected by the copyright laws that pertain to computer software. You may not copy the software except that you may make one copy of the software solely for backup or archival purposes. You may not loan, sell, rent, lease, give, sub license, or otherwise transfer the software (or any copy). You may not modify, adapt, translate, create derivative works, decompile, disassemble, or otherwise reverse engineer or derive source code from all or any portion of the software or anything incorporated therein or permit or encourage any third party to do so. Notice: Celeris reserves the right to make modifications or improvements to the product described in the manual at any time and without notice.

SOFTWARE USE LIMITATIONS AND LIMITED LICENSE This copy of Virtual Pool 3: The Game (the "Software") is intended solely for your personal non-commercial home entertainment use. You may not decompile, reverse engineer, or disassemble the Software, except as permitted by law. Celeris Inc. retains all right, title and interest in the Software including all intellectual property rights embodied therein and derivatives thereof. The Software, including, without limitation, all code, data structures, characters, images, sounds, text, screens, game play, derivative works and all other elements of the Software may not be copied, resold, rented, leased, distributed (electronically or otherwise), used on pay-per-play, coin-op or other for-charge basis, or for any commercial purpose. Any permissions granted herein are provided on a temporary basis and can be withdrawn by Celeris Inc. at any time. All rights not expressly granted are reserved. Modem and Network Play: If the Software contains modem or network play, you may play the Software via modem transmission with another person or persons directly without transmission through a third party service or indirectly through a third party service only if such service is an authorized licensee of Celeris. For the purposes of this license, a "third party service" ou assent to the terms and restrictions of this limited license. If you do not accept the terms of this limited license, you must return the Software together with all packaging, manuals and other material contained therein to the store where you acquired the Software for a full refund. Copyright 2004 Celeris Inc. All Rights Reserved. Virtual Pool 3 is a trademark of Celeris Inc. All Rights Reserved. All other marks and trademarks are properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved.