Nettest1 Readme File:

Always have the most current version of DirectX installed on your computer.  As of this CD's ship date DirectX 6 is the most current version.  It is included on the CD in the 'DirectX' folder. Always make sure you have the newest drivers for all of your hardware installed on your computer.  Many hardware manufacturers are developing OpenGL drivers for their graphics accelerator cards.  Please make sure you check on your card's manufacturer website for their latest drivers.

General Testing Instructions:

1.  Look through all areas thoroughly.  We are interested in any areas of the program that you are having trouble with.  Go through the menus in the launcher, play the multiplayer game, play the single player game.  Tell us everything that doesn't work right for you.

2.  Make sure that you use the Update function often.  Having everyone involved in the test running the most current build is extremely important.  The Updater can be found in two places:  Running 'Sierra Utilities', which is installed onto your computer when you install Half-Life (Shortcut in Start menu), and through the Half-Life launcher.

3.  There are five documents included on the CD.  They will be inculded in a folder off the root called 'Docs'.  Please fill these out as completely as you possibly can.  This is where you can have an impact on the final product!

4.  We are going to have meetings at a set time over IRC (Internet Relay Chat).  A mail will be sent to you to inform you of when that will be occurring.  This will give you an opportunity to chat with people at Valve about your concerns.

5.  There will also be five e-mail addresses for you to send your concerns to.  They are:

	bugs@valvesoftware.com - Bugs that you find in the single player portion of the game.
	mbugs@valvesoftware.com - Bugs that you find in the multiplayer portion of the game.
	installer@valvesoftware - Any concerns that you have with the install portion of the product.
	summary@valvesoftware.com - Your overall summary of the product.

6.  When you write us with bugs that you find, please include as much information as you possibly can.  Your machine specs, what you were doing right before the problem, and whether or not you can reproduce it can be extremely useful for us to stamp all those bugs out.  Here is a sample bug report and what should be included in it:

Description:  Write the steps that you went through the get the behavior that you were seeing.  Be as verbose as you possibly can.  Go back and try these exact steps to make it happen again.

Computer Information:  In here give us as much information as possible to help us reproduce the bug.  What operation system you are running, what resolution you are running in, if you are in hardware acceleration or software acceleration, etc.

Saved games:  For problems that you run into in the single player game, attach a saved game to your e-mail.  This can be extremely useful for us.

Any other information:  The more information we have on problems that you are experiencing, the better.  Anything at all that you can tell us about your hardware, software, machine brand, anything...can be helpful in fixing problems.  Send everything that you possibly can think of.

	
Known Issues:

These are the areas that we are working on right now.  We will be updating you as the test is going, so make sure to run the AutoUpdater!

1.  Multiplayer will not work correctly in OpenGL/D3D.  As if this CD's burn, it is not fixed.  We are working on a fix for it, and it should be resolved by the time you receive your CD.

2.  To view the two opening .avi's for Half-Life, you must have video compression installed.  To make sure that you have installed video compression, goto your control panel and select Add/Remove programs.  From there, select 'Windows Setup' and scroll down to 'Multimedia'.  Select Multimedia and make sure that 'Video Compression' is checked.  You must have video compression installed to view the opening movies.

3.  Player Customization is not in just yet.  It will be updated at some point during the test.  You can change your name, and spray decals, but not all of the functions are working properly.

4.  LAN game is not hooked up yet.  We encourage you to run off the Internet on our servers, and they will be active at all hours during the test.  Look for Valve people up there too!
















