THE WEINER WARRIOR

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FREQUENTY ASKED QUESTIONS

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Q1. What the heck is this?

 

Meat FighterTM is an arcade-style side-scrolling fighting game inspired by games of the early 90’s.  Choose from 6 possible players and battle through 7 stages of intensive meat fighting.  Prepare to meet the wiener warriors: Sal Lammee, Rat Dog, Oscar M. Wiener, Hot Doug, Cornelius Dog, and Oliver.

 

Q2. You’re kidding right?

 

Nope.

 

Q3. What do I need to run this?

 

You need J2RE v1.4.1_02 and the Meat FighterTM JAR file.  Since it was written entirely in Java, it should work on any machine with sufficient speed and memory (366 MHz and 128 MB of RAM is suggested).  Refer to the download section for details.

 

Q4. If I know Java and I have access to the J2SDK v1.4.1, may I mess with the code?

Sure.  Refer to the developers section for details.

 

Q5. I'm way too lazy to read through the GNU General Public License.  What does it mean?

 

It covers these 2 essential points among others:

 

1.      You can use gamingtools.jar or any of the source in your own project completely free.

2.      The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the program is with you.  For example, if you take the fighting algorithms from Meat FighterTM and install them into a humanoid robot and that robot malfunctions and accidentally mutilates a crowd of people, don't come crying back to me.

 

Q6. If this is free, what does your Copyright mean?

 

A better question is, what is "Copyleft?"  Refer to this link for an explanation.

 

Meat Fighter™ is Copyright © 2003 by Michael Birken.  Meat Fighter™ and JaminWare™ are trademarks of Michael Birken.

 

Q7. What is JaminWare?

 

JaminWare ImageTM

 

JaminWare™ is simply a name I made up to label my software.

 

Q8. What is that small superscript TM that appears everywhere on this page?

 

The phrase proceeding TM is a trademark of Michael Birken.  If TM has not been trademarked by anyone, then I am also trade marking it now.  In other words: TM™.  Though I suppose I could recursively do that to infinitum until the superscripts become too small to see with the human eye.  But, due to limitations in HTML, you’ll have to imagine this one on your own.

 

Q9. What is the origin of the sounds?

 

begin.mid

Marvel Super Heroes VS Street Fighter (Capcom)

bonusstage.mid

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (SNES)

chosen.wav

3D Pinball (Microsoft)

continue.mid

Street Fighter 2 (Capcom)

fight.wav

Mortal Kombat Series

gibber.wav

Mortal Kombat Series

gibber3.wav

Mortal Kombat Series

intro.mid

King of Fighters ’98 (Neo Geo)

menu.mid

Marvel Super Heroes VS Street Fighter (Capcom)

nameup.mid

Unkown

ouch.wav

Mortal Kombat Series

punch1.wav

Unknown

punch2.wav

Unknown

punch3.wav

Unknown

punch4.wav

Unknown

punch5.wav

Unknown

slide.wav

3D Pinball (Microsoft)

splat.wav

Unknown

stage1.mid

King of Fighters '94 (Neo Geo)

stage2.mid

Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of the Superheroes (Capcom)

stage3.mid

Marvel Super Heroes VS Street Fighter

stage4.mid

Streets of Rage 2 (Sega)

stage5.mid

Samurai Shodown 3

stage6.mid

Virtua Fighting 3 (Sega)

toasty.wav

Mortal Kombat Series

winning.mid

Unknown

 

I encourage you to buy and play these awesome games from which the sounds originated so that you may experience the music the way it was meant to be heard.  Most of the midi files were obtained from Gamesounds Videogame Music Achieve (http://www.vgmusic.com/).  The remainder was also obtained from the web.  If any of these companies wishes that their music no longer be associated with Meat FighterTM, then I will remove their songs promptly.  Please note that Meat FighterTM is free software.

 

Q10. I freed the princess from the dungeon using the skeleton key that I stole from the troll, but the guard keeps catching me when I try to escape the castle.  Can you give me any hints?

 

What the heck are you talking about?  You must be thinking of some other game.  Meat Fighter™ is that game where you fight hot dogs as a hot dog.

 

Q11. How do I play Meat Fighter™?

 

Enter

Start Game

A

Block

D

Punch            

F

Attack

Esc

End Game

 

Use the arrow keys to move and jump.  Attempting to switch to another application while playing Meat FighterTM will result in an automatic end game.  At present, there is no way to pause the game.  The mouse is not involved in playing Meat FighterTM.

 

Q12. Are there any secret codes in Meat Fighter™?

 

left right up down A F A F A

skip to stage 2

left right up down A F A F down

skip to stage 3

left right up down A F A F F

skip to bonus stage

left right up down A F A F left

skip to stage 4

left right up down A F A F right

skip to stage 5

left right up down A F A F up

skip to stage 6

left right up down A F A F D

winning scene

left right up down D

secret character

 

Q13. Why does the music sound choppy and distorted?

 

If you have multiple versions of Java on your system, you might be using an old sound bank. Check out the different sound banks available at: http://java.sun.com/products/java-media/sound/soundbanks.html

 

Q14. The game runs in full-screen mode, but all the colors look messed up.  What can I do?

 

 

The primary color of the characters in the game is red (i.e. hotdog colored).  If the characters appear green (or anything else), then you are not viewing Meat FighterTM the way it meant to be seen. 

 

Double check that you are using Java version 1.4.1_02 or higher by typing this in the command prompt:

 

java -version

 

If you have the correct version, then you are experiencing a bug in the present version of the Java Full-Screen Exclusive Mode API.  

 

Open your display settings.  If you are using True Color (24 bit color), then try to reduce this to High Color (16 bit color).  To access these settings under Windows 2000/XP, right click on the desktop and select the settings tab.

 

If that does not work, then there is one more thing you can try.  Most video cards offer you the ability to manually control the level of acceleration and performance supplied by the graphics hardware.  Try to decrease the level of hardware acceleration and see if that solves the problem.  To access these settings under Windows 2000/XP, right click on the desktop and select properties.  Click on the Settings tab and then the Advanced button.  Your video card properties window should open and one of the tabs should allow you to modify the level of hardware acceleration.  Specifically, try to turn off DirectDraw acceleration.  Unfortunately, if you reduce the level of hardware acceleration, then Meat FighterTM and other applications may execute slower.

 

Q15. How do I uninstall Meat FighterTM?

 

Meat FighterTM is fully contained in meatfighter.jar.  If you erase this single file, then it is fully uninstalled.  Erasing the file will not leave any garbage behind in the Windows registry.

 

Q16. Why can’t I get my joystick to work with Meat FighterTM?

 

Due to limitations in Java, Meat FighterTM does not presently support joysticks.

 

Q17. Why can’t I use Meat FighterTM with Java version 1.2 or 1.3?

 

The Java 2 Runtime Environment (J2RE) version 1.4 is the first version of Java to support full-screen exclusive mode and Meat FighterTM takes advantage of this to fully immerse the player into that world of fighting hotdogs and sausages.  Version 1.4 makes it possible for one to suspend disbelief and enjoy the game the way it was meant to be seen.  Version 1.4.1_02 fixed many of the bugs in version 1.4.0 associated with full-screen exclusive mode.

 

Q18 If I update my Java Runtime Environment (JRE), what will happen to the present version of the JRE?

 

Many versions of the JRE can coexist on the same machine without any conflicts.  Unless you manually remove the older version, both versions will reside there.  Since some Java applications work better on specific versions of the JRE, you might want to leave both versions on your machine.  Consult http://java.sun.com/j2se/ for further JRE installation questions.

 

Q19. How do I know which version of Meat Fighter™ I have?

 

From the command prompt: java -jar meatfighter.jar –version

 

Q20. What is new in the latest version?

 

New in version 1.6 (March 1, 2003):

 

*      Recompiled under J2SE v1.4.1_02-b06.

*      Applied a fix required for J2SE v1.4.1_02 to enter full-screen exclusive mode without deadlocking.

 

New in version 1.5 (January 26, 2003):

 

*      Separated the Meat FighterTM specific code from the animation and audio code.

*      Applied the GNU Public License.

*      Recompiled under J2SE v1.4.1_01-b01.

 

New in version 1.4 (October 13, 2002):

 

*      Recompiled under J2SE v1.4.1 FCS.

*      Repositioned the toasty guy.

*      Enabled the Enter key to select fighter.

*      Thanks to Clark Steel for locating the origins of some of the midi files. 

 

New in version 1.3 (August 19, 2001):

 

*      Added changes submitted by Hans Muller to make it work correctly from within Java Web Start. 

 

New in version 1.2 (July 11, 2001):

 

*      Fixed bug that prevented some computers from properly switching into full screen mode.

*      Mouse cursor rendered invisible.

*      No longer allows 640x480x8 mode.

 

New in version 1.1 (July 3, 2001):

 

*      Full screen support.  Previous versions were restricted to a 640x480 window.  May run faster in full screen mode.

*      Removed rapid-punching cheat.  Previous versions allowed you to hold down keys and take advantage of auto-repeat.

*      Fixed demo bug.  Demo used to get stuck on Rat Dog vs. Rat Dog since he cannot throw the first punch.

*      Improved power bars.  New ones are translucent.

*      Added java version detection feature.  Game will not start up if java 1.4 or higher is not present.

 

Q21. Will there be a sequel?

 

Possibly.  Meat Fighter 2?  It would need many more moves, network support, etc.  Perhaps I will get around to that one day.

 

Q22. How can you be contacted?

 

http://meatfighter.com/contact/

 

Q23. What do people think of this insanity?

 

Meat FighterTM is featured on the Swing Connection's Swing Sightings page hosted by Sun: http://java.sun.com/products/jfc/tsc/sightings/S03.html.  The author of the article writes,

 

"A few weeks ago I spotted a group of engineers gathered around my bosses door - nothing terribly unusual about that. There was quite a bit of laughing and gesturing which was a little odd so I poked my head in the door to see what was up. And there was the manager of all of the Java Client Software groups flailing away at a full screen hand-to-hand combat game, which pitted what appeared to be pork-chop against a boxing hot dog… It's one of the first, and is certainly the silliest, full screen Java applications we've seen. "

 

Note, the jar available from that site is not the current version.

 

Hans Muller, the technical lead for Java Client software at Sun writes,

 

"Hilarious! Your application is scoring big laughs here at JavaSoft… We've seen a bunch of 1.4 applications however yours is by far and away the funniest… Can't wait to see your next application."