Mean Streets (mean.txt)

                      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.

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