# Your Guide to the Dreamweb

CREDITS

Director: Neil Dodwell |  | Artist: David Dew

Music: Matt Seldon

Cast: |  | Narrator/Ryan |  | Martin Sherman
Sparky | Patrick Kelly
Louis King | Dee Graham
Silverman | John Haines
Eden | Nikki Robinson
Diane Underwood | Rena Kaye
Keeper | Tony Dilon
Voice of Fate | Carol Nudds

Other parts played by members of the cast
Recorded at Videosonix Ltd. Sound Studio, Camden, London
Post-production by Reflex Interactive

Technical: |  | Producer |  | Patrick Kelly
Chief Sound Engineer | Paul Harris
Asst. Sound Engineer | Matt Grime
Sound Director | Rik Yapp
Sound Sample Driver | Creative Reality
Sound Assistant | Matt Seldon
Concept and Design | Creative Reality
Created by | Neil Dodwell
Graphics and Effects | David Dew
Music and Effects | Matt Seldon
Props. designed by | Stephen Marley
Props. Production | Paul Oglesby
Sound Conversion | Reflex Interactive
Guides written by | Neil Dodwell and Rik Yapp
Script Co-ordinator | Barry Tuck
Best Boy | Chad Schofield
Key Grip | Steve Lamb

Creative Reality represented by Jacqui Lyons
Produced by Rik Yapp and Creative Reality
© 1994 Creative Reality
Published by Empire Interactive Entertainment

INTRODUCTION

In your dreams you travel to the Dreamweb. Everyone does. The plane of subconsciousness affects your life every day. It controls the very heart of civilisation itself. This web is controlled by seven people who each contain the power of a node within the web. The characteristics of these people imbue the web, and hence the World, with their own strengths and weaknesses. As one of the nodes dies it is transferred to another human, and so the forces within the web fluctuate as the nodes attain differing aspects.
But all this is about to be shattered. The forces of evil have understood the power of the web, and now all seven nodes are controlled by evil people. The web itself is about to be overrun and destined to remain evil. Forever!
Only one person can stop this terrible catastrophe. The chosen one. Ryan. YOU!
You have been summoned by the keepers of the Web. You must destroy the controllers of all seven nodes to allow the Web to regenerate and thus restore the equilibrium. The fate of civilisation rests in your hand.
To aid you in this most difficult mission, Ryan's diary ‘The Diary of a (Mad?) Man’ has been faithfully reproduced. Read the diary carefully, it will help you in your quest.
Good luck.

INSTALLATION AND START

ATTENTION: This chapter is only relevant if you intent to play using an old computer system.
IBM PC & COMPATIBLES
System requirements
To play Dreamweb you will require:

| 20 MB free hard disk space
| 3 MB of extended or expanded memory (if sound is required)
| 580 KB of free base memory
| a mouse.

The use of a Sound Blaster or compatible card is recommended.
Note: To use expanded memory you must use an expanded memory manager such as EMM386 or QEMM. Refer to your DOS manual for details.
Installing Dreamweb
Boot up your computer and then insert the Disk (Disk 1 for floppy disk version) in any drive. Now type the drive letter followed by a colon. (e.g. if you put the disk in drive A then type A: )
Type INSTALL and then press ENTER, the installation procedure will now start.
The installation program will ask you which drive you wish to install Dreamweb on. The default is to drive C: in a directory called DREAMWEB, but you can change this if you wish.
To hear the sound in the game you must select the Sound Blaster option. The music and sound effects are all sampled and require a Sound Blaster compatible card. Follow the on-screen prompts.
Once you have answered all the questions, the installation will commence. If you are installing the floppy disk version, insert the numbered disks when the program requests them.
Once installation is complete you may start playing the game.
Starting Dreamweb
Once installation is complete you may start the game by typing:

C: |  | (assuming that the game was installed on the C drive)
CD DREAMWEB |  | (assuming the installation directory was called DREAMWEB)
DREAMWEB

Changing the Sound Options
Once the game has been installed you may change the sound options by running the game using the following commands:

DREAMWEB /i5 |  | to run with Sound Blaster on interrupt 5
DREAMWEB /i7 |  | to run with Sound Blaster on interrupt 7
DREAMWEB /n |  | to run with no sound

CD-ROM VERSION
The CD-ROM version of Dreamweb has been designed to run directly from CD without any hard-disk installation. The game however will need to write to the hard-disk to store temporary files. These files will be placed in a default directory on your C: drive called DREAMWEB. (If any further technical details become available, they will be included on a CD-ROM addendum card in the pack.)
COMMODORE AMIGA
The Amiga version of the game requires 1 MB of memory to run.
The game will autoboot from Disk 1. Simply turn on the computer and insert disk 1 in the disk drive.
If you wish to install the game to hard-drive then insert the last disk (Disk 3) in the drive and the installation program will autoboot. Follow the on-screen instructions.
COMMODORE AMIGA 1200
The game will autoboot from Disk 1. Simply turn on the computer and insert disk 1 in the disk drive.
If you wish to install the game to hard-drive then insert the last disk (Disk 4) in the drive and the installation program will autoboot. Follow the on-screen instructions.

GETTING STARTED

The Diary of a (Mad?) Man
Ryan's diary contains important information you will need during the game. On the final page, Ryan has noted down some things to remember. We strongly advise that you read the Diary fully before entering the Dreamweb.
Playing Dreamweb for the first time
If you are playing Dreamweb for the first time, or if you have previously played the game without saving your position, you will see the game introduction first. This may be skipped at any time by pressing the ESC key. The introduction is followed by the credits. Again, these may be skipped with ESC.
Playing Dreamweb from a saved position
If Dreamweb finds previous saved positions on the disk it will give you the option to play from a saved position, start the game from the beginning (including the introduction), or to exit to DOS. Click with the left mouse button when the pointer is over your chosen option.
If you decide to load a saved position you will be presented with a list of saved games. Highlight the one you wish to load and click on LOAD. Your saved game will be restored and you can continue playing Dreamweb from where you left off.

THE GAME INTERFACE

THE MAIN GAME SCREEN AND INVENTORY
Once the game has started you will be presented with a screen laid out as shown below:
The main part of the screen is the map area (1) which shows an overhead view of your character within a room.
The zoom box (2) shows a magnified view of what is under the mouse pointer.
As you guide the pointer around the screen the status line (3) tells you what will happen if you click the left mouse button. You may do the following:
Walk to an object. Your character can only examine objects that he is reasonably close to. If he is too far away, click on the object to walk to it. It will then be examinable. You can also walk to exits on the map when a blue arrow appears over the mouse pointer. This allows you to move from room to room or leave a location.
Examine an object on the screen. Clicking on an object will bring up a description of the object. From here you may Open or Use an object or, if it has a picture, click on it to pick it up. If you open the object or pick it up you will be taken to the inventory screen. See Open Inventory section below.
Talk to a person on the screen. When you talk to someone you will see a description of them followed by a conversation (spoken on CD-ROM version). Click the mouse button to skip to the next piece of speech. To repeat the entire conversation, click on the icon of the person at the top of the talk screen. You may return to the map at any time using the EXIT icon. Talking to people may provide vital clues or help in solving a puzzle.
Look around the current location. The name of your current location is shown at the top of the screen. Clicking on Ryan's eye (4) brings up a short description of your character's surroundings.
Zoom control: This switches the zoom box (2) on and off.
Disk options: Allows you to save, load or exit to DOS (see below).
Open inventory: Clicking on Ryan's coat (5) takes you to your inventory screen. This shows ten spaces for objects in your inventory at a time. There are three inventory pages, selectable by clicking on the page numbers at the top right of the inventory. If an object has been opened its contents will be shown below Ryan's inventory.
Objects may be moved around in the inventory or placed into open objects by clicking on the object using the left mouse button. The pointer will ‘grab’ the object. It can then be placed in any free space, swapped with another item, or dropped by placing it over the bin at the top of the screen and clicking.
To examine an object in Ryan's inventory or an open object, click on it with the right mouse button.
To leave the inventory click on the EXIT icon in the bottom right of the screen.
Note: Large objects will not fit inside smaller ones and some objects will only allow certain objects to be placed inside them. E.g. A CD player can only have CD's placed inside it.
Use with allows one object to act upon another. If you examine an object on the map and use it, you may be taken to the inventory screen and asked ‘use with.... ?’ Click on any item in Ryan's inventory to use them together. E.g. Examine card reader and use it with the cashcard.
THE TRAVEL SCREEN
When you leave a location (such as walking off the left of the screen outside Eden's house) you will be taken to the travel screen. Over the cityscape appears a travel picture that shows a place you can travel to, with the name of the place at the top of the screen. By clicking on the two arrows either side of the name you can select different locations. To travel to a place click on its travel picture at the bottom of the screen.
To find out more information about a place before you travel, click on the information icon (the notepaper in the top right of the screen). If you decide you do not want to travel, click on the EXIT icon and you will return to the map of the current location.
SAVING AND RESTORING YOUR GAME
Selecting disk options takes you to a screen that allow you to exit to DOS, carry out disk operations, or return to the game. If you select disk operations you will be presented with save and load icons.
When saving a game click on a free slot or a file that has been used that you wish to overwrite. Then type the name of your save game. Click on the disk icon to save the game.
When loading a game just click on the file you wish to load and then click on the disk icon.

THE NETWORK MONITOR

STARTING THE NETWORK
In a few locations you will find a Network screen. The Network is a cranky and ancient information system still used by most people because it doesn't cost much to use. Using the Network you can read current news and weather reports and examine Network Cartridges using an interface. If a cartridge is placed inside a Network Interface its contents are readable on the Network. Examine and use the monitor itself, not the keyboard or interface, to access the Network.
NETWORK COMMANDS
There are a few basic commands to read files on the Network. Each file is broken down into topics and some files may be password protected. These commands are:
LIST: Used on its own this lists all files on the system including files on any cartridge being used. Once you have a list of files you may type LIST plus a file name to bring up a list of all topics in that file.
READ: Having obtained a list of topics this command will display all the text within a topic.
LOGON: Any password protected file requires a key before it is readable. You obtain keys by entering passwords. For example, Ryan's key is RYAN. To read any file protected by this key type LOGON RYAN. You will then be asked for a password. You can log on to any key on any Network machine provided you know the password.
KEYS: This lists all keys that you have successfully logged on to.
HELP: Displays help information.
EXIT: Disconnects the Network and returns you to the game.
When reading text you can stop it from scrolling by hitting the space bar. Hit it again to continue reading. The Network may help you find important information during the game.