Game: DX Ball 2
Game Platfrom: Windows/DOS
Developer: Longbow Digital Arts
-=FAQ=-
Type of Guide: FAQ
Version: Final
Completion: 100%
Date Started: 17:15:57 GMT, 17th March 2002
Date of last update: 20:56:00 GMT, 5th October 2002
-=Copyright=-
This FAQ is copyright CGorman (Ciarán Gorman) 2002, and may only be used for
non-profitable causes, e.g. Gamefaqs.com. If you want this FAQ, just steal it
and I will sue you, because it is to be exclusively hosted through the
internet by Gamefaqs, and no other website or affliation, except of course any
website I may own. Use of this FAQ through other mediums such as print, is
available through nogotiation. "DX Ball 2" a copyright of Longbow Digital
Arts.
-=Disclaimer=-
This FAQ may contain spoliers, mistakes etc., but any personal loss incured
by such is understood to be of your own free will and I hold no resposibility.
-=Email=-
Please email me if you have a problem, I strive to answer all valid and
decent questions, and add them to my FAQs with credit for the individual who
asked the question. But I will not answer any foolish or ignorant questions, I
do not have time for such, as I can get up to 20 emails in one day, so please
think before you email me, and check out any other FAQs for the answer, and of
course read this one fully.
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--------------------------------[ Contents ]----------------------------------
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1.0...............................................................Introduction
1.1........................................................Version History/Log
2.0.................................................................The Basics
2.1........................................................................FAQ
2.2.......................................................................Tips
2.3...................................................................Set List
3.0.....................................................................Cheats
3.1................................................................Sequel Info
3.2.....................................................................Faults
3.3.................................................................Highscores
3.4........................................................................Q&A
4.0...................................................................Farewell
____________________
---------------------------[ 1.0 - Introduction ]-----------------------------
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DX Ball 2! A turely great game, I first played a shareware version with a
few levels a few years ago, since then it has become available for free on the
net (the link is at the end). So I thought a FAQ for it was a good idea - and
here it is!
CGorman - Author
___________________________
------------------------[ 1.1 - Version History/Log ]-------------------------
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Version: 1.0
Completion: 80%
Date/Time: 12:14:10 GMT, 17th March 2002
- Wrote basic FAQ, lists, Tips section, etc., still a bit of room for more
information.
Version: 1.1
Completion: 90%
Date/Time: 20:56:13 GMT, 18th May 2002
- Added faults section and a few other minor changes like reformating,
spelling changes etc.
Version: 1.2
Completion: 95%
Date/Time: 17:11:01 GMT, 5th June 2002
- Q&A section added as well as other small bits of information.
Version: Final
Completion: 100%
Date/Time: 16:22:00 GMT, 13th July 2002
- Finished!
Version: Final
Completion: 100%
Date/Time: 20:56:00 GMT, 5th october 2002
- Made a few formating changes; also add a few bits of information.
__________________
-------------------------------[ 2.0 - The Basics ]---------------------------
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-=Descripition=-
DX Ball 2 is a great game, a more advanced version of DX Ball, with far more
levels to play in and far more options to choose from. It is basically a
"brakeout" style game, where you must destroy all bricks/blocks by bouncing a
ball off a paddle - a basic enough type of game (however extremely inticing!)
You score points by hitting more blocks with more disadvantages (e.g. a small
ball or faster ball.)
-=Options=-
You can choose from several options at the main menu, you can toggel through
each option by using its corresponding key as listed:
____ _________________ _______________________________
|Key | Option | Choices |
|----|-----------------|-------------------------------|
|F1 | Backgrounds | Textured, Half-Bright, Black. |
|F3 | Players | 1, 2, 3, 4. |
|F4 | Difficulty | Normal, Kid-Mode. |
|F5 | In-Game Music | Activated, Disabled. |
|F6 | Swap Audio | Normal, Left/Right Swapped. |
|F7 | Display | Full Screen, Windowed. |
|F9 | DX Ball Website | Go to DX Ball 2 Website. |
|____|_________________|_______________________________|
-=Bonus Items=-
During the game after hitting a brick, a bonus will fall, they are as
follows:
____________ ______________ ________________________________________________
| Name | Icon | Benefit |
|------------|--------------|------------------------------------------------|
| Thru Brick | Line Through | Instead of the ball reflecting off the brick |
| | Brick | it goes through it and through all the bricks |
| | | that follow, except for the special bricks |
| | | that require 3 hits to demolish. |
|------------|--------------|------------------------------------------------|
| Set-Off | Sticks of | Blows up bricks. |
| Explosion | TNT | |
|------------|--------------|------------------------------------------------|
| FireBall | Fireball | Each brick hit blows up itself and all |
| | | touching bricks. Quite Handy! |
|------------|--------------|------------------------------------------------|
| Shooting | Two sticks | You can shoot the bricks with this, it is |
| Paddle | | proably one of the best bonuses as it only |
| | | takes seconds to clear a level with this bonus.|
|------------|--------------|------------------------------------------------|
| Grab | Two Electric | This is very handy as each time the ball hits|
| Paddle | Sticks | your board it stops and you can choose where to|
| | | shoot it, but it can be annoying after a while.|
|------------|--------------|------------------------------------------------|
| Extra Life | A plus one | I think this is obivious enough. |
|------------|--------------|------------------------------------------------|
| Level Warp | A Level | Finishs level and transports you to next. |
|------------|--------------|------------------------------------------------|
| Zap Bricks | Lazer Through| Zaps Bricks. |
| | Brick | |
|------------|--------------|------------------------------------------------|
| Slow Ball | Ball with | Slows down your ball to a certain speed. I |
| | Resistance | find it more of a problem more than a bonus. |
| | Image | |
|------------|--------------|------------------------------------------------|
| Expanding | 5 Bricks | Expands exploding area to 5 bricks. |
| Expolding | | |
|------------|--------------|------------------------------------------------|
| Expand | Paddle with | One of the most helpful items in the game, it|
| Paddle | < >arrows | makes the paddle grow bigger. |
|------------|--------------|------------------------------------------------|
| Split Ball | 3 Balls | Again helpful, think of it this way twice the|
| | | power, twice the speed! |
|------------|--------------|------------------------------------------------|
| Mega Ball | Enlarged Ball| An extra big ball! |
|------------|--------------|------------------------------------------------|
| Eight Ball | Balls | Turns your one ball into eight! |
|____________|______________|________________________________________________|
-=Pitfall Items=-
Well its not all good, theres plenty of pitfalls as you will see now, they
are as follows. Please note, although they make gameplay harder, they do give
more points when you hit something - despite an intial points drop.
_____________ _________________ ____________________________________________
| Name | Icon | Pitfall |
|-------------|-----------------|--------------------------------------------|
| Kill Paddle | Skull and Bones | You lose. |
|-------------|-----------------|--------------------------------------------|
| Shrink Ball | Tiny Ball | You Shrink. |
|-------------|-----------------|--------------------------------------------|
| Fast Ball | Ball | Your ball starts going much faster, this |
| | | sometimes is OK as it helps if you are |
| | | impatinent. |
|-------------|-----------------|--------------------------------------------|
| Super Shrink| Small Paddle | Your paddle shrinks to smallest size. |
|-------------|-----------------|--------------------------------------------|
| Falling | Brick | Each time you hit a brick, all the bricks|
| Bricks | | come down one until they reach a certain |
| | | point. |
|-------------|-----------------|--------------------------------------------|
| Shrink | Paddle with | Unlike Super Shrink, it only gets smaller|
| Paddle | < > Arrows | slightly, unless you have no expand paddles|
| | | on. |
|_____________|_________________|____________________________________________|
-=System Requirments=-
Before I tease you any further, I better just let you know of the system
requirements, they are quite minimal - so most PCs will be fine.
o Windows 95, 98 2000, NT or any latter Windows operating system,
o Microsoft DirectX (Included with most windows OS's)
o Any Video Card capable of High-Colour (65535 colours) graphics,
o A Pentium 100 or better processer,
o 16 Megabytes or more RAM.
___________
----------------------------------[ 2.1 - FAQ ]-------------------------------
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Unlike the Q&A section later, these are more basic questions.
Q: What is the Paddle?
A: The Paddle is the board you use to reflect the balls.
-----
Q: Is there anywhere I can get new boards?
A: Try, www.longbowdigitalarts.com/dxball2.html, where you can buy extra
boards.
-----
Q: Why is it not working on my PC?
A: A: You do not have a PC with the System Requirments, they are listed in the
"Basics," Section.
B: You downloaded or bought a pirated copy from someware else other than
the offical site.
C: You did not install it correctly.
-----
Q: Which do you use to play, mouse or keyboard?
A: To play simply move the mouse in the appropite direction.
-----
Q: Where can I get DX Ball 2?
A: First place to look is the website where you can download it plus 24 demo
boards, if you do not have the internet you can get it on softkeys "Game
Zone: 1000+Games," this retails for about £5.
-----
Q: I would like to learn more and talk to other players, where can I do this?
A: www.longbowdigitalarts.com/ubb-cgi/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&number=1&
start=here
-----
Q: Is there any tech support?
A: Yes it is located at, www.longbowdigitalarts.com/support.html
-----
____________
--------------------------------[ 2.2 - Tips ]--------------------------------
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1) By playing with an extra small paddle or a fast ball, you get more points
for each brick, e.g. instead of 20 points you get 20x2 = 40 points!
Using both fast ball and small paddle at once can result in 4x the amount
of points recieved.
2) If you are new to the game, try Kid-Mode first to get used to the game, it
sounds babish, but don't let the name fool you.
3) Try to resist bonuses if you are good at the game, e.g. for a brick shot
with a lazer you only get 8 points.
4) Don't play for over 2 hours, its not healthy!
________________
---------------------------------[ 2.3 - Set List ]---------------------------
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Here is a full list of sets, note that this is including the extra sets
you can purchase online at the DX Ball 2 homepage.
-=The Demo=-
Here are the sets that come with the game when you download it, they are as
follows:
___________________________ __________________ ____________
| Name | Author | No. Boards |
|---------------------------|------------------|------------|
| Hide and Seek | Jim McNally | 4 |
| Equalizeral | Philippe McNally | 4 |
| Variations on a Dream | Seumas McNally | 4 |
| Journey to the Sun | Wendy McNally | 4 |
| Expedition: Corufed | Wendy McNally | 4 |
| Searching for Bucephalas | Wendy McNally | 4 |
|___________________________|__________________|____________|
-=Board-Pack 1#=-
If you have'nt had enough you can buy this hugh pack of 150 boards from the
offical website, these are just continuations of the demo, so I won't list
them, they each have 24 boards.
-=Board-Pack 2#=-
A hugh set of 150 boards with more artistic disign and backgrounds than
before, they are as follows:
___________________________ __________________ ____________
| Name | Author | No. Boards |
|---------------------------|------------------|------------|
| Babes and Matriarchs | Wendy McNally | 25 |
| Agamemnon's Revenge | Wendy McNally | 50 |
| Kickers, Hats and Wraps | Wendy McNally | 25 |
| Stingers, Legs and Hats | Wendy McNally | 25 |
| Coveting the Grail | Wendy McNally | 25 |
|___________________________|__________________|____________|
-=Board-Pack 3#=-
Again a hugh pack at 150 boards, all by Wendy McNally. They are as below:
___________________________ __________________ ____________
| Name | Author | No. Boards |
|---------------------------|------------------|------------|
| Kimonos and Coverings | Wendy McNally | 25 |
| Meadows and Mountains | Wendy McNally | 25 |
| It's in the Shurbbery | Wendy McNally | 50 |
| Vegetarian Feast | Wendy McNally | 25 |
| Harmonious Maze | Wendy MyNally | 25 |
|___________________________|__________________|____________|
-=Memorial Pack=-
Wendy McNally doe's it again with 176 boards, they are as follows, thats if
you have'nt had enough:
The Classic Pack has the 50 original boards from DX-Ball, plus 50 Tribute
boards and 50 Challenge boards in the same style as the original game, they
are only 3 sets, those mentioned in this paragraph.
______________
-------------------------------[ 3.0 - Cheats ]-------------------------------
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Now personal I don't agree with cheating in any game, unless its a game,
where you are not obliged to do missions or levels, like in GTA 3, but I still
only use cheats for enjoyment not advancement. I do not suggest you use the
following cheats as they where only created so that the game writer could
quickly check for defualts in the game.
To use any of the following cheats, you most enter the following code
during gameplay, music signals correct entry, "eureka." Then enter the
following keys to use a cheat.
o To advance to the next board press the [Right] key.
o To return to the previous board press the [Left] key.
o To advance to the final board in a set, press the [Down] key.
o To return to the first board in the set, press the [Up] key.
___________________
------------------------------[ 3.1 - Sequel Info ]---------------------------
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It has just been anounced that a sequel to DX Ball 2 has been launched, it
will include a 1-on-1 split screen network competition, and many new boards,
also all your old DX Ball boards will work with it. "Gameplay," have given the
new game a perfect 10/10.
Download free version:
PC: http://www.longbowdigitalarts.com/RBFree.exe (2,896KB)
MAC: http://www.longbowdigitalarts.com/RivalBallMac.sit.bin (3,034KB)
______________
---------------------------------[ 3.2 - Faults ]-----------------------------
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Recently I was contacted on the gamefaqs message boards, by "Sweet
Vengeance," who gave me the following information. While on the point it is
nice to receive feedback on a small FAQ like this, for a low-profile game.
Anyways heres the message:
"Be careful of DXBall 2. Check to see if the Uninstall file works or not.
If an error message pops up, it means it has a Trojan virus attached on
it. It allows the programmer to access your hard drive, but it doesn't
do any real damage (At least I don't think it does). If your CD-ROM case
starts opening and closing without you doing anything, it's the
programmer's doing.
I deleted the whole thing right away. Just a little warning to ya."
Sadly he did not specify wheather the CD version or downloadable version
was effected. Anyways please send any further information to
cgorman@hotmail.com
__________________
------------------------------[ 3.3 - Highscores ]----------------------------
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To send in your high scores simple do as follows:
Go to Program Files..Dxball...Scores..and right click the appropriate
file...send to scores at Longbow
E-mail Address(es):
scores@LongbowDigitalArts.com
To view the high scores go to:
http://www.longbowdigitalarts.com/scores.html
___________
---------------------------------[ 3.4 - Q&A ]--------------------------------
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The following are some of the most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ!) for
DX Ball 2. Credit has been given to those derserving at the end. Most of these
Q&A's are from the official DX Ball 2 Fourm, at its website.
Q: I recently tried to download DX Ball 2, upon open or save. I get an error
message stating invalid data. Is there a problem with the website download
server or a problem with the game? I had the game on another computer a few
years ago and purchased one of the game boards. I recently purchased
another computer and would like to install the game, but without success.
What could be the problem here?
A: If you tried to use your old program, it won't work. The programmer put
in a code so you can't give it to anyone else, even if it's your new
computer. If you downloaded from the website, try again. It may be that the
site was down when you first tried.
Q: I have the first DX Ball installed and today downloaded the new DXBall 2
Demo and the graphics are really bad - fuzzy, one dimensional, difficult to
see. I see from your website that the new version looks nothing like what I
seem to have. What have I done wrong?
A: Go to your control panel in settings click the setting tab and where it say
color instead of 256 try 16 high bit color and I think your screen area
should be 800 by 600 that should work.
________________
---------------------------------[ 4.0 - Farewell ]---------------------------
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Thanks for reading this FAQ as I appriciate any attention my FAQs get,
please take the time to view the websites, they are as below.
-=Links=-
o http://www.gamefaqs.com ~ the home of the entire FAQ world.
o http://www.longbowdigitalarts.com/dxball2.html ~ the homepage of DX Ball 2.
o http://www.longbowdigitalarts.com/dxb2game125.exe ~ download DX Ball 2.
o http://www.longbowdigitalarts.com/RBFree.exe ~ download Rivial Ball, (PC)
o http://www.longbowdigitalarts.com/RivalBallMac.sit.bin ~ download Rivial Ball,
(MAC)
o http://www.longbowdigitalarts.com/scores.html ~ Highscores.
-=Credits=-
After writing this FAQ it is my job to thank the people who made this
possible, they are as follows:
1. Gamefaqs.com for posting this FAQ.
2. The McNally's for writing such a fun and addictive game.
3. Longbow Digital Arts for publishing such a great game.
4. Softkey for publishing a great shareware version.
5. All who took the time to read this game FAQ.
6. "Sweet Vengeance," for the warning of the fault.
7. Myself for writing it.
8. The question and answer for the first Q&A were supplied by patfb1 (Q)
and Lady.Jet. (A)
9. The question and answer for the second Q&A were supplied by katyptaty (Q)
and Tinkatoy2000. (A)
-=Comments=-
"GET IT! There is no equivalent; this is the BEST "Breakout" type game out
there." ~ Chris Pirillo, Lockergnome.
"DX Ball 2 ... is an awesome breakout style game." ~ Zonia Heath,
SharewareJunkies.
"An addictive game, well made bursting with gameplay and graphics." ~ Me
