August 22, 1998
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Title         : Structural Mechanics

Filename      : pak0.pak (smd1.bsp, smd2.bsp)

Author        : David Hyde

Email         : rascal@magnolia.net
                hyded@ex1.wes.army.mil

Updates       : http://www.magnolia.net/~rascal
      
Description   : Structural Mechanics Division at the Waterways
                Experiment Station in Vicksburg, MS.
                This is a map of my workplace, with a few extra traps
                thrown in. The monsters are real.
                This is a modification of a not-ready-for-prime-time
                map originally posted to cdrom.com in April '98.

Story         : While the Marines were off fighting on Stroggos, we had
                a few visitors here on Earth. The Strogg have taken over
                the Structural Mechanics Division (guardians of the free
                world), and captured their stores of new, high-
                performance binary explosives.  Intelligence reports
                indicate the Strogg are conducting final tests on these
                explosives before distributing them to their field
                commanders for use against humanity. Your mission is to
                detonate all explosive testing devices within the SMD
                before the Strogg obtain useful performance data, and
                re-capture the explosive technical manuals and mixing
                instructions stored on a data cd. Of course, killing all
                Strogg would be a nice touch, too.

Bugs/Problems : The work area of the building is too large and too
                detailed to be much fun on a software-only system,
                unless you have a hotrod CPU. It runs exceptionally
                well on a P300 w/256Mb and a Monster 3D II (duh),
                and pretty darn good on a P200/32Mb and a Monster 3D.
                I can't vouch for anything else.

Installation  : 1) Create a directory \smd below your Quake2 directory.
                2) Unzip pak0.pak to the \quake2\smd directory.
                3) Play by using the command line

                quake2.exe +set skill X +set game smd +map smd1

                where X = 0, 1, or 2

Credits       : Knifeswitch prefab modified from that found at
                BadMonkey Prefabs
                   (http://www.rcip.com/badmnky/prefab/prefabs.html)
                I have no idea who the original author is.

                Thanks to Matt (Tron) at 3D Gamer's Edge
                (http://members.harborcom.net/~solosoul) for posting a
                review of this map, for his sage advice and playtesting.

                Thanks also to Tony Ferrara for a thorough critique and
                many excellent suggestions.

Other         : All of the explosive devices and testing equipment
                depicted in the map are real, and are fairly accurate
                representations of the real thing. However, we perform
                the majority of our explosive tests at remote test sites
                rather than in-house, for obvious reasons. The exception
                to this is the large Blast Load Generator (the large
                cylinder on rails), in which we frequently detonate
                charges up to about 50 lbs. The only inaccuracy with the
                BLG is the exaggerated earthquake. This info is provided
                for those of you who might get the wrong impression that
                we are completely insane... no, we don't detonate large
                quantities of explosives just outside the restroom
                (usually).

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Play Information
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Single Player      : Yes
Difficulty Settings: Yes... 0,1,2