Taking a shot

QuickSnooker presents two views of the table - a 'top down' (2D) view and a 'first person' (3D) view.

You can take a shot in either view

If you prefer to play using the 2D view - you can change to a more approrpriate screen layout by pressing '2' on the keyboard.

Click the white cueball, your cursor will disappear and you are now moving the cue.

In the 3D views you pull the cue back (to increase power) by moving the mouse 'down' (towards you).
To swing the cue left, right - move the mouse left/right.

In the 2D view - you swing the cue tip *around* the cueball.. and pull it away (from the ball) to increase power - this is easier to do than describe, so just give it a try.

To swing the cue UP and DOWN - use your MOUSE-WHEEL

The controls become very confusing if you select the cueball in one view, and then attempt to swing the cue whilst looking at another.. whilst *you* might be looking in a different view - the controls will always behave correctly for the view in which the cueball was selected.
So - if you change your mind about which view to play a shot in (2D/3D), just 'Right Click' to cancel the shot and reselect the cueball in the 'correct' view.

Spin (English)

In QuickSnooker Controlling where the cueball 'goes' after it has hit the object ball is a very important part of the game.
In fact, as is the case with the real game (for professionals anyway) actually potting the balls is not the hard bit - getting a good position for the *next* ball by using spin is where the real skill comes in.
The spin indicator (chalk) shows where the tip of your cue will strike the cueball.
Striking the cueball high will cause the white to 'follow on' after it hits the object ball Striking it low will cause it to spin back (towards the cue, after impact with the object ball). Striking the cueball to the left or right will send the white towards the chosen side. These effects combine in subtle ways with the angle between the balls, practise will give you a feel for it.

There are many ways to set the spin.. they all do the same thing - you can use whichever you're most comfortable with.
It's important to note that you can only see the chalk spot in the 3D view - so when setting spin, you need to cast your eye to the 3D view, where the mouse movements will make perfect sense. BUT it's really important that if you selected your cueball in the 2D view.. that you look back to that view to swing the cue around the cueball. There are two ways to set spin..

1. Hold down the left mouse button an move the mouse.
2. Hold down 'shift' on the keyboard whilst moving the cue.

Lining up 'plants' (using one ball to pot another)

QuickSnooker allows you to 'cue' any ball - not just the white, this has two main uses.
Firstly, it lets you see whether a ball will 'go' (pass) a another potentially obstructing ball.
Secondly, it will allow you to align plants - cue the first object ball.. aiming at the seccond.. you can now see exactly which way you need to send the first object ball - Right click to cancel the shot and return to the true (white) cueball.

Resizing/moving views and panels

You may move and resize the various views and panels using windows like mouse commands - purple bars will appear when the mouse is over the various window handles that allow for resizing, a cyan bar appears for moving the view. You can close a view/panel with the red X in its top bar. - To reset the views, choose 'layout','reset layout' in the menus.

Layouts

You *will* find, that no matter how you lay the screen out - it's a compromise - You can have a nice big 3D view, but then your 2D view is too small. You can make the chat window 'big' but then you have to shrink your 3D view (etc,etc) So.... There are up to 9 separate 'layouts' you choose which you are working with by pressing one of the number keys 1-9, you can then set the windows up how you like in *that* layout, quickly switch layouts by just pressing a number key - You might like to set up layout '1' as a balanced view with equal sized 2D and 3D Views, Layout '2' to have a BIG 2D view and a small 3D view, Layout '3' to Have a FULL SCREEN 3D view, with the other panels closed, layout '4' to have a massive chat window.. etc, etc - but it's entirely up to you.

Action replay

Action replay works in games agains the PC or the guest... it is not presently available in on-line play. Once a shot has been taken (even if it's not finished) simply press 'R' to replay the action..The camera will return to the begining of the shot and the action will be paused.
Pressing 'P' will unpause the action and replay the shot. You can toggle the pause with 'P', Move the camera anywhere with 'W','A','S','D' and the cursor keys, You can advance a single frame with the '>' key, You can pan the camera by holding down the left mouse button.