After clicking "start" at the title screen you'll see the game's main menu.
Single player:
Select this option to start or continue the single player campaign. When you play for the first time, it will automatically first take you to "create pilot" menu (the first and additional pilots can otherwise be created and/or selected in the options menu).
Multiplayer:
Red Baron Arcade could be played through GameSpy. However, since the GameSpy servers were taken down, this is sadly no longer possible. Multiplayer consisted of thee different modes: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Capture the blimp.
Medals:
This screen displays all the medals you have and have not yet earned, along with the criteria to achieve them. Since many medals can only be achieved through multiplayer games, it is currently no longer possible to earn them all.
Collectables:
This screen displays all the collectables you have and have not yet earned. Collectables are hidden and scattered over the single player missions.
Help & options:
A menu opens where you can select sound, video and voice options, as well as setting the game controls, creating a new or selecting an existing pilot, read game hints and view the game credits.
Quit:
To quit the game obviously.
Single player
When you play the game for the first time, the "create pilot" screen will be displayed. Here you can type in your pilot name, select the control scheme, control direction and input device.
The difference between the "easy" and "realistic" controls is that with realistic controls the plane becomes much harder to control as it responds more slowly to your steering commands and more realistically to actual physics.
When you have set the options, press "ok" and the first mission screen will appear. If needed, you can still alter the settings later on through the "help & options" menu, except for the pilot name.
When you have created a new pilot, only the first mission and Albatross D.III will be available - all other missions and planes are still locked. If you have played with the selected pilot before, then all missions that you have already completed, as well as the next incomplete mission and all unlocked planes will be available. Pilot progress is automatically saved - there is therefore no save function! In addition to playing the next mission, you can also replay any mission you have already successfully completed, for instance to find a collectable you previously missed, or just for practice or fun.
You know how many collectables a mission contains by looking at the mission description box. For instance mission 7 ("solo dog-fight") contains 2 collectables. Some missions have no collectables while others have one or at most two. Collectables can be attached to enemy planes, hidden inside a zeppelin, and hidden between or even inside buildings, so keep your eyes peeled.
A lock icon in the mission description box indicates that the mission is not yet available.
If you like, you can also alter the look of the plane before initiating the mission by clicking the "customize plane" button. Otherwise press the "start game" button to initiate the mission.
When customizing planes, first select the plane (if you haven't already in the mission selection screen), then one of the 5 paint areas, and then a color from the palette below. Repeat for other areas you'd like to customize. The colors of the plane are automatically stored when you press "ok". If you'd like to revert to the original colors, press the "defaults" button.
Help & Options
Controls:
Select controls to bring up a screen which looks very similar to the "create pilot" screen. Here you can alter your initial settings (control scheme, control direction and input device), and also assign different keys of the selected controller.
Graphics:
In this screen you can set whether or not to play the game full-screen, change the resolution, choose whether or not to display reflections, set the draw distance and choose whether or not to display clouds.
Sounds:
Here you can change the volume of the effects and music.
Voice:
This applied to multiplayer only. In this screen, you can enable or disable voice, select the sound input and output device, and set the voice activation threshold (so your voice is only broadcast when it exceeds a certain volume, eliminating background sounds, breathing etc...).
How to play:
Section which explains the Heads-Up-Display (HUD), provides tips etc.
Pilots:
In this screen you can view the created pilots along with their stats (total kills, total deaths, missions completed, planes unlocked, collectables found and medals earned). You can also create a new pilot, delete an existing pilot, or select a different existing pilot to play. Keep in mind that each pilot has its own settings (control scheme, control direction and input device) so, if you want to alter that, do so through the "controls" options in the "Help & options" menu after selecting the pilot.
Credits:
Displays the game credits.
In-game menu
While you are flying a mission, press the [ESC] key to access the in-game menu.
In this menu you can see your current mission objective as well as change settings, restart the mission, return to the main menu or proceed playing. When selecting "Help & Options", you access the main "Help & Options" menu, however without the "pilots" (since you can't change pilots while on a mission) and "credits".
You know how many collectables a mission contains by looking at the mission description box. For instance mission 7 ("solo dog-fight") contains 2 collectables. Some missions have no collectables while others have one or at most two. Collectables can be attached to enemy planes, hidden inside a zeppelin, and hidden between or even inside buildings, so keep your eyes peeled.
