Iron Roses is an adventure game that combines exploration and experimentation. Your greatest weapon in Iron Roses, like most adventure games, is your mind. The game is played by using the mouse to control the on-screen cursor and by moving the main character, Alex, around the screen. You will need to locate certain "hot-spots" on the screen and left-click on them. Alex will then interact with them in a variety of ways.
On the game screen, you will see buttons labeled Inventory, Menu, Hint, and Help in the lower right corner. Below are the descriptions for each button:
Your inventory is the collection of all the objects that Alex has collected on her journey. You can also click the right mouse button anywhere on the game screen to open the inventory. 
Open the in-game menu.
If you get stuck and need a little help, click the "Hint" button to see what you might be missing.
Click 'Help' to open the in-game help menu.
Your inventory contains all of the objects that Alex has collected on her journey. These are items that she will need to use somewhere in the game in order to advance. There is no physical limit on how many items Alex can carry at any one time. To access Alex's inventory, right-click the mouse button at any time in the game window, or press the Inventory button in the lower right corner of the game screen.
- To add an item to your inventory during gameplay, move the cursor over an item in the game window. If the cursor changes to a green arrow
it means that Alex can interact with the object in some way. - Left-click the mouse button on the item and a small window will appear. If the hand icon
is enabled on this menu, left-click the hand icon and Alex will either pick up the item or interact with it in some way. If it can be picked up, the item will disappear from the game screen and be added to your inventory. - Mouse over inventory items to see how you can interact with them. The eye icon
means Alex can inspect that object more closely. Either click on the eye, or double-click on the item to check it out.- Clicking some items may start a mini-game.
- Examine scenes closely for anything that can be inspected, used, or collected. You never know when an object might come in handy, so take anything that's not nailed down.
- Right-click the mouse button anywhere in the game window to cancel an active item and/or open/close the inventory screen.
- If you're looking for something in particular, pressing 'Enter' will sometimes display the following icons and may give you a hint about its location:
The look icon will appear over anything on the screen that Alex can take a closer look at.
The talk icon will appear over anyone on the screen that Alex can speak to. 
The use icon will appear over anything on the screen that Alex can pick up and add to her inventory.
The walk icon will appear over any area that Alex can use to walk through to another screen.
Alex can be moved around the game by using the mouse to point and click on her destination. During the game, you will notice that the cursor changes colors depending on what actions are available to you.
If the cursor is white, there is no special action.
When the blue cursor appears, it signifies an exit or path to a different screen. 
When the cursor appears yellow, it signifies an area you can walk to on the current screen. If you feel Alex is moving too slow, you can hold down the spacebar to walk faster. The cursor will change to green when it highlights a character or object that Alex can interact with. When you encounter an object in the game that Alex can interact with, you will sometimes be given multiple options:
The look option will appear as an eye icon. Click on this icon and Alex will take a closer look at the item and offer commentary on it. The take/use option will appear as a hand icon. Click on this icon to either pick up an item and add it to your inventory, or to use the object. 
The talk option will appear as a mouth icon. Click on this icon to speak to the character.
Throughout the game there are objects and items that Alex can look at, pick up and interact with. Each time a user clicks on the object, Alex will say something related to that object (sometimes giving the user a hint about what they need to do with the item).
Some items can be combined with other things in the game. Once an object is used or combined with another item, those items will be removed from the inventory. Objects cannot be deleted from your inventory.
When Alex has collected a large number of items, you may need to scroll through all of the objects using the scroll bar in the inventory, or by using the wheel button on the mouse.
During her journey, Alex will need to interact with other characters in order to advance in the game. In order to talk or interact with another character, Alex must approach them. You can find people to interact with by mousing over someone.
When the cursor turns green, left-click to begin the conversation. Alex's portrait appears in the lower left corner of the screen, and character portraits appear in the lower right corner. You can select from any of the offered questions when speaking to a character. In some instances, you must click on an item in your inventory, then on the character, to force an action.
F1 - At any time during the game, press F1 to open the list of short-cut keys.
F2 - Quick save
F3 - Quick load
F6 - Show save game window
F7 - Show load game window
P - Pause game
Esc - Show menu
Enter - Show hot-spots (quick hints)
Space - Skip dialog or cut scenes, speed up character movement
OS: Windows XP/Vista
CPU: Pentium III 800MHz or better (1.0 GHz Vista)
RAM: 512 MB System RAM
Video: 128MB AGP Video card with Full DirectX 9 support
Audio: DirectX compatible sound card
Internet Explorer 5.0+, AOL 5,6 or MSN browsers
Direct-X 9c (10 Vista)
Keyboard & mouse required
Joystick and game pad are not supported
Loads the last Auto-Save. Every time you exit the game, it automatically saves the progress.
Starts a new game.
Opens the Load Game screen.
Opens the Game Settings screen where you can adjust the Video and Audio options. 
Adjust the Graphical and Video settings for the game.
Select how the game renders graphics.
(default choice)
OpenGL
Select the level of graphics quality displayed while playing Iron Roses.
Best for high-end computers.
For computers with the minimum requirements.
A technique used for smoothing borders. Default is set to Off, but 2x significantly improves the picture quality.
Usable on recommended configuration
Usable only on high-end computers.
Allows you to change the screen resolution.
The game is optimized for 1024x768 screen resolution.
You can choose to play the game in full screen, or in windowed mode.
Defines the maximum number of frames per second. Low end configurations should keep this option Off. High-end machines can use this to limit the processor usage of the game.
Manually set up the desired resolution.
Some of these settings require you to restart the game to take effect.
Adjust the Audio settings for the game.
Switches the audio on or off.
Sets the volume for all sounds in the game.
Defines the music volume.
Defines the speech volume.
Defines the volume of effects.
Defines the volume of Ambient sounds in the game.
Defines the sound of footsteps. It can be set to On or Off.
A list of all the people who contributed to making Iron Roses. 
Quits the game and returns to the desktop. 
Q: The game is running slow on my machine. What should I do?
A: Make sure you have no other programs running, i.e. an instant messaging program, open documents, etc.
Also try running the game in Full Screen to increase performance.
Q: The game doesn't run at all on my machine, help!
A: Make sure the system requirements have been met:
Minimum System Requirements:
OS: Windows XP/Vista
CPU: Pentium III 800MHz or better (1.0 GHz Vista)
RAM: 512 MB System RAM
Video: 128MB AGP Video card with Full DirectX 9 support
Audio: DirectX compatible sound card
Internet Explorer 5.0+, AOL 5,6 or MSN browsers
Direct-X 9c (10 Vista)
Keyboard & mouse required
Joystick and game pad are not supported
Q: I've tried following the suggestions above, but my game is still not working. What should I do now?
A: If you have tried the suggestions above and you are still having trouble, contact customer support.
PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION
Please feel free to pass the demo version of this game on, at no cost, to others. You may not de-compile, reverse engineer, or disassemble this game except to the extent and for the express purposes authorized by applicable law notwithstanding this limitation. Title, ownership and intellectual property rights, including any patent rights, in and to game shall remain in Sandlot Games and/or its licensors or suppliers. The game is protected by the copyright laws of the United States and international copyright treaties. You may not modify this game or create derivative works based upon this game. You may not rent, lease, or otherwise receive any compensation for this game, including by bundling this game with other fee-based products.