The Devil's Doorknob BBS Capture (1996-2003)/devilsdoorknobbbscapture1996-2003.iso/Dloads/BBSONLIN/GWAR23R.ZIP/SYSOP.TXT

Text File | 1990-10-09 | 16KB | 364 lines

                                  GLOBAL WAR
                                  ~~~~~~~~~~
                      Copyright 1989, 1990  Joel Bergen
                       ProVision BBS: [phone]
                             Fidonet 1:343/65

   First of all, let me assure you that if you don't follow these
   instructions, Global War will not work.

   Global War must be executed in its own subdirectory.
   Your BBS ideally should call a batch file which should change to
   this subdirectory, execute the game, change back to your BBS subdirectory,
   and return to your BBS.  If your BBS can't execute a batch file,
   you may have to run the game from your main BBS subdirectory.

   For example purposes, this document will assume your main BBS
   subdirectory is named "C:\BBS" and that Global War is in subdirectory
   "C:\BBS\GLOBLWAR".  Substitute your actual subdirectory names if they
   are different.

Installing GLOBAL WAR on your system:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   Make a subdirectory anywhere on your hard disk to contain the
   GLOBAL WAR game (C:\BBS\GLOBLWAR for example).  Put all the files in
   the GLOBAL WAR archive into this directory except WAR.BAT, which you
   should copy into your main BBS directory (C:\BBS for example).

   Edit WAR.CFG, following the instructions found in that file.

   Now change back to your main BBS directory.  You will need to edit
   WAR.BAT to tell Global War what type of BBS software you're using.
   Global War will work with PCBoard, Wildcat, RBBS, WWIV, QuickBBS,
   Spitfire, T.A.G, Telegard, GAP, and any other BBS program that can
   run doors made for these BBSs.
   Select one of the following installation methods:

Global War for RBBS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   RBBS creates a file called DORINFO1.DEF which Global War will read.
   Use the "/R" switch to tell Global War to look for DORINFO1.DEF.
   The calling convention is:

                WAR /R d:\path\DORINFO1.DEF

   Your WAR.BAT should look something like this:

                ECHO OFF
                CD \BBS\GLOBLWAR
                WAR /R C:\BBS\DORINFO1.DEF
                CD \BBS

   Substitute your actual subdirectory names if different.


Global War for WWIV version 4.x
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   WWIV creates a file called CHAIN.TXT which Global War will read.
   Use the "/W" switch to tell Global War to look for CHAIN.TXT.
   The calling convention is:

                 WAR /W d:\path\CHAIN.TXT

   Your WAR.BAT should look something like this:

                ECHO OFF
                CD \BBS\GLOBLWAR
                WAR /W %1
                CD \BBS

   Substitute your actual subdirectory names, of course.

   Run WWIV, go into Chainedit (hit "C" at WFC) and create a new
   entry for GLOBAL WAR with the following information:

                A. Description     :  GLOBAL WAR!
                B. Filename        :  WAR.BAT %1
                C. SL              :  10
                D. AR              :  None
                E. ANSI            :  Required
                F. DOS Interrupt   :  Not Used      <-- IMPORTANT!!
                G. 300 baud        :  Not allowed       GW will lock up if
                H. Shrink          :  No                set to "used"

Global War for Wildcat!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   Wildcat! creates a file called CALLINFO.BBS which
   Global War will read.  Use the "/I" switch to tell Global War to
   look for CALLINFO.BBS.  The calling convention is:

                WAR /I d:\path\CALLINFO.BBS

   Your WAR.BAT should look something like this:

                ECHO OFF
                CD \BBS\GLOBLWAR
                WAR /I C:\BBS\CALLINFO.BBS
                CD \BBS

   Substitute your actual subdirectory names if different.


Global War for PC-Board (v14.x only, v12.x will not work)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   PCBOARD creates a file called PCBOARD.SYS which Global War will read.
   Use the "/P" switch to tell Global War to look for PCBOARD.SYS
   Global War does not require PCBOARD.DAT.
   The calling convention for the PC-BOARD version is:

                 WAR /P d:\path\PCBOARD.SYS

   Your WAR.BAT should look something like this:

                ECHO OFF
                CD \BBS\GLOBLWAR
                WAR /P C:\BBS\PCBOARD.SYS
                CD \BBS

   Substitute your actual subdirectory names if different.


Global War for systems using DOOR.SYS (GAP, T.A.G, Telegard & others)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   DOOR.SYS is a standard door info file format used by many BBS
   systems.  BBS authors: Help make life a LOT easier on us door
   authors - consider supporting this standard!

   Use the "/D" switch to tell Global War to look for DOOR.SYS.
   The calling convention is:

                WAR /D d:\path\DOOR.SYS

   Your WAR.BAT should look something like this:

                ECHO OFF
                CD \BBS\GLOBLWAR
                WAR /D C:\BBS\DOOR.SYS
                CD \BBS

   Substitute your actual subdirectory names if different.

Global War for Spitfire
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   Spitfire creates a file called SFDOORS.DAT which
   Global War will read.  Use the "/S" switch to tell Global War to
   look for SFDOORS.DAT.  The calling convention is:

                WAR /S d:\path\SFDOORS.DAT

   Your WAR.BAT should look something like this:

                ECHO OFF
                CD \BBS\GLOBLWAR
                WAR /S C:\BBS\SFDOORS.DAT
                CD \BBS

   Substitute your actual subdirectory names if different.


Global War, command line version
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   If your BBS can specify command line parameters (QuickBBS's menu 7
   for example) you will use this.  The calling convention is:

           WAR /C BaudRate ComPort MinutesLeft FirstName LastName

   Edit WAR.BAT, which should look something like this:

                ECHO OFF
                CD \BBS\GLOBLWAR
                WAR /C %1 1 %2 %3 %4
                CD \BBS

   In this example (for QuickBBS), the BBS is passing the caller's
   baudrate (%1), time remaining in minutes (%2), caller's first
   name (%3) and last name (%4).  The comm port (COM1) is hard coded
   in the batch file (1).  A baud rate of 0 will cause Global War
   to run locally.

   Global War can be run locally from DOS using this method.
   For example, typing

                WAR /C 0 1 60 FirstName LastName

   will let you try out the game from DOS.


The Statusline
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The bottom line on your screen will display several important bits of
information.  For example:

JOEL BERGEN | 23.14 | 09/29/90 17:24:27 | 122k | <switches>
     1          2             3            4         5

The information is:
1. The player's name exactly as it was passed to Global War from the BBS.
2. The amount of time the player has left in minutes.  The player will
   receive a warning when he has less than 5 minutes left, and the door
   will drop carrier if he runs out of time.
3. The current date and time.
4. The amount of free memory remaining.
5. The <switches> are:
   Loc    : The door is operating in Local Mode - no communications I/O.
   COMx   : The door is operating on Com1, Com2, Com3, or Com4 using
            Global War's internal communications routines.
   Fos    : A FOSSIL driver is being used for all comm I/O.  Absence of
            this switch means the door's internal comm routines are being
            used (See COMx)
   GWTerm : The current player is using the GWTerm terminal program.
            GWTerm in an optional terminal program your callers can use
            to greatly speed up game play by displaying maps instantly on
            their screen.
   Mnode  : Multi-Node switch is set in WAR.CFG.  The door will lock out
            games in use by the current node to prevent other players on
            other nodes from playing in the same game at the same time.
   DV     : DESQview has been detected and the door is taking advantage of
            it's features (giving up time slices, etc).
   NF     : The /NOFLOW switch was used on the command line to tell the door
            not to use hardware handshaking (CTS).  The door will still
            use software handshaking (Xon/Xoff).
   UF     : Unlimited Fortifications are in effect for this game.
   M      : Mouse driver has been detected and door is using the mouse.

HST owners
~~~~~~~~~~
If you are running a US Robotics Courier HST using a locked baud
rate (19.2k/38.4k) insert the locked baudrate in WAR.CFG.
The caller's actual connection rate will be replaced by this value.
It is also recommended to set the non /ARQ connections buffer
size to 128 bytes by adding the "S15=8" setting in the initialization
string or nRAM configuration.

DESQview users
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Global War is DESQview aware.  You should see a DV on the statusline which
indicates that Global War has detected DESQview and is giving up time slices
and using DESQview's virtual screen address.  On a 286 or XT class machine,
set "Writes Directly to Screen", "Displays Graphics", and "Virtualize
text/graphics" all to "N" and Global War will multitask in a small window.

Multi-Node support
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Global War includes support for multi-node BBSs.
Global War will create temporary files named WARxx.LOK (where xx is
a game number 1-255) to indicate that a game is in use by another node.
To set up Global War for multi-node use, you should do the following:

  In your AUTOEXEC.BAT, you should add:
       CD \BBS\GLOBLWAR  (or whatever your Global War subdirectory is)
       DELETE *.LOK      (delete all LOK files)
  This is to make sure no stray WARxx.LOK files are lying around.

  You may need to create different WAR.CFG files for each node.  If so,
  I recommend naming them WAR1.CFG, WAR2.CFG, etc.  Then, in your WAR.BAT
  file, copy the appropriate WARx.CFG file to WAR.CFG.  For example:
  (sample WAR1.BAT for node 1, use a different batch file for each node)
       CD \BBS\GLOBLWAR
       COPY WAR1.CFG WAR.CFG   <- or WAR2.CFG for node 2, etc
       WAR /P \BBS\PCBOARD.SYS
       CD \BBS
  Alternately, you may use the /N command line switch to specify an
  alternate WAR.CFG file.  For example:
       CD \BBS\GLOBLWAR
       WAR /P \BBS\PCBOARD.SYS /N WAR1.CFG
       CD \BBS                 ^^^^^^^^^^^--- specifies alternate WAR.CFG
  The /N must be specified LAST.

  Make sure the Multi-Node option is set to "Y" in WAR.CFG.

Files included or created by the game
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WARxx.DAT     Data file containing info for each game (xx = game number)
              See DATAFILE.TXT for complete documentation.
WARxx.LOG     Data file containing the complete history of game xx.
              See LOGFILE.TXT for complete documentation.
WARxx.MSG     Messages sent from player to player in game xx.
              See MSGFILE.TXT for complete documentation.
WARxx.REC     Recovered game.  Created if a player loses carrier and is used
              to resume game where player left off if he calls back.
              See DATAFILE.TXT for complete documentation.
WARxx.LOK     For multi-node BBSs, this temporary zero-length file is used
              to lock out a game in use by another node.
WINNERS.WAR   Data file holds winner's names and number of games won.
              Sorted (and must remain sorted) in decending order of games won.
WONGAME.ANS   ANSI file that gets displayed when a player wins a game.
              Feel free to replace it with something snazzier if desired.
BEGIN.ANS     Warning displayed when a player chooses to begin a new game.
              May be edited to reflect your rules for beginning games.
BULLETIN.ANS  You may create this file if you want to display some sort of
              bulletin to all players.  Displayed once when game entered.
              May be ANSI or ASCII.
AFRICA.ANS,   Maps used in the game.  May be edited slightly, but keep in
ASIA.ANS,etc  mind that country names are displayed on top of these maps.
TEAM.DOC      Rules for Team play.
WAR.DOC       Rules for Normal games.
WAR.CFG       Configuration file.
WAR.EXE       The Global War game itself.
WAR.IMG       Data file of screen images for Global War and GWTerm.
WAR.CLR       Color version of WAR.IMG.  Rename to WAR.IMG if you have color.
WAR.MON       Mono version of WAR.IMG.  Rename to WAR.IMG if you have Hercules.
TIMEON.WAR    Data file that keeps track of time used per day for each player.
DATAFILE.TXT  Technical info on WARxx.DAT file format.
LOGFILE.TXT   Technical info on WARxx.LOG file format.
MSGFILE.TXT   Technical info on WARxx.MSG file format.

Other notes
~~~~~~~~~~~
Global War can use a fossil driver if you have one installed.  If not,
Global War will use its own built-in communication routines.  Use of
a fossil driver (X00, BNU, etc) may be necessary if your PC is not fully
compatible, or if you are running some sort of multitasking environment
(DoubleDos, DESQview, Windows, etc) or if you have a high speed modem
(9600 baud or higher).  I recommend setting the "use fossil if available"
switch in WAR.CFG to "N" first, even if you have a fossil driver loaded
because Global War's internal comm routines are better suited for game
play.  If you experience any problems, set it to "Y" and install a fossil
driver.

By default, Global War uses both Hardware handshaking (aka Flow Control or
CTS) and software (Xon/Xoff) handshaking.  You can disable Hardware
handshaking by specifying the /NOFLOW switch on the end of the command
line that calls Global War.  I haven't found it necessary yet, but if
the door freezes up your computer it's worth a try.

If you would like to make some sort of announcement to all GW players, you
can create a file called BULLETIN.ANS and place it in your Global War
directory.  GW will output this file after displaying the copyright notice.
BULLETIN.ANS may be an ANSI file or a plain ASCII file.  Similarly, the
file WONGAME.ANS is displayed when a player wins a game and may be edited.

Global War relies heavily on your hardware time clock.  If your time clock
is not working reliably or is nonexistant, get it fixed!  Some PC's have
a problem with the date not rolling over properly at midnight.  If this
happens, you may get "Timeclock or game corrupted, inform Sysop!" error
messages until the date gets set correctly.

All *.TXT files included in this archive are for your information only and
are not required by the game.  The rest of the files ARE required.

If you can't get Global War to work with your system, feel free to contact
me at ProVision.  Together, we'll make it happen!

That's it.  GLOBAL WAR requires no maintenance.  Completed games are
automatically deleted after a specific number of days (see WAR.CFG).
Even games that have been "forgotten" will automatically be deleted.
If you change the name of a user on your BBS who is involved in the game,
you will have to edit the WARxx.DAT files (where xx is the game number) to
reflect this change, or the game will not recognize this "new" player.
Change their name in WINNERS.WAR if they've won any games too.  Player's
names are not case sensitive.  I suggest using an editor such as Qedit.
Don't use a word processor.  Many word processors insert weird control
codes that will give Gwar fits.  Type over the old data, DON'T delete or
add any lines or GW will surely crash with a runtime error.

Give ProVision a call for the latest version of Global War, and additional
support software and documentation.  The phone number is [phone].
Or you may contact me by sending netmail to Joel Bergen at Fidonet 1:343/65.

I hope that you and your callers enjoy Global War, and that you find it worthy
of your support.  Please read the file REGISTER.TXT for information on how
to register your copy of Global War.

                                Joel Bergen