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DIASPAR Virtual Reality Network
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Topic 270 DIASPAR Virtual Reality Network 1 response
peg:visionary cyberculture zone 3:29 PM Dec 24, 1993
Folks, this is "amazing news"... an online BBS VR interface!
Sorry it took so long for me to pass this info on, but it got buried
in a mountain of capture files awaiting time to edit.
I will endeavour to follow this up with more info on Diaspar Network.
I have dialled in long distance previously, and hope to do so again soon
with the POLY and 486 requirements for VR BBS'ing. Exciting Stuff!
-- Michael Ney <visionary@peg.apc.org>
......................................................................
Subject: Diaspar VRN Announces Shared Worlds
1st-posted by wmiler@nyx.cs.du.edu
X-posted by tom.collins@patchbay.com - alt.cyberspace - Dec 4, 1993
Diaspar Virtual Reality Network - 424 Glenneyre, Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Voice (714) 831-1776 Modem (714) 376-1234 Internet diaspar.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
An Online Shared Virtual World
How to Experiment with Polygon Playground (POLY) on Diaspar
The program is called POLY and has been developed by Joe Gradecki of
PCVR Magazine. It is designed to allow two people to share a virtual
world on the Diaspar Virtual Reality Network. It is based on the program
REND386. This is an exciting program to use because it will operate on
many PCs without having to purchase any additional hardware. POLY allows
two people to actually do things in a shared virtual world. The cost of
operating this shared virtual world is 50 cents an hour on Diaspar per
world member. (Diaspar also charges a $1.00 per hour access fee).
POLY allows you to move about and change your point of view. You will
also see your "world buddy" and watch them move about - in the form of
the image of a cat's face and an unattached hand. So, in addition to
seeing the objects in your world, you will see your hand and your
buddy's cat-face and hand. It is possible to wave the hand and do a
"sort-of" handshake.
POLY is easy to use - to change your point of view just use your arrow
keys and page up and page down. Holding the shift key down while using
the arrow keys turns your own point of view left or right and up and
down. Use the mouse to move your hand and your mouse button to make the
hand grab objects.
POLY requires a 386 or 486 compatible computer with VGA color monitor
and a mouse. POLY should not be run under windows - but some have had
success doing so. Be sure to have a mouse driver installed. When you are
in your world, you will be able to move about, change point of view, see
what your buddy is doing and, of course, move the polygons in the
playground around. You have cubes, hexagonal cylinders and other objects
to play with. Of course, some mutual construction sessions have been
known to devolve into games of tag and hide and seek.
To get started, you need to make sure your mouse and modem are working
and to know what comm port your modem is connected to. You also need to
know if your modem is a 2400 baud or 9600 baud modem. Create a
sub-directory called POLY (MD POLY from DOS command line C:>) and put
the file POLY.ZIP in it. Use an unzip utility to decompress and unpack
all of the files POLY uses. In the current release, there are 52 files.
Doing a DIR command in DOS will usually show 55 files - the 52 plus the
zip file plus the two ".." files associated with the subdirectory
itself. Getting unpacked and set up is something you only have to do once.
To start POLY, just type "POLY" and press ENTER. You will then be
prompted for the modem comm port and speed and the number to dial. To
call Diaspar directly, dial 1-714-376-1234. Otherwise, pick the number
you wish dialed. It is suggested that for your first experiment with
POLY, that you dial direct, just long enough to get the feel of things.
Then, with some experience, try again using whatever access methods you
normally use.
After you get the connection prompt, you will be invited to log in to
Diaspar. Enter your name and password. The next step is to make sure
your buddy is there to join you in the world. The world runs only with
two people in it. Once you have done that, using Diaspar's paging and
status features, park yourself in a comfortable spot on Diaspar (such as
Email or Talk service) and press the + key. This will start the shared
world portion of POLY. You will be asked for the name of your
world-buddy. Once each of you has completed this step, then you will be
notified of a successful connection. Allow time for the world to load.
When ready, you will get a "Joystick not found" message unless you do
have a joystick. The message is a warning only and allow a few seconds
for the game to continue. You will be asked if you wish to be
represented as a cat or a mouse. Select cat. Some people have reported a
possible bug when using the mouse as a representation.
After a few seconds, the polygon playground should be displayed. You
will see your buddy's cat-face and hand, your hand, and the world
itself. Have fun, try things, move around. You can type H for help. Do
not use the M option as it has some bugs and may crash your buddy's
version of POLY (some say this is too strong an attention-getting
message <grin>). Have fun, move around a lot, and try your hand at
moving some objects about and building a virtual wall or two!
All you do to move something around is to use the mouse to position your
on-screen hand so that it touches the object you wish to move. When you
are touching the object, the back of your on-screen hand will turn blue.
Pressing the left mouse button will cause the on-screen hand to grip the
object. While holding the left mouse button down, the object you are
holding can be moved around by moving your mouse. You can even rotate
objects left and right by pressing the R and T keys while holding the
object. So, just like in real life, you get your hand on the object you
wish to move, grip the object and then move it about while gripping it.
The left mouse button is the "grip" command and the mouse moves your
hand. The R and T keys rotate the hand (and any object it is gripping).
And, be sure to look for new versions of POLY. It is still in an
experimental stage now. Improvements and bug fixes are being made at a
rapid rate. By the time you read this it is highly likely a new version
will be in Diaspar's Emporium ready for download. There is no charge to
download new versions of POLY. You are only charged when you are using
POLY at 50 cents an hour (plus your Diaspar membership fee or hourly
access fee to Diaspar).
POLY is a simple comm program, but if you have included the device
called ANSI.SYS in your CONFIG.SYS file then you should be able to see
standard ANSI graphics while using POLY in the initial communications
mode. The purpose of having a simple comm program is to allow you to
dial up and log on to Diaspar. Make sure your buddy is ready for a bit
of world-building and to handle the needed information sharing to allow
2 people to function in a virtual world.
POLY is the first of many new shared world programs that will become
available over the next year. We expect to offer many different worlds
and games for 2 people to share!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Internet: wmiler@nyx.cs.du.edu
Thought: Now that we know what VR is, what do we do with it? :)
* OLX 2.1 TD * Old age comes at a bad time in life.