The Unsorted BBS Collection/thegreatunsorted.tar/thegreatunsorted/hacking/internet/howto

Internet Message Format | 1994-03-05 | 8.8 KB

Date: Mon, 24 Jan 94 14:20:23 EST
From: [e-mail] (Henry "Big Hank" Liang)
To: [e-mail] (Internet Airwarrior mailing list)
Subject: IHHD Instructions
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

With the slew of new AW dudes and IHHD questions, Sir Moggy charged me
with writing up some laymans' instructions for IHHD.  Hope the following
fits the bill.  Send all corrections or additions to me, please.


BIG HANK'S GUIDE TO AIRWARRIOR THROUGH THE INTERNET
Practical Instructions for Total Dweebs
by Henry "Big Hank" Liang
   [e-mail]

INTRODUCTION

Okay.  You've got SVGA AirWarrior, and chances are you've done a little
bit of flying on GEnie.  Whether you're a seasoned GEnie veteran or a
total dweeb, however, it's likely that you don't really have any cool
things to do with AirWarrior when you're *not* plugged into the host.
You've had your fill shooting down drones, bombing targets, and all that
other offline stuff ... if only you could fly AirWarrior against another
calculating human pilot without spending the big bucks demanded on GEnie.
'Course, it'd be even better if you didn't have to call into the next time
zone to find a Head to Head opponent.

Enter IHHD -- the Internet Head to Head Daemon designed by Jim Knutson
(aka "Red Beard" #5111).  With this brilliant little piece of code,
multiplayer gaming has soared to new heights -- but no other game besides
AirWarrior has gained such a large following of Internet-connected
players.  With IHHD, you'll be able to fly Head to Head (H2H) against
other human opponents all over the world, with the only cost to you being
the regular prices you pay to connect to or use your Internet host.  Best
of all, it's free.


HOW TO GET IT

First of all, your host needs to be running UNIX as its operating
system.  Sorry, VAX VMS users, you're screwed.  If you aren't sure what
your host is running for its operating system, check the information given
at the login prompt or send mail to your host's computer guru.

Other than that, you should be able to run IHHD with ease.  Your first
order of business is to get the IHHD software.  It is available via
anonymous ftp at cactus.org in the pub/IHHD directory.  To get it,

    1. FTP to cactus.org  (Type "ftp cactus.org" at the UNIX prompt.)
    2. At the login prompt, enter "anonymous"
    3. At the password prompt, enter your e-mail address
    4. At the command prompt, type "cd pub/IHHD"
    5. Type "binary"
    6. Type "get IHHD.1.6.4.shar"
    7. Type "quit"

Okay, if you followed the above steps, you should now have the
IHHD.1.6.4.shar file in your home directory.  Type "ls" at your host's
command prompt to verify its existence.  If you don't see it, try the
above steps again or call for help.

Next, if you've successfully retrieved the IHHD.1.6.4.shar file from
cactus.org, you need to prepare the IHHD to run on your computer.  For
UNIX veterans, the IHHD.1.6.4.shar file is in fact a shar file, and
contains a makefile for easy compiling on your system.  For the rest of
us, follow these steps to get the IHHD up and running:

    1. Create a directory to put the IHHD software in.
       Type "mkdir IHHD" at the command prompt.
    2. Move the IHHD file to the new directory.
       Type "mv IHHD.1.6.4.shar ~/IHHD"
    3. Go to the IHHD directory.
       Type "cd IHHD"
    4. Unpack the IHHD files.
       Type "sh IHHD.1.6.4.shar"
    5. Compile the IHHD software to run on your system.
       Type "make"
    6. You should now see a whole mess of files in the IHHD directory.
        The important filenames you're looking for should be:
        dialer
        tcpdialer
        tcpanswer
        call
          showlog
    7. If you've got these, you're cool.  Otherwise, try the above
       steps again, re-retrieve the IHHD.1.6.4.shar file from
       cactus.org using the instructions above, or call for help.

If everything checks out, you're ready to rumble!


PLAYING AIRWARRIOR THROUGH IHHD

You'll want to test out IHHD to see if it really works, of course.  To do
that, the best way is to simply try to play a regular H2H game of
AirWarrior with someone else running the IHHD software.  The best way to
arrange a match is through e-mail and "talk" on the Internet.

Here's how you get connected using IHHD:

    1. Set up a time to play with another Internet AW player.
       Ideally, you should use e-mail to make the prior arrangements,
       and then agree to meet in "talk" or "ntalk" at a designated time.

       Make sure you and your opponent use the same baud rate and line
       settings for your modems.

       Make sure data compression on your modem is off, if you have such a
       feature.  A good modem string to use is ATZS46=0.

    2. When it's time to play, start up AirWarrior and go to the
       "multiplayer" menu option.  Call up your Internet host using your
       modem.  Make sure that your baud rate and line settings correspond
       to your opponent's.

    3. Login to your Internet host normally.

    4. Contact the other player through "talk" or "ntalk", or send a
       short e-mail message indicating that you are on the net and ready to
       play.

    5. Once you both establish that you're there and ready to go, exit
       "talk" and return to your UNIX prompt.

    6. Type "cd IHHD" to enter your IHHD directory.

    7. Type "dialer opponent's.host" to start the IHHD connection.
       For example, if you were playing against [e-mail],
       you would type "dialer cactus.org" to initiate the connection.

       Another way is to type "tcpdialer opponent's.host" while your
       opponent types "tcpdialer -answer".  Or reverse roles, where
       you type "tcpdialer -answer" while your opponent types "tcpdialer
       your.host".  Don't ask me what the difference is; I don't know.

       So, to recap, there are two methods of IHHD connection.
       Method 1: dialer.  You each type "dialer other.guy's.host"
       Method 2: tcpdialer.  One of you types "tcpdialer other.guy's.host"
             while the other types "tcpdialer -answer".

    8. Regardless of which method you use to connect, type short text
       messages followed by a carriage return until you see your opponent
       acknowledge you.

    9. If you don't see you opponent after a resonable amout of time,
       exit dialer or tcpdialer by pressing "ctrl-c" (i.e. hitting
       the "ctrl" and "c" key simultaneously.  Contact your opponent
       again through "talk" and agree to try the other method of
       connecting.

    10. If you're connection looks fine, your opponent has acknowledged
        you and you have acknowledged him, verify again that you are
        both in AirWarrior and, if so, hit the "H2H Link" button on
        the AirWarrior menu bar.  A successful link will cause a white
        text bar to appear at the bottom of your screen.  If this
        doesn't happen and you get "Invalid link", try again.  Try the
        other connection method if you continue to have troubles, or
        call for help.

    11. If you got the white bar and you're able to type messages to
        your opponent, congratulations!  You're now connected via
        IHHD.  You can now proceed to do all the H2H stuff as if you were
        connected via a regular phone line.


SOME THINGS TO BE AWARE OF

Unfortunately, because of the nature of the Internet, delays and warping
may occur with your IHHD connection, depending on the quality of the
connection between your and your opponent's host machines.  These delays
are often sporadic, and depend largely on what's going on on the Internet
at that particular times.  Then again, you might just be extremely unlucky
and have a cruddy Internet connection.

To gauge the quality of the connection, try to "ping" your opponent's
computer from your host.  At the UNIX prompt, type "ping -s
opponent's.host".  You should get a listing of "ping times", which you may
stop at any time by pressing "ctrl-c".  Try pinging some other hosts you
know to get an idea of how much ping times vary, and use this data to
guesstimate the quality of the connection between your host and your
opponent's.

Also, while you're flying via an IHHD connection, try hitting "ESC-q" to
see the ratio of acknowledged packets versus rejected packets.  Of course,
the less rejected packets you get, the better.

Another way to judge the quality of your connection is to simply look at
the other plane's warping.  If he's jumping all over the place, you've got
a cruddy connection.  If he's relatively steady, you've got a good connection.

If all else fails, burn incense and sacrifice a beautiful young virgin
princess to the net.gods.  No, wait.  Better yet, send the virgin to Big
Hank (finger [e-mail] for an address).  :)

If you have further questions, post to the mailing lists [e-mail] or
[e-mail].

--
Henry "Big Hank" Liang      | "To boldly go where no one has gone
[e-mail] |  before ... and blow them out of the
GEnie: H.LIANG, Plane #2189 |  sky, spreading their flaming wreckage
666th FS Internet Daemons   |  all over the countryside."      "!2!"