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Software Vault: The Diamond Collection
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The Diamond Collection (Software Vault)(Digital Impact).ISO
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HOWTO
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1995-01-26
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248 lines
BIG HANK'S GUIDE TO MULTIPLAYER GAMES THROUGH THE INTERNET
Practical Instructions for Total Dweebs
by Henry "Big Hank" Liang
liangh@eniac.seas.upenn.edu
Last updated 13 December 1994 -- Document generalized from AirWarrior to
multiplayer games in general.
INTRODUCTION
Okay. You've got your cool multiplayer game, and chances are you've done a
little bit of playing around with local gamers. You've had your fill
of the computer-controlled opposition and the local pool of players is
getting too easy for you to beat ... if only you could expand your
list of potential victims to include all those upstarts bragging about their
skills on the Internet. '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.
With this brilliant little piece of code, multiplayer gaming has soared
to new heights. 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.
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 to 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 "ftp"
3. At the password prompt, enter your e-mail address
4. At the command prompt, type "cd pub/IHHD/src"
5. Type "binary"
6. Type "get dialer1.6.4.shar"
7. Type "quit"
Okay, if you followed the above steps, you should now have the
dialer1.6.4.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 dialer1.6.4.shar file from
cactus.org, you need to prepare the IHHD to run on your computer. For
UNIX veterans, the dialer1.6.4.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 dialer1.6.4.shar ~/IHHD"
3. Go to the IHHD directory.
Type "cd IHHD"
4. Unpack the IHHD files.
Type "sh dialer1.6.4.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 dialer1.6.4.shar file from
cactus.org using the instructions above, or call for help.
The best source for help with compiler problems would be your
local Unix guru or sysadmin.
If everything checks out, you're ready to rumble!
PLAYING MULTIPLAYER GAMES 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 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 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 line settings for your
modems. Your data bits, parity, and stop bits should be the same or
you'll experience heavy warping, line noise, and other yucky
stuff. Generally, most players use 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, and
no parity (8N1), although the specific line settings shouldn't make
a big difference. Generally, it helps if the line settings are
the SAME for both players.
If your modem game doesn't like data compression and error
correction, make sure that they're disabled on your modem if
you have such features. Check the documentation for your
modem for the appropriate control strings to disable these
features. If you aren't sure if your modem game works better
with or without data compression and error correction, experiment
with it first disabled, and then enabled to compare performance.
2. When it's time to play, start up your game and call up your Internet
host using your modem. Alternatively, if your game doesn't
support a terminal interface, you'll have to call up your
Internet host with a regular communications program, establish
the IHHD link, and then drop into DOS to start your game WITHOUT
DISCONNECTING THE PHONE. At any rate, you must make sure that
your baud rate and line settings will 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. Alternately, you
can add the IHHD directory to your path. Ask your local UNIX
guru if you don't know how to do this.
7. Type "dialer opponent's.host" to start the IHHD connection.
For example, if you were playing against knuston@cactus.org,
you would type "dialer cactus.org" to initiate the connection.
Another way is to type "tcpdialer -call opponent's.host" while your
opponent types "tcpdialer -answer". Or reverse roles, where
you type "tcpdialer -answer" while your opponent types
"tcpdialer -call your.host". The difference is that tcpdialer
prioritizes the packets your game send out, so that they are sent
and received in a specific order, while dialer simply dumps output
through the link as fast as possible without prioritization. Hence,
dialer is normally faster, but can be less stable with poor
Internet connections, while tcpdialer provides greater
stability with less speed over poor connections.
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 -call
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. Unless you have "local echo" set to ON in
your serial settings, you will not see the text you type.
9. If you don't see your opponent after a reasonable amount of time,
exit dialer or tcpdialer by pressing "ctrl-c" (i.e. hitting
the "ctrl" and "c" key simultaneously) a number of times. Contact
your opponent again through "talk" and agree to try the other method
of connecting.
10. If your connection looks fine, your opponent has acknowledged
you and you have acknowledged him, you can now initiate a
serial link if your multiplayer game has this option. If
you're calling into your hosts with regular terminal programs,
you must now drop to DOS WITHOUT HANGING UP THE LINE. Once
in DOS, you should start up your multiplayer game and start it
running on a serial (null-modem) link.
Try the other connection method if you continue to have troubles,
or call for help.
11. Congratulations! You're now connected IHHD. You can now proceed
to do all the H2H stuff as if you were connected via a regular
serial link.
SOME THINGS TO BE AWARE OF
I. Net Delays and Warping
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". The shorter the times, the better.
Also, while you're playing SVGA AirWarrior 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 player'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 liangh@eniac.seas.upenn.edu for an address). :)
II. Getting Dumped After Connection
Sometimes, regardless of how great your connection, you'll get dumped from
your game and maybe even get a screenful of garbage and stuff. In this
case, don't hang up yet. Try reestablishing the connection within the
program, if possible. For AirWarrior players, you can jump to the
Multiplayer menu option, hit "Connect," and select "manual dial" to
attempt to regain command authority of your terminal. If you've tried
everything a number of times and it still doesn't work, hang up and
redial into your host, starting everything from the top.
Still need help? Read this document over again. Then read this document
over again. After that, try reading this document over again. If you're
still in need of help, and it's a problem with getting IHHD to compile,
ask your local Unix guru or system administrator -- they'll probably know
more about the problem that I will. If all else fails, read this
document over again, and if you're still really, really puzzled, e-mail
the IHHD mailing list at IHHD@cactus.org. You'll have to subscribe to
the list first by sending mail to listproc@cactus.org with the words
"subscribe IHHD your-name" in the body of the message.
If you have further questions on using IHHD specifically with Kesmai's
SVGA Air Warrior for which this document was originally written, post to the
Internet AirWarrior mailing list 666th-etal@cactus.org. You must first
subscribe to the group by sending e-mail to listproc@cactus.org with the
words
subscribe 666th-etal your name
in the body of the message.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
IHHD is some sort of intellectual property of Jim Knutson, and is freeware.
SVGA Air Warrior is some sort of intellectual property of Kesmai, Inc.
This HowTo file is some sort of intellectual property of Henry Liang, and
is freely distributable because I'm a nice guy. Unauthorized duplication,
reproduction, modification, use, and other stuff not mentioned, especially
for profit, is bad. Don't be a schmuck -- ask for permission first.