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Monster Media 1994 #1
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1993-04-23
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GTERM - Graphics Terminal for LAND OF DEVESTATION (EGA/VGA version)
Programming by Scott M. Baker
Graphics by Shane Chambers and Scott Baker
What is GTERM?
GTERM is a terminal program for use with my land of devestation
doorgame. It provides EGA graphics support. Basically, the wasteland
map and user inventory have pictures.
Requirements:
* IBM PC or compatible (12mhz AT or better recommended)
* EGA or VGA graphics support (the 640x350 16 color mode)
* A modem
* Access to a bbs running Land of Devestation
Quick Start up:
1) Copy gterm and it's respecive files into a subdirectory. Preferrably
a directory off of your comm program's directory since you will most
likely be using gterm as an external protocol.
2) Set up GTERM as an external protocol to your terminal program. This
will usually involve using the setup portion of your terminal program
and/or modifying batch files. The command line directives "COM <com port
number> BAUD <baud rate>" may be used to set the com port and baud rate
that gterm will use.
If you are not able to set up GTERM as an external protocol then go to
step #3.
4) If you can't set up GTERM as an external protocol then you will have to
call GTERM up manually each time you want to use it. You will probably
have to type the command line directives on the command line to set the
com port and baud rate to use. For example, "GTERM COM 1 BAUD 2400" would
set GTERM to use COM1 at 2400 baud.
5) At this point, GTERM should be installed an ready to run, either as an
external protocol (step 2) or manually (step 3).
6) Call up a bbs that has Land Of Devestation running using your terminal
program and go into the Land of Devestation door.
7) Now, it is time to activate GTERM. If you have GTERM set up as an
external protocol then simply press the key(s) that activate the
protocol.
If you have GTERM set up by use of the manual method (not the external
protocol method), then exit your terminal program (without hanging
up) and type the command to activate GTERM (i.e. GTERM COM 1 BAUD
2400)
8) Press return. If you are at LOD's main menu or wasteland menu, then
GTERM should automatically activate itself.
Command line parameters:
"BAUD x" Specifies the baud rate to use. EXAMPLE: "BAUD 2400"
"COM x" Specifies the com port to use. EXAMPLE: "COM 2"
"FOSSIL" Enable fossil support.
"OLDINTNERAL" This will tell GTERM to use some older comm routines
which may work if you're having some communications
related problems. (Note: Don't use FOSSIL and
OLDINTERNAL at the same time!)
"EMS" Use EMS memory if possible
"/AUDIOSB" Will start up the audio sound system using soundblaster
sound card. (Requires LODxxxF.ARJ)
"/AUDIOSPKR" Will start up the audio sound system using the PC
speaker. Quality isn't very good.
(Requires LODxxxF.ARJ)
"/AQHIGH" High audio quality. May slow down performance.
"/AQMED" Medium audio quality. default.
"/AQLOW" Low audio quality. Should increase performance compared
to AQHIGH/AQMED. May be necessary for some slower
machines.
Examples:
"GTERM COM 2 BAUD 19200 FOSSIL"
Load gterm using COM2, at 19200 baud. Use fossil driver. (note fossil
driver such as BNU or X00 must be loaded)
"GTERM COM 1 BAUD 38400 /AUDIOSB /AQHIGH"
Load gterm using internal com routines on com1 at 38400 baud. Play
sound through the soundblaster at high quality.
Audio Support:
Starting with version 3.60, Land Of Devastation and GTERM now have some
sound/music capability. Here is how to get the sound system to work:
1) You must have downloaded and unarchived LODxxxF.ARJ into the
directory where you are running LOD (or GTERM).
2) You must use either the option /AUDIOSB or /AUDIOSPKR to initialize
the sound system. Optionally you may wish to use one of the /AQxxx
switches to set audio quality.
Examples: (For Land Of Devastation - on the sysop's side)
"GAMEEGA /L /EMS /AUDIOSB"
Load LOD with Soundblaster enabled.
"GAMEEGA /L /EMS /AUDIOSB /AQLOW /FR"
Load LOD with Soundblaster at low quality, force music to play
when remote users are on.
Examples: (For GTERM - on the remote user's side)
"GTERM COM 2 BAUD 19200 /AUDIOSPKR /AQHIGH"
Load GTERM with PC-Speaker set to high quality.
"GTERM COM 1 BAUD 2400 /AUDIOSB"
Load GTERM with soundblaster at default (medium) quality.
Notes:
The audio system is relatively new to LOD and hasn't been fully tested
and therefore might have some bugs. In fact, with some people's machines,
it might not work at all. If you have trouble running LOD with audio
turned on, then try turning it off!
The audio system eats up quite a bit of memory (almost 150k). Therefore,
when running LOD or GTERM, you might not have enough conventional memory to
initialize the audio system and you won't hear anything.
Having music active on one side does not require having music active
on the other. For example, a user with GTERM might have music enabled, but
the sysop might have it disabled - this will work fine - the user will hear
his music and the sysop will have some nice silence!
If you like, you can bring up a display of the current MOD system
status (also shows any possible errors) by pressing ALT-3. This works with
either GTERM or the EGA (GAMEEGA.EXE) version of LOD. The non-EGA (GAME.EXE)
version of LOD does not have the mod status screen.
Music system credits:
The code that is used to play the MOD music in LOD was supplied by
Mark J Cox. It's called MOD-OBJ and it's an excellent unit and I
recommend it to anyone who wants to add MOD music to their program.
Most (if not all!) of our songs were composed by Chris Azure.
PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
----------------------
Problem: Gterm locks up when I load it!
Solutions: 1) Try using the FOSSIL option and a fossil driver. The internal
com routines sometimes do not work right on all people's
systems. When you turn on fossil support, you will need to have
a fossil loaded - try looking for BNU or X00 on your local
bbs.
Problem: I don't hear any sound!
Solutions: 1) Make sure you have unzipped LODxxxF.ARJ into your GTERM
directory. GTERM can't play any sound without these files.
2) Make sure you have used either /AUDIOSB or /AUDIOSPKR on
the command line.
3) If you have used /AUDIOSB, then you'd better have a
SoundBlaster or compatible card installed!
4) You have to be connected to a version of LOD that is 3.60
or greater.
5) You might simply not have enough free memory. Try pressing
ALT-3 while GTERM is loaded and see what the display says.
Problem: All I get is garbage!
Solutions: 1) Make sure you have the baud rate set properly. If you are
using a locked baud rate (19200, 38400, etc), then you
must put that on your command line rather than the actual
rate.
2) Make sure you have specified the proper COM port.
Problem: GTERM Used to work great, but it stopped working when I
upgraded to version 3.70.
Solutions: 1) We did add some new comm routines which could possibly
be causing a problem. You might want to try using
"/OLDINTERNAL" on the command line.
2) If you decided to start using the music "/AUDIOSB"
or "/AUDIOSPKR", then you might need to lower your
sound quality by using "/AQLOW".
Screen Format:
:--------------------:------------------------------------:-------------------:
: : : :
: WASTELAND MAP : MULTIPURPOSE WINDOW : PLAYER STATUS :
: : : :
: WINDOW : : :
: : : :
:--------------------:------------------------------------:-------------------:
\
/
25 LINE TEXT SCREEN
\
/
WASTELAND MAP
The wasteland map is a 3x3 grid of map tiles. Each tile corresponds to
one location on thew Land of Devestation wasteland map. These tiles are
synonymous to the normal ANSI/ASCII text tiles in LOD, but they are
using EGA graphics. If OBJECTS or a BASE is located in a tile, the word
"OBJS" or "BASE" will appear in the lower right hand corner of the
tile.
MULTIPURPOSE WINDOW
The multipurpose window supports a variety of purposes. Initially, it
will display the GTERM commands that are available. Pressing a
function key (F1-F10) will change the display to the various options.
The options are as follows:
F1: GTERM MENU - List available GTERM commands
F2: INV DISPLAY - A graphic representation of player's inventory
items.
F3: WASTE. MENU - A copy of LOD's wasteland menu. Provided simply
for the users reference
F4: GTERM INFO - A small text screen of info about GTERM. Includes
the selected com port and baud rate.
F5: MAP LEGEND - A description of the symbols used in the MAP
window.
F6: LR SCAN - Displays the last LR scan obtained (if any)
F7: HOST INFO - Displays some information about the host system
such as the sysop's name, regisration data, etc.
F8: COMBAT - When in combat, this will display a bar graph
indicating your hit pts versus the enemy's hit
points.
F9: UTILITIES - A utility window for such information as the
packet status, MOD sound system display, etc.
F10: QUIT - Quit GTERM
PLAYER STATUS
The player status window displays data about your character and the
current terrain.
25 LINE TEXT SCREEN
The 25 line text window at the bottom of the screen emulates a normal
25 line text screen.
The inventory screen:
The inventory screen (F2 in the multipurpose window) provides a
visual representation of your character's currently selected equipment
and the currently possessed inventory. Eight items are show; Five of them
are your selected equipment and the other three are a scrollable inventory
display (it can be scrolled with PGUP/PGDN).
CLS: Selected close range weapon (hand-to-hand)
RNG: Selected ranger weapon
ARM: Selected armor
RAD: Selected radiation suit
MED: Selected medical lining
1,2,3...: These numbered items are your inventory. Pressing PGUP/PGDN
will scroll these so you can view your entire 16 element
inventory.
Mouse Support:
If a mouse driver (i.e. MOUSE.COM) is loaded, then GTERM will enable
mouse support. Currently, this support is quite limited and only involves
movement. Basically, you can click on the north,south,east,or west map
squares and GTERM will send the corresponding move command to LOD. You
cannot as of yet use diaganols.
Technical Information:
GTERM's operation is possible by using a packetized data transfer
scheme. When the host (Land of Devestation) needs to update the display, it
sends an "update packet" to GTERM. This packet is a binary (i.e. not ASCII)
representation of the map, character status, inventory, etc. It also
includes a checksum. When GTERM recieves the packet, it tests the checksum
and if the packet is error free, it sends an ACK else it sends a NAK. If
a NAK is received by the host, then the host will re-transmit the packet.
The packet is compressed for speed purposes. Since map data can
be repetetive, the compression scheme is able to obtain about a 30-50%
compression rate on the transmitted data.
There are several different packet types that LOD will send to
GTERM. Packet type #1 is a complete update including map data, inventory,
status, etc. Packet type #2 is a partial update including everything except
the map data. This smaller packet is used in such situations as combat
where map updates are not necessary.
In addition to these main packets, there are also some other
specialty packets for performing such tasks as displaying an ANSI screen,
playing MOD music, etc.
Credits:
SHANE CHAMBERS ANSI and EGA graphics designer.
MARK COX Author of MOD-OBJ, the code that was used to provide
.MOD music support to LOD.
CHRIS AZURE Composer of most of our MOD music.
CHRISTOPHER DARQUE Lots of EGA pictures, some plot ideas, and some
great beta testing.
RICK ARMSTRONG EGA Pictures
DAVE ROSSON EGA Pictures
DOUG MERHA EGA Pictures