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1994-02-06
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VGA Planets Online Host Interface
Copyright 1993-1994 Stanley Fleury
A Land Of Rape And Honey Production
from
The Land Of Rape And Honey BBS
(504) 466-7764 14.4k
FIDOnet 1:396/53
ITCnet 85:845/100
Welcome to the VGA Planets Online Host Interface v2.0. This is the second
public release, v2.0. After releasing v1.0 I realized how much the interface
was lacking. Sure, it was good for players to transfer their packets, but
that was about it. We have now incorporated many new features and made the
interface a little more user friendly (for the user and the sysop).
* Players can send private messages through the interface similar
in the way VGA Planets handles messages. Using the interface
avoids the delay of waiting to the next time the turns are
compiled to receive incoming messages. Players can send to
another player or universally. Players can also reply to
messages that they have received.
* Players can resign from the game and users who are not playing
can automatically join the game by entering into a player slot
that is not active.
* Users and Players can view a screen showing who has done what this
turn, how many turns they have played, and the last time they
played.
* Players are removed from the interface if they do not upload a packet
within a specified ammount of days. This allows other users to join
the game instead of leaving a player race dorment.
* All activity in the interface is logged to a file. You will know
who and when entered the interface, what they did, and when they
left.
* Uses external ZModem protocol for all transfers. You do not
need to know how to configure Zmodem. All that is taken care of
from within plantran.exe.
* Interested users have the option to download the VGA Planets
archive from inside the interface. This can be used as an
incentive to take a look at the game (since the download
will be free of ratios <g>).
* Players are only able to download their pre-specified packets.
This way, no one can download someone elses packets without
logging onto your system as them.
* No matter what the player uploads it will be named to their
assign *.trn packet name. This makes the game 100% secure.
Players will not be able to upload a packet with someone
elses player name.
* Players may overwrite their *.trn files if they made a mistake
such as uploading yesterdays file.
* Scores are viewable from within the interface. Scores include
last date the host program was run. This will make it easier
for players to see if the host program has run.
* All screens are configurable to fit your tastes. This will make
the interface fit your own system instead of looking like
an alien artifact and out of place.
* Interace supports ANSI and ASCII. All screens and menus can be
saved in ANS and ASC format.
* Non-Playing users can enter the interface and view scores.
* Option on menu to tell users about VGA Planets and how to play
the game. This is also an external file that can be modified
by the sysop.
INSTALATION
~~~~~~~~~~~
1 - Create a directory to place all the VGA Planets Online Host
Interface files into. This directory should be different
from your VGA Planets game directory.
2 - Copy/Uncompress of the interface files into that directory.
3 - Run 'plancfg.exe reset' to setup the interface. You will be
asked for the following information. If you are unable to
put in any valid information just leave it blank and you will
be able to go back to it at a later time.
a) Path and Name of your Zmodem protocol
ie) c:\protocol\dsz.exe
c:\protocol\dsz.com
d:\ptot\gsz.exe
b) Path and Name of your VGA Planets Archive
ie) c:\bbs\download\online\vplan30f.zip
c) Path to your VGA Planets game directory
ie) c:\bbsgames\planets\
ie) c:\vgaplan\
d) Number of inactive days until a player is removed
ie) 14
ie) 21
4 - You will then be shown a listing of eleven player slots.
## Alias/Name Plays Active File
1 NOT USED 0 No PLAYER1
2 NOT USED 0 No PLAYER2
3 NOT USED 0 No PLAYER3
4 NOT USED 0 No PLAYER4
ect
You can now begin to fill in all of your VGA Planets players.
Once a player is entered into the interface their account is
flagged as active. If they resign or do not play for XX days
the account will be marked inactive and someone else will be
able to play. You can manually mark an account as inactive
play blanking the Alias/Name field.
5 - Once you have completed entering all your players into the
interface you will need to create a batch file that looks
something like this :
@echo off
copy c:\bbs\door.sys c:\bbsgames\plantran\door.sys
cd \bbsgames\plantran
plantran.exe
6 - You should now create a batch file to run the host program.
Be sure to include plantran.exe -n everytine host.exe is
run. This will reset a few variables inside the interface
so it knows that a turn has begun. Your batch file should
look something like this :
@echo off
cd \bbsgames\plantran
plantran.exe -n
cd \vgaplan
host.exe
7 - Now you are ready to go. Just install a door into your
bbs program to create door.sys and run your batch file
everytime a users enters the interface.
Files Included
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Main1.Ans + Main1.Asc - These are the main menu files for users
who are playing in the current game.
Main2.Ans + Main2.Asc - Main menu files for those who are not
playing in this game.
Planets.Ans + Planets.Asc - These are displayed after a user enters
into the interface.
Resign.Ans + Resign.Asc - This file is shown to users who select
the resign option. This should tell
them what suicide really means. <g>
Gameinfo.ans + Gameinfo.asc - This makes for a nice place to include
information on when turns are running
and the setup of the game currently
running.
Info.Txt - Information file showing information
about Vga Planets or how to play the
Vga Planets.
Plancfg.Exe - Interface configuration program.
Plantran.Exe - File to run when users enter into
the interface. Requires door.sys.
Plantran.Doc - This documentation.
Register.Txt - Information on register this interface.
Plantran.Reg - Registraion configuration file. This can
be edited one you have recieved your
registration code.
Files Created By Plancfg.Exe
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vgatran1.cfg - Configuration file containing path
and protocol information.
Vgatran2.cfg - Configuration file containing players
information.
Messages.dat - This file contains all private messages
that are sent through teh interface.
Plantran.log - This is a viewable text file containing
all information concerning player usage
inside the interface.
Registration Agreement
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This package is a shareware product. You are licensed to use this
product for thirty days. If you do not register after thirty you
must cease to use this product. Registration is only $5, and that
includes all future updates.
Credits
~~~~~~~
I would like to thank the following for making my first large
programming project possible.
Stan Towns, James Fugler, Jayson Adair, Mike Ladner, April Burchett,
and many others who have run tests for me at 3 am in the morning or
called to bitch me out when somethign goes wrong.