Monster Media 1994 #1/monster.zip/monster/BBS_GAME/TWMAD088.ZIP/EXPANDER.DOC

Text File | 1994-01-08 | 6KB | 126 lines

Jan. 8, 1994



           The Mad Hatter's TW2002 Universe Expander V0.88



Details: The Mad Hatter's TW2002 Universe Expander allows for 2000 sector
     games of TW2002 via "Wormholes" in unregistered version. Allows for
     20,000 sectors in registered version and use of the Intra-Universal
     Stardock. Also in planning are an e-mail system and I am looking into
         the possibility of an upload/download area for trading TWView data
         files.

Warranty: None. Installation of and operation of this program(s) is your own
      responsibility, as is anything that happens thereafter.

      However this utility has been run since Oct. 1, 1992
      on The Clock Works BBS with no problems other than those listed in
      the bug reports section. It should not format your hard drive, or
      lock up your system. In case of trouble, please contact me with a
      full description of your OS, CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT, and BBS type,
      DFRAME.ERR file (in the expander directory) and the problem. This is
          the first DOOR I've released, and I intend to make every effort to
          produce reliable and safe products. I can only do that with your
          assistance.



      Only use this with TW2002 V1.03 or V1.03D.

E-Mail:   Find your local WWIVNET board and send e-mail to:

      The Mad Hatter@4651 or   1@9500 (was 1@4651)
      The Mad Hatter@4650 or 391@4650
          The Mad Hatter@4657 or   2@9501 (was 1@4657)

      or call:

(9500)    Through the Looking Glass (905)-567-0366   14400-N81 V32
(9501)    The Clock Works BBS       (905)-272-5463    2400-N81
(4650)    Abacus On-Line Services   (416)-538-7911   14400-N81 V32


Both 9500 and 9501 were in the 416 area code, however we had an area code
split October 4th.

I can also be reached in the FIDO Trade Wars Echo sometimes. I try to keep
up with it, however, with the number of messages that fly through it I can't
always manage. So if you want a quick response try Through the Looking Glass
first.

To download the lastest version call any of the above boards. Abacus
has a GUEST account (logon as GUEST, password GUEST), Through the Looking
Glass and The Clock Works are both open systems. Anyone can logon and get
standard user access without the need for callback validation.


Background:

    A few years ago I ran into a really neat game called TW2002 (V0.96) on
a local BBS. I showed my wife, and we started spending inordinate amounts of
time (I was getting up at 5:00AM to play) playing. At one point we were both
playing on 4 boards (I was on one other alone) both as partners and enemies.

    I started calling Castle Ravenloft once a month, picking up the newest
version, or picking up utilities. My friend Mark, sysop of The Clock Works BBS
was one of the first people in the Toronto area to register, if not the first.
A while later I became Mark's co-sysop, and we produced a variety of more and
more insane scenarios (on our board Ferrengal usually dies inside of 6 weeks.
The players are VERY experienced).

    Meanwhile I'd stopped playing. I'd gotten bored - which scared me. I
knew TW2002 well enough that there wasn't anything new to find. So I started
to try and add some variety to the game. I edited ships, the old trader, got
my friend Jeff to change the button for the library (a lot of people got
mugged), changed the library ANSI files, the CINEPLEX ANSI files, hand edited
one universe (a guy got kicked out of FED Space, took him two days to get back
to sector 1), and a variety of other things.

    Then Mark said, "Why are we limited to 1000 sectors?" Well, Mark's
only programming experience was on a C64, and he isn't into it the way I am,
so it took me a while to explain to him why I couldn't make TW2002 recognise
more than 1000 sectors. But the idea was interesting...

    The files in this archive are the result. Sure, I couldn't change
TW2002. First, I didn't have access to the source, second even if I did, I
couldn't do anything with it (and wouldn't without permission from the
Martins). I hate Turbo-Pascal. But I could grab the BBS drop file before TW2002
got it, twiddle the data files, and finish the details after TW2002 exited. So
I fired up Quick Basic (in my mind the best general purpose software
development package around), and set to work.

    What you have here is the result. At the current time it is only 85%
done, but I am still working on it. And having a lot of fun.

Theory of Operations:

    What does the Expander do?

    First it checks Universe 1 to see if the player entering TW2002 is
there. If he isn't, it assumes he/she is a new player, and writes a batch file
(EXPANDER.BAT) to start TW2002 in Universe 1.

    If the player is listed there, but the sector is 1001 (located in a
citadel in sector 1 which is impossible according to the rules in TW2002) it
then ckecks Universe 2, 3 etc. until it finds what universe the player is
currently in, and then writes a batch file to start TW2002 in that universe.
It also calls any External utilties by other third party authors at this time.

    Upon exit the Expander updates the players info in all universes, and
if certain criteria are meet (player is in a sector marked "Wormhole to
Universe 10, or has a t-warp drive installed) they are moved to another
universe. It call other third party utilities at this point.

    In TEDIT mode the Expander asks you which universe you wish to edit,
and then writes a batch file (EXTEDIT.BAT) to run TEDIT for that universe.

    This is very disk intensive - I really don't recommend trying to run
this on an XT, or any computer with a slow hard drive. It will work, but oh
so slowly (I know - my BBS computer has a 65 ms hard drive...<G>).

The Mad Hatter