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1994-01-08
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17KB
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455 lines
Note from The Mad Hatter:
As of WWIV 4.23 the BBS now drops DORINFO?.DEF and CALLINFO.BBS, and the
Expander no longer supports CHAIN.TXT - I suggest switching to either of
the above. DOOR.SYS will work too, but it can be a problem sometimes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Had Hatter's Installation Guide
BY
Trevor Scallen
Sysop of Illmound Keep
Tradewars Canadian File Bone Distribution Site
First Off:
Spelling errors might be present, I'm trying to get this
out fast I'm making no promises that this will work for you it
works for me and I am satisfied with how it works on my system
though I am still tinkering here and there.
What is this for:
This file is simply to help sysops install and run The Mad
Hatter's Tradewars 2002 Universe Expander.
It has been read, and edited slightly by The Mad Hatter (Wayne
Borean) and has his full approval. If you do need to get in touch with
him though call his board, Through the Looking Glass at 416-567-0366
2400N81 (note that the area code will change to 905 in October).
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Why is the being written:
This file is being written to help people install the
add-on correctly and hassle free, I run a Maximus CBCS v2.01wb
bbs, which emulates the following drop files, Dorinfo?.def,
Chain.txt, Door.sys and any other dropfile you want as long as I
know what is needed in the drop file and in what order.
The most common problem with the installation even for
myself is getting the path statements correct, I can't stress this
enough if you screw up even 1 path statement, the expander won't
work period.
I call the expander through a shell to dos leaving me with
about 470K free in dos before I load anything which should be
enough for most people. Qbbs set-ups are basically the same as mine
since that is the only other bbs type that I have actually set-up
an expander on. As for other bbs types well I'm more or less
guessing at this point, so please feel free to send me any input
you might have in the Tradewars 2002 echo on Fido, or send me Net
mail to my Fido address 1:163/415.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
How to install:
Ok firsts things first, make a directory for the expander it
doesn't matter where it is on your system, in my setup the expander
is on drive f, while the games are spread out of 2 other
partitions.
Next step, un-arc the expander in the directory you just created,
now comes the fun part in the following steps.
After you have un-arced the expander, you HAVE to CONFIGURE it
to your system, and how many universes your going to add the sample
config that comes with the expander are for a 2000 or 2 game
set-up, I'm going to provide a 20 game, or 20,000 sector set-up
example that you can edit to your system's configuration.
The sample config that comes with the archive is SAMPLE.CFG, and
there are bat files labelled tw2002.bat and tedit.bat. These need
to be edited. You need config files named 1.CFG, 2.CFG, and
TEDIT.CFG. The Mad Hatter includes SAMPLE.CFG in the archive so
that if you are updating with a later version you won't wipe out
your configuration.
The differences between the config files, anything with a .cfg on
it should all be IDENTICAL ie, edit one of them and copy it to the
other .cfg names like for example 1.cfg is the config I edit, copy
it either at the dos prompt or whatever to 2.cfg , and tedit.cfg.
The bat files should match your system set-up but I'll get to that
in a minute. First the CFG files and what they do for you and the
expander.
1.cfg and 2.cfg are the config file that tell the expander where
the universes are, and all possible universes where you will go to
or can go to.
1.CFG tells the Expande that you are entering TW2002.
2.cfg from what I gather is to tell the expander that you are
leaving TW2002, to warp you to where-ever and is used to create a
small routine to start the game after a warp.
Tedit.cfg is exactly that, it helps you go through all your
connected games with one command.
Debug.cfg was to help track down problems in the setup, and to help
test the compatibility of the connected games. It is now longer
used, so if you have a copy of the Expander with DEBUG.CFG in the
archive, it's an older one.
The Bat files.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The provided bat files must be edited.
TW2002.bat links in the expander to your tw2002 game.
TW2002FD.bat was included for use with a FOSSIL Driver. After
consideable testing, it was found that the Expander would run fine
with the standard command line, so this file is no longer included
in the archives. I run X00 version 1.30 and I run the regular
tw2002 bat without any flaws in performance even at 14.4 speeds
locked at 19,200 or 38,4000
Tedit.bat is to run tedit across the games, the expander will
prompt you for what universe you wish to edit and it will load the
appropriate universe's tedit for you.
Teditfd.bat, same as with the tw2002FD.bat, not included any more
since the standard TEDIT.BAT works fine.
If the archive you have (TWMAD*.*) has the FD batch files in it, it
is an old one, and you should upgrade.
The configuration files How to set them upfor version 0.80 and up.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
C:\MAX\DORINFO1.DEF ;Line to your drop file
Illmound Keep ;Name of the bbs
Trevor ;Sysop's first name
Scallen ;Sysops last name
AAAAAAAAAA ;Registration key
d:\doors\tw3\expander\ ;path to the expander
20 ;Number of connected games
d:\doors\tw3\ ;Path to the first game
d:\doors\tw3\2\ ;Path to my second game
d:\doors\tw3\3\ ;Path to my third game
d:\doors\tw3\4\ ;Path to my fourth game
d:\doors\tw3\5\ ;Path to my fifth game
d:\doors\tw3\6\ ; etc
d:\doors\tw3\7\ ; etc
d:\doors\tw3\8\ ; etc
d:\doors\tw3\9\ ; etc
d:\doors\tw3\10\ ; etc
d:\doors\tw3\11\ ; etc
d:\doors\tw3\12\ ; etc
d:\doors\tw3\13\ ; etc
d:\doors\tw3\14\ ; etc
d:\doors\tw3\15\ ; etc
d:\doors\tw3\16\ ; etc
d:\doors\tw3\17\ ; etc
d:\doors\tw3\18\ ; etc
d:\doors\tw3\19\ ; etc
d:\doors\tw3\20\ ; etc
-----------------------------------------------------------------
All my other cfg files are identical except for name.
Copy TW2002.BAT and TEDIT.BAT into your BBS directory. They need to
be edited to reflect the situation on your system (ie. game is on
D:, BBS is on C:), and you must also at this time change the line:
Line in tw2002.bat that is provided:
CALL EXPANDER.BAT
to read
CALL EXPANDER.BAT -WWIV
or whichever command line switch you use to run TW2002. THIS IS
VERY IMPORTANT!
My tw2002.bat:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
@echo off
d:
cd\doors\tw3\expander
expandr 1.cfg
:return
call expander.bat -QBBS ; this line must match how your drop file
see below
expandr 2.cfg
if exist return.txt goto return
c:
cd \max
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The above line where it read call expander.bat -QBBS is how you
tell the expander to call tw2002. If you use -LOCL, you get local
play, if you use -WWIV you get CHAIN.TXT, -WILD you get wildcat's
CALLINFO.BBS etc... Get the picture.
Tedit.bat:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
@echo off
cd\doors\tw3\expander
expandr tedit.cfg
call extedit.bat -QBBS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Expander.bat, and Extedit.bat area create by the expander, they
are not provided in the archive, I will include a sample of each
right now.
Expander.bat:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
@echo off
copy twopeng.dat d:\doors\tw3\3 /B /V
copy twcorp.dat d:\doors\tw3\3 /B /V
copy fedbount.dat d:\doors\tw3\3 /B /V
copy C:\MAX\DORINFO1.DEF d:\doors\tw3\3 /B /V
cd\doors\tw3\3
TW2002 %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 ; See Below
copy twopeng.dat d:\doors\tw3\expander /B /V
copy twcorp.dat d:\doors\tw3\expander /B /V
copy fedbount.dat d:\doors\tw3\expander /B /V
cd\doors\tw3\expander
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This line is where most of your trouble will occur if you don't
configure things right. Although this command line call a tw2002
for wwiv or chain.txt files it works with my dorinfo1.def Its just
a matter for The Mad Hatter to get the expander to call the right
format, as it did in version .73.
What this bat does is simple, it keeps the players, and other data
files like corp's and bounties the same in each universe. Does not
affect alien or ferengi data.
Extedit.bat:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
@echo off
copy C:\MAX\DORINFO1.DEF d:\doors\tw3\2 /B /V
cd\doors\tw3\2
TEDIT %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 ;See below
cd\doors\tw3\expander
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This bat calls tedit for which ever universe you want to edit, same
thing as above applies for the reason to see below.
As for running Extern.exe each night or when ever you run it. I
changed the name of extern.exe to maint.exe for a simple reason I
run 3 tw2002 games each one is different and I have seen it where
extern.bat files call only 1 game, or one universe. Make a
statement in the extern.bat to go as follows:
maint.exe -qbbs (or what ever)
cd (path to next universe)
maint.exe -QBBS (or what ever)
cd (path to the next universe)
etc....
Heres my sample for my system configuration:
extern.bat:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
cd\doors\tw3\ ;game 1
maint -QBBS
cd\doors\tw3\2 ;game 2
maint -QBBS
cd\doors\tw3\3 ;etc....
maint -QBBS
cd\doors\tw3\4
maint -QBBS
cd\doors\tw3\5
maint -QBBS
cd\doors\tw3\6
maint -QBBS
cd\doors\tw3\7
maint -QBBS
cd\doors\tw3\8
maint -QBBS
cd\doors\tw3\9
maint -QBBS
cd\doors\tw3\10
maint -QBBS
cd\doors\tw3\11
maint -QBBS
cd\doors\tw3\12
maint -QBBS
cd\doors\tw3\13
maint -QBBS
cd\doors\tw3\14
maint -QBBS
cd\doors\tw3\15
maint -QBBS
cd\doors\tw3\16
maint -QBBS
cd\doors\tw3\17
maint -QBBS
cd\doors\tw3\18
maint -QBBS
cd\doors\tw3\19
maint -QBBS
cd\doors\tw3\20
maint -QBBS
cd ..
-----------------------------------------------------------------
If you are running AEXTERN or TWUNBUG add them in either before or
after each extern. As to what to run first... AEXTERN can be set to
drop cloaks. If you run it before EXTERN and it un-cloaks a ship in
FED space, he could get evicted, and end up who knows where. On the
other hand if you run it after EXTERN and he gets un-cloaked in FED
space, he's a sitting duck for whoever feels like making a kill.
TWUNBUG can be run in either position.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Now to set up each game:
Run bigbang on each of your universes, this is about the longest
part of setting the expander up. Now go into each universe with
tedit, and edit the sector names, option z in tedit from the sector
editor.
choose randomly, or how ever you wish but you must include nebulae
names which goes as follows:
Wormhole to Universe X, where x is the universe you wish to have a
warp to.
It must appear exactly as above with the 2 capital letters.
Anything else will return error codes, and not work. This is the
second most common problem with the set up of the expander so be
careful on spelling.
All my warp sectors are labelled:
Wormhole to universe 1
Wormhole to Universe 2
etc....
Wormhole to Universe #7 - will give you an error code 5
Wormhole to Universe Seven - will give you an error code 5
Wormhole to The Fantastic Universe 7 - will work fine.
I tried these and even the last one gave an error use my example
and you will be flying. Note that if you quote a universe number
higher than actually exists like 20 in a 5 universe game the
Expander will automatically place the player in universe 5. It
doesn't tell the player what it's done either....
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Known problems that I have come across:
The file TWDATA.DAT gets corrupted, if this file is larger or
smaller then 214452 bytes, then it is corrupted and may cause
adverse effects to you game and your system.
Data file problems are very common - however there is a solution.
Either get DOS6, or a copy of Norton utilities, and add the final
line at the end of your nightly maintenance batch file:
DEFRAG C: /Q /H : DOS 6
SPEEDISK C: /Q /H : Norton Utils
If you use DOS6 Double Space, don't use DEFRAG, instead get a copy
of NORTON Utilities V7 and use that, DOS's Defrag is fast on
unstacked drives, but very slow on Double Space compressed drives.
The Mad Hatter has his BBS defrag the hard drive every night, and
also upon boot up, and hasn't had any file problems.
Lock-Ups, I've tested the expander with desqview 2.41 and it seems
to work fine except the occasional lock up due to out of memory
errors. In desqview try and get as much free memory as possible to
avoid this problem, or pick up a later version. All of the versions
prior to 0.81 had DGroup (memory) problems, and may do strange
things on systems with lots of drivers/TSR's loaded.
Any other problem that might happen to a regular 2002 game can
happen with the expander and you were warned in the expander docs
that it worked on the authors system and may not work on yours, or
it might affect your system. You have now been warned twice about
this fact.
I haven't used any other add-on with the expander yet, I will
revise this doc if anything crops up when I do add things to the
expanded universes.
As a safety precaution for myself and I suggest you heed is this.
I run the expander and all other doors on a partition on my
smaller drive a 100 meg'er the other partition carries my mail
base. The reason why is that both door games, and a message base
can sometime cause damage to the file data in path info on the hard
drive, this happened to me once and I lost a whole drive and 300
$$$. I also check each door intensely for file corruption and crc
checks, and I compress my drives regularly to help avoid data loss,
and it speeds up the system up to 25 %.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
In Conclusion,
I'm trying to help others out, this works on my system
without any problem locally or remotely. If someone comes across
a problem with this doc with there system please inform me as to
what might be wrong. As I stated earlier this works on a Maximus
CBCS 2.01wb bbs calling a dorinfo?.def drop file. I make no
promises that this will work on your system or bbs unless it is a
Maximus CBCS 2.01wb bbs.
Wayne Borean, The Mad Hatter or the author of the TW 2002
Universe Expander is a Canadian shareware author and I support Him
in trying to get bugs out. I helped him get the Dorinfo?.def
working right by informing him that the expander only called
chain.txt drop files. This was corrected in Version .73 of the
add-on. As for the fossil routine working, they do as I stated
above fossils should not be a problem with the expander.
For Maximus 2.00 or 2.01wb sysops I will give you my menu
setup for this as well:
Display_File Misc\Dorinfo Normal "F"
NoDsp Xtern_Dos d:\doors\tw3\tw2002.bat Normal "F"
Trevor Scallen
AKA Cain
Sysop Illmound Keep
Fido Address 1:163/415
Ratio Free Network 100:649/39