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Monster Media 1994 #1
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1994-01-29
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╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ║
║ Corporate Headquarters BBS (815) 886-3233 ║
║ (815) 886-9381 ║
║ ║
║ Z - W O R D Z ║
║ v2.1 ║
║ ║
║ MULTI-BBS Support ║
║ Supporting PCBoard, Wildcat!, Gap, QBBS, RBBS, Spitfire, ║
║ UltraBBS, Telegard, TriTel, and Remote Access ║
║ ║
║ Copyright 1994 ║
║ by Robert Neal ║
║ 317 Hickory Avenue ║
║ Romeoville, IL 60441 ║
║ ║
╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Z-Wordz is released as SHAREWARE. You are granted a limited license to
evaluate the program. Try it out, if you continue to use it you are required
to register the program.
To register the program send $14.95 along with your name and BBS phone #
to: Robert Neal, 317 Hickory Avenue, Romeoville, IL 60441. See the file
MAILER.TXT for additonal pricing information and special discounts
available. You may also register ONLINE with Visa or MasterCard by
calling the support BBS at (815) 886-3233 or (815) 886-9381. Simply type
CHARGE at the main menu.
Once you register Z-Wordz, you will be given your own unique registration
number that will inform Z-Wordz that the program is registered. The BBS name
supplied with payment will be the name used to create your unique
registration number.
THIS SOFTWARE AND ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS ARE DISTRIBUTED "AS IS" WITHOUT
CHARGE AND WITHOUT WARRANTY, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL ANYONE INVOLVED WITH THE CREATION AND
PRODUCTION OF THIS PRODUCT BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES, ARISING OUT OF ANY USE THEREOF OR BREACH OF ANY WARRANTY.
Z-Wordz is a online game, based somewhat on the board game CrossWords.
It's easy to play, making it great for all ages (my 7 year old son
finds it fun to play - and it stimulates his vocabulary), but it's also
challenging to keep players busy trying over and over to improve their
Z-Wordz average.
Z-Wordz is a game where the player tries to complete the Z-WORDZ (you'll
understand when you see the game) by completing three words all linked
together forming the Z-WORDZ (believe me, you'll understand when you see
the game) from a random selection of letters. In each round the player
is displayed a letter, this letter may be placed in the Z-WORDZ or
discarded. Players are limited to only 10 discards per round. Once the
Z-WORDZ are filled, Z-Wordz checks the words created against it's own
dictionary. Z-Wordz awards points for each correct word based on a set
value for each letter. Invalid words are ignored. Refer to the WORDZ.HLP
file for additional playing information.
As distributed, Z-Wordz has a dictionary file of over 950 three letter
words. Feel free to add your own to the WORDZ.DIC file using your
favorite text editor. Don't worry about making sure the list is sorted
as Z-Wordz doesn't require a sorted listing. You may make the WORDZ.DIC
file almost as large as you'd like, a test file of 3200 words was used
to test Z-Wordz. The routine used to validate words is so fast that even
with 3200 words, Z-Wordz was able to validate all three words almost
instantaneously.
Z-Wordz keeps track of dual scoreboards, one ranking each player on their
overall monthly average per round and a second ranking the top 10 Z-Wordz
scores for the month. Z-Wordz will automatically reset the scoreboard at
the start of each month, requiring no sysop maintenance after initial
set-up.
FEATURES OF Z-Wordz:
- Easy to install and requires no maintenance.
- Ansi colors and display.
- Terminates cleanly through exit code even on runtime error.
- Automatically creates a top score listing suitable for inclusion
as a text/bulletin file for display within your BBS. Both an
ANSI and ASCII file is created.
- Detects loss of carrier.
- Operates in local mode (either direct from BBS or from command line).
- Sysop function keys to return to the board, chat mode, user stats,
increase/decrease time, etc.
- Direct support for PCBoard, WildCat!, Gap, QBBS, RBBS,
Ultra BBS, Telegard, TriTel and Remote Access.
- Support for baud rates up to 115,200
- Support for COM1-15. Optional command line for non-standard IRQ's.
- Supports PCBoard environment variables %PCBDRIVE% and %PCBDIR%
- Support Fossil Drivers. A Fossil driver is not required to use the
program.
- Fully Multi-Node compatible.
- Support for multi-port digiboards, for use with PCBoard /M.
FIRST TIME OPERATIONS
Simply create a directory for Z-Wordz and copy all files distributed
with Z-Wordz to this directory. Additional data files will automatically
be created the first time Z-Wordz is run.
CONFIGURING THE PROGRAM
Using your favorite text editor, edit the file WORDZ.CFG. Below is the
layout of this file:
C:\PCB\PCBOARD.SYS
Corporate Headquarters
Bob
Neal
15
0
10
NA
Line 1 = Full pathname of your door file. Formats supported by this
program are: PCBOARD.SYS, USERS.SYS, DOOR.SYS, USERINFO.DAT,
CALLINFO.BBS, DORINFOx.DEF, SFDOORS.DAT and
GTUSER.BBS, DOOR.SYS, and TRIBBS.SYS. When using
USERINFO.DAT, DOOR.SYS must be in the same
directory as USERINFO.DAT.
Line 2 = BBS name
Line 3 = Sysop First Name
Line 4 = Sysop Last Name
Line 5 = number of rounds per day that a player may play. I suggest
a daily limit of 10 to 20, but tailor to your own needs.
Line 6 = Registration number. Leave as 0 if unregistered.
Line 7 = Minimum percentage of plays required for user to be listed in
the TOP 10. This percentage is based off the highest # of
plays of those who have played Z-Wordz for the month.
Line 8 = You can place the name of the user who helped pay for the
registration of the door. Several sysops have specified that
users have paid the reigstration fee for Z-Wordz. You can
now place their name on this line and their name will be
proudly displayed at the end of the game so that others may
recognize their contribtion to the operation of your BBS.
Leave this blank or NA if you do not wish to use this
option.
Note: This door supports the PCBoard environment variables %PCBDRIVE%
and %PCBDIR%. Non-PCBoard systems may also use these variables by
including the following either in your BBS batch or AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
SET PCBDRIVE=C: <- Drive letter of your BBS files
SET PCBDIR=\BBS <- Path of your BBS files
Then, in your WORDZ.CFG file, on the first line you may put:
%PCBDRIVE%%PCBDIR%\PCBOARD.SYS, %PCBDRIVE%%PCBDIR%\DOOR.SYS, etc.
This allows you to use just one .CFG file for multi-node operation.
EXECUTING PROGRAM
To execute the program, enter the filename followed by the config file
name (ie ZWORDZ ZWORDZ.CFG). If you are running the program from the
command line, you may optionally enter ZWORDZ LOCAL. The only problem
with this is the default user name sysop is used instead of the name on
your board. This is good for testing the game before putting it on your
system, but you should once play begins, execute the program locally
from your BBS or consistantly run the game from the command line when
you play.
You may also specify a non-standard IRQ. Put the IRQ number after the
.CFG on the command line. For example: ZWORDZ ZWORDZ.CFG /5. This
example tells the program to use IRQ 5 instead of the standard IRQ.
You may also use the procedure above and create a variable IRQ so that
you can pass the IRQ setting as: ZWORDZ ZWORDZ.CFG /%IRQ%
Some users may have had conflicts when using non-standard IRQ's on
Novell/Netware systems. Novell seems to use the "/" character for
parameter passing. You may not optionally use the "*" character instead
of the "/", for example ZWORDZ ZWORDZ.CFG *%IRQ% is valid. Both "*" and
"/" will work.
AUTOMATIC MAINTENANCE
The program will automatically during the first play of each new month
reset it's user file and top score listing. The previous months
scoreboard will automatically be renamed to ZWORDZ.OLD and ZWORDZG.OLD.
This can then be included as a text file to display the previous months
winners.
You should be aware of this so if you are starting a new game for the
first time towards the end of the month, the game will automatically perform
the maintenace come the first of the month.
As an option, you may pass the parameter "NEW" on the command line, for
example ZWORDZ NEW. This will reset _all_ Z-Wordz data files, including the
overall high scorer information.
FOSSIL DRIVER
Z-Wordz now includes support for FOSSIL drivers. This means that the
program will now work with Digiboard (for Wildcat M and PCBoard/M
versions) and other multi-port boards. To activate the Fossil driver
support just include /FD on the command line in your door batch file.
For example: ZWORDZ ZWORDZ.CFG /FD
If no Fossil driver is available, Z-Wordz will display a message
indicating such and exit cleanly.
This documentation will not go into the mechanics of how you set-up a door
program on your BBS. It is assumed that you have a working knowledge of
how to complete this task. It would be impossible for me to explain how
to install a door for all BBS programs supported by Z-Wordz.
SYSOP KEYS ACTIVE
F3 - Toggles the printer On/Off. Value is passed to PCBoard and/or
written to DOOR.SYS and USERS.SYS
F4 - Toggles the Page Bell on/off. Value is passed to PCBoard
and/or written to DOOR.SYS and USERS.SYS
F5 - DOS Shell. Allows SysOp to exit to DOS from inside a DOOR.
F7 - Toggles the Caller Alarm On/Off. Value is passed to PCBoard
and/or written to DOOR.SYS and USERS.SYS
F8 - Returns the caller involuntarily to the BBS.
F9 - Toggles the local display On/Off. Value is passed to PCBoard
and/or written to DOOR.SYS and USERS.SYS
F10 - Activates SysOp CHAT mode within the DOOR.
ESC - Deactivates CHAT mode. DOOR is resumed.
UP - Give the caller extra time while in the DOOR.
DN - Subtract time from the caller while in the DOOR.
HOME - HELP key for Status Line options.
ALT-N - SysOp next on toggle. Value passed to PCBoard. (PCBoard only)
ALT-X - PCBoard will exit after current caller logs off. Value is
passed to PCBoard. Not available on non-PCBoard systems.
FILES USED AND CREATED
ZWORDZ.EXE - The program itself
ZWORDZ.DOC - Documentation for the sysop to run Z-Wordz
ZWORDZ.DIC - Dictionary file
ZWORDZ.CFG - Configuration file
The following files will be created by Z-Wordz
ZWORDZ.USR - User file of current players
ZWORDZ - Top 10 scores in ascii format can be used as a bulletin
ZWORDZG - Top 10 scores in ANSI format
ZWORDZ.OLD - Previous month top 10 ascii bulletin
ZWORDZG.OLD - Previous month top 10 ANSI bulletin
ZWORDZ.DAT - Contains information for scoreboard
ZWORDZ.HI - Contains overall high score information
ZWORDZ.AVG - Data file for scoreboard
ZWORDZ.TOT - Data file for scoreboard
CONTACT ME FOR SUPPORT
If you encounter any problems you may contact me at Corporate Headquarters
BBS (815) 886-3233 or (815) 886-9381.
I can also be reached via the RIME network in the SYSOP, DOORS,
SHAREWARE and BBS SOFTWARE conferences as well as the COMMON conference.
I can also be reached via Internet e-mail at bob.neal@corpsoft.com.
If you have any suggestions for improvements for this program, please feel
free to let me know. This game has included suggestions from users of my
BBS during beta testing.
TROUBLESHOOTING
=====================
If you are running this on a 486 system with co-processor and experience
problems running Z-Wordz, you may need to put 'SET NO87=ON' in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file or you may place this in the ZWORDZ batch file just
before the line ZWORDZ ZWORDZ.CFG, for example:
@ECHO OFF
C:
CD \PCBURM
SET NO87=ON
PCBURM PCBURM.CFG
%PCBDRIVE%
CD %PCBDIR%
IF (%INPCB%)==(Y) EXIT
BOARD
If you are running on a 486 system with co-processor under DesqView, you
may alternately set Math Coprocessor in each window to YES.
VERSION HISTORY
v2.1 - (01/29/94) / Minor upgrade
Had a sysop mention that ZWordz would never return ANSI graphics
for his users. Odd set-up, OS/2 with fossil driver. Added option
to check if ANSI, if not, ZWordz will now ask the user if they
have ANSI. This now allows those odd setups to run ZWordz.
v2.0 - (11/24/93)
Rewrote scoring options for program. Prior version gave
multiplier credit for word placement, now multiplier is based on
number of words completed. This should make the game more
challenging as users won't be so inclined to load the word #3
with high rated points and ignore the first two words. Also
added bonus points for unused discards.
Revised scoreboard. Previous version based inclusion of user
score based on static minimum # of plays. The minimum # of plays
is now based on a percentage of the highest # of plays of all
players. This restricts players from simply popping in and
playing a few rounds and knocking off your regulars who have
many more plays.
Fixed quirk that allowed a player to quit in the middle of the
game. Found that some users may do this if his score is not
going to be high. Now if the player quits, he's given 0 points
and the round is included in his stats.
Fixed problem with erratic display with multi-port boards.
Thanks to Steve and Pat of Midwest BBS for taking the time to
work through this problem with me.
Added option to display who adopted the door. Several sysops
have indicated that users have assisted in the registration fees
for my doors. This now gives you a chance to give that user
recognition.
v1.4 - (08/03/93)
v1.3 was a major screw-up. I picked up what I thought was the
v1.2 final release code and recompiled for v1.3. As I changed
nothing in the code (purpose of new release pertained to revised
I/O library only), I didn't do any testing before release. Bad
move, code I picked up for 1.2 was not the final code. Needless
to say, v1.3 used OLD filename conventions of Z-Wordz for the
data files.
This release fixes the above problem and includes the new I/O
library for the fix of fossil based multi-port boards.
v1.3 - (07/31/93)
Recompiled using new I/O routines. These new routines fix
problem with fossil based multi-port users who were experiencing
random characters at the start of the program.
With the revised I/O routines, Z-Wordz no longer support
CHAIN.TXT BBS format. The author of the I/O routines has removed
support for this file format, sorry.
v1.2 - (06/25/93)
Recompiled using routines which support PCBoard /M and WildCat
IM digiboard versions.
Renamed data file names to be consistent with ZWORDZ program
name (must run ZWUPDATE.BAT after installing new version to
automatically rename the files)
Added file ZWCONFIG.EXE, configuration file editor. Makes
creating and/or editing the configuration file easy to do,
simply fill in the blanks.
v1.1 - (04/03/93)
First, a new name. Previously named WORD-Z, now called Z-WORDZ.
Users upgrading from v1.0 will need to rename their WORDZ.CFG
file to ZWORDZ.CFG and update their door file batch and menu
files. All data filename for Z-Wordz has been kept the same
from Word-Z.
Revised the routine that randomly selected letters, a vowel now
has a better chance of being selected.
Expanded and refined the dictionary file. Now over 950 words and
based on the words found in the Official Scrabble Players
Dictionary.
Added option to require a minimum number of plays before a
players score is shown in the top 10 scoreboard. This prevents a
user from playing 1 time and getting a high score that is
impossible to be with repeated plays.
Fixed a bug where a player was allowed to play one more time
than the sysop had configured.
Fixed a problem with the file I/O. Did not have all file access
opened for SHARED I/O. Users with a multi-node system may find
that a user was suddenly kicked out of the game. Now fixed, all
file read/writes are done under a SHARED access.
v1.0 - (03/05/93)
Initial Release
DISTRIBUTION SITES:
As always you can find the latest version of Z-Wordz available for
downloading from Corporate Headquarters BBS.
Calls for support for Z-Wordz should be directed only to
Corporate Headquarters BBS.
Corporate Headquarters BBS (815) 886-3233 (14400 v.32bis)
886-9381 (14400 v.32bis)
We now can accept Visa and Mastercard. Register online with your Visa or
Mastercard by calling Corporate Headquarters BBS, simply type CHARGE at
the main menu prompt.