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Monster Media 1996 #14
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Monster Media No. 14 (April 1996) (Monster Media, Inc.).ISO
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bbs_game
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zchss17a.zip
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NETCHESS.DOC
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NETCHESS.DOC
Ver 1.7 March 1996
Paul Fargen
6200 Richiewayne Drive
Louisville, KY
Networking ZCHESS allows games to be played by users on different
BBSes while maintaining the games in the database of the regular
door. This will aid in eliminating the typos and other
misunderstandings that are often a part of chess over a message
base.
QUICK START
You will configure the required parameters for networking while you
setup subs. Normally, the subs to be networked will be labeled
OPENxx or something similar. If you choose to change networking for
an existing sub, you can run SETUP again, and make whatever changes
that are required.
CONFIGURATION
Use the same SETUP.EXE to setup networked chess. Note that the
setup program must be for version 1.7 of Zchess or greater.
This is a sample NET.CFG file that will be placed in each NETxxx
subdirectory:
Serial number for the ODD BBS = BBS1
Serial number for the EVEN BBS = BBS2
Message subject for this section = Chess Games Open3
Path to file IN box = INBOX\
Path to file OUT box = OUTBOX\
BBS software = 1(1=SBBS, 0=Other)
Convert files to messages? = 1(1=YES, 0=NO)
Path to BBS messages = C:\SBBS
Message SUB for messages = ZCHESS
Abridge output? = 0(1=Yes,0=No)
Serial number for the ODD BBS:
Will be the four character registration number for the BBS which can
start the odd numbered games between the two BBSes. The Serial
number characters are the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh
characters of the Registration number that is in the ZCHESS.KEY file
you receive after registering. While you are evaluating ZCHESS, you
will be using the BBS ID that is entered on the fourth line of
ZCHESS.CFG. Note that ZCHESS requires that the first charater of
unregistered ZCHESSes to be a dash. This maintains the uniqueness
of Registration numbers thos registering. The entry for the ODD BBS
will be either your Serial number or that of the BBS you are sharing
files with.
Serial number for the EVEN BBS
Same as above, except will be the registration number of the BBS
that can start the even numbered games.
Message subject for this section
This will be used as the Subject when files are transferred between
BBSes. When files are being retrieved by the receiving BBS from
messages, the subject of the messages in the BBS message base must
match this exactly. This entry is case sensitive, although Zchess
will do everything in its power to maintain the format of all first
letters of words to be capitalized, with the others to be lower
case. Note that when searching for messages that will contain the
chess moves for a sub, the To and Subject entries are compared
between this NET.CFG file and the messages. You should limit
posting privileges on the sub to discourage sabbotage.
Path to INBOX
Can be set to a directory for download by other BBSes calling in.
If you are using Messages, will be used for temporary storage.
Path to OUTBOX
Can be set to an uplode directory for other BBSes calling in.
If you are using Messages, will be used for temporary storage.
BBS Software
Can be 1 or 0. '1' specifies that you are running SYNCHRONET BBS,
and you therefor have the opportunity to use the SBBS message base
to send games.
Convert Files to messages?
1 = Yes, if using SBBS only.
Path to BBS messages
Specify the DATA\SUBS directory exactly, if using SBBS. Leave
as the default if not sending games in the messages.
Message sub for messages
Specify an eight char sub name for a message base you wish to
use.
Abridge Output?
There are two forms available for sending game information from a
BBS; verbose and abridged. A typical verbose-formatted game might
look like:
Game number = 1
White = Paul Fargen@FARG 1400
Black = Jim Knight@21ST 1400
Status = 1 (In progress)
Started = 823242675 (02-02-96)
1. D2-D4 D7-D5
2. C2-C4 E7-E6
Message to White
How's the weather out there?
---
Each of the first five lines must be present to uniquely identify a
game. The game numbers will be the same on both BBSes, although the
sub may differ. The four characters after white's and black's name
represent the BBS ID for that BBS. As stated in ZCHESS.DOC, the BBS
ID is a part of the serial number you get when registering Zchess,
which guarantees a unique ID for each BBS. For unregistered
versions, the BBS ID is generated by the sysop using SETUP.EXE.
Zchess will force the first character to be a dash, which will
preserve the uniqueness of the registered copies, but still allow
playing.
To save a few seconds of download time, you may set the Abridged
flag to 1 (Yes). This will result in NETCHESS.EXE formatting the
output file as
W=Paul Fargen@FARG 1400
B=Jim Knight@21ST 1400
T=1
S=823242675
2. C2-C4 E7-E6
3. B1-C3 G8-F6
4. G1-F3 ...
w=
How's the weather out there?
All of the information is the verbose format is contained in the
abridged, but with a reduction in byte-size.
COMMANDLINE SWITCHES FOR NETCHESS
There are two optional switches for netchess:
IN - Specifies that only incomming messages or files should be processed.
OUT - Specifies that only outgoing messages or files should be processed.
INNER WORKINGS OF NETCHESS
Netchess loops through all sections, looking for those that have
networking defined by a NET.CFG. If games are to be sent to the other
BBS, then an ASCII file is created in your OUTBOX path. If you are to
rely file transfers in the interBBS communications, you should define
different INBOX and OUTBOX paths for each section. For transfers via
an SBBS message base, the INBOX and OUTBOX paths can be identical.
Netchess does a shell to the SMBUTIL.EXE program that is provided by
Digital Dynamics. Hence, if you are running NETCHESS as an event from
SBBS without swapping to disk, you must be sure that the shell from
NETCHESS to SMBUTIL is able to allocate sufficient memory.
You can look at the .BAT files that are created by NETCHESS to do the
importation. The method employed relies heavily on DOS redirection.
Command files are created that are redirected into SMBUTIL which allows
use of that normally interractive program as an unattended utility.