Cream of the Crop 11/Cream of the Crop 11-2.iso/extra/sirdesc.zip/SIRDESC.DOC

Text File | 1995-05-02 | 24KB | 495 lines

                                SIRDESC
                          An Descent Front-End
                                  for
                            Game Connection

            Copyright (c) 1994-1995 by Sirius Software, Inc.



SIRDESC is an ANSI terminal program that emulates an IPX compatible
network in order to allow you to play Descent with more than two
players via modem.

If you have used SIRDOOM before (or have attempted to play DOOM modem-
to-modem), you are in for a treat with Descent.  Similar demands are
made of your computer, more in some areas, but the communications code
is written such that each player operates independent of other players.
No longer will your system lock up if someone else has communications
problems.  If Descent will run stand alone on your system, SIRDESC is
able to work with your modem to call out to the BBS, you can
successfully upload and download using Ymodem-g at high speeds, and you
have a functional 16550 UART, then you will certainly be able to play
Descent.  How many players you can go up against at a time is highly
dependant on your hardware, though, especially with the shareware
version of Descent.  See details below.



                             Registration

SIRDESC is a shareware program.  If you continue to use it, you are
expected to register it.  Until it is registered, its capabilities will
be limited.  Namely, you will not be able to enter a game that is in
progress, and you will be limited to a maximum of three players per
game.

In order to register this software, send $20 to:

                    Sirius Software, Inc.
                    Attn: Shareware Registration
                    1049 Cardiff
                    Casper, WY  82609

or, call [phone] if you would like to use a VISA, MasterCard,
AMEX or Discover card to register.

Include your name and address, as well as a number where you can be
reached in the event that there is a problem getting your activation
code to you.

This registration will entitle you solely to an activation code to
make SIRDESC fully functional.  If you would like to receive the latest
available version on a disk, please add $5.  The most recent version is
also available for download on our BBS, [phone], in the GAMES
library, free of charge.

Bug reports are always welcome, but YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE PHONE TECH
SUPPORT from our office.  The person in charge of the system you are
playing on is responsible for helping you set up your system and
playing games via his/her service, and can come to us if he/she
encounters a problem with or bug in the software.

If you feel that you are in need of tech support, and cannot
find the answer in this documentation or through the system operator
of the system you are playing on, please leave a message in the
MajorNet Game Connection Users news group.  If the system you are on is
not on MajorNet, you can post in the USGCONN forum on our BBS.


                           Quick Start

This section will hopefully get you going quickly.  Much of the
information contained here is repeated, and usually expounded upon,
later in this document.  If you are unable to get started using this
section, please read the detailed sections below.

If the detailed information is not enough to get you started, look for
someone on the BBS you are calling that is experienced, or contact your
sysop.  You are also welcome to post in the MajorNet forum for Game
Connection users if you have questions.  If your system is not on
MajorNet, feel free to call our support system to access it.  It is
called USGCONN there.  The phone number is [phone].

Our voice tech support is reserved for owners of Game Connection
servers.  Under no circumstances should you contact Sirius Software
voice for tech support on this front end unless you have purchased Game
Connection.

1. Unzip SIRDESC.ZIP somewhere in your path, or in your Descent
   directory.  Installing to somewhere in your path will allow you to
   run SIRDESC from anywhere on your system.

2. Type SIRDESC.  You will be presented with the configuration editor,
   where you will need to configure where the game is located, what com
   port, baud rate, and init string to use.

   We are in the process of writing an init string selector.  For the
   time being, you will need to manually configure this.  Consult your
   modem manual for the proper init string for high speed
   communications.  This should include data compression (v.42bis or
   MNP5+), error correction (v.42 or MNP4), and hardware flow control.
   Most likely, this will be the same init string you would use for
   calling a BBS or other online service.

   NOTE: If you are used to playing DOOM, take note that this game
   requires an entirely different modem configuration.  You will want to
   lock your port at 38400 (57600 for 28.8K modems) and you will want
   data compression and error correction both ON.

   WARNING:  DO NOT lock your modem at 57600 if you are connecting at
   14.4K.  Doing so will cause SIRDESC to assume you have a 28.8K
   connection, and less data compression will be performed.  This will
   cut the number of players that you can get into a game in half.

3. Once you have selected a com port, SIRDESC will report your UART
   type.  16550A UARTs are not only recommended for this game, but
   the odds of getting it to work without a 16550A UART are very
   slim.  For more information, see the section on UARTs.

4. Dial a Major BBS system and enter Game Connection's multi-player
   channels.  If you are the first one in, enter the name of the
   game you plan to play, and select Descent mode.

5. You are now ready to play.  The first player to enter the channel
   should type START once everyone is in the channel to begin game
   mode, and then Alt-S.  All other players will automatically be
   brought into the game.

   NOTE: All players do not have to be at the same baud rate, but
   everyone must be at a high enough speed to handle the data sent by
   the game.  For example, if you have one player at 28.8K, and three
   at 14.4K, then the game should be considered 14.4K, and the person
   with the 28.8K modem should start the game.

6. When Descent begins, select Multiplayer from the first menu, and
   then either 'Start Network Game' or 'Join Network Game'.  Normally,
   one person will select start (preferably the player with the
   fastest setup), and the others will select join, however, up to four
   games can be started in the same channel without ill effects.

   NOTE: The player starting the game sends a more data than the other
   players.  It is therefore preferable for this player to be the
   one with the fastest setup in the game to allow the game to
   progress smoothly.

7. Once you have started game mode, players with registered copies of
   SIRDESC may enter and exit freely.  They simply type /ENTER to
   begin game mode, and Alt-S to launch Descent.  Then, by selecting
   'Join Network Game', a list of all ongoing games in the current
   games will be displayed for you to choose from.

8. That's it.  Enjoy your game.  When you exit the game, you will be
   returned to the Game Connection teleconference.  Make sure you read
   the notes below on how many players can be in a game.



                Installing and Configuring SIRDESC

To use SIRDESC, simply unzip SIRDESC.ZIP into either your Descent or
directory, or preferably, somewhere in your path.  Placing these files
in your path will allow you to type SIRDESC from any path on your
computer.

The first thing you will want to do after installing SIRDESC will be to
configure SIRDESC for your system.  The configuration editor, SIRCFG,
will come up automatically the first time you run SIRDESC, and can be
accessed at any time by typing Alt-C from within SIRDESC.

This editor is fairly self explanatory.  You are allowed to configure
the com port, baud rate, init and dial strings for your modem, create a
dialing directory of the systems you frequent, set the path where
Descent is located on your system, and select game options.  The
'Commandline Args' field in the game options editor allows you to
specify command line arguments for the game, if any.


                      How Many Players Can Join?

This is a tough question to answer.  It depends a great deal on line
conditions, modem speeds, type of compression used, UARTs, machine
speed, video adapter speed, etc.  I will give some general guidelines,
and you can experiment to see what your setup is capable of.  These
guidelines are for a 486/66 or better with a local bus video card and
16550A UARTs.  Lessor equipment will not respond as well.

The shareware version of Descent sends and receives from 1100 to
1850 cps per player.  Two players will work comfortably at 14.4K with
compression, and three players should work, although possibly a little
sluggish at times of high activity.  At 28.8K, you should be able to
squeeze five in with similar response.

The registered version of Descent sends from 500 to 1000 cps per
player.  SIRDESC's adaptive data optimization reduces this to 200 to
400 cps per player.  Depending on the speed of your computers and
modems, you should be able to get seven or eight players in at 14.4K,
and eight should work well at 28.8K.

NOTE: The cps rates given are typical values.  The low number is when a
player is sitting idle, and the high number is when a player is doing
barrel rolls around a corner while picking up a Vulcan Gun, with all
weapons blazing.

I must stress again that this game is very dependant on a turbo charged
machine and modem.  In our testing, if a slow computer entered a four
player game at 14.4K, it slowly slipped out of sync with the other
players.  After a time, it would get to the point that it did not see
shots until a good 15-30 seconds after they were fired.  This makes it
very hard to play a competitive game with this player, because your
shots are going to hit where he/she was 15-30 seconds ago, and he/she
will not see your movements for 15-30 seconds.  Cooperative games with
such players are not such a problem, because you are shooting at robots
instead of each other, but the game can slip out of sync at the end of
a level.



                        Hardware Considerations

Descent high horsepower from your computer and modem.  A 386 or better
is required, and a 486 with a local bus video card is best.  You will
also need a 16550A UART.  For more information, see the UARTS section
below.  Finally, Descent requires at least 4M of extended memory.  For
most systems, that means you will need 8M or better installed (If you
have 4M installed, that gives you only 3M of extended memory, which is
insufficient for this game).


Modems:

Your modem must be at least 9600 bps to play.  The higher your modem
speed, the better the game will play, and the more players you will be
able to have per game.  For the best operation, all players should be
at the same speed.  The adaptive data optimization of SIRDESC attempts
to reduce the overall data volume to approx. 2500 cps (5000 if your
port speed is set to 57600), which should be comfortable for 14.4K
(28.8K) compressed connections.

You will need to enable hardware (RTS/CTS) flow control via your modem
init string.  See your modem documentation for the proper commands.
Normally, this will be the default setting of your high speed modem.


UARTS:

A functional 16550 UART is highly recommended for Descent play.
You may be able to play without them, but the odds are not good.

What is a 16550 UART?

A UART (Universal Asynchronous Transmitter/Receiver) is the chip on your
computer or modem that allows it to send information to your modem.  For
internal modems, it is built into the modem itself; for externals, it
is either on your motherboard, or an add-on com board.  Prior to
Pentiums, I have never seen a computer with a 16550 UART built in, so
you will most likely have to buy an add-on card to get one.  These
cards are fairly inexpensive ($25-$40 for 2 16550 com ports, game port
and parallel port.)

The difference between these and normal UARTs is that instead of having
one place for data to be sent or received, they have 16 byte buffers
for each.  This allows communications programs to send 16 bytes at a
time instead of one, and receive up to 16 bytes at a time.

Descent runs in protected mode; communications are done from "real" mode.
Protected mode allows a program to use extended memory, but does not
normally allow direct access to hardware.  In order to communicate via
modem, Descent must switch to real mode, and then back to protected mode.
Switching between modes (task switching) takes a fair amount of CPU
time.  Functional 16550 UARTs allows a program to cut these task
switches by a factor of 2 to 16 and improves communications speed and
reliability, which in turn improves game smoothness.

Additionally, the characters are coming in at such a high rate of
speed, that data will almost certainly be lost without 16550 UARTs,
causing the game to stop communicating with the other players.

If you do not have functional 16550 UARTs, you should set your baud
rate to 9600 or 14400.  This will lighten the loading on your computer
created by communications, and will improve your chances of having a
smooth game.  You should also limit yourself to two player games.

NOTE: A 16450 UART with firmware buffers is not a replacement for a
16550.  With a 16550, several characters can be transmitted and
received sequentially, without delay.  With firmware fifo emulation, a
period of time is required between characters, which, although minute,
is enough to keep them from being of any use in this situation.



                        Software Compatibility

Descent requires far less conventional memory than DOOM, so most people
will not have a problem with lock ups due to insufficient memory.  We
have also not found any TSRs or drivers that appear to conflict with
it.  If the game hangs on you as it begins, you may wish to try a clean
boot to see if this is your problem.



                   FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Other than minor quirks of the game, we have not had any problems
reported with Descent play.  As problems arise, we will add them to
this FAQ.  Many problems may show up, and in many different forms,
if you have problems with your communications hardware or
configuration.  If none of the suggestions below matches your
problem, try the following section, 'Down to the Nitty Gritty'.

Some general problems that may arise are:


Q. No players respond to the host when Alt-S is pressed.  All players
   besides the host stay in teleconference.

A. Be certain that the channel moderator selected Descent Mode and
   typed START.  This is a very low volume point in the communications,
   so hardware and software capabilities are not usually an issue.  For
   some reason, the other players are not receiving the communications
   from the host.  Either the game mode is wrong, the channel is not in
   game mode, the host's system is not sending, or the data is being
   lost or corrupted before it gets from the host to the BBS.  In this
   case, the host player needs to go through the 'nitty gritty' section
   below to determine the problem with his/her setup.

   If the host is able to talk with the other players in teleconference,
   then his/her system is indeed capable of transmitting, but is not
   able to do so at high speed, or during game mode.  Another possible
   cause of this problem is that the host does not have a functional
   16550 UART, but has forced fifos on or overridden the UART
   detection in the configuration file.


Q. Some of the players besides the host entered the game when Alt-S was
   pressed, but one or more remained in teleconference.

A. The players that are not entering the game are having communications
   problems.  This problem may be due to a hardware or configuration
   problem with a couple of channels on the BBS, but is more than
   likely due to a problem on the affected players' systems.  The data
   is being sent to them, but their system is either not receiving it,
   or it is being corrupted before SIRDESC gets a look at it.

   If these players were not having problems in the teleconference,
   then their systems are apparently able to send and receive data, but
   only as fast as a person types.  Higher speed communications
   are failing.  The affected players should go through the 'nitty
   gritty' section to determine their problem.

Q. Some or all players go into the game startup (where it lists opponent
   names), but then return to teleconference immediately.

A. Some error message is always displayed in these circumstances.

   It may be "Error ## running Descent".  In this case, Descent could not
   load because there was not enough memory, the game was not found, or
   something about your system kept it from loading.

   Attempting to join a game in progress, or a game with more than
   three players, with a non-registered version of SIRDESC will cause
   you to be removed from the game at this point.

Q. You see the "Found #... - Joe" messages, and the initial text of
   Descent as it initializes, but then hang at a black screen prior to
   seeing the Interplay logo.

A. Either the game does not have enough memory to load properly, it is
   conflicting with a TSR or driver you have installed, or the game is
   incompatible with your system.

   Try a clean boot.  Disk caches and other TSRs may be using up too
   much memory, or conflicting with the game.  If this fails, you will
   have to go to the 'Nitty Gritty' section.


Q. When you select 'Join Network Game', no games are listed.

A. After a period of time, return to teleconference and ask the other
   player if someone started a game.  If they did not, then there was no
   game to join.  If they did, then that information never reached your
   computer.  Either you are having reception problems, or they are
   having transmission problems.

   Apparently, it is not a general problem, as you were able to get
   though a good deal of communications already.  Maybe it is a
   software conflict, or a problem with high speed communications.

   If you have more than two players, you can easily tell which by
   comparing notes.  If neither player joining the game saw the game,
   then the host is having problems and should consult the nitty gritty
   section below.

   If the other player saw the game notification and you didn't, then
   you are the one with problems, and should consult the nitty gritty
   section below.



                       Down to the Nitty Gritty

If you cannot successfully play a game of Descent, then you will need
to do some controlled tests to find the source of your problems.
Unfortunately, due to the high demands of this games, the solution may
be anywhere from "disable your cache" to "you need a better computer."

Until you know what the problem is, you should always clean boot.
(You can do this by holding F5 after a reboot for DOS V6+.)  Do not
load ANY TSRs or device drivers that are not essential for the
operation of your computer.  This should remove driver conflicts and
insufficient memory problems (if you have enough memory installed) from
the list of possible causes.

OK, the first step is to test your system for overall Descent
compatibility by running the game solo.  This will confirm your sound
card, video, and general hardware compatibility with the Descent
graphics engine and DOS extender.  If you cannot get the game to play
in solo mode, then you are not going to be able to play multi-player.
You will need to contact Interplay's tech support.

If you are successful playing solo, call the system you will be playing
on with your normal terminal program (e.g. Telix, ProComm, etc.), using
the same modem init string you are using in SIRDESC, and attempt a
Ymodem-g file upload and download at high speed.  A fairly large text
file is best for this test.  If either of these file transfers fail,
you have either a hardware or a configuration problem (or the BBS
does).  Resolving this problem may be as simple as adding a command to
your modem init string to turn on error correction or hardware flow
control, or it may require a new modem cable or serial port board, or
it could be a problem with your hardware itself.  Until you can do
these file transfers, you have no need to go further, because YOU WILL
NOT BE ABLE TO PLAY DESCENT EFFECTIVELY (If at all).  I'm sorry, but
there is little help I can offer here.  If you are certain that your
modem is configured to support hardware flow control, then you need to
try replacing your serial cable and/or UART.  Many serial cables
sacrifice the hardware flow control lines in order to reduce the number
of wires needed.  This is a problem with your computer or modem, and
cannot be overcome by SIRDESC or Descent.

OK, you know that Descent works solo, and since the file transfers
worked, your modem and UART would seem to be in order.  Now, try
playing a modem-to-modem or serial game using the 'Modem/Serial'
selection from the multi-player menu.  You can do this either through
Game Connection, using Distributed Mode, or by calling a friend
directly.  This tests the communications engine, memory availability
when using modem communications, and your computer's ability to quickly
switch from protected mode to real mode and back.  If you cannot get
this to work, then you will again need to contact Interplay's tech
support.

If that works, run SIRDESC and call the BBS you will be playing on.  If
you cannot get to game mode (where all players are advised to enter
Ctrl-Z's to exit) then your problem is most likely a configuration
error in SIRDESC.CFG (baud rate, com port, etc.).  This part of SIRDESC
is a very simple terminal program that should present no problems.
Since you made it this far, your modem, init string, UART, serial
cables, and the equipment of the BBS you are playing on are all
apparently up to par, so the problem must be that you are using a
different configuration with SIRDESC than that which you tested in the
other tests.

If you get that far, but you get a black screen from Descent (never
make it to the Interplay logo), then the most likely problem is
insufficient memory.  If this happens from a clean boot, then it would
appear that you do not have enough memory installed on your system.  If
you did not clean boot, then you have not followed these instructions
and should start at the top again.

If you get into the game, but do not see games that other players
started, or they do not see the ones you start, then you should not
have made it this far.  The only possibility that comes to mind is that
you are at too low of a baud rate and the packets are getting lost on
the way to your machine.

That is about it.  Most problems beyond this are either due to too many
players in the game or problems with the game itself.  It is fairly
common for players to get out of sync if too many players are in the
game for the equipment in use.  The only solution is to exit the game
and come back in.  At that point, you should be in sync again until
your machine has had a chance to fall behind once more.

The best thing about this game is that only the slow players suffer.
The other players run independently, and see the actions of the slow
players immediately.  Remember, a cooperative game is much better when
a slow machine is involved.



Descent, DOOM, Telix, ProComm, and The Major BBS are all trademarks of
their respective owners.

SIRDESC and Game Connection are trademarks of Sirius Software, Inc.