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============== MELEE v1.99 =============== An FRP Gladiatorial Combat On-Line Game Written by Kevin L. Higgins FidoNet Node 1:128/74 V-Net Node: 1:521/101 DoorNet Node: 75:7719/0 75:7719/1 =============================================================================== In addition to the above addresses for NetMail, Kevin Higgins may be reached in the following FidoNet echos: DOORWARE, DOORGAMES, ON_LINE_GAMES and MELEE (which is on the V-NET and FidoNet backbones (as well as being available via DoorNet). The MELEE Support BBS is The Hornet's Nest (719) 579-0593. NetMail will also be answered if you mention whether you will poll again to receive your answer or wait for a ROUTED Netmail response to get back to you. If you send NetMail with questions about MELEE, and are not answered within five days, it's because I'm away from home, in which case I'll answer as soon as I return; meanwhile, you can address the question to Kevin Watkins (USS Light Speed ][) either via FidoNet NetMail or in the DOORWARE echo and he will do his best to answer his question (keep in mind he does not have access to the source code), or you may address your questions to Alex Dwelis (Muahdib) in the MELEE echo-- he is probaby the foremost authority (besides the author!) on MELEE and char- acter development in MELEE. =============================================================================== =============================================================================== Files included in this archive: The following files should be included in this archive. If any files are missing, you have gotten an incomplete archive. If your archive is not complete, please do not distribute it. You may always obtain the latest, complete, version of MELEE by downloading it from The Hornet's Nest BBS (USA (719)579-0593 -- first time access for MELEE downloads) or by File Requesting it from FidoNet Node 1:128/74 using the magic name of MELEE. All files should be dated June 6, 1992, 8:50 pm, when they come out of this archive (except for this file, which will have an 8:52 time stamp). Name Description ------------------------------------------------------------------------- !!!_read.now Late changes and updates to SysOp.Doc Arena.ans Ansi file of the combat arena Armor.dat Armor data values and costs Beam.ans Ansi file of The Beam combat environment Cage.ans Ansi file of The Cage combat environment Cmbrule.txt An explanation MELEE's blood-match challenge protocol Disclaim.txt Author's disclaimer and License info. Must read! FightEnv.txt An explanation of the combat environments Helm.dat Helmet data values and costs Howfight.txt An explanation of the combat screen and how to fight Maint.exe The MELEE nightly maintenance program Melee.cfg The DOS text configuration file. Must edit! Melee.doc MELEE Players' game documentation Melee.exe The MELEE main program Melee.ovr Main program overlay file Melee2.Cfg Sample configuration file for a second node Mel_Ad1.Ans Alternate Intro Screen (Shown in registered version) Mel_Ad2.Ans Alternate Intro Screen (Shown in registered version) Mel_Ad3.Ans Alternate Intro Screen (Shown in registered version) Mel_Fin1.Ans Bonus ANSI Advertisement for MELEE. Excellent work! Mel_Fin2.Ans Bonus ANSI Advertisement for MELEE. Excellent work! Mudpit.ans Ansi file of The Mudpit combat environment NPCguys*.dat Combat androids data files. * = 1-8 (level of android) NPCscrp*.dat Combat androids script files NPC_gen.exe MELEE combat android generation program Order.frm Info on registering your copy of MELEE P-Editor.exe Player deletion utility for trimming Player.dat file Pattern.ans The Pattern-recognition template for Intel development Profexpl.txt An explanation of the fighting proficiencies Rankings.ans The ansi file used as a base for the ANSI bulletin Rankings.exe The MELEE Warriors/Androids rankings program Sands.ans Ansi file of The Sands combat environment Screen.ans Ansi file of The Arena combat environment Sharewre.doc An explanation of how the shareware concept works Shield.dat Shield data values and costs Statinfo.txt Information on the MELEE Warrior characteristics SysOp.doc Sysop's documentation. How to set up and run MELEE Tactics.ans Ansi file used as a base for script determination Tactics.txt An explanation on the various MELEE script tactics Update.asc A history of improvements and bug-fixes V-Editor.exe Visiting Warrior deletion utility. Trims Visitor.dat in the occasion that you geta corrupted visitor file from somewhere... Visitors.Arj Some visiting Warriors to get you started Warrior.bat Sample batch file for running MELEE from a BBS Weapon.dat Weapon file for data values and costs ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Additional Files: Tourney.exe Utility for selecting Tournament Entry archives for Warriors who want to enter MELEE tournaments. The resulting file will be called ????????.MTE where the '?'s will be numbers reflecting the time the archive was created (to avoid duplicate filenames). Tournament entries must be uploaded or file-sent (for FidoNet or other front-end-mailer using systems) manually. Warriors sent to Tournament Host systems will be fought off using the MELEE Tournament Module, which fights each Warrior, with his accompanying tactics- script file, off in a double-elimination tournament against all other entries. Method of posting/notifi- cation of results will be up to the Tournament Host. NOTE: The MELEE Tournament Module is completely separate from the MELEE door. The Tourney.exe program is included as a complimentary utility. Only registered MELEE sites will be allowed to enter Warriors in *most* tournaments. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please: Read the files Disclaim.txt and Sharewre.doc, included this the MELEE archive. If this archive does not contain the file Disclaim.txt, it is not an authorized MELEE archive and should be deleted. Any use of MELEE constitutes consent to the conditions outlined in the file Disclaim.txt. Take a look at the Order.Frm file. You may want to fill it out one of these days..... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Make sure you follow the instructions in the "!!!_READ.NOW" file; it contains last minute updates and changes made to the program before release. See the UPDATE.ASC file for fixes/changes over the last several versions. Leave it in the MELEE directory, since the game allows your interested users to view this also. MELEE requires the use of a FOSSIL driver for its communications. The two best fossil drivers to use are X00 and BNU. The filenames to search for on BBSes that might carry them (and many if not most do) are X00124.* and BNU170.* An Exitinfo.bbs file (created by some BBSes in conjunction with a Dorinfo#.def file) is not required or used if present. =============================================================================== [ SOME NOTES ON RUNNING MELEE] 1) MELEE does ALL the file locking necessary to make running it on two nodes simulataneously a fine idea. There is still no node-interaction. There is no file locking done in the rankings and maintenance (and utility) programs. They should NOT be run while someone is playing the game! In order for file locking to take place, the DOS utility SHARE.EXE must be either loaded from your autoexec.bat file, or installed in your config.sys file. If SHARE is not installed, then MELEE will run without doing any file locking. Running MELEE simultaneously from two different windows in a multi-tasking environment without having SHARE loaded may result in data file corruption. 2) When you are edit the MELEE.CFG file and if are not a member of Fido- Net or any other network, then this recommendation by Don Dean is a fine idea for the way to fill out the Zone:Net/Node fields you will be asked to provide: fill these configuration lines by placing the last four digits of your BBS phone number in the FIDONET NODE NUMBER field (Line 4 of the config file), and put the first three numbers of your phone number in the NET NUMBER field (Line 3 of the config file). Finally put your area code or whatever in the ZONE (Line 2 of the config file). In this fashion you can make it so that MELEE will zip up your exports in the correct manner and give you a (reasonably high) probability of having a uniquely named file to export to other systems running MELEE. [ SETTING UP MELEE ] These docs assume that you are at least a little bit familiar with DOS, and that you know how to run a door program from your BBS. If you are clue- less on these counts, it is highly recommended that you learn your way around your system prior to installing any doors, let alone MELEE. 1) Unarchive the MEL_199.ARJ archive into a directory of your choice. If you are upgrading from v1.89 or earlier a complete reset is necessary. If you are running version 1.90 thru 1.99, you can continue the game you already have in progress. In that case merely unarchive MELEE into your MELEE directory, overwriting any old MELEE files with the new ones in this version. It is your option whether or not you want to overwrite your old combat androids files (NPCGUYS#.DAT and NPCSCRP#.DAT). 2) Read this paragraph and then go and edit the included MELEE.CFG file to reflect your board's info before reading on in these directions. The file is well commented, so you should have no problems. Remember to include trailing backslashes on ALL of the path/names required! Don't forget to make the directory where the messages will go if you are going to use an ASCII message area instead of a FidoNet compatible one. Editing the .cfg file should be done with your favorite ascii-text editor. Remember that most "RunTime Error 003" problems are a result of misnaming your directories in the melee.cfg file. Do not use a wordprocessing program to edit the text file; your editor must be DOS test (ASCII) only. [ CALLING THE MELEE DOOR FROM YOUR BBS ] Read this section carefully. While most systems can merely call MELEE by calling the program with no command line parameters, there are some set ups which DO require special calling conventions. 1) MELEE is called using command-line parameters ONLY in the following system configurations: a) Multi-node systems: feed MELEE a single command line parameter-- the name of the .cfg file which you want MELEE to read for that particular node (this is available only to systems running DORINFOx.DEF drop files). For example: when calling MELEE from nodes 2-99, you should feed the name of the configuration file to MELEE (ei., for node 2, call MELEE with a single command line parameter of MELEE2.CFG and then ensure that that file exists, and is edited to reflect that it IS for line 2). When calling the door from node 1, do not feed MELEE any parameters; it will default to reading MELEE.CFG and will look for a DORINFO1.DEF. NOTE: it is the MELEE.CFG file which is used by the rankings and maintenance programs when they run, so it MUST be present. b) Non-BBS usage: MELEE may be run independent of a BBS, or without a fossil by feeding it an "L" (for local--do not use the quotes!) as a command line parameter. This parameter will cause MELEE will prompt the player for his name. This will disable MELEE's communications routines. This configuration is often used by SysOps who use Doorway to handle their communications, or SysOps who run BBSes which can handle ALL the communications on their own. Another variation on this set up, for systems that can feed command line parameters to the batch files used to call their doors is to feed MELEE three command line parameters. Make MELEE's three parameters the user first and last name and the time remaining left to play. This is the setup that must be used by those who cannot, or do not want to, run a FOSSIL driver. Examples: 1) For non-bbs usage: MELEE L This is for non-BBS usage. MELEE will prompt for a user name. Time left defaults to 90 minutes. Communications routines are bypassed (no remote play)! 2) For BBS usage, passing user first and last name and time left on the command line. No communications routines: MELEE %1 %2 %3 This is the usage a system might use which uses Doorway for its communications. Here is a DoorWay configuration that works excellently with MELEE (assuming that the DoorWay program is registered): DOORWAY /R^X /R^K /S:C:\BBS\ /B:M /O: /P:MELEE.EXE %1 %2 %3 NOTE: When you feed MELEE any command-line parameters OTHER THAN the name of the config file (something that should only be done if you run a multi-nodal system) then ALL of MELEE's communication routines are disabled (no remote play without assistance! 2) Put the included WARRIOR.BAT file in the directory where you have all your other door batch files. Edit it so that it changes the current directory to the one in which MELEE's files reside, then changes back to the bbs directory upon completion. Do whatever you need to do to make it work with your BBS. 3) Run the game! Local/Remote mode will be automatically determined from the ComPort value in the DORINFO or DOOR.SYS file so no special settings are needed if you are running the game from a dropfile-producing BBS (ie., using dorinfo#.def or door.sys files for user data). MELEE will initialize its own data files when the first person enters the game. [ RUNNING MELEE OVER THE LONG TERM ] 1) Run the program MAINT.EXE once a day (preferably in your midnight events) from within the MELEE directory. This will reset some of the local values needed for the players to train their characters, and age the Warriors (one month/day of real time). There is no advantage to running the MAINT.EXE program more than once a day and it is not recommended. Maint.exe will first back up your data files, in case something happens and your data becomes cor- rupted. If you want more than one day's worth of backup, then you will have to rename the backup file (called MELEEBAK.ZIP) in the batch file you use to run your events. For this to work, you must have PKZIP in your path somewhere. 2) Run the RANKINGS.EXE program during your nightly events (from within the MELEE directory) to generate a nice looking pair of rankings bulletins. This program will create an ASCII version and an ANSI version of the bulletin. The rankings program will not run if there is no Player.dat file (ie, no players in the game... makes sense, eh?). The RANKINGS.EXE program should be run AFTER the maintenance program. In order to work, the directories named in the MELEE.CFG file must exist and be spelled correctly. The rankings file will exit gracefully if you have less than two Warriors to be ranked. Note that even if you don't have the requisite two players, the program will still import Warriors you may have gotten from another system. If you have it con- figured in your MELEE.CFG file, the rankings program will unzip any Warrior files you want imported (if there are any in your imports directory) and place them into your game. It will also export and archive your top three Warriors. For these two functions to work, you must have PKZIP and PKUNZIP in your path. [ MISCELLANEA ] 1) The game will report any problems in the PROG_ERR.LOG (for the main game), the RANK_ERR.LOG (for the bulletin generator), or the MAINTERR.LOG (for the maintenance program) files whenever one of the programs aborts with a runtime error. 2) Special Keys: Shift-F5 will hang up on the user immediately, unless the modem has carrier detect forced to ON (drops DTR for 700 ms). No message is sent to the player what-so-ever. Shift-F9 will force the player to return to the BBS. Shift-F10 will pull the user into Chat. Hit [Esc] to exit Chat. 3) To import Warriors, you must first grab some Warrior export files from a friendly supplier. You can always get current ones from 1:128/74 by F'Reqing WARRIOR; or log onto The Hornet's Nest at 719-579-0593, create an account, and after you're validated you will be able to download the file Warriors.zip from the Banzai Software directory. Then, create a directory called IMPORTS as as sub-directory off of your MELEE directory (for example, if you MELEE direc- tory is C:\BBS\DOORS\MELEE then your imports directory must be C:\BBS\DOORS\MELEE\IMPORTS). It is important that you call this directory IMPORTS and not just IMPORT! Edit the MELEE.CFG file, if you have not already done so, so that the rankings program knows where to look for the Visiting Warriors Files (which are named using the following convention: EXPT*.* (spec- ifically, EXPT+YourFidoNetNode.YourFidoNetNet (eg., at 1:128/74, my Warrior packet archives are named EXPT74.128. If your Net's number is greater than 999 then it will be truncated to the first three numbers, likewise for your node number if it's greater then 9999 (But you really don't need to know all that...).))). Of key importance is that you do not unzip the EXPT*.* files yourself; the rankings.exe program will do that for you (you must have PKUNZIP in your DOS path, however!). If you downloaded an archive of archived packets (ie., Warriors.Zip), then you must unzip that into your IMPORTS directory prior to calling the rankings.exe program. Rankings.exe must be run from within the MELEE directory in order to work. That's it! Simple, eh? 4) If you place the game's .doc and .txt files in an archive and make it available to your players/users, it will help them quickly grasp the more subtle ins-and-outs of the game, thus promoting their enjoyment and enhancing their rapid climb to the top of the rankings, both locally and nationally. MELEE is a game which is too complex for most users to fully grasp its possibilities quickly. User frustration, caused by lack of understanding, is probably the greatest contributor to users giving up before really even gaining a clue on how much the game offers. 5) The game can be reset by merely deleting the Player.dat file and the messages in the private file directory and then running the Maint.exe program. 6) PLEASE: When you or a user have a bug report, be SPECIFIC. When bug-fix updates are released, they will be available from 1:128/74 under the magic filename: BUGFIX or as MEL_FIX.ARJ. The magic filename MELEE will always get you the latest official release. The author is almost always active in the FidoNet DoorWare, On_Line_Games, DDS_Doors, DoorGames and MELEE echos. Bug fixes can be sent to 1:128/74 via NetMail, or reported in the MELEE echo. If you don't get an immediate response, it's often because I'm too busy with work, or am deployed for a training exercise. It is NOT because I am disint- erested in your problem, or unwilling to support this door. For best service, if you have a bug report, include your system info, melee.cfg file, dorinfo#.def or door.sys file, and a copy of your directory tree. Most problems are a result of improper configuration/spelling, and this will help me help you. 7) The program p-editor.exe can be used to truncate the player.dat file, or delete select characters, thus trimming the competition or fixing corrupted files. The program v-editor.exe does the exact same thing for the visiting Warriors data file. 8) It is not advisable to enter CHAT while the program is waiting for the player to enter a line of text (Player Name, City Name, etc). 9) If you get a runtime error while running the rankings.exe program, try setting the IMPORTS setting to TRUE. On some systems, setting it to FALSE causes a runtime error (I've not been able to track this one down yet). Borland Turbo Pascal Error Messages you can get with MELEE: Number Meaning With regards to MELEE ------ ----------------------- ------------------------------------------- 2 File not found You are missing a file. 3 Path not found You likely have an incorrect path in the .cfg. 4 Too many open files Increase your FILES= statement in your CONFIG.SYS We recommend about 25. 5 File access denied Either a file has been set to read only, a directory is full, a RENAME tried to rename to an existing file name or a file is not open. 6 Invalid File Handle File handles have become corrupted; DOS error. 100 Disk Read Error Most often, an attempt was made to read past the end of a typed file. Or something is cor- rupted in the record pointers. 101 Disk Write Error Generall an indication of a full hard disk. 103 File Not Open File is closed when it shouldn't have been. 104 File Not Open for Input Text file is closed when it shouldn't have been. 105 File Not Open for Output " " " " " " " Errors 150 through 162 indicate various HARDWARE failures. If you're getting these, then something's wrong with your PC and I can't be of much help there. Some commone ones are: 152 Drive not ready Controller problem or drive not spinning 154 CRC error in data Scrogged disk (real technical eh? (grin)) 156 Disk Seek error Head problem or bad controller 157 Unknown media type Did you just change to DOS 4.0 or 5.0??? 158 Sector not found Head problem or bad controller 159 Printer out of paper Hit Control P! Disable printer logging. 160 Device write fault Disk problem 161 Device read fault Disk problem 162 Hardware Failure "Generic" nasty, nasty problem. Fatal errors generally indicate a problem that must be fixed before you can continue to run the game. 200 Division by zero Now I hope you cannot make one of these happen as I check before every division to make sure it DOESN'T happen. 201 Range Check Error Array index out of range. 202 Stack Overflow NOT ENOUGH MEMORY for the stack! You will have to swap your bbs out of memory to allow MELEE the author a small fee to compile a special, enough room to run. 203 Heap overflow error Same as 202. 204 Invalid Pointer Op. Can be caused the same as 202. 205 Floating point overflow Should not happen--this is a problem with using real numbers for mathmatical operations; MELEE does very little of these. 207 Invalid Floating point You have a real thats trying to be converted to a Operation Long int and it's greater than 2 billion. 209 Overlay File read error MELEE had a problem getting an overlay from the MELEE.OVR file. If you're not using EMS, then the .OVR file is missing or is setting on a bad sector on your harddisk. If you are running EMS then you have a bad memory chip! (yegads!) Well this covers a large portion of the technical support for MELEE. If you have further questions, contact the author at (719)579-0593 (data), or Fido- Net 1:128/74, then call back a few days later to receive your response (or wait for one via ROUTED NetMail if you are in the FidoNet or V-Net Nodelist). =============================================================================== LOOK FOR OTHER Banzai Software RELEASES! =============================================== BanzaiChess -- Very simple, very free Chess Door MELEE Tournament Module (coming soon) Battle Captain -- Cyber Space Tactical Development Door (coming soon) ============================================================ Acknowledgements and sundry comments: First thanks goes to Alex Dwelis, for his tireless, consistent, detailed, and always helpful observations, instruction, and alpha testing. If you consider this game to be somewhat free of bugs, he is the one you have to thank. Any bugs you find are strictly my oversight, not his (but I am still not responsible for damages! <grin>). He also spent a great deal of his valuable time proof-reading the documentation. Second, I would like to acknowledge the MELEE team of subsidiary Alpha and Beta testers. Their efforts went a long way toward making the game as it is today. They spent a lot more money on the game than it costs to register it, and I owe them a debt of gratitude (and eternal free upgrades!). Third, I would like to thank John Parlin and Rod Hancock for their superb product JPDoor, without which this door would never have been written; Kelly Drown, for her FidoUnit routines; Bruce Ruona, for his help with the use of Kelly Drown's routines <grin>; and Galen Barnes, for his patient help with the chat-screen capture/restore (he wrote all the important parts!); and the TAG Team, who wrote the great BBS that really got me involved in the remote- communications world, which in turn eventually impressed upon me the desire to learn to program. Thanks also to Donald Huggins (co-author of DoorFix, the best dropfile converter around), for his assistance during my very steep learning curve when first learning Turbo Pascal, and Mark McKay, for his help while I was laboring under TP ignorance (Starting to sound like the Grammy's, eh?). A SPECIAL thanks to Lionel Loquias for his excellent ANSI artwork! And yet MORE special thanks to Trevor Carlsen, of the FidoNet PASCAL echo, for writing the sort routine which allows unlimited players to be sorted (rather than the upper limit of 21, which it had been before v1.90), and to both Steve Lin, of Arm of the Dragon fame, and Jesse Patterson for their ability to sow seeds of creativity in my meager brain, thus encouraging me to write ever more complex (and thus, entertaining) doors. Lastly, I would like to give recognition to my grandfather, Leslie Charteris (of "The Saint" fame), and my parents, for giving me the brains to teach myself Turbo Pascal, and churn out a program like this as my VERY first effort at coding in this language, and for developing in me the work ethic (sometimes a curse, eh?) which drove me to stick with the game, and continue to improve it. As of this release, MELEE has brought in enough in registrations to pay for my new 386-33MHz computer, and I thank all the honest SysOps out there who have validated my belief that you don't have to cripple a piece of software in order to get people to register it. Banzai Software will never release crippled products. If I've forgotten anybody who helped along the way, I'm sorry, and please accept my apologies. To all those who walk around spouting such B.S. as, "In order to write an enjoyable door, you must have been programming for at least a year (preferably two)," I feel the need to quote Bill the Cat: "Phlblblttt!" From learning the TP language (thanks to Tom Swan for writing the book I used as a tutorial) to first release was six months. "Vasha Zdrovia!" Kevin Higgins 30 December 92 <<Good Hunting>>