home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
The World of Computer Software
/
World_Of_Computer_Software-02-387-Vol-3of3.iso
/
t
/
twmad074.zip
/
SYSOP.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1993-03-02
|
7KB
|
145 lines
Feb. 14, 1993
The Mad Hatter's TW2002 Universe Expander V0.73
Installation:
First: You need at least two TW2002 games set up on your BBS. They can be
anywhere, the Expander doesn't care (we did an experiment with a LAN at one
point, and with multiple drives, and have had no problems). You can also hook
this into an existing game without problems, though the scoreboards won't match
untill all of the players have been on once. If you register you can run up to
99 universes (used to be 20, I took the lockouts off due to request).
Make a directory off of your BBS directory called \EXPANDER (just a suggestion,
the expander doesn't really care where it is as long as you get the config
files right.) Unzip this archive into that directory. Replace your TW2002.BAT
and TEDIT.BAT files with the ones provided, and edit them to suit your system.
Note that there are special files for systems using FOSSIL drivers. If you
use a fossil you need TW2002FD.BAT and TEDITFD.BAT
You also need to edit the config file (1.CFG, 2.CFG, TEDIT.CFG and DEBUG.CFG)
These files should be identical other than name. Why? Because the configuration
file specified tells the Expander what it is supposed to do.
1.CFG - used on way into Trade Wars 2002
2.CFG - used on exiting Trade Wars 2002
TEDIT.CFG - used when you need to run TEDIT
DEBGU.CFG - used to tell me where your problem is, if any.
How to edit the configuration files.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C:\BBS\CHAIN.TXT | Directory where your drop file can be found
Through the Looking Glass | The name of your BBS
The Mad Hatter & | Sysop's first name (I run an alias BBS)
The Queen of Hearts | Sysop's last name
* | Line where reg code needs to be placed
c:\bbs\expander\ | The directory where my program is
2 | Number of universes - 2 only in unregistered ver.
c:\bbs\tradewar\ | Location of the first TW2002 Universe on C:
f:\games\trade2\ | Location of the second TW2002 Universe on F:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The above is the setup used on my BBS (which is currently down).
I used the DFRAME library. It's an excellant library, and made the development
of this program a lot easier than it could have been. I'd recommend it and it's
couterparts to all Quick Basic, PDS, and Visual Basic DOS programmers.
Door Frame supports the following drop file formats:
CHAIN.TXT |will also handle CHAIN1.TXT for multiline
DOOR.SYS |both long (50) and short (30 something) versions
CALLINFO.BBS |no comment here - don't know the BBS software
DORINFO?.DEF |both formats (RBBS and QBBS I believe)
SFDOORS.DAT |no comment here - don't know the BBS software
USERINFO.DAT |no comment here - don't know the BBS software
GTUSER.BBS |no comment here - don't know the BBS software
Unfortuneately Trade Wars may not support all of these. I've used the first
two to run TW2002, and I know that it supports DORINFO?.DEF. With those there
should be no problem. The others? You'll have to experiment. If a drop file
won't run TW2002 DO NOT USE IT WITH THE EXPANDER! The Expander and TW2002
must use the same drop file - otherwise a variety of hair-tearing problems can
(and probably will, Murphy's Law) result.
The following are known to work.
WWIV - Use CHAIN.TXT
Telegard - Use DOOR.SYS
Renegade - Use DOOR.SYS
PCBoard - Use Doorbill to make a CHAIN.TXT file
QBBS - DORINFO?.DEF
VBBS - Use DOOR.SYS
I'd appreciate feedback on the others.
If you can't get it to work with your software try a drop file convertor such
as DOORKIT. If the first drop file type you try doesn't work, just try another.
And that's all there is to getting it running. The most common errors I've seen
so far have been related to the configuration file. Either it couldn't be found
by the Expander, or the pathspecs for the Trade Wars directories were wrong. In
most cases the Expander will pointedly tell you so, but I'm still working on
adding in the error messages.
Two other modifications need to be made though - first you need to edit your
batch file that runs EXTERN.EXE so that EXTERN runs in both universes.
For example:
cd tradewar
extern %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6
cd ..
cd trade2
extern %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6
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.
Secondly you have to use TEDIT to install the Wormholes. Go into Sector Edit,
and choose a sector, type "Z", to edit the nebulae of the sector, and type in:
Wormhole to Universe X
Where X is the universe number, and please note that it must be a one or two
digit number, it can't be spelled out like "Four". You can have any number of
Wormholes in a Universe, and put them anywhere. It's your choice. If you want
to be nice put them in Fed Space where they will be easy to find. Of course
then no one will be able to park in those sectors....
You can also vary the Nebulae flag, the word WORMHOLE has to be first but it
can be in either upper case, lower case, or mixed. The universe number to
be jumped to has to be last, but you can put whatever you want in between, but
it must be seperated from the number by a space. For example
Wormhole to Universe #7 - will give you an error code 5
Wormhole to Universe Seven - will give you an error code 5
Womrhole to The Fantastic Universe 7 - will work fine.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Known bugs:
There was a minor problem with the Beta version of 0.70 where a user would
quit TW2002 in a wormhole sector, and would get wormholed to the wrong
universe, but I believe that it is now fixed. Let me know. There were also
problems with TEDIT mode. If you hit return rather than typeing in a number,
it would lock up. That is now fixed. However I've noticed a bunch of problems
with corporations, and I haven't isolated the problem yet.
Oh, and delete any versions earlier than this one from your board. I've learned
quite a few things about programing since starting this project, and some of
what I was doing earlier was pretty bad. In fact some of the errors I made were
pretty embarassing....
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------