OS/2 Shareware BBS: 2 BBS/02-BBS.zip/1013TW!2.ZIP/TW2NET.DOC

Text File | 1992-05-29 | 18KB | 481 lines

Tradewars 2 Network mode docs.               Written 10/90, 01/91 & 05/92

By John Morris

Formerly a registered only option, it is now available to all SysOps who
use TW2.

What this DOC is all about:
---------------------------
This DOC file does not refer to TW2 running on local area networks. Instead
is contains information on how to run a TW2 game which 'spans' several BBS's.


TW2 Network Mode
----------------
First of all, If you wish to set up TW2 in network mode, I suggest you
have network experience.. FidoNet, RBBSNet, PC-Relay.. etc. If you don't
have network experience, you should get some before setting TW up in network
mode!

Here is how the networking should work. (In theory that is..)

Each individual game will be part of a TW network. This TW network covers
only the BBS's which are sharing the game. This 'network' should be
determined ahead of time. A BBS can be added in the midst of a current game,
but we'll discuss that later.  The network will consist of a Host, and
several nodes under the host. The host, and each node will have a unique
TW2 node number. For instance, the host would be 'node 1' and each node would
have its own number. (2, 3, 4..etc.) This should be determined by the SysOp
of the host BBS. The hosts game of TW2 will be the game by which everything
will be determined.

The 'data' file which will contain the actual play information should be
put in its own directory. Use TWEDIT to set this network data file directory.

The TW message base is now Fido message compatible. This will enable the
message base for the TW game to be passed among BBS's in ECHO mail fashion.
You will also set the Message base subdirectory in TWEDIT. To aid in the
processing of the echo mail, you must also give TW your actual network
net, and node numbers. This is to differentiate between your TW2 messages,
and someone other nodes TW2 messages. If you do not have a way to pack up
Fido-style messages, TWMaint can do it for you, but you must TWMaint to do
so. The TWMaint method may be preferable in all cases. More on that later.

How to get your network game started.
-------------------------------------

First,  decide who the host is. When that's done, the host should initialize
the game. Next, determine the TW2 node numbers. The host should be TW2 node
1. the other nodes would be 2, 3, 4.. etc. The host should determine the
TW2 node numbers.  The host should also determine how many players will
be allowed in the game.. lets say 10 to 20.. use TWEDIT to change this number.
If you wish to simplify the start of the game, use TWEDIT to add in all users
which will be playing in this game. This includes all users from all of the
networked BBS's. Note, you don't have to add the users in if you don't want
to. You must also set the maximum number of nodes for this network game.
This is the total number of nodes (BBS's) sharing the game.

Then the host should send the following files to the nodes.

TWPLAYER.DAT
TWSCTR01.DAT
TWSCTR02.DAT
TWPORT.DAT

When the nodes have received the files, they should: First, initialize the
game, then copy these files OVER the ones created during intialization.
At this point, they will have the same data files as you. This is a must!

When the game is first played, the users may notice several things. First,
if a new users joins the game on the host, he/she may play the game at
that point in time. If a new player joins on a BBS other than the host, they
will have to wait to play. The same things goes for teams. On the host, teams
can be created and used now, and on the nodes, they will need to wait.

The reason for this is simple. The host TW2 controls the doling out of the
user and team records. This makes sure that all players have the same
record number on each node. Same goes for teams.

When a new player joins on a node, they will be told that their player
request has been sent out. This data is the sent to the host. If the host
has room, that person receives a record, and the host then sends info to
all nodes telling them to create a new user record with 'so-n-sos' name.
Once again, same goes for the teams.

THE WAY IT IS SUPPOSED TO WORK
==============================

NODE PROCESSING  of data files  (DAT and MSG files)
---------------

When play occurs on each node certain files are created. All play data is
saved to a file called 'TW2NETxx.DAT' (Where 'xx' is the node number in
hexidecimal format) Example:

TW2 Network node 2's file would be:

TW2NET02.DAT

Node 10's would be:

TW2NET0A.DAT

This file can be found in the Network directory.

At a certain time (or times) per day, you need to pack up your new messages
and send the Play data, and packed messages to your host for processing.

To pack up your messages you need to use TWMaint with the following
command:

TWMAINT /L /B /ME

/L   (Local mode)
/B   (batch mode.. don't wait for input)
/ME  (Message Export.)

TWMAINT will create a file called 'TW2NETxx.MSG' in your network directory.
('xx' is again the node number in hex format)

Node 2's file would be 'TW2NET02.MSG'  Node 10's would be 'TW2NET0A.MSG'

You then need to send both TW2NETxx.DAT and TW2NETxx.MSG to the host.

For instance, you ZIP up both files in a ZIP file called:

TW2DATxx.ZIP

After you have ZIPped the two files, Delete them!

Next Send these files to your Host for processing  (How/When these files are
sent and processed is determined both by you, and your host)

Next, I will discuss the host processing, if you aren't the host you don't
need to read this section. Skip to NODE PROCESSING of include files (below).

HOST PROCESSING  of data files  (DAT and MSG files)
---------------

Mr. Host, There are several ways in which you can process the files you
receive from your nodes. Here are the two most probable 'Options':

1: You can process the data immediately and have the return data ready
for download by that node in a couple of minutes.

2: You can receive all the data files, and process them at one time, and
the ZIP up all return data for download after a certain time.

Option 1 will probably be the most desirable method. But it is your choice.

In both options you will follow the same steps.
1:  you must pack your message base for the other nodes.
2:  you must tell TWMaint to process the data for ALL nodes.
    This will make INClude files for both you, and all other nodes.
3:  you must include the play data into you game. That way you may process
    player and team requests.
4:  you must tell TWMaint to process the play data files again!
    This will include data in reply to player or team requests (if any)
5:  Then you need to include the messages sent to your node.
6:  ZIP the files up for a certain (or all) node(s).

You can do this in one 'simple' step.  Run TWMaint with the following
command:

TWMAINT /L /B /ME /IR /MI

The sequence of the command line parms is not important. The data will be
processed as per the 6 steps above.

/L   (local mode..)
/B   (batch mode.. don't wait for input)
/ME  (Message Export, Step 1)
/IR  (Include data & ReInclude Data  ie: Steps 2, 3, 4)
/MI  (Message Import, Step 5)

When you run TWMaint and NOT all nodes have sent in their data files, you
will receive error messages! This is normal!  Don't worry about it!

Now an example of what is actually happening during each of those 6 steps.
Lets say you are node 1, and you have received data from node 8, and you
are using Option 1 (process the play data as it comes in, not all at once)
You also have told TW2 that you have a total of 8 nodes in the network.

Example is as follows:

Before you received the data you will most likely have 1 file in your TW2
network directory, TW2NET01.DAT. It contains your latest play data.

Next, You receive TW2DAT08.ZIP from node 8. You will unZIP the two files
therein (TW2NET08.DAT, and TW2NET08.MSG) into your TW2 network directory.

Delete TW2DAT08.ZIP!

In your network directory, you will now have 3 files:
TW2NET01.DAT    your play data
TW2NET08.DAT    node 8's play data
TW2NET08.MSG    node 8's latest messages

Now you need to switch to your TW2 directory, and run TWMAINT with the command
shown above.

TWMAINT STEP 1:
(packing your message base into the file TW2NET01.MSG)

You will now have 4 files in your net directory:
TW2NET01.DAT, TW2NET01.MSG, TW2NET08.DAT, TW2NET08.MSG

TWMAINT STEP 2:
(processing data for all nodes)

Suprise! You now have 16 (sixteen) files in your network directory. They will
have file extensions which you will not have seen yet. These extensions are:

INC  for 'INClude this data'.
MIN  for 'Message INclude'.

So, if you see TW2NET01.INC it is INClude data for node 1. If you see,
TW2NET03.MIN, it is messages for inclusion on node 3.

These 16 files are as follows:

TW2NET01.INC    contains Node 8's data for inclusion in your (node 1's) game.
TW2NET01.MIN    contains Node 8's messages for inclusion in your message base.

TW2NET02.INC    contains play data for inclusion on node 2
TW2NET02.MIN    contains messages for inclusion in node 2's message base.

TW2NET03.INC    contains play data for inclusion on node 3
TW2NET03.MIN    contains messages for inclusion in node 3's message base.

.
.
.

TW2NET07.INC    contains play data for inclusion on node 7
TW2NET07.MIN    contains messages for inclusion in node 7's message base.

TW2NET08.INC    contains play data for inclusion on node 8
TW2NET08.MIN    contains messages for inclusion in node 8's message base.

Eventually each node must receive their two files to include in their game.
But since we are working with node 8, we'll only worry about its two files
for now.

TWMAINT STEP 3:
(include its own INClude file now in the Net directory)

TWMaint will have read TW2NET01.INC into the host game. It will then have
deleted that file. Now you have 15 files in your net directory. If the
data received from node 8 had player or team requests, then you will
have 16 files. This new file is TW2NET01.DAT  (it's baaaack!)
TW2NET01.DAT contains replies to those requests (if any)

Since we may have something in that DAT file again, we must Reprocess the
data files again.

TWMAINT STEP 4:
(reprocess the data files)

Any new data contained in TW2NET01.DAT is appended to all INClude files
in the network directory. TW2NET01.DAT is deleted again.

TWMAINT STEP 5:
(put new messages into your message base)

At this point, your TW2NET01.MIN is included into your message base. This
file is then deleted.

You should have 14 files in the network directory. These files are the
data and message include files for all nodes but yours.

TWMAINT STEP 6:
Since we have chosen option 1 (process each node as it comes in) We need to
ZIP up two files for node 8. So, your batch file should create a ZIP file
called TW2INC08.ZIP  This ZIP file will contain the two files:

TW2NET08.INC      play data include file for node 8
TW2NET08.MIN      message include file for node 8

!! VERY IMPORTANT -- READ ME !!

Don't ZIP the files up until immediately before the ZIP file is going to
be downloaded or sent.

After you have ZIPped those two files up, delete them!

After the ZIP file has been downloaded, or sent, delete it!

Failure to follow these rules here may result in some screwed up data. So
be careful!

HOST OPTION 2
-------------
If you have chosen Option 2 (process all nodes at one time) you will process
the nodes in the same fashion, BUT you will wait until you have all DAT and
MSG files from ALL nodes before using the TWMAINT command shown above.

Once you have all the data files, you will run the TWMaint command:

TWMAINT /L /B /ME /IR /MI

After TWMaint is done, you will have 14 include files (as per above).
You can then ZIP these files up for each node, and make them available
for download.

Remember!  All operations (except for ZIPping, and unZIPping) is done by
TWMaint automatically. So don't worry about the complexity.

End of host processing!

NODE PROCESSING  of include files  (INC and MIN files)
---------------

We will assume your TW2 game is node 6, and you have received a file called
TW2INC06.ZIP from your net host. This ZIP file contains two files:

TW2NET06.INC    data to include in your TW2 game
TW2NET06.MIN    messages to include in your TW2 message base.

These two files were created by your net host. That is the only place you
can receive these files from.

UnZIP the file TW2INC06.ZIP into your TW2 network directory.

Switch to your TW2 directory.

Run TWMAINT with the following command:

TWMAINT /L /B /MI /I

This will tell TWMaint to:

/L  (Run in local mode.)
/B  (Don't ask any questions)
/MI (Include messages from the file TW2NET06.MIN)
/I  (Include play data from the file TW2NET06.INC)

After TWMaint is done, those two files will be deleted.

Thats about it...


File Name Formats:
------------------

The file prefixes will be the same for all files. They are in the format

TW2NETxx         (where 'xx' is the node number in hex format)

The file extensions come in four flavors:

DAT      Play data     -- Created by each node when play occurs
MSG      Message data  -- Created by each node when exporting messages

INC      Include data  -- Created for each node BY THE HOST
MIN      Msg Include   -- Created for each node BY THE HOST

When sending your data files to the host. I suggest you ZIP your two data
files into a file called:

TW2DATxx.ZIP   (where 'xx' is your node number in hex format)

Mr. Host:
When sending the include files to each node, I suggest you ZIP the two data
files into a file called:

TW2INCxx.ZIP   (where 'xx' of the node in hex format)

Hex numbers in filenames
------------------------

The hex numbers always occupy 2 spaces in the filename ('xx') Here's how
they'd look if you were counting:

Hex  01  02  03 . . . 09  0A  0B . . 0E  0F  10  11 . . 19  1A . . 1F  20

Dec  1   2   3  . . . 9   10  11 . . 14  15  16  17 . . 25  26 . . 31  32

Using this method, you can have 255 nodes playing the same TW2 game!

MISC. RAMBLINGS & Things to keep in mind
---------------

In general, this whole scheme of link TW2 games together is very crude. That's
mainly because we cannot do real time data transfers between the BBS's which
would be the most ideal situation. Because there is a time lag, you will
notice some odd events occuring at times. For instance, it is perfectly normal
for you to be trading away on one system, and to be quite dead on another
system. When the next data xfer comes along, your record will be updated as
dead..

Not all data will be perfect all the time. Rankings may be a little off
but I have tried to include as much data as possible to keep the rankings
close to what they'd be in a normal game.

The actual set-up of your 'network' may take some thought on your part. In
some cases it isn't as easy as it looks.  I suggest using the Host option 1
where each 'node SysOp' can call in at any time to have his/her data files
processed. This will make it more convenient for everyone. And keep an open
mind throughout the set-up process!

Redundancy-City:  (but I feel I have to stress some of this stuff)

Another area you may get confused is what files go where. Let me see if I can
explain this real simple-like.

First of all, all filenames begin with TW2NETxx.  'xx' is the node number
in hex format. If your system is node 6 all files you will deal with will
start with TW2NET06.

You system CREATES two types of files: DAT and MSG files. The DAT file is
created when players play your game. The MSG file is created when you run
TWMaint with the command: TWMAINT /L /B /ME

You send these two files types to your host for processing. In return:

The host system CREATES two types of files which will be sent back to your
system: INC and MIN files.  These two file types will be 'INcluded' into
your TW2 data files.

If you are node 10 here is an example of the files you will deal with:

Your system CREATES:
TW2NET0A.DAT      -- this is created automatically by TW2.EXE
TW2NET0A.MSG      -- this is created when you run TWMAINT /L /B /ME

These two files are first ZIPped up into a file called TW2DAT0A.ZIP
Then you would delete these two files.
You would then send TW2DAT0A.ZIP to your host so it can be processed.

After the host receives your ZIP file, it unzips them into its NET directory.
It then processes those two files.

The Host system CREATES (for you):
TW2NET0A.INC      -- data to be put into your TW2 data files
TW2NET0A.MIN      -- Messages to be included into your TW2 message base.

The host will ZIP these two files up for you in the file TW2INC0A.ZIP
You would then get TW2INC0A.ZIP and unZIP the two files into your
NET directory and then run TWMAINT /L /B /MI /I to include them into
your game.

The ZIPping and UnZIPping is NOT done automatically! You must write a
batch file to do it. For more info, go back and read NODE Processing
Pt.1, HOST Processing, and NODE Processing Pt.2!

A couple of batch file examples for the nodes (ie: not the host)

Say you are node 2 and ready to send your files to the host so they can get
processed. here is the batch file:

-------cut here-------
CD \TW2
TWMAINT /L /B /ME
CD \TW2\NET
PKZIP -m TW2DAT02 TW2NET02.DAT TW2NET02.MSG
-------cut here-------

TWMAINT /L /B /ME will export messages into TW2NET02.MSG

The '-m' parameter for PKZIP means PKZIP should add those files to
TW2DAT02.ZIP then delete those two files (TW2NET02.DAT, TW2NET02.MSG).


Next, if your system receives a TW2INC02.ZIP from the host, you need to
process that data into your game like so:

-------cut here-------
CD \TW2\NET
PKUNZIP \FILES\TW2INC02.ZIP
DEL \FILES\TW2INC02.ZIP
CD \TW2
TWMAINT /L /B /MI /I
-------cut here-------


If you or your fellow SysOps need help in configuring the network, don't
be afraid to contact me. For info on how to contact me, see TW2.DOC