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SYSOP.DOC
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1990-12-07
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┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ THE OUTER RIM! c. 1990 BRUCE RUONA/SOFTSPOT SOFTWARE │
│ SYSOP INSTALLATION DOCUMENTATION-DECEMBER 7th, 1990 │
│ │
│ SUPPORT BBS: Bytes -r- Us, FIDO 1:2202/2 │
│ Marquette, MI 49855 │
│ (906) 228-6517 │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
────────────────────────────────
I. INTRODUCTION:
────────────────────────────────
First, let me thank you for appraising the current version (1.01) of this
Door Program. Much of my spare time for the last 6 months or so have gone
into its making, I hope you and your users enjoy it as much as I have
in its creation!
Now with that out of the way, let me briefly explain a little of the history
of this game and its goal. The VERY first version of this software was
written well over two years ago when I was running an ATARI ST FoReM BBS and
was written using the GFA BASIC language. Since converting to an IBM based
BBS (First FoReM PRO {YUCK!} then QUICKBBS) I have received MANY requests
from players to convert the code to run under a DOS based system., so I
recently choose the conversion to DOS as my learning project for Turbo
Pascal. Thus after about three months of improvements additions and
deletions, You now have the current version in your hands!
Enough with the history already! lets get on with the GOOD stuff!...
The players Goal in this game is to colonize and control over 85 Planets
UNKNOWN universe. Notice I said "UNKNOWN", at the beginning of the game,
there are 100 planets which are colonized and heavily populated and upon
which players will be able to buy and sell various commodities as well as
purchase some of the items needed to eventually win this game. then we have
a few dozen (or so!) planets located in a special sector of the galaxy
controlled by the 'EVIL MALACHI'...as their name implies, I wouldn't want to
visit this sector unless I am VERY strong!. Finally we have around a
hundred planets or so surrounding the inner core of populated planets (now
you know where the name of the program comes from!) upon which the players
will be able to harvest either GYNO ORE, FOOD, or SOLARIUM ENERGY and sell
for hefty profits back at a colonized planet, they will of course have to
eventually colonize and maintain at least a stable tech level of 15 on these
planets in order to win! Along the way, the players will meet up with bands
of Pirates, Wondering Merchants, Gypsies and black holes to name a few of
the goodies!
PIRATES will either ATTACK or if the player is significantly wealthy, will
attempt to black mail the player with an outrageous payment for not
attacking.
GYPSIES are wandering Know-it-Alls who will offer information on other
players for a price...
MERCHANTS will be able to sell the player a variety of special items not
obtainable elsewheres such as pirate cloaking devices, black hole protection
devices and others which I leave you and your players to find out the
purpose for!
Contained within this Archive should be the following files:
OUT_RIM.EXE : The MAIN Exe Door PROGRAM
OUTERCFG.EXE : Configuration Utility for the door.
ORDAILY.EXE : Daily Maintaince Program.
REVOLVE.EXE : seperate maintaince routine for handling planetary
revolutions around galatic center.
RACESHOW.EXE : A simple little ditty that will simply display a table
listing the current relationships among the differing
races. (CONSOLE only, 0=TOTAL WARFARE)
SYSOP.DOC : What do you think you're reading??? {GRIN}
PL_NAME.SYS :ASCII file listing all 350 planet names. You may
Edit as you see fit!. Format is ONE planet of 25
characters or less per line. NOTE: this file has
been set to READ ONLY status to prevent accidental
deletion, you MUST use the ATTRIB -R PL_NAME.DAT
to remove this restriction before editing, otherwise
you will not be able to save the changed file!!
PLAYERS.DOC : DOC file for players, accessible DIRECTLY from
with-in the game via the mandatory built in BBS...
DOC files are straight ASCII Text files. all may be deleted if you wish,
however please note that the FEATURES.DOC file will be shown to ALL new
players when they create their characters, and players.doc should be
present to allow on-line access to players...
────────────────────────────────
II. NOTES
────────────────────────────────
This door uses the TPU from John Parlin for handling all com drivers, so you
don't have to worry about loss of carrier detection, or even user time limits
while they are in the door as this is all monitored in this unit, along with a
host of other fantastic features which sure made writting this software a real
breeze! THANKS JOHN...
This should run fine with or without locked Com ports, I run mine at 19.2K
LOCKED HST (v42bis no less!) with no problems.
REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS: {oh, oh here comes the bad stuff...}
Registration of this software is MANDATORY to use the built in bbs and the
necessary functions found there-in. To register this software, simply send
me 1,000,000 dollars US please...
now that your heart is beating again, registration of this software is FREE
OF ALL CHARGES, simply call my BBS BYTES -r- US (906) 228-6517 and enter the
ON-LINE OUTRIM REGISTRATION DOOR, your registration key will be issued
immediatly while on line! This will allow me to send NET-MAIL to users
informing them of new updates or help them with problem resolution.
I have been developing/testing this in conjunction with Mike Musolf at 2202/6,
we have recently established a local echo link between our BBS to discuss this
program and to report any bugs, if you'd like to eventually join in, please
let me know and I'll make arrangements to get it to you as efficiently as
possible, this should make it convient for everyone to see what other people
have to say regarding door (If anything!!)
────────────────────────────────
III. INSTALLATION
────────────────────────────────
Installation of the door is quite straightforward, simply DeZIP the arc into
its own seperate directory, run the OUTERCFG program to set up the BBS and to
restart the game, add the ORDAILY program to your DAILY MAINTAINCE routines,
then install the software on your Door menu.
A. CONFIGURATION.
(A) BBS PATH simply enter the COMPLETE path to your BBS SYSTEM files where
the program will specifically look for the DORINFO1.DEF File, If the
appropriate .DEF file is not found there, The program will abort!
(B) REGISTRATION DATA: use this to enter your registration data and key,
note that this must be entered EXACTLY as during the initial
registration process to take effect.
(C) RESTART GAME use this when ever you want to restart a game from
scratch! all existing data files for any old games will either
be deleted outright or recreated from scratch as need be....
(D) DEFAULTS. This will allow you the sysop to configure how hard/easy
the game is, as well as how long each player may be inside this door.
(I HATE Doors that don't give the SYSOP some control over this!)
PIRATE ATTACKS--I suggest 5%, seems to work good!
TURNS--I suggest 150 per day.
FUNDS--30,000 seems fair, but feel free to experiment, depending
on beginning values for other factors below...
CRUISERS--100 looks good...
FREIGHTERS--1 or 2...
WEAPONS and ENGINES: start these at 1 each...
(E) SAVE this will SAVE changes to above then exit the
configuration utility.
NOTE: the configuration program will also accept a single parameter of -R
which will automatically RESTART the current game then exit the configuration
utility. This is handy for when a RESTART file is received which can be
checked for from a BAT file then automatically restart the game as necessary.
(Don't forget to DELETE the RESTART file if found!)
B. DOOR SET-UP.
This game although large seems to work equally well being loaded on top
of QUICKBBS via a TYPE 7 Exit or as a Shell out via a Type 15 exit if you
prefer, however loading/unloading is faster via the type 7...
I have this set up as a type 7 shell to a BAT file as follows on my BBS:
REM: OUTER RIM START-UP BATCH FILE
REM TURN ECHO OFF
ECHO OFF
REM Not really necessary, but I'm cautious and put this in
rem ALL my BAT files!
BREAK OFF
cd \out_rim
out_RIM
cd \BBS
exit
C. DAILY MAINTAINCE.
add this program once per day to your daily maintaince routines. this
program is responsible for handling removal of dead wood (IE, Dead Players)
giving players their daily bread (both literally and turn wise!)
further this program will handle all daily planetary production as well as
moving the MALACHI etc... (you didn't them to just sit back and watch did
YOU??)
during the run of this program, up to three ASCII files may be created:
ORNEWS.ASC : DAily news paper listing Events/news (may/may not be
created if no events of noteworthiness occur!)
PLANETS.ASC : Complete status on ALL controlled planets. In the NON
BETA version of the program, this will only cover
PLANETS CONTROLLED BY EACH PLAYER.
NOTE: I have limited this to the FIRST SIX planets in
the current version just to get all the bugs out of the
daily maintaince routines, besides the complete report
ate up over 250K of limited diskspace!
PLAYERS.ASC : Status on all current non-dead players.
You may wish to establish these files in your general Bulletins/scores/
database sections or what ever you call it on your bbs for general non
game review by all...
The REVOLVE program should also be run AT LEAST ONCE per day, this quick
little utility will cause all the planets in the galaxy to rotate around
the center of the galaxy (don't want to make it TO easy on the Players!)
You may however run this as frequently as you like, it shouldn't take
but a few seconds to execute!...Personally, I have added it the LOGOFF
.BAT FILE so it runs EVERY TIME someone Logs off the BBS even if they
DON'T play the game!
REVOLVE will also accept a single parameter (RELVOLVE [N] ) where the
parameter is the number of sectors to move the planets, If you run this
after every logoff like I do then I would not suggest using more then
say 3 or 4 at the most, otherwise if you run this ONCE during your daily
maintaince batch, then I'd suggest using something around 50 or so. This
will default to 1 if not specified, with 99 being the maximum.
────────────────────────────────
IV. LEGAL STUFF
────────────────────────────────
I'll make this as brief as possible since no-one ever reads this section
anyways!
This program is Copyrighted 1990 by Bruce Ruona and SoftSpot Software INC.
a wholly owned corporation of which I am sole stock-holder. Portions of the
code are also copyrighted by John Parlin to whom I am MUCH idebted for his
com routines unit!. The Beta test version may not be distributed without
consent, however the final version may be distributed freely as long as no
more then a nominal charge for disk duplication is charged. Beta test
versions are Clearly distinguished as such in the opening title screen of the
main program.
Let it also be known that I am not liable for any damages or loss of data
arising from use or abuse of this software (as unlikely as that may be, law
requires that I specifically state such...sorry guys!)
Support for this door is available 24 hours a day at my BBS, Bytes -r- Us,
(906) 228-6517, FIDO 1:2202/2.