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Text File | 1992-12-31 | 30KB | 561 lines

Pirate's Cove ===================================================================== Program now uses Door Patch 3.8 (other versions used GAPQBDR from GAP) and supports the following BBS drop file formats: DOOR.SYS, PCBOARD.SYS, SFDOORS.DAT, CALLINFO.BBS, DORINFO1.DEF, DORINFO2.DEF and CHAIN.TXT. Compatible with at least these BBS systems: PCBoard 14+, GAP 4+, RBBS-PC 17+. WILDCAT 2+ and Spitfire 3+. Also supports baud rates up to 115,200 BPS. Runs on only one node at a time. My programs may be on various BBSes around the country under different archive extensions and types. This is the state of all the BBSes around the country. If you are currently running a version earlier than 5.00 you must delete all existing data and start over with the contents of this archive. This will prevent extra files remaining on your system, deleting any wrong files, format incompatibly with earlier versions, etc. Some file names have been changed starting with 5.00. The archive file should contain the following files: PCOVE.EXE.....................: Main program PCMAINT.EXE (new).............: Daily maintenance program PCMAINT.CFG (new).............: Rollover file PCEDIT.EXE (FIXPC.EXE)........: Pirate's Cove Editor PCOVE.CFG (new format)........: Sample .CFG file PCOVE.DOC.....................: This file PCOVE.SCR/PCOVEG.SCR (new)....: Pirate's Cove screen mono / color PCOVE.HLP/PCOVEG.HLP (PCHELP).: Help file mono/color HELLO.TXT.....................: Sample start up messages READ.ME.......................: Update messages, etc. SYSOP.DOC.....................: Docs provided by Door Patch author contains additional information about DP setup SUPPORT.TXT...................: BBS and network where I can be reached other than my home FILE_ID.DIZ...................: BBS file description PCOVE.CFG This door comes with an example PCOVE.CFG. It is supplied to show you how to set up the configuration file. The file may be modified to suit. Please try and not exceed PCBoard's name length of twenty-seven characters (total length) for Sysops name. The sixth line is for registration serial number. If you change the "Unregistered BBS" name or serial number it will still come up in the door as "Unregistered BBS" until you get a valid registration serial number. No bulletin is generated until registered. There has been a major change in the format of the PCOVE.CFG file starting with version 5.00, which follows: (1) C:\PCB\PCBOARD.SYS <BBS drop file (2) Unregistered BBS <changes only take effect with reg. (3) Sysop first name <sysop first name (4) Sysop last name <sysop last name (5) Your Sysop <donor's name, not used (6) 0000 <reg. number, must be 0000 or valid # (7) PCOVE.BLT <ASCII/PCBoard bulletin (8) PCOVEG.BLT <ANSI bulletin (9) PCB <type of bulletin(s) See the SYSOP.DOC for details on lines 1 through 5 and must be populated. These entries are required by the Door Patch 3.8 software. My requirements follow, which also must be populated: Line 6 is where your serial number goes when the door is registered. Changes here only take effect with valid serial numbers. Line 7 is for the ASCII or PCBoard versions of the bulletin (only generated with registered doors). Line 8 is for the ANSI bulletin. These two lines (7 and 8) can be any file name you want and may include path statements. If you are using "PCB" or "ASCII", which only generates one bulletin you still have to populate Line 8 (not used). Line 9 can be "ANSI", "PCB", or default "ASCII" file with no extended IBM graphic codes and no color. If you choose "PCB" or "ASCII" then only the Line 7 bulletin is generated. The Line 8 bulletin is for "ANSI" coded version only. PCBoard (PCB) uses only one file to show mono and color displays and ASCII only needs one. Every line must be populated whether the entry is used by the program or not. The program expects to find each entry exactly where it is located in the configuration file. PCMAINT.EXE I have removed the maintenance routines from the main program, trying to make the main program smaller. This program should be put in your daily event. If added to your event make sure you change into the Pirate's Cove directory to run the program. If you are not running a daily event then you can put it in your calling batch file and before you call PCOVE.EXE. An example follows: echo off D: CD \PCB\DOORS\PCOVE PCMAINT PCOVE PCOVE.CFG CD \ C: CD \PCB BOARD The program is very quick for normal maintenance, but if a rollover takes place this time could be lengthy depending on the number of players. If it has already run it does an instant exit with no harm done. The caller will see nothing on their screen. The maintenance routine deletes players that have not played for more than 30 days. Team messages are checked and messages over 14 days old are deleted. As messages are erased new ones are inserted into the blanks. If the message base contains only blank entries the program will erase the file. If it gets too large you can also delete it without hurting the rest of the program. Players that have remained on the island for more than two consecutive days are randomly placed on rows 14 or 15. A new set of Galleons are also initialized during maintenance. If there are any unknown errors, internal or external, the errors are written to a file called PCMAINT.ERR with date and time stamp. If PCMAINT.ERR exists then there has been at least one error. Additional errors are appended to the end of the file. If you have a lot of errors and you are pressed for space this file may be deleted without any harm. PCMAINT.CFG This is a rollover file. The default is 90 days. The sample file included in the archive is as follows: (1) 90 <Number of days between rollovers (2) 01-01-1993 <Rollover date. Always on First of month Auto-Config PCMAINT.CFG If you delete PCMAINT.CFG when PCMAINT.EXE is run it will create a new one like the sample with a rollover three months later on the 1st of the third month (not 90 days). When this is done, if HELLO.TXT exits, it will append the end of the file with three rollover messages. If HELLO.TXT does not exist it will create one with three lines in it. (see Rollover Messages) If you do not want a rollover change to the following: (1) NO <Do not roll over door program (2) <optional line not needed here Valid days are 30, 60 or 90. If less than 30 becomes 30, if greater than 90 becomes 90. Rollovers always take place on the first day of month that PCMAINT.EXE is run, normally on the 1st day. Date is the date you want the program to rollover the first time. After the first rollover (unless auto configured) the PCMAINT.EXE supplies the date based on the number of days (months). (see Rollover Messages) Rollover means that all data in the data files are reset to new, but any team information is retained. If a player is on a team before the rollover the player is still on the same team after rollover. Only points, treasure, etc. are reset. The player is then randomly placed on the grind any place except on the island. Any bulletin(s) that have been created are not updated by rollover and are changed when the first player enters and exits the door. PCMAINT.EXE does not alter any existing bulletin(s). The bulletins actually reflect the last play in the door and even after rollover this is still true (until the first player uses the program). SYSTEM DATE The system date is vital to the operation of Pirate's Cove and must be as accurate as possible since it is used for user deletions, messages and message deletions, penalties, rollover and etc. PCEDIT.EXE This is a maintenance program that allows the you to edit most files in the database. Since most of the data is interconnected more than one file might have to be changed during an edit routine. The editor works with the main data file PCOVE.PCD, WHO.PCD, TEAM.PCD and PIRATES.PCD, adjusting the data where needed. If you try to alter data in a way other than the way it must be handled warning messages are displayed. If you try to alter a record so the player has treasure on board when there is no treasure you get a warning about your procedure and you are returned without changing any data. In this case you must add the treasure before you change the other flags (most are changed for you automatically). An example of adding a person to a team is to change record <K> to whatever team you want to put the player on or return to that team. You just type in the record number and press <ENTER>. The program looks up the team name, inserts it in the player's records and updates the team data to reflect the changes in the current status. If the player has a score this is added to the Team data. You can delete a person from a team or you can change teams using the <K> option from the Player List. The team information that is directly changeable is the team name, password or delete all data from the team record. What the deletion means is to delete all members from the team but to keep the team name and password intact. The editor is a very complex program and it might still contain problem areas. It is difficult to test all circumstances under all conditions. If the editor needs an option(s) please contact me. It is my hopes that no one has to use the editor. It's main function is to let you change players names once they are entered which the players cannot do from inside the main program. The other function is to restore data that might become corrupt for unknown reasons without having to delete the database (erase *.PCD) and start over again. Some of the data in the editor uses defaults and if you choose an option that uses defaults do not think that nothing has changed. An example of this is the date the user was last on, option <G>. If you press "G" the current date is put into the current data. If you give a player treasure the program automatically sets the maturity date for three days (current day + 2). If you have to use the editor and it is too confusing please let me know and I will try to write more detailed instructions. At this time it seems pretty straight-forward with the menus and options clearly displayed. Or so I believe! (grin) If scores are getting too high you can just "ERASE *.PCD" and delete all current user data. It would seem to me that if the program is real active you might consider a monthly rollover, if not, set it up as a quarterly rollover. This gives newer players a chance to start even with other players. Of course how you handle the program on you BBS is up to you. These are only suggested guidelines. HELLO.TXT There is an optional message routine that can be initiated by the sysop(s). Please see the included sample file HELLO.TXT. A maximum of 97 lines. I had to put some kind of limit on it since PCMAINT.EXE may use it depending on your setup. You can display one line messages during entry into the door. They appear just before the "Welcome back" is displayed after user data is loaded into memory. Any word processor that can produce an ASCII file (DOS text file) can be used including EDLIN. The first four digits are the date (MMDD), maximum length for the data is 79 characters. If you exceed this length the extra characters will be ignored. Here is an example of an entry for Christmas Day; 1225Merry Christmas This would display "Merry Christmas" on the 25th of December. The entries can be in any sequence. The program scans all records in the file and looks for matches for the current month and day (MMDD). The file must be named "HELLO.TXT." It is named .TXT so that if you do a roll-over and delete all the *.PCD files you do not delete your messages as well. If the file is not present in the default directory the routine is ignored. DO NOT TO USE A COMMA (,) OR QUOTATION MARK (") IN THE ASCII FILE, but under the following conditions: If you want to use a comma inside of your text make sure that you put a quotation mark as the first and last character: "0101Hello, Joe, nice to have you back" This makes the record as if it were written using BASIC's WRITE command. Using a comma within the text, without a quotation mark as the first and last characters in the string, the data after the comma is ignored and considered part of the next record. Without a leading date it is also ignored as a next record. If you have a message you want repeated each day use 9999 and it is displayed everyday. This is can also be used in text that has quotation marks. "9999Good hunting, pirates. Keep your powder dry!" This message would appear everyday. Say you are running a quarterly contest giving away six month subscriptions. You could put a message telling people the contest is on, perhaps telling them when it is going to start or end, even tell people when the program is going to roll over (this can now be automated). "9999The program rolls over on the 1st" And then on the first you can remove this message. You can have more than one "9999" dated message. You must press (ENTER) after each message line. It might make multiple line messages seem somewhat strange but I had to do this because the displays that followed, or many messages, could scroll messages right off the screen. Pressing (ENTER) controls the scrolling. Rollover Messages If you are not using HELLO.TXT the option is skipped, but if you are using the ROLLOVER option PCMAINT.EXE will create a HELLO.TXT when the first rollover is executed. If you are using the HELLO.TXT option PCMAINT.EXE on rollover will add three lines to the file. These will be dated the month before the next rollover on the 15th, 20th and 25th of the month. This will inform the users when the next rollover is going to take place. There is no need for the sysop to add a rollover messages unless the sysop wants to. When PCMAINT.EXE performs the rollover it reads in HELLO.TXT and looks for "Rollover" following the four character date. If found it deletes the line from the file. When finished rewrites out the original file plus three new lines with the rollover message. Sample: 0215Rollover on March 1, 1993 0220Rollover on March 1, 1993 0225Rollover on March 1, 1993 This message would then be displayed on the 15th, 20th and 25th of February. If you want a similar message to come up on your first rollover you have to add it yourself using the above format or use the auto-configure if you want the default 90 days and the HELLO.TXT file created/updated. After the first rollover PCMAINT.EXE will delete and add lines as needed using your preset value (30,60 or 90). I have tried to automate as much of the program as possible so that the sysop, who has enough to do, does not have to worry about this door. If there is something you want added please let me know. PLAYING THE GAME Pirate's Cove is a multi-player program where you play as an individual as well being able to play on teams. Play is on a 16x16 grid, the island is 12x12 grid. The object of the game is to sink as many Treasure Galleons as you can, bury the treasure on Pirate's Cove Island for three days, dig it up and transfer it to grid row one where it is converted into points. You also get bonus points for sinking other pirates plus any treasure they might be carrying. You get 18 turns per day, 5 if you are carrying treasure. Your ship is diminished by 10% each time it is hit by a galleon or another pirate. When you fire at another ship, pirate or galleon, you can be hit, the other can be hit, both can be hit or both miss. If you reach 0% you are sunk. When you are sunk you cannot play until the next day. The other pirates may fire at you when you come across them. The odds are 50x50 on all options and in the following order: They do nothing, they shoot and miss, or they shoot and hit you. If there are more than one pirate in a sector each one, in turn, may take a shot at you. There is even a British Fleet that is randomly placed on the playing grid each time the user enters the program. The British Fleet always attacks you causing 20 percent damage. This was to add a little more randomness to the play. You can go gambling on Pirate's Cove Island at Rosa's Casino where most anything can, and often does, happen. A pirate has to watch their back here all the time... With registration you receive a serial number that disables the "Unregistered BBS" and enables the bulletin. The bulletin is a two part display. Part one is ALL players, points and current status; the second part is the team standings. Now written out in color and non- color versions. What follows is an example of the bulletin that is generated for the BBS. ============================================================= Pirate's Cove Standings as of 19:18, 11-26-1992 ------------------------------------------------------------- Pirate's Name Individual Points Team # Status ============================================================= Cap'n Blight......................16000........3 afloat Capt Squid.........................7300........3 dead, 11-18 Captain Hook.......................4500........1 afloat Long John Pewter...................2500........2 afloat Leng Deng Duc......................1500........2 sunk, 11-19 Long John Silver......................0........0 afloat ------------------------------------------------------------- There are currently 6 pirates on the grid ============================================================= Team Name Total Team Points Team # ==================================================== Swashbucklers.....................23000........3 Gold Diggers.......................4500........1 The Blue Falcon....................4000........2 ==================================================== There is a current player standings option inside the program so that players are not at a complete loss if your version is not yet registered (bulletin option disabled). The internal display only shows players and their current status in sorted order. An example of the internal display follows: Pirate's Cove Player Standings as of 19:18:34, 11-26-1992 Cap'n Blight.......................16000 capt squid..........................7300 Captain Hook........................4500 Long John Pewter....................2500 Leng Deng Duc.......................1500 Long John Silver.......................0 OTHER STUFF The program is hard coded for a maximum of 48 players and 12 teams with a maximum of four players per team. The program, including Door Patch uses up to buffer five. What is needed to run the program is its own directory; If you are tight for space you can delete the *.DOC files and READ.ME. HELLO.TXT is optional. All other files are needed. PCOVE.EXE and PCMAINT.EXE generate all other necessary files. Any file ending in .CFG can be used (PCOVE PCOVE.CFG). If you have comments on the program, please feel free to contact me. Also, if program errors develop, please contact me at once so that corrections can be made. Usable idea's for door programs (games or anything else) will provide the donor BBS with a free, registered, copy of that particular program. This is my way of saying "Thank you" for your program ideas. At this time the programs are written to work on any computer with an eighty column screen. These are my current doors: Music Review for entering reviews on music recorded on any medium: Software Review that is used to do reviews on Public Domain, Freeware and Shareware programs; Movie View where reviews are done on all kinds of movies; BBS Review where users enter reviews on various BBS systems; Book Review where users can enter reviews on any kind of books; Community Service (Public Service Announcements) that is used to list local and nearby activities; Restaurant Review for doing reviews on your favorite eateries; Wine Review for doing reviews on your favorite wines, goes hand in hand with Restaurant Review; BBS Door Review for viewing BBS doors (mainly for users to use); The Rime List Door for viewing the worldwide RelayNet nodes; GT Power List for viewing the worldwide GT Power BBS network. I have a game called Gotcha! where the user tries to see how many doors can be picked before they are caught. As of this writing this is now an enhanced version. Registration is for one BBS/Network configuration! More than one copy may run on the same BBS/Network at the same location. If the program changes new holder must pay an update fee, which may include a new serial number (if BBS name is different), most current release, and registration name changed in my records. Also please supply me with your BBS data telephone number as well as voice telephone number. This is for my records. Several people have registered doors and never given me any telephone numbers. I would imagine it difficult to have a BBS without a telephone. J A M E S H U C K A B E Y software with a heart DATE: James Huckabey 3621-A Fraser Street Bellingham, Washington 98226 =============================================================================== QUANTITY| DESCRIPTION | | TOTAL =============================================================================== | Registration of Pirate's Cove (PCOVE.EXE) | 20.00 | | For current copy of software U.S. please add | 2.00 | | Outside U.S. please add | 4.00 | | Please check disk type below. | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Upgrade from earlier version to current | FREE | | version send diskette with return postage. | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | Registration of any two to three doors | 35.00 | | at one time ($17.50 each). | min. | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Registration of four or more doors at | 60.00 | | one time ($15.00 each). | min. | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | 1 set of all door software on your diskettes | FREE | | in your postage paid mailer. | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (prices are subject to change) SUBTOTAL | (Washington state residents please add 7.6%) SALES TAX | ============== (U.S. funds only) GRAND TOTAL | check or money order payable to James Huckabey ................................................................................ FROM: NAME: ------------------------------------------------------- ADDRESS: ------------------------------------------------------- CITY: ------------------------------------------------------- STATE & ZIP: ------------------------------------------------------- DATA PHONE NO: VOICE PHONE NO: ---------------------------------------------------------------- Please supply name of BBS to be added to program(s). It may include other data up to forty-five characters. This is to be on one line of code and must be legible. I cannot be responsible for unreadable data. Please print. Case sensitive! Example: "Jim's Graphics BBS". In the program it comes out: This program is registered to Jim's Graphics BBS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.44 meg [ ] 720K [ ] 1.2 meg [ ] 360K [ ]