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Robot
A Murder Motel Utility Program
Version 1.50
Copyright 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 by Duane Brown
Table of Contents
Uses for Robot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Setting up Robot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Configuration File Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
A Note to Current Users of Robot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Murder Motel Files Read/Written . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Revision History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Version 1.00
Version 1.10
Version 1.30 beta
Version 1.40
Version 1.50
Future Enhancements to Robot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Registration and Other Legal Stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
For Emergency Use Only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Registration Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Murder Motel Robot Utility
Written by Duane Brown
Version 1.50
Copyright 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 by Duane Brown
This program is designed for the sysop that wishes to provide users
of the Murder Motel door, written by Sheldon Pasciak, currently being
updated by Chuck Valechek, with more than the average Murder Motel
game. This program controls automated Murder Motel players (robots)
that run around and act like other players. These robots will,
depending on how the sysop configures the program, do the following:
a) Select a complete weapon and two different defenses, if they are
available,
b) Select a target for killing,
c) Move along the map and attempt a kill if the robot has a target,
and
d) Log all of these activities to disk file for sysop use.
This program is designed to be run as part of the daily maintenance
routine. However, it can be run immediately after the Murder Motel
door if so desired.
Uses for Robot
==============
Robot is great for keeping an active list of available targets for
your users if they are quite active in their killing sprees. It also
can be used to "fill in" for some players who may be too busy to play
the game for a few days, yet want to stay alive (like busy sysops).
If the program is configured correctly, users may not be able to tell
which players are robots and which ones are BBS users!
Setting up Robot
================
NOTE: The program as distributed requires that a copy of
Brun45.exe be in the current directory or in the DOS path. If
requested, I will provide you with a version that does not require the
Brun45.exe file. However, since many doors use the Brunxx.exe files
(xx = 20, 30, 40, 45, etc), most likely you have Brun45.exe already.
If you do not have this file, let me know and I will make the
Brun45.exe file available for download.
Place a copy of robot.exe in your Murder Motel directory, along
with a copy of robot.cfg. The syntax for Robot is:
Robot filename.ext
where filename.ext is the name of the configuration file. I have
enclosed a sample configuration file called Robot.cfg which you can
use immediately.
Robot 1 A Murder Motel Utility
IMPORTANT NOTE: Unregistered versions will ask you to enter a 4
digit random number before starting up. Registration will remove this
prompt and allow you to run Robot unattended.
Configuration File Structure
============================
The structure of the configuration file is as follows:
Murder Motel Version
Logging Level
Log Filename
Revival Percent
Movement Percent
Get New Object Percent
Pick Target Percent
Number of Robot Moves
<list of up to 10 robot player names>
<any comments you may want to put in>
Murder Motel Version is the version number for your Murder Motel
setup. The value specifed here must be either 2.0, 2,2, or 3.0. It
is vitally important that this be specified correctly, as there are
small differences between the configuration file that Murder Motel
uses. Weird things can happen if this is not set right.
Logging Level represents the amount of detail that is represented in
the log file, from 1 to 4. 1 indicates only the most basic of
information, while 4 gives you so much information about the inner
workings of Robot you won't be able to stand it <grin>. A level of 2
should be adequate for most people.
Log Filename is the name of the file where Robot stores comments about
what happens while it is running. If this line is left blank, no
logging to disk will occur.
Revival Percent is an integer number from 0 to 100 that represents the
chance that a robot player will be brought back to life if found dead.
A value of 0 means that the robot will never be revived, while 100
means that a robot player will always be revived.
Movement Percent is an integer number from 0 to 100 that represents
the chance that the robot will move around the map. A value of 0
means there is no chance of movement, while 100 guarantees that
movement will occur.
Get New Object Percent is an integer number from 0 to 100 that
represents the chance that a robot will drop all objects and pick out
a new weapon and defenses. 0 means no changing of weapons, while 100
means a new set of objects will always be chosen.
Pick Target Percent is an integer number from 0 to 100 that represents
the chance that a robot will select a target for killing. Setting
this number to 0 means that the robot player won't ever choose a
target (making the robots just dumb targets), while setting this to
100 means that the robots will become crazed, murdering maniacs that
can't stop killing people <grin>.
Robot 2 A Murder Motel Utility
Number of Robot Moves is the number of moves that the robots will use
if they are able to move around. Note that movement occurs according
to the Murder Motel map, using the directions available to normal
players, not by just choosing random locations and going to them.
Thus, the robots will get 'lost' and spend more time wandering around
if you have a 'maze-type' setup.
The rest of the file, upto a blank line, consists of the names of the
robot players. Keep these names limited to one or two words, as that
is all that Murder Motel can handle. Names are automatically
converterted to upper case. The maximum number of robots that will be
read from the list is 10.
You can place any additional comments after the last robot name.
However, you must leave at least one blank line between the last robot
name and the beginning of the comments. Note that I put in a brief
description of what all the lines mean (so you don't have to go back
and search for the documentation file if you don't know what a number
means).
A Note to Current Users of Robot
================================
Upgrading from Robot 1.0 or 1.1 is easy. Overwrite the old
Robot.exe with the new Robot.exe, then using your robot.lst file as a
guide, add your Robot names to robot.cfg. Don't forget to add your
change your batch files to reflect the new configuration filename.
Upgrading from Robot 1.40 is even easier. Overwrite the old
Robot.exe with the new Robot.exe, and insert the Murder Motel Version
number and Logging Level as the first two lines of your configuration
file, and you are ready to go.
Murder Motel Files Read/Written
===============================
The program will read in the following files from the Murder Motel
directory:
Murder.Cfg, People.Mmi, Objects.Mmi, Murder.Map, Squeals.Mmi, and
Empty.Mmi
In addition, the program renames the original files to .bak files and
writes new data to these files:
People.Mmi, Objects.Mmi, Squeals.Mmi, Motion.Mmi
If a kill is attempted by any of the robots, Killed.Mmi is updated.
Robot 3 A Murder Motel Utility
Revision History
================
December 26, 1989
Version 1.00
Initial release.
January 12, 1990
Version 1.10
Converted to QuickBasic 4.5 (now requiring Brun45.exe), fixing several
bugs. Now the robots choose two defenses only and a one complete
weapon, if the parts are available.
November 26, 1990
Version 1.30 beta
Major upgrade. Lost the source code for version 1.1, so had to start
off with the source for 1.0. Added the following features:
Robots actually do move! Robots can pick targets, and attempt a kill,
following all of the usual Murder Motel rules for processing a kill.
Actions performed by the program can be logged to a disk file if
desired. Registration key system added to encourage registrations.
Logging of kills, attempts, etc. to Killed.Mmi.
(many beta versions later)...
January 21, 1991
Version 1.40
Many thanks to my beta bashing team for finding the bugs that skipped
even my scrutiny (and there were some doozies in there!).
February 16, 1992
Version 1.50
Maintenance release to accomodate Murder Motel 3.0. Added color to
program.
Future Enhancements to Robot
============================
Robot has grown a great deal since it's birth and first release on
Christmas Day, 1989. I have included several ideas from my beta
testers in this version of Robot, and plan to add a lot more in the
upcoming months. Here is summary of the some of the changes that will
be added to Robot in the near future:
Individual percentage values for each robot, instead of forcing all
robots to have the same values (ie give each of the robots a different
'personality') [Ric Smith]
Robot 4 A Murder Motel Utility
Specify days of the week to run the robots (A for all, O for odd, E
for Even, etc) [Stephen King]
Multiple Kills per robot (instead of the current method of not
selecting an additional victim after killing, or attempting to kill,
one person) [Stephen King]
An Assassinate Mode: Tell the robot to go and kill a user, picking
the right weapons/defenses, on sysop command. [Stephen King]
Allow a list of players not to be chosen by the robots [Ric Smith]
The reason why these changes are not included (yet) is that they will
cause a change to the configuration file structure. I want a good,
workable program out of the 'door', so to speak, for others to use
before I start working on an even more enhanced version of Robot.
Acknowledgements
================
Sheldon Pasciak, for creating one of the best door games around
(Murder Motel).
Many thanks go to my beta testing team:
Kevin & Gary Graham, Fredericksburg, VA
Cracker Barrel, Fidonet 1:274/24
703-899-0020
Mark & Diana Taylor, Fort Wayne, IN
Fire Station, Fidonet 1:236/10
219-447-3011
Paul King, Rochester, NY
The Omega Concern, Fidonet 1:260/241
716-292-0634
Stephen King, Riverside, CA
Commnet-386
714-359-3189
Ric Smith, Fredericksburg, VA
Spider's Web, Fidonet 1:274/19
703-752-0379
John Schreiber, Falmouth, VA
Thunderbolt BBS, Fidonet 1:274/13, Echonet 50:5703/13
703-373-9289
Cindy Edens, Satellite Beach, FL
Motel Florida, Fidonet 1:3610/6
407-773-2831
Russell Femyer, Lemon Grove, CA
I.D.I.C, Fidonet 1:202/310
619-461-0982
Robot 5 A Murder Motel Utility
Robert York, Milton, WA
Doctor Debug's Domain
1-206-535-1542
And especially to:
Mark Taylor, whose encouragement caused me to start re-working on
Robot, and for being my first registered user for any of my programs!
Ric Smith, for finding the BIG BUG in the inaccurate altering of the
players status when killing/picking (glad you're a local call...we
spent enough time trying to figure this one out)
Paul King, for reporting the squeals.mmi bug (fixed in 1.31 beta of
Robot) -- since my Squeal file has all 10 entries full, I never saw
that Robot 1.30 added the "0,0" entries (aka "A deleted user was found
at area # 0" squeals message).
Stephen King, for all of the suggestions mentioned above and helping
me out with finding the exact wording of the Killed.Mmi entries for
those 'unusual' circumstances. <grin>
Cindy Edens, for being an all-around helpful tester and forcing me to
download many, many excellent RA utilities even though my phone bill
didn't want to <grin>.
Registration and Other Legal Stuff
==================================
If you find after a reasonable amount of time (around 30 days) that
Robot meets your needs, you must register the program. After
receiving your registration key, you will be able to run Robot in
unattended (batch) mode. I will also add your name to my mailing
list, give you advance notice for updates on this and my other
programs, and send you updated versions of any of my programs that you
have.
Permission is granted to post this program on electronic Bulletin
Board systems. Therefore, you are encouraged to upload the unaltered,
unmodified archive file to Bulletin Board Systems, even if you do not
use this program. There are no warranties, express or implied, other
than that this software will take up space on your disk. I have tried
to make this program as safe as possible, but I will not be held
responsible for any losses as the result from the use of this program.
The registration fee is $10, payable by check or money order, to
Duane Brown at the address below. Print out and fill in the requested
information and I will send you the key file, or the information
needed for you to create the key file, and instructions on how to
install this file. I will send the key file to you via Netmail if you
are on either Fidonet, Echonet, or Youthnet, or call your BBS and
upload the key file. If you wish for me to call your board and upload
the key, please set up an account under the name "Duane Brown" that
will allow uploading, and enter the password on the registration form.
Robot 6 A Murder Motel Utility
If you do not want me to send the key file to you electronically, I
will send you instructions on how to create the key file by mail.
However, if you have any additional comments, bug reports, etc, please
feel free to get in touch with me via Snail-mail at
Duane Brown
100 Pewter Lane
Stafford, VA 22554-1518
or call
The End of the Line BBS
Stafford, Virginia
Data (703)720-1624, 24 hours a day.
Running Dbridge 1.31 with Remote Access 1.11 (registered)
accepting 300/1200/2400/9600 V.32 callers.
Fidonet 1:274/16, Echonet 50:5703/16, Youthnet 13:13/20, 13:2600/0.
Crash mail accepted. Full access to first time callers.
For Emergency Use Only
======================
If you have a question that absolutely can not wait, you can call me
voice at (703)659-6302 at reasonable hours (i.e. before 9:30 pm
Eastern Time). If I am available, I will do my best to help you out.
However, I can diagnose problems better if I have a copy of your
Murder Motel files so I can look at them. I am now studying for my BS
in Computer Science full time at George Mason University, so my time
is limited.
Robot 7 A Murder Motel Utility
Registration Form
=================
Please fill out the following information, along with your check or
money order, and mail to:
Duane Brown
100 Pewter Lane
Stafford, Virginia 22554-1518.
Your registration will be processed within one day of receipt. Thank
you for supporting shareware.
Program Registering: ___Robot_1.50___
Sysop Name: __________________________________________________________
(case is significant!)
BBS Name: ___________________________________________________________
(case is significant!)
BBS Software: _________________________________________________
Hours of Operation: _________________________________________________
Home Address: _________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
Voice Number: ___________________________
Send the Registration Key: Via Netmail? [ ] Uploading to Your BBS? [ ]
Snailmail (US Postal Service?) [ ]
Password: ___________________________________________________________
(only needed if requesting 'Uploading to Your BBS?' box above)
Where did you get this program? _____________________________________
Fidonet/Othernet Address(es): ______________________________________
Any additional Comments/Suggestions (Use other sheets if necessary):
Robot 8 A Murder Motel Utility