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POWER STONES Version 1.01 By Radical Wave and Steven H. Lin Copyright 1993 by Steven H. Lin All Rights Reserved GENERAL OPERATIONS MANUAL ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Registration 3.0 Requirements 4.0 Installation 5.0 Setup 6.0 Operations 7.0 Product Support 8.0 Credits & Acknowledgements 9.0 Registration Form ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.0 INTRODUCTION POWER STONES is a simple game from [The Deviant's Palace] that basically depends on the players' abilities to maneuver "stones" on a 10 x 10 gameboard in order to surround their opponents' stones with two of their own, thus performing a "capture" and removing the captured stone from play. 1.1 Warning - If you have never used a program from [The Deviant's Palace], then you may be in for a massive shock. Please, if you suffer from an angina pectoris condition, keep your supply of amyl nitrate or nitroglycerin within easy reach. If you are using stronger medications, like calcium channel blocking agents (most notably verapamil) or ß-adrenoceptor blocking agents (AKA "beta blockers"), you may want to have some experienced medical personnel nearby to monitor your health condition as you set up Power Stones. If you are a potential candidate for cardiac tamponade, please obtain medical permission from your vascular surgeon or attending surgeon con- cerning the possible risks of setting up Power Stones on your system. Use Power Stones at your own risk. If you suffer from psychological problems or disabilities, Power Stones is not guaranteed to not injury your psyche. Use Power Stones at your own risk. 1.2 License Agreement - The author of Power Stones has taken every precaution to insure that no harm or damage will occur on computer systems operating the Power Stones package. Nevertheless, the author of Power Stones shall NOT be held liable for whatever may happen on your computer system or to any computer systems which connect to your own as a result of operating the Power Stones package. The user assumes full responsibility for the correct operation of this software package, whether harm or damage results from software error, hardware malfunction, or operator error. NO warranties are offered, expressly stated or implied, including without limitation or restriction any warranties of operation for a particular purpose and/or merchantability. The Power Stones main program, setup program, maintenance program, player ranking program, and documentation are copyrighted products of Steven H. Lin. Steven H. Lin reserves all rights to these products. This is protected by the United States of America (USA) and International Copyright Laws. In no way shall the components of the Power Stones software package be reproduced or modified in any form or method without prior expressly written permission from Steven H. Lin. Steven H. Lin grants an unlimited license for the purpose of distributing unregistered copies of the Power Stones software package to the public when such unregistered copies are released from [The Deviant's Palace]. Tampering with or altering the contents or integrity of the Power Stones software package is prohibited. No fee may be charged by any agency other than Steven H. Lin and DevPal MetroNet Communications beyond cost of distributing unregistered copies without prior expressly written permission from Steven H. Lin. Power Stones is distributed under the Shareware concept. You are allowed to operate Power Stones for a trial period of thirty (30) days. After this trial period, you must register Power Stones or discontinue its usage. Continued operation of Power Stones past the above stated trial period requires full registration payment. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.0 REGISTRATION Registration of Power Stones is mandatory if you wish to continue using Power Stones past the thirty-day trial period. The unregistered demo mode of Power Stones is fully functional, but it has a few pauses which give the sysop and users time to reflect on the benefits of the Shareware concept. The registration fee for Power Stones 1.xx (versions 1.00 to 1.99) is: $12.00 US Issue a check or money order to STEVEN H. LIN. Send the registration form and the check or money order to: Steven H. Lin DevPal MetroNet Communications 1251 NE 108th Street, #621 Miami, Florida 33161 United States of America ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.0 REQUIREMENTS 3.1 General System Requirements - The following are the requirements for using Power Stones: An MS-DOS computer A modem A BBS program or telecommunications host package which can generate one of the following DOOR information files: CALLINFO.BBS DOOR.SYS DORINFO?.DEF PCBOARD.SYS An ANSI driver (IMPORTANT! Power Stones is an ANSI DOOR, so if a user does not use ANSI, then do not allow him/her into Power Stones!) At least 350Kb of hard disk space 3.2 Environments - Power Stones will work under the following environments (although it is certainly not limited to only the following): Artisoft LANtastic 3.3 - 5.0 Compaq MS-DOS 3.31 Digital Research DR-DOS 5.0 - 6.0 IBM PC-DOS 3.2 - 5.0 Microsoft MS-DOS 3.3 - 6.0 Quarterdeck DesqView 2.31 - 2.4 3.3 Memory Managers - Power Stones appears well-behaved when operating under memory management programs, such as HIMEM, QEMM-386, and NetRoom. This is primarily because Power Stones does not perform any unusual operations in high memory areas (ie. extended memory, expanded memory). It is also strongly advised that Power Stones NOT be loaded into any high memory areas. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.0 INSTALLATION This is fairly simple: make a directory somewhere for the placement of Power Stones. Then unZIP the archive into that directory. Then type the following at your DOS command prompt: INSTALL This will activate a simple batch file which will go through the motions to install Power Stones on your system. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.0 SETUP Setup involved several steps: Running the Power Stones setup program (StoSetup) to initialize the needed data files. Setting up your BBS to handle Power Stones. Putting the Power Stones maintenance program (StoMaint) into a daily maintenance batch file. Optionally, including the Power Stones player ranking program (StonRank) into the same daily maintenance batch file that has StoMaint OR the routine used by your BBS to handle the DOOR, immediately after running the DOOR. 5.1 The Power Stones Setup Program - In your Power Stones directory, there is a program called STOSETUP.EXE. To run it, type the following at your DOS command prompt: STOSETUP You will be given a screen display announcing the program, then you will asked to hit <ENTER>, whereupon you will be presented with the main StoSetup menu. Power Stones has only seven options at the main menu of its setup program, and they are arranged as follows: Power Stones Setup - ────────────────── [A] Change maximum # of players. [B] Change maximum # of cycles before player auto-deletion. [C] Change maximum # of cycles before game auto-deletion. [D] Change maximum # of active games allowed. [E] Change maximum # of game STARTS per cycle. [F] Change maximum # of game ACCEPTANCES per cycle. [Q]UIT StoSetup. (> At the prompt (the "(>" symbol below the options), you may enter the option you wish. 5.1.1 Change maximum number of players - This lets you specify the maximum number of players allowed in the game. 5.1.2 Change maximum number of cycles before player auto-delettion - This allows you to set a "expiration cycling rate" for players in Power Stones. Every time the Power Stones Daily Maintenance Butler (StoMaint) is run, a special counter is incremented by one for every player record. Once that counter's value surpasses the expirating cycling rate that you specify with this option, the player record will be deleted. This feature is different from "daily rates" which depend upon your system clock. Because some systems may choose to allow maintenance runs more than once a day, the expiration cycling will need to keep pace. 5.1.3 Change maximum number of cycles before game auto-deletion - This allows you to set a "expiration cycling rate" for active games in Power Stones. It is analogous to the option described above in Section 5.1.2, except that instead of watching over players, it watches over actual games, to insure that you do not keep stale games on your system. 5.1.4 Change maximum number of active games allowed - If you wish to limit how many games are allowed to be stored on your system, then use this option to put down the maximum number of games you want to allow. This prevents players from making too many games if they do not play avidly or only play a few games every time they access Power Stones. 5.1.5 Change maximum number of game STARTS per cycle - Each time StoMaint is run, the value in every player's record which dictates how many times he/she can initiate a new game is reset to this value. If you do not want your players to go overboard in creating lots of games, many of which you suspect will never be accepted by other players, then set this value to a low number. 5.1.6 Change maximum number of game ACCEPTANCES per cycle - Each time StoMaint is run, the value in every player's record which dictates how many times he/she can accept a game started by another player is reset to this value. If you do not want your players to go overboard in accepting every game that other players initiate, thus depriving other players of the opportunity to join the fun, then set this value to a low number. 5.2 Setting up your BBS batch file for playing Power Stones - This is a crucial step, because if this is improperly set up, your system will not function well with Power Stones. However, luckily, this is an easy step, too. Include the following paradigm in the DOOR batch file that you use to access your BBS's: CD <Power Stones directory> Stones <path and filename of DOOR info file> CD <BBS directory> The "CD" command is used to switch the system focus into the Power Stones directory, so that the next line can work to activate Power Stones. The second line, incidentally, will require a DOOR information file... one of the following: CALLINFO.BBS - Wildcat! DOOR.SYS - lots o' BBS's DORINFO?.DEF - RBBS, QuickBBS, RA, SuperBBS, EzyCom, etc. PCBOARD.SYS - PCBoard 12.x, PCBoard 14.x, MBBS or GENERIC.SYS Do not forget to include the PATH to the DOOR information file! Usually, the DOOR information file will reside in the directory where the main BBS files are, or where you have specified a node directory (if you are running a multi-node system). Please check with your BBS manual and/or your own setup information for your BBS to confirm this. 5.2.1 GENERIC.SYS - This is a special text file used by Power Stones in lieu of the other methods mentioned above. It contains three lines: line 1 - <sysop name> line 2 - comm port line 3 - time allowed (in minutes) in Power Stones A sample GENERIC.SYS might read: Steve COM2: 60 The following is a sample BBS batch file portion which uses the GENERIC.SYS file: CD \ZBBS\POWER STONES Stones GENERIC.SYS CD \ZBBS 5.2.2 Setting up your batch file - Okay, okay, it's true: not everybody has a separate batch file for every DOOR. In fact, some people throw all of their DOOR batch routines into one gigantic batch file. Basically, whatever works well for you should be the technique which you employ for running Power Stones. Some BBS programs, like PCBoard, are not very conducive to having one large batch file for handling everything; on the other hand, BBS programs like QuickBBS and RemoteAccess are very well suited to such a method (in fact, even preferred to be in such a setup). 5.3 Non-standard communications port support for Power Stones - Section 5.2 explains how to set up Power Stones using a vanilla setup, which works perfectly for most people. However, for the exceptions who, for some strange reason, need (or want) to use a non-standard serial communications port to handle the interface between the modem and the computer, here is the paradigm to do so: Stones <DOOR info file> PORT:<port address>:<port number> The <DOOR info file> parameter is for the complete path and filename of the DOOR info file desired for use. The <port address> is the actual base memory address for the serial port. The <port number> is the integer of the serial port which you wish to use for the DOOR. For instance: Stones c:\door\stones\dorinfo1.def PORT:03F8:5 This means that Power Stones is using the DORINFO1.DEF file for getting pertinent information from the BBS, and the non-standard comm port is accessed at memory location 03F8, and the comm port is known as COM5:. Check the documentation for the non-standard serial port you intend to use for the correct way to install that serial port on your system. 5.4 FOSSIL support for Power Stones - Section 5.2 explains how to set up Power Stones using a vanilla setup, which works perfectly for most people. However, for the exceptions who, for some strange reason, need (or want) to use a third-party FOSSIL driver to handle their communications mess instead of Power Stones' internal comm routines, here is the paradigm to do so: Stones <DOOR info file> PORT:F:<port number> The <DOOR info file> parameter is for the complete path and filename of the DOOR info file desired for use. The <port number> is the integer of the serial port which you wish to use for the DOOR. For instance: Stones c:\door\stones\door.sys PORT:F:2 This means that Power Stones is using the DOOR.SYS file for getting pertinent information from the BBS, and the FOSSIL driver is active on COM2:. Check the documentation for the FOSSIL driver you intend to use for the correct way to install that FOSSIL driver on your system. 5.5 DigiBoard support for Power Stones - Section 5.2 explains how to set up Power Stones using a vanilla setup, which works perfectly for most people. However, for the exceptions who, for some strange reason, need (or want) to use a DigiBoard to handle the interface between the modem and the computer, here is the paradigm to do so: Stones <DOOR info file> PORT:D:<port number> The <DOOR info file> parameter is for the complete path and filename of the DOOR info file desired for use. The <port address> is the actual base memory address for the serial port. The <port number> is the integer of the serial port which you wish to use for the DOOR. For instance: Stones c:\door\stones\pcboard.sys PORT:D:7 This means that Power Stones is using the PCBOARD.SYS file for getting per- tinent information from the BBS, and the DigiBoard channel being used for Power Stones is #7. Check the DigiBoard documentation for the correct way to install it and to use it on your system. 5.6 Setting up your batch file for performing Power Stones maintenance - Another important step is to run the StoMaint program regularly (suggested: at least once a day) to allow users the opportunity to have their turns reset on a periodic basis and to have some "housecleaning" (ie. old users deleted) done. Just place the command to invoke StoMaint (just the program name, without any command line parameters) in your daily maintenance batch file or routine. 5.7 Setting up player ranking for Power Stones - The StonRank program is not a necessary part of Power Stones operations. It is an optional item included for the competition- minded sysops to maintain a set of four text files which detail the performance of users in the Power Stones environment. StonRank produces four text files, as follows: SCORE1 - ASCII Scoreboard of Top 10 Game Winners SCORE1G - ANSI Scoreboard of Top 10 Game Winners SCORE2 - ASCII Scoreboard of Top 10 Total Point Winners SCORE2G - ANSI Scoreboard of Top 10 Total Point Winners You may, of course, rename these files to whatever you wish after they are produced; they are not used internally in the Power Stones DOOR at all and are produced solely for your (and your users') benefit. You may include StonRank in the same daily/periodic batch file that you use to operate StoMaint; or you may put StonRank in the same batch file or routine that you use to run the Power Stones DOOR, to be run immediately after the player leaves the DOOR. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.0 OPERATIONS Now you should be ready to try out Power Stones for the first time. Either have a user call in, or try it yourself. If you want to try it from the DOS command prompt (instead of using another modem or phone line to call into your BBS to test the game locally), make a dummy DOOR info file (such as GENERIC.SYS, as mentioned in section 5.2.1) and slip in "COM0:" to represent the comm port. That will make Power Stones recognize that you are a local user. The batch file used to run Power Stones does not have to be modified; just type this at your DOS command prompt: Stones GENERIC.SYS 6.1 Sysop Controls - It would not be fair if the user was the only one able to do things while he/she is online... the sysop should have some features available to himself/herself, also. There are function keys which will give the sysop some abilities while there is a user in Power Stones. They are: F5 - shell to DOS F8 - exit Power Stones F9 - screen ON/OFF F10 - chat with the user There are some other keys available to PCBoard sysops. To see them, hit Alt-H while in Power Stones. They will appear in the status bar at the bottom of your screen. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.0 PRODUCT SUPPORT Radical Wave is happy to announce that support services for all of its products will provided by one of DevOnline's most celebrated software authors and sysops: Address: Steven H. Lin, Ph.D., M.S. DevPal MetroNet Communications 1251 NE 108th St., #621 Miami, FL 33161 BBS: [The Deviant's Palace] of Miami Shining Glass Darkly VBBS Partition 305/899-1841 2400-14.4k HST/v.32bis 24 hours except ZMH Voice: 305/899-0957 ExecNet: slinc@devpal*miami*fl*us FN NetMail: FN 1:135/105.0 SB 13:200/6.0 DN 55:55/1.0 DR 75:75/1.0, 75:7305/1.0 FN EchoMail: AOTD - DevOnline Products echo [DN/DR/FN] DEV_SYSOP - DevNet Systems Operations echo [DN/FN] DEV_TPA - Third Party Apps Developers echo [DN/FN] D_ADVENT - Adventure DOORs echo [DR] D_SYSOP - DoorNet Sysops echo [DR] DOORGAMES - DOOR Games Discussions echo [FN] DOORWARE - DOORware echo [FN/RN] PCBNET - PCBoard Sysops echo [FN] Internet: slinc@f135.n105.z1.fidonet.org Onyx: lord_mercenary@dpm.devpal.mil RIME: COMMUNICATIONS - general computer communications DOORs - DOORs for BBS's U'NI-net/US: DOOR-UTIL - DOORs and utilities for BBS's Voice support is given freely and is the preferred method of communication by the author. Please take advantage of this remarkable avenue of support. To further expand accessibility, there are now official DevOnline distribution sites available to provide you with the latest unregistered versions of DevOnline products: DevOnCA (Western US) : Amber sysop: Wayne Bell (Random) loc: Los Angeles, CA #: 310/208-6689 baud: 300-14.4k HST/v.32bis ice: WWIV addr: WN @1 PCP: CALAN DevOnCO (Mountain US) : The Hornet's Nest sysop: Kevin Higgins loc: Fort Carson, CO #: 719/579-0593 baud: 2400-14.4k HST ice: TAG addr: FN 1:128/74.0, DR 75:7719/1.0 PCP: n/a DevOnFL (Southeastern US) : [The Deviant's Palace] of Miami sysop: Steve Lin loc: Miami, FL #: 305/899-1841 baud: 2400-14.4k HST/v.32bis ice: Maximus-CBCS, PCBoard, QuickBBS, RemoteAccess, TAG, WWIV, Virtual BBS, Waffle/DOS addr: FN 1:135/105.0, SB 13:200/6.0, DN 55:55/1.0, DR 75:75/1.0, Exec @devpal*miami*fl*us, Onyx @dpm.devpal.mil, RIME DEVPAL, UNI DEVPAL PCP: FLMIA DevOnMD (Mid-Atlantic US) : The Running Board sysop: Bonnie Anthony loc: Bethesda, MD n1 #: 301/229-5342 baud: 300-14.4k HST/v.32bis n2 #: 301/229-5623 baud: 300-14.4k HST/v.32bis ice: PCBoard addr: RIME RUNNINGA PCP: DCWAS DevOnNJ (Northeastern US) : APFL-The BBS sysop: Tom Kane loc: Tenafly, NJ #: 201/567-6994 baud: 300-14.4k HST/9600 v.32 ice: Telegard addr: FN 1:2604/306.0, DR 75:150/0.0 PCP: NJNEW DevOnWI (Northern US) : Exec-PC sysop: Bob Mahoney loc: Milwaukee, WI #: 414/789-4210 baud: 300-16.8k HST/14.4k v.32b #: 414/789-4352 #: 414/789-4337 #: 414/789-4360 ice: Network BBS addr: n/a PCP: WIMIL ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8.0 CREDITS & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS All products mentioned in this text that are not produced by members of DevPal MetroNet Communications, Inc. are trademarks of their respective copyright holders and/or authors. 8.1 Radical Wave - Radical Wave is the codename designation for the three-person team of online game designers who were fortunate enough to meet at the 1993 DevPal Spring Gala Conference. Special thanks to Dr. Lin, who was savvy enough to see the potential in us and to extend a hand of friendship and help when no other DOOR author would even talk to us. Power Stones (and a couple of our other now-developing projects) would not be a reality without Dr. Lin's support. I'd also like to thank my wife Sheron for putting up with my nonsense and getting along with all of the DevPal people who kept dropping over to our home, especially Dr. Stewart and his twins. Thanks, Sheron, for taking the pressure off of me for baby-making enough to get Power Stones produced. :-) - Stephen A. Wrightson, Ph.D. I'm just glad to see Power Stones done! - Atashi Otomo I would like to say, "Thank you!" to my girlfriend Lisa and my little girl Bridget for standing by me and giving me the moral support to get my life back together. - David Cornus 8.2 Steven H. Lin - This program is dedicated to all the folks who make DevPal such a great place to be! And especially Radical Wave, the newest addition to the our extended DevPal family! - Steven H. Lin, Ph.D., M.S. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- POWER STONES Registration Form 7C - Version 1.01 DevOnline Product STON-AA Sysop Name _________________________________________________________________ BBS Name ___________________________________________________________________ BBS Phone Number ___________________________________________________________ BBS City, State ____________________________________________________________ Sysop's Address ____________________________________________________________ (no P.O. Boxes) ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Sysop's Voice Phone Number(s) ______________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ Any Mail Network Addresses _________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ Indicate which registration option(s) you'd like by CIRCLING the correct number(s) below: #1 - Registration [$12.00 US] #2 - Consideration for beta test site [FREE] #3 - USPS mail delivery of disk (see below) [$5.00 US/$10.00 US] Check one: ___ 5.25" OR ___ 3.5" Mail delivery is OPTIONAL Total cost: ___________________________ Your System Hardware (be specific!)_________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ Your BBS Software (be specific!)____________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ Registered Key Delivery: _____ via File Attach (a la FidoNet/DoorNet) _____ I prefer maximum security... Hold my copy on DevPalMiami so I can d/l it myself. Name the POWER STONES reg. key file _________________ and encrypt it with the password ___________ and put the file on hold for me in the Shining Glass Darkly VBBS partition! _____ Send my copy to me by mail. I understand that I will pay US $5.00 for S&H if I am in the U.S. and US $10.00 for S&H if I am out- side the U.S. Signature ___________________________________ Birthdate ____________________