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SYSOP Documentation for Ultimate Universe version 1.50
------------------------------------------------------
*** Searchlight bbs sysops please refer below to the slbbs setup area!
*** TRIBBS or OTHER BBS systems should read the SLBBS setup 2a and/or 2b
and config with DOOR.SYS or DORINFOX.DEF depending on which you
prefer to use. Read further down concerning FOSSIL support also
------------
This covers four important aspects of setting up Ultimate Universe to
run on your BBS.
1. Passing Player Information to the Game
2. Searchlight BBS configuration and Menu setup
3. FILE.DIR, where are the files?
4. Importing & Exporting.
5. Communications Support.
There is a fifth subject: Configuration Variables. This should be studied
thoroughly. This is covered in the file named "CONFIG.DOC".
Once those four items have been handled, Ultimate Universe should consist
of two parts:
1. ULTIMATE.EXE which will be called as a DOOR.
2. MDAILY.EXE which will be called as an event once per day.
DAILY.EXE is the Ultimate Universe Daily Maintenance. It has two
command line parameters. The first is the Dimension to perform Daily
Maintenace on. The second is optional and consists of the word RESET.
RESET is used to reinitialize a Dimension. DAILY 1 RESET would reinitialize
Dimension #1. DAILY 0 RESET reinitializes the Primary Dimension and also all
SHIP and subsidiary files. DAILY 3 would perform Daily Mainenance on
Dimension 3.
MDAILY.EXE is merely a small file that runs DAILY for all existing
Dimensions.
==============================================================================
Passing Player Information to the Game
--------------------------------------
The Way Information is Passed to Ultimate Universe depends on the setting of
the Configuration Variable 'Input Type'. (See CONFIG.DOC for details).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With Input set to 0 (Stand Alone) all information is prompted for by the game.
This is the intended setting for Home Play and disables all communications
support.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With Input set to 1 (Searchlight Support) command line parameters are required:
-Pplayer_name 'The Players Name (no spaces)'
-Tminutes 'Time Remaining on the Board'
-C 'Use Color Display (Taken for CONFIG if not included)'
-N 'Disable ANSI displays (ANSI is used if not included)'
/Bbaud_rate '%B parameter format'
/Pcommport '%P parameter format'
'Ultimate -PGARTH_BIGELOW -T50 -C' would allow me to play in color for 50
minutes. Consult your Search Light manual on how to pass these parameters.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With Input set to 2 (DORINFOx.DEF Support) parameters are passed by way of a
DORINFOx.DEF file. Using this configuration node number must be passed to
ULTIMATE.
'ULTIMATE 1' would seek out a DORINFO1.DEF file for the needed parameters.
To use this option the second to the last line of FILE.DIR must also be
modified so the DORINFO is the in the file column and the path to DORINFOx.DEF
is in the path column.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With Input set to 3 (Standard DOOR.SYS Support) parameters are passed by way
of the DOOR.SYS file. Unfortunately there are two differing file formats that
are both called DOOR.SYS, this is the most popular of the two. With this
setting selected no parameters are required by ULTIMATE.
To use this option modify the second to the last lime of FILE.DIR (which
probably read 'DORINFO' to read DOOR.SYS. Then change the path in this same
line to read as the path to the DOOR.SYS file.
==============================================================================
What Follows are how to set up Ultimate Universe on an SLBBS:
SearchLight requires very little communications support and only that is
enabled with this setting.
SAMPLE BAT FILE:
----------------
@REM START.BAT
@ECHO OFF
@REM QUICK START UP AND REROUTE OF INFO FILES.
ULTIMATE.EXE -P%1 -T%2 -%3 /B%4 /P%5
COPY NEWPAPER.UU D:\SLBBS\INCLUDES >NUL
COPY RANK.UU D:\SLBBS\INCLUDES >NUL
EXIT
CHANGE PATHNAMES TO APPROPRIATE INCLUDE AREAS IF YOU WANT
TO HAVE STATS AND NEWSPAPER AS BULLETINS
---------------------------
SEARCHLIGHT BBS SYSOP SETUP:
---------------------------
Searchlight bbs's can have several different setups depending on what
you are doing with your board. I will discuss how to do: SLBBS COMM
SUPPORT or FOSSIL COMM SUPPORT along with the different menu setups you
need to do:
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■
1. SEARCHLIGHT BBS WITH SEARCHLIGHT STANDARD COMM SUPPORT.
Run your UU CONFIG.EXE and on the first page adjust these items:
Input Method 1 (parameters passed)
Comm Support 0 (Comm Support Provided externally)
Video Write Method 0 (BIOS *DIRECT WILL NOT WORK)
Adjust the other configurable variables to your liking but these
are the important ones for this setup to work over the modem properly.
SAMPLE BAT FILE:
----------------
@REM START.BAT
@ECHO OFF
@REM QUICK START UP AND REROUTE OF INFO FILES.
ULTIMATE.EXE -P%1 -T%2 -%3
COPY NEWPAPER.UU D:\SLBBS\INCLUDES >NUL
COPY RANK.UU D:\SLBBS\INCLUDES >NUL
EXIT
SAMPLE MENU ENTRY FOR SLBBS 2.25 Using SLBBS comm support.
1. Command Name......... Ultimate
2. Command Key.......... U
3. Command Description.. Ultimate Universe
4-9 what your preferances are for security and access
10. Command............. START.BAT %U %M %G
11. Directory Path...... D:\SLBBS\DOORS\UU (YOUR PATH HERE)
12. Comm Support........ Standard (Standard SL comm support)
13. Abort Method........ Terminate
14. Write Protection..... No
14. Door File........... None
15. Pause after door.... Yes (UU will prompt also)
------------------
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■
2a. SEARCHLIGHT BBS WITH FOSSIL DRIVER ALREADY INSTALLED TO RUN THE BBS.
(If you want to run your bbs without a fossil driver but use
a fossil driver just for UU see section 2b.)
You should already have X00.EXE or BNU.COM already installed via
your AUTOEXEC.BAT or RUNBBS.BAT file before your bbs starts.
Run your UU CONFIG.EXE and on the first page adjust these items:
Input Method 1 (parameters passed)
Comm Support 2 (FOSSIL Support)
Video Write Method 0 (BIOS *direct may work but this is safest)
Adjust the other configurable variables to your liking but these
are the important ones for this setup to work over the modem properly.
(The next bat file differs from above by the /P%4 and /B%5 which are
used to pass the current COMM port and BAUD rate to UU)
SAMPLE BAT FILE:
----------------
@REM START.BAT
@ECHO OFF
@REM QUICK START UP AND REROUTE OF INFO FILES.
ULTIMATE.EXE -P%1 -T%2 -%3 /P%4 /B%5
COPY NEWPAPER.UU D:\SLBBS\INCLUDES >NUL
COPY RANK.UU D:\SLBBS\INCLUDES >NUL
EXIT
SAMPLE MENU ENTRY FOR SLBBS 2.25 Using FOSSIL comm support.
1. Command Name......... Ultimate
2. Command Key.......... U
3. Command Description.. Ultimate Universe
4-9 what your preferances are for security and access
10. Command............. START.BAT %U %M %G %P %B (DONT FORGET %P %B)
11. Directory Path...... D:\SLBBS\DOORS\UU (YOUR PATH HERE)
12. Comm Support........ None (FOSSIL SUPPORT USED INSTEAD)
13. Abort Method........ None (UU SHOULD HANDLE THE TERMINATE)
14. Write Protection..... No
14. Door File........... None
15. Pause after door.... Yes (UU will prompt also)
--------------------
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■
2b. SEARCHLIGHT BBS WITH NO FOSSIL DRIVER ALREADY INSTALLED TO RUN THE BBS.
(if you run your SLBBS with its standard comm support but you want to
take advantage of the special features in UU available only thru use
of a FOSSIL driver to run UU then you need to use the above configuration
in 2a but should get a copy of BNU.COM. We use BNU170.ZIP.
Adjustments may be needed to run correctly according to the BNU docs but
adjust your start.bat file to this.)
(TRIBBS or OTHER BBS systems should use FOSSIL support and make sure
that the Input Method in the UU CONFIG.EXE is set to 2,3 or 4
depending on which Door Info File you are using)
SAMPLE BAT FILE:
----------------
@REM START.BAT
@ECHO OFF
@REM QUICK START UP AND REROUTE OF INFO FILES.
BNU.COM /P2 /M- /L1:19200 /F+
ULTIMATE.EXE -P%1 -T%2 -%3 /P%4 /B%5
BNU.COM /U
COPY NEWPAPER.UU D:\SLBBS\INCLUDES >NUL
COPY RANK.UU D:\SLBBS\INCLUDES >NUL
EXIT
--------
The above bnu command is what works for my setup using COM2 with a
locked baud rate of 19200 and fast ansi screen writes.
the BNU.COM /U uninstalls bnu when the door returns to slbbs. the rest
of the config for UU should be done as seen in 2a above.
(bnu using COM2 and locked baud of 19200)
BNU.COM /P2 /M- /L1:19200 /F+
(bnu using COM1 and no locked baud rate)
BNU.COM /P1 /M- /L0:0 /F+
**** SEE YOUR BNU DOCUMENTATION IF YOU NEED HELP WITH BNU ******
The above is a sample of what we use on the Over Board BBS you
may test and change to your liking.... make sure the path is correct
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If you have any problems setting up you may contact me via these
routes:
TOPHERSOFT BBS SYSOP (508)-693-7396
OVER BOARD BBS GARTH BIGELOW (508)-693-5344
OVER BOARD BBS ISG NET ADDRESS: (91:5/201) (See below info on echo)
OVER BOARD BBS SL_NET ADDRESS: (250:502/1294)
Garth A. C. Bigelow
RR 620 State Road
Vienyard Haven, Ma 02568
An Ultimate Universe Echo has been started in the ISG_NET (International
Sysops Guild Network), known as: I_UU. You may leave messages in there
and they will be echoed back to Over Board BBS (91:5/201). Network
Mail may be sent to Over Board BBS via a Front Door Style Mailer at
(508)-693-5344. Response is not guarenteed, however the conference is
moderated by me.
===============================================================================
FILE.DIR, where are the files?
------------------------------
FILE.DIR is a file that contains the filenames and pathnames to most of the
files used by Ultimate Universe.
In modifying this file it is VERY IMPORTANT NOT TO ADD ANY CARRIAGE RETURNS
OR IN ANYWAY CHANGE THE ORDER OF THE LINES. Ultimate Universe finds these
names by their place in the file and not by the file names associated with
them.
It is best to start out with all the files in the same directory and for
Ultimate Universe to be run from that directory. If you wish to place files
in other directories you must change FILE.DIR also.
If you leave everything in the current directory the only path that will
need changing is the DORINFO line near the bottom of the file. That should
point to the directory that your board creates its information file.
(Note: this is only necessary when CONFIGURATION VARIABLE Input Type is set
greater than 1.)
================================================================================
Importing & Exporting
---------------------
If you do not have a Registered Version of Ultimate Universe ignore this section.
Importing & Exporting Ships, physically remove the Ships from the Data Files
and create small ship files that are then downloaded and uploaded to yours and
others boards.
The Import Functions calls a BAT file called IMPORT.BAT and passes the name
of the file as the first and only parameter. The directory of the file is
pointed to by the line containing simply 'U' in FILE.DIR.
IMPORT.BAT must be created by you to call some third party protocol program
like DSZ to upload the file from Player to your BBS.
If possible use a common protocol. Also any prompts that the player will
need should be supplied as echoes in the BAT file.
Should the Upload fail it is important that the BAT file delete any residual
part of the Uploaded File.
IMPORT.BAT must reside in the ULTIMATE UNIVERSE directory.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Export Functions calls a BAT file called EXPORT.BAT and passes the name
of the file as the first and only parameter. The directory of the file is
pointed to by the line containing simply 'U' in FILE.DIR.
EXPORT.BAT must be created by you to call some third party protocol program
like DSZ to download the file from BBS to your Player.
If possible use a common protocol. Also any prompts that the player will
need should be supplied as echoes in the BAT file.
Upon suucessful download EXPORT.BAT should delete the downloaded file, as
Ultimate Universe checks for the existance of this file as a sign of download
failure.
EXPORT.BAT must reside in the ULTIMATE UNIVERSE directory.
===============================================================================
Communications Support
----------------------
Communications Method 1: Internal Comm Support
*This has been disabled as of version 1.41. It will be reinstated in a more
stable form for 2.00.
Communications are handled thru a file called MODEM.DAT. It contains four
line and looks like this:
1 4 0x3f8 200 200
2 3 0x2f8 200 200
3 4 0x3f8 200 200
4 3 0x2f8 200 200
The first column is the comm port and must correspond with the line number.
The second column is Interrupt Vector for that comm port.
The third column is the Base Address for that comm port.
The fourth column is the size of the in-coming buffer.
The last column is the size of the transmitting buffer.
If your modem uses comm port 1, 2, 3 or 4 in the standard manner you do not
need to change MODEM.DAT. If you have a non-standard modem or one that uses
a higher comm port you will need to correct or add comm port entries in
MODEM.DAT.
Warning: This product has been tested up to 9600 baud.
Beyond that there may be screen display problems. As this is a
combination of modem speed and computer speed it is best to test
this individually to see if the display looks okay.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Communications Method 2: Fossil Driver Support
(TRIBBS and OTHER BBS Systems should read this)
Use of this method requires installation of a Fossil Driver.
See Fossil Driver Manuals for details.
Exhaustive testing has been done using BNU170 as the fossil driver.
I am assuming that X00 or the like will function as well.
To use with the Fossil Driver, pass Port and Baud Rate as outlined above.
(starting your fossil driver inside the START.BAT if not done
before you start your BBS)
Below is a sample bat assuming that in your config you have chosen:
Input Method 3 (DOOR.SYS)
Comm Support 2 (FOSSIL)
video write method 0 (BIOS)
(if your Input Method is 2 for DorinfoX.def then you should put
your node number after ULTIMATE.EXE such as: ULTIMATE.EXE 1
to execute a DORINFO1.DEF file)
SAMPLE BAT FILE:
----------------
@REM START.BAT
@ECHO OFF
@REM QUICK START UP AND REROUTE OF INFO FILES.
BNU.COM /P2 /M- /L1:19200 /F+
ULTIMATE.EXE
COPY NEWPAPER.UU D:\SLBBS\INCLUDES >NUL
COPY RANK.UU D:\SLBBS\INCLUDES >NUL
BNU.COM /U
EXIT
--------
The above bnu command is what works for my setup using COM2 with a
locked baud rate of 19200 and fast ansi screen writes.
the BNU.COM /U uninstalls bnu when the door returns to slbbs. the rest
of the config for UU should be done as seen in 2a above.
(bnu using COM2 and locked baud of 19200)
BNU.COM /P2 /M- /L1:19200 /F+
(bnu using COM1 and no locked baud rate)
BNU.COM /P1 /M- /L0:0 /F+
**** SEE YOUR BNU DOCUMENTATION IF YOU NEED HELP WITH BNU ******
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Registered versions in addition to having the Import and Export function
also have Multi-dimensions and SPACE MADNESS. Shareware versions also
lag at least 1 version behind Registered versions. To Register please
see REGIST.FRM