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Text File | 1996-11-08 | 19.1 KB | 457 lines

GLOBAL WAR ~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright 1989-1997 Joel Bergen ProVision BBS (206) 353-6966 (206) 353-2494 Fidonet 1:343/65 First of all, let me assure you that if you don't follow these instructions, Global War will not work. Global War must be executed in its own subdirectory. Your BBS ideally should call a batch file which should change to this subdirectory, execute the game, change back to your BBS subdirectory, and return to your BBS. If your BBS can't execute a batch file, you may have to run the game from your main BBS subdirectory. For example purposes, this document will assume your main BBS subdirectory is named "C:\BBS" and that Global War is in subdirectory "C:\BBS\GLOBLWAR". Substitute your actual subdirectory names if they are different. Installing GLOBAL WAR on your system: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Make a subdirectory anywhere on your hard disk to contain the GLOBAL WAR game (C:\BBS\GLOBLWAR for example). Put all the files in the GLOBAL WAR archive into this directory except WAR.BAT, which you should copy into your main BBS directory (C:\BBS for example). Edit WAR.CFG, following the instructions found in that file. Now change back to your main BBS directory. You will need to edit WAR.BAT to tell Global War what type of BBS software you're using. Global War will work with PCBoard, Wildcat, RBBS, WWIV, QuickBBS, RA Spitfire, Searchlight, TAG, Telegard, GAP, Maximus, Genesis Deluxe, and any other BBS program that can run doors made for any of these BBSs. Select one of the following installation methods: Global War for RBBS/QBBS/RA (or any system which uses DORINFO1.DEF) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RBBS creates a file called DORINFO1.DEF which Global War will read. Use the "/R" switch to tell Global War where to look for DORINFO1.DEF. The calling convention is: WAR /R d:\path\DORINFO1.DEF Your WAR.BAT should look something like this: ECHO OFF CD \BBS\GLOBLWAR WAR /R C:\BBS\DORINFO1.DEF CD \BBS Substitute your actual subdirectory names if different. Global War for WWIV (CHAIN.TXT) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WWIV creates a file called CHAIN.TXT which Global War will read. Use the "/W" switch to tell Global War where to look for CHAIN.TXT. The calling convention is: WAR /W d:\path\CHAIN.TXT Your WAR.BAT should look something like this: ECHO OFF CD \BBS\GLOBLWAR WAR /W %1 CD \BBS Substitute your actual subdirectory names, of course. Run WWIV, go into Chainedit (hit "C" at WFC) and create a new entry for GLOBAL WAR with the following information: A. Description : GLOBAL WAR! B. Filename : WAR.BAT %1 C. SL : 10 D. AR : None E. ANSI : Required F. DOS Interrupt : Not Used <-- IMPORTANT!! G. 300 baud : Not allowed GW will lock up if H. Shrink : No set to "used" Global War for old versions of Wildcat! (CALLINFO.BBS) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Older versions of Wildcat! created a file called CALLINFO.BBS which Global War can read. If you are running a newer version of Wildcat, please use DOOR.SYS instead of CALLINFO.BBS. Use the "/I" switch to tell Global War to look for CALLINFO.BBS. The calling convention is: WAR /I d:\path\CALLINFO.BBS Your WAR.BAT should look something like this: ECHO OFF CD \BBS\GLOBLWAR WAR /I C:\BBS\CALLINFO.BBS CD \BBS Substitute your actual subdirectory names if different. Global War for Genesis Deluxe BBS (unique CALLINFO.BBS) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Genesis Deluxe creates a file called CALLINFO.BBS which Global War will read. NOTE: THE CALLINFO.BBS FILE THAT GENESIS DELUXE CREATES IS SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT THAN THE MORE UNIVERSAL WILDCAT FORMAT. DO NOT CONFUSE THE TWO, THEY ARE NOT INTERCHANGABLE. Use the "/G" switch to tell Global War to look for CALLINFO.BBS. The calling convention is: WAR /G d:\path\CALLINFO.BBS Your WAR.BAT should look something like this: ECHO OFF CD \BBS\GLOBLWAR WAR /I C:\BBS\CALLINFO.BBS CD \BBS Substitute your actual subdirectory names if different. For Genesis Deluxe info & support, contact: Prism Software, Box 267, Hannibal NY, 13074 Late Night BBS (315) 592-7300 HST Global War for PC-Board (v14.x or v15.x only, not v12.x) (PCBOARD.SYS) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PCBOARD creates a file called PCBOARD.SYS which Global War will read. Use the "/P" switch to tell Global War to look for PCBOARD.SYS Global War does not require PCBOARD.DAT. DOOR.SYS is recommended over PCBOARD.SYS. The calling convention for the PC-BOARD version is: WAR /P d:\path\PCBOARD.SYS Your WAR.BAT should look something like this: ECHO OFF CD \BBS\GLOBLWAR WAR /P C:\BBS\PCBOARD.SYS CD \BBS Substitute your actual subdirectory names if different. Global War GAP, TAG, Telegard, Wildcat (or any system using DOOR.SYS) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DOOR.SYS is a standard door info file format used by many BBS systems. BBS authors: Help make life a LOT easier on us door authors - consider supporting this standard! Use the "/D" switch to tell Global War to look for DOOR.SYS. The calling convention is: WAR /D d:\path\DOOR.SYS Your WAR.BAT should look something like this: ECHO OFF CD \BBS\GLOBLWAR WAR /D C:\BBS\DOOR.SYS CD \BBS Substitute your actual subdirectory names if different. Global War for Spitfire (SFDOORS.SYS) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Spitfire creates a file called SFDOORS.DAT which Global War will read. Use the "/S" switch to tell Global War to look for SFDOORS.DAT. The calling convention is: WAR /S d:\path\SFDOORS.DAT Your WAR.BAT should look something like this: ECHO OFF CD \BBS\GLOBLWAR WAR /S C:\BBS\SFDOORS.DAT CD \BBS Substitute your actual subdirectory names if different. Global War for Searchlight BBS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For the Searchlight .DEF file, modify GAMES.DEF or DOORS.DEF (whichever is chosen) as follows: 0;0;0;10;Global War;.;WAR.BAT %B %T %N WAR.BAT should look something like this: ECHO OFF CD \BBS\GLOBLWAR WAR /C %1 1 %2 %3 %4 <-the "1" assumes COM 1 CD \BBS Substitute your actual subdirectory names if different. Global War for Maximus (DORINFOx.DEF, DOOR.SYS, CALLINFO.BBS) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Maximus can create DOOR.SYS, CALLINFO.BBS or DORINFOx.DEF. DORINFOx.DEF is recommended since it supports multi-node applications. Your MENUS.CTL file should have an entry something like this if you are using DORINFOx.DEF. Display_File Misc\Dorinfo Normal "Global War" NoDsp Xtern_DOS WAR.BAT_%k Normal "G" WAR.BAT should look something like this: ECHO OFF CD \BBS\GLOBLWAR WAR /R \BBS\DORINFO%1.DEF CD \BBS Substitute your actual subdirectory names if different. Global War, command line version ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If your BBS can specify command line parameters (QuickBBS's menu 7 for example) you will use this. The calling convention is: WAR /C BaudRate ComPort MinutesLeft FirstName LastName Edit WAR.BAT, which should look something like this: ECHO OFF CD \BBS\GLOBLWAR WAR /C %1 1 %2 %3 %4 %5 CD \BBS In this example (for QuickBBS), the BBS is passing the caller's baudrate (%1), time remaining in minutes (%2), caller's first name (%3) and last name (%4). Include an extra parameter (%5) if you anticipate having more than 2 word names (example: W. C. Fields). The comm port (COM1) is hard coded in the batch file (1). A baud rate of 0 will cause Global War to run locally. Global War can be run locally from DOS using this method. For example, typing... WAR /C 0 1 60 FirstName LastName ...will let you try out the game in local mode from DOS. The Statusline ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The bottom line on your screen will display several important bits of information. For example: JOEL BERGEN | 23.14 | 08/05/1992 17:24:27 | 122k | <flags> 1 2 3 4 5 The information is: 1. The player's name exactly as it was passed to Global War from the BBS. 2. The amount of time the player has left in minutes. The player will receive a warning when he has less than 5 minutes left, and the door will drop carrier & return to the BBS if he runs out of time. 3. The current date and time. 4. The amount of free memory remaining. 5. The <flags> are: Local The door is operating in Local Mode - no communications I/O. COMx The door is operating on Com1, Com2, Com3, or Com4 Fossil A FOSSIL driver is being used for all comm I/O. Digiboard A Digiboard driver is being used for all comm I/O. Uart All comm I/O is being performed directly through the UART. GWTerm The current player is using the GWTerm terminal program. GWTerm in an optional terminal program your callers can use to greatly speed up game play by displaying maps instantly on their screen. Mnode Multi-Node switch is set in WAR.CFG. The door will lock out games in use by the current node to prevent other players on other nodes from playing in the same game at the same time. Global War will give up time slices for better performance if any of the following multi-taskers are detected: DESQview DESQview Win-Enh Windows in 386 enhanced mode Win-Std Windows in Standard mode Win-NT Windows NT OS2 OS/2 DoubleDOS DoubleDOS MultiDos MultiDos VMiX VMiX TopView TopView TaskView TaskView DOS-TS DOS 5 Task Switcher (Dos Shell) DESQview users ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On a 286 or XT class machine, set "Writes Directly to Screen", "Displays Graphics", and "Virtualize text/graphics" all to "N" and Global War will multitask in a small window. Digiboard users ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Global War supports the Digiboard by way of the Digi14 universal device driver XIDOS5.SYS. The "universal device driver" is DigiBoard's name for their INT14-based device driver that works with any of the following DigiBoards: COM/Xi, PC/Xi, PC/Xe and, presumably, any new boards that DigiBoard might produce. This device driver replaces the board-specific device driver that used to accompany each board. XIDOS5.SYS must be properly configured in order for Global War to work. Multi-Node support ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Global War includes support for multi-node BBSs. Global War will create temporary files named WARxx.LOK (where xx is a game number 1-255) to indicate that a game is in use by another node. To set up Global War for multi-node use, you should do the following: In your AUTOEXEC.BAT, you should add: CD \BBS\GLOBLWAR (or whatever your Global War subdirectory is) DELETE *.LOK (delete all LOK files) This is to make sure no stray WARxx.LOK files are lying around. You may need to create different WAR.CFG files for each node. If so, I recommend naming them WAR1.CFG, WAR2.CFG, etc. Then, in your WAR.BAT file, copy the appropriate WARx.CFG file to WAR.CFG. For example: (sample WAR1.BAT for node 1, use a different batch file for each node) CD \BBS\GLOBLWAR COPY WAR1.CFG WAR.CFG <- or WAR2.CFG for node 2, etc WAR /P \BBS\PCBOARD.SYS CD \BBS Alternately, you may use the /N command line switch to specify an alternate WAR.CFG file. For example: CD \BBS\GLOBLWAR WAR /P \BBS\PCBOARD.SYS /N WAR1.CFG CD \BBS ^^^^^^^^^^^--- specifies alternate WAR.CFG Make sure the Multi-Node option is set to "Y" in WAR.CFG. Specifying an alternate games directory ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You may specify an alternate subdirectory in which to store the game data files and high score files. This is useful if you want to run multiple sets of games, such as a beginner, intermediate, and expert series. To specify an alternate games directory, use the /A switch followed by the desired subdirectory name. For example: war /A C:\GWAR\EXPERT /p \bbs\pcboard.sys Files included or created by the game ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WARxx.DAT Data file containing info for each game (xx = game number) See DATAFILE.TXT for complete documentation. WARxx.LOG Data file containing the complete history of game xx. See LOGFILE.TXT for complete documentation. WARxx.MSG Messages sent from player to player in game xx. See MSGFILE.TXT for complete documentation. WARxx.REC Recovered game. Created if a player loses carrier and is used to resume game where player left off if he calls back. See DATAFILE.TXT for complete documentation. WARxx.LOK For multi-node BBSs, this temporary zero-length file is used to lock out a game in use by another node. WINNERS.WAR Data file holds winner's names and number of games won. Sorted (and must remain sorted) in decending order of games won. WINNERS.TOP When the rankings are reset, WINNERS.WAR is saved as WINNERS.TOP and then WINNERS.WAR is deleted. (see war.cfg) WONGAME.ANS ANSI file that gets displayed when a player wins a game. Feel free to replace it with something snazzier if desired. BEGIN.ANS Warning displayed when a player chooses to begin a new game. May be edited to reflect your rules for beginning games. BULLETIN.ANS You may create this file if you want to display some sort of bulletin to all players. Displayed once when game entered. May be ANSI or ASCII. AFRICA.ANS, Maps used in the game. May be edited slightly, but keep in ASIA.ANS,etc mind that country names are displayed on top of these maps. TEAM.DOC Rules for Team play. WAR.DOC Rules for Normal games. WAR.CFG Configuration file. WAR.EXE The Global War game itself. WAR.IMG Data file of maps for Global War and GWTerm. Color version. WAR.MON Mono version of WAR.IMG. Replace WAR.IMG with this if you are using a Hercules monochrome monitor. TIMEON.WAR Data file that keeps track of time used per day for each player. DATAFILE.TXT Technical info on WARxx.DAT file format. LOGFILE.TXT Technical info on WARxx.LOG file format. MSGFILE.TXT Technical info on WARxx.MSG file format. LOCKOUT.WAR List of users to be prevented from joining games. Other notes ~~~~~~~~~~~ If you would like to make some sort of announcement to all GW players, such as a Hall of Fame list, you can create a file called BULLETIN.ANS and place it in your Global War directory. GW will output this file after displaying the copyright notice. BULLETIN.ANS may be an ANSI file or a plain ASCII file. Similarly, the file WONGAME.ANS is displayed when a player wins a game and may be edited. Global War relies heavily on your hardware time clock. If your time clock is not working reliably or is nonexistant, get it fixed! Fixing it usually means simply replacing 4 AA batteries or a small lithium battery inside your PC. If you start getting "Timeclock or Game Corrupted" error messages, it's too late. All *.TXT files included in this archive are for your information only and are not required by the game. The rest of the files ARE required. If you can't get Global War to work with your system, feel free to contact me at ProVision BBS. Together, we'll make it happen! GLOBAL WAR requires no maintenance or Sysop intervention. Set it up once and forget about it. Completed games are automatically deleted after a specific number of days (see WAR.CFG). Even games that have been "forgotten" will automatically be deleted. If you change the name of a user on your BBS who is involved in the game, you will have to edit the WARxx.DAT files (where xx is the game number) to reflect this change, or the game will not recognize this "new" player. Change their name in WINNERS.WAR if they've won any games too. Player's names are not case sensitive. I suggest using an editor such as Qedit or DOS 5's editor. Don't use a word processor. Many word processors insert weird control codes that will give GW fits. Type over the old data, DON'T delete or add any lines or GW will surely crash with a runtime error. Known bugs: PC-Board Sysops, you will need to lower your online time to under 9 hours per call (32767 seconds) if you are using PCBOARD.SYS. If you don't, your time remaining stored in PCBOARD.SYS will wrap around and go negative, and you won't be able to get into Global War. DOOR.SYS does not have this problem, so it is recommended that you use DOOR.SYS instead if possible. Give my board, ProVision BBS, a call for the latest version of Global War and additional support software and documentation. The phone number is (206) 353-6966 or (206) 353-2494. Or you may contact me by sending netmail to Joel Bergen at Fidonet node 1:343/65. I hope that you and your callers enjoy Global War, and that you find it worthy of your support. Please read the file REGISTER.TXT for information on how to register your copy of Global War. Joel Bergen