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SYSOP.DOC, Version October 31, 1996 Paul Fargen 6200 Richiewayne Drive Louisville, KY Ver 1.8 February 1996 Ver 1.8B September 9, 1996 DISTRIBUTION Please distribute this Shareware version of ZCHESS via BBS, CD-ROM, or any other suitable means. Paul Fargen grants an unlimited license to make and distribute shareware copies of ZCHESS. No modifications to the files contained in the software package, including this file, may be made before distribution. No fee may be charged by anyone other than Paul Fargen beyond the actual cost of providing these copies without the prior written consent of Paul Fargen. This does NOT apply to the ZCHESS.KEY file. Paul Fargen encourages distribution on CD-ROM, BBS systems, and other media so long as the purchaser of the medium is aware that they must also register ZCHESS to use this software beyond a resonable trial period. The purchase price of the media or any subscription costs to an online service do not pay for this license. PURPOSE The program ZCHESS.EXE is a chess door program which allows users to play each other in correspondence, real-time chess or interBBS chess. ZCHESS does not make chess moves itself, but will check human moves for legality and draws while keeping track of their games. SHAREWARE CRIPPLE Zchess played without a key limits the number of moves that can be played in a game to 50. This limit is not imposed on games that are started and completed in a single day, allowing you to evaluate the real-time, head-to-head feature entirely. The limit will be imposed on all games that span more than 24 hours. PROGRAM LICENSE AGREEMENT Paul Fargen reserves all rights to this software product and documentation. The registered version of this package does not include source code. No part of these programs, including the ZCHESS.KEY file, may be reverse-engineered or disassembled. Distributing, repackaging, or reselling of the registered version of the software to third parties is forbidden. You may, however, create chess programs using the graphical .ICN files, and you may also write programs that read and write to the data files that support ZCHESS so long as such applications do not serve to defeat any limitations imposed on unregistered, shareware installations. You may also edit, create new and distribute .ICN files with the same names as used by Zchess under a separate effort. Example source code MAY be made available on the support BBS listed below upon request. An exceptional License is granted to competing sources to incorporate the format employed for interBBS play for that same purpose, as long as you grant a similar License to me for any other format you employ for the same purpose. Paul Fargen disclaims all warranties relating to this software, whether expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, and all such warranties are expressly and specifically disclaimed. Neither Paul Fargen nor anyone else who has been involved in the development, testing or delivery of this software shall be liable for any indirect, consequential, or incidental damages arising out of the use or inability to use such software, even if Paul Fargen has been advised of the chance of such damages or claims. In no event shall Paul Fargen's liability for any such damages ever exceed the price paid to Paul Fargen for a license to use the software, regardless of the form of the claim. The person using the software bears all risk as to the quality and performance of the software. Some states do not allow the exclusion of the limit of liability for consequential or incidental damages, so the above limitation may not apply to you. The license you may choose to purchase is assigned to you as an individual, not your BBS. You may run ZCHESS on one system per license. You may not transfer this license without the expressed written consent of the author, which must be notarized. If you do not agree to these terms, then you may not run Zchess or use any of the associated files. TRADEMARK ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Turbo C is a registered trademark of Borland International, Inc. QuickC, Windows, MS, MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. PCL4C is copyrighted by MarshallSoft Computing, Inc. PKUNZIP is copyrighted by PKWARE, INC. Hayes is a registered trademark of Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc. RIPscrip language is copyrighted by TeleGrafix Communications, Inc. DESQview is a trademark of Quarterdeck. Other trademarks and copyrights not listed above are property of their respective companies. SOFTWARE USED This program uses the PCL4C "Personal Communications Library" for C, version 4.3 for most of the serial communications from the computer to the modem. Using this library, most of the code for the communications portion of this terminal program were written very quickly. If you are planning to write programs that require serial routines, you may wish to consider this product. It is available as Shareware on many BBSes, or directly from the author at the following address. MarshallSoft Computing, INC. Post Office Box 4543 Huntsville, AL 35815 BBS: 205-880-9748 (14400, N, 8, 1) This door was compiled with Turbo C++ version 3.0. System Requirements BBS * IBMPC compatible (8086 or higher) * DOS 3.X or higher. * EGA for graphical local screens. * ANSI.SYS, NANSI.SYS, DVANSI.COM, etc. if running ZCHESS locally. * Minimal RAM memory, perhaps 300K. * Serial ports using IRQs 2,3,4,5,6,7 and any address, or a fossil. * SHARE.EXE loaded for multinode systems. * DV compatible (DV aware), Windows and OS/2 time slices. * A diskcache program is strongly recommended. Zchess polls the disk for changing files every five to ten seconds. * A DOOR.SYS dropfile for BBSes. DOOR.SYS files can be created for NOVELL or LANTASTIC type networks. * the FILES statement in CONFIG.SYS should be at least 40 for running from a BBS Door. Remote User * ANSI emulation * RIPScrip (optional) INSTALLATION ( QUICK START ) 1. Copy all the files received into a subdirectory, and unzip. The directory may be anything as long as the path name is less than sixty characters or so. When unzipping, you should see an "-AV" beside each filename. The last two lines should appear as Authentic files Verified! # JWE939 PAUL FARGEN If this is not the case and you have any doubts about the source of ZCHESS, call the support BBS listed below and download the latest version. 2. Run the SETUP.EXE program. You will be prompted for the information that is to be stored in ZCHESS.CFG. This information is explained elsewhere in this document. To use setup, use your cursor keys to select each item, answering the questions as best your can. Often the defaults will be sufficient to get Zchess up and running. SETUP will also create the subdirectories required by ZCHESS. \OPEN contains the game files, User to user messages, Note files, HISTORY.DAT and for Networked subs, NET.CFG. \MSG contains all messages sent from node to node during multinode play. {BULLS} (Path configured by ZCHESS.CFG ) is the location that bulletins generated by the maintenance routines will be placed. {PLAYER_DATA} (Configured by ZCHESS.CFG) is the location that the player data (ratings, games won, etc.) will be kept. If you run multiple copies of ZCHESS, you can specify the identical path for each door. This allows the player data to be one rating list. Real-time chess sections use another ratings list saved in the subdirectory for that section. Other Sections (subdirectories) can also be setup. Using SETUP.EXE, you may wish to add some for timed chess, such as REAL1 5 minutes for all moves (Head to head) REAL2 10 minutes for all moves (Head to head) REAL3 20 minutes for all moves (Head to head) REAL4 40 minutes for all moves (Head to head) REAL5 60 minutes for all moves (Head to head) REAL6 120 minutes for all moves (Head to head) REALx 30 minutes for all moves (Head to head) OPEN1 An extra local or networked section. TOUR A tournament section. Time limits for REAL sections are set according to the Section name. The default is thirty minutes. For real-time chess sections, clocks will tick down. Also, move take-back is disabled. The time for your moves is always maintained by your session of ZCHESS. Time for your opponent's moves is only estimated by your session, and maintained by his own session. 3. To run ZCHESS from your BBS, install a call to ZCHESS.EXE giving the complete path to DOOR.SYS as the command line parameter. An example of this is: C:\ZCHESS\ZCHESS.EXE C:\BBS\WORK\NODE%WCNODEID%\DOOR.SYS If your BBS does not generate a DOOR.SYS drop file there are many conversion programs that will convert whatever you have to DOOR.SYS. If you can't find a converter please send a copy of your drop file to me at the address below, and I may choose to write a conversion for the information required by the program. Let me know if you want the program mailed or posted on the support BBS. Alternatively, you may run Zchess without any command line parameters. You will be asked to login, and will be assigned 60 minutes remaining. This feature might be usefull for some LAN configurations. 4. You may run ZCHESS locally with LOCAL.BAT. This batch file will call ZCHESS with an abreviated DOOR.SYS that was created by SETUP.EXE. Note: When games are finished, Zchess will attempt to notify you the next time you run the door via a telegram. Since the MSG\*.TGR files are cataloged by the actual BBS number, local players should run from the BBS Door at least once, or these telegrams will not function for you. 5. Post the files ZC_BW.ZIP and ZC_RB.ZIP for download by your RIP users. These contain the RIP icon files that should be copied into the RIP subdirectory. Also, you may modify or create new sets of icons, posting these for your users. These files may be edited with IMED, available from Paul Fargen by request. Other RIPScrip icon editors may be used as well, as long as you maintain a filelength of 566. 6. Maintenance should be performed once a day. MAINT.EXE will lockout all other nodes during the one or two minutes required. MAINT does not require any command line switches. Your BBS should be configured to run MAINT.EXE as a daily event or weekly event. SYSTEM LOCKOUT As mentioned above, MAINT.EXE will lockout all other nodes when it runs. Additionally, if your run NETCHESS.EXE, that program will lockout all nodes as well. SETUP.EXE must lockout all nodes before it allows you to run as well. As there are menu choices to run maintenance or zchess from the setup main menu, the system lockout is released as soon as either of these are selected. You should be sure that there is no chance that a player will logon during a setup session before running MAINT or ZCHESS. More that likely, nothing will go wrong should a player logon from your BBS while you are running SETUP after the system lockout has been released. Still, running any of the setup functions while the BBS is up is "not supported", meaning that if it works for you then great. If it doesn't work, then don't do it! (It will probably be okay, though.) MANAGING A TOURNAMENT Tournaments are managed through the ZCHESS door, and not the maintenance program. The sysop may create the next round using 'M' from the main menu, after switching sections to the tournament. REGISTERED PROGRAM KEY FILE When the program starts ZCHESS will try to open a file called ZCHESS.KEY. The major difference between the Shareware version and the registered version is the existence of this file. Your BBS ID is copied from the registration number on this key, which assures that each BBS ID is unique. Shareware versions allow the sysop to specify a BBS ID, but the first character is forced to a dash, which maintains the uniqueness of the registered users' keys. COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS FOR ZCHESS path\DOOR.SYS Required location and name (always should be DOOR.SYS) of the system drop file. If not specified, you will be able to login. NO_CTS ZCHESS ignores the CTS line when sending characters out the port. NO_DCD ZCHESS ignores the DCD, data carrier detect line. To be used for three-wire operation. NOTIFY Zchess will run the notify routine and then exit. Setup your BBS to call ZCHESS.EXE path\DOOR.SYS NOTIFY as one of your log-on externals to allow people to know that they have a move. CONFIGURATION FILE: ZCHESS.CFG This file is created by SETUP.EXE or with an ASCII test editor. The format used was proposed to me by Charles Taylor, of Pikinu's Yap Yap BBS in Louisville. Each line begins with an optional comment, describing what the variable is. ZCHESS will ignore anything prior to the '=' sign. This is a sample ZCHESS.CFG file: Database Rev = 1 Sysop's name = Paul Fargen BBS name = Rip On A Rope BBS_ID = FARG Max games per player = 25 Max days before default = 0 Path to bulletins = C:\ZCHESS\BULLS\ Path to PLAYERS.DAT = C:\ZCHESS\PLAYERS\ Number of nodes = 1 Path to PKUNZIP = \PKWARE\ PathNAME of downloader = \DSZ\DZDL.BAT Logging active ? = 1 Seconds between status updates = 1 Daily time limit = 9999 Time zone = EST Give up time slice? = 1(1=Yes,0=No) Database Rev Should always be 1 for revisions starting at 1.5. Sysop'S Name Enter the sysop's name on the first line. BBS Name Enter the BBS name on the second line. BBS_ID The BBS ID is an abbreviation of the BBS's name. It will be used by future versions of ZCHESS when networking between BBSes is added. (Version 2.0 April 1996) Max Games Per Player This number is checked when a player is trying to start or join a game. Max games can be changed at any time. Existing games are allowed to be completed. The author intended the maximum number of games per user to be set from twenty to 100. This setting will, of course, be global to all sections in a single door. If this limit is set to 0, no games can be started from the door, and the message "This is a Special section. You can't start games" will popup whenever a player attempt to start or join a game. If you desire to have some areas to be configured normally, and other areas to have games setup offline by the sysop or other means, you should run Zchess in two different doors, allow these different configurations. You should consider setting the paths to PLAYERS.DAT to be identical, allowing a common database of ratings between the doors. Max Days Before Default This is the number of days a player has to make a move before the maintenance routines forfeits the game. It is also used as the time a finished game will remain for the purpose of annotations. Path To Bulletins This is where the bulletins generated by the maintenance routines are placed. It can be set to your BBS's bulletin directory. Path To PLAYERS.DAT This is the location of the player data file. It can be set identically for all copies of the door you run. (Note that ZCHESS has a 100 game limit for each section.) You can specify as much or as little detail in the paths as your system requires. For networks that allow mapping drive letters to paths, being brief might be the best choice. If zchess is running on a single node BBS, then the path might be fully specified, i.e. C:\ZCHESS\PLAYERS\ If you are running on a local area network, you might just specify the next level, i.e. PLAYERS\ Zchess must find this path, or the program will not run. Number of Nodes Used for communications between nodes when running ZCHESS. Messages are sent to all nodes less than or equal to this setting. This should be set to the number of nodes you now have active if you desire real-time messages between nodes. Path to PKZIP/PKUNZIP This can be set to the path required for ZCHESS to find these files. It is not required for this version. In the future, it will be used to zip or unzip network-required files. Path/Name for downloader Set this to the path and filename of your downloader. It is not used by this version of ZCHESS, but may be used in the future to allow download of the .ICN files to RIP users. Logging active? If logging is active, reasons for the program ending other than the normal 'X' exit choice are logged to a file named "ZCHESS.LOG". This file is renamed to "ZCHESS.BAK" after it grows in size to 50,000 bytes. With these two files, reasons for program termination can be determined. If logging is active, users are required to press any key within the first few seconds of starting ZCHESS. This will quickly return them to the BBS if there are problems with passing the DOOR.SYS parameter, the NODEx.CFG required by a particular non-standard port is missing or incorrect, or there are other problems. If a key-press can't be read by ZCHESS, then it will exit. Secs Between Status Update This control the frequency of the status line being repainted at the bottom of the screen. If set to 0, it will be disabled. Information about the user name, node, etc. is displayed. Daily Time Limit To limit the minutes a user can stay in the door each day. This can be more restrictive than the BBS limit. Zero, or a large number will disable this feature. Time zone Used when generating messages for Synchronet BBS. Give up time slice? Releases of OS/2 Warp by IBM and Windows 95 by Microsoft prompted the addition of time-slice returning for DOS windows in these and other operating systems. It may be that Zchess and other tasks running on your computer operate better without giving up the time slice, however. You may set this flag to 0 (for No) if this is the case. Otherwise, Zchess will give up its time slice if waiting on a keyboard input (or character from the remote) for DOS windows under Desqview Windows Standard Mode Windows 386 mode Windows 95 Windows NT (Not tested at the time release) OS/2 Graphics Local mode RIP is actually EGA mode graphics. The pieces used are the .ICN files that came with ZCHESS. If you wish to edit the pieces, get a copy of IMED from the BBSes listed below or use another RIP Icon editor of your choice. Saving Games As games are ended, they are written to a .PGN (Portable Game Notation) file. The file will be located in the same directory that contained the game. Games are appended to this file. You should check the size of the file periodically, and move it to a directory accessible to your users. If you prefer to not save all of the games in .PGN files, simply delete 2PGN.EXE. RUNNING TOURNAMENTS To create a tournament, use SETUP.EXE to create a subdirectory that begins with the letters TOURN. Players can then 'S'witch to that sub and 'J'oin the tournament. Note that joining multiple times will result in a single entry, as the list is filtered when the tournament maintenace routine is performed. After everyone has had an opportunity to join the tournament, the sysop can 'S'witch to that section from the door, and press 'M' for Manage Tourny. The list of entries can be edited to some degree, and then the number of groups should be selected. I believe that a good number of players for a group is three to five. The smaller the group, the more games are required, as everyone in a group will play White and Black against every other player in his group. The grouping can be edited somewhat as well. Finally, the games required for the first round will be created. Note that players are not allowed to start or join games in TOURN sections, so each game must be created either with ZCHESS or manually by the sysop. Deleting a tournament To delete a tournament, you can delete the entire directory which contains it. At a minimum, you must delete GAME*.DAT and CROSS.TXT. TIME SLICING Zchess will sense the operating system when it is started. If it finds OS/2, Windows 3.x, Windows 95, Windows NT or Desqview, it will try to return the time slice each time the keyboard scan returns a no keypress. This may make Zchess run too sluggishly or jerky on some systems. For this reason, you can configure Zchess to never return the time slice, and let the operating system gram time away as it needs. WORKING WITH PLAYER DATA The PLAYERS.DAT file contains the names, ratings and won-loss records of the users. There is one file for all of the OPEN sections, and one each for the REAL section. These are binary files, and cannot be edited directly. The MAINT.EXE program exports the PLAYERS.DAT file to PLAYERS.TXT, and then re-imports all data. This allows users that aren't active to be deleted by changing the first letter of their name to a tilde. Such records are skipped during the import phase of maintenance. If you have a need to change things about a particular record, you may 1. Run MAINT.EXE to get a PLAYERS.TXT file. 2. Change directories to the PLAYERS.DAT and PLAYERS.TXT files you wish to work with. 3. Edit PLAYERS.TXT as required. 4. Run IMPORT.EXE to import the text into PLAYERS.DAT. While working with the exported PLAYERS.TXT file, you will notice that there are some spare fields, which may be used in future versions of Zchess. These fields should be set to 0. As this file is imported to PLAYERS.DAT, these fields are reset to zero. The maintenance program monitors these fields, and if there are found to be non-zero, will assume that this file is corrupt, and will attempt to rebuild PLAYERS.DAT from the PLAYERS.NAM file. A typical record would have the format of Number = 0 Name = Paul Fargen BBS_ID = 0 Security = 99 Rating = 1400 Wins = 1 Losses = 2 Draws = 3 Spare = 0 Graphics = 5 Bypass Intro = 0 BBS user number= -1 Spare = 000 Min Left Today = 1000 Secs Left Now = 600 Last on = 823415247 $end_record$ --------------------------------------------------------- Number A sequential number that is assigned as people enter the door. This number is reassigned by maintenance should players be deleted. Name The name will be the name (24 characters max) that is used during logon. Names are retrieved from the tenth line of DOOR.SYS. They may be the real name or the alias, as configured by your BBS. If the first letter of the name is changed to a tilde ( ~ ), the name will not be skipped during import with either IMPORT.EXE, or by the maintenance program. BBS_ID An unused field. Leave set to zero. Security The security level of the user as retrieved from DOOR.SYS. Not used by this version of Zchess. Rating The chess rating. New players are assigned a rating of 1400. For games completed, the rating is recalculated as follows: For winner: New rating = old rating + ( Loser'sRating-Winner'sRating)/25+16. For the Loser New rating = old rating + ( Winner'sRating-Looser'sRating)/25-16. The following exceptions are made: 1. If the difference between ratings is more than 400, it is assumed to be 400. 2. At least two points must be exchanged if the game ends decisively. 3. If a rating falls below 1200, it is assigned 1200. 5. Should a rating grow above 2800, it is assigned 2800. Note that every point of ratings gained by one player is lost by the other, except for the assignment of 1200. Ratings on one BBS might not correspond to ratings on another BBS. The strength of a given rating is dependant on the strength of the players on the BBS. The average will be 1400, or slightly above on all BBSes. If your BBS participates in networked games, the ratings of your players will be averaged, to some degree, with the BBS, as ratings points are exchanged in networked games too. Wins The number of wins for the player. Losses The number of losses for the player. Draws The number of draws for the player. Spare A spare number. Leave set to 0. Graphics The graphics configuration of the user, set by using '&' from the main Zchess menu. While users will have a mode selected for the BBS, they may choose to differ in Zchess. This will be one of the following values: 1 - Autodectect 2 - Match mode in BBS 3 - RIP154. Will use the .ICN files which should be downloaded by the users. ZC_BW.ZIP or ZC_BR.ZIP contain icons for all pieces required. These files should have been shipped with ZCHESS. 4 - RIP200. Will use the .BMP files, which will be converted automatically by RIPTERM 2.xx from the .ICN files described above. 5 - ANSI Color. Will send text based pieces. Bypass Intro Should be '0' for no or '1' for yes. If set to Yes, the opening graphic will not be displayed, and the user will go to the main menu as quickly as possible. BBS user number The user number as assigned by the BBS software. This is used to store Telegrams. Spares Three spare numerical data files. Leave this line set to 000. Min Left Today Minutes remaining. Is set by Zchess each time a user starts the door. Secs Left Now Seconds remaining. Is set by Zchess, and used to force the user out of the door as their time alloted on the BBS runs out. Last on Time that the user last entered the Zchess door. Is stored as the number of seconds since 1-1-1970. SOLUTIONS TO POSSIBLE ERRORS AND PROBLEMS If there is an unusual error, zchess will try to exit gracefully. Depending on what the problem is, an entry will be added to the bottom of a file called ZCHESS.LOG. The entry will be time stamped, and include the user's name at the time to assist you with finding and solving the problem. Bad door.sys -> C:\ZCHESS\DOOR.SYS. The drop file specified wasn't found by Zchess. This is probably caused by failing to include the path. COLORS UNDER WINDOWS 3.1 The ANSI.SYS I use tends to have global colors for all DOS windows under WIN 3.xx. The colors may not be consistant, as everything printed to the local screen is done via ANSI. AllocSeg Error I've never seen this happen. When Zchess opens the communications port, it grabs the IRQ from the BBS, and allocates some memory to serve as an input buffer of 64 bytes. If this memory isn't available, you should give Zchess a larger window to run from. Quick find record failure... Error finding end of PLAYERS.DAT Error getting size of PLAYERS.DAT Put player failure... Run SETUP.EXE Get player failure... Run SETUP.EXE These errors concern the PLAYERS.DAT file. This file maintains a record for all players that includes their name, ratings, won-draw-loss records, configuration, last time on and some other BBS related flags. If you try to run ZCHESS.EXE without first running SETUP.EXE, you might get one of these errors. If PLAYERS.DAT is corrupted, you might see one of these errors. You should create a valid copy of players.dat. SETUP.EXE will create a PLAYERS.DAT of zero length, which is of course the smallest. As players play ZCHESS, they are added to this file with a record size of 61 bytes. The format of each record was coded in C as follows: struct PLAYER_STRUCT { unsigned long number; /* 0 - ?? Numbered in order of playing Zchess */ char name[MAXNAMELENGTH]; /* 25 bytes allowing 24 char name with null */ short BBS_ID_pointer; /* Future use?? */ unsigned long security; /* 10 - 99 on most BBSes? */ short rating; /* 1400 is the average. */ short wins; /* 0 - 32000+ */ short losses; /* 0 - 32000+ */ short draws; /* 0 - 32000+ */ char spare_config0; /* Spare */ char graphic_mode; /* Set by '&'. ANSI, RIP, etc. */ char bypass_intro; /* Set by '&'. 1 or 0 for Yes or No */ char spare_config2; /* Spare */ char spare_config3; /* Spare */ short BBS_player_number; /* User # for BBS. For Telegrams */ char spare_config4; /* Spare */ char spare_config5; /* Spare */ char spare_config6; /* Used to sort tourneys */ short minutes_remaining_today; /* Set at logon */ time_t seconds_remaining; /* Set at logon */ time_t last_on; /* LONG INT. # of seconds since 1-1-70 */ }; Suspicious Data If users complain that their number of wins displayed has been reset to zero, that their player number is a very very large number, or that there is something else wrong with the ratings, records or player information, PLAYERS.DAT may have been corrupted. Corruption can be caused by system disk problems or loss of power at the wrong time, and possibly a number of other surprises. Once corrupted, PLAYERS.DAT should be deleted. This is a binary file, and data can't be saved if the entire file is not intact. Chess players will be very disappointed if their ratings and records are lost. There are a few remedies you might wish to try. 1. Delete PLAYERS.DAT. 2. Look at PLAYERS.TXT using a text editor, such as MS DOS's EDIT. If the information in this file appears to be correct, run IMPORT.EXE from this subdirectory. Remember to specify the path to IMPORT.EXE, but run the program from the directory which is to be repaired. A second option is to rebuild from the PLAYERS.NAM file. Each time a user logs off or changes sections, the most critical data is saved to a file called PLAYERS.NAM in the same directory as PLAYERS.DAT and PLAYERS.TXT. To do this rebuild, do the following: 1. Delete PLAYERS.DAT. 2. Change directories to the Zchess directory. 3. Run MAINT.EXE. MAINT.EXE will discover that the PLAYERS.DAT file is missing, and begin rebuilding it from the PLAYERS.NAM file. It might be expected that the problem with PLAYERS.DAT wouldn't be discovered until after quite a few new logins. Logging in would create a new record, with a rating of 1400, and no games completed. PLAYERS.NAM would hopefully have the current rating and record of these players before the problem, as well as the new information. MAINT will read each entry from PLAYERS.NAM, and use the latest entry if the number of games completed is the same, and use the record having the most number of games completed otherwise. Hence, the old information would be restored. ZCHESS RUNS SLOWLY WHEN CHANGING SCREENS OR EXITING Configuring more nodes than is necessary will slow down the Zchess. Zchess writes a message to each other node every time the menu is changed. If the max node set in ZCHESS.CFG is unnecessarily large, then time is waisted. Always set the max nodes to the smallest possible. SUPPORT FOR NON-STANDARD NODES If your BBS has a node that is other than a UART port 1,2,3 or 4, you should setup a non-standard node using SETUP.EXE. This will create a file which should have two lines. For fossil ports, the lines will be similar to: FOSSIL 15 The first line will always be FOSSIL. The second line will be the fossil port that should be used. These lines are saved into a file called NODEx.CFG, where x is the node number of your BBS which has a non-standard port. If you have a port that has a different address or IRQ than the standard for COM1, COM2 COM3 and COM4, you should generate a file with the following two lines: 3E8 4 The first line is the hex address of your port, and can be set to whatever you have. The second line is the IRQ, also in hex. For this version of Zchess the IRQs are limited to 2,3,4,5,6 and 7. Note that a NODEx.CFG file should not be present if the comport reported in DOOR.SYS is COM1 through COM4 and it uses the standard addresses and IRQs. COMMUNICATIONS There are a few various communications vehicals between Zchess, the user and other users in Zchess. These are listed below: Messages Messages are from user to user while Playing in a game. These messages, initiated with the 'M' hot-key, are received by your opponent the next time he enters the game. If a BBS is eavesdropping on a section between two other BBSes, the messages are not captured, as the communications is assumed to be from a player to the other player. Notes Notes are game annotations that are written while Viewing a game and pressing 'V'. Notes are from a user to everyone on a given BBS for the purpose of a discussion of the game. Notes therefore, are not sent or received by Netchess. Notes remain local to the BBS only. Annotations can be posted for download and placed into other Zchess doors if a particular game has merit. Look for the file called Telegrams Telegrams are from Zchess to a user regarding game status changes. A telegram is generated when Telegrams are not sent to remote BBSes. Often telegrams will be generated by games ending with a remote BBS. FILES YOU SHOULD WATCH You should monitor ZCHESS.LOG, which is in the same directory as ZCHESS.EXE. The log files should be automatically deleted once they grow in size to 50000 bytes. This may or may not have information that could be useful to you at the time that its deleted. If your door is running well, then most of the information will probably concern people dropping the carrier, and isn't important. Another file you should watch is PLAYERS.NAM. There will be a copy of this file in your path to PLAYERS.DAT, and each REAL section. These files grow until the MAINT.EXE program is run. MAINT.EXE resets the file, and then adds one record for each user. Before this file is reset, the PLAYERS.DAT file is checked for obvious corruption, so hopefully between the three files, you will not loose all of the player data. PLAYERS.DAT is the most important file to control. You might wish to maintain a backup of this file each month on a floppy. This will prevent you from loosing most of the ratings and game results. .PGN files must be watched. After each game is completed, it is exported to a .PGN file in the game subdirectory. This file will grow without boundary. If your chess door is very active, you should watch this file, edit, move or delete it as required. TIME STAMPING Zchess stores and manipulates time using the ANSI time() function. For Turbo C, this value is a long (32 bit) word representing the number of seconds that have elapsed since 1-1-1970. Below is a list of values for a few dates: Date Count in decimal Count in hex 01-01-1980 315550800 01-01-1990 631170000 04-01-1996 828334800 07-01-1996 836193600 08-01-1996 838872000 09-01-1996 841550400 10-01-1996 844142400 11-01-1996 846824400 12-01-1996 849416400 01-01-1997 852094800 02-01-1997 854773200 03-01-1997 857192400 04-01-1997 859870800 05-01-1997 862459200 06-01-1997 865137600 07-01-1997 867729600 08-01-1997 870408000 09-01-1997 873086400 10-01-1997 875678400 11-01-1997 878360400 12-01-1997 880952400 01-01-1998 883630800 01-01-1999 915166800 01-01-2000 946702800 01-01-2001 978325200 01-01-2010 1262322000 01-01-2020 1577854800 01-01-2030 1893474000 01-01-2035 2051240400 01-01-2036 2082776400 01-01-2037 2114398800 01-01-2038 2145934800 01-15-2038 2147144400 01-16-2038 2147230800 01-17-2038 2147317200 01-18-2038 2147403600 01-19-2038 2147490000 01-19-2038 22:14:07 2147483647 7FFFFFFFH In 40 years or so, this counter will overflow into negative numbers. Zchess should have no problems with time until then. PROTECTION FOR SUBSCRIBERS As a subcriber to ZCHESS, you will be protected from harassment by telemarketers, MODEM marketers, hacks and whatever else by the fact that the author will NOT furnish information that you specify on the registeration form except for the following: BBS Name: Four character BBS_ID that is contained in your ZCHESS.KEY file. If you want to publish your BBS phone number for the purpose of starting interBBS chess-wars, you should post messages on your networked subs stating that fact. I will not post your BBS name and telephone number in any public or private medium. PKZIP Authentication Verification For your protection, this program has been zipped using the following Authentication Verification code: JWE939 Paul Fargen The above code should be displayed when the files are extracted from the archive file. If this -AV code is not displayed and you are unsure of your source, or any error message is received when the files are extracted, please do not use the program. Call the support BBS shown below and download another copy of the program. Note that some BBSes will rezip files posted on their BBSes for the purpose of including their own advertisements. In these cases, you should consider whether or not you should run the program or obtain another copy. BBS SUPPORT (Please verify that the BBS is still active with a data line before calling. The Chess Board BBS Sysop: Paul Fargen (That's me!) Node 1: 14400, soon to be 28800 502-962-8781 Email: pfargen@iglou.com REGISTRATION All version 1.x registrations will also be sent a registered copy of version 2.0 as soon as its available. There is currently one level of registration: $25 allows full use of Zchess and its utilities without restriction. KY residents add sales tax. If you prefer to download the key from the support BBS, then send $25 plus tax, and specify the BBS you will retrieve the file from. Keys will be PKZIPped with encription, so specify the password want used on this form. I will be more than happy to Email your key. It will be ZIPPED with a password that you should specify with your registration. Paul Fargen 6200 Richiewayne Drive Louisville, KY 40219 System Name__________________________________________________ Four Character KEY Serial Number preferred: ________________ Second Choice: ________________ Third Choice: ________________ Your Name ___________________________________________________ Mailing Address______________________________________________ City, State, ZIP, Province, etc._____________________________ _____________________________________________________________ Post Key on my BBS? _________________________________________ Send KEY via Internet Email? ________________________________ Internet Email address. _____________________________________ If key is sent by BBS or Internet, specify the username and password you will use to unzip the .KEY file: password: _______________________________________ Enclosed: Registration $25 ____________ Shipping $0 ____________ Tax (KY 6% ) ____________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________