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=========================================================================
STellar Chaos
Atari ST/STE/TT Version
Copyright 1990-1992 Roger M. Thomas ~ Redwulf Software
All Rights Reserved
Concept and Programming by Roger M. Thomas
==========================================================================
I. Disclaimer
II. Shareware Terms
III. Introduction
IV. Brief History
V. Setup Instructions
VI. General Game Instructions
VII. Error Trapping & Reporting
VIII. Ordering & Registration Info
==============================================================================
Disclaimer, Declaration Of Rights And Warranty
==============================================================================
This Software is provided as-is
There are No warranties, Expressed or Implied.
I, Roger M. Thomas ( Redwulf Software ) DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES RELATING TO
THIS SOFTWARE, WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE,
AND ALL SUCH WARRANTIES ARE EXPRESSLY AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMED. NEITHER
Roger M. Thomas ( Redwulf Software ) NOR ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN
THE CREATION, PRODUCTION, OR DELIVERY OF THIS SOFTWARE SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY
INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES ARISING FROM THE USE OR IN-
ABILITY TO USE SUCH SOFTWARE EVEN IF Roger M. Thomas ( Redwulf Software ) HAS
ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR CLAIMS. IN NO EVENT SHALL
Roger M. Thomas ( Redwulf Software ) 's LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES EVER EXCEED
THE AMOUNT PAID TO LICENSE THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF
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
consequetial or incidental damages, so the above limitation may not apply to
you.
This agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State Of Indiana and
shall inure to the benefit of Roger M. Thomas ( Redwulf Software ), and any
successors, adminstrators, heirs, and assigns. Any action or proceeding
brought by either party against the other arising out of or related to this
agreement shall be brought only in a STATE or FEDERAL COURT of competant
jurisdiction located in Vandenburg County, Indiana. The parties hereby
consent to in personam jurisdiction of said courts.
===============================================================================
Copyrighted Software & Shareware Terms
===============================================================================
STellar Chaos Is a Shareware Product. The author grants permission for
this disk/archive to be copied and distributed, if no fee is charged.
Otherwise, you must get written permission from the author to distribute
copies of this disk/archive. If you use this software for a period exceeding
60 days you are required to make a shareware donation of $20.00 for the
registered copy.
Upon Acceptance of Your Registration Fee, This software and the disks
or archive on/in which it is contained will be licensed to you, for your own
use. This is COPYRIGHTED software. You are not obtaining the title to the
software or any copyright rights. You may not sublicense, rent, lease,
convey, modify, translate, convert to another programming language or
computer platform, decompile, or disassemble the software for any purpose.
You may make as many copies of this software for back-up purposes ONLY.
You may use this software on more than one computer, provided there is no
chance that it will be used simultaneously on more than one computer. If
you need to use this software on more than one computer, your are required
to purchase an additional copy for each computer on which you desire to run
the software.
==========================================================================
This Game is Dedicated to William Counihan
Who Takes Broken Alliances Too Seriously!
===============================================================================
Introduction
===============================================================================
STellar Chaos is a multi-player space combat game in which the players
struggle amongst themselves to gain control of the planets in a galaxy.
Each player commands an armada of starships, negotiates alliances with
other players, spies, constructs planetary defenses and develops powerful
weapons! There are other hazards and mysteries lurking in unexplored
sectors of the galaxy such as Black Holes, Nebulas, Asteroid Fields, Etc.
A Single player ( or an allied team of Players ) must overcome these
obstacles to become the absolute ruler(s) of the Galaxy.
================================================================================
Brief History of STellar Chaos
===============================================================================
STellar Chaos originally started as a board game I dreamed up way back
in 1987 when I was but a senior in high school. My Friends and I enjoyed it
immensely, so it was no wonder that when I started running STarlink BBS in my
Freshman year of college that I pondered the thought of a BBS game based on
it. At that time ( and it is still that way ) the Atari ST world had few
BBS games to choose from. So I began work on STellar Chaos. Well, it was a
shoddy start and it never amounted to more than a lump of source code on a
stray floppy until I had joined the Air Force. I resurrected STarlink and to
my suprise Chaos had found a following ( even in its basic form ) and I
pursued coding further... Well, after 2 more years of tinkering, I had
finally produced a half-decent version ( version 1.20 )...
[ NOTE: If anyone has ever seen the old version of SC put up on Genie way
back in 1990 they can appreciate the changes that have been made ]
Now at version 1.50, STellar Chaos is ( If I dare say ) another fine
addition to a growing library of Atari ST online games. I cannot take all
the credit though; if it were not for my loyal players - many of which
supported SC long after I had taken STarlink down - the game would have never
reached version 1.30! My undying thanks for the support and debugging job
guys - you know who you are... Anyways, I proudly present you with Version
1.50 of STellar Chaos and I hope that you have as much fun playing it as I
had headaches writing it :)
Roger M. Thomas
'Redwulf'
P.S. Am I the only guy that has written a game only to find out that
everyone else seems to play it better than I do? Go Figure...
============================================================================
Setup Instructions
============================================================================
Before You Get Started...
Periodically, the Name of the Program, STellar Chaos, will be abbreviated
into SC. This makes the instructions less redundant and saves space too!
STellar Chaos was written in GFA Basic 3.5E and has been test ran on
BB/ST, STar-net, Forem and Express! BBS Software. I foresee no problems
with other BBS prgms running SC, But the program MUST be able to run
some type of external program ( ie, SC and other online games )..
Yes, This means SC will not work on Michtron BBS....
STellar Chaos has been tested on versions of TOS ( 1.0 - 2.06 )
without any problems. It also works on both floppy A: and hard disks
depending on your system... As for Multi-Tos, well, We'll see...
STellar Chaos has its own Modem I/O routines so I/O redirection is not
necessary. STellar Chaos also has a Carrier Loss Detection routine and a
timeout routine to prevent it from hanging up BBS Systems..
**** SETTING UP AND RUNNING STELLAR CHAOS ****
Going For it
------------
* Step 1: Choose The Drive on Which You Wish to place STellar Chaos.
The Valid Drive Designators Are:
Drives A, C - P ( Ie, A:, C:, D:, ... P: )
Drive B Has Been Omitted as it tends to bring up an Alert box
Asking For Disk B ( Can't have That since the Sysop might not
be around! )
* Step 2: Create a Folder ( Directory ) on That Drive called CHAOS
* Step 3: Copy ALL of the files from the CHAOSxxx.LZH archive into the
CHAOS Folder ( Directory )..
You Must Have These Files in the CHAOS Folder to run SC:
REDTITLE.ANS - ANSI Graphyx Title Screen
REDTITLE.TXT - ASCII Title Screen
SCINITxx.TOS - The Initializer Program ( sets up datafiles )
CHAOSxxx.TOS - The Main Program - note that the Xs' are the
version number of the programs.
CHAOSINS.TXT - The Game Instructions
READ_ME .DOC - This file, which is for you, the Sysop
SCUSER .DAT - The User Info File ( More On This Later )
WHERE_IS.DEF - Locator Path File For The Forem User File
( See SCUSER.DAT And DORINFO?.DEF )
* Step 4: Run the Program SCINITxx.TOS - This is the setup program
* Step 5: Press [I] to Initialize the game files. You Will Prompted For
the Number of players and planets.
My recommendations... Choose 8 players and 60 planets.
It Will then write a File Named DATASHIT.DAT to your CHAOS
Folder - this is the main datafile.
***************************************************************************
* *
* ==== NOTE: For the 'FIXED' Unregistered 4-Player Version ==== *
* *
* The Unregistered Version of STellar Chaos V. 1.5x is basically set up *
* the same way as the registered, but you will only have 4 player slots *
* available and you do NOT get to choose the number of players. I feel *
* that this leaves enough room for your users to get a feel for the *
* game before they start begging you to register... *
* *
***************************************************************************
* Step 6: Choose the way SC will load up.
SC looks inside the CHAOS folder for a file named SCUSER.DAT.
This file contains the player's Handle or Name. Your BBS
program needs to create this file for STellar Chaos to run.
This is where it gets the player info.
If STellar Chaos cannot find SCUSER.DAT it will then look
for a Forem DORINFO?.DEF File ( This is the Forem mode ).
SC will look INSIDE the CHAOS folder for the WHERE_IS.DEF file
and extract a Path Which Points SC To The Location of Your Forem
Compatable DORINFO?.DEF User File. It Will Then Look in This
Path, Load the DORINFO?.DEF File And Extract The necessary info
from it. All you need do is Create The WHERE_IS.DEF Pathfile
and place it in the CHAOS folder.
SO - here's how it works... If you want to use the Forem
DORINFO?.DEF file method, make sure that SCUSER.DAT is NOT
in the CHAOS folder! Else SC will not attempt to even find
the DORINFO?.DEF file. Is that clear?
NOTE: Sample Files ( examples ) of Both SCUSER.DAT, WHERE_IS.DEF
and the Forem DORINFO?.DEF Files are included with SC for
the Sysop's benefit. These Files Show the Structures
Necessary For SC to Process Them.
For Sysops Wishing to 'Generate' A Forem DORINFO?.DAT File
I Have included the File Structure. Is As Follows:
Line 1: BBS Name
Line 2: Sysop's 1st Name
Line 3: Sysop's Last Name
Line 4: Com Port ( Always 0 On Atari )
Line 5: Baud Rate 8,N,1
Line 6: Network?
Line 7: User's 1st Name >-- Used By SC
Line 8: User's Last Name >-- Used By SC
Line 9: City/State
Line 10: ANSI Graphics ON/OFF
Line 11: Access Level Of User
Line 12: Time Left In Minutes
Please Note That SC Only Uses The User's 1st And Last Name
All Other Information In The File Is Not Needed For SC To
Execute Properly.
* Step 7: (Optional) Press [D] to display the galaxy map. Why?
Because this shows you the galaxy ( the playing area )...
It is a good idea to check it out and make sure that the
'O's ( Planets ) are spaced out pretty good. This makes
for a better game. The Same goes for the '^'s... These
are where the players start from. If they are bunched up
then it will be harder for the players to get a good
start in the game... So its a good idea to make sure that
everything is cool.. If its not, then re-init the files
( go back to step 5 )....
* Step 8: Quit The Initializer Program ( SCINITxx.TOS ) - You
Don't have to save the datafiles as this was done when
you initialized the game. It won't hurt anything if
you do tho.
* Step 9: Run CHAOSxxx.TOS ( The Main gamefile ) from Your BBS.
If everything was done correctly, then the game will
log you on as a new player... You can take it from there.
NOTE: SC can be ran locally from the desktop as well.
However, you must have your name in either SCUSER.DAT
or DORINFO?.DEF. I just keep a file named SCUSER.DAX
with my name in it that I rename to SCUSER.DAT before
running SC. Just rename it back to .DAX when you are
finished playing.
===============================================================================
General Instructions and Misc Info
===============================================================================
Apart from the general game instructions included in CHAOSINS.TXT, there
are a handful of other instructions and info for the sysop..
Player Maintenance
------------------
Editing of the Users' Name/Handle and last call date are accomplished from
the SCTINIT.TOSs' [E]dit Selection... This is useful if a stupid user
changed his handle during the game, his handle/name in the game is now
different from the BBS and now SC can't find the 'old' him and tries to
log him in as a new player.
Edit lastcall is useful in case you accidentally set your clock wrong -
( which can delete everyone since SC kills all users who haven't played a
turn in 5 or more days! )
Yes, Once again, If a player does not play the game in a period of 5 days,
he or she will be auto-deleted from game play.. All Alliances the player
might have had are nullified and All planets are returned to 'neutral'
status. ( The Unregistered Version only allows three days of user
inactivity because of only having 4 player slots - makes for a faster
turnaround.. )
ANSI graphix is supported for online only, meaning that local BBS modes
have the ANSI stripped from the output..
Files that STellar Chaos Creates in the CHAOS directory:
--------------------------------------------------------
SCSCORE.DAT, as you probably guessed, is the scoretable. You can easily
use it as a bulletin so that your users can check the scores without having
to play the game.
SCCHAMP.DAT contains the name(s) and score(s) of the previous winner(s).
Yet another useful bulletin file.
Also, more files only with numbers as names. ( ie; 7.7 or 1.5 or 4.5
etc... ) These are the mail files. The numbers stand for:
7 . 5
^ ^ ^
Mail sender______: : :______Mail Recipient
:
:________Good ole dot found in all filenames
Now you aren't so confused, eh?
DD/MM/YY.LOG and NEWS.BAK are the daily news files. Useful as bulletins,
they record all important events in the game. These files are automatically
deleted by the STINIT.TOS when you intialize the SC datafiles or when the end
of the game occurs. This just makes less work for you to do ( Geez, Am I a
thoughtful Programmer or what? ) You can delete them whenever you like,
as the game will still work without them.
GAMEOVER is a file created when the game is over ( what a coincidence, eh? )
It is automatically erased when you initialize the game. Basically, when SC
sees it in the CHAOS folder, it knows not to log the player into the game and
to inform the sysop that the game needs resetting.
SCUSER.DAT and DORINFO?.DEF ( The question mark can be any character ) as you
probably ( hopefully ) know, were created by your BBS program so that STellar
Chaos can fetch the Players' Handle or Name from it. I just thought I'd
throw them in here for the hell of it...
The MISC Folder ( on Registered Versions ): This is a Directory containing
various items that SC Sysops have found useful in running/maintaining SC.
These are primarily script files for running SC from BBSs. Just something
else for the Sysops' benefit...
===============================================================================
Error Control & Reporting Bugs
===============================================================================
I have included an error trapping routine in STellar Chaos which should make
the game bullet-proof for your BBS. If STellar Chaos Should crash, it will
leave a short note to the user as to which routine generated the error. I
feel that this should usually point out any obvious problems to the Sysop as
well as giving me a quick pointer to the cause of the problem.. If You think
you have discovered a bug, please write to me at the address listed on the
order form or call Solano STation BBS (707)446-4158 and leave Email to REDWULF
( Not the Sysop ) and I will do my best to tell you how to fix the problem
or make the appropriate changes to the code ( lets hope not! ). Here is a
short list of the more common problems reported with SC:
1] SC Says It Cannot Find the CHAOS Folder.
ANSWER: Did You Create One? SC Does Not Make Its Own...
2] I run SC and it Generates an error in the load user name file procedure.
ANSWER: Have You set up your BBS to generate the SCUSER.DAT or
DORINFO?.DEF file? This is where SC finds the user name/handle and
the program will not run without it. Remember - You MUST create a
WHERE_IS.DEF file in the CHAOS folder to point to your DORINFO?.DEF
file if you plan on using the Forem Mode.
3] I have created a CHAOS folder on Drive B but SC says it cant find the
CHAOS Directory...
ANSWER: SC does not use Drive B. If I had used it you would be prompted
for Disk B all the time when is scans for te CHAOS folder. I felt it
best to leave it out. Besides, most Sysops run BBSs off of Hard Disks.
4] I have created a CHAOS folder on Drive C and SC Says it Cannot find the
Directory.
ANSWER: SC starts at drive P: and works its way down to A:, Skipping B:
If you have 2 or more CHAOS folders, SC will use the one it finds first
and ignores the others.. IE, you cannot run more than 1 copy of SC at a
time.
===============================================================================
Ordering / Registration Instructions
===============================================================================
To Obtain the Latest and Greatest version of STellar Chaos,
a Complete Printed Manual and Your Registered Copy of
The Initializing Program:
Please send a Donation of $20.00 in U.S. funds
(Postal Money Order for Foreign Orders Pleez!)
And Complete the Registration Form Below And Mail To:
SRA Roger Thomas
P.O. Box 8101
Evansville, IN 44716
For Version Updates, $3 will get you the latest version on disk
( I'm charging for disk costs and shipping - no profit here! )
== OR ==
You can download the CHAOSxxx.LZH Archive from a BBS or Online
Service and use your REGISTERED Initializer to start the game!
This provides 'FREE' upgrades for those with access to a modem!
The Official STellar Chaos Support BBS Is:
== Solano STation BBS ==
(707) 446-4158
300-14,400 V.32bis
To Reach Me, Please Leave E-Mail To REDWULF, And Allow up to
a week for responses... Thank You...
In Hoc Signo Vinces!
_|_
|
Your Forever Fellow Atari Loyalist/Fanatic - Redwulf
PS: Hey Tramiels! You have a winner with the Falcon!
Dont Blow it you Hosers!
Can You Say This Word? A D V E R T I S E
==========================================================================
STellar Chaos Order/Registration Form
Please Complete This Form And Include With Your Order
( If you dont have a printer then write it out just as it appears below! )
---------------------------------------------------
Version of SC Requested: (____)<-- Atari Version (____)<-- IBM Version
Amount Enclosed: (____><-- $20.00 For Either Registered Version
(____)<-- $3.00 ( $5 Foriegn ) For Update
BBS Name: ______________________________ BBS Phone Number:_________________
Sysop Name ( Full Name ):___________________________________________________
Sysop Handle:__________________________ Sysop Phone #:_____________________
Address:____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
==============================================================================
Please Complete The Following Information As It Will Help Me Better understand
The wants/Needs of My Users...
What Type Of Computer Do You Own? ___________________________________________
What BBS Software Do You Use? _______________________________________________
Comments About STellar Chaos: _______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
How Would You Rate The Quality of This Shareware Product and How Could it be
Improved? __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
STellar Chaos Rating Chart ( 1 Selection Per Customer Pleez! )
Awesome (____) Terrific (____) Good (____)
OK (____) Bad (____) Give it Up Loser (____)
What Kinda of Online Games Would You like to See From Redwulf Software in the
Future? _____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Would You Be interested in an Animated, Direct Connect/Null Modem/Midi Multi-
player Version of STellar Chaos With Digitized Sound ( Sorry, Atari Versions
only! ) - Yes, This is my current Post-Chaos Project: ( Yes/No ):___________