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Text File | 1996-02-04 | 26.9 KB | 604 lines

BOX DICE v3.7 by Al Lawrence Sunrise-80 BBS (404) 256-9525 (USR v.everything 28.8) (404) 705-9104 (USR v.everything 28.8) (404) 256-9518 (Voice, 9am-9:30pm EST) (EMAIL) al_lawre@ix.netcom.com OVERVIEW ________ BOX DICE is a fast-paced, addictive and FRUSTRATING game where the object is to remove all 24 boxes from the grid, based on the roll of the dice. NOTE: Most errors will be logged to a file called DFRAME.ERR which is created in the directory you run the door from. NON-REGISTERED R E S T R I C T I O N S ---------------------------------------- ° No Bulletins created ° Games per day limited to 3 ° Keyboard timeout value limited to 2 minutes ° Makeup days disabled ° Game time limit disabled ° Can not send/receive messages to/from other players INSTALLATION ____________ Installation is fairly easy and straight-forward. The following steps and examples should have you up and running in a very short period of time. It is assumed that you are familiar with setting up DOORS on your system. To this end, only examples of the configuration file and Door batch file are described. 1) Create a directory to hold all BOXDICE files 2) Unzip BXDICExx.ZIP into the the above directory 3) Create a configuration file, with a name of your choice, or modify the supplied BXDICE.CFG file. A description follows: ** Location of system file (See Below) SUNRISE-80 BBS Your BBS Name Al Sysop's First name Lawrence Sysop's Last Name |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | READ! 1 CommPort \ These 2 lines are required | | READ! 1 Node # / ONLY for GTUSER.BBS | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------| 00000000 Registration Number ! # 3 Maximum # of Games per day (Sysop gets 99 in Registered version ONLY!) # 0 Max # of days a caller can make up, during calls in one day. 0=Disable Make-up Option Maximum value = 27, Minimum value = 1 # NONE Drive:\Path\Filename to contain the Top Score Bulletin or enter NONE for NO Bulletin creation. # NONE Drive:\Path\Filename to contain the Top Score Bulletin (Color) or enter NONE for NO Bulletin creation. # NONE Drive:\Path\Filename to contain the Hall of Fame Bulletin or enter NONE for NO Bulletin creation. # NONE Drive:\Path\Filename to contain the Hall of Fame Bulletin (Color) or enter NONE for NO Bulletin creation. 2 1 = DO NOT Display ADOPT-A-DOOR Message 2 = Display ADOPT-A-DOOR message # 2 Keyboard timeout value in Minutes # 3 Minimum # of points you must accumulate if you DO NOT want to have points deducted # 25 Points to deduct if score less than minimum. " > 499 & < 1000 ! # 0 Time Allowed in Door (Sysop = Time Remaining - REG. VERSION) # N Automatic game reset at end of month: Y = Yes enable autoreset N = Keep accumulating scores # Y Y = Allow Sysop to have 99 games N = Do Not Allow Sysop 99 games ! # 000=00/00 Security Level/Games Allowed Per Day ! # 000=00/00 Security Level/Games Allowed Per Day ! # 000=00/00 Security Level/Games Allowed Per Day ! # 000=00/00 Security Level/Games Allowed Per Day ! # 000=00/00 Security Level/Games Allowed Per Day ! # 000=00/00 Security Level/Games Allowed Per Day ! # 000=00/00 Security Level/Games Allowed Per Day ! # 000=00/00 Security Level/Games Allowed Per Day ! # 000=00/00 Security Level/Games Allowed Per Day ! # 000=00/00 Security Level/Games Allowed Per Day @ # XXXX/YYYY Blackout Range From/To @ # XXXX/YYYY Blackout Range From/To @ # XXXX/YYYY Blackout Range From/To @ # XXXX/YYYY Blackout Range From/To @ # XXXX/YYYY Blackout Range From/To 000 Unique 3-digit number used as a suffix for the exported score file name, if you wish to paricipate in an Inter-BBS game. 000=no Inter-BBS participation. N Y = Force Caller to respond to Instructions <y/n). May need this with Digiboards. N = Allow caller to press ENTER in response to Instructions <y/N> 0 Use this option to LIMIT the number of HIGH SCORE entries to be displayed. A ZERO(0) = NO LIMIT 0 Number of months to keep in the SUNHOF files (Hall of Fame). 0 = ALL N Y = Use Alias for Caller's name (Requires Door.Sys) N = Use Logon Name for Caller's name Y Y = Allow Messages to be sent/received N = Do NOT allow messages to be sent/read ** = Replace with ONE of the following: C:\bbs\PCBOARD.SYS <- For PCBoard systems using PCBOARD.SYS only C:\BBS\CALLINFO.BBS <- For Wildcat! systems (prior to v3.0) C:\BBS\DOOR.SYS <- For ANY systems that support DOOR.SYS C:\BBS\DORINFOx.DEF <- For ANY systems that support DORINFOx.DEF C:\BBS\SFDOORS.DAT <- For Spitfire systems. c:\bbs\TRIBBS.SYS <- For TriBBS systems. C:\BBS\GTUSER.BBS <- For GT Power * if using this option you must put the ComPort # on line 5 and the Node # on line 6 of the configuration file # = Requires registration to change to a different value. ! = See "Plays Per Day" Below @ = See "Blackout Periods" Below NOTE: There are NO Blank Lines in the Config File!! 4) Create a batch file or modify the BOXDICE file supplied. A description of this file follows: ECHO off cd\BBS\DOORS\BOXDICE Location of Boxdice files BOXDICE BOXDICE.CFG EXE filename and CFG filename (Name used in creating file in #3 above) CD\BBS BOARD 5) When running in more than one node, be sure to supply a different configuration name for each node (your choice of name). 6) If running with Fossil-based multi-port boards add /FD to the line containing the CFG name as follows: BOXDICE BOXDICE.CFG /FD TROUBLESHOOTING --------------- (1) If you are running this Door on a 486 system and encounter errors such as ERROR 6.... OVERFLOW Error ERROR 5.... ILLEGAL Function Call (may be associated with other problems) KEYBOARD Timeout after 5 minutes You may have to put the following line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: SET NO87=ON (2) If you encounter an Error 62 (Input Past End of File), BEFORE you see the opening screen of the Door, your problem will more than likely be associated with the CFG file. The error 62 means that you do not have enough entries in the CFG. Compare your CFG file with the CFG definition in the DOC file. (3) If you encounter an ERROR 70... Permission Denied, this will more than likely mean that you DO NOT have SHARE loaded. SHARE is a DOS file that comes with your version of DOS. To load it type the word SHARE at the DOS prompt. To load it permanently type the word SHARE on a line by itself in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, any place prior to the loading of your BBS software. There have been numerous reports that loading SHARE high causes some problems, so to be on the safe side, do not load it high. Should you have any questions or problem, please do not hesitate to call voice for immediate help... 404-256-9518 (9am-9:30pm EST) any day! POOL Points ------------ When you end up losing points, Boxdice will place them into a "POOL". This "POOL" will continue to accumulate all points lost by any player. It will also accumulate the points lost by those playing on any other node(s) at the same time. The "POOL" points will be updated on the players screen REAL TIME (at the moment the player on another node loses points). The "POOL" points can be won by any player, if they remove all the boxes in 3 or more columns. The minimum amount in the "POOL" will be 500 points. MAKE-UP DAYS (Registered version only) -------------------------------------- The Make-Up-Day feature allows the caller to make up any plays he/she missed during the current month and prior to the current call. You control whether to allow this option, as well as the number of days the caller can make up, on any prticular days worth of calls. Entering a 0 (zero) for this option, in the configuration file, turns the option OFF, any other value (up to a max of 27) turns the option ON and dictates the number of days the caller can make up. NOTE: The number of games per day is calculated as follows... Games Allowed per day x Number of makeup days. Example: Games Allowed per day = 2 Max # of makeup days = 4 If a caller logs in on 5/8/92 and this is their first call of the month, they would have a potential of 16 games to makeup and bring them current (8 days (5/8/92) * 2 (games per day)). However, since the maximum # of Makeup Days is set at 4, the maximum # of games the caller can play on 5/8/92, is 8 (games allowed * max # of makeup days). HALL OF FAME BULLETINS (Registered version only) ------------------------------------------------ The program will automatically reset the game when the first caller of the month plays the game. The score file will be cleared and a set of Hall of Fame files will be created. The files will be called SUNHOF.ASC and SUNHOF.ANS (ASCII and ANSI versions). The files will be placed in the same directory as the BOXDICE.EXE file. WARNING: The HOF files are cumulative files. That means they are read in each month and updated. DO NOT DELETE EITHER FILE!!!! or you will lose the record of prior months winners!!!! BLACKOUT PERIODS ________________ Use the Blackout ranges option to define up to 5 time periods during which you DO NOT want the Door to be played. If a caller tries to access the Door during the Blackout period, they will be shown a message that contains ALL the Blackout periods you have defined, and to try the Door at a later time. Each of the 5 Blackout ranges takes the form of XXXX/YYYY, where XXXX=beginning time and YYYY=the ending time. For example, 0930/1230 means to NOT allow the Door to be played between 9:30am and 12:30pm. IMPORTANT: - All times must be 4 digits & must follow the XXXX/YYYY format - DO NOT change the XXXX/YYYY entry UNLESS you want to assign a Blackout range. - You MUST use the MILITARY time format. Example: 2030=8:30pm 0900=9am, 0030=12:30am, 1700=5pm, etc. PLAYS Per DAY/DOOR Time _______________________ Plays Per Day and Door Time can be controlled several ways: (1) You can use the Games Per Day, singular option, in the config file above. This option, will affect ALL callers whose Security Level is NOT defined in any of the 10 optional Security Level/ Plays Per Day entries in the config file. (2) You can use the Door Time, singular option, in the config file above. This option, will affect ALL callers whose Security Level is NOT defined in any of the 10 optional Security Level/ Plays Per Day/Door Time entries in the config file. (3) You can restrict the number of games a specific Security Level will be allowed to play per day or REWARD specific Levels with more Plays Per Day. Likewise, you can restrict the Play time for a specific Security Level or REWARD specific Levels with more Door Time. These options are handled by the use of the 10 config entries (000=00/00). The format of each entry is as follows: XXX=YY/ZZ where XXX is the Security Level (must be 3 digits) where = is a constant and MUST be included where YY is the # of games per day (must be 2 digits) where / is a constant and MUST be included where ZZ is num. minutes per Door entry (must be 2 digits) If the callers Security Level is NOT defined, his/her Plays Per Day and Door Time will be controlled by the values in items (1) and (2), above, respectively.. You may define up to 10 Security Levels. All unused entries must be defined as 000=00/00 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Example: Suppose you had 3 Security Levels defined on your BBS as (20=Subscriber, 30=Visiting Sysop, 40=CoSysop, 90=Friend) and you wanted to set Plays Per Day as : Subscriber=5 Visiting Sysop=2 CoSysop=3 Friend=10 and Door Time as follows: Subscriber=30 minutes Visiting Sysop=20 minutes CoSysop=10 minutes Friend=remaining call time You would set the Individual "Games per Day" config entry to 1 and the individual "Door Time" to 5 minutes (these would be the default number of games and default Time for all Security Levels other than 20,30 or 40... make them any number you want). Next you would replace 4 of the Security Level entries as : 020=05/30 030=02/20 040=03/10 090=10/0 Player-to-Player MESSAGES ------------------------- In the REGISTERED version of the Door, your players will be able to send messages back and forth to each other. All messages are PRIVATE and all messages are maintained within the Door itself and havs no connection to the BBS' message bases. The Message file (BOXDICE.MSG) will be restarted when the Door game restarts at the beginning of each month. If you do not restart your games on the first of each month then you must manually delete the MSG file. The file will continue to grow if not deleted and restarted. INTER-BBS OPTION ---------------- The Inter-BBS option is used when you are looking for a way to expand the Box Dice competition beyond just running it on your BBS alone. With this option you can join with any number of other BBS' to create some very 'heated' scoring competition and exchange messages. The Inter-BBS option has its own High Score file and when High Scores are displayed, on participating BBS', the name of the BBS on which the score was obtained will also be displayed. At the end of the month, the Inter-BBS scores will be reset automatically and a winner will be determined and displayed as part of the High Score display in the next month. This option requires that the Door be registered. The InterBBS files (EXE, HIS, DOC, etc) can be found in the included file called IBBSxx.ZIP (xx = version). Updates to this file will always be found on the SUNRISE-80 BBS and many other BBS'. The Inter-BBS option uses the 'HUB' and 'NODE' concept. The 'HUB' is the central/controlling BBS to whom all the other BBS' ('NODES') upload/transfer their score files. The 'HUB' then merges all score files and makes a merged file available for the 'NODES' to download/transfer. NON-STANDARD COM SUPPORT ________________________ Support for COM 1-4 on the standard IRQ's - COM1/COM3 = IRQ4 and COM2/COM4 = IRQ3. If you wish to use a non-standard IRQ, add the IRQ number after the configuration filename. Let's assume your Door is called FOOBAR and you want to use COM1 and IRQ5. The command line passed to your Door would be: FOOBAR FOOBAR.CFG /5 The /5 tells FOOBAR to use IRQ5 rather than the standard IRQ4 that is normally used with COM1. No /x parameter is needed for the standard IRQ's. As an alternative, you may use an environmental variable on the command line. To use the variable (following the example above), place a SET IRQ=5 in the batch file used to bring up your BBS (you would need a different IRQ number for each node). The command line would now look like this: FOOBAR FOOBAR.CFG /%IRQ% This, in combination with the use of the environmental variables described in the MULTI-NODE SETUP section will allow you to use one batch file and one config file to run this door on all nodes. MULTI-NODE SETUP ________________ All Sunrise Doors are Multi-Node capable. Each node must have the ability to access a configuration file which will have its own system file (DORINFOx.DEF, PCBOARD.SYS, DOOR.SYS, etc) defined on the first line. There are 2 ways to accomplish this: (1) Create a separate configuration file for each node. The only difference between each file would be the location of the system file for that particular node. For example, on my system there are 2 nodes and the first line of the config files would look like this: NODE1: H:\PCB1\DOOR.SYS NODE2: H:\PCB2\DOOR.SYS Thus, if you have a 4 node BBS, you will need 4 configuration files. (2) Use ONE configuration file for ALL nodes. This Door will recognize the following PCBoard/Wildcat environmental variables: PCBDIR (Directory containing the System file) PCBDRIVE (Drive containing the System file) WCNODEID (Active Node Number) Thus, the first line of the SINGLE configuration file, for this Door would look like this: %PCBDRIVE%%PCBDIR%\DOOR.SYS c:\wc30\wcwork\node%wcnodeid%\door.sys NOTE: This option, as described, assumes that you are running PCB or Wildcat software. The environmental variables are automatically created by the software for each node. HOWEVER, if you are running other BBS software you should be able to set the variables EXACTLY as described below, for EACH node (more than likely in each batch file you use to bring up EACH node): PCBDRIVE=C: ^^^^^^^^^ PCBDIR=\NODE2 ^^^^^^^^ Info with a carat (^) under it, MUST be typed as is. The rest depends on your naming conventions. This, in combination with the use of the optional environmental variable described in the NON-STANDARD COM SUPPORT section, will allow you to use one batch file and one config file to run this door on all nodes. ADOPT-A-DOOR ____________ Having been a Sysop for a number of years, I have had my share of problems and frustrations getting financial support for my board's upkeep. A fellow Sysop left a message on my board, not long ago, about a concept that was being used by several boards around the country. The concept, ADOPT-A-DOOR, allows a caller to register (ADOPT) a door. It would be the same as sending in a donation, only this way it is earmarked for registering a particular door. In a way, the user feels he/she is "getting something in return". As a Door author I have decided to build this concept into each of my Door programs. The concept replaces the usual message "tell the Sysop to register this Door" we find in most doors. If the Door is unregisterd then a message appears on the opening screen to that effect. After finishing or suspending a game, a message screen is displayed about the ADOPT-A-DOOR concept. The message also tells the caller to contact the Sysop to find out if there is any further details to the ADOPT-A-DOOR concept. Some Sysops give extra D/L time, online time, etc to callers that ADOPT-A-DOOR. If the Door has been registered, either by the Sysop or other callers, the names of those contributors will be displayed in the closing screen. NOTE: If you want to display the names of the callers that contributed to registering the Door, you must create an ASCII file called ADOPT.SYS. You create it with an Editor or Word Processor. Enter the name(s) of the contributors (one on each line, maximum of 5 entries, each a maximum of 30 characters long). This file must be saved, in ASCII format, and placed in the Door directory. LEGALITIES __________ THIS SOFTWARE AND ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS ARE DISTRIBUTED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL ANYONE INVOLVED WITH THE CREATION AND PRODUCTION OF THIS PRODUCT BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, ARISING OUT OF ANY USE THEREOF OR BREACH OF ANY WARRANTY. DISTRIBUTION ____________ You may make this file available for downloading from your BBS or you may upload it to any BBS of your choice, provided that you do not make any changes to the contents of the archive (ZIP file). The archive and its individual contents may not be used by any service that charges any money whatsoever, without the written permission of the author. REGISTRATION ____________ Registration and the subsequent insertion of the registration number into your configuation file, allows for the display of your BBS name on the opening and closing screen as well as the reduction of a delay built into the opening screen display along with the ability to change certain values in the configuration file. To register your copy of BOXDICE, please fill out the registration form (REGISTER.FRM) and mail it along with the registration fee to the name and address on the form. Once a door is registered, any changes to registration information (Sysop name or BBS Name) will require the doors to be re-registered. Download or File Request a file named CHANGE.FRM from our BBS, complete the form and follow ALL instructions in the document! Registration fees are subject to change at any time. The most current registration form is always available on our BBS. You may download or File Request REGISTER.FRM at any time. Be sure to use the proper upper/lower case when filling in your name and BBS name, as they MUST match the way you entered them in the configuration file. ^^^^ Based upon information supplied on the registration form, I will pre- register you on my BBS. You will then be able to call SUNRISE-80 and pick up your registration number. MISC ____ The latest version of BOX DICE and other fine SUNRISE DOOR programs are always available for download from SUNRISE-80 BBS and/or RNBB BBS. Remember, should you have any problems, questions or suggestions, be sure to drop me a message on either of the aforementioned BBS' or thru RIME (Doors, PCBHints, Sysops, Common), SMARTNET or FIDONet 1:133/410