Black Box 4/BlackBox.cdr/gameadve/mel_100.arj/SYSOP.DOC

Text File | 1991-06-14 | 10KB | 161 lines

      ============  MELEE v1.00 (First Official Release)  ===============
                  An FRPG Gladiatorial Combat On-Line Game
                       Written by Kevin L. Higgins
                          FidoNet Node 1:128/74
                          V-Net Node: 1:521/101

===============================================================================
In addition to the above addresses, for NetMail, Kevin Higgins may be reached
in the following FidoNet echos: DOORWARE, DOORGAMES, ON_LINE_GAMES and MELEE
(which is not yet on the backbone, but which is available from 1:128/74; for
information F'Req the file MEL_ECHO.ZIP to find out the list of MELEE hubs).
The MELEE Support BBS is The Hornet's Nest [phone]. It is a semi-private
BBS, but queries may be sent to the SysOP by logging on as GUEST and giving
the password HELLO. You will only be allowed to leave a (K)omment to the
SysOp, who also happens to be MELEE's author.
===============================================================================

Please:
     Read the file Disclaim.txt, included this the MELEE archive. If this
archive does not contain the file Disclaim.txt, it is not an authorized
MELEE archive and should be deleted. Any use of MELEE constitutes consent to
the conditions outlined in the file Disclaim.txt. Take a look at the Order.Frm
file. You may want to fill it out one of these days.....

     Make sure you follow the instructions in the Readthis.now file!!!

     See the UPDATE.ASC for fixes/changes since the last version. Leave it in
the MELEE directory, since the game allows your interested users to view this
also.
===============================================================================
    SETUP:

    1) Unzip the MEL_100.ZIP archive into a directory of your choice.

    2) Edit the included MELEE.CFG file to reflect your board's info. It
is well commented, so you should have no problems. Remember to include trailing
backslashes on all of the path/names required! Don't forget to make the
directory where the messages will go.... This should be done with your favorite
ascii-text editor. Don't forget to create the IMPORTS directory directly above
the MELEE directory if you ever plan on importing visiting Warriors into your
game.

    3) Exitinfo.bbs file is not required; it will not be used if present.

    4) Put the included WARRIOR.BAT file in the directory where you have
all your other door .bat files. Edit it so that it changes the current
directory to the one in which MELEE's files reside, then changes back to the
bbs directory upon completion. (Simple, eh?) If you run a QBBS beta, then
make sure your read the included file: QBBSBETA.DOC.
    NOTE: MELEE may be run independent of a BBS, or without a fossil by
feeding it a command line parameter! If, after the name of the program, you
leave a space and then feed the program an "L" parameter (without the quotes,
of course), MELEE will prompt the player for his name. If you do not wish to
use MELEE's communications routines (say, you prefer to use Doorway, or run
a BBS which can handle ALL the communications on its own) and run a board
which can feed a program command line parameters, then make MELEE's single
parameter the user name, and MELEE will use that. Examples:
          a) For non-bbs usage: MELEE L
          b) Other-program comm routines, feeding the user name as a command
             line parameter: MELEE %1 %2 (MELEE will use either just a first
             name or handle, or a first AND last name.
          c) NOTE: In order to run the registered version of MELEE, when you
             are either not using a BBS or not using a dropfile, you must
             have the file MELEE.INF in the MELEE directory. MELEE.INF is a
             plain ascii file with the following format:
                   Registerer's First Name
                   Registerer's Last Name
                   BBS or Company Name or System Identifier requested when
                           the registration form was submitted.
             This file does not need to exist for unregistered usage.
          d) If you run MELEE this way, and run into problems, please let
             the author know, as this has not been fully tested.

    5) Run the program MAINT.EXE once a day (preferably in your midnight
events) from within the MELEE directory. This will reset some of the local
values needed for the players to train their characters, and age the Warriors
(one month/day of real time).

    6) At your option, run the RANKINGS.EXE program during your nightly
events (from within the MELEE directory) to generate a nice looking rankings
bulletin. The rankings program will not run if there is no Player.dat file
(ie, no players in the game... makes sense, eh?). If you are going to run it,
the RANKINGS.EXE program must be run AFTER the maintenance program. In order
to work, the directories named in the MELEE.CFG file must exist and be spelled
correctly. Since both the Maint.exe and Rankings.exe program have security
checks to prevent against hacking and virii infection, it is not recommended
that they be run in the same batch file which calls the door, since the checks
take several long seconds....

    7) Run the game! Local/Remote mode will be automatically determined
from the ComPort value in the dorinfo file so no special settings are needed,
if you are running the game from a dropfile-producing BBS.

    8) The game will report any problems in the PROG_ERR.LOG (for the
main game) and the RANKINGS.ERR (for the bulletin generator) files.

    9) Special Keys: F5 will hang up on the user immediately, unless the modem
                         has carrier detect forced to ON (drops DTR for 700 ms).
                     F9 will force the player to return to the BBS.
                     F10 will pull the user into Chat. Hit [Esc] to exit Chat.

    The game can be reset by merely deleting the Player.dat file and the
messages in the private file directory and then running the Maint.exe program.
Deleting the files in the private messages directory is not necessary, but is
recommended....

    PLEASE: When you or a user have a bug report, be SPECIFIC. When updates
are released, they will be available from 1:128/74 under the magic filename:
UPDATE. The magic filename MELEE will always get you the latest release.

    Known bugs: RANKINGS.EXE will choke if you have more than 22 players in
the game. The RANKINGS.EXE file will not run if you have less than four players
in the game (however, making extra players is simple, just edit the dorinfo
file you create from a local exit from you BBS, and change the user name and
run MELEE a few times.... soon you will have quite a stable of "resident"
Warriors). The CHAT procedure screen redraw does not work correctly in the
combat arena. Nor should CHAT be entered while the program is waiting for
the player to enter a line of text.

Acknowledgements:

    First thanks goes to Alex Dwelis, for his tireless, consistent,
detailed, and always helpful observations, instruction, and alpha testing.
If you consider this game to be somewhat free of bugs, he is the one you
have to thank. Any bugs you find are strictly my oversight, not his (but
I am still not responsible for damages! <grin>). He also spent a great deal
of his valuable time proof reading the documentation, and compiling the
"MELEE Hints For Canny Warriors" file, which will become available with the
registered version if the demand warrants its creation.
    Second, I would like to acknowledge the MELEE team of subsidiary
Alpha and Beta testers. Their efforts went a long way toward making the game
as it is today. They spent a lot more money on the game than it costs to
register it, and I owe them a debt of gratitude (and eternal free upgrades!).
    Third, I would like to thank John Parlin and Rod Hancock for their
superb product JPDoor, without which this door would never have been written;
Kelly Drown, for her FidoUnit routines; Bruce Ruona, for his help with the use
of Kelly Drown's routines <grin>; and Galen Barnes, for his patient help with
the chat-screen capture/restore (he wrote all the important parts!); and the
TAG Team, who wrote the great BBS that really got me involved in the remote-
communications world, which in turn eventually impressed upon me the desire
to learn to program. Thanks also to Donald Huggins (co-author of DoorFix, the
best dropfile converter around), for his assistance during my very steep
learning curve when first picking up Turbo Pascal, and Kevin Dean, for his
excellent CRC-checking program. (Starting to sound like the Grammy's, eh?)
    Lastly, I would like to thank my grandfather, Leslie Charteris, and
my parents, for giving me the brains to teach myself Turbo Pascal, and churn
out a program like this as my VERY first effort at coding in this language.
If I've forgotten anybody who helped along the way, I'm sorry, and please
accept my apologies. To all those who walk around spouting that in order to
write an enjoyable door, you must have been programming for at least a year
(preferably two), I feel the need to quote Bill the Cat: "Phlblblbblbbbbbttt!"
From learning the language (thanks to Tom Swan for writing the book I used as
a tutorial) to door completion was six months. Next one will be even quicker;
Be watching for "Starship Troopers...."

                                               "Vasha Zdrovia!"
                                                    Kevin Higgins
                                                    15 Jun 91

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