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Text File | 1995-05-26 | 27KB | 510 lines

BIOGUIDE BIORHYTHM DOOR - Version 2.00 Version 2.00 Program & Design by Robert A. Dalton Copyright (C) 1995 Original Program Author - Kent D. Ogle DISCLAIMER The author has taken every precaution to insure that no harm or damage will occur on computer systems operating this package. Nevertheless, the author shall NOT be held liable for whatever may happen on your computer system or to any computer systems which connects to your own as a result of operating this package. The user assumes full responsibility for the correct operation of this software package, whether harm or damage results from software error, hardware malfunction, or operator error. NO warranties are offered, expressly stated or implied, including without limitation or restriction any warranties of operation for a particular purpose and/or merchantability. If you do not agree with this then do NOT use this program. LICENSE AGREEMENT The program, support files, and documentation are copyrighted products of Bob Dalton. Bob Dalton reserves all rights to these products. This is protected by the United States of America (USA) and International Copyright Laws. In no way shall the components of the program software package be reproduced or modified in any form or method without prior expressly written permission from Bob Dalton or otherwise allowed in this License Agreement. Other than outlined elsewhere in this document, tampering with or altering the contents or integrity of the program software package is prohibited. No fee may be charged by any agency other than Bob Dalton beyond the cost of distributing unregistered copies without prior expressly written permission from Bob Dalton. A major portion of this software was written by Scott Baker and Steven Lorenz. Mr. Baker's Doordriver kit and the changes made by Mr Lorenz have been used for the communications and interrupt handling and this part of the software remains copyrighted by them. This program is distributed under the Shareware concept. You are allowed to operate this program for a trial period of thirty (45) days. After this trial period, you must register the program or discontinue its usage. Again if you do not agree with this then do NOT use this program. INTRODUCTION: ------------ BIOGUIDE BIORHYTHM DOOR hereafter called BIOG, is a door program designed to give BBS users there biorhythm for up to a two week period of time. REQUIREMENTS: ------------ At this point in time the only requirements are FILES=10 (or more) in your config.sys file and ANSI.SYS. DOS SHARE must also be loaded. The program is RIP aware but NOT a RIP program at this time. A FOSSIL is NOT required to run the program, although one will be supported if it exists. Automatic time slicing support is provided to most common multi-taskers as well. Files Included -------------- Below is a listing of all files for the this program. If you are missing ANY of these files (except for the DOC and FRM files), the program will NOT function. Feel free to give out copies of the ENTIRE archive package of this program but please make sure all the files below are in that package: SAMPLE1.BAT - A sample BAT file which runs the program from the program directory. SAMPLE2.BAT - A sample BAT file which runs the program from any node directory. SAMPLE3.BAT - A sample BAT file identical to the one I use on my Single node WildCat Support BBS. BIOG1.CTL - Un-edited and heavily commented sample of a CTL Control file for setting up BIOG and hereafter referred to in the program documentation as program.CTL. If you decide to use it, be sure to rename it to BIOG.CTL first! SAMPLE.CTL - A copy of the BIOG.CTL file which I use on my BBS to run the program (WildCat 4.01S System, 386 33Mhz Computer, Single Node, 8Mb RAM, DesqView 2.63/ QEMM 7.04, BNU Fossil locking port #1 at 19200 and using FrontDoor 2.02 and a US Robotics DS Modem, ANSI.sys loaded and SHARE loaded). I have left the comments in so you can understand what I am doing. KEY.DAT - Dummy Key for BIOG (Good forever!) FILE_ID.DIZ - Ascii Description File for BBS Sysops on BIOG B4UASK.DOC - Checklist to help resolve setup/program problems HISTORY.DOC - BIOG Version History information file SYSOP.DOC - This text file you are reading UPGRADE.DOC - Instructions for upgrading from versions of Bioguide prior to this one. BIOG.EXE - Bioguide Biorhthm Main Program and hereafter referred to in the program documentaion as GAME.EXE. MAINT.EXE - Daily maintenance program for BIOG. DDSETUP.EXE - Death By Trivia CTL configuration program. REGISTER.FRM - Preprinted registration form and mailer BUGRPT.FRM - Preprinted bug report/suggestion/comment form and mailer. CATALOG.TXT - Descriptive catalog of all programs available from me. DSITES.TXT - List of sites where my programs are distributed. HELP.TXT - Support file required by DDSETUP.EXE program. Files created by BIOGUIDE upon initialization: BIOG.DAT - User data file. Files that may be created by BIOG as needed: ERROR.LOG - Created by main program if error occurs Installation ------------ --> NOTE: The word "game" is used in place of the program name for both the executable file (example GAME.EXE), and the CTL file (Example GAME.CTL) in the documentation from this point on. GAMEDIR is used in place of the program directory in the documentation from this point on. 1. Create a directory for the program: example: "WC30\DOORS\GAMEDIR" 2. Make sure that ALL files listed above from the program package are moved into that directory. 3. Type "DDSETUP.EXE" and hit the enter key. The first thing it will ask you is what the name of the CTL file is. Type in "BIOG.CTL" and then proceed to the other settings. After you are done the BIOG.CTL file should be correctly configured. Two versions of a fully commented CTL file are provided for manual configuration. One is identified by the program title (example: GAME.CTL) and this is the UN-EDITED version and the other is identified as SAMPLE.CTL is what a CTL file should look like AFTER it is edited. If all else fails - try the one I use on MY support BBS (Sample.CTL). If you have fossil drivers be sure to uncomment the 'fossil' option. If you have a modem set to a non-std IRQ be sure to use the PORT# option for that com port. A CTL file generated by DDSETUP.EXE will have NO comments and look quite different from my samples, but they WILL work just as well, never fear. Where to put this file? Put this file wherever you are running the program executable file from. If you are running multi-node you could put a copy in each node directory and run from there. If you change directory to the GAME directory put the file here. See the example SAMPLE#.bat files. 4. Edit the Key.DAT file. Line #1 should be the sysops name, Line #2 should be the name of the using BBS, do NOT change or edit line #3. 5. For proper operation DOS SHARE must be loaded prior to the program and prior to DESQview. 6. In order to run the program online the following parameters may be used. "/Bxxxxx" This tells GAME.EXE to lock its baud rate at xxxxx. In order to get the most efficiency out of a high speed error correcting modem (9600 baud or above), you may lock the baud rate to a speed higher than what the caller is actually using. By locking the baud to say 38,400, the modem can compress text data that is being sent and achieve a baud rate much higher than the actual transmission rate. This will lock the baud rate at the same value for all nodes that use this command line. If you perfer a more selective way to lock baud use 'LOCKBAUD' command in the GAME.CTL file. "/Cx" (where x is 1..4) This specifies a comport number. Some bbs software does not create door information files (dropfiles) that contain the comport number. If your bbs does have a comport listed in the dropfile then there is no need for this parameter. The default is comport 0, local mode. "/E" - Expanded Memory Specification If your machine has over one megabyte of memory, then you may have some available. GAME.EXE can utilize EMS to improve program performance and reduce conventional memory requirements. This command will tell GAME.EXE to use EMS memory to hold its overlay buffer. Otherwise disc area may be used to hold this buffer. This needs a memory manager and when enabled and is compatible with DESQview. "/L" This tells GAME.EXE to load up in LOCAL mode. This is good for testing or when a sysop just wants to "try out" the door without messing with his BBS setup. The "/L" mode will ask the user for his name and run the door in local mode. "/Nx" (where x is 1..9) This specifies a "node number". Some bbs software support multinode environments in which you must know the node number of the drop file to use. For example, RBBS-PC uses DORINFOx.DEF. If you specified "/N2" then GAME.EXE would use DORINFO2.DEF. "/Mx" (where x is up to 2 filename acceptable characters) Used to specify one of Multiple control files. If you have created more than one GAME.CTL file (GAME1.CTL, GAME2.CTL, etc.) for each node or network PC then you can select the one you want by using the /M parm. Example: "/M2" will force GAME.EXE to use GAME2.ctl. "/Pyyy" This specifies the path to the drop files. For example, "/PC:\WILDCAT\WCWORK\NODE1" would tell GAME.EXE to look for the drop file in C:\WILDCAT\WCWORK\NODE1. If this is left out the program assumes the drop file is local. "/V" This command will tell GAME.EXE not to show any display on the local screen. Only a colored screen and a message will be displayed. The cursor will not move as it will be turned off. Saves a little processing on multi-tasking systems. "/W" This flags the program that a network is present even though no multitaskers are detected. This is useful if the door is run on a network such as Novell that doesn't use multitaskers. COMMON ERRORS 003 File path not found. Check to make sure the program directory is correctly named as GAMEDIR. 201 Files not found. Check to make sure that all required programs files are in the GAMEDIR directory. 7. Run the program locally by typing BIOG /L and than hit enter. This will setup the required data files. 8. Install the door into your BBS software (see your BBS software documentation for more information). A batch file is normally used to do this. To run the program just have your batch file change to the GAMEDIR directory and run GAME.EXE - Thats all there is to it! Three different batch files sample are included to help you run the program. These are included with the program for editing and your use. Remember when writing the batch routines for my programs you must ensure that the program is run from it's home directory AND that the program knows where to find the drop file. Satisfy these two requirements and you should have no problems running the program as long as the other setup criteria has been met. For dorinfo systems try using the following: Sample Batch File ----------------- COPY DORINFOx.DEF \RBBS\DOORS\GAMEDIR\*.* CD \RBBS\DOORS\GAMEDIR GAME x <-=- NODE number !!DO NOT USE "x"!! del dorinfox.def CD \WC30 --> Please note that you replace the "x" with the appropriate node number. Ex: Dorinfo1.def ; Dorinfo2.def ; etc... 9. Ensure that the included MAINT.EXE program is ran once daily from the program directory. Users who are inactive for more than 10 days will automatically be removed by the MAINT.EXE program. RESTRICTIONS ON THE UNREGISTERED program ------------------------------------- Until the program is registered the following restrictions are in effect: a. The program screen will show you and your BBS as Unregistered users at the beginning of the program. b. The door program user will only get a 7 day Biorhythm chart instead of the normal 14 day chart. c. Registering the program disables both of the above and also allows the door user to make a chart for someone other than themselves while using the program. d. Once you are registered any future updates can be obtained free through my BBS and my upgrades are ALWAYS easy to implement! e. I am always improving my programs - so check my BBS for a more current version. WHAT TO DO IF THERE ARE PROBLEMS -------------------------------- Every effort is made to ensure that the program runs correctly before it leaves my BBS as Shareware. If you are experiencing problems please do the following BEFORE calling me: 1. Read ALL the SYSOP.DOC to ensure you have setup the program and have met all the program requirements. 2. Use the B4UASK.DOC as a checklist to ensure that you have not done anything wrong. Multinode use ------------- This program supports multinode use and provides automatic multi-tasker support (time slice releasing) for a wide variety of multi-taskers. Common Problems (Locked Bauds, High Speed modems, etc) ------------------------------------------------------ 1. The program does NOT require a fossil driver to run. 2. If you are running a high speed modem (9600 baud or above), then I suggest you run your bbs/mailer/doors at a locked baud rate. On high speed error correcting modems, locking the baud rate will have a noticeable increase on the speed of text that is sent. It's beyond the scope of this document to discuss configuring your BBS and mailer for a locked baud rate; you may wish to consult those docs for information on that. Here are a few things to keep in mind when setting up GAME with a locked baud rate: a. When using a locked baud rate, I highly recommend using a FOSSIL driver. This program will work at high speeds without one though. BNU is a good fossil driver which can even be loaded and unloaded before and after you run this program. b. If you are using a fossil, then make sure to tell the fossil that the port is locked. For BNU, to lock com1: at 38,400, you would use something like "L0=38400" on BNU's command line. c. If you lock the baud for one program, it must be locked for everything. You can't lock the baud for just this program, but not your BBS/mailer. d. You may need to use the /B switch on the game.exe Command line to specify the locked baud rate. For 19,200 this would be "/B19200" and for 38,400 this would be "/B38400". Please note there is no space between the "/B" and the baud rate. 3. What follows is some information on possible strange situations that may occur: a. Low speed users can play the program, but high speed users get garbage. - If you are not using the DORINFOx.DEF or DOOR.SYS drop file then you may wish to find a converter program to convert whatever drop file your BBS produces to the DORINFOx.DEF or DOOR.SYS format and tell game.exe to use that. Several converter programs are readily available on most BBS systems. CallDoor is a good one if you can find it. I have it on my BBS for download if you need it. b. The program hangs up when a user enters the program. - Sounds like the program is getting the wrong baud rate somehow. Try switching over to the DOOR.SYS drop file method if possible. c. Text and screens are getting cut off. - If you are running with a locked baud, then this could be caused by some sort of FLOW CONTROL problem. Try using a fossil if you aren't already. d. If you're using something other than the DOOR.SYS drop file, then I always suggest trying to use DOOR.SYS if possible. It is the most reliable method and has had the most testing. If that is not possible try DORINFOx.DEF as an alternative. e. A door locks up node 1. This can happen with fossils or the internal communications routines because it uses the default comport of 1 when NONE is found in the dropfile or game.ctl file. To correct this make sure the right port is shown in the dropfile OR game.ctl file. f. ANSI is reflected correctly on the local screen but the user is getting garbage. Assuming the user has ANSI installed then most likely the problem is at your end. First make sure you have configured the game.ctl file to show the correct locked port rate. Second make sure the dropfile is passing the locked port rate INSTEAD of the actual conncet rate. If it is not passing the locked port rate then you may need to use a different dropfile format OR use a dropfile converter program to change the line to show the locked port rate INSTEAD of the actual connect rate. "Corrupted" data files ---------------------- It is possible that something could happen to your biog.dat file. A power outage, program crash, or other event could damage that data file. If you have a problem with that file, then the best thing to do is erase the BIOG.DAT file and run BIOG.EXE in local mode to reset it. CREDITS: -------- This relatively small section is just to recognize the GOOD people who have made this door a possibility. Kent D. Ogle - Thanks for allowing me to take over this great program! Scott Baker - The author of the door driver package which made this program possible. Great job Scott!! Steven Lorenz - The author of the enhanced add on package to Scott Bakers DoorDriver. Thanks to his allowing me to use his modifications I was able to delete the fossil requirement and add many new communication and other enhancements to my programs. Thanks Steve! DESQview is a registered trademark of Quarterdeck Office Systems. Doordriver kit is proprietary software by Scott Baker. Ripscript & Ripterm are registered trademarks of TeleGrafix Communications. Where to reach me ----------------- I can usually be reached at my BBS system, which should be listed in the section entitled "registration" which is below. I also habitually monitor ALL door related echos in the FIDO Net System. Registration ------------ If you or your users enjoy this program, then please register it. Information on price and how to register is shown on the enclosed REGISTER.FRM. Registration will disable the delay, allow additional options and entitle you to life time support through my BBS. BBS Support includes unlimited free updates and upgrades (not like some door game authors who charge for major upgrades/updates!) through my BBS and access to the program support conference on my BBS. To register this program just print out the registration form (REGISTER.FRM) file included with the program and send it with your check or money order to: Robert A. Dalton 203 Old Farm Road Harrison, AR 72601 HOW TO REACH ME BY MODEM --------------------------- The TANSTAFL BBS (USA) (501) 741-5699 (USR Dual- 2400 to 14400 baud) Fidonet 1:391/3010 Reminder: You will be mailed a LETTER with your registration code. Just allow an appropriate amount of time (a week or two) after dropping your check in the mail for it to arrive to me and the code to be sent by mail back to you. If you need it sooner log onto my BBS, leave me a message telling me you mailed the registration and when I receive your check or money order I will post a private message on the BBS giving you the key code. If you do it this way please allow at least a week from the time you mail it to the time you call and get your code. If you go the BBS route you will ALSO receive a key code by mail. If you live in NORTH AMERICA I can also send your key via Netmail for an additional $1.00, if you would like, through the FIDO system (only). REMINDER: No disks are sent, if you need the most current version you must call OR freq my BBS for it. Bug Reports/Comments/Suggestions -------------------------------- I have made every attempt to make sure the program is free of bugs, BUT the possibility always exists that one may have been missed by me or the playtesters. If you find a bug, or have a suggestion or comment to make which would make future versions better please print out the BUGRPT.FRM and mailer, fill it out, and send it to me. I read ALL of them and those people that lead me to find a bug or generate a better program will receive credit in the program documentation. PLEASE DO NOT NOTIFY ME OF PROBLEMS AND EXPECT ME TO FIX THEM IF YOU HAVE FAILED TO PROVIDE ME WITH THE BUGRPT.FRM AND OTHER INFORMATION I REQUIRE AS STATED IN THE B4UASK.DOC. FIDO INFORMATION ---------------- My BBS supports file "freq"ing at 9600 baud or above. Just call 1:391/3010. I also carry a door library of over 450 of the all time best door games which I try to keep current. For a list of these doors just freq "DOORS". I am always adding new things to my programs so most likely there will be a later version of the program available on my BBS then the one you have. For a current version of the program just freq the magic name shown in the catalog document which is in the program package. For a list of ALL my files just freq "TANSTAFL.ZIP". If you are a door game/program writer why not send me a copy of your game/program? If you have a more current version of a door then I have, please consider sending me a copy as a token of your appreciation for the service I offer at NO cost to you. Thanks!