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1994-10-10
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BigWins Lotto 0.9ß (Wide Area Beta)
SysOp Manual
(C)Copyright 1994 Dinosaur Valley Door Software & Scott F. Comstock
Technical Support BBS's:
DaTaNet BBS * (607)433-2637
W. Pierce Electronics BBS * (607)433-1451
Internet:75104.2130@compuserve.com (or) scott.comstock@wpe.com
CompuServe:75104,2130
1
Table of Contents
1. Legal Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Disclaimer of Warranty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 License Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.3 Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. About BigWins Lotto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1 Product Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2 Wide Area Beta Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3. Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.1 The BigWins Lotto Configuration Manager . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.2 Multinode Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.3 For BBS's running with Feathernet Pro v1.01+ . . . . . . . 5
3.4 Running BigWins Lotto with 486DX CPUs . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.5 Using non-standard IRQs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.6 Using BigWins Lotto with Fossil drivers . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.7 Locking Out "Bad" Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.8 RIP Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.9 Local Test Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4. Door Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.1 Local Keyboard Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.2 Verifying a Winner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.3 Free offer to PCBoard SysOps with the PPL Compiler . . . . 9
4.4 In Upcoming Releases... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5. Technical Support and Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5.1 How to obtain Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5.2 Benefits of Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5.3 Registering BigWins Lotto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
i
Section 1
Legal Issues
1.1 Disclaimer of Warranty
This product is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. The
entire risk as to the results and performance of this program is
assumed by you. Furthermore, the author (Scott F. Comstock) does
not warrant, guarantee, or make any other representations regarding
the use or results of the use of this program, and you rely on the
program and results solely at your own risk. The author cannot and
will not accept responsibility for system damage, loss of profit,
or any special, consequential, or incidental damages resulting from
the use or inability to use this program.
1.2 License Agreement
1. BigWins Lotto is distributed as Shareware and is not "free" or
public domain software. You are granted a limited license to
evaluate this program for a period not to exceed thirty (30)
days. After this time, you are required to register your copy
with Dinosaur Valley Door Software or cease using BigWins Lotto
entirely.
Registered users may not distribute the seperate BWLOTTO.KEY
file. Distribution of BWLOTTO.KEY will result in the immediate
nullification of your registration, without refund.
2. You are allowed to distribute UNREGISTERED copies of BigWins
Lotto as long as the archive is distributed exactly as you
received it, with all files included and unmodified. "BBS ad"
text files and programs may not be added as they unnecessarily
increase transfer time and serve no useful purpose to the
function of BigWins Lotto.
Commercial disk vendors, user groups and similar organizations
MUST obtain written permission from Dinosaur Valley Door
Software before distributing BigWins Lotto for any sort of
payment or consideration. Although permission is automatically
granted to vendors approved by the Association of Shareware
Professionals (ASP) or vendors making "full disclosure",
notification of intent to distribute BigWins Lotto is required.
In all cases, the price charged for distribution may not exceed
Section 1. Legal Issues 1
$8 per floppy disk. There is no limit on distribution price if
BigWins Lotto is distributed on CD-ROMs.
Please note that this distribution license applies ONLY to
standard release versions of BigWins Lotto and NOT to alpha or
beta test versions, with the exception of wide-area beta
versions which are distributed according to this distribution
license.
All distribution archives of BigWins Lotto must carry the
author's PKZIP Authenticity Verification stamp, as follows:
Authentic files Verified! # TWC305
Scott F. Comstock
1.3 Trademarks
All trademarks of other companies mentioned in this documentation
appear for identification purposes ONLY and are the property of
their respective companies.
Section 1. Legal Issues 2
Section 2
About BigWins Lotto
2.1 Product Description
BigWins Lotto is a lottery-style game door which will allow your
callers the chance to win SysOp-definable prizes in three seperate
games. Online time is awarded for matching every number (except
one) (a.k.a. the NearMatch prize) in all games.
When a caller is awarded a prize, the caller's name and prize won
are logged to a file that you specify.
BigWins Lotto is compatible with any BBS software that generates
the following "door files" or "drop files":
. PCBOARD.SYS, USERS.SYS, DOOR.SYS, CALLINFO.BBS, USERINFO.DAT,
SFDOORS.DAT, GTUSER.BBS, TRIBBS.SYS and DORINFOx.DEF
BigWins Lotto also features:
. Specifying the amount of online time charged for each play,
online time awarded for the NearMatch prize, and the actual
prize for each game
. Prevent "bad users" from using BigWins Lotto (aka "locking
out")
. Local mode for testing
. Automatic RIP detection (full RIP capability is upcoming)
. Support for baud rates up to and including 115,200 baud
. Support for DigiBoards (and others) with Fossil drivers
. Multinode capability
. NO CRIPPLING!
. Free technical support for unregistered and registered SysOps
BigWins Lotto is written in QuickBASIC 4.5 and utilizes the
DoorFrame (4.8) door handling routines by Richard Paquette and
Section 2. About BigWins Lotto 3
Chuck Valecek. For proper local display, ANSI.SYS or an equivalent
ANSI driver must be loaded.
2.2 Wide Area Beta Note
This is a wide-area (public) beta test version of BigWins Lotto.
Please note that there still may be bugs or errors in BigWins
Lotto, the Configuration Editor, or the documentation. If you find
anything wrong with BigWins Lotto, any related programs, or the
documentation, please let me know as soon as possible.
Section 2. About BigWins Lotto 4
Section 3
Configuration
3.1 The BigWins Lotto Configuration Manager
The BigWins Lotto Configuration Manager has been included to end
the need to edit configuration files with text editors. Use the
following command line:
BWLCFG <configuration file name>
Just follow the prompts to generate a new configuration file or to
modify an existing configuration file.
3.2 Multinode Configuration
If your BBS is multinode, you may use the environment variables
%pcbdrive%, %pcbdir%, %pcbnode% and %wcnodeid% when specifying the
location of the drop file. Some examples:
PCBoard - USERS.SYS in C:\PCB:
%pcbdrive%%pcbdir%\USERS.SYS
PCBoard - USERS.SYS in C:\PCB\NODE1:
%pcbdrive%%pcbdir%\NODE%pcbnode%\USERS.SYS
Wildcat 3.9 - USERINFO.DAT in C:\WC30\WCWORK\NODE1:
C:\WC30\WCWORK\NODE%wcnodeid%\USERINFO.DAT
Wildcat 4.0 - DOOR.SYS in C:\WILDCAT\WCWORK\NODE1:
C:\WILDCAT\WCWORK\NODE%wcnodeid%\DOOR.SYS
Systems which do not use PCBoard may use the PCB environment
variables by setting them in AUTOEXEC.BAT, the batch file that runs
the door or the batch file that starts the BBS (the preferred
method). Examples:
SET PCBDRIVE=C:
SET PCBDIR=\BBSDIR
SET PCBNODE=1
3.3 For BBS's running with Feathernet Pro v1.01+
BigWins Lotto will not run properly with Feathernet Pro's version
of USERS.SYS. These systems must use PCBOARD.SYS or DOOR.SYS for
Section 3. Configuration 5
proper operation. (Thanks to Chris Chase of DaTaNet BBS
((607)433-2637) for bringing this to my attention!)
3.4 Running BigWins Lotto with 486DX CPUs
The internal math coprocessor in Intel 486DX CPUs cannot handle
floating point math, which BigWins Lotto utilizes internally. If
BigWins Lotto inexplicably locks up or gives bizarre errors, place
this line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT:
SET NO87=ON
3.5 Using non-standard IRQs
If you wih to use a non-standard IRQ (an IRQ other than IRQ4 for
COM1/COM3 and IRQ3 for COM2/COM4) with BigWins Lotto, set the
environment variable %irq% to the IRQ you wish to use. Command
line examples:
BWLOTTO BWLOTTO.CFG /5 (without environment variable)
SET IRQ=5
BWLOTTO BWLOTTO.CFG /%irq% (with environment variable)
Both examples tell BigWins Lotto to use IRQ5. No switch or
environment variable is needed for standard IRQs.
3.6 Using BigWins Lotto with Fossil drivers
BigWins Lotto includes full support for Fossil drivers (such as X00
and BNU) which will allow it to function with DigiBoards and other
multiport serial cards. To enable Fossil driver support, include
the parameter /FD on the command line, as follows:
BWLOTTO BWLOTTO.CFG /FD
If BigWins Lotto does not detect a Fossil driver, it will display a
message to that effect and exit the door gracefully.
3.7 Locking Out "Bad" Users
SysOps may prevent certain users from using BigWins Lotto,
regardless of security level or other considerations. To utilize
this feature, create a file called BADUSERS.LST with any text
editor capable of saving straight ASCII (QEdit or MS-DOS's v5+'s
EDIT is fine for this) and list each name to be locked out on a
seperate line, as shown:
Joe Blow
John Jones
Section 3. Configuration 6
In this example, if either "Joe Blow" or "John Jones" tried to
enter the door, they will be shown a polite "locked out" message
and returned to the BBS.
3.8 RIP Support
BigWins Lotto will recognize the presence of a RIP compatible
terminal and adjust the display accordingly.
As of this release, there are no RIP screens. However, full
support for RIP will be implemented in an upcoming release.
3.9 Local Test Mode
If you wish to test BigWins Lotto before putting it online for
callers, there is a local test mode available, activated with the
LOCAL command line parameter:
BWLOTTO LOCAL
BigWins Lotto will ask you for a configuration file to test with.
This is required so BigWins Lotto will have a list of configuration
options to use.
Section 3. Configuration 7
Section 4
Door Operation
4.1 Local Keyboard Keys
F3 - Toggles the local printer On/Off. (PCBoard only)
F4 - Toggles the page bell On/Off. (PCBoard only)
F5 - DOS Shell. Allows the SysOp to perform DOS functions
while a caller is inside the door.
F7 - Toggles the caller alarm On/Off.
F8 - Involuntarily return the caller to the BBS.
F9 - Toggles the local display On/Off.
F10 - Break into chat with the caller.
ESC - End chat.
HOME - Help for local function key operation.
UP - Give caller extra time. (Not passed to the BBS)
DOWN - Subtract time from the caller (Not passed to the BBS)
ALT-N - SysOp Next Online toggle. (PCBoard only)
ALT-X - After current caller logs off, exit the BBS software.
(PCBoard only)
4.2 Verifying a Winner
When a caller wins a prize (except for the NearMatch prize which is
given immediately), a notation is made in a log file whose name and
location is defined in the configuration. Here are some
suggestions to facilitate SysOp notification of a prize winner:
. Create a system bulletin which points to the winner log, or
point the name and location of the winner log to a bulletin in
your bulletin directory.
. (For Wildcat systems) Define the name and location of the
winner log to USER1.BBS in your display directory
. Use TXT2MSG (for PCBoard) or PostMaster (for Wildcat 3.9) to
import this file to your message base as a private message to
the SysOp
There will be a Wildcat 4.0 wcCODE program available soon which
will import the winner log to the message base automatically.
Section 4. Door Operation 8
4.3 Free offer to PCBoard SysOps with the PPL Compiler
A free registration of BigWins Lotto is offered to the first SysOp
who submits a PCBoard PPE that does the following functions:
. Reads the BigWins Lotto configuration file to find the path &
name of the winner log file (it is the last line in
BWLOTTO.CFG)
. Checks for the existence of the winner log - if it exists,
import its contents into the message base. The message that is
written should be addressed to a user which can be specified in
a seperate configuration file (either the SysOp or a CoSysOp).
If you have written a PPE that does this, please attach it to a
private message to Scott Comstock at W. Pierce Electronics BBS,
(607)433-1451 (source code would be appreciated but is not
required). Please include your BBS name, voice/BBS phone numbers,
and your address in the message. If your PPE qualifies, I will
personally call your BBS to upload the latest version of BigWins
Lotto, complete with your registered key, free of charge. (Please
provide a login name and password)
4.4 In Upcoming Releases...
In addition to full RIP support, all new ANSI screens (courtesy of
the RaD ANSI Group & Ron Herr) will be used. Also, more efficient
methods of prize verification will be researched. Feedback is
welcome by all!
Section 4. Door Operation 9
Section 5
Technical Support and Registration
5.1 How to obtain Technical Support
Unlike other shareware authors and companies who refuse to support
a product until you pay up front, Dinosaur Valley Door Software
offers FREE technical support to anyone using BigWins Lotto,
REGISTERED OR UNREGISTERED. However, to save long distance
charges, please read the manual THOROUGHLY! Most errors result
from an incorrect configuration, or a misunderstanding of how the
program works.
Technical support is always available via the following means:
. The Dinosaur Valley Door Software technical support conferences
on W. Pierce Electronics BBS at (607)433-1451 (300-14400) or
DaTaNet BBS (607) 433-2637
. CompuServe - 75104,2130
. Internet - 75104.2130@compuserve.com or scott.comstock@wpe.com
Voice telephone calls for support are not accepted due to time
constraints.
When requesting technical support, please include the contents of
DFRAME.ERR (which is created on critical errors).
5.2 Benefits of Registration
Registered SysOps are provided with the following benefits:
. Free lifetime updates via BBS. Once you register, you need not
pay a single cent in update fees - PERIOD. If new versions of
BigWins Lotto require a change in the registration algorithm,
you will be provided with a new key/number ASAP!
. Access to (non-wide) beta test versions of BigWins Lotto (and
possibly other prerelease doors written by Dinosaur Valley Door
Software). Due to the fact that many people join alpha/beta
test teams just for a free registration, only registered SysOps
are extended this privilege.
Section 5. Technical Support and Registration 10
. Priority in suggestions and comments. Although feedback from
all BigWins Lotto users is accepted and encouraged, feedback
from registered users will be given priority.
BigWins Lotto is not functionally crippled in any way. The only
difference between a registered and unregistered door is a five
second delay and "beg" screen in the unregistered version.
5.3 Registering BigWins Lotto
Registration for BigWins Lotto is $15. Please remit the order form
REGISTER.FRM to:
Scott F. Comstock
c/o Dinosaur Valley Door Software
RD#3 Box 64
Oneonta, NY 13820
Cash, checks and United States postal money orders are accepted.
However, if you elect to send cash, please do so by certified or
registered mail.
Checks must be written to "Scott Comstock". Please allow one week
for the check to clear and your order to be processed. Checks must
also be drawn on a United States bank, in United States funds.
Registration keys, unless otherwise stated, will unlock all future
releases of BigWins Lotto. However, the author reserves the right
to change the registration method at any time.
Please register and keep the shareware concept alive!
Section 5. Technical Support and Registration 11