MAGIGATE.DOC Page 1 ΥΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΈ ³ The Magic Gate version 1.08 ³ ³ Documentation May/June '97 ³ ³ (C) Copyright 1995 - 1997 All Rights Reserved ³ ³ Joseph O'Connor ³ ΤΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΎ This game may be distributed in its original, unmodified form as long as no money is made off of it. Please do not include the contents of this archive in any CD, collection, or whatever without express written permission of ME! Thanks for at least taking the time to look at this game. I know there are hundreds and thousands of On-Line games available for Bulletin Boards these days. Some are good, and some are not; hopefully this will at least be one you choose to put on your own board. Some of its features are as follows: * Designed to work in a multi-node enviornment. * Easy and Powerful Configuration Program that lets you change nearly any aspect of the game. * Works with most BBS types (DOOR.SYS, SRDOOR, DORINFOX.DEF etc.) * Included Creature creater. Allow you to create as many creatures for each area as you want. * Player editor that allows you to change any statistic of any character. * Automatically weeds out inactive players after X many days.(configurable) * Resurrects Dead players after X many days.(configurable) * Six different character classes to choose from, each with their own special abilities. * Twenty character levels in each class with class mastering. * Players can fight each other. * Players can pay for a room at night to be somewhat safe. (There is a way to get into the room that is different for each class.) * Characters have Shame and Luck characteristics which affect certain outcomes that are random. * Clans/Masters. Each character has his own teacher that he goes to. You earn shame by attacking another student of your master. * Guilds. Characters can start their own "team" and build a hall where they can stay for the night and store their gems and gold. * Guild Masters can enter the description for the inside of the guild hall. * Guild Guardians. Guild halls have a guardian that anyone who wants to raid the guildhall must fight before they can enter. The guardian is upgradable by the guild master only. MAGIGATE.DOC Page 2 ΔΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΔ More Features : * Error handling and reporting in a log file. 1.05 * New, flexible character flags that can be added, deleted, modified either through the scripting language or through external programming. Allows scripts to _remember_ what you did. * Scripts can now be encoded to discourage people from reading through the code to figure out the solution to your module. * Automatic patch feature. There is a slight change in the data from 1.04 to 1.05. This feature detects which version data files you have and converts them if necessary. * Improved handling on the on-line messaging system, including a frequency for checking online messages that is sysop configurable for faster/slower machines. * Now has a chat room where you can hang out and talk to other players online. * Chat Room Combat - Duke it out with your worst enemy while all your friends cheer you on, and see what is happening in the fight! 1.06 * Now with Game Random events. Just sitting in the Town Square, a random event could happen to you! These events are run as a script and are easily added to the game. * Event Scheduler. Want an event to happen at 4:00 p.m. every day? You can do it in the newest version! You can set it up to be run every day, every week, every Tuesday, etc... * Creatures are now classified as a certain race. Everything from Avians to Zombies are here. This is going to work in conjunction with the modifications up and coming. Not to worry, the new version is going to read in your old file just fine and add the default race to it. * Weapons Armor and Shield Editor added to the configuration program. 1.07 * Can now have more items than a sword, armor and shield. These items can also activate scripts based on what you do with them. Items can be added to the game via the scripting language as well as building up the item database. * Easily install new areas using the Magicfg program. Reads in a section of the script or a description file and adds it to the appropriate place. MAGIGATE.DOC Page 3 ΔΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΔ Included Files : The following is a list of the files contained in the current release. MAGIGATE.DOC : This wonderfully-written documentation file. SCRIPTS.DOC : Documentation for creating TMG Add on scripts. EXTERNAL.DOC : Documentation for creating EXternal MODules for TMG as well as the format of all the structures used in the game. CONFIG.DOC : Documention on how to configure and optimize TMG. HISTORY.DAT : My own scribblings on what each version added to the game and removed from my sanity. REGISTER.DOC : How to get more out of TMG than the average user. MAGIGATE.EXE : Huzzah, the main program. MAGIGATE.OVR : The other part of the main program. MAGICFG.EXE : The configuration program/editor. MAGITEXT.DAT : Contains the menus for the game. (no peeking!) EVENTS.DAT : The schedule for running events (See instrcutions within the file itself for explanation) EXMODS.DAT : Sample file for adding EXMODS, this one will run the Forest of Wolves Script. RACES.DAT : Contains all the information about the races of the creatures in the game. ARMOR.SHP : The shop file for the armor shop in the game. SHIELD.SHP : The shop file for the shield shop in the game. WEAPON.SHP : Wanna guess? FOREST.DAT : Contains the creatures for the forest. VALLEY.DAT : Contains the creatures for the valley. MOUNTAIN.DAT : Contains the creatures for the mountain. FOREST.SCR : The Afore mentioned Forest of Wolves script example STARTUP.SCR : A script file that is executed when the game is run CONFIG.SCR : This is used to configure some in-game options RANDOM.SCR : This is where the random events are stored : This is where the scripts for the items are kept. They are numbed 1.scr ... XXXXXX.scr STOCKITM.SCR : This is the file that TMG uses to update the items to the current version. It contains all items. And That's it for the files that come with the program! What you don't see there though, is a list of the files that you may eventually find on your hard drive in the directory you UNZIP it to... A few are as follows: MAGIGATE.DOC Page 4 ΔΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΔ Other Game Files : MAGIGATE.DAT : This file has the startup information that the main EXE reads to communicate with your BBS. MAGISTAT.DAT : The file with all the nifty little setup info... MAINFLAG.DAT : Flag file for the main game and any scripts. PLAYERS.DAT : This one has all the player info in it. surprise! PLAYERS.OLD : This has the player info too. Used as backup. USERXXXX.DAT : Mail for player XXXX. FLAGXXXX.DAT : Flag file for player XXXX. NODEXXXX.DAT : Messaging file for player XXXX. INVTXXXX.DAT : Inventory file for player XXXX. GUILDS.DAT : This has all the guild info in it. GUILDS.OLD : This has the guilds info too. Used as backup. HALLXXXX.DAT : Guild hall description for guild XXXX. HALLXXXX.MSG : The messages on the board for guild XXXX. DEBUG.TXT : ASCII text file created by TMG for logging errors and comments. DEBUG.OLD : Debug file from yesterday. NEWSX.DAT : The news file from X days ago. GRANK.ANS : ANSI guild ranking file. GRANK.ASC : ASCII guild ranking file. PRANK.ANS : ANSI player ranking file. PRANK.ASC : ASCII player ranking file. And it ends there right? Well, no, you may also find a couple other .DAT files there if you create creatures for other realms. Those realms are there for expansion right now as the forest only goes up to level 7. And after you make sure you have the above files, you should install it. (It makes running the game that much easier). MAGIGATE.DOC Page 5 ΔΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΔ Installing the Game : Glad you asked. Read these all the way though first, then go to it. (I would hate for you to read instruction #1, then go do it and get lost or something like that) STEP #1: ΔΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΔ (You've probably unzipped the program since you're reading this, but hey:) Unzip to a directory on your Hard drive. Pick a subdirectory under your games directory or something. (c:\doors\magic would be a good one) STEP #2: ΔΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΔ Run Install.bat. This will unarchive the rest of the files, and will run MAGICFG.EXE. You shouldn't have to do a whole lot here. Select 'BBS Options' and hit enter. Fill in SysOp name, Board name, Network Address, Netmail Directory (even though these two aren't used yet, they will be.), Select your BBS software/drop file type from the list, and only change the other things if you need them. The game runs fine with its internal com routines, but if you're running a fossil or and extended fossil driver, it should be set up to run that way. Select the com port if you must, or have it read it from the drop file (which is the best way it will work in a multi-node system), lock your baud rate if you wish, and if your modem has a non-standard address or IRQ, you can change that with the Modify Com Port Settings. STEP #3: ΔΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΔ Go into Game Options and Change whatever you want. STEP #4: ΔΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΔ Select 'Make Batch File' from the main menu. This will create a batch file that you can run as your command line from your BBS. Create it with any name and copy it to your BBS directory (or leave it there if your BBS can execute batches in any directory). This batch file is necessary for the game to run external modules. STEP #5: ΔΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΔ Set up the game to run as an external program in your BBS menu system and you are ready to go. The command you should run should be the name of the batch file you created in step #4 then the node number. I.E. the command line should get passed like 'MAGI 2' for node two. Consult your BBS documentation on how to pass the node number in a variable. MAGIGATE.DOC Page 6 ΔΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΔ About the 1.08 Release : Version 1.08 is a prettier version of 1.07 to be blunt. There are not many differences between the two versions. 1.08 contains better code for handling stock items, a better editor in Magicfg, shops have been overhauled, and now, all the stock items are included in 1 big file that generates all the registry entries necessary for the items and writes out the scripts. On top of that, mobs can be made tougher or weaker on a global level to change the difficulty of the game. Some fabulous ANSI's by Sandy Chidester of OutWorld Arts have been added, and messageboards work a little bit better. I am excited as all heck about 1.08 because it is really what I wanted 1.07 to be but didn't know it at the time. Items RULE! *sorry* =) ΔΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΔ Running the Game : The Magic Gate practically runs itself. It runs maintenance when the first player after midnight logs on. This takes about 5-10 seconds, not very long at all. I wish I could tell you more in this section, but there's just not a whole lot to explain: As of version 1.06 I have added quite a few different ways that the game can be modified and personalized. I have decided that a new doc file needs to explain all the little ways the game can be given a personal touch. See CONFIG.DOC for all the information on configuring and optimizing The Magic Gate. ΔΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΔ Notes on the Game : The Magic Gate has a few command line switches you should know about, even if you don't need them. /Nx (where x is 1..255) Set the node number. This number is overridden if the drop file has the node number built into it. (Good note here: The SRDOOR file format does not contain the node number but contains all the other useful information.) If you want to run EXMODS or scripts available from the other realms menu, you must pass the node number. /Cx (where x is 1..4) Set the Com port number. This is for those souls whose BBS software does not include a com port number in the drop- file. The default for this is Com port 0 (local mode). /D Debugging mode. This is not recommended for daily use, as it would generate quite a large file on a daily basis, but if you have any sort of problems, the DEBUG.TXT file is where you would want to start looking for solutions. /L Play in local mode (from a DOS prompt, COM 0) /P:\ Use :\ as the drop-file path. If this command is not present, TMG automatically uses the one in the MAGIGATE.DAT file. MAINT Run TMG in the maintenance mode. This can be done by nightly events run at or after midnight. This has the same effect as a character logging on as the first person that day (news is updated, old chars are purged, interest is given, etc) MAGIGATE.DOC Page 7 ΔΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΔ Dealing with In-Game Errors : Life is not perfect, computers aren't and I am definately not. That is why god invented the error message. It's his way of saying "You screwed something up"... And these things can happen from time to time. TMG has its ways of trapping errors, and will tell you what happened... What you need to know is what error it was, and what to do about it. All errors are reported to the debug.txt file. (See Page 6 for a detailed list of errors.) ΔΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΔ I get other errors : I don't, and neither should you, but if for some reason you do, save the DEBUG.TXT or DEBUG.OLD, whichever has the error code in it, and drop me a line explaining what you were doing at the time and what the error message was. Problem: It won't read my drop file. Solution: The game has only been tested with two different drop files, DOOR.SYS and DOORFILE.SR. If you can get ahold of SRDOOR.EXE (which comes with any game from The Solar Realms (BRE,SRE,FE)) you should be able to convert your doorfile into a usable one. Also do this for me if you can: send me a dropfile from your BBS as well as the name of the file, the type of bulletin board software you are running etc so that I can fix the problem. Problem: Running the game locks up my BBS, but I get the welcome message. Solution: Perhaps your time on the BBS has run out and it hasn't kicked you off. I'm trying to figure that one out too. Problem: Running the game locks up my BBS, and I don't get anything. Solution: Are you running a Fossil? Did you set it up to use fossil in the config program? Thats the only thing I've seen crash it with no output to the user. Problem: I have a multi-node BBS with different sub-directories for each node, where should I have it create the drop file? Solution: Have your BBS software write the drop file right in the TMG directory. Don't worry about it being over-written when another user enters. The drop file is read only one time and never touched again. Problem: When I try to go to 'Other Realms' it says : External Modules not available, why is this? Solution: You are not passing the node number in the command line. Running the game through a created batch file, your command line should read : MAGI Where is the node number the game is being run on. Replace MAGI with the name of the batch file you created. MAGIGATE.DOC Page 8 ΔΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΔ In-Game Error Codes and Solutions : Error Code : Description : Solution : ΔΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΔ 2 The MAGISTAT.DAT file probably Delete MAGISTAT.DAT and run doesn't match the version of MAGICFG.EXE to set up the the game. options anew. 3 The PLAYERS.DAT file doesn't As of version 1.02, TMG writes read the way it should or does a backup copy of the player not match the version of the file every night before maint. game. is run. Copy PLAYERS.OLD on top of PLAYERS.DAT. 4 One of the following files is Extract the file/s from the corrupted: WEAPONS.DAT, original archive. ARMORS.DAT, SHIELDS.DAT 5 One of the non-game files is See if the specified file is open, and needs to be accessed. open in another window and close it. If not, try a reboot. 6 The MAGISTAT.DAT file is open. See #5 for MAGISTAT.DAT 7 The MAGITEXT.DAT file is open. See #5 for MAGITEXT.DAT 8 The PLAYERS.DAT file is open. See #5 for PLAYERS.DAT 9 The WEAPONS.DAT file is open. See #5 for WEAPONS.DAT 10 The ARMORS.DAT file is open. See #5 for ARMORS.DAT 11 The SHIELDS.DAT file is open. See #5 for SHIELDS.DAT 12 TMG tried to access a file Check your directory against that was not present. the list of files above and extract the missing file from the original archive. 13 The file activity has been If you know nobody is in TMG, told to wait, and was not told delete the HOLD.DAT file from to resume. the TMG directory. 14 Player dropped their carrier. Not really an error. 15 Player ran out of time. Not really an error. 16 Player was booted out by the Player must have been a putz: SysOp. delete immediately ;) 17 Doordriver had a problem Check your set up in MAGICFG. initializing. Chances are something is set up incorrectly. 18 Doordriver had a bad parameter See #17 19 The GUILDS.DAT file has become As of version 1.02, TMG writes corrupted. a backup copy of the guild file Copy GUILDS.OLD over GUILDS.DAT MAGIGATE.DOC Page 9 ΔΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΔ Acknowledgemnets and Thanks : First, I have to thank my good friends Ken and Bill for both the use of their respective boards (Passport to Hades 810-853-6810 and P.C. Adventures 810-739-3137) and the crashes they endured in the beginnning phases of the game, plus the ideas they've given me have helped incredibly. Another round of thanks goes to Sandy Chidester who provided all the ANSI artwork for this game. Thanks Sandy! You can reach Sandy from her homepage for Outworld Arts at : http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/9359/index.html I also need to mention some people who contributed to this project in a major way without their knowledge: Scott Baker/Derrick Parkhurst for coming out with the original DoorDriver. Steve Lorenz and Bob Dalton for their enhancemnets to the original package. (Thanks guys, without your package, I probably never would have attempted to write an on-line game.) Bob Dalton again for his insight on trapping errors with his ELOG unit (Even though I wrote my own, I wouldn't have known how to do it without his unit) Andy Stewart even though I haven't used his InterBBS unit yet, I more than likely will! Oddly Enough, Seth Able for giving me a goal as to how far to take the game and taking the time to either create the `x color codes or implement them from someone else as I have done from his example (Think we could get enough authors doing it to standardize it?) ΔΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΔ For the latest version : I now have registered my own domain name! be sure to update your bookmarks and your links! The fastest way to get the latest version is to check out my web site for The Magic Gate at http://www.magic-gate.com ΔΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΔ Contacting Me : Hey, send your comments, your bug reports, and your criticisms and ideas for the game to me. Or, if you are interested in writing a module for the game, let me know, and I will do my best to assist you in doing so. Couple different ways to get ahold of me. Send email to the sysop on either of my support BBS's Passport to Hades (810)/853-6810 P.C. Adventures (810)/739-3137 or send internet Email to joconnor@sequoianet.com Happy Gaming -Wyvern