Category : BBS Programs+Doors
Archive   : DYNAS305.ZIP
Filename : INSTALL.DOC

WWIVNet Space Dynasty
---------------------

Introduction

Version 3.05 of Space Dynasty allows you, if you wish, to play against
people on other boards. Space Dynasty games on other bulletin board
systems are treated as separate galaxies, and you may send them messages,
food, credits, troops, and even attack them. There is a turnaround time
though: instead of reaching them immediately, it may take a number of
days, depending on how many hops the system is from yours. Resources in
transit to another board, of course, can't be used by either player until
they arrive.


How does it work?

Space Dynasty requires its own WWIVnet message base which should be hidden
from your users (it will look like a bunch of unintelligible garbage to
them at any rate). Once a day, every day, Space Dynasty scans this base
for input from other boards, and writes a message out for transmission to
other boards.

(It should not, therefore, cause an excessive amount of network traffic.
One release of Space Empire, the Atari ST game on which Space Dynasty was
based, DOUBLED FoReMnet traffic! I have no idea how the Atari version was
designed, but I have taken great care to insure that my version requires
minimal transmissions via WWIVnet.)

If you do not install the network portion of Space Dynasty, it will work fine
as a local game.

Installation
------------

Please follow these instructions carefully. If you don't, I guarantee
that WWIVNet Space Dynasty will not work. Please note that, when playing
the game, you will NOT see an Intergalactic Actions menu until the game
receives input from its specified message base.


Installation requires that you:
(1) set up a Space Dynasty game on your board
(2) set up a message base for the game
(3) run SDINSTAL.EXE
(4) add READSD.COM and WRITESD.COM to a daily maintenance batch file


STEP ONE
Set up a Space Dynasty game the way you normally would. See SYSOP.DOC
for further information. Run the game at least once to verify that it is
working OK. You can let your users continue to play as if it is just a
local game, they will not see anything different until you start getting
messages from other boards.


STEP TWO
Either find a network Space Dynasty game that is already in play,
or find someone who is willing to host a game message base. Setup the
networked base the way you always do:

Determine the subtype being used (lets use 57310 for example). Set up
the message base via BOARDEDIT.

Here is what your //BOARDEDIT screen should look like:

A. Name : Space Dynasty Network
B. Filename : NETDYN
C. Key : None
D. Read SL : 255
E. Post SL : 255
F. Anony : No.
G. Min. Age : 0
H. Max Msgs : 20
I. AR : None.
J. Sub Type : 57310
K. Storage typ: 0
L. Val network: No
M. Req ANSI : No

Important ones:
[B] is the filename Space Dynasty will scan for net messages.
This name will show up in DYNASTY.CFG later.
[D] and [E] should be sysop only, as no one will want to read
the unintelligible stuff the game communicates with.
[H] should be relatively small, maybe 5 times the number of nodes
playing the game. The bigger it is, the longer daily maintenance
will take.
[J] SDINSTAL.EXE will ask you for the Sub Type, so remember it.
This is whatever number your net game host tells you to use.
[K] Storage type must be 0!!! This puts each message in a separate
file. Space Dynasty expects to read messages in this format.

Now, if you are not hosting the message base, set up a NN*.NET in
your data directory containing the node number of whoever is hosting it.

If you are hosting the base, set up a N*.NET file, containing a list
of nodes participating in the game. IMPORTANT NOTE: Space Dynasty is a
little different from most net bases in that it requires the host to add his
own node number into the N*.NET file. If the host does not put his own
node number in there, he will not see messages posted by his own game,
and they will NOT go out over the net.


STEP THREE
Decide which directory you are going to put READSD.COM and WRITESD.COM
in. This is completely up to you. Create that directory, and put the
three net programs there: SDINSTAL.EXE, READSD.COM, and WRITESD.COM.

Run SDINSTAL, it will ask you 6 questions:
(1) What is your BBS data directory?
(2) What is your BBS messages directory?
(3) What is the game directory where the Space Dynasty data is stored?
(4) What is the subtype of the message base being used for the game?
(5) What is your WWIVNet node number?
(6) What is the node number of the host of the Space Dynasty msg base?

If it completes without error, it will create a file called DYNASTY.CFG
which will be read and used by READSD and WRITESD. I have included a
file SAMPLE.CFG with comments, if you want to look at it for some reason.
SDINSTAL will do the work for you, so you don't have to. If you make a
typo, you can edit DYNASTY.CFG yourself instead of going through the whole
program again.


STEP FOUR
Now add READSD and WRITESD to your daily maintenance batch file, and you
are all set. You have to run them from the same directory you have the
DYNASTY.CFG in, so you batch file should look something like:

cd\bbs\gfiles\dynasty
readsd
writesd
cd\bbs

That's it, you're ready to go.

If you want to run WRITESD to see if it works, note that it will not write a
message out to the message base immediately. It creates a P0.NET file, which
is analyzed as soon as you logoff the BBS. Once it is analyzed, then you will
see a message posted on the Space Dynasty message base. You can use the
WWIVNet program LNET.EXE to view the P0.NET file, and to see which nodes the
message is "addressed" to. Hosts will only see their own node number, and
subscribers will see the node number of the host board.

READSD will delete messages from the message base as it uses them, so you
will see "File not found" messages when scanning the Space Dynasty base once
it has started to work.

P.S. Please put NETUSER.DOC in a Gfiles directory somewhere where your users
can read it. This is a file containing instructions for Intergalactic Actions.