Category : BBS Programs+Doors
Archive   : MEL_191.ZIP
Filename : READTHIS.NOW

 
Output of file : READTHIS.NOW contained in archive : MEL_191.ZIP
For your information: MELEE now contains more than 25,600 lines of code,
NOT including the code in JPDoor (which is the third-party communications
interface I use, distributed by Motor City Software).

IMPORTANT for v1.90!
1) Move your backed-up data files (MELEEBAK.ZIP) to a safe directory.
You will want these if, for some reason, the CONV-190.EXE program fails to
work correctly.
2) Run the program CONVERT.EXE! This will update your PLAYER.DAT file
and your NPCGUYS*.DAT files for use with this new version. Failure to do this
will screw up your game! It will also delete your VISITOR.DAT file, since you
will have to grab new-format visitor files to rebuild your visitor library.
Do NOT run Convert.exe AFTER copying the NPCGUYS*.DAT files that came in this
archive into your MELEE directory. The conversion program is ONLY for convert-
ing the old PLAYER.DAT and NPCGUYS*.DAT files, so run it before copying any
new NPCGUYS*.DAT files into your directory! NOTICE: If you are running a ver-
sion of MELEE prior to 1.80 you must reset your game. This is both because of
data structure incompatibilities and game-balance bugs which have since been
fixed.
3) Export files are now named EXPT*.* instead of BANZ*.* so the rankings
program will not import incorrectly formatted visitors into your guild. If
you get exported Warriors files in both the BANZ*.* and EXPT*.* format, the
new MELEE will only use the latter and you can delete the former manually.

Make sure you add lines 23, 24 and 25 to the MELEE.CFG file. Failure to
do this will result in disk read errors. Line 23 allows you to disable CTS
(hardware flow control), and line 24 allows you to set you origin line
for those running FidoNet compatible message areas (this feature is still under
testing and may not be fully operational for 1.80 -- however, many echomail
tossers will append their own origin line if a message does not have one).
Line 25 alerts MELEE to multi-nodal use under Remote Access or QuickBBS. Multi-
node use under RBBS is not yet supported due to lack of documentation on the
requirements of the BBS software.

If you are upgrading from a version of MELEE prior to v1.63, you
MUST reset your game. This means deleting all your old MELEE files and
starting the game over again from scratch. There have been too many bugs
reported and fixed which allowed players to increase their stats and skills
outrageously. In the interests of game balance and fairness, a complete reset
is the only answer. If you were running v1.63+, then all you need to do is
copy the .exe and .ovr programs over the ones in your game directory. It is
also recommended that you copy the update.asc over the old one.

If you run a FidoNet-compatible mailer (ie., FrontDoor, D'Bridge, or
Binkely to name the three most popular), you can always F'Req the latest
exports from 1:128/74 using the magic name WARRIOR to get every one of them
(export files are kept for 30 days before being deleted, if they are not
updated). Naturally, if you are going to F'Req some visiting Warriors, it
would be appreciated if you would drop some off, too. You can use these
visiting Warriors even if you are not registered; likewise, you are able to
export your own.

Deleting the Player.dat file and then running Maint.exe will reset the
game.

I've found out that that difference in the speed the game runs, as far
as how long messages are displayed on the screen is a function of the way
DesqView works. The config line which allows you to increase the time of
the delay throughout the game has been proven to offset this. See the config
file for details. (On a single-node system, I set this to 0. If you run
DesqView (tm) you might want this set around 1000). NOTE: If you do not run
DesqView, you should not need to set this at all (set at 0 or 1 or something
quite low). Experiment.

Read the Update.Asc file, and leave it in the directory, so your users can
read it too (via the Go To the Library menu selection). It details all the
significant changes in MELEE since the last release.

Good hunting.
Kevin Higgins.



  3 Responses to “Category : BBS Programs+Doors
Archive   : MEL_191.ZIP
Filename : READTHIS.NOW

  1. Very nice! Thank you for this wonderful archive. I wonder why I found it only now. Long live the BBS file archives!

  2. This is so awesome! 😀 I’d be cool if you could download an entire archive of this at once, though.

  3. But one thing that puzzles me is the “mtswslnkmcjklsdlsbdmMICROSOFT” string. There is an article about it here. It is definitely worth a read: http://www.os2museum.com/wp/mtswslnk/