Category : A Collection of Games for DOS and Windows
Archive   : MJSTUFF.ZIP
Filename : MJSHELL.DOC

MJSHELL 1.0

by

Cedric Silvester

ÖÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ·
º (c) Copyright 1990 Dragon's Hoard Software º
ÓÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĽ


ÖÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ·
º What is MJSHELL? º
ÓÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĽ

MJShell is shell used to manage tile sets for Mahjongg 3.3.
MJShell allows you to compress all your tile sets into one
library, using the popular PKZIP(tm) program, and allows you
to access any tile set, as well as set Mahjongg 3.3 options
without having to remember command-line switches or
complicated batch files.


ÖÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ·
º What is Mahjongg 3.3 ? º
ÓÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĽ

Mahjongg 3.3 is a pattern-matching game written by Nels
Anderson. (PLEASE NOTE: I am in no way associated with Nels
Anderson. MJShell is the work of a great fan and envious
programmer.) The original tile game (played without a
computer, if one can imagine!) consisted of 144 wooden or
stone tiles, each inscribed with an Oriental symbol. The
object of the game is to remove all the tiles by pairs,
following a few basic rules.

My main gripe about Mahjongg is that the symbols on the tiles
don't make a lot of sense. With the release of Mahjongg 3.3
came a tile editor, a seemingly innocent enough device
enabling Mahjongg players to create their own tiles for use
in the game. There seems to be no limit to the possible
subjects for tiles. To date, I have collected over 50
different sets, including (but hardly limited to) Beer Can
Labels, Teddy Bears, Body Parts (G-rated), United States
Marine Corps, and Flags of the World. The mind reels...

While the tile editor makes Mahjongg 3.3 a truly great
program, there are still a few problems...

1) The tile sets are roughly 32 Kbytes each. Multiply this
by 50 and 1.5+ Mbytes of precious hard disk real-estate is
eaten up by accessory files for one game (albeit, a great
game, but still...)

2) Accessing the tile sets is accomplished in one of two ways:

1: give Mahjongg a command line switch, specifically:

MAHJONGG -uFOOBAR.TIL

will load Mahjongg with FOOBAR.TIL.

2: from within Mahjongg 3.3, click on the Setup icon,
and choose '1'. You will be prompted for a filename
of the tile set to use, but there is no list of tile
sets available.

3) There are a number of command line switches that will
configure Mahjongg, such as -tx (to play a timed game of x
minutes) or -y to disable the Y/N prompts when selecting
tiles.


MJShell 1.0 tackles the preceding problems as follows:

Problem 1 - Tile file size.
===========================

MJShell uses the popular PKUNZIP(tm) program from PKWare. You
are required to compress all your tile sets into a file
called MJTILES.ZIP, and place that file in the same directory
as Mahjongg 3.3. Tile sets will compress an average of 80%,
saving precious hard disk space.

Problem 2 - Accessing different tile sets
=========================================

When MJShell is run, it looks in the current directory for
MJTILES.ZIP. If found, MJTILES.ZIP is scanned for all
tile sets. MJShell then sorts the tile sets, and displays
a scroll-bar type selector for you to choose a tile set from.

* Note * MJShell 1.0 supports 5 columns of 19, or 90 tile
sets. I assume that few people will exceed 90 tile
sets. Support for more tile sets may be added if
there is enough interest.

When a tile set is selected MJShell executes PKUNZIP(tm),
extracting the selected tile set, and then Mahjongg 3.3 is
started with the appropriate switches to tell it to use the
selected tile set. When you quit Mahjongg 3.3, the selected
tile set is erased to conserve disk space.

Problem 3 - Awkward command line switches
=========================================

Most Mahjongg 3.3 options are configurable from the command
line via switches. MJShell allows you to configure some of
these options with the function keys.

The following options are supported by MJShell:

F1 - Mouse/No Mouse.

Hitting F1 toggles the use of a mouse in Mahjongg
3.3. Mahjongg 3.3 will autodetect a mouse if it's
present, so selecting 'No Mouse' may be ignored if
you actually do have a mouse installed. This
option might help where Mahjongg is unable to
detect the mouse.

F3 - Prompts/No Prompts

'Prompts' refers to the Y/N confirmation Mahjongg
3.3 will prompt you with after selecting a pair of
tiles. I find it slows the game down too much, so
I like to turn these prompts off.

F5 - Title Page/No Title Page

Selecting No Title Page allows you to start
Mahjongg without seeing the title screen.

F7 - Board# xxxxx

On start up, MJShell picks a random number from 1
to 65535 for the board number. This option allows
you to select a specific board number. Note that
selecting a board number less than 0 or >65535
will cause Mahjongg 3.3 to select a random board.

F9 - Time: xx

If you like to play a timed game, use this option
to select a number of minutes to play. Note that
values greater than 29 minutes are set to 29
minutes, the maximum Mahjongg 3.3 will accept.


MJShell defaults
================

At start-up, MJShell defaults to Mouse, No Prompts, No Title
Page, a random board number, and no time limit.



ÖÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ·
º Installation º
ÓÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĽ

Follow these step to install MJShell 1.0:

1) copy MJSHELL.EXE to the same directory as Mahjongg 3.3

2) Use PKZIP(tm) 1.xx, to compress all your tile files into a
file named MJTILES.ZIP. This file MUST be in the same
directory as Mahjongg 3.3 and MJShell 1.0.

A sample command to accomplish this is:

PKZIP(tm) -a c:\mahj\mjtiles.zip c:\mahj\*.til

(assuming your Mahjongg 3.3 directory is on C: drive in
the \MAHJ directory.)

(it might be a good idea to rename BLANK.TIL to BLANK.OLD
before issuing this command. BLANK.TIL is a blank
template tile set for use with TILEMAKR.EXE. Its a real
head-scratcher to play, too...)

3) Once MJTILES.ZIP is created & tested, you can delete all
the uncompressed tile sets. If you should need a tile set
at a later date, use PKUNZIP(tm) to extract the one you
need. Consult PKWare's manual for further information.

4) Ensure that PKUNZIP.EXE is in a PATHed directory. To
confirm that PKUNZIP.EXE is on your PATH, try to run
PKUNZIP(tm) from your Mahjongg 3.3 directory. In other
words, type:

PKUNZIP

at the DOS prompt. If PKUNZIP(tm) executes, it is on your
PATH. If you get 'Bad command or filename' then
PKUNZIP.EXE is not in a PATHed directory. Either copy
PKUNZIP.EXE into a PATHed directory, or copy PKUNZIP.EXE
into your Mahjongg 3.3 directory.

For more information about the DOS PATH, consult your DOS
manual.

5) Type:

MJSHELL

at the DOS prompt.

That's it! You should be presented with a list of all the
tile sets stored in the MJTILE.ZIP file. If there is a
problem, MJShell will alert you and suggest a remedy.


ÖÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ·
º DISCLAIMER º
ÓÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĽ

The author makes no representation or warranties with respect
to the contents hereof and specifically disclaims any implied
warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular
purpose. MJShell 1.0 is provided "as is" without warranty of
any kind, either expressed or implied.

The author shall have no liability or responsibility to you
or any other person or entity with respect to any loss or
damage caused by MJShell 1.0, including but not limited to
any loss of profits, interruption of service, loss of
business or consequential damages resulting from the use of
such programs.

ÖÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ·
º FREEWARE º
ÓÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĽ

MJShell is a 'freeware' program. It may be copied freely.
Use it, share it, enjoy it!

I would appreciate any feedback, pro or con. Please send
your comments (postcards would be greatly appreciated):

Attn: Cedric Silvester
Dragon's Hoard Software
P.O. Box 2376
PETERBOROUGH, ONT.,
CANADA
K9J 7Y8


If you access the FidoNet system, address mail to:

1:229/320
Cedric Silvester


MJShell is free. However, if you would like to recieve all
the tile sets I have (as of 20 June '90 I have over 50) just
send $5.00 and a note requesting so. If you live in the
US, I will take $5.00 US, the difference between the Canadian
& US dollar should make up the difference in postage to you.

I will copy my collection of tile sets onto disk (specify
3.5" if required) along with the latest version of MJShell.
Possible additions to MJShell are:

- mouse support.
- support for more than 90 tile sets.
- user-definable colors, defaults, etc.
- EGA 43 line mode.



ÖÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ·
º A FINAL NOTE º
ÓÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĽ

While I am in no way associated with Nels Anderson, (the
author of Mahjongg 3.3) I would like to encourage anyone
using Mahjongg 3.3 to register with Mr. Anderson. His
software efforts are second to none, in many ways superior to
commercial offerings.

Please show your support of the Shareware concept by
registering the Shareware you use!