============================================================================ $VER: Frotz Infocom Game Loader, v3.02 README File (26-Aug-96) by Dotoran! ============================================================================ What Is It? ~~~~~~~~~~~ Finally, a HELP FILE for setting up those Infocom Interactive Adventure Games for use with CNet Amiga BBS's! This archive contains ALL the files needed to set up Infocom games for use on your bbs. Using just ONE LOADER file, your users will be presented with a menu of all the available Infocom Games on your system. If they had previously played and saved a game in the past, they'll be asked if they wish to resume the game, else they can start the game from the beginning. They'll also be asked to choose the color they wish the game text to appear in. When they have finished playing, they'll be shown the same menu again, and could then choose to play and/or resume another game. To eliminate "hogging" of the game, the SysOp can specify a Time Limit to play each game, or better yet, if you've created a "Daily Door Minutes" setting for each Access Group, the loader will calculate how many of these minutes they have remaining and use THAT value instead! You also have the ability of specifying a "minumum" age a user has to be in order to play a game(Mainly for "Leather Goddesses of Phobos"), but possibly for others in the future! :-) Lastly, there's even an AutoMaint module that you can run once a week, or once a month, that will go through and DELETE games older than a certain number of days. Skip to the next section if this is your FIRST time using an Infocom Game loader by me. (This is the second release of the same package that used to be called "ZILoader") How do I upgrade from ZILoader 1.00? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you're presently using my ZILoader, v1.00, and would like to start using my Frotz, v3.00 loader, here's what you'll have to do: 1. It is VERY, VERY important that you NOT copy ANY of these newer files into your assigned LTOI: directory yet! That comes LATER! 2. Included with this archive is a script called "Frotz_Update". It's a CNet ARexx script which you should run from within your bbs. It will make certain changes to the ZILoader format of doing things, so as to conform to the way I'm doing things with the Frotz Interpretor. 3. Once the script has finished it's work, you'll be ready to complete the upgrade by copying all files starting with "Frotz" into the "ltoi" directory, which is now called "Infocom/". 4. Also included in this archive is a "Games/" directory. Check this to see if it contains any games which you do NOT currently have available on your systems. Chances are there'll be at least ONE you don't have! 5. You'll now need to refer to the installation steps pertaining to the addition of the lines to your BBSMENU file, the creation of the EVENT used to run the "Frotz_AMaint" file, as well as the editing of the internal variables used in both the "Frotz_AMaint" and "Frotz_Loader" files. You may also choose to create a new assign, however this step is not absolutely necessary. (Read more about this later) 6. As mentioned in the update script, the only directories inside the "Infocom/" directory which will ever be used are the "Games/" and the "data/" directories, so you may want to go into the other directories to see if there are other files you wish to keep, and could then DELETE these directories if found NOT to contain anything of value. How do I install it? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are numerous steps involved, so take your time and do each step IN SEQUENCE as listed below: 1: Copy the "Infocom/" directory found in this archive somewhere into your system, preferably somewhere inside your DOORS: directory. 2: Load the "startup" file where you placed your CNet ASSIGN commands into a text editor. This might be "user-startup", "startup-sequence", "cnet-startup", or something similar. It should be located somewhere in your assigned S: directory. Add the following line BELOW your other CNet assigns: assign INFOCOM: Infocom/ NOTE1: Where matches the one you chose in Step # 1 above. NOTE2: You'll have to REBOOT your computer BEFORE attempting to use the Frotz_Loader for the FIRST time, unless you also open up a CLI Window and type in the above line to create the needed assign. If the assign does NOT exist, the program will NOT run! NOTE3: It is NOT 100% neccessary to have to create the assign. Look at Step # 10 below for information on NOT using the assign command. 3: Add the "Frotz_Loader" file as a multi-use ARexx Door into your system. No special settingsor arguments are needed, and you no longer have to add EACH infocom game into this area separately, as you may have done in the past. This one loader takes over the responsibility of loading ALL your Infocom games! 4: Load your BBSMENU file(located in your CNET: directory) into a text editor, then add the following line to the end of Menu # 2; Available Everywhere menu: FROTZ, INFOCom, ADVenture `3- | {#0INFOCOM:Frotz_Loader} ~~^~~ ~~^~~ ~^~ ^ ^ `------|-------' | `--> Replace with a Control-Q character! | | | `--> Access Groups that can play Infocoms! | `--> Make sure these are CAPITALIZED, especially the INFOC one, else it will interfere with CNet's INFO command. NOTE: If you chose NOT to create the assign in Step # 2 above, you'll have to include the FULL PATH to the "Frotz_Loader" above, as well as including it in the variable in Step # 10 below. 5: Right below the above line, also add this line, which SysOps can use to launch the AutoMaintenance module, if they don't wish to wait for the next run of your "Frotz_AMaint" event: FROTZM, INFOCM, ADVM `31 | {#0INFOCOM:Frotz_AMaint} ~~~^~~ ~~~^~~ ~~^~ ^ ^ `-------|------' | `--> Replace with a Control-Q character! | | | `--> Groups that can access AutoMaintenance! | `--> Makes sure ALL letters of these commands are UPPERCASE letters, else they may interfere in the operations of other CNet commands, not to mention the ones in Step #4! NOTE: If you chose NOT to create the assign in Step # 2 above, you'll have to include the FULL PATH to the "Frotz_AMaint" file above, as well as including it in the variable in Step # 10 below. 6: Save your BBSMENU file, then highlight your CNet Control Panel and press RAMIGA - T to reload the BBSMENU file. 7: Load your CNet CONFIG File, then enter the "Events..." window. Create the following NEW Event: SysOps Using v4.21 CNet Amiga: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: FrotzAMnt Event Type: RunARexx Port(s): 0 Execute Date: Tommorrow @ 03:00 Invoke: Immediate-UDump Repeat Days: 1 Repeat Hours: 0 Repeat Mins: 0 Valid Time: 01:00 Status: Ready Unloaded Port: Ignore Days: Check ALL SEVEN Command: INFOCOM:Frotz_AMaint NOTE: Remember to hit the ADD button when you're done! SysOps Using v3.05c CNet Amiga: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Command: RunARexx Args: INFOCOM:Frotz_AMaint [port(s)]: 1 (whichever one works for you) type: Immediate--force system idle Days: Check Sunday (so it runs every Sunday) Time: 300 (Try to run at 3:00 AM each Sunday) Valid: 100 (Try to run for 1 hour past 3:00 AM) Interval: 0 (No interval needed, only runs once) Iterate: 1 (Again, so it only runs once) 3.xx: Don't forget to hit the ADD button, before hitting the OK button, NOTE: else this event will NOT be added to the rest of those defined. 8: REMEMBER, if you won't be rebooting the system BEFORE trying out the Frotz_Loader, you'll have to load up a CLI and type in the command given in Step # 2 above to insure the proper assign has been created. 9: The first time the loader is used, your Games/ directory is scanned. It is inside of this directory where you should locate your game data files, using the "Inform" method of filenaming, where the root filename is the name of the game, and the extension is the proper ".z?" suffix, dependent on the Z version of the game data file. After this, the file "Frotz_Data" (minus quotes) will be created. This file holds the long descriptions, save names, game data filenames, and the minimum ages of all Infocom games you have located on your bbs. After this initial run, UserID # 1, or any user holding a specified Access Group will be given access to(and will be SHOWN) the "SCAN" command when using the loader. This command will re-scan your Games/ directory looking for any NEW games you may have added, so that your users can then be able to play them. Non-SysOps will NOT be shown the "SCAN" command, and it will NOT function if they attempt to invoke it. NOTE1: See below for more information on the "...specified Access Group..." that I mentioned above. NOTE2: You should ONLY store the actual "game data" files inside of this Games/ directory. Any other files you may have for these games, like icon files, sound files, graphics data files, etc, can be placed in any other directories you'd like to create in the directory you specified above. NOTE3: The file titled "Frotz_Games" contains information on the 56 games I'm presently aware of, 52 of which I'm running at my place, and should hopefully contain the info for any games you may obtain. You may need to alter the game data filenames in this file if you obtained your data files from other sources. The game data filename is the THIRD item of data on each line in this file. The FOURTH item on each line is the minimum age to use for each game, and can also be edited yourself. Right now, all games are set to 1 year old, except for LGOP, which is set for 16 years old. The "smiley face" character I'm using for parsing purposes can be created by pressing CTRL-A on your keyboard. 10: Now load the "Frotz_Loader" file into a text editor, so you can edit the numerous variables located near the top of the listing: path - [set to INFOCOM: by default] In case you wish NOT to create the assign, you could specify, longhand, the exact path to which you stored the "FrotzStdIO" file. If you opt NOT to use the assign command in Step # 2, then you must make sure this path is the SAME one you used in Step # 4 and Step # 5 above. Note, ALSO, that you must store the Frotz Command files in this path as well. So, in other words, LEAVE EVERYTHING INSIDE the "Infocom/" directory, but STORE the "Infocom/" directory wherever you'd like! color - [set to 0 by default] The Frotz Loader will ask the user what color they wish the text in the game to appear in, however this variable allows you to specify the DEFAULT color to use, in the event a user presses ENTER without specifying a color choice. valid values range from 1 to 7, which correspond to the same values used in an MCI color command. Using a value of 0 will allow the loader to randomly select a color each time. access - [set to 31 by default] SysOps have the ability to SCAN the new INFOCOM: directory for newly added games. User ID # 1 is ALWAYS considered a SysOp, while users with an Access Group equal to or higher than the value specified here will ALSO be considered a "SysOp", and thus will see(and be able to use) the internal Scan command. (Also see the variable below!) resume - [set to 1 by default] Allows you to choose whether or not the Loader will immediately ask the user if they wish to resume a game, if it is seen they have "#?.SAV#?" files in their UUCP mail directory. If set to 0, they'll be given the main menu of games directly, upon which they could choose the "R" command. time - [set to 60 minutes by default] The Frotz Interpretor allows you to specify the number of minutes a user may play a given game, and this variable allows you to specify how long that is. If you've created a "Daily Door Minutes" restriction for the Access Groups on your BBS, you can alternately specify a -1 value for this variable, in which event the Frotz_Loader will calculate how much of this limit they have left and will use that value for the time limit! undo - [set to 5 by default] The Frotz Interpretor allows you to specify the number of consecutive times a user can UNDO an action or command, while playing a game. Set to 0, and the users will not be able to use the UNDO command at all. (The docs for Frotz say that the UNDO command is supposed to work in all games, however the StdIO version doesn't seem to support UNDO when using a z3 version data file, so this command will not be available in all games[until he adds that feature to the StdIO version!]) cheat - [set to "-o -O -a -A" by default] The Frotz Interpretor allows you to "look behind the scenes" while playing a game. If one knows how to use this effectively, it would make mapping one's way through a game quite easy, thus you could "cheat". Only a user with an Access Group equal to or greater than the one you specify for above will be able to use this cheat. The loader initially has cheating disabled, but those who have the access can type an ! (exclamation point) when asked for the game number to enable the cheat. In addition, typing !! will allow the user to CUSTOMIZE which of the cheat codes will be used, as some of them list gobs and gobs of information, which may, or may not be relevant to the goal you have in mind. -o : Lets you monitor object movement. -O : Lets you monitor object locating. -a : Lets you monitor attribute assignment. -A : Lets you monitor attribute testing. 11: Lastly, load the "Frotz_AMaint" file into a text editor. Near the top of this file you'll see an variable. This variable lets you specify how many days a saved infocom game can be stored in a user's mail directory. I've noted that Frotz uses MUCH SMALLER ".SAV" files, so you may wish to allow the games to remain available for longer periods of times. 12: That's It! I know it's a lot of steps, but FINALLY you have them all presented to you IN ONE LOCATION for easy reference ANY time! Other Things Of Note: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The ADVM, INFOCM and FROTZM commands can be used to launch the included automaintenance module, in the event you wish it run BEFORE your next event runs. When used, the AMaint module will scan each user's mail directory looking for files that match the template of "#?.SAV#?" (minus quotes). It will then compare the AGE of these files to the value set in the variable you set in Step # 11. If the file is OLDER, it is DELETED, and if the file is either YOUNGER or EQUAL TO the value, it is left intact. Starting with this release of this package, I'm including numerous publically accessable game data files, so there should be no problems with copyrighted programs anymore. As mentioned above, I am presently running over 50 Infocom Games on my system, so there ARE lots of games available, you just have to FIND them! (I'll share one source with you below...) :-) The Frotz Infocom Interpretor is capable of running v1 through v5, v7, and v8 games. Only v6(graphical versions) are not supported by Frotz, but there are only four v6 games: Arthur, Journey, Shogun, and Zork Zero. It will be up to you to obtain other games. This package was written solely as a means of SETTING UP the FROTZ INFOCOM INTERPRETOR into your bbs's, as I found, while rebuilding my bbs, there wasn't such a beast out there, and I had forgotten how much of a pain setting them up initially can be! :-) Presently, if a user states they wish to SAVE their game, a file will be created in their MAIL directories using the name of the game they saved, followed by the extension ".SAV##" (minus quotes), where ## are digits used to indicate the "slot" used to save a game. There is no limit to the number of SAV's a user can create, however the AMaint will curb the number which actually remain in a user's mail directory. So, for instance, if a user plays MiniZork1, you might see files "MiniZork1.SAV0", "MiniZork1.SAV1", etc. in their UUCP Mail Directory. The next time that user enters the "Frotz_Loader", their UUCP Mail Directory will be scanned for "#?.SAV#?" files, and if any are found, they will be asked if they wish to "resume" one of these games. Note, however, that this "resuming" only specifies the saved game file to use. It is still the USER'S responsibility to use the RESTORE command once inside the game to actually bring that saved game back into play. There is also a DELETE command available to the users, so they can do their OWN house cleaning, if they so wish. I took a lot of slack from a couple of you concerning my mandatory need to rename the game data files to "story.data", so this time, I decided to go with the more generally accepted mode of which is used by 90 % of the avilable games to date. If you have game data files that use filenames that do NOT follow this convention, then you may need to modify that game's entry in the "Frotz_Games" file. (You might even have a game that I do NOT have, in which case you'll have to create the ENTIRE line in the "Frotz_Games" file). I also decided to do away with all the internal directories, as with the new naming scheme above, each game data will have a unique name, thus they can now ALL be stored in the SAME directory(the "Games/" directory). If you have OTHER files for certain games, you can create multiple other directories inside the designated directory. The loader now will only care about the internal "Games/" directory, so another bunch of you should now be happy! :-) If you'd be interested in obtaining the FuLL archive for FROTZ, Inform, or some more Infocom Text Adventure games, there's a GREAT ftp site you will want to check out. Point your browsers to: ftp.gmd.de:/if-archive/games/infocom ftp.gmd.de:/if-archive/infocom/interpretors ftp.gmd.de:/if-archive/infocom/programming Is That It? Is There Nothing More? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'm afraid I've run out of things to say! (Gee, that's a first!) :-) As always, if you run across a problem while using this program, please feel free to drop me some feedback at one of these addresses: *************** * NEW ADDRESS *>> InterNet> dotoran@bluemoon.net *************** FidoNet> David Weeks@1:260/121.0 CLink> David Weeks@911:6840/2.0 CHIPSNet> Dotoran@546:7/1.0 Snail Mail> David M. weeks 318 Woodside Avenue Buffalo, NY 14220-2015 ============================================================================ Frontiers BBS (716)/823-9892! ============================================================================