TradeWars 2002 HELP! v1.10 Written by Neal Tibrewala Copyright (c) 1992 Support BBS, The Land of Krynn (516) 626-2117 Hello Fellow Traders, I designed this program mainly as a tool to help me (and the fellow members of my corporation) with this magnificent game. What does it do? Well, everything. First of all, it downloads as much information as it can from your ship's computer about the area that you have explored so far. This is done through a script file. I use Qmodem (TM) to do this, but since many other communications programs are in use I adapted the script for different languages. In this version, included are: Qmodem, Telix, Procomm Plus, and Procomm. I think this covers what many people use and I hope if suffices. If you use another program, follow the directions in the file CIM-FMT.TXT to download the needed information. Then, the script makes two files that the program analyzes and creates informative text files about. The workings of the scripts and text files are described below. Happy Trading, and may you not be blown up (again), Neal Tibrewala Working those damned scripts. ============================= Qmodem ------ Copy the file CIM-QMOD.SCR into you SCRIPTS directory or you main Qmodem directory if you don't have one. Load Qmodem. Call your favorite BBS that has TradeWars 2002. Play the game exploring as much as possible. When you are out of turns (or time) go into the (C)omputer by pressing (C). THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT, if you don't go into the computer the script WILL NOT WORK! Once in the Computer press ALT-F It will ask you for the name of the script you wish to execute. Type CIM-QMOD and press ENTER. If it finds it, it will then ask for parameters. Simply press Enter at this prompt. If it didn't find the script, then try specifying a full path to the script, and check to see that you copied it correctly. When it has finished downloading the information, you will be back in the computer. At that time either quit Qmodem or shell to DOS (ALT-R) to insure that you have the files TW2002-I.CIM and TW2002-R.CIM If you do, GREAT! If not try again, it DOES work. Telix ----- Same instructions as Qmodem except ALT-G brings up the script prompt. To which you type CIM-TELX. The shell to DOS command will also be different Procomm ------- Same instructions as Qmodem except ALT-F5 brings up the command file prompt and you must type cim-proc PcPlus ------ In Procomm Plus ALT-F5 brings up the Command File prompt to which you type CIM-PCPL RUNNING THE PROGRAM ------------------- Running the program is simple, just run 2002help.exe in the same directory that the newly created TW2002-?.CIM files are. It will run asking you whether you want to create each file. You should say yes the first time to everything. On fast machines this process takes no time at all, and on a 4.77 MHz 8088 it took only 2 minutes. Once you have created the text files, view them using your favorite Word Processor or text viewer. The files are in standard ASCII so that even if you wanted to change them over another computer you could. If the program says your files are corrupt, you probably had line noise during the download and you must either repair the file(s) using the directions in CIM-FMT.TXT file, or download the files again. If you have a different communication program then the CIM-FMT.TXT file will show you how to download the information manually. You can change the default extension from text to any other 3 letter extension by starting the prgram like this: 2002HELP XXX where XXX is the letters you want to use. For example, 2002HELP KRY will create *.KRY instead of *.TXT SHAREWARE NOTICE ================ People usually say that "This program is not free" in this section. Well, this program really is. BUT (and there is always a but) if you register this program I might be inclined to offer you registered versions of newer releases that may be crippled. Registration is not a set fee, any sum will make me happy. If you would like a copy of the latest registered version on disk, send me a self adressed stamped envelope with $5 shipping and handling. Currently in the works is another program for tradewars, an ONLINE TERMINAL program that will, as you play, automatically update its database. Image being able to access every bit of info instantly, like "Where was that class 0?" or "Now that I have fighters where did I see that Alien last?" or more importantly, "Where is the closest class 1?" or "How many fighters/shields do I need to invade this planet" Neal Tibrewala P.O. Box 428 Old Westbury, NY 11568-0428 (USA) :) I would like to thank Mr. Impossible for his valuable assistance in debugging and suggesting improvements for this program. I encourage you to do the same.