MAJYK EMPIRES 1.30 The Online Fantasy Conflict By Neale Davidson / 28 December 1993 Special Thanks to the following people: Steve Ames, Scott Baker, Ron Doty, Joe Drasin, Charles Foote John Gitto, Gary Hammer, John Heath, Robert Kircher, Dan Lawrence Steve Lorenz, Paul McKay, Kerry Nicponski, Kevin Pinette, W Pommenville Bill Simsalek, Virgil Stamps, Ralph Trimarchi, Mike Whitney, Tom Wiseman "Shareware is for everyone, but registration is for those who want more!" (c)1993 CIOE Corp * INTRODUCTION The lands are ravaged by warring empires. The world suffers under the weight of destruction from powerful majyk and mighty armies. Of these, only one empire can survive. Will it be yours? Use your armies, both standard and majykal, to defeat enemy forces and conquer their cities. * UNPACKING MAJYK EMPIRES Majyk Empires should be distributed in one archive, usually either ZIP, ARC, or ARJ. To decompress the files properly, just unzip all of the files into whatever directory the game should reside. Majyk Empires uses no subdirectories of its own. If you are installing onto an earlier release of the game, just uncompress the new files over your old version. The GAMEMAP.DAT file, the datafile for the game in progress, will not be overwritten. This enables players to continue with their games without interruption. * MANIFEST A manifest of the files which should be included in this archive package follows: MJK*.TXT - On-line instructions MAJYK.EXE - The Door Executable ME01.ANS,RIP - Welcome screen ME02.ANS,RIP - Game Full screen ME03.ANS,RIP - Loser's screen ME04.ANS,RIP - Winner's screen ME05.ANS,RIP - Out Of Turns screen MEICONS.ZIP - Rip Icon Files * THE DOOR.CFG FILE Majyk Empires requires a DOOR.CFG file to run. This file tells Majyk Empries all about your BBS setup, and what options you will be using within the game. Door Drop File - The first line of the CFG file is the type of Drop file your BBS leaves for the door to pick up. A list of the common drop files, and the code needed in this first line, follows: GAP - DOOR.SYS PCB - PCBOARD.SYS RBBS - DORINFO1.DEF WC - CALLINFO.DAT SF TRIBBS WWIV Path to Drop File - Line two tells Majyk Empires where to look for the drop file. This is only the path to the file, do not include the filename itself. BBS Name - Line three is reserved for the BBS name. It is important that this line be correct, because the registration key looks here for the BBS name. Sysop Name - The forth line is for the name of the sysop to your BBS, usually the person installing this door. Locked Baud Rate - If the sysop locks the baud rate on his modem, that rate must be specified on line five. If the baud rate isn't specified, then a '0' must be entered for the line. If you have a high-speed modem and experience problems, you may wish to set the "locked" baud rate to your modem speed, regardless if the modem is truly locked or not. Path to DSZ - The sixth line tells Majyk Empires where to find the DSZ program. Be sure to include both the path and program name on the line. Majyk Empires uses DSZ for auto-downloading of Icons, as well as sending the map and events files. If you do not wish to use DSZ, or do not have that program available, then leave this line blank. Turns Per Day Option - Line seven of the CFG file is the number of turns each player may have per day. If this line is blank, the game will default to three. Ideally, you want to keep this between one and five. Majyk Units Switch - Line eight is an 'ON' / 'OFF' switch. If this is set to off, no majyk units will be available within the game, ever. If this is set to 'ON', Majyk units will be enabled. Spells Switch - Line nine is another 'ON' / 'OFF' switch which determines if spells are available during the game. If 'OFF', all spells are disabled. If 'ON', spells work normally. Starting Social Science - Line ten tells Majyk Empires how high to start social science for new players. This number should be between 0 and 2500. Starting Military Science - Line eleven tells the door how high to start military science for new players. This number should be between 0 and 2500. Most games should start below 50. Starting Majyk Science - The last line tells the door how high to start majyk science for new players. This number should be between 0 and 2500. It is recommended that this number start out no higher than military science. The following is a sample door configuration file for a WildCat! 3.0 BBS using DSZ: GAP C:\WC30\GAMES\MAJYK CIOE InfOrder Joseph Drasin 19200 C:\WC30\DSZ.EXE 5 ON ON 10 10 10 * RUNNING THE DOOR Once the config file is set up, the door can usually be executed with the DOS command MAJYK DOOR.CFG. This will usually be placed within a batch file such as the following: C: CD C:\DOORS\MAJYK MAJYK.EXE DOOR.CFG CD C:\BBS The door will initialize itself when the first player successfully logs in. This will automatically create a GAMEDAT.MAP file. Deleting this file will reset the game. Two other files will be created as users take their turn. The first is the WORLD.MAP file, which is a text file showing the world's armies, cities, and terrain. RIP users can download this file to get a better view of the world situation. The second file is the EVENTS.DAT file, which details the use of spells, combats, builds, and special events in the game. RIP users may also download this file during the game. Majyk Empires can also be run locally outside of the BBS by adding '/L' after the configuration file parameter in the DOS command line. The local user will then be prompted to enter his name. Nonstandard IRQs can be used with Majyk Empires by specifying the IRQ after the configuration parameter in the command line. * RIP GRAPHICS Majyk Empires will automatically detect if RipTerm or Ansi is available, ignoring the values passed by the door config file. This was done to allow the door to be played on BBS systems which may or not have Rip available. If, for some reason, Majyk Empires cannot detect either ANSI or RipTerm, the user is prompted to force either ANSI or RipTerm sequences. Users should only do this if they do indeed have either ANSI or RipTerm, but did not have their terminal options properly detected. Users must have either RipTerm or an ANSI-compatible terminal program in order to play. For RIP players, a set of icon files must be provided for download. These icons are the unit and flag displays on the map field. The map will be unreadable without them. Majyk Empires will attempt to detect the icons on the user's terminal. If it cannot find them, the game will default to ANSI mode. If DSZ exists on the path (according to the DOOR.CFG file). Users are given the option of downloading the icons from within Majyk Empires. For this to work properly, DSZ must be available on the path and MEICONS.ZIP must be in the game directory. If you do not wish to support auto-downloading, or do not have DSZ, please place the included MEICONS.ZIP file available for public download. * GAME PLAY Instructions on game play are given in the on-line documentation under the INS*.TXT files. * VERSION HISTORY 1.30 - 28 November 1993 Documentation vastly improved from earlier versions. Installation is now gone through step-by-step. Sysop configuration has been greatly expanded. The sysop now has the power to dictate many of the options in the game from within the DOOR.CFG file. 1.26 - 1 November 1993 Some bug fixes. End-of-turn options given even to players who are completely out of turns. 1.25 - 27 October 1993 Massive update with many new options. DSZ support has been added. If the DSZ option has been set, players can download icons, instructions, the events bulletin, and the current world map. 1.20 - 18 September 1993 Cosmetic changes, addition of some majykal units. Majyk limitation in unregistered versions disabled. 1.01 - 1 September 1993 Some minor bug fixes. 1.00 - 29 August 1993 Registered version release. Includes ranged attacks, majykal spells and units, and statistical views of armies currently playing. 0.90 Beta - 20 August 1993 First version release. * REGISTRATION INFORMATION Majyk Empires is not cripple-ware. What you have is a full playable door game with many options. That said, registration gives you MORE options, as well as removes the "This game is UNREGISTERED" notice at the beginning of the game. Registered users also recieve news about upgrades and other products in our newsletter. Without registration, several features of the game have been turned off, such as increased levels in sciences. This doesn't hurt the play of the game, though it does limit the options available to players. Use the enclosed registration form to register your software today! Registration for Majyk Empires is $15.00 and can be sent to the following address. Credit-card purchases are available by data or voice. * TECHNICAL SUPPORT If you have any questions about Majyk Empires or any other CIOE products, you can reach us by mail, voice, or by our network system. CIOE InfOrder 207 North Street, Suite 102 West Lafayette IN 47906 Voice: (317)743-3487 BBS: (317)743-4487 14.4K N81