PiloTSR -- BOB/SWOTL Pilot File Backup/Restore Utility Copyright (c) 1991 by Steve "Auger" Edwards All rights reserved. This program may be copied and distributed freely. It is provided as-is and with no warranty, either expressed or implied. Every effort has been made to ensure compatibility and safe operation with other programs, but no guarantees are made as to its compatibility with specific programs and/ or operating systems. The user bears full responsibility for any lost data and/or other damage(s) caused by the use of this program. If you find what you feel is a "bug" in this program, please contact me via CompuServe's FSFORUM, section 7 (Historic Air Combat). Please post your message private to UID 71610,2736 with a message title of "PiloTSR Bugs" or something similar. This program has been tested and found reliable from within both BOB and SWOTL on a Dell 16mhz 386sx running DOS 3.3 and QEMM 5.0. ------------ Introduction ------------ PiloTSR is a memory-resident (TSR) program designed to ease the pain of killing your BOB and SWOTL pilots and to simplify their resurrection. It works by making copies of your pilot files and restoring them at the press of a key, and all from within the game -- there is no need to exit to DOS. Let's say that you're playing SWOTL, and you're flying as a P-47 pilot (Dual-Role) who is twelve missions into his second tour of duty. Due to a slight error in judgement, you plow face-first into that machine gun tower you were shooting at, thus bringing your otherwise illustrious career to a very sudden end. Not to fear! Simply exit back to the Main Screen and press a key, and voila! your pilot is restored (you can verify this by selecting Combat Records and looking at your pilot's stats). ------------ Setup ------------ There are only four things you need to do to set up PiloTSR: 1) Copy PILOTSR.EXE to your hard disk and make sure the directory you put it in is on your path, 2) Create a directory to hold the backup pilot files, 3) Create a .LST file that contains the names of the pilots you want to save and restore, and 4) Run PiloTSR, specifying the Program and Backup directories and the name of your .LST file. ------------ .LST Files ------------ In order to save your pilot files, PiloTSR has to know what the filenames are. PiloTSR accomplishes this by reading a list of filenames from a .LST file (which is just a fancy name for a text file containing a list of names). The rules for creating .LST files are very simple: 1) There should be no blank lines or spaces 2) There should only be one filename per line 3) Filenames should be complete, ie. name and extension, and appear only once in the file 4) There can be no more than 25 filenames per .LST file 5) All .LST files should reside in the Backup directory The following is an example of a .LST file: ----------------------- Beginning of file AUGER.109 MANFRED.110 EDDIE.RAF ROGER.RAF STUPID.J87 BLIND.J88 ----------------------- End of file As you can see, the pilot names don't have to be in any order, and you can mix and match pilots of different types. You can even include BOB and SWOTL pilots in the same .LST file, but you would then wind up with SWOTL pilots in your BOB directory and vice-versa. I suggest organizing your .LST files so that the pilots that fly together are in the same .LST file, ie. you may have some P-51 pilots and some B-17 crews in the same .LST file, a .LST file just for your Go-229 pilots, another for RAF pilots, etc. A quick and simple way to make .LST files is to do a DIR of the files you're interested in (ex: DIR *.USA) and redirect the output to a file, which you can then edit with a text editor or word processor. This can be done at the DOS command prompt by typing in (for example): DIR *.109 > 109.LST and then editing the created file (in this case 109.LST) to remove the directory listing header, file sizes and dates, and bytes free. By making good use of the DOS wildcard characters "*" and "?", you can generate a list pretty close to what you want with a minimum of editing. ------------ Running ------------ To load PiloTSR, type in the following command: PILOTSR /L=LSTfile /P=ProgramDIR /B=BackupDIR where: LSTfile is the name of the .LST file (without extension) that contains the names of the files to be backed up and restored ProgramDIR is the full path (drive and directory) where the program resides, with no final backslash (ex: "C:\BOB", not "C:\BOB\") BackupDIR is the full path (drive and directory) where PiloTSR will store the backup files, with no final backslash (ex: "C:\BOB\PILOTS", not "C:\BOB\PILOTS\") .LST files are also stored in this directory. For eaxmple: if BOB resided in C:\BOB and you wanted your backup files to be kept in D:\BACKUP and the name of your .LST file (located in D:\BACKUP) was 109.LST, you would type in the following: PILOTSR /L=109 /P=C:\BOB /B=D:\BACKUP Once loaded PiloTSR stays in the background until you press one of the following key combinations: [Ctrl-Alt-B] Backup the files listed in the .LST file (copy them from the Program directory to the Backup directory) [Ctrl-Alt-R] Restore the files listed in the .LST file (copy them from the Backup directory to the Program directory) [Ctrl-Alt-U] Unload (remove from memory) PiloTSR * Note * You can only unload PiloTSR if you are at the DOS command prompt and you are not "shelled out" from another program. Also, loading additional memory-resident programs after PiloTSR may keep it from unloading. If you forget the command keys, run PiloTSR again (without any command line parameters) and it will list them for you. When resident, PiloTSR communicates with you via a series of tones: A series of short beeps indicates file access in progress A quick high-low-high beep indicates successfull completion of a file copy, either backup or restore A long high-low indicates failure of a file copy or the inability to unload A long low-high indicates a successful unload After loading PiloTSR it would be a good idea to make an initial backup of your pilot files before entering the game (PiloTSR does *not* do this automatically). Press [Ctrl-Alt-B] and wait for the completion beep, then run your game normally. Once in the middle of the game you can backup and restore your files at any time, but I would suggest doing so only at a main menu. Although I've made every effort to make PiloTSR bullet-proof, it is still possible to really screw things up by trying to backup or restore files at the same time the game is trying to update them. If you are viewing a pilot file when you restore, you probably won't see the data change right before your eyes; but if you exit out of the view screen and get right back in, you should see the restored pilot data. In some of SWOTL's menus there is a "retry" button; pressing it should have the same affect. ------------ Advanced Use ------------ Once PiloTSR is loaded you can retrieve the current settings by running PiloTSR again with no command line parameters. You can also change the Program and Backup directories and the current .LST file by running PiloTSR with different parameters. There is no need to unload PiloTSR first. There is nothing in PiloTSR that precludes its use with other programs. If you wanted to, you could set it up to save and restore your RB ROSTER.DAT file or your F16CP pilot files. However: PiloTSR HAS NOT BEEN TESTED WITH ANY PROGRAMS OTHER THAN BOB AND SWOTL AND I CAN THEREFORE NOT MAKE ANY CLAIMS AS TO ITS COMPATIBILITY WITH OTHER PROGRAMS OR ITS SUITABILITY FOR A PARTICULAR APPLICATION. I REMIND YOU AGAIN THAT YOU USE THIS PROGRAM AT YOUR OWN RISK. ------------ Problems? ------------ If you have problems loading PiloTSR, check the following: 1) Make sure that you aren't putting an ending backslash on the ProgramDIR and BackupDIR parameters (ei. "C:\BOB", not "C:\BOB\") 2) Make sure that you aren't putting a file extension on the LSTfile parameter (ei. "USA" not "USA.LST") 3) Make sure that your .LST file is located in the Backup directory If PiloTSR loads but you get a failure tone when you try to backup or restore files: 1) If you're trying to backup your files, make sure the files exist in the Program directory 2) If you're trying to restore your files, make sure the files exist in the Backup Directory 3) Make sure that each filename listed in your .LST file is correct; check for misspellings, missing file extensions, and extra characters 4) Make sure you have enough disk space to copy the selected files; remember, they'll be in two places at once so they'll take up twice the normal space If you are unable to unload PiloTSR: 1) Make sure you aren't "shelled out"; type "EXIT" and see if you return to another program 2) Check to see if any TSRs were loaded after PiloTSR; unload them first I hope you have as much fun using PiloTSR as I had making it. Good luck, and happy hunting! - Steve "Auger" Edwards Oct 3, 1991