Mek Arena 1.50 25 April 1994 Science Friction Warfare (c)1994 CIOE Corp / by Neale Davidson Introduction ------------ It is the far future, and wars are being waged not just for political gain, but for profit. You, and everyone you know, have turned over to being mercenaries. With money in hand, you buy your Mek and its hardware and set out to make your fortune. Mek Arena is a violent game stressing robotic combat with a wide array of weapons and defenses. Players will pilot meka, and attempt to kill one-another in endless combat. Installing Mek Arena -------------------- To begin installing Mek Arena, make sure that all of Mek Arena's files are in the same directory. If the door came to you as an archive, you will need to decompress the files into the same directory. Usually, decompression is performed with a command-line such as the following: PKUNZIP MEK130.ZIP C:\DOORS\MEK If you are installing onto any previous release of Mek Arena, you will need to also run the enclosed MEK30- 50.ZIP program. This program will convert the game's pilots datafile to conform with the new version. All versions of the program itself can be updated by copying the MEK.EXE and MEK.OVR files directly upon the older versions. File Manifest ------------- Mek Arena now uses far fewer files for itself than before. Only a handful of graphics icons and files are neccessary, along with the datafiles. If any of these files are missing at startup, you will need to contact InfOrder for a replacement diskette. MEK.EXE - The game's executable file. MEK.OVR - The game's overlay file. TEXT.STR - Menu display information file. HELLO1.ANS,.RIP - Hello Title screen PREPARE.ANS,.RIP - Battle preparation screen WINNER.ANS,.RIP - Battle winner screen LOSER.ANS,.RIP - Battle loser screen MEKPIC01.ANS,.RIP- Mek Picture File MEKICONS.ZIP - RIP Icons Archive INS*.TXT - Instructions Text If you are installing onto any previous release of Mek Arena, you will notice that several files needed in previous versions are not used in the current version. These files may be safely deleted when installing the current version. *.MEK - Mek information files INS.RIP - Instructions menu MSCR*.ANS,.RIP- Graphics Display screens Lastly, Mek Arena will create three datafiles as the game progresses. These files are the main databases for running the game. Sysops can reset the game easily by deleting these files. PILOTS.DAT - Pilots database MEKS.DAT - Mek and MekShop database CREDIT.DAT - Bank and stocks database Creating a Configuration ------------------------ If you are installing onto any previous release of Mek Arena, you will likely not need to run through this step. No changes are needed in the game's configuration file. To inform Mek Arena about your modem and BBS setup, you will need to create a DOOR.CFG file with your favorite editor. This file will have six lines, which are explained below. (Note:We have had reports that additional spaces on the end of each line causes havoc with the game. If something isn’t being recognized properly, simply remove any whitespace). Line One tells Mek Arena which type of drop file should be hunted for when the program loads up. Known drop files are as follows: GAP DOOR.SYS (recommended) PCB PCBOARD.SYS RBBS DORINFO1.DEF WC CALINFO1.DAT SF TRIBBS WWIV Users of Wildcat BBS software of greater than version 3.0 should use GAP for their drop file. The second line is the path to that door file. You need to include the full path name on this line, but not the name of the drop file itself. C:\BBS\DROPS The third line is the name of the BBS. This is where Mek Arena will look for the name of the BBS when searching for registration information. The forth line is for the name of the sysop of the BBS, or for whoever is in charge of the doors. If the sysop locks the baud rate on his modem, that baud rate must be specified on line five. If the baud rate isn't locked, then you must enter a ‘0’ on this line. (Note: If you are using a high-speed modem, you will almost always want to specify the baud rate of the modem as if it were locked. Connections problems result otherwise.) Lastly, on line six, if you plan on using DSZ to support the direct downloading of the RIP icons package, specify the full path and program name for your DSZ or command-line compatible program. When done, you should have a DOOR.CFG file which looks something like the following: GAP C:\WC30\CIOEGAME\MEK CIOE InfOrder Joseph Drasin 19200 C:\WC30\DSZ.EXE Running Mek Arena The door can usually be executed with the DOS command 'MEK.EXE DOOR.CFG'. This will usually be placed in a batch file such as the following: C: CD C:\DOORS\MEK MEK.EXE DOOR.CFG CD C:\BBS EXIT Mek Arena can also be run locally outside of the BBS by adding '/L' after the configuration file paramter in the DOS command line ('MEK.EXE DOOR.CFG /L'). The local user will then be prompted to enter his name. Nonstandard IRQs can be used with Mek Arena by specifying the IRQ after the configuration parameter in the command line. ('MEK.EXE DOOR.CFG 2'). Mek Arena will automatically initialize any datafiles it needs when the door is first run. RIP Support ----------- Mek Arena will automatically detect if RipTerm or Ansi is available, ignoring the values passed it by the door drop file. This was done to allow the door to use RIP even the BBS system hosting it does not normally have RIP available. If, for some reason, Mek Arena 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 Rip and Ansi available in order to play this game. For Rip players, a set of icon files must be provided for download. These icons are the mek and barrier display icons for the battle map. The map will be unreadble without them. When Mek Arena loads up, and if Rip has been detected, it will query the remote user for the existance of the icon files. If it doesn’t find them, it will default the game into ANSI mode. Please place the included MEKICONS.ZIP file in a publically downloadable area. Game Play --------- Refer to the online documentation on game-play. Version History --------------- * 1.50 - 25 April 1994 Mek Arena was long overdue for a major upgrade, and the result is a near-rewrite of the entire game engine. The interface is much faster at almost every point. Fancy ANSI and RIP have been ditched in places for better speed and playabliity. The Arena has been expanded to include several fight classes, and a new Free For All style of combat. There is also now a limit on the number of fights per day in which a pilot may participate. The casino has been outright removed. A future version will see the addition of a large bar setting, with the casino re-established as an option. The bank is now fully functional, with stocks and credit transfers. Most of the work on this version included less reliance on memory and disk space. The game itself is now fairly small, even though it encompasses more, makes use of an overlay, and contains much of its text in another file. Systems encountering memory probems in previous versions should find them cleared out here. The limitation on the number of players has been removed. * 1.31 - 20 January 1993 A minor bug fix for the 'black market' trader. * 1.30 - 1 November 1993 This is a major release, with lots of new features and new equipment. Amoung the most powerful features, DSZ support, on-line documentation, multiple opponents, time- checking. Also, new meks and new equipment were added, allowing more freedom of Mek unit choices. Also added salvage rights to defeated meks in mercenary missions. Some minor updates, including correction to phased movement system and critical hit redisplay. * 1.20 - 18 September 1993 Some updates, including a new casino and registration scheme. Level restriction removed from Amateur Night. * 1.00 - Full version Release Unlocked features, such as the chop shop and mercenary missions completed. * 0.90 - Unregistered Beta Release First release, made for playtesting. Only distributed as an unregistered release. Registration Information ------------------------ If you haven't registered this game, you will notice that we've turned a couple of things off, such as the garage, and the merc missions. To unlock these features, you'll need a registration key. Sorry to have to do this, but we've got little choice. See the enclosed REGISTER.DOC file for registration information. Technical Support ----------------- If you have any questions about Mek Arena or any other InfOrder products you can reach us by mail, voice, or by our system. InfOrder 207 North Street, Suite 102 West Lafayette IN, 47906 Voice : (317)743-3487 Data : (317)743-4487