 ***************************************
 **** Usurper,  Sysop Documentation ****
 ***************************************

Program Information :

 Door     - Usurper v0.20x
 Producer - (c) 1993-2007 JAS Software, All Rights Reserved
 Maintained 2013- by Rick and Dan
 Tools    - Borland Pascal 7.0/Virtual Pascal and DDplus 7.0
                        
Acknowledgements :
 DDplus      - Distributed by Steve Lorenz and Bob Dalton - 1995

(Copyright 1993,2007 Jakob Dangarden and JAS Software, All Rights Reserved)
							


 This file is part of Usurper.

    Usurper is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
    the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
    (at your option) any later version.

    Usurper is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
    GNU General Public License for more details.

    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
    along with Usurper; if not, write to the Free Software
    Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA




Disclaimer
----------
The Usurper Door is distributed without warranty.
In no case shall I be held responsible for any damages or losses
resulting from you running this software. By running this program
you have agreed to take responsibility for any problems that may result.
If you do not agree to this, don't run the program.  





Usurper ? 
---------
Usurper is a fast paced doorgame which only has one purpose :
to give its players a moment of joy and relaxation. It only
takes a couple of minutes to play each day, it's easy to understand
and the gameplay is straightforward. Get bigger, meaner and stronger.
The settings are a fantasy scenario inhabited with
different races and creatures. The game can be completed when
a player reaches the darkest dungeon at the bottom of the big
mountain. He then gets immortalized. However, players can also
struggle for earthly power. They can form teams who fight each other
for gangland. Computer characters can also be sworn into the teams.
characters can be played good or bad with different results and
races have their own special abilities and weapons. 

WARNING! Usurper sometimes confronts the players with brutal violence,
sex and drugs. IF you feel offended, have any doubts or objections :
don't run this door! If you like parts of the game but don't want the
nasty ones, You can turn off the asocial features with the
configuration program. 
							



Installation
------------

Make a subdirectory called USURPER (or something else you fancy).
Unzip all files in the Usurper archive to this
directory. 

The next thing you should do is to run the EDITOR.EXE
program. Choose the RESET GAME button and all the
necessary datafiles will be created.
Now select the CONFIGURATION button. If it is the first time installation
then you should browse the different options and edit the ones you feel
you want to change.


The USURP.CTL file(s)
---------------------
Unzip the file SAMPLE.CTL from the SAMPLES.ZIP archive. Rename SAMPLE.CTL
to USURP.CTL.

Usurper needs the USURP.CTL file to set different options necessary when
communicating with fosssil drivers or modems. 

If you have a multinode system
------------------------------
Depending on your system, multinode or single system, you might wish to
create more than one .CTL file. If you have different modem setups on 
your lines (nodes) then you must create a USURPx.CTL file for every line
Usurper can run on (x is representing a number, USURP1.CTL is used for node
1 and USURP2.CTL is used for node 2 ... ).

Single line systems should only need USURP.CTL.
A 3 node system with different modem setups will need
	USURP1.CTL,	
	USURP2.CTL,
    and USURP3.CTL.

The USURP.CTL file is quite self explanatory and can be easily edited
with a text editor. Two fully commented versions
    are also provided. One is identified as GAME.CTL and this is the
    UN-EDITED version.  The other is identified as SAMPLE.CTL and is
    what a CTL file should look like AFTER it is edited (if the commented
    lines are left in that is).  

    Where to put the .CTL file(s)?
    Put this file wherever you are running the game executable file from.
    If you are running multi-node you could put a copy in each node
    directory and run from there.  If you change directory to the GAME
    directory put the file here.  Examples of .BAT files for both single
    and multi node systems are given in this document (if you keep on
    reading).


Have you set up your USURP.CTL file according to the instructions?
Well, if you have that should be it! Now you can try to run Usurper with ;

Usurper.Exe /L, and see if everything works.					
Maintenance takes place automatically when needed. Since it can take
quite some time you can disable the automatic maintenace with the Editor.exe
program. Instead you can force Usurper to do its daily maint with the
command line option '/FMAINT' (command line options are explained more
in a special section in this document).




To run Usurper
--------------
Batch File EXAMPLE for Usurper
  These are a few samples of batch files to be used with Usurper
  %1 is the Node Number which the BBS software passes to the
  batch file.
					
  *** Example batch for a Multinode system START ***

REM The /M1 option tells Usurper to look for the USURP1.CTL file.
REM The /M2 option tells Usurper to look for the USURP2.CTL file ...
REM If you remove the /M switch then Usurper will look for USURP.CTL
REM The /P option forces Usurper to look for the dropfile in the given
REM directory.
 			
CD \BBS\DOORS\USURPER   
USURPER /M%1 /PC:\BBS\NODE%1

  *** Batch file example END ***				


  *** Example batch for a Single node system START ***

REM The /P option forces Usurper to look for the dropfile in the given
REM directory.
 			
CD \BBS\DOORS\USURPER   
USURPER /PC:\BBS
   *** Batch file example END ***				



NOTE! You can also look at the samples file included :
  (they are located in the SAMPLES.ZIP archive) 
  MULTI1.BAT - RemoteAccess example 
  MULTI2.BAT - PcBoard example
							

Improving Performance
---------------------
It is possible to increase the overall performance of
Usurper by placing the file "USURPER.OVR" onto a ramdrive.
If you elect to do this you must also set the following
environment variable:

 SET USUOVR=F:\

If you have a ramdrive you should also set the editor option #99
so usurper can use it for the semaphore files.

Command Line Parameters
-----------------------

      "/Bxxxxx"   This tells USURPER.EXE to lock its baud rate at
      xxxxx.  In order to get the most efficiency out of a high speed
      error correcting modem (9600 baud or above), you may lock the baud
      rate to a speed higher than what the caller is actually using.
      By locking the baud to say 38,400, the modem can compress text data
      that is being sent and achieve a baud rate much higher than the
      actual transmission rate.
      This will lock the baud rate at the same value for all nodes that
      use this command line.  If you prefer a more selective way to lock
      baud use the 'LOCKBAUD' command in the USURP.CTL file.

      "/Cx"     (where x is 1..4) This specifies a comport number.
      Some bbs software does not create door information files (dropfiles)
      that contain the comport number.  If your bbs does have a comport
      listed in the dropfile then there is no need for this parameter.
      The default is comport 0, local mode.

      "/E" - Expanded Memory Specification If your machine has over one
      megabyte of memory, then you may have some available. USURPER.EXE can
      utilize EMS to improve game performance and reduce conventional
      memory requirements.
      This command will tell USURPER to use EMS memory to hold its
      overlay buffer.  Otherwise disc area may be used to hold this buffer.
      This needs a memory manager and when enabled and is compatible with
      DESQview.

      "/X" - Expanded Memory Specification If your machine has over one
      megabyte of memory, then you may have some available. USURPER.EXE can
      utilize XMS to improve game performance and reduce conventional
      memory requirements.
      This command will tell USURPER to use XMS memory to hold its
      overlay buffer.  Otherwise disc area may be used to hold this buffer.
      This needs a memory manager and when enabled and is compatible with
      DESQview. (XMS memory is faster than EMS memory).
      You can't use both /E and /X together. 

      "/L"      This tells USURPER to load up in LOCAL mode.
      This is good for testing or when a sysop just wants to "try out" the
      door without messing with his BBS setup.  The "/L" mode will ask the
      user for his name and run the door in local mode.

      "/Nx"     (where x is 1..9) This specifies a "node number".
      Some bbs software supports multinode environments in which you must
      know the node number of the drop file to use. For example, RBBS-PC
      uses DORINFOx.DEF. If you specified "/N2" then USURPER would use
      DORINFO2.DEF.

      "/Mx"     (where x is up to 2 filename acceptable characters)
      Used to specify one of Multiple control files.  If you have created
      more than one GAME.CTL file (GAME1.CTL, GAME2.CTL, etc.) for each
      node or network PC then you can select the one you want by using
      the /M parm.
      Example:  "/M2" will force USURPER.EXE to use USURP2.CTL.

      "/Pyyy"   This specifies the path to the drop files.
      For example, "/PC:\WILDCAT\WCWORK\NODE1" would tell USURPER to
      look for the drop file in C:\WILDCAT\WCWORK\NODE1. If this is left
      out the program assumes the drop file is local.

      "/V"    This command will tell USURPER not to show any display
      on the local screen.  Only a colored screen and a message will be
      displayed.  The cursor will not move as it will be turned off.
      Saves a little processing on multi-tasking systems.

      "/W"      This flags the program that a network is present even
      though no multitaskers are detected.  This is useful if the door is
      run on a network such as Novell that doesn't use multitaskers.
      
      "/FMAINT"	This command is only useful if you have disabled the
                automatic maintenance. /FMAINT will only start maint
                if it is necessary. It will not run maintenance more than
                once a day.
   
      "/HMAINT" This command will unconditionally force Usurper to perform
                maintenance. 

      "/SCORES" This command will create any external score files
                defined with the Editor.EXE program.

      "/DO_PACKUSERS" this command will pack the userfile, removing
                      all deleted and empty records. Don't execute this
		      command when somebody is playing. 
  
      "/DO_PACKNPCS" this command will pack the npcfile, removing
                      all deleted and empty records. Don't execute this
		      command when somebody is playing.


      "/DO_PACKMOAT" pack the moat file. removes deleted creatures.

      "/DO_PACKRELATIONS" pack the relation file. removes old and
                          inactive records.

	"/DO_PACKGODS" pack the gods data-file. removes old and
                         deleted immortals.
      

	"/DO_PACKCHILDREN" pack the children data-file. removes old and
                         deleted children.

      "/DO_PACKMAIL" this command will pack the mail file, deleting all
                     old mail and packing the file. This command should not
	             be necessary to carry out, since Usurper keeps the mail
 	             file updated. But it can be used if you think that 
		     the \DATA\MAIL.DAT file has grown too big.	 

      "/DO_SENDMAIL" send mail to any player without having to enter the
                     game.

Multinode use
-------------
 This game supports multinode use and provides automatic multi-tasker
 support  (time slice releasing) for a wide variety of multi-taskers.
 
           Common Problems (Locked Bauds, High Speed modems, etc)
           ------------------------------------------------------

 1.   The game does NOT require a fossil driver to run.

 2.   If you are running a high speed modem (9600 baud or above), then I
      suggest you run your bbs/mailer/doors at a locked baud rate. On high
      speed error correcting modems, locking the baud rate will have a
      noticeable increase on the speed of text that is sent. It's beyond
      the scope of this document to discuss configuring your BBS and
      mailer for a locked baud rate; you may wish to consult those docs
      for information on that. Here are a few things to keep in mind when
      setting up GAME with a locked baud rate:

      a.  When using a locked baud rate, I highly recommend using a FOSSIL
          driver. This game will work at high speeds without one though.
          BNU is a good fossil driver which can even be loaded and unloaded
          before and after you run this game.

      b.  If you are using a fossil, then make sure to tell the fossil
          that the port is locked. For BNU, to lock com1: at 38,400, you
          would use something like "L0=38400" on BNU's command line.

      c.  If you lock the baud for one program, it must be locked
          for everything. You can't lock the baud for just this game, but
          not your BBS/mailer.

      d.  You may need to use the /B switch on the usurper.exe Command line
          to specify the locked baud rate. For 19,200 this would be "/B19200"
          and for 38,400 this would be "/B38400". Please note there is no
          space between the "/B" and the baud rate.

 3.   What follows is some information on possible strange situations
      that may occur:

      a.  Low speed users can play the game, but high speed users get
          garbage.
     
          - If you are not using the DORINFOx.DEF or DOOR.SYS drop file
            then you may wish to find a converter program to convert
            whatever drop file your BBS produces to the DORINFOx.DEF
            or DOOR.SYS format and tell usurper.exe to use that.

            Several converter programs are readily available on most
            BBS systems. CallDoor is a good one if you can find it.

      b.  The game hangs up when a user enters the game.

          - Sounds like the game is getting the wrong baud rate somehow.
            Try switching over to the DOOR.SYS drop file method
            if possible.

      c.  Text and screens are getting cut off.

          - If you are running with a locked baud, then this could
            be caused by some sort of FLOW CONTROL problem. Try using
            a fossil if you aren't already.

      d.  If you're using something other than the DOOR.SYS drop file,
          then I always suggest trying to use DOOR.SYS if possible. It is
          the most reliable method and has had the most testing. If that
          is not possible try DORINFOx.DEF as an alternative.

      e.  A door locks up node 1.  This can happen with fossils or the
          internal communications routines because it uses the default
          comport of 1 when NONE is found in the dropfile or usurp.ctl
          file. To correct this make sure the right port is shown in
          the dropfile OR usurp.ctl file.

      f.  ANSI is reflected correctly on the local screen but the user
          is getting garbage.  Assuming the user has ANSI installed then
          most likely the problem is at your end. First make sure you
          have configured the usurp.ctl file to show the correct locked
          port rate. Second make sure the dropfile is passing the locked
          port rate INSTEAD of the actual connect rate.  If it is not
          passing the locked port rate then you may need to use a
          different dropfile format OR use a dropfile converter program
          to change the line to show the locked port rate INSTEAD of
          the actual connect rate.




SYSOP FUNCTION KEYS
--------------------
                        
  F1  = Display available "F" Keys and what they do.
  F2  = Open a scrolling chat window with the door user.
  F6  = Shell out to DOS
  F7  = Increments user time by 5 minutes.
  F8  = Decrements user time by 5 minutes.
  F10 = Ejects user from door and returns him/her to BBS after
        showing a brief message.



Sample files
------------
(These files are located in the SAMPLES.ZIP archive)
MULTI1.BAT - RemoteAccess multinode batchfile.
MULTI2.BAT - PcBoard multinode batchfile 
BADWORDS.DAT - file with badwords you want to exclude from player language.
SAMPLE.CFG   - sample Usurper.cfg file.
SAMPLE.CTL   - sample Usurper.ctl file.

Files created and used by Usurper: (USURPER/DATA)
----------------------------------
Armor.dat       => All armors for Usurper when running in CLASSIC mode.
Banksafe.dat    => All information of what's in the bank vault.
Chest.dat				=> Players store items here (available at their homes)
Comments.dat    => Conversations at the Inn.
Date.dat        => Needed for Usurper to know when it's time to run
                   maintenance.
Fakes.dat       => editable textfile with fake player info.
Fame.dat        => All heros that have completed the game (ascii).
Guards.dat      => Guards that can be hired for protection when staying at
                   the Inn. 
Gods.dat        => When a player completes the game he can choose to become
                   a God. The Gods are stored in this file. Erasing this file
                   will "only" wipe Usurper clean from immortals. 
Levels.dat      => Information of the experience needed to raise a level.
Mail.dat        => Various information posted to players.
Maint.flg       => This file is created when Usurper is running it's 
                   maintenance. It's created to prevent other nodes access
                   to the game. As with ONLINERS.DAT file this file
                   can be leftover after a computer lockup or some other
                   strange reason. 
Monster.dat     => Usurper dungeon monsters. Complete with weapons and all.
News.dat        => What has happened today? (ascii).
Npcs.dat        => The Non Player Controlled characters. 
Objdat01-15.dat => All weapons,armors and other items for Usurper when
                   running in NEW mode.
King.dat        => This will be created when a new king or queen issues his
                   or her orders.
Onliners.dat    => This file contains all information of who is playing
                   the game right now. Even if nobody is playing the game
                   this file can exist. It is removed only at maintenance.
                   There can be times when you would like to remove this
                   file. For example : If somebody is playing Usurper and
                   the system goes down because of a computer lockup, or
                  some other reason, the game will report this user as
                   playing when he/she is in fact trying to enter again!
                   It is perfectly safe to erase the ONLINERS.DAT file when
                   nobody really is playing.

Teamrec.dat     => Which gang has held the town for the longest time.  
Trecord.dat     => Hall of Fame for teams holding the town (ascii).
Users.dat       => holds information of all human players.
Usutext.dat     => holds all ansi/asc pictures used.
MoatMon.dat     => holds the Moat creatures. Hired by the king to protect the
                   Castle.
Drinks.dat      => Custom made cocktails, available at Orbs Bar
Wanted.dat      => Who is wanted and how much are their stinking heads worth.
Weapon.dat      => All weapons for Usurper when running in CLASSIC mode.  
Ynews.dat       => What happened yesterday (ascii).
Rquests.dat     => All quests created by the King.
Relation.dat    => Social relations data file.
Children.dat    => Children produced in the game. Npc kids are stored here as well.
Childmal.dat    => MALE children names, used by NPCs to name their newborn.
Childfem.dat    => FEMALE children names, used by NPCs to name their newborn.
Barrel.dat      => Beer barrel lifters top list (the gym).
Gods.dat        => All immortal characters are put here. immortals are never
                   deleted. 
NpcChat.dat     => Npc chat comments, when they are active in the Inn chat log.
Tnames.dat      => Names used by computer players when forming teams.
                   A textfile which can be edited if you wish.
Monarchs.ANS    => List of Monarchs, their comings and goings (ANSI).
Monarchs.ASC    => List of Monarchs, their comings and goings (ASCII).

MarrHist.ANS    => List of Marriages in the Realm (ANSI).
MarrHist.ASC    => List of Marriages in the Realm (ASCII).

BirtHist.ANS    => List of Child Birth/Deaths in the Realm (ANSI).
BirtHist.ASC    => List of Child Birth/Deaths in the Realm (ASCII).

Badwords.dat    => you can find a sample of this file in SAMPLES.ZIP.
                   put this file in the \DATA directory if you want Usurper
		   to replace bad words with others, defined by you. 
                   The only area in which badwords are disallowed is in
                   password routines (for obvious reasons).
ERROR.LOG       => All error messages are logged to this file.





 ---------------------------
  Trouble Shooting/Problems
 ---------------------------
Q. The darn game reports that players are online, when they in fact are not.
A. delete the file NODE/ONLINERS.DAT.

Q. Usurper locks up under Windows 95!
A.
  highlight usurper.exe in WIN95
  select properties
  " "  program
  " "  Advanced
  " "  Msdos Mode

Q. Usurper freezes up on my users! locally it plays fine.
A. Are you really using a FOSSIL? If not check Usurp.ctl and remove
   the fossil reference there.
Q. Usurper refuses to run maintenance when I type : Usurper /HMAINT
   It just says "USURP.CTL not found. runtime error xxxx:xxxx".
A. type : Usurper /HMAINT /Mx (where x is one of your node numbers).



------------------------------
 Acknowledgments and credits: (did I forget anyone?)
------------------------------

 BETA testers and other nice people :
 Olle Olsson       *ideas and bug reports*   (2:203/321)
 Donato Sotero Navarro *spelling!!*          (dubioz@rocketmail.com)
 Alistair Cannon   *misspellings!*           (3:639/200)
 Chris Gosley      *a zillion suggestions!*  ()
 Daniel Svanstr"m  *serious bughunter*       (2:205/246)
 Michael Grigutsch *thorough bughunter!*    (2:2426/5020)
 Oscar Olsson      *vicious OS/2 mastermind* (2:201/345.1)

 DDplus, the DoorDriver :
 ------------------------
 This relatively small section is just to recognize the GOOD people
 who have made the DDPLUS based game a possibility.

 Scott Baker       -=*=-  The authors of the original DoorDriver Kit
 and                       are to be thanked for releasing the
 Derrick Parkhurst         source code to their great kit!  Without
                           that act of kindness DDPLUS would NOT
                           be possible and neither would this game.
                           Scott is the author of several door games,
                           most notably Land of Devastation,
                           which uses the original doordriver kit.
 
 Steven Lorenz      -=*=- The author of the enhanced add on package
                           to Scott Bakers DoorDriver Kit. Thanks to
                           his code modifications, add ons and enhancements
                           DDPLus is a much more complete and capable
                           package than originally released in the
                           DoorDriver Kit. He is also responsible for
                           the DDPlus setup program which he freely donated.
                           Steve is the author of several door games, most
                           notably Railroad Empires, Romans At War, and
                           Empires at War, all of which use DDPlus.

 Bob Dalton         -=*=- The author of most of the DDPLus documentation
                           and contributor of the MISC.PAS and INITOVER.PAS
                           units used in the game. Bob is the author of
                           several door games, such as GodFather of Crime,
                           Rise To Power, Task Force Broadside, Ship of the
                           Line, Grunt Fest, Way Freight and the Adventure
                           Door Game Toolkit, all of which use DDPLus.

 DESQview is a registered trademark of Quarterdeck Office Systems.
 Ripscript & Ripterm are registered trademarks of TeleGrafix Communications.
                   

<++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++>




                                                                
 //// Always read the WHATS.NEW file for the latest news in Usurper ///


INTERNET
--------
Download via WWW : http://www.usurper.info



 




Have Fun!  (I had fun writing this baby.) 
