Finally worked out the kinks and got the DOS (non-DPMI) version of 3.09 working great with multiple instances (8 nodes simultaneously right now) under DOSEMU. Pretty impressed with how fast real-time interactivity is, considering the kludge-work involved. Definitely gives TWGS a run for its money.

I just have one issue though: the way I'm doing it is by having all nodes run in "LOCAL" mode, which creates a problem with many telnet clients that expect a 80x24 screen layout. Since its running in LOCL, it puts that useless status bar at the bottom of the screen, effectively making it 80x25 which on most telnet clients ends up whiting out the entire screen upon (D)isplay sector from the main menu. An easy work-around with newer versions of mTel is to just turn the client status bar off, but that doesn't do any good for those who prefer other telnet clients.

Is there any way to suppress the status bar on the bottom of the screen when the game is running in "local" mode, so that it stays within the confines of 80x24?

Learn how to use the virtual modem with DOSEMU. I have instructions someone sent me in an old e-mail but my FreeBSD box is about maxed out on the load I can put it under until I can upgrade the hardware. The status bar messes up most helpers and you cannot get rid of it in local mode so the fix is to use DOSEMU's vmodem.

quote:Originally posted by Thistledown

Learn how to use the virtual modem with DOSEMU. I have instructions someone sent me in an old e-mail but my FreeBSD box is about maxed out on the load I can put it under until I can upgrade the hardware. The status bar messes up most helpers and you cannot get rid of it in local mode so the fix is to use DOSEMU's vmodem.


Is it true that the virtual modem only works on older versions of DOSEMU?

http://www.ypass.net/linuxbbs/vmodem-HOWTO/

Let me know of those instructions you have may apply to newer versions. If its going to be much of a hassle getting vmodem to work with the latest version though, I may as well not bother, since the game works just fine once users set their telnet clients to 80x25.

Someone e-mailed me asking how I got Trade Wars working under the latest DOSEMU, I figured I might as well share here as well in case anyone stumbles across this thread in a search. The key is to use OpenDOS (DR-DOS) as MS-DOS doesn't work at all, and the latest FreeDOS as of current (even though it at least launches the game) is buggy and randomly locks up. So just get OpenDOS 7.01 or the latest DR-DOS (7.03 as of current) -- you don't need the Personal Netware add-on, even if you plan on running TW2002 multi-player interactively.

On the *NIX side, make sure your script sets the TERM variable correctly (TERM=ansi) before launching dosemu, so that it translates the ANSI files properly.

Also, in order for high-ASCII to display properly, you need to edit your /etc/dosemu.conf, look for the $_term_char_set and change it to "ibm".

In your AUTOEXEC.BAT in the DOS side, just make sure you remember to run SHARE.EXE before you launch Trade Wars.

In TEDIT, just set each node up as LOCL. You will be stuck with the status bar on line 25, but thats no big deal if your users just use NetTerm (set to ANSI-BBS emulation) which auto-compensates, or mTel with the client-side status bar turned off. Default Win9x telnet program works as well, but obviously without color.

Tested with 8 nodes simultaneously in this fashion, running under 8 instances of DOSEMU (default hogthreshold timings) and it works great. Interactive messages are near-instantaneous, seems just as fast as TWGS to me, and this is all on a 366MHz AMD K6-III Linux box with only 128MB RAM, no swap file.

The question isn't whether you can or can't get 3.09 working under dosemu, but rather why would you want to bother? Quite frankly, there are so many serious gameplay bugs in it that it pretty much wrecks the game.

quote:Originally posted by Harley Nuss (teamEIS)

The question isn't whether you can or can't get 3.09 working under dosemu, but rather why would you want to bother?[/b]

Well, since it sounds like TWGS isn't going to be ported to Linux anytime soon, thats a big reason right there. Its nice not having to have a separate dedicated Micro$oft Windoze box just to run TWGS -- Linux can do so much more at the same time, and with far less resources. Its nice putting an old AMD K6 to use as router/gateway to handle all the servers (web, BBS, doors, etc.) so that the machines on the inside, behind the firewall, can be selective clients and not have to be all up and running 24/7. Makes it nice for security management of the LAN as well.

quote:[b]Quite frankly, there are so many serious gameplay bugs in it that it pretty much wrecks the game.

Really? Not that I've noticed. Is there a definitive "What's new" somewhere that covers it? The closest I could find was:

http://www.eisonline.com/twgs/beta/

I did a quick perusal but didn't notice anything too critical. Lots of minor "issues", but many that only apply if you have blatant cheaters purposefully trying to take advantage of the game. I must confess I'm not a super-hard-core afficiando and have a trusty-crew that play on my closed server, and that really makes the difference right there, having gamers who don't cheat, simply because it takes the fun out of the game for everyone.

So I suppose those bugs aren't as big of deal to me. I've never come across any of the more serious-sounding bugs, like the occasional "indexing error caused by internal aliens" or the "disappearing Stardock" or what not. Of course, I'm not running Gold either. I noticed alot of those bugs were Gold-specific.

In fact, if I may dare say, some of the "bug fixes" seem to be a step-backwards as well. Take the "guaranteed capture" of a defenseless ship with 1 fighter... or the chance of some of your fighters going rogue. I kind of like the randomness of chance. Some of the other quirks I think add character to the game as well, and I don't mind.

Of course, if you guys make an updated dedicated native-Linux server, I'll definitely consider upgrading then.

quote:
Really? Not that I've noticed. Is there a definitive "What's new" somewhere that covers it? The closest I could find was:

http://www.eisonline.com/twgs/beta/

I did a quick perusal but didn't notice anything too critical. Lots of minor "issues", but many that only apply if you have blatant cheaters purposefully trying to take advantage of the game. I must confess I'm not a super-hard-core afficiando and have a trusty-crew that play on my closed server, and that really makes the difference right there, having gamers who don't cheat, simply because it takes the fun out of the game for everyone.

So I suppose those bugs aren't as big of deal to me. I've never come across any of the more serious-sounding bugs, like the occasional "indexing error caused by internal aliens" or the "disappearing Stardock" or what not. Of course, I'm not running Gold either. I noticed alot of those bugs were Gold-specific.

In fact, if I may dare say, some of the "bug fixes" seem to be a step-backwards as well. Take the "guaranteed capture" of a defenseless ship with 1 fighter... or the chance of some of your fighters going rogue. I kind of like the randomness of chance. Some of the other quirks I think add character to the game as well, and I don't mind.

Of course, if you guys make an updated dedicated native-Linux server, I'll definitely consider upgrading then.

That is probably the most complete list. I suppose if it is a pretty much private server, you wouldn't have to worry about it. If it's an open server, there's bound to be people who want to get ahead the easy way. I don't really understand that mindset, but it happens. There are unlimited credit bugs, 0 turn movement bugs, and more that can all be easily exploited. But once again, so long as it's a group of people who know and trust each other not to abuse the game, it shouldn't be a problem.

quote:Originally posted by tga

quote:Originally posted by Harley Nuss (teamEIS)

The question isn't whether you can or can't get 3.09 working under dosemu, but rather why would you want to bother?[/b]

Well, since it sounds like TWGS isn't going to be ported to Linux anytime soon, thats a big reason right there. Its nice not having to have a separate dedicated Micro$oft Windoze box just to run TWGS -- Linux can do so much more at the same time, and with far less resources. Its nice putting an old AMD K6 to use as router/gateway to handle all the servers (web, BBS, doors, etc.) so that the machines on the inside, behind the firewall, can be selective clients and not have to be all up and running 24/7. Makes it nice for security management of the LAN as well.

Quite frankly, there are so many serious gameplay bugs in it that it pretty much wrecks the game.

Really? Not that I've noticed. Is there a definitive "What's new" somewhere that covers it? The closest I could find was:

http://www.eisonline.com/twgs/beta/

I did a quick perusal but didn't notice anything too critical. Lots of minor "issues", but many that only apply if you have blatant cheaters purposefully trying to take advantage of the game. I must confess I'm not a super-hard-core afficiando and have a trusty-crew that play on my closed server, and that really makes the difference right there, having gamers who don't cheat, simply because it takes the fun out of the game for everyone.

So I suppose those bugs aren't as big of deal to me. I've never come across any of the more serious-sounding bugs, like the occasional "indexing error caused by internal aliens" or the "disappearing Stardock" or what not. Of course, I'm not running Gold either. I noticed alot of those bugs were Gold-specific.


In fact, if I may dare say, some of the "bug fixes" seem to be a step-backwards as well. Take the "guaranteed capture" of a defenseless ship with 1 fighter...

It is nice [:D] to hear someone else has found this [b]Fix a Bad Thing
J.P. in the past has said he would take another look at this IF I could get players input on this.
So I have posted a Poll on the subject [url="http://vidkid.coastgames.com/index.php"]Podless ships[/url]
The more votes I get , the better the plea [:)]







quote:or the chance of some of your fighters going rogue. I kind of like the randomness of chance. Some of the other quirks I think add character to the game as well, and I don't mind.

Of course, if you guys make an updated dedicated native-Linux server, I'll definitely consider upgrading then.


Vid Kid/CareTaker
[url="http://geocities.com/videotees/twars.html"]Vid's World on Guam[/url]
telnet://vidsworld.no-ip.org:2002
[url="http://geocities.com/videotees/hintstips.html"]Vid's Hints , Tips & Scripts[/url]
[url="http://vidkid.coastgames.com/index.php"]Register/Game Request[/url]

Ok, here's something I ran across this morning; a utility called DOSDoor which works in conjunction with vmodem to deliver door games via DOSEMU. I haven't had an opportunity to test it yet (no Linux box at the moment). http://www.linux.org/apps/AppId_5988.html

Adding my $.02 to the discussion, I really don't see a whole lot of point in running the DOS version of TW2002 unless there's a compelling reason NOT to run the TWGS. I've tried various ways of hosting TW on other operating systems and there's really no better way that I've found to run a multinode multiplayer TW game than the TWGS. That being said, I wonder how this linux method compares with, say, MannSoft GameServ as far as hosting dos based doors?