DDPLus Version 7.1 Door Driver Toolkit for Turbo Pascal 7.0
NOTE: Items with marked with a "*" have changed since version 7.0
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION ON DDPLus TOOLKIT (C)
---------------------------------------------------
Most of the source code for the DDPlus package comes from the original
Door Driver Kit 5.0 and that code is copyrighted by Scott Baker and
Derrick Parkhurst. This copyright includes all source code and sample
doors originated by them. These authors have permitted the original
code to be published as Freeware, although they still retain copyrights
to their original material. All other material, other then the original
Scott Baker/Derrick Parkhurst items, is Copyrighted by Steven Lorenz
and Bob Dalton. The IBBS.ZIP package is copyrighted by Andy Stewart.
The RIPLINK.ZIP package is copyrighted by Tom Morgan. These authors are
solely responsible for the content of their portions of DDPlus, not to
mention any bugs <grin>.
WHAT'S IT GOING TO COST YOU TO USE THIS PACKAGE?
------------------------------------------------
Nothing! The DDPlus package is distributed as FREEWARE and requires NO
registration and NO royalties for door products produced with this
package. It would be nice though if you credit the DDplus Door Kit in
your program with a line that says something like "Another DDPLus Door
Program" or something similar and in the documentation so that others
will know it is a product based on the DDPlus kit. The individual
authors of this package will NOT however turn down a registered copy
of any program created with this package, if it is offered to us in
appreciation for all the work involved <grin>. These will ALWAYS be
gladly accepted! (Hey, we ARE sysops as well as programmers after all!!)
INTRODUCTION:
------------
DDplus is a package of pascal units for use in creating programs for
use with Bulletin Board Systems (BBS). These programs are called
"DOORS" and are stand alone products which "link" with the BBS to
allow users to enjoy games and utilities of all types.
The DDPlus package takes the tedium out of Door programming by
allowing you to concentrate on the writing of door specific code
and not having to worry about details such working with fossils,
multi-tasker support, handling communications I/O and the processing
of BBS drop Files. This package does NOT teach Turbo Pascal
programming. It assumes that you know basic Turbo Pascal programming
already, and desire to put that knowledge to use by designing a door
for a BBS.
Features of DDPLUS and the DDPLus Kit:
--------------------------------------
1. IRQs 0-15 are supported.
2. Comports 1-4 supported.
3. Selectable Port Addresses.
4. DesqView aware routines.
5. Detects Rip.
6. Fast and correct ansi color routines.
7. Lock baud and comm baud rates to 115,200
8. Built in Windows, WindowsNT and OS/2 time slice releasing.
*9. Fossil support to 115,200 using extended fossil calls.
Since release of 7.0 we have received the specifications on how to
set the baud rate for highspeed bnu fossils. Now port speeds of
57,600 and 115,200 for both X00 and BNU can be handled by either
the FOSSIL or the XFOSSIL options. Once again FOSSIL will
initialize the detected fossil to the port speed and XFOSSIL will
accept the fossil as-is with no initialization.
10. Local video can be toggled off to save processing time in
multitasking windows or to give some user privacy when competing
in game against the sysop.
11. Multiple control files can be accessed by a command line parm.
12. Will work with OR without the presence of a fossil.
13. ALL source code is provided and you can modify it to do whatever
you need it to do! Just be sure to document your changes as new
versions of DDPLUS come out periodically and will not have your
changes in them. A better idea would be to make a separate add on
unit for use with the main DDPLUS units so that you do not have
to edit the DDPlus units each time a new DDPlus version comes out.
14. A Turbo Vision program skeleton is provided for use as a door
setup/configuration/editor program.
15. An Inter BBS Door unit is provided so you can make your door an
inter BBS one if you desire.
*18. DDSETUP.EXE is provided for distribution with your Door program
to help users configure the required CTL file for use with your
door. It is FREEWARE.
19. A file/record locking unit is provided to allow you to design
multi-node/online multi-player games.
20. An automatic overlay unit is included for making programs overlays
to conserve memory and automatically initializes them.
21. RipLink is now provided so that you can build in a local display of
RIP graphics for a using sysop.
REQUIREMENTS:
------------
At this point in time the only requirements are that you must be
using Borland Turbo Pascal 7.0. Most of the kit should also work with
version 6.0 as well, but we no longer guarantee it. If you use file
locking and sharing then users must be notified that SHARE is required
to be loaded prior to use. The same goes for ANSI.SYS as well if ANSI
graphics are used.
Files Included
--------------
Below is a listing of all files for the this Package. Feel free to give
out copies of the ENTIRE archive package but please make sure all the
files below are in that package:
DVAWARE.ASM - DDPlus support source code unit.
SLASYNC.ASM - DDPlus support source code unit.
SAMPLE1.BAT - A sample BAT file which runs a DDPlus game program
from the game directory. Feel free to distribute these
batch files with your DDPLus game package creations.
SAMPLE2.BAT - A sample BAT file which runs a DDPlus game program from
any node directory. Feel free to distribute these batch
files with your DDPLus game package creations.
SAMPLE3.BAT - A sample BAT file identical to the one I use on my
Single node WildCat Support BBS to run my DDPlus Games.
Feel free to distribute these batch files with your
DDPLus game package creations.
*GAME.CTL - Un-edited and heavily commented Control file for use
with all doors produced with the DDplus package.
Provided mainly for information as DDSETUP.ZIP now
provides a VGA setup program for inclusion with
programs made with this package.
FILE_ID.DIZ - Ascii Description File for BBS Sysops on DDPLUS71.ZIP
*DDPLUS.DOC - The file you are now reading.
*HISTORY.DOC - History file of changes made to the DDPlus package.
DVAWARE.OBJ - DDPlus support unit (compiled)
SLASYNC.OBJ - DDPLus support unit (compiled)
ASYNC2.PAS - DDPlus support source code unit.
*COMIO.PAS - DDPlus support source code unit.
*DDANSI2.PAS - DDPlus support source code unit.
DDFOSSIL.PAS - DDPlus support source code unit.
*DDIGI.PAS - DDPlus support source code unit (Digiboard support)
*DDOVR.PAS - DDPLus support source code unit.
*DDOVR2.PAS - DDPlus support source code unit.
*DDPLUS.PAS - Main DDPlus source code unit. Needs to be compiled.
*DDSCOTT.PAS - DDPlus support source code unit.
BOOKS.TXT - List of useful Borland Pascal reference books.
SWAG.TXT - Information on a programmers best friend -SWAG!
ANSIMENU.ZIP - A ANSI Menu routine with example program and
instruction file. A simple but effective way to
add ansi menus to your door program. Includes a sample
door, with source code, to demonstrate the use of the
ansimenu unit.
*DDSETUP.ZIP - VGA Setup program for distribution with doors you
make using the DDPlus Package. Freeware.
ELOG.ZIP - An error log unit with explanation text file for
use in your door programs. Can make bug detection
and extermination of the little critters much easier.
I highly recommend that you use this unit in ALL your
door programs!!! Revised to make it much easier to
install then before.
IBBS.ZIP - An Inter-BBS unit which can be used with DDplus to make
an Inter-BBS capable door program.
LOCKING.ZIP - A unit for use with your program and DDPlus that will
give you the capability to make a multi-node and online
multi-user door program. Includes a fully operational
sample door, with source code, which demonstrates the
principles involved in file/record locking.
MACROKEY.ZIP - A small and simple unit with instruction file to allow
you to add macro-recording and play-back to your
door programs.
OVERLAY.ZIP - A sample overlay initialization unit. Can be used to
automatically provide overlay support. Comes with a
text file to help explain it's use.
*RIPLINK.ZIP - RipLink units to allow you to show RIP graphics on
the sysops screen! Works with RIP 1.54.
SETUP.ZIP - A Turbo Vision skeleton program you can make into a
door setup/configuration/editor program.
*SYSOP.ZIP - Sample of documentation I use with my door programs, to
include the all important SYSOP.DOC which explains how
sysops should set up the program to work on their BBS.
Feel free to modify these files for your door products
and distribute it with YOUR DDPlus creations. All we ask
is that you keep us in the credits section of the
document file. Hey, it's only fair we get some credit....
CREDITS:
--------
This relatively small section is just to recognize the people who have
made the DDPLUS package 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. Hopefully Steve and I
have done your kit justice and given it
a new lease on life in the programming
world. 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 then 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 documentation in this
package and contributor of the OVERLAY.ZIP,
LOCKING.ZIP, ELOG.ZIP and many other items in
this kit. 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.
Andy Stewart -=*=- The author of the IBBS.ZIP portion of the
DDPLUS kit. Great job Andy!
Tom Morgan -=*=- The author of the RIPLINK.ZIP portion of DDPLUS
for deciding to make his RipLink package
freeware and include it in the DDPLus kit.
Where to reach us
-----------------
We can usually be reached at the following places:
Steven Lorenz - The Officer Club BBS
- Telephone Number: 818-249-8579 (CA)
Bob Dalton - The TANSTAFL BBS
- Telephone Number: 501-741-5699 (AR).
FIDO Node Number: 1:391/3010
Scott Baker - Although he NO longer supports his original DoorDriver
kit I am sure he would appreciate any free program you
were to offer him. He can be reached at his Not Yet Named
BBS at 602-544-4655 (AZ) or FIDO Node Number 1:300/9. Keep
in mind he will NOT answer any questions about this kit!
NOTE: Both Steve Lorenz and Bob Dalton habitually monitor the FIDO door
related National and International echos if you have questions.
Bob Dalton also monitors the Pascal FIDO echo as well. Address
ALL questions about DDPlus to either Steve or Bob and no one
else, assuming you want an answer that is. Since this package
is FREEWARE, please do not expect us to send you a reply back at
our expense, either call back for it or poll us via FIDO 48 hours
after you netmailed the question.
Thanks!
| 
Bob Dalton