                      JEWEL THIEF INTERBBS PLAY

3/25/95

NOTE!!!  DO NOT RELEASE OR HATCH INTO FILE SYSTEMS!!
NOTE!!!  DO NOT DISTRIBUTE OR PUT UP FOR DISTRIBUTION WITHOUT PERMISSION!!

Jewel Thief ver 1.93  is a InterBBS Pre-Beta Release which will be 
renamed to 2.0 upon release.

Note: This is a pre-Beta release. This means that it could have bugs
and not all functions will operate.  It is running on my system, but
that does not mean it will run on yours.  Please keep this in mind if
you choose to upgrade to this pre-release version. If you do nothing else, 
then at least zip up your complete Jewel Thief directory before you upgrade
so that you can fall back if you have too.  If you do have problems, please
let me know as soon as possible.

What this version does:

This version of Jewel Thief has had more changes added to it than
have been added in a long time.  What I have added up to this point is
the ability for the player to save the level they are at, should they
have to quit before they run out of lives.  Next time they play they
will start off where they left off, unless the end of month 
has passed since the last time they played.  Everyone starts at level 1
at the first of the month.  This feature is active now.

The other major feature that I'm adding is InterBBS play.  This means that
two or more boards can share their scores with each other, creating a 
little interbbs rivalry between the boards.  This feature is ALMOST
ready.  What does work right now, is that your scores are kept in a *.dat
file. The master league list is read and a Who's Who in the league is 
available for display.  Scores can be combined to create the master score
file.  Not a lot of checking is done for dupe players on different boards or
changes in the scores, but I have a 9 board league in progress now and it 
seems to be running very smoothly. 

How it works:

Before the InterBBS function will work, you have to create a file called
LEAGUE.JT.  This is the master list of all nodes playing.  This is a plain
ascii text file with information on the BBS and Sysop names, BBS Phone 
number and city, state of the BBS.  By default, the first BBS is the
Hub BBS.  Below is an example of what the LEAGUE.JT looks like:

#1
Com-Dat BBS
Mike Jordan
503-681-0543
Hillsboro, OR
#2
The Coliseum BBS
Matt McClanahan
503-692-6505
Portland, OR
#3
Williams Computer Service BBS
Rob Williams
503-631-8435
Oregon City, OR


*Important - The BBS name and Sysop name should match the info in the 
JEWEL.CFG file.
*Important - Do not leave a blank line after the last entry. This causes
a run past end of file message and this will be fixed before release.

There can be any number of Nodes, but I've not tested it over 10, so I'm
not sure how it will handle 2 digit numbers yet.

The person starting the league has to be #1 and is called the Hub Node. 
The Hub node will create the LEAGUE.JT file, adding in each node until
the game is ready to start. The Hub should then pass around (or make
available) the LEAGUE.JT file to everyone else in the League. If you do
not have this file your *.dat IBBS scores will not be processed.  Also,
all number parameters should match; i.e. number of games per day, number
of makeup days, ect.

When everyone is ready to go, each node should run JEWEL IBBS from
the DOS prompt in the Jewel directory.  This will create the Who's Who 
list based on the LEAGUE.JT information.  Should someone get added in
after the game has started, they can be added in this way as well. 

This same command is used to combine the node *.dat files and add them
to the master score file.  This can be done as an event or manually by
the Hub Sysop.  

Each node will have a score file created based on their number in the
LEAGUE.JT file.  #1 will be JT-1.DAT, #2 will be JT-2.DAT, #3 will be
JT-3.DAT, etc.  This file keeps the scores that will be passed to the
Hub Node. 

It's up to the league to determine how they want to pass the JT-#.DAT files
up to the Hub Node.  Each node can send it or upload it to the Hub Node or
the Hub Node can call and get it.  It makes not difference to the game how,
as long as the JT-#.DAT file is available at the Hub Node's BBS when the
JEWEL IBBS is run.

I recommend all JT-#.DAT files be sent to the Hub, he creates the master
score file and then passes that back to the other players. Once the other
nodes receive the MASTER.JT file, they just need to put it in their JT
directory.  The Master score file will only be updated if the
score in the JT*.DAT file is HIGHER than what is in the Master file.

Upgrading:

I recommend, before doing the following, that you Zip up your complete Jewel
directory and keep it as a backup.

To upgrade, take the files in this packet (the *.exe, *.slb and *.hps files) 
and drop them into your Jewel directory. 

That's all that is required if you are not interested in the InterBBS stuff.
The level saving feature will work now. You will be able to see a InterBBS
Score Card, but it will not have any info on it. You won't be able to go
into the Who's Who screen.

For InterBBS Play:

Create your LEAGUE.JT file (it only needs #1 info to turn on the IBBS
feature).  Run JEWEL IBBS.

And that's all there is too it, for now.

Once the game starts, each node should pass their JT-#.DAT file to the 
Hub Node at some arranged time.  Then either by an event or manually,
the Hub Node should run JEWEL IBBS to create that days MASTER.JT 
file.  The MASTER.JT file should either be sent back to each of the
member nodes or made available so they can pick it up.  Each node should
copy the new MASTER.JT file back into their Jewel directory.  Once the old
file has been over written, the new information can be viewed.

Read the M&S_INFO.DIZ file for addresses and locations that any problems 
can be sent too.  If you need to call, the Registration/Support Voice
number is (503) 693-7068.  

Mike
