[comp.sources.games.bugs] Galatic Bloodshed

odlin@reed.UUCP (Iain Odlin) (05/06/89)

*** IMPORTANT NOTE:  I am posting this for smq@ssyx.ucsc.edu.  DO NOT REPLY ***

] thanks for putting up with putting up my game....
]  I can't seem to post to comp.sources.games.bugs, so I would appreciate
it if you could post this for me.  I intend to respond to all bug reports.


>I just spent a few hours fighting with the distribution(s) of GB..  It was
>"interesting".  I got the anon-ftp distribution from ssyz.ucsc.edu, and tried
>to make it.  Numerous files were missing (fortunately, I had the "pre-patch"
>version around as well to get the files from...), and many used the info in
>files.h but did not bother to #include it.  Besides this, our cc wouldn't take
>it.. It would give up in dosector.c with "can't reclaim".  So...  I had to
>modify the makefile so I could use gcc instead... 

] This is really weird.  When did you get this "version"?  The only thing
I can think of is that you somehow grabbed your copy as I was sharing
it up, or something else weird happened.  The version posted on netnews
was bogus.  Get the new one from ssyX, I put one up this week (Monday).

...
>etc in about 1 minute (not the advertised 20).  BTW: Instead of dropping out

] unloaded machines do go through it faster, I would suppose.

>when there is an error opening a file, it just waits until it tries to write
>to that (non-existant) file and core dumps instead.  An interesting method
>of error-trapping.. :-)

] sorry bout that.  I will fix.

>So, here are my questions:  I've compiled GB using BSD 4.2 and gcc, but when
>I run it, I get "what person would you like to log in as?"  Since I don't
>know what else to do (did I miss something in the docs?), I type in "dent",
>which happens to be the "god" account.  This may be the source of my error,
>but I think it does the following with other accounts there too.

] Only the diety player gets asked that question; anyone else gets their
regular login used.

>It tells me "there is room for you!" and I give a race name.  As soon as I

] does it?  I can't find that message anywhere...

>hit return, it goes off into never-never land, and never-never comes back.
>After about 5 minutes of nothing, I tried to put it in the background, but
>as soon as GB noticed, it said "hey! character output!", so I thought it
>actually did somehting.  I re-fg-ed it, and it cleared the screen, nothing
>else.  Repeatedly putting it back into the background produces the same thing
>over and over, but it still doesn't get it to do anything.

>So my question is:  What the heck is it doing?  :-)

] maybe you should use dbx to find out where it is at.  please report
this to me.

>One more thing:  Does anyone understand "make chmod"?  The makefile will
>sgid the GB file, and then give group rwx to all the Data/* and Data/Tele/*
>files.  It then opens up the Docs/* for group read, and all the *.dat* files as 
>well.

>My only guess is the game assumes that I am going to install this in it's own
>account ("games" perhaps) and that that account has it's own group all to
>itself.  I can't install it like that here, so is merely installing it setuid
>instead sufficient?  (I took out the setegid call wherever it was, since I
>had no idea what the exact number of my group was at the time.. :-)

] that's exactly what all that is for.  If you trust everyone sufficiently
to not use 'zap' on the data files, you can make them publically writeable.
that's usually not a feasible option for most systems... :-)
yes, you'd have to get your own user group together, put it's group number
in PLAYER_GROUP_ID, and chgrp all the relevant files to this group.  then
you should be set.

>Does anyone have it working in a BSD 4.2 environment that I might be able to
>get a full source distribution from (including any changes you had to make to
>get it to run)?  Or does DYNIX just not hack it? :-)

] That could well be.  I can't tell what it's doing to you from here, but
please mail me about your problems with it..


>Reply-To: odlin@reed.UUCP (Iain Odlin)
>Organization: Atreides' House of Exotic Architecture
>
>  In the patched Galactic Bloodshed (the version where you can live on gas-
>  giants and so on...), the game put me, a water-breather, on planet 2 in the 
>  Betelgeuse system.
>
>  The game continues for a bit.  I evolve.  I explore.  I build ships.  I fly
>  to the first planet in the system.
>
>  It is exactly the same as my planet, even down to the owned sectors.
>
>  But wait!  There's more!
>
>  Not only is it a copy of my planet in every way except my mobilization and
>  my building of ships, BUT I CAN CONTROL THE POPULATION AND USE ITS RE-
>  SOURCES!  It *IS* me!  It is just as though I colonized a planet that looks
>  exactly like my own!!!


] I know what did this.  Exactly what did this.  Really, I am completely
in control of the situation.  :-)

] seriously, that was a (now hopefully fixed) bug in enroll.  It switched
sectormap file positions on the two planets; their names and positions
were different, but they used the same map.  The map on the displaced one 
just got lost.  This shouldn't happen anymore in the new version, and
I have fixed a number of other bugs and introduced several new features.

Robert Chansky
	smq@ssyx.ucsc.edu
	...!ucbvax!ucscc!ssyx!smq

-- 
----------------------------------Iain Odlin----------------------------------
                  Box 1014, Reed College, Portland OR, 97202
                odlin@reed -or- {ogccse, tektronix}!reed!odlin
        "The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away.  Fickle, fickle Lord."