[comp.sources.games.bugs] Fix for one spacewars 'bug'

andrewt@watsnew.waterloo.edu (Andrew Thomas) (06/06/88)

I recently got spacewars working fine on Ultrix 2.0 on a microvax, after
encountering the problem with 'psw' saying 'Wait ' etc and then hanging 
forever.  The problem is that spacewar.h has an ifdef statement which reads:

#ifdef VMS
#	define SWCOMFILE	"swmlbx"
#else /* SYSIII SYSV */
#	define SWCOMFILE	"/usr/dir/sw/swcomm"
#endif /* VMS SYSIII SYSV */

In fact, Ultrix and BSD need the SWCOMFILE defined as well, so just change this
file name to be something useful and it should work.

My only question is, how do I format the documentation file 'doc.ms'?

tim@brspyr1.BRS.Com (Tim Northrup) (06/08/88)

From article <4708@watcgl.waterloo.edu>, by andrewt@watsnew.waterloo.edu (Andrew Thomas):
> I recently got spacewars working fine on Ultrix 2.0 on a microvax, after
> encountering the problem with 'psw' saying 'Wait ' etc and then hanging 
> forever.  The problem is that spacewar.h has an ifdef statement which reads:

#ifdef BSD	}
...		} Andrew left this part out!
#else		}
> #ifdef VMS
> #	define SWCOMFILE	"swmlbx"
> #else /* SYSIII SYSV */
> #	define SWCOMFILE	"/usr/dir/sw/swcomm"
> #endif /* VMS SYSIII SYSV */
#endif /* BSD */

>In fact, Ultrix and BSD need the SWCOMFILE defined as well, so just change this
> file name to be something useful and it should work.

This is incorrect -- I compiled SpaceWar without problems under the BSD
universe on a Pyramid (same as 4.3).  In a quick glance at the code, the
SWCOMFILE is never used when BSD is defined -- it uses a SWPIDFILE instead.

> My only question is, how do I format the documentation file 'doc.ms'?

Use "nroff -ms doc.ms" to format.

I've gotten it to play okay when running the "psw.sh" shell file, but not
running the "psw" executable directly -- appearantly the permissions
on your tty device need to be altered before the game can start.  Also,
the u+s and ownership of all files must be setup according to the directions
in the README file, or it just don't work.

Haven't played much yet, but I do get a viewscreen, and it does take
commands.
-- 
Tim Northrup      		  +------------------------------------------+
+---------------------------------+         GEnie:  TNORTHRUP                |
UUCP: uunet!steinmetz!brspyr1!tim |   Air Warrior:  "Duke"                   |
ARPA: tim@brspyr1.BRS.Com	  +------------------------------------------+

kus3@sphinx.uchicago.edu (Bob Kusumoto) (06/08/88)

From article <3668@brspyr1.BRS.Com>, by tim@brspyr1.BRS.Com (Tim Northrup):
> Haven't played much yet, but I do get a viewscreen, and it does take
> commands.

argh! somehow it messes up the viewscreen in vt100 mode here (BSD). Seems to
add a character where there should be a line feed or carriage return in the 
window. Maybe there should be a way to look up the enviromental termcap
instead of refering to the termcap file?

-- 
	Bob Kusumoto                         |           Follow me!
Internet: kus3@sphinx.uchicago.edu           | I'll play the game you want me,
BITNET:   kus3@sphinx.uchicago.bitnet        |  Until I find a way back home.
UUCP:    {ihnp4!gargoyle,oddjob}!sphinx!kus3 | --- Genesis, "One for the Vine"

tim@brspyr1.BRS.Com (Tim Northrup) (06/09/88)

From an article by kus3@sphinx.uchicago.edu (Bob Kusumoto):
> 
> argh! somehow it messes up the viewscreen in vt100 mode here (BSD). Seems to
> add a character where there should be a line feed or carriage return in the 
> window. Maybe there should be a way to look up the enviromental termcap
> instead of refering to the termcap file?

I got the same problem with the VT100 entry -- it seems that the delay
notation in the termcap entries (any numbers after an = are supposed to
be used as some kind of delay value), are not being interpreted by this
program and are just being put out with the escape sequence.  This really
does mess up the display.

We have a separate entry in our termcap file which does not have delay
values specified, and this seems to work okay.

Another thing I don't like is that the termcap file defined in $TERMCAP
in the environment is NOT being used!  The program seems to go for /etc/termcap
exclusively.  I agree that this should be changed!  Is anyone currently looking
into this stuff?
-- 
Tim Northrup      		  +------------------------------------------+
+---------------------------------+         GEnie:  TNORTHRUP                |
UUCP: uunet!steinmetz!brspyr1!tim |   Air Warrior:  "Duke"                   |
ARPA: tim@brspyr1.BRS.Com	  +------------------------------------------+

emanuel@cernvax.UUCP (emanuel) (06/13/88)

In article <4708@watcgl.waterloo.edu> andrewt@watsnew.waterloo.edu (Andrew Thomas) writes:
>
>My only question is, how do I format the documentation file 'doc.ms'?

Try:

	nroff -ms doc.ms (or troff, ptroff...)

Emanuel
-- 
Emanuel T.M. Machado, CERN     | "Science is true.   | UUCP:
   _                        _  |   Don't be misled   |  emanuel@cernvax.UUCP
 /_  ____  __   __      _  </  |     by facts."      | DECNET:
/_  / / / /_ < / / /_/ <'_ /_  |  -- Finagle's Creed |  machado@vxcern.cern

allbery@ncoast.UUCP (Brandon S. Allbery) (06/18/88)

As quoted from <3687@brspyr1.BRS.Com> by tim@brspyr1.BRS.Com (Tim Northrup):
+---------------
| Another thing I don't like is that the termcap file defined in $TERMCAP
| in the environment is NOT being used!  The program seems to go for /etc/termcap
| exclusively.  I agree that this should be changed!  Is anyone currently looking
| into this stuff?
+---------------

If someone changes this, PLEASE do so by having "psw" write the TERMCAP and
TERM entries to the server.  If you use BSD ps's environment printing flag,
the systems for which the program was written (Xenix?) won't be able to use
it.
-- 
Brandon S. Allbery			  | "Given its constituency, the only
uunet!marque,sun!mandrill}!ncoast!allbery | thing I expect to be "open" about
Delphi: ALLBERY	       MCI Mail: BALLBERY | [the Open Software Foundation] is
comp.sources.misc: ncoast!sources-misc    | its mouth."  --John Gilmore