
         Operation: Overkill Trouble-Shooting Guide:
         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here are the most asked questions about Overkill from Sysops having
problems/questions with the game:


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[Q] Is a fossil driver, either BNU or X00, actually required for BBS
    speeds of 9600 or higher?

[A] A fossil driver is required for running OOII with a high speed modem.
    The suggested fossil driver to use is BNU (BNU170.ARJ/ZIP), which I
    have available on my BBS, and is available on most local file BBS's.
    It is also suggested that the baud rate be locked at 9600, 19200, or
    38400 baud.

    If you are using non-standard IRQ settings or base port addresses for
    your modem comports, a fossil driver will be required to adhere to
    your specific settings.  BNU has a utility called BNUPORT and can
    be used to set the non-standard IRQ settings.

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[Q] I use a fossil driver and have a high speed modem, yet my callers can
    only see garbage or line noise when the game loads up.  What is the
    problem here?

[A] Several things could be the problem here:

    1) Make sure that you have your fossil driver installed correctly and
       are locking it at a high speed (9600, 19200, or 38400).  Then, check
       to see if your front-end mailer (if you have one) is locked at the
       same speed, and also your BBS software must indicate that it is
       locked at that same speed.  In your door batch file or AUTOEXEC.BAT
       file, the command line to lock the BNU fossil driver is:

           BNU /L:1=19200  'lock Com 2 at a 19200 baud rate

           or...

           BNU /L:0=19200  'lock Com 1 at a 19200 baud rate


     2) Run OOSETUP and set the modem handling (in the System Information)
        to FOSSIL.  Make sure you save the new changes when exiting!

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[Q] The Gate Guard is getting killed way too many times and is easily
    defeated by an onslaught of Hydrites!  How can I fix this?

[A] Load up OOSETUP and change the minimum Average Player Level in the
    Game Information Menu.  This value can be raised high enough to
    prevent the Guard from ever being attacked by the Hydrites (but
    what is the fun in that!)  Also, inform your players that the Gate
    Guard upkeep is their DUTY!  Players should donate good equipment
    and try to keep the Gate Guard loaded with the best weapons, fully
    loaded.

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[Q] The combat speed for my players seems way too fast.  The "AAA..BBB..CCC"
    line zooms by without giving my users a chance to hit it.  Also at
    times, the combat line is "jerky" on the remote-end's side.  How can I
    slow this down, smooth out the rough printout, or bypass it completely?

[A] In OOSETUP, you can adjust the combat speed by raising or lowering the
    values of the combat delay.  The higher the combat delay, the slower
    the line will display across the screen, and the lower the combat delay,
    the faster the screen will display.  If the speed is currently too
    fast, raise the combat speed up by 10 or 20 and test it out.  (Example:
    default combat speed is set at 38 in OOSETUP.EXE, change it to 48 and
    the try it again.)  Local play will experience the same speed as remote
    players do.   Adjust this value until you feel you have a challenging
    combat speed.

    If a player does not like the combat action, or is not able to use it
    efficiently, they may switch to a "statistical mode".  This mode, which
    is sometimes referred to as "random mode", attributes of the players'
    charactre are used instead of relying on direct response from the user.

    Another recommendation you might try is to change the screen writes
    from DIRECT to BIOS.  This can be configured in OOSETUP under the
    system configuration menu.  Although this may slow the game down just
    a bit overall, it may smooth out the areas where jerkiness or
    inconsistent printing may occur.

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[Q] As a Sysop, I want to run the Overkill maintenance program, MAINTOO,
    at the same time my BBS maintenance runs.  However, when the event
    is invoked and MAINTOO tries to load up, a message appears on the
    screen "NO CARRIER -- HALT CODE 25" and the program aborts.  What
    causes this?

[A] MAINTOO checks the Overkill data directory for a file called BBSINFO.OO,
    and this file stores the information of the callers name, baud rate,
    com port, time left, and color toggle.  If MAINTOO finds this file
    and then tries to load up, it will think that the carrier has been
    dropped because no user is currently online!

    The solution is easy: delete the BBSINFO.OO before calling MAINTOO
    in your event batch file.  For example:

    :BBSMAINT
     cd\bbs
     packmessages
     packusers
     cd\ooii
     del bbsinfo.oo
     maintoo
     cd\bbs

     ...but the best solution is simply not to run MAINTOO during your
     midnight maintenance.  The program is quick enough not to keep a
     user online very long, wondering if the system has locked up or not.
     The MAINTOO program is very fast in calculating its daily maintenance.

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[Q] My players have been complaining about the game locking up on them
    sometimes while they are playing.  The local side looks fine and I
    can take control of the player, however, the remote player's side
    is locked up.  What is causing this?

[A] A few things can be causing this, but the main reason is probably the
    remote player's communications program (ie: Telix, Qmodem, Telemate).
    The problem lies in the scrollback buffers and screen capture programs.
    Try to reduce the number of lines the scrollback buffer stores, or for
    the best results, disable the scrollback buffer completely.

    Also, any communication programs running under Windows has been found
    to lock up often.  Load up the communication programs from DOS, and
    run it again.

    One other thing that may prevent lockups is to inform your players to
    play "slower".  Most of the lockups that have been reported happen only
    with the faster players; players who abort text screens, menus, and
    scanner pictures.  These players (if the have scrollback buffers
    enabled) should slow down their play and reduce the number of screens
    that they abort.

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[Q] When I tried to unzip the Overkill package and run ThunderByte virus
    detector, it reports that a few *.MAP files contain a VIRUS!  Should
    I warn others of this report?

[A] The map files are strictly binary files containing #'s, 0-255.  They
    can not be 'executed' or loaded into memory as a virus.  Some of the
    maps may have a certain pattern on the terrain that may alert virus
    scanners of a similar pattern found in virsuses.  However, the map
    files contain no viruses (or any other files in the package for that
    matter).  The author of ThunderByte even checked it out himself and
    guaranteed that the report was false.

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[Q] I am having a strange problem with OOSETUP.  Every time I reset the
    game (or even start one from scratch), and exit to save changes, the
    status bar gets to "Control File" and then freezes.  The system won't
    respond to anything but Ctrl-Alt-Del.

[A] The Control File is looking for the monster file, MONSTERS.DAT.  Make
    sure that the MONSTERS.DAT file is located in the data directory
    (either the main Overkill directory for default or a separate data
    directory that you set up for multiple games).

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[Q] I'm a Sysop and use a multi-tasker (Desqview, Windows, or OS/2), and
    every time the game loads up, the menu screens are flashed onto the
    screen, messing up my open windows and bleeding into other screens.
    What's the problem here?

[A] Most likely the problem is that the game is loading up in Ansiterm
    mode when it finds the 3 main picture files, *.PIX.  To fix this
    problem, you can delete the *.PIX files from your Overkill directory.
    Be sure you have a backup of the *.PIX files in case you want to
    use them again in the future.

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[Q] I run a multi-node system.  When a user tries to load up Overkill,
    the game tells the user that "Another player is using the game right
    now.  Pleas try again later!".  However, another player is not using
    Overkill!  What's the problem here?

[A] On erratic occassions, Overkill may not exit cleanly and completely.
    This may be due to several things: power shutdowns during Overkill,
    possible drop carriers, electric storms zapping modems, electricity
    shutdown, etc.  Overkill looks for a file called OONODE.DAT in its
    data directory.  If this file exists, the game thinks it is has a
    player currently in the game.  If this file is not reset when a user
    logs out of the game, a "node collision" may occur and thus think that
    the user is still playing Overkill.  If one of your users does complain
    that Overkill is not letting them play even though no one else is
    currently in the game, check to see if a OONODE.DAT file exists in
    the Overkill data directory.  If it does, simply delete it and that
    should fix the problem.

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[Q] What kind of support can I expect from Bryan Turner on this door game?

[A] You will be able to get in contact with me in MANY ways.  The most
    direct way is through Fidonet Netmail.  If you are a Sysop or have
    netmail ability, you can send me a message at 1:124/7013, Bryan
    Turner. 

    If you don't have access to netmail, you can reach me in several
    door-related message areas connected with Fidonet.  Such message
    echoes include the Doorgames echo, or the OnlineDoors Echo, via the
    Fidonet backbone. I am currently thinking about attempting to get 
    oosysop and ookillers back on line in the near future.

    If that method fails, you can call up my 24 hour BBS support board,
    at 972/226-2783, and leave a message directly to Bryan Turner.  I
    monitor the board once a day, so all messages are replied to within
    a 24 hour period.  New files and announcements are displayed on my
    BBS, so check in occasionally for any new updates!

    I also have an internet account at vagabond@darktech.org.  So, if
    you have the ability to send e-mail, I can be reached at that
    address.

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[Q] I'm trying to set up an interBBS game with another local BBS in my
    area.   However, when BBSVSBBS.EXE is executed from my BBS's batch
    file, the extra maintenance of X-MAINT.TXT and X-CHECK.TXT are not
    followed through.  What is wrong here?

[A] Most likely the problem is that two semaphore flag files exist when
    only one should be active at a time.  There are two flag files that
    are used to determine which BBS is playing their interBBS turn.
    WAITING.TXT should be present in your Overkill interBBS directory
    if the other BBS has the game, or the other file of SENDOUT.TXT should
    be present in your interBBS directory if your BBS is currently playing
    its turn.  Make sure that you don't have both of these flag files in
    your Overkill directory at the same time.  Only use the relevant file
    and delete the other.

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