
                            Trivia MASTER! V4.3
                          (C)1990-93 Marvin Davis

    Note to SYSOPS!
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    This file will contain the changes or revisions to Trivia MASTER! game
    and will serve as a quick guide to SysOps in setting up game upgrades.
    In no way, shape or form is this a substitute for 'reading the manual'
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------

 V4.3 Update
 ------------
    DTE port speed support for 57600 and 115200 bps.  When using DTE speeds
    above 38400 do not use BIOS local screen write setup (ANSI.SYS) as its 
    too slow, use DIRECT local screen writes only!

 V4.2d Update
 ------------
    Added more options to TRIVIA.CFG as to standalone game title and a way
    for RIP graphics viewers to see ANSI if not passed to the dropfile
    correctly.  On some BBS's the graphics status is set to monochrome or
    no color when writing out the caller dropfile.  ANSI can be forced now.
    
    Users with unusually long names are passed to the scoreboard with the
    first name abbreviated.

 V4.2c Update
 ------------
    New player bug fixed and added dead timer on Menu System configurations.
    Additional error-trapping on incorrect user input into menu prompts.

    Note!  New players NOT on a scoreboard yet are tracked.  This means if
    they cannot get on a scoreboard in their number of daily tries, they are 
    not allowed to play the game anymore.  TRIVIA.EXE now writes a temp file
    to hold players on each calendar day and tracks how many attempts they
    try to get on a game scoreboard.  Once a player does get on a particular 
    games scoreboard, their plays are then tracked and stored in TRIVIAx.USR 
    game datafile (where x=1-9).

 V4.2a Update
 ------------
    Bug fix on Registered names containing an apostrophe and changed a user
    prompt default from NO to YES.  Game will now handle (9) external menu
    game options via the menu front end for registered users.  Other minor
    corrections added.

 V4.1a Update  (Maintenance Upgrade)
 ------------
 (1) All command line options have been removed in favor of placing them in
     the games configuration file.  Also, for multinode operation you now
     specify the name of the game configuration file on the command line.
     So now the command line will only accept two parameters, a command 
     for local play "Trivia /local" or with a BBS configuration file;
     "Trivia Trivia1.cfg"

 (2) SETUP.EXE has been temporarily dropped while its being re-written for
     the new game configuration file, so users can select options from a
     menu interface.

 (3) TO UPGRADE from a V4.0 game, simply COPY the TRIVIA.EXE file over your
     old one and edit your batchfile to remove any switches you have and
     substitute the name of the configuration file you wish to set for the
     game.  Now, edit your ASCII Trivia.cfg file and enter your options on
     the appropriate lines, and if you were prior registered user, note the
     place for "NAME" and "NUMBER" to enter your registration data! 

 V4.0a Update
 -----------
 (1) BBS "type" commandline option.
 
     The commandline switch for BBS Type has been eliminated!  Now all that 
     is required is the BBS's dropfile name to be placed in the TRIVIA.CFG 
     file (which it already was, including PATH).  Now the game will look 
     at the actual dropfile "name" and adjust the read data routine for it
     accordingly.  A dropfile name with NO PATH is fine as the game will 
     look in the current DOS directory for it so long as it's a valid
     dropfile name (eg. DORINFO1.DEF, DOOR.SYS, etc.).  So, remove the BBS 
     Type commandline switch and either place the caller dropfile in the 
     current directory and place JUST the name of the dropfile in the 
     TRIVIA.CFG or place FULL PATH and FILESPEC to where the file is located.

     REGISTERED USERS UPDATE...  NOTE BELOW!

 (2) MENU Front-End setup!

     The "/T" and "/G" command line switches have been eliminated (this was 
     for registered users and additional games) and the game now has "menu" 
     support with the "/MENU" command line switch.  This replaces the 
     previous single game, single option setup.
 
     With the new MENU setup, you can now have an external ASCII file with
     up to [9] games setup with a "front-end" menu.  Each game only needs a 
     title name on a line by itself ending with a CR-LF (carriage return and
     line feed).  The game will now look for MENU.CFG if the commandline 
     option "/MENU" is detected *and* the game is REGISTERED.  Keep the names
     of the different games less than 18 characters, only a one or two word
     title is required.  Look below at the following example;

     MENU.CFG contains;

     Rock'n Roll
     Genius
     Baseball
     1980's 
     Television!
     
     This configuration is for (5) Trivia games.  The numerical order is
     read top to bottom as 1 to 5.  Once the menu is detected the system 
     will look for the MENU.SCR and MENU.ASC screens for user viewing.  

     You can create ANY custom menu screen you wish so long as NON-Color 
     users can see MENU.ASC and the ANSI color users can view the MENU.SCR 
     files.  Max line lengths on these files should be 24 lines long by 79 
     characters in width!

     Each game now can have "separate" custom ANSI or ASCII screens and
     custom database.  Also custom HELP or Instruction screens can be 
     created.  Note below a list of required files for a "Game #2" type
     configuration, including custom HELP screens;
     
     GAME_2   ASC   <-- NON-Color game title screen
     GAME_2   SCR   <-- ANSI Color game title screen
     MENU     ASC   <-- Front End MENU non-color screen
     MENU     CFG   <-- MENU configuration file
     MENU     SCR   <-- Front End MENU color screen
     TMCFG_2  DAT   <-- question database
     TM_HELP2 ASC   <-- HELP screen NON-color
     TM_HELP2 SCR   <-- HELP screen ANSI color

     Again, for registered users, you can have up to (9) different game
     configurations with a menu front end and complete control over the
     menu screens and game title screens.

     For those with user accounts on Late-Nite BBS, you can call up and
     download from File area # 5 (BBS Doors [LNS]) a file which contains
     (5) game databases with color screens for immediate incorporation 
     into a Menu System.  The filename is TRIVMENU.ZIP.

 V3.0 Update
 -----------
 (1) Added User option to continue game with another round if the user
     still had any turns left for the current day.

 (2) Added registered option to "VIEW" correct answer if incorrect, and 
     the SysOp wishes to allow this by adding the keyword "VIEW" in the 
     TRIVIA.CFG file on line # 12.  (Registered option only)

 (3) Added option for User front end screens to "intro" a different game 
     configuration or game instructions file.  Both .ASC and .SCR file
     types supported (ASCII/ANSI) if graphics data is available from the
     callers file.  Simply create a "GAME_x.ASC" for the ASCII entro and
     a GAME_x.SCR for an ANSI entro screen.  Edit these files to only use
     screen lines 1-23!  The "pause" prompt will appear properly then.
 
 (4) Unlimited question/answer dataBase sizes are now available.  The new
     Record format allows for (80) character questions and (48) character
     answers.  In accordance as well the dataBase utility as been changed 
     in TM_CODE.EXE to create/disolve encoded dataBases for any game(s)
     configuration.  

 (5) Released new 550+ question dataBase with this release version.
 
 V3.1 Update
 -----------
 (1) Added code to read in 'Trivia.key' file for those who wish to play
     the registered game in a complete local mode.  If you wish to call
     the game from the command line "outside" of a BBS configuration in
     which no TRIVIA.CFG file is read for BBS info, you can place the
     registered NAME and game SERIAL number in a file "TRIVIA.KEY" in
     ASCII format with line #1 containing the registered NAME ending in
     a CRLF and line #2 containing the game SERIAL number ending in a
     CRLF (carriage return & line feed).
   
 (2) Added time delay on hardware flow control on slow machines and 
     reduced the time delay for dumping screen deletes for speeding up
     prompt clearing on slow machines.

 (3) Update a few minor typo glitches in the distribution rock database
     file.  Mainly spaces at the end of answers.


