                           DETONATION BLVD. BBS 
                              (619)744-4500

             
                        MANIFESTO- POLICIES/PROCEDURES

HINTS, TIPS, AND TRICKS


Purpose:  First off, you have taken the time to d/l this and are reading it, 
so let me take the opportunity to welcome and thank you for using this board.  
I've run others in the past, but nothing as complex and intricate as this.  
The purpose of this Manifesto is to make you more familiar with the 
Policies/Procedures that are here and what is required of users.  I know 
you've heard all this before, and you're going to hear again, so I apologize 
in advance for putting you thru this.  But without some sort of basis of 
order, CHAOS would reign; I can't ask anyone to follow the guidelines unless 
you've read this.

1.  What's Expected of You:
I want everyone to have fun!  That is my first and foremost rule around here.  
Be nice or you will be gone.  I won't put up with someone who misbehaves.  

This will include the following:
A.  Hate Email-  This is a serious faux-pau (social blunder) and will not be 
tolerated at all.  If you want to bash someone, then you don't belong on this 
board.  If you don't like my Policies, then go somewhere else and bash/flame 
people or start your own board.  THIS INCLUDES MASS MAILING OF OTHER USERS
WITH YOUR HATE EMAIL CAUSE YOU HATE SOMEONE. If you do it, you will be gone  

B.  General Misbehavior-  This includes calling people and hanging up on them.  
You know what this is about.  Getting someone's phone #, giving it out, and 
then making crank calls or obscene calls.  This is Major Uncool.

C.  Swearing-  I'm sorry but if this is something you want to do, then start 
your own board.  I don't want this to become a place where people use 
obscenities and vulgar language.  I think that most of us use the occasional 
hell or damn and I have no problem with that.  But I will not tolerate the 
really offending language from ANYONE!

D.  Adult Gifs/Pornography- It is becoming increasingly more popular to object 
to the freedom of speech by regulating what can or cannot be see or read.  So 
I will say this only once.  NO PORN.  I could elaborate on this issue with the 
numerous incidents that are going on even as we speak (one of the latest being 
the disappearance of a 15 year old sophomore from Seattle, Wash. who got
involved with some weirdo on AOL (America On Line), and now there is all kinds 
of speculation about what goes on in some of the chat rooms with an alternate 
lifestyle groups so we don't APPROVE of anything like that here.  The average 
age here is around 15 and we're not going to be held liable in any sort of
legal action or have the CyberCops come busting down the door at 3am to take
the Hard Drive for the puter.  Don't u/l ANYTHING to do with this!

E.  Viruses-  It's a foregone conclusion that these are a major taboo, so all 
I can say is don't u/l them in a file for the purposes of trying to take down 
the board.  I scan EVERYTHING here and stuff that is u/l will be scanned one 
way or another.  I know that sometimes you can get a virus thru other means 
and not know about it, however, I'm in no way responsible for a virus you may
get here!  The saying  goes: Caveat Emptor (Let the buyer, Beware!)

F.  Credit Card/Telephone Access Number's Fraud-  These are also taboo, and 
like it says, it's fraud.  Don't post this stuff here, because the con-
sequences will be drastic.

G.  NPD-  Whether you call it None Public Domain, Copyrighted Software, or 
pirated files (warez, wares) it's still the same thing:  illegal!  DON'T U/L 
IT HERE!  This board does not condone that sort of behavior, and we've gone to 
too much trouble to invite a civil suit for Copyright infringement and
have the CyberCops here with a subpena for my Hard Drive.

The items listed above are grounds for dismissal at this bbs. The first time 
there is an problem, then you can kiss your privileges here goodbye.  I will 
delete your account and put you on the blacklist with all my sysop friends. 
That includes NO REFUND of any monies that you have paid. I don't care if 
you've got a DTB Class 1 for 1 month at $15 or DTB Class 12 at $72.  If you 
don't like what that, then I guess you can sue me in small claims.  This
Policies/Procedures manual is tough but fair, and applies to everyone.  I 
want this to be a place that you want to come visit and have fun. It's just 
like you've been invited to someone's house as a guest.  That is exactly the 
case in point here.  You are a guest and you will act accordingly.

Well, now that I have all the heavy stuff aside, and provided that you haven't 
tossed this in the circular file labeled trash, on to some of the fun stuff. 
The Hints listed below are by no means complete and please feel free to send 
in stuff that works for you.      
                                                                                                                                                       
    
                                 

PRIVATE CHAT

To use private chat type the first letter of the color of the person you wish 
to talk to INSTEAD of T. For example- you want to tell Red something (R Eat 
lead, Pretzel Boy!) That way you don't fill up the screen with unnecessary 
chatter. This also works for those macros as well.  Macros can be useful when 
you first get in.  Like checking in when you first get into a game. For 
example- when you start up and go thru the networking protocols and you get
inside the game. Everyone says, "Red, here!" or "Gameboy in."  Just hit that 
macro so you can hit the ground running and get some weapons or ammo.  Every 
second counts in the first few moments and it can give you a slight advantage 
even if it's just a few seconds.  

ETIQUETTE- 

Use PRIVATE CHAT whenever possible in the game! If you have a kill and you 
MUST gloat over it, (an annoying thing to do, it gets real old real fast) the 
least you can do is say it ONLY to the person you want to say it to. Having to 
read hahaha's that have nothing to do with you is annoying and rude. The 
constant bombardment of (HA HA HA) is even more annoying, and serves no 
purpose whatsoever. After all, EVERYBODY sees it and they are probably 
somewhere else. Don't be rude !! Typing a message to distract someone then 
attacking them are also cheap tactics, but if that's the best you can do, I 
pity you. You might think it works, but then you'll find nobody pays any 
attention to anything you type, so what have you accomplished? 

When you REALLY have something to say you'll notice you might have to repeat 
it several times. So all you've accomplished is making people dislike and 
ignore you. I'm not the ONLY person who feels this way, as soon as everyone 
becomes more accustomed to the game they'll feel this way too. 



GAMEPLAY SETUP

1.  MOUSE ( MICE)-
Doom has become a real cultural phenomena and one the most complicated games 
in the world, and a lot of people have even had a tough time just getting it 
to run. Once that is accomplished, there is a tendency to shy away from any 
attempt to improve the performance of the game. That is a mistake, and people 
who do that will loose deathmatches constantly. Mostly people are afraid to 
use the mouse, and this is a big mistake and can't be emphasized enough. Get 
yourself a GOOD mouse like a Logitech with three buttons. Those Microsoft 
mice aren't that great, but actually several people have gotten them to work 
quite good including myself, but it seems that we're all going to end with 
Carpel Tunnel Syndrome because of all the cramping up!

The thing to remember is that you should be able to do a 180 degree turn 
without moving the mouse more than an inch or two. There IS a mouse 
sensitivity adjustment in Doom, but that usually isn't enough. If you insist 
on keeping that Microsoft  mouse, you CAN find alternative updated mouse 
driving software on bulletin boards and on the net. There is one here on 
this board called MSMOUSE.ZIP that is the latest MS Mouse drivers. What is 
really needed is a DOS program that allows sensitivity adjustment for the 
mouse BEFORE you get into the game, and the adjustment in the game is a fine 
tuning adjustment.

But your best bet is to get a GOOD three button mouse. I use the Logitech. It 
has a Dos program with it. Put the acceleration setting to low or medium and 
the sensitivity setting to about three quarters the way towards maximum.  I'm 
right handed so my keyboard is set up for my left. For you lefties, get an 
ambidextrous (right OR left handed) mouse. (They go either way) The Logitech
is not very good for this as it is shaped for the right hand. However, I THINK 
they sell left handed mice, and other manufacturers make those three button 
mice that are flat so the buttonscan be swapped for left handers.

 2.  KEYBOARD SETUP-

The keyboard is imperative, and should be set up to work CONCURRENTLY with the 
mouse.  You DEFIANTLY need to reassign the keys in Doom's setup program. There 
are a group of keys and commands for the keyboard that you can use, but there 
are only four that are REALLY needed. You DO NOT NEED the strafe on button, 
however, what you really need is the strafe right and strafe left buttons. 
These buttons, used with the mouse, give you that all important circle 
strafing capability. The ability to back up is often needed (I know, who wants 
to go backwards) and of course so is the ability to run. These are the four 
crucial functions that cannot be assigned to the mouse, and are designated 
accordingly:
STRAFE RIGHT = SPACE     left index finger
STRAFE LEFT   = X        left middle finger
BACKUP        = Z        left ring finger 
RUN           = CTRL     left pinkie finger

I know what you're saying: "But, my way is better, I have this key doing this 
and my other keys are..." is what you are saying to yourself.  Hold on! Place 
your left hand on those keys and perhaps you'll see why it's probably better 
than a lot of configurations. It's comfortable and the hand is in an almost 
natural state.  I used to just use the arrow keys and the right shift, alt 
and ctrl keys and talk about adding to my Carpel Tunnel!  Also, it is a must 
to be able to do all four of those functions with your left hand in a moments 
notice. Of course,  you can assign these commands to other keys, but it's 
almost paramount to be able to do those FOUR functions with your left hand. 
Watch out for weird stuff happening when you type messages to others. If 
you're standing on a ledge in a deathmatch, and you stop to reply to a 
message, typing that message could make you step to the left or something and 
you fall in the pit and die. No matter WHAT your messages are, you'll almost 
NEVER use the z or x (except to type exit) but you do still have to be 
careful with the space bar. 

Again, you can reassign these keys to go wherever you want so that even that 
isn't a problem either. For instance, you could use the plus, backspace, 
insert, and end keys. The point is, having the strafe left and right set for 
your left middle and left index fingers gives you excellent manuverablity at a 
moments notice.  And if you've played the game, you know that's the key to 
survival. The first time you try it, you'll see a marked improvement. It 
doesn't take too long to get used to and it makes circle strafing (running in 
a circle while shooting at the center) very coordinated. By the way, it's also 
very handy to use the left alt key to open doors, all ya need to do is slide 
your two middle fingers down, it's right below the z and x keys. It becomes 
second nature quickly, and you don't need to look at the keyboard except to 
change weapons or type messages.  Try this out, go into a single player game, 
test it, and if you don't see some sort of difference, I'll eat my hat.  Let 
me know what you think also,  since feedback is really important to us here at 
DTB.  And or course, new ideas and improvements can come from you guys since
you're going to be using this board more than the sysops.

3.  MODEMS/INIT STRINGS-

I don't know how many different modems are out there which makes this next 
step a royal pain in the you-know-what. Communications have to be the singular 
most difficult aspect of computers besides printer setup that cause problems!  
The U.S. government and the FCC have totally screwed up things in this arena. 
The future of communications is being slowed to a crawl by a group of boring, 
balding, bureaucratic old farts that have the rest of us trying to get by with 
one hand strapped to are Gonads!  With that bit of preaching from my soapbox 
behind me, the first thing you'll need to get is an initialization string (or 
init for short) to use with SirDoom. If you look in the modem.str file that 
came with doom, you'll find a list of initialization strings. These are your
starting point to run Doom under SirDoom but may or may not work. Check
in the libraries here on the board for files related to this or you can 
always refer to the HOW2PLAY.TXT which has a pretty comprehensive list of 
strings. Also, all modem manuals are written in such a manner that they are 
virtually impossible to understand by anyone, probably including the people 
who wrote them. What is needed are two things in SirDoom, Error Correction 
should be OFF, (especially MNP5), and Hardware Flow Control should be OFF. If
you can understand your modem's manual you can probably find the correct 
adjustments to your init. string. To make those adjustments, (of course you 
need to download SIRDOOM.ZIP, unzip it and place the SirDoom files in your 
doom directory), operate sirdoom.exe and then you can begin the configuration. 
If you hit the keys ALT and C at the same time, (referred to as alt-c) a 
configuration menu will appear. Use the arrow keys to move the purple 
highlight bar down to "configure modem" and hit the enter key.
Edit the init line by hitting "e" and put in the init. string that you've 
decided to try. By the way, just because you have played two player 
modem Doom and have a successful init string, don't think you have it all 
figured out. 

There are several successful configurations for two player modem play that 
cause minor problems when playing four player Doom via SirDoom. For instance 
I have a Practical Peripherals 28800 baud modem, and when playing two player 
modem Doom, the setting for turning on v42 data compression and CONDITIONAL 
error correction (&Q9-v42 yes, MNP5 no) works great, but in four player Doom 
via SirDoom there is a definite, although an almost indistinguishable 
slowdown/jerky play will result. HOWEVER, this setting is ideal for when line 
noise becomes a problem like during wet weather. Asynchronous mode (&Q6 with
my Practical Peripherals 28.8k baud modem, yours will probably be different) 
is ideally suited for playing four player Doom during normal conditions. 
Remember, its ideally suited for PLAYING THE GAME. Yes, it slows down the log 
on ascii screens a LOT. NO, you do NOT want to use that setting with your 
comm programs for downloading files, etc... Unfortunately,  you cannot 
download files with SirDoom, you can only play Doom, Chat with others, and do 
e-mail.  You can use other comm programs such as Ripterm or Procomm to d/l or 
u/l files.

4.  MODEM BAUD RATES 

PORT BAUD RATES:
There are TWO DIFFERENT baud rates that every modem uses. The init string
that you type in which is computer language that your computer uses to 
" shake hands and talk" to your modem and other modems. There is a certain 
speed that this is accomplished at, and it is called the PORT speed. You can 
change this speed setting both in SirDoom AND in whatever comm program you're 
using. This speed is displayed at the bottom of the screen in SirDoom and it 
should ALWAYS be set to the maximum, that is NOW 57600. There are ONLY certain 
standard port speeds available, and they are: 2400, 9600, 14400 (some systems 
don't recognize 14.4), 38400, 57600, and for 28.8 modems there's 115200 port 
speed available.  If you are using at least a 14.4 modem, then push the speed 
up to 38400 which works pretty well under most conditions.

CONNECT BAUD RATES:
The other baud rate used by all modems is the MODEM TO MODEM baud rate, and 
it can be very difficult to set because you must again refer to the modem 
manual, and the way it is written is again impossible to understand by even 
the people who understand such things. With my Practical Peripherals 28.8k 
baud modem this is set by using what's called an "S register". This is just a 
command given to your modem from your computer via the init string that starts
with an "S". The S register commands are usually used for these kinds of 
commands for most modems, but all the numbers and combinations of them are 
virtually always different. With my Practical Preiferals modem the setting 
is S37=12 (19200 baud) and these settings are usually set in that manner. 

Also, its important to understand that there are a lot of baud rates available 
to use.  As always, just a little tweaking on it can help, but if you're not 
sure or are having problems, then check with someone who has gotten them to 
work such as other users here or if you have a Computer Guru like I do.  If 
all else fails, and THEY HAVE THE TIME, ask one ofthe sysops here for some 
help.

The following is a list of current CONNECT baud rates that are used: 
2400 (will not work with SirDoom), 
9600 (not very good for Doom), 
14400 (The standard for Doom), 
16800 (works good if you can set it up..)
19200 and up:  (Any of these greatly enhances the game play.)

A 32 bit local bus video card is the MOST important part of improving 
gameplay, besides a good mouse and a fast cpu.

5 TRICKS-  OFFENSIVE

There is a trick that everyone should know about. It probably goes 
unnoticed by most people, and that is the Strafe Run Trick which is 
similar but should not be confused with the Circle Strafe Trick.  It seems 
that the computer uses a vector computation when you try to go in two
directions at once. Therefore if you go sideways and forward at the same time
the resulting vector is a higher than normal run speed.

               |            /
        ^      |          /
        |      |        / 
     forward   |      / n
               |    / u
               |  / r
               |/____________
                   strafe right  >

If you've played before, then you can see why if you run, strafe, and go 
forward at the same time you'll actually run faster than most people know 
is possible. It's kind of difficult to do, and where you're going is either 
to the left or right side of the screen, but like anything the key is 
practice, practice, practice. This trick, however, cannot be accomplished 
unless you use the mouse/keyboard setup outlined above.

TRICKS-  DEFENSIVE
It seems that the direction your facing when a BFG is used on you makes a 
BIG difference. If you're wearing the armor, then it is most effective in 
the front. Whether or not  you should face the green ball or the person who 
shoots it is not exactly clear at this point. However,  you should face the 
person who shoots it no matter what. Nevertheless, running away should be 
done backwards unless you can take cover or get out of the direct line of 
fire. If the person who shoots the BFG at you can't see you, then the BFG 
blast is rendered useless. Also the farther away from the blast the less 
damage it'll do to you, especially if you're facing your opponent. I've been 
told you should face the explosion, but that MIGHT be inaccurate, after all, 
if there's a wall you can hide behind the blast is useless no matter which 
direction you're facing.  Also, as the BFG powers up, you can hear it which 
gives you about a half a second to react, so get moving bud!  Just standing 
there is signing your own death certificate. Therefore, the best results can 
be accomplished by facing your opponent.


