tetrinet/tetrinet.txt

TetriNET v1.13 PUBLIC
By:      St0rmCat (If he's not in #tetrinet, he's the wrong St0rmCat)
E-mail:  stormcat@citilink.com
Channel: EFNET: #TetriNET - Come join us to get some
         active servers, advertise your server, find
         out more about TetriNET, or just chat!!

Gee, Tetris?  Whats that?  Yeah, yeah, so it's been
done 2 billion times before (give or take a few bil),
but this is different!  Yes, all you tetris addicts
out there be prepared for even MORE excitement..
internet tetris!  Now you can play your five best
buddies in one of the most well known games in
existence!

TetriNET is for Windows95/NT machines and WILL NOT RUN
WITH WIN32S.  TetriNET operates best on a display
capable of 256 colors or more.  If your screen resolution
is 640x480, you may have to set your windows taskbar to
auto-hide while playing to see both windows entirely.


PLEASE CONSIDER CONTRIBUTING
  - READ SCREEN ON TETRINET STARTUP FOR DETAILS


CONTENTS:

Concept          - Game explanation
Inventory        - Explanation of inventory feature (READ!!)
Win list         - How the game keeps score
Partyline        - Explanation and features
Moderators       - What moderators are for
Server           - What is and how to set up a SERVER
Client           - What a client is
Teams            - Explanation of teams
Modifying        - How to modify TetriNET
Acknowledgements - People who helped alot in the making of TetriNET
VERSIONS         - Whats been changed throughout the versions


Concept:

According to how the server has modified the settings,
occasionally a sphere block with a letter will appear in
your playing field.  When you make one or more lines with
any of the lines containing one or more of these special
blocks, the special blocks in the lines will be added
to your inventory which is located near the bottom of the
window.  These special blocks do different things to players.
Each effect for the special blocks will be explained below.
The more lines you clear at the same time and the more
special blocks that are in those lines will put more
special blocks in your inventory.  A player loses when
his/her blockstack reaches the top of the field.  The Winner
is the player left after the other players have lost.

Again, Depending on how the server has modified settings,
you will gain a level (or more) everytime you clear
out a certain amount of lines.  When you gain levels,
the fall speed of the blocks coming down will increase
making it harder to find a decent place for the
blocks.  The maximum level you can be at is 100.


Inventory:  (READ!!!)

As said above, special blocks are added to your inventory
when you clear lines with special blocks in them.  You
are only able to use the special block inside the red
box.  The red box cannot be moved or the game would be
incredibly easy.  The description of what the special block
does to a player is located to the left of the inventory.
To use the current special block, press the player number of
the player you want to attack.  If the special block is a
GOOD block, use it on yourself by pressing your player
number.

Here is a list of all the special blocks:

*  'A' Block:  This is the add line block.  It will add
               a "junk line" to the players field that
               you choose.
$  'C' Block:  This is the clear line block.  It clears
               the line farthest to the bottom in the
               playing field.
$  'N' Block:  This removes all blocks from a playing
               field giving the player a "fresh start".
*  'R' Block:  This removes 10 random blocks from
               a player's field.
*  'S' Block:  This switches your playing field with
               another player's field depending on which
               player number you pressed.  If either of
               the fields' block stack is over 16 blocks
               high, the stack will be lowered.
*  'B' Block:  This removes all special blocks from
               a players field.
$  'G' Block:  This "gravity" block takes all the blocks
               on the field and "pulls" them all towards
               the bottom of the field eliminating any
               gaps in the blockstack.
*  'Q' Block:  This causes each of the lines of blocks
               on a players field to randomly shift left
               or right or not at all.
*  'O' Block:  This is the block bomb, when used on a
               player, it clears 3x3 portions on their
               field anywhere there are 'o' blocks.
               Any blocks that were in the 3x3 areas
               are scattered around the field.

IMPORTANT:   Blocks with a '*' at the beginning of the line
             are ATTACK special blocks; use these on
             other players.

             Blocks with a '$' at the beginning are DEFENSE
             blocks and should be used on yourself because
             they are GOOD

You can also press the letter 'D' and it will discard
the first block in your inventory.

When your inventory becomes full, any special blocks
you get cannot go into your inventory.  You
will have to use up some of your inventory blocks.


Win list:

The win list keeps track of how points each person
or team has.  The person or team with the most points
is at the top.  A player or team gets 3 points
when they are the last standing in a game.  2 points
to the player/team that is the last person to lose
and 1 point to the 2nd to last loser.

When a team wins, their team name is put in the
win list along with a <T> infront of it to show
everyone that it's a team and not a person.

The win list on each of the player's clients are
the same. The server can reset the win list at any
time by pressing the 'Reset Winlist' button on the
Server screen.


Partyline Screen:

This is where the players connected to the server can
talk among each other.  You can do bold/underline/italic
by surrounding the text you want affected with characters
made from pressing ctl-b/u/i respectively.  You
can also do actions on the partyline by typing:
/ME <message>

Next to the partyline box is a list of all the players
currently connected to the server.  The server can kick
a player out by selecting his/her name in the nicklist
and pressing the KICK button.  The server can also
ban someone from the server completely by selecting
their nickname and pressing Ban.  For the ban to take
effect, you must kick them.  Also, when you click
on the player's nickname in the list, (only if you're
a server) their IP will be shown above the box.

To change the font of the main partyline box, press
the right mouse button in the window and then click
on the 'Change Font...' menu item.

You can also easily talk while the game is going by
pressing 'T' while on the Playing Fields window and
then entering your message.  After you press return
the message will be broadcasted to the rest of the
players and will be shown in the black box near the
bottom.  You can press ESCAPE while putting text
in the edit box and it will hide the edit box. When
you press 'T', you can start typing again.


Moderators:

A moderator is the first person on a server whether
it is the person that is actually operating the
server, or if the server isn't playing, the first
player that connects to the server.  A moderator
person has a '*' next to their nickname in the nickname
list on the partyline screen.  A moderator can
start/stop/pause/unpause games on a server.


Server:

To play, you must have someone be the TetriNET server.
The server should be fast so the game isn't too lagged.
A 28.8 modem is great for a fun TetriNET game.
The server can set all of the settings available for
the game, and decides when the game starts, etc.
Fill in your Nickname into the correct edit box and any
options under that.

When you press the Block Occurancy button on the server
screen, a window will pop up.  On this window you
can set how often the different pieces and special blocks
appear (or not at all) throughout the game.  You enter in the
percentage for each piece/block.  100 means the piece/block
will appear every single time; 0 means it wont appear at all.
Note:  All the percents of the pieces and special blocks
must add up to be 100 percent before you can play.

The ban box on the server screen is where you can put
IPs of people you dont want on your TetriNET server.
To ban a person, place only their IP ADDRESS on its
own line in the ban box.  You can use wildcards like
'*' and '?'  Besides NOT allowing someone on the
server, you can also ALLOW certain people on it with
the '!' prefix before a person's IP.  When you prefix
an IP with '!' in the ban box, this overrides any other
bans in the box and lets the person with this IP join.
If you put '*' as the first line in the box (it bans
EVERYONE), and then put '!204.246.67.9' on a line
after that, the person with that IP would be allowed
in but noone else would be.

When done, press the Start Server button.  Now players
can connect to your IP.  When a player connects, a join
message will be shown in the partyline box.  When a message
is added to the partyline box and you are currently
on another screen, the partyline button text will turn
green to notify you.  When everyone is ready to play,
click on the Start New Game button.

Originally, the levels of each player are individual
and when a player's level increases, only THEIR
level increases.  The 'All Have Players' Averaged
Levels' option will make all players have the same
level throughout the game.  When a player's REAL
level increases, it is averaged in with the rest
of the players' levels and that is the ACTIVE level
of everyone on the server.

The server also has the option to play or not to.
Enabling the 'Server Play' checkbox on the server
screen will put yourself in the game as player 1.
If there was any player on as player 1, they are
kicked out.  Unchecking this box will take you
off and you will not play.

To speed up a game of TetriNET, there is an option
on the server screen for after a certain amount of
minutes playing, the game will start adding lines
to all players every certain amount of seconds.  This
is useful to keep players on your server if they lose
early and get bored.

Another option is the Classic Multiplayer Rules.  This
makes the game play like the old 2 player gameboy
version of tetris.  When a player clears lines, lines
are added to everyone else's field.  If you clear 1 line,
no lines are added to everyone else.  If you clear 2 lines,
1 line is added to everyone else.  If you clear 3, 2 is
added.  If you clear 4, 4 lines are added to everyone.
NOTE:  This option is best when you set the 'Special
  Blocks Added at a Time' option to '0'.


Client:

A client is just a person playing that is not the server.
A client connects to a server.  Find the IP of a server with
people you want to play with and put that in to the
correct edit box.  Then put your nickname in the
Nickname box and press the Connect button.  You should
then see the nicknames playing pop up in the partyline
window and any teams the players are on.

When the game has started, click on the Show Fields
button and a window with all 6 fields will be shown.
The fields will be updated every time a player's block
is placed onto their field to keep everyone updated
on who's winning.


Teams:

Teams are now possible in TetriNET.  You can now have
matches with 3 teams of 2 people or whatever you want!
To be on a team, just fill out the Team edit box
with the team you would like to be on, if on a server
click the button right next to the box to update your
team name.  The team name is not case-sensitive.

When you are on a team, if one of the players that is
on your team wins a TetriNET game, you win too and
your team name is placed in the Win List instead of
your individual names.


Modifying TetriNET:

Themes are handled by a "project file" to tell
TetriNET where it should find all the theme
components.  It is just an INI file.  When
you create a theme, copy over the default.tnp
file to a new file that represents your theme and
make a new directory in your TetriNET directory
where all your theme stuff will be.  Any files you
want different or modified, just put them in your
theme directory and put the paths for the new files
in your project file.

If you want to make a theme pack with like only the
graphics changed but you want it to have same sounds
and music, only change the graphics releated lines
in your theme project file and leave the rest of
the lines pointing to the default DATA\ directory.


Explanations of Graphics/Music/Sounds:

When you create a new graphics file, the file MUST
have the same image dimensions and have the same block
layout of the one included with the original tetrinet
ZIP file.  Here is a description of the layout:

- The top row of blocks are the blocks for the big
  field in TetriNET.  They are 16 pixels wide and
  16 pixels high.  There should be 14 blocks in the row.
- The row under that are the same blocks as the
  normal 16 pixel blocks, but are half as wide.
  These smaller blocks are for the 5 other fields
  on the TetriNET field.  They are 8 pixels across
  and 8 pixels high.
  *  The Upper-left coordinates of the first block in
     this row are at (0,16)
- The picture under this is the background image
  for the large field in TetriNET.  It is 192
  pixels wide and 352 pixels high.
  *  The Upper-left coordinates of this image is
     (0,24)
- The picture to the right is the miniture version
  of the main background image.  It is used as the
  background for the smaller fields in TetriNET.
  It is 96 pixels wide and 176 pixels high.
  *  The Upper-left coordinates of this image is
     (352,24)

Your new graphic file does NOT have to have the same palette
as the one included in the TetriNET zip.  If you use
Photoshop, work in RGB mode while modifying the file.
When you're done, convert it back to 256 colors to
make sure the colors look as good as possible.

You can also leave the BMP in 16million colors mode
if you have a monitor capable of that.  If you are going
to distribute your theme, it is best to convert it to
256 colors because many don't have systems capable
of high color mode.

The sound descriptions are listed in default.tnp file.
Modify any of the sounds you want, but make sure you
modify the project file if you changed any of the WAV
filenames. You can also include a MIDI file inside the
theme package.

Any sound/graphic themes created can be distributed
freely.

You can also modify the keys.  Click on the Misc. Settings
button.  Click in any of the boxes and press a key and
the text in the edit box will change to the key that you
pressed.


Acknowledgements:

Darktick for all his ideas and help with graphics
coding on TetriNET.

myname, [bart], and Galardo because they kept playing
and playing as betas went by - also for all the bugs
they found and suggestions they gave.

Knowledge, ReT, and the #square crew for beta testing,
holding the #TetriNET channel, and giving suggestions.

Also, netmonk, ATA, and phib for all of the above :)

The many other people I know ;) for their support and
testing they've done for me.


VERSIONS:

  New in 1.13 PUBLIC:
  1.  Fixed teams of other players not being shown
      to people sometimes
  2.  Fixed win list from counting people that come
      in during a game as a person that lost

  New in 1.12 PUBLIC:
  1.  Fixed server not allowing clients to connect in
      many conditions
  2.  Added team switching while connected to a server
  3.  Fixed not saving key settings
  4.  Code for receiving text from winsock is smaller
  5.  Any lines transfered with classic style rules to
      the server and the server isn't playing, they
      are ignored.
  6.  Fixed it from adding lines to other team members
      in classic rules

  New in 1.11 PUBLIC:
  1.  Fixed people not being able to start working servers
      or not being able to connect to servers.

  New in 1.1 PUBLIC:
  1.  While playing a game with classic multiplayer rules
      turned on, anyone on your team wont be affected if
      you add lines to everyone else.
  2.  Fixed minor display quirks
  3.  If system doesn't support MIDI, it won't crash
  4.  Fixed a player double losing
  5.  Fixed out of memory error
  6.  Fixed player being added to win list when player isnt
      on server
  7.  RELEASE!

  New in 1.1f BETA:
  1.  Fixed EConvert errors (right? :))
  2.  Fixed displaying of teams on the playing fields

  New in 1.1e BETA:
  1.  Tabbing between edit boxes/checkboxes/etc on the
      windows is now in order
  2.  Fixed win list from making doubles of winners
  3.  Playing fields window is now hidden when a game
      ends
  4.  Fixed background/blocks not appearing sometimes
      when setting focus to the playing fields window
  5.  Fixed game from saying you gave other people
      lines when you only made one line. (with classic
      multiplayer rules turned on)
  6.  Fixed 'o' blocks sometimes not "blowing up"
      when attacked with Block Bomb
  7.  Sounds 3.WAV and 6.WAV's description were switched
      around in the docs

  New in 1.1d BETA:
  1.  Fixed font in main chatbox not changing on start.
  2.  Fixed blinking when a message arrives
  3.  Fixed bug in win list routines
  4.  Fixed bug where if a person lost, server always
      won
  5.  Fixed random EConvertError crashes

  New in 1.1c BETA:
  1.  Made the classic multiplayer rules like gameboy now :)
  2.  Fixed partyline not scrolling
  3.  Ingame chat box should show all 3 lines on all types
      of systems
  4.  Added ability for multiple themes.. it uses a project
      file that points to the graphics,sounds, and music files
  5.  Server can change its nickname and team its on if
      the Server Playing checkbox is unchecked
  6.  Fixed server not losing when the Server Playing is
      checked while a game is in progress
  7.  Now puts a <T> before any team in the win list.
  8.  Changed the way Block Bomb works

  New in 1.1b BETA:
  1.  Fixed bug in text recieving
  2.  Fixed other minor bugs

  New in 1.1a BETA:
  1.  Fixed the scrolling on the attacks/defenses
      box and mini-partyline box AGAIN
  2.  Now when the Switch Special Block is used on someone
      each client updates itself first to prevent field copying
      if switch block is used 2 or more times in a row
  3.  Ingame chat box is now 3 lines
  4.  Secured connect negotiation between server and client
  5.  Added bomb special block
  6.  Added /me to ingame chat box
  7.  Added teams
  8.  Added MIDI
  9.  Added background images
  10. Added start up sound
  11. The server now has the option to not play
  12. The first person on a server (if the server isn't playing)
      is a moderator - he can start/stop and pause/unpause the game
  13. Option to average the player's levels
  14. Classic rules option - when a player clears a line, it adds
      a line to the other players
  15. Fixed bug in IP ban box
  16. Players can join a game already in progress
  17. Winlist is now saved when you close and reload game
  18. Option for after a certain amount of time, the game will
      start adding lines to all the player's fields.  This speeds
      up games
  19. Now, the winning team/player recieves 3 points, last loser
      gets 2, second to last loser gets 1 point.
  20. The server can set the stack height when the game starts
      for each player individually.
  21. Levels go up to 100 instead of 50
  22. Field displaying has been sped up alot
  23. Better handling of winsock routines HOPEFULLY eliminating
      the Access Violation errors
  24. Fixed server screen not being enabled when a client game
      has ended.
  25. You can press ESCAPE when editing a msg in game, and it
      will keep the text in the editbox until you press 't' to
      edit it again.
  26. You can change the font of the partyline box by right
      clicking.
  27. Moved Pause and Start New Game buttons to partyline
      screen.
  28. Any special blocks you get are now randomly placed in your
      inventory

  New in 1.0 FINAL:
  1.  First released version!!
  2.  Fixed Attacks/Defenses box's scrolling *again*
  3.  Fixed range check error when typing in a box
      while tetrinet is connecting to a server
  4.  Now saves your nickname in the INI

  New in BETA 1.0b:
  1.  Fixed Attacks/Defenses box's scrolling and now it
      doesn't say a player is attacking you when in fact they
      aren't
  2.  Fixed Pause button not enabling and disabling properly
  3.  Partyline edit box now disables at the right times
  4.  New icon

  New in BETA 1.0a:
  1.  Kicking users is fixed and works/looks alot better
  2.  When a player dies, their field is filled with random
      blocks
  3.  You can now pause the game.
  4.  Fixed not removing player from server if they quit
      abnormally
  5.  Tabbing between edit fields on the different screens
      is now in order
  6.  You can now see all attacks on players, even from other
      players
  7.  Fixed when making the piece fall down immediately, sometimes
      it would jump up

  New in BETA 1.0:
      AKA BETA .88

  New in BETA .88:
  1.  Fixed distortion of window if your monitor's pixels per inch
      settings were set akwardly
  2.  Moderated Switch Field block now, no more cheating ;)

  New in BETA .87:
  1.  Hopefully fixed the bug that randomly kicked players
      off the server.
  2.  Added description label next to inventory for current
      special block.
  3.  Made windows smaller to better accommodate users
      with 640x480 resolutions. (You will still have to
      auto-hide your win95/nt taskbar)

  New in BETA .86:
  1.  New WAV for when a message arrives in the playing
      window
  2.  Added IP Banlist
  3.  TetriNET now pops up the reason why you can't
      connect to a server
  4.  Now you have more time to move a piece left or
      right when it's just about to hit the bottom.
  5.  Other minor bugs fixed

  New in BETA .85:
  1.  Greatly improved handling of data coming in
      from multiple sockets.  It shouldn't crash
      anymore (?)
  2.  TetriNET now passes a little less data to
      the other players.  A fast modem is still
      recommended if you're the server.
  3.  Added easy talking while playing

  New in BETA .84:
  1.  New name because of copyrights ;)
  2.  Rearranged playing field window
  3.  Rotating certain pieces at the edge of the field
      now works
  4.  Pieces drop slower than before when you hold DOWN
      (for greater accuracy)

  New in BETA .83:
  1.  Fixed partyline jumping every once in awhile
  2.  Kick button is disable properly

  New in BETA .82:
  1.  I've added 2 more players.  Now you can compete
      with a total of 5 players!
  2.  Added player list to the partyline screen
  3.  The Server can kick someone off if needed
  4.  Added actions to partyline
  5.  Added ctl-b/u/i character attributes to partyline
  6.  Now allows playing by yourself so you can practice
  7.  Many new special blocks added
  8.  The show fields screen is now a seperate window
      (to fix all that stupid palette handling)
  9.  Added a winlist.  It shows all the players who
      won and how many times they've won in the current
      game.
  10. Added ability to discard the special block in
      inventory
  11. A title screen with some nifty graphics! :)
  12. Graphics are just one file now.
  13. Fixed a few barely noticable bugs

  New in BETA .81:
  1.  Inventory system plus other special blocks -- more to come!
  2.  Added sound!
  3.  New graphics
  4.  You can change Key config, sounds, and graphics
  5.  Made playing fields of other player's smaller to reduce
      lag
  6.  Before, TetriNET sent the entire playing field of a player
      to the rest of the players.  Now it sends just modifications
      to the fields - this also reduces lots of lag
  7.  Increased size of playing fields
  8.  You can change how often each of the pieces/special blocks
      appear in the game