Understanding drop files (DOOR.SYS) reddit / bbs ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Toobis · 2014-07-08 06:57 I posted yesterday about having some problems with my BBS, I've downloaded some new doors and tried to get them running through synchronet, but they're all doing the same thing, running outside of the BBS, and making the BBS hang until they're closed. I've installed a new VM with WinXP Pro, and tried using new BBS software - I'm trying Mystic now, but one question I have for mystic, is how do I generate a drop file for it? Is there better BBS software I should be using? Am I just a noob? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mro_1337 · 2014-07-08 07:12 if you're having issues with your doors running local, you arent putting the dropfile in the location where your doorgame can find it, or you havent setup your doorgame properly ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Toobis · 2014-07-08 07:25 how do I get the BBS to create the drop file though? I want to point it to there, but I'm not sure what has to happen for the file to be created. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mro_1337 · 2014-07-08 07:36 **RTFM** C:\mystic\docs , says it right there in mystic.txt ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Toobis · 2014-07-08 07:40 I have read through that multiple times, and I don't understand what I need to do to get it working properly. That's why I was asking for help, to expand on what's in the manual. I do feel like a retard now though. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mro_1337 · 2014-07-08 07:44 how could you miss **THIS** Command : DG Description : Shells to the OS and executes . The DOOR.SYS drop file is created in the node's temporary directory. Optional Data : ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Toobis · 2014-07-08 07:50 I have that set for the door in the config, yet when I go to run the door, it says it can't find the drop file. I did a search through all directories and I can't find a DOOR.SYS anywhere. Here's my config for the door, and the Command is set to DG to execute the command line, with %3 being the node #. http://i.imgur.com/d8cZIDw.png ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mro_1337 · 2014-07-08 08:13 telnet to bbs.pharcyde.org and post in the mystic support msg area. reddit isnt for stuff like this. it's 3am here and i wake up in 2 hrs. also i think you're running lunatix wrong ---------------------------------------------------------------------- jhavard · 2014-07-08 18:37 Generally speaking you'll need to whip up a batch file that gets you from the door environment the BBS creates to the one the door expects. You'll likely need to do this for every single door, as they're precious little snowflakes like that. There's a reason BBSs went away... total PITA to setup and maintain. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ellisgl · 2014-07-08 19:00 BBS's died because of the Internet. Personally I would like to know how to get it to run a door in dosbox. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- jhavard · 2014-07-08 20:46 In the Synchronet wiki, there's a page on how to [use dos doors with Synchronet on Linux](http://wiki.synchro.net/howto:dosemu) that may be of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- lagmonst3r · 2014-07-08 21:38 I'm going to go be this guys friend (Seinfeld reference). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- derfherdez · 2014-07-09 01:44 does this work with multiuser stuff though? DOSBox's lack of share is kind of a bummer. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ellisgl · 2014-07-09 02:35 Proably a little bit better: http://dosbox.bbsdev.net/. With DOSBox 0.73, you shouldn't need the extra DLLs IIRC. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- derfherdez · 2014-07-10 15:17 >IMPORTANT: DOSBox does not currently handle share modes or range locking. Further, it will cache directory contents. This effectively means that any door ran under DOSBox can not possibly be multi-node. ugh this kind of kills it. :( ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ellisgl · 2014-07-10 16:01 Crap.. Might as well run freedos in a VM. Unless DOSEMU supports it, and then could run it on linux. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- derfherdez · 2014-07-10 16:07 the problem is you need a network share between instances... I wonder if its easier to just make a special case VM... do doors really need a 386 with 16MB of ram? isn't a 8088 enough? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ellisgl · 2014-07-10 18:26 8088 would only give you an 8-bit bus. 8086 gives you a 16 bit bus. 80386 on the other hand gives you 32 bit stuff and better memory handling and better multitasking (iirc). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- derfherdez · 2014-07-11 00:05 Yeah but we are talking doors in emulation who cares about the bus width? The 2 big ones are lord, and tradewars.... and I've always thought they'd run on an XT class machine, which wouldn't be too hard (I think) to emulate. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ellisgl · 2014-07-11 04:16 M.E.S.S. supposedly emulates the old at's and xt's. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- derfherdez · 2014-07-11 04:24 yeah but their license is very restrictive. I contacted the 80386 core's author to see if he'd agree to licensing it under GPL, and then he removed his contact page... very strange. I found a really old PC emulator that includes EMS, and network drive support. I'm going to give that one a shot, assuming again that popular door stuff can cope with it being a glorified XT. I see that even [vert ](http://vert.synchro.net/) is win64 these days, so MS-DOS doors are pretty much out of the question.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- derfherdez · 2014-07-11 10:14 you're going to love [this](http://i.imgur.com/xBE7JIk.png). It needs a lot of polish, as tw2002 doesn't run, but LORD 3.55 does. And it's multiplayer! ... I need to update the CPU, and get it to only execute X cycles a second, as right now it pegs the CPU at 100%, but yeah... partial 8086, and network sharing out of the box. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ellisgl · 2014-07-11 13:34 Which emulator? I found this one last night (haven't fired it up yet) http://fake86.rubbermallet.org/ I was trying ReactOS, that was a major let down. Was going to use Windows 98SE, but NetFoss is for NT based windows... =/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- derfherdez · 2014-07-11 15:04 Im using [pcemu](http://pcemu.sourceforge.net/) which is well. ancient. But some of it's parts came from Mach, and went into DOSemu on Linux. It is kind of small, and I thought it would make a good start... I got the EMS working, along with it's ability to mount the UNIX filesystem. I'm working on the record locking, which I think I have the basics started. I haven't tried LORD 4 (actually, I never installed it), and TradeWars 2002 v3 is 286/DPMI. But version 2 seems to run on an XT just fine. I've got enough working where I can bigbang a universe, and go into the game, I can send mail back and forth, but for some reason I can't see the other player online. But LORD seems to be ok. this fake86 looks interesting that it has networking, although it's packet only I don't remember offhand if you can use it to mount SMB or netware shares... which of course, means you'd need a netware server. Which is what I liked about pcemu where it has share code built in. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ellisgl · 2014-07-11 21:43 I'm going to try the lazy route. I have Win 98 SE installed in a VM, I can create virtual comm's which are accessible via the host, so that renegade just uses those comm's. I'll create NodeJS script that connects telnet sessions to named pipe instances, that will be interesting to see if I can get working correctly. I was about to install the fossil driver then had to go to back to back meetings. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mro_1337 · 2014-07-13 00:06 this guy just isnt following instructions. he probably has his doorgames misconfigured. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mro_1337 · 2014-07-13 00:08 you can run a bbs in dosbox and you can use today's bbs and use 'bbs dosbox' [dosbox with some patches] to run dosbox as a door. there are sharing issues, you can only run one door at a time, or one bbs node. not really a big deal though ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mro_1337 · 2014-07-13 00:08 they use dosemu. dosemu is not dosbox ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mro_1337 · 2014-07-13 00:09 try it and let me know. i think you do. i have everything. deuce's dosbox site is missing files ---------------------------------------------------------------------- derfherdez · 2014-07-13 00:26 dosemu wont run on 64bit machines thought. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ellisgl · 2014-07-13 02:16 Well, I've decided to run Win98 in a VM and Mystic. So I should be able in theory get around sharing issues. =) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- derfherdez · 2014-07-15 16:45 multiple dos vm's in 98? ugh good luck.. named pipes were only supported as clients in 9x if I remember, NT stuff can do server/client but then you are stuck with NTVDM.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ellisgl · 2014-07-15 17:52 Well, it looks like Mystic running under a 98SE VM might be the best bet for quick and easy. Now to find some decent docs for Mystic (not the readme, oh got, not the readme file).