MULTI-TREK is a game similar to traditional Star-Trek games
except that it involves several players (currently up to 8), who
play against each other in real time rather than against
imaginary Klingons, Romulans or whatever. The MULTI-TREK
universe consists of a 100 by 100 matrix, of which an approximate
20 by 20 matrix of each player's immediate area is displayed and
continuously updated at their terminal. MULTI-TREK was
originally submitted to the New Orleans RSX/IAS sig tape, then to
the 1979 San Diego RSX/IAS sig tape with the addition of robot
ships. Since then it has been recoded in RATFIV and has
significant enhancements and improvements, most notably the
addition of energy nets, an improved screen display, much better
input-output (any terminal with clear screen and cursor
positioning may be used at speeds from 1200 baud on up), use of
default ship and direction with most commands ("L" sets the
default direction), more competitive scoring, smarter robot
ships, and fewer bugs. This version was submitted to the Spring
1981 VAX and RSX/IAS tapes, and is being resubmitted to the Fall
1981 tapes with some slight improvements. Complete instructions
for starting and playing MULTI-TREK are in the file MTREK.DOC.

The game consists of a driver task (MTREKD), a player task
(MTREK) for each terminal, and a shared global common area for
inter-task communication. This version runs on VAX VMS, however,
it should run under any system with shared global areas and
rudimentary task switching or time-sharing. Real-time systems
without time-sharing may have to play with priorities to insure
that the driver task gets sufficient CPU time and that all
players get an equal amount of time.

MULTI-TREK was written with a structured Fortran called
RATFIV. The IAS version contains all of the Fortran produced by
RATFIV, as well as the RATFIV source (file type .RAT). The VAX
VMS version does not include the .FOR files, however the RATFIV
compiler is included on both distribution tapes.

MTREK will work properly with any terminal with clear screen
and cursor positioning. The source code is set up to drive
ADM3-A's or VT100's. If you are using different terminals, you
should modify the file "TERMINAL.RAT" (you could modify
"TERMINAL.FTN") to drive your terminal. Modification should be
straight-forward as the code is commented on where to change it.

To build MTREK, do

@BUILD


The VAX VMS version places the common area, LEDFOR, on
SYS$SHARE and installs it /WRITE/SHARE. It also puts MTREK.EXE,
the player task, and MTREKD.EXE, the universe manager task, on
SYS$SYSTEM, and installs MTREK.EXE with DETACH and ACNT
privileges, so that anyone can start up MTREKD as a detached
process (only one copy of MTREKD runs at a time, however).


Page 2



After building MTREK, first run MTREKINI. Then, on VAX VMS
systems, say MCR MTREK and you are off and running. On IAS
systems, the universe manager MTREKD must be started by hand
before MTREK is run. You can run MTREKD on a dedicated terminal
or install it and run it /REAL.

Send comments, problems, etc. to:

William Wood
Computer Center
Intstitute For Cancer Research
7701 Burholme Ave.
Philadelphia, PA. 19111
(215) 728 2760