This is very much a layered approach. First, I installed a "test bed" on my Mega STe, identical to the "live" installation on the Mega ST4 that actually runs DarkForce!. I redid a lot of things there in regards to 40 column support and have it working there. Second, I backed everything up on my test bed install to various places (SD card, Win10 box, Kubuntu Linux laptop, 2 TB external drive, SCSI CD-ROM, EZ-135 cart). Then, after pulling DarkForce! offline, I'm currently doing the same thing there.
Hey, I believe in Murphy's Law when it comes to data loss!
After the backup is complete, I'll copy everything over from the test bed install to the Mega ST4 that actually runs the BBS. This is a pretty large undertaking and I know there will be issues. There were close to 200 graphic screens that had to be adapted from 80 columns to 40 columns alone. We're not even talking about all the scripts, .inf and text files, etc, that also had to be adapted, or the games.
Speaking of games, by far and away the majority of online games that run under BBS Express! ST were absolutely designed with 80 columns in mind. I'm working on getting just as many as I can to work under 40 columns. Currently, there are 29 games in our games section. We'll be lucky if I can get 8-10 working in 40 column mode.
Other areas will be affected too. Several components of DarkForce! rely on aftermarket or 3rd party software that is no longer supported. It's also closed source. The Sigatizer software for the file areas for example. There's just no way, without the source code, to make it work at 40 columns. So that had to be changed. Many menus will now have 2 pages instead of one. Some menus will also have fewer choices.
One of the things I've always liked about BBS Express! ST is the way it "flows". Things are usually pretty snappy, intuitive, and move along briskly. I've tried to keep that in all the changes I've made for the 40 column side of things. In the past, users have complained about 40 column support being "clunky" and hard to use. Well, it was, simply because there wasn't really any 40 column support - or token support at best. I'm trying hard to change all that.
So many unexpected issues came up. The standard command;
VIEW <FILENAME> SHOWALL PAGEBRK
which, works great in 80 columns, showing <page><scroll><quit>, is just awkward and ugly at 40 columns so I had to employ another solution for that.
There are about a dozen files under BBS Express! ST known as .XES files. They are still script files that are then compiled (tokenized, to be more accurate), then renamed from *.COM to *.XES. These sit in the MENUS_80 folder and are executed from there. For whatever reason, the Universe only knows, these files won't run from MENUS_40. Express! ST ignores them and spitefully runs their counterparts from the MENUS_80 folder instead. Ugh. SO I had to insert code in the MENUS_80 .XES files, that if user was logged in in 40 column mode, and these files ran from MENUS_80, to instead redirect to their 40 column counterparts in MENUS_40. Exhausting and ridiculous, but that's just a small portion of the things I've encountered.
If anyone is curious, I used the following code:
DEFINE VW
DEFINE VW_DRIVE = 'C'
DEFINE VW_PATH = 'C:\BBS\LOGS\'
OPEN ('[VW_PATH]VW.DAT,' INPUT)
FINPUT VW
CLOSE
IF VW = '40' THEN
GOTO EOF2
ENDIF
--------------------------------
80 column XES files code here...
--------------------------------
EOF2:
CLOSE
DEFAULT_PATH
EXECUTE ('C:\BBS\MENUS_40\NAME-OF-XES-FILE')
EXIT
Crazy, right?
If everything goes according to plan (which it rarely does!), we should be back online sometime this evening.
Please report any anomalies, crashes, glitches, errors, etc, to me as soon as possible. E-mail, PM, screenshots of what you're seeing posted here would be very helpful.
Thanks everyone, and thanks for supporting us all these years.
