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From: roger@dedalus.UUCP (Roger L. Cordes Jr.)
Newsgroups: net.sources.games
Subject: Re: robots to "autorobots" conversion
Message-ID: <711@dedalus.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 31-Jul-85 13:01:07 EDT
Article-I.D.: dedalus.711
Posted: Wed Jul 31 13:01:07 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 4-Aug-85 04:42:15 EDT
Organization: Wm. Daniel & Assoc., Cary, N.C.
Lines: 105


		The following will convert `robots' as posted by
	Stephen J. Muir to `nrobots', which allows the robots to
	keep moving, even if you don't type a command.
		At the beginning of each level, you are given the
	chance to type a command before the robots start moving.
	Furthermore, commands are processed in such a way that
	you may move out of danger (i.e., faster than the robots move).
		It is assumed that you have available the ioctl(2)
	call FIONREAD, which returns the number of characters pending
	for an input file descriptor.
		You might modify the delay timer if performance seems
	inadequate for an enjoyable game: this has been optimized for
	our situation.
		Our highest score to date in robots is 1,693,950 (level 15);
	for nrobots, it is 35,696 (level 7).
		We do not believe that `nrobots' is an improvement over
	`robots' in any way.
						R.

	above main:
[1]:	modify the score file definitions as indicated below:

#ifdef NROBOTS
# define HOF_FILE	"/usr/games/lib/nrobots_hof"
# define TMP_FILE	"/usr/games/lib/nrobots_tmp"
#else
# define HOF_FILE	"/usr/games/lib/robots_hof" /* existing definition */
# define TMP_FILE	"/usr/games/lib/robots_tmp" /* existing definition */
#endif

[2]:	add a new global:

#ifdef NROBOTS
char	numero_uno = 1;
#endif

	in main:
[3]:	within the first `for (;;)', at the beginning, add the following
	statement:

#ifdef NROBOTS
		numero_uno = 1;
#endif

[4]:	within the `for (;;)' within the first `for (;;)' loop, add a
	preprocessor condition for the following (existing) statement:

#ifndef NROBOTS
 			command();
#endif

	in command():
[5]:	within the `if (bad_move)' block, modify the `goto retry' statement
	as follows:

#ifdef NROBOTS
		return;		/* robots still advance */
#else
		goto retry;	/* existing statement */
#endif

	in robots():
[6]:	insert the following between the end of the original data declarations
	and the first statement:

#ifdef NROBOTS
 	int	i;
 	long	npending;
 
 	if ( numero_uno || running )
 	{
 		numero_uno = 0;
 		command();
 	}
	else if ( !running && !last_stand )
		for ( i=0; i<6000; i++ )	/* funky delay timer */
			;
 
 	ioctl(0,FIONREAD,&npending);	/* any tty input pending ? */
 	if ( npending > (long)0 )
 		return(command());	/* enable out-running */
#endif
 
[7]:	and add a new last statement to robots():

#ifdef NROBOTS
 	refresh();
#endif

	in Makefile:
[8]:	add the following (actually, copy the lines for `robots' and
	`install' and modify as appropriate for your machine):

nrobots: robots.c
	cc $(CFLAGS) -DNROBOTS robots.c -o nrobots -lcurses -ltermcap

ninstall: nrobots
	cp nrobots /usr/games/nrobots
	chmod 4755 /usr/games/nrobots
	touch /usr/games/lib/nrobots_hof
	touch /usr/games/lib/nrobots_tmp

[9]:	make ninstall