HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: pds@lemming.webo.dg.com (Paul D. Smith)
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
Subject: Re: Itf, .dat files, file permissions, and legal questions:
Date: 12 Oct 92 20:14:12 GMT
Organization: NSDD/ONSD, Data General Corp., Westboro, MA

[] Regarding Itf, .dat files, file permissions, and legal questions:;
[] adam@owlnet.rice.edu (Adam Justin Thornton) writes:

    ajt> My question is really pretty simple: if I have compiled the
    ajt> itf interpreter and am using it to play/view games, am I
    ajt> legally obligated (on a multi-user system) to keep the
    ajt> permissions on my .dat files set so that I am the only person
    ajt> who can read them and thus, only I can play them?

While far from an expert, legal or otherwise, I don't think anything
that specific can be "legally" required without explicitly stating it
(which they obviously don't do).  I mean, a copyright can't force you
to put your software in a safe so that someone sneaking through your
games can't make a copy...

However, if you're asking whether you can legally make a directory of
data files, then tell others of its existence so they can play them,
then I'd say that is a violation of the copyright.

As far as I can tell there are basically two types of Infocom games
out today (legally speaking).  The "normal" Infocom games, which
include all the original versions plus the games in LTOI II, have a
very restrictive copyright notice which says, among other fascist
things like you can't even make a backup copy [1], that you may not
use the game on any machine other than that which it was purchased
for.  This means that you can't (legally) use the data file on any
other system than your PC (or Mac or Amiga or whatever).

The second type is the LTOI I games, which were released (undoubtedly
due to some oversight :) with hardly *any* copyright notice.  If you
(closely) examine the packaging for LTOI I you'll find a simple
"Copyright (C) Activision" or whatever.  No real restrictions on
systems, etc., just a "you can't give it away" deal.  These are
perfectly legal to run on your UNIX system, as far as I can tell.

---------------
[1] This is actually not true, at least in the U.S.: as I understand
    it Fair Use laws allow you to make one backup copy of any software
    package regardless of what the copyright says.
--

                                                                paul
-----
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
| Paul D. Smith                          |    paul_smith@dg.com    |
| Data General Corp.                     | pds@lemming.webo.dg.com |
| Network Systems Development Division   |                         |
| Open Network Systems Development       |   "Pretty Damn S..."    |
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: jmkaraka@eos.ncsu.edu (JOHN MARTIN KARAKASH)
Subject: Re: Hint for Hitchhiker's (spoiler)
Originator: jmkaraka@c00113-100lez.eos.ncsu.edu
Reply-To: jmkaraka@eos.ncsu.edu (JOHN MARTIN KARAKASH)
Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 05:12:22 GMT


|>I have all the fluff and everything, but I cannot figure out how to impress
|>that stupid screening door...Any ideas would be helpful... I heard something
|>about making a seed out of the fluff, but I have no idea how to do that...
|>
	Spoilers!!!!






























you don't need the fluff





























the door will be impressed by philosphical conundrums






























like blatant and irreconcileable opposites






























like both having an object and not having it at the same time...





























you need to have both tea and no tea






























but your common sense won't let you






























so it has to go, I'm sure you can figure out the rest

	-john-
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: trump@leland.Stanford.EDU (Michael Jason Lewis)
Subject: Re: Draft of the FAQ
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 92 00:48:45 GMT

You, sir, are a god among men.  That was wonderful.

You ought to point out iat some point, since it isn't always obvious, that
non-Infocom games are acceptable topics.

P.S.  Does anyone remember "Mission:  Asteroid"?  First game I ever solved...

- Mike Lewis
trump@leland.stanford.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: peril@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU (Peter Lisle)
Subject: Patch No.2 for ITF V4.01 Interpreter
Organization: Sydney University Computing Service, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 15:00:57 GMT


If at first you don't succeed ........

Appologies to those still inconvenienced by bugs, I hope this will
set things straight. The following patch affects only the termcap and terminfo
interfaces. This is an interim solution only - it will be fixed properly in
the next ftp version of the interpreter.


Note that our first patch must still be applied ...

Here is a "diff -c" of the old file.c and the new. Enjoy ...

					The ITF.

<snip><snip>
*** file.old Wed Oct 07 18:51:42 199210/07/92
--- file.c Thu Oct 08 18:49:06 199210/08/92
***************
*** 472,479 ****
  */
  
  FILE		*script_file		= (FILE *)0 ;
! byte_ptr	script_status_ptr = (byte_ptr)0;
! 
  
  Void
  init_script ()
--- 472,479 ----
  */
  
  FILE		*script_file		= (FILE *)0 ;
! byte		tmp_script_status	= 0 ;
! byte_ptr	script_status_ptr	= (byte_ptr)&tmp_script_status ;
  
  Void
  init_script ()
From: okes@essex.ac.uk (Oke S)
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
Subject: Re: The trend in adventure games
Date: 12 Oct 92 14:44:33 GMT
	<OKES.92Sep30163152@SunLab43.essex.ac.uk> <BvELKn.AHF@rice.edu>
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Essex, UK.
In-reply-to: gamble@owlnet.rice.edu's message of 30 Sep 92 18:19:34 GMT

In article <BvELKn.AHF@rice.edu> gamble@owlnet.rice.edu (Ben Gamble) writes:
|In article <mumble> okes@essex.ac.uk (Oke S) writes:
||Now if you were to call Manhunter New York or Manhunter San Francisco a good
||game I'd agree with you...

|Well, sure, those _are_ good games.  Indeed, my only complaints with
|those two are: excessive linearity at times, and excessive manual
|precision required to navigate a few of the arcade sequences, most
|especially the lava maze in SF.  To nearly finish that game, and then
|spend hours repeatedly running into magma veins just because my
|one-man drilling unit was nearly impossible to control, was just too
|damn frustrating.

Well, you've mentioned a bit that I've never seen, so you should be able
to answer this: How do I get the shopkeeper to take notice of me? I don't
know what to do to get any reaction from him.
--
This signature is copyright 12/6/1992 Simon Oke. All rights reserved. If you
like it and keep a copy for your own use, you owe me $20. Please pass it on
to your friends with all documentation.              Email okes@essex.ac.uk.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 In the beginning, the universe was created. This made a lot of people very
	angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: jjh37997@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (James J. Herlburt)
Subject: Zork 1
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Distribution: rec.games.int-ficition
Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1992 02:28:41 GMT


Hello sailor!

I was just playing Zork 1 when I discovered a feature (bug?) that I never
noticed before. I was able to kill myself while wandering around as a 
spook! The response from the game was quite funny. I'm wondering if it's
possible to do this in other Infocom games. (Zork 2, maybe?)

						James J. Hurlburt
 
 I've lost my sig. Anyone finding it please E-mail jjh37997@uxa.cso.uiuc


Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: positron@engin.umich.edu (Jonathan Scott Haas)
Subject: Re: Hint needed for Hitchhiker's Guide
Date: Fri, 09 Oct 92 22:04:27 EDT
Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor

In article <ptjpnyj@lynx.unm.edu> peinhebe@phobos.unm.edu (Pat Einheber) writes:
>I have all the fluff and everything, but I cannot figure out how to impress
>that stupid screening door...Any ideas would be helpful... I heard something
>about making a seed out of the fluff, but I have no idea how to do that...

Be warned, mere mortal, for spoilers do follow this ^L.


Do you have the flowerpot?

You need the flowerpot.

Go get the flowerpot.

It's inside the whale. If you haven't done it yet, go plug the Nutrimat
Computer Interface into the Nutrimat and start it making you real tea.

If you don't *have* the Nutrimat Computer Interface, it's gettable in
the Bugblatter Beast sub-adventure. The solution to that is beyond
the scope of this mini-spoiler.

Once you're inside the whale, you need to get the flowerpot. The easiest
way to do that is put it inside the Aunt's thing.

Once you have the flowerpot, plant all four fluffs in it and wait. Once
it starts to grow, take it into the sauna. When you come out a changed
man, you will also have a changed plant. Eat the fruit thereof. (You
*did* look up "fluff" in the Guide, didn't you?)

As for impressing the screen door, you *did* look up "intelligence" in
the Guide, didn't you?)

You need to have both Tea and No Tea to impress the door.

You can't do that if you have any common sense whatsoever, so I do
hope you destroyed your common sense in the micro-spacefleet sub-
adventure.

That should be enough to get you going. If you need more, write to me.


-- 
__/\__  Jonathan S. Haas         | Jake liked his women the way he liked
\    /  University of Michigan   | his kiwi fruit: sweet yet tart, firm-
/_  _\  positron@engin.umich.edu | fleshed yet yielding to the touch, and
  \/    Marrou/Lord in '92!      | covered with short brown fuzzy hair.
Organization: Penn State University
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 15:47:25 EDT
From: <MRM122@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
Subject: Zork 0 probs...

(Possible spoliers)
OK, can anyone out there help me with some probs I have been having with Zork 0
that just don't seem to have answers on it's on-line hints....
 One: The lake bottom- it's dark and there is nothing I can do.  I can't go any
 further until I get what is there, though. How do I light it?
 Two: The oasis- you get points for getting there, but then what?  What are you
 supposed to do there?
 Three: The four orbs- again, what is their point?  They are the only thing bey
ond the toll gate, so it must be important, but I don't see it...


                                            Marsh
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: tlhouns@ns.pacbell.com (Lee Hounshell)
Subject: Re: InfoTaskForce Infocom Interpreter hack
Organization: Pacific Bell
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 16:10:18 GMT

KIENENBERGER MIKE L (fxmlk@acad3.alaska.edu) wrote:
: If you've been having problems with the InfoTaskForce Infocom Interpreter V4.01
: crashing as soon as it starts up ["bus error" under BSD unix], the
: following hack will probably fix it:
: 
: in "file.c", insert the following line (at line 524 -- right after all variable
: declarations for script_char() but before the if statement):
: 
: 	script_status_ptr = (byte_ptr) &(data_head.script_status);
: 
: This hack seems to work.  It may mess up the script command, though.
: I'm reporting the bug as well.

The fix is actually a little more involved than that.  You need to check
"data_head" for NULL and if it is, DON'T execute this line of code (or the one
after that, which incriments "script_status_ptr").  Also there is another
routine in file.c where "*script_status_pointer" is referenced.  You can't
execute the associated code if "script_status_pointer" is NULL.  I've mailed
a full patch for SunOS to the InfoTaskForce folks.  You can probably get
the official fix from them.  It fix allows InfoTaskForce to be compiled
by either gcc or cc on a Sun SPARCstation.  Have fun!

--
Lee Hounshell - (510) 823-2432
tlhouns@srv.pacbell.com
Alchemical Engineer and Virtual Realist
From: okes@essex.ac.uk (Oke S)
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
Subject: Spoiler for lever pulling problem in Shadowgate
Date: 12 Oct 92 09:17:33 GMT
	<1992Oct11.193719.28142@Princeton.EDU>
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Essex, UK.
In-reply-to: tao@fine.princeton.edu's message of 11 Oct 92 19:37:19 GMT

In article <1992Oct11.193719.28142@Princeton.EDU> tao@fine.princeton.edu (Terry Tao) writes:
>Worst puzzle: this isnt a infocom game, but getting the silver orb in
>Shadowgate.  Shadow gate had some great puzzles for its limitations, (only
>six verbs), but the  lever-pulling puzzle is just silly.  by the way: I
>only got it on my 27th try.

Ah, if only you knew where to look for the answer! If you go into the sphinx
room and examine the staircase you wil see some strange markings on it. These
represent the 4 states that the positions of the levers have to go through to
raise the lid and allow you to get the orb.
[No, I didn't spot this; a friend of mine did.]

--
This signature is copyright 12/6/1992 Simon Oke. All rights reserved. If you
like it and keep a copy for your own use, you owe me $20. Please pass it on
to your friends with all documentation.              Email okes@essex.ac.uk.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reincarnation: life sucks, then you die. Then life sucks again.
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: jmkaraka@eos.ncsu.edu (JOHN MARTIN KARAKASH)
Subject: Planetfall
Originator: jmkaraka@c00078-100lez.eos.ncsu.edu
Reply-To: jmkaraka@eos.ncsu.edu (JOHN MARTIN KARAKASH)
Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 20:21:47 GMT


	The red herrings were very annoying, but I love it still.  BTW,
have you looked under the table?  Funny, funny, funny!

		-john-
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: woodhams@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Michael Woodhams)
Subject: Re: Best and worst problems (was: Re: Info-flop and new thread (mild spoilers))
Originator: news@nimaster
Organization: Princeton University Observatory
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 20:27:39 GMT

In article <1992Oct9.133153.20665@news.acns.nwu.edu> msr@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Michael Rosenberg) writes:
>
>Actually, as much as I love the game and feel it's one of the best adventure
>games ever written, Zork really had a lot of stupid puzzles in it.  Not easy,
>mind you, just stupid.  Unlike many of Infocom's later games, a lot of this
>games was unrelated and sort of random (this is not necessarily a bad thing
>mind you :)  The puzzle that leaps to mind is how to get past the cyclops. 
>I don't mind solutions that aren't obvious, but that one seemed a bit far
>fetched to come up with, without any other clues.

There were two solutions to this problem. The best (most useful)
solution is indeed totally inobvious, however, the second solution is
reasonable

SPOILER AHEAD (for Zork 1)


















If you eat the sandwich, you feel thirsty. If you then drink, you feel
sleepy (and perhaps sleep - I can't remember.) So, feed the sandwich
and then a drink to the cyclops, and he goes to sleep.
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: mechalas@gn.ecn.purdue.edu (John P. Mechalas)
Subject: Re: TADS
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 92 21:41:27 GMT

In article <8OCT199216204419@summa.tamu.edu> fts5792@summa.tamu.edu (SRONCE, FRANK T) writes:
>I tried downloading TADS.ZIP from msdos.archive.umich.edu as someone
>posted earlier. Unzipped it in my Unix account and kermitted (the faster modes
>didn't work, alas) it down to my PC.
>
>The executable files crashed everytime I tried to run them. Same for the
>Unnk~v2 I downloaded. 

Wen you enter kermit, make sure you are using BINARY transmission.  Type
'kermit -i' if you are using unix.  ASCII mode won't work.  Also, make sure
you are FTP'ing in BINARY mode as well  (type binary from the FTP prompt).

-- 
John Mechalas                                          "I'm not an actor, but
mechalas@gn.ecn.purdue.edu                                 I play one on TV."
Aero Engineering, Purdue University                     #include disclaimer.h
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: David.White@bbs.oit.unc.edu (David White)
Subject: Re: Best and worst problems (was: Re: Info-flop and new thread (mild spoilers))
Organization: Extended Bulletin Board Service
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 14:53:57 GMT

>>mind you :)  The puzzle that leaps to mind is how to get past the cyclops. 
>>I don't mind solutions that aren't obvious, but that one seemed a bit far
>>fetched to come up with, without any other clues.
>
>There were two solutions to this problem. The best (most useful)
>solution is indeed totally inobvious, however, the second solution is
>reasonable

Another spoiler ahead!  Abort this message now or forever hold your peace!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
By "useful" solution, I assume you meant the ULYSSES (sp?) solution, which
does appear to be pretty unobvious.  But (and I could be completely wrong,
it's been so long since I've played it) don't the first letters of each
sentence in the prayer book spell out (or hint) at the word Ulysses?  
 
FWIW, 

=-=-= David =-=-=
(dswhite@unc.bitnet)
--
   The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of
     North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Campus Office for Information
        Technology, or the Experimental Bulletin Board Service.
           internet:  bbs.oit.unc.edu or 152.2.22.80
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: chuckg@meaddata.com (Chuck Greenwald)
Subject: Neet hint on S201 endgame (SPOILER) 
Organization: Mead Data Central, Dayton OH
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 17:33:00 GMT

I don't know if I'm dumb today or what.  I can get the body and whistle 
before entering the endgame, but by the time I get out through the sewer,
even using a speed potion, the transformation to someone else has worn
off.                                                       

A gentle hint would be appreciated, rather than the answer outright.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chuck Greenwald                     |   chuckg@meaddata.com  
Mead Data Central                   |   (513) 865-1020



Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: David.White@bbs.oit.unc.edu (David White)
Subject: Re: Best and worst problems (was: Re: Info-flop and new thread (mild spoilers))
Organization: Extended Bulletin Board Service
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 14:56:03 GMT

>Also low on the list is the Bank of Zork, which I still don't understand.

That WAS awfully tricky, but once I understood what was going on, I
thought it was pretty neat myself.  Do you WANT to understand it? 
 
=-=-= David =-=-=
(dswhite@unc.oit.unc.edu)
--
   The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of
     North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Campus Office for Information
        Technology, or the Experimental Bulletin Board Service.
           internet:  bbs.oit.unc.edu or 152.2.22.80
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: chuckg@meaddata.com (Chuck Greenwald)
Subject: need help with RED ending in Moonmist 
Organization: Mead Data Central, Dayton OH
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 18:08:43 GMT


Decided to go back and play Moonmist (bought it a long a time ago
and never played it) -- didn't take long to go through the blue,
green and yellow solutions, but I'm hung up on the red ending.

I've found out who the ghost is and found the treasure, but cannot
find the motive for the killing.

SPOILER FOLLOWS, if you're not sure which ending I mean






















My problem is in the ending where Dee isn't dead and is pretending to
be her own ghost.  She suspects Jack murdered his brother- I need to
find proof or motive.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chuck Greenwald                     |   chuckg@meaddata.com  
Mead Data Central                   |   (513) 865-1020
From: ptd2@po.CWRU.Edu (Palmer T. Davis)
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
Subject: Re: Draft of the FAQ
Date: 12 Oct 1992 19:26:07 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: ptd2@po.CWRU.Edu (Palmer T. Davis)
NNTP-Posting-Host: thor.ins.cwru.edu


Bravo!  A tour de force!  But no Floyd?  :-(

-- 
Palmer T. Davis      ___
<ptd2@po.cwru.edu>   \X/   cthread.  cthread_fork().  Fork, thread, fork!
From: mochang@girtab.usc.edu (Morrison J. Chang)
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
Subject: Invisiclues file for LTOI 2?
Date: 7 Oct 1992 22:07:22 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: girtab.usc.edu
Summary: is there one?
Keywords: LTOI 2 Infocom Invisiclues

Warning NON spoilers follow...

Press a key to continue...



How about a set of files...



At a FTP site somewhere...



That contain the invisiclues...



For Lost Treasures of Infocom 2...



Since Activision decided not to put them in...



So that everyone can enjoy them...



This way?



Any takers?



Burma Shave.

-Morrison J. Chang
-mochang@usc.edu



Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: avison@cheshire.oxy.edu (James Bothwell Avison)
Subject: Re: Help on Hitchhiker's! (SPOILER)
Organization: Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA 90041 USA.
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 21:46:50 GMT

In article <1992Oct14.200522.1310@Princeton.EDU> tao@ginger.princeton.edu (Terry Tao) writes:
>^L
>
>You should have shut the dog up way, way, back.  I'm sorry, but you'll have
>to start from scratch, find the dog, and somehow shut its gob before it gets
>indigestion from the ship.  I'll leave that as a puzzle for you.

OR you can shut up the dog using someone else who was with you at the 
beginning, if you're in his shoes so to speak...
					James

Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction,comp.sys.amiga.programmer,comp.sys.amiga.games
From: earl@rtsg.mot.com (Brent R. Earl)
Subject: anyone built itf 4.01 for amiga?
Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Group
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 19:01:59 GMT

I have managed to build itf 4.01 for a sun 3/60 os 4.0.3.
(Had to use bsd, since curses is broken for addch() on our
 system).

I am attempting to build itf with manx aztec c 5.2a, and gcc222
(converted to amiga).  I was wondering if anyone else has
successfully built to amiga, and if so, how, which compiler,
what the makefile looks like.
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
From: jsvrc@rc.rit.edu (J A Stephen Viggiano)
Subject: Re: <None>
Organization: RIT Research Corp
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 19:34:20 GMT

In article <uerics.718678672@mcl>, uerics@mcl.ucsb.edu (Eric D. Shepherd) writes:
> The dumbest puzzle in an Infocom game that I can think of would definitely
> be Zork I's Echo Room. :)

In article <1992Oct12.123028.3078@wkuvx1.bitnet> MOLLEMS@WKUVX1.BITNET writes:

>If you're referring to the solution where you must speak a certain
>word (word deleted to prevent spoilage) then I agree, that was dumb. 
>There was, however, another solution to the puzzle which did not
>involve speaking that certain word, and which was (IMO) rather neat.
>(solution also deleted to prevent spoilage... I'll post or Email it if
>anyone wants it)

I tried to e-mail, but no joy. Consider me among those who want to be
spoiled . . . .














. . . . but does it involve the control room downstairs and the robot?