Contained in this directory is all the files for Phantasia 4.  Congratulations
on downloading it.  I hope you have fun.

Please note that this game comes with no gaurantee to function.  I previously
had it working on a RedHat Linux 7.1 install.  Expect more effort to be needed
to get it working on dissimilar systems.

To get this code working, here's what I believe will need to be done:

1) Requirements:

A C compiler (I used gcc)
An http server with a cgi directory enabled (I used Apache)
Perl with an MD5 module
Properly configured sendmail so users can receive confirmation codes.
A open port so clients can connect.  43302 is currently used.
Some disk space, depending on your logging wishes.


2) Compile the server daemon.

The source code will be found in phantasia/src.  You will first need to 
modify all the directoy paths in pathnames.h to match you installation.  You
may also want to modify what is logged by commenting/uncommenting the
define statements in include.h.  When ready, if you're lucky, you can compile
the server daemon with the command "make".


3) Put up the web pages.

All Phantasia web pages are in the public_html directory.  Most are static
web pages, although there are a few cgi perl scripts in public_html/cgi-bin.
Set up your server so these can be accessed via a remote web browser.  As a
note, java applets are only permitted to initiate a connection back to the
system they were loaded from, therefore, the server daemon must be running
on the same system the applet is loaded from.

Be careful of the cgi scripts.  They send read a number from conf/cookie to
send to new players so they can be identified.  If the script can not access
this file or does not have permissions to modify it, each player will be sent
the same identification number causing them all to be banned if one is.


4) Start the Phantasia server.

You should just be able to run the compiled program from step 2.  Problems are
either logged to stdout or the error log file.  Watch for problems in both
locations.


5) See if one of the clients can connect.

Open the web pages from a remove machine and open the game.  If all goes well,
there should be a connection.  If the client hangs or gives a message about
a null connection, then more tweaking needs to be done on the configuration.
I may have the time to answer a question or two, but do not ask me to
troubleshoot your installation.


6) Automate the server tasks.

Phantasia 4 is not stable and will crash due to the number of threads the game
spawns.  As a workaround, I have included scripts to restart the game.  The
conf/rc.phant script will check to see if a game is running and restart it if
it is not.  Make sure you set the internal paths of this script.  crontab.stuff
will run rc.phant every 15 minutes as well as call a logrotate job at 2am every
morning.


7) Send me a note.

I'd like to know about any/all phantasia versions running.  I would be happy
to link my site to yours so my players can choose their favorite version of
the game.  My email address is bkelly@dimensional.com.


This set of instructions was thrown together.  If you have any suggestions
let me know.

Brian