CVS update: Vanilla/docs

[Vanilla CVS Development <vanilla-devel@us.netrek.org>]

Date:	Thursday April 20, 2000 @ 21:30
Author:	ahn

Update of /home/netrek/cvsroot/Vanilla/docs
In directory swashbuckler.fortress.real-time.com:/var/tmp/cvs-serv8294/docs

Modified Files:
	README.LTD 
Log Message:
Changes by Dave Ahn.  See ChangeLog for details.


****************************************

Index: Vanilla/docs/README.LTD
diff -u Vanilla/docs/README.LTD:1.1 Vanilla/docs/README.LTD:1.2
--- Vanilla/docs/README.LTD:1.1	Fri Apr 30 18:31:28 1999
+++ Vanilla/docs/README.LTD	Thu Apr 20 21:30:47 2000
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
-$Id: README.LTD,v 1.1 1999/04/30 23:31:28 ahn Exp $
+$Id: README.LTD,v 1.2 2000/04/21 02:30:47 ahn Exp $
 
 Leonard/Tom/Dave (LTD) Extended Player Statistics
-Dave Ahn <ahn@netrek.org>
+Dave Ahn <ahn@users.sourceforge.net>
 
 [NOTE: This document is not quite up to date.]
 
@@ -25,7 +25,9 @@
 introducing LTD to pickup, but server admins are welcome to try it.
 Be warned that LTD increases the player DB size by several factors, so
 it BREAKS BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY with existing player DB's.  DO NOT
-ENABLE LTD_STATS without first converting the old DB into a new DB.
+ENABLE LTD_STATS without first converting the old DB into a new DB
+(see below).
+
 Because the old stats don't map well to the LTD stats, they are simply
 added to the appropriate fields of the GA/ATT stat group.  I don't
 believe that the conversion will affect the ratings, but I have not
@@ -44,6 +46,8 @@
 protocols would need to be changed.  I don't have the time to do this.
 As such, stat info sent to the clients are COMPAT mode stats that sum
 up the LTD stats into offense, defense, bombing and planet ratings.
+In other words, players generally won't be able to tell the difference
+whether LTD_STATS is enabled or not.
 
 There is a sorry version of the 'tools/ltd_dump' that needs work.
 Right now, it dumps out all the stats in the player DB in a verbose
@@ -63,6 +67,92 @@
 the ChangeLog as more tasks are finished.
 
 Comments, problems, suggestions are welcome.
+
+Dave
+
+--------------------------------------------------------------------
+Converting an existing pickup server player DB to LTD_STATS mode
+
+WARNING: Do not do this unless you really want LTD_STATS.  This will
+increase the player DB size by several orders of magnitude, and most
+pickup players will not care about these detailed stats!
+
+I've hacked together a simple program to do a raw conversion from the
+old style player stats to LTD_STATS.  You can find this program in
+tools/ltd_convert.  Because this program is dangerous to play around
+with, it is not installed by default.
+
+The ltd_convert program will map almost all statistics to the GA/ATT
+ship class in LTD_STATS.  Since LTD_STATS do not keep track of
+non-T-mode stats, they are discarded.  Also, the SB stats are not
+transferred.  Player ranks ARE preserved.
+
+Here is the general procedure to convert your server from the old stat
+mode to LTD_STATS mode:
+
+1. You should already be running Vanilla Server 2.9pl6 or higher.  If
+not, upgrade before proceeding.
+
+2. Take down the Vanilla server, and make sure that daemonII, netrekd
+and all ntserv processes are dead.  Use 'ipcs' to verify that the
+shared memory segment is free.
+
+3. Make a backup copy of your entire netrek server directory including
+all runtime files and the complete source code with object files.
+
+4. Go to your existing source code directory and look at your config.h
+used to build your server:
+
+  If ROLLING_STATS is defined, STOP.  You cannot convert your player DB.
+
+  Do not change GENO_COUNT.  It doesn't matter whether it is defined
+  or undefined as long as it stays the same.
+
+  Look at LTD_STATS.  Change it so that it is defined.
+
+  Look at LTD_PER_RACE.  Do NOT define this!
+
+5. Go to the top level source code directory (Vanilla/) and type 'make
+clean' followed by 'make'.  If the configure script is automatically
+invoked, you may have to rerun configure with the appropriate args and
+rebuild everything.  Be sure to check config.h after configure is
+finished.
+
+6. Type 'make install' to install your server binaries.
+
+7. Copy the Vanilla/tools/ltd_convert program to your runtime tools/
+directory.
+
+8. Type "tools/ltd_convert .players .players.new" and check the outout
+for error messages.
+
+9. Type "tools/ltd_dump .players.new" and verify the output.
+
+10. Replace the old ".players" DB file with the ".players.new" file.
+Do not change the other game state files (such as .planets).
+
+11. Start the Vanilla server, login and check to make sure things are
+running OK.
+
+
+CAVEATS:
+
+You may notice some strange behavior with how the ratings are
+calculated.  For example, you don't get extra army credits for
+dooshing armies or extra planet credits for taking enemy core, so many
+players will see their ratings drop.  This is normal.  Right now the
+ranking and rating calculations don't include these "bonus" stats.
+This may change in the future, but you can modify the rating and
+ranking rules yourself without affecting the player DB.  Take a look
+at the ltd_can_rank() function in ntserv/ltd_stats.c.
+
+Old player stats are stored in the GA/ATT ship stats, and they are
+included in the ratings/ranking calculation.
+
+If you encounter any problems with LTD_STATS, please report them to
+vanilla-list@us.netrek.org.  The LTD_STATS mode has been used for INL
+games over the last year, so it is relatively bug free.  However,
+there may be some pickup related issues that I haven't seen yet.
 
 Dave