Options for Launching Stars!

Stars! can be launched from a DOS or Windows prompt, using the stars! command only or with a variety of options. When you use an option, you must also supply either a player or host file name as an argument. You can also supply only the player or host file name without any other options.

With or without options, supplying the file name causes Stars! to start without displaying the splash screen (startup bitmap).

-t -- try, then exit. If you specify a player file, this opens the newly generated turn. If the turn hasn't been generated yet, then Stars! exits. If you specify a host file, this checks to see if all players have submitted their changes for the turn. If they have, Stars! generates the new turn and exits. Otherwise, it just exits.

-w -- wait. If you specify a host file, this auto-generates the new turn as soon as all players have submitted their changes. If you specify a player file, this waits for the new turn to be generated. This option does not cause Stars! to exit.

-g -- generate and exit. Specify a host file only. This option forces the turn to generate, then exits. You cannot load a player file when you use this option.

You can also use this switch to generate test games, following -g by the number of turns you wish to generate; for example, -g100. (This multi-turn generation feature will be available in the "i" patch release, due out in late March of 1998.)

Warning: Using –g to generate numerous turns will chew up CPU cycles like nobody's business. You can break out of the cycle by pressing SHIFT-CTRL when the game is ending one year and starting the next, holding down both keys until turn generation halts.

-p password -- supplies the password on the command line. You can use this with a host file or a password-protected player file.

-x -- Exit Windows when Stars! exits. This is a good match with the -b option if you wish to create a script that automatically starts Windows, generates the new turn, then exits Windows.

The -x flag is for 16-bit Windows only (3.1 or 3.11). Behavior of the -x option on OS/2, Windows NT, or Windows 95 is undefined and probably not what you want.

-b gamelist_file -- Generate turns for each game listed in the supplied file name.

-a game.def -- Create a new game/universe based on the contents of game.def. This allows you to create new games from the command line. See Creating a Universe from the Command Line for more information.

-h -- Causes Stars! to always ask you for a password when you open a turn file. This helps keep the wimps who can't play without cheating out of your turn files. This is especially useful for hot seat play.

stars! Filename	Load a player or host file, starting the game without loading the splash screen.
stars! -w gamename.hst	Load the host file and enter Auto Generate mode.
stars! -w gamename.mN	Load the specified player file and wait for the host to generate a new turn.
stars! -t gamename.mN	Load the specified player file; quit if the host has not yet generated a new turn.
stars! –g<# turns> gamename.hst	Load the host file, generate the number of turns specified (the default is 1 turn) and quit.
stars! -w -g gamename.hst	Load the host file, wait for all players to submit turns, generate and quit.
stars! -t -g gamename.hst	Load the host file, generate a new turn only if all players have submitted turns, then quit. If it generates the turn the return value is 1; if the turn is not generated the return value is 0.
stars! -t -b gamelist_file	Conditionally generate turns for a list of games.
stars! -x -b gamelist_file	Generate turns for each game listed in the supplied file name, then exit Windows. Useful for BBS play.

For example if your BBS is OS/2, NT or Windows-based you can launch Stars! with the -b gamelist_file parameter to batch generate turns for multiple games. Stars! will automatically exit when the last turn has been generated. The file listing the games must contain one game name per line including the full path:

c:\games\stars!\play\frenzy.hst
c:\games\stars!\play\game.hst
c:\user\jeff\stars!\killer.hst

You can name this games list file anything you want. If you are running a DOS-based BBS but have Windows installed on the machine, you can launch Windows and Stars! from a nightly maintenance script similar to this:

This will launch Windows and Stars!, generate a turn for each game listed in gamelist.txt, then exit Stars! and Windows. This method is optimal for Windows 3.1.

If you have Windows for Workgroups installed (Windows 3.11) you need to use the win /n option:

This will prevent Windows from loading any of its network drivers and suppress its login prompt. If you only need to generate a turn for a single game you can still use the -g gamename.hst parameter with or without -x (use -x with Windows 3.1 or 3.11only).