MULTI-TREK is a game similar to traditional Star-Trek games except that it involves several players (currently up to 8), who play against each other in real time rather than against imaginary Klingons, Romulans or whatever. The MULTI-TREK universe consists of a 100 by 100 matrix, of which an approximate 20 by 20 matrix of each player's immediate area is displayed and continuously updated at their terminal. MULTI-TREK was originally submitted to the New Orleans RSX/IAS sig tape, then to the 1979 San Diego RSX/IAS sig tape with the addition of robot ships. Since then it has been recoded in RATFIV and has significant enhancements and improvements, most notably the addition of energy nets, an improved screen display, much better input-output (any terminal with clear screen and cursor positioning may be used at speeds from 1200 baud on up), use of default ship and direction with most commands ("L" sets the default direction), more competitive scoring, smarter robot ships, and fewer bugs. This version was submitted to the Spring 1981 VAX and RSX/IAS tapes, and is being resubmitted to the Fall 1981 tapes with some slight improvements. Complete instructions for starting and playing MULTI-TREK are in the file MTREK.DOC. The game consists of a driver task (MTREKD), a player task (MTREK) for each terminal, and a shared global common area for inter-task communication. This version runs on VAX VMS, however, it should run under any system with shared global areas and rudimentary task switching or time-sharing. Real-time systems without time-sharing may have to play with priorities to insure that the driver task gets sufficient CPU time and that all players get an equal amount of time. MULTI-TREK was written with a structured Fortran called RATFIV. The IAS version contains all of the Fortran produced by RATFIV, as well as the RATFIV source (file type .RAT). The VAX VMS version does not include the .FOR files, however the RATFIV compiler is included on both distribution tapes. MTREK will work properly with any terminal with clear screen and cursor positioning. The source code is set up to drive ADM3-A's or VT100's. If you are using different terminals, you should modify the file "TERMINAL.RAT" (you could modify "TERMINAL.FTN") to drive your terminal. Modification should be straight-forward as the code is commented on where to change it. To build MTREK, do @BUILD The VAX VMS version places the common area, LEDFOR, on SYS$SHARE and installs it /WRITE/SHARE. It also puts MTREK.EXE, the player task, and MTREKD.EXE, the universe manager task, on SYS$SYSTEM, and installs MTREK.EXE with DETACH and ACNT privileges, so that anyone can start up MTREKD as a detached process (only one copy of MTREKD runs at a time, however). Page 2 After building MTREK, first run MTREKINI. Then, on VAX VMS systems, say MCR MTREK and you are off and running. On IAS systems, the universe manager MTREKD must be started by hand before MTREK is run. You can run MTREKD on a dedicated terminal or install it and run it /REAL. Send comments, problems, etc. to: William Wood Computer Center Intstitute For Cancer Research 7701 Burholme Ave. Philadelphia, PA. 19111 (215) 728 2760