Learn to PRAY

::----- DockingStation.txt -----::
Making Agents for Docking Station - by Hausmouse *****@aol.com) 
     - April 25, 2001

Making Agents for Docking Station is about the same as for C3. However, 
there are a few important differences, especially in the PRAY template.

Docking Station, C3, and CAOS compatibility:
_____________________________________

There are a number of new commands in the Docking Station version of CAOS.
These commands won't work in C3. If you have an agent that uses them, you
will not be able to inject it into a C3 standalone game. The best way to 
work around this is to make two similar agents: one without the new 
commands, for C3, and one for DS which does have them.

Moving your agents into the world:
_____________________________________

With the advent of Docking Station, moving an agent into the world becomes
a more complex task. Players may be working with C3 standalone, DS docked 
with C3, or undocked DS worlds. When making your cos file, you have to 
allow for all the possibilities.

In docked Docking Station worlds, you also have two agent injectors: the 
one on the Comms screen, and the one in the C3 engineering section. 
Docking Station stores the location of the injector that was used in two 
game variables, called "CreatorX" and "CreatorY". The following fragment 
of CAOS code can be used to move agents into the world, and will work in 
all cases. It will place them by whichever creator machine was used. Feel 
free to use it in your own agents! :-)

_________________________________________________________________________

*** Check the engine and move it into the world
* Which game engine is it?
doif gnam eq "Docking Station"
*     Which creator did it use?
*     "CreatorX" and "CreatorY" are set when the creator button is pushed.
⇥setv va00 game "CreatorX"
⇥setv va01 game "CreatorY"
 <...truncated>

::----- READMEFIRST.TXT -----::
PRAY AGENT TUTORIAL FOR C3 by Hausmouse *****@aol.com)
     - April 27, 2001

INTRODUCTION:

This collection of files is a tutorial on the PRAY function of Creatures 3.
Included are instructions for using the PRAYBuilder program provided by
Creatures Labs, as well as the PRAY caos command within the game itself.

This tutorial is designed to teach you how to package your agents for
easy injection and distribution. This isn't a tutorial on CAOS or how
to make agents, although the included cos file has lots of comments that
should help you learn how it's done.

PRAY and DOCKING STATION:
This tutorial focuses on Creatures 3, but most of the information will be
accurate for Docking Station as well. There are also some files that will 
help describe the differences between making agents in Docking Station
and making them in Creatures 3. 

GETTING STARTED:
_____________________________________________________
PRAY is the method by which Creatures 3 takes the source code of an agent
and compiles it into a neat little archive with a .agent extension, which
can then be placed into your My Agents folder and injected into C3 via
the Creator Machine.

You can compile an agent in one of two ways: 
  1)Use a stand-alone DOS program called PRAYBuilder.exe, available from 
    the CDN (which is down as of November, 2000, but should return in a 
    few weeks)

  2)Use the CAOS command PRAY from within the Creatures 3 engine itself. 
    This is, in my opinion, the easier choice.

____________________________________________________
Explanation of files in the zipped archive:

PRAYforDOS.txt
     - Instructions for using PRAYBuilder.exe from the MS-DOS prompt.
 <...truncated>

::----- PRAYforDOS.txt -----::
USING PRAYBUILDER.EXE

Put the following files into one directory.

- PRAYBuilder.exe
- The PRAY Template file
- The .cos file(s) for the agent you want to make
- Any files to be packaged with the agent, such as new images, 
  sounds, or catalogue files.

Go to the START button (on Win98). Go to Programs. Click on 
MS-DOS Prompt. You will see a black window with white text that
most likely reads:

C:\WINDOWS>

This means you are in the \WINDOWS directory. You must now 
navigate to the directory with your agent files in it. 

_________________________________________
NAVIGATING THE DIRECTORY TREE IN MS-DOS
_________________________________________
cd..            Backs up one level.

cd dirname      Takes you to the directory dirname

dir/p/ad        Displays directories available from the current
                directory. If there are too many directories to
                fit on the screen at once, it will show one screen 
                at a time and prompt the user to "Press any key to
                continue..."

MS-DOS does not recognize long filenames. Therefore a folder labeled
"Program Files" in Windows, will be listed as PROGRA~1. To set the
working directory to "Program Files", type in:

cd PROGRA~1

To close the MS-DOS prompt and go back to Windows, type:
exit
 <...truncated>