rec.autos.simulators

For all the others out there suffering over MULTI 1.36-M versions,
here's a fix I found. The server apparently checks time stamps on files
to confirm correctness. You can confirm this by looking error.log in
your NASCAR directory. You should see a number of lines such as the
following:
  FTR DELTA DATE 31d878e2 31d86ad2

The numbers are hex values of timestamps, actual and expected, for a
number of files. The following list is the expected value and
translation for each file:

  MULTI.EXE     0x31d86ad2 =====> 07/01/96 19:18:26
  SCHED.HLP     0x31826488 =====> 04/27/96 13:16:40
  AGREE.TXT     0x3198ee94 =====> 05/14/96 15:35:32
  TERM.EXE      0x31d063b2 =====> 06/25/96 17:09:54
  DBITERM.EXE   0x31d063b8 =====> 06/25/96 17:10:00
  SCHDCLI.EXE   0x31d063b6 =====> 06/25/96 17:09:58

The problem is apparently with Daylight Savings time in one of the
executables, either pkunzip, pkzip, term.exe, or dbiterm.exe. MS
link libraries have a known bug with daylight savings time on some
systems. We've apparently just been bit by that.

To workaround the problem, you'll need a program that can change file
dates for you. I used touch.com, included with Borland C++ compilers.
Use the following command to change the file date on MULTI.EXE, for
example:
  touch -c -t19:18:26 multi.exe

I can't send you the program to do this; you can probably find a
shareware version someplace. A DOS port of GNU's UNIX utilities might be
a good place to start looking, or maybe browse through programmer's
utilities on your local shareware site.

Good luck.

Mike.

Sorry about that one, we have been using timestamps for the DBITERM version
checks all along, and hadn't heard of any problems, but last week was the
first time when we tried to enable a check which forces correct file
versions before letting you proceed beyond the message of the day.  We've
disabled this check again until we can figure out what's going wrong with
timestamps.

I'll might need assistance from a couple of folks who got zapped by this
one; if you were one of 'em and you're willing to try a test version later,
please send me an email message; use "TIMESTAMP" as subject.  The symptom
was not being able to go to scheduler last Thursday even after updating to
MULTI V1.36M.  Thanks...

By the way ... I've gotten enough replays with the teleport bug for now,
thanks to all who have sent those in ... don't know when I'll find more
time to work with them, but with a bit of luck we'll flush something out
before NASCAR II release.

Charlie Heath
Papyrus Design Group