TrivHost Update / Registration Info

TrivHost is released as shareware...if you try it and find it useful and worth the price, you may register as a TrivHost user for a one-time shareware fee of $12.00, which will entitle you to any and all future updates. The latest version of TrivHost is v 2.5, the latest TrivEdit version is 1.4b.

Click here to e-mail me if you would like to obtain a copy of this software, or more information.

TrivHost Features

Here is a list of some of the features of TrivHost and TrivEdit that are designed to ease the routine tasks of hosting

* When you ask a question, a box appears with a timer that displays the seconds elapsed since the question was asked, plus the answer to the question, so that you can keep your eyes on the screen and still maintain a consistent buzzer, while watching the answers so you can present the appropriate buzzer. The same box has buttons for immediately issuing a buzzer, hint, or stop message.

* Scoring doesn't require scrolling back and selecting the text from the AOL chat window. The text is automatically fetched and displayed for you when you push the Score button.

* When you select a question or a macro to send, the entire text of that question or macro is shown for your inspection, and you are allowed to make last minute changes. Or a double click will send the question or macro right away.

* You can set how you want names shown during scoring by default (long, short, or gottem). This means you don't have to remember to change it each time you score a question.

* TrivHost will also show point values on the scoring line automatically, unless all players received just one point. This means there is normally no need to remember to check the "show points" box when scoring...but you can override this whenever you need to. Or you can default to always showing point values.

* TrivHost has a special option that allows you to simply push the Greet button soon after a new player enters the room, to send a personal greeting to that player, along with a welcome randomly selected from your welcomes file, all by just pressing Enter. TrivHost "sees" the last entrant, if fairly recent, and inserts the name into a custom greeting that you can change to your liking. Also, you have the choice to insert any text before the welcome, if so desired.

* When issuing a gottem after scoring each question, you have the choice of sending the randomly selected gottem, or to select a specific gottem from a list of all gottems in your file.

* When asking a question, you have the choice of sending the randomly selected "warning", or to select a specific "warning" from a list of all warnings in your file.

* If you are scorekeeping and about to issue a gottem, you are shown a points line reflecting the points you awarded, for easier comparison with the host's scoring.

* There is also an option for easily inserting any text into the middle of randomly selected gottems.

* TrivHost lets you tailor your triples and PATs lines to your own liking, as well as the headings for points lines, top 7 scores, and total scores, plus the keep going and stop lines, and the personal greeting.

* TrivHost lets you optionally set a prefix for questions, answers, categories, and hints, to be sent before these items.

* These and all other preference settings can be saved in a preferences file...and you can have as many of these preference files as you need, for each different type of game you run. Each preference file can point to different rules, macros, warnings, welcomes, gottems, and buzzer files, if need be. Or some can be shared, and others different, as you like. Set up these files once, and you won't need to rename rules and welcome files when changing games...just load the desired preference file.

* TrivHost remembers and loads the last-used preferences file each time you start it. It also remembers where you positioned TrivHost on your screen, and starts there the next time.

* TrivHost can send its output to a Notepad file, for practicing or testing games while not on-line. If the file contains some dialogue cut and pasted from a trivia chat room, virtually all functions of TrivHost, including scoring, can be practiced this way.

* There is also a shadow score mode, which lets you score but doesn't send the scores to the room.

* Long macros and questions don't require multiple button pushes or Enters. But you can optionally choose to send them that way if you are used to it.

* TrivHost lets you load a new game file while keeping the scores intact.

* TrivHost always shows you, in its title bar, what game file and preference file is loaded, and how many questions are left in the current game file.

* TrivHost positively identifies the AOL trivia chat window, and directs its simulated keystrokes to that window only, which prevents IMs and other windows from 'eating' your text.

* TrivHost comes with a separate Game Editor, TrivEdit, that works with existing files and which has a few useful features that facilitate easier game file editing and creation:

** TrivEdit allows you to open multiple game files at once, and easily select any group of questions to cut or copy from one file, and paste into another. You just select the questions from the list using standard Windows techniques, and push a button; question, answer, category and hint are all copied at once. This can save a lot of time when moving leftover questions to a new game, or borrowing a few questions from several old games to mix and match into a new game.

** TrivEdit also lets you enter new questions into a game file one after another without ever reaching for the mouse.

** TrivEdit shows the entire text of the currently selected question, so that you can review the questions easily by using the arrow keys to walk up and down the list.

** TrivEdit shows you at all times how many questions are in the game file.

** Once TrivEdit has been run, Windows Explorer will be "aware" of game files...just double-click on one while in Explorer, and TrivEdit comes up with that game loaded. The game files you edit will also show up on your Start menu Documents list for easier access to recently edited games.

** TrivEdit remembers the last six game files you have saved, and makes them easily available to open by keeping them listed on the file menu.

** TrivEdit lets you import and export game files to text files, so that if you follow certain rules, you can create and edit your games in a text editor or word processor. This feature also makes it easy to print out your games if you so desire.