The Advanced Basternae II Zone Writers Guide: or How To Hug A Child With Nuclear Arms Version: Virus_110.76.9239 Partial Writer/Editor/Compiler/Masochist: Sniktiorg Blackhaven Started: 11.22.54p on 11.23.99ev Revision v23.5B on 5.2.02ev ________________________________________________________________________ .' The Anteface `. Ok, it seems to me that Thendar's Zone_Information_9.Txt is a most splendid introduction and explanation to the lifesucking process of zone writing. A little pseudo-three-dimensional book that seems to live of its own freedom and set socio-tribal behaviors. I might quote parts of her guide within this, so as to reiterate their significance. But for the most part, this monstrosity has the distinct intention of teaching little tricks, cheats, and secrets that I (and possibly some others) have gathered like dusty jewels over the years. Oh a few things, an advanced zone writer needs to absolutely try to follow these rules to attain mastery of his skill (the rank of Wizard [as earned by Inigo Montoya in William Goldman's action packed and extremely excellent book, "The Princess Bride", for swordsmanship] is near impossible to attain, and those that have would not call themselves Wizard Area Writers anyhow. Though Xueqin comes damn close with his intricate multi-zone loads and quests. o Five (ok, sometimes 4) to thirteen line room descriptions. Over thirteen and the screen totally just scrolls. o Avoid Duping, or bury them enough so that they are not noticeable. o Always have a plot/storyline or fantastic geography. o Forever have a rational explanation for mobs/items/or traps (which are awesome). o Attempt to use Mob_Distribution Rooms to make zones slightly different each repop. o Avoid using the same word within like a sentence of each other. o Always study others' zones, searching for their mistakes and/or things you can use to improve your own zones. o NEVER, except under extreme circumstances, use non-cardinal exits (ie. nw, sw, ne, se) as they annoy players. o Always place your color code (if using one) before the mandatory THREE-space indent before all Descriptions except room titles, which do not get indented (By now, you should know this). o Never use "I", "You", etc, in room descriptions, or mob/obj long descriptions. However, they can be used in Extra Room Descriptions, or obj/mob descriptions (The ones you see when you look at the mob/obj, not at the room). XXIII ________________________________________________________________________ .' The Table of Contents `. The Anteface (Sniktiorg) ....................................... XXIII Item Statistics and Guidelines (Thendar and Minimal Snikt) ....... 1 DIKU/Magma Color Codes (Thendar and Sniktiorg) ................... 4 Creating Ships/Vehicles (Version I by Veygoth) ................... 7 The Secret of Room Descriptions (Sniktiorg) ...................... 9 Improved !Show and Teleport Uses (Sniktiorg) ..................... 12 Tricks on Hindering Player Cheese-abuse (Sniktiorg) .............. 14 The Makings of a Portal (Sniktiorg) ............................ 15 The Basics of Random/Rare Load Grids (Amassed by Thendar/Snikt) .. 16 Adding a Pet Shop (Sniktiorg) .................................... 18 The Monsterous Compendium (Sniktiorg) ............................ 19 --- (The Following chapters, between these lines, are Unfinished) Maze Tricks and Techniques (Sniktiorg) ........................... Zone Creation Assistant (Sniktiorg) .............................. Hometowns and Small Waystation Hamlets (Thendar and Sniktiorg) ... Sample Traps for the Unwary (Sniktiorg) .......................... Creating Purely Life or Death Challenge Zones (Sniktiorg) ........ --- Ascii Art Templates (Sniktiorg) .................................. List of Commands Supported by DikuEdit (Tavril; edit by Snikt) ... ________________________________________________________________________ .'Item Statistics and Guidelines (Originally by Thendar, Altered by Snikt)`. At this time, we won't be adding more stoneskin eq, a buttload of max_con eq, etc. Please keep this in mind. I'd like to go back to pre-Shabboath equipment balance in the game. If you are using the newer editor please be conservative with the special bits. ATTRIBUTE BONUSES/PENALTIES: I'd like items to not boost a stat more than 1-3 for lower level equipment, 4-7 for higher. With very few exceptions, go over that with your own judgment. And remember, offsetting stuff with negatives doesn't necessarily make an item a bad piece of eq. I don't want any max_con, max_anything really in lowbie-mid level zones, unless there is a very special reason (explanation to be included within your .Txt file which should be included in zone submission). ARMOR VALUES: Below is a list of some standard ranges of AC values for the various equipment wear locations (that Veygoth wrote up). It's not really a rule that I'm going to check on each and every piece of equipment, but I don't want some magi having the wicked AC from hell either. "AC is based on the 100 to -100 point system. With a full suit of adamantine equipment of high quality, a player would have an unmodified AC of about -60. When dexterity bonuses, spell-ups, and silly magic earrings/rings are added, a player can easily get to -100." ______________________________________________________ | Location | Cloth | Leather | Steel | Mithril+ | |------------------------------------------------------| |Badge | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |Headwear | 1 | 3-4 | 7 | 9 | |Earrings/Tail | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |Eyes | 1 | 1-2 | 3 | 4 | |Face | 1 | 2-3 | 6 | 7-8 | |Neck | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |Body | 2-8 | 5-12 | 15-22 | 25-27 | |About Body/Cloak | 1-3 | 4-6 | 10 | 11-13 | |On Back | 1-2 | 2-3 | 5 | 6-7 | |Arms | 1-3 | 4-6 | 10 | 11-14 | |Wrist/Horn | 1-2 | 3-5 | 7 | 8-9 | |Gloves | 1 | 2-3 | 5 | 6-7 | |Finger | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |Waist | 1-2 | 2-3 | 5 | 6-7 | |Legs | 1-3 | 4-6 | 10 | 11-14 | |Feet | 1 | 2-3 | 5 | 6-7 | |Shield | 1-3 | 4-6 | 10 | 12-15 | `.----------------------------------------------------.' | Total Averages | 17-35 | 45-71 | 120 | 143-161 | `----------------------------------------------------' WEAPONS/DAMAGE/HIT: I'd like to keep the weapons, hit, and damage all relatively low on easy to obtain items. I don't see a need for an earring to give +3 dam unless it's magic, but I can see a spiked bracer inflicting some combat pain. I don't see any difference on these unless it's an artifact, in which case: .o. Talk to an Overlord about it. .o. Speak to Sniktiorg or Sarim, as they head the artifact research and development department. _________________________________________________________________________ | | Dice | Hit | Dam | Notes | |---------------------+------+------+--------+----------------------------| | 2h Sword, w/Proc | 5d5 | 6 | 6 | (Use the new !Dual flag) | | 2h Sword, !Proc | 6d6 | 6 | 6 | Lance/battleaxe/etc. | | 1h Sword | 4d5 | 5 | 4 | Sword/whip/whatever | | 1h Sword, !Dual | 5d6 | 5 | 5 | (Use the new !Dual flag) | | Piercing Shortsword | 3d6 | 4 | 5 | Remember, stab hurts. | | Dagger | 4d4 | 4 | 4 | (even with daggers) | `-------------------------------------------------------------------------' An example with a 2-handed sword would be: Newbie swords: 1d4 - 1d6 Okay swords: 2d6 - 3d4 Good swords: 4d4 - 4d7 Badass swords: 5d6 - 6d6 An example with a dagger would be: Newbie dagger: 1d3 - 1d5 Okay dagger: 2d4 - 3d3 Good dagger: 3d4 - 4d4 Badass dagger: 4d5 - 4d6 ARTIFACTS/UNIQUES: A unique is any weapon that has a perm_affect flag above 4th circle, procs (one or more; though rareload/quest items may also proc), and has hit dice that fall within the regular damage ranges for an item of that type. An artifact is an item that has all of the above and has stats that are greater than the maximum stats allowed normally for an item of that type. * Note: The more Perm_Affects or Procs an item has, the more chance it has of becoming an Artifact. Players may only wield one Artifact at a time, whereas they may have a few uniques at a time. SIZE/QUALITY/MATERIALS: Basically these all affect the price of an item when it is bought or sold. Perhaps, in the future, these things may change their usage. WEIGHT: This does matter. It makes a sword not dualable (about 20 Lbs, though the use of the !dual flag makes this nonessential), for instance. It makes players encumbered when they carry 32 sets of adamantine platemail, or not able to move at all! EXTRA BITS/FLAGS: At the risk of repeating myself, please don't add stoneskin eq, etc. If you absolutely think your zone NEEDS this item, explain why in the *.Txt file about your zone. However, it would be wise to consult an Overlord beforehand. TAKEABILITY OF OBJECTS: Make sure that all items meant to be taken by a PC are takeable. Quite often people will put items, which aren't worn by the mob but meant for PCs, in an inventory and forget to flag it takeable. People often forget to make keys takeable as well. ARTIFACTS: Artifacts should be hard to get, possibly through quest or some crack-maze zone filled with rabid demons from unmentionable planes of hell; well, the artifacts that contain flags such as haste, detect invis, mass invis, or any other crazy effects. A good idea for the artifact flag is use with named objects, such as A dagger named 'Silencer'. Hell, perhaps an item in a quest could be flagged as an artifact, making it all the harder to complete the quest as the first group would quickly find itself hunted by another group of would-be adventurers. Generally, big artifacts are most likely to be refused by the Overlords, as artifacts have a heavy effect on game balance. ITEM DESCRIPTIONS: Make sure that the objects' keywords match all signifiers in the objects' long description (the one shown to the room when the item is on the floor). All objects are to have a main description (mandatory of at least three to four lines of text), you can add extra item descriptions if you like (though optional it can cause a nifty effect, such as a rope and bucket in a well, all three can have their own descriptions improving the zone's look overall. Or, to cite an example from my Kyderach Province, there is an herb found in the northern forests. You can look at the plant itself, and then at the buds that grow upon it). INDENTING AND CAPITALIZATION: Ok, listen well, cause most people really FUBAR this one. Indent all your descriptions by three spaces on the first line. Not one space, not four, nor even more. Exactly three. Also, place the Diku/Magma color codes before the indent or you will negate it. Proper names are to be capitalized. Titles are a bit different, only the words with any real significance get capitalized, the linking words (such as the, with, by, near, in, a, or, etc) remain in lowercase. Also, you do not indent titles. Please for the love of Gawd, if you respect yourself and your art, don't forget this lesson. ________________________________________________________________________ .' DIKU/Magma Color Code (by Thendar and Sniktiorg) `. DIKU/MAGMA COLOR CODES: With the exception of black, the color code system is simple to understand. In a nutshell; the case of the first letter of the color preceded by &+ will dictate the color printed on the screen. &+R would be bright red, while the &n&+r (&n turns off the color's high-bit, basically returning it to the darker shades of the spectrum. Veygoth has assured me that it is no longer required, however using the &n before a dark color prevents any chance of color bleed, through code or some other such crapola. Actually, aside from being a habit from my Duris days, its sort of a signature. The mark of an artist, the small touch that differentiates a master from a journeyman. There are 4 types of ANSI control sequences: (Thendar Briefly) &| - Reset everything, back to 'n'ormal (PC default color on black). This can also be done for every newline, to eliminate 'bleed- through' colors, though its only truly needed if the last color on the preceding line has its High Bit engaged. &+ - Set foreground color. If the color letter is uppercase, the high-bit (bright/light) is also set (and will STAY set) until an &n is done. &- - Set background color. If the color letter is uppercase, the BLINK bit will be set (same as for &+ above). &= - set both background and foreground color, exactly the same restrictions as for setting foreground and background separately. ____________________________________________________________________ | Current Color Code Seqences, For Some Reason Pre-Win ANSI Only Has | | but 8 or 15 Colors. Most Programmers are Very short-sighted. | |____________________________________________________________________| | &n&+r D. Red |&n&+b D. Blue |&n&+c D. Cyan |&n&+y Brown | | &+R B. Red |&+B B. Blue |&+C B. Cyan |&+Y Yellow | | &n&+g D. Green |&n&+m D. Purple |&n&+w L. Grey |&n&+l Invis_Black | | &+G B. Green |&+M B. Purple |&+W White |&+L Dark Grey | `--------------------------------------------------------------------' COLORATION AND MOOD CONSTRUCTION: Color can have an intense affect on a zone's overall mood. Generally each person develops their own palette ideas, however, I will explain a few techniques that I (as well as Beretorn and some others) use or have used that seem to look pretty decent. Well to my poor eyes, anyhows. Room descriptions can come in any available color, obviously, however in the short time I have been doing this, I have found but a few suitable base tints which seem to hold the best effects. First, one has to decide the amount of light that illuminates the room, as well as the type of terrain you are using. I prefer to use Black (Pardon, Dark Grey) as my principle color, being that it allows me to use the remaining colors to better accent my descriptions. This is not to say black is the end all, be all, of choices. Mountains, hills, and such, I ussually color with a brown base (as well as those forests that are lit by some sort of light or that are meant to lend a feeling of calm or serenity). Prairies, grasslands, and some forests I will use either dark or light green (dark green works best) as my description background color, to give the feel of being at one of these spots. In the Underdark, it is prevelent to see rooms and their titles done complete with dark maroon tones. This is a vestigial remain from Duris and the more primitive muds. I tend to keep the purple when highlighting words such as tunnel, wall, stalactite, stalagmite, etc. For the rest I rely on my trusty black. Afterall, it is the underdark, and without sun, blackness would seem to be a major factor. That and the fact that large amounts of magenta tends toward a guady 1973-1977ev appearance. Again, this is my technique. Don't take this as law. I never mixed cyans and magentas until I met Thendar, now I find the combination to be useful in certain situations. Steal with your eyes, taking what you can use and leaving what you cannot; learn whatever you can to improve your skills. Unfortunately to writers, until the players map a zone or discover some crazy EXP/EQ they will generally enter zones they are dragged to or that look amazing. So in the beginning, any areas you write will be mostly for yourself and the friends you bring there. I say this for but one reason (and I am damn guilty of doing it in my Duris days), cranking out mediocrity for the sake of having your name in the list of Writers just lowers your reputation, and will eventually begin to bother you as you realize how much better you could have done. COLOR BLENDING TECHNIQUES: Being there are but fifteen actual colors to choose from, one finds oneself often at a loss for which hue to use on which word, etc. That's where the following systems come in handy. Two-tone schemes are the most used, as they tend not to look too overdone. One can do this a few ways, here are but two: Divide the colors by the syllables within the word, or by arbitrarily choosing a place which seems most pleasing to the eye. This can be improved upon to form such things as my Rakropolis Forest, or the colors of my newer water supplies. Simply, before I attempt to define it, all one does is pick two colors (for now we shall call them 1 an 2, while letters shall be represented by X's) and follow this procedure: 1XX2X1X2XX1X2X1XX, etc. or 1X2XX1X2X1XX2X1X2XX, etc. Improv, be creative and discover you might be a hidden Van Gogh. Below, I give an example of how I do my forest (Note - Cut and Paste helps sometimes with this). &n&+gFo&+Gr&n&+ge&+Gst&n (note the color-reset &n) That would show up as the word forest written as if the leaves of the trees were casting shadows as you looked upon them. I do this simply. I start out with one color, use that color for 2 letters, then the second color for one letter. Back to the first color, but this time but one letter while the other color is promoted to two letters. I repeat this pattern until the end of the word. Experiment, you will find some neat color combinations, such as white and either cyan (or bright blue for that matter) which forms a nice ice/glacial pattern. Typically I use an alternation between dark and light cyan for words that signify water, and I build most of my zones on a dark grey lettering, unless in a forest (during daylight or when I want a safer looking feeling) or desert (brown), air (bright cyan), or in water (bright blue; sometimes dark blue to denote deeper waters). I'm not suggesting this for everyone, I just find it gives the area an eerie look. Oh, one last thing, unless used in an ascii image (such as some of those to be found in this guide later), try not to change the background colors, it really makes a zone look poor. Another good idea is to look at the color DE uses for your obj's material when making one, so that a mithril sword is the same color as mithril. Though I admit some-times its best to go with one's own judgement. Also, when possible use the same color for certain words within your zone (ie. all the words 'female' could be light cyan, or whatever. This lends your zone an overall appearance of unity. Again, maybe only drow females are done in light cyan, while duergar females are done in dark cyan. The possibilities are endless). COLORATION WARNINGS/ADVICE: Unless you are very talented, the combination of red and green lends a heavy atmosphere of Christ-Mass, which if yer into that, cool, otherwise it can look sorta silly, IMHO. Another, miniscule point, try not to abuse yellow, white, or dark blue, as they strain the eyes. Generally I'll only use yellow to represent gold, blonde hair, or objects like straw. White on the other hand, I'll use on such things as books, paper, or creatures that you're constantly scanning for either because they are guards or beings like Euronymous from The Domain of Lost Souls Castle. ________________________________________________________________________ .' Creating Ships and Vehicles (Version I) by Veygoth (Almost Verbatim) `. With the addition of the ship/vehicle values to DE should come some form of explanation. Here's my first attempt. As always, if you're not clear on how something works, or whether it will fit into the game theme, ask! Ship code is not finalized and things are subject to change, so always make sure you have the most recent version of this guide. It can be found at http://basternae.venom.org/builders.html ____________________________________________________________________________ | The ship and vehicle values mean the following: | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Vnum of Key: This is the vnum of the key required to be | | considered the "owner" of the boat. This should | | correspond the the vnum of any keys needed to | | get into the ship (i.e. a locked door in the entry | | room if any) Leave zero if no key is required to | | board and operate the ship. If you want nobody to | | be able to operate the ship, just create a key that | | doesn't load and set the value to that key. | | Vnum of Boarding Rm: This is the room that someone will end up in when | | they board the ship or vehicle. Essentially the | | starting room and the room from which they can dis- | | embark. | | Vnum of Control Rm: This is the vnum of the room where the control panel | | displaying things like hull points, speed, direction, | | and firepower is located, and also the only room from | | which the room can be controlled. If you don't want | | anyone to be able to look at a control panel, leave | | this set to zero. | | Maximum Occupants: The maximum number of people that can be on the ship | | at the same time. | | Max Speed: The maximum speed of the ship in a range of 1 to 100. | | If set at zero the ship cannot move. Your average | | frigate should move at about 40-50. Canoe-caliber | | boats should be 10-20 and fast galleons should be 60- | | 80. | | Hull Points: Essentially the hitpoints of the ship. A standard | | canoe or raft has 100, a sloop has 500, a frigate has | | 1000, and a galleon 1500. Things with 10000 should | | be the size of small planets. | | Firepower: The maximum number of hull points damage that can be | | done in a round of ship combat (if everything hits | | for full damage). Set depending upon how heavily | | armed the ship should be. Some good values are 50 | | for sloops, 100 for frigates, and 150 for galleons. | | Things with 500 should be able to take out small | | planets. | | Mv Script Number: This corresponds to the movement script for the ship. | | If you want automated ship movement (usually used | | when the "vnum of key" value is set to a key that | | doesn't load), you assign it here. Just make it a | | non-zero number so we know there is a script writ. | | If you are really smooth you'd ask Veygoth what the | | next available ship script number was before filling | | this out. | `----------------------------------------------------------------------------' Creating Movement Scripts: -------------------------- Basically, create a text file in notepad (Eeew! Damn Microsoft!) that looks something like this: nnn...eeeeeesssesese........swswswswswswswwwwwww...neeeeeennneee 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � The characters usable in the script: � 쳐컴컴컫컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � n � Move ship north � � w � Move ship west � � e � Move ship east � � s � Move ship south � � u � Move ship up (Probably only good for vehicles, as water � � d � Move ship down tends to be rough, true, but flat.) � � . � Pause until next game hour � 읕컴컴컨컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� Save it as something like Movement_Script_1.txt (or _MvS1.TXT, something that would indicate just what the hell it is) and include the file when you send your zone. The mud will read this file when it boots and move the ship according to the pattern. ________________________________________________________________________ .' The Secret of Room Descriptions (Sniktiorg) `. As a writer I know the doldrums of trying to come up with distinct room descriptions for every room in my zones. Finding myself relying on silly cop-outs such as dripping water, messages scrawled on walls, a pool of red or yellow liquid, a pile of bones, scratches in the walls, collapsed tunnel shafts, algae, fungi, slime, and all sorts of stuff that just keeps popping up in different sentences throughout my zones Let's face it, a tunnel has much the same features (except perhaps to a geologist) throughout its entire course. How many ways can you describe the same thing. I wrote like 150 forest rooms, all individual, within my Kyderach Province, and let me tell you, it was no cherry of a virgin. So, here's a little trick I developed way back in my Duris days, though I have improved upon it some. Its a very simple principle really, just try and grok. HIDING DUPED ROOMS: Put to case you have a tunnel that is 20 rooms long, all writhen and lined with various underdark-cave crapola. Now, take 20 and divide that by let's say 5. So, you need write but 4 room descriptions instead of 20. Now, write your first room description, leaving out all color codes and avoiding mention of exits. If you can, put a return between each of the sentences. Save this file as Diku.tmp then assemble the sentences into a normal paragraph and add in the color codes (however, don't yet mention any exits). Save this version to the file Dikux.tmp for use later. This done, add in the references to where the exits lie, etc. Save this file as Dikued.tmp so as to replace your current room (this is important). Walk 4 rooms down the tunnel, edit the room description, load Dikux.tmp and add this room's exits to the text. Once again, save this as Dikued.tmp to replace your current room descript. Do this until five of the twenty rooms are complete. Repeat this process 3 more times, for the remaining rooms, with but one alteration. Remember Diku.Tmp? Well, load her up and alter some words, sentence placement, and now u have your second/third/or fourth room descrip- tion. As the room descriptions are not bunched too close to each other, it should give the illusion of actual writing. You can theoretically use this technique in a few variations, such as increasing number of different descriptions or even attempting to create all 20 rooms from the sentences in Diku.tmp. Either way, though it detracts slightly from zone quality it most definately speeds up production. For added spunk, change the colors of the words you choose to highlight, or even color different words. (Sidebar - A stalagmite climbs up from the floor, and a stalactite hangs from the ceiling. It takes about one-hundred years for a single inch of limestone to add to the size of these formations. This is a good thing to know when you are telling the age of a cavern covered with either of these stone knives). GRIDS AND DUPING: In grids, there are two ways of duping I have developed. If the grid is of a circular/square shape, you would use the above technique in concentric loops toward the grid's center. Each loop should describe the grid from its placement in the cavern/chamber/etc. If the grid is longer in one direction than the other, just divide the overall grid into 3 to X times and use the G-14 Classified Dupe technique to define each section from its position as you move down the cavern. Honestly, grids are about the only time I dupe any more. As is a 5 by 5 grid is some 25 rooms. Screw that. Bad enough doing a hundred forestal paths. At least the path turns and has trees, ivy, roots, stones, dirt, ferns, etc. A 25-foot cubed room looks much the same from all over the place. (Oh yes, another sidebar - Though duped rooms are considered in poor taste, they can be used to your advantage. For example, in mazes, duped rooms can be used to confuse players and keep them lost for hours. Cackle. Also, one could create 3 duped mobs all of different levels and abilities, so as to make players think twice about who they attack, while helping trophy.) EXTRA ROOM DESCRIPTIONS: Though Thendar is quite right that these are really not needed, they can be used to great benefit for the writer. Why write all these room descriptions if every Jobu, Dauwod, and Grizzl is gunna run around with brief on? Well, use extra room descriptions. Describe statues that hold secret quest words, or draw maps on walls in mazes (nice trick, as unless you read the room you will remain lost in the maze and you dont waste a noshow obj doing the same thing). Run out of things to say in your standard room description? Hell, put the phrase "Someone has scribbled a &+Cmessage&n upon the wall." within the room description, then make an extra description with all the codes to Rouge Squadron(tm) like I did in the caves of the Kyderach Province. Shite, quote a song, ramble at the player, tell a joke, who cares, you just filled a line in your room's long descript. Aside from items, this is the only place one is allowed to directly address the PC, as to do so in a normal room description would make it look odd when someone casts a spell like clair or wizard eye, or whatever farseeing spells we have now. GENERAL ROOM IDEAS: The easiest way to write a room description is to close yer eyes and just think about what you imagine there. What do you see? Is the skull on the mantle or the desk? What's it smell like? Is the air moist, dusty, moldy, dry, hot, etc? What furniture is in the room? Well, that can very much depend on who's room it is. Firb Derstl for instance, Burrow Warden of the Dirk'nspire Stronghold, has a desk, some maps, a duty roster, chair, strong- box, etc. While one of my ogryn homes in my Kardis mini-zone has but a head- less corpse, some bloodstains, cracked plaster, and wood rafters under a leaking thatch roof. Use your five senses! Sight, Scent, Hearing (Oh, shite was that the roar of the enigmatic Jade Monkey?), touch, taste (if you can work it in somehow, without using "I" or "you", which can be done easily by substituting the words "one" or "someone"). DEFAULT ROOMS AND EXITS: Tired of having to add those exit messages to every room? Most area penmen know about the command 'edit defroom', a feature which allows you to walk and create your zone with very duped room names, though its nice for quickly setting an area with the proper flags, etc. It is advisable that afterwards, you walk your newly plotted area and edit room titles here and there to include turns, cliffs, or any other such landmarks. However, not many know about the command 'Edit Defexit', which is basically the same as 'edit defroom' designed to work for exits. Look how you can set that exit message and not have to worry about doing it manually or, as I used to, go through the *.Wld file and add them that way. You can use this to set doors, arches, and standard passages. Nice time saver, and it lends the zone more class. I mean hey, the more effort you put into a zone the better it will look and be recieved by the players. You might also want to use the 'alias' command as you will find yerself using these funtions a lot. I ussually set my alias' as: Alias co Createedit Obj Alias cm Createedit Mob Alias edr Edit Defroom Alias edx Edit Defexit Remember, default rooms and exits create files in your zone directory, so delete them before sending it all up to Thendar, as she surely doesn't need them. ________________________________________________________________________ .' Improved !Show and Teleport Uses (Sniktiorg) `. One great improvement that Basternae has made over Duris lies within the code of the !show and Teleport Obj/Functions. !SHOW OBJECTS: On Duris (If you never heard of it, you aren't missing much) when one were to pull an item from a !show obj, it would say "Juboo gets a bone from some- thing.", while Basternae actually says "Tarlith grabs a tome from the case." This allows for a more realistic look, as I'm sure if I grab something from someplace I should damn well know what I'm reaching into. One can use this for crevices in rockfaces, bookshelves, lockers, small tables, iceboxes, secluded hiding places in a thieves den, etc. A grand tool for use in long quests, or short ones. A word to the wise, once a PC learns to complete a mini-quest, they tend to abuse it for its simplicity and easier access to whatever items may be involved, thus its better for use in longer quests. TELEPORTATION OBJECTS: Items set as Teleport have too been changed. When you type 'Climb Rope' it now says 'You climb '. What this means to you as a writer is this: obj's that use words like climb or cut or something similar, it would be wise to make the obj short name fit the phrase. For example, name the rope 'up the &n&+yrope&n through the &n&+mceiling&n' so as the player sees 'You climb up the rope through the ceiling.' This is better than the older 'Soder disappears.' or the stupid 'Soder enters from somewhere.' messages that would appear upon this object_type's use. ENTERABLE/DRINKABLE WATERFALLS: Ok, how do you set an item to be two different items, both a fountain and a teleporter? Well, quite honestly you can't. But you can cheat a little. Create two objs, one of which is !show. Make the waterfall a teleporter, set to teleport to the room directly behind the falls (which should be set to silent as the echo of the descending water would drown out the room in noise), and [if it is !show, make its long descript say something like "Type 'Enter Waterfall' to pass by." or whatever] make its keywords simply falls, waterfall, and maybe like cave, crevice, or tunnel depending. There's half the project. Next make your second obj, the fountain, into a pool. This item should be visible, and its long description should read "A waterfall collects in a small pool, here." or something to that effect. Set the pool's keywords to water pond pool (as long as niether obj shares keywords). This effectively creates a drinking pool at the base of a waterfall, and both items appear as one, so unless you read the room (or this guide) you will think that it is a simple pool for adventurers to drink. As an aside, the reason you set the first keyword of a Drink Container to its liquid, is that the code does this often: Gilgarus fills his with from the . So if my fountain's first keyword is fountain, it would say: Gilgarus fills his skin with fountain from the ivory fountain. Grok? Maybe Veygoth altered it so that it just uses the liquid type assigned instead of the first keyword, but never hurts to be on the side of caution. By the way, this waterfall trick can be converted to wells and other such things. ________________________________________________________________________ .' Tips on Hindering Player Cheese-abuse (Sniktiorg) `. As is human nature (when unmastered by self-will), most players will abuse anything they can. Partially because it either gives them a false sense of self-importance, or because they get tired sitting around killing the same mobs. Even different mobs can feel like every other spider or troll, myconid, etc. So, here are some tips on preventing PC's from abusing an oversight on your part, turning your big bad creature into a rather simple mob to kill. (Some of this you may already know, but for the benefit of those who don't, here it is.) NO LURE/RANGE/GANG-SLAUGHTER DESIGN: Okay, lets say you make a Guardian Ice Giant that holds the key to Valhala, but you don't want the mob cheesed by casters or four tanks, etc. Well, you can do this two ways, even combining the two will work; though you should keep in mind not to make the ice giant into superman. First, you can set the mob's affect flags (well in an ice giant's case fireshield or any other heat generating affect would not fit the mob so should be avoided). Giants are anywhere from normal speed to slow, because of their heights and dimwits they can/don't need the slowness flag). This is one way to make hir tougher, aside from adding +1 to hir size. However, this doesn't make it too dangerous for the group who is adventuring his lair. What else, you ask? Try this: 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� | <- Entrance to � Key to Ambush Grid � Door to ,----#--+ Death Zone 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� Cellar #--| @<- Giant � + Junction � |__; with � | North/South Hall� Key � -- East/West Hall � � # Door � Note: This is a simplistic map designed � @ Mob � to demonstrate the following area 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� design principles. Ok, here's the *.WLD file portion of this obstacle (this can be combined with the mob statting that precedes this for an even harsher effect). DE allows many room flags that, when used correctly, can make life trying for players and thusly increases the rush of reward when the trial is complete. Down to the nitty-gritty. First thing you need to decide is how tough do you want the mob to be to kill. The tougher you want it, the more room flags you will use. Just as a reminder, these are some (not all) of the qualities of the room flags vital to this project. 旼컴컴컴컴쩡컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � Tunnel 쳐 Cannot enter room while mounted. This also happens with 캑 쳐컴컴컴컴� the Inside flag as well, I believe. Sucks for Anti's. � � Single- 쳐 Only one creature can move at a time, depending on there 캑 � File � position in the room. This is useful when you want to � � � limit possible PC tanks to two at most (one on each side � 쳐컴컴컴컴� of the mob) as well as inhibit casting by mages. � � Block 쳐 Self-explanatory. Prevents PCs from looking ahead a room 캑 � Farsee/ � at a time to prepare themselves. Basternae also now has � � Scan � a block scan feature which not only blocks scanning but, � 쳐컴컴컴컴� I think, it also prevents luring with ranged items/spells. � � Dark, 쳐 Useful in different circumstances. Twilight is nice to 캑 � Light, � use for an area where you would like both sides of the race � � Twilight� wars to hold small battles with each other. Light and � � (Magic &� Dark (both magical or non-magical) can hinder races that � � Normal)� do not see under either condition, effectively blinding � 쳐컴컴컴컴� them and decreasing their chance to hit their target. � � !Summon 쳐 Keeps PCs from summoning mobs or other PCs from the room. 캑 쳐컴컴컴컴� � � !Magic 쳐 Prevents all forms of magic, except I believe psionics, 캑 쳐컴컴컴컴� which has its own flag. � � !Heal/ 쳐 Either promotes or hinders healing, this can be used to 캑 � Heal � your advantage well. (See Below) � 쳐컴컴컴컴� � � !Well, 쳐 Prevents unwanted visitors, friend or foe. This is used 캑 � !Portal,� mostly in High Level Zones, or those zones that have some � � !Rift � sort of explanation why they are set. � 쳐컴컴컴컴� � �!Precip- 쳐 Stops all weather messages no matter the terrain setting, 캑 � itation � good for niches beneath trees, caves, rock overhangs, etc. � 읕컴컴컴컴좔컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� Okay, to begin with (using the map above) everything left of the northern door is flagged !Magic, Dark, !Heal, Tunnel, !Farsee, !Scan, Single-File, !Magic (Don't need healers making things easy), !Summon/Well/Portal, and perhaps the northern door needs another key to get out of the death hall. Place the Giant well at the back of the tunnel and make him sentinal, so he wont track the players to an easier terrain. Also, set his room, and only his room to heal. This gives him a hell of an advantage, especially if he is a warrior or rogue, as the area is no magic, so only healing potions will be of use. To be extremely rude, you can make a few portals in the hallway, one which leads to the giant (2 or so uses before it cakes) while the other portals take the splintering group to differnt places, from which they must search out the giant's chamber again. This trick forces larger parties to split for a bit so that they can't just all bum rush him (though with single- file and tunnel set, they can't really jump him at once). Hell, you can even use MOBProgs (explained by Ski, elsewhere) to add some neat little surprise. Let your imagination run wild. ________________________________________________________________________ .' Makings of a Portal (Coded and Written by Sniktiorg) `. When defining a portal in DikuEdit, set Value4 to the following to get the desired results: 0 -- Standard Portal (No Frills) 1 -- Wormhole Effect (Plus Stumble) 2 -- Moonwell Effect (Wades & Flash) To add a message which the players see when going through the portal, add an extra description with _portal_ as its keyword. ________________________________________________________________________ .' The Basics of Random/Rare Load Grids (Amassed by Thendar/Snikt) `. Example 1: Rare Load Equipment and Random Load Location. (Vecna's) 6 Grid | 1: The initial load room Ali loads in. I 4 2: Ali's exit path for item #1 | 3: Ali's exit path for item #2 6 - 5 - 1 - 3 - 6 4: Ali's exit path for item #3 | 5: Ali's exit path for item #4 2 6: Ali's loading grid, one way out... | 7: Exit to crypt #1 6 8: Exit to crypt #2 9: Exit to crypt #3 Grid 7 11 10: Exit to crypt #4 II |/ 11: Exit to load location #5 8 - 6 - 9 12: Exit to load location #6 |\ 10 12 This is actually the best load method I've seen to do random equipment with. The mob starts at 1, and has 4 one-way exits to the equipment (the mob is !sentinel and scavenger). From those equipment rooms, it goes to room 6, which has exits out into the zone. There are 6 different places in the zone for it to load. This grid is basically 25% chance of loading different equipment, and 100% chance of loading the mob. If you added dead ends from room 6, you would get less than 100% load for the mobs. If you only had eq in room 2, but not 3, 4, or 5, you'd have a 25% load for eq. Example 2: A Simple Rare Load Mob Grid. 2 | 1: The mob starts here, and is !sentinel. 2--1--2 2: Mob trap room, has no exits. | 3: Mob load out to zone. 3 | zone This is a very simple grid, it can be elaborated on I just made it easy for the sake of explanation. Basically the more chances of the mob being trapped, the more rare the mob is. This is a common technique not just for big equip, but for more inventive stuff such as pieces of a quest, etc. Example 3: Hack n' Slash Loads Basically, from one mob load room, you have the one way exits: u, d, n, ne, e, se, s, sw, w, nw. From these, there are trap rooms, or more grids (or a loop back to the grid). Mobs in this grid will load very rarely, but always have the equipment they are known for (ie, "Jalharoth, Angel of Death" in Mansion would always load with the blade of heaven). Example 4: Quests Over Many Different Zones (Xueqin Created this if I am correct. Snikt.) 5 1: The mob starts here, and is !sentinel. | 2: Mob loads in zone #1. 2 - 1 - 4 3: Mob loads in zone #2. | 4: Mob loads in zone #3. 3 5: Mob loads in zone #4. This is a very simplified grid that I've seen Xueqin use, cause he rules. Never really thought of it. Basically, if you want items or mobs in zones other than your own, for a quest in your zone, you can have them load in zones, beside the zone they belong to, while still very much a part of your area. This grid would have a lot of trap rooms, to make the occurances of these rare mobs very uncommon. ________________________________________________________________________ .' Adding a Pet Shop (Sniktiorg) `. Ever been playing in those early hours of the night and wished you could buy a slave to tank for you? Or perhaps yer running across the continent trying to get from Stormport to the Phoenix River and you can't find a good mount shop anywhere? Here's how to add one to your zones. First set up two rooms, their vnums must run consecutively (ie. rm 1 and rm 2). Flag the first room as a petshop, put in a mob for your shopkeep (though the shop is based on a rm flag, not on the mob like an obj shop), and delete the exit from this room into room 2. Room 2 is the, for lack of a better term, corral. This room holds the animals, slaves, mounts, et al that the shop will be selling. You can leave the exit connecting this room with the shop as it doesn't matter, you only deleted the other side as you don't want players wandering into this room and fubaring your operation. This room you flag as !Summon, !Teleport, and !Well/Portal/Etc; this is to ensure, once again, that nobody wanders onto your premises and fiddles with the farm animals. Its a good idea to flag the pets as Sentinal, so they don't wander out of the corral and into the shop. If a mob leaves the corral, the shop ceases to carry that animal. You can use this to your advantage if you want, by making a room off the corral. Then delete the exit into the main shop and leave off the sentinal flags on the mobs. As the mobs wander back and forth between the rooms, the shops inventory will change. While a mob is in the corral room, the shop will carry an infinite supply of said mob. The price of the animals is set by the code; which takes into account the level of the mob and what flags you have set on it. Needless to say, the more you add, the more the code will add. ________________________________________________________________________ .' The Monsterous Compendium (Veygoth/Sniktiorg) `. Though DikuEdit will not recognize them (They will show up as unrecognized species), the following mob races have been added and will be recognized by the MUD: Werewolf LW Half-Dwarf D2 Half-Kobold K2 Kobold K Hobgoblin HG Rat AR Goblin GO Faerie FF Object O Mist M Worm AW Hydra DH God GD Harpy HP Bear AB Bat BB Plant VP Neogi NE Flind FL Rust Monster RM If you would like more races added, just talk to an Immortal and we can work something out. (As a side note, our current Dikuedit doesn't handle making quests very well. If you want to add a quest to your zone, just put the mob and obj vnums and the explanation of the quest in the *.txt file that you submit along with your completed zone. ________________________________________________________________________ .' Ascii Art Templates (Sniktiorg) `. Edict-Contract --.. ______________________________ | | | | | | > | | | | | ) | | < | | > ____ | | | | | | | | | > | | | > | | | |__| |______/\____________/\| | /\ | |/ \| Book Cover --.. (Make Keywords at least: Book, Cover, Tome, ) __ _______________________ |==| | | : | |==. | | Book Title | | | | . | | : | | | | |==|-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-| | . Author | |==:=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=| | | Type Read <p# or #> | |__|_______________________| Book Inside --.. (Extra Descript Keywords should be p# and #; # being the page #) __________________________ __________________________ | ,-----------------------.|,-----------------------. | ||| | ||| ||| | ||| ||| | ||| ||| | ||| ||| | ||| ||| | ||| ||| | ||| ||| | ||| ||| | ||| ||| -#- | -#- ||| |||_______________________.|._______________________||| |__________________________|__________________________| Crossroad Sign --.. (You can shift the palnks left or right for a different effect) __ |##| ,---------------------. | This Way or --> | `---------------------' |##| ,-----------------. | <-- That Way! | `-----------------' |##|,--._ __,--.__,".__|#/" "---._______ Posted Sign --.. (Fiddle with it for some more shapes of posted signs.) ,--. __________ |- `-' ---.. - `-----. |. ---.. .- -.--- | `-. ----- .. | | -.. . ---- .---' | --- ---.. ,---' `--.__ --- | `-----' Dual Post Sign --.. (The holes in the wood can be moved around for better effects.) _ _ |#| |#| ,-----._ ,---------.____; `-. ) o _ | | (_) | `\_.-, ,' | ,--' ,' ( | | | /---' `-----------'|#| |#| |#| |#| |#| Single Post Sign --.. ______________ _________ | `' | | ,' `-. |_ | (Use SOME Creativity) | | ( ) _, | ___________,--' `-------' |###| |###| Shop Shingles (East or West/Left or Right, your choice, same thing.) --.. |___________==_____________________________==______ |___________||_____________________________||______| | == == | || || | == == | ,-||-----------------------------||---. | | == == | | | | | | | | | <Draw picture here, or write up | | | an all word sign.> | | | | | `-------------------------------------' ________==_____________________________==____________| |________||_____________________________||____________| == == | || || | == == | ,-||-----------------------------||---. | | == == | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | `-------------------------------------' | Map --.. (NOTE: I left the map as it appears in my zone so you can figure out how to draw your own maps. DO NOT use this particular map in any of your zones, only the paper outline and general map key. - Sniktiorg) _____ ________________ ________________ ___ | `' .-> U " | <--- To Cave`~' `.,--. | Mappe by | | .--| .--{}<-. | | Nute Fude Brash | | `--' {} |-- Ravine | | `--' ,--{}<-' | ) W. Tower ---> U-#--. |_ U Staircase | | .--' `-#-. _| |_ 0 Entrance to < | Pagan ---> `.___,-U' | (0____) Sewers | | Garden `--#-U | # Door/Obstacle| `. ___ . | | ( | ( _) /|\ .-U ,--. # <--- Hobbled | | (_) + | | | # | Wagon | .' O North `--#--' |--' | | o + | .--. | | | `--' |<--- To Kyder | `.________,^.___________________,----^--.__________| Simple Stone Signs --.. _______________________________________________ | . .___________________________________. . | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | . .___________________________________. . | `-----------------------------------------------' __________________________________ | . ..______________________.. . | | Pick and Piddle Portal | | East ---------> | | | | The Eat and Go Washroom | | <--------- West | | . ..______________________.. . | `----------------------------------' (If you can't use these as building blocks for greater things in your own zones, then you should resign zone creation and pick up some- thing more your speed, like knitting. Sniktiorg) ________________________________________________________________________ .' List of Commands Supported By DikuEdit `. GENERAL COMMANDS: Create - takes at least one argument, with the format "create <room|object|mob|exit> [vnum/exit direction]" - creates one of the specified entity. Vnum can be specified, as can exit direction for exits. Edit - takes at least one argument, with the format "edit <room|object|mob|quest|shop|exit|zone|defroom| defobj|defmob|defexit|desc|keyword> [vnum/exit dir]" - edits an entity specified by vnum (or keyword for objs/ mobs in the room, direction for exits). Default rooms/objs/mobs/exits detailed below CreateEdit - takes at least one argument, with the format "createedit <room|object|mob|exit> [vnum/exit direction]" (exit direction required for exits) - creates an entity and edits it in one command Check - takes no arguments - checks entities for common mistakes, such as missing descs, doors with no keywords, etc. all check settings are toggleable from CHECKCONFIG. Delete - takes at least one argument, with the format "delete <room|exit|object|mob|quest|shop|objhere/oh| mobhere/mh|defroom|defobj|defmob|defexit> [vnum/exit direction]" (exit direction required for exits, no vnum for default room/obj/mob/exit) - deletes an entity of the specified type Load - takes two arguments, with the format "load <object|mob> <vnum>" - creates an object/mobHere in the current room with the specified vnum Clone - takes three arguments, with the format "clone <room|object|mob> <vnum> [# to clone]" - clones room/objtype/mobtypes <# to clone> times, copying all attributes of the cloned entity - if the last argument is left out, one clone is made Purge - takes up to one argument, with the format "purge <vnum|keyword|all|allobj|allmob|inv>" - purges obj/mobHeres when a vnum or keyword is specified, "all" deletes all objects and mobs in the zone, "allobj" and "allmob" delete all objects/mobs, "inv" deletes everything in your inventory - if no argument is specified, deletes all objects and mobs in current room Copy - takes at least three arguments, with the format "copy desc <room|mob> <source vnum> [dest vnum]" or "copy default <room|object|mob|exit> [source vnum/exit]" "desc" copies the description of a room/mob to a target room/mob. When copying roomdescs and leaving out dest vnum, the current room is assumed as the destination. "default" copies the attributes of a room/object/mob/exit to the target default room/object/mob/exit. Leaving out the vnum for a source room copies the current room, and exits require a source direction, not a source vnum. For instance, typing 'copy def object 1453' would copy the attributes of object 1453 into the default object (defaults covered below). MassSet - takes three arguments, with the format "massset <room|obj|mob> <flagname> <on/1|off/0>" this command turns a particular flag on or off for every room, obj, or mob. for instance, typing "massset room safe off" would turn the SAFE bit off in every room in the zone. SetRandom/ - takes two arguments, with the format "random Random <keyword of mob/obj to change> <random %age>" this command sets the percentage a particular object or mob has to load into the zone, from 1-100%. this can only be used on object/mobHeres, and not types themselves ZONE-RELATED COMMANDS: SetZoneNumber/ - takes one argument, with the format SZN "szn <zonenumb>" - sets all the internal zone flags in .WLD and zone number flag in the .ZON to number specified in zonenumb (note that this can also be done from the "edit zone" menu) ReNumber - can take one argument, with the format "ren [start vnum]" - if no argument is specified, rooms/objs/mobs are renumbered from lowest vnum in list, and gaps in numbering are removed. if an argument is specified, rooms/objs/mobs are renumbered starting at number specified. ReNumberRooms/ - exactly like the 'RENUMBER' command, except that ReNRooms only rooms are renumbered ReNumberObjects/- exactly like the 'RENUMBER' command, except that ReNObjects only objects are renumbered ReNumberMobs/ - exactly like the 'RENUMBER' command, except that ReNMobs only mobs are renumbered (imagine that) Limit - takes three arguments, with the format "limit <obj|mob> <vnum> <limit>" - use this command to override the limit dikuEdit automatically writes to the .ZON file for an object/mob type - can also be used for objects/mobs not in the .OBJ/.MOB file, btw ROOM/EXIT COMMAND(S): Grid - takes up to three arguments, with the format "grid <x size> <y size> [z size]" - creates a grid of rooms, all interconnected, with the specified size. if a default room and/or default exit are defined, they are copied in, so that you can make a large forest with a simple grid command, or hey, even a large desert. it's all up to you, the zone creator. LinkRooms - takes up to two arguments, with the format "linkrooms <room1> [room2] <exit dir>" - creates an exit leading from room1 to room2 in the direction specified and an exit leading from room2 to room1 in the opposite direction. if the room2 argument is left out, room1 is assumed to be the current room and the number entered as the first argument is assumed to be the destination room. (i.e. typing 'linkrooms 3993 nw' from room #3990 would create an exit in room #3990 to the northwest leading to 3993, and an exit in #3993 leading southeast to room #3990. simple eh?) CheckMap - checks a map for 'mapness'.. if you know how maps are set up, it makes sense SwapExits - takes two arguments, with the format "swapexits <exit dir1> <exit dir2>" - this command simply swaps the two exits specified (can also swap exits that don't exist with those that do) SwapNS - takes no arguments - swaps all north and south exits (hey, it's kinda neat) SwapWE - takes no arguments - swaps all west and east exits SwapUD - takes no arguments - swaps all up and down exits OBJECT COMMANDS: FixCond - takes no arguments, sets all object types with conditions less than 100 to 100. added because I kept getting zones where all the conditions are 0... :) MOB COMMANDS: Give - same as PUT, but makes more sense conceptually when giving objects to mobs alternatively, if you specify a vnum, the object will be loaded and put into the mob's inventory list automatically. GiveC - same as PUTC (gives a copy of obj|mob to target. Equip - takes at least one argument, with the format "equip <mob keyword|mob vnum> [keyword]" - equips a mob in the current room with an object being carried by the mob. Wear flags are checked against what mob is currently equipping, and leaving out the second argument attempts to equip everything carried by mob. Alternatively, if you specify a vnum, the object will be loaded and put into the mob's eq list automatically. UnEquip - takes at least one argument, with the format "unequip <mob keyword|mob vnum> [keyword]" - exactly the same as EQUIP, but unequips stuff, sticking it in the mob's carried list. Mount - takes two arguments, with the format "mount <mounting> <mount>" - mounts one mob atop another. for example, "mount man horse" UnMount - takes one argument, with the format "unmount <mounting>" - unmounts a rider. for example, "unmount man" Follow - takes two arguments, with the format "follow <follower> <leader>" - makes one mob follow another. for example, "follow soldier general" UnFollow - takes one argument, with the format "unfollow <follower>" - makes a mob stop following another. for example, "unfollow soldier" ZONE CONFIGURATION COMMANDS: Config - miscellaneous configuration options, takes no arguments DisplayConfig - configures display options, takes no arguments CheckConfig - configures check options, takes no arguments Alias - takes two arguments, with the format "alias <alias> [aliased string]" - typing 'alias' by itself lists all the defined aliases, typing 'alias <alias name>' displays the definition of the alias (if any), and typing 'alias <alias name> <string>' (re)defines the alias as that string. For more information on aliases/variables, see the section below. UnAlias - takes one argument, with the format "unalias <alias>" - removes the alias specified Set - takes two arguments, with the format "set <variable name> <variable value>" - for instance, typing 'set textedit edit' would create a variable named 'textedit' with the value 'edit'. Typing "set" with no args causes a list of current variables to be displayed. UnSet - takes one argument, with the format "unset <variable name>" - removes the variable specified. Toggle - takes one argument, with the format "toggle <variable name>" - toggles a boolean variable to the opposite value of what it is now. boolean variables are considered variables containing the text 'true', 'false', 'on', 'off', '1', or '0'. As with "set", typing "toggle" by itself lists all boolean variables currently defined. SetTemp - takes three arguments, with the format "settemp <flagname> <temp #> <value>" - basically, this sets a certain flag in a certain template to a certain value. For more information, see the section below on flag templates. Typing "settemp" by itself shows a list of non-zero flags defined in all the templates. Guild - this command simply toggles special guild checking Height - takes up to one argument, with the format "height [new height]" - if no argument is specified, the current screen height setting is displayed Width - takes up to one argument, with the format "width [new width]" - if no argument is specified, the current screen width setting is displayed MISCELLANEOUS COMMANDS: West/W, East/E, - moves you in that direction (see also info North/N, South/S, on WALKCREATE variable) Up/U, Down/D, Goto - takes one argument, with the format "goto <vnum|keyword>" - if a vnum is specified, jumps you to the room with that vnum. If a keyword is specified, jumps you to the first object/mob/room title found that contains that keyword. At - takes two arguments, with the format "at <what> <command to exec>" - exactly like the Diku equivalent, this command finds the first object/mob that matches the first argument and executes the command in that room. for instance, "at shaman l shaman". FixFlags - sets all uneditable flags that are not set to "default" values to their default values - i.e. if the IS_NPC bit is not set on a mob, it will be set FixGuildStuff - turns off object noshow and mob aggro/hunter flags - if the 'CHECKGUILDSTUFF' variable is not set, you are prompted if you really want to execute the command, since it would tend to screw up your zone if it wasn't a guildhall DumpText - dumps the text file specified in the first argument to the screen (i.e. 'dumptext de.doc') DTC/ - same as DUMPTEXT, but interprets Duris color codes DumpTextColor Shell - only available under DOS, loads an instance of the command shell (as determined by the COMSPEC variable). Type 'exit' to return to DikuEdit. Save/ - saves all changes made to zone. Write Quit/ - exits editor - prompts you if changes have been Exit made. INFORMATIONAL COMMANDS: Help/? - takes no arguments, displays a help file - HELP displays the long version, ? displays a short list of all commands Commands - takes no arguments, shows the internal list of commands in dikuEdit, three per line List - takes up to two arguments, with the format "list <room|exit|obj|mob|objhere/oh|mobhere/mh|quest|shop> [keyword]" - does what you would expect. if a keyword is specified, operates like 'lookup' command - for exits, a vnum shows only exits that lead to/from that room Look - takes one argument - this command can also be used to "look in" objects Exits - takes no arguments, this command (much like that of dikuMud) shows the titles/vnums of all the exits' destrooms from the current room LookUp - takes up to two arguments, with the format "lookup <room|obj|mob|keyword|vnum> [keyword]" - if room, obj, or mob are specified, the appropriate entity type is listed - if keyword is also specified in the second arg, matching is done against it. if a keyword is specified, matching rooms, objs, and mobs are listed. if a vnum is specified, ditto. Where - takes one argument, with the format "where <keyword|vnum>" - finds all instances of objs/ mobs in zone that match keyword/vnum, displaying them onscreen - checks for quests that give the item and shops that sell the item as well Stat - takes at least one argument, with the format "stat <room|obj|mob|zone> [vnum/keyword]" - shows info on specified entity. for room, if vnum is left out, info on current room is shown. for zone, second argument is ignored. Which - takes at least one argument, with the format "which <room|obj|mob|flagname> [flagname]" - shows which entities have the specified flagname set. if room, obj, or mob is specified as the first arg, only those entities are checked for the flagname in the second arg. if a flagname is specified as the first arg, all rooms, objects, and mobs are checked that match that flagname. if an exclamation mark is placed before the flagname, all entities that don't have that flag set are checked for (i.e. "which m !isnpc") Key - takes one argument, with the format "key [keyword/vnum]" - looks for doors/objects that need the specified key. if keyword is specified, object must exist in zone, otherwise vnum is searched for. if no argument is specified, all objects with the keyword "key" are listed. ZoneExits- takes no arguments, displays all exits that lead out of zone. if 'exit dests of -1 are out of zone?' variable is set, includes exit dests of -1 (go figure, eh). Version - displays version info on DikuEdit Info - probably named too vaguely, but shows the values of several internal values used for the vnum tables INVENTORY-RELATED COMMANDS: Note --.. all inventory commands can use "all" as an argument where appropriate, operating on all objects in appropriate location. Inv - takes no arguments, displays objs/mobs in your inventory Get - takes at least one argument, with the format "get <keyword|vnum> [keyword|vnum]" - picks up a mob/obj in the current room (or a mob/container object if second keyword/vnum is specified), placing it in your inventory and deleting the original - note that when picking up objects/ mobs, all objects inside the obj/mob are also copied. GetC - same as GET, but keeps original in room/container/mob Drop - takes at least one argument, with the format "drop <keyword|vnum>" - drops mob/obj, placing it in current room and removing it from your inventory. DropC - same as DROP, but keeps original in inventory. Put - takes two arguments, with the format "put <keyword|vnum> <keyword|vnum>" - first argument is object in inventory to put in obj/mob in room specified in second argument. Alternatively, if a vnum is specified, the object is loaded and put into the container auto- matically. PutC - same as PUT, but keeps original in inventory Some interface stuff - Basically, when editing object types, mob types, rooms, etc etc, it's all menu-driven. It's useless to explain it, because it's easy to understand. One semi-unnoticable feature is the '<', '>', and '/' key stuff in the edit room/obj/mob menus - hit < (or ,) and go back an entity, hit > (or .) and go forward an entity. The settings for the entity you are "moving away from" are saved. Hitting '/' allows you to jump to a specific entity via a prompt. As far as flags, there are some unlisted control keys that do nifty stuff. Control-F/comma (,) turns all flags off, Control-N/period (.) turns all flags on, and Control-T/forward slash (/) toggles all flags. About the command-line itself - there is a command-line history, so up-arrow scrolls through last commands, etc.. Home, end, delete, backspace, etc. all work as well (in the DOS version). Some display stuff - If you're running with a "non-standard" screen size (standard in this case being 80x25), you should set the "screenheight" and "screenwidth" variables appropriately. This will cause lists to pause at the proper time, instead of pausing too early or too late. Alas, screen width and height are still not truly properly implemented (the edit quest and shop screens and a few other choice places still assume 25 lines and 80 columns), but it doesn't hurt. And now the prompt - here is how it may appear onscreen - < 23r 32e 43ot 54ol 65mt 76ml > <> 23r means 23 rooms in the zone, 32e = 32 exits, 43ot = 43 obj types, 54ol = 54 objs loaded, 65mt = 65 mob types, 76ml = 76 mobs loaded Exits have two flags displayed after them, separated by a pipe (|) - the first flag is the door type, the second is the door state. For the door type flag, C means the door is closable, L means the door is closable/lockable, and U means the door is closable, lockable, and unpickable. S/B mean the door is secret/blocked. For the door state flag, O means the door is loaded open, C means the door is loaded closed, and L means the door is loaded closed and locked. S/B mean the door is loaded secret/blocked. If an object has the glowing, hum, noshow, buried, invis, transient, magic, secret, lit and/or float bits set, corresponding letters will be shown before the name of the object when it is lying on the ground in a room. G = glowing, etc. Similarly, mobs with the invis, hidden, memory, sentinel, stay zone, protector, hunter, scavenger, teacher, wimpy, and/or aggro bits set will have I, H, M, S, Z, P, Hu, Sc, T, W, A (aggr all), aE (aggr evil), aG (aggr good), aN (aggr neut), aEr (aggr evil races), aGr (aggr good races), and/or aO (aggr outcasts) before their name. Mobs with quest/shop info will have Q/Sh before their name. Also, after a mob name will be shown a bracketed letter or series of letters, which indicate the mob position. Sl = sleeping, R = resting, Si = sitting, St = standing, L = levitated, F = flying, Sw = swimming, and if the pos is unrecognized, XX. Note that the default position is shown. And finally, all these display options can be toggled on/off from the display config menu (detailed below). DEFAULT SETTINGS FILES/ZONE SPECIFIC SETTINGS FILES: All alias/variable/limit/template commands are written/read from the .SET file. DikuEdit handles settings files like this - first, it reads DE.SET, then <zonename>.SET, replacing any redundant variables, aliases, etc read from DE.SET. When saving, <zonename>.SET is written with all the current aliases/etc. In this manner, you can have a 'default settings' file and one specific to each of your zones. About settings file themselves - .SET files contain one command per line, each with the exact same format as their "inside editor" counterparts. When saving, all aliases, variables, etc. are automatically written to a file named <zonename>.SET, and when loading, this file is read if existant. And now, a bit about the default room/object/mob files. In the same manner as the .SET files, first the DE.<extension> default files are read, and then <zonename>.<extension>, if existant. Thus, you can have a "default default room", and a default room/obj/mob/exit specific to each of your zones. The extension for default rooms is .DWD, default objects .DOB, default mobs .DMB, and default exits .DEX. SETTING/USING ALIASES: Aliases are basically used to make life easier - basically, you define an alias (i.e. by typing 'alias er edit room' or having that line in one of your .SET files), then use it by typing 'er 1459' or 'er', etc. Input at the prompt is checked against aliases before the 'main' commands, and input must match exactly (unlike 'main' commands, which can be left-matched). And, in case it isn't completely clear, any arguments passed to the alias are automatically appended, so that 'er 1459' above is expanded to 'edit room 1459'. In addition, you can stick specific arguments in specific places by inserting "%<number>" into the alias. For instance, suppose there is an alias called 'doit' defined as "edit %1 %2 23". "doit obj blah" would thus be "edit obj blah 23". If it was defined as "edit %2 %1 23", we'd get "edit blah obj 23". You can use %0 to have all the arguments inserted. You can also reference variables within aliases. Suppose you have 'favoriteobj' set to '493'. An alias defined as 'edit obj $favoriteobj' would become 'edit obj 493'. You can mix and match variables and the '%<number>' stuff all you want. Enjoy. Typing 'alias' by itself will show a list of currently defined aliases. To delete an alias, type 'unalias <aliasname>'. SETTING/USING VARIABLES: Setting variables is much like setting aliases. Typing 'set showcolor true' would set the value of the variable 'showcolor' to 'true'. Variables can be referenced from within aliases; how is detailed above. In addition to being referencable within aliases, variables are used to set various internal configurable options, which are listed below (all/most of these variables can be set from the 'config', 'check- config', and 'displayconfig' menus, by the way): Boolean variables (set to either 'true' or 'false') VNumCheck - if true, checks all vnums on input (default true) CheckLimits - if true, checks all limits on obj/mob load commands in .ZON (default true) CheckZoneFlags - if true, checks that room zone flags are all set equal to zone number (default true) FirstObjEDescKey - if true, first edesc created for an object type will have the same keywords as the object itself. (default true) IsMapZone - if true, displays zone as though it is a map (exactly as it shows on Duris) (default false, is set automatically on map zones [based on vnums]) ShowObjFlags - if true, shows certain object flags next to object names when they are lying about in rooms. (default true) ShowMobFlags - if true, shows certain mob flags next to mob names when they are milling about in rooms (default true) ShowMobPos - if true, shows mob's default position after the mob name (default true) ShowObjVNum - if true, shows object vnums in various places (note that vnums are always shown next to objects that are not in the zone's .OBJ file) (default true) ShowMobVNum - if true, shows mob vnums in various places (note that vnums are always shown next to mobs that are not in the zone's .MOB file) (default true) ShowMobRideFollow - if true, shows (following ...) and (riding ...) after mob names when looking in rooms. may be useful for reducing spam (default true) ShowRoomExtra - if true, shows "extra" info below room title - room sector and flag info (default true) ShowRoomVNum - if true, shows room vnum next to room title (default true) InterpColor - if true, interprets dikuMud color codes (&+Y and the like) (default true) ShowColor - if true, shows dikuMud color codes instead of removing them (default false) WalkCreate - toggles "create room walkabout" function - if true, trying to go an invalid direction creates a default room in that direction with default exits leading to and from the current room (default false) ShowExitDest - if true, shows destination room vnum next to exit direction (default false) ShowExitFlags - if true, shows exit flags (as detailed above) next to exit direction (default true) SaveStartRoom - if true, saves vnum of room you last saved zone from in STARTROOM. when loading, dikuEdit then sticks you in this room (default true) ShowMenuInfo - if true, shows all sorts of useful info in the editing menus for rooms, objs, mobs, and exits (default true) NegDestOutOfZone - if true, 'zoneexits' command lists exits with a destination less than 0 as exits leading out of the zone (default true) SaveEveryXCommands - if true, enables autosaving every SAVEHOWOFTEN (another variable, described below) commands (including invalid commands, aliases should always be considered one command) (default false) Check-related boolean variables: CheckSave - if true, runs the check command on each save. NoSaveOnCheckErr - if true, only saves all files if no errors found with check command. SaveCheckLog - if true, writes all errors to CHECK.LOG. PauseCheckScreenful - if true, pauses every screenful of check errors displayed (default true). CheckLoneRoom - if true, checks for rooms with no exits leading to them and rooms with no exits leading out of them (the same room may have both errors). CheckMissingKeys - if true, checks for exits/objects that require keys that aren't loaded into the zone (or given in a quest, or sold in a shop) at least once. CheckLoaded - if true, checks for object/mob types that aren't loaded into the zone at least once. CheckRoom - if true, checks for rooms with a misset SINGLE_FILE bit and rooms without descs and some other key stuff. CheckExit - if true, checks for exits with a door type but no keywords. CheckExitDesc - if true, checks for exits with no descs. CheckObj - if true, checks for objects of type container that have "closed" bit set but not "closeable" (seems to be a common error) and for objects without keywords and some other key stuff. CheckObjDesc - if true, checks for objects without extra descs. CheckObjMaterial - if true, makes sure armor/worn items have the material value set within valid bounds. CheckMob - if true, checks for mobs without keywords and some other key stuff. CheckMobDesc - if true, checks for mobs without descs. CheckEDesc - if true, checks all extra descs for no descrips or keywords. CheckFlags - if true, checks all room/obj/mob flags for unedit- able flags that are set to their non-default set- ting. CheckGuildStuff - if true, checks various object/mob settings to make sure they are not improperly set for guildhalls. Non-boolean variables: MainZoneName - contains the "main" name of your zone - extensions are added to this when saving/loading (.wld, etc). this is automatically set when calling dikuEdit, but can be changed inside the editor in case you want to make backups, make massive changes but want to save the pre-changed version, etc. TextEdit - contains name of external ASCII editor used for editing descs/extra descs (default 'edit' ['pico' for Linux]). MenuPrompt - contains text shown as menu prompt: (default '&+CYour choice, sir? &n') <Snikt - I prefer &+LSilandria whimpers, '&+RYour wish, Lord Sniktiorg?&+L'&n, but I am a bit twisted =).> MainPrompt - contains text shown as first line of main prompt - if value is 'default' (which is, by the way, the default), then the prompt described above is shown. StartRoom - contains vnum of room you were in when you last saved (see SAVESTARTROOM above for more info) (no default) ScreenHeight - contains the height of the screen (used for determining when to pause when displaying lists) (default is 25) ScreenWidth - contains the width of the screen (used for determining when to pause when displaying lists) (default is 80) SaveHowOften - determines how often zone files are autosaved if SAVEEVERYXCOMMANDS variable is set to true. (default is 10) Setting/using flag templates: To make setting certain flag values on certain rooms/objects/mobs easier, "flag templates" are available. Basically, there are five different templates, numbered 0 through 4, each containing ROOMFLAG, OBJEXTRA, OBJWEAR, OBJAFF1, OBJAFF2, MOBACT, MOBAFF1, and MOBAFF2 flags. When editing, say, room flags, you can hit one of F1-F5 ('!' through '%' for Linux) to set the flags to the values contained in one of the templates (F1/! = template 0, F2/@ = 1, etc). Hitting one of Shift-F1 through Shift-F5 ('^' through ')' for Linux) sets the template flag for the corresponding template to the value currently in the room flag. All that you need to know is that each template contains one of each flags, so that the keys work on any of the flag editing menus (well, okay, not the zone flag menus... damn). You can define the various template flag values from the command- line (as detailed in the SETTEMP command above), but it's probably much easier to just hit Shift-[Fkey] when you have the flags you like. Default room/object/mob/exit: How exactly DikuEdit reads the default info is described above under the heading "Default settings files...". If default room/object/mob/exit info exists, then new rooms/objects/ mobs/exits are automatically set to the values of the default. Thus, you can set the default room and exit to a forest description, turn on "WALKCREATE" mode, and create a forest with relative ease. <Snikt - don't use defroom descriptions as this just causes mad duped rooms, instead just set room name and flags, this way you can use the above dupe cheats for a better result.> Inventory: You can pick up mobs and objects and drop them throughout the zone, which is very handy for populating your zone. Picking up a mob or object also copies (when you use Dropc) whatever objects are in the obj, or equipped and carried by the mob. Thus, you can pick up a guard mob that is in several places in the zone and that is equipping a sword and shield, drop copies about, and have a guard force ready-made. <Snikt, again. At least make three different versions of the guard so you don't have a billion clones running about. This also helps for trophy.>