OLC Builders Documentation ========================== Welcome to the world of OLC, Dragons' Star style! Our OLC is proprietary, written by our coders specifically to go with our rewritten database structure. If you are using our OLC, these docs replace our builder docs and are complete. The following documentation will give you information about our expectations for an area, the OLC commands, and some general tips. DISCLAIMER If you build an area for Dragons' Star, you release the Implementors of Dragons' Star to do with the area as they wish. You will receive credit for the area in our Credits listing. If you wish to Immort, an area or other significant contribution is of course required from you. Contributing an area does not mean you will Immort--it simply makes you eligible. We will offer no other form of compensation. Also, sending in an area does not mean it will automatically be installed. If the Implementors feel it does not suit Dragons' Star, they may either decide against installing it, or modify it in any way to make it fit with our vision. If any modifications are made, you will still receive credit for the area. If you give a copy of the area to some other mud, that's your business. -Trillian (Dragons' Star's Worlds Coordinator) WHAT IS EXPECTED OF AN AREA * First and most critical--Please use original ideas and themes for your areas. Anything that is a copyright infringment will not be accepted. Current areas on Dragons' Star that do not have someone listed in credits for writing them will be axed or rewritten from scratch using only the vnums of previous objects so that players will not lose them in rent. If you are interested in rewriting an area, please email: Trillian@dragon.azstarnet.com * Areas should not only be challenging, but have an aesthetic quality. What we mean here is not merely great room descriptions, but an interesting and challenging layout. Check out the Bardic Colleges for an example of this. Run thru it with brief off:) The colleges have one general theme, that of music. Each college has a different layout, challenge, and feel to it. * Spend some time on the area. An area that has been thrown together in a few days REALLY looks thrown together. Who wants to spend their relaxation time in an area that looks and feels boring? Would you rather vacation in a 100acre corn field or on a sandy beach in Hawaii? (Space Raiders is one of our fastest areas. From start to finish it took about two weeks of work. Dragons' Rock, currently our most complex area, took about 3-3.5 months. Our next area has a minimum expectation of 6 months to completion. We're not saying that you have to follow these monthly guidelines exactly, but we do want you to be aware that challenging areas do take a lot of work and time.) * Use the features coded for Dragons' Star to add pizazz to your area. Some of the better features include: multiple teleports per room, builder-defined actions (like pull handle, drink potion, dance jig), immunities on objects and mobs, mob programs, mob races, customizeable weather, and zone movement (switching). These and other options give you tons of power to create a truly unique and customized area. For example, using zone movement you can make a world that is a cob-webbed and vacant town during the day, but transforms into a beautiful and active town at night when the ghosts come out! * If I have to fix more than a dozen or so things for your area, it will be rejected. The point here is to make sure all your ~'s are in the right place. I will send you a note giving you a general idea of what happened, but you will have to find and fix the problems. On occasion I will fix something significant and package the area back to you. PLEASE use this as a base for further corrections. HOW TO GET STARTED: TIPS ON STYLE (particularly writing) When Infoteq and I (Trillian) put together an area, we use some of the steps, tips, and tricks below. Keep in mind that each person will write an area differently, but if you are having a hard time getting started, or just need some suggestions, here's a good place to look. o Start with a concept, a theme. Think of an interesting and original idea that would make a great area. Think in terms of worlds, because that is essentially what you would be making. The more your area tells a story with the room descriptions, the mobs, and objects, the more interesting it will be, and the more that players will actually choose your area as a place they will visit often. Don't just build an area just to make some cool items or or mobs strictly for exp. runners--although these things are important, an area based on them is rather dull. Use your theme first, then add cool items or good exp. run mobs based on the overall area concept. (If you need an idea for an area, feel free to talk to one of the imps. I have some ideas for home worlds that I need written for each of the races.) o Decide what levels you want your area to be. Below are the standards used to categorize an area: Newbie: 1-10 Low-Mid: 11-20 Mid: 21-30 Mid-High: 31-40 High: 41-50 Extra High: 45-50 All: 1-50 Your area's levels do not have to follow this scale exactly. If, for example, you want a low level area that ranges from levels 1-15, go for it! This will decide not only the difficulty of the mobs in your area, but also the mazes, puzzles, death traps, teleport rooms, and teleport death traps. As for death traps, in general areas that are for levels 1-20 should have no more than 1 death trap for every 100 rooms, if you have any at all. Mid level areas should have no more than 2 per 100, and High levels can have 3 per 100 rooms. You shouldn't have to have more than 3 death traps for 100 rooms, with the exception of Extra-High levels, which can have 4. o Think about how you want your world to look: what challenges do you want to await your visitors and what riches can they find? A winding maze? A difficult puzzle you have to solve by killing the right mob for the key? Make some notes and start mapping out your world. When mapping, be sure to number your rooms, with the first room that connects your area to the rest of the mud being <#z>00. o Create your rooms first. Begin with room numbers and titles first, then add your exits next. Save your room descriptions for last when you have more of an idea of how you want the rooms to actually look. Until you are ready to write the actually room descriptions, put in a temp description that gives you an idea of what the room should have in it, the exits, etc. Info and I usually split up the area writing work. We usually discuss the concept and theme together, rounding it out the more we work on the area. Then he creates the maps and layout of the area, as well as the specifics on the mobs, while I write the descriptions. What he would do is create the numbers and titles, and then put a general idea of how he sees the room, including exits. Then he hands the file to me, and I use his notes to create the room descriptions. If you are writing an area with someone else, this is a good way to work. Not a lot of players see descriptions as important, but think about it this way: a MUD is a text-based game that we play. We play MUD's not only because of the other players that we meet on the game, but also because of what we see and experience on our screens. Without descriptions to add flavor to areas, Dragons' Star as a whole would be a rather dull place to spend our hobby time. Think of a MUD as an interactive story, where you are the main character. Why would anyone want to star in a story that had dull sets? On writing descriptions: A. Room descriptions 1. Room titles - Titles should convey a sense of what the room is about in specific terms. This could mean anything from a specific location (The Bridge of the Tarot) to a change in action (The Waters Rise!!!). Non-specific room titles (for example: A Hallway) are good for mazes, but not for rooms that contain important creatures or objects. Try to cut back on overusing non-specific room titles. If you have to use them, try to give the title flavor (for example, use A Dank Hallway instead of A Hallway). 2. First room - This room sets the mood and feel for an area, so its description is of utmost importance. You will want to write and rewrite this room many times until the description feels right to you. Have a fellow mudder read over your final draft of this room before you "write it in stone." Here is an example from The Mythic Tarot's first room: The Bridge of the Tarot Standing inside a small chamber, you set out a fair-sized square of pure silk cloth in preparation for the warding ritual. Reciting some incantations, you invoke the powers of the four elements--Earth, Air, Fire, and Water--and create a magic circle of protection around you. The circle serves as a bridge between worlds, and while you stand inside the protective area, you find yourself outside of time in a place not of earth. You can see a sign with gold lettering here as you look around the protective area. The bridge lies in the center of the four elements, each of which you have invoked and now lie in all the cardinal directions from you. Each path of the elements represents one of the suits of the Minor Arcana from the Tarot and also a mythical journey as well. Each path can also lead to riches or uncertain death. Be wary, young seeker of knowledge. 3. Mob rooms - These are rooms that center around a mob (for example, the Office of Percussion centers around the mob: Master of Percussion). These rooms should have some flavor to them and not be just another description of the mob. Rather, these rooms should describe the environment and/or habitat of the mob. Spend a little time on these room descriptions so that the player can get a sense of what the mob looks like and how it behaves (makes the area more realistic). This example is the President's Office in the Bardic Colleges area: The President's Office Well, you were going to try to sneak into your last test quietly, but the loud thud you made as you clumsily landed on the floor didn't exactly help you out there. As you look around the office, you suddenly realize that you have entered an instrument shop. Beautiful stringed guitars carved out of wood by skilled craftsmen line the walls of this room. The President, who was strumming a fine double-stringed guitar and humming a tune, starts at your loud entrance. He then eyes you carefully, sizing you up. He says, "I've been expecting you. You were long overdue to graduate from here awhile back. Now let's see if you've studied hard enough and are worthy of this fine instrument!" As he quickly wields a weapon and laughs, he says, "Welcome to your final test!" ...I think you might want to fight him back. 4. Maze rooms - Even though one description will be used repeatedly throughout the maze, the description does not have to be boring. Give the description a little flavor by either describing how you would visualize the room, or by what thoughts you think the player might have while traveling in the maze. Here is an example from Dragons' Rock: On a Cloud As you stand on this cloudy plane, you stare out into the vast horizon and wonder which way to go. A maze of clouds lie before you, while the wind whispers through your soul...as it passes by you hear the faint sound of youths giggling. This maze seems to go on and on.... 5. Room extras - If the room contains any secret doors or extra descriptions (for example, a plaque), be sure to at least hint of the extra in the description. The hint can be very subtle if written correctly. Here is an example: The Grand Library Walls of bookshelves line this prestigious library. Incredible! How does someone amass such a large wealth of knowledge in our short lifetimes? You quickly glance over the rows, but wait! What was that that just caught your eye? You keep on looking over the shelves and wonder about all of the information contained in this room. Extra description: bookshelf, bookshelves This particular bookshelf catches your eye. The books on it seem somewhat different than the rest of the books in the library. Extra description: books As you examine the books more closely, you notice that a gray book catches your attention. Extra description: gray book This book is apparently a fake. Maybe you should pull it off the shelf and examine it. Action exit: pull gray book As you pull the book, you hear a soft click as the bookshelf pulls away from the wall. B. Mob Descriptions These are the second most important descriptions. You can use mob descriptions to provide clues. You can also use them to give unique character to the mobs. Mob descriptions don't have to be dull (for example, look dog: He looks really mean. You should probably run away!), but can have a little flavor. Of course it is tedious to give many mobs of the same nature an interesting description, but for special mobs you should make the effort. Here's an example of a mob that you can actually visualize: Look President The President stops strumming his double-stringed guitar and starts at your loud and clumsy entrance. He draws a weapon, preparing to give you your exit exam. Can you survive this one last test? Are you indeed worthy to be a Bard and claim this fine instrument and your diploma? C. Item Descriptions Hardly anybody looks at items, unless you indicate otherwise. It isn't necessary to give your items descriptions, but if you like a lot of flavor in your area, go for it! RULES FOR CREATING ROOMS o The room that connects to any other zone must be the first room in your zone. o When starting a .wld file, please use 00 as your first room number (where is the number of your zone. If your zone was 50, then your starting room would be 5000). o The name of your world file should be .wld. (If your zone number was 50, then it would be 50.wld) o It is preferred if you use blocks of 100 as the number of rooms you make. So if you have 101 rooms, try to shave off that extra room or add on at least another 20 or so rooms. o If your world is a QUEST area, you must make sure to put the QUEST flag on all rooms in your world. o If you wish to write a QUEST area you must discuss it and get approval from a 38+. o If you have Special Procedures you would like coded that are tied to the area as a whole or to a specific room, you must include a detailed description of what the SProc should do, which room(s) it should be tied too, etc. in a file called .spe o Death Traps should be well marked. This means that the DT must be INDOORS and not DARK. It must have a two-way exit to the room that leads to it. If a player types look there should be some clue that a DT is in that direction. The Room Title should also give a hint that the room is a DT. o Teleport Death Traps must be WELL marked. This means that the room that the player is teleported from should have a very direct description about the fact that they are about to hit a TDT. The timer on a TDT should be no less than 45. Both the room that you are tp'd from and tp'd to should be lit. Which means that they should be INDOORS so that nighttime will not make them dark. o A mortal must be able to get to all rooms in your area by walking. o CRIMEOK rooms must be approved by a 36+. RULES FOR CREATING MOBS (MOBILES) B. The Mobs: also known as the .mob file- o It would be helpful to us that if any mobs needing special attention were the first mobs in the .mob file. o When starting a .mob file, please use 00 as your first mob number. (Same as with .wld file) o The name of your .mob file should be .mob. (same as .wld) o If you have Special Procedures you would like coded for one or more mobs, you must include a detailed description of what the SProc should do, which mobs, etc in a file called .spe o If you have wandering mobs, please give them a StayInZone flag. o All mobs must have a keyword that is in common. This keyword should be in the namelist. It should be the same keyword given to items in the area, and it is preferred that you use one word from the name of your zone. For example, all mobs in Sapphire Dragon Outpost have sdo as their keyword. o All mob hit points have a lower limit that they must be. If your equation for the mobs's hit points gives them less than the ones listed below, then the one's listed below will override your entry. the equation is: level * level * 9. Table 3.B.1: Mob Minimum Hit Points (mob) ------------------------------------------------------------ Level | Hit Points * Level | Hit Points * Level | Hit Points ------------------------------------------------------------ 1 | 9 | 21 | 3960 | 41 | 15129 2 | 36 | 22 | 4356 | 42 | 15876 3 | 81 | 23 | 4761 | 43 | 16641 4 | 144 | 24 | 5184 | 44 | 17424 5 | 225 | 25 | 5625 | 45 | 18225 6 | 324 | 26 | 6084 | 46 | 19044 7 | 441 | 27 | 6561 | 47 | 19881 8 | 576 | 28 | 7056 | 48 | 20736 9 | 729 | 29 | 7569 | 49 | 21609 10 | 900 | 30 | 8100 | 50 | 22500 11 | 1089 | 31 | 8649 | 51 | 23409 12 | 1296 | 32 | 9216 | 52 | 24336 13 | 1521 | 33 | 9801 | 53 | 25281 14 | 1764 | 34 | 10404 | 54 | 26244 15 | 2025 | 35 | 11025 | 55 | 27225 16 | 2304 | 36 | 11664 | 56 | 28224 17 | 2601 | 37 | 12321 | 57 | 29241 18 | 2916 | 38 | 12996 | 58 | 30276 19 | 3249 | 39 | 13689 | 59 | 31329 20 | 3600 | 40 | 14400 | 60 | 32400 ------------------------------------------------------------ o Mob Currency and Experience are level dependant. You may set them in the mob file and follow these standards below: --Currency must be lower than 1000 * level --Experience must be lower than 10000 * level If your numbers are higher, the game will override your settings. We may make this equation more difficulty-dependant as we make changes to the game. o Mob suggested Damage. Take a look at the table below: Table 3.B.2: Monster Lookup (mob) -------------------------------- Here's some general guidelines for creating monsters. This is when creating _Simple_ monsters. Detailed monsters require a great deal of care when designing, and it is not really worth using the table for them. Level SUGGESTED SUGGESTED SUGGESTED 0 0 0 1d4+0 (2.5) 1 1 1 1d5+0 (3.0) 2 2 2 1d6+0 (3.5) 3 3 3 1d7+0 (4.0) 4 4 4 1d8+0 (4.5) 5 5 5 2d4+0 (5.0) 6 6 6 1d8+10 (14.5) 7 7 7 2d4+10 (15.0) 8 8 8 2d5+10 (16.0) 9 9 9 2d5+10 (16.0) 10 10 10 2d6+10 (17.0) 11 11 11 2d6+10 (17.0) 12 12 12 2d7+10 (18.0) 13 13 13 2d7+10 (18.0) 14 14 14 2d8+10 (19.0) 15 15 15 2d8+20 (29.0) 16 16 16 2d8+20 (29.0) 17 17 17 3d6+20 (30.5) 18 18 18 3d6+20 (30.5) 19 19 19 3d6+30 (40.5) 20 20 20 3d6+40 (50.5) 21 21 21 3d7+40 (52.0) 22 22 22 3d8+40 (53.5) 23 23 23 3d9+40 (55.0) 24 24 24 3d9+40 (55.0) 25 25 25 4d6+40 (54.0) 26 26 26 4d6+50 (64.0) 27 27 27 4d6+50 (64.0) 28 28 28 4d6+50 (64.0) 29 29 29 4d7+50 (66.0) 30 30 30 4d8+50 (68.0) 31 31 31 6d7+60 (84.0) 32 32 32 6d8+60 (86.0) 33 33 33 6d9+60 (88.0) 34 34 34 8d7+60 (92.0) 35 35 35 7d7+70 (98.0) 36 36 36 7d7+70 (98.0) 37 37 37 7d7+70 (98.0) 38 38 38 7d7+70 (98.0) 39 39 39 7d7+70 (98.0) 40 40 40 7d7+70 (98.0) 41 41 41 8d7+70 (102.0) 42 42 42 8d7+70 (102.0) 43 43 43 8d7+70 (102.0) 44 44 44 8d7+70 (102.0) 45 45 45 8d7+70 (102.0) 46 46 46 8d7+70 (102.0) 47 47 47 8d7+70 (102.0) 48 48 48 8d7+70 (102.0) 49 49 49 8d7+70 (102.0) 50 50 50 8d7+70 (102.0) 51 51 51 8d8+70 (104.0) 52 52 52 8d8+70 (104.0) 53 53 53 8d8+70 (104.0) 54 54 54 8d8+70 (104.0) 55 55 55 8d8+70 (104.0) 56 56 56 8d8+70 (104.0) 57 57 57 8d8+70 (104.0) 58 58 58 8d8+70 (104.0) 59 59 59 8d8+70 (104.0) 60 60 60 8d8+70 (104.0) RULES FOR CREATING OBJS (OBJECTS) C. Objects: known as the .obj file Objects must follow Dragons' Star's guidelines for object creation to maintain balance within the game. A simple guideline, the power system, was created to aid in this task. Power is defined as how big of a modifier you can give to applies on an item. One unit of power is defined as + or - of the following: Table 3.C.1: Units of Power (obj) ---------------------------------- HitPoints: 10 Mana Points: 10 Move Points: 10 Any One Save: 5 Save All: 1 Damroll: 1 Defensive Bonus: 1 Offensive Bonus: 1 Strength: 1 Intelligence: 1 Wisdom: 1 Dexterity: 1 Constitution: 1 Charisma: 1 Special: 1 Weapon Spell: 1 Immunities: 5 From here out, when the documentation says anything about adjusting the Power of the item, this refers to the above listings. To maintain item balance we have 5 Levels of items: Newbie, MidLevel, High, Special and Artifact. Each of these imposes a restriction on the Power of the items. Below are the 5 levels of items and their power ratings: Table 3.C.2: Levels of Items and Corresponding Power Ratings (obj) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Level Area Level Power Rating ----- ---------- ------------ Newbie: 1-15 1 Midlevel: 16-30 2 High: 31-45 3 Special: 46-50 +1 Artifact: +2 Newbie, MidLevel and High are of main concern. These items will be the most used and aquired items. These items will establish the core of the object database. Newbie items may not have a power rating higher than 1 after all of the pluses and minuses have been added up (this will be explained later). Likewise, midlevel items cannot have a power rating higher than 2, and high level higher than 3, except for 45+ level areas, which can give a rating of 4 to weapons and holdable items. Special items includes things like Statue Items, Quest Area items. All listed adjustments are done to whatever the area would be normally rated as if it weren't Special. (ie: Space Raiders normally rates as a Newbie area, but because it's also a Quest, adjustments can be made to items as Newbie items. This will become clear later.) These items have +1 extra power. This means that an Special Item can be +3Dam +10HP but not +40hp or +4Dam. (Special Holdables or Weapons can be +4Dam +10hp but not +5Dam or +50HP) Artifact items are something you will probably never have to worry about. These items are usually only created by the 38+, but I felt that I should include them here because I use this documentation as a reference too. These items have +1 to the power limitations listed below and +1 extra power. This means that an Artifact Item can be +4Dam +10HP but not +5Dam or +50HP. (Artifact Holdables or Weapons can be +5Dam +10HP but not +6Dam or +60HP) Guidelines: ----------- Here are the guidelines to follow while creating the object file: o Any items that need special attention should be the first items in your .obj file. o When starting an .obj file, please use 00 as your first item number. (Same as with .wld file) o The name of your .obj file should be .obj. (same as .wld) o WEAPONS: NO loading mortal weapon should exceed 50 damage. This is is defined by xdy, where x is the number of dice, and y is the size of the dice. Any extra damage added on does not count in this equation. No regular loading slashing/blunt weapon should do more than 25 avg damage. No regular loading piercing weapon should do more than 20 avg damage. o WEAPONS (Limited): If a slashing/blunt weapon does more than 15 damage, or 10 for a piercing weapon it should have a LIMITED flag on it. o Items rated at or 1Power below their maximums for that position should have a LIMITED flag placed on them. (ie: a 3Power Weapon and a 2Power Face item should both have Limited flags) o The challenge to obtain an item should be equal to or exceed the value of the item. o If you have Special Procedures you would like coded for one or more items, you must include a detailed description of what the SProc should do, which items, etc. in a file called .spe o No container may exceed 1000 capacity. o All keys must have a NORENT flag. o All items must have a keyword that is in common. This keyword should be in the namelist. It should be the same keyword given to the mobs in the area. It is preferred if you use one word from the name of your zone (ex. bardic for the bardic colleges zone). o Please keep junk items to a minimum. Junk items are any item that is only there for decoration. (ie: Food, drinks, etc) Here are the guidelines that need to be followed so that DStar can remain a stable, balanced universe: All Items must have at least 1 Alignment restriction. This does not count as as one of the Penalties you must place on an item. It is a Standard. You may remove this alignment restriction only if you add one penalty (defined below). (Special Items and Artifact Items are exempt from this.) A Penalty is defined as a negative or drawback effect of an item. I will usually refer to this as -Power. Penalties are additional alignment restrictions and negative applies. Half-power: You may put up to a 1/2Power, rounded down, on items to add other 1/2Power applies to equal 1Power. For example, you can give an item +5HP, +5Mana, and that would equal 1Power. You may only have 1 Apply of any type. No trying to use +2Dam +1Dam as a Midlevel item's stats. o Standard Items should not exceed these power limitations (for an Extra-High level area): Table 3.C.3: Maximum Power of Wear Positions (obj) --------------------------------------------------- + Place + Power + ================================== |Hold | 4 | |Wield | 4 | |Light | 3 | |WShield| 3 | |WHead | 3 | |Face | 3 | |Ears | 3 | |WNeck | 3 (2 items possible)| |WBody | 3 | |WABody | 3 | |Pin | 3 | |WArms | 3 | |WWrist | 3 (2 items possible)| |WHands | 3 | |WFinger| 3 (2 items possible)| |WWaist | 3 | |WLegs | 3 | |WFeet | 3 | ================================== Total : 65 Still follow the guidelines set up earlier for items in a zone. A levels 1-15 zone will not have any item over 1Power, except for one special item. o Defensive Bonus, or DB, (formerly Armor Class) is a special category. It doesn't cut into the power of an item, but you have to use power to determine the maximum DB assignable to it. The ratio is 5 DB points per Power. If you want to spend Power to get more DB you may. For example, if you have a midlevel neck item, you can add 10 DB automatically, but to add an extra 5 DB, you have to sacrifice one of your +Powers. Each of the below count as special considerations: For 1Power, you can get 2 of the following (or you may get one of the following items for 1/2Power and use 1/2Power of something else, like +5move for example): Regen HP, Regen Mana, Regen Move, Invisibility, Detect Evil, Detect Invis, Detect Magic, Sense Life, Fly, Protection from Evil, Water Breath, Sneak, Hide, Infra For each item listed below that you add, you can add one more from the above list (up to 2 only): Regen Neg HP, Regen Neg Mana, Regen Neg Move, Blind, Curse, Paralysis, Poison, Sleep, 2nd alignment restriction NOTE: Haste, Sanctuary, Any Element Shield are excluded. Special Permission is required to use these spell effects. Normal Area Item Bonus- To keep things interesting, you may have one item that would normally appear in a higher level area (ie: You may have a High Level item appear in a MidLevel area). This must be a rare (5% or less loading rate) and hard to get item. Quest Area Item Bonus- You may have up to two items that would normally appear in a higher level area. These must be extremely rare (1% or less loading rate each) and extremely hard to get items. *Remember, you don't always have to use the maximum stats for each item. Examples- Here are some example stats for items for an Extra-High Level Area--45+: head: +1Dam Anti-Good (Power +1 { 0} =1Power w/Req Align =1Power) wrist: +3HnD -10HP +10MA Anti-Evil (Power +3 -1 +1 { 0} =3Power w/Req Align =3Power) feet: +30MV -1Hit +1Dex Anti-Neutral (Power +3 -1 +1 { 0} =3Power w/Req Align =3Power) body: +20HP +2Dam -10MA Anti-Good Anti-Evil (Power +2 +2 -1 {-1} =3Power w/Req Align+Extra=2Power) face: +20HP -1Hit +5%Immune-Air (Power +2 -1 +1 {+1} =2Power + NoAlign =3Power) shield: +20HP -MReg -HReg (Power +2 -.5 -.5 {+1} =1Power + NoAlign =2Power) *weapon: +4HnD (Power +4 {+1} =4Power + NoAlign =5Power) (*This is a valid item because: 1) It's a weapon in a 45+ Area, allowing for 4 Power 2) It's the Bonus Item in the area, making it Special allowing for 5 Power.) RULES FOR CREATING THE .ZON FILE (ZONE) (These are the Load commands) D. The Load Commands: also known as the .zon file- o The name of your .zon file should be .zon (same as .wld) o If more than one item (that is NOT a KEY) loads on a mob, the combined load %'s must not exceed 100%. (eg: If you have 5 items that load 20% each, that's fine. But if you have 5 items that load 50% each, that's not fine. o You should not have more than one item of any equipment position load on a mob. For example, you should not have more than one shield load on a mob. Two rings is fine because mobs have two ring positions, but three rings should not load. o All mobs in your .mob file must load someplace in your area. (If you wish a Quest Mob to be created, send your idea to infoteq@dragon.azstarnet.com) o All items in your .obj file must load someplace in your area. (If you wish a Quest Item to be created, send your idea to infoteq@dragon.azstarnet.com) o All exceptional items should load no more than 20%. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Learning DStar's OnLine Coding ------------------------------ Dragons' Star's OLC is command driven, as opposed to menu driven. This means that you can modify by typing in one command at a time instead of choosing from a menu of items, as you would using Dikued. Because command driven can be a bit more difficult to work with (you have to know what you need to modify and make sure all fields are written to an item), I've written the documentation below to not only let you know what the commands are, but what you need to fill in for the item you're creating. You'll find that command driven is a better way to do OLC in the long run :) Another note about our OLC: you can do a save on your files and the game will not be lagged. So there's no need to warn everyone that you're about to save. But please be sure to save often! If you don't save and the game crashes, all your work will be gone. You can use the command: olc save to see what the save options are. GETTING STARTED Proposal -------- We require an emailed (or mudmailed if you do not have email) proposal from every project leader. Here's the format: Project Leader: (name of person in charge of project, ie you) Project Name: (a name for your area. If you don't have a name, then a concept is necessary.) Builders: (a list of who else is working on this project) Rooms: (an approximate number of how many rooms you need. Rooms are given out in 100-block increments) Levels: (newbie, midlevel, high, or extremely high) Type of area: (quest? planet, city or place on a planet, asteroid, anomaly, station, simulation, ship, nebula, other (specify) ) Description: (a description of the concept of the project. Please include what ideas you have regarding the area and anything special you wish to do with the area.) Time needed: (estimated time needed to complete the area. Can be up to 8 weeks. Please see note below.) If you need more time at the end of 8 weeks and have been making satisfactory progress on your area, you'll need to tell us you need more time. If you have not been working on the area, the time will not be given to you. The reasoning is that we need to free up the vnums for other builders to use. OLC PROJECT When your proposal has been accepted, you will be given a block of vnums (virtual numbers) to use to for your area. We will also set up your project in OLC. When you type the command below: olc project disp You'll see the following displayed: -------------------------------------------------- Project ID : (zone #) Project Vnums : (range of rooms you have) Project Leader : (your name) Project Members: (list of your builders, up to 4) -------------------------------------------------- A project description will be displayed for every project currently in OLC. As a project leader, you will have the options to add and delete members from your project. When you type: olc project You will see the following: Project options available: add_member delete_member display You can have up to 4 people, not including yourself, on the project. OLC OPTIONS The nice thing about working with OLC is that most of the time you can type the first part of a word and still be able to do the command. For example, you can type olc room short (instead of olc room short_desc) to make a room title. You'll understand this the more you play with OLC. When you type: olc You get the following: Usage: olc