Zugg Software :: View topic

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2018 5:29 pm

Hi, using purchased version of CMUD.

On the mapper, I was looking for a way to use tiles besides the default squares. Even if it's just putting an image in the square instead of a color.

I don't see any default options for this, but I was curious if there were advanced ways to accomplish this?
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Additionally, I have a friend helping me map, and they've split different areas that cannot be walked to in game in separate files.

I know that theoretically, I should be able to set up a trigger that see's a command or output from the mud, and issues a trigger that opens a new map file, and set's the current position to where the character will wind up.

Example:

in room 1
Ride Balloon to NewArea
*trigger to open NewArea map
*Set current location to NewArea map landing spot
land in room 1 in NewArea and map is already ready to go.

Thank you so much in advance. There's been a lot of reading material and I think I understand what's possible with the client, I just can't seem to find where to execute half of it.

Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2018 2:09 am

Balloon ride can be done by editing a standard exit to use the special movement command.
Or by using a #TRIGGER on the movement string that executes a #TELEPORT command to the room you will be landing in.

Different areas of the map are best done in separate zones of the same map, not with completely separate maps.
There is no means of combining map files together.

As far as changing the shapes of rooms and whatnot, for that you need ZMapper.

Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2018 6:46 am

Is there no command to open a file in the mapper? If you're unsure, that's fine. I'm looking for a definitive answer. Cmud seems to be powerful, programming wise, so I assume there is such a function and I just can't find it.

Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2018 7:20 am

Further investigation:

#MENU {Mapper|File|Open} does the trick.

Now I just need to figure out how to tell it exactly which file to open.

Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2018 11:32 am

Oh, it is entirely possible to change maps.
I'm just saying that is a very roundabout way to do things.

Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2018 4:50 pm

It helps with organization, really.

I can't figure out how to make it automatically open the file though.

I get as far as it triggering the dialog box where I can click the file, but I want it to pick it without me clicking anything. :/

Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2018 10:38 pm

I'm not sure it can be done via script.

As for organization, I think the zone method would do what you are looking for without the hassle of multiple files.
That's what it was meant for.
Each zone is essentially a separate map, just linked to the rest of the game world (if said exits exist).

Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2018 11:56 pm

The number of zones would be tremendous, that's the issue. Were there a way to put zones within zones, then it might be less of an issue.

Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2018 2:04 am

You can nest them like Russian dolls if you want.

In my game i have: world -> political regions -> hunting areas/towns -> notable buildings/residential areas -> player homes

Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2018 6:05 am

But, you don't actually put zones inside of a zone. The list still winds up being long, or the map get's so huge you're zoomed way out.

Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2018 12:39 pm

You are correct there.
If you keep adding zones, the list of them will get longer.
Is this really a detracting factor?

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2018 6:00 am

When having to sort through them? Yes.

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2018 4:39 pm

I can't think of a situation where that would be needed myself.
But if you can present the problem I can likely find a solution to it.

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2018 4:56 pm

The maps my friend and I are compiling are being used as resources of information both for play, and toward the end of adding new content to the game. As such, having a long list of different zones, or having a hugely massive amount of rooms in only a handful of zones are both inefficient and/or cluttered.

Currently, each map file is all of the areas that can be traversed by foot. That is to say, you can walk to them overland using NESW Up and Down to get there, for the most part. Anything separated by other modes of transport, such as sailing on the in game ocean, going through some form of portal, triggering an event, or using an in game balloon system or other mode of flight, leads to a separate map file. This makes each map file manageable for the purpose of examination.

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2018 5:26 pm

I understand what you are saying.
I just don't see how having a separate zone for it in a single file is more cluttered than having multiple files.
As far as sorting goes, the two methods are equal.

But when it comes to actual gameplay, and the end user having the #LOCATION accurate (the 'you are here' dot), the zone method wins hands down.
There is no current method using zscript alone to switch between map files.
There are several methods to control the #LOC, so the need for special commands to use an exit, creating temporary exits, or only being able to traverse through an area with a vehicle can all be accounted for.

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2018 5:44 pm

Having a list of 50+ zones can easily lead to overlooking a particular zone, as opposed to <20 zones in a map file, and having 5 or 6 map files.

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2018 6:01 pm

Well, if you want to do it differently, for the administrative side of things, that is entirely up to you.
I'm just trying to tell you how your players would do it, so you can properly emulate the player experience.

I have 111 zones in the game I play, and while finding a specific one in the dropdown list can be an issue at times, the list is alphabetized, and it doesn't really present that much of an issue.

Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2018 3:39 am

I understand that much, and if it were purely for the purpose of playing, I'd agree. I'm not an admin, just a builder, which carries significantly less responsibility and grants far less access, thus the need to collect my own information.

My usage case is pretty specific. I knew CMUD was capable of a lot.

I assumed that if it could open a menu automatically, it could also pass along the argument of what to do in that menu. I guess it's not -that- powerful.

I'd tried reading through the documentation, but couldn't find the answer there. In truth, opening the menu wasn't technically there. I took a guess and it worked based on the context of another command example.

Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2018 5:01 pm

The issue more stems from this being an activity that a player would have no reason to want to do in the course or normal gameplay.

CMUD's efficiency is from having things already loaded in memory.
Having to close out and open another database, and redraw the map from that would eat up valuable CPU time and you would see a performance hit.

CMUD is quite powerful as a telnet client, good at math and string manipulation.
CMUD is not the best database editing software in the world, performance wise. That is not its intended purpose.