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Newbie Joined: 30 Apr 2004 Posts: 6 Location: USA

I play a mud that has over 15000 rooms. I have (blush) mapped most of it with the normal zmud mapper. The zmud application is very slow in loading as that there is a lot of spam in my maps (i.e. "a mule(mine) is here ridden by you." and "a lion is here." etc...) A new 'feature' of the game is using xml tags which differentiate between room name, room description, mobiles in room, interactible objects, etc.
What I would like to do, however, is to open the map file with a database program and edit out all the spam. Anyone know if that is possible or should I just restart mapping the mud using the xml tags?

Hoot

Wanderer Joined: 06 Jan 2006 Posts: 70

Give me an example of what the room looks like then what the edited version should look like?

Posted: Tue May 02, 2006 7:22 pm

Are they using their own xml tags, or are they using MXP? MXP provides an xml mechanism for the mapper to tag names, descriptions, etc. If the MUD has that available, then you should definitely use it. If not, then you might ask the MUD admins why they choose their own xml mechanism instead of using the MXP standard that many other MUDs and MUD clients use.

But the "spam" in your map shouldn't effect loading time, and 15000 isn't really that much (I have maps with a lot more). You might try using the Compact option in zMapper to make the database file more efficient. Or you can wait until the mapper update for CMUD later this summer where I replace the crappy and buggy ADO/MDAC database with a more efficent SQL-based database.

Wanderer Joined: 06 Jan 2006 Posts: 70

I have a map with 14,800 rooms + descs + notes and such and it loads fine. I can write a script for you to remove the spam if you tell me what the desc looks like and how you want the ideal desc to look like.

Newbie Joined: 30 Apr 2004 Posts: 6 Location: USA

Mume Mud Output is as follows:

<prompt>*# CW></prompt>west
<movement dir=west/><room><name>Bear's Way
</name><description>A stone road leads to a huge stone fountain in the east and a wall of green a
bit farther west. Utilitarian in nature, this road also serves an aesthetic
purpose. Using the stones as an artist medium, the builder has crafted the
image of a massive black bear in the road. The flat sculpture is so large that
it would not be visible to those standing directly above it but would appear to
be a dark patch in the stones. But viewed from the outer edges, a larger than
life bear can be seen, looking towards the west with its head turned slightly
upwards.
</description>A young boy is here, bumping into things.
</room><exits>Exits: north, east, west.
</exits>
<prompt>*# CW></prompt>

Novice Joined: 08 Dec 2005 Posts: 35 Location: Sweden

Hmm, how does compacting work? Lossless? Couldn't seem to find its helpfile.

Sitting here with a one minute loading time, 17k rooms, loads of notes, 86,4mb mapfile >.<

Novice Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 32

Compacting is like a defragmentation of sorts. To make an analogy with a file system: in a file system you defragment files, in a database you defragment records. (I think that database storage actually works quite similarly to file storage.)

Hrm, I think you seriously need to compact your database. My map has around 10k rooms -- although with no notes -- and it uses less than 9 mb. Compacting does speed up loading, since , for one, it has to load a much smaller file.

Although, I think I noticed a while back that the room #1 in the database got its desc changed with that of another room after compacting. But after I recreated the room so it had a newer number -- database record number, that is -- it stopped happening, I think. I haven't mudded in a few months, so my memory is a bit rusty.

Newbie Joined: 30 Apr 2004 Posts: 6 Location: USA

Compacted, went from 1111k to 157k :P

Novice Joined: 08 Dec 2005 Posts: 35 Location: Sweden

Mine said it went from 600-something k to 157k too I think... but the actual file went down to 19,6 mb O.o Lots faster loading :D

Thanks ^__^

Wizard Joined: 14 Aug 2004 Posts: 1269