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Beginner Joined: 23 Feb 2002 Posts: 23

I play on the mud Realms of Dispair.
The automapper will work fine for a while, then jump off in the wrong direction from what I typed, and create a non-existent room, impossible to get to. Does anyone know what is wrong?

GURU Joined: 10 Oct 2000 Posts: 1116 Location: USA

Well, off the top of my head, I'd say that a direction got placed in the mapper queue by mistake or didn't get registered as being completed, so when you tried to go south, the queue thought you wanted to go east, then createed a room that went east. Check to make sure that your queue is being cleared correctly and check to see if your configuration is as close to the mud output as possible.

Iljhar

Apprentice Joined: 03 Jan 2002 Posts: 152 Location: USA

Also check out the #NODIR and #NOMAP commands. Occasionally, you may accidently walk into a wall or closed door. Using these commands in a few triggers will help prevent the creation of rooms in those directions.

For instance:

#TRIGGER {Alas, you cannot go that way...} {#NODIR; #NOMAP}
#TRIGGER {the door is closed} {#NODIR; #NOMAP}

It's best to copy the exact mud output and replace what i have in the first set of brackets with that, because im going from poor memory here.

Another useful one for me is #OK. I use this one in a trigger to enable me to get to places if i find myself blind, or if it's dark and i'm without a light:

#TRIGGER {It's pitch black...} {#OK}
#TRIGGER {You can't see a thing!} {#OK}

These 2 will be the most useful when you have some completed maps of course.

Hope it helps

Beginner Joined: 23 Feb 2002 Posts: 23

The problem is that the queue is not cleared.
how do I clear it if a movement is stuck in it?

GURU Joined: 10 Oct 2000 Posts: 1116 Location: USA

You can use #nodir. If there is more than 1 direction queued up, just keep using #nodir until the queue is clear.

Iljhar

SubAdmin Joined: 18 Nov 2001 Posts: 5182

Alternately double-clicking on the queue display box will completely clear it.

Beginner Joined: 23 Feb 2002 Posts: 23

Is there any way to check the queue automatically if there are any commands lingering too long? This mud is huge and it is hard to keep looking back at the automapper if im trying to map a city quickly

Beginner Joined: 23 Feb 2002 Posts: 23

Is there any way to check the queue automatically if there are any commands lingering too long? This mud is huge and it is hard to keep looking back at the automapper if im trying to map a city quickly

GURU Joined: 10 Oct 2000 Posts: 4379 Location: USA

Try creating triggers like those doomfyre suggested so that when you get a message letting you know that some direction you sent didn't actually move you, you use the #NODIR command.

Kjata

Novice Joined: 10 Oct 2000 Posts: 43

I'd like to comment that you shouldn't map quickly. :) You will rarely get accurate maps. I wrote the following for my fan site of a now long dead mud...

Why is the mapper making rooms in the wrong direction:

If you press north, the mapper is now waiting for a room, and it will put it to the north of your current room. Let's say, you press north, and hit a wall, then you press east and move to the east. What happens? Well the mapper queue is still waiting for the room north, so when you see the room to the east, the mapper maps it to the north, and now is waiting for for a room to map to the east. If you understand what I just described, you will have no problem mapping.

So what can you do to help with problems like that? Well, go slow, one room and a time, after each room, make sure the mapper created the new room, and it is where you expect it to be. If something didn't work, clear the mapper queue (double click on it) and start over. If you have created weird rooms. turn mapping off, and get back to a known point, delete the mangled rooms, and start over. Slow and steady wins the race, and once you figure out how the mapper thinks, you can speed up.

There are ways to tell the mapper to ignore all kinds of things. With liberal use of the #nodir command you can save yourself a lot of headaches. #nodir tells the mapper that the last direction you tried failed to work, so ignore it. So if you bump into a wall, the mapper will not add the direction to the queue. Here are a few that I've came up with, they cover many of the common problems that I've had. You should add your own.

#CLASS {MapperStuff} {enable}

#TRIGGER {Its too steep for you to climb unaided.} {#nodir}
#TRIGGER {The trees grow thickly and undergrowth prevents further progress that way.} {#nodir}
#TRIGGER {You are in the middle of combat!} {#nodir}
#TRIGGER {You are too exhausted to move.} {#nodir}
#TRIGGER {You are unable to travel in that direction here.} {#nodir}
#TRIGGER {You can't do that while you are sleeping.} {#nodir}
#TRIGGER {You can't go any further in that direction.} {#nodir}
#TRIGGER {You must stop meditating before you try to move!} {#nodir}
#TRIGGER {You try to swim, but your skill is not great enough!} {#nodir}
#TRIGGER {Your vehicle can not travel on that type of terrain!} {#nodir}

#CLASS 0

This should get you started. There are many other things you can do, such as following in a group, when blind, at night, or when you flee. Maybe I'll add some of my solutions to some of that in the future.

How do I map climbing and entering things:
This may seem like a big issue, but zMUD has a very easy way to deal with this. If I enter a room and it has a vine in it, I have to type 'climb up vine' to get the mud to move me up to the next room. zMUD won't do a thing. I have to tell zMUD what I want it to do by mapping it like this, '>climb up vine>up'. The first '>' symbol directs zMUD to make a new room, and the second '>' tells it in what direction to place the room. The second '>' and the direction is optional, leave them out and ZMUD will put the room where is wants, which might be useful for entering tents and such.

Keep in mind this only makes the link in one direction. You still have to tell it how to link back. The next time you are in this room, you only have to type 'climb up vine' and the mapper know will know to take you into the correct room. These kinds of links are very difficult (for me) to set up manually.

Beginner Joined: 23 Feb 2002 Posts: 23

I realized that another problem is that the line with the exits on it is not always the first thing on its line because it is bumped back by the description. How can I change the automapper to correctly map a room like this:
The Healing Touch.
You see a sign here instructing you that WARES is the command to see what is
for sale.You see exits leading south (open door) and down (closed door).

P.S. there is no space between some of these periods. Is that a problem?