Zugg Software :: Map Object Properties

Map Object Properties

Rooms and Links have properties that you can edit by right-clicking them and selecting the Properties option. The properties of these objects are described in detail below:

Room Properties

Text Page

This page of the Room Property dialog allows you to view and edit the room name and description. Also, below the description, you can add notes about the room (such as what objects or monsters it contains). You can also add a Room Script to be executed when you enter this room. For example, in a shop, you might put the "list" command into the script field so that it always displays a list of items when you enter the room. Note the script for the room is preformed before room information is received to allow triggers to act on that information.

Exits Page

You can edit the exits (links) attached to the room. These Link Properties are described in detail in the next section.

Appearance Page

On the Appearance page of room properties you can set the room color, or change the position of the room label. To add a label that is attached to the room. Simply click on the direction you want the label to be drawn. By default, the name of the room is displayed in the Label. However, you can change this by editing the Short Name field in the Other page of the properties.

Other Page

The Other page of room properties allows you to edit miscellaneous information about the room.

VNUM is used by wizards to identify rooms by number. It is also used by all of the internal CMUD functions to access a room under script control. Make sure that two rooms in the same zone do not have the same number.

The Short Name is a used to display the room label from the Appearance properties. It also can be used to identify the room with many script commands and functions.

Cost to enter the room is used by the speedwalk algorithm to compute the shortest path between rooms. If your MUD implements different movement costs for rooms you can enter the value in this field. The Do Not Enter flag causes the walk alogorithm to treat the cost as 2 billion.

The Reload flags on the bottom of the page are used to tell the mapper whether to reload part of the room information the next time the room is entered while in Map Mode. CMUD uses these options with the #LOOK command to reload all properties of a room, but you can use them manually if you like.

The Force Entry option forces the mapper to move you to this room without checking the MUD output first. Use this flag so that the mapper doesn't get lost if you have a room that is hard for the mapper to recognize.

Finally, the Room Name options on the right of the page allow you to override the default speedwalking detection for individual rooms. Normally, the configuration settings are used to form trigger that flags the success of a speedwalk step. You can use the beginning of the line, end of line, or both by changing these options. They only effect this individual room, and not the other rooms on the map (which are controlled by the master map properties).

Contents Page

This page crosslinks rooms to the Database module.

Link Properties

You can change the properties of a link by right-clicking and selecting Properties from the popup menu. You can also edit links by selecting a room and displaying the Exits page of Room properties.

In any case, all of the links for a room will be displayed, with the currently selected Link highlighted. You can change the link that you are editing by selecting it from the list on the left side of the dialog.

In the center of the dialog, the properties for From side of the link are shown, and on the right side the properties To end of the link is shown. To move to the properties of the destination room, click the Jump To Room button (arrow to the right of the room name).

For each end of a link you can control the direction used to draw the link and to speedwalk through the link. The 8 cardinal directions, as well as up and down are shown as buttons. As you click these buttons, the link will be displayed in the new direction on the map. You can unselect all directions to prevent the link from being drawn at all. The Other direction is used to create links for non-standard directions. If you click the Other direction, the link is shown as a small solid circle to the lower right of the room. In the Other Com field you enter the command that will move you on the MUD to the destination room of the link. For example, if you type "enter" to enter a room on your MUD, put the word "enter" in.

Note that entering a value into the Other Com box overrides the normal movement command for the room no matter what link direction is selected. For example, if you have "enter" in the Other box, but have the North button selected, the link will be drawn to the north of the room, but you will still need to type the "enter" command on the MUD to traverse the link. Going North will not traverse the link. Thus, the way a link is drawn and the movement command used to cross the link are two different values. You can really get yourself confused with this, so be careful. For example, you can put "west" in the Other Direction box, but show the link to the East! What power.

Below the Link Directions are the options for One Way links and Doors. Note that doors can be one sided (select Door on one end of the link, but deselect it on the other end). The open door command is only issued when traversing a link that is marked as a door. By default, the open door command just uses the direction of the door. For example, a door to the north is opened with the "open north" command. Some MUDs require the name of the door to be used. Place the name of the door in the field next to the Door button, and use the %2 parameter in the Door Command string of the Map properties to represent the name of the door in the open command. Doors can also be locked, but currently only two-sided doors can be locked. The locked door is only displayed visually and has no other function at this time.

Sometimes links connect rooms across the map rather than adjacent rooms. You can create a "broken" link with a label by entering a value into the Link Label field and turning off the Draw Link option. For example, you can put the text "A" in the Link Label and turn off the Draw Link option. At each end of the link, a short line stub will be drawn on the room in the proper direction, and the label "A" will be drawn next to the link.

: Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:21 pm

It appears this graphic is slightly out of date. There are now four checkboxes, and the names of the three fields have changed to Name, Lable, and Door. It'd be nice to have the help file changed to match the new ones.