Zugg Software :: View topic - zMUD not mapping non-directional exits.

Novice Joined: 12 Mar 2003 Posts: 37

My MUD output is like this:
-------------------------------------------
> look
The Great Hall of Neophyte Knowledge.
All around you are ancient books that tell of mysterious creatures
and hidden treasures. The purpose: To adapt you to this perilous realm.
Exits: south, east, west and out (no cover)
You see Amok
This is a safe haven, no fighting allowed.
o
> o
You squeeze through a small opening in Elfhelm's Town Square.
You notice an area designated to neophytes is near by.
Exits: up (no cover)
You see a neophyte door.
You see a small Dagger (7 +0)
You hear some noises from a neophyte door.

--------------------------------------------

The line
Exits: south, east, west and out (no cover)
gets parsed, but the "out" exit and the command to use it "o" do not get included on the Exit tab.

Novice Joined: 12 Mar 2003 Posts: 37

Issue #2
MUD output looks like:




You're walking along the mall where busy little shops line the way.


Guild Way streches off to the east.


Exits: east and west (sparse cover)


You see the Elfhelm academy.


go a


> go a


You're within the hallowed halls of Elfhelm Academy, wherein you can


receive various forms of training.


Exits: out (no cover)


You see some orc-skin Armor (11 +0)


This is a safe haven, no fighting allowed.





Type "menu" for the academy menu.





o


> o

Again, the exits get parsed correctly, but the exit for the Academy, being on the line below does not.

Exits: east and west (sparse cover)
You see the Elfhelm academy.
go a

"go a" or "go acadamy" would work for this. I have tried to add these exits manually (as Other) on the Exit tab of the room preferences. Would they work as a door? I don't think I can trigger on the line after the Exit: that starts "You see" because if there are items in the room you output like this:

Exits: north and south (sparse cover)
You see the Elfhelm Weaponsmith's.
You see a Gauntlet of doom (48 +5)

Newbie Joined: 01 Apr 2003 Posts: 3

just as an addition, some of the exits are unusual in this regard....
the gate to go through the gate requires a spell or item to be used on it that casts the spell key. then you "go gate" but the other side doesnt have a out to return, it has the other side of the gate, which is the same way, must have a spell cast on it to open it.
sometimes though, you have a small crevice, which you can "go crevice", "go small", or a shortening thereof, but the exit on the other side can either be a south, or a out, or a "go passage", but not all 3 at once..

just trying to give as much info as possible.

we would like the mapper to be able to deal with the info given, also would like the map to look halfway decent when done.. as it is, using the "other" links, it doesnt draw lines between the rooms or anything, just puts a dot beside the room and doesnt link the dots either. there is no "connection" to show the 2 rooms are united

any help would be appreciated. thanks

MASTER Joined: 28 Nov 2000 Posts: 4817 Location: USA

The mapper only recognizes defined directions. By default, those are north|n, south|s, west|w, east|e, up|u, and down|d in the System|Directions class and northwest|h, northeast|j, southwest|k, and southeast|l in the System|DirectionsDiag class. If you'll be using other directions frequently, you may wish to add their definitions.

You can also use the Mapdir character (defaults to >) from the command line (or trigger, alias, etc) to add nonstandard exits at any time. See the helpfile topic Advanced Mapping in the section Introduction to Mapping for more details. Look for the paragraph Non-standard exits.

The mapper won't be able to detect exits such as "You see the Elfheim academy". You'll have to do those yourself, or write triggers to do them. You'll also need to add any nonstandard "unlocking" or "opening" commands for yourself, and (since it won't always be the same) do your own reverse links.

LightBulb
Advanced Member

SubAdmin Joined: 18 Nov 2001 Posts: 5182

The next public version has support for using a non-standard command like "go gate" while the direction for the exit link is set to a standard direction. This provides both clarity of display and better keyboard walkability. The las schedule for the public version Zugg posted said "soon". So you shouldn't have to wait long.

As to exit creation, the 'out' exit in your Great Hall example could be handled by a script. The exact details of that script could take weeks to write and debug. Also full automation of the exit creation would require zMapper, simply having the exit detected and a stub created is possible without zMapper. Another option to 'out' exits since they seem common is to create a #DIRECTION for them and set its map direction to other. This would involves no script but would require that you always manually relink or change the exit to improve display. This option is likely your best route.

Thing like the 'Elfhame Academy' will have to be created manually, no set of triggers could ever be made smart enough to figure out that it indicates an exit, unless the mud provides some indication such as color. The best way to make these is with the map direction char (defaults to '>') The command for your example would be ">go academy>n". The first part ">go academy" tells the mapper that you wish to make an other exit and what its command is. The second part ">n" tells the mapper to draw the room to the north of the current room. I selected that because your example room had east and west exits, but your actual map might look better as >s, >u, or >d.

Novice Joined: 12 Mar 2003 Posts: 37

Thanks for the replies, and the multiple directions to hit this from. Also thanks for the suggestions on where to look in the help/manual. There's so much there it's overwhelming sometimes.

I'll get back to you on my success or failure (or complete lack of understanding

) after I play around a bit.

Novice Joined: 12 Mar 2003 Posts: 37

Vijilante,
Next public version of what, zMUD or zMapper?
Thanks again...

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

zMUD

Kjata

Novice Joined: 12 Mar 2003 Posts: 37

Thanks Kjata.

Lightbulb, I've added a direction o|out but it has no opposite and I don't know if this will have any impact on it's usage in zMUD.

What I have done to resolve my mapping issues is make the directional exits (e.g. n) one way and make a separate one way exit from other room (e.g. the Academy) one way, other, with the command o.

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

If it doesn't have an opposite direction, it just means that zMUD won't be able to calculate the reverse of a speedwalk that contains it. Also, I believe, if you create an exit with that direction out of a room, and then use some other direction to go back to the starting room, since the "out" direction has no reverse, the mapper won't automatically link those two rooms via the "out" exit.

Kjata

Novice Joined: 12 Mar 2003 Posts: 37

That, Kjata, is exactly the problem I'm having. Does anyone have any idea when "soon" is? We've (ImmortalSam and I) mapped this on paper and are trying to get it into zMUD because with all the one-way links and non-standard exits it looks like a bad intestinal diagram. I really want to speedwalk through it, not have to pick my way.
Thanks again,

Feanor

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

It should be really soon. Zugg doesn't like to give release dates, but he is aiming to have the last beta out maybe this week and a new public version after a few days of testing. Of course, none of this is completely certain since you never know what might happen.

Kjata

Novice Joined: 12 Mar 2003 Posts: 37

A general idea was what I was hoping for, thanks Kjata.

Yeah, I work in the IT industry (when the economy's not in the toilet) and understand about computers doing unexpected things that change your plans. :)