Zugg Software :: View topic - Shortcomming in mapper? (Room exits to itself)

Beginner Joined: 28 Nov 2007 Posts: 15

I have a feeling this feautre MUST be covered by the mapper as it isn't something new, but for the love of god I just haven't been able to figure out how to it.
My problem is when a room has an exit that leads back to that same room. I just can't seem to establish that in the mapper - it kinda insist on creating a new room in that direction.

Is this really not possible?? Or can someone help me out here? Thanks in advance.

GURU Joined: 23 Dec 2000 Posts: 4834 Location: USA

1)move in the direction that loops back to the same room (feel free to delete this extra room, it's totally irrelevent to this process and you specifically don't want to just merge it)

2)using your mouse, click and hold down the left button on the end of the link closest to this new room

3)with mouse button still held down, drag the mouse to the other side of the link, closest to where it connects to the old room
NOTE: I think, but don't remember, the mouse icon will change to a link-creation icon looking like a door with two lines coming out the sides. If so, this is normal and you want the icon to be facing the direction your exit is going.

4)release the mouse
NOTE: if done properly, the link line should change to a circle looping back to the original room

5)In the Exits tab of the Room Properties window, delete one of the duplicate exits. Thus far I don't know if this is a good or bad idea, but the mapper doesn't change behavior either way so I just delete them.

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 12:38 am

Or, in the Room Properties when you click on the Exits tab you can change the Exit To field to the same ID number as the room itself to create a looped exit. Then just delete the old room that it used to point to.

There isn't any way to *automatically* create a loop direction like this. So you have to manually edit the map using one of these methods (Matt's method works well).

So yes, the mapper will always initially create a new room in that direction...there is no way for it to know that you are really back in the same room. You have to edit the map manually and then delete the extra room.

Beginner Joined: 28 Nov 2007 Posts: 15

Thanks guys. Matt, your way works so now I can at least get past it (but "catching" the link with mouse seems to require some training for me :)

Zugg, your suggestion is what I was initially trying. (I'm not looking for an automatic way to do it)
But whenever I set a room to go back to itself, it just returns to that "empty" -1 value and will continue to create the new room after deleting it.
Even after having success with Matt's method, I can see in room properties what it should look like - but I don't seem able to create those properties manuelly. (other than pulling the link around.)

Is there a bug in exit properties or am doing something wrong?

SubAdmin Joined: 18 Nov 2001 Posts: 5182

You can also move the new room on top of the original. Then right click and select Merge Stacked, and that should make the exit a loopback.

It can also be done with script, using the %roomlink function, but since you would still have to remove the extra room I would suggest using the merge instead of setting up macros to change the exits.

Wizard Joined: 14 Aug 2004 Posts: 1269

Wizard Joined: 14 Aug 2004 Posts: 1269

Post moved to this thread (and merged with previous post).

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 4:51 pm

There is no good way to tell that the room is identical. Many areas on many MUDs have rooms with the same name/description next to each other (like a long road, or wilderness area). And of course there are maze-like areas that do this too. I tend to be against anything that pops up a prompt while you are moving on the mapper.

The new mapper should have a better Room Properties interface and Exit screen that will make this a lot easier, so I'm not going to worry about it until the new version is ready to test.

Wizard Joined: 14 Aug 2004 Posts: 1269

Sure, I wasn't suggesting my suggestion was high priority! Wink

Well, on my MUD the only rooms that should have the (same name AND the) same description ARE maze rooms. There are almost certainly some from the early days still in need of rewriting though. But if you add in exits, and objects lieing on the ground, it's very unlikely that a non-maze room would be identical to another room in the whole MUD (and particularly an adjacent room). So, yes, this feature would be more useful on some MUDs than others. As mr_kent wrote in the other thread, one would need a toggle for turning this off, preferably one that can be changed programmatically, so it can easily be switched off if entering a big maze where you know there are no loops. But I know that when I am mapping mazes I spend a lot of time merging rooms, although of course the hardest part is knowing which two rooms to merge.