JediMud 6.0

[Austinpowers]

Hi All,
I have had numerous requests on what was being done. I have received permission to post this to the board. This will be a coordinated effort that MIGHT have a class revision, and will have some world additions/upgrades. If there is more I will post or the person in charge of this will update here.

NO PLAYER WIPE WILL BE NECCESARY

Eniac and I will be working very hard to make this a reality. We have the support of the admin. ;D

As of this writing, 90% of this is already in and being tested.


Jedi 6.0
1) Most of the code is now structured. Meaning I tried to line up all the code for readability. About 20,000 lines of code

2) Redundant code aka: extern int top_of_world was in some files multiple times, same with function calls. AKA: fname(), is_number() etc etc. I have removed all these redundancies.
3) Removed all Code related to old retired admin. RAID, Moonbeam, Pythe, Unicorn, Cosmo, Steppin. There was several references to their special procedures, and other code to protect them.
4) Global Buffers, Are gone. All procedures use local buffers.
5) Rewrote send_to_char(), send_to_room, send_to_room_except(), etc etc.
Old way was to : sprint(buffer, “text %s”, Variable)
Send_to_char(buffer, character);
New way:
Send_to_char(character, “text %s”, arguments);
This was done to all send_to_XXXX functions.
6) Several new files added.
a)I have added Comm.h <all communication references are now pulled from here> These used to be in the tops of every file. This reduces file overhead now.
b) Constants.h All arrays calls are now pulled from here. They also used to be in the tops of all files.
c) htree.c/htree.h this is for the new generation and unique id code, and index searching.
d) autowiz.c for automatic updates of the wizlist, and immlist

7) All objects will now be tagged with generation times and unique ID’s. This is to prevent duping. If objects are found in the game to have the same generation time or unique ID, they are logged and broadcast out on the syslog.
8) Mobiles and Rooms are also given unique ID’s so searching is much faster.
9) Comm.c the main game loop has been rewritten to come more in line with the circlemud standard. It is much more efficient and will make upgrades/additions much easier now.
10) Player ASCII files have been put in. I have 2 flags, 1 for ASCII_PFILES_SAVE, and 1 for ASCII_PFILES_LOAD. First ASCII_PFILES_SAVE will be enabled saving out the player base. Once this is done and all are satisfied that its fine, then we can enable ASCII_PFILES_LOAD and this will load the player base to ASCII Pfiles. This allows us to remove restrictions of adding to characters because we cannot change the binary file size. This will allow us to increase array sizes, alias sizes, quite a few other options being requested.
11) Some wizard commands have been tweaked. The Last command for instance, now it will show who and when someone logged in, or you can type last and it will give you the default last 10 people to log in. load<object/mobile> <vnum/name> <number> will load item via vnum or name, and you can specifiy how many of that particular item or mob. I have added a show unique, for all the unique objects in the game.
12) Mail, is now updated with mailable objects, and will be delivered by OWL during the game. I have added a toggle flag so you can turn this off, if you do not want mail to be delivered during the game. This is a 5 second TICK for delivery. I am working on adding the 30 day return to sender.
13) Rewritten the communications such as page_string(), show_string() in Modify.c Most noticeable in mail, player extra descriptions. Instead of adding functionality or making changes whole new calls were added show_string2, page_string2….
14) Rewritten do_tell. Please see further down
15) Redid Prompt string, and make prompt. It was MESS and was all over the place. Now its called in comm..c and divided into make_prompt(), proc_colors() and prompt_str(). It keeps all Jedi’s unique settings and add’s color and a few more options. Help file is available
16) In line with Proc_colors(), This is now called for any function adding color. Color codes start with @<color Code>. Anything in the game can use it. The menu system, the greeting.text, any world description, any communication.
17) Added new function calls create_obj(), create_char(), and create_room() in DB.c. Makes stardard calls to these easier to reference 1 call then having several in each file that required that code.
18) All functions dealing with unique ID’s and when object gereration(created) code are in DB.c
19) Interpreter.c nanny was updated so it was in line with the circlemud code base. Makes updates much easier, and separated the mess that was the function Nanny().
20) do_say() was also upgraded in act.comm.c
21) do_whisper, do_ask was now upgraded into a new function do_spec_comm(). In act.comm.c
22) Several lines in communication had CAN_SEE and were divided out accordingly. I have reduced this to
Send_to_char(ch, “TEXT %s said hi.”, *CAN_SEE(ch) ? “$n” : “Someone”);
23) Act() fuction has been rewritten to conform to the circlemud community.
24) The log function, I have added mudlog, but I have yet to fully implement it. I have a unique idea for logging.
25) Copyover, to allow for in game reboots, without any player having to log out.
26) A full rewrite of the do_look and cooresponding functions. Now the abbreviated directions as well as the full name directions will work. IE PICK NE, SCAN NE, etc etc
27) Autoexits highlight the doors, if not hidden or Dark.
28) The fight system will be upgraded. Nothing you are used to will be changed, only the fight engine.
29) A communiction history will be kept. You can type history tell, and it will report your last 5 tells.
30) Weather will be upgraded. The plan is for interactive weather. So that control weather actually works. If your on an island; hurricanes are possible, the plains; well tornados are possible, the desert; heat waves.. Yes damage can be possible.
31) Timed DT's. They can be preset times, or random. Meaning that if you enter a room, the DT might not pop for 2 ticks or 3. IE Quicksand does not kill you right away, but it does kill you. You can get out before the DT gets you.
32) Fixing of, or addition of many of the features on the coding list provided to me.
33) Boards will have years added to them. This might necessitate a board wipe.
***34) Online Configure menu, which will allow game toggles, features to be tweaked or modified while the game is up.
***35) Online Logging menu, to allow the admin to log events, issues, code, world events, as they the need.
***36) ASCII RENT FILES. Files will be saved out in ASCII format


**** Not definate as of this writing.

Finally:
I have removed all the module calls that every single file had. I have upgraded it to use the circlemud configure script. This will allow us to be platform independent if the code needs to move. The lines of code removed have been replaced with conf.h and sysdep.h.




Scott
Aka Austinpowers/Cunning/Gramps/Slyest and several other morts.

[Mal]

These changes look amazing. Keep up the good work. Let me know if you need any help. Thanks to the admin for letting all these changes through. Hopefully the plate of "TODOs" is getting smaller!

I really like #29, I wonder if it would make sense to have something like that for communication channels too. (check last 5 auctions... I know lots of people ask "whats up" etc on the auc when they just see bids on the auc channel)

[Austinpowers]

Currently the history of communications logs; tells, say, wizchannel, gos, auc, gratz, shout, and yell. I plan to add gsay, quest soon.

[Rox]

Gosh - that means that you will see multiple auc line below from me *LOL* ;D

Anything for sale/trade?

[Austinpowers]

Current update:

Thanks to all the people helping me debug. Running in debug mode has helped me catch many of the crashes.


Further updates:
1) syslog has been upgraded to mudlog, so I can remove the buffers just as I did with send_to_char(), and all other send_to_() functions.

2) log has been also upgraded to take advantage of this to.

3) Structs.h has been overhauled to come in line with circlemud code.
4) Utils.h has been upgraded to take advantage of structs.h. New MACROS added.

5) Reset char, free_char, and init char have been upgraded so that we can free all that needs to be freed.

6) reply to tell has now been fixed. GET_LAST_TELL() actually replies to the ID of the person who sent last tell.

7) Motion rooms will be upgraded and pulled out of point_update(). They should be their own function update... I will create the functions add them to the heatbeat function(). Where all other TICK operations are performed. This includes, CURRENT, RANDOM ROOM GENERATION, and MAZES.

8) Mobile specific declarations have now been moved into their own structures. This will help keep mobile and player structs easier to manage and free appropriate structs or strings.

9) With the enhancement to mobile specific structs, I have introduced the dummy_mob variable. This will help the code detect references to character only player_specials.



Thank you all for your invaluable testing and bug catching.


AP

[Austinpowers]

UPDATE:

I have now completely overhauled load_obj(), load_room(), load_shop(), load_mobile(), and load_zone(), to be in line with the current circlemud standard. I have kept all Jedi's unique features.


Yes as one update or fix, leads to the next, I keep on trucking...

Comments are welcome....

AP

[Austinpowers]

Please sumbit bug reports to: [e-mail] or [e-mail]

Thanks!

[Austinpowers]

Testing has begun on the new loaders. The database errors we were seeing before changes have now been identified for zones. Kailyn is fixing those issues and we will move on to the world database testing tonight. The player base test to ASCII files part 1 was a success. The player index was generated and the game had no problems referencing the index.


AP.

[Austinpowers]

The database world files have been updated, and the loaded works as expected. We have fixed several errors and format errors in the the world files. We will go over those again to make sure that everything goes to where it should. Several doors were fixed and will be noticed by the players.


I am working on the mobile loader. This works as expected. I have changed the format a touch. I have added a 'S' to separate the files. I have to go through every file and add this. Then I can move onto object files. I anticipate ill be onto full testing of the player base conversions Friday afternoon.

One question that has been asked is, "Will we be able to have longer aliases." I believe I will be able to lengthen these. When I am to that point, I will test the length of these


My daily update, to keep in touch with the player base.


AP

[Mal]

Apr 22, 2010 17:53:23 GMT -5 Austinpowers said:

I have added a 'S' to separate the files. I have to go through every file and add this.

I hope your using a script / regular expression to do this for you.

Are there going to be new options for the mobile loader for builders?

Nice to hear the aliases length will be increased.

A

[Austinpowers]

@ Mal, it was a piece of cake. Of course I used a script.

a nice little perl, to envoke search and replace by vi. %s/#/#cntl-v(return)#/g

the control-v takes the next key and puts it, so I used control v to put a carriage return in.

All database files for the world are now in and load. Several errors were found and correct in the files themselves. We are addressing the others that are missing values. Once kailyn researchs them, she will provide me with the updates.


It has been discussed, and Hedit will be added to the code base. This will allow online editing of the help files. AGAIN no OLC editing will be added for the world files. This will remain a manual
function.

AP

[Simba]

Cunning,
Who is this mal guy you keep talking to? And I got lost in all the upgrades, does this mean we'll have olc soon? or private chat channels?

[Austinpowers]

There will be NO OLC world enhancements. Hedit is the only OLC function that will be added. This is to allow us to edit the help files. A big complaint was that the help files are lacking. This will hopefully help us take care of that.

Please tell me what you mean by private channels? The only thing I really have done is add history of the communication channels. So you can do history tell and it will give you your last 5 tells to who ever and what you said, or History gossip, history wizchannel, history qsay, etc etc. I think I have added to every communication method we have now.

[Simba]

Sorry about the help files. I've started to help them but I've been tied up a bit. On another mud I've played they had private channels that you could set up. So say you, me, and mal wanted to talk together, I could create a channel named "csm" and then invite you two to it. It was a very nice function.

[Austinpowers]

I will talk this over with people, while its a good idea. I am not sure I could do this atm with the amount of upgrades on my plate.


Completed Player index migration today. Tonight I will migrate the player base to ASCII files. And continue on my debuggin mission.


AP

[Austinpowers]

UPDATE:

I finally converted the entire player base over to ASCII files. I have looked them over and they look perfect. I will have to go through it to make sure nothing was missed. Over 13k+ characters were done tonight.

Just wanted to let all know the progress we were making.

AP

[Austinpowers]

After much deliberation and thought, Aliases will be enlarged and we will allow alias within aliases. This should allow the players as much freedom to alias what they want and need. I will also move the player aliases to ASCII based saving and loading. This will allow the enlarging and embedding of other aliases.


CURRENT size will be 1024 Characters for the main alias.

Valid numeric replacements are only $1 .. $9 (makes parsing a little easier, and it's not that much of a limitation anyway.) Also valid is "$*", which stands for the entire original line after the alias. ";" is used to delimit commands.


Hope this makes people even happier then they already are with Jedi 6.0

[Austinpowers]

As a follow up. I will be assigning tasks to players who have volunteered to do player testing. I will ask that very thorough testing be done. This will help me progress through the changes and test them. If a bug is found, I will run in Debug mode, and have the test redone, so I can further diagnose the issue. Once this is all done, I will run through valgrind for memory issues.

I will start assigning testing Tuesday Evening. I hope to have the ascii changes all in by this point. While I have converted the player base, I have not finished the ascii loader. I plan to have that finished by tuesday morning.

I started classes again, after taken a semseter off. This will limit my time, but at this point, we are way ahead of schedule.

Please feel free to contact any of the AVTR's+ on ideas, bugs no matter how small or insignificant. We are trying our best to make sure we do not over look anything.


AP

[Austinpowers]

UPDATE:

I AM LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO ORGANIZE player testing. That means every facet of the game. The only parts not touched are spells, and skills. Upgrades to the code are just taking up all my time, and I need the help. This person will also work with Silverking to put a plan of attack out on the wiki site, and we will keep to that schedule. Thanks all!!!


Hedit is now in, a few tweaks to the help files and it will be good to go.

I have moved the command interpreter to be integrated with socials. This is now set if we want to use a online social editor.

Cedit - the online game editor, which will allow the admin to change any game function online. Examples, any PULSE timers, any Load rooms, the text greetings, etc etc. This is 75% done, I am finding defines in structs.h that are not used, and some that are used 1 time with no reason for its use.

The Ascii conversion is just about done. The player base is saved out in ascii files (we will do a final save out before we go live. The loading of the pfiles is finished, and the alias system is now converted over to ASCII files now.

I have decided to complete the PLR objects rent files. I will convert those also over to ASCII format. I am removing all traces of binary files.

On this note, it has been decided to redo boards. Yes this will likely require a wipe of the boards. There is no way around this yet. We will goto dynamic boards, which will also allow you to respond to posts.

Due to an outcry of suggestions, autoloot, autosplit and auto assist will be implemented into the game.

Fixed several bug reports of bash, kick, hit, etc etc that would still happen if you could not see. I have added checks for if (CAN_SEE) which checks everything that could cause you not to see at that moment.

It also has been decided to add online text editors. This will allow the admin to editor text files. Such as the background story, motd, imotd, and so on.

Several new files have been introduced to separate out the online functions. The most important is config.c. This houses all the game defined configs. These are the defaults, because once cedit is finished the game will save out a text file that holds these values. This is what allows the admin to customize the game and save it out.


I have added the communication history command to use group say.



Sorry player testing has been put on hold. It made more sense to finish the player files, but while doing it, it was easier to integrate the other functions too.


SilverKing has developed a specialized wiki for us. This will track changes to the code, bug reports, and testing. There will probably be more added, but this is to help us keep track of the current 6.0 development.

www.launchpad.net/jedimud

All tracking will be done though here. Please see him with ideas or questions.

The next few days I will be quite busy with work, and My classes. I am off this coming weekend, so I should be finished and ready for player testing. I will do my absolute best to get the test port up tomorrow or Friday.


One final Note. Thank you all for the support, the kind works, and congratulations on my promotion to DEMI. I fully believe that Jedi 6.0 will be a total team effort. That means, all the admin, and the player base. Without specific group, we would not be able to accomplish this in the time we are doing this. Keep those suggestions coming, and keep volunteering to help!

AP

[Austinpowers]

I have now converted the entire database to 128 bit flags. I have also added the ability to make changes to the database and save it out. This in no way means we will use OLC editing any time soon.

[Austinpowers]

Today I spent most of the day converting the player rent files over to ascii format.


After it ran For an hour, I had successfully converted the entire 13000+ rent files over to asii.


I will probably be taken a break for a day, as my brain is turning to mush.


Kailyn appointed a person to handle the testing of the new code. It will take a total team effort. That person's name is Gatt.

Please thank him, and all people that volunteered to help test. Please give him your name. I will give him my list later tomorrow. I am wiped out and have to work at 6am 5/4.

Have a great day all.!

[Austinpowers]

I have fixed the versions in the object files, and all files now are great. I have also saved out aliases, they will be saved out now as part of saving the char, and will be in the player ascii file now.

I will investigate further to make sure they are longer and aliases embedded in other aliases now work.


I will not be doing any work on the game until thurs. I need a break and I have class work I must finish wed. 5/5/10

[Austinpowers]

UPDATE:

I am slammed with work and classes, but I still made pleny of progress. CEDIT (game config edit) is all in, but the editor itself. The preload, the utils and all the loading. I have found more issues with the database. For instance, found the bardic college entrance spec proc assigned to another place.. Sounds odd, but it was there. There was also doors out of place in the code. I guess I did not check everything, as long as it loaded. However, with the ability to save out the zones, objects, shops, world, and mobile files now, it is less tollerant of mistakes.

All the player base saves and loads, same with the objects and aliases in ASCII format.

Started tweeking the data types through out the code. Introduced some more checking in the database loads. The log will see this issues now.

Added autoloot, autoassist, autosplit, and one other.


Several other things, but I am so tired from being at work still after 16 hours....

AP

[Austinpowers]

Objects, zones, and world files have been converted over to 128 bit files. They load and save fine.


There are other issues that will need attention. I will point out to our admin. ;D


I am getting closer to putting up the test port. I must say I am sorry for taken so long. I just wanted to get everything in place, so we could really test.

[Rox]

Rubbing hands in anticipation of testing ;D

*Rub* *Rub*