Latest version of Thor's Area Creator

[Kylor]

thanks. I noted some other changes that need to be done manually as well if you have a minute for that. actually Thor if you get a minute can you add "naturalize" and "exclude" to the values for objects? I know it's possible cause I've seen other items with these effects in game.

[Thor]

actually Thor if you get a minute can you add "naturalize" and "exclude" to the values for objects?

hehe, oops. I added them to the wiki, but looks like I got distracted before I added them to the editor. They'll be there next version.

[Tokugawa]

Oops. looks like the editor does not save comments in the area file. This should be supported so we can put in comments, this helps so we can put in exit and entrance locations as well as commenting out items if needed. Otherwise we would have to delete the reset.

I saved some comments in the resets and then opened the file in the editor, saved it, closed and then opened the file in a text editor and the comments were gone. Good thing I saved a copy in another file.

The character for comments is an asterisk with no quotes and should be supported from the beginning of the line.
So for example, I made these comments in the file to be fixed later. These should not be deleted when you save the file.

*Not sure where these go.
*P 1 28224 100 28212 * a letter of forgiveness -> a stiff
*P 1 28240 100 28239 * some tangled puppet strings -> a very fancy music box

[Kylor]

a stiff goes in room 102 and letter of forgiveness goes inside a stiff
very fancy music box goes on mob 110 "the master of puppets" and some tangled puppet strings goes in the music box.

[Cordir]

never mind. I figured it out.

[Belsambar]

The most interesting thing in all of this is back when I first wanted to write an area I WANTED to actually write it by hand and get the flow done properly as was going to need to be done in notepad on the final file anyway...but Toku told me there wasn't really a way to do that, and I think I just had my usual problem of not explaining myself in a way that he had any idea what I was actually asking.

I think I need to actually write an area like I would a webpage in html on notepad...I either get frustrated with the way things are done, or sidetracked from what I was originally trying to do...I just need to backwards form a list so I can manually do it by hand...cause looking at your talk on the resets, that's the kind of 'flow through in writing' that I was talking about a couple weeks back with how I was wanting to get a room written detailed and finished before moving to the next.

I hate my brain.

[Kylor]

I just wanted to bump this thread and get an updated on where the area writer stands. Last I knew it was still having issues with how is saved P resets, dunno if that is fixxed, I think maybe it was fixxed but my zone had some bad ones in it... also it was saving room specs wrong cause we had to manually do all the spec_mildgas flags. One thing that has to be addressed for sure is the containers, it has a drop down menu for what type of container e.g. closed or locked .... in fact this is not how it should be, containers should be able to have multiple flags on them e.g. closeable, locked, pickproof or whichever.. also my version still doesn't have exclude and naturalize for items and I suppose unfetter should be added too now. i got a great idea for a mid-level XP zone 35-45 that once I get deep enough into it to decide if I like it I will submit the proposal.

[Thor]

I hope to release a new version soon, but I wanted to give people that use it a warning.

As far as I can tell, using automatic word wrap in the GUI and then carrying it over to the actual area file is not possible in Java. (If you know how to do this, please, I'd love to learn.) So, in the mean time, so this doesn't hold up progress for everything else, text areas (eg: room description box) will only allow 70 characters per line. The cursor will not advance past that.

There is a major downside to this....a file loaded in the editor that have more than 70 chars per line will be truncated at 70 for each line. There's simply no way I can avoid this. There are a few options for handling it though. I can insert a newline char after character 70 for any lines that have more than 70. I would bring up an alert box telling you there were more than 70 chars in some lines. Would you like to add newline characters? Answer yes would add newline characters, thus avoiding truncation. Answering No would truncate the lines. Answering Cancel would cancel opening the area.

There is one downside to this approach. It could make descriptions look funny so you'd want to check them. Perhaps the editor could provide a list of the descriptions that it changed. You could end up with something like:

There is a large wall to the s
outh and a door to the north
.

If I don't get any feedback on what people would like to see to handle this before I release the new version, I'll go with the options described above.

Thanks,
Thor

[boromir]

Hi,

Given a choice, I would say go for the newline char at 70... and if a line wraps beyond that, then newline at the previous space in that line and go from there.

The only suggestion I can for getting the word wrap to work in the area is to make sure the newline char is one recognized by the mud.

For strings lnger than that , I usually just read the string in and parse it at that point. And thats probably stuff you have already considered.

I await your considered opinon!

[Rincewind]

We could just get the writers to watch their lines and make sure they are short enough....

[Tokugawa]

You have probably already checked Google, but do any of the below links help?

link 1

link 2

link 3

If those links do not help, I think your proposed solution will be fine.

[Tynian]

Line breaks should be done at nearest space to 70 lines.

[Natilena]

Feedback!

Overall, NICE! good job so far. Installed into windows7 and latest java without a hitch. Interface worked well and basic creation no problems at all.

I was using an old .ARE I loaded in, I did find that it wiped out the Header section completely. Other things I ran into are the languages, there are mob flags missing (arch mob flags) and the container lock flags. I think the mob language flags are wrong but after cross-referencing the website I think that is incorrect as well. I've also come across some object issues where there flags that weren't supposed to be there. I wasn't paying enough attention at the time so consider that 'oddness' not an actual bug for now.

For the flag issue, I'm curious how easy it is to update those embedded lists because they do tend to change.

Lastly it would be a nice feature to offer the option to input your own vnum for a room connect. I noticed it only allowed you to choose from ones already existing.

[Rincewind]

Yeah I'd like to see the container flags fixxed so you can add multiple flags to a container ei. locked/openable. I dunno if thor is even still working on this or if he's even around...

[Thor]

Yes, I'm still alive...

New version.

http://kirbyprogramming.railsplaygro...fc/install.jar

This is going to help with debugging as it will be much easier to view the log file. Help->View Log

Version 1.1.1
NEW FEATURES
    * Log Viewer (Help->View Log)
    * Text areas (for things like room description) now only allow 70 chars per
      line.  The cursor will not advance past that.  WARNING!!  This truncates
      old descriptions that have more than 70 chars per line.  A warning will
      be given when opening an area if it has lines longer than 70 chars. A list
      of the affected descriptions will be added to the log file.

[Whoz]

Great news! I'd not made the switch from muditor, but will now!

[Whoz]

I've fixed the length of all my descriptions, but for some reason even 70 character lines appear too long for the text box (Windows 7) so there is a horizontal scroll-bar. Is this an issue everyone is seeing?

[soloban]

Whoz... I'm having issues with the 70 char limit on some Mob descriptions. I have mob look descriptions that are multiple lines that I know are less than 70 and its unwrapping them and doing funny things to them.

[Tynian]

Given issues with the editor, and the nature of its support (ambiguous at best, with Thor's retirement), I recommend using Sirak's Muditor, if you are able to.

See http://wiki.tfcmud.com/index.php/Area_Building_Tools for more information.