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V3 Area Builder Overview

The new building system has been designed to appeal to newer builders by removing some of the more complex syntax from the game by using a menu driven approach, while still allowing experts to move through the screens quickly. The examples below are all from the room editor, but mobiles, objects, races, skills, socials and all other editors work the same way.

V3 Area Builder Options

Before you access the builder for the first time, there are a number of configuration options you might want to set using the 'buildopts' command. By default, when you enter the editor you are considered out of the game similar to note mode. Builders who prefer the old style where you are in the game and can execute MUD commands can change their settings to allow this. Options available in 'buildopts' are:

Buildopts	Description
Noisy	Turns on/off seeing other game activity while in the editors.
Noclear	Turns on/off the clear screen before each menu is displayed.
Commands	Turns on/off command pass-through to the MUD.

Using the Editors

Aardwolf does not have 'vnums'. We use a system of zone keys and object number within a zone which allows areas to expand indefinitely without concern for vnum ranges. Whenever you specify a key in the editor, you will use this format. For example, mob 'aylor-11' is the 11th mob in the area with keyword 'Aylor'.

To access the editor, you will use one of the following commands:

Command	Description
Redit	Edits the room you are in.
Oedit [key]	Edits the object with given key.
Medit	Edits the mob with given key.
Mpedit [key]	Edits the Lua prog with given key.
Zedit	Edits the current zone.

Some of the main differences in how you interract with the editors are:

• Saving Changes: One of the biggest differences with the new editor is that whenever you are editing data within the game, you are only ever editing a copy of the data. At any time you can quit out of the editor. If you have made changes you will be asked if you want to save the changes. The same applies to description editors - at any time you can abort out of the editor and the original description will remain unchanged.
• Edit Mode: When you are in the editor you are out of the game and in editor mode which is similar to note mode. This is configurable with buildopts - see above.
• Editing fields: Almost all editable fields give you multiple ways to change their values. Entering the command name or letter and return will give a prompt asking you what to enter next. Entering the command name or letter immediately followed by the actual data will attempt to set it directly. This will make more sense when we work through the example below.
• Saving: There is no concept of 'area saving'. Every game object is its own file or row in a database and will save when you exit the editor and confirm the changes.

The changes in the area builder are best illustrated by example. Click to view the example room editor session.