Down and Dirty OLC Guide

This is another old OLC guide that may have useful information in it. Obviously the Advent builder guides trump all other guides, but we’re still creating ours.

 

[tabby title=”Basics”]

Here we will cover some of the basic concepts of building for the first time builder.CLICK ON THE SUBJECT BELOW TO JUMP TO THAT SECTION!
 


VNUMS
Funky word, huh? Well, vnum actually stands for virtual number. Vnums are our blank sheets of paper in which we create things on.
One vnumber is three things if you care or need to utilize all of them. One vnum can be assigned to a mobile, an object and a room. However, one vnum can not be two of the same type of thing. It can’t be two rooms, two different objects or two different mobs. It can only ever be one original type of thing.

AEDIT, REDIT, OEDIT & MEDIT
These are modes in which builders can edit certain things. They all stand for something.
AEDIT – area edit, areas are created and edited within this mode (usually reserved for your head builder)
REDIT – room edit, rooms are created, linked and edited and resets are made within this mode
OEDIT – object edit, objects are created and edited within this mode
MEDIT – mobile edit, mobs are created and editied within this mode
Hence, when in a certain mode you can only do certain types of things.

MOBILES
These are the monsters, citizens and denizens of your mud. NOT PLAYERS. They are called mobiles or mobs.

YOUR PROMPT, YOUR FRIEND
Type: help prompt
you will get a list of different things your prompt can be. As an immortal it’s now time to do away with the hp, mana, movement prompt and graduate to one that’s gonna HELP you TONS!
At your prompt type: PROMPT [%z][%R][%o][%O] <%e>
it will give you a prompt that looks like this:
[Area Name][room # you are in][edit mode you are using][vnum you are editing]
right now, this is what mine looks like:
[Myk’Tal] [6341] [medit ] [6340]
I’m in the Myk’Tal area, in room vnum 6341. I’m using medit to work with mob #6340. The room has one exit to the south.

Another thing that will help is by typing: holylight at a prompt. This will enable your immortal to see everything that is hidden, sneaking, shadow, dark, invisable, camoflaged and any other type of concealment, without the need for spells or skills.

SAVING YOUR WORK
It is vitally important to your building that you SAVE every single time you are finished with editing something or you are going to log off, or are going to be AFK. Many builders have lost hours worth of work because oops! they forgot to save and the mud just happened to crash or was rebooted. This is SOO easy to avoid! Get into the habit of typing:
asave changed
asave area
Every single time you finish something!!!
This works in all edit modes and will save everything you have changed and/or created.
This will save you a ton of heartache later on. Take 2 or 3 seconds to save!

EXITING MODES
Type: done
this nifty little word will get you outta the editor you are working with. Never Never Never Never exit a mode without saving FIRST!

ROOM NAMES
Type: n or name
All room names should be done in the same format. That is:
All of the Important Words Should be Capitalized
in other words, the room names should be treated like book titles. The first word is always capitalized and the subsequent main words following it should be capitalized also.

MOB & OBJECT NAMES
There always seems to be a bit of confusion surrounding object and mob names and new builders. I think it’s because that field shouldn’t be called name, it should be KEYWORD. The name field, when referring to objects and mobs, is actually the keywords you assign it so that it can be killed, looked at, worn or any other action players can execute toward that thing. So, when assigning a name to an object or mob make sure it is only keywords like, for a beastly fido mob:
name beastly fido
NOT a beastly fido
this would mean when a player typed ‘look a’ they would look at the beastly fido! make sure you only use the bare minimum on keywords and that they aren’t impossible to figure out!

LONG DESCRIPTIONS
The long description for objects and mobs is the description you see when the item or mob is in the room. Also, for objects it is what you see when you look at the object.
This means that long descriptions must be in sentence form. Beginning with a capital and ending with some sort of punctuation. Also, make sure they are only one line long and not 2 or three.
object example: A long length of ragged leather is coiled on the ground at your feet.
This would be a spiffy long description for a whip.
mobile example: A gossamer wraith emerges from the floor.
This is a typical long description for a mob.
There are two key elements for a long description (and a sentence) a subject and a verb. Make sure your long descriptions have both.

SHORT DESCRIPTIONS
Short descriptions need to start off with a, an or the in lower case letters. The short description is what you see when you have an object in your inventory or it is being worn. For mobs, the short description is what a player sees when they hunt or scan or similar skills. Make your short descriptions short!
object example: the Orb of Lerin
another object example: a sable longcoat
mobile example: a surly warrior
another mobile example: a citizen of Lerin

COLOR
Color is a beautiful thing in a mud, but like most things too much is a bad thing. We don’t want the mud looking like Walt Disney threw up all over it, now do we? HELL NO! When too many colors are used it looks like a carnival gone bad. So, use color sparingly! Use it for special objects and occassions!
To see the directions on how to use color, at your prompt, type: help color
If you do use color, ALWAYS make sure you clear the color at the end of its usage! here’s an example:
short description for  a wand: a {Ccrystal{x wand
it will look like this: a crystal wand
If you do not clear the color using the {x, everything after the {C will be bold cyan and that’s REALLY BAD! DON’T DO IT! always clear it out!

GLOWING,  HUMMING & OTHER PRETTY FLAGS
flagging objects with these extras is very pretty and well and good BUT, use it sparingly! It always seems like builders go hog wild with these and other flags, making almost all the eq with one or a few of them. These flags are special and usually they affect certain skills/spells/attributes like light or sneak.
Save them for special eq. It also makes players appreciate and value the eq that has these flags more!

[tabby title=”Rooms”]

REDIT
REDIT stands for ‘room editing.’ It will be your most used editing mode.
By typing redit at your prompt you will be brought into the OLC editor that modifies the room specifications. There are several different specs that can be adjusted to create unique environments.CLICK ON THE SUBJECT BELOW TO JUMP TO THAT SECTION!
 



SEEING ROOM SPECIFICATIONS
Type: show or just hit return and you will see the attributes assigned to that room.

CREATING A ROOM FROM SCRATCH
Type: edit room create
example: edit room create 1000
this will create a single room without any exits.

CREATING MORE ROOMS
Type: dig
example: north dig 1001
this will create a room north of the room you were just in with a two way exit.

LINKING EXISTING ROOMS
Type: link
example: north link 1002
this will link an already existing room ( the vnum specified) to the room you are in

ONE WAY EXITS
Type: room
example: north room 1002
this will create a one way link north from the room you are in to an already existing room (the vnum specified). This is great for no-exit rooms, mazes and traps.

ROOM NAMES
Type: name or n
example: n The Grand Ballroom
this will assign or change the room name to The Grand Ballroom

ROOM DESCRIPTIONS
Type: desc or description
this will enter you into the description editor. Type in your description. Hit return when you are finished with a line. Don’t worry about making the lines perfect because you can format them within the editor.
To use editor commands, you must enter the following codes separately on a blank line.
the commonly used editor commands are:
.h – shows you the available editor commands
.f  – formats the description typed in the editor
.s – shows the description that has been typed in the editor as it will appear within the room.
.r ‘misspelled’ ‘corrected’  – this allows you to change misspelled words, four example, if in the editor you could change the misspelled four in the sentence above to for by typing on a blank line: .r ‘four’ ‘for’
this will change four to for.
@ – exits the editor

ROOM ATTRIBUTES
typing ? room within REDIT will bring up a list of these attributes.. this is what they mean.
dark – players to need light sources in order to see in the room
legend – legend characters only
no_mob – mobiles, charmies and pets can not enter this room
indoors – flags a room indoors. You will not see weather or time of day changes. Also certain spells will not be effective indoors like, weather based spells or forage. It is usually partnered with the SECTOR flag indoors. See SECTOR below for more info.
private – no more than 2 players, mobs, charmies or pets can be in a private room at one time.
safe – combat can not take place
solitary – only one character, mob, charmie or pet can be in this room at one time
pet_shop – allows a room to be used as a pet shop. There are other needs to make a pet shop and these can be found in the shops section of this site
no_recall – disables the ability recall in this room
imp_only – implementors only
gods_only – immortals only
heroes_only – hero characters only
newbies_only – only level 1 – 5 characters can occupy this type of room
law – law means that wanted/criminal flags will be effective in this type of room.
nowhere – the where command will not work in these rooms causing players to effectively be invisible. Hunt and stalk will not work if the target player is within a nowhere room.
no_scan – players and mobs will not show up on scan
bank – this allows this room to be used as a bank. There are other stipulations to creating a bank and they are covered within the shops page of this site.
no_shadow – shadow and shadow related spells will not function

In order to flag a room with any one or a multiple of these attributes, you must use this syntax within redit in the room you want to work with.
type the flag name using the exact form it is listed as in the ? room list. hit return. To remove a room flag, do the same thing. By typing the room flag name you can toggle it on or off.
to use multiple flags in a room, type each of the room attributes at a separate prompt like:
indoors
dark
no_mob
this will create a room that is indoors, dark and will not allow mobs, charmies or pets to enter it.

SECTOR ATTRIBUTES
typing ? sector within REDIT will bring up a list of these attributes.. this is what they mean.
inside – usually partnered with the indoors ROOM flag it disables the weather and time of day messages. Inside is also used for underground areas like caves, caverns, sewers and the like
city – sets the environment to city so that cityguards and laws will function
field – a field, meadow or pasture type of area
forest – designates a room as a forest
hills – designates a room as an area with hills
mountain – used to assign a room as a mountain or mountainous region
swim – if swim is a skill that can be utilized it will require players and mobs to use this skill when in a room with this sector flag. If swim is not a skill in place on the mud, the flag will be ineffective and the player can enter the room unaided.
noswim – used for a watery area, it allows players to navigate rooms with this sector type without the need for the swim skill however,  a boat is required in order to enter this type of room.
unused – this flag does absolutely nothing except allows no specific sector to be set. Don’t use this attribute.
air – requires that players and mobs be affected with the fly ability or spell in order to enter this type of room.
desert – designates the room as a desert area.

The sector flags also affect player and pet movement. Some require more movement and some less. Typically the wilderness sector types (forest, hill, desert etc..) require more
In order to flag a room with one of these sector attributes, you must use this syntax within redit, in the room you want to work with.
type the sector name using the exact form it is listed as in the ? sector list. hit return. The sector portion of REDIT can not be left blank and a room can only be one sector type. Therefore, if you need to change the sector type do so by changing it to a different sector.
REDIT BELLS AND WHISTLES

SAVING YOUR WORK
Type: asave changed asave area
by doing this you are saving your work. Feel free to type asave changed FREQUENTLY! while working on an area. Many builders have lost lots of hours of work because they didn’t save.

DELETING ROOMS
rooms can not be deleted. They can however, be unlinked and linked somewhere else.
Type: delete
example: north delete
this will delete the north exit out of this room (and the south exit that was in the north room if it was a two way exit)

OLIST, MLIST and RLIST
Type: mlist all   will show you a list of all the mobiles in the area you are editing
olist all   will show you a list of all the objects in the area you are editing
rlist all   will show you a list of all the rooms in the area you are editing

EXITING REDIT
Type: done
always always always save your area before you exit the editor!!!

[tabby title=”Doors/Keys”]

REDIT & OEDIT
In REDIT you will be creating the doors and doorways.
You will also need to utilize OEDIT to create your door keys.CLICK ON THE SUBJECT BELOW TO JUMP TO THAT SECTION!
 



THE FIRST STEP
GOTO the room you want the door in. Make sure you have the right exit.
It’s always a good idea to make the key before you make the door so you can put in all the door info at once.

BECOMING A LOCKSMITH
Type: edit object create
example: edit object create 1000
this will create a single object without any specific attributes.
set the type to key
assign all the other information to the key object, and finish it. Make sure you note the vnum of the key because you will need it.

You can use the same key to lock / unlock several of the same doors in an area.
BUILDING YOUR DOOR
Type: door
example: north door closed
this will create a door in the north exit of the room that is closed. It will not be locked or have other characteristics at this point.

DOOR TYPES
Type: ? exit
this will bring up this list of attributes you can assign to a door
ddoor – normal door. it can be opened and closed. It will create a door in both rooms it adjoins.
closed – the door will always be closed. It can be opened but once opened it will close in a tic or so.
locked – the door will always be locked. It can be unlocked with the specified key but, will lock again once closed.
pickproof – this makes a locked door unable to be picked by using the picklock skill
nopass – the pass door spell will not enable the player/mob/pet to go through this door
easy – difficulty level of the lock to be picked
hard – difficulty level of the lock to be picked
infuriating – difficulty level of the lock to be picked
noclose – the door will never close
nolock – the door will never be able to be locked

STACKING & CHANGING DOOR TYPES
Type: door
example: north door closed
this will not only create the door and assign it closed, if typed again it will remove the door type. Removing all the door types will delete the door. Also, by using that syntax with different door types will add the attributes to your door.
example: north door ddoor
north door closed
north door locked
north door nopass
north door infuriating
this will create a door that is closed with a lock that is infuriatingly hard to pick and will not allow players/mobs/pets to use the pass door spell  to circumvent it. Oops, what if we didn’t want it to be nopass? To remove it type: north door nopass and this will remove the attribute.

ROOM KEYS
Type: key
example: north key 1000
this will assign key vnum 1000 to unlock the north door in the room you are editing.
To delete a key, type: key 0
To change a key, type: key

[tabby title=”Mobs”]

MEDIT
MEDIT stands for ‘mobile editing.’ It might seem to be a little complicated, but it’s not.
There are just a lot of fields to assign and little rules to remember to make sure your mobs are balanced.CLICK ON THE SUBJECT BELOW TO JUMP TO THAT SECTION!
 



MAKING A MOB FROM SCRATCH
Type: edit mob create<mob’s vnum=””></mob’s>
example: edit mob create 1000
this will create a single mobile without any attributes or specific stats

MEDIT FIELDS
name – syntax: n or name <mob’s keyword=”” or=”” words=””></mob’s>the keywords used to target the mob
area – syntax: automatically assigned area the mob was created / is used in
act – syntax: act this also toggles them the action of the mob. to see the list type ? act. Here is the list of the descriptions and purposes:
 sentinel – the mob will stay where it resets. It will not wander in the area
scavenger – the mob will be a ‘janitor.’ It will pick up things laying on the ground.
forger –
 aggressive – the mob will attack players unprovoked, upon entry to the room the mob is in
stay_area – the mob will wander within the area it is reset in
wimpy – the mob will flee when it is damaged enough
pet – this slates the mob as a pet for a petshop
train – this allows the mob to act as a trainer
practice – this allows the mob to act as a practice instructor
 banker – this slates the mob as a banker
undead – the mob will be undead and act as such
 cleric – this mob will perform clerical skills / spells
mage – this mob will perform mage skills / spells
 thief – this mob will perform thief skills / spells
warrior – his mob will perform warrior skills
noalign – regardless of outside influences this mob will remain without an alignment
nopurge – immortals cannot purge this mob from a room (not recommended to use)
 outdoors – this mob will remain outdoors and be affected by it
indoors – this mob will remain indoors and be affect by it
 healer – this mob will perform the healer services
gain – this mob will accept and perform the gain features of practicing and training
update_always – the mob will be updated each tic
changer – this mob will behave as a money changer
vnum – syntax: automatically assigned the mob’s vnum
sex – syntax: sex type ? sex the mob’s sex it can be:   male   female   neutral  random   none
each time the mob loads it will load as the designated sex
race – syntax: race type ? raceforthe list of updated available races the mob can be
level – syntax: level the level of the mob
align – syntax: align values: 0 being absolute neutral, -5000 satanic and 5000 angelic
hitroll – this is an additional hitroll value use this field in special cases only!
dam type – syntax: damtype type ? damlist for the different types
hit dice – syntax: hitdice #d# + # (see hit dice table for the level values) hit variable of the mob
mana dice – syntax: manadice <mob’s level=””>d10+100</mob’s> the mana value for the mob
dam dice – syntax: damdice #d# + # (see dam dice table for the level values) damage variable
affected by – syntax: aff this also toggles them off an on. a permanent affect on the mob
also affected by –
armor – syntax: #   #   #   #  (see the armor tables for the level values) the AC rating of the mob
form – syntax: form type: ? form for the list,  some of the mob types have certain attributes and more than one can be assigned to a mob
parts – syntax: part etc. type ? part for the list. parts of the mob that can be left behind when it is killed
imm – syntax: imm type ? imm for the different types of immunities a mob can possess. use these sparingly. It is better practice to use the resistance value for mobs
res – syntax: res type ? res for the different types of resistances a mob can possess
vuln – syntax: vuln type ? vuln for a list of the different kinds of vulnerabilities a mob can have
off – syntax: off type ? off for a list of offensive skills a mob can use during combat
size – syntax: size type ? size for a list of available sizes a mob can be
material – syntax: material what the mob is made of
start pos – syntax: position start type ? position for the list of the the positions a mob starts in when it loads in a room
default pos – syntax: position default the default position of the mob (make it the same as the start position)
wealth – syntax: wealth <# value> the amount of coins a mob has
short desc – syntax: short <mob’s short=”” desc=””></mob’s>the desc players see when they are fighting it
long desc – syntax: long <mob’s long=”” desc=””></mob’s>the desc you see when the mob is in a room
desc – syntax: desc this enters you into the description editor. Enter the description of the mob that players see when they look at the mob

[tabby title=”Weapons”]

MEDIT
MEDIT stands for ‘mobile editing.’ It might seem to be a little complicated, but it’s not.
There are just a lot of fields to assign and little rules to remember to make sure your mobs are balanced.CLICK ON THE SUBJECT BELOW TO JUMP TO THAT SECTION!
 



MAKING A MOB FROM SCRATCH
Type: edit mob create<mob’s vnum=””></mob’s>
example: edit mob create 1000
this will create a single mobile without any attributes or specific stats

MEDIT FIELDS
name – syntax: n or name <mob’s keyword=”” or=”” words=””></mob’s>the keywords used to target the mob
area – syntax: automatically assigned area the mob was created / is used in
act – syntax: act this also toggles them the action of the mob. to see the list type ? act. Here is the list of the descriptions and purposes:
 sentinel – the mob will stay where it resets. It will not wander in the area
scavenger – the mob will be a ‘janitor.’ It will pick up things laying on the ground.
forger –
 aggressive – the mob will attack players unprovoked, upon entry to the room the mob is in
stay_area – the mob will wander within the area it is reset in
wimpy – the mob will flee when it is damaged enough
pet – this slates the mob as a pet for a petshop
train – this allows the mob to act as a trainer
practice – this allows the mob to act as a practice instructor
 banker – this slates the mob as a banker
undead – the mob will be undead and act as such
 cleric – this mob will perform clerical skills / spells
mage – this mob will perform mage skills / spells
 thief – this mob will perform thief skills / spells
warrior – his mob will perform warrior skills
noalign – regardless of outside influences this mob will remain without an alignment
nopurge – immortals cannot purge this mob from a room (not recommended to use)
 outdoors – this mob will remain outdoors and be affected by it
indoors – this mob will remain indoors and be affect by it
 healer – this mob will perform the healer services
gain – this mob will accept and perform the gain features of practicing and training
update_always – the mob will be updated each tic
changer – this mob will behave as a money changer
vnum – syntax: automatically assigned the mob’s vnum
sex – syntax: sex type ? sex the mob’s sex it can be:   male   female   neutral  random   none
each time the mob loads it will load as the designated sex
race – syntax: race type ? raceforthe list of updated available races the mob can be
level – syntax: level the level of the mob
align – syntax: align values: 0 being absolute neutral, -5000 satanic and 5000 angelic
hitroll – this is an additional hitroll value use this field in special cases only!
dam type – syntax: damtype type ? damlist for the different types
hit dice – syntax: hitdice #d# + # (see hit dice table for the level values) hit variable of the mob
mana dice – syntax: manadice <mob’s level=””>d10+100</mob’s> the mana value for the mob
dam dice – syntax: damdice #d# + # (see dam dice table for the level values) damage variable
affected by – syntax: aff this also toggles them off an on. a permanent affect on the mob
also affected by –
armor – syntax: #   #   #   #  (see the armor tables for the level values) the AC rating of the mob
form – syntax: form type: ? form for the list,  some of the mob types have certain attributes and more than one can be assigned to a mob
parts – syntax: part etc. type ? part for the list. parts of the mob that can be left behind when it is killed
imm – syntax: imm type ? imm for the different types of immunities a mob can possess. use these sparingly. It is better practice to use the resistance value for mobs
res – syntax: res type ? res for the different types of resistances a mob can possess
vuln – syntax: vuln type ? vuln for a list of the different kinds of vulnerabilities a mob can have
off – syntax: off type ? off for a list of offensive skills a mob can use during combat
size – syntax: size type ? size for a list of available sizes a mob can be
material – syntax: material what the mob is made of
start pos – syntax: position start type ? position for the list of the the positions a mob starts in when it loads in a room
default pos – syntax: position default the default position of the mob (make it the same as the start position)
wealth – syntax: wealth <# value> the amount of coins a mob has
short desc – syntax: short <mob’s short=”” desc=””></mob’s>the desc players see when they are fighting it
long desc – syntax: long <mob’s long=”” desc=””></mob’s>the desc you see when the mob is in a room
desc – syntax: desc this enters you into the description editor. Enter the description of the mob that players see when they look at the mob

[tabby title=”Armor”]

Armor is created within OEDIT.
There are some special fields and properties to armor that will be explored below.


CREATING ARMOR FROM SCRATCH
As with other object types, armor is created in OEDIT.
type: edit obj create (hit enter)
type: type armor
this will create an unspecific piece of armor without any specific stats

BECOMING A BLACKSMITH
I’ll only go over the fields that are imperative or specific for armor objects. The important fields are:
wear – if you want the armor to be useful to anyone, you obviously have to first set the armor with take then with the wear location of your choice, be it a gauntlet, helm, cape or mask… whatever!
extra flags – depending on the material, some of the extra flags accompany the material type. Like, if your armor is steel, then it is going to be burnproof.
material – be realistic when you set the materials. Some spells are affected by the material types and conversely some material types are affected by spells. (depending on the mud’s code!)
weight – if you make a steel breastplate, it isn’t going to weigh 8 pounds unless it’s for a pixie. Make sure the weights match the material and size of the eq (within reason of course)
cost – of course gold, silver or precious metal eq is going to be worth lots more as our illustrious steel breastplate isn’t going to be worth much. Make common eq worth pennies.. you don’t want players collecting eq just to sell it to make obscene amounts of $$$$!
[v0] pierce – the armor rating against piercing weapons
[v1] bash – the armor rating against bashing/blunt weapons and bash damage from the skill
[v2] slash – the armor rating against slashing weapons
[v3] exotic – the armor rating against exotic weapons and some skills

If you want the armor to cover saves against spells you will have to add it separately as an addaffect. Saves and savingspell should occur infrequently, realistically to create armor that had these properties, it would have to be enchanted and would not be common. So try to limit it’s use and not go overboard on the values you use with these affects.
ADDAFFECTS
Use your head when adding affects to armor. Level 10 eq isn’t going to have 5 billion addaffects (2 maybe, on the outside!) Leveling eq shouldn’t be too common (why train stats then?!?) Also, watch you addaffect values.. make sure they aren’t sky high! Here’s a reference chart for addaffects and player levels.

 

LEVELS
max #
of
affects
stat
bonus
max
move
bonus
max
mana
bonus
max
hp
bonus
max
move+
mana+hp
max total
1 – 9
0
0
0
0
0
0
10 – 19
1
+2 total
+50
+20
+5
**
20 – 29
2
+3 to one affect
max total of all +4
+70
+30
+10
+80
30 – 39
3
+3 to one affect
max total of all +6
+100
+50
+50
+120
40 – 44
4
+ 4 to one affect
max total of all +8
+200
+75
+75
+200`
45 – 50
4
+5 to one affect
max total of all +10
+200
+100
+100
+200

 Movement, Mana and Hit Point bonuses count as one affect each toward the maximum number of affects to eq.
 

Make sure that you balance out the number of ‘special affect added’ eq with normal pieces of eq.. This doesn’t mean a ratio of 1:1 .. something more like 1:8. Eq with bonuses should be sought after and not made readily available. This will also force players to explore areas more thoroughly, seek out people to stat eq (giving mages yet another viable way to profit *L*) and makes players covet the enhanced eq that they do find. It also can help enhance role play and pk!
[tabby title=”Objects”]

 

OEDIT
OEDIT stands for ‘object editing.’
By typing oedit of the object you want to edit at your prompt you will be brought into the OLC editor that modifies the object’s specifications.


CREATING AN OBJECT FROM SCRATCH
Type: edit object create
example: edit object create 1000
this will create a single object without any specific stats it will also enter you into the OEDIT mode.

THE OBJECT FIELDS
name – the word or words that will target the object for an action
area – area that the object is from
vnum – the object’s vnumber. This will be unique for each different object.
type – typing ? type will bring up a list of the object types. depending on what you want to create will depend on what type you want to make the object. Most of the object types are self explanitory. There are a few that you will not need to use unless you have certin spells or needs on the mud. Here are the odd types of objects:
warpstone – a component in the Nexus and Gate spells
npccorpse – creates a corpse of a non player charater. You will never use this.
protect – never used
roomkey – always use key not roomkey
level – assigns the object a level. very important if there are eq level restrictions on the mud.
wear flags – typing ? wear will show you a list of places you can assign the object to be worn. asside from take, DO not use more than one wear location because the code will only recognize the first.
extra flags – typing ? extra will show you a list of these flags. They cause the object to have special properties.
material – certain types of materials can be destroyed or damaged if the damage/wear code is active within the mud.
condition – signifies the starting condition of the object. This is only important if you have the damage code active on the mud. If not, always set it at 100.
weight – the weight of the object
cost – the gold value of the object. needed for buying or selling the object.
short desc – the description seen when the obj is in inventory or worn.
long desc – the description seen when looking at the obj or when the object is in the room.

There are also other fields that depend on the type of object you create. These will be explained later.
NAMING AN OBJECT
Type: n or name<object’s name=”” or=”” names=””></object’s>
example: n or name crystal ball
this will give the object a name that will be used to pick the object up, look at it or any other type of action regarding the object. DO NOT use A, AN, the or make it a players name. The name is only used to target the specific object for an action.

CREATING AN OBJECT FROM SCRATCH
Type: edit object create
example: edit object create 1000
this will create a single object without any specific stats.

THE WEAR FIELD
Type: ? wear to see the different kinds
Type: wear to toggle the wear location on or off
Unless you want the object to be permanent in place in a room and unable to be picked up by a mob or player, you must always include TAKE in the wear field.
example: wear take hold
this will make the object be able to be picked up and only held in the hand of a player

MAKING SPECIALIZED OBJECTS
There are special fields for certain types of objects. I’ll go through some of them that aren’t covered in other pages of this site.

LIGHT SOURCES
[v2] – this field denotes the hours that the light source will be active for.
Making the number -1 will set it to infinite hours, so the light will never extinguish.

DARKNESS
creates an object opposite of a light source. It will be a darknes source that affects the room the obj or person with the object is in.
[v2] Light – # of hours the source will be active for. -1 is infinite

SCROLLS, POTIONS and PILLS
the extra fields for these items are the same
[v0] Level – this assigns the spell/spells that you will specify in the rest of the [v] fields to a certain level
[v1] Spell – the primary spell that the scroll will produce
[v2] Spell – the secondary spell that the scroll will produce
[v3] Spell – the tertiary spell that the scroll will produce
[v4] Spell – null

WANDS and STAVES
[v0] Level – level of the spell that will be set on line [v3]
[v1] Charges Total – how many times the wand can be used
[v2] Charges Left – usually set to the same number as [v1] this field acts as if the wand has been used previously and only the number of charges in the field will be recognized.
[v3] Spell – the spell you want the wand to contain type

FURNITURE
[v0] Max People – the # of players, mobs and/or pets that can use this object at the same time
[v1] Max Weight – the maximum amount of weight the object can hold. It will not break if the weight is too great, it just will not allow you to use it.
[v2] Furniture Flags – type ? furniture to see the different flags. They are pretty self explanitory. This is what action will allow the player, mob or pet to use this object and what message they will see when they use it.
[v3] Heal Bonus – % of bonus or negative healing rate the furniture will cause when used
[v4] Mana Bonus – % of bonus or negative mana regeneration rate the furniture will cause when used

MONEY
[v0] Gold – amount of gold that the object is

PORTAL
[v0] Charges – how many times the portal can be used before it disappears. 0 is infinite
[v1] Exit Flags – type ? exit to see the types of exit flags. usually they are NOT used on portals.
[v2] Portal Flags – type ? portal to show the different types of portal flags. They are:
normal_exit – treats the portal like a door. Allows multiple players, mobs and pets through at the
same time.
no_curse – since portals are objects they can be cursed no_curse makes them immune to cursing.
go_with –  the portal goes with the player that uses
buggy – allows grouped players, pets and charmies to go through the portal at the same time
random – you must set the v3 to a room and the v2 to random in order for the portal to transport
players to random places.
[v3] Goes to (vnum) – sets the exit place the player will go to when they enter the portal.

If you make a mistake and the portal settings are being whacky, change the object type to trash then change it back to portal. This will erase the portal settings allowing you to start over again without losing the other information you have put in.
LORE_BOOK
[v0] Legend – how high the legend charaters level has to be in order to use the book
[v1] Charges – how many times the book can be studied
[v2] Align Useable – which alignment can utilize the book
[v3] Spell/skill – the spell or skill that the book will teach

FOOD
level – unless you want the food to be available to only cretain levels, then set it to 0 or 1
wear flags – food can be one of two things, able to be taken and not worn or taken and held.
extra flags – food should RARELY have extra flags assigned to it.
[v0] Food Hours – how long the food will last if not eaten before it dessintegrates
[v1] Full Hours – how many hours the food will keep a player full
[v3] Poisoned – either yes or no (default is no)

DRINK CONTAINERS
type – drinkcontainer
level – unless you want the beverage to be available to only cretain levels, then set it to 0 or 1
wear flags – drinks should be able to be taken and held or just taken, however you can use you imagination and create some interesting drink containers to wear also..
extra flags – drinks should RARELY have extra flags assigned to it.
[v0] Liquid Total – how many times a player can drink from the drinkcontainer -1 is infinite
[v1] Liquid Left – how much liquid is left to drink in the drinkcontainer (should be the same as the liquid total value)
[v2] Liquid – type ? liquid for the liquid types and their values (default is water)
[v3] Poisoned – yes or no (default is no)

FOUNTAINS
type – fountain
level – unless you want the fountain to be available to only cretain levels, then set it to 0 or 1
wear flags – fountains should NEVER be wear flagged take or with any wear location.
extra flags – fountains should RARELY have extra flags assigned to it.
[v0] Liquid Total – how many times a fountain can be used before it goes dry. -1 is infinite
[v1] Liquid Left – how much liquid is left to drink in the fountain before it goes dry (should be the same as the liquid total value)
[v2] Liquid – type ? liquid for the liquitypes and their values (default is water)

ADDAFFECT
addaffect gives any object a certain ability. It cabe good OR bad depending on what you want to do.
Type: addaff when you are editing/creating the object.
this will bring up the syntax for adding affects.
the syntax is: addaffect (location) (modifier)
the location is the type of modifier.
the modifier is how you want it affected.
example: addaffect dexterity 3
this will add 3 to a persons dexterity when they use this object.

the types of modifiers are: strength, dexterity, inteligence, wisdom, consitiution, sex, saves, weight, mana, hp, move, ac, hitroll, damroll, savingbreath, savingpara, savingspell, savingpetri

to delete an affect that you have added
Type: delaffect <# of the affect you want deleted>
example: delaffect 0
this will delete the affect in the 0 slot

ADDAPPLY
Addapply adds a spell/skill to an object. USE THIS SPARINGLY! You can add negative spells/skills as well as helpful ones. There shouldn’t be more than a few of these objects on any given mud and I suggest talking to your Head Builder before creating any of them as they can greatly effect the balance of the mud. I’m going to use the spell plague as an addapply example.
Type: addapply when you are editing/creating the object.
this will bring up the syntax and list of types of things you can apply
the syntax is: addapply (type) (location) (#xmod) (bitvector)
the types are the different fields that come up when you type addapply.
the location should always be none
the #xmod is the addapply slot/position number
the bitvector is the specific thing you want to apply.
example: addapply affects none 0 plague
this will add plague to the object

the different modifiers can be found by typing ? aff

to delete an affect that you have added
Type: delapply <# of the applied affect you want deleted>
example: delapply 0
this will delete the applied affect in the 0 slot

[tabby title=”Containers”]

OEDIT
Containers are created in the OEDIT mode.


CREATING A CONTAINER OBJECT FROM SCRATCH
Type: edit object create
example: edit object create 1000
this will create a single object without any specific stats it will also enter you into the OEDIT mode.

DESIGNATING THE OBJECT AS A CONTAINER
Type: type container
this will tell the editor that this object is a container and also bring up the specialized container fields.

THE CONTAINER FIELDS
[v0] Weight – in kilos this is the weight the container can cary
[v1] Flags – type ? container for the types of flags. If you choose locked you must assign a key.
[v2] Key – the key vnum to unlock the container
[v3] Capacity – how many objects the container can hold
[v4] Weight Mult – you can assign the container with a weight multiplier that can either make the actual weight of the contents of the container less or more. This value is a %.

NIFTY CONTAINER USES

  • Containers can be worn! Forget about stoopid bags! Set the wear location of the container to a body area and create new and interesting things like: a shirt with a pocket!, purses!, backpacks and more! Use your imagination!
  • Containers can be furniture! Create cabinets, closets, armoirs, chests etc!
  • Containers can be fruit trees and shrubs! Fill a container with fruit you have created and describe it as a tree!
  • Containers can be holes! Secret hiding places in rooms! Make a wall safe, a fireplace with a hidden compartment!

[tabby title=”Shops”]

Here we will cover probably the hardest part of OLC…Don’t despair! It’s easy to do when you get the hang of it. There are different kinds of shops and different kinds of things that need to be done for each of them..CLICK ON THE SUBJECT BELOW TO JUMP TO THAT SECTION!
 

 


OBJECT SHOPS
(food, drink, bars, armor, weapon, jewelry and others!)

unlike pet shops and banks, object shops are designated by a shoppe. A shoppe is a mob that you make to sell and buy things. Where the mob is reset, is where the shop is. By making the shop mob wander (the stay_area flag) you make ‘door to door’ salesmen. By making the shop mob sentinel (stationary, will not move) you have created a store! So, here are the things you need to do to make a mob a shoppe (shop keeper.)

CREATING AN OBJECT SHOP’S SHOPPE
act – set it to sentinel or stay_area (whichever suits your purposes)
shop – type shop at a prompt to see the fields
shop hours – syntax: the hours are in mud time.. not system time
or RL time. So make sure you check out your mud hours first. 0 is always midnight. So you can
judge from there.
shop profit – syntax: buying is the % markup of an item when a player
buys it. selling is the % of the value of the item that a player can sell an item to a shop for.

THE ITEMS YOU SELL
this is all done with resets. The first reset you create has to be the shopkeeper (your shoppe.) After that you list the items he is going to sell. The price of the items is determined by their level (set when you create them in OEDIT) and the shops values you applied to your shoppe. The shoppe will automatically post the values when you put them into the reset. Here is an example of the resets.
reset 1 mob 1 1
reset 2 obj none (this will automatically set the obj as in the shopkeepers inventory)
here’s an example:
reset 1 mob 1000 1 1      (this will repop the mob and designate him as the shoppe)
reset 2 obj 1000 none      (this will cause obj vnum 1000 to be sold by the shoppe)
reset 3 obj 1001 none      (this will cause obj vnum 1001 to be sold by the shoppe)
reset 4 obj 1002 none      (this will cause obj vnum 1002 to be sold by the shoppe)

these items will be available in unlimited quantities, unlike objects sold to the shoppe by players, which will only be available in the quantity that was sold to the shoppe
PET SHOPS
CREATING A PET SHOP
pet shops are unique in the fact that when you create the room that the pet shop is going in, you MUST reserve the next sequential room vnum for a warehouse / storage room!!. So, for example, if the pet shop is room vnum 1000, you must create the next room by typing: edit room create 1001 this will create the next room as a blank room with NO exits.. Good! because this will be the pet ‘storage’ room. You will be resetting your pets in here! Usually, no players should be allowed in this room, so it shouldn’t have exits. As far as the room name is concerned, make it something that you will recognize as the ‘storage’ room.
set the pet shops room flag (in REDIT) to pet_shop
the ‘storage’ room doesn’t get set to pet_shop

CREATING A PET SHOP KEEPER
you will create the pet shoppe the same way you created the obj shoppe. Follow the same steps for the different shop fields.

CREATING PETS
create your pet mobs as usual, only you will need to set the act field to pet

FINISHING UP YOUR PET SHOP
RESETS:
in the pet shop: the only reset you need to create in the pet shop is one for the shoppe
in the pet shop ‘storage’ room: reset the pet mobs in this room
be careful when setting the pets reset max and minimum values for the pets.. as this will allow only a certain number of them in the area at one time. This can be good.. you can limit the numbers of each kind of pet as you want.. or make them as common as you want!

BANKS AND MONEY CHANGERS
CREATING A BANK
when you create the room that is to be the bank, make sure you set the room flag to bank

CREATING A BANKER OR MONEY CHANGER SHOPPE
create the mob as usual however, you must set the shoppe’s act flag to banker or changer or both
it is not necessary to set shop times for a banker/changer, however you do have that option.
reset the banker/moneychanger like normal

[tabby title=”Resets”]

RESETS
Resets are finicky and fickle, if you don’t enter them in the right order, everything in the room will load wrong! Fortunatly, resets are really simple once you get the hang of them! Without resets, the objects and mobs you create will not exist on the mud unless you load them all the time. Which of course you can’t be there 24-7. Here are the closely guarded reset secrets! Heed them, and all will be well!
THE ORDER OF THINGS
to see if a room has resets in it already, or to check yours, type: resets at your prompt. You do not need to be in an edit mode to work with resets.
the reset syntax is different for different things.
here is the order of resets. (don’t get discouraged!! it is a little confusing!!)

1) object in the room
2) container object in the room (in needed)
3) object/objects stored within the container object within the room (if needed)
4) mobs within the room
5) object/objects on the mob in the room
6) container object the mob has (if needed)
7) object/objects stored within a container that the mob has (if needed)

Resets will load in order from 1 to the highest number. Resets occur at different times depending wether or not there are players in the area. If players are in the area, the resets will occurr much slower or not at all, depending on the mud code. If there are no players within the area, then the resets will happen much quicker. By using this order you will not have a problem with things not loading or loading incorrectly.

RESET SYNTAX
Here is the syntax for each kind of reset listed above. They will be in the same order as above and they are labled with the type of reset it is.

object in the room: reset # obj (object’s vnum) room
container object in the room: reset # obj (container’s vnum) room
objects in the container listed before it: reset # obj (object’s vnum) inside (container’s vnum)
mob in room: reset # mob (mob’s vnum) (max # of mob in area) (minimum # of mob in area)
object on mob: reset # obj (object’s vnum) (wear location of obj on the mob)
type ? wear-loc in redit for the wear location
container obj on mob: reset # obj (container’s vnum) (wear location of obj on the mob)
object inside contain on mob: reset # obj (object’s vnum) inside (container’s vnum)

THE EXAMPLE
here is the object and mob info I am going to use as an example.
obj 101 a large oak table
obj 102 a cookie jar
obj 103 some cookies
mob 104 a little boy
obj 105 a slingshot
obj 106 a small bag
obj 107 a few glass marbles

here are the resets:

reset 1 obj 101 room (this load the table in the room)
reset 2 obj 102 room (this load the cookie jar in the room)
reset 3 obj 103 inside 102 (this loads the cookies inside the cookie jar)
reset 4 mob 104 1 1 (this loads the boy in the room and there will only be one of him in the world.
He will not load again until he dies)
reset 5 obj 105 hold (this will load the slingshot in the boy’s hand)
reset 6 obj 106 none (this will load the small bag into the boy’s inventory)
reset 7 obj 107 inside 106 (this will load the marbles inside of the small bag)

DELETING RESETS
type: reset # delete
example: reset 1 delete
this will delete reset # 1 and move all the other resets up to fill the slot. You can always add #1 in again and it will move the resets down again.

DON’T FORGET TO ASAVE CHANGED AND ASAVE AREA!!!!
[tabby title=”Hints”]

Here are just a few nifty cool things you can do with OLC to make things more interesting and interactive! Check back as every once in a while new things will be added!


ROOM HEAL AND MANA RATES
by using – and + health and or mana rates you can simulate different kinds of things..
example: – health rate in a room can simulate damage a player would suffer if in fire, or quicksand, a mudslide, a room filled with poisonous gas, a mosquito swarm or some other disasterous thing
example: + health rate in a room can simulate a holy place or infirmary or some other such thing
example: – mana rate in a room can simulate being in an evil mage’s workroom, or in a pentacle..
example: + mana rate in a room can simulate being in a place or magical power..
to change heal / mana rates in REDIT the syntax is:
heal < negative or normal # value> example: heal 120 (this would be a hp regen rate of 120 %)
mana < negative or normal # value> example: mana -50 (this would be a mana regen rate of -50 %)

ED ADD DESCRIPTIONS
these are extra descriptions that can be added to rooms, mobs and objects. The syntaz for adding them is the same for all types.. it can be used to give something a longer description when you look at it, or give certain descriptions to important things in addition to the normal descriptions.
room example: say there is a pinting in the room description. By adding in a description of the painting in the room, players can now look at it and see the painting.
mob example: lets take the mosquito swarm from above, the normal long description could look something like: A swarm of mosquitos darkens the room. They blanket every living thing in a writhing and buzzing feeding frenzy as their hosts, drained of blood lay weakened and helpless on the floor.
add an extra description called host which might read something like this: A mass of mosquitos cover a small lump on the ground. As you watch, the lump emits a faint whimper and the paw of a dog breaks through the gluttonous swarm only to be swalowed up again underneath the horror of the blood engorged bugs.
object example: a shield with a coat ‘d arms on it. You would have the normal long description, but add a description called coat or arms and when a player types look coat, or look arms they will be able to look at the coat ‘d arms.
type: ed add to see the list of options
syntax: ed add
this will enter you into the description editor, use the editor the same way as the normal one.
to delete an extra description: syntax: ed delete

WACKY CONTAINERS
containers can be TONS of different neato things.. not just bags, pouches, backpacks… they can be cabinets, closets, fruit trees or bushes, places to hide things in rooms, clothing with pockets or weapons holders (scabbards), barrels, crates, knotholes in trees, animal burrows, birds nests.. whatever! Be creative!

SPECIAL OBJECT FLAGS AND TRICKS YOU CAN DO WITH THEM
take – putting an object in a room and flaggin it no take is wonderfully frustrating for players! It’s a great tease. It also can give you furniture, room accessories, trees and other neato things. Put some gold on the ground but, make it no take… it’s fun to watch them try to pick it up!
rot_death – this is great for illusionary objects or magical objects that are tied to a mob’s life! The object’s will disappear when the mob or charater who has them dies.
hadtimer – this will give the object a lifespan. So it’s great for perishable things or magical items. If you make an object something living.. like a flower or branch or a butterfly.. it will die in time. Unfortunatly, unless your IMP has coded the had_timer to work, it will not function. It comes as a stock option with ROM and does not work unless the proper code is changed/added. The same applies for swim and dark_vision.

INVISIBLE OBJECTS
If your mud supports Lopes Color (ansi in ley terms) and uses the {x form of color syntax there’s a neat little trick you can do to make objects invisible! All you have to do it put a { bracket as the long description and the object will not be seen in the room. It’s great for invisible portals, room containers and quest things.

[tabbyending]