Mudsbuilder - gereacreator help
This document is designed to be a brief help for those who seek it:) 


Table of contents:
* Configuration/Installation
* Config files
	* gereacreator.conf
	* merentha.mlt
	* nannymud.mlt
* Creating area
* Templates
* Template variables
* Editing Source
* Key bindings





Configuration:
as usual run
./configure --prefix=/dir/to/installto/
make
su (optional)
make install
Config Files


Once installation is complete and upon the first run of the program config files will be copied into .mudsbuilder/ directory in your home dir.
Those files are:
gereacreator.conf
merentha.mlt
nannymud.mlt


gereacreator.conf

Contains configuration for gereacreator. All entries are of type VARIABLE=VALUE, i.e MUDLIB_TEMPLATE=merentha.mlt
Modifications will take place upon next run of program.

merentha.mlt

Contains mudlib template (in my case merentha mudlib template).
This template is used to generate code for mudlib your mud is using.
To learn more about this please read below in Templates section

nannymud.mlt

Contains mudlib template for NannyMud. Special thanks to Brom@NannyMud
Creating area

In order to start creating area you first have to select starting point. This is done by clicking anywhere on the grid. After that you are able to click anywhere else on grid or use controls on the top/right of the form.
Once you have completed your dungeon, you probably want to generate actual lpc code now:).
Pressing "Generate Area" button will ask you few options, including (IMPORTANT!) which ROOM TEMPLATE to use. By default it is set to merentha.mlt
Templates
Room Template (aka mudlib template) is used to generate rooms from your map. gereacreator will search template for special variables, and replace them with an appropriate code.
All variables start with % sign. Currently there are not that many variables, but should be enough to generate most simple area for most of mudlibs

Variables:
%exits: is replaced with string that has following format:
"name of the exit" : ROOM_PREFIX "AREA_NAME ROOM_NUMBER FILE_EXT" ROOM_POSTFIX,
"another exit" : ... and so on

for example:
"south" : MYROOMS "havart_forest1.c",
"up" : MYROOMS "havart_forest5.c",
etc...

Since in merentha mudlib in order to set exits one has to call

set_exits(([
"south" : MYROOM "havart_forest4.c",
blah blah
]));

i simply create merentha.mlt template and put in there

set_exits(([
%exits
]));


This way all appropriate exits will be filled in (based on map you draw).
List of all variables

  • %exits: replaces it with all exits in mapping format (see above)
  • %oexits: same as %exits , but doesnt include misc exits
  • %mexits: same as %exits, includes only misc exits
  • %sexits: comma separated list of all exit names
    i.e south, north, west, down, my house, enter
  • %smexits: comma separated list of misc exit names
  • %soexits: comma separated list of all non-misc exit names
  • %room_id: id of room as shown on map created

    NEW (experimental)
  • %for_exits: replaced in following way:
    Assuming template contains
    add_exit(%for_exits);
    and current room has exits to north (room1), south (room2) and out (room5)

    following code will be generated

    add_exit("north", ROOM_PREFIX "room1.c" ROOM_POSTFIX);
    add_exit("south", ROOM_PREFIX "room2.c" ROOM_POSTFIX);
    add_exit("out", ROOM_RREFIX "room5.c");
  • %for_mexits: same as %for_exits , except only misc exits are used
  • %for_oexits: same as %for_exits , except only non-misc exits are used
  • %area_name: replaced by AREA_NAME
  • %creator_name: replaced by CREATOR_NAME
  • %comment: replaced by COMMENT
  • (new) %date : replaced by current date+time






    Editing source

    gereacreator allows you to edit rooms source before its been generated
    In order to do that you must save you area first, then select room you want to edit, and press "Edit Room" button
    Once you saved your room, rooms color should change from default one
    In order to save edited room with area you need to save area again
    NOTICE: edited rooms obey a bit different rules than all others. For instance if edited room gains or looses exit it wont reflect in rooms code. You can however press Edit Room and Re-generate, but it will erase changes you made to it

    Once you generate code, edited rooms will be created in the codition you left them at
    All other rooms will be generated according to template chosen
    Key Bindings
    Following keys are bound:
"Enter" 	: Opens Generate Area Dialog
"/"		: Opens Add Misc Exit Dialog
"*"		: Opens Edit Source Dialog
"Page Up"	: Zoom In
"Page Down"	: Zoom Out
"Home"		: Reset Zoom to default one
"Del"		: Delete room
"0"		: Remove Exits Dialog

Movements
    
In order to create area with num-pad NumLock has to be enabled
"1"		: southwest
"2"		: south
"3"		: southeast
"4"		: west
"6"		: east
"7"		: northwest
"8"		: north
"9"		: northeast
"+"		: up
"-"		: down





    If you have questions/comments/bug reports/feature requests either mail me (frostedcmos [at] yahoo [dot] com) or go to mudsbuilder.sourceforge.net and leave your message in one of forums
    (Email is prefered)


    Feel free to send your muds template and i will include it with mudsbuilder




    [Last udpated August 24, 2003]