This is a first draft copy. Corrections please mail direct to mrunix@ic.net.
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ADDING LEVELS TO YOUR MUD
INTRODUCTION:
You will find a *ton* of reference material available from Circle directly
at: ftp://ftp.cs.jhu.edu/pub/CircleMUD. Another good source comes with the
Circle code in the docs directory. My very favorite Web site for Circle
references is: http://www.circlemud.org/~jelson/circle/cdp/cxref.
Circle 3.0 bpl11 is by far the easiest version to modify so the efforts you
put into research will have huge pay-offs when you go to actually change code.
Finally, you will be doing yourself a favor if you have the extra disk space.
Make a copy of the source code and tar/gzip or zip it away somewhere safe.
Then, with each version of code that works, make a copy of it too. This gives
you the opportunity to go back to the last working version if something goes
wrong with a patch or a modification that you made.
READ AND HEED:
Assumptions: * you are using stock Circle 3.0 bpl11
* these instructions are not guarenteed to work on
previously modified Circle 3.0 bpl11 code
* you have an understanding of coding concepts & C
* the concept of an array structure doesn't keep you up nights
* you have a suitable editor that you are familiar with
* <circle path> = a writeable directory structure where
docs, Circle objects and code reside
* you have identified the following files in your installation:
<circle path>/src/structs.h
<circle path>/src/class.c
<circle path>/src/fight.c
<circle path>/lib/etc/players
<circle path>/lib/plrobjs/A[..]ZZZ
* a complete playerfile wipe is necessary
STEP ONE:
Congrats! You have about half the information you need to add levels.
The parts that you need to consider now are:
* how many additional mortal levels
* how many additional immortal levels
* how many additional god levels
* how many additional mob levels (for balancing your Mobs -vs- PCs later on)
* descriptions for all of the above [ not necessaraly required ]
* all the above multiplied by the total number of classes in your mud
(stock Circle has four classes)
STEP TWO:
What the heck is THAC0...? (from building.doc):
THAC0
"To Hit Armor Class 0" -- a measure of the ability of the monster to
penetrate armor and cause damage, ranging from 0 to 20. Lower numbers mean
the monster is more likely to penetrate armor. The formal definition of
THAC0 is the minimum roll required on a 20-sided die required to hit an
opponent of equivalent Armor Class 0.
Armor Class
The ability of the monster to avoid damage. Range is from -10 to 10,
with lower values indicating better armor. Roughly, the scale is:
AC 10 Naked person
AC 0 Very heavily armored person (full plate mail)
AC -10 Armored Battle Tank (hopefully impossible for players)
Note on THAC0 and Armor Class (AC): When an attacker is trying to hit a
victim, the attacker's THAC0 and the victim's AC, plus a random roll of the
dice, determines whether or not the attacker can hit the victim. (If a hit
occurs, a different formula determines how much damage is done.) An
attacker with a low THAC0 is theoretically just as likely to hit a victim
with a low AC as an attacker with a high THAC0 is to hit a victim with a
high AC. Lower attacker THAC0's and higher victim AC's favor the attacker;
higher attacker THAC0's and lower victim AC's favor the victim.
STEP THREE:
Modify the THACO array which has the following specification:
const int thaco[NUM_CLASSES][LVL_IMPL + 1] = {
{100, 20,.......... 1}, /* <class 1> */
| | |
level 0 1 LVL_IMPL +1
{100, 20,...1}, /* <class 2> */
{100, 20,...1}}; /* <class n> */
The below code segment is based on Circle 3.0 bpl11 class.c:
/* LEVEL 00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 */
/* LEVEL 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 */
/* LEVEL 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, [LVL_IMPL + 1] */
const int thaco[NUM_CLASSES][LVL_IMPL + 1] = {
{100, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 09, 08, 07,
06, 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 01, 01, 01, 01, 01, 01, 01, 01, 01,
01, 01, 01, 01, 01, 01}};
Stock circle comes with 34 levels. In the above example the thaco
array values represent a generic distribution. Note that level 0
has a value of 100. This is because level zero is the initialization
level and all characters get promoted to level 1 upon entry into the
game. Level 0 doesn't hit or get hit.
To add 6 more levels to this generic THAC0 the array delaration would
be:
/* LEVEL 00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 */
/* LEVEL 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 */
/* LEVEL 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, [LVL_IMPL + 1] */
const int thaco[NUM_CLASSES][LVL_IMPL + 1] = {
{100, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 09, 08, 07,
06, 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 01, 01, 01, 01, 01, 01, 01, 01, 01,
01, 01, 01, 01, 01, 01, 01, 01, 01, 01, 01, 01}};
You will not have any problems by continuing with the same THACO number
for level 34 (THACO value 01) through to level n. Then later on you can
adjust them as appropriate:
For example - in stock Circle (class.c) - you would use the THACO value
of 1 for additional levels in the Cleric class.
STEP FOUR:
In class.c around line 452 you'll start to see SPELLS and SKILLS.
Before you changed your mud from 34 levels to n-levels there was a pretty
good balance between what spells and skills were available per level.
Now, with your n-levels you'll have to do a whole load of things in this
area and in a few others. These specifics are beyond the scope of this
document and will be covered in other forthcoming documents.
STEP FIVE:
Just like the THACO array there is a corresponding data structure TITLES
which holds the male and female gender names and experience points for each
level and class. If you change your TACHO array by adding or deleting
levels you must do the very same thing to the TITLES array.
TITLES has the following specification:
const struct title_type titles[NUM_CLASSES][LVL_IMPL + 1] = {
/* levels 0-LVL_IMPL+1 */
{{"male gender name", "female gender name", experience points}};
}
STEP SIX:
Modify file structs.h around line 415. There you must identify what level
the gods are going to be and even possibly add a few god levels in the process.
Keep in mind if you perform the latter then you will possibly need to modify
more of struct.h as needed. Changing anything other than the implementor and
existing god levels is all that is needed.
STEP SEVEN:
Delete the file "players" from <circle path>/lib/etc then delete all *.objs
from <circle path>/lib/plrobjs/A-[.Z] & ZZZ directories.
STEP EIGHT:
Compile your mud and *wala*.
Good luck, if it works pass it on.
credit where do please
mrunix@ic.net (Mike Levine)
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