guides/MUDGrinder.html

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head>


  <meta name="generator" content="HTML Tidy, see www.w3.org" /><title>Installing and Using MUDGrinder</title>
  
  <link rel="StyleSheet" href="style.css" type="text/css" media="screen" /><!-- Modified by Josh Mueller, 2006-5-5, fix validation problems, add index --></head><body>
<center>
<table border="1" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" width="90%">
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td colspan="2" align="left" bgcolor="#dfdfdf" width="100%">
      <h1>Installing and Using MUDGrinder</h1>
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td align="left" valign="top" width="20%">
      <ul>
        <li><a href="#what">What is MUDGrinder?</a></li>
        <li><a href="#install">Installation</a></li>
        <li><a href="#mother">Not Your Mothers MUDGrinder</a></li>
        <li><a href="#use">Using MUDGrinder</a></li>
        <li><a href="#notes">Author's Notes</a></li>
      </ul>
      </td>
      <td align="left" valign="top">
      <p class="center"><img src="images/grinder.gif" alt="MUDGrinder logo" /></p>
      <h2><a name="what">What Is the MUDGrinder:</a></h2>
      <p>The MUDGrinder is a visual editing and administration tool. It
includes the following <span style="font-weight: bold;">Utilities</span>:</p>
      <ul>
        <li> <b>Control Panel</b>, for changing many of the flexible
settings of the engine, and includes the following: </li>
        <li style="list-style-type: none; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside;">
          <ul>
            <li>Disable/enable buttons for features</li>
            <li>Database health and reset<br />
            </li>
            <li>Security settings</li>
            <li>Start/Death/Morgue Room settings</li>
            <li>Channels definitions</li>
            <li>Ability/skill/spell/etc settings</li>
            <li>Clan settings</li>
            <li>Combat-related settings</li>
            <li>General player-related variables and settings</li>
            <li>Economy and monetary settings</li>
            <li>Calendar and weather settings</li>
            <li>Other miscellaneous system/engine settings</li>
          </ul>
        </li>
        <li> <b>File Browser</b> lets you browse, create, delete,
upload, search, or modify text files in your CoffeeMud package.</li>
        <ul>
          <li>Files in <span style="font-style: italic;">normal Italics</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>are only in the database (VFS).&nbsp; Those in <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Bold Italics</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>are both local and in the VFS.</li>
          <li>All file operations will target the VFS version of the file if it exists, and only the local version if that is the only one.<br />
The file operations are:<br />
          </li>
          <ul>
            <li><img alt="Edit" src="images/edit.gif" /><img style="width: 20px; height: 20px;" alt="Edit" src="images/edit.gif" /> edit the file in the text editor window</li>
            <li><img style="width: 20px; height: 20px;" alt="Rename" src="images/rename.gif" /> rename the file</li>
            <li><img style="width: 20px; height: 20px;" alt="Download" src="images/download.gif" /> download the file</li>
            <li><img style="width: 20px; height: 20px;" alt="Delete" src="images/delete.gif" /> delete the file (again, targeting the preferred version of the file)<br />
            </li>
          </ul>
        </ul>

        <li> <b>Journals Browser</b> lets you post, read, email,
delete, or reply to any of the journals (message boards) in your system.</li>
        <li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Account Manager </span>
is where common accounts are managed, if they are enabled in your
coffeemud.ini file.</li>
        <li><b>Player Manager</b> is the place for reviewing your
players and the banned names/ips list, and includes the following: </li>
        <li style="list-style-type: none; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside;">
          <ul>
            <li>Player browser and editor, with the ability to delete
or ban.</li>
            <li>Bank account balances for all players</li>
            <li>"Ban List' manager<br />
            </li>
          </ul>
        </li>
        <li> <b>Quests Manager</b> allows you to create, destroy,
start, stop, and update Quests and quest scripts. &nbsp;It also
includes the Quest-Maker Wizard. </li>
        <li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Polls Manager</span>
allows you to create, destroy, and update your Polls.</li>
        <li> <b>System Reports</b> gives you a quick health and status
check for your mud, which also includes: </li>
        <li style="list-style-type: none; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside;">
          <ul>
            <li>"Tick" groups browser<br />
            </li>
          </ul>
        </li>
        <li> <b>Server Log</b> shows you the mud.log file, which is
your main log file. </li>
        <li> <b>Statistics</b> is where you can browse the gameplay
statistics after you've been running for awhile. You can also see Quest
and Skill Use statistics here. </li>
        <li> <b>Cache Resources</b> is an obscure tool for flushing
from memory those things that have been loaded from disk. </li>
      </ul>
      <p>On the right-hand side is a series of object <span style="font-weight: bold;">Editors</span>, which include the following:</p>
      <ul>
        <li> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Races</span> - manage
Generic Races, and easily convert standard Races to Generic for
editing. </li>
        <li> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Classes</span> - manage
Generic classes, and convert standard Classed to Generic for editing. </li>
        <li> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Abilities</span> -
create and manage your Generic Abilities. </li>
        <li> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Skill Recipes</span> -
create and manage your Common skill recipes. </li>
        <li> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Holidays</span> - create
and tinker with all of the details of your in-game holidays, which are
also managed by the Quest Manager above. </li>
        <li> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Player Titles</span> -
create player titles, and specify who can get them and when. </li>
        <li> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Socials</span> - add and
modify all of those fun socials stored in your socials.txt file. </li>
        <li> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Clans</span> - manage
your players in-game Clans. </li>
        <li> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Factions</span> - create
and manage your games Factions. </li>
        <li> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Deities</span> - a quick
and easy way to find, modify, and create your worlds deities. </li>
        <li> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Catalog</span> - manage
your mob/item catalog and the item auto-drop settings. &nbsp;See the
Archons Guide for more information on this feature.<br />
        </li>
      </ul>
      <p>Also included is a pleasant alternative to the command-line
interface described in the <a href="ArchonGuide.html">Archon's Guide</a>
for creating and maintaining the areas, maps, rooms, monsters, and
items inside your MUD. Instead of typing in commands, you can point and
click to design your maps. Instead of running around with your Archon
to get an idea of how things look, you can just point your eyes at the
map on the screen.</p>
      <h2><a name="install">Installation:</a></h2>
      <p>The MUDGrinder is a built in part of the Administrative Web
Site of the CoffeeMud HTTP Web Server. For more information on this
aspect of CoffeeMud, please refer to the <a href="WebServer.html">Web
Server Guide</a>.
So, if you have successfully installed and started up your CoffeeMud
Server, and the Administrative Web Server has been successfully started
as well, then MUDGrinder is already installed! Good job!</p>
      <p>To access MUDGrinder, simply connect to your Administrative
Web Site (<a href="http://localhost:27777/">http://localhost:27777/</a>)
and log into the MUDGrinder pages using your Archon administrative
account information. If you have no idea what an Archon Administrative
account is, you'll need to start back over again and read the <a href="InstallationGuide.html">Installation Guide</a>.</p>
      <h2><a name="mother">Not Your Mothers MUDGrinder:</a></h2>
      <p>The MUDGrinder is easy to use, but it is not forgiving, and it
is not for wussies. If you make a mistake, you will probably pay for
it. If you click the wrong button, you will regret it. Be careful
kiddies!</p>
      <h2><a name="use">Using MUDGrinder:</a></h2>
      <p>If you've actually played this game before, and you've read
the <a href="ArchonGuide.html">Archon's Guide</a> and <a href="GameBuildersGuide.html">Game Builders Guide</a>
, and you understand it, you will have no troubles at all. The
MUDGrinder is merely a visual means of accomplishing the same tasks,
with the same objects and parameters as are described in the Archon's
Guide.</p>
      <p>If you have any further questions, or want to know how to undo
a mistake, refer to the previous section.</p>
      <h2><a name="notes">Author's Notes:</a></h2>
      <p>Users of previous versions of the MUDGrinder know that the
documentation provided for this version of the editor are twice as good
as anything provided previously. However, the same caveats still apply:
do not email Bo and tell him that his Java and MUD puns are not funny.
He knows they are funny. He also knows you think they are funny and
that any protests to the contrary are vicious lies.</p>
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>
</center>
</body></html>