MajorMUD Copyright (c) 1993-2001 Metropolis, Inc. All Rights Reserved LIMITED warranty This documentation and any related software are sold "as-is", without any warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and loss of profits or other economic damages. Metropolis, Inc. does not warrant that the operation of this software will be uninterrupted or error-free. In no event and under no circumstances will Metropolis, Inc. be liable for any damages in excess of the sum paid by customer for the product to which any claim for damages relates. License By installing, taking delivery of, or downloading this software, which refers to any or all executable, library, documentation, and support files included with this product, and any reproductions, whether in machine readable or printed form, you agree to the following terms: You may: 1. Install and operate this software on a single machine. 2. Make one copy this software into machine-readable or printed form, for backup or archival purposes in support of your use of this software. This software is licensed to a single corporation or person, for operation on a single machine only. Once licensed, the license to use this software is NOT TRANSFERABLE to any other person or corporation without the express, written permission of Metropolis, Inc. Note also that the physical location of the BBS upon which MajorMUD is installed may not be moved without the express, written permission of Metropolis, Inc. NOTE: The term "operation on a single machine" includes the following within its definition when MajorMUD is being run on a DMA server (either the DMA server which is currently sold by Vircom, or any future program which provides similar functionality): Only a SINGLE host-BBS (of the same MBBS Registration number as the DMA server) may be allowed to have access to the MajorMUD running on the DMA server. Any subsequent systems which you wish to allow to connect to your DMA server must be both authorized by Metropolis, Inc. and must purchase a non-transferrable copy of MajorMUD from Metropolis, Inc. If this software was received as a demo version, you may only install and operate it for a period of 14 days. After this time you must either remove it from your system or purchase an activation code from Metropolis, Inc. All of the restrictions mentioned in this document, including area restrictions apply to demonstration versions as well. YOU MAY NOT USE, COPY, MODIFY, MERGE, DISASSEMBLE, OR TRANSFER THIS SOFTWARE, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PROVIDED FOR IN THIS LICENSE. Violation of any parameter of this license will result in the immediate forfeiture of said license. ========================================================================== ***** Technical Support ***** Metropolis, Inc. is based in Overland Park, KS USA. You can contact us via Fax: 913-663-3200 Web: www.majormud.com (sysops) www.mudcentral.com (users) www.gameport.com (purchases) Mail: Metropolis, Inc. 8650 College Blvd Overland Park, KS 66210 USA E-mail: sales@majormud.com support@majormud.com bugs@majormud.com We would love to hear any suggestions, criticisms, questions, or other comments which you might have. There are also two web forums which we provide for game support. One is for user discussions and feedback and the other is for sysop level support. Whenever a new patch/release is posted which must be downloaded, a message will be posted in the sysop support forum. Please monitor the sysop forum for any notices regarding updates and/or addons. Do not leave us email asking 'when is the next update coming out' - please just keep an eye on this forum. These forums are: http://www.metropolis.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi -- User Discussion Forum http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mmudsysop -- Sysop Support Forum ========================================================================== DOCUMENTATION: This documentation contains sections on: 1) INTRODUCTION 2) INSTALLATION 3) CONFIGURATION 3.1) OPTIONAL CONFIGURATION OPTIONS 4) ONLINE SYSOP FUNCTIONS 5) MAJORMUD OFFLINE UTILITIES 6) MISC. OTHER STUFF 6.1) SCRIPTING 6.2) COMPATABILITY WITH EARLIER VERSIONS OF MBBS (6.21 in particular) 6.3) PHOENIX NAME CHANGE SUPPORT (by MicroMagic) 6.4) RESETTING YOUR ACTIVE MONSTER DATABASE 6.5) GENERIC FIX-ALL FOR MOST PROBLEMS WHICH OCCUR IN MAJORMUD 6.6) MAJORMUD AND DMA SERVERS 6.7) MAJORMUD ADDON ACTIVATION CODES 6.8) PVP DAYS 7) RUNNING THE GAME 7.1) THE EVIL/LEGAL SYSTEM Appendix A - Resetting your game Appendix B - Note on recovery (Automatic and Manual) Appendix C - Adjusting Buffer settings Appendix D - Performance Suggestions Appendix E - Potential Module Conflicts Appendix F - Problem reporting checklist Appendix G - Memory Requirements Matrix Appendix H - Game Messages Appendix I - Demo Mode Restrictions Appendix J - Other System Settings Appendix K - FAQs Appendix Y - Currently Available Add-Ons Appendix Z - Sysop Only Release Notes ========================================================================== 1) INTRODUCTION: MajorMUD is an interactive, text-based adventure game which evolves around puzzle solving and character building. The game begins in the city of NewHaven, set on the far West side of the MajorMUD world. From NewHaven, users progress to the town of Silvermere, a city under siege from within it's walls. Users start by choosing one of several races, and one of many classes. Their character then becomes an adventurer in the Realm, each with special skills and abilities. Beginning in the city of NewHaven, with little money, no weapon, and no equipment, the user is free to try to advance his character and make his fortune. Users advancement happens many ways. A user can fight his way through hordes of monsters, or traverse the realm looking for puzzles to solve and wealth to find. Please take the time to read through all of this file as well as the separate file for online operations (wccmmsys.not). A majority of the common questions asked can be answered within these files. This file covers at least the following topics. If you're having trouble finding something, try looking for it in this list. * How to get in touch with us. (pre-introduction) * How to install the software (chapter 1) * What is in the zip files that you're installing (chapter 2) * How to configure - what do all the CNF options do (chapter 3) * What is this wccmmud.ini file and what can I do with it (chapter 3.1) * What online sysop functions and gameop functions are there (chapter 4 - wccmmsys.not) * What offline utilities are there and what do the options do? (chapter 5) * Answers to miscelaneous topics: scripting policy, pre-6.25 compatability, phoenix name-change support, resetting active monster database, generic fix-all for any other problem, dma servers, addon activation codes, and pvp days (chapter 6) * Some comments on how to run your instance of MajorMUD (chapter 7) * How to reset your game [both fully and partially] (Appendix A) * How to run the recovery/when does recovery run (Appendix B) * How to adjust buffer settings (Appendix C) * How to tune your system for better performance (Appendix D) * How to avoid potential module conflicts (Appendix E) * How to report a problem (Appendix F) * How much memory do I need (Appendix G) * How to interpret audit-trail and email messages from MajorMUD (Appendix H) * What restrictions does demo-mode have? (Appendix I) * What other system settings not related to MajorMUD should I concern myself with (Appendix J) * What addons are currently available (Appendix Y - Although I notice that I forgot to include addon#3 in the latest version) * What changes have been made in each release (Appendix Z) ========================================================================== 2) INSTALLATION: 1) Insert the MajorMUD disk into your BBS computer. Note that because we are attempting to constantly release updates we will not be shipping any disks. All updates and releases will be available for downloading on our support BBS (WCC). The standard installation will require you to download the provided .ZIP file, extract it into an empty directory and continue the installation at step 2, using the name of the directory you unzipped into instead of A: 2) Type "A:INSTALL" at your DOS prompt to begin installation. 3) The installation program will begin running: A) The install program will try to determine where it should install MajorMUD. B) It will then bring up a dialog box and ask you to verify where MajorMUD is to be installed. Make sure that the directory specified is the directory of your actual MajorBBS executable program. C) The install program will then verify that you have enough disk space for installation and copy the files required. 4) When the installation program is done running, return to your main BBS directory, if you are not there already. 5) Type "BBS" (or "WG" for WorldGroup) at the DOS prompt and add MajorMUD to your menu structure. 6) Use the configuration utilities to customize MajorMUD for your own system. For a list of these options, see the section title CONFIGURATION. 7) Run your BBS. MajorMUD should be all ready to go. 8) If you were instructed to apply a database update (or more than one) at the same time as you received your copy of MajorMUD, then you MUST APPLY the database update. Note that this means that you can't just unzip it - there is an additional step. Read chapter 4 in this manual for instructions on applying a database update. THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT STEP. NOTE: The first few times your bbs starts with MajorMUD, you may experience extra-ordinarily long loading times. These occur while MajorMUD is ensuring that all of the monsters in the game are generated appropriately. After a few days, the delays during loading should reduce (although it will still take longer to load than pre-MajorMUD of course) 2.1) Contents of the installation files MajorMUD will be shipped in a single .ZIP file with a name similar to WCCR7P5.ZIP or WCCWG7P5.ZIP. The naming convention will be: WCCP.ZIP where is: 6 - for MajorBBS 6.25 W - for WorldGroup 1.0, 1.01, and 2.0 D - for WorldGroup 3.0 for DOS (*Not yet available*) N - for WorldGroup 3.0 for Windows NT (*Not yet available*) and will be an incrementing number over time and will be an incrementing number while stays constant. The general rule of thumb is that if you see a file with a larger release number or sub-release number than the last one you installed then you should download it and install it. In all cases you should read the file library information on the file prior to downloading it and installing it. This .ZIP file will contain the following files: INSTALL.EXE - The installation executable DISK1.DID - A file describing the size of the product FILE_ID.DIZ - A file describing the product README.TXT - Some pre-installation notes WCCMMUD.ZIP - The MajorMUD files The WCCMMUD.ZIP file will contain the following files: WCCMMUD.DLL The Main MajorMUD DLL wccmmutl.exe The MajorMUD Offline Utilities program WCCREG.TXT MajorMUD registratrion document (please fill in and submit) WCCMMUD.MDF Module Definition File WCCMMUD.UIC UIC file for Phoenix Compatibility WCCDMA.SYS DMA access codes WCCMMUD.DOC User Documentation WCCMMUD.RLN Sysop Documentation (general) WCCMMUD.NOT User Release notes WCCMMSYS.NOT Sysop Documentation for online commands WCCMMUD.MSG Main Configuration file WCCTEXT.MSG Text Blocks configuration file WCCMMHLP.MSG Help File WCCBANKS.VIR Empty bank account database WCCUSERS.VIR Empty users database WCCGANGS.VIR Empty gangs database WCCITOWN.VIR Item Owner database for limited items wccacmsr.vir Active Monster database WCCCLASS.vir Empty class database WCCITEMS.vir Empty items database WCCKNMSR.vir Empty known monster database WCCMSG.vir Empty message database WCCRACE.vir Empty race database WCCSHOPS.vir Empty shops database WCCSPELS.vir Empty spells database WCCTEXT.vir Empty text database WCCMP001.vir Empty map database WCCACTS.vir Empty actions database wccupdat.dat Database Update File WCCMAP01.ANS ANSI map of first town wccbox.bin Screen for offline utility wccmmutl.bin Screen for offline utility wccdrgth.ad Advertisement for Dragon's Teeth (Addon Module #1) wccmmpls.ad Advertisement for MajorMUD Plus - Entertainment Edition wcccrsrn.ad Advertisement for The Cursed Ruins (Addon Module #2) wccstrng.ad Advertisement for Strangers in the Night (Addon Module #3) wccterbe.ad Advertisement for Terror from Below (Addon Module #4) wccrisdn.ad Advertisement for The Rising Dawn (Addon Module #5) wccsands.ad Advertisement for The Sands of Time (Addon Module #6) < Other files may be included in the .zip file which relate to optional add-on modules which can be purchased in addition to MajorMUD > The following files may be created during the running of MajorMUD: wccaddon.sys Database Addon Activation codes wccrecov.flg Recovery flag file. This should exist while the BBS is running and is deleted by MajorMUD during a normal shutdown. 2.2) Module dependencies MajorMUD depends upon a number of baseline modules. If you disable any of these modules, do *not* ignore the 'red box' error you get which warns you that the module is required to run your system: For MajorBBS 6.25: GALEML BBSFSD For WorldGroup 1.0, 1.01, and 2.0: GALEML BBSFSD BBSFSE BBSFTF ========================================================================== 3) CONFIGURATION: The following CNF options are available for your customization. Note that each of these options has help available using the CNF editor. For any options with a *C* under the name, they will be updated if you use the HWSMCV online CNF editor (This is currently untested). -- Level 3 -- Security and Accounting -- ACTIVATE - The activation code you received from WCC when you purchased MajorMUD. Please note that this must be EXACT. GAMCRD - All non-exempt users will be charged this amount of *C* credits/minute. The minimum value for this follows general bbs minimum rules (ie. if it is less than 4, I believe that 0 credits will be charged) Default: 60 REALCRD - All exempt and non-exempt users will be charged this amount *C* of credits/minute. Note the connection to FREEMIN. If not 0, this must be at least 2 - a value of 1 will charge 0 credits. Default: 0 FREEMIN - The number of minutes between cleanups which users may *C* spend in the game prior to being charged REALCRD. Default: 0 SYSOPKEY - The key required to use the SYSOP and related commands. Default: WCCSYSOP GAMOPKEY - The key required to do a subset of the sysop commands. Those commands which game-ops may execute will be identified in the relevant sections in this document. Default: WCCGAMEOP LOANKEY - The key required for a user to borrow money from banks. Note that this feature has been semi-permanently disabled. Default: MASTER PLAYKEY - The key required to "Enter the Realm". Without this key, users may enter the module and read the help files, etc. but may not actually play the game. Default: PAYING NOPLAYKY - If the user has this key, then they may not play the game with one exeption: If they also have the SYSOPKEY, then they may still play. Default: IDIOT SAVEKEY - Only players with this key will have their MMUD characters saved. This should be the same as the PLAYKEY on most systems, but can be used to provide demo access to play the game if desired. (i.e. Give paying users both the PLAYKEY and the SAVEKEY, but give guests only the PLAYKEY. NOTE that once a user creates a character with a class which has this key, they will no longer be able to ENTER MajorMUD once they do not have this key. Default: PAYING NODMOKEY - To progress beyond the level as you have specified in DEMOLVL, the user must have this key. If they do not have this key, they may continue playing, but they will not be able to train. Default: PAYING NOKICKEY - If you have paying classes for which you don't mind if they run out of credits while playing MajorMUD, you can give them this key. If a user with this key runs out of credits while playing MajorMUD, they will not be kicked out of the game. If they do not have this key and run out of credits they will be automatically kicked out of the game. Default: NOKICKME GOSSKEY - If a user has this key then they will not be able to use the gossip channel. (SYSOPKEY and GAMEOPKEY holders are exempted from this) Default: GIDIOT AUCTKEY - If a user has this key then they will not be able to use the auction channel. (SYSOPKEY and GAMEOPKEY holders are exempted from this) Default: AIDIOT NOPAYKEY - If a user has the NOPAYKEY they will not be charged credits while in MajorMUD. Default: NOPAYKEY -- LEVEL 4 -- Configuration Options -- SECOTH - This is the number of seconds between the automatic saving of *C* player data. This will be rounded off to the nearest minute. Default: 160 SECBUFF - The game uses a number of buffers in memory to improve *C* performance. These buffers are automatically saved at regular intervals as defined by this parameter. Default: 1200 BUFTOSAV - This controls the number of buffers which are actually saved *C* on each cycle. If you do not have hardware disk caching, then this should not be set higher than 1. If you do have disk caching, then you may set this number up to a max of 10. I strongly recommend leaving this at 1. Default: 1 ROOMBUF - Each of these parameters defines the number of buffers/type ITEMBUF to keep in memory. If you set these too high, then your BBS MONSBUF will not start due to insufficient memory. The default settings KMONSBUF should work on most BBS configurations. SPELBUF - If you still have a fair bit of free memory after loading your RACEBUF BBS, then feel free to increase these values. CLASSBUF - Note that increasing MONSBUF too high may cause performance BANKBUF problems on slower machines (i.e. 386) MESSBUF - Refer to Appendix C - Adjusting buffer settings - for more SHOPBUF information on how to fine-tune these values GANGBUF ROOMBUF Default: 300 ITEMBUF Default: 450 MONSBUF Default: 300 KMONSBUF Default: 200 SPELBUF Default: 200 RACEBUF Default: 12 CLASSBUF Default: 16 BANKBUF Default: 20 MESSBUF Default: 350 SHOPBUF Default: 20 GANGBUF Default: 10 TALKCHAR - This gives you the ability to change the default character for *C* talking to just about any valid character if a '.' conflicts with any other global package. Default: . YELLCHAR - This gives you the ability to change the default character for *C* yelling to just about any valid character if a '"' conflicts with any other global package. Default: " USRCURNM - The most valuable currency in the land may be renamed. *C* Default: runic coins DEATHHP - When a user hits 0 HP, he is considered 'unconscious' and is *C* stukk in the game. This parameter determines the bottom limit to be reached before actually dying. Default: -15 XTRALVL - To stop users from earning all their experience without training, *C* you may limit the number of extra levels of experience which they may earn without training. Default: 1 PUNHUP - This option defines the level of punishment to apply to *C* characters who drop carrier. A high level of punishment will reduce their HP by approx. 50% and will drop approx. 50% of their items. Medium punishment will only do this if the user is in combat when they hangup. Low will only do this if the user is in PvP combat when they hangup. None will not do anything to the user. Default: MEDIUM INVGLO1 - If there are any global commands which actually change the state INVGLO2 of the user so that they are not in the original module anymore, INVGLO3 then you can use these options to disable those global commands INVGLO4 while the user is playing MajorMUD. (Otherwise they can use INVGLO5 the globals to cheat and break out of a tough combat situation) INVGLO6 INVGLO7 INVGLO8 INVGLO9 INVGLO10 *C* (all invalid globals) Default: Empty MAXTOP - The default topten lists will only display 10 users or gangs *C* If you wish to increase this number, this is the option to change Default: 10 EVILKEEP - By default, when a user dies, their current level of evil *C* points is maintained with their USERID and not their MajorMUD character ID. You can use this option to alter the percentage of evil points which are maintained from one character to the next. Default: 100 MAILUSER - MajorMUD will send email such as internal logic errors, *C* feedback from users, and unavailable help requests via Mailink (If present on the system) to Lance@WCC. If you wish to receive a copy of this mail, specify the user account to receive the mail here. Default: SYSOP PROFCHEK - This limits the amount of profanity allowed in the *C* Game when talking to each other. It does not affect gang broadcasts or telepaths. Default: NO INITRATE - This specifies the rate at which you want MajorMUD to perform initialization. With a lower rate, your board will run faster during the initialization period, but will take longer to initialize. If this is less than 200 then it will be divided by 4 during recovery mode. This was put in for a board which was dialing out to a voice mail system and needed to be running immediately. If you don't need this, and don't mind the long startup time, then you can set the option to 20000, if you need fast startup, 80 isn't a bad value but trial and error will tell. Setting your INITRATE to 199 or less is the recommended range. If it is set in that range there is additional logic which smoothes out the initialization to improve the board response. As soon as you set it to 200 or more this additional smoothing is removed because it assumes that you want it to initialize as fast as possible regardless of extended board lags during initialization. In other words, setting it to 200 will complete the initialization a lot faster than 199 *but* may also result in longer system lags during the initialization period. During this time, the size of your buffers makes a lot of difference. If you've got larger buffer sizes then you can probably set it to 200 or more and not notice the potential larger lags. If you have smaller buffers then you will most likely notice the lags if you set it to 200 or more. If you set this option to 20000 then it will do all of the MajorMUD initialization before the system comes up. Default: 140 POLLRATE - The polling rate is used as a counter between saving game buffers during the polling routine. The value for this number is dependant upon both your number of users who are normally in MajorMUD, your normal system loading, and your CPU speed. If you have a fast cpu, a low normal load rate, and a lot of users in MMUD, then raise this number. If you seem to get a high system loading with a lot of disk access whenever the buffers start saving, then RAISE this parameter. In general, if you have any system pauses while saving, always raise this parameter. Default: 275 DEMOLVL - If you want to allow users to play the game to a certain *C* level and then force them to switch to another class, etc. to progress, you can specify the maximum level using this option. The key required to pass this level is set in the option NODMOKEY. Default: 100 EXPINTEN - If you feel that displaying the experience of the players *C* in the topten command is too technical or gives too much away, you can disable it with this option. Default: YES LVLDIFF - If you want to restrict your higher level players *C* from attacking lower level players, you can configure the maximum difference between the levels using this option. If a player with more than this many levels between themselves and their target attempts an attack it will be treated as though they were in a protected room. Set this option to -1 to disable PVP completely. Note that FIENDS will not get this restriction when they are on the losing side (ie lower level). * To enable all-out PvP where anyone can attack anyone, set LVLDIFF to 100. * To completely disable PvP, set LVLDIFF to -1. * To enable various levels of PvP such as having to be the same level, close to the same level, etc. set LVLDIFF to 0 or more depending on the number of levels difference you want to allow between users when they attack each other. Default: 9 MINHUPHP - If you have hangup penalties enabled, this is the *C* minimum percentage of their maximum HP which they will lose. Default: 10 MAXHUPHP - If you have hangup penalties enabled, this is the *C* maximum percentage of their maximum HP which they will lose. Default: 40 MAXHUPIT - If you have hangup penalties enabled, this is the *C* maximum number of items which they can lose. Default: 100 INACTIVE - This specifies the number of seconds of inactivity which *C* a user may have before they get hung up on. Default: 32000 DATADIR - If you wish to move the location of your databases from the default BBS directory, you may specify the location here with either a relative path from the bbs directory (ie. "muddats\") or an absolute path (ie. "d:\muddats\"). Note that this does NOT apply to the update databases. If you place those in a directory other than the bbs directory, you must enter the full path to them when asked for the filename. Also, NEVER use a Ram drive for this location. Any problems which result from using a Ram drive for this directory are explicitly NOT COVERED under support. The following databases are affected by this (and must be moved MANUALLY prior to running the BBS): WCCRACE.DAT WCCCLASS.DAT WCCUSERS.DAT WCCMP001.DAT WCCSHOPS.DAT WCCITEMS.DAT WCCITOWN.DAT WCCSPELS.DAT WCCKNMSR.DAT WCCACMSR.DAT WCCBANKS.DAT WCCMSG.DAT WCCGANGS.DAT WCCTEXT.DAT WCCACTS.DAT Default: Blank KEEPEXP - If the KEEPEXP option is set to YES, then users will *C* keep some of their experience to start a new character with after they either die or reroll. If set to NO then they will always start at 0. Note that the value of this setting AT THE TIME THE USER DIES OR REROLLS is the one that matters. If a user rerolls while this is set to YES and then you subsequently change it to NO, they will still start with some of the experience which they had when they rerolled. Default: YES LIGHTEVY - If you give out sysop powers in MajorMUD to people *C* who are only co-sysops, you may wish to restrict the SYSOP LIGHTNING command so that it only works against users who would normally receive lightning. Default: YES GENDERGO - If you want to let your users change their gender in *C* the game, you may charge them this much gold to do so. If you set it to -1 then they will not be allowed to change gender. 0 will let them do it for free. Default: 32000 DELUSER - If you wish to be able to delete a BBS user without *C* actually deleting the MajorMUD user then set this option to NO. Note that when set to NO, if a BBS user is deleted and a new user creates the same account name then they will inherit the old MajorMUD character. Default: YES MAXEPDAY - Maximum number of evil points to forgive per day. This *C* option is used to control the rate at which your evil players return to neutral. If you set this too high then you will increase the chance of corrupt users taking advantage and killing everyone in sight. Too low and users may stop playing if they get too evil. Refer to section 7.1 for more details. Default: 12 EPCYCLE - A portion of the evil points forgiven each day depend *C* on the amount of time spent playing MajorMUD without performing any evil actions. This option controls the granularity of the required online time. Refer to section 7.1 for more details. Default: 60 EPAMOUNT - For each full evil point cycle that the user spends *C* in MajorMUD, this option controls the number of evil points that they will receive at the end of the day (cleanup). Refer to section 7.1 for more details. Default: 1 ENABLAWF - If you do not wish to take advantage of the features *C* of the 'lawful' character style then set this option to No. Default: Yes -- Level 6 -- Edit Text Blocks -- USRLOGIN - Users with the PLAYKEY will receive this text message when they login to your BBS. USRLOGOF - Users with the PLAYKEY will receive this text message when they logoff your BBS. USRFOLED - This is the first thing each user sees when they Enter the Realm USREXIT - This is the last thing each user sees when they Exit the Realm LEAVEMNU - This text block will be displayed when the user types X from the MajorMUD menu. This is specifically for those boards who are running MajorMUD on a sub-board and require the ability to send specific characters to disconnect from the sub-board. INACHUP - This text block will be displayed if the user is kicked offline due to the inactivity timeout. (See INACTIVE, Level 4) ========================================================================== 3.1) OPTIONAL CONFIGURATION OPTIONS For various reasons, I want to get away from using CNF options and switch to an alternative form of adding sysop configurable options to MajorMUD. The new method will be via the use of a text file called WCCMMUD.INI. I do not plan on creating any interface to access this file so the only way you will be able to change options in this file is with a standard text editor. The file is a series of lines of the form OPTION=VALUE. As new options are added this section of this document will be updated. Note that any option not specified in your WCCMMUD.INI file will have a default value assigned to it. Note that this file is *NOT* shipped with MajorMUD. The assumption is that all the options are at their defaults. If you want to use any of these options then you have to create this file yourself. Do not include quotes ("") in your values. If you want to leave comments to yourself you can start a line with # and it will be ignored. Note that if you enable any of the logging features you will (a) slow your system down due to the increased disk activity and (b) be responsible for manually deleting the log file to avoid letting it grow too large. Options ------- SYS_LOG_DEATHS Valid Values: 0 (no logging) 1 (logging) Default Value: 0 Description: When enabled, all player deaths, rerolls, and suicides are recorded in the MajorMud log file. SYS_DISABLE_GANGS Valid Values: 3-15 character key name Default Value: "" Description: When a person is given this key, they can use the sys disable command and sys enable command. SYS_RESET_ROOMS Valid Values: 3-15 character key name Default Value: "" Description: When a person is given this key, they can use the sys reset command. TRACK_LIMITED Valid Values: 0 (means no tracking) 1 (means tracking) Default Value: 0 Description: When enabled, each time a limited item changes location in the game it will be logged to the MajorMUD log file. LOGFILE Valid Values: Any unique filename without path Default Value: WCCMMUD.LOG Description: This can be used to change the name of the log file to which various game messages are logged (such as the tracking of limited items) EXP_IN_TOPGANG Valid Values: 0 (means do not show exp) 1 (means show exp in topten) Default Value: 0 Description: When enabled, the experience associated with each gang will be shown in the topten gangs listing. SYS_MAP_KEY Valid Values: 3-15 character key name Default Value: "" Description: If specified then a user needs either the sysop-key or the game-op key AND the key specified here to execute the sysop map command. SYS_GOTO_KEY Valid Values: 3-15 character key name Default Value: "" Description: If specified then a user needs either the sysop-key or the game-op key AND the key specified here to execute the sysop goto command. SYS_LIGHTNING_KEY Valid Values: 3-15 character key name Default Value: "" Description: If specified then a user needs either the sysop-key or the game-op key AND the key specified here to execute the sysop lightning command. SYS_STATUS_KEY Valid Values: 3-15 character key name Default Value: "" Description: If specified then a user needs either the sysop-key or the game-op key AND the key specified here to execute the sysop status command. SYS_ADDLIFE_KEY Valid Values: 3-15 character key name Default Value: "" Description: If specified then a user needs either the sysop-key or the game-op key AND the key specified here to execute the sysop god add life command. SYS_RETRAIN_KEY Valid Values: 3-15 character key name Default Value: "" Description: If specified then a user needs either the sysop-key or the game-op key AND the key specified here to execute the sysop god retrain command. SYS_ALIGNMENT_KEY Valid Values: 3-15 character key name Default Value: "" Description: If specified then a user needs either the sysop-key or the game-op key AND the key specified here to execute the sysop god good/saint/neutral/lawful/unlawful commands SYS_EDITEVIL_KEY Valid Values: 3-15 character key name Default Value: "" Description: If specified then a user needs either the sysop-key or the game-op key AND the key specified here to execute the sysop god add evil command. SYS_SPEAK_KEY Valid Values: 3-15 character key name Default Value: "" Description: If specified then a user needs either the sysop-key or the game-op key AND the key specified here to execute the sysop god speak command. SYS_LISTUSER_KEY Valid Values: 3-15 character key name Default Value: "" Description: If specified then a user needs either the sysop-key or the game-op key AND the key specified here to execute the sysop list users/evil/gang commands. SYS_LISTLIMIT_KEY Valid Values: 3-15 character key name Default Value: "" Description: If specified then a user needs either the sysop-key or the game-op key AND the key specified here to execute the sysop list limited_items command. SYS_USERINFO_KEY Valid Values: 3-15 character key name Default Value: "" Description: If specified then a user needs either the sysop-key or the game-op key AND the key specified here to execute the sysop god inventory/profile/spells/powers/ abilities/info/status commands. SYS_JAIL_KEY Valid Values: 3-15 character key name Default Value: "" Description: If specified then a user needs either the sysop-key or the game-op key AND the key specified here to execute the sysop god jail command. SYS_CHANGE_KEY Valid Values: 3-15 character key name Default Value: "" Description: If specified then a user needs either the sysop-key or the game-op key AND the key specified here to execute the sysop god change name or sex commands. SYS_BUFFERS_KEY Valid Values: 3-15 character key name Default Value: "" Description: If specified then a user needs either the sysop-key or the game-op key AND the key specified here to execute the sysop buffers commands. SYS_CLEARSUICIDE_KEY Valid Values: 3-15 character key name Default Value: "" Description: If specified then a user needs either the sysop-key or the game-op key AND the key specified here to execute the sysop god clear suicide command. SYS_REPORT_KEY Valid Values: 3-15 character key name Default Value: "" Description: If specified then a user needs either the sysop-key or the game-op key AND the key specified here to execute the sysop report command. SYS_TOPTEN_KEY Valid Values: 3-15 character key name Default Value: "" Description: If specified then a user needs either the sysop-key or the game-op key AND the key specified here to execute the sysop god enable/disable topten commands. SYS_DISBAND_KEY Valid Values: 3-15 character key name Default Value: "" Description: If specified then a user needs either the sysop-key or the game-op key AND the key specified here to execute the sysop disband command. Note that unlike the other gameop commands, this is typically only a sysop command and is therefore not given to a gameop by default. UPDATE_SPEED Valid Values: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Default Value: 0 Description: Used to control the speed at which automatic database updates are applied. 0 == Fastest (most load on system) 1 == Medium 2 == Slow 3 == Slower 4 == Slowest (least load on system) 5 == All at startup (longest bbs start time, no load once started) Note that an approximate timing is option 0 takes around 9 minutes on a P133 with IDE drives and a 4MB caching controller under WorldGroup 2.0. Option 5 takes 8 minutes on a P166 with a SCSI (8ms, 1MB cache) drive with a regular SCSI controller running in a DOS box under Win '95 under WorldGroup 1.01. Another timing we've done here for option 5 also took 8 minutes but this time it was on a 486-100 with a slow IDE drive and an 8MB caching controller running WorldGroup 3.0 for NT/95 on a Win '95 system. Interesting comparison: Exact same PC, running Win '95 in non-gui mode and WG 2.0 took 13 minutes to complete. LOG_SYSOP_COMMANDS Valid Values: 0 (means do not log sysop commands) 1 (means log sysop commands) Default Value: 1 Description: When enabled, all sysop commands done in MajorMUD will be logged to the LOGFILE. (This does not include commands from the sysop menu, just commands in the game.) MAXIMUM_BANK_BALANCE Valid Values: 0 (means no maximum) number (maximum allowed balance) Default Value: 0 Description: When set, all bank balances will be limited to this amount - any excess will be removed from the bank account for the user with no warning. The value is in copper pieces (do a 'look' in the bank for conversion rates). ENABLE_CLASS_CHANGE Valid Values: 0 (means do not allow changing class) 1 (means allow changing class) Default Value: 0 Description: When enabled, users who had characters prior to version 1.1u will be allowed to change their class in addition to their race. This only affects characters in this situation - it does not affect any new characters created in 1.1u or newer. RACE_CHANGE_DURATION Valid Values: 1-720 Default Value: 300 Description: Characters that existed prior to 1.1u will be given a chance to change their race (and optionally their class - see ENABLE_CLASS_CHANGE above). Once they make the first race change they can continue to change their race until they have spent this many minutes playing the game. The default of 300 is 5 hours. BLANK_LASTNAME_ALLOWED Valid Values: 0 (Means do not allow blank lastnames) 1 (Means allow blank lastnames) Default Value: 0 Description: If you allow blank lastnames then a user can create a character with just a given/first name and no last name. If you do not allow blank last names then the user will be forced to create a lastname. If you change this setting to force lastnames when you previously allowed blank lastnames it does not force users without last names to enter one until they train stats (and even then there are ways to get around it that we're not going to remove). ---------------------------------------------------------- Options for MajorMUD Plus (put in wccmmud.ini) PLUS_PURCHASE_EMAIL_USERID Valid Values: userid Default Value: N/A Description: If SEND_EMAIL_FOR_PURCHASES is set then this is the userid who will receive the emails regarding plus purchases. Note that there is NO default. SEND_EMAIL_FOR_PURCHASES Valid Values: 0 (means don't send email) 1 (means only send email) Default Value: 0 Description: When set to a non-zero value, MajorMUD Plus will send email to the sysop (based on the MajorMUD CNF option '') to record a purchase. The user will NOT be charged credits, game currency, or days if this option is set. Typically this is to be used for sysops running on a DMA server where credits or account days don't make any sense to use. Note that you must specify PLUS_PURCHASE_EMAIL_USERID for this to work. ---------------------------------------------------------- Sample file (not including the lines containing -----): ---------------------------------------------------------- TRACK_LIMITED=1 LOGFILE=wccmmud.log SYS_SPEAK_KEY=SPEAKER #this line is ignored ---------------------------------------------------------- If you change this file while the BBS is running you can reload the options dynamically (without shutting down the bbs) using the SYSOP RELOAD command (refer to wccmmsys.not for more information). ========================================================================== 4) ONLINE SYSOP FUNCTIONS This section has been moved to the file WCCMMSYS.NOT. ========================================================================== 5) MAJORMUD OFFLINE UTILITIES Under option 8 on the MajorBBS main menu, there will be a new option for the offline MajorMUD utilities. Currently there are the following menu options: * Database Recovery * Remove Items from all rooms * Action Editor (MajorMUD Plus - Entertainment Edition only) 5.1) Database Recovery If a situation occurs where it is recommended that you recover your database, the 'Database Recovery' menu option is the way to do it. (see Appendix B for other options). This option will also reset all of your active monsters and reindex your limited items. 5.2) Remove Items from all rooms The 'remove items from all rooms' command will remove the following from the game: * all visible currency * all hidden currency * all visible non-limited items * all hidden non-limited items There is *NO* way to undo this command once you have executed it. We STRONGLY recommend that you give your users several days warning prior to executing this command to avoid user complaints about lost items which they had stored on the ground. After you have run this option, you must start your BBS and run the REINDEX LIMITED ITEMS command from the sysop menu. 5.3) Action Editor (MajorMUD Plus - Entertainment Edition only) If you purchase the MajorMUD Plus - Entertainment Edition add-on for MajorMUD then the action editor in this program will be activated. Please see the release notes for that product for information on using this feature. 5.4) Running WCCMMUTL directly This program may also be run from a batch file or from the DOS command line. The name of the program is WCCMMUTL.EXE and it takes the following arguments: -? Will display a short help screen listing the options -recover Will automatically run the recovery and then return to DOS -needed Same as -recover but will only do it if required (ie flag exists) -fast Will perform the 'fast' recovery instead of the regular recovery (must be used in conjunction with either -needed or -recover) (obsoleted option - all recoveries are now done in 'fast' mode. The option is left for historical reasons.) Note that if you attempt to run this utility from DOS, you must ensure that you have loaded Btrieve (or Brequest for those systems using Brequest instead of Btrieve). The command to load Btrieve is BTRIEVE /P:2048. If you fail to do this, you will receive a 'red box' error which informs you of the fact that you must load Btrieve first. You might want to make one of the following modifications to your system so that the offline recovery program is run automatically every time the BBS is started and recovery is done if needed: Either: 1) Add the following lines to your AUTOEXEC.BAT CD \BBSV6 BTRIEVE /p:2048 WCCMMUTL -needed -fast where BBSV6 is the directory your bbs is installed in and you are not using brequest (the command is different if you are using brequest). For WorldGroup, the directory is probably \WGSERV. 2) Modify your BBS.BAT file to add the following line: WCCMMUTL -needed -fast right after the :skipfix line and before the if "%1" == "GO" goto op50 line as follows: :skipfix wccmmutl -needed -fast if "%1" == "GO" goto op50 ========================================================================== 6) MISC. OTHER STUFF If you have a globals package which requires module substates to operate, the substate which a user is in most of the time while playing the game is 130. 6.1) SCRIPTING Although it is possible to make it _difficult_ for users to script, it is never possible to completely eliminate scripting altogether. Not only that, but some sysops appreciate scripters because they are burning up credits and that is the way a sysop makes money. Controlling scripting is therefore a system-specific action which must be implemented in the form of policy and punishment. Determine what your policy on scripting is (ie. No scripting, Scripting anytime, Scripting 1am-2pm, etc.) and post it somewhere. You will then have to rely on user complaints and heuristics to determine if a user is breaking _your_ rules. Heuristics range from the simple act of paging them and waiting for them to respond appropriately to emulating them and forcing their character to do weird things (and watching to see if they react as a user would - 'yell and scream'). The penalties which you dole out could be to disallow them from entering the game, suspend them from the board, or just disable them from entering the topten. You could also threaten them with lightning, adding evil points, or stripping them of any limited items which they may have. The bottom line is that it is up to you to set your own scripting rules and to enforce them as you see fit. 6.2) COMPATABILITY WITH EARLIER VERSIONS OF MBBS (6.21 in particular) Create a file called WCCFAKE.FLG in your bbsv6 directory prior to running your system for the first time after installing MajorMUD. This will cause it to run in compatability-mode for version 6.21 - it is not as efficient as running under 6.25 or newer, but it will run. 6.3) PHOENIX NAME CHANGE SUPPORT (by MicroMagic) There is a file called WCCMMUD.UIC included in the MajorMUD release which is hopefully a phoenix name change support file. As of this writing, I HAVE NOT HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO TEST THIS FEATURE but have heard of at least one sysop using it successfully. If you own Phoenix, please TEST this on a non-production server first, checking that the renamed user can still a) enter and play MajorMUD and b) access their bank account in MajorMUD. Metropolis, Inc. provides NO WARRANTY AT ALL related to the use of this file. Use it at your own risk. If you own phoenix and do not wish to risk it on MajorMUD then DELETE THE FILE WCCMMUD.UIC. For more information on Phoenix, go to http://www.magicbbs.com, choose 'products' then 'Pheonix'. 6.4) RESETTING YOUR ACTIVE MONSTER DATABASE If you wish to reset your active monster database, run the MajorMUD offline utility and choose the 'Database Recovery' option. This option will take care of the resetting, recovery, and reindex. An optional step before running the database recovery is to manually reset the monster database. Do this by copying wccacmsr.vir over wccacmsr.dat and then running the 'database recovery' option. You should do this if instructed by WCC or if you are sure that you have too many monsters in areas of your game and your users cannot kill them off. This situation may occur if you use the SYSOP RESET command incorrectly. If you feel that you are having problems with the monsters in your game not generating properly, etc. then do this database recovery. 6.5) GENERIC FIX-ALL FOR MOST PROBLEMS WHICH OCCUR IN MAJORMUD The following steps will reset your active monster database, check your hard disk for physical errors, check your databases for structural errors, check your databases for logical errors, check your module loading order for correctness, and reapply the latest database updates to confirm database accuracy. If you have any problems such as repeated internal errors, too many monsters, too few monsters, monsters not dropping items, and just about any other problem where something starts performing differently than it did before or does on another bbs then perform these steps. 1) Make sure that you've got the latest database update on your system. Best way to get this is to unzip the latest release file and then unzip the wccmmud.zip file (in an empty directory) and then copy wccupdat.dat from this directory into your bbs directory. 2) shutdown bbs 3) run scandisk [ to make sure there are no faults on your hard disk ] 4) run defrag [ not necessary but may increase system performance ] 5) run wgsridx or bbsridx [ to fix any physical problems with the databases ] 6) optionally copy wccacmsr.vir wccacmsr.dat [ fastest way to clear all the active monsters but done automatically within the database recovery step ] 7) run offline database recovery [ to fix any logical problems with the databases, reset the active monster database, and reindex the limited items ] 8) double-check your module loading order against that specified in the majormud sysop release notes (Wccmmud.rln, Appendix E) [ to make sure that it is not a module conflict causing your problem ] 9) start bbs 6.6) MAJORMUD AND DMA SERVERS If you are running MajorMUD on a DMA server or are planning on running it on a DMA server then you must register your host IP address with Metropolis, Inc. to obtain a DMA-server activation code. By registering to run or access a DMA server you will not be able to transfer your copy of MajorMUD without a notarized letter stating that you will never access MajorMUD via a DMA server. To get your DMA-server activation code, please send the following information to Metropolis Sales (sales@majormud.com or fax to 913-663-3200): MajorBBS/WorldGroup Reg# of Host BBS: ________ Host BBS IP Address: ___.___.___.___ If your MBBS/WG Reg# of your Host BBS is not the same as the one under which you have registered MajorMUD then we will need a written explanation as to why they are different. You will receive your DMA-server activation code in a file called WCCDMA.SYS which must be put in your BBS directory. This file will contain a number of lines, each containing a BBS Reg#, IP address, and activation code. For performance reasons, you should probably modify this file (using DOS EDIT or similar program) so that the line containing your IP address is the first line in the file. If you allow other systems to access your DMA server then find their HOST IP addresses and move their lines to the beginning of the file just after the line containing your IP address. Note that if you modify the order of this file then you will have to do this after each upgrade. The command line for the rlogin page which you will want to use to access MajorMUD on a DMA server will be something like this (based on tcpdma.txt from Vircom's TCP/IP package): d dmapswd suffix ipaddr luser ruser autolof autospc echo mode gopage #desc where the value for 'echo' should be 'O' and the value for 'mode' should be 'A'. 6.6.1) Moving MajorMUD from your Main system to a DMA server When you move your MajorMUD from your dma server, in addition to getting a DMA access code and setting up your menu page as above, please keep the following in mind: * No suffix should be used so that accounts on the DMA server have exactly the same name as those on the bbs. If you already have an active sub-bbs and are not just copying the entire contents of your BBS directory from the main server to the sub-bbs at this time then the following also applies: * Custom statlines will not be moved from the main BBS to the sub-bbs * Permanent information will not be moved from the main bbs to the sub-bbs. This means that anyone who is dead during the move will *NOT* get any experience when they create a new account regardless of what they had when they died. * MajorMUD Plus settings (description and registries) will not be moved. Note that the above is not necessarily a comprehensive list of the affects of moving a game of Mud from a main system to a dma server. WCC does not guarantee that there will be no other side effects of such a move. 6.7) MAJORMUD ADDON ACTIVATION CODES If you purchase any of the database addons for MajorMUD you will receive two pieces of information for each addon: - Addon Identification Code - Addon Activation Code The identification code is a number identifying the addon. For example, the first addon has an identification code of 1. The activation code is specific to your system and is required to be able to enter the areas of the game which are a part of the addon. You can use the online sysop menu option 'a' to add an addon activation code while your system is running. If you make a mistake entering your activation code you will have to manually edit the activation code file to correct your error. Do this by using any standard DOS editor (eg. EDIT) and load the file WCCADDON.SYS which will exist in your BBS subdirectory. Each line in this file represents an individual addon and is formatted as follows: : Locate and change the line which corresponds to the addon module for which you entered the wrong information and save the file. NOTE that if you have entered an incorrect activation code and then change the wccaddon.sys file to have the correct code in it while the bbs is running you will have to wait until the bbs restarts before this takes effect. 6.8) PVP DAYS A number of sysops have started doing what they call 'PvP Days' on their systems. This is basically a day in which they let all of their users 'go wild' and then restore the game the next day. The way to do this is to follow these instructions: 1. Backup your entire BBS (Always a good idea) 2. Make a separate backup of WCC*.* 3. Start your BBS and let your users do all the PvP they want 4. Shutdown your BBS at the end of the PvP day 5. Restore your backup of the wcc files (WCC*.*) Warning: Although most of the time this is a safe procedure, there is a chance that a user may end up with a worse character after you do this. The scenario which would cause this is as follows: a) A user establishes a character and then dies their final death or rerolls before the PvP day. b) The user does *NOT* create a new character before the PvP day begins c) The user creates a new character during the PvP day (and receives their adjusted experience to start their new character based on their original character) d) After the PvP day is over, when the user creates a new character they will most likely get a percentage of experience based upon the experience of the character they had during the PvP day. The chance of the above scenario happening is small, but it is something you should be aware of if you are running PvP days. If you choose to hold 'PvP days' on your BBS, you are doing so at your own risk. ========================================================================== 7) RUNNING THE GAME I'm going to try and put stuff into this section that may help you control the way your game is being played on your system and may help you resolve user problems more efficiently. I am just going to put stuff into this section at random and hopefully it will eventually cover most situations. Under normal operation, you should be able to install MajorMUD, configure the CNF options so that it runs smoothly on your system by adjusting buffers, etc. (discussed elsewhere) and then leave the game alone. There are situations where problems with the way the game operates will occur. Most of these problems are also documented in this file. The general solution to most of those problems involves the following fundamental steps (not all of which are always required, but which will solve most functional problems): 1) Run the offline database recovery program 2) Re-apply the latest database update 7.1) THE EVIL/LEGAL SYSTEM MajorMUD controls the users by giving evil points for actions which are considered 'bad'. As these evil points accumulate on a user they will start to be punished by the game. This starts by allowing other users to attack them without penalty. It then progresses to having guards attack them on site. After that, bounty-hunters and other monsters will be generated with the specific purpose of attacking the user. After that the gods will begin to punish them by striking them with lightning. You may use the online sysop commands to alter a user's evil level and thereby alter the way the game will treat that user. When a user first creates a character they get the chance to choose to be a 'lawful' character. If they make this choice then they are forever banned from instigating any action which would give them evil points. Anyone attacking them is also given a larger number of evil points than for a normal attack. Although a user may not change the state of their original decision regarding lawfulness without rerolling, you may use the online sysop god commands to alter this state. You can configure the rate at which users lose evil points using the CNF options MAXEPDAY, EPCYCLE, and EPAMOUNT. At cleanup, any user who has played the game and who has done any evil actions will have their evil points reduced by 2 evil points. Any user who has played the game without any evil action will have their evil points reduced by 3 plus the following formula: (EPAMOUNT * (minutes played in game that day/EPCYCLE)) The total number of evil points that will be forgiven are based on the value of MAXEPDAY. Note also that when moving from neutral towards GOOD or SAINT (i.e. current evil points < 0) that the base of 2 evil points does not apply (in other words, subtract 2 from the number of evil points about to be forgiven and that is how much closer to GOOD/SAINT the user will get). For reference points, the following define the evil point ranges which correspond to the reputation shown in the game. The (EPs) shown in brackets indicate the results of attacking someone of that reputation. -220 <= Saint < -200 (EP * 2) -200 <= Good < -50 (EP * 2) -50 <= Neutral < 30 30 <= Seedy < 40 (No EP ) 40 <= Outlaw < 80 (No EP; Guards attack and jail you) 80 <= Criminal < 120 (No EP; Guards attack and jail you) 120 <= Villain < 210 (No EP; Guards attack and jail you) 210 <= Fiend < 300 (No EP; Guards attack and jail you) Over 300 EPs, a fiend that cannot attack again until they go back down to less than 300. ** NOTE ** DO NOT adjust any evil point values (either CNF or online) unless you know what you are doing. Use the SYSOP LIST USERS command to see what the current evil levels of your users are and use that to guide you in these settings. Neither Metropolis, Inc. nor the staff or close-to-staff members of Metropolis BBS will provide any guidance on setting these aside from pointing you back to the default values. Settings which are incorrect -for-your-system- may result in your users quitting the game due to other users taking advantage of them. ========================================================================== Appendix A - Resetting your game Note: If you do not understand the difference between these two options and you just know that you want to 'reset MajorMUD' then take a full backup of your system and do OPTION TWO (FULL RESET). OPTION ONE (PARTIAL RESET) If you wish to reset all of the users on your board while maintaining the current map environment, you must follow these steps. NOTE: Only choose this option if you KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING and know that you want it reset in this manner. 1) Copy WCCUSERS.VIR to WCCUSERS.DAT 2) Copy WCCGANGS.VIR to WCCGANGS.DAT 3) Copy WCCBANKS.VIR to WCCBANKS.DAT 4) Refer to appendix A.1 in this document and follow those instructions now if applicable to you (i.e. if you own MajorMUD Plus). 5) Run the BBS and IMMEDIATELY choose C for Clear all saved evil points on the sysop menu. NOTE: This must be done prior to anyone creating new characters. 6) Immediately following 'C', choose 'CP' to clear all the saved profile information. NOTE: This must also be done prior to anyone creating new characters. 7) Choose R for reindex the limited items on the sysop menu. OPTION TWO (FULL RESET) If you wish to completely reset and start from scratch, follow these steps: 1) Before you shutdown your BBS for the last time prior to the reset, choose C for Clear all saved evil points on the MajorMUD sysop menu. 2) Immediately following 'C', choose 'CP' to clear all the saved profile information. 3) Shutdown the BBS 4) Refer to appendix A.1 in this document and follow those instructions now if applicable to you (i.e. if you own MajorMUD Plus). 5) Keep a backup copy of your WCCADDON.SYS file if you own any MajorMUD addons 6) If you created a wccmmud.ini file, take a backup of this file now 7) Write down any custom settings you may have done in your CNF options 8) Delete all the WCC files from your bbs directory (DEL WCC*.*) NOTE: If you are running any other WCC Products (currently only WCC Line Control is available) please contact Metropolis for information on which files to NOT delete. NOTE: If you received a new WCCDMA.SYS file (for running on a DMA server) after the latest version was released, make sure you save this file to restore it after reinstalling. 9) Re-install the latest version of MajorMUD using the appropriate methods and apply any newer patches 10) Modify your CNF options as appropriate (refer to what you wrote down in step 7) 11) If you took a backup of your wccaddon.sys file, copy it into your BBS directory now. 12) If you took a backup of your wccmmud.ini file, copy it into your BBS directory now. 13) Run the BBS and IMMEDIATELY choose C for Clear all saved evil points on the sysop menu. NOTE: This must be done prior to anyone creating new characters. 14) Immediately following 'C', choose 'CP' to clear all the saved profile information. NOTE: This must also be done prior to anyone creating new characters. 15) Apply all appropriate database patches Appendix A.1 - Resetting MajorMUD Plus - Entertainment Edition If you own MajorMUD Plus - Entertainment Edition and you are resetting your MajorMUD game then you most likely want to reset the MajorMUD plus registries and descriptions. Do this with the 'clear plus data' option in the MajorMUD offline utilities (refer to the MajorMUD Plus release notes - wccmmpls.rel - for more information) ========================================================================== Appendix B - Note on recovery (Automatic and Manual) If your board crashes for any reason, MajorMUD will enter a recovery mode upon startup. This recovery mode will take a few minutes while it re-calculates the counts of monsters in each room/area. To determine if recovery is necessary, MajorMUD uses the existance of the file WCCRECOV.FLG in the bbs directory. When MajorMUD starts, if this file exists then it will start in recovery mode. In both normal and recovery mode, MajorMUD will create this file upon initialization. During the normal shutdown procedure, MajorMUD will delete this file. Using this method, if the board terminates for any abnormal reason then recovery mode will be initiated. (See section 5 for instructions on getting the recovery mode to run prior to starting the BBS) Using the default setting for INITRATE, recovery mode should take approximately 1 to 2 hours. Previous versions of this document suggested deleting the wccrecov.flg file - It has now become much more important that you leave this file where it is so DO NOT DELETE it. In addition to the above recovery procedure, it is recommended that after any abnormal system termination you run an offline recovery. This will again ensure that all of the limited items in the game are properly cross-referenced. NOTE that during online recovery mode there will be no monsters generated aside from those directly related to the recovery mode operations. Using the default CNF settings, recovery mode usually takes around 1 hour. To perform a manual recovery, you have 3 options: 1) Bring your BBS down. Create a file called WCCRECOV.FLG in your BBS directory. Start your BBS again. MajorMUD will automatically run through recovery mode. 2) During a slow hour on your BBS, execute the command SYSOP INITIALIZE 20 RECOVER to force an online recovery mode. 3) Use the offline MajorMUD utilities program. This can be accessed via option 8 on the MBBS menu. Choose the menu option to do a database recovery from this program. NOTE: This is the preferred method. ========================================================================== Appendix C - Adjusting Buffer Settings Although the default values for the buffer settings should work for most basic BBS setups, there are many occasions when you may wish to adjust the size of these buffers. Usually you will want to increase them as much as possible depending on the amount of free memory available while your BBS is running. A good method to determine which buffers need to be increased in size is as follows: 1) While playing MajorMUD as a sysop, enter the command SYSOP BUFFER CLEAR 2) For the next few minutes, type the command SYSOP BUFFER repetitively every few seconds. 3) Observe the change in the numbers under the MISS column. You will notice that a few of the buffers may have a large increase in the number of Misses while other buffers have 0 or 1 misses over a few minute long period. 4) The next time your bring your BBS down, raise the size of the buffers which had the highest miss count. 5) Repeat the procedure starting at step 1 until you either run out of memory, get bored, or find that the number of misses does not skyrocket in a short time period. NOTE: If you set any of your buffers too high and your computer runs out of memory during the loading of MajorBBS, you will get a catastro error which says something similar to: PLTILE:Out of Contiguous Selectors!(Phar Lap Code 0000) ... There are two possible options to fix this problem. The easiest is to just reduce the size of your buffers again until the error goes away. The other is to change the module loading order so that WCCMMUD is loaded earlier. This may give MMUD a chance to allocate large chunks of memory before the other modules. This method is not recommended unless you know what you are doing and really want to squeeze that extra memory into MajorMUD. ========================================================================== Appendix D - Performance Suggestions If you find that you are getting excessive board slowdowns (some slowdown is expected as MajorMUD is a very disk intensive application), this section will outline the options which should be investigated. - If you get repetitive performance hits every SECBUFF seconds, then you will want to adjust the rate at which buffers are being saved to disk. First, you will want to increase your POLLRATE. This will lengthen the time between each buffer saved. Next, you may want to increase SECBUFF. This will increase the time between commencing of the saving of the buffers. ** ** ** I would recommend that SECBUFF be set to at least 1200 for almost ** ** all systems running MajorMUD. ** ** ** By changing POLLRATE, you will reduce the load during the process of saving the buffers. By changing SECBUFF, you are reducing the frequency at which the buffers are saved. This has the good side-effect of increasing the number of changes which are done entirely in memory, but has the bad side-effect of increasing the damage if you have a system crash. - If you get repetitive performance hits every SECOTH seconds, then you may have set BUFTOSAV too high. Try lowering it to 1. If you already have BUFTOSAV set to 1, then this is likely not the cause of this pause. - If you find that your system loading is too high during the first few minutes of operation or during the first 1/2 hour to 1 hour during recovery mode, then there are two options. One is to live with it - This is the best option because normally a BBS does not have a large number of callers immediately after cleanup (the typical time that the bbs starts). The other is to reduce the value for INITRATE. The problem with reducing this value is that it will take that much longer to complete initialization and even longer to complete recovery (which takes approx. 1 hour with the default INITRATE setting of 80) - If you have generally poor system performance, you may have your system polling rate set too high. This is the POLRATE option which can be found in the bbsmajor.msg file (Level 1 options). I would recommend lowering this a notch if it is not set at the lowest already. - Read appendix C regarding the buffer settings. Poorly configured buffer settings can greatly increase system loading and conversely good buffer settings will greatly reduce system loading. - If you are running on a DMA server then please read section 6.6 and adjust your wccdma.sys file appropriately for your system. Note that you will have to do this after each upgrade. ========================================================================== Appendix E - Potential Module Conflicts There may be a few conflicts with other modules which can be resolved by re-ordering the loading of the WCCMMUD.DLL. This list was provided by one of our Beta sites as a result of their testing and has not been verified, but is a good starting location if you are having any unexplained problems. WCCMMUD.DLL must be loaded before: --------------------------------- HVSTW.DLL DPIGLO.DLL MCSNPAD.DLL SPEFSTP.DLL (Very likely on the following: (HVS*.dll) ) HVSMM.DLL (It's a 'probably' with the following, not a definite: (ALL TCP*.dll) ) TCPWWW.DLL TCPTELNT.DLL TCPSMTP.DLL TCPSLIP.DLL TCPRLGN.DLL TCPMISC.DLL TCPLIB.DLL TCPFTP.DLL One other possibility is that WCCMMUD.DLL should be loaded AFTER: FW_TRIV.DLL To change the order of your DLLs, you need to modify the MJRBBS.CFG file (wgserv.cfg for WG3-NT) - I have not really done it, but I believe all you do is rearrange the order of the DLL= lines. BUT, I believe that if you re-index, or add/delete modules from your board, this file will be recreated in a default ordering. Also, it appears as though WG 3.2 will rebuild this file almost every day at cleanup - one sysop recommended modifying your wgsclean.bat file to copy an ordered backup of wgserv.cfg over wgserv.cfg every cleanup. There is also a free utility available from High Velocity software called HVSTOP. You can get HVSTOP at: ftp://ftp.hvs.com/library/hvsdemos/hvstop.zip or try somewhere at dsafe.com now. "It's totally free. No registration is solicited or encouraged." (M.D. HVS) In general, aside from the module(s) listed above, moving MajorMUD to one of the first modules loaded usually gets rid of most conflicts - I don't know why. E.1 FU Globals In addition to the following configuration issues, you must be running version 0.85b or newer of FU globals to avoid some module conflicts. If you are using the FU Globals package then you must disable the FSD/FSE Entry for MajorMUD. As/of the current FU Globals version on 6/6/97, the following instructions should work: 1) Go to the FU Globals ON-LINE CONFIG (/go fu) in the MODULE PORTION of FU Globals 2) Select M)odules 3) Select E)No FSD/FSE modules 4) Add 'MajorMUD' to the list of modules. Note: If you run Major Mud on a DMA server, add 'Rlogin' instead 'MajorMUD' Note: If you have changed your wccmmud.mdf file to change the name of the module then you must use your new module name. Upon performing the above steps, the =set, =macros1, =macros2, etc. commands will not work in Major Mud. If you do not do these steps and allow users the use of these commands then they can get themselves into situations which can corrupt the MajorMUD game. You will also want to disable the alternate go command provided by FU globals. The same way you can define up to 20 modules for which FU should not put users in the FSE/FSD, you can do the same with the ALTERNATE /GO command. Just add 'MajorMUD' (or 'Rlogin' if running Mud on a DMA server) to the NO ALTERNATE /GO list and you can still keep the "GO" command on your BBS but not have it affect MUD. Yet another feature that may need disabling in the FU globals is the sending of ansi pictures. Apparently this causes some form of corruption to the gossip and user list commands. You will also have to disable the =r global (repeat-last-command). E.2 DPI Globals Here's a quote from a sysop running MajorMUD and DPI Globals: " With DPI Gobal package a similar problem occurs on our bbs, but only to the extent of exiting from mmud with a meditation period and locking up the channel. The particular globals are the -g1, -g2 which send ansi graphic pages to other users, and the -pw to change your p*ssword. Since it only occurs with the SET SPLIT command enabled and hasn't replicated the reroll bug on our bbs so we have not restriced those globals yet, but anyone useing this global package may want to make sure it doesn't on theirs. " E.3 Annex Hoteleconference Make sure that you disable the ^action global command E.4 Major Jail If you arrest someone while they are in split-screen mode, major jail will not put you into the correct state in MajorMUD and will leave you in a position to change your race or class improperly. Please either disable Major Jail or make sure it is never used while someone is in MajorMUD. ========================================================================== Appendix F - Problem reporting checklist If you have any problems installing or running MajorMUD, please complete the following information prior to calling for support. You may be asked to provide some of this information depending on the problem. Please also ensure that you have checked for conflicting modules based on the load order in Appendix E. Memory Manager installed ? _____ - all driver options checked and necessary _____ List any special controller cards and any memory regions which they may require reserved. Include any SCSI or special IDE cards. ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ Total RAM ____ Free Upper Memory ____ Free Lower Memory ____ Ensure that you have all of your CNF settings available. Full description of the problem: ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ Please include any gp.out or catastro.txt files generated if applicable. ========================================================================== Appendix G - Memory Requirements Matrix This section is an attempt to outline the rough memory requirements for MajorMUD. This is meant to be a guideline only, and is not necessarily 100% accurate. As memory requirements vary depending on your settings, I will list a few different ones which are defined as follows: MINIMAL: BASIC: MEDIUM: HIGH: ROOMBUF 200 ROOMBUF 300 ROOMBUF 900 ROOMBUF 3000 ITEMBUF 300 ITEMBUF 450 ITEMBUF 450 ITEMBUF 450 MONSBUF 200 MONSBUF 300 MONSBUF 300 MONSBUF 300 KMONSBUF 150 KMONSBUF 200 KMONSBUF 200 KMONSBUF 200 SPELBUF 150 SPELBUF 200 SPELBUF 200 SPELBUF 200 RACEBUF 12 RACEBUF 12 RACEBUF 12 RACEBUF 12 CLASSBUF 16 CLASSBUF 16 CLASSBUF 16 CLASSBUF 16 BANKBUF 10 BANKBUF 20 BANKBUF 20 BANKBUF 20 MESSBUF 200 MESSBUF 350 MESSBUF 350 MESSBUF 350 SHOPBUF 10 SHOPBUF 20 SHOPBUF 20 SHOPBUF 20 GANGBUF 4 GANGBUF 10 GANGBUF 10 GANGBUF 10 Your BBS user license count (or 'number of channels defined') also makes a difference, so I will try to report memory usage based on several line counts. Instead of actually boiling down these numbers to exact figures and only reporting those, I'll report all the gathered data here as well. The three numbers displayed are: Avail. Mem / <1Meg / Remaining memory based on sizmem() The three rows per line count represent the above three numbers before enabling MajorMUD, after enabling MajorMUD, and the difference between the two values (ie. the amount used by MajorMUD). The sizing was done on my test system running MBBS 6.25 and using non-hardware serial channels to get to the numbers listed. ------------------------------------------------------- Approximate Summary (in MB) Line Count: 5 16 128 256 === === === === MINIMAL 1.0 1.0 1.2 1.5 BASIC 1.4 1.5 1.6 2.0 MEDIUM 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.9 HIGH 5.5 5.6 5.8 6.0 ------------------------------------------------------- Line Count: 5 16 128 256 Style: MINIMAL before: 13000/246/14473640 after: 12000/242/13472056 used: 1000/ 4/ 1001584 before: 13000/245/14230680 after: 12000/241/13206728 used: 1000/ 4/ 1023952 before: 10240/232/11623600 after: 10064/229/10437376 used: 176/ 3/ 1186224 before: 8261/219/8721752 after: 6776/215/7201336 used: 1485/ 4/1520416 ------------------------------------------------------- BASIC before: 13000/246/14473640 after: 12000/242/13024356 used: 1000/ 4/ 1449284 before: 13000/245/14230680 after: 12000/241/12757796 used: 1000/ 4/ 1472884 before: 10000/232/11623600 after: 9627/229/ 9989676 used: 373/ 3/ 1633924 before: 8261/219/8721752 after: 6339/215/6753636 used: 1922/ 4/1968116 ------------------------------------------------------- MEDIUM before: 13000/246/14473640 after: 11000/242/12115824 used: 2000/ 4/ 2357816 before: 13000/245/14230680 after: 11000/241/11846408 used: 2000/ 4/ 2384272 before: 10000/232/11623600 after: 8736/229/ 9077056 used: 1264/ 3/ 2546544 before: 8261/219/8721752 after: 5448/215/5841016 used: 2813/ 4/2880736 ------------------------------------------------------- HIGH before: 12000/238/13349176 after: 7602/237/ 7784736 used: 4398/ 1/ 5564440 before: 12000/237/13014972 after: 7256/236/ 7423436 used: 4744/ 1/ 5591536 before: 9434/225/9726072 after: 3815/224/3972664 used: 5619/ 1/5753408 before: 8261/219/8721752 after: 2323/151/2641136 used: 5938/ 68/6080616 ========================================================================== Appendix H - Game Messages There are a number of potential error, warning, or notification messages which you may receive either in your audit trail, or in email (account as specified by the MAILUSER CNF option). This section will attempt to document most of the ones which may occur. If you receive an error message not listed here, please email it to support@majormud.com. If you receive excessive errrors repeatedly then please perform the steps in section 6.5 prior to reporting the errors. Audit-Trail Messages -------------------- MajorMUD Notice "Reinitialization Requested" Logged when a SYS INIT xx RECOVER command is entered in the game Action Required: None MajorMUD - Recovery Mode "Detected Abnormal system shutdown" Logged when the bbs starts and finds the file WCCRECOV.FLG Action Required: None MajorMUD - Warning "Please reset your WCCACMSR.DAT" Logged when MajorMUD thinks that your active monster database is too large You will only get this warning when there are more than 30,000 active monsters in the game. If you're getting this warning after only a few days of playing then either (a) your users are *very* active at running around the game but never kill any monsters, (b) you have a very large number of users that are very active running around the game, or (c) there's something corrupting your active monster database causing btrieve to do weird and wonderful things with it. If you think it is because of (a) then get your users to start killing monsters. If you think it is because of (b) then please let me know and I'll raise the limit yet again. If you think it is because of (c) then please do all the steps in section 6.5 of wccmmud.rln. If you're getting this warning infrequently then just do the following: Action Required: 1) shutdown bbs 2) run offline-database-recovery 3) start bbs MajorMUD - Recovery Mode "Known Monsters checked" Logged during recovery mode after the known monster phase is complete Action Required: None MajorMUD - Recovery Mode "Rooms processed" Logged during recovery mode after the rooms phase is complete Action Required: None MajorMUD Initialized "Maps updated" Logged when all initialization and/or recovery is complete Action Required: None Couldn't find delete monster "Monster Number: xxx" Logged when MajorMUD attempts to delete a monster which doesn't exist Action Required: 1) shutdown bbs 2) scandisk (dos) 3) defrag (dos) 4) bbsridx (bbs) [wgsridx for WorldGroup] 5) copy wccacmsr.vir wccacmsr.dat 6) run MajorMUD offline recovery 7) start bbs 8) run online reindex limited items Lightning Struck "user1 by user2" Logged when a sysop uses the SYS LIGHTNING command. user1 is the user who was lightning'd and user2 is the sysop who entered the command. Action Required: None MajorMUD - Notice "user1 added life to user2" Logged when a sysop adds a life to a user. user1 is the sysop, user2 is the user who received a life. Action Required: None MajorMUD Found Database Update "date time size" Logged when a database update is found upon BBS startup. The date, time, and size relate to the WCCUPDAT.DAT file which was found. Action Required: None. When players enter the game the update will be applied so the first time you install a new release you should make sure that you log someone in and put them into MajorMUD until the update has been applied. MajorMUD Notice "Automatic Database Update Complete" Logged when the automatic update of a database has completed. Action Required: None MajorMUD vXXX "MajorMUD Allocating buffers and reading CNF" Logged at the very beginning of the MajorMUD initialization routines Action Required: None MajorMUD - xx users "MajorMUD Buffers allocated and CNF options verified" Logged after MajorMUD initialization is complete. xx is your current license count for the maximum number of users allowed in the game. Action required: None DEMO MODE ACTIVATED "Game play and sysop control limited" Logged after initialization if the game is being run in demo mode. Action required: Call Metropolis and purchase an activation code :) MajorMUD - Notice "Recovery not completed - leaving flag file" Logged at the end of the MajorMUD shutdown routines if the system is shutdown during recovery mode. Action required: (Optional) Run the offline recovery utility MajorMUD - Notice "Starting Cleanup" Logged at the start of the MajorMUD cleanup routines Action required: None MajorMUD Items swept up "Hid xx items" Logged after the first phase of cleanup. xx indicates the number of visible items which were switched to hidden items. Action required: None MajorMUD User cleanup "xx users, yy minutes, zz evil points forgiven" Logged after the user cleanup phase. xx indicates the number of users who played MajorMUD since the last cleanup. yy indicates the number of minutes spent playing MajorMUD since the last cleanup. zz indicates the number of evil points which have been forgiven. Action required: None MajorMUD Notice "Cleanup Complete" Logged as the very last action during MajorMUD cleanup Action required: None MajorMUD Notice "xx Demo days left" Logged at startup to indicate the number of days remaining in the demo Action required: Call Metropolis and purchase an activation code :) MajorMUD Notice "Demo Expired" Logged at startup when the demo period has expired Action required: Call Metropolis and purchase an activation code :) MajorMUD - Error "No database update found - Game not started" Logged at startup when the wccupdat.dat file can not be found Action required: Restore the wccupdat.dat file from the latest release and then restart your BBS (MajorMUD will not work until you have completed these steps) MajorMUD - Corruption "Corrupt database detected - attempting to fix" Logged at startup when MajorMUD determines that there is a severe problem with the databases. Initialization will take much longer while MajorMUD attempts to fix the problem. If it fails to fix the problem then your game will not start properly and you will have to re-install (re-upgrade to) the latest version. Email Messages -------------- Any email message which has a topic of "Feedback - xxx" is a result of the FEEDBACK command in MajorMUD. The contents of this email are directly from the user so act as appropriate based on whatever they enter. Any email message which has a topic of "Internal Error -xxx" is generated by the game automatically. The following is a list of some of the common ones: remlogicaluseritem xxx This is generated when a user drops, hides, gives-away, sells, or dies with an item which is limited and which, for any reason, there are too many of in the game. This means that the named item was deleted from the game. Action required: (Optional) Run a reindex limited items to help prevent it from occurring with more items remlogicalroomitem xxx Same as above, but the item originated in a room, same action required. remlogicalmonsteritem xxx Same as above, but the item originated with a monster, same action req'd. Silly Spell Cast: xx [xx] -or- Silly Spell Cast [xx] A targetting error occurred with the given spell. Please forward message to Craig or Mike (see email addresses earlier in this document) Too many users This is generated a maximum of one time each day if a user attempts to enter MajorMUD when there is already your system's quota of users in the game. Action Required: Call Metropolis and upgrade your activation code :) mongone xx in xx:xx This is generated when a room thinks that there is a monster in it but the monster does not actually exist. Action Required: Run an offline recovery. Action Required if they continue for a short time: If you have maillink then None. Otherwise, collect groups of different ones and send them to support@majormud.com via email if you have time. Action Required if they continue for several days: Perform the steps in section 6.5 monbadroom is xx:xx vs. xx:xx This is generated when a room thinks that there is a monster in it but the monster is actually in a different room. Action Required: As for mongone. Action Required if they continue: Perform the steps in section 6.5 Removing Monster? Action Required: As for mondone. Action Required if they continue: Perform the steps in section 6.5 ========================================================================== Appendix I - Demo Mode Restrictions This section provides a brief overview of some of the restrictions which are enforced within the game when running under demo mode. This is not guaranteed to be a comprehensive list. 1) Users may not train beyond level 4 2) The game will only run for 14 days 3) The following sysop commands will not work: - SYSOP GOTO - SYSOP LIGHTNING - SYSOP STATUS - SYSOP DISBAND - SYSOP GOD - SYSOP CONFIG MAXUSERS ========================================================================== Appendix J - Other System Settings This section outlines several system settings which you should check if you are having any problems running MajorMUD. Please also refer to the manuals and release notes for MajorBBS/WorldGroup as there are a number of system configuration recommendations listed which many people are not already following. * Do not load DOS high or use UMBs for DOS * Do not load buffers high (i.e. Do not put a ,0 after the buffers setting) * Do not use a Cyrix Processor. I do not know the details but if you push Galaticomm on the topic they will apparently admit that they had "been experiencing odd, undiagnosable problems with Cyrix processors" (This information is second-hand from another sysop but I thought it was important enough to put here - they were getting two crashes a day until they switched CPUs away from Cyrix) ========================================================================== Appendix K - FAQs 1) Q: My BBS crashed and I don't want the bbs to run the MajorMUD offline recovery (for whatever reason). A: Never do this. Do *not* delete the wccrecov.flg file under any circumstances. If you do then your MajorMUD game will have problems. You should also not change the wccmmud.mdf file - leave the bbs up: line in this file so that it will do an offline recovery. 2) Q: Does it make any difference if I run the fast-offline-recovery every time I start my system. A: This is not recommended. If you do this then you are destroying all of your monsters and you are not giving the game a chance to fully populate all of the realm which will be done over a period of days. If you run the offline-database-recovery every time your system starts then your system will startup noticably slower than it has to because it has to regenerate fixed monsters every day instead of only once. Other problems are that users that may have been in battle with a monster when the bbs shuts down may require that monster to be there (i.e. if they are engulfed they need to kill it to get rid of the engulf) and if you run recovery on them then you destroy their chance of killing the monster. 3) Q: Help! MajorMUD broke and I can't fix it. A: Shutdown your bbs and run the offline database recovery. If this doesn't fix the problem then continue to the next point. 4) Q: Offline recovery did not work. Now what? A: Try re-applying the latest database update. Read section 6.5, step 1 of this document and then apply the update. Read the instructions in wccmmsys.not on how to apply an update. 5) Q: That still didn't work. What do I do now? A: Read section 6.5 of this document. Perform *all* of the steps there. 6) Q: It still doesn't work. What next? A: Download the latest version of MajorMUD from Metropolis Clubmet BBS. If you are not already running this version then install it and continue. If you are already running this version then install it anyways and continue. 7) Q: I want to play around with copying my .vir files over my .dat files. Which files can I copy and what will happen when I copy them. A: The only .vir file which you can safely copy over the .dat file is the wccacmsr file. You may copy wccacmsr.vir to wccacmsr.dat but you then have to run an offline-recovery. Copying any other file can have bad side-effects so please do not do it. 8) Q: My system runs a MajorMUD offline recovery every night. Why? A: The first thing you'll have to do is figure out why it is doing the recovery every night. Once you figure that out, stop your system from doing whatever it is doing and then it will not do the recovery. Things to check: - Make sure that you or another sysop has not manually put in a call to wccmmutl in your cleanup batch files - Make sure that your bbs is shutting down properly (if it isn't, look for a misbehaved module which kills the shutdown procedure and either remove the module or make sure it is loaded after MajorMUD so it doesn't kill the shutdown procedure until after mud has shutdown). - Make sure you're getting the audit trail message "MajorMUD - Notice Cleanup complete" during shutdown - if you're not then redo the point above because something is stopping majormud from shutting down. If you get the message "MajorMUD- Notice Starting cleanup" then please do section 6.5 of wccmmud.rln and then email support@majormud.ca with the audit trail messages you are getting at cleanup if you continue to fail to finish cleanup. - Make sure you're not getting the message "MajorMUD - Notice Recovery not completed - leaving flag file" or " MajorMUD - Notice Offline recovery required - leaving flag file". If you're getting the first message then make sure you've upgraded to 1.1V. If you're getting the second message then you've probably got a gameop or sysop abusing the reset room or reset area command. In this case, make sure logging of sysop commands is turned on (read section 3.1 of wccmmud.rln), find the user that is abusing the commands, and then remove their ability to do these commands (or at least tell them not to do them every day). ========================================================================== Appendix Y - Currently Available Add-Ons This section will include the names for any currently available add-ons for MajorMUD. Dragon's Teeth - Addon #1 (Database) MajorMUD Plus - Entertainment Edition (DLL) The Cursed Ruins - Addon #2 (Database) Strangers in the Night - Addon #3 (Database) Terror from Below - Addon #4 (Database) The Rising Dawn - Addon #5 (Database) The Sands of Time - Addon #6 (Database) Savage Lands - Addon #7 (Database) A Call to Arms - Addon #8 (Database) Prophecy of Plague - Addon #9 (Database) ========================================================================== Appendix Z - Sysop only Release Notes This section is used to outline any changes which have been made which only sysops need to know. Quite often I will not be able to fully test all variations of some of the CNF options, so please use caution when trying out non-default values. Note that I will post these release notes in the opposite order to that of the user release notes. This means that the latest release notes are at the END of the file. I am doing this so that when viewing online, you may just press N for nonstop viewing, and wait until you get to the end of the file where you will see the latest release notes. + Version 1.0r - 12/31/94 + 1. Added CNF: EXPINTOP which will allow you to disable the display of the experience in the topten command. 2. Added CNF: LEAVEMNU which is used to display text after leaving the menu 3. Added CNF: LVLDIFF to restrict high level users from tormenting lower level users 4. Added CNF: DEMOLVL and NODMOKEY to allow access to users while limiting the maximum levels which they can obtain 5. Added CNF: MINHUPHP, MAXHUPHP, MAXHUPIT to help customize the hangup penalty for your board. 6. Added CNF: NOKICKEY which will allow users to continue playing after they run out of credits 7. Added SILVERMERE to the SYS GOTO locations, changed NEWHAVEN to go directly to the arena 8. Hopefully re-enabled the base-bbs inactivity timeout while in the MMUD menu. Note: While in MMUD, the inactivity timer will NEVER kick in (at least I don't think it will). If this is a problem, please send me email and I'll look into writing a MMUD specific inactivity timer. 9. Added SYS GOD user DISABLE TOPTEN and ... ENABLE TOPTEN commands which will remove and add a from/to the topten display [assuming their exp qualifies them - grin]. 10. WARNING: The FIRST time you load this version, you may experience a long delay as some buffers are updated to reflect some new data values. + Version 1.0t - 1/2/95 + 1) Added a SYSOP STATUS ROOM command which will display room statistics for a given room. This is specifically for providing debug information so that we can support you when problems occur. 2) Added a SYSOP CONFIGURE [SHOW/MAXUSERS] command which will let you limit the number of users in MMUD to less than your licensed amount. This would be used if you wanted to ensure that a certain number of lines are left for non-Mud users. 3) Started work on the SYSOP REPORT command. Currently supports USERS and NOTOPTEN (users who will not show in the topten) + Version 1.0u - 1/2/95 + 1) Added a mask to the sysop report users command 2) Fixed the NOKICKEY option so that it should work :) [ I had forgotten to set the correct message file before checking the key ] + Version 1.0v - 1/9/95 + 1) Spells cast on NPC's will no longer crash the board. + Version 1.0x - 2/14/95 + 1) Updated checks on sys god command and updated help in this file 2) Added the inactivity timeout (users with the sysop key will not be kicked offline due to inactivity) 3) Alpha release of the offline recovery utility + Version 1.0y - 3/23/95 + 1) Enabled the SYS LIST LIMITED command 2) Added the -needed option to the recovery utility + Version 1.0z - 6/30/95 + 1) The BBS inactivity timer should work in the main menu now (while the MMUD inactivity timer works *in* the game. 2) Added support for the reload__wccmmud() function to work with HWS's (HumanWare Systems) utility which allows online CNF configuration (Don't know the name offhand) [Not tested with it yet, so please tell me if it works for you] 3) Modified option 'D' from the sysop menu 4) If you use the SYSOP DISBAND command, it will force a deletion of that gang at the next cleanup. Note that if there are (eg) 2 people in the gang, but one has not logged in after the disband and before the cleanup, if someone creates a new gang the next day with the same name as the disbanded gang BEFORE the original gang member has entered the game, then the original gang member will implicitly become part of the new gang, but the count of gang members will be incorrect. Bottom line, don't use the disband command unless you really need to because it was only put in for those 'really need to' situations. + Version 1.1 [beta] - 12/24/95 + 1) Sysop commands will only match with the beginning of the commands, and not merely any portion of the command. 2) Split the 'D' option on the sysop menu into 'D' and 'H' to check for item hoarders (Refer to detailed notes above) 3) Every once in a while, some boards have experienced GPs which are technically impossible unless there has been some memory corruption. In an attempt to thwart any possibility of MMUD being the cause of this, I have reviewed all memory allocations in MMUD to ensure that they are all being used appropriately. I didn't find any obvious bugs, but did make some changes which may or may not make any difference. 4) Added the sysop bulletin option to the sysop menu 5) Fixed a bug in the online database update routines which would not update all of the abilities on the items. Please make sure that you re-apply the 1.1 database update AFTER you install the version 1.1 dll. 6) Added the DATADIR CNF option to facilitate moving the wcc databases to a different directory. 7) When a re-init process is started, an audit trail entry will be recorded. Also, the init rate will be set to 10 if a lower value is chosen. 8) Added the SYSOP RESET command 9) Added the SYSOP GOD PROFILE command 10) Added the SYSOP GOD POWERS command 11) Added the SYSOP GOD SPELLS command 12) Numerous performance enhancements (balanced out, of course, with new features to slow it down again - grin) 13) Added an automatic database upgrade procedure. If MajorMUD finds the file wccupdat.dat in the bbs directory when it starts, it will automatically begin updating your databases with the new changes. Note that you may still, at any time, re-apply these updates using the normal techniques. Once it has applied the database update, it will rename the file to WCCUPDAT.OLD (first deleting any old wccupdat.old files). 14) New sysop menu option which lets you change the filter settings for finding defunct users. 15) Added the gameop key to allow restricted access to some sysop commands + Version 1.1 [beta] - 1/1/96 + 1) Added the CP sysop menu option which will clear the saved profile information (only good for resetting) 2) I think I found the reason that MMUD allowed the BBS to answer the modems for a second during initialization when the INITRATE was set to a high value. You should be able to set INITRATE back to a high value if you like it that way and I hope that it won't answer now :) 3) Fixed a bug where a certain combination of buffer settings and just the right combination of items on the ground in right rooms would cause cleanup to freeze. 4) Fixed a bug for a single bbs out there where the set statline full custom command would cause a GP. 5) Modified this file to reflect the GENDERGO option 6) Added support for 6.21 again - read section 6.2 on wccfake.flg + Version 1.1 [beta] - 1/14/96 + 1) Redid some of the memory allocation routines to allocate more memory at the start of the day instead of on an as-required basis. It appears as though MMUD was pushing the limits of the number of allowable memory allocations, so instead of allocating smaller chunks of memory when required I'm trying to allocate larger chunks of memory and then break these down internally. + Version 1.1 [beta] - 2/18/96 + 1) Fixed the bug which caused the random crashes from the 1/29/96 release 2) Added appendix H to this document + Version 1.1 - 4/1/96 + 1) Minor changes not worth noting - grin + Version 1.1a - 4/5/96 + 1) Fixed full reindex so that both a lower case and upper case F would cause the full reindex to happen (previously only an upper-case F would work - ouch) 2) Changed memory allocations to use Gcomm's internal allocations everywhere instead of trying to bypass them to use farmalloc. Note that a side effect of this is that if you are low on memory then your bbs may catastro during runtime. Please make sure that you have approx. 100K of free memory after MajorMUD has finished initialization to avoid this problem. 3) Moved online sysop command information to the file wccmmsys.not 4) Added AUCTKEY and GOSSKEY CNF options 5) Added 5 more invalid global CNF options 6) Added DELUSER CNF option 7) Added NOPAYKEY CNF option 8) Included an UNTESTED WCCMMUD.UIC file for Phoenix name change support. PLEASE read section 6.3 in this document for additional notes re: Untested, Not Guaranteed, use at your own risk. + Version 1.1c - 4/21/96 + 1) Fixed the online recovery procedure to be consistent with the offline recovery procedure 2) Disabled certain internal errors during online recovery mode + Version 1.1d - 5/19/96 + 1) Added new sysop god commands: GOOD, SAINT, NEUTRAL, LAWFUL, UNLAWFUL 2) Added section 7 to this document 3) Added CNF options MAXEPDAY, EPCYCLE, EPAMOUNT, ENABLAWF (Read section 7.1) + Version 1.1e - 8/25/96 + 1) Users without enough credits to play MajorMUD for even one credit cycle will not even be allowed to enter the game 2) When running on a DMA server, each host BBS must now be pre-registered with Metropolis, Inc. to acquire a sub-bbs activation code. 3) Added section 6.5 to this document (Generic fix-all steps) 4) Added section 6.6 to this document (DMA Server topics) 5) In cases where the map gets corrupted and there are billions of an item on the floor, cleanup will merely not remove them all instead of appearing to freeze while it is removing them all. + Version 1.1f - 11/11/96 + 1) Rewrote offline recovery to perform a 'fast' recovery which resets the active monsters, recovers the databases, and reindexes the limited items. 2) Added SYSOP GOTO SUPPORT for use with some of the add-on database modules. 3) Added support for addon module activation code entry (section 6.7) 4) Profanity filter will now work on auction, gossip, and broadcast commands (Only on broadcast channel 0) + Version 1.1g - 1/4/97 + (See user release notes) + Version 1.1h - 2/8/97 + 1) Hopefully changed the edit bulletin command to work properly on DMA servers 2) Updated addon activation code checking to avoid some conflicts with other misbehaved applications 3) Fixed the split-screen mode so that users could not send low-ascii characters to screw up other channels 4) Re-did the level limits on PvP combat so that -1 LVlDIFF will always disable PvP combat completely + Version 1.1i - 3/16/97 + 1) Added a new punishment on hangup level 'none' to replace the old 'low' level. Low punishment now means punish if the user is in PvP combat. + Version 1.1j - 6/21/97 + 1) Hopefully fixed a conflict with the user listing command in FU-Globals which, if the user entered at exactly the correct time during the exiting of MajorMUD they could get it to incorrectly place the user back into the game with a corrupt character and potentially crash the BBS. This will also explain the odd bugs that a few systems have reported where a user claims to 'die' as they are exiting the game and they think the only solution is to hang up. (Untested solution - Jim McK. - you reported this, do you think you could test this solution on your system and let me know if it worked - thanks, Lance) 2) Add section E.1 FU Globals (Please read if you are running FU Globals) + Version 1.1k - 7/26/97 + 1) If a user of a level greater than DEMOLVL attempts to enter MajorMUD without the NODMOKEY key they will not be allowed to play the game. 2) Fixed a problem with the wccmmud.uic file (pheonix support) 3) If more than one sysop tries to check for item hoarders at the same time the second (and subsequent) sysops will be warned to quit and have all other sysops quit and start over with only a single sysop doing the function. + Version 1.1l - 8/10/97 + 1) Added support for the pause_fu and unpause_fu text variables which will be in a future version of FU globals. When this version of FU globals is released then the FU globals should be disabled while exiting MajorMUD. This has not been tested. If you run FU globals and have a new version that supports this feature then please try on a test system first. + Version 1.1m - 10/3/97 + See user release notes + Version 1.1n - 10/11/97 + Moved sysop-only release notes to WCCMMSYS.REL