Volume Eleven Issue Thirteen
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= .............._______ ............./ / THE LEGENDARY TIMES ............/ / http://www.legendmud.org/ .........../ /.....______.._____.....______.._____.......____ ........../ /...../ /./ \.../ /./ \...../ \ ........./ /...../ ___/./ ____/../ ___/./ __ \.../ /\ \ ......../ /...../ /_.../ /....../ /_.../ /..\ >./ /./ / ......./ /...../ __/../ /____../ __/../ /.../ /./ /./ / ....../ /_____/__/__../ \_\ /./ /__../ /.../ /./ /_/ / ...../ Celebrating / /./ /./ /./ /.../ /./ / ..../ our 10th year /_/..\______/./_____/./__/.../__/./_______/ MUD .../________________/ running on mud.legendmud.org 9999 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= VOLUME ELEVEN, NUMBER THIRTEEN September 11, 2004 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= TABLE OF CONTENTS The Editor's Note NEWS, REPORTS, UPDATES Calendar of Events Recent Updates Notes from the Tech Corner: Towards a More Smooth Mud LEGENDITES CLAN NEWS {E} PK Front BaTtLe Dino's AutoBiography - Chapter Three 5 o'clock Somewhere... A Word from Our Sponsor ___ ___ \ |-------------------------------------------------------------| / /__| The Editor's Note |__\ '-------------------------------------------------------------' Thanks to everyone who participated in this year's Summer Odyssey events and took the time to generate some ideas for the builders! We hope you enjoyed our trek through time. Remember, you can drop your ideas on how to improve specific mobs or general things you'd like to see included in an area onto the idea channel any time! It's better if you can go to the specific area to submit the ideas, and you don't have to try to fit everything on one report, it's pretty easy for me to piece several together. Lots of changes in the mechanics of how and when things happen this week, be sure to read Rufus' article on "Towards a More Smooth Mud". It's the same information as his "Upcoming 'Tickless' Changes" post on the welcome board in the game. The discussion board has been rather quiet lately. Please take a moment to post about the things that you want to see more of, things that annoy you, things that bore you, and the types of things that would engage you more in the LegendMUD community. The discussion board isn't just for rants and raves about the latest game mechanic imbalance, but it can also help us expand in other areas as well. -Kaige ___ ___ \ |-------------------------------------------------------------| / /__| LegendMUD Calendar of Events |__\ '-------------------------------------------------------------' [All times are system time unless otherwise specified] AUGUST: INDUSTRIAL ERA SEPTEMBER Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 29 30 31 26 27 28 29 30 Wednesday, September 15th, 2pm-10pm PK BattleZone Thursday, September 16th, 7:30 pm Q&A in the OOC Auditorium Wednesday, September 22nd, 2pm-10pm PK BattleZone Thursday, September 23rd, 7:30 pm Q&A in the OOC Auditorium Wednesday, September 29th, 2pm-10pm PK BattleZone Thursday, September 30th, 7:30 pm Q&A in the OOC Auditorium Coming in September: Autumn Casino, the conclusion of the Trivia Challenge -- including the final showdown contest -- and much more! ___ ___ \ |-------------------------------------------------------------| / /__| Recent Updates |__\ '-------------------------------------------------------------' /\ CODE UPDATES / \ / \ GENERAL CHANGES /_ _\ o Ticks will be of static length, but affects will no | | longer stop directly on tick boundaries. | | o Mobs will heal throuoghout the tick in the same | | fashion that players do. |__| o Store and recall options added for PROMPT editing. /\ o PROMPT and GROUPFORMAT now take preview argument that / \ will show who online is sharing their prompt/group / \ settings. /_ _\ o PROMPT/CPROMPT SAVED will show your saved prompt | | without resetting your current one. | | o New group command: MAKELEADER | | o Blow kiss (bkiss) social added. |__| o Charmies will send a tell to their masters when they /\ are ordered to report, giving them some text / \ indicating their aggressive/wary stance. / \ o Dex will help you target your opponent a little more. /_ _\ o ARMSLORE can now show minimum weapon damage. | | | | BUG FIXES | | o PROMPT deals with timeless rooms for @t. |__| o GROUP and prompt formating will now handle no report /\ items. / \ o Rings of fire will only ignite objects if the victim / \ doesn't have complete immunity to fire. /_ _\ o GROUP ALL no longer groups people not following you. | | o If a mob is standing, and it is set to sitting, wind | | gust will now add a delay so it doesn't stand | | immediately. |__| o RETREAT will work better against stunned/para'd /\ opponents. / \ o Fast commands will only run one command per pulse. / \ o Crashing bugs squashed. /_ _\ | | TYPO FIXES | | o Wrestling typo fix. | | o Typo fixes for moods: approving, bored, confident, |__| content, depressed, excited, giddy, heroic, meek, /\ mischevious, patient, relaxed, relieved, reluctant, / \ respectful, rude, sincere, timid, unhappy, wicked, / \ and wise. /_ _\ | | | | HELPFILE UPDATES | | |__| Updated Topics: /\ CONFIGURE, HERBLORE, HUNT, MAKELEADER, NIGHT VISION, / \ RIDE, TAILOR, TICK / \ /_ _\ | | AREA UPDATES | | | | If you want to suggest specific improvements or new |__| additions to existing areas please don't hesitate to /\ submit them with the idea/bug/typo commands or drop / \ mudmail to the builder currently responsible for the area / \ (check AREAINFO to find out!). /_ _\ | | Thanks to everyone that submitted bug/typo/idea reports! | | | | Paul in the Wild Boar Tavern (OOC) will be offering skill |__| reimb packages for ONE MORE WEEK until Sept 17th, 2004. /\ There are two options to choose from: BACKSTAB and CHANT / \ which take all the appropriate skills if known. All 1st / \ circle spellwords are reimbed at 1 practice per word and /_ _\ all 2nd circle words wil be reimbed 2 practices. ASK PAUL | | UNLEARN for character specific eligibility. | | | | ANCIENT EGYPT |__| Mobs reminding you about burkos should be a little /\ less spammy. Various bug/typo fixes. / \ / \ ANCIENT SEAS /_ _\ Weather section added. | | | | ARABIAN NIGHTS | | New mini quest added. |__| /\ BOSTON / \ Take some caution fighting in the area, a number of / \ mobs have changed - some have changed levels. /_ _\ Various bug/typo fixes. An item that should have | | been made of fur but was not, now is. Various | | bug/typo fixes. | | |__| CELTIC IRELAND /\ Some mobs are more responsive. Various bug/typo fixes. / \ / \ FRENCH INDIAN WAR /_ _\ Some mobs wear their equipment now instead of just | | carrying it around. Be careful fighting natives, | | they have changed some! Various bug/typo fixes. | | |__| GYPSY CARNIVAL /\ Some mobs will be a little more responsive. New / \ skill teacher. Various bug/typo fixes. / \ /_ _\ HOSPITALLER MALTA | | Dragut has learned some new tactics, be careful! | | Skill teacher added. Various bug/typo fixes. | | |__| MISC /\ Changes some general axes to chop damage. Generic / \ cotton shirt and pants are now COTTON. / \ /_ _\ SALEM | | Over the years, many trees have grown large enough | | to shade several people. Take some caution fighting | | in the area, a number of mobs have changed - some |__| have changed levels. /\ / \ SAN FRANCISCO / \ The doctor has done some studying and now offers a /_ _\ new service. Various bug/typo fixes. | | | | SHERWOOD | | Be careful, the draper has changed some. Various |__| bug/typo fixes. /\ / \ ST DENNIS ABBEY / \ Fixes a problem with the roof. War banner changed to /_ _\ be more beneficial, with the rent adjusting | | accordingly. Various bug/typo fixes. | | | | THE CRUSADES |__| George's death is more difficult to profit by. /\ Various bug/typo fixes. / \ / \ 1802 ALASKA, 1930'S PITTSBURGH, AFRICAN SAVANNA, /_ _\ ALHAMBRA, ANCIENT GREECE, ANCIENT INDIA, ANCIENT NAZCA, | | ARABIAN NIGHTS, AZTECS, BENGAL, BEOWULF, GENERIC ANIMALS, | | KLEINSTADT, LAND OF SHADOWS, LOTP, MEDIEVAL ANDES, | | MEDIEVAL SEAS, PICTISH COUNTRY, PORT OF LONDON, PR, ROMAN |__| BRITAIN, SEONI JUNGLE, SOUTH SEAS, VICEROYAL LIMA, and /\ WW1 SOMME / \ Various bug/typo fixes. / \ /_ _\ In Progress Area Updates | | | | This section is intended to share what builders are | | working on behind the scenes. It is not a perfect record |__| of progress as all builders do not commit updates every /\ week. Badgering builders about their progress will get / \ you flogged. / \ /_ _\ Firefly Japan | | Kae Larderello (Dante's Inferno) | | Kaige Port of London Expansion | | Nestor Ancient Carthage |__| Rufus SL Expansion ___ ___ \ |-------------------------------------------------------------| / /__| Notes from the Tech Corner: Towards a More Smooth Mud |__\ '-------------------------------------------------------------' Ticks, love them or hate them, are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Since its inception, LegendMUD has operated on the basis of the tick. Behind the scenes, though, many things happened at a far faster pace. In order to accomodate the hardware it was running on and everything that needed to get done, a number of methods for dealing with subsets of all the data that the mud had to process were created. The overall result was that, after a long enough time, there are no a number of methods of cycling through characters, objects, players, people fighting, people not fighting, objects that don't need updating versus objects that did need updating. Mobile regen was handled so radically differently than player regen that we had to rig things in the code so that mobs set to 0 hit points didn't magically gain 30 or more hit points if they happend to be at that point when a tick happened (and even after many attempts at fixing things like that, there were still occassions and situations where unfair things happened). Players had to coordinate using skills such as entrance so that they would maximize the benefit. And probably the single most annoying bug (at least to me) was the fact that the the 29th and 59th minute of every mud hour was twice as long as any other minute. There were other side effects. Because we often wrote new update functions when something else needed to be updated, we did a tremendous amount of work at certain points in the tick (usually the beginning or the end of a tick). What this created were certain spikes of activity while the remainder of the time inbetween the beginning and end of a tick, we were doing fairly little. Other minor issues which were mostly cosmetic... mobs would all try and attack (if they were agressive) at the same time, and mobs would all wander at the same time. Ever wonder about areas where there are a lot of roming mobs, how they seem to move on a set schedule? To delve only briefly into the technical side, Legend operates on something called a pulse. A pulse is a quarter of a second 'heart beat' that drives the pace of the mud. During every pulse, a game loop occurs which handles everything, handling input, processing that input, updating everything, handling fighting if necessary, handling acts, mobs going agressive, mobs wandering, weather changing, time changing, sunlight changing, and finally buffering output, delivering that output and finally taking a 'nap' for the remainder of that quarter-of-a second. When you consider we have 30,000+ objects, 8000+ characters, 5600 rooms, 181,000+ acts, and 23,000+ resets to go through, that's a lot of things to handle in a quarter of a second. The problem here is that when you do a lot of things at once (say, updating weather, and the mobs, and the acts, and the resets, and the the players, and this and that) it adds up, and often exceeds the 250 milliseconds we have to 'get everything done.' That being said (and this should be the last technical paragraph), some things are very, very fast. Looping through the character or object list can be done thousands of times before it's even a blip on the radar for time consumption... it's just what we do when we do that loop that is the problem. The changes that are upcoming remove many of the jury-rig, additional stuff-to-keep-track-of, error-prone sub-sets of data that need to be updated. They also remove any semblance of looping through the character list or object list more than once in a pulse. We were already looping through the character list once (guaranteed) but often looping through it 2, 3, 4 or 60 times. The absolute worst case scenario was that we were looping through the character list once for each character in the character list (a whopping 64,000,000 times!) - though this was rare indeed. This should also cure another problem: Objects not updating when they should. We had a set of objects that were supposed to tick down, or have some other change happen. They weren't always getting put there or they were getting put there twice. This all being said, there are still things that need to happen on a once-per-half-our (formerly once-per-tick) basis. But instead of everything happening all at once, it will now be (somewhat) evenly distributed around the tick. What this means for you, the players, is that things might happen a bit differently than you were expecting them to. Players will bleed and be poisoned at different points (or rather, suffer from their bleeding and poisoning) rather than at the same time. That will be the first, most notable place. Other things you might notice: - Spells ('preps') will last their full duration now. Before if you had a strength spell that is supposed to last 10 ticks and you cast it halfway through a tick, you would only get 9.5 ticks of time out of the spell. Now you will get the full 10 ticks, it will just wear off 'mid-tick' rather than at the beginning of a tick. - Entrance will 'last over a tick'. Entrance now has a random duration but will not automatically go off when a tick happens. - Affects (such as poison, etc) can update more or less frequently than they used to. Though likely these won't be used for a while, expect mobs as well as future poisons that come into the game work faster or slower than at tick. - Rage will wear off almost immediately after you stop fighting. This was sort-of an unintended side effect, but it was better than not having rage wear off, ever (which was very disasterous when I went to test a few mobs!) - Objects might vanish mid-tick. Keep an eye on the timers for those preservable ones. - When you first log in after this change, any affect spells ('preps') you had up will decay almost immediately. This cannot be avoided. Any spell you cast after this update will last its full duration offline. - Weather will still happen on a tick as well as season and date changes. I don't anticipate this changing any time soon (or ever in the case of date changes!). - Some (many) mobs may reset at any point during the tick, rather than right on a tick. - Mobs regen much like players do. Low level mobs will not gain the majority (or any, really) of their hit points back mid-fight. This code is a massive change in how LegendMUD operates. It is not intended to 'speed up' the game at all, but make use of some excess processing that was going unused in hopes of smoothing out some of the spikes that occur (these won't go away, naturally, because we can never predict exactly how many or what type of acts will be going off at any one point in time). This also allows us to do more at any given time, adding a depth to the system that we did not have before. That being said, there will likely be bugs. Please use the 'bug' channel to communicate any strangeness. I've tested this, I've commited this change such that we can spend the most amount of time pounding away at it before you see it, but, as always happens, the players will undoubtedly find more bugs and do more things in stranger ways than we can ever imagine. The overall effect is edging close to a complete removal of ticks as a concept from the playable end of the game. With this update, they are nearly virtually meaningless, as updates to many things occur more or less frequently, or at different times than a 'tick'. Taken as a whole, very little should change in the basic day-to-day operations of the mud. Your spells will last a little bit longer, 'entrance' will be a shade more balanced, and mobs won't heal in such gargantuan steps. The hope is, that through this new method of updating everything, the game will run smoother overall. On the other end of the spectrum, this opens up a whole set of new ways that builders can tailor mobs to kill you. *ouch* *stop it* *ouch* Okay, sorry, I misspoke. Let me correct that: ... this opens up a whole new set of ways in which the builders can provide challenging and rewarding encounters! Play safe and have fun out there, Ruf ___ ___ \ |-------------------------------------------------------------| / /__| LEGENDITES: Information Regarding the People of Our World |__\ '-------------------------------------------------------------' Quintis has reached 100 million experience! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= You are cordially invited to register at http://www.prodigalstranger.dk to participate in the new unofficial LegendMUD discussion forum online. This forum obeys the same rules as regards information and knowledge as the in-game boards but is a tad easier to use -- for starters, you don't need to camp OOC to do so. ___ ___ \ |--------------------------------------------------------| / /__| Clan News |__\ '--------------------------------------------------------' {E} Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages! The First Church of Epicurean Enlightenment is once again opening its doors to new members! Are you tired of the same old groups? Sick of following orders or prancing about the world in a bloodthirsty craze? Of course not! And we don't care! What do we care about? Enlightenment through Ecstasy! That's right! Good times will lead to understanding! Parties will lead to truth! Whoa! Hold the phone! You heard me right! If you're interested in becoming a member of our illustrious clergy, do contact Mr. Tennessee Loftis. We'll see you in Church! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= There are currently 19 RP clans and 3 PK clans. This leaves open slots for ten (10) more clans to form. For more information, read HELP CLAN and see the clan information list via the CLANS command while logged into the game. For a basic handbook and reference guide for players interested in starting and running a clan, we recommend that before you even type FORM, you visit: http://www.legendmud.org/Reference/gm.html. ___ ___ \ |--------------------------------------------------------| / /__| PK Front |__\ '--------------------------------------------------------' BaTtLe I, Psylin, would like to invite Devlin to Battle til death. I wouldn't mind a good jumpin or what not, I would just like to say BrInG iT! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= If you witness or commit any glorious or nefarious deeds, send a short report to us at the LT. If you are looking for a fight, recruiting, or anything else related to PKill (not necessarily PK Clan related), send it in! It's free AND you'll get a prize token! Be a celebrity, the envy of all your friends! Tick off your enemies or just tell your side of the story! Get YOUR name up in lights! We can't report it if you don't tell us! _______________________ / \ o O | Wonder what folks are | `\|||/ | doing over at LegendMUD?| (o o) \_______________________/ ooO_(_)_Ooo__________________________________________________________ _____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|___ __|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____| Dino's AutoBiography - Chapter Three We entered the small cottage and looked around. The kind of house a regular family in Celtic Ireland has. One big room, usually a family room, two doors leading to two tiny rooms, a small bathroom, and a kitchen. The family room was fairly large. A small couch stood near the wall and a fireplace near the other wall. A bunch of flowers stood around it. Usually the children would go out during the day and bring flowers. I guess these were flowers from my mother's disappearance as sympathy gifts from neighbors. 'Well feel free to look around, this is your home now.' He said and left to the kitchen. I looked around again and it a feeling went up my spine, as though this was the same house I had been in when I was younger. It probably was. Even though I didn't recognize it, the feeling told me that it was. Most houses were passed on from generations to generations so this was it. I looked at the shelf above the fireplace. A couple of picture frames stood on top of it. A picture of my mom, a picture of Jaenrik, and a picture of my mom and Jaenrik together. I left the family room and moved into the one of the tiny rooms. Both tiny rooms were the same. A bed stood in the corner, neatly made. A nightstand with a lamp stood next to the bed. A small dresser stood at the other end of the room and some pictures hung on the wall. There was also a huge window. I guess that one of these would be my room. I glanced into the bathroom. Everything was still there. Pretty silly of me to check the bathroom. I was very hungry now. I decided to skip the kitchen and go out and hunt for some food. Rarely did I eat human food, usually people! Yum. Well not people like skins of people. The usual vampire meal, blood. I'll skip the telling of the process. So when I was done, I was full and tired. It was around nine and the sun had set. The moon was a perfect white circle and the sky had more stars then ever! I returned to the house and entered. My father was still in the kitchen so I decided to question him a bit. I walked into the kitchen. 'What were our dogs named?' I questioned. 'Atos and Aramis.' 'What breed were they?' 'Two Airedales, wonderful dogs.' 'What of them?' 'They passed away a year ago.' 'Why not get more?' 'Why?' He asked, obviously not wanting more dogs around. I shrugged. 'Their helpful.' This time he shrugged. I stood around and waited for one of us to say something but nobody did. 'Well good night then,' I said and left the kitchen. 'Pick any room you like,' He yelled from the kitchen. I picked the second room, the corner room. Without even turning on the light, I fell on the bed and as soon as my head touched the pillow, I feel asleep. It was nice to sleep on a soft bed, and in a warm house. My feet throbbed from the long walk but that didn't wake me up. I had pleasant dreams of the past. I woke up the next morning around nine and opened the window. The pleasant smell of flowers blew into my room. I left the room and looked around. Guess dad was still asleep. I left the house and went into town hoping to find some breakfast. While I was in town, I bought some clothes to replace my rags, found some breakfast, and explored around town for a little bit. I decided to go back home around noon. As soon as I stepped into the house, I had a weird feeling. It wasn't just my father and me anymore. I walked into the kitchen and to my surprise' -End of Chapter Three- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 5 o'clock Somewhere... A wedge of early morning sunshine sliced through the heavy curtains and proceeded to prey upon the closed eyelids of one sleeping Tennessee Loftis. Said eyelids flickered open...and hands were quickly raised to block the unwanted intrusion of light. 'Good lord,' he sputtered, wiping the drool from his chin. 'Good lord,' he repeated as he swept his legs over the side of his large bed and his bare feet found the cold marble floor. Wrapping his blanket around his waist, he made his way to the window, pushed aside the curtains (which, consequently, let all of the light in...to which our hero responded, 'Good lord...'), and leaned out of the open window, hands over his eyes. 'Jose!' he yelled down to his gardener/butler/masseuse/security. 'Jose!' Jose looked up, eyebrow raised. 'What time is it for crissake!' Jose stared up, trying not to smile. 'Alright, then...what DAY is it, Jose?' Continuance of smirky stare. 'Holy majole...what YEAR is it, Jose? Not what YEAR is it?' Jose nodded, chuckled a bit, and went back to weeding a small rose garden. 'Good lord,' Tennessee muttered under his breath. 'This hangover is going to just destroy me, I know it.' He turned, wiped his eyes, and then turned back to lean once more from the open window. 'Jose! Make me a bloody mary! Quick-like!' =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= A Word from Our Sponsor: King's Inn, Quebec Experience French-American Cuisine Today! Quebec is more than salmon and furs! Visit the King's Inn this summer and sample exotic dishes combining established traditions of the Old World with the exciting new foods from the New! For starters we recommend fish or vegetable broth, then dine on a lovely pie of lamb or pork with a side dish of squash, maize, and potatoes, and finish off with a delightful blueberry pie or a stack of flapjacks with genuine maple syrup. How can anyone resist this domestic goodness? Marguerite Broussau, our cook, stands ready to take your order! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The Legendary Times is published by the immortals of LegendMUD. Please send replies, additions, or corrections to [email protected] for inclusion in the next issue. All subscription options are handled at this url: http://www.legendmud.org/lists/listinfo/legendarytimes For RP submissions, copyright ownership remains with the author. We do reserve the right to moderate the forum and edit or reject any submission. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=