Installation and Release notes for SmaugWizard Ver 2.a (Beta) (7/2/98)
[SmaugWizard, SmaugWiz (C) 1998 BuiltByRustry]

NOTE: These are release notes from version 1.05.  See ChangeLog.txt for changes in the beta version.


This is a conversion of the popular Smaug MUD code to Windows NT.  Included is the executable program and supporting files (areas, boards, etc), and the full Visual C++ version 5.0 source code.

Before going any further I wish to acknowledge all the work and dedication to mud programming that has been done by others to make this program possible.  First, and foremost, there is The Smaug programming team; Many thanks to Thoric, Altrag, Blodkai, Narn, Haus, Scryn, Swordbearer, Rennard, Tricops and Gorog for such a fine mud.  Before Smaug there was Merc, and Diku; All the work done by those mud pioneers is gratefully appreciated.  Thanks Michael Chastain, Michael Quan, and Mitchell Tse of Merc, and Sebastian Hammer, Michael Seifert, Hans Henrik Staerfeldt, Tom Madsen, and Katja Nyboe of Diku.


License and usage:

SmaugWizard license terms are:

        -- Copyrights must remain in original source.
        -- SmaugWizard may not be sold or used in any way for commercial
           gain. (not even a copying or media fee).
        -- A mention that this is a SmaugWiz MUD must appear in the
           login sequence.
        -- You are requested to notify us that you are operating a
           SmaugWizard mud, and to include the address of your mud.
           Notify to rustry@dxcc.com


SmaugWizard makes no effort to retain compatibility with any original code from Smaug, Merc, Diku, nor with any patches, upgrades or code snippets designed for them.

Since SmaugWizard is a derivitive work, in order to use SmaugWizard, you must also abide by the terms of the Smaug, Merc, and Diku licenses.  Those licenses are in the doc directory, as license.Smaug, license.Merc, and license.Diku.  Please read them and abide.


Installation:

SmaugWizard must be installed on a Windows NT version 4, SP3, or greater platform.  It will not work with any other operating system, except  Windows 95.  I don't consider Windows 95 stable enough to run a mud on, so while it has been tested and will run on Windows 95, SmaugWizard will not be supported there.

Install by unzipping the downloaded file (SmaugW105.zip) into any empty directory.  Then run SmaugW105.exe to install the server, or run SmaugSrcW105.exe to install the VC++ source.  In setup you can specify where to install SmaugWizard, or use the default in the Program Files directory.

This version of Install Shield doesn't actually create a program group or icon for the start menu, even though it says it does.  So, once install has completed, you can execute SmaugWiz.exe via the normal means of double clicking from explorer, using the run menu, or typing the file name from the installed directory in a command window.  See the setup prompts for information about installing the source files.


Usage:

When SmaugWizard is first started, you'll get a blank screen with menus, but the database will not load.  You can load it by selecting 'start' from the file menu.  But before you do, click on the config menu, and select 'files'.  This should be pointed to the directory where you installed SmaugWiz, because that is the parent directory of all the support files.  However it is possible to run SmaugWiz from any other directory.  If doing so, the path to the root directory of the support files can be changed via the config/files dialog box.  Once changed, SmaugWiz will remember that setup each time it is run from that directory.  Thus it is possible to have two copies of SmaugWiz pointing to the same support files.  This could be handy for testing purposes, but I wouldn't advise trying to run them both at once!

Next select the config/System Data dialog box.  There you can set many system variables before starting up the mud.  Probably the most important thing for new startup's is to un-check the 'Wait for Authorization' box.  This will allow your first player to enter the mud, advance to level 2, and save their player file, without being authorized by an immortal.

Once you have saved that first player, quit the player and then edit the player file with notepad or some such editor.  The player file will be "playername.dat", and will be in the SmaugWiz/Players/N directory, where 'N' is the first letter of the  player's name.  Go to line #8 in the file, and change the level from 2 to 65.  This player is now the supreme entity of the mud, and can be used to authorize new players, create more imm's, set up building areas, etc.  Once that first immortal has been created, you can set 'Wait for Auth' back to on, if you wish, so that future players will need to be authorized by you.

Also in the config/System Data dialog box you can change the communications port number.  It defaults to 4000 on startup.  If you want to run more than one copy of the SmaugWizard server on the same computer, you will have to set a different comm port for each copy.

To make the mud auto reboot, AutoReboot must be checked, and the RebootDelay set to the number of seconds of delay you desire.  This will cause the mud to reboot when it is brought down online via the reboot command or when the reboot time has arrived.  It will not AutoReboot when the online shutdown command is used, or when it is shut down via the Windows file/ShutDown menu.  The Reboot Hour field contains the hour of the day when the reboot will occur, 0 to 23, and the Reboot Interval field contains a number from 1 to 10 to indicate the number of days between automatic reboots.

If the AutoStart box is checked, then when SmaugWiz is first executed, the mud will start booting after the delay in the AutoStartDelay field.  A dialog box will show the time til boot, and the delay can be cancelled, or the autostart can be cancelled.

The Config/titles menu item allows you to set the name of your mud and the name of your Supreme Entity.  The screen has full instructions for doing so.

Starting with version 1.05, the Config dialog has settings to allow you to specify the various room VNUMS that are required to run the mud, such as Temple, Void, Limbo, School, Altar, Authorization Start room, etc.  See the System Data Menu/Rooms and help files for more details.  Thanks to Korombos (extremis@home.com) for this idea, and most of the code.

Also starting with version 1.05 the Config dialog has settings to control what is logged, sent to the server screen, sent to channels, and where it is logged to.  See the System Data Menu/logging and help files for more details.

The stats menu shows some statistics about the mud operation.

Once the mud is started, you can shut it down by selecting 'ShutDown' from the file menu, or by clicking the close window box [x] in the upper right hand corner.  This will not exit SmaugWiz, but will disconnect and save any players and unload the database.  To completely exit, you can click the close window box again, or select 'exit' from the file menu.  Or you can reload the mud without exiting by using file/start.


Getting Help:

Use the SmaugWiz help menu to view the copyright notice and information about the various menus and dialogs.  The doc directory contains various pieces of documentation for online usage.  Builders should read "SmaugWiz Menus.txt", for help with the online build menus.  The file "SmaugWiz Clans.txt" can help builders and others to understand the way that Clans, Guilds, and Orders are set up.  And see the file "ChangeLog.txt" for a list of fixes and changes since the last version.  Finally, do not forget the online help system, use COMMANDS, HELP <COMMAND> and WIZHELP for information on all of the online commands that SmaugWizard uses.


Differences from SMAUG:

1. There is no Ident code, so you won't see any user names.  I may put that back in, in the future though.

2. Passwords are encrypted, but using a very simple algorighm.  If there seems to be a need for it, I will add more secure password encryption in the future.

3. Some of the file extensions are changed.  For instance the player files now have an extension of .dat, rather than no extension.  Other than name changes, all the files should be compatible with SMAUG files.

4. Player directories no longer need to be pre-created.  As long as the player directory itself exists, SmaugWiz will create the first letter player directories within it, as needed.

5. SmaugWiz can only handle connects on one port at a time.  If you need a separate building port, run a second copy of SmaugWizard.  (I may add a building port at some time in the future.)

6. There are some differences in the build operations.  The build commands aassign, installarea, and foldarea have new help messages which describe how they work.  The build menus are completely redone, and there is a separate help file to describe them.  See "SmaugWiz Menus.txt".

7. The setup for Clans, Guilds, and Orders is somewhat changed.  See the file "Smaug Clans.txt" for more information.


Known bugs or weak areas:

1. ???? I've fixed all the bugs I'm aware of, but this is a big program with lots of features, and it's impossible for me to test everything.  Please let me know about any problems that you find.

*eof* Rustry