Loading Zones

From: JONES Paul (s3034162@hardy.ocs.mq.edu.au)
Date: 03/10/96


Heya People,

I have already looked at the possibility of loading a zone when a player
enters it, but have not yet decided weather it is worth coding.  The
advantages are pretty easy to see, but there are a few disadvantages that
you can see if you look at some of the code-bases that use this system.

Sillymud code loads all zones into memory at startup but does not 'activate'
them until a player enters them (where activating refers to stocking/moving
mobs etc.).  The problem with this is that if you want to teleport to a mob
in a zone that is not loaded you cannot do it... you have to teleport to the
room instead, which loads the zone into memory.

Locate object will not locate an object in a zone that is not yet loaded. 
This can be seen as good or bad, depending on your opinion.  Some would say
that it will encourage players to explore, as that is the only way to find
out where the good equipment is, but you could also say that spells such as
the locate object spell should encompass all zones, not just those that are
loaded.

Perhaps starting positions of objects could be searched for these spells? 
Or maybe for they could be limited to a zone for mortals?

I am still unsure of the weather individual zone-loading is a good idea, but
would welcome the opinions of others, as to the best way to achieve this.

Spinout of Black Dragon Mud
-- 
Black Dragon Mud: telnet hardy.ocs.mq.edu.au 4000



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : 12/07/00 PST