Mob Programming Code

The Basic Idea:

Ever wonder why most muds either seem dead or overcrowded? The answer is probably partially due to the fact that the mobiles never do anything but wait to be slaughtered. Unless someone has gone to great lengths and added many special procedures, most mobiles have no idea you are in the room with them and rarely listen to what you say. The typical Midgaard mayor wanders happily along even when the populace pokes him, waves his City Key about, unlocks his gates, or frenchs his secretary, etc. So a way to give the mobiles a bit more spirit would be neat. Enter the MOBprograms.

Triggers And Scripts

The backbone of the MOBprograms shall be called triggers from this point on. Essentially, they are procedure calls placed in sneaky places in the mud code which provide the context for what is going on around the mobile. So, if something happens in the mobile's room and a trigger is activated, then a list of commands is sent to the interpreter in the mobile's name, thus making her/it/him do an appropriate something.

Variables

Since knowing the appropriate response for every mobile to every possible trigger is not easy, this command list shouldnt be a rigid script, but needs to be somehow unique for the mobile and the situation. However, in order to know the situation, a mobile needs to know more about the trigger than that it just happened. So, we have to include some sort of variables as well to set the context appropriately.

Mobprograms VS. Spec_Procs

As most implementors know, most area creators are not versed in coding, but usually have great ideas. Therefore, whatever system is used needs to be quite simple. This is not to demean creators in anyway. Simply, it is useless to have a powerful system, if the only person able to write anything is someone who finds C coding in general to be exciting and non frustrating. If that is going to be the case, then stick to the special procedures, since there is no bound to what a complex special procedure can accomplish. Yet, from experience working on several muds, most admins and implementors prefer not to be writing one shot spec_procs to satisfy the needs of their creators. Thus, the basic idea: let mobiles react to a myriad of mud events/situations by having them perform a list of commands which can be tailored to the moment through a simple and unintimidating scheme usable by any creator.

About This Version:

My implementation of MOBprograms owes a lot to the original MOBprogram code by Natasha. However, having heard reports about unstability of the code supplied, and because the code seemed unnecessarily complex to me, I decided to rewrite the MOBprogram driver. Admittedly, I have dropped out several features that were present in the original version, such as reacting to several triggers at once and string comparison in if_checks. On the other hand, the MOBprogram code has been simplified and made more stable (there are no memory leaks), and several new if_checks and MOBcommands have been added. The system of linking MOBprograms to mobiles has been changed to allow procedure-like calls. This version is an adaptation of my earlier MOBprogram system I created for Imperium Gothique MUD. The IG system has object and room programs as well, but I chose to omit them from this version.

MobProgram Syntax:

The simplest way to describe any syntax is by example, so here goes. First, define the notation: anything contained in braces {} is required,anything in brackets [] is optional, anything in quotes "" is a case insensitive literal, NL refers to a required new-line. The meanings of the labels used will be described following the syntax diagram. To use MOBprograms, you must add a #MOBPROGS section(s) to your area file(s).

Section syntax:

-- Explanations

A VNUM is the MOBprogram virtual number that identifies the program the number must be unique across area files (like mobile and object vnums). A PROGRAM_COMMAND can be any legal mud command, or a control flow command.

NOTE 1: Any whitespaces (space, tab, newline) are NOT stripped from the programs when loading the database (why? because I'm too damn lazy to have implemented it). Thus, to save memory and execution time, omit all unnecessary spaces from your MOBprogram scripts. If you must have indentation, use TAB.

NOTE 2: MOBprograms do NOT have to be in the same area file as the mobile definitions, since the programs are linked to the mobiles after the database has been loaded. A MOBprogram can also be used as a subroutine (see MOB CALL command) without having to be linked to any mobile.

-- Example

Linking MobPrograms:

Once you've written your MOBprograms, you must link the programs to appropriate mobiles. In the #MOBILES section, for each mobile you wish to have a MOBprogram, add lines of the following type to the end of the mobiledefinition:

--Explanations

The KEYWORD is a single word, see below for explanations.

The VNUM is the MOBprogram virtual number.

The ARGUMENT is the argument that triggers the event.

--Example

M act 3001 sits down~

In the above example, an ACT trigger is defined. When the mobile sees someone sitting down in the room, the mobile will execute program number 3001 (defined in #MOBPROGS section).

NOTE: Several mobiles can use the same MOBprogram, i.e. MOBprograms can be SHARED with several mobiles. The keyword and trigger argument can be different for each mobile even if they share the same MOBprogram code.

Trigger Types:

Here's a summary of triggers:

Triggers are fairly easy to add, but this basic list should hold for most needs. Their names, argument list syntaxes, and translation into more articulate english are given below:

ACT

Keyword : 'act'

Argument: string

The argument is a phrase, a text string. The trigger is activated whenever the phrase is contained in the act() message.

NOTE: Most general trigger. Applies to almost every event which happens in the mud. Anytime the function act() is called with a message to be delivered TO_CHAR,TO_VICT,TO_ROOM,etc. the act can be triggered. Basically this will trigger on almost everything you'll ever want. Output of "say", "shout" and "emote" do not trigger this event.

SPEECH

Keyword : 'speech'

Argument: string

NOTE: This is only triggered when the phrase is contained in a message which has been said by a PC in the same room as the mob. The PC restriction is not necessary, but makes infinite loops between two talking mobiles impossible. It also makes it impossible for two NPC's to stand and discuss the weather however.

RANDOM

Keyword : 'random'

Argument: number (The argument is a number betweeen 0 and 99 inclusive.)

NOTE: This trigger is checked at each PULSE_MOBILE and if the argument is greater than a percentage roll the trigger is activated. This will happen even if there is no PC in the room with the mob, but there must be players in the same area. It is useful to give mobiles a bit of a personality. For instance a janitor who stops to spit tobacco, or complain about the hours, or wonder why there are no woman janitors on muds, or a fido which barks or growls or pees on the curb is much more alive than one which just sits there scavenging. Note that this trigger is checked only when there are players in the area. If you want this event to be triggered always, you must set the ACT_UPDATE_ALWAYS flag of the mobile.

GREET/GREET ALL

Keyword : 'greet'

Argument: number (Again a percentage argument.)

NOTE: Whenever someone enters the room with the mobile, and the mobile saw the person enter, this is checked. Good for shopkeepers who want to welcome customers, or for pseudo-aggressive mobiles which need to discriminate on who they attack. Greet trigger activates only when the mobile is not busy (fighting, sitting, sleeping etc.). If you want to be sure to catch all players, use grall.

Keyword : 'grall'

Argument: number (Again a percentage argument.)

NOTE: Like greet, but it can be triggered even if the mobile didn't see the arrival (i.e. sneak, invis, etc) or is busy. Most useful for faking teleport rooms or for impassable guardians.

ENTRY

Keyword : 'entry'

Argument: number (Again a percentage argument.)

NOTE: The opposite of greet trigger. Whenver the mobile itself enters a new room, this can be triggered. Useful for looking around, or waving or other things that real PCs do when they arrive at a crowded room. IMPORTANT: In an entry program, the mobile can only refer to a random pc ( in if checks) -- there's no way to know how many PCs exist in the room the mobile enters! Also, you must check visibility of the target in your program.

EXIT/EXIT ALL

Keyword : 'exit'

Argument: number (Argument is the exit number (0:north, 1:east, 2:south 3:west etc.))

NOTE: The opposite of entry trigger. This is activated when PC tries to leave a room through an exit indicated by the argument, and the mobile sees the person leave. Useful for having a single guardian to watch several exits. An exit trigger works better than an entry trigger, since you can refer to a specific PC instead of a random PC. IMPORTANT: If this event is triggered, the victim will not move through the exit. If necessary, you must move the character yourself in your program (see MOB TRANSFER/MOB GTRANSFER). Also, this event is not triggered when a character flees from combat or the mobile is not in its default position.

Keyword : 'exall'

Argument: number (Argument is the exit number (0 = north etc.))

NOTE: The same as exit trigger, but it can be triggered even if the mobile cannot see the person trying to leave the room or if the mobile is busy.

GIVE

Keyword : 'give'

Argument: string or object vnum (The argument is either the a string containing words to be matched against the keywords of the object, or the word "all"; e.g. argument "long sword" will match to objects "long bow" and "small sword". Alternatively, the argument can be the virtual number of a single object.)

NOTE: This is triggered whenever something is given to the mobile. Best used for quests. Since the first successful trigger is the only one of this type which is processed, having an "all" argument in the script at the end of the MOBprogram list is essentially a default response.

BRIBE

Keyword : 'bribe'

Argument: number (The argument is any positive integer number.)

NOTE: This trigger is activated whenever money is given to the mobile. If the amount given exceeds the number, then process the commands. Note again, that an argument of '1' would act as a default response. Also note that if the script is not triggered (because of too little money having been given), the mobile still keeps the money...

ROM 2.4 NOTE: Since ROM 2.4 has two different types of currency (gold and silver coins), for bribe trigger the amount to be given is converted to silver coins with the rate of 1 gold = 100 silver. Thus, the number in the argument should be the expected amount in silver coins.

KILL

Keyword : 'kill'

Argument: number (The argument is a percent once again.)

NOTE: This trigger is checked whenever a PC attacks the mobile. The check occurs only ONCE, in the beginning of combat. Useful for summoning assistance etc. (See MOB MLOAD).

FIGHT

Keyword : 'fight'

Argument: number (The argument is a percentage.)

NOTE: Useful for giving mobiles combat attitude. It is checked every PULSE_VIOLENCE when the mobile is fighting. Can be used to cast spells (see MOB CAST), curse at the opponent, or whatever. Only the first successful one will be processed to save time. Also, this means that the mobile wont get lucky and 1. curse, cast a fireball and 2. spit on the player, cast another fireball in the same pulse.

HIT POINT PERCENTAGE

Keyword : 'hpcnt'

Argument: number (The argument is a percentage.)

NOTE: Is activated at each PULSE_VIOLENCE when the mobile is fighting. It checks to see if the hitpoints of the mobile are below the given percentage. Multiple hpcnt triggers should be listed in increasing order of percent since a 40% will always be activated before a 20% and, only the first successful trigger is performed. (See also MOB FLEE).

DEATH

Keyword : 'death'

Argument: number (The argument is a percent once again.)

NOTE: When the mobile dies, if the random percentage is less than the argument the mobile performs the MOBprogram commands rather than the usual death_cry() sequence. This is done before the corpse is made, so the commands can be considered the mobiles last gasp. It could perhaps destroy the items it was holding (see MOB REMOVE and MOB JUNK), or create some (see MOB OLOAD), or cast a spell (see MOB CAST) on the killer and the room, or even goto a new location (see MOB GOTO) and die there (with a text message, the corpse would seem to vanish) The position of the mobile is set to STANDING, and so it can do all the normal commands, without worrying about being DEAD. However, even if the mobile restores itself to full hitpoints, it will still die. This is not a way to immortal mobiles. However, the last thing this mobile does could be to goto some vacant room, load a fresh version of itself, drop all its items, force the new mobile to get all the items and wear them, send the new mobile back to the character who killed it and force the new mobile to attack that character. Along with a text message which said the mobile restored itself, this might be a convincing effect. (Note that your kitten could turn into a dragon this way too).

DELAY

Keyword : 'delay'

Argument: number (The argument is a percentage chance.)

NOTE: This trigger activates when the delay of a mobile (set with the MOB DELAY command) expires. This trigger can be used to create staged mobile behavior, for example, a guardian could see a player entering a room, give a warning and activate a delay. If the player is still present when the delay expires, the guard would attack the player. (See also MOB REMEMBER). A mobile can have several delay triggers, but every time the delay timer expires, all the triggers are checked and the first successful one executed.

SURRENDER

Keyword : 'surr'

Argument: number (The argument is a percentage.)

NOTE: This trigger activates when the mobile is fighting and the opponent issues a "surrender" command. When triggered, both parties will cease fighting, and the mobile can accept the surrender (perhaps taking all equipment from the character with MOB REMOVE). Note that if the mobile does not accept the surrender, it must resume fighting with MOB KILL. If a character surrenders and the mobile does not have a surrender trigger, or the trigger does not activate, the fight resumes normally.

NOTE: No MOBprograms will be successful when the mobile is charmed (since it has no self volition, it should act like it has none) to protect mobiles which are given special powers from being implemented by a player.

Variables:

To make things come alive, variables are needed. These are represented in the MOBprograms by using a dollar sign convention as in the socials. When the mud command is processed, these variables are expanded into the values shown below. Usually, it is best to use the short descriptions of mobiles and the names of players when speaking them, but if you are performing an action to someone almost always you want the name. The title field for players is an extra that probably wont often be used.

Without further hesitation... the variables:

Also, in if_checks, the accepted variables are the basic ones (i,n,t,r,o,p,q). If a variable is referenced that doesnt exist, then the value is simply left blank or replaced with "someone"/"something" in output (i.e referring to when the trigger is: A kisses B)

If variable has not been defined, it is automatically set to the last player that has triggered the program being executed (i.e. variable ). Once has been defined, it can be modified with MOB REMEMBER and MOB FORGET commands in a program. Variable lets the mobile "remember" a player across different programs, which can be useful. Note that is set automatically only the FIRST TIME the mobile executes a program, every time thereafter it must be set with MOB REMEMBER.

The only problem with the variables is that the secondary object and the secondary target are passed by act() in the same location. This means that if you reference in an A puts B in C situation, the result will probably be a happy mud crash or some weird side effect, espescially if is used in an if_check (i.e. if isnpc() in the above situation) The basic fix for this is to change everyone who calls the act() procedure to specify a secondary object and a secondary character. But that is a fairly comprehensive trivial twiddle, so we left it the way it is so that, you arent forced to make all those twiddles to use the MOBprograms.

Control Flow Syntax:

In place of any legal mud command in a MOBprogram, one can substitute a flow of control command. Here is the syntax for a flow of control command. The parts between [ and ] are optional.

Basically, it is: an 'if' line, followed by zero or more 'or' lines, followed by zero of more 'and' lines ('and' and 'or' lines can be in any order) followed by zero or more legal mud commands, which may contain a 'break' line, possibly followed by an 'else' line , followed by zero or more legal mud commands, which may contain a 'break' line, followed by an 'endif' line.

The only new syntax labels are all in the IF/OR/AND line:

--Explanations

An IF_CHECK is a string which describes under what context to compare things.

The ARGUMENT is the reference point from which the LHS of an expression comes.

The OPERATOR indicates how the LHS and RHS are going to be compared.

The VALUE is the RHS of the expression to be compared by the operator.

The BREAK command bails out of the entire MOBprogram regardless of the level if nesting. (END is a synonym for BREAK).

If that looks confusing, skip to the Mob Program Examples page. Hopefully that should clear things, otherwise you'll probably have to give me a mail since examples are the best way I know to explain syntax.

Operators:

Most of the basic numeric operators are legal and perform the same function as in C.

Operators: == != > < >= <=

If_Checks In Control Flow:

The provided list of if_checks and their arguments are below. They should all be fairly obvious in what they do, but some of the more obtuse deserve a slight explanation. Any '==' operator can be replaced with any of the available ones described above. The argument $* refers to any of the variables which make sense for that if_check (i.e. for an if_check which is referencing a person the only valid variables would be , , , or ) A value type of string is a sequence of characters. It does not need to be included in quotes or anything like that (i.e. if name fido )

There are five types of if checks:

Type 1: Keyword and value

Type 2: Keyword, comparison and value

Type 3: Keyword and actor

Type 4: Keyword, actor and value

Type 5: Keyword, actor, comparison and value

NOTE: The original MERC 2.2 MOBprograms used parenthesis '(' and ')' around variables. In this version, they are not allowed. Also,parameters MUST BE separated with spaces (if level <10 is NOT valid, correct syntax is: if level < 10).

New Commands of Interest:

1. GENERAL COMMANDS

Syntax: SURRENDER

This command can be issued in combat. If the one giving the command is a PC and the opponent is a NPC, the NPC will be checked for a surrender trigger. If the trigger activates, the fight will be terminated. Otherwise the combat will resume normally. Note that the mobile can resume the combat in the MOBprogram (see MOB KILL). If anyone (PC or NPC) surrenders to a PC, the combat will terminate. The PC can resume the combat with 'kill' command. With this command, and the use of surrender trigger, non-lethal combat can be implemented (arenas etc.).

2. DIAGNOSTIC COMMANDS

These two new commands are available to immortal players.

Syntax: MPSTAT [mobile]

Displays the triggers and MOBprogram vnums defined for the mobile.

Syntax: MPDUMP [vnum]

Displays the MOBprogram code of given vnum.

3. MOBCOMMANDS

MOBcommands are special commands that allow mobiles to perform immortal-like actions within a MOBprogram (transferring players or loading items, for example). Most MOBcommands them are wiz commands which have been changed to allow for mobiles to perform the commands. In this version of MOBprograms, players have been prevented from using these commands by adding a separate interpreter for MOBcommands. This also speeds up (in most cases) MOBprogram execution when MOBcommands are used. All MOBcommands are preceded with the word 'MOB' on the command line.

Syntax: MOB ASOUND [string]

MOB ZECHO [string]

MOB GECHO [string]

ASOUND prints the text string to the rooms around the mobile in the same manner as a death cry. This is really useful for powerful aggressives and is also nice for wandering minstrels or mobiles like that in concept.

ZECHO prints the string to all players in the same area with the mobile. GECHO prints the string to all players in the game.

Syntax: MOB ECHO [string]

MOB ECHOAT [victim] [string]

MOB ECHOAROUND [victim] [string]

ECHO displays the string to everyone in the room. ECHOAT displays the string to the victim only. ECHOAROUND displays the string to everyone except the victim. The three options let you tailor the message to goto victims or to dothings sneaky like having a merchant do:

mob at guard mob echoat guard rescue_please

This coupled with a guard act trigger on rescue_please to:

mob goto

mob echo has arrived.

It is an affective way of quickly bringing guards to the scene of an attack. (Note that the merchant has to be the only one of its kind in the game or have a unique name, otherwise the guard might go to different mobile...).

Syntax: MOB MLOAD [vnum]

MOB OLOAD [vnum] [level] {'room'|'wear'}

MLOAD creates a mobile and places it in the same room with the mobile. OLOAD loads the object into the inventory of the mobile. Even if the item is non-takable, the mobile will receive it in the inventory. This lets a mobile distribute a quest item or load a key or something. The optional 3rd parameter can be specified; 'room' means to load the object to the room, 'wear' means to force the mobile to wear the object loaded (useful for equipping mobiles on the fly).

Syntax: MOB KILL [victim]

Lets a mobile kill a player without having to murder. Lots of MOBprograms end up with mpkill commands floating around. It works on both mobiles and players.

Syntax: MOB FLEE

Causes a mobile to unconditionally flee from combat. Can be used for example with the hit point percentage trigger to simulate "wimpy" behavior.

Syntax: MOB REMOVE [victim] [vnum|'all']

Lets the mobile to strip an object of given vnum from the victim. Objects removed are destroyed. If the vnum is replaced with "all", the whole inventory of the victim is destroyed. This command is probably most useful for extracting quest items from a player after a quest has been completed.

Syntax: MOB JUNK [object]

Destroys the object refered to in the mobile's inventory. It prints no message to the world and you can do things like junk all.bread or junk all. This is nice for having janitor mobiles clean out their inventory if they are carrying too much (have a MOBprogram trigger on the 'full inventory')

Syntax: MOB PURGE [argument]

Destroys the argument from the room of the mobile. Without an argument the result is the cleansing of all NPC's and items from the room with the exception of the mobile itself. However, mppurge will indeed purge the mobile, but it MUST be the last command the mobile tries to do, otherwise the mud cant reference the acting mobile trying to do the commands and bad things happen.

Syntax: MOB AT [location] [command]

Perfoms the command at the designated location. Very useful for doing magic slight of hand tricks that leave players dumbfounded.. such as metamorphing mobiles, or guard summoning, or corpse vanishing.

Syntax: MOB GOTO [location]

Moves the mobile to the room or mobile or object requested. It makes no message of its departure or of its entrance, so these must be supplied with echo commands if they are desired.

Syntax: MOB TRANSFER [victim|'all'] [location]

MOB GTRANSFER [victim] [location]

MOB OTRANSFER [object] [location]

Sends the victim to the destination or to the room of the mobile as a default. if the victim is "all" then all the characters in the room of the mobile are transfered to the destination. Good for starting quests or things like that. There is no message given to the player that it has been transfered and the player doesnt do a look at the new room unless the mob forces them to. Gtransfer works like transfer, except that the group the victim belongs to is transferred with the victim. Otransfer transfers an object in the room.

Syntax: MOB FORCE [victim|'all'] [command]

MOB GFORCE [victim] [command]

MOB VFORCE [vnum] [command]

Forces the victim to do the designated command. The victim is not told that they are forced, they just do the command so usually some mpecho message is nice. You can force players to remove belongings and give them to you, etc. The player sees the normal command messages (such as removing the item and giving it away in the above example) Again, if the victim is "all" then everyone in the mobiles room does the command. Gforce works like force except that it affects the group the victim belongs to. Vforce affects all mobiles with given vnum in the game world. This is useful for, for example, purging certain type of NPCs from the game (by forcing them to purge themselves).

Syntax: MOB CAST [spell] [victim]

Lets the mobile to cast spells. Beware, this does only crude validity checking and does not use up any mana. All spells are available regardless of the race or other abilities of the mobile. Casting the spell occurs silently, but spell effects are displayed normally.

Syntax: MOB DAMAGE [victim|'all'] [min] [max] {lethal}

Causes unconditional damage to the victim. Specifying "all" as victim causes damage to all characters in the room except the mobile. Min and max parameters define the minimum and maximum amounts of damage caused. By default, the damage is non-lethal, but by supplying the optional 'lethal' parameter, the damage can kill the victim. This command is silent, you must echo all messages yourself in the program. Useful for implementing special attacks for mobiles.

Syntax: MOB DELAY

MOB CANCEL

MOB DELAY sets the time in PULSE_MOBILE after which the mobile's delay trigger is activated. If the mobile has a program defined for delay trigger, the program is executed when the timer expires. MOB CANCEL resets the delay timer.

Syntax: MOB REMEMBER [victim]

MOB FORGET

This command enables the mobile to remember a player for future reference in a MOBprogram. The player can subsequently be referred as '' in programs activated by the mobile. MOB FORGET clears the target. Note that if the first time the mobile runs a program, is automatically set to the player who triggered the event. Most commonly this command is used in delayed programs, where the mobile has to remember the player who triggered the original event, for example to continue conversation.

Syntax: MOB CALL [vnum] {victim} {target1} {target2}

This command lets you call MOBprograms from within a running one, i.e. to call a MOBprogram subroutine. The first parameter is the vnum of the program to execute, the second is the victim's name (for example ), and the third and fourth are optional object names. All other parameters except vnum can be replaced with word 'null' indicating ignored parameter. MOBprograms can be called recursively, but as a safety measure, parser allows only 5 recursions.

Regarding CPU Slowdown:

In the original MERC 2.2 MOBprogram documentation Nata'sha and Kahn wrote: "We have no real idea how slow this makes a mud. However, you will find that if you are judicious with your use of MOBprograms, you can either do little damage, or even reduce the effort on your server! This means that mobile polling (including the rand_progs) need only be checked when players are around. This reduces computation of random_stuff a little, but it is still a polling method, and subject to a basic inefficiency there. However, aside from the rand_progs, the only additional slowdowns will be when the mobile is responding to the situation, and you would get that from a special procedure as well (although MOBprograms are surely not as efficient as compiled C code)"

I have used MOBprograms extensively in my own mud without adverse effects. This version of MOBprograms polls random triggers only when there are players in the area, so the load is kept to minimum. I would venture to claim that in most cases, line lag will exceed machine lag even with ample and complex use of MOBprograms.

Loading Mobiles and Objects:

No doubt you want to load objects and mobiles in your MOBprograms with "mob oload" and "mob mload". There are two problems connected to this. One is that mloaded mobiles will appear without equipment and the other is that it is difficult to keep track of the number of created mobiles and objects.

If you want to mobiles to appear in your area as a result of the players' action, create a "storage room". Define resets for the mobiles as usual (equipment etc.) and place them in the storage room. When you need to use the mobiles, just "mob transfer" them to the location you want. This is better than creating mobiles on the fly, since you don't have to worry about creating too many mobiles or equipping them, area resets take care of all that.

If you have a MOBprogram that creates new mobiles, you might want to make the mobiles "self-destructing". This is easiest to do with a random trigger that checks if the mobile is doing anything useful and possibly does 'mob purge '.

Another possibility is to use a "purgemaster". Create a storage room with a single mobile. Attach a random trigger that does 'mob purge' to that mobile. Now, when you need to get rid of anything, just 'mob transfer' the mobile or item to purgemaster, and it will be destroyed sometime later.

Miscellaneous Information:

There is really no limit to the number of MOBprograms a given mobile can have. However, the length of a single command block is limited by the value of MAX_STRING_LENGTH. In my version it was around 4k, so that is probably about 100 lines. The indentation spaces shown in the example above are NOT required, but do make it easier to read (and debug). HOWEVER, all spaces and indentations are loaded into memory as a part of the program, so you're using up memory unnecessarily. Memory usage can also be reduced by using subroutines (see MOB CALL).

It IS possible to accidentally make mobiles which can trigger in loops. Infinite loops have been prevented, but in case of a loop, the mobile behavior is undefined.

The list of variables and triggers and if_checks will grow continuously as mud creators demand the ability to do certain things. If you have a request or if you have a new one, I don't mind hearing about them, and if you find bugs, I shall gladly attempt to squash them for you. As additions or fixes are made, the code will occasionally be redistributed. However, if you want a current version, please feel free to ask. When the code is redistributed, a file containing the change history from the original release will be provided (when possible) to allow you to patch in the changes with low grief.

Credits:

The reason this code was written was to enhance the playing experience at ThePrincedom (a Merc 2.0 based world scheduled to open in October 1993)

The original idea for this type of MOBprogram came from playing on: WORLDS of CARNAGE, a dikumud implemented by Robbie Roberts and Aaron Buhr. Aaron (known as Dimwit Flathead the First) was the original author from what I have been told, and I hope he will not be totally offended and angered by my coding and sharing a mimicked version with the world. This version is probably not as good as the original and I do feel remorse for publishing the idea. However, since Carnage has been down for months without a word of information regarding its return, I am glad to let one of the best features live on in future generations of MUDs.

There are no objections to this code being shared, since, aside from a nuclear destruction of all the Temples of Midgaard (excepting the original one!!), bland mobiles are the greatest bane of Dikumuds today. It would be nice to get a message saying you are using the code just for our references.

We shant answer questions from anyone until told where they are using the code. *grin* Since this code is not copyrighted, you of course dont have to do anything we say, but it would be nice of you to put the mobprog help screen into your database. and have mobinfo show up somewhere on a more visable help screen (possibly tagged onto the bottom of credits as a see also...)

I acknowledge all the work done by the original Diku authors as well as those at Merc Industries and appreciate their willingness to share code. Also, quick thanks to Wraith for doing a little beta-installation testing.

N'Atas-Ha June, 1993 (natasha@gs118.sp.cs.cmu.edu)

In addition to this DOC file credit section, I'd like to add a thank you to Yaz, Mahatma, Zelda, and the rest of the 4th Realm crew for extensively testing MOBProgram 2.1 for me. You may see MOBPrograms in action as well as their own "flavor" of mud at marble.bu.edu 4000.

Kahn (Oct 28th, 1993) MERC Industries

This driver was rewritten by me in summer '95. I also added room and object programs (not in ROM 2.4 version). While I acknowledge the skill and insight of the above people who conceived the original MOBprogram idea, they should not be held responsible in any way for this release. I can't promise I will be able to support this code in the future, use at your own risk. However, if you're using this code, and/or have bug reports or improvements, I'd be glad to hear from you. The revised MOBprograms can be seen in action at Imperium Gothique, mud.pitek.fi 4000. This code may befreely used and distributed, but some favorable publicity (such as having my name appended to your in-game credits) would encourage me to develop this software.

Newt@Imperium Gothique (May 1995-Jan 1996) mn54196@uta.fi (am I lazy or what?)