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So previously I'd installed WG and mmud onto an old p4 I had, but will admit was a bit lost when it came to editing. I was able to do some things, but got frustrated at how long it seemed to take to do iterations on the edits I wanted.

Basically, I want a completely blank slate to start with. I used the blank realm mod and was recreating areas of the game, with the intention of keeping all the areas that are used, and cutting all the chaff that is useless. I was wondering if someone could lay out (maybe even in a new post that could be stickied) the fastest way to do edits on a board that isn't open to the public. Is it better to do large chunks of areas at a time, so less recoveries need to be run? Is switching to Pervasive from Btrieve an option that'd speed things up? Should I do just one thing at a time (i.e.- rooms, then monsters, then items) or try to do an entire area at once?

I was also wondering what people think would be faster, recreating these areas by hand, or iirc there's a way to export/import areas. It's my intention to keep the areas compatible with megamud as much as possible, so leaning towards the export but not sure the best way to use it. Would I have to setup a multi-mud so I could pull from the original dats while editing my own?

Sorry for the wall of text, been thinking about these things for a while. I'd like to try and implement the ideas I have (which are many, and vary in craziness) in my own edits. Ultimately though, if I can't find a fast way to edit everything, I might just write everything down as a possible source of ideas for other editors.

If you want a blank slate why don't you just uninstall the game and install a fresh copy of MUD? There are plenty of guides on how to do this all over the internet and these forums.

As far as I know the best way to keep things compatible with MegaMUD is to keep from modifying known rooms that Megamud uses to guide itself. For example, don't put an 'up' exit in the Bank of Godfrey, or rename Town Square to something else. Instead use rooms that MegaMUD doesn't use for navigation and add hidden exits that won't confuse the pathing system or better yet, use rooms that MegaMUD doesn't normally path through.

In terms of fast editing, is your only problem that it takes so long to compile and recover on your system? If that is the case I would probably just make my edits in large chunks. Afterwards go in and find all the bugs you can with everything that you put in, then go back in and fix your bugs. Make sure you address as many issues as possible each time you do a round of edits.

In the end a VM run on any modern machine will probably be much faster than using an old P4. I run a VM that is set up with 2gb of ram and a single core and compile -> recovery -> board up takes maybe 30 seconds.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for your reply man, I'll definitely give a shot at running a VM instead of the old computer. Since the board will only be up when I'm editing anyway, that seems like a great plan.

As far as a blank realm, I meant completely blank. There are so many rooms/items/spells that are useless, and rather than trying to remove items, and fix problems that show up from doing so, I just want to start completely new, with only the handful of rooms required to make mud load, and go from there. I had already installed the blankrealm mod and started this on the old computer. I re-purposed the lake before d-elf city as my starting area, with the intention of using the d-elf castle as my new "main city". Have all the ideas for lore planned out(as much as is needed for a text-based game), and a few never before seen ideas for keeping a realm active after the first week or two.

I understand people say they don't want a "new" majormud, but I think I have an outline that will create something fresh, yet familiar. I'm also not planning on having this up and running in a few weeks. This is going to be a long term project, and I'm likely to have many questions on the way so any responses are always appreciated!

dont make it too long term or some of the mudder population may have already died.

Laugh, that's the truth though, isn't it? Regardless, I've been around the edited scene for a decade and didn't want to make the classic mistake of boasting tons of changes and then no one hearing from me again. It's more just a pet project for me to work on, and see if the things I want to do are possible. Like I said though, if I end up not following through, then I'm going to write everything down and allow someone else to make of it what they will.

I've had some fun ideas in the past when the population was still viable. The one I thought had the most potential but wasn't executed right by board op was starting a realm with no mods, then adding them in as the realm leveled up. It made for interesting gameplay having to find places only in stock / mod 1, but he waited too long before enabling mod 2 and the population got bored of it and left before it could mature.

What I'm thinking of now, however, is completely crazy. So crazy it may just work. Have grabbed VMware and a copy of XP, so just need to find where I put my copy of everything I needed and fire it up.