Recent News

By Alara: At long last, the janky, complicated +HELP system written by Mercutio has been @nuked! SQL is totally live! The only thing that doesn't work yet are RULES. But the data's all been captured and +help, ahelp, rhelp, and bhelp are all accessible for those who have the permissions to them!
--Wed, 20 Nov 2024 14:36:14 MST

By Alara: The notifier service I use to keep on top of player logins, new player requests, and SQL server connection issues has been updated!! Previously the Linux machine running the MUSH would execute a cron job every minute and trigger a curl request to a local PHP script that would log into a MySQL server, search for 'notifier' records inserted by the MUSH in an event table, and php_curl up to Pushover those details.

Sound complicated? It is.

But now PennMUSH can run @http requests directly, and Pushover is extremely straightforward, taking a user ID, secret token, and message body directly from a POST request. Basically, it's a ton simpler and I'm a lot happier being IMMEDIATELY notified of you logging in, rather than waiting up to a minute! YAY!!!
--Wed, 20 Nov 2024 10:52:58 MST

By Alara: Fixed! I finally dug in, found the SQL functions needed to fix the new +HELP system, and now all categories with their respective permissions and syntaxes are working! At least as far as I can tell. And as far as it matters. If you run into any anomalies, let me know!

Additionally, all +HELP data within the new system is completely static. I do want to add dynamic +HELP (i.e. +HELP that, instead of pulling text from the SQL database is directed back into the MUSH to pull from an attribute on an object). This is potentially insecure at first glance as a simple built-in function within the object help attrib could inject code into places, but we could add some sanitization beforehand.
--Tue, 19 Nov 2024 17:56:36 MST

By Alara: I'm slowly transferring a bunch of admin-level +HELP files over to the new system. This means some of the regular +HELP entries are breaking because I don't have the back-end all up and working for multiple systems yet. I'll try my best to get this fixed really soon!
--Tue, 19 Nov 2024 16:17:09 MST

By Alara: I've just removed the AI bot. Too much craziness there, and it's squelching my creativity. I put waaaay too much work into it, and it's very distracting.
--Thu, 07 Nov 2024 14:34:32 MST

By Alara: I've added a new thing flag, wearable. This is to finally renew the 2014 "clothing system" which is still a work in progress, but will be a second option alongside the wardrobe.

Currently my thinking is to run the two in tandem. You may use one system or the other. But both may cause inconsistency. And the clothing system will, at present, try to replicate the Iron Realms system very closely, with actual items to wear, a clothes line in a player description, and clothing slots and layers for hiding. The player appearance will be stored differently. Possibly reverting to a wardrobe DESC_CURRENT or manual description minus clothing (more of an RP rule, not a coded thing).
--Fri, 11 Oct 2024 23:29:53 GMT

By Alara: ChatGPT in the Fairy Garden!! I found a really cool tutorial on how to accomplish from disloops.com! And in doing so I've recreated the author's "Oracle" mob. She resides down by the base of the Great Tree and will respond to says that start with 'to oracle!' Just ask her anything or state anything to her, and she will try to answer!

Example:
> say to oracle Hello, Oracle!
< The Oracle of Auramyth inclines her gracefully in acknowledgement. "Greetings! What knowledge do you seek from the whispers of fate?"

You can also ask her questions or requests:
> say to oracle Can you tell me how to get to the great tree?
< The Oracle of Auramyth closes her eyes, as if listening to the whispers of the wind. "To find the Great Tree, follow the path where moonlight kisses the earth. Hearken to the voice of the stream that sings of ages past. When the shadows lean toward the rising sun, you shall see its majestic boughs reaching to touch the heavens."

Note - As of right now, there is no historical, ongoing conversation. Only the initial system message is sent before your statement or question. Conversation history will be added in the near future, though, and as the original author from disloops desgined, my implementation will also delete history older than 2 hours (possibly configurable), and will have a maximum token limit. But that's for later!
--Fri, 11 Oct 2024 23:24:20 GMT

By Alara: Ooh hey! Reactions are real! What is this, you ask? Simply put, you've been able to target mobs and other things in pre-defined emotes for some time, but they never did anything. Now, if they're set up correctly, the mob you emote against may respond with a reaction!!

For the technically minded (or if you created a mob yourself that needed to have reactions):
- The THING object needs to be @parented to #4376 (the thing ancestor).
- Set your object as MONITOR and LISTEN_PARENT.
- Simply add <emote>`TSP and <emote>`TTP attributes to your object for second person and third person. Use %0 and %1 for object and the target, respectively!

For example:
@set Dog=MONITOR
@set Dog=LISTEN_PARENT
@parent Dog=#4376
&PET`TSP Dog=[capstr(name(%0))] pants and wags its tail happily and barks at you!
&PET`TTP Dog=[capstr(name(%0))] pants and wags its tail happily and barks at [name(%1)]!
--Wed, 09 Oct 2024 23:58:25 GMT

By Alara: If you have an excessively long room description (much like the example I discovered today and duplicated in #10349), the attribute buffer length may fill before you can finish it. I've doubled the capacity by adding another DESC_DAY2/DESC_NIGHT2 attribute parsed in the default room description on the room parent. You will need to add your own delimiter character (usually %b, but %r may work too).
--Thu, 25 May 2023 18:16:16 MDT

By Alara: Gold coins are boring. All hail the new "Alarans!"
--Mon, 31 Oct 2022 17:03:01 MDT