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Fizban
Wizard
Group: Members
Posts: 625
Joined: Jan 8, 2007
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#3 id:12778 Posted Sep 25, 2008, 6:44 pm
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Hmm, Smaugite a new term? I wonder if that makes me a Circleite, or is there a rule about one new term per day?
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Grumny
Apprentice
Group: Members
Posts: 40
Joined: Sep 27, 2008
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#7 id:12901 Posted Sep 27, 2008, 3:12 pm
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I've been lurking here for quite a long time. Recently I have been wondering if I should actually start posting and imposing my blather on the world...
Then I saw this thread. Since I have been playing with ROM for a long, long time. Probably since it was first released, though I'm not sure of dates from that long ago. I would be overjoyed to see a ROM project. Though I am only at the "interested but lazy beginner" level for coding.
My suggestion for a name, ie Smaugite, Circular, Romulans has been deemed unacceptable for some, so...
How about ROMniacs?
(please forgive any bad formatting while I learn the posting system. Lack of experience will be remedied soon.)
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......................... Grumny SMASH!!!
Tir na nOg
tnnmud.com 6789
(If you want something a bit different)
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Caius
Conjurer
Group: Members
Posts: 122
Joined: Oct 21, 2006
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#8 id:12902 Posted Sep 27, 2008, 3:16 pm
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Grumny said:How about ROMniacs?
As long as you don't become a ROManiac I suppose it all and well.
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Sandi
Wizard
Group: Members
Posts: 629
Joined: Jun 17, 2006
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#9 id:12904 Posted Sep 27, 2008, 3:47 pm
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There's a few comments here: MudBytes/General/RomLama
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The Witch of Tir na nOg
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quixadhal
Wizard
Group: Members
Posts: 2,187
Joined: Oct 17, 2007
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#12 id:12910 Posted Sep 27, 2008, 6:55 pm
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They may be two different codebases, but they have a LOT more in common than they have differences. I would suggest that the overall structure of the data in each game is probably 90% identical. Since tbaMUD is The *BUILDER'S* Academy, I would think building is their top priority.
I would be willing to bet that if you put the loading code from ROM into Circle, and visa-versa, you'd probably be able to share areas with a minimal amount of work. The only sticking point would be the way ROM uses skills differently than Circle, but the rooms and objects would probably cross over with only a small amount of flag jiggering.
Personally, I see no reason why ANY of the Diku-derived codebases can't be taught to read the file formats of every other one out there. Sure, some of them will have data that won't apply, so it won't be a 100% conversion -- but it would let people move areas around with a lot less hassle than they have now.
Also, I wasn't suggesting that anyone "switch over". The definition of "side by side" is just the opposite. It would be nice to see the tbaMUD people working alongside the ROM people, so when one comes up with a nice enhancement, the other team can adapt it to their code *IF* it's something they want. IE: They don't have to re-invent the wheel for the 52,371st time.
As far as I can tell, the AckFUSS folk, the SmaugFUSS folk, the tbaMUD folk, and the folk who are working on forming a team to revitalize the ROM codebase all share the same goal. To improve their codebases and make them solid, stable platforms for people to build games upon. To that end, I would think it would be smart for all of them to compare notes and look over each others shoulders on occasion, no? This isn't High School. There's no merit badges to be won by beating the other teams to the finish. :)
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Conner
Wizard
Group: Members
Posts: 1,250
Joined: May 14, 2006
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#13 id:12942 Posted Sep 28, 2008, 2:25 pm
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Almost the same could be said of Rom vs. Smaug, Quixadhal, since they are both derivatives of the same branch of the diku tree, but I can't quite envision everyone being happy if we simply added a section for Rom to the SmaugFUSS forums nor could I really see it being quite appropriate to try to merge tbaMUD's The Building Academy with SmaugFUSS' Smaug building Institute.
Currently my own code supports multiple formats of Smaug area files, including SmaugWiz, and I'd love to be able to have it import Circle, Rom, and other diku derivative area file formats cleanly for conversion to the format I use, but I'm not hearing offers from anyone to help make that happen, probably because folks tend to think of that sort of thing as being significantly beyond fixing the code base.
While I agree that we're all sharing the same goal and shouldn't all have reinvent the wheel each time nor race to the finish, I'm not sure how, or why, we'd want to try to merge the support for tba, or smaugfuss, with the support for rom. They are each similar but are not the same, and the teams involved generally consist of individuals who usually cherish those subtle differences. But it is nice when I find a cool snippet for rom that also works for smaug and I've used Nick Gammon's Area Editor to convert rom area files to smaug format before, so some of what you're suggesting is certainly plausible.
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quixadhal
Wizard
Group: Members
Posts: 2,187
Joined: Oct 17, 2007
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#14 id:12947 Posted Sep 28, 2008, 2:53 pm
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LOL, again with the talk of mergers and takeovers....
I've never said, anywhere, that any of the various Diku splinter groups should merge and become One. That's sort of the reason everyone branched from DikuMUD in the first place. :)
I guess what I'm trying to advocate is a general place that we could share design decisions and general bug fixes that would probably affect other codebases that share similar origins. IE: When the SmaugFUSS team went through and fixed all the const char * bugs that gcc 4.2 revealed, it would be great for that info (hints of what kinds of functions were a pain, how many changes didn't work right away) to show up where the tbaMUD folk, the AckFUSS folk, and the ROM project folk would all notice it.
Yes, the tbaMUD people won't care if Smaug decides to add a new terrain type to their area format, but they might care if Smaug suddenly came up with a nesting key/value format that allowed direct saving of objects inside objects equpped in mobiles. That's the kind of thing that would potentially benefit everyone.
So, no... no socialized source care plans. That's not the point. Just trying to make the idea of sharing ideas be up in the front of people's heads. If you're thinking about other people's codebases, you might realize what you're working on would almost work for them too, and thus save someone hours of work. That's all.
I've followed MUDs for the last 15 years or so, and if I had a beer for every time I've seen the same bits of code rewritten (often from scratch) to do the exact same thing, but for a slightly different codebase... well, it would be one HELL of a party. I like beer, but if we're gonna make lots of it, why not pass it around? You may not like stout, but if nobody ever offers you one, how would you know?
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Davion
Idle Hand
Group: Administrators
Posts: 1,669
Joined: May 14, 2006
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#15 id:12950 Posted Sep 28, 2008, 2:56 pm
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Quixadhal said:
I guess what I'm trying to advocate is a general place that we could share design decisions and general bug fixes that would probably affect other codebases that share similar origins. IE: When the SmaugFUSS team went through and fixed all the const char * bugs that gcc 4.2 revealed, it would be great for that info (hints of what kinds of functions were a pain, how many changes didn't work right away) to show up where the tbaMUD folk, the AckFUSS folk, and the ROM project folk would all notice it.
Fortunately you already have such a place :). Look around. We've got FUSS teams out the wazoo, tba folk lurking, and clearly the ROMulans ;)
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