Plea for more information regarding ACR Updates

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Teric neDhalir
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Plea for more information regarding ACR Updates

Post by Teric neDhalir »

*John Cleese voice* I wish to register a complaint!

Disclaimer: I'm not cross and this isn't a personal attack on anyone, merely frustration that I can't have more nice toys to play with.

I'm getting increasingly frustrated that many of the new systems that are being added to the ACR are not explained clearly enough that a moderately experienced builder can implement them. Some examples;

Swim triggers. I think you might find these in the campaign folder, and if you look at the description there may be an explanation of what to do. Why couldn't we have had an erf with the new blueprints and a paragraph of instructions at the time?

Incorporeal touch attacks. Yes, we have those, but I loathe making blueprints and get in a right muddle about whether I've crunched the rules properly. If you have a working shadow/wraith/ghost that has all the clever stuff implemented could you release the new blueprint so that everyone has access to it? And I don't mean in the campaign folder because that's a nightmare.

Rideable horses. Really? Where? How? What does my merchant have to sell you to make it work?

GitHub and updating servers. Foam's how-to about GitHub is easily found on the Wiki but Wynna's excellent info about how to do your updates is buried without a direct link from anywhere that I can see.

The new tailoring thing. If this is intended to be an ALFA-wide improvement that everyone can use it should be released as a pack of the necessary files to everyone when you've ironed (ha) the bugs out.

Again, see me assume a submissive posture and apologise if I haven't searched diligently enough, but if we are to be a persistent world we also need to be consistent, rather than constantly thinking, "BG has some cool stuff, I wonder if I can beg it up from them".
Zelknolf
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Re: Plea for more information regarding ACR Updates

Post by Zelknolf »

These were all things explained when the release went out, with examples given to the active builders. It's also something of a hard sell to say that you don't want to use the repository for shared module-level resources but want to benefit from all of the shared module-level resources.


Swim triggers did come with a paragraph of instructions and a collection of sample triggers. WHL declined to take any at the time. It would be relatively easy to get a new one now, as the other servers all have the triggers. Look at the local variables on one; the function of the triggers from there is self-explanatory.

Incorporeal touch attacks are just a feat. Give the feat to the monster and use the ACR AI. If you'd like a touch attack other than shadow, set ACR_TOUCH_ATTACK to WRAITH, GHOST, ALLIP, WISP, or GREATER SHADOW as your purposes require.

Horses are items in the haks. They're called horse ownership items. Spawn the item on a PC if you're a DM (remember the creator and the toolset are searchable, and those searches are quite fast); sell the item from a merchant if you're a builder. There are no valid configuration options; nothing to tool. Just put the horse in the PC's hands somehow.

Version control software is extensively documented on the Internet. It has been an indispensible tool for software development for literal decades, and we would be wasting our time producing another copy of formal documentation here.

The "new tailoring thing" isn't ACR-- ACR thing is years old, provides a variety of item-related options that can't be achieved through NWScript (hence "ACR_Items") and consists of the typical calls to a CLRScript project. All I've done recently is build for a server: a conversation that actually uses it. If you'd like to use it, should just ask for a copy like Wynna and Arri did.
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kid
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Re: Plea for more information regarding ACR Updates

Post by kid »

yay peace!
<paazin>: internet relationships are really a great idea
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Wynna
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Re: Plea for more information regarding ACR Updates

Post by Wynna »

As one of the most recent to go through the uphill struggle up the learning curve required to build like I want to and know I can thanks to Tech's hard work, I totally feel your pain. I didn't even know the right questions to ask when I started sixish months ago, and still don't. Incorporeal attacks? :eek: Have not gotten to a point where knowing such an erf would be useful occurred to me.

HOWEVER. I now have horses and swimming worked out. I can write dummies guides to those. I don't want to/don't know if I have the privs to alter the landing page for Technical Documentation at http://www.alandfaraway.info/wiki/Technical_Manual but whoever does, perhaps I could add a new section after the actual Technical Documentation section at the bottom, called "Non-Technical Documentation" and put various Dummies Guides into it? Although I make light with that title, what I find is that the information linked from that landing page is perfect as a starting point to teach the absolutely necessary grounding in how to build. What it doesn't provide are the resources for those who can build but just need Cool Stuff and the Lazy Man's Way to Not Redo Some Other Builder's Hard Work.

Traps are another thing that you might find useful. I rely heavily on http://www.alandfaraway.info/wiki/ACR_Traps, which you would likely find easily enough if/when you get to the point of laying traps for unsuspecting (or suspecting) PCs.

I'll see if I can get Dummies Guides to horses and swimming done within the next couple of days.
Enjoy the game
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Teric neDhalir
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Re: Plea for more information regarding ACR Updates

Post by Teric neDhalir »

These were all things explained when the release went out, with examples given to the active builders.
My suggestion is that as you release ACR updates you have a new top level thread called "ABR Systems" or something and if there are changes that require info that builders may need you post new threads e.g. "Rideable Horses" and put the relevant info in there so it is easily found by those who may not have been paying enough attention at the time. It must be less work than having to keep explaining everything repeatedly every time someone has a question. And you could take bug reports and collate tips in the same thread.

I'm no further on with all your answers because I can't find a touch attack feat or a horse token in the toolset and I don't know where to look to for ACR AI. Sorry for assuming the tailor was a global thing, it got a big fanfare.
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Wynna
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Re: Plea for more information regarding ACR Updates

Post by Wynna »

Teric, hope these help:

http://www.alandfaraway.info/wiki/Dummi ... ng:_Horses
http://www.alandfaraway.info/wiki/Dummi ... :_Swimming


I think I'll do Subdual, Resting, and Traps, too. What else am I forgetting that you're running up against? I'll trade you for any info on the touch attacks.
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Zelknolf
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Re: Plea for more information regarding ACR Updates

Post by Zelknolf »

Such threads tend to be a terrible idea. When we had such things, we had the exact same problem, in that people wanted to know a thing but didn't find the thread-- plus we spent a bunch of time posting, and the same time answering questions. Bug report threads have a similar problem, plus they're pretty bad at getting issues resolved (because there's no way to close or re-open a forum post).

So, bug reports go into tickets and documentation goes in the wiki. They're both linked from the front page.

As I'm sure those who've asked me many questions can say, if I get a bug report that I'm not fixing immediately, I ask that it go to a ticket; if I get asked a question that can't be answered by the wiki, I also update the wiki. Wynna even provides a good example of that all working-- ACR_Traps had some bugs that she found in her particular uses of it, and the documentation was greatly improved by her questioning.
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Teric neDhalir
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Re: Plea for more information regarding ACR Updates

Post by Teric neDhalir »

Wynna, thank you for those.
Zelk, thank you for your replies, too.
Probably take this to chat now, it's just quicker.
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