Most Wanted Contributions [updated May 2011]

[Graveen]

/bow !

[rdsandersjr]

I'll do the spellcreator if this list is up to date .... devopment allready started.

Greetings,
Merec

Sounds good Merec, you got more experience than I do, I will just scrap what I started on and try to improve my Mob Attribute Program.

I will also work on a program that will allow us to Add Custom Ability's - more on that soon.

[FlyMario]

Hi folks.

I recently have decided to stop playing so many games and want to work on DOL. I have the source code from SVN. I am a professional C# programmer.

Along with developing on DOL, I would want to host a server. The installation of the server was very straight forward (thanks!). I would hate to just code only for the server (shard) I would be running.

I seem to remember in the past that MOBS would walk through walls and what have you because there is no server side control of where they walk. Is that still the case? I have been working on ideas how to solve this that could be effecient. Not sure if they would be sucessful as well.

I am also interested in the MOB AI as well. I am sure you hear that a lot. Its a passion of mine.

Ok... well here you go. Let me know if there is any interest.

[Tolakram]

Yes to both.

We lack server side mapping so we have no line of sight checks server side. Live has some, though mobs can and do walk through some walls on the live server.

MOB AI is always something that can be improved on. One outstanding bug at the moment is mobs will continue to chase a player who manages to run away and stealth. A quick fix to this would be fantastic and could be added to the core code.

As far as contributions to the core in general. Any fix made to the core code benefits everyone. Custom features everyone loves will only benefit your own server, of course.

First step is to get the latest SVN code and try modifications and publish these in the contributors forum. If people like it then you will be asked to create an SVN patch that can be applied to the code. DO enough of these and you'll get contributor status and possibly even write access to SVN so you can do your own modifications.

We need developers!

[Graveen]

Well, i can't say better than Tolakram, i just post to show you i totally agree

[Merec]

And we need maintainer for ItemCreator, PacketLogConverter and PLCFilter.

After the spell creator is finished, I'll start to recode the ItemCreator by using the DOLDatabase assembly.

[Graveen]

/bow

[FlyMario]

One outstanding bug at the moment is mobs will continue to chase a player who manages to run away and stealth. A quick fix to this would be fantastic and could be added to the core code.

Is there any more information you can give me about this issue? I think it must be resolved because I went to attack a mob, then let it chase me until I could re-stealth and the mob did not continue to attack or chase me.

Perhaps you could tell me where this happened and what mob this is? Maybe we have a bad mob brain.

Fly

[Tolakram]

The report was with theurgist pets, so perhaps it's a pet only bug.

[boltman]

Currently on Storm, regular keep guards will follow you even after stealth, but they stop about 200 units away and break off when they hit about that limit. Wizard keep guards will do thier fire DD and pop you out of stealth if they have attacked you previously.

Theurgist earth pets will continue to chase, and will do damage even after stealth. I haven't attempted to run away from other pets, so I couldn't tell you if ice pets still DD you in stealth or if air pets stun. As for charmed pets, I'm not sure how it is working currently, but I will test it tonight or tomorrow and let you know if they lose con on stealth. I do know that summoned pets.. ie hunter pets... will lose con when a target stealths and return back to the owner.

Hope it helps

[Fuzzlix]

Hi.
After fiddeling with Your latest release for 2 weeks i would like to support you by creating and maintaining the basic dol database.

What is the situation now:

• the database is inconsistent. We can find find enttries twice or much worser. to avoid primary key errors. some primary keys became removed and replaced by an primary key to a UUID-field. For example take a look at "loottemplate"! Try to create a unique kex including the fields "TemplateId" + "ItemTemplateId"! you will find many items stored 2..4 times. (I am still cleaning up this table) ....
• There are many databeses out in the wild. All cover well some aspects of the world. (si mobs, crafting for instance or rvr zones). To merge them into one database results in doubled NPCs and much more.

What I want to do:

• create one consistent database ready to distribute together with new dolserver releases. The database should alow easy and quick installation and setup for different server types (classic, si, toa, catacombs old/new rvr, ...)
• The database should allow to assign parts of the database to different (setup-)kits. This will allow to install and deinstall special ore user contributed kits. How this can be done, i will describe in my next post.

What do i need:

• I need support: As a newcomer to dol i need to understad the interaction between server and database.Getting answers from coders will free a lot of time, i would need for source code reading. Also our work should stay in sync.
• i need a mysql-5.1 server for the main database: my laptop is good enouth for local development. For easy teamwork and database testing it would be helpfull to use a team-global db-server. I try to install such a server today but this server will be connected via dial in network and stays online max 12h/day. keeping in mind we are living around the globe, some contributors will get some trouble to connect.

cu. ...

[Fuzzlix]

Now i will show you my sugestions for a main database.

• The database becomes splitted into Kits. this will allow a kit manager software to check kit dependicies and add/delete data savely.
• the development database uses mysql 5.1 and stores tables using InnoDB engine. this allows to create table cross references (foreign keys). This helps to keep the database consistent and avoiding zombie data.
• the tables develop_kit, develop_kit_dependicies and develop_kit_exclude we need to control setup and kit control. Users may use mysql 4.xx, dropping the foreign keys.

What the hell is a KIT?:
In DoL all data depend on other (more basic) data. To use a SI setup you need classic data first. To use RVR you need rvr zones and realm ability data. KITs will describe dependicies between data. This way we are able to figure out what data we need to push into out database to create a specific server setup.
One other aspect of KITs is to split a KIT in sub kits and to asssign the mainenance for different sub kits to different maintainers.

All basic KITs are named "pub_<something>". There are some special kits too:
"_" refers to userdata like account data, chars, logs.
"pub_base" are not world related data like server setup tables.
"KIT_<something>" describes server setups for classic, si, ....

I atached a zip file including 2 sql files. using those file syou may create a dol_test database in your mysql 5.1 server.
included are some example data. Try to delete the row "_" in development_kits ! This will automatically delete all your kit related userdata like chars and accounts.
You find "pub_rvr_new" and "pub_rvr_old" in the develop_kit_exclusions. Imagine you have a basic distribution database that includes both rvr. Remove "pub_rvr_new" or "pub_rvr_old" from develop_kits and voila - your rvr zone is ready to run.

The table develop_kit_exclude describes kits you should not install at the same time. as long you find a row in this table, your server may be misconfigured.

Contributors may create ther own KITs like "MudMan_<mykitname>" and describe dependicies. Kits may be hosted as sql files on sourceforge.

---

So what do you think about?

cu.

[Graveen]

Hello Fuzzlix !

Nice ideas, really. I hope you could get help from users. As we said, we try to keep some Storm's specificities, but we could contribute also if we see a real dynamic around a community database.

Of course, all code side is ok for us. I suggest you to have a deep look in DOLDatabase project, which is an handmade ORM.
There are plans to replace it by other things (mainly Linq based provider), but a 3rd party ORM could also fit. The main goal is a real data access layer, with no specific database need. I accept all linq compliant and open source technos, if someone is ok to dive into it (NHibernate, EntityFramework, DB4O...)

This said, let me explain you a bit. Our custom ORM defines data-related stuff: table creation, table modification, pkey and indexes implementation, foreign keys, datatype, null values... You can have an example in the various tables/.cs files into DOLDatabase. Notice this is not entities, a class is the exact table representation.

The main work is to revamp the table attributes, in introducing missing constraints (in example, iirc, there are no FK in quests, but all quests are rattached to a character. Deleting a char must delete the quests).

For your kits, i guess you can rely on the numerous package_id fields. I don't think they 'll be enough to handle dependencies - imho you'll have to think about a protocol.

I also guess we could see for a database server accessible for you.

[Graveen]

Edit: ok i see the structure you are proposing, interesting.

[Graveen]

Next point. I know Deatwish, Viper1805, etc... are also working on a public database. I think this is interesting to join the efforts feel free to pm them