arc system questions

[racycle]

Hey , im trying to better understand arc systems. How does a arc based system find the vars from inside the arc file? Is it case senstive?

On another note , whats the best way to do it for when all armor/weapons are unique? would it be a bunch of arc files or a list stored inside the arc NPC libary?

[cbk1994]

Some people (Ziro?) are going to tell you otherwise, but there's no reason to use an "arc" file. You might as well just use a text (.txt) file. Basically, what you're talking about is called a "MUDlib". I'd link you to a Wikipedia article, but I can't on these forums, so just go Google it.

Basically, it's a way to store unique items that can have custom properties. For example, you could easily create a sword with a custom name or stats.

They're traditionally used for RPG servers, but can also be used for other types.

You're going to want to do stuff like:

PHP Code:

temp.vars.loadVars("items/cb/cbk1994/item_1241242452345.txt");
// then you can access stuff like
echo(vars.item_name); 


also look into the functions loadVars and saveVars.

To save you'd do something like

PHP Code:

temp.item = new TStaticVar();
item.item_name = "Super Sword";
item.item_weight = 1.4;
item.item_power = 50;
item.item_class = "warrior";

item.saveVars("items/cb/cbk1994/item_random_id_here.txt"); 


You can open the file with File Browser (in RC) to see how it's formatted. Remember that to access files via script, you need to give the NPC-server folder rights, account "(npcserver)" and rights like "rw items/*/*/*".

There are tons of different ways to do it, and everyone likes to do it a different way. You might also want to look into SQLite for item storage.

[racycle]

ok so also to load the files stats i could do like

temp.new_item.strength = item.item.power;

for upgrades to change the file could i do something like

temp.new_item.strength = item.strength;
if(upgrade){
item.strength == item.strength+1;

and for the saveing for the new changes something like

temp.new_item.savevars("players/items/"@player.account@"/weapon1.file-format");

plz correct me if im wrong

[fowlplay4]

You may want to play around with Ziro's Item System in the Code Gallery, and get an idea how they typically work.

You're going find though that if you have to load text files for everything when they log on that it will be really slow, compared to one's using a Cache and/or SQL.

I imagine a lot of this is going to fly right over your head right now but it'll hopefully make more sense after some experience with one.

[cbk1994]

Let's say you have a class like 'item_functions' with a function like this:

PHP Code:

function loadItemByPath(path) {
  temp.item = new TStaticVar();
  item.loadVars(path);
  return item;
} 


...then you can do stuff like

PHP Code:

function onCreated() {
  this.join("item_functions");
  
  temp.path = "items/cb/cbk1994/item_1492032.txt";
  temp.item = loadItemByPath(path);
  item.power += 5;
  item.saveVars(path, false);
} 


to update it.

[racycle]

thanks man , id leave rep if i knew how :P

[Crow]

Originally Posted by racycle

id leave rep if i knew how :P

Click the icon in the top right corner of his post

[xXziroXx]

Originally Posted by cbk1994

Some people (Ziro?) are going to tell you otherwise, but there's no reason to use an "arc" file.

Bit late reply, but here goes anyways! The only reason I ever used .arc to begin with, was because everyone else was doing it on Maloria (aka Maniaman, Zero and ShadowBlaze) - so it was rather natural for me to keep doing so. I always knew .arc was just a renamed .txt, and I've never recommended anyone to use the sooner above the latter.

[coreys]

Ini files are far superior :3

[Kyranki]

Originally Posted by coreys

Ini files are far superior :3

ftw

[Chompy]

Originally Posted by coreys

Ini files are far superior :3

Yes indeed.