HelpInfo(Builder)

CoffeeMUD
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=CoffeeMUD Builder Information=
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Help Information

The CoffeeMUD Help files are generated from the entries within abilities, areas, behaviors, character classes, and other properties and gathered into an ini or text file in the /resoureces/help folder of your Virtual File System (VFS) and/or local drive.

Commands and Abilities

• Help on Abilities are stored within each individual ability-type ini file.
  • Chants are in chant_help.ini file.
  • Common skills are in common_help.ini file.
  • Prayers are in the prayer_help.ini file.
  • Fighter, Paladin, Ranger and generic skills in the skill_help.ini file.
  • Songs, dances and plays are in the songs_help.ini file.
  • Spells are in the spell_help.ini file.
• Help on Classes, Stats, Clans and a variety of other topics are stored in the misc_help.ini file.
• Help for Commands are in the help.ini file.

Builder Help

Help for builders, known as AHELP (archon help) files, provides information on behaviors, properties and commands available to builders.

• AHELP topics are stored in help files that begin with "arc_"
  • Behaviors are stored in the arc_behaviors.ini file.
  • Builder commands are stored in the arc_help.ini file.
  • Properties are stored in the arc_properties.ini file.
  • A variety of miscellaneous topics are in the arc_misc.ini file.

Area Help

The help files for areas are solely contained as fields in the area itself.

• The Area Name, Description and Author are displayed directly in the help for the area.
• The derived stats of Number of Rooms, Population, currency, level range, median level, average alignment and median alignment are determined upon area load.
  • You can reset an area help file with the command UNLOAD RESOURCE STATS_[AREANAME].
• Area Blurbs are appended to the end of the HELP file. Area Blurbs can be a useful mechanic for adding specific information fields to an area, and are included separately by tag name in the LIST AREAS WIKIHELP command for making wiki templates for your areas.

Adding Help Files

Builders with the appropriate permissions may add help topics directly to the help.ini file or create additional ini files in the /resources/help/ folder to generate new help topics. The CREATE HELP [KEYWORD] command may be used to create help topics from the command line.

Similarly, help file entries may be edited or deleted directly from the ini files or with the command line commands MODIFY HELP [KEYWORD] and DESTROY HELP [KEYWORD].

Notes

• If you remove the <ABILITY> tag from the help ini file, it will remove all the derived fields.
  • GenAbilities will include derived stats in the help files as long as their description starts with <ABILITY> in the HELP ENTRY field.