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[FunctionZero]

Has anyone set up a fan/modding forum for Cataclysm yet? If so, I've got extensive forum experience and I wouldn't mind moderating to keep posts concise, spam-free, and fix any linguistic issues that may arise from having multi-national individuals all trying to speak the same language. Gods know I'm horrible when I start speaking Portuguese or Spanish >_>

I would love to have a fan forum for Cataclysm--it seems like the interest is there--but as far as I know, there isn't one.  If you know of a good hosting service, or can provide hosting yourself, please let me know, or just go ahead and set it up.

Eh, I have a personal forum for my novels and stories on ZetaBoards, but I've seen a few better boards out there. After the previous host changed to ZetaBoards I no longer have any damn idea what the hell I'm doing, though there are now hundreds of new, complicated features lol.

My idea would be to set up a Simple Machines forum (the one Bay12 is using and is just fine) on a free webhost. Google Sites for example-

Anyway, I've already written some of the guide (I haven't gotten to the fun parts yet.) What do you think? Any typos and such?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

=======================
GUIDE TO MODDING
=======================


TABLE OF CONTENTS
=======================

I.      Introduction

II.      Preparation and Compiling
      a.   Windows
      b.   Linux
      
III.   What do all the files do?

IV.      Adding Definitions
      a. Monsters
      b. Items
      
V.      Conclusion


I. INTRODUCTION
=======================
In Cataclysm, you'll have to change the game's souce code itself if you want to mod the game. I'll try to describe how to do that in this guide.
The game is written in C++, but while knowledge of programming can be useful, it is not needed. The code was written to be easibly understood and modified.


II. PREPARATION AND COMPILING
=======================
While for changing the code you won't need much more than a text editor, you will need a compiler and some additional game resources to recompile it into a playable game.
I'll now describe how to do that for both platforms.

=== a. WINDOWS ===
I'll describe how to compile using Code::Blocks, which is an IDE, containing everything you need to develop programs.
You can, of course, use compilers like MinGW directly, though I have been unable to link the libraries there, so I can't document it.

First go to "https://github.com/headswe/Cataclysm". Press "Download" and grab an archive of the source.
Extract it somewhere.
Second, let's download and install Code::Blocks now. Get the version that's bundled with MinGW.

Once installed, you'll also need to download the libraries like PDCurses and SDL.
Download "http://www.libsdl.org/release/SDL-devel-1.2.14-mingw32.tar.gz" and put the "bin", "lib" and "include" directories into the MinGW directory.
Download "http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdcurses/files/pdcurses/3.4/pdc34dlls.zip/download" and put "pdcurses.lib" into the "lib" directory in MinGW, "pdcurses.dll" into "bin" and the ".h" files into "includes".

In the extracted source, look for cataclysm.cbp. This is a Code::Blocks project file. It only needs some configuring and it's ready to compile.
Open it, we'll be now working in Code::Blocks.

Right-click on Cataclysm project and select "Build Options". Go to "Linker Settings" and add "\lib\libSDLmain.a" and "\lib\libSDL.dll.a".
Change the "Other linker options" to have all these: "-lmingw32 -lSDLmain -static -lpdcurses"

Click OK and try to build (compile) the project now. If everything works out fine, you're ready to mod.

=== b. Linux ===
On Linux, it is infinitely more simple to compile the source.

First, open the terminal. On Ubuntu, it is accessible under Applications / Accessories.
I'm simply going to list the commands you need to type in now. It may ask you to type in your password or Y to confirm. Do it and continue.

"sudo apt-get install libncurses5-dev", "sudo apt-get install libncursesw5-dev", "sudo apt-get update", "sudo apt-get install g++", "sudo apt-get install git-core"

This is it. Now to pull the source. You're likely in your "home" or "root" directory in the terminal. You can use "ls" to list the directories and "cd" to move into them.
Once you are where you want the source to be, type "git clone git://github.com/Whales/Cataclysm.git". This'll make a directory called Cataclysm and pull the source into it. It might take a while.

Type "cd Cataclysm" to move into the directory". Now type "make" to compile it. If it fails, try "make clean".

If it works, try running the game with "./cataclysm". If that also works, you're ready to mod.

[Micro102]

I think I'm just going to wait for a much later version, hoping that the bugs are fixed. I don't feel like downloading this gdb program to debug it.

I got bored.

Anyway, confirmed personal bug, after closing the "@" screen, trying to view your inventory open up any other screen crashes the game. That means i,w,E, ect.


Hopefully there is  a way to fix this.

[Ehndras]

I. INTRODUCTION
=======================
In Cataclysm, you'll have to change the game's souce code itself if you want to mod the game. I'll try to describe how to do that in this guide.
The game is written in C++, but while knowledge of programming can be useful, it is not needed. The code was written to be easibly understood and modified.


Besides that typo, everything else seems fine. Your grammar makes reading it a bit dense, but all in all its understandable.

[DalGren]

Glad you're enjoying it!  All my code is open-source (of course) and I'd be thrilled if you used some ideas I've had (and even more thrilled if you did a better job than me )

I am, unfortunately, only well-versed in standard C and/or Lua, I always found C++ code a bit alien to read, although I might give it a try when I am done with a personal project I am just starting. I just happened to retire from coding into another roguelike to move into that project, so...

Building fences is a good idea.  A near-future update will include lots more building options, and I'll make sure fences is one of them.

That is most excellent. With that finding alternate safety spots will be easier (you can camp near water surrounded by DYI walls and such).

Narcolepsy is a good idea, but yes, would be kind of tricky to balance to make sure that the player doesn't fall asleep when danger is imminent.  I'll start thinking about just how I'd do that.  Dreams and nightmares, too!  Probably more the latter than the former, since your character is probably a little on-edge.

Well, as I said, you can make it a chance to fall asleep while not doing anything (like when using the ^ command), or during actions where the body is relaxed such as sitting down (thus driving), operating a computer or reading a book. That's how it works IRL at least. During a fight, running away or such, you might feel tired, but you can't go to sleep (trust me).Nightmares make perfect sense in the situation, although given the random nature of dreams, a pleasant one is as likely to appear as a terrifying one. However terrifying ones are more in-theme. Maybe you can add messages like "the zombie hulk hits you for X damage. You die. You suddenly wake up". It might also scare the less attentive players who peruse the log and see the name of a powerful foe.


Cantennas are an awesome idea, as are gas-powered burners as an alternative to the battery-powered one.  Alarm clocks are a good idea as well.  TODO'd

I am glad to hear! Soon this will have as many options as real life it seems

Portable consoles are kind of planned, especially once I drop this computer update.  Down the road a bit, though.

Fair enough.

Leaving notes is an interesting thought; however, the sheer size of the game world means that it'd be a bit like finding a needle in a haystack (heck, even on the server, just finding a dead body isn't THAT common, right?)  I'm planning to add your personal map to your corpse-drop (so that players finding it can get the benefit of your exploration, AND any notes you left on your map--e.g. "ammo stash here").  Maybe I'll toss in an auto-generated journal that can be read by players who find your remains?

Well, I didn't check your map code, but you can handle  little events (in the case of randomly generated notes), such as if you generate something valuable like a safe or a hidden item (I have read around the topic that you can bury items?), then generate a note inside the same building (hidden maybe? that'd need furniture or something though). Or if you have access to areas that aren't the immediate surroundings while generating, you can generate an item far away and generate the note with hints afterwards. Modifying the value with distance can also work, so the further, or the more steps required for your treasure hunt, the more value the items have (so you don't walk several streets to just find dayquil)
For player content, I have found plenty of corpses in the SSH server, and I happen to stumble upon my own corpses easily in local. So I don't think it's that much of a stretch. Personal map and auto-generated journals are actually nice ideas. The map already contains notes, and if those could be shared around, it'd be quite useful or interesting, specially in the shared map. (It'd have a similar effect on local maps for the player, since players might forget a game from X weeks ago, and then go "aaah, that's WHERE I hid it!"). If you can spice the text output of an automatical journal, it might be an actually fun reading.

On the subject of NPCs:
Going into this, I knew that NPCs had the potential to be overpowered in two ways--first, it is exceptionally easy for one to kill you with a shotgun.  I didn't want to go the FPS route and make damage from guns reduced by 90% when they hit the player, so it's an issue.  Second, a player who wants to could use NPCs as "item pinatas," rather than the allies (or albatrosses) they're intended as.  To combat both of these, I decided that killing an NPC should be a big penalty, strong enough to make the player want to avoid it--and that NPCs should view killing the player as undesirable as well.  This is why most NPCs, when hostile, will simply seek to mug the player rather than shoot you and take your stuff.

That's something I fear indeed. You can see that in Rogue Survivor, to mention a similarly-themed game, NPCs make it impossible to play in any way that is not Rambo or Jack The Ripper (in zombie land). Since it really killed my experience with RS, I just really wish it doesn't happen with this one too. For me Cataclysm kind of rescues RS and mixes it with another favorite (which I can't play on Linux) Caves of Qud. I really want this game to become legendary.


Currently, NPCs make pretty decent allies.  If they're a good shot, they'll take out zombies quite quickly; however, they're ignorant of the zombie-attracting nature of firearms.  This is issue 1.  Issue 2 is that there's no system in place for dividing up loot; it's basically "who gets there first" when desirable items on the floor are concerned.  Otherwise, there's no great need to babysit NPCs; occasionally they'll get in trouble with monsters and you'll need to save them, but they'll try to save you if you're in trouble too (though this behavior could use some improvement).  They're also smart enough to know when there's a risk of friendly fire; the "acceptable" level of risk is dependant on the individual NPC's personality, but generally they'll tell you to move, or try to navigate so they can get a clean shot.
"Useless" NPCs like children or the badly-injured are vaguely planned as a part of the mission system ("Find and retrieve my child," "I can't walk--carry me to safety" etc.).  Family members are planned as well (My half-coded default starting mission is "Find your brother"), with the expected penalties should they die.

I still haven't tried adding some NPCs for study, but will try to check it out later today. Sounds fairly acceptable, though, perhaps my bitter experience with RS is making me too wary.I wouldn't make children "useless", however. Children are quite resistant even in real life (try doing the stuff you did as a kid now that you are an adult and watch body parts snap uncontrollably), and they surely can learn to use a gun. Sure, they might have horrible penalties in perception and strength, but I wouldn't make them absolutely useless. Consider that in such a situation a lot of kids would have to survive by themselves. Same with old guys or injured, who still have experiences and might not be entirely done for. Besides, this forum is used to children crafting ultimately fucked up items (as in DF), and many will probably find the senile old man who snapped and killed 80 zombies in a row before dying totally awesome. I hope you consider that.

This reminds me. Have you thought of generating house content using an "owner" system? To sum it up, whenever you generate a house, you generate who lives in there first. Something from 1-4 persons. Then you can generate archetypes, such as "widow, nerd, child m/f, scholar, crazy old cat lady, housewife, policeman/woman, software developer, hacker, drug user/dealer, office worker, weapon collector, crazy war veteran, chef", then mix a few (for example) "we got the Smith's house which has an office worker, a housewife, a nerd and a female child", you can then populate the house with themed items for each, and modifying the number of rooms for them. In that example we might find books like "how to browse the web" from office worker, scifi novels or computer/mechanics advanced stuff from the nerd, candy because there's a child (simple, but it's for the sake of example), and cooking/cleaning utensils from the housewife. A house populated just by a nerd might have computer parts, mp3 players, junk food and minimal cleaning tools. A crazy cat lady's house will be stocked with cat food cans (and perhaps a cat-munched corpse or cat corpses around), and so on. What do you think? This also can allow giving names to houses like "Smith's residence" which can help orientation.

[Ehndras]

I like the housing idea, as I had suggested a few pages ago.


It'll make the game a lot more interesting, plus add a bit of backstory/theme rather than just busting into another random generic house.

Dunno how difficult this may be for coding though.

[FunctionZero]

easibly

Fixed. It's 5 AM here and I haven't slept in hours, expect me to make some mistakes.

Your grammar makes reading it a bit dense, but all in all its understandable.

I was fearing that would happen. I'm open to suggestions to make it more ... uhh ... breezy?
No wait, what's the opposite of verbose?

[DalGren]

I like the housing idea, as I had suggested a few pages ago.

Whoops, sorry, I completely missed that.
What brings me to...does this forum have a search-on-topic feature? Trying to find water sources before required me to open all 130 pages and search all of them for "water".

[Gamerlord]

that thing with the houses would take up massive amounts of memory if it all wasn't deleted after items were placed. Just saying.

[DalGren]

that thing with the houses would take up massive amounts of memory if it all wasn't deleted after items were placed. Just saying.

Not at all, it might not even need to be recalled, just used during generation, and just then putting a faceplate on a door or a mailbox or something. Unless you want to make logical connections between houses, in that case it will need to be stored, but it can be a few bytes each with proper coding, absolutely not an issue. (instead of storing names as strings just use a reference table and store an index so family names don't take much size, or can be hashed I guess, the other datum is number of inhabitants, which is easily stored in less than 4 bits)

[FunctionZero]

that thing with the houses would take up massive amounts of memory if it all wasn't deleted after items were placed. Just saying.

No, not really. They'd just be variables. We have, what, around 40 or so houses per town? And let's say one house can generate up to 5 inhabitants, for item placement purposes. That means up to 200 short variables, taking minimal memory.

But anyways, since this has no use outside worldgen, why load it into the memory anyways?

You're kinda underestimating modern systems. You know how much is 2 GBs of RAM? A lot. You can load a lot of stuff into the memory.

[Gamerlord]

What about shops? Will this kind of information be used for them too? What about labs?

EDIT: I try to keep the amount of space taken up on my computer low. It's just that I can kind of see this getting like DF in terms of world generation and that kind of scares me.

In other news, whats the limit on the generation of the map?

[Ehndras]

Another minor bug. Silencer says it muffles at the cost of damage and accuracy, but it has a +2 to hit bonus. Now, either I've got to-hit bonuses backwards and positive numbers are bad, or this is another minor numerical error.

For now, woot! Silencer that improves aim

[Ehndras]

Anyone have any idea what a plutonium cell does? o_O Just found one in some guys basement down the block from my house... Heh

[DalGren]

What about shops? Will this kind of information be used for them too? What about labs?

EDIT: I try to keep the amount of space taken up on my computer low. It's just that I can kind of see this getting like DF in terms of world generation and that kind of scares me.

In other news, whats the limit on the generation of the map?

Shops wouldn't really need it since they are already themed.
And nah, I don't think this will EVER reach the level of DF, even if tons of features are added. The code is competent and fast too.
About map generation, it has more chances of being infinite than Minecraft, since it doesn't need floats for position, so we might have something that is up to 64 bits (From -9223372036854775808 to 9223372036854775807. That's a lot of tiles). Who knows, there might be more bits dedicated to it, so it might be even bigger, or even infinite if the positions are relative to the current area.

EDIT: From that the Merchant of Menace says, it's 64 bits of map storage (X/Y), so it's pretty pretty big indeed.

[The Merchant Of Menace]

The world map is 4.6 x 10¹⁸ square miles, or about 20,000,000,000 times the size of Earth.

And regarding the silencer having a +2 to hit, that's for if you're wielding it as a melee weapon.