Systems we could leverage

1.) [REQ] Use shift/scrollwheel for Spawn sizing - ZexisStryfe
2.) [REQ] Use mannequin dressing interface to equip spawns - ZexisStryfe
3.) [REQ] Use new book editing interface for creating books - ZexisStryfe

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After the recent update to the Broker system for admin use (which is great by the way) I have been thinking about other existing systems that could make our lives as server admins a little easier. Personally the more I can do in the game itself without having to go back into the DB directly to edit things, the better. Two things came to mind.

1.) On live, if you use shift/scroll wheel, it changes the size of the object you are moving. This would be great for creating new spawns. Several times I have spawned something using the /spawn create command only to have to resize it after adding it to the database after using the /spawn add command to add it to the database. With this command it would be much easier than constantly reloading the spawns to see if I sized it correctly. It could be integrated into the /spawn move command.

2.) I am not sure if anyone here is familiar with the dressing mannequins they added several updates ago, but these statues actually have an interface attached to them which allow you to drag and drop appearance items onto a slot on the interface in order to dress the mannequin, as seen in this image-



Couldn't we apply this same idea to dressing NPCs? It would be easy to put my entire wearables/weildables lists into the database as special appearance items. This would allow you to search items with the broker, then pull them directly from that window into the appearance slots for the NPC. Again, it would make things much easier than making the changes directly in the database.

Just a few ideas to make our lifes easier as admins...

Sounds like a good idea!

Love it. That's some cool stuff, 3 of 6.

I had no freakin idea about mannequins tho. wtf? how did I miss that?

After making my first post a few days ago about making use of existing systems, imagine my surprise when Rothgar, the EQ2 dev, posted a gimmie on the EQ2Players website:

Leave your permanent mark on the world of Norrath!

by: Greg "Rothgar" Spence

One of the upcoming features for GU52 is a new system that will allow players to write and distribute their own books in the world of Norrath. These books look and act just like the current books in the game. You can hold them in your inventory or place them in your house or guild hall for other players to read.

These user-written books can be obtained from a crafter and will start out blank. Any player can write in a blank book, but as soon as you write the first word you become the author of that book. From that point forward, only the author may edit the contents of the book.

The book window will display an “Edit” button whenever you read a blank book or a book you have authored. Clicking the edit button will reveal controls that allow you to enter text and see the layout from page to page.



There is no limit to the number of pages, but books are limited by the amount of text. A progress bar will let you know how much more text your book can hold as you are typing. There is also an auto-save feature that will periodically write the contents of the book to your hard drive in case of a crash.

When you’ve completed the book and you’d like to distribute it, you can make as many copies as you like. All you need is the original book and a blank book. Right-click the original book and choose “Copy”. Your cursor will turn into an arrow allowing you to select the blank book in your inventory that you’d like to copy it to.

User-written books are tradable allowing you to give them to friends or place them on the broker. We’re really excited about this new feature and look forward to seeing your creativity!

Join the discussion in our Official Forums!

Although this system won't be added until GU52, once it is in we could definately utilize it to create books for our own worlds.

I decided to broaden out this request and make it a place where everyone can post ways we can leverage existing systems to augment an admin's ability to work within the world he is creating. As such I changed the topic title from "[REQ] NPC Sizing and Dressing" to "[REQ] Systems We Could Leverage for Admin Use". I also added a list to the top of the first post for easy reference.

These are all great ideas. Thanks for being so resourceful, Zexis.

ZexisStryfe wrote:Systems we could leverage

1.) [REQ] Use shift/scrollwheel for Spawn sizing - ZexisStryfe
2.) [REQ] Use mannequin dressing interface to equip spawns - ZexisStryfe
3.) [REQ] Use new book editing interface for creating books - ZexisStryfe

Great ideas!

1. The last time I tried to do this I couldn't get it to work. We are probably missing a packet or something that enables this option.

2. Shouldn't be hard to implement, just need to flag an NPC as a mannequin and send the appropriate packets.

3. I'll have to add book support first, but I like the idea.

I like that book idea that is great, user generated content in an MMO is awesome

Anyone know if these dressing mannequins are still a function in-game? I keep forgetting about them while in-game collecting. If they are still there, maybe this would be a good thing to collect?


We had lots of great input, once upon a time...

/bump

As far as I know the mannequins are still in-game. They can be bought on the broker. Here is a link with more info in regard to mannequins. I'm not sure how accurate the info listed is as some things may have changed.