2018-03-28 23:51:48

Hi All,
Those of you who were following the Warsim thread a while ago may remember my making a post about an expansion/update pack for the Wastes. At long last, the pack is at a state where I feel comfortable releasing it to public beta.
In short, this is a MushClient-powered set of scripts that tries to bring a little life back to the game. It includes a bunch of typo/wording fixes, some new sounds (more hopefully to come), smoothes over some glitches, and even finishes adding a feature or two.
The pack runs the anniversary mod, and more content may be added as time goes on.
I do want to emphasize that this is most certainly a beta product. I'm posting it here so that it can get some wider exposure than the couple people I've shared it with, but expect bugs and crashes while that exposure does what its supposed to and helps me iron out the kinks.
For more info or to give it a shot, check out the homepage:
https://nightvista.net/theWastesPack
If you have feedback, thoughts, new content or find bugs, do drop me line, at:
https://nightvista.net/contact.php
If you're planning to repost or share this elsewhere, I do ask that you let me know first. The pack is complicated, and until I've had some time to make sure everything works smoothly under load, I'd like to keep the rollout somewhat gradual.

A note for Mush-z users: if you plan to use this pack, you should download and install a separate copy of MushClient. Do not use the one that comes with Mush-z, as it is not designed to play nicely with other worlds. The Wastes should install alongside any other muds you have without issue, though.

Best,
John

2018-03-29 00:49:12 (edited by defender 2018-03-29 00:50:19)

Hot damn this is
awesome! great work you guys!
I do wonder though if the bug where after you get to a really high level, the game tends to crash is fixed though? because that's why I stopped playing the wastes...
The worst part about that bug is that I can't seem to pin it down, it's happened when going into new areas, when encountering enemies ETC and usually at LVL50 or above, it even gets rid of your graveyard file!
You just get a runtime error and the game has no choice but to close and it sucks.
Either way though this is really cool, especially the ability to check stats on the fly, not to mention the added sounds!
I do wonder why you can't use it with Mush Z though? I thought you could just open a new world and import the plugins you needed no problem...

2018-03-29 01:09:43

Hi,
I've been able to create several worlds with mush-z, just make sure that the alter aeon world does not open on startup. You can then seemingly just create new worlds, although I have not tried it with this pack yet, and I don't know if I have the latest version of mush-z, so things may have changed.

2018-03-29 01:10:21

@Defender:
This isn't a code update to the wastes, so any crash bugs in the game are there to stay. All I'm really doing under the hood is text processing.

There are two primary reasons for my recommending you not use Mush-z. Firstly, is that the development team is making a dedicated effort to ensure that mush-z is only used for Alter Aeon, and its rude of me to work against them.
Secondly, is that as I said, mush-z is configured to work with Alter Aeon, and not other worlds. A stock copy of Mush-z will cause a fair bit of user frustration if you try to add my pack to it (I know this from experience setting the pack up for a tester). The two can be meshed, but only fairly advanced MushClient/computer users should be attempting it. If this is something you want to do, drop me a line through my contact page and I can help you set it up on an individual basis (damage to your copy of mush-z, including a possible need to reinstall since I'm not familiar with the most recent iterations, is hereby disclaimed).

2018-03-29 01:21:35

@Aaron:
That's only half the battle. Once you remove the automatic connecting, you'll need to reconfigure all of the shortcuts installed by Mush-z.  Thus I'm recommending that people just install a separate copy of MushClient, since its quite a bit faster and less painful.

2018-03-29 03:57:39

I use a mushZ config with other muds all the time and haven't had any of the problems you're describing, save removing the automatic connection thing. shrug

Take care, it's a desert out there.

2018-03-29 04:00:14

Moderation!

Though neither the Wastes nor Mushclient are new things, methinks  this still should go in the new releases room big_smile.

Great that some work is going into the wastes, I admit I would like a better way of handling towns since Nvda doesn't play as well with the  windows as I would've liked it to.

one very lazy question I have is, are there any plans for a stand alone copy of this? I don't currently have mushclient on my pc, just MushZ since I tend to use Vipmud for general mud things (and please lets not open up that can of worms again).

Also, its possible others who are interested in the wastes outside this community might find this handy as well especially in text processing.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2018-03-29 05:44:14

I wonder how big the file that the client downloading currenly? , is it more then 100mb?

2018-03-29 07:31:51

@Stirlock:
Either way, my point (a) above still stands. Its a clear effort of the Mush-z development team to press for Mush-z only being used with Alter aeon, and since I fully understand their reasons for this, I've chosen to support them in that effort. You are, of course, free to configure your version any way you want, and the pack will work fine either way.

@Dark:
Towns were actually one of the driving reasons behind my original idea for this project. The output window handles them beautifully.
Since the source for the Wastes itself no longer exists, it is *impossible* to modify the game directly. Thus, MushClient (or some other wrapping layer) is the only way to make any of these updates. Because of its flexibility and ease of use, I've chosen to use MushClient as that wrapping layer. Its technically possible for any equally capable software, if configured to work with socketwrap, to do the same thing (see https://nightvista.net/theWastesPack/te … Notes.html for more details on exactly how everything works together). If you want to play without redesigning the entire pack yourself though, you'll need to install a copy of MushClient.

@JasonBlaze:
The full pack including all core Wastes files is currently around 30mb. This is because, as I mention on the project homepage, all of the ambience is now handled by MushClient, reducing its size by about 95%.

2018-03-29 21:02:16

@John, I'm aware your pack needs mushclient to run, I just wondered if there was a workaround for people who don't have mushclient, ie, a preconfigured copy with a program group etc like the mushZ pack that just runs the wastes.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2018-03-29 21:18:38

@Dark:
There is not at this time, and I don't currently have any plans to design one. Such a package is something I gave some thought to, but decided against for two reasons.
Firstly, I'd need to be continually updating the package with new MushClient releases, increasing the development burden and maintenance time substantially. This is a hobby; I want to spend my time making it better, not dealing with software updates.
Second, and of more weight in my decision making, is that I don't believe in restrictive packages. If I distributed MushClient with the pack, I'd need to do a similar thing to Mush-z, and create a copy of MushClient that was restricted to my project. This would mean that you'd need yet another copy if you wanted to play other muds. As it stands, the version of MushClient you install can be used anywhere you want, for any reason (as can socketwrap, which has a huge number of cool applications outside the pack).
If you want to avoid installing a second copy of MushClient, contact me privately and I'll be happy to help you get the pack working with your existing copy of Mush-z on an individual basis.

2018-03-30 12:21:57

How do I connect to the wastes? I am trying to set it up, and it says to put the address as localhost, but that doesn't work.

:D happy to help out with games and the like... maybe :D

2018-03-30 13:56:09

@Bradp:
Once you configure your client, you need to start the server and game.
There are two ways to do this. Either you can type "startup" (without the quotes of course), or you can select autostarting during the configuration process (type config to reset your options).

2018-03-30 18:36:08

This happens whenever I try to reopen the world containing the game:
Error number: 0
Event:        Run-time error
Description:  [string "Plugin"]:234: attempt to index global 'ppi' (a nil value)

stack traceback:

    [string "Plugin"]:234: in function <[string "Plugin"]:213>
Called by:    Function/Sub: OnPluginInstall called by Plugin theWastes

Reason: Executing plugin theWastes sub OnPluginInstall

2018-03-30 22:59:34

@Lucas1853:
Thanks for the report. This is one of the most persistent issues I've been running into, and it just doesn't seem to want to die.
Can you answer a couple questions for me:
*Are game sounds playing (ambience, etc)?
*In the plugins dialog (ctrl shift p), is LuaAudio installed?
I'm hoping that the ansewr to both of these is yes. If not, did you get any error messages during initial installation?

I'm going to look into building a workaround for this issue. It should have been fixed by an update prior to release, but apparently not everything was resolved.

Btw, that was an excelent copy paste of the compilation error, and tells me exactly what's going wrong. Thanks for the details.

@All:
Is this happening to anybody else? I'd like to try and figure out if its a wide spread issue that may be pointing to a large issue with the installation script, or if its a just a simple bug.

2018-03-30 23:57:42

I believe I've got a partial workaround for the audio issue Lucas reported. If your client is already working fine, you can skip the rest of this post (unless of course you're curious).
If you are receiving a scripting error and are interested in testing the patch, please redownload the main plugin via
https://nightvista.net/theWastesPack/fi … wnload.php
replace your current file, and reload the client.
If you were previously getting the script error dialog, one of two things should happen. Either you'll get a more polite error message telling you LuaAudio could not be found, or the game will work properly.
Especially if you didn't have sound, if this patch resolves your issue, make sure to send something through my contact page. This is the best possible case, so if it crops up I'd really like to hear about it (you can make up a name and email if you want since I just need the confirmation).

I've set things up so that this patched version will be delivered to any new installations, but existing copies will need to either manually patch or wait for a fuller update. Hopefully this means that anybody whose client was behaving can continue playing, and anybody who would run into the issue will at least have less of a headache.

2018-03-31 01:50:18

Hi,
No, the sounds do not play but lua audio is installed. Here is a new error. Before, the plugin wouldn't even load, and I couldn't type startup, install, etc. Now, it does load, but it errors every once in a while:
Error number: 0
Event:        Run-time error
Description:  [string "Plugin"]:112: attempt to index global 'ppi' (a nil value)

stack traceback:

    [string "Plugin"]:112: in function 'playloop'

    [string "Plugin"]:178: in function 'startAmbience'

    [string "Trigger: "]:8: in main chunk
Called by:    Immediate execution

2018-03-31 02:45:44

@Lucas1853:
It sounds to me like your installation didn't complete for some reason, then. Try typing install now, and let it run for a while (if the program appears to stop responding its doing what its supposed to).
This will make sure that you actually have all the needed files set up. Any errors you get during the install about plugins already being installed can be safely ignored.

2018-03-31 06:57:43

hi, everything works fine here, well except no ambiances and music, the other sounds are playing properly.
anyways, nice job!

2018-03-31 12:41:21

hi,

i am really excited to play the wastes again, but I am getting an error when i try to install the plugin.

I tried both versions of Mush client. both portable and the installed version.
Both times installed it into my documents, not program files.

first off when I go through adding the plugin through the dialogue and I click through the various dialogues it reports lua audio couldn't be found, even though it is in the list of plugins...

but even worse is that  when I then close the plugins window and type install I get the following error. by the way I am definitely connected to the internet.

Error number: 0
Event:        Run-time error
Description:  [string "client=GetInfo(66)..."]:6: attempt to index global 'PPI' (a nil value)

stack traceback:

    [string "client=GetInfo(66)..."]:6: in function 'torun'

    [string "Plugin"]:258: in function 'install'

    [string "Alias: "]:1: in main chunk
Called by:    Immediate execution

2018-03-31 21:14:02 (edited by john 2018-03-31 21:52:40)

@Dragonlee:
Thanks for the report, and excellent details.
I believe the bug should now be resolved (a full installation went smoothly on my system). Additionally, these changes should smooth out a little bit of work under the hood.
You'll need to redownload the main plugin, and if you feel up to it, deleting the pack's home in your mushClient/worlds folder will make things a little easier.
[edit]: The same applies to anybody still experienceing issues. If you wipe and reinstall, the pack should behave normally.

2018-03-31 22:02:51

I've now begun working on the changes that will make up the next version.
So far they include the bug fixes for LuaAudio/the installer, and cleaning up strings displayed by joyous and fearsome.
If you're playing and run across any similar issues: typos, odd wordings, etc (including in books or item descriptions), feel free to send them to me via the contact page, and I'll make sure to add them.

I'm also planning to add some additional sounds for this update.

2018-04-01 01:00:50 (edited by john 2018-04-01 01:01:22)

Beta release 2 is now live. This includes the installation updates and a few other bits and pieces (type changes to get a full list).
To get the new release, type update at any point, and it will be active next time you load the client.
Note that there is an intentional pause at the start of the update process, so just because your client lags doesn't mean something's wrong.

2018-04-01 10:18:28

Awesome! it works now.

i have a noob question for mush client that i can't seem to get answered by the help files, because when I try to open them it says they are not implemented...

anyway, after closing mush client and reopening it, how do I re-lopen the world?

I pressed ctrl+O and it prompted me to select the .mcl or .txt file to open, but the the wastes directory in worlds has a bunch of files, so I am not sure which I am supposed to select...

2018-04-01 13:14:40

@Dragonlee:
By default, new world files are created in the root of mushClient\worlds.
You should have access to a list of recently opened files on the file menu. You can use that to select the world file you just made.
Additionally, you can create a shortcut to the mcl file (right click->create shortcut or right click->sendTo->desktop). This is probably the easiest way to do it.

Best,
John