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Header flags lesson

The typical area file has the following main headers in it. I am using the Waterdeep area as an example. These are the headers that come before the #MOBILES section of the area file. They set alot of the overall and general settings for the area file.

#AREA {B0}Waterdeep~
#AUTHOR Blythe~
#RANGES
1 65 0 65
$
#RESETMSG {A0}You hear the marching of soldiers patroling the streets.~
#FLAGS
0 0
#ECONOMY 100000 100000
#WEATHER 5 5
#JUSTICE
CourtRoom 8859
Dungeon 8115
Judge 8210
Crime CRIME_HIGH_MURDER PUNISHMENT_DEATH
Crime CRIME_LOW_MURDER PUNISHMENT_SEVER
Crime CRIME_ASSAULT PUNISHMENT_JAIL
Crime CRIME_MUGGING PUNISHMENT_RANDOM_ITEM
$
#MINING MATERIAL_TIN
#LOGGING MATERIAL_WOOD

Lets break this up line by line in order to understand what each one means a bit better.

#AREA {B0}Waterdeep~ The area name can be any text. This is the name your area will be known as. When someone types 'areas' on the game this is what they will see as the name of the area. You must finish the area name with a tilda ~.

The area list command will populate based upon the color code used for the #AREA line in your .are file. Please update these color codes as necessary during your building process (you should begin as {40} and then wind up in one of the special categories). Here is the legend for the color codes.

{20} Wilderness Areas
{30} Low level dungeons/quest areas
{40} Incomplete areas
{50} Mid level dungeons/quest areas
{60} High level dungeons/quest areas
{70} Areas from other planes
{80} Underdark Areas
{90} Special areas
{A0} Villages and encampments
{B0} Major cities and towns
{C0} Areas for imms and special rps
{D0} Guildhouses and Academies
{E0} Organization HQ and side areas
{F0} Temples

Feel free to ask one of the builder administrators (or post in the "Area Discussion" forum) if you are unsure which category your area should be labeled as.

#AUTHOR Blythe~ This is the name you choose as the builder of the area. If the area has more than one builder you can put them in as follows:

#AUTHOR Blythe Jaxom~ - Depending on the length of the names both names can appear on the area listing. If they are too wide then it will make the listing go out of balance. When you are testing your area, be sure to type area to make sure that your author and area name fits into the allotted space in the area listing in game.

#RANGES
1 65 0 65
$

The first two numbers are the recommended level ranges of the area. There are 50 mortal levels on FKmud. 51 is the hero level and the rest are for immortals. The second two numbers are the enforced levels. For instance the newbie training area is limited up to level 9 by typing 1 9. You must end the #RANGES section with a $.

#RESETMSG {A0}You hear the marching of soldiers patroling the streets.~ This is the echo heard whenever the area resets. If none is put in then the default messages for each sector are echoed to the room. Note that you can colourise this message.

#FLAGS
0 0

The first number isnt to be used by regular builders and should be left at 0. (It is used for the wilderness areas). The second number is how long in minutes it takes an area to reset. An area like the newbie temple that resets frequently is set at 3. If left at 0 the game decides on the reset time which is quite a long period of time. A typical value is 15. Areas that are set to -1 never reset (until mud reboots).

#ECONOMY 100000 100000 The economy of an area is the total amount of copper that all the mobs in the area have available to buy goods from characters (via a player's sell command). Buying goods from a character will add the cost of the object to the economy and selling an object to a mob will subtract the cost from the economy. Small villages and guild/temple type areas should be in the range of 5k-20k. Medium sized towns and cities should range from 20k to 40k. Large cities might range from 40k to 100k.

#WEATHER 5 5 With these two fields you can set the weather for your area. The first number is the humidity of the area. Humidity is defined in a range from 1 - 10, where 1 is desert and 10 is rain forest. The second number is temperature. Temperature like humidity is defined in a range from 1 - 10, where 1 is frozen and 10 is hot. The default is 5 5.

#JUSTICE This denotes the beginning of the justice section of the area file. It consists of 9 lines all up.

Courtroom - This is the vnum of the room in which crime listings and reporting are done.
Dungeon - This is the vnum of the dungeon where offenders are placed when doing jail time.
Judge - This is the mobile who is in the courtroom who take crime reports. This mob also lets characters out of the dungeon when they have served their time.
Crime CRIME_HIGH_MURDER PUNISHMENT_DEATH - The crime is killing a PC, and the punishment is death when caught by a mobile that is flagged spec guard in the specials section of the area file.
Crime CRIME_LOW_MURDER PUNISHMENT_SEVER - The crime is killing a mobile/NPC and the punishment is the severing of a limb when the PC is caught by a mobile that is flagged spec guard in the specials section of the area file.
Crime CRIME_ASSAULT PUNISHMENT_JAIL - The crime is stealing from a PC, and the punishment is jail time when caught by a mobile that is flagged spec_guard in the specials section of the area file.
Crime CRIME_MUGGING PUNISHMENT_RANDOM_ITEM - The crime is stealing from a mobile/NPC and the punishment is the confiscation of a random item from the PC by a mobile that is flagged spec guard in the specials section of the area file.

Note that you can change the punishment to fit the crime of the area. More information about how to set up a justice system can be found here.

#MINING MATERIAL_TIN This sets the material that can be mined in an area. This header does not always need to be used. Its purpose is for underground mining areas where a set metal can be found.

#LOGGING MATERIAL_WOOD This sets the material that can be logged in an area. This header does not always need to be used. Its purpose is for forested areas where a set type of tree can be logged.