Level Designing

[Jug]

Towns, or "Dwarven Halls" as they have been called, can be found in the Ironman dungeon every so often.  Currently, each Dwarven Hall looks exactly the same, which kind of sucks.  Several people have expressed an interest in designing a level for a Dwarven Hall which can then be added into the Ironman Server.  Here are some quick notes on how to do it.

First, you need to download the Ironman Server so you can run it on your local PC.

Once installed, start the server and then close it down again.  This just makes sure all the initial save files are created.

OK, now start the server and log in to it as the character "God".    
Go to a dungeon level, not one of the current Dwarven Hall levels.
Press & to access the Dungeon Master menus, goto the "building menu", experiment.

When you are designing a level make sure you don't move < or > or your level will be lost.  It's probably safer to use 50ft for your construction and place another character someone on that level to make sure it stays static if you accidentally move off it.

When you are done, close the server window.  Now take a copy of the file "C:\Program Files\Ironman MAngband Server\lib\save\server" this file contains your level (as well as a load of other stuff).  You can open it in a good text editor and take a look.
   
Anyone who tries this will end up with questions such as, "How do I create a shop door?", "How do I create water?".  I'll answer these if anyone does indeed get this far.
   
- Jug

[Fink]

Some macros:

\e&21\e\e 1 Granite  
\e&22\e\e 2 Permanent
\e&23\e\e 3 Tree      
\e&24\e\e 4 Evil Tree
\e&25\e\e 5 Grass    
\e&26\e\e 6 Dirt      
\e&27\e\e 7 Floor    
\e&28\e\e 8 Off      

Oddly, on my box, using option 8 to leave building mode leaves a square of floor at your location.

-fink

[Jug]

Yea, the building mode isn't very good, it's a real pain.  I guess because the game has never supported pre-designed levels, it was never really needed for much before.

- Jug

[Fink]

Shops (value - shop #):

48 - 1
49 - 2
4a - 3
4b - 4
4c - 5
4d - 6
4e - 7

Assorted

7c - Permarock
_6 - Water (underscore = space in your map data, as in " 6" no quotes)
_d - Down stair (ie, " d" no quotes)
_c - Up stair (ie, " c" no quotes)

[Fink]

Im in God mode, so I can't say fer sure things are behaving as would happen in a normal session, but how if I walk down stairs to a newly made level, will I appear at the supplied up stair on the new level?

In god mode, this isn't happening - but then, in god mode, you're floating so I suppose most likely Im seeing that.

-fink

[Jug]

Yea your right, you can't test stairs in God mode.

It's easy to test with a normal level 1 character if you simply move your designed dungeon level to 50ft.  Then you can just go > from the town.  Here's how...

Assuming you have extracted your level and saved it in a "server-level-xx" file, in your saved level, first two lines are:

[pre]
   <dungeon_level>
     depth = 20
[/pre]

Just change that depth = 20 to depth = 1, and save the level file as "server-level-1".

Stop and restart the server.  Now your level is just below the town.

You can now test your stairs with a normal character.  The stairs are positioned by the following lines in the save file.  Where x,y coordinates are counted from the top left of the level, i.e., 0,0 is the top left.

[pre]
     level_up_y = 29
     level_up_x = 56
     level_down_y = 37
     level_down_x = 56
[/pre]

level_up_ is the <
level_down is the >


- Jug

[Fink]

Ah, glad I asked - thanks jug!

[Berendol]

Whoa, server-level-xx is a cool way to do it. Kudos!

[Avenger]

I'm trying to build a level and I have a few questions.
1.Where do I type those numbers given by polysatan? I've tried them in the DM menu and as macros and they don't work.
2.Lights from old rooms remain, is there anyway to get rid of these?
3.Monsters keep generating, which shouldn't hapen in a dwarven hall. Is there any way to stop them other than periodic mass geno sweeps of the level?

Probably more to follow later; I just got started.
Thanks,
Avenger

[Fink]

Use a good text editor to insert values for floor tiles etc that aren't included in the in-game editor. So, you'll manually edit in your stairs, shops, etc.

The lit tiles etc seem to be defined in the accompanying <info> block of a map chunk (the block of data below the main level data wodge). I haven't screwed around with this yet, but it looks like " 2" is perhaps unlit, and " 6" lit, within the info block.

I'm not sure on the monster generation. Perhaps you are staticing a level and you dont realize it, which is leaving monsters intact. I had some difficulty getting monsters off a level at one point, and, as well as for other reasons, I just reinstalled the IronMAng winserver.

Start editing a level, and now and then copy off the appropriate map data wodge from the main server save file. When things are looking good, replace a server-level-n file with your own data (ie, all this to protect against accidentally losing your work).

[Avenger]

Ok that sounds good, but I can't find the file to edit. In the lib/save folder there are saved level files for the dwarven halls, but my level(which is staticed by the way) does not appear. I'm going to try copying one of the existing levels and saving it as server-level-01 or something and editing that.
Anyway thanks for your help Jug and Polysatan, and if you have any more ideas on what I might be doing wrong please let me know.
Thanks,
Avenger

[Fink]

Your level appears in the big server file, as long as it is staticed. So, scroll through it until you see a big chunk of map data. The already-existing town maps will be in there, and among them you will see your own creation.

It can be useful to keep the server file open in your editor, and then copy off the map chunk of yours as you work (ie, back it up now and then).

When you are happy with what you have, add in the shops and wotnot, and you can then save it off as a server-level-n file. Restart the server so the server-level-n's are used again, and yours should now be in the dungeon.

[Avenger]

Found it. Thanks.
Hopefully I will have a level ready soon, but at this exact moment I don't feel like methodically editing hundreds of black and white characters in a text file, so by 'soon' I mean from a few hours to a few days.