How-To and Official Help For TMSS 3

How-To and Official Help For TMSS 3.0 & TMSF Core 1.0

For RunUO 1.0 & The ShardPack

By TMSTKSBK

(The M Strikes Back)

Preface – What TMSS is for:

TMSS is a system designed to take the hassle out of setting new players’ skills. It offers a wide array of plugins designed to assist an admin in making the system fit to his or her shard. The main system uses a system of Tickets and Stones. The stones can be distributed around the shard, or clustered in a start area. Tickets can be distributed in-game like prizes, or given to each new player as they start out in a shard. TMSS allows an admin to customize the settings of all system items from a single gump, or have them all set separately. There is even a special kind of stone and ticket specifically for new players. If you are a PvP shard, and don’t really need players to pick and choose their skills, TMSS has a “rapid” startup, where all players stats and skills are set to a predetermined value. If you are a PvM or RP shard, and only want players to have a few skills to start, TMSS can accommodate that, also. Not only can you limit the amount of skills players can choose, now, with TMSS 3.0, you can limit which skills a player may choose from when setting their skills. For more on this, see Profiles.

I hope you enjoy using TMSS, and that it fits your shard’s needs perfectly. If you have any questions, feel free to ask on the RunUO forums, by email at tmstksbk@gmail.com, by PM on RunUO, and by posting in the bugs or questions threads at www.csquarenet.net/forum. If you need something that TMSS does not include in its plugins, let me know.

Some may wonder – “What is TMSF?” Well, TMSF is a new project I’m working on, that builds off the core of TMSS to create a simple system framework, which give it the name TM System Framework. You’ll hear more about this soon.

NC State University

Raleigh, NC, USA

Nov 15^th, 2005

-TMSTKSBK

Contents:

Quick Start Guide (How to rapidly deploy TMSS)

How to install TMSS

How to deploy TMSS

Exploit Protection (How TMSS protects you)

Component Overview (What everything is.)

Basic Skill Stone (in progress)

Advanced Skill Stone

Newbie Stone

Skill Tickets

Advanced Uses (Other uses for TMSS)

Advanced Configuration of the System.

Rewards

Profiles (The new method of storing skill and stat info)

Creating

Editing

Saving

Using on other servers

TMSS Control Gump

Accessing

How to use

Settings

Accessing

What they mean

Changing

Saving

Plugins

How to install

How to configure

How to remove

Uninstallation

Contact & Support

1. Quick Start Guide:

A. How to Install TMSS:

Setting up TMSS 3.0 is relatively easy. It can be broken down into a few easy steps:

I Installation

II Pre-Configuration

III Startup

IV In-Shard Configuration

Installation:

TMSS 3.0 is installed by adding the files comprising the system to your Scripts directory. You may place them wherever you wish. It requires no distro script mods.

Pre-Configuration (optional):

You may choose to preconfigure the settings for TMSS 3.0 by editing the RunOnce method in the SkillSettings.cs file. This step is optional, and not recommended, due to possible bad values being passed around the system.

Startup:

Start your shard. If everything is done correctly, TMSS will display some debug code and a welcome message like the following:

During startup, TMSS will create a folder in the RunUO folder called TMSS. Do not delete this folder or you will lose all information from the system. This folder contains a file “skillsave.tms” and a few other folders for various purposes.

In-Shard Configuration:

After starting your shard, you will be able to access the Control Panel of TMSS. This can be done by adding a Center Stone – [add CenterStone , and double-clicking it. If you have sufficient clearance (Administrator), you will be able to pull up the Control Panel. You may then configure the settings of the Central Control portion of the system, messages, and shard names.

B. How to deploy TMSS

- As a start system:

The simplest method of deploying TMSS is with the Newbie Stone. At your character start location, add a newbie stone [add newbiestone , and in your CharacterCreation.cs, add the method indicated in SkillTicket.cs. This will drop a newbie ticket in each new character’s pack, which they may then use on the newbie stone. You may also implement this with the skill stone.

If you only wish players to have access to stats, you may download and deploy the Stat Stone plugin. It uses a “Stat Ticket” to allow setting of stats and skills. This can be deployed in much the same manner as the SkillStones.

Note: You may wish to download and deploy the SkillCheckGate plugin. This will ensure that your players may not leave the start area until they have correctly set their stats and skills.

- As a reward system:

You can deploy TMSS as a reward system by adding a Skill Stone in public areas around your shard, or in a specific location designated for rewards. Then, when necessary, you may add Skill Tickets, Skill Cap Tickets, Stat Tickets, and Incremental Tickets (plugin) as needed.

C. What’s in the Core Distro:

TMSS 3.0 comes standard with the following items:

Skill Stone

Newbie Stone

Center Stone

Skill Ticket

Newbie Ticket

Skill Cap Ticket

Note: Stat Stone & Skill Gates are available for download as plugins. In-pack stones are also in the works. Skill Tickets can function as keys for Skill Stones, or do their work as a standalone system.

2. Exploit Protection:

One of the key concepts behind TMSS 3.0 is that of making sure the right person uses the system. Also, an integral concept of the system is making sure that no one abuses the system to unfair advantage. To this end, TMSS’s items all have built-in variables to ensure that no one but the owner can use the item.

Note: You may download the plugin for Unowned Tickets if you wish to circumvent the exploit protection, or add skill tickets as loot.

Please make sure that you take advantage of these features, and save yourself a lot of headaches by doing so.

Also, the gumps and stones in TMSS have certain accesslevels that staff must have in order to change the settings. No more worries about the rogue GM changing stuff up!

Finally, skills and stats that any player may have are reset upon using TMSS as a start system. This disallows the unfair gain of more than the normal allowed number of skills.

If you find any methods of exploiting TMSS in an unfair method, please inform me, so that I may take appropriate steps to kill the exploit.

3. Component Overview:

The following are the basic components of TMSS 3.0:

Skill Stone – The core item in TMSS. This stone allows for skill and stat setting, individually or at the same time, skill buying (if plugin is installed), and the use of reward tickets, and skill cap tickets. (skillstone)

Newbie Stone – The “lite’ version of Skill Stone, the Newbie Stone only allows for skill and stat setting (either/or/both), but none of the more advanced features of the Skill Stone. (newbiestone)

Skill Tickets – There are several of these:

Skill Ticket – This ticket allows players to “unlock” the Skill Stone, and use the function the Stone is set to do. Skill Tickets are not required to use the stone, and the system can be set up to ignore tickets. If you run an RP or PvM shard, however, you may find tickets to be your best option. You may also use Skill Tickets on a standalone basis, and kick the Stones out of the loop. (skillticket)

Newbie Ticket – This ticket unlocks the Newbie Stone, and allows players to use the functions of that system. Again, these tickets are not required, but are generally a good option, in order to reduce exploits of the system. (newbieticket)

Skill Cap Tickets – Cap Tickets can be used with a Skill Stone to increase the skill cap of a player. These are not a singular cap increase, such as a power scroll, but an overall increase, allowing the player to gain in skills he has not reached the individual cap in. All singular cap rules apply when this ticket is used.

4. Advanced Uses:

Rewards:

TMSS can be used in its general capacity as a start system for new characters, and can also be used in more advanced capacities as a reward system for veteran players. This can be implemented in many ways.

By implementing distribution of add-on Skill Tickets as a reward.
By adding the Buyable Skills plugin, which is compatible with tokens, gold, and silver.
By implementing a Skill Cap Ticket sell stone.
By giving out Skill Tickets for event rewards.
By installing the Stat Stone, and giving out Stat add-on Tickets for rewards.

There are as many ways to use this system as there are shards. Feel free to write to me at tmstksbk@gmail.com and tell me yours.

5. Profiles:

Intro:

Profiles are the way that TMSS 3.0 stores data pertaining to the different stones and settings in your shard. The Default Profile, which is created when TMSS first runs, and if any problems occur, is the main profile. It allows users to set their skills to a sum of 700, and uses the checkbox methodology. You can change this in the Skill Set Gump, which is accessible from the Profile Manager of the control gump.

Creating a new Profile:

To create a custom profile, you follow these steps:

Open the Control Center Gump using the Center Stone.
Open the Plugin Manager section.
Open the Plugin Control Gump.
On this gump, click “Create New”.
A gump will pop up with default values for each skill and stat.
Fill in the box for the name. You *must* fill this in.
Now simply fill in the boxes with the maximum allowed for each stat & skill, and click Okay at the end. Unchecking the checkbox beside a skill removes it from the Skill Gump used for that Profile. Thus, players will not be able to select that skill in Manual or Checkbox mode. Setting a skill to 0 also achieves this effect.
A new profile will be created. The console will show some debug code about this, and show the name of the new profile.

You can use your new profile now.

Editing Profiles:

To edit a profile, do this:

Pull up the Profile Manager from the Center Stone.
Click the button for the profile you wish to edit.
Follow the steps above for creating a new profile. If you wish to create a variant, simply change the name. Not changing the name will result in the profile being overwritten.

Saving Profiles:

Profiles are automatically saved upon creation. They are placed in the ~Runuo/TMSS/Profiles/ folder. The file is the name of the profile, plus the extension “.skp”. You must keep the profiles in this folder for them to load correctly.

Using Profiles on Other Shards:

Profiles, for TMSS 3.0, are totally portable. To use a profile on a new shard, simply copy the profile’s file to the new shard’s TMSS/Profiles folder. The profile will load normally, unless the new server has an unusual number of skills, in which case, the system will take steps to rectify the irregularity of the profile. No crash will occur from using a profile on a new server

6. TMSS Control Gump:

Accessing:

The Control Gump is pretty easy to access. Simply add a Center Stone, and double-click it. Soon, you may be able to simply say [tmss, and access the gump.

Using:

You may use the Control Gump to set most values for Central Control, along with several messages and other stuff. To access the settings for an item, simply click the button on the Main Menu. If you wish to save, click the “Apply” button. If you wish to cancel, just right-click. Either of these actions will send you the Main Menu again. You may exit the Main Menu by clicking Cancel or right-clicking. Change settings by setting the value you wish in the gump, and then pressing Apply. Note that you must click Apply in order for the change to take effect.

7. Settings:

Accessing:

Depending on what you wish to change, there are several methods of accessing the settings for TMSS or its plugins. The primary method is via the Control Gump. Any “modern” (updated for 3.0) plugin for TMSS will have an entry on the TMSS Control Center. The secondary method is to change the values in the SkillSettings.cs file. This file only works for a few values, and only if your shard is set up in a particular manner. Specifically, your shard must be set up to work with Central Control. If you want anything beyond the Default Profile setting to work, you need to disable profiles.

So once again, from the top, these are the variables for TMSS: Starting at line 47 in SkillSettings.cs:

-Gumps:

Simple – This Boolean sees if the system should send stat gumps or not. This only applies to Skill/Newbie Stone sends, not the Stat Stone.

IsGumped – This checks to see if the system is currently using gumps, or if it is setting all skills and stats to a certain value.

Manual – New for 3.0. This was the most-demanded feature, so I added it in. This allows players to set their skills to a numerical value, not a preset. If this is true, the gumps will show with text boxes instead of checkboxes.

ProfilesEnabled – New for 3.0. This checks to see if the system has enabled profiles. If this is false, then the system will use either the item’s values or the Central Control values, if CC is enabled.

-Stats:

MaxStatsValue – The sum of stats that a player may set his or her stats to. This does not limit any particular stat, but rather the total amount of stats that a player may set.

ForceStats – This checks to see if the system must force a player’s stats to be at the MaxStatsValue. The system will always check for sums over the max value.

-Access Levels:

GumpControlLevel – This level is to allow setting of minor functions in TMSS.

AdminAccessLevel – This level, by default Administrator, is for any possibly harmful/detrimental settings in TMSS. I recommend that you keep this at Administrator, but no lower than Seer.

-Hues

SkillHue – The hue that SkillStones and SkillTickets will show up as.

NewbieHue – The hue that NewbieStones and NewbieTickets will show up as.

StatHue - The hue that StatStones and StatTickets show up as.

CenterHue – The hue that the CenterStone will show up as.

-Central Control:

CentralControl – This determines if the system will use the same settings shardwide, or individual settings for each stone.

CCProfileName – New for 3.0. This is the name of the profile that items will use if CC is true, and Profiles are enabled.

-Tickets:

IsTicketed – Determines whether or not the system will look for a ticket before sending gumps.

TicketStandalone – Determines if the system requires a SkillStone to work, or if the tickets can be used by themselves.

UniNoOwner – This is an experimental offering. If this and tickets are enabled, then the system does not check for ownership.

-Skills

NumSkills – (CC) - The system uses this value to see how many skills a player should be allowed to set.

SkillValue – (CC) – The system uses this value to see what value the skills should be set to.

NoGumpSkillValue – (CC) – The system uses this value to set skills to if gumps are turned off.

-Messages:

ShardName – This should be set to whatever your shard name is. This is automatic upon first run. You can modify this manually in the Control Center.

NotYoursMessage – This is sent when a player attempts to use a ticket that is not theirs. Only in effect if UniNoOwner not on.

HowToUseMessage – This is sent if a ticket’s owner double-clicks it, and TicketStandalone is not enabled.

NoTicketMessage – This is sent if a player tries to use a SkillStone without a ticket, and IsTicketed is true.

NewbieHowToUseMessage – This is sent if a Newbie Ticket’s owner double-clicks it.

Shard – A message sent to new players.

-Newbie:

Most of the settings here are reflected in the Skills section of this how-to. Please refer to them for definitions.

8. Plugins:

Installation:

TMSS Plugins are relatively simple to install. Just drop them in the Scripts folder somewhere and restart the server. No certified TMSS Plugins will ever *require* a distro script modification. Note that plugins will not function without TMSS, and may not even compile. Never use plugins from an earlier version of TMSS with TMSS 3.0. They are not compatible. Likewise, 3.0 plugins are not compatible with TMSS 2.x.

Configuration:

Each plugin can be configured in the same way the system as a whole can. Due to the revolutionary Control Gump employed by TMSS, all new plugin settings will automatically appear on the Main Menu of TMSS, once they are installed.

Uninstallation:

Each plugin saves its own data, so you can *generally* remove a plugin by simply deleting all items it creates in the world, and then deleting the plugin files in the Scripts folder, along with any save data it creates in the ~/RunUO/TMSS folder. In some cases, where a plugin is quite large or complex, additional steps may be required to remove it. Please refer to the plugin’s release post for this information.

9. Uninstalling TMSS:

If you choose to uninstall TMSS, you may do so by deleting all items created by the system, and then removing the files from the Scripts directory. If you wish to totally uninstall, you must then delete the TMSS folder from the RunUO directory to remove save information. This process will remove TMSS and all plugins from your shard. Note that plugins will not work without TMSS installed.

10. Contact & Support:

You can get support for TMSS 3.0 in a variety of ways.

1. Post on www.csquarenet.net/forum/ and await a response.

2. Post on www.runuo.com/forum/ and await a response.

Should I not respond to either of those methods of inquiry within 24 hours, or if both of those venues are offline, please direct inquiries to tmstksbk@gmail.com If you did not post, your email will be deleted. I don’t like email, and I prefer the forums. This applies double for PMs. Please have a concise description of the problem when you ask for assistance. Debug text is helpful for this.

Help & How-To v1 (11-17-05)