Warning: Always back up your EmpireMUD before updating your git checkout. Some
patches may require playerfile conversions or may have other unexpected side-
effects.

                           EmpireMUD README File
                           ---------------------

This is a beta release of EmpireMUD 2.0. It is based on CircleMUD 3.0 and thus
most of the CircleMUD README file has been maintained within this document.

Information about CircleMUD can be found at its home page:
http://www.circlemud.org

Out of respect for our hard work, I ask that you keep all of my credits in
tact (including the headers in each of the files) and maintain your own
integrity by properly respecting all contributors.

Paul Clarke
paul@empiremud.net


Use of this software in any capacity implies that you have read, understood,
and agreed to abide by the terms and conditions set down by the CircleMUD
license contained in the file license.doc.

Also, out of courtesy if nothing else, please keep the 'credits' file intact.
You can add your own credits on top of the existing file, but I'd appreciate
it if you would not simply remove it and all references to the word "Circle"
everywhere in the MUD.

Jeremy Elson
jelson@circlemud.org

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

What Does "Beta" Mean?
----------------------

EmpireMUD 2.0 is in the beta phase, and the majority of ongoing work is related
to content and game balancing. EmpireMUD receives updates every week, but these
weekly builds come with no guarantee of stability.

The GitHub project is organized into 3 branches:
   master - contains only stable code and is updated just a few times per year
   beta-dev - weekly builds that are usually stable but not bug-free
   bX.X - the working branch with day-to-day changes; NEVER a stable branch


Downloading EmpireMUD
---------------------

You can find information at the website:
  http://empiremud.net

The source code and game files are available on GitHub at:
  https://github.com/EmpireMUD/EmpireMUD-2.0-Beta

You may also get EmpireMUD as an archive. Once you download the archive,
you must decompress it.  To unpack the archive on a UNIX system, type:
  tar xzf empiremudXXX.tar.gz


Compiling and Running EmpireMUD
-------------------------------

1)  Configure EmpireMUD for your system.  Empire must be configured using
    the 'configure' program which attempts to guess correct values for
    various system-dependent variables used during compilation.  It uses
    those values to create a 'Makefile' and a header file called 'conf.h'.
    The configure program and all associated resources are the work of
    Jeremy Elson, EmpireMUD has merely adapted them.

    From Empire's root directory, type

        ./configure

    If you're using 'csh' on an old version of System V, csh might try to
    execute 'configure' itself, giving you a message like "Permission denied"
    when you try to run "./configure".  If so, type "sh ./configure" instead.

    'configure' can take several minutes if you're using a slow computer.

    'configure' will attempt to use the 'gcc' compiler if it exists; if not,
    it will try 'cc'.  If you want to use a different compiler, set the
    'CC' environment variable to the name of the compiler you wish to use.

    For example, if you want to use the 'xlc' compiler, and your shell is
    csh or tcsh:

	setenv CC xlc
	./configure

    Or, if you want to use the 'xlc' compiler, and your shell is sh or bash:

	CC=xlc ./configure

    This will tell 'configure' to use the 'xlc' compiler instead of 'gcc'.


2)  There are a few things to change before you compile the first time. In the
    'src' directory (cd src), you can edit 'structs.h' and change the MAP_WIDTH
    and MAP_HEIGHT definitions to the size you want. However, your memory usage
    on the server will rise with the map size. You should also change the
    PASSWORD_SALT definition to some small unique string, as this will make
    your passwords more secure if your compiler supports encryption. You may
    also want to edit 'util/map.c' and check out the map generator config-
    urations. You'll be using that to generate a map in step 5.
    
    If you plan to use any of the included PHP utilities, you should edit them
    (in the 'empireMUD/php' directory) and change the text "/path/to..." to
    the correct absolute path to your mud, html document root, or wherever it
    indicates.
    
    
3)  Build the EmpireMUD server.  This must be done from the 'src' directory.
    Type 'make all'.

    This will build EmpireMUD proper as well as its ancillary utilities,
    which can take anywhere from 2 minutes to an hour depending on the
    speed of your computer.

    Note that in the future, when you need to recompile Empire as you make
    changes to the code, it is NOT necessary to run 'configure' again (it
    should only be run once, after the first time you unpack Empire from
    its .tar file).  If you move the source code to a different computer,
    you should reconfigure it by deleting the file 'config.cache' and
    running 'configure' again.

    The first time you try to compile Empire, you will be asked to read the
    EmpireMUD license.  Please read it!


4)  To select a port for your mud: edit the autorun file and find the
    PORT variable it plans to use.  You should check with your server
    administrator to see which port you are allowed to run off of.  You
    should also change the default port in config.c.


5)  Create a world:
    a. Go back to the root directory of EmpireMUD ("ch ..").
    b. cd lib/world/wld
    c. ./map
    d. This will output all the .wld files for the mud, plus a map.txt data
       file that you can use to generate a graphical version  to see if you
       like the map it created for you. EmpireMUD comes with a program called
       map.php that generates a PNG image from a map.txt file.
    e. You can re-run "./map" until you get one you like.
    
    NOTE: If you want to re-generate a map for an existing EmpireMUD, read the
          notes at the top of src/util/map.c


6)  Go back to Empire's root directory (by typing "cd ../../..") and run the
    EmpireMUD server.  The easiest way to do this the first time is
    to use the 'autorun' script, which can be run in the background by
    typing:

        ./autorun &

    Make sure to do this in Empire's root directory, not the src directory or
    wld directory that you used for the previous steps.  A file called 'syslog'
    will start growing in the same directory that contains Empire's log
    messages.

    If you're using 'csh' on an old version of System V, csh might try to
    execute 'autorun' itself, giving you a message like "Permission denied"
    when you try to run "./autorun".  If so, type "sh ./autorun &" instead.

7)  Wait until the line 'No connections.  Going to sleep.' appears in the
    syslog.  This indicates that the server is ready and waiting for
    connections.  It shouldn't take more than about 30 seconds for the MUD
    to reach this state, though performance will vary depending on how fast
    your computer is.

    If a file appears called 'syslog.CRASH', the MUD has terminated
    (probably abnormally).  Check the contents of syslog.CRASH to see
    what error was encountered.


8)  Type 'telnet localhost 4000' to connect (or whatever port you picked).
    The first person to log in will be made an implementor (max level) with
    all powers. If your server doesn't have telnet, you'll need to connect
    remotely using the server's host name.


System requirements depend largely on the size of your world. An 800x600
world will take about 130 MB of RAM; a larger world will need more. You will
need at least 50 MB of disk space, but you'll need more if you are generating
PNG images of your world map, and other utilities.

Futher steps once you are logged into EmpireMUD:
- Set up starting locations using the '.map' editor.
- Review settings with the 'config' command.
- Set up the PHP utilities on your website by symlinking them into a web
  directory like 'public_html':
   ln -s /path/to/empiremud/php/map.php map.php
   ln -s /path/to/empiremud/php/map-viewer.php map-viewer.php
- You will probably want to automate your map.php to generate a live map.png,
  which is used by the map-viewer.php program. Consider adding a cron job:
   crontab -e (to edit the crontab)
   0,15,30,45 * * * * php /path/to/empiremud/php/map.php > /path/to/public_html/map-new.png && mv /path/to/public_html/map-new.png /path/to/public_html/map.png
   0,15,30,45 * * * * php /path/to/empiremud/php/map.php political > /path/to/public_html/map-pol-new.png && mv /path/to/public_html/map-pol-new.png /path/to/public_html/map-political.png
   (then save and quit the crontab editor)
- If you have disk space to spare, you should also use the php/make-backup.php
  file -- which you will need to symlink or copy into a backup directory that
  is NOT inside your empiremud dir, and edit the make-backup.php file to set
  the correct paths for the game and backup directories. You should set these
  on a cron, to get hourly backups:
   0 * * * * php /path/to/backups/make-backup.php


Other Documentation
-------------------

The EmpireMUD documentation project is not complete.  If you need help you
may e-mail me or see if the CircleMUD documentation will help.  I've left
in-tact all CircleMUD documentation except that which would give you mis-
leading information (like the building.doc, which describes Circle's
files but would not work for Empire).

Paul Clarke
paul@empiremud.net


CircleMUD Documentation
-----------------------

/doc/Circle/

If this information isn't enough to get you running, there's a lot more
information available.  All documentation (other than this file) is in
the "doc" directory and available on-line at http://www.circlemud.org.

The README file in the doc directory describes each documentation file
in detail, but there are several main files which should be of interest:

"The CircleMUD Administrator's Guide" (admin.txt, admin.ps)
    A good place to start after reading this README file, admin.txt gives
an overall description of how Circle works, how to get it to compile and
run for the first time, information about customizing and configuration
options and command-line arguments, and tips on maintenance and day-to-day
MUD administration. 

"The CircleMUD Coder's Manual" (coding.txt, coding.ps)
    For the coders in your group, a technical reference describing some of
the more basic coding tasks such as how to add new commands, spells,
skills, socials, and classes.  Note that it assumes the reader already has
an excellent knowledge of C; the manual is not a C tutorial.

"The CircleMUD SYSERR List" (syserr.txt, syserr.ps)
    A comprehensive list of all the possible SYSERR messages CircleMUD 
can generate, and a description of what can cause each problem and how to 
solve it.  An excellent guide for troubleshooting and area debugging.


Getting Help
------------

If you have strange problems -- and you can't figure out the answer by
reading the documentation -- fear not, there are many other resources
available.  The best is probably just to e-mail me.

Often you can get help at http://www.mudconnect.com/, their message boards
are full of intelligent coders who can help.

No matter how you choose to get help, make sure to always include the
following information in your mail:

  -- The exact version of EmpireMUD you're using (e.g., "EmpireMUD 2.0b1",
     "EmpireMUD 2.0b2" etc.).
  -- The EXACT text of any error messages, compiler errors, link errors,
     or any other errors you're getting.
  -- The exact type of hardware, operating system name and version, and
     compiler you're using.
  -- A description of ANY changes you've made, no matter how small, that
     might have contributed to the error.
  -- Some information from your gdb or other debugger log.
  -- Your syslog.CRASH

Please remember that I get a lot of mail every day and can only help you if
you give me the proper information.  I will NOT log into your server and fix
things for you, so please don't ask.

Paul Clarke / Khufu / Gideon X
paul@empiremud.net

USE OF THIS SOFTWARE IN ANY CAPACITY IMPLIES THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTOOD,
AND AGREED TO ABIDE BY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS SET DOWN BY THE CIRCLEMUD
LICENSE.