From Newman@Grok: The Earth You Never Knew
(grok.envy.com 8000)
This is something I've just thrown together quickly, to help those who 
are interested in starting a NiMUD get going. It's not intended to 
*replace* the documentation which Locke included in the 1.0 release of 
his NiMUD code, but since that version seems to be difficult to find, 
this should be enough to get started.

7/97 Note:
Omar Yehia has ported version 1.5 of The Isles to W95. Thanks! Among 
other places, it can be found in the nimud directory at ftp.game.org

5/97 Note:
Added the a subarchive called make-start.tar.gz which containes the 
original Makefiles and startup scripts for various *IX flavors. These were 
extracted from the 1.1 distribution. 

3/97 Note:
All versions of NiMUD are still currently at Locke's ftp site (which is a 
bit slow in connecting). That is:

ftp://sauron.hacks.arizona.edu/isles

Version 1.5 (the version I recommend) is at (among other places):

ftp://liquefy.isca.uiowa.edu/unix/mud/dikumud

This patch is available at a few places online. For a list of where, 
email me at sommer@main.com.

=============================
What's in this *.tar.gz file:
=============================

o README_2.0 (this file)
o area.lst  (a bare-bones text file area list you need to get going)
o database.are (an area file which was distributed with the 1.0 
  release... mainly objects... serves as an example of what a NiM area file 
  looks like)
o limbo.are (another area file, with a few rooms and "stock objects")
o help.are (a sample helpfile... I took out things which were not part of 
  the original NiM information in the file)
o h-immref.are (another sample helpfile)
o social.are (a list of socials)
o a player file (Unixgod)

=======================
What to do to get going
=======================

It's been awhile, so bear with me :) 

First, you'll need to make sure that you have the following files in your 
area.lst file:

help.are
h-help.are
h-races.are
h-story.are
h-immref.are
social.are
database.are
limbo.are

Now, there need not be full information IN these area files (I provided 
partial copies of help and immref, and "full" copies of social, races, 
story, database and limbo), but at least have the "#HELPS ... #0" 
information in the text file. Yes, until you change the source code, the 
server WILL need a copy of both help.are and h-help.are... don't ask me 
why, it was Locke's doing ;) Just do "cp h-help.are help.are" for now.

You may want to take a look at the area files (both helpfile areas and 
actual building area files), because they do look ALOT different from 
Merc zone files. These are actually readable ;) The file which contained 
OLC information in the 1.0 release was h-immref.are I thought about 
picking out the non-original information in the h-immref.are file we use 
at Grok, but 21 months' worth of changing is just TOO much to remember, 
so, the h-immref.are file you see here is a VERY minimalized version of 
the originial area file.

Next, change the level field in the God pfile to whatever max level you 
set in merc.h This way, you can log in "God" and do whatever advances 
necessary to start your immortal staff. God's password is encrypted in 
the pfile, but the password is "newman" (all lowercase). It would be a 
good idea to create the character you wish to use for your imp, and 
advance, then tar-gz up "God" to keep any security leaks from springing up.

Check in the #defines of merc.h for commonly used vnums of things like 
objects (corpses, swords, etc) and mobs (daemons, vampires, etc) and make 
sure that those vnums are present in an area file somewhere :)

3/97 Addition:
You may want to check whatever version of the code you have, in the 
do_credits function. It may or may not call do_help with "nimud" as an 
argument. If it does, change this to "diku" as the argument. That will 
conform to the Diku license, which we all know is a required thing.

Now you should be ready to glean the code, and fill in the helpfiles 
yourself. Good luck! If you have questions, I don't mind trying to 
answer, so feel free to email me at:

sommer@main.com

-Holly J. Sommer/Newman@ grok.envy.com 8000
 Last updated 23 March 1997