Quote:
Originally Posted by ChaosSlayer
will players still need to have their own spell file if spells will now be loaded into DB?
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Yes, this changes nothing about how the client handles spells. It just lets the server load spells directly from the database instead of from the spells_us.txt file. Basically, it doesn't really make much of a difference yet which way they load them. There is alot of potential with loading from the DB though. For one, it means you could download the PEQ database and have spells included with it so you don't have to put move the spells file from your EQ directory over. That is fairly minor, but 1 less step in the setup process. A big benefit of having it in a table like this is that you can give your GMs access to the table and they can edit it very easily to fix broken spells or make custom ones. Kayen has made quite a few adjustments to the custom spells on Storm Haven already. Many changes he makes doesn't require an update to the spells file that the clients use. It all depends on what changes you are making and to what spells.
The main benefit I can think of for loading spells into the database with this system would be that we can add extra features for spells that just aren't an easy option for the spells_us.txt way. My first idea for this is to create 2 new columns in the spells table at the end of it that will allow you to set a name and a value that could maybe be tied into quest globals. Basically, the idea is that the default name and value might be something like 0 for those fields, and anyone will gain those spells when using the #scribespells command or a spell scriber quest. But, any spells that are set to another name or value won't be scribed unless that player has that particular global with the same value or greater. So, basically, you could create tiers of spells or define special spells that will only be able to be learned if the player has earned them via a quest or whatever. I think it would be a great system and shouldn't be all that hard to create using the new database spells system and quest globals. That would be pretty tough to do/manage if spells weren't loaded into the database like they can be now.
Unfortunately, I won't have time to even think about working on that new system for quite a while. But, it is definitely something I would like to get going at some point.
Another quick idea to make use of the new database spells would be to create an additional field that would let admins set certain spells to be automatically converted into another spell if it was cast between a Titanium and a SoF client. This would be useful to correct any discrepancies between spell files of the 2 clients and also would be useful for servers with custom spell files. I don't even know if this idea is possible, but it would be pretty cool if so. The field could be called something like SoF_SpellID and you would just put the spell id of the spell that you want the SoF client to use in place of what the Titanium client is casting or visa versa. There could probably also be a Titanium_SpellID column added as well that would convert an SoF spell into a Titanium spell ID. So, say that the buff Temperance was spell ID 100 in Titanium, but spell ID 200 in SoF, by setting 200 in the SoF_SpellID field, it would convert the spell ID to the correct one so that the correct effect happens on SoF. Though, this might require 2 spells tables, one for Titanium and one for SoF. They would have to both be loaded into memory though. I think with 2 spells tables, it might actually not be too hard to do a conversion system like this though. Just an idea anyway.