Worldbuiling FAQs/DOX Should Be Made

[nightravenflt]

Hi,

I've been looking at old posts and proceedures how to make a DB with spawns, lootcodes, zonepoints, merchantloot and the standard stuff.

However, it has come to my attention that there really isn't any good guidelines on how to do this in the best possible way. There should be a seperate FAQ/README for this Worldbuilding. I mean, nearly every newbie asks this question...

- Like which DBs to source before other DBs.
- Which DBs are compatible and those that are not.

Maybe someone could make an uptodate FAQ/DOX which provides guidelines and a download section for those DBs needed. How to backup DBs before modifying. Just essential commands.
I.e. I cant even make a DB according to the README file. I have to use "create database eq;" in mysql.exe to make that DB.

I just recently trashed my DB when trying to source worlddata 1.0. into my 0.4.0 DB with the 0.3 addons. Monsterloot codes doesnt seem to be implemented in the addons or standard db, but i think it is in worlddata.

Anyone that has good knowledge to which DBs, download links, and how to source in which order should right a few guidelines about this. It is needeth.

[daemonsleyr]

In addition, I think that a centralized source of information about the format of BLOB data for items and the like would be good. I'm specifically thinking about the item offsets at this point, but I'm sure that the information for other data would also be appreciated.

- Daemonsleyr - Daemon's World -

[Lurker_005]

A lot of the problems with databases is that the format has changed as new data was incorperated into the emu. That makes older DB's incompatable with the curent emu without some editing. If there is an update.sql included in the release that made the change, you just need to run that on the previous DB to update it. Also be sure to read the docs that come with a given DB, pay attention to when it was released and for what version of the emu. Combining DB's is strictly at your own risk, especially DB's meant for different emu releases.

Regarding docs... The DB structure itself is a great source of info. Most tables are pretty self contained, and the field names tell you what they are for. Loot and spawns are the only thing that is a pain to understand. For those I really think you should just use something like the admin tool. If it isn't up to date, use it on an older version and then use something like the update.sql file to make it compatable with the current version. The Blob data you have to look into the EQEmu source *.h files, but again the names, and comments are very helpful. I highly recomend you learn some SQL commands, and look thru the DB's sql file. Also try using a mySQL front end like "mySQL control center" from the mySQL web site, or the unfortunatly discontinued mySQL-front Both are free, and there are lots of others out there.

Bottom line, the info is there. Just not in a seperate document all by it's self. Besides, placing it in a seperate document causes problems if it isn't kept up to date (or just wrong). Look at the EQEmu readme.html for example. How many times did people post about how to create a database when winmysqladmin.exe no longer had the right click option to create a DB. things just change too fast, it's best to just get the info from the source files and DB structure.

If after reading all that you still want docs, I would sugest you start them yourself based on the files i mentioned above. Just be sure to keep it up to date!!!