Welcome to the Land Of Devastation dataset configuration utility. This program is designed to allow you to create your own custom LOD datasets - new maps, devices, etc. Z
A seperate utility, GAMEEDIT.EXE, is provided to allow you to edit the game in progress.
Menus may be selected by using Alt-Z where Z is the first letter of the menu you wish to select. For example, ALT-C would select the Utilities
Menu. The
menu is access by pressing Alt-Space. a
This utility uses the TAB and SHIFT-TAB keys extensively to move back and forth through fields. l
Alt-X may be used to exit the LOD Configuration Utility. Further help is available on the following menus: )
Info - LOD/Editor utility information
Utilities - Various utility programs
Editors - Editors for players, terrain, map, etc
Setup - Various configuration parameters
Messages - Message read/write
Window - Window options
Options - Editor Options
Press ESC to put this help screen away.
(Info) menu
(Alt-Spacebar)
The Info menu appears on the far left of the menu bar and is represented by the
symbol. (
When you pull down the
menu, you see
About
PARENT: Root
About
When you choose the About command from the
(System) menu, a dialog box appears, showing copyright and version information. G
To close the box, press Esc, Space, or Enter, or click the OK button.
PARENT:
Menu
Utilities Menu
The utilities menu includes a variety of little utility features that may assist you in operating your copy of LOD. They include rankings viewers, log file viewers, etc. 7
Here is a listing of the available utility functions:
Advancement
Dumpdev
PARENT: Root
Dump device definations
This utility will dump the contents of the device.bin file out to the file DEVLIST.TXT in ASCII format. It is useful a useful summary of all the available devices and can be printed (from dos) if desired.
PARENT: Utilities
Menu
Advancement
The advancement table displays a table of the various experience requirements for each level in LOD. These values are calculated based on the values defined under Setup:Exper. m
This utility is useful for viewing what effects changes to the Setup:Exper variables will have on the game.
PARENT: Utilities
Menu
Editors Menu
The editors menu includes editors for editing players, terrain, maps, etc. 6
Here is a listing of the available editor functions:
Map
Devices
Terrain
PARENT: Root
Map Editor
The Map Editor is designed to allow you to edit LOD's playing map. Currently, the map is arranged into a 125x125 grid of terrain cells. Each one of these cells is a terrain type which has the characteristics specified in the terrain editor below. h
The Map Editor is mainly obvious and very user friendly. Because of that, we will not discuss it here.
PARENT: Editor
Menu
Device Editor
The Device Editor will allow you to edit any of the devices that players may use inside LOD. These included weapons, armor, medical kits, etc. The device editor. K
NAME: The name of the device; Should not be longer than 15 chars
USES: Number of uses LEFT on the device. Usually the same as MAXUSE
MAXUSE: Maximum number of uses the device has.
DEV USE: If "Y", then decrement the USES variable each time the
device is used.
VAR1: General purpose variable #1; varies from device to device.
VAR2: General purpose variable #2; varies from device to device.
APPLICAT: Code corresponding to what the device does.
USABLE: "Y" if the device can be used with the U command.
STORE: Code corresponding to store at which device will be sold.
COST: Price of device when sold at store.
ANSI: 8 character string corresponding to attached ansi picture.
EGA: Attached EGA graphics picture.
See Also:
Listing of APPLICAT codes:
Listing of STORE codes:
Listing of VARx parameters:
PARENT: Editor
Menu
APPLICAT codes
The following codes are used in the "Application" field of the device editor: C
0 Radio 9 AML (medline) 18 Death Badge 27 Rom Disk
1 Medical Kit 10 Rope 19 Warper 28 <Internal>
2 SR Weapon 11 Rations 20 Communicator 29 B-Teleporter
3 LR Weapon 12 Scanner 21 B-React 30 Recharger
4 Armor 13 Stealth 22 B-Comm 31 Pylon Key
5 <reserved> 14 G-Blaster 23 B-Defense 32 Energy Cell
6 B.A.D. 15 Unusable Armor 24 B-Moat 33 Unitran
7 LRScan 16 Grenade 25 B-Weapon 34 Mine
8 Ammunition 17 Cyclops Eye 26 Laptop 35 Boat
36 Mapper
37 Cryo-Unit
38 BaseGeneric
39 MapPack
PARENT: Device
Editor
Store codes
The following codes are used in the "Store" field of the device editor:
0 No Store 9 B-Weapon 18 Town #3 27 BaseScav
1 SR Weapons 10 Computer 19 Town #4 28 BaseEne
2 Armor 11 LR Weapons 20 Town #5 29 BaseMed
3 Supply 12 <internal> 21 Town #6
4 Ammo 13 <internal> 22 Town #7
5 B-React 14 GSRZ Hort. 23 Town #8
6 B-Comm 15 B-Teleporter 24 Town #9
7 B-Def 16 EEEE 25 Kill, Inc
8 B-Moat 17 Town #2 26 BasePack
PARENT: Device
Editor
VARx Params
The VARx parameters contain information about certain properties for
the devices. These parameters are usually different for each device
type. A full listing can be foun in the file CUSTOM.DOC.
PARENT: Device
Editor
Terrain Editor
There are 30 basic terrain types which the LOD world is based upon. You may alter any of these 30 types as you wish. -
NAME: The name of the terrain type
DANGER: Percentage chance of finding monster there.
SYMBOL: 2 character symbol for ansi/ascii maps
COLOR: Numeric color code for ascii/ansi
PASSABLE: "Y" if you can walk through it. "N" for impassable.
"W" for water (requires miniraft)
"L" for lava (requires cryo-unit)
PARENT: Editor
Menu
Setup Menu
The setup menu contains options for altering parameters which effect game play. Things such as the cost of bases, new player starting equipment, etc., are included in this section 4
Here is a listing of the available setup submenus: [
New
Player
Fort
Options
Combat
Modes
Finances
Misc
Advancement
Taxes
PARENT: Root
New Player Options
The new player options specify what equipment and what attributes will be allocated to new players when they first enter the game. (Note: This also applies to players who elect to create a new character after theirs has died)
PARENT: Setup
Menu
Fortress Options
This section specifies various attributes of the "fortresses" in LOD. Forts are player-constructed bases which can house players, store items, etc.
PARENT: Setup
Menu
Combat Mode Options
LOD includes multiple combat modes which the players may select. Each mode has some advantages and disadvantages. This section allows you to disable any of the modes if you do not like them or alter the timing of the action modes.
PARENT: Setup
Menu
Financial Options
This section includes a variety of options which apply to the financial aspects of LOD such as the bank interest, loan payments, etc.
PARENT: Setup
Menu
Misc Options
Whatever setup options that don't fit anywhere else get stuck here... L
Janitor Available: Whether or not users are paid for using the "kill obj"
command to remove objects from the wasteland. E
Janitor Pay: How much (per object) the user is paid for the above.
Raise Lev @ all cities: If "Y", then the user can "go up a level" at any
city, otherwise, the user can only raise levels at Sacre Base (city #1)
PARENT: Setup
Menu
Advancement Options
These options control how much experience is required for a player to attain a new level. #
Levels are calculated as follows: n
level 1: 0 to lev2exp
level 2: lev2exp to lev2exp*expmul
level 3: lev2exp*expmul to lev2exp*expmul*expmul
level n: lev2exp*expmul^(n-1) to lev2exp*expmul^(n)
Once the player gets up to the level of "exper lev repeat", the levels will begin growning at a steady rate rather than the exponential rate shown above.
The "money per points" option tells how much money is given if the player trades a training point for cash. This is calculated to be level*money_per_points.
"MAXED percent of Xeboc" is used to calculate the point at which the cities will no longer train the user (i.e. when the user's stats are "maxed out") Xeboc is the monster with ORIGZ=8 in monster.txt. When the player's attribs exceed this percentage times xeboc's strength, the player will no longer be able to train. (for example, if xebocs strength was 100, and this percent was set to 125, then the players maximum attributes would be 100*1.25=125.
The best way to understand these options is simply to experiment with them and then use the advancement table option (listed under utilities) to view the changes.
PARENT: Setup
Menu
Taxes
By default, LOD will tax high-ranking players when they purchase items at the stores. This tax is then redistributed nightly to the lower ranking players. k
Two tax levels are available so that medium-high players and ultra-high players can be taxed differently. _
A "team discount" is also given to teams with >1 members. This is done to stimulate team use.
PARENT: Setup
Menu
Window
(Alt-W)
The Window menu contains commands to close, move and perform other window-management commands.
Most of the windows in this program have all the standard window elements, including scroll bars, a close box, and zoom icons. >
For more about windows and their elements, refer to windows. :
Window-management commands
Size/Move Zoom
Tile Cascade
Next Previous
Close
PARENT: Root
Window
Size/Move
(Ctrl-F5)
Choose this command to change the size or position of the active window.
Size
If you press Shift while you use the arrow keys, you can change the size of the active window. Once you've adjusted its size or position, press Enter. Q
If a window has a Resize corner, you can drag that corner to resize the window.
Move
When you choose Window
Size/Move, the active window moves in response to the arrow keys. Once you've moved the window to where you want it, press Enter. F
You can also move a window by dragging its title bar with the mouse.
PARENT: Windows
Menu
Window
Zoom
(F5)
Choose Zoom to resize the active window to the maximum size. If the window is already zoomed, you can choose this command to restore it to its previous size. {
You can also double-click anywhere on the window's title bar (except where an icon appears) to zoom or unzoom the window.
PARENT: Windows
Menu
Window
Tile
Choose Window
Tile to tile all file viewers on the desktop. L
Tiled Windows
PARENT: Windows
Menu
Window
Cascade
Choose Window
Cascade to stack all file viewers on the desktop. A
Cascaded Windows
PARENT: Windows
Menu
Window
Next
Choose Next to cycle forwards through the windows on the desktop.
PARENT: Windows
Menu
Window
Previous
Choose Previous to cycle backwards through the windows on the desktop.
PARENT: Windows
Menu
Window
Close
(Alt-F3)
Choose Close to close the active window. O
You can also click the Close box in the upper right corner to close a window.
PARENT: Windows
Menu
Message Menu
The Message Menu contains various services for reading and writing messages in the LOD message base. The following commands are available: f
Read
Messages: Read in the LOD message base
Write
Message: Write a message in the LOD message base
PARENT: Root
Read Messages
The read message command will allow you to browse through the message base and read whatever messages you wish. There are three command buttons: NEXT, PREVIOUS, and DONE. These are pretty self-explanatory. The up/down arrows will allow you to scroll up and down within a particular message if it is longer than one screen.
PARENT: Message
Menu
Write Message
This feature is not completed yet, but should be soon. When finished, it will allow you to enter a message into the LOD Message Base.
PARENT: Message
Menu
Options Menu
The options menu includes a few things to tailor the LOD external editor to your preferences. Things such as screen size, color, etc, can be modified.
(.txt)