                F E A T U R E S
                  
                        O  F

                                N  P  C   L  O  R  D   v 2. 8



        This text file was created for all the people out there who didn't
quite understand all of the wonderful features of NPCLord.

        We'll take 'em this way: NPCLORD.CFG, NPCEdit features, and things 
that you might want to know about NPCs (otherwise known as MISC).


   -= NPCLORD.CFG =-

   
   -= Fights Per Day - How many times the NPCs get to visit the forest...
                       This not only includes fighting, but also all the other
                       forest events you'd normally get in Lord.  Every thing
                       in this "routine" is exactly what would happen in Lord -
                       the fighting included.

   -= Player Fights  - Same as in Lord, fighting routines match LORD's 
                       exactly.

   -= Level Fighting - How many levels UP or DOWN NPCs are allowed to fight.
                       NPCs also have random aggression levels that will
                       either cause them to attack higher up players (if 
                       they're close to a level raise), or stay safe (if
                       they're not...).

   -= Level Jumping  - How many levels NPCs can advance in one day.

   -= Random Bar #   - The most confusing feature.  This number is taken in
                       by NPCMaint, and a random number from one to that
                       number is chosen.  If _that_ number equals one, then
                       the NPC talks.  This number should be set to around the
                       number of NPCs you have, but if you want your NPCs to
                       talk a lot, you can set it to one (they'd talk every
                       time then).  For you programming freaks, here's kinda
                       what it looks like:

                       CASE 1+RANDOM(number) of
                       1: do routine;

   -= Lord Path      - This field needs to be set to the path to all your LORD                 
                       data files.  Also, you need to have a Lord game that 
                       has run for at least one player (or one day).  It needs
                       the trailing backslash (\).

   -= Your/BBS Names - Self explanatory



   -= NPCEDIT.EXE =-


   -= NPC Editing    - I had one user report a "bug" to me, that you could edit
                       the NPCs through LordCFG.  Well, of course you can, 
                       they're users, too.  As a matter of fact, you can turn
                       regular players into NPCs by simply changing their 
                       names.  NPCEdit simply modifies the values that 
                       "count" for NPCs -- there may be one or two others
                       (like staying in the Inn), but these are the important
                       ones.  
                       *Only available in the registered version.

   -= CFG Editing    - This works pretty well, is pretty self-explanatory,
                       the command-line interpreting is not fantastic, tho. 
                       I'll work on it when someone complains about it.

   -= Bar Text Edit  - This simply lets you edit the phrases in the bar.  One
                       of the new features in NPCLord is the ability to "talk" 
                       to the people who had posted in the Inn above you.  To
                       do this, simply put a %<number> instead of their name,
                       number being the spot above you that you want to address.
                       For Example:

                       Joseph Masters:
                       "You're Ugly!"
                       Amanda Arendale:
                       "No way stupid!"

                       And if you were next, you would address Joseph by typing
                       in a %1 where you would want his name to, and if you 
                       wanted to address Amanda, you'd put a %2 where her name
                       is.  Sorry, no HE/SHE support in this field yet, but if
                       you want it, just tell me!
                       *Only available in registered version.

   -= Bar Text Import- This is a nifty little feature that will let you take
                       any old file of quotes (If you had, say, a TAGLINE file
                       or something) and import them into the choices of the
                       bar.txt.  WARNING: only use files that have EVERY LINE
                       being something you want in!  NPCLord has a capacity
                       for over 32,000 quotes, so I don't think you'll run out
                       of room!  
                       *Only available in registered version.

   -= Log Writing    - Self Explanatory -- The "Romantic" log-writes are 
                       included in the LAID field.

   -= Others         - Self Explanatory



   -= MISC =-


   -= Romance!       - This kinda ties into the NPCEdit NPC Editing feature,
                       but here it is explained completely...

                       NPC Romantic Mail WRITING:

                          An NPC will only write romantic mail if his "ROMANCE"
                       level is high enough (it's a bit random, but the romance
                       levels influence it about 75%), and if the person
                       they're gonna write to has a really low charm, they
                       won't write.  The Romance levels also influence what
                       TYPE of mail the NPCs write... They will only invite
                       to room on the two highest.

                       NPC Romantic Mail RESPONDING:

                         An NPC will only respond POSITIVELY to romantic mail
                       if a random value (heavily influenced by his/her
                       charm, the other person's charm, and the NPCs romance
                       level) is above 0.  If you want to know this random
                       number thingie exactly, just write me!  NPCs will
                       either respond postively or negatively to all romantic
                       mail directed their way.  LOG Writing for this is
                       controlled by the LAID log variable.

                       *Only in registered version


   
**** NEW IN VERSION 2.5 ****   
   
   
   -= Marriage!      - This really needs to be explained well, but it's
                       pretty easy...  Here's the deal...  First of all,
                       no NPC will marry anyone (including Violet) unless
                       they're at the Casanova ranking...  at the height
                       of the romance ladder.  Then, if they have 100
                       charm, they'll attempt tp marry Violet -- if you've
                       OK'ed it in the NPCEdit program (I know this will
                       be an unpopular option).


   -= Kids?          - If you have an "affair" with an NPC, he/she can give
                       you a kid...  If you're a SHE, Lord'll give you the
                       kid... But if you're male, the NPC can ship the kid
                       out to you...  This can be turned off because it's
                       not in the game itself.


   -= AI Return Mail - No, I haven't gone ballistic.  I just decided the
                       game would be more fun with a little added
                       conversation.  The Talkative ranking has bearing
                       on how much is said and how voluntarily they speak
                       up.  Think of the return mail as that old computer
                       game "ELIZA"...  It'll check for key words written
                       in your mail...  Run NPCEdit, then choose 1.  It'll
                       bring you to an interactive return mail stuff...
                       look at the 10 samples I've prepared for you...
                       You can enter a phrase or a single word, don't
                       worry about caps, NPCMaint converts everything to
                       CAPS and works from there, so it's ok.  Try to
                       limit phrases to the minimum, though... for instance,
                       my first example is "thank"... the reason why is
                       because if they said "thank you" or "thanks" then it
                       works...  Get my drift?


   -= Pop Up Talking - Sometimes NPCs will pop up and write people messages
                       about a win or loss.  Or they'll announce something,
                       or write in the bar.  Edit these phrases in NPCEdit.


    -= Spontaneous   - NPCs will just write people mail sometimes.  You can
                       edit these phrases in NPCEDIT (#2)...   Keep in mind
                       that this has bearing on the Talkativeness of NPCs,
                       also editable in NPCEdit.

    -= Attachment    - NPCs can get "attached" to a player they flirt with,
                       and this can cause them to sometimes send that 
                       person money...  And if that player kills them, they'll
                       get pissed, and drop the relationship.  Anyway, they
                       will send 3 different types of mail to that person,
                       (#3 in NPCEdit), and send money.  Keep in mind that it
                       will always be a member of the opposite sex.

    
    
    -= NPCBull.EXE   - NPCBULL.EXE is a simple program, it reads NPCBULL.CFG,
                       and creates a 2 bulletins, both in ANsI and ASCII
                       format.  Bon Appetit! <G>


    -= Staggering    - For the most part, this is explained in NPCLORD.DOC.


    -= NAMES.OLD     - When creating NPCs using the -a switch, the names used
                       are moved to a file called names.old.

 ***************************************************************************


   -= PROGRAMMERS!   - If you're a budding programmer, and want to know
                       exactly what I'm using for my NPCs, here it is...
                       (In case you wanted to write a program for LORD with
                       NPC support).

                       * Each NPC's REAL_NAME field is NPC followed by one
                         Alt-255.  You could actually put a player on auto-
                         pilot by changing his name to this.

                       * The romance level is actually the new_stat3 variable.
                         If you wanna mess with it, you gotta figure out which
                         values correspond to which level.

                       * Write me if you need more help!


   -= DO YOU WANT TO HELP ME???

                                  That's right... I need help!  Yes, me that
                                  wonderful programmer guy!  Here is what I
                                  _need_ for upcoming releases of NPCLord. If
                                  your work is good, I will give you a free
                                  registered copy of ANY of my products.  
                                  Here's the List:

                                    *  About 200 new bar text phrases, using
                                       the color codes and % codes.

                                    *  About 100 AI response words

                                    *  About 300 new random mail-writing that
                                       NPCs spontaneously do





Ok, I can't think of anything else that there is to be explained.  If you
still need help, call my BBS, leave me email, I'll answer it within 12 hours.
That's _my_ guarantee, which is sure better than some other people who write
programs!

-J.



