
                           AIME codebase
                       version 0.60 (July 2001)
 
                          written by Slate
                          (noelg@acm.org)


   This is just a little "starter" file to help lead you through what
you need to get the mud up and running.  The installation should be
fairly straight-forward on a windows box as it does not really use
special libraries.  It has been successfully tested on a Windows 95
and Windows 98 machine. 


Directory Structure:

   The directory structure of the mud was laid out to provide 
functional division of the data.  One file to note, the data/aime.conf file
is a key file towards configuring the mud to your liking.  The data
directory stores most of the data that gives the mud a unique feel.
This includes spells, skills, actions (socials), levels, quests,
and various help and info files.  It also includes the user
database.  The areas directory stores the areas that make up the
world of the mud.

   
Mud Installation:

   Once unpacked, the mud should be fairly simple to install.  The
defaults in data\aime.conf should work but it would be wise to change
a few things.  IMPORTANT: YOU MUST CHANGE BASEDIR TO YOUR BASE 
DIRECTORY FOR AIME TO WORK PROPERLY!  You can find the BaseDir field
in the aime.conf file.  Next, ensure the Gameport and Buildport are set
to the ports you want the game port and builder port to use.  Autowiz can be 
used to give everyone who logs on full priviledges.  You will probably 
want to ensure that is undefined as if it is not, any joe player can log 
on and mess with things.  

   For your initial startup, you are going to want to create a full priviledged
user.  You can do this by going into aime.conf in the data directory and setting
AutoWiz to yes.  When this is set, every new player that is created will have
full priviledges.  Boot up the mud with the following instructions.  Don't
forget to turn AutoWiz back off and restart the mud after you have created
your character, otherwise others who login after you will also have full
priviledges.  

   To start up the mud, run the mudbin.exe file found in the bin 
directory and the mud should start up.  A management window will pop up
and you will have two buttons.  One starts the mud up and the other halts
it.  Hit "Start Mud" to start up the mud.  The first time you run it, you
may get some messages requesting to create new directories.  You should
say yes to these.


Getting Started:

  You can now telnet into the game port and create your first character.  
Once logged in, you can use that master account to create other 
players who are full powered. 
  
   To permit your character to login at the builder port, you will
need to add your host to the bhosts allow list.  Type 'help bhosts'
for the syntax.  Typing 'help' will give you a list of commands and
typing 'help <command>' will provide help on a specific command.

   To use the builder port, reference the tutorial found at
http://aime.sourceforge.net/tutorial.html.  Once you have
created a location, you can ensure the players enter the game at
that location by typing 'set defstart <locname>@<area>' in the
game port. 

   A few zones are included to demonstrate some features of AIME
and provide a starting point.  They can be installed using the
install_package instructions above.  The areas are really for 
demonstration purposes and while I wouldn't force you not to use 
it, you should really develop your own world.  Also, not everything 
has evolved in the zone along with the code, so you may get some 
errors when using it.

   This is the quick and dirty for getting started.  As I am sure
I have failed to explain many aspects of this codebase, don't
hesitate to send me an E-mail at noelg@acm.org and I will help
clear things up as necessary (and add the explanation to this
documentation for later distributions).  Please report bugs,
suggestions, or criticism to noelg@acm.org as well.  I am not a
professional coder, more a hobbyist, so you may have some criticisms
with the way I did certain things.  I would be happy to hear them
so I can improve my coding style.












