Summer of 2011 z2 improvement thread

Post your suggestions for the site here so we can get on with ignoring them. Democracy in action!

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Quantum P.
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Re: Summer of 2011 z2 improvement thread

Post by Quantum P. »

I've been tinkering with Python and looking through old threads, and here's my plan going forward. Chime in soon if I'm forgetting anything!

I'm looking to update URLs as follows:

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1. http://zzt.org/... -> http://zzt.org/...
2. http://zzt.org/... -> http://zzt.org/...
3. http://[www.]hillofants.com/zu/... -> http://zzt.org/zu/...
4. http://[www.]hillofants.com/ircman/... -> http://gbelo.org/ircman/...
5. http://zzt.org/ircman/... -> http://gbelo.org/ircman/...
6. http://zzt.org/ircman/... -> http://gbelo.org/ircman/...
This should cover z2's moves from (1) HOTU and (2) Belsambar, (3) the move of ZUltimate from Burstroc's site to z2, (4) the move of ircman from Burstroc's site to z2, and (5,6) the move of ircman from z2 to craNKGod's site.

I'm looking for URLs in the following places:

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* URLs that appear in the text (excluding [code] tags)
* [url]http://some-url.org[/url]
* [url=http://some-url.org]Some link text[/url]
* [img]http://some-url.org/some-image.png[/img]
I believe that covers all our bases.

I'd also like to limit the replacements to certain time ranges. Posts in the past will get their links fixed, whereas posts talking about the past (like this one) will remain unchanged. Depending on the number of posts, I might also audit the replacements by hand; I'm estimating "only" about a thousand posts, which is about a seventy-page thread.
Commodore wrote:If they're broken links to begin with, there's no real loss is there?
I guess you're right. It's just that I'm editing history, and my edits will be difficult to revert (selective restore from backup). I just like to be cautious and rethink everything before pushing big red buttons. :-)
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Schroedingers Cat
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Re: Summer of 2011 z2 improvement thread

Post by Schroedingers Cat »

Looks good to me. Thanks! :keen: :safe: :slap:
chudy_michef
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Re: Summer of 2011 z2 improvement thread

Post by chudy_michef »

Hello.

Being a noob and all, I've been reading through the Newbie Guide. It tells you just about everything you could possibly need to know, except how to open one of those cool ZZT games you can download from this site. That info would be kind of nice to include somewhere on z2 - perhaps the Newbie Guide or the FAQ - which would strike me as an improvement to the site as a whole, so I hope this posting isn't going to be considered a totally off-topic thread contribution leading to my being banned or flamed or whatever.

(In the meantime - and yes this is now off-topic - I wonder whether somebody could please tell me how to open a game that isn't one of the default "ZZT Worlds"? Let's say that it's Kudzu, and that I've downloaded it, unzipped it, and put it into the folder I mount as a C drive when I'm running DOSBox, and that I've been Googling for hours in the vain hope of finding out what to do next.)
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Schroedingers Cat
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Re: Summer of 2011 z2 improvement thread

Post by Schroedingers Cat »

Your ZZT worlds should be in the same directory as ZZT.EXE, and they should be uncompressed. THIS IS IMPORTANT: DO NOT RENAME A ZZT WORLD'S FILENAME -- DOING SO WILL IRREPARABLY CORRUPT THE FILE. You can rename the extension of the file just fine, however, although ZZT will not list files without the .zzt extension.

After that, run ZZT, choose your input method (hint: it's going to be keyboard, since mouse sucks), and then whether you want color or monochrome display. Press enter to completely disregard Epic's DO NOT DISTRIBUTE nonsense -- they released it as freeware around a decade or more ago. Press W at the title screen to choose your w)orld, and a list of all the ZZT worlds (files with the .zzt extension) should come up. Choose your poison and press enter.

You can s)ave the game at any time the game isn't paused by pressing S and then entering in a name, and you can r)estore saved games from the title screen of any game by pressing R. You cannot restore a save from within the game, SO DON'T EVEN TRY IT!!!!

I hope this helps, and good luck!
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Re: Summer of 2011 z2 improvement thread

Post by chudy_michef »

Thanks muchly, SC. I wonder if this info could be in the Newbie Guide? It jumps straight from "here's how to play the default worlds" to "here's how to make your own world".
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Re: Summer of 2011 z2 improvement thread

Post by Commodore »

The newbie guide could use an update for sure. Winzip isn't even needed anymore as windows handles zip files on its own now.

Also it is hard to find on the site. We have a documents, and an articles section, and a help section. Should be all in one or something.
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