Welcome to zMUD!

RELEASE NOTES for v4.31
=======================

This version adds and changes several things that may cause problems
to users of a previous version of zMUD.  Each change that might effect
previous users is detailed below:

Parameter Parsing
-----------------

In previous versions, the syntax %%1 was used to specify the first word
in a command, followed by all text after the first word.  This was
inconsistent with the use of @@ and %% for delayed variable parsing.
Thus, if you use the %%1 syntax in any of your scripts, you will need to
change it to %{1} which is the new syntax.  

This change makes the parser more consistent, and allows important 
functionality.  For example, you can now have an alias like this:

#ALIAS make {#ALIAS %1 {cast %1 %%1}}

which can be used to create spell aliases.  Entering 'make heal' would
issue the command

#ALIAS heal {cast heal %1}

Note the importance of the delayed %%1 parsing in this example.

#VAR command
------------

The #VAR command now evaluates its parameter.  In previous versions
#VAR test 3-2
would assign the value "3-2" to the variable 'test'.  In this version,
the parameter is evaluated so the above example would assign '1' to the
variable 'test'

Boolean Expressions
-------------------

In previous versions, the AND, OR, XOR, and NOT operators performed bitwise
boolean functions.  In this version, if both parameters are either 0 or 1, then
logical boolean functions are used.  In the previous version, NOT 1 returned a 
very large number, and NOT 0 returned -1.  In this version, NOT 1 returns 0 and
NOT 0 returns 1 as expected.  However, people who relied on the old operation
may have to modify their scripts

Boolean Constants
-----------------

The constants: TRUE, ON, YES have been defined as 1 and the constants: FALSE, OFF,
NO have been defined as 0.

VT102 emulation
---------------

This version contains partial VT102 control code emulation.  The codes commonly
used by MUDs are recognized, and those not implemented are ignored (filtered).
zMUD recognizes scrolling regions, cursor movement, VT302 status line commands,
and attribute commands.  zMUD does NOT recognize the clear, delete, insert commands.
Thus, there may be some things that zMUD still can't handle.  Eventually zMUD will
handle these codes and will be able to operate as a full function VT102 telnet
client.  Until then, if you find are playing a MUD that zMUD cannot display
properly, please send me email.

Cracker Protection
------------------

This version of zMUD contains some nasty cracker protection.  If you run any utility
that attempts to patch zMUD in any way or attempts to mimic a valid registration code,
your version of zMUD may become unusable, and unknown things may happen to you while
you are MUDding.  The author of zMUD is not responsible for anything that might happen
to a user of a cracked version of zMUD.

In particular, registered users should be very careful about using a cracker.  If detected,
your previous registration code will become unuseable and you will have to re-register.



Happy MUDding!

Zugg (2-Dec-96)

zugg@trail.com
http://www.trail.com/~zugg/zmud.html