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Beginner Joined: 14 Sep 2002 Posts: 24

I can't seem to find a way to download the zmud developer's kit for free. Can someone point me in the right direction?
Thanks!
TC

Wizard Joined: 14 Oct 2000 Posts: 1368

quote:
Originally posted by tcrown007

I can't seem to find a way to download the zmud developer's kit for free. Can someone point me in the right direction?
Thanks!
TC

http://www.zuggsoft.com/files/zmuddev22.exe

Remember that it is a shareware version though.

Beginner Joined: 14 Sep 2002 Posts: 24

I'm confused about the licensing for the developer's kit. In the DevKit help file, it says this:

quote:

In order to create a plugin, you must be a registered user of the zMUD Developer's Kit, which requires a one-time registration fee. For information on registering your Developer's Kit, go to the Register section of the www.zuggsoft.com web site. You may still sell your plugin or give it away for free, your choice.
Distribution Rights
As mentioned above, you may freely distribute your external applications or plugins as you wish.

But at http://zuggsoft.com/zmud/order_devkit.htm is says this:

quote:

IMPORTANT NOTE: You only need to buy the Developer's Kit license if you plan to distribute your plugin to other users. The Developer's Kit is free for personal use.

So in the helpfile it says I must call a register plugin routine that requires a registration number, and it says I can distribute plugins at will.

On the page where you order the Devkit, it says I do not need to register it for personal use, and I only need a license if I want to distribute. Does personal use not include making a plugin? I thought that was the whole point of the kit. What am I missing here?
Thanks,
TC

Wizard Joined: 14 Oct 2000 Posts: 1368

You probably want to send an email to support@zuggsoft.com to get the issue resolved.

Good luck Smile

MASTER Joined: 28 Nov 2000 Posts: 4817 Location: USA

You only need to buy the Developer's Kit license if you plan to distribute your plugin to other users. The Developer's Kit is free for personal use.

That's the official policy. If you do a search, you can probably find this same question asked and answered several times.

Beginner Joined: 14 Sep 2002 Posts: 24

quote:
procedure RegisterPlugin( Name, Company, Regcode, Description, Version, HelpFile: PChar; var LoadDef: Boolean)

REQUIRED
This routine is called to install your plugin. You must return the Name of the plugin, the name of your Company (Registration Name), and the Registration code that you are issued when you purchased the zMUD Developer's Kit. Without all of this information, the plugin will not install. Also note that only the registered version of zMUD (v5.30 and greater) will install your plugin. The Description of the plugin is optional information shown in the About box for the plugin.The Version number is shown in the About box for the plugin The HelpFile is the optional name of the .HLP help file. If left blank, the name of the DLL with the .DLL replaced with .HLP is used.

Each PChar points to a pre-allocated buffer of 256 characters, except for the Description which is 2048 chars. So, you don't have to allocate your own memory, just copy the text to the proper pointers.
Plugins autoload the first time they are used. To disable this and force the user to manually load the plugin from the zMUD Plugins menu, set LoadDef to false. After the first time, plugin loading is determined by whether the plugin was last loaded or unloaded by the user in the Plugins menu

Note that this routine can also check whatever you wish to see if the user has purchased the plugin from you as well, so you are free to sell your plugins if you wish, or you can just distribute them freely. There are no license requirements other than being a registered zMUD user and registered user of the Developer's Kit

Lightbulb,
Repeating back to me half of the information I found is unhelpful. There is a disparity about what is necessary, and also about *how* do you get a registration code to load your plugin if you don't purchase it. Notice the above *required* procedure requires a registration code.

You can also notice that on the same page where I got the information that you repeated back to me, it also says the following:

quote:

Entering your Registration Code into the Developer's Kit

To register your zMUD Developer's Kit, you code your Registration Name and Registration Code into the RegisterPlugin routine. zMUD calls this routine when loading plugins and will only load plugins that have valid registration information. Your registration name will also appear in the About box for the plugin. Note that it is a violation of copyright laws to use a registration code from another person.

If you do a search, you'll probably find that this question is not asked nor answered anywhere. Perhaps it is answered in the Developer's Forum to which I don't have access. If that is the case, then it would be good to have the answer out here for budding developers.

So again, how do you register a plugin without paying for the Devkit, (if possible) or how do you get a Devkit registration code without purchasing it?
Thanks,
TC

SubAdmin Joined: 18 Nov 2001 Posts: 5187

The policy it that it is free for personal use. Currently the DevKit documentation has not been updated in a very long time. In that time period the policy changed.

In order to complete the RegisterPlugin procedure you need only supply a pointer to a string. If the referenced string is a valid RegCode then zMud will report your plugin as being registered. That is the requirement for distributing plugins that make use of the information in the DevKit.

MASTER Joined: 28 Nov 2000 Posts: 4817 Location: USA

You pointed out that there was a conflict between what the online documentation said and what the offline documentation said, and asked which one was correct. I replied that the online documentation was correct.

I'm sorry you found that unhelpful.

Wanderer Joined: 16 Dec 2003 Posts: 77 Location: USA

Ok. I haven't posted on this before, but I have a question that hasn't been answered yet (as far as I can tell). If I buy the DevKit to try it out and try my hand at some plugin writing, how cna I install my plugins on my machine to test them? From what I understand reading all this, zMUD won't install a plugin at all that isn't registered. Does that prevent me from making plugins for myself and running them in my zMUD?

Wizard Joined: 14 Oct 2000 Posts: 1368

quote:
Originally posted by musishun00

Ok. I haven't posted on this before, but I have a question that hasn't been answered yet (as far as I can tell). If I buy the DevKit to try it out and try my hand at some plugin writing, how cna I install my plugins on my machine to test them? From what I understand reading all this, zMUD won't install a plugin at all that isn't registered. Does that prevent me from making plugins for myself and running them in my zMUD?

Hello

As far as I understand it you don't have to buy the DevKit to attempt to write a plugin. To distribute plugins (like you give me a copy) you need to be registered though.

zMUD will only say in the plugin dialoge "unregistered" instead of "registered". The plugin should still run. Also note that you probably don't need the DevKit to do many type of plugins. (earlier plugins were done using .dlls with exported functions. Nowadays COM is used instead. The DevKit has the command editor though for adding new commands.)

You might want to take a look at http://www.zuggsoft.com/zmud/complug.htm for an explanation on how to use COM with zMUD.

Happy coding Smile

Wizard Joined: 14 Oct 2000 Posts: 1368

quote:
Originally posted by LightBulb

You pointed out that there was a conflict between what the online documentation said and what the offline documentation said, and asked which one was correct. I replied that the online documentation was correct.

I'm sorry you found that unhelpful.

It is a confusing matter. I feel that plugins in zMUD never got very popular so Zugg is probably not having any priority, just like with translation support, on the DevKit at the moment. I think I have seen similar questions before in the developer's forum so this is definitely something Zugg should try to make more clear.

GURU Joined: 10 Oct 2000 Posts: 4379 Location: USA

Maybe I'm repeating everyone else here, but let's make sure that this is clear.

Plugins can be installed in zMUD without a valid reg code. zMUD will just inform you that it is not registered. The Development Kit can also be used by anyone without a license. It is only when you want to distribute a plugin you have created that you need to use a valid license code. Currently, there is now way for zMUD to enforce this, and Zugg relies on people's good faith that they will follow these rules.

Now, when creating a plugin for your personal use, as stated above you do not need a valid license. How do you complete the RegisterPlugin procedure then? Just supply any bogus license to it. Versions before 6.05 will not load it (which is when the policy change was made), but all versions after that will.

Wanderer Joined: 16 Dec 2003 Posts: 77 Location: USA

Rorso and Kjata, thanks for the clarifications. :) Happy coding.