Palandian Majica

Majik 3D, the last incarnation of Majik MURPE

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Majik FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

1. This file.
1.01. What is the purpose of this file?
1.02. What does 'FAQ' stand for?
1.03. Who is the maintainer of this file?
1.04. How can I contribute to the FAQ?

2. General information on Majik MURPE.
2.01. What is Majik?
2.02. What is a MURPE?
2.03. What is Majik 3D?
2.04. When will Majik 3D be open to the public?
2.05. Who are the developers of Majik 3D?
2.06. Does Majik have a homepage?
2.07. Do you need my help?
2.08. What is the difference between WorldForge and Majik?
2.09. How much will Majik cost to play, or will it be free?
2.10. Why did you choose 3D, aren't there easier alternatives?
2.11. Why make Majik when other, similar projects are already underway?
2.12. So why won't you charge money, I really think you could!
2.13. How are you going to solve the problem of troublesome players?
2.14. Does Majik have an IRC channel?

3. Majik 3D client.
3.01. Where can I get the client?
3.02. What platforms does the client support?
3.03. Is the client's source code available?
3.04. Does the client have any special hardware requirements?
3.05. What do these version numbers mean?
3.06. What is the latest version available for download?
3.07. I have found a bug, what should I do?

4. Known problems with Majik 3D client.
4.01. The client crashes when pressing OK in the about box.
4.02. The Win32 executable reports missing WS2_32.DLL
4.03. I got "unsupported special key" when trying to move.
4.04. I have problems with connecting to the server.
4.05. All I see is a blank screen and nothing happens.
4.06. When compiling the sources, I got errors of missing header files.


1.1. What is the purpose of this file?
This file is an attempt to present and answer some of the most frequently asked questions about Majik MURPE. It is advised that everyone interested in Majik should make him/herself familiar with this file thus avoiding the need for the developers of Majik to answer the questions presented herein. This file is written by members of the Majik core development team so everything presented here is absolutely reliable and is the official view of the Majik development team.

1.2. What does "FAQ" stand for?
"FAQ" stands for Frequently Asked Questions.

1.3. Who is the maintainer of this file?
This file is maintained by the members of the Majik 3D core development team.

1.4. How can I contribute to the FAQ?
If you have a question to ask, and you feel like the subject is so common and essential that it should be included in this FAQ, just send mail to majik@majik3d.org and ask your question.


2.1. What is Majik?
Majik is a project to create an online roleplaying environment set in a complete and ever-evolving medieval fantasy world with the help of modern 3D-technology.

2.2. What is a MURPE?
MURPE stands for Multi-User RolePlaying Environment.

2.3. What is Majik 3D?
Majik 3D is the fifth, and hopefully final, distinguishable incarnation of Majik. All of Majik's predecessors have essentially been MUDs, the fourth being a roguelike + MUD synthesis, but Majik 3D is a 3-dimensional RPG that uses a real hardware-accelerated 3D engine. At the moment Majik 3D is under heavy development. The source code for some of Majik 3D's predecessors is available from: ftp://ftp.majik3d.org/attic/ - build your own MUD or multiplayer roguelike! :)

2.4. When will Majik 3D be open to the public?
Unknown. It will probably take months, even years. Look at our milestone plan to get some idea where we are going and where we are within the next few months.

2.5. Who are the developers of Majik 3D?
The people responsible for the base code of Majik 3D are listed below:

Tommi "Namhas" Leino (namhas@majik3d.org)
Jari "Dazzt" Saukkonen (dazzt@majik3d.org)
Atte "Yorkaturr" Koivula (yorkaturr@majik3d.org)
Otso "Harum" Mäkinen (harum@majik3d.org)

There are also numerous designers who are designing the world among other things, and doing miscellaneous things apart from coding.

2.6. Does Majik 3D have a homepage?
Yes, the URL for Majik's homepage is: http://www.majik3d.org

2.7. Do you need my help?
Yes, certainly. This is a non-profit volunteer-driven project where the developers work only when they have time and on things they have interest in. Approximate time spent on the project by a volunteer is only few hours a week (or even less!). Compare that to a person working on a project for a living, doing work from 8 to 12 hours in a day with benefits of sitting at the same board with other developers and being able to know exactly what to do next and how and doing it even if it is not so fun.

Thus, if one does 3 hours in a week as a volunteer we would need 13-14 developers for one person doing 8 hours work in a day for a living. Then as we add those other benefits it may be that for one we need 20, and a project like this certainly needs more than one or two developers! Remember also that the 1:20 ratio is only true if all of our volunteers are as skilled as would be in the commercial project.

You can help the project in many ways. Our primary need is of skilled programmers, productive world designers and those with skill in computer graphics, 3D, 2D, or with pen and paper (see our art gallery). It is also very possible to help the project by suggesting ideas, sending bug reports, fixing bugs or porting the client to new platforms (show us that there is some benefit for the client being Open Source!), adding a link to Majik from your homepages or wherever applicable (see our banner - draw a better one!) and by, for example, correcting the many spelling mistakes in these pages. Use your imagination.

And remember, when you have found a bug, do report it immediately and do not wait, hoping that someone else will report it. They may not. For a while we had our Win32 port of the client in such a condition that it didn't work at all (there were files missing). About 500 users downloaded the client and only one of them dared to report such a fatal bug when a week had passed.

In any case, the address is majik@majik3d.org.

2.8. What is the difference between WorldForge and Majik?
WorldForge: WorldForge's approach is not to create a single game, but instead a flexible framework that can support a variety of different kinds of servers, clients, rule sets, worlds, and graphical "looks".

Majik: The Majik Project does not strive to create a system for creating roleplaying worlds, which is what WorldForge aims at, but is a concentrated effort to create one complete and evolving roleplaying world.

2.9. How much will Majik cost to play, or will it be free?
Majik is totally free of charge until it is so big that we must distribute it using CDs and at that point the medium will be the only factor determining the price.

2.10. Why did you choose 3D, aren't there easier alternatives?
A very common question. It seems almost everyone thinks that making a complete 3D world is much more difficult and time-consuming than a 2D world, but in fact it is quite the opposite. In a 2D client, every tile, character, etc. needs to be drawn by a graphic artist, and the code for LOS (line of sight) and other such things can get rather complicated, although that is not to say the code in a 3D world is especially simplistic. Majik's 3D client doesn't even need excessive graphics - most of them are done by the code itself. The screenshots available of the current client program are all done without any aid of a graphic artist. Since a 3D world can survive without a horde of graphic artists and is generally easier to implement, consider the possibilities and limitations. Which one do you prefer: to climb up a mountain, turn to face whatever direction and see for miles or to see a flat world from a constant isometric angle? :)

2.11. Why make Majik when other, similar projects are already underway?
You should instead be asking "Why have other projects been started when Majik was already being developed?" The development of Majik began in 1995, its only competitors at that time being text-based MUDs. The developers started the project because they wanted to make something with more depth and purpose than the mindless monster-killing that goes on in most MUDs. The purpose of Majik has always been to provide an actual, working roleplaying environment that would be completely player-controlled and self-sustaining, without the constant need for outside administration and control. The actions of players can cause significant changes in the history, environment and even geography of various areas and races, unlike in most MUDs where only the "gods" and implementors can make changes to the world. When we started Majik, there were no similar projects; had one existed, we would have joined the project to avoid reinventing the wheel, which seems to be a popular habit in the Open Source community nowadays. A waste of resources I would say.

The recently discovered commercial game called Underlight can be estimated to be the nearest to our project at the concept level (not the world), otherwise it is unique and easily distinguishable from our project. Tell us if there are others.

2.12. So why won't you charge money, I really think you could!
It would be too complicated. We would have to require the players to have a credit card, which many people don't have. It would halve our player base just because of the lack of a credit card. There are other problems as well, such as everything concerning code contribution for a commercial project. The majority of Open Source enthusiasts would hate Majik on principle. We would also have to form a company of some sort to do it legally, which is not a simple thing to do.

Instead, we hope to receive donations from the players. We're about to establish a non-profit organization to support this and similar projects. We could then, for example, give divine favor to the donators and thus they would have something "concrete" for their money. This is, of course, a bit unfair, so the divine favor would not give any immediate advantage for the players, it would just enhance the donator's relationship with his/her deity with less work than those who do not donate. Thus, the donators would just seem more lucky.

The money received by the non-profit organization will be saved until needed for things such as upgrading our server, which will be absolutely necessary as time passes. If we then have any spare money left, we can use it to feed people at Majik conventions or otherwise support the project. The money is not owned by any individual.

2.13. How are you going to solve the problem of troublesome players?
We're trying to build an environment with such an atmosphere that there would be no place for such players, as they would find out themselves sooner or later. Also, there are lunatics in real life, why couldn't there be lunatics in Majik too? It could actually be fun to roleplay such cases.

2.14. Does Majik have an IRC channel?
Yes, channel #majik at IRCnet, but it is not so popular. The right way to get in contact with Majik is to send mail, but there is also one of Majik 3D's predecessors online, the Majik 3. It is a telnetable MUD which is nowadays online only for chatting. You can connect to it by telnetting majik.majik3d.org 7600. Of course, you might also find us idling in the Majik 3D.


3.1. Where can I get the client?
Right now there is no client you could use for playing Majik. However, if you want to participate in bug-testing, portability-fixing, development, or just want to see how it looks right now, you can download the client from our download page.

3.2. What platforms does the client support?
The client is primarily developed under Linux and it is ported to Win32 (95/98/NT), IRIX and Solaris. In the future it will hopefully be ported to all the architectures and operating systems supported by the Mesa 3-D graphics library.

3.3. Is the client's source code available?
Yes, it is available under the GNU Public License from our FTP server. To us it seems beneficial that other people are able to port the client freely to all systems and make small changes and corrections without our constant intervention.

The server's source code, on the other hand, is not, and will not be, available to the public, because having it available without control wouldn't have any apparent gain (unlike with the client) and it would, in time, lead to unnecessary fragmentation and thus make it harder to maintain centralized development with a clear, consistent goal. This arrangement doesn't restrict you in any way - if you want to play with the source, you just have to send us mail, join the development team and have full access to our CVS tree.

3.4. Does the client have any special hardware requirements?
If you want to use the best detail level you will need a 3D card, otherwise the graphics will just be too slow. However, it is possible to reduce the detail levels so it is actually possible to run Majik on systems without additional 3D hardware.

3.5. What do these version numbers mean?
(major version).(minor version).(patch level), e.g. 0.3.2.

A first major version will be released when we aren't pre- anything and later when we can say that the client isn't at all the same as was the last major release. A minor version is then released when a milestone has been achieved and a patch level is released when a minor correction or bug fix has been applied to last minor release. Your client's major and minor version numbers must match the server; otherwise you are kicked out. The server doesn't care about the patch level.

3.6. What is the latest version available for download?
The latest version is for IRIX:0.3.1
Linux:0.4.0pre
Solaris:0.3.1
source:0.4.0pre
Win32:0.4.0pre

3.7. I have found a bug, what should I do?
If it doesn't appear in the FAQ's section 4, report it immediately to majik@majik3d.org. Thank you.


4.1. The client crashes when pressing OK in the about box.
We don't have any idea why it isn't working. It works fine in Linux and other Unix versions, but it crashes under Win32, even though it should be using exactly the same code. Perhaps this can imply something about the stability of the operating system you are using. To solve this problem, you must either wait for us to figure it out or if you're in a hurry, install Linux.

4.2. The Win32 executable reports missing WS2_32.DLL
Your Winsock version is too old or it is missing completely. Get a new Winsock version.

4.3. I got "unsupported special key" when trying to move.
You're trying to move without your num lock key turned on, or you're trying to move using arrow keys. To solve the problem you must either turn your num lock on and use numpad to move or wait until we make it work in any case.

4.4. I have problems with connecting to the server.
You may have an old IP address in the majik3d.ini (Win32) or majikrc (Unix) configuration file. The right one is: 195.74.0.76. A better way would be to use the majik.majik3d.org address instead, because it will be the same even if the IP address changes in the future. The problems can also arise when a link to Majik is temporarily down or the server has crashed. In the latter case it should come up automatically after a few minutes of waiting.

4.5. All I see is a blank screen and nothing happens.
Turn your num lock on and try to move using the numpad. Just hit one of '4', '6', '8' or '2' and the landscape should appear. This happens because the code has calculated height for the landscape at the spot you are standing before the landscape has been constructed and thus you end up below it.

4.6. When compiling the sources, I got errors of missing header files.
You apparently haven't properly installed all the libraries required to compile the sources. See the README file that came with the sources for a list of needed libraries.


Majik Development Team
Mon 17 January 2000