How to Link Zones together

STEP ONE: Recording Zone In location(s)

Determine which zone(s) should connect. For this tutorial we will connect Zone One and Zone Two. Let's set up a zone in/out from the western border of Zone One to the eastern border of Zone Two.

1. Run the Torque MMO Kit IDE.

2. Following the Creating a New Zone tutorial, we'll first create 2 new zones called 'zoneone' and 'zonetwo'.

3. Select World -> Edit Zone and load zoneone. Load a test character and enter the world.

4. Using your (M)ap to determine your location, drop yourself on the western border of Zone One at the point where you want to zone in from Zone Two. Make sure your player is facing the proper direction as well. Close your (M)ap.

5. Hit the F4 key to enable World Editor Creator mode. On the lower right hand section of the editor click on Shapes>Misc>SpawnSphereMarker. Select World -> Drop at Camera and hit Ctrl-D. Your marker is now placed at the location of the camera. This marker is used as a reference point for the zone in location.

6. Click on the + (plus sign) next to the SimGroup called Mission Group and then select the SpawnSphere. Hit F3 and click on the Expand All button. Next to the Apply button enter the following text: ZoneTwotoZoneOneSpawnPoint (make sure there are no spaces here or your mission file will not load) and click on the Apply Button again.

7. Hit Alt-C to enter Camera View. Select your character with your mouse. On the right hand side of the screen click on the "Expand All" button. Under transform note the 3 position numbers and the 4 rotation numbers, write these numbers down. Yours will be different but should look something like this: position -156.861 -237.512 97.2406, rotation 0 0 -1 7.0916.

8. Save your mission file (Ctrl-S).

9. Hit the <enter> key to open the chat window. Type '/imm tp zonetwo' and hit the <enter> key again to teleport your character.

10. Using your (M)ap to determine your location, drop yourself on the eastern border of Zone Two at the point where you want to zone in from Zone One. Make sure your player is facing the proper direction as well. Close your (M)ap.

11. Repeat steps 5-7 for this zone in point, this time naming the SpawnSphere: ZoneOnetoZoneTwoSpawnPoint. Yours will be different but should look something like this: position 187.031 -292.338 156.133, rotation 0 0 -1 89.9121.

12. Save your mission file and exit the world.

STEP TWO: Adding Zone Links

1. Open zoneone.py inside of the Torque MMO Kit IDE. We are going to add the zone link information to the file and save:

ZoneLink(name = "zoneone_to_zonetwo",dstZoneName="zonetwo",
dstZoneTransform="187.1 -292.4 156.2 0 0 -1 90")

*Note: Your transform numbers will be different. Use the numbers you recorded from step 11 in the previous section(3 position numbers followed by 4 rotation numbers), rounding up the numbers.

2. Open zonetwo.py. We are going to add the zone link information to the file and save:

ZoneLink(name = "zonetwo_to_zoneone",dstZoneName="zoneone",
dstZoneTransform="-156.9 -237.6 97.3 0 0 -1 7.1")

*Note: Your transform numbers will be different. Use the numbers you recorded from step 7 in the previous section, rounding up the numbers.

3. Select World -> Compile World.

STEP THREE: Adding Zone Triggers

It is time to create the triggers that will activate the zone links set up in the previous steps.

1. From inside the Torque MMO Kit IDE select World -> Edit Zone and load zonetwo.

2. Hit F4 to enable World Editor Creator mode. In the lower right hand pane, select Mission Objects -> Mission -> Trigger. A dialog box pops up. In the 'object name' box enter 'ZoneTwotoZoneOneTrigger' (without the quotes), this name could be anything but it helps us find it later when the list gets long. Click on the Data Block 'defaultTrigger' and select ZoneTrigger.

*Make sure to save often in case you accidentally walk through a zone trigger.

3. Select any other item in the Mission Group and then re-select your trigger and hit F3. Click on the 'Add' button underneath the Dynamic Fields heading. Enter 'ZoneLink' in the Name field and 'zonetwo_to_zoneone' in the Value field, then click the OK button. Click on the 'Expand All' button to verify that your ZoneLink was added.

4. Now it is time to adjust the scale of the trigger. Enter 3 values to fill the area where you want the trigger to be. I used 200 450 200. Note: Make sure that triggers do not intersect one another and do not intersect the location of the SpawnSphere, also take into account the fly height of the zone. Use your gizmo to adjust the location of the trigger.

5. Save your mission.

6. Use /imm tp zoneone to teleport to Zone One. Repeat steps 2-4. This time using 'ZoneOnetoZoneTwoTrigger' as the name of the trigger and 'zoneone_to_zonetwo' in the Name field underneath the Dynamic Fields heading.

7. Save your mission, exit developer mode (Ctrl-F11), and run through your triggers to test them.

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