Some questions about Mangos

[juibaka]

Hi there! I have very very basic programming skills and a desire to contribute. That's why I thought it'd be fun to learn programming while working on an actual project. Quite a few questions have arisen in my mind.

• Is there a way to work only on Vanilla wow. Fix bugs, add new features, etc. Maybe TBC later on. Or is the core one for all the versions?
  
• Is Mangos striving to be Blizzlike or it's not important? I personally am all for being as Blizzlike as possible without any hacks.
  
• There is a Project Silverpine that is working to create a perfect Blizzlike Vanilla server. They are too open source. Are you guys working together and how does one choose which server to work for? They have recently fixed player movement and loot system. Do both projects share their fixes?
  
• Is there a guide or some kind of tutorial on how a volunteer developer can start fixing simple bugs and gradually move on to more complicated stuff?
  
• Is there any kind of FAQ available that explains what is ScriptDev0 or ScriptDev2, ACID and other projects and how the integrate with Mangos. It all just seems really hard to get into and start doing something at the moment. I still will, but I can't help but think it could've been easier.
  

Sorry for so much questions. I'm just genuinely interested. Thank you in advance for answering.

[TheLuda]

Is there a way to work only on Vanilla WoW?

Yes, of course. mangos is split into four distinct versions, one for vanilla WoW named mangos-zero, one for the Burning Crusade named mangos-one, one for Wrath of the Lich King, named mangos-wotlk, and finally one for the Cataclysm, which is available as mangos.

Thus you simply may head to mangos-zero on github, and check out the code there for the server, scripts, and the database to start enjoying vanilla WoW.

Is Mangos striving to be Blizzlike or it's not important?

mangos is striving for a gameplay which is similar to the gameplay on official servers, and it is very important. We do not support features which have not been available on official servers. There are convenience features like the auction house bot, but those are not modifyfing gameplay but rather there to support emulating the original gameplay.

There is a Project Silverpine that is working to create a perfect Blizzlike Vanilla server. They are too open source. Are you guys working together and how does one choose which server to work for?

Project Silverpine is one of the many forks of mangos-zero. Some of the Silverpine developers are active on these forums, too. Fixes from us usually end up there, too. Fixes from Silverpine have not yet been submitted to mangos-zero, and as of now only their core fixes are available on github, so those are the only ones we could merge. Some of them are under review for a merge currently.

Also, mangos is not per se a server provider. We merely have a test server running to receive feedback for our work, but not to provide a playable realm.

Is there a guide or some kind of tutorial on how a volunteer developer can start fixing simple bugs and gradually move on to more complicated stuff?

There is no official guide yet, since we recently switched our development workflow to a more open process in which we try to involve the community more. If you take a look at the mangos-zero category of these forums, you will notice that there are a few topics popping up with guides, and further information. Also I run a public development session in IRC on Fridays where people can join to learn from zero to core development.

Is there any kind of FAQ available that explains what is ScriptDev0 or ScriptDev2, ACID and other projects and how the integrate with Mangos?

• ScriptDev0 are the script bindings for mangos-zero, and ScriptDev2 is their parent for TBC and other expansions. Script bindings are pretty much an option to further customize game content. By default mangos includes the option to semi-script content via commands in the content database. Scripts which have to go beyond that, are implemented in ScriptDev0/ScriptDev2.
  
• ACID is making use of scripting inside the database, to define creature behaviour.
  

Feel free to ask more, questions are always welcome, and we try our best to provide helpful answers.

[juibaka]

Hi, theluda! Thanks for great answers and sorry for I want to exploit your kindness a bit more =)

• Does Mangos support Ace addons as in will retail addons be compatible with Mangos server?
  
• To test our changes/fixes/tweaks or just learn how Mangos works we need to setup a local server? Is there a guide how to setup the latest Mango revision server?
  
• I'm willing to attend the development sessions! Any software pre-installed or prior knowledge needed for it?
  

[TheLuda]

Does Mangos support Ace addons as in will retail addons be compatible with Mangos server?

You can pretty much use any addon which worked on retail servers. E.g. this site still has a lots of addons for vanilla WoW, and they do work.

To test our changes/fixes/tweaks or just learn how Mangos works we need to setup a local server? Is there a guide how to setup the latest Mango revision server?

It is very much recommended. Personally I can recommend running mangos under Linux, as it works very well there, and setup is less work than under Windows. If you have a Linux server or a VirtualBox machine with Linux, go for it. This guide is for CentOS, but compiling is similar on all Linux distributions, only difference is the way you install the requirements, since every distribution has it's own package manager.

I'm willing to attend the development sessions! Any software pre-installed or prior knowledge needed for it?

I would recommend to have a working mangos installation. If it was vanilla, you're after, install mangos-zero from github, using server, scriptdev0 and the database repository. This is all you will need. Also, any database tool of your choice to look and modify the database will be useful.

[norswap]

Is there a guide or some kind of tutorial on how a volunteer developer can start fixing simple bugs and gradually move on to more complicated stuff?

I made an install guide here:

https://github.com/ProjectSilverpine/server/blob/develop/doc/INSTALL.md

It's made with our server in mind, but most of it should be applicable to the original mangos-zero.