Barliman's Fun with mIRC!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Here you are with this cool new program and you don't know how to use it. I will try to explain to you the simpler commands for using mIRC and how to have some fun. We will cover :

1. Emoting- doing actions
2. Changing your nickname
3. Using sounds
4. Using color
5. Making and using preset scripts - lines of dialog
6. Grouping phrases
7. Making a light saber

1. Emoting-doing actions (/me)
   

   One of the most frequent questions asked is: How do you do that * thing? To do an action simply type /me then the action. Beowulf is talking in the room when Grendel enters. Beowulf wants to bow to the new arrival. He would type /me bows. The line '*Beowulf bows ' would appear on the screen.

2. Changing your nickname (/nick)
   

   To change your nickname type /nick and the new name. Beowulf has a glitch and gets disconnected. He tries to reenter the room and finds his nickname is in use as there is a 'ghost' of his former connection still lingering in the room. He enters the room under the name Grendel. Shortly the glitch resolves and the 'ghost' of Beowulf disappears. Grendel types /nick Beowulf and the program will change Grendel's nick to Beowulf.

3. Using sounds (/sound)
   

   You have downloaded all those cool sounds and now you want to be part of the fun. There are two ways to use the sounds. You can type /sound 'file name'.wav. This will play the sound you want. Beowulf wants to get everyone's attention so he sounds his horn. He types /sound boromirhorn.wav. You will hear the horn call and everyone else that has downloaded that sound will hear it also. The second is much more sophisticated. You can use a sound in conjunction with a script of actions and dialogue. We will talk about that in sections 5and 6. Remember your mIRC program has to be set up to accept sounds or you will still not hear them. Instructions for that are in the Sounds download section.

4. Using color (ctrl + k)
   

   Let's add a touch of color for emphasis. When you want to change what color others see you hit the ctrl and k keys at the same time. You will see a color palate appear. To pick a color, click on a color or type the number of a color and your words will now appear in the chat in the chosen color. The color reverts back so every time you want color to appear you have to activate the palate. You can change the background color as well. When the color palate appears add a second number after a comma and not only the typing but also the background color will change. First you want your words to appear in red. Beowulf hits ctrl+k and chooses red (4). He types blood. What appears on the screen is blood. Now he wants to change both the text color and the background color. Beowulf chooses yellow with an orange background so after hitting ctrl+k he types 7,8halloween. what will appear is halloween on an orange background.

   Color can be used to make objects and pictures. These will be discussed in sections 5and 6 also.

5. Making and using preset scripts
   

   Ever wonder why people are always being slapped around with a large trout. This is the preset script built into mIRC. To find it left-click on a name in the nick list. The name should now be highlighted. Now right-click on this name. A popup appears. find 'Slap!'. Left-click on it. In the room you will have just slapped someone with a trout. Grendel has been daydreaming and not responding to Beowulf's questions. Beowulf decides to get his attention. Beowulf highlights Grendel's name and then clicks on slap. What appears in the room is:

   *Beowulf slaps Grendel around a bit with a large trout.

   You can make your own phrases! When you do you have to save them in the Popups folder that you can access from the tool bar.

   To make these phrases and save them you will be using a mIRC editor. you will have to view and work with programmed material. Changing the wrong thing could affect your ability to use mIRC. Please be careful.

   1. To edit scripts you open the popups folder by clicking on the icon titled popup menus. You will see a window that is titled mIRC Editor.
   2. From the tool bar in this window select view and click on nickname list. You should now see lines of code.

      WARNING: Do not edit any of the existing lines unless you are sure you know what you are doing. Editing the wrong line could affect your program adversely.

   3. Scroll down until you find the line that begins Slap! you should see the following:

      Slap!:/me slaps $$1 around a bit with a large trout

      The word Slap is used as an identifier. when you have written a few lines you will have to be able to tell them apart. The colon is a divider. The /me is the action or emote command. The $$1 causes a highlighted nickname to be inserted in the text.

      We will now create a welcome action. We will title it salute.

   4. Directly below the Slap line type : salute:/me welcomes $$1 with a hearty salute!
   5. Click on File/save and then the okay button.
   
   
   

   To use this phrase you left click on a nick to highlight it. Then you right click on the nick. You should now see salute right below slap! on the popup. Click on salute.

   Back to our example. Beowulf highlights Grendel and then right clicks on Grendel. He then clicks on salute. The following text appears in the chat window:

   *Beowulf welcomes Grendel with a hearty salute.

   Instead of an action Beowulf wants to say something to anyone entering the room. He wants to say hello.

   We will use /say in place of /me. So below the salute line type the following: helloto:/say Hello $$1! Our man Beowulf highlights Grendel and right clicks. Another option appears. He clicks on helloto and in the chat window the following appears:

   Hello Grendel!

   We have now completed the basics.

6. Grouping phrases
   

   After a surprisingly short time you will have accumulated a lot of phrases. You are having trouble finding the sentence you want. you need to organize your phrases into groups. You can then just have the group heading appear and all the phrases will only appear when you move the cursor over the group identifier. To make a group we need to have an identifier and some phrases that are similar in kind. We will use two punctuation marks as commands. Beowulf has created three phrases that he uses to greet people that enter the chat:

   helloto:/say Hello $$1!
   howya:/say How are ya $$1?
   welcome:/say Welcome $$1!

   We will use hellos as the identifier. To create a group begin a line with - and then hit enter. type HELLOS. Next his enter and begin each phrase with a period(.).

   This is how the group should look:

   -
   HELLOS
   .helloto:/say Hello $$1!
   .howya:/say How are ya $$1?
   .welcome:/say Welcome $$1!

   When you right click you will only see the identifier HELLOS until you move the cursor over it. Then another popup appears and you can choose the appropriate phrase. Type another identifier and group of phrases or start with another hyphen. Either way you can add more groups.

7. Making a light saber
   

   This section will give you explicit instructions to make a light saber. You can modify the colors, size or the details as you see fit. The other thing you learn is how to include more than one phrase in to a script. We will begin with that. To combine more than one phrase, you will use the upper case brackets ( {, } ). This time our hero, Beowulf wants to salute Grendel and say hello. To do this we need an identifier and some phrases. this is how the commands should look:

   Greet {
   /me welcomes $$1 with a hearty salute!
   /say Hello $$1!
   }

   When Beowulf highlights Grendel, right clicks on Grendel and chooses Greet the following will appear in the chat window:

   *Beowlf welcomes Grendel with a hearty salute!
   Hello Grendel!

   Using the brackets allows you to combine any of the commands under one identifier. You can include sounds with actions and speaking. This is what you do in the case of the light sabers.

   I am going to show the commands for making a light saber that is on with the blade extended and one with the blade off. the commands include playing the sounds for turning a saber on and for turning it off. (You can download the sounds in the sounds section of the Barliman's page.) The saber itself is very basic with a green blade. Feel free to be creative. Change the shape or color. Modify the phrases that go with the saber. Here are the lines set in a group with SABER as the identifier:

   -
   SABER
   .Saberon {
   /me draws his lightsaber!
   /me 14,15[ 1,14||| 4,140 1,14||| 14,15] 3,9~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   /sound saberon.wav
   }
   .Saberoff {
   /me puts his weapon away
   /me 14,15[ 1,14||| 4,140 1,14||| 14,15]
   /sound saberoff.wav
   }

   As Yoda would say, 'Now your training is complete.' Go forth and proliferate. Bring your creations to Barliman's. Have fun. Just remember, there are others who may not share your tastes. Respect the sensibilities of all the patrons of our chatroom. Keep the length of your scripts reasonable so that they will not be considered flooding. If an op asks you to stop, do so. Remember the rules!