[Mod] Advanced area protection [areas]

[Sol]

Great idea, jp. I'll implement that on my server at some point.

[ShadowNinja]

Idea: Area staring.

This seems like more of a "cool" feature than a "useful" one, so I think it would be better implemented with a separate mod using the Areas API. It wouldn't be as simple as your mockup though because you can be standing in multiple areas at a time and you'd have to explicitly pass an area ID.

[Minetestforfun]

@ShadowNinja
I think also, we need a separate mod for this "stars idea" :)

[Krock]

@ShadowNinja
I think also, we need a separate mod for this "stars idea" :)

How about extending a configuration file with a setting to enable/disable this feature?
I like the stars-idea and I hope it's not possible to give a star more than once on an area.

[Sokomine]

This seems like more of a "cool" feature than a "useful" one, so I think it would be better implemented with a separate mod using the Areas API.

I think it could actually be useful on a server where quality is more important than quantity. On the Minecraft classic server I started getting to know this kind of game, players started on one map, and then subsequently gained access to other maps/areas where they got permission to built after their buildings where inspected by moderators and found good enough. Most Minetest servers are very diffrent in this regard. A problem they do have is that the area around spawn is limited and valuable, and that players sometimes grab too much land.

It wouldn't be as simple as your mockup though because you can be standing in multiple areas at a time and you'd have to explicitly pass an area ID.

My marker stone attempts to figure out - amongst other things - which area is the smallest (and thus most fitting) one at the place the stone is located. A formspec where the name of the player is listed and the thank you/approval can be given could help.

[Neizi]

sorry but it plain does not work. i was playign on a server with this mod installed, my lane was protected and people can still A: open your doors B: break anything they want on your property. i had 2 retards go onto my land, break my windows, walls, doors, steal my chicken eggs, steal diamonds out of my chests, and the list goes on. all in front of me to. sorry but a mod like this CANT have a way around it or im sorry, it may as well not exist, and no, im not going to be nice about it either. your mod stats it will keep people from breaking things built on your land and it doesn't.

[Don]

sorry but it plain does not work. i was playign on a server with this mod installed, my lane was protected and people can still A: open your doors B: break anything they want on your property. i had 2 retards go onto my land, break my windows, walls, doors, steal my chicken eggs, steal diamonds out of my chests, and the list goes on. all in front of me to. sorry but a mod like this CANT have a way around it or im sorry, it may as well not exist, and no, im not going to be nice about it either. your mod stats it will keep people from breaking things built on your land and it doesn't.

I have this mod on my server. It works exactly how it is suppose to. Either you are doing something wrong or the server is not set up right.

[ShadowNinja]

I've had a server owner come to me with a similar complaint. The problem was that they had areas (the administration privilege) granted by default to all players.
It's quite likely that the server is mis-configured or you're misusing the mod.
If most things are protected but one or two things aren't, it's likely that a different mod is using custom digging / placing code and neglecting to check for protection with the protection API.

Doors are intentionaly still useable in protected areas, use steel doors if you want them to be protected. Likewise with chests and locked chests.

[disableclouds]

Hi, chickens from mod simple_mobs lay eggs in a protected area and only the owner can remove them. Is it easily possible to add a whitelist of objects/nodes that would be exempt from protection?

[ShadowNinja]

Hi, chickens from mod simple_mobs lay eggs in a protected area and only the owner can remove them.

This is an issue with simple_mobs.
If eggs are entities, areas doesn't do any protection handling for entities and simple_mobs is doing this.
If eggs are nodes, simple_mobs is missing a protection check before placing the egg.

[Danfun64]

how do I enable protection?

[afflatus]

I worked out how to open an area within a protected one, but I just discovered that you can't have a protected area within and open one. Is it possible to change this?

[cHyper]

All those protection mods out there do have one or the other flaw/limitation. Some are fine for very small areas - and small houses are easier to build well for less skilled players than large projects - but do not work at all for middle-sized to huge projects.

node_ownership is the protection mod I like most: It works, it protects well, it's fast - so it makes every sense to improve that mod further.

One issue I have with it is the way areas are marked. That got improved a lot in this mod, but it's still not optimal. I'd like players to be able to mark their aras on their own (at least the smaller ones). Fiddling with coordinates is too confusing for most players. Marking all four corners of an area with nodes that are well visible seems to come more natural to people. Unfortionately, most players on Redcrabs server are utterly confused when I ask them to show me two diagonally opposite corners of their area. So perhaps letting them mark all four corners and offering a formspec on those marker nodes where the players can enter how deep they want to go their area into the ground and the sky respectively and how they want it called may help.

that's true, a real protection should also be done by the owner of the object he want to build, not only submitted by an admin or op.
+1 for your mod

[ShadowNinja]

You can't have a protected area within an open one. Can this be changed?

I don't know how to do this well without breaking "open areas inside protected areas are open." You could do something like "if the size of the protected area is smaller than the open area then it's protected, otherwise it's open," but that probably wouldn't always work as expected, and it would make the protection calculations a lot slower and more complicated.

[afflatus]

OK thanks. It needs to work as expected.

[fireglow]

Super great mod, I absolutely love it, it makes my server a much better place for our builders.
I have a suggestion, for which I had numerous requests:
Add a "expel" command, that teleports all players in the users area that are not an owner of the current area out of said area.

Kind of like "Can you build here? No? Then out you go".

As I'm sure you are aware, minetest suffers from an issue where high-latency players can sometimes move through doors, walls.
The expel function would be a great aid in those cases where people want intruders out of their home.

[Sokomine]

As I'm sure you are aware, minetest suffers from an issue where high-latency players can sometimes move through doors, walls.
The expel function would be a great aid in those cases where people want intruders out of their home.

I don't really like this idea. Players ought to be able to take a look at the buildings of others and go sightseeing. Else the houses could as well have been built in singleplayer. Theft of items out of furnaces can be avoided thanks to protection mods and recent changes to the furnaces. If players stalk others, and it's not just a young kid desperately seeking some attention, then it's a social problem and may require the intervention of a moderator or admin anyway.

What might be far more intresting would be a "teleport me to the next one of my protected areas in sequence" so that players can check all the land they protected. Would also be helpful for admins. Maybe I ought to add a "teleport me there" command to my markers mod.

If you really want to keep players out of a certain area, you might create a special node which can be activated for a limited time or consume some sort of fuel (thus no way of keeping it running indefinitely) and which would scan for players around it and teleport those away which are not allowed to build there. There could be a safe player-collect-place nearby (i.e. a public road) where they could be beamed to. After all explorers who came out a long way might be less than pleased if an overprotective player sent them all the way back.

[fireglow]

I don't really like this idea. Players ought to be able to take a look at the buildings of others and go sightseeing. Else the houses could as well have been built in singleplayer. Theft of items out of furnaces can be avoided thanks to protection mods and recent changes to the furnaces. If players stalk others, and it's not just a young kid desperately seeking some attention, then it's a social problem and may require the intervention of a moderator or admin anyway.

You seem to have missed the point.
The /expel or whatever command is for when strangers, through a glitch (as pointed out), got into where they shouldn't have.
I do believe that in those cases, a way to forcibly eject unwanted guests, would be most welcome to home owners.
At the risk of repeating myself, I have had this request several times by many of my regular players.

What might be far more intresting would be a "teleport me to the next one of my protected areas in sequence" so that players can check all the land they protected. Would also be helpful for admins. Maybe I ought to add a "teleport me there" command to my markers mod.

If you really want to keep players out of a certain area, you might create a special node which can be activated for a limited time or consume some sort of fuel (thus no way of keeping it running indefinitely) and which would scan for players around it and teleport those away which are not allowed to build there. There could be a safe player-collect-place nearby (i.e. a public road) where they could be beamed to. After all explorers who came out a long way might be less than pleased if an overprotective player sent them all the way back.

This sounds rather complicated to implement, set up and maintain, but you are of course welcome to do this, if you want to.
Nobody said anything about "all the way back".
I was thinking of teleporting them to the edge of the current area so that is it clear that A) the home owner does not approve of the intruders presence and B) the home owner does have means to enforce their desire, other that just repeating "please leave" a dozen times, before giving up frustrated. and feeling violated in their own home.

[afflatus]

An /expel command would be easy to create. However, it is a moderation issue as Sokomine says. The solution which I just hit on is slightly more complex: I have instituted a scorecard system based on awards and explained to the player who likes breaking into people's homes that it will hurt his score. (once I've coded the on_protection_violation hook). He stopped doing it instantly. :-)

[freakedenough]

/protect <areaname> requires areas privilege
everyone has to have areas privilege
but everyone with areas privilege can build within areas from others
...
???
PROFIT

this mod seems to be useless.

[Don]

/protect <areaname> requires areas privilege
everyone has to have areas privilege
but everyone with areas privilege can build within areas from others
...
???
PROFIT

this mod seems to be useless.

In my opinion this is the best protection mod there is. Perhaps you do not know how to use it?

[freakedenough]

you may tell me how to use it? the main post lacks information about the privileges.

[Don]

you may tell me how to use it? the main post lacks information about the privileges.

It is quite easy.
If you run a server only Admins should have the areas priv. They can protect land for the players.
If you want players to protect their own land then you use markers. It is a mod that has a gui for the players to use.

https://forum.minetest.net/viewtopic.php?id=8175

[ShadowNinja]

/protect <areaname> requires areas privilege
everyone has to have areas privilege.

No it doesn't, it requires whatever privilege areas.self_protection_privilege is set to [1], which is interact by default [2]. You obviously have to enable self-protection first though, which the README clearly states [3][4].

[1] https://github.com/ShadowNinja/areas/bl ... nds.lua#L5
[2] https://github.com/ShadowNinja/areas/bl ... gs.lua#L34
[3] https://github.com/ShadowNinja/areas/bl ... figuration
[4] https://github.com/ShadowNinja/areas/bl ... d#commands

[TheSuperTimelord]

ok not sure where else to post this,so here
when i try to load the mod,it says that its trying to load init.lua from the textures folder... error log below,help?

Your phone or window isn't wide enough to display the code box. If it's a phone, try rotating it to landscape mode.

Code: Select all

23:05:20: ERROR[main]: The following mods could not be found: "locale" "mesecons_compatibility" "sounds" "textures512"
23:05:20: ERROR[main]: ...ames\minetest-0.4.12\bin\..\mods\areas\textures\init.lua:11: attempt to concatenate field 'modpath' (a nil value)
23:05:20: ERROR[main]: stack traceback:
23:05:20: ERROR[main]:    ...ames\minetest-0.4.12\bin\..\mods\areas\textures\init.lua:11: in main chunk


[afflatus]

I'd delete and reinstall a clean copy if I were you.
I guess you've accidentally moved init.lua into the textures folder

[TheMasterAnimatronic]

How would i protect the entire map by default?

[ShadowNinja]

How would i protect the entire map by default?

Just add an area that extends from -32000 to 32000 or so in all dimensions.

[CWz]

is it possible for a mod to get area id? or owner name

[TeTpaAka]

is it possible for a mod to get area id? or owner name

Take a look at api.lua.

Your phone or window isn't wide enough to display the code box. If it's a phone, try rotating it to landscape mode.

Code: Select all

areas:getAreasAtPos(pos)

or

Your phone or window isn't wide enough to display the code box. If it's a phone, try rotating it to landscape mode.

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areas:getNodeOwners(pos)

seem to be what you want.