Postal
There is no substitute for personal service.
New
- GPS address plotting and compass navigation, Detailed item shipment.
- New WorldGuard, Towny and Dynmap support. New bulk mailing capability.
Introduction
Postal is a Craftbukkit plugin dependant on Citizens2. It is a messaging system making it possible for Minecraft players to communicate with one another using the book and quill, written book item. These written communications may span worlds. Postal is an animated postal presence that may be added to any Minecraft town, settlement or mailroom. Chests are used as residence mailboxes as well as mail storage in local post offices.
Postal Pages | ||
---|---|---|
Getting Started | Permissions | Economy Support |
Towny Support | WayPoint Editor | System Notes |
Postal Wiki |
Postal Crew
Citizen2 based NPC’s are the Postal crew. They are the postmen spawned and dispatched by Postal. These NPC postmen walk regular routes in towns serviced by Postal post offices. A central post office connects all of the local post offices by teleporting a NPC worker called the PostMaster from town to town, or world to world. This central NPC continually monitors and moves out of town mail to the appropriate destination. The local NPC postman takes it from there. Pickups and deliveries are done on foot, cheerfully. They know how to open and close doors, and they are a wonder on stairs. They are polite.
Addresses
Postal has a two part address system it uses to plot the location of the mailbox it services, as well as define the post office that services the address. A typical address looks like this:
<PostOffice [Address]>
Postal commands generally accept addresses as one word, or two words. If one word is indicated as an address, it is assumed that the subject is a post office. A two word address is a complete address indicating a specific residential mailbox.
The exceptions to this rule of thumb are commands that imply a residence but accept a two word address specifying the post office. /setaddr is an example of this. Invoked with a one word parameter implies that the one word is an address name and Postal is to choose the post office.
There is no built in limit on how many post offices a server may have. The Postal system typically traverses worlds.
New post offices and addresses are created and deleted on the fly. These addresses and post offices are part of a tightly written, hierarchically-structured database. This database is designed to meet the requirements of a dispatcher bent on getting mail delivered efficiently. The post man likes to walk around the town when there is nothing better to do, but get out of his way if there is mail to pick up or deliver.
Geo-Aware
Postal always knows what post office or address you are close to when invoking commands and will be as helpful as possible to relieve you of name details. This help is contextual in nature which makes it possible to use commands without any parameters simply based on your location. Complimenting this ease of use is a command-confirm system that makes it possible for Postal to safely attempt to complete complicated names with just a few characters. This is because you have an opportunity to confirm the completed command with a single ‘/’. If the command didn’t come out right you can simply try again without confirming.
For Towny users, Postal always knows when it is on Towny soil and will defer to Towny hierarchy. All appropriate Postal commands are Towny aware and try to accommodate what Towny players need when used
Creating Addresses
The geographic awareness built into Postal makes it easy to create new addresses. To define a new address the only parameter required is the name you would like to use since Postal will automatically find the closest post office for you. Designing the route for the postman is even easier because Postal will figure out everything based on where you are standing. On a new address you will be teleported to the servicing post office, the beginning of the route, and given a compass pointing to your address. A modern HUD display is included to provide helpful stats while clicking on waypoints. Once you double click the final waypoint the postman will automatically appear using the route you just defined to initialize your mail box.
Finding Addresses
- / TLIST Short for town-list, will present the player with a formatted, alphabetical list of towns when entered without parameters. The closest 3 towns, in order of distance, are also shown. If entered with enough characters to identify a particular town, the addresses of that town are listed.
- / ALIST Short for address-list, will list the addresses of the closest town when entered without parameters. Like /tlist, it will list the addresses of a particular town if entered with enough characters to identify it. The two commands complement each other including details that the other doesn’t.
- / PLIST Short for player-list, lists the closes 8 players, in order of distance when entered without parameters. Along with the listed player is the Postal address he/she is closest to with the compass heading required to get there. If entered with enough characters to complete a player name, Postal will list any Postal addresses or post offices owned by the player.
- / GPS Lists the closest 8 post offices or addresses with their respective compass headings when entered without parameters. /gps may also be given the name of a post office, or an address pair to set your compass to this location.
- / GO Teleports to Postal locations. The type type of location is determined by the number of parameters entered. Entered with no parameters assumes the central post office. One parameter assumes a local post office or town. Two parameters indicates a full residential address. Complicated names are automatically completed, and full named locations, as completed by Postal, are displayed for confirmation before teleportation. These location types may be secured or require owner permission to use.
- Dynmap Postal uses Dynmap if it is installed. All addresses and post offices are plotted and labeled. The active routes and post man locations are shown in real-time.
Navigation
Your compass is calibrated to line up with the standard, Minecraft coordinate system when listing headings with the above commands. These are the same compass directions shown when pressing [F3]. So, with your calibrated compass and the distance and heading combination from the list, you have what you need to navigate to it. This is the way compasses are normally used outside of Minecraft. The benefit of navigating to a destination is that you remain aware of where you are in relation to all the listed destinations, as well as other distance and heading destinations received from other plugins ie: GPS, Pplot and gpsTowny.
Mail and Shipping
Postal letters are based on the written book item. This book will handle up to 50 pages of written correspondence. Item shipping is done with single chests. The two commands used for this have the built-in address finding and completing capabilities described above. Indicating desired addresses is done with the minimum amount of typing. The two commands are: /addr <PO [Address]> and /package <PO [Address]>
On servers that have economy turned on, both of these commands tell you the price of the postage or shipping and give you a chance to confirm it.
Once addressed, letters may be put in any accessible Postal mailbox, and Postal will take it from there. Shipments involve the creation of a shipping label which may be mailed like any letter. Once packaged, the shipment is sign-sealed and indestructible until the post man picks up the shipping label. The post man removes the chest at that point for transport to the recipient.
The recipient of a shipment may refuse the shipment. If refused, the shipment is returned to the sender.
Mass mailings sent to entire towns, even worlds are available to administrators, Towny mayors and post office owners. The /distr command facilitates this.
Capacity Management
Full mail boxes are managed. If the chest is full, the postman will delete the oldest junk mail if he finds one. If that doesn't create the room he needs, he will look for a non-book to delete. If unable to find room in a mailbox, the postman will continue trying to deliver until successful. Mail is otherwise held at the local post office.
Bulk distributions available to post office owners, Towny mayors, and administrators are sent with an expiration date. Regular information mailings therefore do not back up and become undesired clutter
Dispatcher
The NPC dispatcher provides regular coverage and route-walking, oldest next. This dispatcher is also preemptive in that it recognizes mail waiting to be delivered or picked up. The dispatcher manages the route walking schedule to favor actual mail movement over route-walking, or postal presence. Both the post men and the PostMaster are preemptively dispatched to keep the mail moving efficiently.
Chunk Manager
Postal has a chunk manager that monitors chunks required for postal routes. These chunks are automatically loaded and kept loaded. This makes it possible for NPC's to continue doing their job when there is no player in sight. NPC's have a tendency to go to sleep when no player is around. This chunk manager also facilitates the control of spawning monsters on Postal routes. There is a switch in the config file that controls this. By default, Postal routes are kept monster free.
WatchDog
Postal has an evolved watchdog, monitoring system. The Postal workers are vigilantly monitored. It is capable of respawning a NPC worker if something happens to it. It can restart itself if needed. Mail is always backed up. A Server crash or NPC griefing should not result in lost mail. The Citizens NPC’s are pretty reliable on their own.
General Notes
The Bukkit versioning that started early December 2012, applies to all plugins that go outside the Bukkit api to reach the Minecraft api. This started with 145.R1, the first recommended build for 145.
Coincidently, and the cause for much confusion here, The Bukkit api was expanded to include dealing with Book and Quill items. Pre 145.R1 Postal does go beyond the Bukkit api to deal with written books because it has to. Post 145.Ri uses the Bukkit api instead and is therefore exempt from the Bukkit versioning restrictions.
There are only two versions of Postal, delineated by an api improvement not a versioning requirement.
Citizens2 Note: At Citizens build 762 the NPCs underwent navigational, speed refinement. As this relates to Postal there is a modest speed change. It causes the NPCs to move a little slower. It can trigger watchdog activity by Postal since the NPCs don't seem to be on schedule. The fix is simple. Just change the Speed setting in 'Config.yml' from 1.0 to 1.2
Videos
YouTube Getting Started by Hmmcrunchy
@turtledude01
It takes a mayor or formal assistant with 'postal' rank to set a PO with /setlocal. Postal should not interfere with that. Then it takes mayor or staff to create an address, and the owner should be able to take it from there to create and maintain the route. I'll do some more testing; the towny setup that I use for testing is pretty much set at Towny defaults. The only perm I use is 'towny.wild.*' and, of course I test as a non-op. If you could give me steps demonstrating where the players get stuck, that might help.
@nickoos
Im not an expert, but im guessing its your config, it says some stuff about config in that error.
Hi there,
Actually, Im using craftbukkit-1.4.7-R1.0 with :
va_Postal_295x_146_plus
Citizens2 v2.0.7-SNAPSHOT (build 742)
When I type /postal start, I get an error.
http://pastebin.com/TadWFXAa
Where is my fail ? :(
@mcfacilitator
Im still haveing issues with town owners being able to set their own post office. UI have towny enabled and everything works just fine, but i have to set the post office for them.
@Dether001
Well, I don't want to say no, but I just got through implementing 3 apis two of them big. I need to let them mature a bit, at least until I know they are rock solid before I can consider another api expansion. More than likely, the next expansion in that direction might be a Postal api.
The api;s I chose are the ones I use. I don't mean to imply anything else.
Did you planning to add PlotMe support ?
Pre-release Postal (not here) has expanded item shipment. Now those potions and colored wools can be received.
Towny opt-in on Postal 2.95 has changed. See config.yml. This needs to be re-set if upgrading from 2.94
@morlanius
Yes, I am working on extended item data right now. :-)
The current pre-release only allows ops or postal.admin to handle postal logs, and, the postal log is automatically zapped if the chest is broken (ie: by the owner). I just put it up.
Also, have a look at the Towny page (here). It should make you proud.
@mcfacilitator
heya, thought i would stop by this page as i was passing. Hope things are good. The plugin is working a treat as useual. I agree with changing the we had an issue with logs too ... but out players just throw them around everywhere instead of trading them :P
any further on the item data project?
@turtledude01
Would limiting the postal log to ops or postal.admin solve the problem? The postal log is part of the mailbox definition, and serves to verify or prove services rendered. The players don't need it. I can understand how it can be spammed. I didn't know it had value. Let me know - that isn't a difficult fix and I can get a pre-release up. Also, keep the issues coming.... they are not problems, they are things that need fixing.
Edit: The current pre-release cut limits the postal log to op's. It is bed time where I am at, so I figured I would put that up in case it might help.
Edit2: Nope - that didn't do it. That cut was still allowing owners access. It should be good now. Postal logs are also zapped when the chest is broken ie: by owner for relocation.
@mcfacilitator
Thanks, i like the redstone blocks for the route editing. Btw, i am really annoyed at my players cheating with the npcs. They own a town, set a post office, and spam a ton of books into their inventory to cheat and get a ton of emerlds from tradeing with npc's. maby make it check their inventory for a postal log and make them get removed from their inventory after they open it once or try to place it in a chest/drop it?
@turtledude01
Towny plot owners enjoy regular Postal address owner privileges which include mailbox relocation and the use of /setroute to adjust the route. Their mail is also secured, and owners get new mail notices when joining.
Check out the new /tlist. It is context sensitive. It behaves differently when the player is in a Towny town. The entire infrastructure of Postal is now Towny aware, right down to nomenclature used in messages.
I have the route editor to finish and I am ready to make a Bukkit cut.
btw, the Towny page here changes, hourly sometimes. That is the bible for me.
@mcfacilitator
Sweet, What about post office owners being able to delete a mailbox? Maby set it up so if the mail box is disabled you can safely delete it?
@turtledude01
I'll see what I can learn on the Towny site about town tags. It sounds perfect. Smoke is something I didn't think of. I might smarten the editor up and have it use different highlighting methods for different surfaces. I have been heavily into infrastructure. The Towny security is pretty much complete, I need to finish the details that will prevent bad use of the commands causing Postal startup problems. Like creating an address without a route. The current versions of postal won't start until if is fixed. I can imagine how much it would be for admins if Towny mayors got a little careless and started leaving unfinished addresses. It doesn't matter anymore. Postal simply closes improperly defined routes and leaves them closed until fixed. It now detects incomplete addresses at startup and simply closes them, but continues running.
@mcfacilitator
I like that idea. But what about use the towny town tags? they are limited already and would probably save you a lot of time. And, i have an idea on how to fix the waypoint glitch. Maby use smoke in place of redstone?
Postal addresses have two parts generally thought of as 'town, address'. This is because outside of Towny, postal post offices often mark towns, with structured addresses, now visible on Dynmap.
I don't want to add another piece to the address ie: 'Towny_town, Postal_town, address' because that is starting to feel cumbersome. I can't get carried away with town names and do something like prepend Towny post office names with the Towny town name to show the relationship because I have standardized on 15 characters for any type of name. That is the line length for a sign and signs make reliable data objects. 15 character is pretty luxurious anyway.
The answer I have come up with is to limit post office names inside of Towny to 10 characters and automatically prepend with the first 4 characters of the Towny name separated with an underscore. ie: 'Suns_StationW', 'Suns_StationE' .... for Towny town SunshineBay.
If there is a better short identifier please let me know.
@turtledude01
Got it. Thanks. I may have to dumb down the waypoint highlighting, Or list everything it wont stick to and cancel those surfaces.
Found one more tiny glitch, using redstone for the waypoint marker kinda gives the player setting the waypoint a way to get infinate redstone by setting a waypoint on a chest or torch, among other things.
@turtledude01
I put some numbers on the Towny page (here) for growth control and abuse protection.