Help for a extream newbie

I have always wanted to start a small mud for some of my friends and I.

Then I found this web site, and checked out some of the stuff it had to offer. I choose a windows based ROT server.

I explored the mud itself for a bit, and noticed right away, there needed to be some changes to what it was.

I know OLC but this server seems to differ from the OLC I am used to.

There are many things I want to add..Includeing:

Color, OOC, Clans, QUESTS, and many other things.

I did get some patches or something similar that are soposed to have the code...But I have no idea how to patch code.

Can any of you give me a hand on any of this? Some info? Maybe how I should start out on all of this.

Dont suggest a Unix or Linux system, it is out of the question, I perfeer windows over these other OS.

If you have any words of wisdom, dont be afraid to e-mail me, I like e-mail.

Thanks a bunch...

Shades

I suppose you mean you got the ROM server, not the ROT server.

My first suggestion is to switch to SMAUG. Without having to patch anything you have much more extensive OLC, colour, MUD progs and so on.

Alternatively, look at Dawn Of Time (DoT) which has detailed descriptions on this site. It is even more comprehensive, and has heaps of online editing capabilities.

As for applying patches, detailed information about doing compiles, getting a compiler, making changes, and other useful topics are in the web page How to make changes, including compiling.

The descriptions on that page are for Cygwin, which is a free compiler (and much more) which runs on Windows.