RedM Guidebook FAQ

Before you buy

Which frameworks does it work on?

VORP, RSG, RedEM:RP, or no framework at all. It probes at start-up and prints what it found. There is no flag to set.

If you run two frameworks, or your start order is unreliable, name one explicitly — bridge = { framework = 'vorp' }.

Do I need oxmysql?

Yes, and it is the only hard requirement. Even on a standalone server, because the almanac itself lives in the database — that is what makes pages save live instead of sitting in a config file.

Does it work on a custom framework?

Probably, with a little work. It falls back to standalone, which uses ACEs for staff and the characters table for the job list, and that is enough for most custom cores.

For proper integration, an adapter is one file and four functions — see Adding a framework. Open Source customers can add it directly; escrow customers should ask on Discord and it can ship as an adapter in a future update.

How heavy is it?

Idle at 0.00 ms when nobody has the book open. The signpost scan runs twice a second and only considers posts within the horizon; drawing happens only for posts a player is actually near.

Readers download about 200 kB of overlay. The editor is a separate chunk and is only fetched by staff who open the press.

Does it need a website or external host?

No. The overlay, the artwork and the typefaces are all served from the resource. Nothing is fetched from the internet at runtime.

The one exception is images you put in a page — those are stored as a URL and fetched from wherever you host them.

Installing

How long does it take?

Ten minutes. Three steps, and the database needs nothing — the tables are created on first start.

Do I have to edit config files?

No — and you should not. Put your changes in local/overrides.lua, which is folded over the whole settings tree before anything runs. It survives updates. config/settings.lua does not.

RmGuidebook.Local = {
    overlay = { title = 'The Valentine Register' },
    keys    = { open = 'F6' },
}

Only the keys you name are changed. Everything else keeps its default.

Will an update overwrite my settings?

Not if they are in local/overrides.lua. That is the entire reason it exists.

Anything you changed in config/, locales/ or the code will be overwritten — updates ship the resource whole, not as a patch. Keep a diff, or better, move the change into local/overrides.lua if it is a setting.

Can I translate it?

Yes. Copy locales/en.lua, translate the right-hand side, leave the keys alone, set language. Missing keys fall back to English rather than showing a raw key.

That covers both the chat lines and the whole interface — it is one file, not two. Your own pages are content and are not translated; see Languages.

Running it

How do players open it?

F7 by default, or /almanac. Players can rebind the key in the game's own settings; the config only sets the default.

Who can write pages?

Staff, three independent ways — a server ACE, a framework admin group, or the console. Any one passing is enough, and all three are checked on the server on every write.

That is deliberate: the three frameworks disagree about what an administrator is, so relying on only one of them breaks on the other two.

Do I need to restart after writing a page?

No. That is the point of the whole thing. Save in the press and every connected player's index updates on screen.

Can I hide a page from most players?

Two ways, and they are different:

	Hides from index	Blocks reading
Shown = off	Yes	No — anyone with a link or signpost can open it
Access	Yes	Yes — the check is on the server

Use Access for anything that actually matters.

What is a signpost?

A place in the world with a prompt. Walk up, press your interact key, and a page opens. It can carry a floating title, a map blip and a ground marker, and it can either open an entry or carry its own text.

Staff place one by standing where they want it and pressing Use my position.

Can I put images in a page?

Yes, by URL, and you can drag the corner to resize and align. YouTube works too. Embedding a whole website is possible but off by default — most sites refuse to be framed and show nothing at all.

Images are not uploaded to your server

The page stores the address.

Can I import from another guidebook?

/almanac_migrate

Copies chapters and entries out of the older rcore_guidebook_* tables when they are present in the same database. It never overwrites — a slug already in the almanac is left alone, so running it twice is safe.

Blip sprites and marker types do not survive, because they have no RedM equivalent. Everything else does.

Is there anything to look at before I write my own?

/almanac_demo

Six chapters, fifteen entries and seven signposts across six towns. /almanac_demo clear removes it. The example lives in server/demo.lua, readable on both editions so you can copy how it is written.

When something is wrong

The overlay is blank

Almost always the overlay was not built, or web/dist did not ship. Run /almanac_debug — it says outright whether the built file is there.

On the escrow edition web/dist always ships built, so a blank overlay there points at a client-side script error instead. Check F8.

It bound the wrong framework

RmGuidebook.Local = { bridge = { framework = 'rsg' } }

A page vanished

Check whether someone struck it, and check the access block — a job change can make a page you could read yesterday invisible today. /almanac_debug lists what the database actually holds.

Editions and licensing

What is the difference between the two editions?

	RedM Escrow	Open Source
config/, local/, locales/, install/, docs/	Editable	Editable
server/demo.lua	Editable	Editable
Client, server and shared logic	Encrypted	Full source
web/src/ — the React overlay before it is built	Not shipped	Included
tools/ — audit, harness, simulator	Not shipped	Included

Both are the same resource with the same features and the same updates.

Which one do I have?

EDITION.txt in the folder you unzip says so in its first line. Or look at client/util.lua — readable Lua means Open Source, a wall of encrypted text means escrow.

Can I use it on more than one server?

Yes. One purchase covers every server you own or operate. There is no player limit and no server limit.

Can I give it to a friend?

No. A licence covers you and your servers. That is the one rule.

Can I modify it?

Configs, locales and your overrides: yes, on both editions.

The logic: only on the Open Source edition, where nothing is encrypted. You can change anything you like for your own servers — you just cannot pass it on. Source-available, not open source.

Can I hire a developer to work on it?

Yes. They may hold a copy while working for you, must be bound by the same terms, and must keep no copy afterwards. You stay responsible for what they do with it.

Who owns the pages I write?

You do. Every chapter, entry and signpost is yours. RedMorrow claims nothing over your database.

Are updates free?

Free for life, from your Tebex downloads page.

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Still stuck? Run /almanac_debug, then bring its output to the RedMorrow Discord.