Archive-name: games/mud-faq/lp

Last modified: 98/10/15

Version: @(#) lpmud.html 1.104@(#)

Posting-frequency: bi-weekly

Last Modified: 98/10/15

The LPMud FAQ was originally authored 7 November 1994 by George Reese.

It could not, however, have been completed on the efforts of a single

person. See the credits section for a full list of contributors. To

make comments or suggestions on this FAQ, mail borg@imaginary.com.

Copyright ©1994-1998 George Reese.

This is a list of Frequently Asked Questions asked about LPMuds and

the newsgroup devoted to them, rec.games.mud.lp. This FAQ is posted

twice a month to rec.games.mud.lp, rec.games.mud.announce,

news.answers, and rec.answers. All readers are strongly advised to

read this FAQ before posting questions to the LPMud news group, as

your question may already be answered in here.

This FAQ is not intended to be a substitute for the general 3 part mud

FAQ's. I strongly recommend people new to muds read those first. This

FAQ deals with a particular class of muds known as LPMuds, and

therefore does not even attempt to cover information important to

other classes of muds.

The LPMud FAQ is divided into four sections:

* Section I: Introduction

* Section II: Playing LPMuds

* Section III: Coding on an LPMud

* Section IV: Starting Your Own LPMud

Section I

Introduction

Contents

1. What sort of posts belong in rec.games.mud.lp?

2. I disagree with something in the FAQ. How do I get the FAQ

changed?

3. What is an LPMud?

4. Isn't Amylaar an LPMud?

5. Which is the real LPMud?

6. How did LPMuds get started?

7. What is the difference between LPMud and Dikus?

8. What do the terms "alpha testing", "beta testing", and "fully

open" mean?

9. Where are some ftp sites with LPMud stuff?

10. Is there anything about muds on WWW?

11. What are some mud related mailing lists?

What sort of posts belong in rec.games.mud.lp?

From the rec.games.mud.lp charter of 23 October 1991:

_"The charter of this newsgroup is to discuss topics related to the

LPMUD variant of MUD. LPMUD is a particular "brand" of MUD that was

written by Lars Penji and has gained some populatity among MUD players

in general, Discussions here should be confined to the following

topics. Briefly, LPMUD uses a "parser" to interpret a 'C' like

language (called LPC) which defines the actual game being played. Thus

the various topics of discussion break down like so:

* Player and 'Wizard' issues

* Ongoing LPMUD campaigns

* Parser programming issues and bug fixes

* LPC (LP 'C" code) programming

* LPC source code posting

* LPMUD administrativia and announcements

Topics of discussion which should NOT include this newsgroup are:

* "LPMUD is (better,worse) than..." flames

* Non-LPMUD campaigns

* Non-LPMUD issues or programming"

_Specifically, rec.games.mud.lp supports _almost_ anything dealing

with LPMuds. The primary rule is that the topic of your posts must

someway affect the LPMud community. We do not care about Dikus and

MOOs and so on. They may be very nice servers, but if we wanted to be

reading about them, we would be reading rec.games.mud.diku and so on.

Beyond that, the charter is a little unclear and out of date. What

sort of LPMud related posts belong in the newsgroup generally falls

into anything of general interest to the LPMud community in general or

one-time administrative announcements for specific muds. This would

include announcements of downtime, but exclude queries into why a

particular mud is down.

In particular, the following questions are definitely _not_ welcome in

rec.games.mud.lp:

* FascistMUD's admins are such jerks!!! They ...

Why would you post this? I guarantee you will accomplish

nothing by this. First of all, ALL mud admins have bad days

where they may do something very unfair. It is the nature of

things. So you may be the unfortunate victim of a rare set of

circumstances rather than of a mean admin. Secondly, even if

the mud admin is a jerk, no one on this newsgroup cares. People

will play such muds either because the admin is damn good at

creating a game or because the players are other jerks who like

the atmosphere of lawlessness. Players like you may login from

time to time, but eventually they will figure it out.

* Do not post mudsex sessions

An individual's sexual activities are not matters for public

derision. How people choose to express themselves sexually is a

private issue as long as only consenting adults are involved.

* Where is CheeseMUD? I have not been able to connect all day!

If it is going to be down a long time, the admins should post

to rec.games.mud.announce. Otherwise, it is either a short

connection loss or it is just your problem. _Do not post these

questions here or anywhere!!!_

* Advertisements for muds

These belong in the newsgroup rec.games.mud.announce.

In the event someone does post improperly to the newsgroup, readers

should quietly inform the poster of the misstep via email. In the

past, violations of the Charter or FAQ have erupted in

counter-productive flame wars. By emailing the offender, you

accomplish both the tasks of informing the person and of keeping the

newsgroup free of pointless arguments.

I disagree with something in the FAQ. How do I get the FAQ changed?

You should email the maintainer of the FAQ. Change requests fall into

three different categories. I handle the requests differently based on

the category into which a given request falls. The three categories

are:

1. Matters of fact

2. Matters of opinion

3. Matters of consensus

The first kind of issue are matters of fact--i.e. the status of mud

software, the email address of a mailing list, etc.--then I will

simply add that to the FAQ. If you are not directly responsible for

the issue in question, I might request an email from the person who

is.

Matters of opinion will likely not replace existing passages, but

instead appear alongside them. For example, the FAQ might state that

capturing player emails is a good idea. Someone who disagreed strongly

and presented an argument could email that argument to me. Since this

is a matter of opinion, the new opinion would be added as an opposing

opinion. In other words, it would not replace the existing clause.

Certain issues, such as the interpretation of the Charter, are neither

matters of fact nor matters of opinion--they are matters of consensus.

These are parts of the FAQ for which only one point of view can be

right, yet a certain minority of people may nevertheless disagree

with.

The FAQ has been around for a long time and represents the consensus

of the newsgroup. Consensus does sometimes change, and the FAQ needs

to be able to adjust with changes in consensus. For matters of

consensus, I will ask anyone making a request to provide evidence that

the consensus of the group has changed. Because the FAQ is established

as the consensus of the newsgroup, the burden of proof is entirely on

the requester. The nature of that proof is naturally dependent on the

issue at hand.

What is an LPMud?

An LPMud is one of many classes of muds, or multi-user domains. A

multi-user domain is defined solely with respect to its ability to

allow multiple real individuals to come together in some sort of

environment. Although the most common environment is a gaming

environment, muds need not be games. In fact, among other uses of MUDs

that I know of, there are virtual colleges, a mud where victims of

abuse can come together in a productive environment, and muds designed

to bring students with disabilities into social contact with one

another and others. The single defining theme for mud is therefore

being a virtual environment where multiple people come in contact.

An LPMud specifically allows the users to manipulate the environment

through a language called LPC. LPMuds are computer programs which

listens to the internet for people attempting to connect, reads LPC

files, and acts upon those LPC files according to the rules of the LPC

language to create the virtual environment. Currently, I know of 6

major LPMud servers:

* CD

* DGD

* LPC4

* LPMud

* MudOS

* Shattered World

With most other mud games, users do not have access to create in the

language used by the mud. LPC is used not only to give users such an

ability, but it is also designed with both ease and power in mind.

Isn't Amylaar an LPMud?

Amylaar is a person, not an LPMud. He is the primary author and torch

bearer of the LPMud name. Given the generic sound of the term "LPMud"

these days, people often refer to LPMud 3.2 as the Amylaar driver.

Which is the real LPMud?

LPMud 3.2 is the official continuation of the original LPMud server,

however, all servers listed above are equally real. All have two

traits that make a mud an LPMud:

1. The environment is created through files written in LPC.

2. The environment can change as new files are added and old ones

changes, even while the game is running.

How did LPMuds get started?

I am not the greatest historian, and may be wrong on some important

facts here, but this is the first shot at the FAQ, so here goes...

Once upon a time, there was Lars Pensjö (the ö being an o with two

dots over it... to an American, that is roughly pronounced "Penscha"),

who wrote the original LPMud coming from an AberMUD background. If you

play current LPMud's of the LPMud type, you won't really notice much

of a difference from the original. From the coders' point of view

however, LPC is nothing like it was with the original. For a long

time, there was only LPMud run by Lars with patches by everyone under

the sun. The original LPMud run by Lars was called Genesis. Its base

town called Larstown was taken mostly from AberMUD.

Eventually, others got tired of waiting to see their patches added to

Lars' driver, and Lars was working on version 3.0 of his driver as he

was gradually losing interest in the project altogether. Version 3.0

turned out to be buggy as hell, and generally unworkable for a real

LPMud. CD, LPC4, LPMud, and MudOS, all derive from this server as

people saw good things in it and began creating working versions of

LPMud 3.0 after their own concepts of mud server design.

Unlike the others, DGD was created from scratch. It therefore is

missing a lot of the baggage which has come down from the beginning of

time in the other drivers. Shattered Worlds, on the otherhand, derives

from LPMud 2.4.5.

What is the difference between LPMud and Dikus?

This section is almost entirely quoted from a post by Tim Hollebeek:

The main difference between Dikus and LPs is that a Diku server

provides a game, while an LP server provides a language in which to

write a game. This means that an LPMud server is more like your perl

or python binaries than a Diku binary. An LPMud has an extra layer in

which the game is written, called the mudlib or object library. The

advantage Diku enjoys is that it can be more efficient since the game

is more low-level. The other edge of this sword, however, is that it

is very hard to make changes to a Diku and it requires a high level of

technical knowledge.

An LPMud, on the other hand, is extremely flexible and requires a

minimal amount of technical knowledge in order to build the same

things (or even more complex things) as exist on Dikus. As a

consequence, LPmuds tend to be more widespread and reflect a greater

diversity of imagination.

The truth about LP's is that it is virtually impossible for a player

to know they are on an LP; the driver is simply too far removed for it

to make any difference to the player in terms of look and feel. Many

LP's, however, do have a common look and feel because they share the

same mudlibs.

What do the terms "alpha testing", "beta testing", and "fully open" mean?

Generally, a mud goes through three basic stages. The first stage,

"alpha testing", is a developmental mode in which players are rarely

allowed access to the mud. Things are in such a disarray or in a

flurry of changes that playing a consistent game is impossible. In the

"beta testing" stage, a mud is generally opened to players solely for

the sake of testing that the mud works. Without actual play testing,

it is impossible to determine if a mud can handle being fully open.

muds in either of the above stages generally will not compensate

players for mishaps due to bugs in the game, and they will often even

purge players from the mud. The purging is done either because old

player objects are no longer compatible with new ones or because the

mud needs to be re-balanced to fit new code.

In the final stage, "fully open", a mud is just that, fully open. That

means you can expect certain standards from the mud, including such

things as not dying from bugs. Nothing is ever bug free, so generally

fully open muds will compensate players for mishaps which occur

because of a bug. On the flip side, these muds usually also smite

players who gain from bugs in the system.

Where are some ftp sites with LPMud stuff?

See Section IV: Where can I find all of this stuff?

Is there anything about muds on WWW?

The following is a list of LPMud related WWW URL's, a few of which are

even written in the mud programming language LPC:

* http://www.bat.org

The BatMUD WWW Server

* http://www.lostsouls.org

The Lost Souls WWW Server

* http://www.imaginary.com

The Imaginary WWW Server

* http://www.pvv.unit.no/viking

The Viking mud WWW Server

What are some mud related mailing lists?

The following lists use the Mailman mailing list software. Click on

the link to subscribe to those lists:

* http://list.imaginary.com/mailman/listinfo/foundation-mudlib

The Foundation Object Library Mailing List

* http://list.imaginary.com/mailman/listinfo/intermud

The Intermud Protocols Mailing List

* http://list.imaginary.com/mailman/listinfo/lima-mudlib

The LIMA Mudlib Mailing List

* http://list.imaginary.com/mailman/listinfo/lpc-language

The LPC Language Mailing List

* http://list.imaginary.com/mailman/listinfo/mudos

The MudOS General Discussion Mailing List

* http://list.imaginary.com/mailman/listinfo/mudos-bugs

The MudOS Bug Reporting List

* http://list.imaginary.com/mailman/listinfo/mudos-develop

The MudOS Developers' Mailing List

* http://list.imaginary.com/mailman/listinfo/mudos-patches

The MudOS Patch Distribution List

The following lists use the majordomo software. To subscribe, mail

majordomo at the sites mentioned with "subscribe list-name" in the

body of your mail. To get more information on the lists below, mail

majordomo at the site mentioned with "info list-name" in the body of

the mail. Naturally, list-name should be replaced with the appropriate

list name.

For example, to subscribe to the lpc-language mailing list

lpc-language@imaginary.com, you do the following:

1. mail majordomo@imaginary.com

2. subject is irrelevant, body says "subscribe lpc-language"

3. the list will then confirm you have been added by mail

To mail a post to the mailing list, simply mail

lpc-language@imaginary.com and proceed as you would as if you were

mailing a single person.

* amylaar-users@nightfall.org

The LPMud 3.2 and 3.2.1 Users Mailing List

In addition, the TMI-2 mailing list uses different mailing list

software which can be subscribed to by visiting the list page at

http://www.mudlib.org/mailman/listinfo/tmi-2.

Individual muds may have their own mailing lists as well. Check with

your LPMud for details. For people running lists with an audience

beyond a single mud, please let me know of your list. If you use list

software not listed, I need the name of the list, how to subscribe,

and how to get more information.

Section II

Playing LPMuds

Contents

1. How do I play an LPMud?

2. But I am using windows!

3. How do I get a list of LPMuds?

4. Are all LPMuds in English?

5. Ok, the mud is asking me for a name, what do I do?

6. They told me I had to register!

7. Name and password set, what next?

8. I don't want anyone knowing my email address!

9. Is it asking me for my gender?

10. What does it mean by race?

11. What is a class? What is a guild?

12. I am in the mud, what do I do?

13. What are some common commands?

14. What is an alias?

15. Why is the mud admin ignoring me?

16. The admins are being unfair, don't I have rights?

17. What about freedom of speech?

18. What else is there?

How do I play an LPMud?

You must first find the internet address of the mud you wish to play.

Once you find the address, most often people use the "telnet" program

to connect to this address. The mud FAQ has an excellent section on

MUD clients, which are alternatives to the plain vanilla "telnet"

program. However, generally speaking, with "telnet", you can access

the mud of your choice by issuing the command:

telnet address port

For example (% is considered your prompt):

% telnet nightmare.imaginary.com 1701

% telnet 129.10.114.86 5555

And so on. Some telnet programs do not allow you to pass arguments at

the command line. Instead, you get something like this:

% telnet

telnet> open

(to) nightmare.imaginary.com 1701

Once you succeed, you will get a welcoming screen which should say the

name of the LPMud and ask you for a name. A common error people will

make is leaving off the number at the end. If you do that, the telnet

program assumes you mean to go to port 23, and it will give you a

login prompt to the host machine.

In addition, _some_ VMS telnet programs use the following syntax:

telnet 198.174.169.120/port=1701

But I am using windows!

The telnet program that comes with Windows95 and Windows NT is

extremely anemic and not much good for anything. Other versions of

Windows do not even come with a telnet program. To connect to a mud

using the default Windows95/NT telnet, go to the 'Start' menu and

click on the 'Run' menu item. In the text field, enter:

telnet nightmare.imaginary.com 1701

Of course, you should use the proper address for your mud as described

in the telnet section. This will connect you to the mud, but it may be

a bit confusing. The first thing you need to do is turn echo on so

that you can see what you are typing. Go to the 'Terminal' menu and

click 'Preferences'. Check the 'Local Echo' check box. You may also

want to resize the window so there are no scroll bars.

You will not be able to stand playing a mud this way for very long. It

is highly recommended you download a Windows mud client ASAP before

you go insane. In the least, you might want to grab a useable telnet

program like EWAN or CRT.

How do I get a list of LPMuds?

I know of no place that lists ONLY LPMud's, however, there is Doran's

Mudlist, which is produced semi-regularly and lists muds by type. You

thus have all your LPMuds grouped together. You can find it posted to

rec.games.mud.announce.

MUDs connected to the Intermud generally have mudlists which they

maintain dynamically based on which muds they are currently talking

to:

* http://ie.imaginary.com:7885/gateways/mudlist

The Idea Exchange Dynamic Intermud Mudlist

Keep in mind, however, these dynamic lists hold only LPMuds which

support intermud communication. They are by no means full lists. You

will also find that many muds on this list are in some sort of

developmental stage.

Are all LPMuds in English?

No. To provide a list of such muds is beyond the scope of this FAQ.

Check the mudlists for a full and current listing. However, I would

like to know about other languages which might be supported in the

LPMud world, so please mail me if you have a mud in a language in

other than English, German, or Swedish. Known languages:

* Chinese

* Dutch

* English

* German

* Hungarian

* Polish

* Swedish

Ok, the mud is asking me for a name, what do I do?

Make up a name. Avoid using your real name or common names, real and

mythical. You want not only to give character to your persona, but you

also do not want everyone saying "Hey! Aren't you Bob from

JustAnotherMUD"? I chose the name Descartes, because I was a

philosophy major in college. In general, it is safe to assume any name

consisting only of more than two characters and less than ten (a to z)

is acceptable on any mud. Some muds allow really long names with

spaces, apostrophes, hyphens, and other marks. Others are in between

the extremes. Try the name you want. If the mud will not allow it, it

will tell you, and it should tell you why.

After making up a name, one of two things will happen. Either you will

be prompted for a password, meaning you have picked a name someone

else is using, or it will ask you to create a password, meaning you

are a new character. If the first thing happens, just try again with

another name. If the second happens, you are in good shape.

To create passwords, make up one different than the one you use to

access computers. Although muds encrypt passwords for storage, nothing

prevents an unscrupulous mud admin from intercepting that password and

using it for unethical purposes. It is also recommended that you use a

password with numbers and mixed upper and lower case letters in it.

They told me I had to register!

Some muds require all their players to register before being allowed

to play. Also, it may be the case that someone from the same place as

you has been causing trouble, so the admins of the mud in question

have decided to require only people from that site to register. If

this is the case with the mud you wish to play, simply follow the

instructions they give. In most cases they will give you an email

address where you should send your registration.

Name and password set, what next?

This is where you get to see why there is so little in common among

LPMuds from the player's point of view. Some LPMud's will ask you a

series of questions about who you are and what sort of character you

would like. Others ask nothing more. Among the questions you might be

asked are: what is your email address? what is your real name? what

gender would you like to play? what race would you like to be? what

class would you like to be? etc.

I don't want anyone knowing my email address!

MUD Administrators have a legitimate need to know your email address.

No one else does. If a mud requires you to give your email address it

should either offer you the option of keeping it private, or it should

automatically keep the email private. If they do not keep your email

private and you desire privacy, do not play the mud. Do not complain,

however, that they ask for it.

_Note:_

There seems to be some difference of opinion on this one, so I decided

to quote one of the comments:

"Well, I have to disagree with this section: E-mail addresses are

very difficult to verify in bulk, and really not worth the trouble

unless you perform site registration. I believe the only people you

have a legitimate need for an email address from is your wizards.

Other than that, knowing the ip they log in from should be more

than sufficient." -Rust (John Viega)

Is it asking me for _my_ gender?

No. The game wants to know what gender you would like your _character_

to be. This means you can play a character of the opposite gender,

your own gender, or one of the alternate gender types which might be

offered. The other side of the coin to this, however, is that you

should _never_ count on other people in real life being the gender of

the character they play.

What does it mean by race?

Many LPMuds have a feature called character races. The term "race" in

these instances is not the same as the term used in modern society. In

fact, the LPMud term race would more correctly be referred to as

species. In fantasy type LPMuds, you will often see a selection of

"races" like human, orc, artrell, gnome, etc. When you are asked to

choose a race, a list of possible races should be provided for you.

What is a class? What is a guild?

In general, a class is a grouping of players with common abilities. A

guild as well can be said to have the same definition. Many muds, if

they use either of these concepts at all, add some very individual

nuances. To muds which do not have classes or guilds, the concepts are

naturally irrelevant. Those which have one or the other are often

using the terms in an interchangeable fashion. Finally, those muds

which have both often define class in a more generic manner than

guild. For example, on Nightmare, a class is like a profession and the

guild like a particular job. You might have people in the fighter

class who are in the templars guild, and others who are in the rangers

guild. In short, the guild is a way of specializing your class

abilities.

Other muds allow "multi-classing", which may mean joining multiple

guilds, classes, or both. It is always best to check out the "help

guild" and "help class" command on any given mud to see how it defines

these terms.

I am in the mud, what do I do?

There is no one answer to this question, as the answer will vary from

MUD to mud. No matter what, however, you should see if the mud has a

"faq" command to get a listing of that mud's frequently asked

questions. In addition, you should learn how to use the "help" command

as well as find out about the rules governing that mud.

What are some common commands?

The following commands exist on virtually all LPMuds. () around part

of a command indicate that that part is optional. [] indicates that

the text should not be taken literally. These commands naturally are

not likely to be found on non-English muds.

* help ([topic])

Gives you help. If you specify a topic, you get help on that

topic. If you just type help, you will either get help on where

to find other help, or you will be put into a help menu.

* tell [player] [message]

Sends the string [message] to the player whose name is [player]

anywhere on the mud. Some LPMuds do not allow players to tell

to one another as it is viewed unrealistic.

* say [message]

Sends [message] to everyone who is in the same mud room as you.

This command is almost always aliased to "'", such that "'hi!"

is the same thing as typing "say hi!".

* who

Gives you a list of everyone connected to that mud.

* look

Gives you a description of the mud room in which you are in.

* look at [object]

Gives you a description of the object in question.

What is an alias?

As with UNIX, most LPMuds provide some sort of method for creating

"aliases". An alias is simply a way in which you can have a easy to

type command represent another command. For example, you will often

want to type the phrase "get all from corpse" on any LPMud. It is much

easier to make an alias so that whenever you type "gac", the LPMud

interprets that as "get all from corpse".

In order to create aliases, you need to know how your particular mud

handles aliasing. Older muds use a device called a quicktyper. Newer

MUDs have alias commands built in. Try issuing "help alias" and "help

quicktyper" commands in order to find out how aliases are handled on

your mud. If your mud uses quicktypers, you will have to go find the

quicktyper object before you can create aliases. Ask any other player

on such a mud where there quicktyper can be found.

Why is the mud admin ignoring me?

Admins in particular are prone to a mud disease called "idling". This

means that the lights are on, but nobody is home. An idle person is

simply someone logged in to the game, but who is perhaps not actually

at their computer terminal. That person is thus not really ignoring

your question, since the person is never actually seeing it.

If the admin is not idling, chances are that person is being

overwhelmed with questions or is actually coding online. Many LPMuds

will tell you that the person to whom you are talking is "idle" or

"editing". If you get that response to a tell, do not expect an answer

back right away. In addition, if it says the admin is editing (or

anyone else for that matter), then it is generally considered rude to

continue telling to that person as it makes it difficult for the

person to edit.

Many people these days have the ability to be on several muds at the

same time. It is therefore entirely possible that the person to whom

you are trying to talk is in fact looking at another window. To get

that person's attention, it may be ok to "beep" them (by sending a

control-G in a say or tell). Some people do not like others to do this

to them, however, so be careful about doing it too much.

The admins are being unfair, don't I have rights?

The short answer is yes, you have the right not to play the game. The

long answer is much more complex. First off, any reasonable set of

admins who wish to create a game which people will enjoy will

enumerate the sorts of behaviour you can expect from them. In other

words, admins on fun muds will state the rules of the game ahead of

time and will not deviate from those rules. That way you know what to

expect. In addition, if you do not like the rules, you don't get

involved with playing the game.

What prevents an admin from breaking their own rules? Absolutely

nothing. In one sense, a mud is like someone else's swimming pool. You

have absolutely no right to swim there, and they have the right to

throw you out just because you talk funny or say things they don't

like. Fortunately, there are plenty of muds out there with civil

administrations to make this nothing more than a passing nuisance.

A common misconception is that mud admins administrate muds for power,

and that arbitrary behaviour is a way of exercising that power. Though

there may be a few misguided individuals out there who do in fact

administrate muds for the sake of power, the fact is that no mud

administrator has any power over you. Remember, the worst thing any

admin can do to you is make you go play somewhere else.

A final thing to remember is that muds evolve and rules evolve with

the mud. Just because rules change does not mean the admins are being

arbitrary. Arbitrariness is reflected in sometimes applying rules and

sometimes ignoring them, not in creating new rules to fit unforseen

situations.

What about freedom of speech?

No, not even freedom of speech. Again, reasonable admins will clarify

in publically available rules what sort of speech (hate speech,

offensive language, or whatever) is not acceptable on that mud. You

may or may not agree with those rules or the political beliefs those

rules represent, but at least you do know where you stand on the mud.

It is thus up to you to decide if you can play under those rules or

not. In the event you encounter an unreasonable mud, there is nothing

much you can do but decide to leave. If it is a commercial mud,

however, deciding to leave can be some sort of leverage.

A common source of friction between players and admins is where

players decide to criticize admins. Most often, the players are not

really trying to criticize the admins so much as inspire positive

changes to make a game they love even better. In those cases, it is

always good to remember that the admin is a real human who is closely

involved with what the mud is. If you keep that in mind, you can often

help bring positive changes to the mud you play without

unintentionally striking a hidden chord in a sensitive admin.

What else is there?

Explore the mud! Most gaming muds have places called "newbie" areas

which are simplistic places for people new to the game to go and get

the hang of things. When you first log in to a new mud, you should ask

the others where the newbie area is. Also, read the login screen and

news which scrolls across your screen at login time, as they contain

important information about characteristics unique to the mud you are

playing.

Ask people questions. Just make sure you have read the help files

first, or you will be sure to annoy someone. In addition, try not to

choose a single person for your queries. Constantly being asked

questions by the same person can often annoy people as easily as

stupid questions.

Section III

Coding on an LPMud

Contents

1. What is coding?

2. What is LPC?

3. How do I get to code on an LPMud?

4. How do I learn to code?

5. What is The Idea Exchange?

6. How do I learn to code a room/monster/weapon/armou...?

7. But you said that all LPMuds use LPC!

8. My code is not working! How do I fix it?

9. What is an efun? an lfun? a kfun? a sefun?...

10. Can I take my area from LPMud X to LPMud Y?

11. Can I code offline?

12. Why does the mud use ed? Why not have the mud use vi/emacs...?

13. How do I put my code into the game?

What is coding?

Coding is writing files for the computer to read. In the case of

LPMuds, this means writing files in a computer language called LPC.

The LPMud server reads these files and interprets what those files are

telling the computer to do when certain player actions occur. Often

that means things like displaying a description of a room when you

enter it and so on. The LPC files which make up the backbone of any

mud are called the mudlib. Coders use the mudlib code in such a way as

not to have to rewrite many of the most common instructions over and

over again. With most good mudlibs, therefore, there is more creation

involved than coding.

What is LPC?

LPC is an object building language created by the author of the

original LPMud server, standing for Lars Pensjö C. Structurally, it is

much like the more popular programming language C. Designed with LPMud

object building specifically in mind, it puts the power of game

building in the hand of the general user.

How do I get to code on an LPMud?

Policies vary from mud to mud. Some muds require you to make a certain

player level before being allowed to code. Others require you to pass

a test or fillout an application. Still others just let anyone come on

and code. If you really want to get in on things, the best thing to do

is either to talk to the admins of the mud you are playing, or go to

The Idea Exchange (ie.imaginary.com 7890) The Idea Exchange has a

newsgroup for coders looking to code and another for muds looking for

coders. Keep in mind that many muds which are open to players already

have more coders than they need.

How do I learn to code?

There are two parts to learning how to code on your mud:

1. Learning LPC

2. Learning your mud's object library (mudlib)

Each mud should have detailed documentation on part 2. Two LPC

textbooks, a beginner and an intermediate, exist to take care of part

1. You can get the textbooks via ftp at

ftp://ftp.imaginary.com/pub/LPC/doc. Documentation, however, will not

really do anything without looking at examples, practicing, and

talking to more experienced coders. Examples should be everywhere on

your mud (though they are not necessarily good examples). Practicing

is simply just copying code you do not understand, making small

changes to it to see what they do, and learning from what happens. To

learn more about how to code from others, talk to more experienced

coders on your own mud or visit The Idea Exchange which is designed to

help people learn LPC.

What is The Idea Exchange?

The Idea Exchange is centered around the advancement of LPMud

technology and the promotion of its use. On The Idea Exchange you will

find many of the people responsible for the software commonly used to

build LPMud environments, including the authors of drivers and

mudlibs. It is an excellent place for learning about LPC and

discussing new ideas.

How do I code a monster/room/weapon/armour...?

Read your mud's documentation, as this varies greatly from mud to mud.

"Also, questions like that are almost impossible to answer in any

other way than showing an example. Thus, a much better question is:

'Where can I find an example of how to create a XXX?' or 'I don't

quite understand this part of the example on how to...'" -Drevreck

(Lars Syrstad)

But you said all LPMuds use LPC!

Yes, they do. However, they do not all use the same mudlib. The mudlib

is the basic LPC files you make use of then you write your LPC files.

The LPMud server in turn interprets your files and stores them in

memory. Two muds using different mudlibs therefore can be wildly

different from one another. And since the mudlibs are so different,

the files you will write will be equally different.

An analogy might be that of a human dialect. Quebecois French and

Continental French often use different words and such in order to

express ideas. In spite of this, the language structure is the same.

So, both are still French even though you sometimes need to say

different things in order to mean the same thing.

In writing an object in LPC, you are almost always using the mudlib's

LPC files rather than totally writing files from scratch. You do this

through something called inheritances. Inherited code which exists on

one mud may not exist on your mud, or may exist differently. Therefore

when you try to use that code, it will not work as you expect even

though both are in LPC.

My code is not working! How do I fix it?

First, determine if the problem is with...

* the object failing to load

* the code causing an error when it runs

* no errors, it is just the expected things do not happen

Now that you know what "type" of error you have, you need to isolate

it. Isolating it depends on the type of bug...

_the object fails to load_

You have the bug isolated for you you in your error file. The

location of the error log depends on the file name of the

object with the error. It also depends on the way your mudlib

logs such errors. Nightmare, for example, logs compile errors

to /log/errors/std for obejcts in /std, etc, and

/log/errors/descartes for objects from /realms/descartes. TMI-2

would log my errors to /u/d/descartes/log and mudlib errors to

/log/* with sensitive logging going to /log/adm/*. _know_ with

MudOSthe driver does isolate the error for you to a useful

degree of certainty. More on this later.

For LPMud 3.2.1, you can use the: #pragma verbose_errors

preprocessor directive to make compile time errors include a

bit of context in error messages. Some mudlibs turn this

#pragma on by default.

_an error occurs during execution_

These are logged in the mud's runtime error logged, and they

ALWAYS reflect the exact line where something happened. On

MudOS muds before 0.9.20, the system runtime log was

/log/debug.log. The mudlib in later versions has the option of

naming it whatever.

"Brought over from LPMud 3.[01].x , LPMud 3.2 uses

/`hostname`/debug.log. LPMud 3.2.1 allows you to pass the option

--debug_file to change this default. If there is a triple fault

(i.e. an error while the master was processing an error in error

processing), and you compiled the driver with the TRACE_CODE

option, there will also be a trace of the last instructions

executed. Moreover, if the driver is not out of memory, and there

is no triple fault, the apply runtime_error() is called in the

master, with the error message, file name, object name and line

number as arguments." -Amylaar

Note that for drivers which can compile LPC code to C and then

link it into the driver, no line number information will exist

to help you in debugging. You should therefore debug your LPC

code thoroughly before compiling it to C.

_no errors, you just do not get expected results_

These are the hardest to debug. You need to go through the code

and test

1. Which code is being executed

2. The values of the variables in the executed code

How do you do this? Take the following code with a priveledges

bug...

/* from /cmds/adm/_rid.c */

int cmd_rid(string str) {

if(!archp(previous_object())) return 0;

if(!str || !user_exists(str = lower_case(str))) return 0;

if(!((int)USERS_D->rid_user(str))) return 0;

message("system", "You rid "+capitalize(str)+".", previous_object());

return 1;

}

/* EOF */

/* /secure/daemon/users.c */

int rid_user(string str) {

return rm(DIR_USERS+"/"+str[0..0]+"/"+str+SAVE_EXTENSION);

}

/* OTHER CODE DELETED FOR BREVITY */

This is not real code (as a lot more should exist in such an

operation). However it does serve the point. This code will

load fine and execute without error. However, it will not

delete the save file of any user. If anyone executes it, the

following will happen:

> rid weenieplayer

What?

>

So what do you know? You know you typed "rid weenieplayer", and you

know you got 0 returned. One of the following things happened:

1. The "rid" command never got executed

2. The archp() returned false for the person executing the

command

3. For some reason, str was equal to 0

4. rid_user() in users.c returned 0 to the command

How do you know if 1 is the problem? put the line... write("rid

command executed") as the first line of the cmd_rid() function

in the rid command. If the rid command is executed, you will

see that it is executed before you see "What?". If it is not,

you will just see "What?". If you do not see that line in

write(), then you know your bug is with you whatever calls the

"rid" command. If you do, then you know you must proceed

further.

Do the same after each line which returns 0. Make sure each write()

string is unique so you know *which* line is being written out. This

will tell you exactly *which* line is returning 0 in the rid command.

In this case, it is #4 which is the problem. The users daemon is

returning 0 for for rid_user(). This means that rm() is definitely

returning 0. rm() only returns 0 when an rm fails. rm() only fails

when an object does not have proper access. Therefore, in this case,

you need to fix the bug in your security.

If for some reason you cannot go editing the files in question (i.e.

they are in the base lib files to which you have no access, changing

them would be even more troublesome, etc), you should consider the

efuns trace() and traceprefix().

Do you need to go through all of these tedious steps? No, you can

generally make good guesses as to where to look the more familiar you

become with the code. For example, in this case you pretty much could

have elimited step 1 if that command is an old command which used to

work. After all, it is highly unlikely that the mud would suddenly

stop executing that one command!

Furthermore, if you had just made a change to the security system, you

would immediately suspect that rm() failed and thus would have checked

that first.

This is why presenting me with your entier rid command would have been

useless to me. I would have looked at it and said it *looks* ok. But I

have no idea what changes you have recently made to your mud, nor do I

know from looking at the code which of those lines is returning 0. I

can only basically tell you that one of those lines is failing.

However, if you were to tell me that for some reason your user object

was returning 0 in trying to rm() the user file during the rid

command, I could tell you details about the relevant parts of the

Nightmare LPC Library security to this daemon. And then you could use

that information to debug further and ultimately fix the bug.

What is an efun? an lfun? a kfun? an sefun?...

For any function in LPC, there are three distinct parts...

1. the prototype

2. the call

3. the definition

What differentiates all of these different types of functions is

_where_ they are defined. The definition of the function is the part

which says what it does.

afun (auto function, DGD only)

the function is defined in the auto object and behaves like and

efun from other drivers. This function is really very special

type of lfun.

apply

a function defined in the mudlib designed to be called only by

the driver. All applies are also lfuns. Most of the functions

in the DGD's driver object and other's master object are

applies. In addition, the functions create(), init(), and

reset() are also applies for LPMud 3.2 (not 3.2.1), MudOS, and

CD.

efun (external function)

this type of function is defined external with respect to the

mudlib. In other words, in the driver. Since it is defined

inside the driver, it is faster, but the mudlib is left with

little control over what it does.

kfun (kernel function, DGD only)

This type of function is much like an efun in that it is

defined external to the mudlib in the driver kernel. There are

some ways beyond the scope of this FAQ in which kfuns differ

from efuns, ways which have little bearing to daily coding.

lfun (local function)

Any function defined inside an object in the mudlib. The

functions you write (like create() or reset()) are lfuns.

sefun (simulated external function)

lfuns defined in an object known as the simul efun object. Any

object in the mudlib is allowed to use these functions as if

they were efuns (treat them like local calls).

You might also want to keep in mind the difference between a local

call and a call_other. A local call is a call to a function defined in

your object or to one of the objects it inherits. A call other is a

call to a function defined in another object. Efuns and simul efuns,

though not defined in your object, act like local calls. Afuns and

kfuns are in fact local calls, since all objects inherit the auto

object to which they are local.

Can I take my area from LPMud X to LPMud Y?

Can you? If they use the same mudlib, yes. May you? Often muds have

restrictions against importing code in order to keep the mud unique.

Talk to the administration of both muds for local details.

Can I code offline?

There are many different methods of coding offline, and which one is

available to you depends on your mud. The methods are:

1. ange-ftp

2. your favourite editor + ftp

3. cut-and-paste

Editing offline allows you a faster response time, the ability to

multitask, and the ability not to be bothered by incoming tells

screwing up your edit window. It also allows you to make use of

editing environments which may be much more robust than standard mud

ed.

ange-ftp is an emacs mode which allows you to edit files in emacs and

have them automatically ftp'ed to your mud and back. ange-ftp

requires:

* emacs with ange-ftp mode

* an FTP server which gives access to host mud files

Using a local editor and ftp allows you free choice of which editors

you use, but you have to manually transfer each file. If going from a

DOS environment, you also need to watch for carriage-return/line-feed

translation. FTP requires:

* An FTP server which gives you access to your mud files

Cut and paste requires no file transfer and allows you to use any

editor which has immediate access to your mud files. For example, you

can edit on your home computer using Notepad, then cut that from

Notepad and paste to your mud window which is likely in ed. Cut and

paste requires:

* The ability to cut and paste from editor to mud window.

Why does the mud use ed? Why not have the mud use vi/emacs...?

See Section IV: How do I get my mud to use vi/emacs instead of ed?

How do I put my code into the game?

A file is considered "in the game" if another file already visible to

players references it. So, to put your stuff in the game, you need to

change code already in the game to reference your code. This action

normally requires the action of mud administrator. Most muds have some

sort of quality control policies which state rules for having your

code reviewed.

Section IV

Starting Your Own LPMud

Contents

1. How do I start my own LPMud?

2. How do I find a site?

3. Can I charge players to play my mud?

4. Why can't I use any of the other servers or mudlibs?

5. Our system needs upgrading, can't I get donations?

6. I have a site, now how do I choose a server/library?

7. What about Nightmare?

8. What copyright issues are involved with using someone else's code?

9. Where can I find all this stuff?

10. Help! I can't get my driver to compile, what should I do?

11. I have applied patch XXX, and now nothing works any more

12. How do I do ANSI colours?

13. Why not just hard code the colours?

14. How to I make the mud use vi/emacs instead of ed?

15. Is it possible to connect multiple muds together?

16. Can a mud server run on DOS?

17. Can a mud run under AmigaOS? OS2? Windows NT? etc...?

How do I start my own LPMud?

1. Come up with a unique and interesting idea

2. Find a site

3. And do:

1. Choose a server

2. Choose an object library

Or:

1. Choose an object library

2. Choose a server

Or:

1. Choose a server

2. Write your own object library

Or:

1. Write your own server

2. Write your own object library

4. Define administrative policies

5. Find people to code areas for the mud

6. Get some areas completed

7. Open to players (with a beta test stage recommended

How do I find a site?

The most common method is to talk to the administrator of the machine

from which you access muds and the rest of the Internet. If the

resources are available, they will often allow you to run your mud

server unless something political like a no-games policy is preventing

it. If you are not running a mud as a game, however, this is not

relevant.

Never run a mud without talking to your system administrator. LPMuds

take up a lot of system resources, and many places simply cannot spare

those resources on a single project, especially if the project is

non-essential to the functioning of the entity running the machine.

Not only is it just plain wrong to run a mud without permission, it

also predisposes sysadmins to saying no to people who ask them when

the resources are free.

If you cannot run it on your local machine, post a note to the

ie.sites.wanted newsgroup on The Idea Exchange. Do not post to USENET

newsgroups unless you have a working mud. It does not need to be

complete, but posting notes saying "I have a cool idea, will someone

give me a site" is inappropriate, unless that idea is completely

fleshed out with some sweat in the form of work on paper and such.

Another avenue of finding a site is talking to local internet access

providers. Often, they have extra small machines on which a mud could

be run (sometimes for a fee). The most expensive route is to buy your

own machine and your own Internet hookup.

Can I charge players to play my mud?

If you write the server from scratch AND you wrote your mudlib from

scratch and you have agreements with the coders who wrote areas on

your mud, the answer, of course, is yes. The above will take roughly

3-5 years of full-time work to accomplish as well.

If you do not wish to go through all of that time to write your own

server and object library, then you may only user DGD. Of course, you

will have to get express permission from Dworkin. The only object

library you may use for such purposes is LPMoo.

Why can't I use any of the other servers or mudlibs?

They all come with some variation of the same copyright. Since all

drivers except DGD were derived from LPMud 3.0, they all require a

copyright at least as strict as that one, which basically states that

you can use the server as you like, so long as you do not make a

profit off of its use. Most current servers have much more strict and

explicitly copyrights. On top of that, many of the mudlibs which exist

also have similar copyrights. To require money of your players is

therefore a violation of international copyright laws. DGD requires

licensing through a third party company.

Our system needs upgrading, can't I get donations?

Yes, you can request that your players donate money as long as the end

of that money is to run the mud and donations are not a prerequisite

for play on the mud. In other words, they must be donations, not fees.

_Note:_

I am not a lawyer, nor am I the author of all the mud code out

there... Therefore, keep in mind that what I am saying about

copyrights is my interpretation and not binding upon ANY of the server

or mudlib authors out there. For reference to what is binding with

respect to my code, see the copyright notice which accompanies it.

I have a site, now how do I choose a server/library?

Some people have a favourite mudlib, and therefore go at building

their own mud from the angle of using that mudlib. Others have a

favourite server and start from that angle. Others simply want to

start a mud fast, while others want to really tinker with it and make

it their own. The following is a rough guide to what is out there:

_Note:_

Also, I only publish software which the authors have somehow made

known to me to be available, or in fact are widely known to be

available. I will not publish information about software which I have

no such verification, since being on a public ftp site is not the same

as being publically available.

Servers

CD

Generally considered a slow driver, however it is designed to

work very closely with the CD-lib. Therefore tests showing the

CD driver to be slower are not necessrily fair as sole factors

since they are mudlib-independent tests. The CD-lib is

considered a well designed lib which is often a factor which

leads people to choose this server. To see a CD server mud,

visit Genesis.

DGD

DGD is built on the belief that small is good. This is absent

of much of the extra baggage which exists in all other drivers

since it was created from scratch. There currently exist only a

few, small native mudlibs for DGD, one of which is a MOO

simulation. DGD's documentation is sparse. It includes dynamic

object version updating amd supports compile time LPC->C

compiling, meaning that when you compile the driver you can

have some of your LPC files converted to C and compiled with

the driver. In addition, unlike other LPMud servers, it is

disk-based, meaning you can run a huge mud on virtually no RAM.

You therefore never need to reboot or save objects. Dark has

written a TCP/IP socket support for DGD which can be gotten

separately from the driver. Erwin Harte is managing a network

package for the driver.

LPC4

Maintained by Profezzorn, it supports a scripting feature that

allows you to execute LPC files as atomic programs without

running the mud in the traditional sense. In addition it

features lambda closure types which are actually understandable

to most people. It is designed for speed through the philosophy

of creating large numbers of efuns to perform CPU intensive

work. I know of no muds using this driver in practice. LPC4

also has socket efuns with TCP support.

LPMud

Once the fastest of all the drivers, it has lost this crown to

MudOS. Nevertheless, it is an extremely fast driver which

supports the old LPMud 2.4.5 Mudlib. It also supports closures,

though its closure syntax is beyond general ease of

comprehension. There is only one mudlib in wide release which

is native to this server.

MudOS

The fastest and most feature-filled of the LPMud drivers, this

one comes with TCP support for mudlib objects allowing you

things like WWW, finger, SMTP, USENET, and other such access to

Internet resources from inside the mud. It also comes with a

choice of well-developed mudlibs native to the server. MudOS

allows you to choose between UID support and no-UID support,

which makes it easy to hack a LPMud 2.4.5 mud to work with

MudOS if that is your cup of tea. MudOS supports a new function

pointer syntax which is as functional as LPMud's closures

without LPMud's obscure closure syntax.

Shattered World

Developed by one of the original LPMuds. I believe this driver

originated from one of the first LPMud releases and has been

heavily customized in such a way as not to be recognizable as

such.

Object Libraries

CD-lib

I am told this is a very well-designed mudlib. Some features of

it are an enhanced sense of reality through player recognition

(you must make the acquaintance of players before knowing who

they are) and UDP intermud communications.

Runs under: CD (native)

Dead Souls

A public domain version of the former Nightmare mudlib. It

contains a complete mudlib from which to build a world, but is

very difficult to set up.

Runs under: MudOS v21b25 (native)

DGD Kernel Library

A minimal development library that can be used as a basis for

both continuous and non-continuous systems. It comes included

with the DGD 1.1 release. Runs under: DGD 1.1 (native)

Discworld

Advanced command parsing system and user interface, as well as

many concepts you will not see in other mudlibs for any server.

Too many frogs and wombles.

Runs under: MudOS 0.9.20 (native)

Final Realms

A modernized version of the Discworld mudlib.

Runs under: MudOS

Foundation IIr1.1

A basic mudlib with nothing extra for people who want a solid

design base from which to design a unique mudlib. No combat or

anything else fancy is included. Nothing about it is

pre-disposed towards fantasy or even game playing for that

matter. On the positive side, there is nothing to deconstruct

in order to build your own mudlib and there is more of a solid

base to work from than something like Lil. The downside is that

you will have to put in a lot of work to make a playable game

from this.

Runs under: MudOS v21.7b23 (native)

Heaven 7

A mudlib that essentially extends LPMud 2.4.5 with all the

player features you always wanted such as classes, skills, and

unlimited levels. It is well-suited to LPMud 3.2, but poorly

suited to the other drivers under which it runs.

Runs under: LPMud 3.2 (native)

Lil

A small, essentials only mudlib. Designed basically to give you

examples of files as they must minimally be for the MudOS

driver to run. Only useful if you plan really to write

something totally from scratch.

Runs under: MudOS (native)

LIMA 1.0a5

This is a brand new library, featuring the new MudOS natural

language parsing package and a UNIX-like wizard shell with

output redirection and command piping. In addition, it is a

very modular, object-oriented mudlib with stack-based security.

Runs under: MudOS v22.1b4 (native)

LPMoo

A MOO simulation using LPC. This library allows you to work and

play exactly as if you were using MOO instead of LPC.

Runs under: DGD (native)

LPMud 2.4.5

The most well-known mudlib in existence. It is rather simple,

not the best design, but if you know it, it is useful. Also,

the widest range of drivers support it. Good for putting up and

running a mud quickly. It is very ancient and inferior in

design, flexibility, and functionality to modern mudlibs.

Runs under: DGD (non-native), LPMud 3.2 (non-native), LPC4

(non-native)

Melville

Extremely minimalist mudlib for DGD. Documentation is sparse

and it has few features. According to Dworkin, "Unfortunately

it was never finished and today it is rather out of date. It

does not work with recent versions of DGD."

Runs under: DGD (native)