Archive-name: games/mud/diku/part1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ DikuMud FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Last Update--05-14-93 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Authored/Compiled by Frederick Myers This document will be posted bi-weekly to rec.games.mud.diku. The offical archive site will be 147.226.11.94 in pub/reni/mud/faq/ The following is the FAQ for rec.games.mud.diku and a general game FAQ for DikuMud games. This FAQ is divided up into three different sections: INTRO (general information and background) , IMP_BUILDING (questions concerning starting a mud, building areas, etc), and FTP (well known ftp sites for various Diku mud utilities, patches, and sources). More information on muds can be received from rec.games.mud.announce (a general 3 part mud FAQ is posted there), online within whichever mud you decided to play, and from the various ftp sites located at the end of this document. All information is correct to the best of my knowledge. I take no no responsibility for any inaccuracies contained in this document. This document may be distributed freely. Any use of any of the contents here-in must be credited and the author should be notified if possible. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ##INTRO## "What is a Diku Mud?" A DikuMud is s specific species of one of the fastest growing forms of computer games called Mud. For more information on muds in general, please consult the general mud FAQ posted on rec.games.mud.announce. DikuMuds are highly influenced on the AD&D format for adventuring. Though DikuMuds are not an exact duplicate of AD&D, both share many common qualities, enough so a person who is familar with AD&D will feel quite at home with the DikuMud world. But by no means is AD&D experience required for a person to prove to be successful. While some muds are based on pure social interaction and some based on pure fighting, DikuMuds are evolving into the first intelligent compromise between the two. "Where did this DikuMud come from?" DikuMud was originally developed by Katja Nyboe, Tom Madsen, Hans Henrik Staerfeldt, Michael Seifert, and Sebastian Hammer. A small bit of background of DikuMud, according to Sebastian Hammer: "The game originated at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Copenhagen (in Danish: Datalogisk Institut ved K|benhavns Universitet; or, amongst friends: DIKU) The foundations of the code were laid out in March of 1990. Our background (Mud-wise) was primarily Abermud (LpMud was just emerging at the time), and our object was to make a better AberMud. We wanted to make it fast, compact and CPU-efficient. We wanted to allow more than the 18 (or so) players-at-a-time that AberMuds permitted in thos days, and we wanted a bigger world, so that players could truly get lost in there (back then, 500 room AberMuds seemed the norm). Also, we wanted to make it more interesting for players to cooperate, rather than just run madly around in search of beasts to kill. I guess we reached some of our goals, but far from all of them. Currently, we are working on DikuMud II, which is still under debugging. We have ceased to support the original code in any way, since so many "improved" versions have started to circulate" "Where and how do I connect to a DikuMud?" DikuMuds are located on different computers throughout the world. These computers can be at universities, companies, or even be personal workstations. To connect to these games, you need two things- 1)Access to telnet. 2)The mud's host name or IP number and the protocal port that the paticular mud is running on. Telnet is, to put it very simply, like a telephone. From the computer, you "dial in" where you want to connect to and your in (assuming the game is up). Since most people are going to play on a VAX/VMS or Unix based platform, I will use those for examples on how to connect. Asgard.cs.bsu.edu 6969 will be the mud we will use as an example to connect to. (147.226.112.94 is the IP number of that same machine). From a unix based machine- (The % is your prompt) %telnet asgard.cs.bsu.edu 6969 or %telnet 147.226.112.94 6969 or %telnet <- That means hit the return key telnet>open asgard.cs.bsu.edu 6969 From a VMS based machine- (The $ is your prompt) $telnet asgard.cs.bsu.edu/port=6969 or $telnet/port=6969 asgard.cs.bsu.edu or $telnet telnet>asgard.cs.bsu.edu 6969 or $telnet/port=6969 147.226.112.94 ***NOTE*** Some versions of VMS choke when you use the IP numbers, so it is suggested that you use the name instead of numbers. "Where can I find out where these muds are located" Word of mouth is a good way. So are the news groups. Different muds are always being mentioned in rec.games.mud.diku plus a listing is posted every two weeks in rec.games.mud.announce. Look for the "Totally Unofficial List of Internet Muds". "Ok, I'm connected, what do I do now?" Many DikuMud's have a lot of differences on how a person goes about making a character. But there are some common similarities between all of them. -Name- This will be your character's name for the game. It is suggested that you do not make up a name that is complicated to spell (something like Gustralieb you be a pain for other players to type) or something that could possibly be the name of a monster in the game (something like Dragon or Guard has a great posibility of being a monster (or mob) in the game). If your name is one of the above, you can find yourself being killed at times when a sensible name could have saved your life. -Password- This is what will prevent other people from playing your character. Pick a password word that is hard to guess and one that you currently do not use on another mud or system. Bad passwords include your real name, character name, and anything less than 3 characters. It is recomended that you choose something that includes some non-standrard Alpha characters such as # or @ or * (you get the idea). So, a password like #Chapo1* would be a good, hard to guess password. -Sex- No, not if you get any, but what gender you want to be. Most commonly this will be Male or Female, but a few muds have the option of being Other or Neuter. -Class- There are usually four basic classes that DikuMuds usually have. 1)Cleric - a healer 2)Warrior - a fighter 3)Magic User - a spell caster 4)Thief - a rogue Some muds also have many other split style classes such as Rangers, Paladins, Bards, etc. Usually on the log-on screen, there will be some sort of online help that will help you in the decision of your class. There are a few other things some muds include such as hometown and stats. For these items, there should be sufficient online help to guide you through on the paticular DikuMud you are playing. "What is a client program, or TINTIN?" A client program is basically a program that you use to connect to a mud that has many enchanced features to help (in some opinion 'cheat') in the game. The most commonly used client for DikuMuds is TINTIN. TINTIN was specifically designed for play on DikuMuds and is only available for Unix platforms. Such features could be things like macros, aliases, and triggers. Sites where you can get tintin is listed later in this document. Further info on clients programs and their fucntions is contained in the bi-weekely rec.games.mud.announce FAQs. "Ok, I have a character, now what do I do?" First thing you would want to do is get to know the mud and it's commands. Some things you can do is type... 1)HELP- This will give a general listing of the commands available. 2)INFO- Will give you a brief introduction to the paticular mud you are playing. 3)COMMANDS- This command is not on all muds, but what it does is gives you a listing of all the commands available to your character. 4) HELP - This will give you a more precise definition. An example of what you could type is HELP SAY. This will give you an explaination and proper syntax for the command say. Ask around. Most people are general nice by nature and will offer some (sometimes a lot, sometime very very little) help if you ask nicely and are not annoying about it. Read everything you see. Things like the MOTD (Message Of The Day, which you see right before you enter the game) will provide very important information sometimes. "What are hit points, mana, & movement?" Hit Points -- A numeric representation of the amount of hits/damage that your character can take. Everytime you are hit, you loose some amount of hit points. You are considered officially dead when you reach -11 hit points, though at 0 you can not do anything except for hope there is someone around who will heal you. Mana -- This is the amount of spells you can cast. Everytime you cast a spell, a certain amount of mana is subtracted from your working total of mana. Mana is like the working energy that you can use to cast spells. Movement -- This is the amount that you can walk/run etc etc. A decent comparison could be the amount of energy your player has. Some skills also subtract from you movement points. "What are some other things that I should know?" Don't be annoying. Such things are constanly whinning to other players and wizards will be the quickest way of being rejected by the players of the mud. Avoid player killing unless it has been _explicitly_ allowed on the mud you are playing. Usually if player killing is not allowed on a mud, and someone violates this, it is dealt with very sternly. Avoid unecessary shouts. Such things as shouting "LAAAAAAGGGG", "GOODBYE SO-AND-SO", "LEVEL!!!", etc generally do nothing but annoy other players and can be taken care of by using tell or say. Don't litter. Leaving junk around does nothing more than drain the machines resources. See if the mud you are playing has the junk command or a dump where you can dispose of uneeded items. Remeber, that it is only a game and the main purpose is for you, as a player, to have fun, explore, and talk to people. And do not let mud playing take priority over you school/job work, which happens all to often. "What is a crash?" A crash occurs when a)The system that the mud is located fails or b)The actual mud itself fails. When a mud crashes, you will be thrown out of the game and you will not be able to connect back to the game until it is rebooted. Because of crashes, the importance of saving you character is very important. All you need to to do is type 'save' and your character is saved, thats it. No excuses. In event the game does crash, and you loose items/experience, then usually (not always, and it is not required) immortals/gods will reimburse your items. But remember, the keys words for you to get reimbursed is politeness and courtsey. Chances are, if you lost something, then other players did to. Avoid telling your local god 100 times that you lost something. Usually, if you told them once, they know and will get to you as soon as they can. And remember, nowhere does it say they have to reimburse you. In the event of a crash, do not go straight to rec.games.mud.diku and post a message saying "Blah mud crashed 4 seconds ago, what happened?". That posting will usually be met with negative reponses. POST TO THE NET ONLY AS A LAST RESORT. If the game is going to be down for an extended amount of time or if there are serious problems, usually there will be a message at the port the game ran on, or there will be a posting on rec.games.mud.diku concerning the down time. "What is some of the slang or jargon I hear on these muds?" -brb --- Means be right back. -rl --- Means real life. Something like "I'm bored rl" is commonly heard. -brb rl --- Put the two together and you get "Be right back, real life". You know, like going to the bathroom. -pk, pk'ing --- Player Killer and Player Killing. -newbie --- Someone who is new to the game. Associated with the word clueless. -mob --- A mobile, a monster in the game. -immort --- A player who has achiver immortality on the mud and is considered a god. -imp(s) --- The person(s) who run the mud. They have final say over everything. -afk --- Away from keyboard. -afw --- Away from window. -inv --- Your inventory, what you have on you and is not currently equiped. -equip --- The items that you are currently using. Like the armor you are wearing. "What about this newsgroup, rec.games.mud.diku?" This newsgroup was designed to help filter a lot of traffic that flowed through the newsgroup rec.games.mud. The newsgroup is designed for discussions about anything pretaining to DikuMud games. Anyone or anything is open, though messages that obviously have no purpose, like "Big Fat Hairy Mud Rules/Sucks!!!!" are generally frowned upon and are a waste of people's time and of network resources. "What is DikuII, and when can I expect to see it?" A note on DikuII from Sebastian Hammer: "DikuMud II is our attempt to deal with some of the shortcomings of the original game. The number of widely different Diku-versions out there indicated to us that there was a need for a stronger base system for people to work on. Some of the main improvements are: * A much more powerful Special Procedure system, allowing an arbitrary number of special routines to be associated with a mobile, and to be called at different times. One procedure interprets a simple mobile-control language, so that a lot of actions can be controlled straight out of the data files - no recompilation needed. This system also forms the base of an automated Law Enforcement system, which keeps the cities clean and safe with a smile. * A totally revised scoring system. * A better function-call structure. The game_loop from comm.c has been replaced by an event-driving sort of thing - adding a ton of flexibility and greatly reducing CPU-usage. * Cleaner internal data structures - most of the world-related structures from structs.h have been turned into a single structure with various appendages. This allows a bunch of fun things like carrying eachother (horses), entering boxes, etc. * A new format for the data files (no online building - it's still our belief that the best worlds are written in a word processor), using symbolic names, the C-preprocessor. Data is sanity-checked and converted into a binary format which also forms the base of the: * Flexible object-saving and crash-protecting system. * Various other changes, such as much cleaner shop-code, a mail-system, better bulletin boards, etc., etc. The release date is still unresolved, but all of the above is implemented and functioning quite well. Debugging and cleaning remains." ##IMP_BUILDING## "I really like DikuMuds, I want to start my own!" Well, before you go off and do that, there are some things you need to know or have. 1)A good, working knowledge of C. Though with the amount of enhanced muds that are available, this is still a good thing to know becuase you are never going to find 100% bug free code. 2)A machine. Some general requirements include: a)32-bit processor b)5+ megs available (greater than 10 is desirable) c)2-8 megs of available memory d)Network bandwith running(to Internet) at about 50 kilobits/second DikuMuds are not very CPU intensive, so very little CPU time is needed for all practical purposes. 3)Explicit System Administrator Approval. muds do not go unnoticed on any machine where there are any other users. Get this before you do anything or you could find hours and hours of hard work down the drain. 4)A large amount of time to devote to actaul work on the mud and time to spend online in the game doing administrative duties. This has caused the eventual death of many muds. 5)A creative mind. Be creative about your work, no one really cares for a dull, boring mud. "Well, I do not want to run my own mud, but I would like to create an area." Some tips in writting an area. 1)Get documentation- Basic DikuMud documention is helpful, but ask a wizard at the mud you would like to build for documentation that was made specifically for that mud. This is helpful because the actual format for area creation and many of the different bitvectors vary greatly from mud to mud. 2)Muditors are very helpful. The most common is Muditor V.5. Some muds have online creation which will enable a person to create and area online. Consult your local mud admin for more information about online creation. 3)Planning. Plan out your area. Make a detailed map and think of a good general story or theme for your area before you start construction. 4)Don't just make an area for the sake of it. If you make an area jsut for the sake of it, this usually shows and people do not want a boring, non-planned area. All you will do is waste your time and the admin's time. ##FTP## Below is a list of commonly used sites for DikuMud related items. All sites/contents are subject to change. ucbvax.berkeley.edu-- pub/games/dikumud contains- Source- MERC (most recent), Copper2, v.1 Standard DIKU Release, & Wizzy. Patches-oset, whod, and alias. Worlds-arachnos, dwarven kingdom, and mage tower. Editors-mudiotor v.5, DIKUedit. Clients-TINTIN v.2 and v.3. ferkel.ucsb.edu-- pub/DikuMUD Contents vary. Most stuff is usually found in the incoming directory. As of this posting, this site contains MERC and TINTIN. ftp.math.okstate.edu-- pub/muds Contents vary. Has Merc v1.0 and TINTIN v.2. 147.226.112.94-- pub/reni/dikumud Archive site for this FAQ. SillyMud. Accepting uploads. coyote.cs.wmich.edu-- pub/Games/Diku Contents include Arachnos, Dwarven, and Drow areas. ZoneMaker v1.2, TINTIN, and standard documentation. ftp.lysator.liu.se-- pub/lpmud/clients Has pmf, another commonly (but less) used client program. ftp.cis.ufl.edu-- pub/games/mud Includes Silly.tar.Z One final note---Playing a mud of any sort is NOT a right. The people who run the game and the people who owns/runs the system that you are playing from are not required to let you play. If you abuse your privledge of playing, there are good chances that it will be taken away ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Special thanks to- Sebastian Hammer for donating some notes on DikuII and on the history of DikuMud. Adam Coggins for doing spelling and grammar checking. also Furey, Jon Vahlberg, Sven Nielsen, Dan Brumleve, Naved Surve, Mort, and Bombman for various other contributions. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |||-------|||-------|||-------|||-------|||-------|||-------||| frederick myers ||| I don't mind about the state mondays@bsu-cs.bsu.edu ||| of mind. You know it's good reni@asgard.cs.bsu.edu ||| for nothing and I left you 00fwmyers@virgo.bsuvc.bsu.edu ||| behind. |||-------|||-------|||-------|||-------|||-------|||-------||| Archive-name: games/mud/diku/faq2 This is an unoffical listing of publicly available DikuMuds. This list is far from complete and entries are made on a request based matter only. All submissions should be e-mailed to mondays@bsu-cs.bsu.edu and be contained in the format that others entries are made below. Please include in the notes section what code base the mud is (Merc, Basic, Silly Mud, etc). Please, all entries must be sent by someone who actually _RUNS_ the mud, not just some player or some low immortal. All administrative messages (addidtions, deletions, corrections, etc) should be mailed to mondays@bsu-cs.bsu.edu (Frederick Myers). This list will be posted about every two weeks with the rec.games.mud.diku FAQ. This list will also be archived at 147.226.112.94 in pub/reni/dikumud. ############################################################################## Name: AlexMUD Address: mud.stacken.kth.se (130.237.234.14) Port: 4000 Levels: 20 Classes: 4 Areas: ? Player Killing: No Base Source: Gamma 0.0 Notes: Oldest DikuMUD in existence. :-) ############################################################################## Name: AnotherDikuMUD. Address: osiris.nmt.edu (129.138.13.14) Port: 4000 Levels: 50 Classes: 4 Areas: 40 (2.5k room) Player Killing: Yes Base Source: Diku-Gamma0.0b Notes: The mud is based upon medival, and the aim of the game is to make it look a bit like the game Moria/Angband. Missile weapons are in, with new skills and spells for all classes. There's a law system, much like DikuII's law sytem. ############################################################################## Name: Arctic DikuMUD Address: Not Public (Beta Testing) Port Number: Not Public (Beta Testing) Levels: 30 Mortal Levels 9 Immortal Levels Classes: 9 Number of Areas: Over 50 exclusive (new) zones Player Killing: Yes Base Source: Gamma 0.0 Notes: DragonLance Based Theme Brand New World (5000+ rooms) Completely rewritten from Base Code (NOT A CLONE) Spell Memorization, Skills Progression New Alignment System (Chaotic Evil <-> Lawful Good) Creation Priviledges are possible for those who earn Immortality Open System favoring realistic player interaction. (PKing and Stealing Allowed) Experienced Administration Contact gt9398b@prism.gatech.edu for Beta Test Information. ############################################################################## Name: Asgard Diku (formerly TNG Diku) Address: 147.226.112.94 Port: 6969 (if not there, try 6699) Levels: 50 mortal, 6 immortal Classes: 6 Areas: 62 Player Killing: Allowed in arena. Base Source: Sequent I Notes: Besides normal classes, paladins and rangers are included. Our system includes a fully adjustable graphical window prompt. Many areas include some that are exclsive to the mud. Many "user convient" commands have been added. Other features include mail, hospital, meta-physician, assassins, plus more. All new characters are auto-loaded with a modest starter package. ############################################################################## Name: Challenger MUD Address: 128.227.16.222 Port: 4000 Levels: 30 Mortal levels Classes: 8 classes Areas: about 50 zones, half original Player Killing: Allowed with some protection for newbies Base Source: Gamma 0.0 Heavily modified Notes: -None- ############################################################################## Name: Dark Shadow's DikuMUD (Used to be Sequent I ran by Savaki) Address: hobbes.linfield.edu Port: 7777 Levels: 24 (Standard) Classes: 10 Areas: 75 Player Killing: No Base Source: Scratch Notes: Very unique MUD, many unique features, total new death system, new guild system, new god system (Dieties, Religions), languages, and a good player base. ############################################################################## Name: Formosa Address: imux200.ncu.edu.tw (im.mgt.ncu.edu.tw) 140.115.83.200 Port: 4000 Levels: mortals - 50, immortals - 10 Classes: 4 Areas: 84 zones Player Killing: Absolutely NO Base Source: Silly Notes: crashed often, and cannot carry heavy loads for network..btw, the crash reason isn't the code bug, but the sysop cut it...:( ############################################################################## Name: GrimneMUD Address: gytje.pvv.unit.no (129.241.36.229) Port: 4000 Levels: 50 mortal, 10 immortal Classes: 4 Areas: 113 zones Player Killing: No Base Source: Gamma 0.0 Notes: Officially opened early '91. Several more or less unique spells, skills and areas exists along with some of the more common ones. You can also buy stats from a shaman, but that's pretty expensive. ############################################################################## Name: Jedi Mud Address: stimpy.psy.jhu.edu 128.220.27.102 Port: 4000 Levels: ? Classes: ? Areas: 70 Player Killing: EXTREMELY limited Base Source: Sequent I Notes: This is a very large mud with a great number of areas/optimizations. It is constantly undergoing changes/improvements and has been down less than 14 days since we went public in August of 1992. ############################################################################## Name: Mud Lite Address: haas.berkeley.edu Port Number: 4000 (4001 or 4002 when socket freezes) Levels: 30 Classes: 5, soon to be 7 Areas: 2000 rooms and growing Player Killing: Yes Base Source: Merc (though very unmerc-like) Notes: Site will move soon to haasnext1.berkeley.edu as soon as we fix a few network probs. We will be 24hr then too. at the moment, we cannot run during weekdays 9am-6pm PST, we are up all other times though. ############################################################################## Name: Mudde Pathetique Address: flysex.berkeley.edu (128.32.128.36) Port Number: 2999 Levels: 20 Classes: 4 Areas: about 40 Player Killing: Yes Base Source: modified Gamma 0.0 Notes: The worst mud on the internet. ############################################################################## Name: The Perilous Realms Address: odin.wosc.osshe.edu (140.211.111.20) Port: 2150 Levels: 500 Classes: 36 Areas: 90 Player Killing: sort of Base Source: The 1991 version of silly Notes: If your expecting a mud that looks like silly we are not it. The source has been almost 100% rewritten by now. If your looking for a mud where you have to work a little to get somewhere then we might be it. We have many new and unique things not seen on most other muds but we are also not the easiest mud on the net. If you dont like lots of changes you also probably wont like us as we are constantly updating and changing things. If you want to help shape a growing mud come see us and come with your ideas in hand (or mind). Open for a year. Hours are full time. ############################################################################## Name: Rivers of Mud Address: cie-2.uoregon.edu Port: 9000 Levels: 30 mortal, 5 immortal Classes: 4 Areas: 45 Player Killing:? Base Source: Merc v1.0 Notes: None ############################################################################## Name: SillyMUD Address: doldrums.cis.ufl.edu (128.227.224.35) Port: 4000/4001 Levels: 60 (50 Mortal) Classes: 6 plus multi-class Areas: ? Player Killing: Of Course! Base Source: SillyMUD Notes: The developement site for SillyMUD. Current version includes vt100 display, programming language, event processing, static world (the world saves and reboots as is, in event of a crash), on-line creation, realistic mobiles, plus many skills and spells. ############################################################################## Name: Snebo-Land Address: thrash.isca.uiowa.edu (128.255.19.235) Port: 4000 Levels: 50 Classes: 5 Areas: 58 Zones.... Player Killing: Tolerated, but being phazed out Base Source: Sequent I Notes:Heavily modified, friendly players, visable gods, right now in chaos mode ##############################################################################