MUDDweller 1.0 is a MUD client for the Macintosh. MUDs (Multi User Dungeon/Dimension) are multi-user games, running usually on UNIX machines. This program allows you to connect to a MUD, either through the communication toolbox or with MacTCP. It works roughly like a terminal emulator, but is line-oriented and offers some additional functionality.
Version 1.0 supports multiple sessions, a command history for each session, and has a built-in MTP client for file transfers. This program was developed for my personal use with LPmuds, but it may also be useful in conjunction with other types of MUDs.
If you don't know (yet) what MUDs are all about (and you have plenty of time to spare), have a look at the "Frequently Asked Questions" post of rec.games.mud. If you are still clueless, don't have access to USENET or need more help, send me mail at the address indicated below.
MUDDweller 1.0 is copyright ⌐ 1991 by O. Maquelin. All rights reserved. This program can be freely used and redistributed, so please share and enjoy.
Availability
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The newest version of MUDDweller is available for anonymous FTP from rudolf.ethz.ch (129.132.57.10). If you find bugs or if there is something you would like to see included in the next version, feel free to send me mail at one of the following addresses:
E-Mail: maquelin@tik.ethz.ch (preferred)
MUD: Drake on NEMESIS (dszenger9.informatik.tu-muenchen.de 131.159.8.67 2000)
Some History
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I started writing this program in july 1991, a month or so after having discovered MUDs for the first time. I got fed up with Telnet and dreamed of a program that would offer better line editing and would support auto-mapping, to get rid of all these maps scattered on my desk. Of course, it takes some time to write such a program, especially it it should have fancy features like automapping. I don't really have enough time to spare to work on such a project, but I began coding nonetheless. As a kind of excuse, I decided to write this program in C++ in order to learn this language (I usually program in object-oriented extensions of Pascal or Modula-2). I am using the MPW C++ compiler with MacApp, and the results so far are not too bad. Auto-mapping is still a very long way ahead though, and it is not clear if I will ever have the time to implement this feature.
Features of MUDDweller
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MUDDweller allows you to connect to a MUD, just like Telnet or other terminal emulators allow you to connect to a host. You can choose between using the communication toolbox or directly accessing the MUD with TCP/IP (using the MacTCP driver). The communication toolbox is part of System 7.0 and is available as an add-on for System 6.0.5 and later. You will also need a connection tool, like e.g. the serial tool. A set of such tools offering basic communication capabilities is available from Apple. MacTCP is also available from Apple and is distributed with several third-party products.
The connection window is split into two parts. Most of the window is taken by the session log, which shows the output from the MUD and the result of your commands. At the bottom of the window there is an editable text field with room for one line of text. This is where you type and edit your commands. MUDDweller is line-oriented, i.e. you type and edit a line of text locally and then send the whole line at once to the MUD (by pressing "return" or "enter"). It is possible to copy text from the session log and to paste it either in the editing field or in an other application.
There is a command history associated with each connection window. You can navigate through your last commands by pressing the up-arrow and down-arrow keys. If you edit one of the old commands and then press "return", the edited version will be sent and stored as the last command, but the history itself will not be modified. When the same command is sent more than once, it is remembered only once. Empty lines are not stored in the history at all.
An important feature for LPmud wizards ist the built-in MTP client. MTP (Mud Transfer Protocol or Mini Transmission Patchwork) is a file-transfer protocol designed specifically for LPmud by Mentar of TUBMUD. It is available only if you are using the MacTCP driver. The MTP server is expected to be on the same machine as the MUD you are connected to. Of course you must also be wizard on this MUD, or you won't be able to connect to the server.
Besides uploading and downloading files, it is also possible to update all files (from a set of directories) that have been changed since the last update. When using this feature, you will normally keep a local copy of all your MUD files and edit them with your favorite text editor (I am using the MPW Shell for this purpose). When you are done with editing, you switch to MUDDweller and tell it to update all files that have been changed. In addition to sending all the files, the program also sends the command "update <filename>" to the corresponding MUD session. Together, all of this gives you a very fast turn-around time when debugging LPC code, without having to bother with ed.
Apple, File and Edit Menus
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The standard menus apple, file and edit should be self-explanatory. The MUDDweller documents contain all the informations needed to connect to a MUD (connection settings, TCP/IP address, date of last update with MTP, etc). The contents of the associated window and the command history are not saved in the document.
If you want to open a document without automatically opening the connection, press the option key while selecting the document or while double-clicking it in the Finder.
Configure Menu
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This is where you choose which communication tool to use and set the communication parameters. If you have the communication toolbox installed and a connection tool is available, you will be able to "Use Comm Toolbox" and then to choose and configure a connection tool with "Configure Tool". If MacTCP is installed, you will also be able to "Use MacTCP". This will dim the command "Configure Tool" and enable the commands "TCP/IP Address" and "MTP Settings" instead, letting you configure the TCP/IP connection.
You should configure MTP with the command "MTP Settings" before doing any file transfers. The port of the MTP server can be set with the command "TCP/IP Address". The program assumes that the MTP server is on the same machine as the MUD. If the option "Send 'update <filename>' after upload" is checked, the command "update <filename>" will be sent to the MUD each time a file ending with ".c" is uploaded.
Before you use the commands "Update" or "Full Update", you should tell MUDDweller where the local copies of your MUD files are located. The path to these files can be set with the "Select" button of the "MTP Settings". Be sure that the path is not accidentally set to the root of your harddisk (or any other large directory), because the program will try to upload all its contents the next time you issue the "Update" command. The local files must be organized in the exact same manner as the files on the MUD, with the same filenames and the same subdirectories.
"Buffer Sizes" allows you to tell the program how much space to reserve for the command history and the session log. "Communication" allows you to set diverse parameters like the way tabs sent or received should be converted or the handling of carriage returns. When using MacTCP it is usually best to have echo on, ignore CRs and to send CR+LF pairs (the default values). When using a communication tool it is usually best to have echo off, ignore CRs and send only CRs at the end of a line. When ignoring CRs, the program relies solely on linefeeds to determine the end of the lines. These settings may depend on your particular environment.
Send Menu
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The commands "Update", "Full Update", "Upload" and "Download" are used to transfer files with the MTP protocol. They are only available when using MacTCP and only if a connection is open, the MTP port is set to a value other than 0 and the name and password have been set.
"Update" and "Full Update" are used to automatically upload all files of a directory and of the enclosed subdirectories. "Update" only sends files which are either new or which have been modified since the last update. A list of sent files together with the corresponding modification dates is kept in the document. When updating, it is possible to stop the operation either by pressing Command-"." or by clicking on the "Stop" button.
"Upload" and "Download" can be used to transfer single files. With these commands it is also possible to specify the MUD filename explicitly. The list of updated files is not modified by the "Upload" command.
"Send Break" is only enabled when using the communication toolbox. It can be used to send a break signal. The exact meaning of this signal depends on the connection tool used. With some tools, this command may have no effect on the connection.
"Send Interrupt" sends the interrupt character defined with the command "Communication" from the configure menu. ASCII code 3 (the default value) corresponds to control-C.
"Send Clipboard" and "Send File" send the clipboard contents (if it contains some text) or the contents of a file respectively. Beware of these commands as they make it possible to send a lot of data to the MUD at once. Sending text too fast can cause certain MUDs to crash or may disrupt your connection.
Future Extensions
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The current version of MUDDweller is still very limited. The next things I plan to implement are aliases (for MUDs without quicktyper), key redefinitions (send a whole command by pressing a single key, e.g. allowing you to use the keypad for movement), triggers (doing something when a certain text is received, like e.g. playing a sound), automatic login and logout (useful if you connect to the MUD through an other machine), etc. There will probably be some kind of script language to define all these options but I am not yet sure how it will look like.
Other things that could be implemented are to make all communication operations interruptable, support for printing or saving the session log to a file, other file-transfer options (FTP, ASCII), support for terminal emulation, support for other types of MUDs, or just about anything else that comes to my mind. Please tell me what you like or dislike about MUDDweller, and what you would like to see in a future version. Send any ideas, comments or bug reports to one of the addresses indicated above.
