If you run the script, it basically does what is described below for you. If this is your first time, use the script, then you will see the file formats. If you use UNIX regularly you will probably not use the script again because you can probably create and/or modify the files quicker by hand than running the script again...

If you want to create the MUD by hand though, this is what you do.

You can run MudTelnet and connect to a MUD without even creating a MUD of course, but if you do this you may as well use telnet! The minimum you have to do to create a MUD is you have to create a directory in your home directory called .mudtelnet, and then inside this, create a directory for your MUD, for example, for Mortal Realms you might create an "mr" directory. Now create a directory inside the MUD directory for your character (or logon). For example you might create the directory "murk" for a character you are going to call "Murk". Now MudTelnet will recognise a character called "mr/murk".

Having done this, although MudTelnet will recognise "mr/murk" (which means you can now start MudTelnet with the command "mudtelnet -m mr/murk") it still isn't any different to telnet. If you use the command "mudtelnet -m mr/murk game.mortalrealms.com 5467" then you will be connected to Mortal Realms, but again, you could have done this with telnet and not bothered with the "-m mr/murk"!

Now for the useful bits. Create a file inside the "mr/murk" directory called "config.txt" and make it look like this:

        GameHost: game.mortalrealms.com
        GamePort: 4321
        Triggers: On
        Scripts: On
        Record: On

The "Triggers", "Scripts" and "Record" lines above mean that triggers are enabled by default, scripts are enabled by default and recording is on by default, these options can be set to "On" or "Off".

Note that this 2 tier directory structure isn't mandatory, you could simple create a single "abs" directory in your ".mudtelnet" and put all your files in there, which would allow you to connect with the command "mudtelnet -m abs".

I bet your mind is blown so far.. well.. never mind.. check out the next section to see how to create triggers..

If you run the script, it basically does what is described below for you. If this is your first time, use the script, then you will see the file formats. If you use UNIX regularly you will probably not use the script again because you can probably modify the files quicker by hand than running the script again...

If you want to create the MUD by hand though, this is what you do.

Let us assume that you have a MUD which you've called "mr" and a character called "murk", as if created from the example in the previous section. Inside the "murk" directory, create a file called "triggers.txt". Put in a line which reads like this:

        see "says 'hello'" send "say Hello there\n"

        see "X" send "Y"

When X is seen from the mud, then Y is sent back. Notice that in the above example "Y" ends with a "\n". The "\n" is taken to mean a "return". If you don't include it then "Y" will be inserted into your buffer, but not sent to the MUD! You will discover what effect this has if you try it.

Create as many such lines in the file as you like. If output from the MUD matches more than one of the triggers then ALL the matching triggers will be triggered, so if you were to put 5 lines like the hello example above into your "triggers.txt" file, you are liable to respond to someone saying hello to you by saying hello back 5 times!

There are also some advanced features, introduced in version 1.01. These allow you to add tags to the triggers to change the way they work. There are 3 tags currently supported, they are the "maxtimes" tag, the "matchstop" tag and the "debug" tag. The "debug" tag is only for scripts and is covered later in the "how to debug scripts" section.

The other 2 tags can be applied to stright triggers or scripts. The "maxtimes" tag allows you to specify the maximum number of times a trigger can be activated (since you started mudtelnet). This is good for logging in for example. Try something like this:

        see "Login:" send "NAME\n" maxtimes=1

The "matchstop" tag causes a trigger, if it matches, to stop any further trigger matching. This means that all the triggers AFTER this trigger won't be checked against. For example, try this:

        see "says 'hello'" send "say hello\n" maxtimes=2 matchstop
        see "says 'hello'" send "say hello yet again\n" maxtimes=1 matchstop
        see "says 'hello'" send "say stop bothering me\n" maxtimes=1
        see "says 'hello'" send "say im not talking to you\n"

        You say 'hello'
        Arkal says 'hello'
        You say 'hello'
        Arkal says 'hello'
        You say 'hello'
        Arkal says 'hello yet again'
        You say 'hello'
        Arkal says 'stop bothering me'
        Arkal says 'im not talking to you'
        You say 'hello'
        Arkal says 'im not talking to you'
        You say 'hello'
        Arkal says 'im not talking to you'

You should also create a directory called "scripts" in the "murk" directory.

The format for scripts is similar to the triggers, and they go into your "triggers.txt" still. Script entries look like:

        see "X" exec "Y"

If the mud "sees" "X", then "Y" is run... from now on, all output from the MUD is sent to the running script, and any output from the script is sent back to the mud! This means that "Y" can be an executable of any sort, it can be a C program, a shell script, a perl script.. almost anything..

Try the following script called "hello.pl" (note that you need perl for this):

        #!/usr/bin/perl
        
        if ($ARGV[0] eq "") {
          exit 0;
        }
        
        use IO::Handle;
        STDOUT->autoflush(1);
        
        while (<STDIN>) {
          if ($_ =~ /^.*?([A-Za-z0-9]+) says \'hello\'.*$/) {
              printf "smile\n"; 
              printf "say hello $1\n";
          }
        }
        
        exit 0;

        see "start scripting" exec "hello.pl"

The script should respond to people saying hello now by smiling and and saying hello back.

NOTE: MUDs such as Mortal Realms, brilliant though they are, because of their VT102 display systems, they also present a hazard to script writers! All those lovely VT102 codes will also get sent to your script! Yuck.. now.. this can be quite helpful sometimes because you can use them to see what is going on and control things better than ever you could if you didn't get this information.. but.. the down side is you have to be aware of them and parse them! The above script works fine on Mortal Realms if you disable colour and VT102. It does not if you have them on. Here is another more complicated script which is useful for a high level Monk character AND works with VT102 and colour turned on:

        #!/usr/bin/perl
        
        # Quit if no working directory!
        
        if ($ARGV[0] eq "") {
          exit 0;
        }
        
        # Set autoflush on output so it isn't delayed \
getting back to the mud.
        
        use IO::Handle;
        STDOUT->autoflush(1);
        
        
        # Main loop.
        
        while (<STDIN>) {
          
          if ($_ =~ /^.*\x1b\[0;36;40m\x1b\[0;33;40m(\S+) \
says \'(.*)\'$/) {
            if ($2 eq "help") {
              printf "say Sure, how can i help you $1?\n";
              printf "say Try saying \"sanc\", \"giant\", \
\"bless\", \"eheal\", \"fury\", \"restore\" or \"remcurse\
\"!\n";
            } elsif ($2 eq "sanc") {
              printf "cast \"sanctuary\" $1\n";
            } elsif ($2 eq "giant") {
              printf "cast \"giant strength\" $1\n";
            } elsif ($2 eq "bless") {
              printf "cast \"bless\" $1\n";
            } elsif ($2 eq "eheal") {
              printf "cast \"enhanced heal\" $1\n";
            } elsif ($2 eq "fury") {
              printf "cast \"righteous fury\" $1\n";
            } elsif ($2 eq "restore") {
              printf "cast \"restore\" $1\n";
            } elsif ($2 eq "remcurse") {
              printf "cast \"remove curse\" $1\n";
            } elsif ($2 eq "feast") {
              printf "cast \"feast\"\n";
            } elsif ($2 eq "remcurse") {
              printf "cast \"feast\" $1\n";
            } elsif ($2 eq "all") {
              printf "cast \"sanctuary\" $1\n";
              printf "cast \"giant strength\" $1\n";
              printf "cast \"bless\" $1\n";
              printf "cast \"enhanced heal\" $1\n";
              printf "cast \"righteous fury\" $1\n";
            }
          } elsif ($_ =~ /^.*\x1b\[1;36;40m\x1b\[1;33;40m\
(\S+) tells you \'(.*)\'$/) {
            if ($2 eq "farh") {
              printf "cast \"farheal\" $1\n";
            }
          }
        }
        
        # Exit gracefully.
        
        exit 0;

Here are some more scripts:

1. A script to prevent idling.
2. Another script to prevent idling.
3. A script to play sounds to your mudding.
3. A script for Mortal Realms which rolls you a character with maximum stats.

The problem with scripts is knowing what input is coming from where, to where, why and generally what is going on. Output from your scripts goes to the MUD of course so it isn't always easy to debug in the normal way.

In order to help you, MudTelnet reads "stderr" from the scripts too. Unless you specify debugging then this output is simply discarded. If you use a "debug" tag on your script (in "triggers.txt") though, it can be sent to the specified log file. Try this:

        see "start scripting" exec "hello.pl" debug=hello.log

        #!/usr/bin/perl
        
        if ($ARGV[0] eq "") {
          exit 0;
        }
        
        use IO::Handle;
        STDOUT->autoflush(1);
        STDERR->autoflush(1);
        
        while (<STDIN>) {
          if ($_ =~ /^.*?([A-Za-z0-9]+) says \'hello\'.*$/) {
              printf STDERR "I am resonding to $1.\n";
              printf "smile\n"; 
              printf "say hello $1\n";
          }
        }
        
        exit 0;

If you specify "debug=onscreen" in your "triggers.txt" configuration file then output will be to the screen where everything else is, note that the contents of 2 files "outputprepend,txt" and "outputappend.txt" (read at mudtelnet start time) will be pre and post fixed to the output. These files can contain anything, including VT102 codes to make your errors or debug output show up in bold, or colour, etc.