Clients

You can connect to the mud through numerous clients, each with an array of features. Below you may find the various clients with which the Realms staff and player base has experience.

Some things to look for in a client:

  • MCCP compression is supported by our mud. Because text can be compressed before being sent to your computer, you will have an overall faster playing experience. This is especially useful when traveling through the countryside.
  • MXP colors allow you to view the extended colors offered by the game. This means that, rather being limited to the standard 16 colors supported by all clients, you will be able to see up to 16 million colors. Support for MXP was recently added to our game, so choosing a client that does not support MXP will not be the end of the world.
  • Typing on standard-telnet based clients is in line with the output of the mud. This type of interface can be confusing and frustrating. Many clients separate input from output which leads to less errors in typing and no disruption in the text you receive from the mud.
  • Scripting allows you to automate tasks and increase your speed and efficiency. Need to get out of combat quickly? Make your character remove your weapon and flee when you hit F12. Walk between two points often? Set up a speed-walk to move your character with a click of a button. These features allow for advanced customization but can be difficult to set up properly.

Client Platform MCCP MXP Typing Scripting
Zmud XP Yes Yes Yes Yes
Telnet Windows No No No No
Putty Windows No No No No
Gmud Windows No No Yes Yes

In our opinion, Zmud is probably the best client to use to play our game. You must purchase the program to get all the newest features, but older versions (with less functionality) are free for download [link].

Telnet is probably the worst of the clients you can use and is unfortunately the most ubiquitous. Typing is difficult and works differently in different versions. In some, your text appears inline with output from the mud, so receiving new output while typing makes everything look distorted. In other versions, you can't even see what you are typing. Telnet does not come installed by default with Windows Vista, so you will need to take extra steps to enable it.

Putty is the most recommended of the low-end clients. Although still difficult, typing is easier (backspace actually works), you can more easily copy/paste, and you can extend how much output is remembered.

Gmud is a simple MUD client that provides basic trigger and macro support. Does not support commands repeats using the Enter key, MXP colors, MCCP, or advanced triggers. However, it is free.

For a more complete list of mud clients, you can visit the Mud Connector Resource Center.


Server

The mud server is hosted on a dedicated Linux machine running Ubuntu Server 8.04. By dedicated we mean that the only programs running on it are the operating system, the mud itself, and a webserver designed to interact with the mud.

This server was donated by Howwy / Gank / Steel (thanks guys!). It has 1g of RAM and a 1333mhz processor. The server is located in Madison, Wisconsin and has an internet connection of 10m down/1m up. Up-speed matters the most, since that determines how quickly the text the mud has generated gets to you.

The Server The Server

This is the server (sitting in the corner of my apartment) with our wireless router on top.