I want to continue work on my own MUD, but...
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Hello, maybe you guys can put me in the correct path and help me out a little!
I was working on my own Star Wars mud (swr) around a year ago, however my coder at the time had to go on to other projects. Sadly, I’m not a coder myself, but I’m very eager to learn. That way I may complete my tasks without explicitly depending on other people.
I do have some building and other very modest mud-related knowledge, but I have absolutely no experience whatsoever with any kind of coding. In order to start educating myself, I’m hoping that a couple of you could refer me to some relevant resources. I have a few materials that I’ve found here and there online, and I’ve also asked around in other places, but I’m also attempting to gather other viewpoints.
I appreciate your help in advance.
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@messyshiloh SWR is fairly old, with SWR2 not being updated in five years or so, but it’s written in C so if you want to do any coding beyond working with mobs and scripting, you’ll need to learn that language.
I’d recommend using SWRFUSS, that’s been updated more recently (2020) and uses C++ in its backend.
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@Pavel Thanks for your reply! It’s been modified/updated. I can’t really give details, because my knowledge is sooooo very little in that regard. My mentioning SWR is mostly because I know that’s what it’s a derivative of. But that is why I am trying to get educated in the topic. I THINK it uses C++.
I’m really showing how very little I know here and that means I have a long way to go and a lot to learn. How can I tell?
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@messyshiloh I haven’t used SWR in… longer than I care to admit since I refuse to admit I’m that old, so I’m not sure I could tell you for certain.
BUT assuming names haven’t been changed, you could have a look at the folder your game sits in on the server and it should be called SWR, SWR2, SWRFUSS, or whatever the codebase is. Hopefully.
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@Pavel I’ll look into this. Thanks for the hint
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Good luck @messyshiloh! It’s been a really long time since I’ve done any work on MUDs – at least 25 years – so I may be misremembering. SWR is a SMAUG derivative and there should be a command that tells you what version of the game it is. Maybe try ‘info’ on a wiz or immbit?
Pavel is probably correct though, unless the name was changed it will have the name of your codebase on the folder. One thing you could try is comparing the files. The git repo for SWRFUSS doesn’t make this seem super promising, but C++ data files are stored as .cpp and original C data files are stored as .c which could de facto tell you what your codebase is. Keep us updated!
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Another question is how MUD-y do you want it, vs how MUSH-y. If you want coded damage and wandering mobs and such, vs like… sit down and roll dice like it is a TTRPG with TEXT.
Which I think you have sorted out, but I include here anyway.
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If it’s the latter though, make sure you include Dathomir Nightsisters because they mummify their dead. Mummies are a new MU* requirement.
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@somasatori said in I want to continue work on my own MUD, but...:
If it’s the latter though, make sure you include Dathomir Nightsisters because they mummify their dead. Mummies are a new MU* requirement.
I’m just glad I wasn’t the first one to bring it up, this time.
(But also they aren’t the only SpaceMummies in Star Wars)
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If you’re learning coding from scratch (or mostly so), I’d recommend checkout Evennia. It’s a more modern platform for building MUs, including MUDs. It’s in python rather than C++, so you’re going to find a lot more resources and tools for it and most folks find it easier to learn. Evennia also has good documentation for the MU side, and a helpful community.
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+1 to the Evennia suggestion. I don’t use it myself, but even I (thick as porridge as I am) can knock up some half-decentish python in an afternoon after watching some tutorials on the internets.
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@Faraday @Pavel Haven’t really gotten around to properly reading all the replies and suggestions… but!
…the codebase is already there and quite a bit of work has already been done on it internally. The mud is also already hosted, though it is in very early stages, not meant to have players yet. The work that has been done on it was code related, but the rest of the mud will look very stock. I’m not looking for a new codebase, I just want to be able to identify what I have and learn enough to be able to continue working on that.
I haven’t yet gotten around to looking at the files that were suggested to me and probably won’t be able to til later today, but I appreciate everyone’s replies!
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@Pavel Yes, I’m finding Evennia very well made. It’s easy to get Python learning materials, too.
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@messyshiloh said in I want to continue work on my own MUD, but...:
…the codebase is already there and quite a bit of work has already been done on it internally.
One thing to consider though… incomplete work isn’t necessarily that useful to you. Deciphering someone else’s half-done code can actually be a lot more difficult and time-consuming than starting from scratch and building the skills you need to maintain it long-term. Finding MU coders and tutorials for MU code is hard; finding someone who knows Python or Python tutorials is far easier.
But ultimately that’s a judgement call only you can make. Best of luck to you either way.
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@Jennkryst Quite mud-y! It’s intended to be a roleplay enforced mud, but yes, it does have combat and does have mobs and all that, not so much mush-y, code wise.
I sent you a dm chat thing yesterday asking about some posts of yours I saw, concerning you working on something too? I’d be interested to hear about that or chat about it, if you’re willing.
I apologize if I broke etiquette/any rule for sending a private chat without asking first, I’m just so used to being a lurker and on the shy side that writing publicly makes me anxious. Took me like a month to get the courage to write this topic and then like two more weeks to actually write and submit it. lol
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@messyshiloh If you’re more interested in the theme and don’t mind using a different system you could go with Ares. You don’t have to know too much code to get one of those working, just be comfortable editing configuration files.
But it is FS3, and you’d have to figure out how to put in jedi powers.
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@Cobalt Chontio was Ares with the Star Wars… you know, I dunno what system it was, but it was very Star Wars. It was cool, though!
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@Tributary Ares doesn’t really work well for MUD-like environments.
Chontio was indeed Star Wars with FS3, but it was very freeform/RP-centric. And IIRC they didn’t have Jedi. FS3 is not built for superpowered characters like Jedi.
I would suggest Evennia over Ares for the goals the OP described.
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While I don’t want to shut down the discussion of alternatives, I will say that SWR (and its offshoots) already has everything built in. It has combat, it has force powers, and ships, and lasers and lightsabers; it has basically everything one needs except the world. Install the codebase, connect, build up places to be and things to kill (and vendors and suchlike) and you’re set.
