ChaoticMUX Source Code

ChaoticMUX's source code is based on TinyMUX 1.6, with several additional features and improvements plus quite a few fixes for bugs that never got fixed in the official release (although to be fair, many of the bugfixes we reported did eventually get included in MUX2 and TM3). The official distribution site for our version is ftp.chaoticmux.org. The most recent release is snapshot 3, which needs this patch to work correctly because we were too lazy to go back and make a new archive. If you don't use the patch, you'll get incorrect results in @switches with default cases, so beware! Once you've downloaded the archive, you'll want to look at the CHANGES file for a list of what all we did.

We maintain ChaoticMUX source code using CVS, so if you like you can browse our cvs repository via cvsweb or check out the latest code directly:

cvs -d :pserver:anoncvs@cvs.chaoticmux.org:/cvs/public login
Password: chaotic
cvs -d :pserver:anoncvs@cvs.chaoticmux.org:/cvs/public co chaoticmux

You should be aware of the fact that TinyMUX 1.6 and ChaoticMUX are "dead" code branches. This won't stop games from using them (heck, people are still running games on TinyMUSH 2.0), but they are no longer being actively developed. Stephen Dennis is working on MUX2, which will make some people happy by supporting WinNT. Meanwhile TM3 is a synthesis of TinyMUSH 2.2 and TinyMUX 1.6 by the people who developed those branches, and includes some interesting new features not found in any other server. Alierak is on the TM3 development team, so we expect that ChaoticMUX will convert to the new server at some point.

Other Servers

It is worth pointing out that the above discussion only covers the Tiny family of servers; the other major member of the MUSH/MUX family is PennMUSH, and it certainly has virtues of its own. The Tiny and Penn "camps" are roughly equal in size, so one won't necessarily get you more players than the other; you should seriously consider both when trying to decide which to use for your game. The main difference from an administration standpoint is that Penn runs memory-based and Tiny, by default, runs disk-based (although you can force the more recent versions to run memory-based). Oh yeah, there's also a version of PennMUSH for NT, and, amazingly enough, MacOS.

Of course, the world of multi-user games is larger than even this; there are all sorts of MUDs (combat-oriented games), MOOs (object-oriented code games), and such floating around the internet. If you're interested in these, you should probably start at the MUD Resource Collection's archives.

Getting Your Hands Dirty

Maybe you want to modify our MUX hacks, or add your own? If you do, you should have at least a basic understanding of C in order to avoid doing more harm than good. That said, you can find a good introductory guide to editing MUX source for your own purposes at Wadhah's TinyMUX Hardcoding Guide. Another common resource is Soruk's MUX Hacks.

Adam Dray maintains the TinyMUX FAQ, which is another good source of helpful information for people who are trying to run their own MUX.

http://www.chaoticmux.org/docs/source.php Maintained by kareila@chaoticmux.org Last modified Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:56:35 -0500