MSP: Mud Sound Protocol
Michael A. Krause
Zugg of Zmud and Ari of Mudmaster have come to an agreement to develop a mud
sound protocol. This protocol is called MSP. Anyone who IS a mud imp can join
in, email mkr...@intersphere.com to get on the MSP mail list.
Medievia has most of the MSP coded in and the standard basics worked out with
the major mud clients. This MSP really has nothing to do with Medievia except
we wanted the idea and did a lot of the work to get agreement/standard basics
worked out. We will be managing the MSP email list at the start. Medievia
wants no credit for MSP and we do not want our name on it except for the fact
that we are one of the many muds that will impliment it. The MSP push has been
greatly needed for quite some time. The players of all muds want sounds and
midi files triggered from the mud side by way of a standard. This standard we
hope will be used by all muds and you will not be able to make a decent mud
client without fully supporting MSP (Mud Sound Protocol). The standard is very
simple and easy for all muds to code in. It allows for great flexibility in
its implementation mud side while assuring the clients stick to the rules.
Developing MSP right now is Zugg of Zmud, Ari of Mudmaster and
Vryce(Mike)/Ozymandias(Bill) of Medievia. Bonez of Necromium has also joined
in. This MSP project has been going on for a few months now. Any comments on
MSP can be sent to mkr...@intersphere.com.
We will post the basics of MSP to this list once Zmud and Mudmaster are ready.
This MSP will only become a standard if most muds see it, like it and use it.
In the mean time Zmud, Mudmaster, Medievia, Necromium and others have all
agreed that MSP will be THE Mud Sound Protocol and we believe all muds will
embrace it quickly.
If you are a mud owner or head programmer of a mud and you want to have a say
in MSP please get on the MSP email list. Email mkr...@intersphere.com with
your real name, phone number and the mud you represent.
On Medievia right now we have the setsound command:
Do you want to hear MIDI music? (y/n)>
Do you want to hear Combat sounds? (y/n)>
Do you want to hear Spell sounds? (y/n)>
Do you want to hear Utility sounds? (y/n)>
Do you want to hear Zone sounds/music? (y/n)>
Do you want to hear Weather sounds? (y/n)>
Do you want to hear Clan sounds? (y/n)>
We expect most muds to do this part their own way. Basically muds should know
if the player has a MSP client and what kind of sounds the player wants. The
muds web site will have a sound/music page with downloads. Medievia plans to
have a page with the sounds broken up into different zips,
spellwavs.zip-combatwavs.zip etc etc. We plan on using MIDI for all zones. The
MSP spec states that the client is not to interupt game play to complain about
a missing sound. Instead the spec states that the client is to record all
missing files that the mud requested and show them to the user when he logs
off and also have a way for the player to look at the records for the session
so far. If the player sees the sound "combat/fireshld.wav" is missing he will
know to get the latest combat sounds. We have all agreed that this new
standard needs to be simple and easy to impliment in its first versions.
We have the basic sound triggers coded to use MSP in Medievia now. For
instance as the player gets the text:
The bright flash of distant lightning illuminates the land.
The client also gets:
!!SOUND(weather/thunder* V=50 L=1 P=30)
The protocol is simple text. It allows contolling of volume which is important
to muds like Medievia that know the distance between all objects and events so
we can state how loud it sounds. It allows: Loop control, priority control,
continuation control. This is basic text, easy to code into any mud. That
trigger above states to play a random thunder*.wav found in the weather
directory under a directory set up by the user for Medievia MSP. It says to
play it at volume 50%, one time(loop=1) with a priority of 30.
To get the full specs of MSP you will need to join the email list in the mean
time here is an older spec:
MSP Draft Spec 0.1, Approved by Zmud and Mudmaster
!!SOUND:
Syntax:
!!SOUND(fname V=vol L=repeats, P=priority)
Where:
"fname" is the name of the sound file to be played
"vol" is the volume level to play the sound at
"repeats" is the number of times to play the sound
"priority" is the priority of the sound
Parameters:
fname: "fname" may contain relative path information and wildcards, but
may not contain absolute path information. Any directory
information should be specified using "/" rather than "\", since
this avoids all of those nasty problems with escape characters.
If multiple wave files match a wildcard, one of them should
be chosen at random. Wildcards should work just like DOS
wildcards; * should match the remainder of the file name,
and ? should match exactly one character. If no extension
is specified, ".wav" should be assumed. Following are some
valid fname values:
weather/thund*
lightning.wav
zone231/room22.wav
And some invalid ones:
weather\lightning.wav # uses \ rather than /
*x*.wav # wildcards stop after the first *
c:\sounds\m.wav # no absolute paths
vol: "vol" may range from 0 (0%, off) to 100 (100%, full). This
parameter may be omitted, in which case it defaults to 100.
repeats: "repeats" controls the number of times to play the sound.
It may be omitted, in which case it defaults to 1. It may
also be set to -1, which causes sounds to be looped until
otherwise instructed.
priority: "priority" is the priority of the sound. If a sound is
requested while another sound is being played, whichever
sound has the higher priority wins. In the case of a tie,
the sound that is already playing wins. This is to prevent
combat sounds from degenerating into a mishmash of sound
fragments. Priority may range from 0 to 100, and defaults
to 50 if not set.
Notes:
If a wildcard pattern is requested for multiple repeats, the actual
sound played should be picked randomly for each iteration.
The sound name Off is reserved, and should cause all wave files to
stop playing.
Examples:
!!SOUND(thunder V=100 L=1 P=30)
!!SOUND(weather/rain.wav V=80 P=20)
!!SOUND(alarm P=100)
!!SOUND(Off)
!!MUSIC:
Syntax:
!!MUSIC(fname V=vol L=repeats C=continue)
Where:
"fname" is the name of the music file to be played
"vol" is the volume level to play the music at
"repeats" is the number of times to play the music file
"continue" specifies whether the file should be restarted if requested
again
Parameters:
fname: "fname" may contain relative path information and wildcards, but
may not contain absolute path information. Any directory
information should be specified using "/" rather than "\", since
this avoids all of those nasty problems with escape characters.
If multiple music files match a wildcard, one of them should
be chosen at random. Wildcards should work just like DOS
wildcards; * should match the remainder of the file name,
and ? should match exactly one character. If no extension
is specified, ".mid" should be assumed. Following are some
valid fname values:
bach/fugue*.mid
zone231/room22.mid
And some invalid ones:
tchai\1812.mid # uses \ rather than /
*x*.mid # wildcards stop after the first *
c:\midi\m.mid # no absolute paths
vol: "vol" may range from 0 (0%, off) to 100 (100%, full). This
parameter may be omitted, in which case it defaults to 100.
repeats: "repeats" controls the number of times to play the sound.
It may be omitted, in which case it defaults to 1. It may
also be set to -1, which causes the midi file to be looped
continuosuly until otherwise instructed.
continue: "continue" specifies whether the file should simply continue
playing if requested again (1), or if it should restart (0). In
either case, the new repeat count should take precedence over
the old one, and the "number of plays thus far" counter should
be reset to 0. By way of illustration, assume two rooms,
room 110, and room 111. Room 110 is set to play bach/fugue.mid
3 times, while room 111 is set to play bach/fugue.mid 5 times.
If a character enters room 110, fugue starts playing; if during
halfway through the second refrain the character moves to room
111, fugue would either continue or restart based on the continue
setting. fugue should play either 4.5 times (if continue was 1)
or 5 times (if continue was 0).
Similarly, the volume of the most recent MUSIC escape should
be used.
If "continue" isn't specified, it defaults to 1.
Notes:
If a wildcard pattern is requested for multiple repeats, the actual
music file played should be picked randomly for each iteration.
The music name Off is reserved, and should cause all midi files to
stop playing.
Examples:
!!MUSIC(fugue.mid V=100 L=1 C=1)
!!MUSIC(berlioz/fantas1 V=80 L=-1 C=1)
!!MUSIC(Off)
Britton
Michael A. Krause (mkr...@intersphere.com) wrote:
: Zugg of Zmud and Ari of Mudmaster have come to an agreement to develop a mud
: sound protocol. This protocol is called MSP. Anyone who IS a mud imp can join
: in, email mkr...@intersphere.com to get on the MSP mail list.
: Medievia has most of the MSP coded in and the standard basics worked out with
: the major mud clients. This MSP really has nothing to do with Medievia except
: we wanted the idea and did a lot of the work to get agreement/standard basics
: worked out. We will be managing the MSP email list at the start. Medievia
: wants no credit for MSP and we do not want our name on it except for the fact
: that we are one of the many muds that will impliment it. The MSP push has been
Nice idea. The best way to get it working will be to develop support
yourselves for a number of popular clients besides Zmud and Mudmaster
Anyone else still running tintin++ ? Hacks are already available for that
that let users play sounds of their own choice quite nicely via rplay.
I'm not talking cat x.au > dev/audio either. If you expecting to serve
systems other than Windoze you might want to look at rplay.
: Developing MSP right now is Zugg of Zmud, Ari of Mudmaster and
Are you planning to provide only .wav sounds? The client system should
be reporting the kind of sounds it needs to the mud somewhere in there.
If this is going to be a standard I really feel it should accomodate
other formate.
: know to get the latest combat sounds. We have all agreed that this new
: standard needs to be simple and easy to impliment in its first versions.
Yea, but again, if it's a standard, you want to have most of the features
in right from the start so they get as even support.
: We have the basic sound triggers coded to use MSP in Medievia now. For
: !!SOUND:
: !!MUSIC:
__
I like six eggs when starting on a journey. Fried - not poached. And
mind you don't break 'em. I won't eat a broken egg.
-- Thorin Oakenshield
Scott Cowell
coming from krause of course my first instinct was to flame wildly but ill
contain it, since its not his protocol. it seems to me the predominant
clients out there are still terminal-based (tintin, tf, etc) which pretty
much nullifies a large percentage of most muds player base from using this
functionality. even so i guess sounds could add to a game if used properly,
but given that most muds cant even come up with quality descriptions for
areas, i shudder to think of what kind of sounds would utter forth unto
unsuspecting ears.
-scott
Michael A. Krause
> Nice idea. The best way to get it working will be to develop support
> yourselves for a number of popular clients besides Zmud and Mudmaster
> Anyone else still running tintin++ ? Hacks are already available for that
> that let users play sounds of their own choice quite nicely via rplay.
> I'm not talking cat x.au > dev/audio either. If you expecting to serve
> systems other than Windoze you might want to look at rplay.
Once MSP gets out of spec stage and a few clients use it, the rest will join
in.
> Yea, but again, if it's a standard, you want to have most of the features
> in right from the start so they get as even support.
It is important to get as many peoples feedback as possible. We urge people to
join the MSP email list.
The first spec will be very simple for a variety of reasons. Any more
questions or comments should be made to the email list where everyone can make
their points.
Michael A. Krause
Scott Cowell <sco...@interaccess.com> wrote in article
<01bc4488$811661e0$384fb7ce@Pscowell>...
I had the same thoughts until recently when we installed a polling module to
medlink in Medievia. I will paste 3 of the questions from the poll that show
interesting results:
What application do you use to play Medievia with? [818 players polled]
[ 18%] Unix telnet
[ 7%] Unix tintin
[ 1%] Unix TinyFugue
[ 38%] ZMUD
[ 9%] MudMaster
[ 0%] MudWrestler
[ 3%] GMud
[ 20%] Any other Telnet application
What operating system do you use to play Medievia with? [820 players polled]
[ 10%] Dos
[ 12%] Windows 3.1 and under
[ 53%] Windows 95+
[ 4%] Windows NT (any version)
[ 0%] OS/2 (any version)
[ 7%] Macintosh
[ 2%] Unix windows (any type and version)
[ 5%] Unix Shell account
[ 0%] VAX shell account
[ 2%] Other
Do you use Medievia with ANSI color? [818 players polled]
[ 83%] Yes
[ 16%] No
This clearly shows that zmud and mudmaster together have 41% of the usage. It
also shows that even more people use Windows 95 so the number of people using
these windows clients will rise. It would not surprise me if people changed
tintin and other clients to use MSP. That is the purpose. But it may not
happen as the amount of people mudding from windows clients increases yearly.
I will paste some other stuff from the poll below just because it is nice for
muds to know who their users are:
What is your sex? [833 players polled]
[ 84%] Male
[ 15%] Female
What age range do you fall in? [822 players polled]
[ 4%] 1-10
[ 2%] 11-13
[ 25%] 14-16
[ 19%] 17-19
[ 26%] 20-24
[ 13%] 25-29
[ 4%] 30-34
[ 1%] 35-39
[ 0%] 40-44
[ 0%] 45-49
[ 0%] 50-54
[ 0%] 55-59
[ 0%] 60-64
[ 0%] 65-69
[ 0%] 70-74
[ 0%] 75+
What is your occupation? [817 players polled]
[ 38%] Student (grade/high school)
[ 29%] Student (college/university/trade school)
[ 20%] Professional
[ 4%] Homemaker
[ 3%] Self-employed
[ 2%] Unemployed
How many hours per week do you spend on the internet? [816 players polled]
[ 10%] 1-5 hours
[ 11%] 6-10 hours
[ 14%] 11-15 hours
[ 17%] 16-20 hours
[ 9%] 21-25 hours
[ 9%] 26-30 hours
[ 5%] 31-35 hours
[ 6%] 36-40 hours
[ 14%] 41+ hours
How many hours a week do you spend playing Medievia? (Please do not include
idle time.) [814 players polled]
[ 19%] 1-5 hours
[ 20%] 6-10 hours
[ 14%] 11-15 hours
[ 16%] 16-20 hours
[ 8%] 21-25 hours
[ 6%] 26-30 hours
[ 3%] 31-35 hours
[ 3%] 36-40 hours
[ 6%] 41+ hours
Adam Wiggins
>I had the same thoughts until recently when we installed a polling module to
>medlink in Medievia. I will paste 3 of the questions from the poll that show
>interesting results:
>
>[ 10%] Dos
>[ 12%] Windows 3.1 and under
>[ 53%] Windows 95+
>[ 4%] Windows NT (any version)
>[ 0%] OS/2 (any version)
>[ 7%] Macintosh
>[ 2%] Unix windows (any type and version)
>[ 5%] Unix Shell account
>[ 0%] VAX shell account
>[ 2%] Other
Bwahahahahahahahahaha, what does that tell you? *snicker* *choke*
I still have trouble believing that people use Win95 on purpose and of
their own free will. But since that's your target market, I'd say your
sound protocol thingy will work just fine for ya. Don't assume that
the people that play midthevia are representative of the mudding
population as a whole.
Dave.
>
> How many hours a week do you spend playing Medievia? (Please do not
include
> idle time.) [814 players polled]
> [ 19%] 1-5 hours
> [ 20%] 6-10 hours
> [ 14%] 11-15 hours
> [ 16%] 16-20 hours
> [ 8%] 21-25 hours
> [ 6%] 26-30 hours
> [ 3%] 31-35 hours
> [ 3%] 36-40 hours
and I thought I was a mud addict!
--
Dave (d...@dg.prestel.co.uk)