Web client (Website Help)

The web client for The Two Towers is available at the following address:

http://t2tmud.org/client

The client is meant to be a user-friendly interface to connect to the game for both new and old players, accessible without needing to download and install any third-party software. The web client should run fine on any modern browser that supports Javascript and Flash.

Features

The client is designed to act just like a regular MUD client, although with limited features; it does not, for example, support triggers, aliases and scripting. Its features include:

• Support of TELNET protocol (including window size negotiation, terminal type, etc.)
• Support for ANSI colors
• Support of MCCP protocol (data compression)
• Support of MXP (enhanced MUD display)
• Unicode support
• Command history with auto-complete option
• Customizable display through various options (discussed below)
• Integrated browser of MUD help files with auto-completed search
• Possibility of changing in-game settings through the client GUI interface: both environment variables and message colors

Options

The client has the following customization options (available through the 'Options' popup window):

• Display prompt in the input window - Checking this option moves the game prompt, as it is output by the MUD, into the "input buffer": the window where you type your command. As the prompt may display important in-game information, (see "help prompt"), this is quite handy to always have the information visible rather than having it scroll out.

  By default, this option is checked.

• Echo commands in the main window - Checking this option causes every command you type to be output in the main MUD window as soon as you enter it. The commands are displayed in yellow colour. While having this unchecked can provide a visually better "uninterrupted" output, it is generally good to know what you have typed. This is important if, for example, you want to log your progress through a quest and remember actions you have done.

  By default, this option is checked.

• Echo prompt in the main window - This option only becomes enabled if the two options above are also enabled. Checking this option prepends the commands echoed in the MUD window with your prompt. This can be useful if, for example, you want to know how many hitpoints (HP) you had at that moment.

  By default, this option is unchecked.

• Display the client background image - When unchecked, the background image in the main client window will no longer be displayed, leaving the background black. This may look better for those accustomed to regular MUD clients.

  By default, this option is checked.

• Wrap contents - Checking this option automatically wraps the MUD text within available window boundaries. If it is unchecked, a horizontal scroll bar will appear in the window instead.

  By default, this option is checked.

• Disable blink (Firefox browser only) - Checking this option prevents the client from displaying blinking text, forcing use of a coloured background instead. Blinking text is very rarely sent by the MUD, so you will not see this effect very often. Furthermore, Firefox is the only browser that supports blinking text in the first place, so in other browsers this option will not even appear.

  By default, this option is unchecked.

• Keep last command in input - When checked, each command you type will stay in the input buffer so that you can repeat the commands by just pressing ENTER.

  By default, this option is unchecked.

• Maximum buffer size (lines) - This option specifies how long the MUD buffer can become until it is truncated. Longer buffers allow you to have a longer "history" of your actions in the MUD, although they consume more memory and may slow down the client on some browsers, particularly Internet Explorer. By default, this option is set to 1000.
• Command history size - This option specifies how many of your entered commands the client will save, for further browsing with up and down arrows and repeating.

  By default, this option is set to 100.

Keyboard shortcuts

The client input text window supports the following keyboard shortcuts (in addition to what your browser / operating system provides as a default for text input fields):

• Enter - Sends the typed command to the MUD.
• Up arrow, Down arrow - Select previous/next command in command history. This option allows you to quickly repeat previous commands.
• ALT-P, ALT-N - Search command history back/forward for the currently typed text. For example, if a few commands back you typed "kill orc", typing "ki" and pressing ALT-P will auto-complete the command to "kill orc".
• CTRL-V, SHIFT-INS - While these are the standard "paste" shortcuts for browsers, the web client overrides it to slightly change behaviour. Namely, paste will preserve new-lines: if you paste a multi-line text (such as entered in notepad), you will actually send a sequence of commands to the MUD. This is handy when using the MUD's internal editor.