The quick and dirty guide to installing CoffeeMud v1.2. Read it all the way through first, then go back to follow the steps. First, know that you need java v1.3 or better to run CoffeeMud. Install java if you don't have it! You will also need to pick a database for CoffeeMud. You may use Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, or any other third party system that includes a jdbc driver. However, if you don't want to mess with any of that, you may elect to use the fakedb package, located in the database section of the coffeemud ftp area. Ready to install now? Good! Make yourself a directory on your system especially for CoffeeMud! Like, oh, "coffeemud" for instance. Next, put the compiled CoffeeMud class files into this directory, in their appropriate subdirectory package. This means you will now have a subdirectory called "com" in your "coffeemud" directory. Underneath /coffeemud/com will be /coffeemud/com/planet_ink/coffeemud/application/MUD.class, and other files. These files may be created by compiling the source files located in the CoffeeMud.zip file, using javac. Next, put the CoffeeMud resource files into the "coffeemud" directory, under a "resources" subdirectory. This means you will now have a subdirectory called "resources" in your "coffeemud" directory. Underneath /coffeemud/resources will be files like /coffeemud/resources/spell_help.ini, and other files. These files may be copied straight out of the CoffeeMud.zip file. Next, if you plan to use fakedb as your database solution, create a "data" subdirectory under the "coffeemud" directory. Put the "fakedb.schema" file, located in the fakedb package, into this subdirectory. Then put the compiled fakedb class files into the "coffeemud" directory, under a "fakedb" subdirectory. This means you will now have a subdirectory called "fakedb" in your "coffeemud" directory. Underneath /coffeemud/fakedb will be /coffeemud/fakedb/Backend.class, and other files. These files may be created by compiling the source files located in the fakedb package, using javac. Now, create a text file called "coffeemud.ini", and put it in the "coffeemud" directory. It will look something like this if you plan to use fakedb: SYSMSGS=BOTH ERRMSGS=BOTH DBGMSGS=OFF DBCLASS=fakedb.Driver DBSERVICE=jdbc:fakedb:C:\\coffeemud\\data DBUSER= DBPASS= DBCONNECTIONS=2 PORT=4444 START=Midgaard#3001 CHANNELS=GOSSIP,GRATZ,CHAT,GREET If you plan to use an ODBC data source, it might have these changes: DBCLASS=sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver DBSERVICE=jdbc:odbc:CoffeeMudDataSource DBUSER=odbc-username DBPASS=odbc-password Here is an explanation of the ini file: SYSMSGS refers to standard informational messages being written to the screen or log file. ERRMSGS refers to error messages being written to the screen or log file. DBGMSGS refers to debug messages being written to the screen or log file. Valid values for these include "ON" for screen-only output, "OFF" to disable, "FILE" to write the messages to the "mud.log" file only, or "BOTH" to write to screen and log file. DBCLASS refers to the database driver class. If you are using ODBC, it should be as noted in the revision list above for ODBC. For fakedb, make sure you have the fakedb package properly set up, and that the value for DBCLASS is as noted above for fakedb. DBSERVICE refers to the JDBC Database service. For ODBC, this will be "jdbc:odbc:YourServiceNameHere". If you are unfamiliar with how to create ODBC Data Sources under Microsoft Windows, consult your Windows documentation. If, on the other hand, you are using fakedb, this entry will be "jdbc:fakedb:SchemaDirectoryPathHere". Where "SchemaDirectoryPathHere" will be the directory path to the "fakedb.schema" file required by CoffeeMud. Consult the fakedb documentation for more information on this. DBUSER refers to the user name required to access an ODBC data source. DBPASS refers to the password for the user listed under DBUSER DBCONNECTIONS refers to the number of connections to make to the database. CoffeeMud is not a database intensive system. 2 connections is plenty. PORT refers to the TCP/IP port which the CoffeeMud server will listen on. START is the Room Name which new users will be placed in by default. The Start room also dictates the behavior of the "recall" ability. CHANNELS is a comma seperated list of channels which the users of your system may converse on. Now, you are DONE installing! To start CoffeeMud from a command line, make sure that "." is in your java CLASSPATH, change to the "coffeemud" directory we created above and enter: java -Xms25535000 -Xmx85535000 com.planet_ink.coffee_mud.application.MUD The above line will give a maximum of 85mb of memory to CoffeeMud. If you require more (and you might!), just make the second number on that line larger. Now, after the system has started up, you can connect to your server using a MUD client and create a new character. You will probably want this new character to become an Archon. To fascilitate this, the fakedb package includes not only the fakedb.schema, but some data files which include a default room with a book in it. Read the book that is included in this room, and your new character will become an Archon. The rest is up to you! Good luck! - Bo Zimmerman