This is going to sound like a no-mind question but, is it absolutely required to use an internet connection or is there some other way others can connect to SMAUG, i.e., like modem-to-modem gaming, etc. or maybe a plug-in or addon to allow modem to modem, see my intent here?
I already understand about starting the server and connecting either with Localhost or address.
Thanks.
SMAUG at the moment is TCP/IP based which means you're stuck with the Internet (or LANs, WANs or whatever.)
If it were to be modem-based you'd need to have a separate phone line on your server for every incoming connection, not to mention a different set of network code.
Well, you could conceivably do it. There are about 3 places in comm.c you would need to change:
* testing if data was available (select)
* reading from the player (read_from_descriptor)
* writing to the player (write_to_descriptor)
However it would be tedious - you would need to allow for incoming calls, buffer input before it was lost, detect dropped connections, and so on.
What your wanting to do is have it like in days of old, i still have fond memorys of phoning into my favorate BBS and playing Red Dragon, i guess if you looked hard you could find that and an old copy of wildcat bbs laying about on the net somewhere. The whole fun of smaug and mudding in general is the fact you get to interact with others in ways we never could on a BBS.
If your only wanting to play occasionaly with a few friends and block out the rest of the world you could easily run it on your dial up and ICQ your friends with your IP and play away till your isp boots you off, or better yet for $5US a month you can rent some hosting space.
Ok, this answers my question, thanks all. I'm thinking of the future when I get some "beta testers" so to speak.