MUSHclient Setup for Icesus

MUSHclient is a long-running Windows MUD client with a scripting engine, a plugin system and a world editor. Icesus recognises it by name and serves it the full 256-colour palette without you configuring anything. The one thing that does need attention is UTF-8, because MUSHclient predates it being the default — and Icesus ships a plugin that fixes it. This guide covers the world setup, the colour handling, the UTF-8 plugin, and how to confirm the server sees you correctly.

Connection Settings

Install MUSHclient

MUSHclient is Windows software, distributed by Nick Gammon at gammon.com.au/mushclient. It also runs acceptably under Wine on Linux and macOS, though if you are on either of those the browser client or Mudlet will be less work.

Create the Icesus World

1. File → New World, or Ctrl+N.
2. World name: Icesus.
3. TCP/IP address: icesus.org.
4. Port: 4000.
5. Save the world file somewhere you will find it again — MUSHclient keeps per-world settings in that file, so this is the thing you back up.

Leave the auto-login fields empty for now. See the note on stored passwords further down.

Colour: Nothing to Configure

Icesus keeps a table of terminal types and hands each one a palette. MUSHclient is mapped to the xterm-256 palette, the same one modern clients get — not the reduced 16-colour fallback that genuinely old clients receive. You do not need to switch anything on.

To confirm the server has identified you, type:

term

With no argument, term reports what Icesus thinks you are running: the emulation in use, whether autodetection is on, the detected client name and version, whether GMCP is active, whether you are on TLS, and your screen dimensions. If the emulation line does not say what you expect, set it explicitly:

term mushclient

UTF-8 and Finnish Characters

This is the part worth doing carefully. Icesus is an English-language game, but it is Finnish-run, and ä, ö and å appear in player names, place names and the occasional item. MUSHclient's default encoding will mangle them in both directions.

1. Set the font and encoding

1. Game → Configure → Output (or Alt+5).
2. Set the font to Lucida Console, or another fixed-width font with decent coverage.
3. Tick the UTF-8 (Unicode) checkbox on the right.
4. OK.

That fixes text coming from the game. Text you send still needs the plugin.

2. Install the Icesus UTF-8 plugin

MUSHclient sends what you type in ISO-8859-1. The plugin converts it to UTF-8 on the way out, so typing a Finnish character in a name or a say does not arrive as garbage.

• utf-8.xml — the plugin itself
• luaiconv.dll and libiconv2.dll — the conversion library it loads

1. Put both DLLs in your main MUSHclient folder — the one holding MUSHclient.exe, not the plugins folder.
2. Put utf-8.xml in MUSHclient\worlds\plugins.
3. Open the Icesus world.
4. File → Plugins (or Ctrl+Shift+P) → Add, select utf-8.xml, Open, then Close.

Test it by typing a line containing ä into any channel. If it comes back intact, both directions are working.

Logging

File → Start Logging writes the session to a text file. Worth turning on before a long run or a boss fight — combat scrolls faster than you can read it, and the log is how you work out afterwards what actually killed you.

Auto-login — Read This First

MUSHclient can store your character name and password in the world file and send them on connect. The world file is plain text on your disk. If you share the machine, or sync that folder anywhere, treat the password as exposed. Icesus will never ask you for your password outside the login prompt, and no administrator will ever ask for it at all.

Common First Problems

• Question marks or boxes instead of letters. The output font lacks the glyphs, or the UTF-8 checkbox is off. Both live in Game → Configure → Output.
• Text you send arrives mangled, text you receive is fine. The plugin is not loaded. Check File → Plugins — it should be listed and enabled.
• Plugin fails with a library error. The DLLs are in the plugins folder instead of the main MUSHclient folder, or Windows has them blocked.
• Colours look flat. Run term. If the emulation is not the one you expect, set term mushclient.
• Lines wrap in the wrong place. Tell the server your real width: term 120x50.

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