Zugg Software :: View topic

Newbie Joined: 22 Jul 2004 Posts: 3

Is there a MUD protocol for server-side triggering of .mp3? I heard MSP is only for MIDI and .wav. Uggh, IMHO .wav sucks, it's old technology, and the file sizes are huge! So, how about making a .mp3 version of the MSP protocol? Comon Zugg, you know you want to. Wink

SubAdmin Joined: 18 Nov 2001 Posts: 5182

I believe MSP can specify any filename. It is more a matter of whether Windows knows what to do with it. WinXP is the first version with a natively builtin MP3 codec. All prior versions required a 3rd party codec to be installed. So MSP can be used with MP3's but results will vary from user to user based on OS and configuration. I think Zugg did not want to make a claim that would cause support headaches for MUD admins and imms.

Newbie Joined: 22 Jul 2004 Posts: 3

Are you sure? And what do you mean by "results will vary"? You mean if the end user has the codec installed or not? And what's the name of the 3rd party codec?

GURU Joined: 24 Sep 2000 Posts: 1237 Location: USA

MSP can play whatever kind of files are recognized by the individual windows computer running zMUD, through the Windows MCI interface (zMUD always uses MCI for this, so you don't need to do any configuration in windows or zMUD).

If Windows Media Player 7 or higher is installed, this (supposedly) includes MP3's. http://tinyurl.com/5s2ys

Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2004 5:35 pm

To give more details, the !!MUSIC command always just sends the file to the Windows media player internally. So, !!MUSIC will play any file that you have an MCI driver for, including MP3 if you have a driver. The problem is that the MUD can't tell what drivers you have, so most MUDs don't use MP3 because people with older versions of Windows might not have a driver.

The !!SOUND command is different. By default, this will ONLY play WAV files and will only play 8-bit uncompressed WAV files. This restriction is from the WAV mixer software that zMUD is using to allow up to 8 WAV files to play at the same time. However, if you go into the Sound Preferences and click the "Use Old Driver" option, then the !!SOUND command will also use the media player just like the !!MUSIC command (which also means you can probably only play one sound file at a time now).