[SURROUND]

Here is a link to the download page.

The download page is a .mht file that any version of Internet Explorer after IE5 can open.
Opera can open it as well, but Firefox will need this highly recommended addon.

In addition to this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX3cz2ZYV5s  
there is a Planet M.U.L.E. connection that can be seen on the opening screen of the game.

If any of you are thinking about learning computer programming, then check out this page.
SURROUND, including source code and link to 100% free compiler which produces machine code executables.

[Specifically to the developers of Planet M.U.L.E.:]

Specifically to the developers of Planet M.U.L.E.:

About 15 years ago I wrote a 1-4 player Amiga game named MONEYSTOCK,
http://web.archive.org/web/20040606170046/http://www.heartbone.com/MoneyStock/MoneyStock.htm
and with a few tweaks I think that it would fit right onto your M.U.L.E. internet platform.

After you read about it and think about it for a few days, then you may see that it could be a M.U.L.E. sequel.  
A four player, round and economy based game with A.I..

If you have access to a real Amiga, (and not an Amiga emulator which my program will crash!) then thanks to archive.org you can actually play the thoroughly bug free game which we have enjoyed for these many years.

Here is the table of contents for the game play description.  Just like M.U.L.E. it can take a bit of thinking to wrap your brain around it.
http://web.archive.org/web/20040607225525/http://www.heartbone.com/MoneyStock/details.htm

And here is a download link (only useful if you have access to a REAL Amiga).
http://web.archive.org/web/20040607230359/http://205.133.7.118/MoneyStock/MoneyStock.zip

After all of these years I have only two tweak changes that I want to make to the basic game algorithm, with many changes to the interface as it would be implemented in the wonderful multi-player internet environment.  
Of course somewhere around I have the thoroughly documented AMOS source code.

Thanks for making such a wonderful implementation of M.U.L.E., and I hope that you will see the excellent potential of implementing my program in your client server paradigm.
 
I think that by working together MONEYSTOCK could be the MONOPOLY for this century.

Having both M.U.L.E. & MONEYSTOCK offered together by the same folks would be awesome.

Cheers,
Michael

One addition to the above.
This record applies to version 1.3 only.
Apparently it's a much tougher version to score high on than the earlier ones.

Not sure if those routers work differently, but you can't use your local IP (192...) for connecting. You must use your Internet IP (75...). Those programs that use Internet connection do no use local IP for anything. That might be the reason. But again, not sure.

I sorted it all out.

I had to go into the modem and set use public IP address.

The Planet M.U.L.E. development team has done quite a job.  

This part

Finally I went to the Control Panel/Windows Firewall - Advanced  tab
then highlighted Local Area Connection and clicked on the "Settings" button to
access the "Advanced Settings" window's "Services" tab.
I then added two new services MULETCP & MULEUDP at 192.168.0.100 .
both using external port 6260 & internal port 6260.  I also tried changing the internal port to 6261.

was unnecessary.

After trying out the dual analog in the game I have to announce that the (cheaper generic)
digital joypads are a better, more natural input device for this game than the analog ones. 



Get a USB one that has the digital joypad and enough buttons like the one shown.

There are four "shoulder" buttons not shown.

[Chuckie Chuck]

Local LAN play is possible, when you start the game, just startup in local mode without logging into the internet server, start a new game as host, and then the other computers on the lan can start up the same way and you use the join game option, and manually type the ip address of the host computer (e.g. say the host PC is running on IP address: 192.168.1.102, then all the other computers would have to type 192.168.0.102 in the join dialog.

You will have to type the address in manually, because since you aren't logged into the online game server, there won't be a game listing in the lobby.

Local play is done WITHOUT port forwarding and without logging into the game server.

That is precisely correct Chuckie Chuck.

That is what we three humans here did to practice before we even registered any userids on this site.

The only downside is that you can't have any other avatar but humanoid until you create an ID.

The upside is that if the net is down, we still can play.

[My experience from use]

My experience from use is if one pushes the joystick towards the NW
the Joystick Cursor Tool program sends out the correct signals just
as if the up and left keys are being simultaneously depressed.

For M.U.L.E. I certainly prefer a nice joystick.

With a common USB joystick such as this one



one can assign all main game inputs: SPACE, J, U, A, ESC, ENTER

to joystick buttons.

And you still have about a dozen more buttons free to assign to other keystroke combinations,
which could be used in conjunction with a keyboard macro generator for bot commands for example. 

[Chuckie Chuck]

Thanks for the thread Chuckie Chuck, but you might want to re-revise your rating of this tool (and get a $3 USB joypad).

  ERROR: joystick emulator 5/5

 Hey chucky, id have to say the joy emulator is not as good as a keyboard(and i NEVER use keyboard for anything but pm). The first and biggest reason is that you cannot assign diagonal keys, making it impossible to cut corners. Ya sure if you want to look like a bot while you play, its the bomb.

I give joy emulation a 1/5 tops.

* ERROR *

As there are no diagonal keys on any of my keyboards,
this really could not be a problem Death_Mule17.

On my systems this li'l gem gets a 9 out of 10
due to it's somewhat obscure documentation and poorly explained interface.

Just like the Planet M.U.L.E., it works great, including diagonal movements! 

[144083]

Score: 144083

http://www.planetmule.com/hi-score-game/game?game_id=47432

Sector: (56.44)

Status: finished legally
Mode: tournament
Version: 1.3.4

Host: mule4u2
Date: Aug 7, 23:37

Player          Score      Abandoned CBASS         43783     no Mule Comodore 39356     no batato2000    37040     no heartbone     23904     no

Now try to top that.  

Agreed.

Thankfully a dropout has not happened to me yet.

I think this reconnect functionality should be a top development priority.

Long Live Planet M.U.L.E.

[Did you know that the Atari joyports were I/O?]

Learned it on the best 8 bit computer system ever made, the Atari 800 with 4 JOYsticks.

I still have the game and all original packaging including the shrink wrap with the stickers and the sales receipt.

I heard that there were less than 40,000 copies sold by EA, so perhaps one day it may be a collectors item?

Did you know that the Atari joyports were I/O?

I wrote a simple battleship program that connected two Ataris and communicated over a homemade cable made from two broken joysticks.

If only the Amiga & ST hadn't come out when they did and squashed 8-bit development, you probably would have heard of this amazing capability before now.

[Port Range Forwarding:Start Port: 6260 ; End Port: 6260 ; To IP Address: 192.168.0.100 ; Protocol: Both TCP & UDP]

Attempting to set up my computer to host MULE, I am just about ready to admit defeat.

My computer 192.168.0.100  (internal IP address) is connected to the net via ethernet cable through a Tenda (wireless) router that is ethernet cable connected to my DSL modem at 75.XX.185.ZZ  (my external IP address).

Step one, I logged onto my router and enabled Port Range Forwarding:
Start Port: 6260 ; End Port: 6260 ; To IP Address: 192.168.0.100 ; Protocol: Both TCP & UDP
and enabled the DMZ host IP setting: 192.168.0.100

Then I went to Control Panel/Windows Firewall - Exceptions tab
and added the program: mule.exe
and the ports: 6260 TCP, 6260 UDP
as exceptions.

Finally I went to the Control Panel/Windows Firewall - Advanced  tab
then highlighted Local Area Connection and clicked on the "Settings" button to
access the "Advanced Settings" window's "Services" tab.
I then added two new services MULETCP & MULEUDP at 192.168.0.100 .
both using external port 6260 & internal port 6260.  I also tried changing the internal port to 6261.

I would reboot after the settings were changed before checking.

Those are the only steps that I know of as necessary to setup the computer to host MULE.

When I start a new game I expect to see at the bottom of the game window
Server: 75.XX.185.ZZ   
but instead what I see is
Server: 127.0.0.1
and the
CONNECTING TO MASTER SERVER....
message stays on screen.

What steps have I missed?