Try It on Your Computer

The quickest way to run SharpMUSH yourself is one container on your own computer. It holds the whole game: the game server, the web portal, telnet and everything they need. Nothing else is installed, and the world is kept in a Docker volume, so it is still there the next time you start it.

You need Docker. On Windows and macOS that is Docker Desktop.

1. Start the game.

   docker run -d --name sharpmush -p 8000:8000 -p 4201:4201 -e SHARPMUSH_GUARD=off -v sharpmush:/data sharpmush/sharpmush-allinone:latest

2. Open http://localhost:8000 in your browser.

   The first start takes a little longer while the world is created. Reload the page if it is not there yet.

3. Claim the administrator account.

   The setup page asks for a username and password for the administrator, who is God (#1). Then it walks you through the rest: start fresh or import a game, name the game, choose staff roles, and pick the packages you want.

4. Connect with a MU* client, if you use one.

   Point it at localhost, port 4201. The administrator’s character is God, so log in with connect God <password>, using the password you chose in setup.

Note

SHARPMUSH_GUARD=off lets anyone who can reach port 8000 open the setup page, which is fine on your own computer. Leave it out on a machine others can reach: the game then answers only the setup link it prints in its log (docker logs sharpmush) until setup is done.

Play from other computers

To reach the game from other computers on your network, tell it the address they use, with the port:

docker run -d --name sharpmush -p 8000:8000 -p 4201:4201 -e SHARPMUSH_DOMAIN=192.168.1.10:8000 -v sharpmush:/data sharpmush/sharpmush-allinone:latest

Browsers run the portal only over HTTPS, except at localhost, so the game then serves port 8000 with a certificate it made itself. The first visit from each browser shows a warning that the connection is not private; accept it to continue. The setup link in docker logs sharpmush starts with https://192.168.1.10:8000.

Telnet clients connect to 192.168.1.10, port 4201, without a certificate. To put a game on the internet, use Launch a Server instead.

Stop, start and update

docker stop sharpmush     # stop the game
docker start sharpmush    # start it again, with the same world

To update to the newest release, pull the image and start a new container on the same volume, with the same -e settings as before:

docker pull sharpmush/sharpmush-allinone:latest && \
docker rm -f sharpmush && \
docker run -d --name sharpmush -p 8000:8000 -p 4201:4201 -e SHARPMUSH_GUARD=off -v sharpmush:/data sharpmush/sharpmush-allinone:latest

To throw the game away and start over, remove the container and its volume:

docker rm -f sharpmush
docker volume rm sharpmush

Next steps

• Web Portal shows what the website does for players and staff.
• Launch a Server puts a game on the internet for others to join.
• Run with Docker is the Compose setup for a game you host yourself.
• Develop SharpMUSH builds the server from source.