The gates ofMUD Archive · established 1998 · reopened 2026
THE GATES ARE OPEN · RESTORATION PREVIEW
<101/101hp 100/100m 100/100mv>examine source[Mage's Laboratory]

Three versions of the game

Mage's Laboratory

[ Room 3019 · Midgaard ]

Dark smoke-stained stones arch over huge oaken tables cluttered with strange-looking pipes and flasks. Half-erased pentagrams cover the floor; painful-looking letters remain on a blackboard in a dark corner.

Obvious exits: temple square, memory, somewhere new.

We found three real code trees. They share a family history, but they are not copies of the same game. The later v3.1 tree is not what runs in the Living Hall.

inherited ancestryDikuMUD → Merc → ROM → RoT
earliest complete product snapshotAsgardian Nightmare ROT 1.5b1maintained as the Living Hall
later descendantDistorted Illusions 2.5b2separately maintained Archive Realm restoration
later DI-branch continuationAsgardian Nightmare v3.1unmaintained 2010-11 archival snapshot

What changed?

Measure / featureAN 1.5b1DI 2.5b2AN v3.1
Active C modules717778
Active commands434 unique461 unique452 unique
Named skills278361372
World rooms8,82112,12016,139
Defining systems3-tier classes, evolved races, PK/arena, quests, original random objectsRetains the AN substrate; adds later combat/class systems, stock economy, expanded worldRefactors banks/clans/quests/randoms; adds achievements, copyover, pathfinding, logging
Current rolemaintained playable Living Hallmaintained restoration underwaysnapshot research / future exhibition

Where v3.1 came from

We compared 72 source paths found in all three trees. V3.1 is closer to DI in 51 of them, tied in 18, and closer to AN 1.5b1 in only three. The credits settle any remaining doubt: AN v1.5b2 → DI v2.5b → AN v3.1. The tree also keeps DI modules and retired DI code under src/unused.

How these numbers were checked
  • AN 1.5b1 is measured at maintained import commit 3647c41.
  • DI 2.5b2 is measured at maintained import commit d72bbfc. The MudBytes and DikuMUDOmnibus payloads are exact 532-file mirrors; they are not separate branches.
  • AN v3.1 is the DikuMUDOmnibus archival commit 563843f, a 461-file working snapshot with explicit version and lineage credits.
  • New login, hosting, backup, GMCP, and safety code belongs to the restoration. We do not pretend it was part of the old games.

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