Inside Mudhaven Hosting: A Home for MUD and BYOND Worlds

WELCOME TO MUDHAVEN

Welcome to the first issue of the Mudhaven newsletter.

Mudhaven was created around a simple idea: people who put years of work into building online worlds deserve hosting and community tools designed for the games they actually operate.

Our focus is on MUDs, BYOND games, their developers, and the communities that grow around them. Mudhaven combines game hosting, public world listings, builder resources, community tools, and live game reporting in one place.

This first issue is a detailed tour of what Mudhaven currently offers MUD and BYOND game owners.

MUD HOSTING FOR TRADITIONAL GAME SERVERS

Mudhaven’s MUD hosting is designed for codebases that need a traditional Linux server environment.

Approved owners receive an isolated hosting account with shell and SFTP access, an assigned public game port, a private working directory, and a dedicated systemd service for their game.

This means you can upload your codebase, compile it on the server, organize your world files, and operate the game in a familiar Linux environment.

The Mudhaven account dashboard provides a focused control panel for the service. Owners can review runtime health, inspect recent output, and perform approved start, stop, and restart actions without receiving unrestricted server-control privileges.

Each hosted MUD is assigned its own operating boundaries. Memory, CPU, storage, working directories, executable paths, and public ports are kept separate so one game cannot casually interfere with another hosted project.

DATABASE AND WEBSITE OPTIONS FOR MUDS

MUD projects can request MySQL access when their codebase requires a database.

Database access is provisioned specifically for the approved game rather than sharing broad administrative credentials. Owners remain responsible for their schema, migrations, queries, and game data.

Optional website hosting can also be requested for game homepages, documentation, rules, character resources, connection instructions, status pages, and other approved supporting content.

Website files and game runtime files are treated as separate services. This helps keep public web content away from private game data, configuration files, saves, and server credentials.

THE MUD GAME API

Hosted MUDs can connect to Mudhaven through a restricted heartbeat API.

The game sends one small HTTPS report approximately once per minute. Mudhaven can use that report to show whether the world is Online, Starting, under Maintenance, delayed, or Offline.

Owners may publish standard information such as:

Current and maximum players
Reported peak players
World uptime
Game version
Codebase version
Rooms and areas
Mobile and object totals

The API also supports up to six owner-defined custom public fields. These can represent safe game-specific facts such as the current era, active quests, seasons, events, game modes, or whether a special access condition is enabled.

Custom fields use strict text, whole-number, or yes-or-no types. They must be configured by the hosting owner before the game can send them.

The Game API is deliberately narrow. Its token cannot execute shell commands, control systemd, browse files, read player saves, access MySQL, or sign in to a Mudhaven account.

Mudhaven also prohibits reporting player names, character names, IP addresses, email addresses, chat, passwords, save data, database credentials, or other private information.

BYOND HOSTING THROUGH A MANAGED OWNER PORTAL

BYOND hosting follows a different model.

Instead of requiring every owner to manage a Linux shell, Mudhaven provides a browser-based project portal built around the normal BYOND development and deployment workflow.

Owners can upload project files, organize directories, select a main .dme file, compile source, upload precompiled builds, choose the active .dmb, and operate DreamDaemon from the portal.

The portal is divided into focused areas for runtime operation, project files, uploads, setup, service details, the Game API, website files, backups, and logs.

UPLOAD AND FILE MANAGEMENT

The BYOND project workspace supports individual files, folders, archive uploads, revisions, and recoverable deletion.

Uploads are checked against project boundaries and allowed file rules before entering the managed workspace. Archive extraction includes conflict review so an uploaded package cannot silently replace important project files without the owner seeing what will change.

Owners can browse the managed file tree, create folders, download files, move compatible files, inspect text files, select important build artifacts, and recover recently deleted managed files from the recycle bin.

File revisions provide another layer of protection when editable project files are replaced.

COMPILE SOURCE OR DEPLOY A PRECOMPILED BUILD

Projects with source code can select their main Dream Maker environment and compile it through the portal.

Build output is captured so owners can review warnings and errors without needing direct server access.

Developers who compile elsewhere can upload a prepared .dmb and its matching resources instead. The active build remains an explicit selection, which helps prevent an unrelated upload from unexpectedly becoming the live game.

Mudhaven supports both workflows because BYOND projects vary widely. Some owners want server-side compilation, while others maintain a separate development environment and deploy tested builds.

DREAMDAEMON RUNTIME CONTROLS

Once a valid build is selected, the Runtime area provides controlled Start, Stop, and Restart actions for DreamDaemon.

Runtime health is refreshed independently from the project’s own claims. The portal can report whether the process is running, stopped, starting, or experiencing a problem.

Owners can inspect DreamDaemon output, download runtime logs, test the assigned public port, and review practical recovery suggestions when a project is not ready to accept players.

Persistent runtime flags and the assigned port remain project-scoped. Service controls cannot be used to operate another owner’s game.

BYOND BACKUPS AND RECOVERY

BYOND projects include owner-created project snapshots as well as automatic backup protection.

A complete backup can include managed uploads, runtime-generated files, empty folders, build selections, and verification metadata.

New backups are reopened and checked before they are treated as usable. Mudhaven verifies recorded paths, sizes, archive membership, and available file hashes rather than assuming that a newly created archive is healthy.

Automatic protection periodically creates a rolling recovery snapshot when the game is stopped and the previous protected backup has aged beyond its configured interval. Mudhaven does not stop a running game merely to create this snapshot.

Recovery drills can reconstruct protected backups in an isolated staging location and compare the result without changing the live game workspace.

Owners can also download backups for off-server safekeeping. Important source code, save data, and irreplaceable assets should always have copies outside any single hosting provider.

BYOND DATABASE AND WEBSITE SERVICES

BYOND projects may request MySQL when their game requires persistent database storage.

The portal can support controlled SQL imports for an approved project database. Database passwords are submitted for the immediate operation and are not stored by the portal afterward.

Optional website hosting provides a separate staging area for approved public game content. Website files do not automatically enter the DreamDaemon workspace or project backups.

This separation helps protect the game runtime while still giving owners a place for news, rules, guides, connection information, artwork, and downloadable community files.

THE BYOND GAME API

BYOND games also have access to Mudhaven’s heartbeat API.

A running world can report its current player count, maximum players, peak activity, uptime, game version, and current round or phase.

Like MUD projects, BYOND owners can define up to six typed custom fields for safe game-specific public information.

Existing BYOND heartbeat data remains private until the owner explicitly enables public reporting and links the hosting project to an approved Mudhaven world listing.

Once enabled, fresh authenticated reports can appear on the Mudhaven homepage, world registry, individual world page, Online filtering, and public service-status totals.

If reports stop arriving, Mudhaven first marks the report as delayed and later treats the game as Offline. A stale heartbeat cannot keep a world publicly Online forever.

PUBLIC WORLD LISTINGS

Hosting and public discovery work together, but they remain separate decisions.

Game owners can create detailed MUD or BYOND listings in the Mudhaven world registry. Listings include descriptions, genres, connection information, game details, community features, and other player-facing facts.

When an approved listing is linked to an eligible hosted game, authenticated heartbeat information can enhance that listing with current status and activity.

Owners control which standard heartbeat facts are public. A game can publish status without exposing every statistic it reports to its private owner dashboard.

BUILDER RESOURCES AND COMMUNITY TOOLS

Mudhaven is more than a control panel.

The resource library gives builders a place to share approved codebases, snippets, guides, BYOND code, icon packs, and other development materials.

Resources can include written content, external project links, or privately stored downloadable files. Public resource pages now show their page-view and download totals so contributors can see how their work is being discovered and used.

Builder profiles, forums, newsletters, world listings, and resource submissions are designed to help developers find one another instead of operating every project in isolation.

HOSTING SAFETY AND RESPONSIBILITY

Mudhaven hosting is reviewed rather than automatically provisioned.

Applicants must use a verified Mudhaven account, submit the required project information, and receive staff approval. Hosting availability depends on current server capacity and the project’s requirements.

Game owners remain responsible for their source code, licenses, uploaded assets, player communities, content, database design, and independent backups.

Mudhaven provides infrastructure and project tools. It does not become the game’s administrator, development team, or moderation staff.

Projects must have the right to use and distribute their uploaded code and assets. Hosting cannot be used for malware, credential theft, abusive traffic, unauthorized copyrighted distributions, or attempts to access another service.

WHAT COMES NEXT

Mudhaven will continue improving its hosting tools, public world directory, builder resources, recovery systems, and community features.

The best next step is to explore the site, list your world, share a useful resource, join a discussion, or submit a hosting request for your project.

Learn about MUD hosting:
https://www.mudhaven.net/hosting/mud

Learn about BYOND hosting:
https://www.mudhaven.net/hosting/byond

Browse public worlds:
https://www.mudhaven.net/worlds

Explore builder resources:
https://www.mudhaven.net/resources

Thank you for being part of Mudhaven’s beginning.

You built your world. Now let us host it.