MadROM Mudlet MSDP Setup Guide

This walkthrough is for players who already use Mudlet/Lua but want a reliable, repeatable setup for MSDP values on MadROM. If MSDP has ever felt weird compared to zMUD/cMUD triggers, this is the "just make it work" path.

1) Connection profile settings

  1. Open your MadROM profile in Mudlet.
  2. Go to Settings -> Special Options and keep telnet option negotiation enabled (default).
  3. Connect once so Mudlet and MadROM negotiate MSDP.

2) Create one script to track MSDP updates

In Mudlet, create a new script named madrom_msdp_core and paste this: 

-- MadROM MSDP cache for Mudlet
madrom = madrom or {}
madrom.msdp = madrom.msdp or {}

-- Mudlet raises this event whenever MSDP values change.
-- Depending on Mudlet version, payload can appear in "arg" and/or "matches".
function madrom_on_msdp()
  local payload = arg

  if type(payload) ~= "table" then
    payload = matches
  end

  if type(payload) ~= "table" then
    return
  end

  for key, value in pairs(payload) do
    madrom.msdp[key] = value
  end
end

registerAnonymousEventHandler("sysDataReceive", "madrom_on_msdp")

-- Convenience helpers
function msdpNumber(name, fallback)
  local v = madrom.msdp[name]
  v = tonumber(v)
  if v == nil then
    return fallback or 0
  end
  return v
end

function msdpText(name, fallback)
  local v = madrom.msdp[name]
  if v == nil or v == "" then
    return fallback or ""
  end
  return tostring(v)
end

3) Verify values are actually arriving

Create a second script named madrom_msdp_test:

function showMadromVitals()
  cecho(string.format(
    "<cyan>HP %d/%d  Mana %d/%d  Move %d/%d\n",
    msdpNumber("HEALTH"),
    msdpNumber("HEALTH_MAX"),
    msdpNumber("MANA"),
    msdpNumber("MANA_MAX"),
    msdpNumber("MOVEMENT"),
    msdpNumber("MOVEMENT_MAX")
  ))
end

showMadromVitals()

If that prints sane numbers, your MSDP link is good.

4) Useful MadROM MSDP fields

Common values you can read immediately:

  • HEALTH, HEALTH_MAX
  • MANA, MANA_MAX
  • MOVEMENT, MOVEMENT_MAX
  • EXPERIENCE, EXPERIENCE_TNL
  • ROOM_NAME, ROOM_VNUM, AREA_NAME
  • OPPONENT_NAME, OPPONENT_HEALTH, OPPONENT_HEALTH_MAX

5) Troubleshooting when it feels cursed

  • If your values stay nil, reconnect after saving scripts.
  • If one key is empty, test another key first (for example HEALTH) to confirm the event path works.
  • Avoid duplicate handlers: if you copy scripts around, you can accidentally register the same event multiple times.
  • When in doubt, print the whole payload once: 
    registerAnonymousEventHandler("sysDataReceive", function() display(arg or matches) end)

Once this is stable, you can build gauges, condition warnings, auto-map notes, and combat widgets on top of madrom.msdp without rewriting your core parser.