Quick Download Link - Alter Aeon Mush-Z Installer (501 MB)

Mush-Z is a MUSHClient soundpack for Alter Aeon, one of the best and most active muds I have ever played. Alter Aeon has been my home since 2004 and I have been playing since then. It has hundreds of areas to explore, monsters to kill and a delightful amount of different spells and skills to use.

Alter Aeon is a free online text game set in a world of swords and sorcery. It has a huge custom world to explore, quests to complete, and hundreds of puzzles to solve. There are always other players on-line, whether for help, competition, or just to talk with. The game is blind-friendly for the visually impaired.

1. What Mush-Z does

Mush-Z, as mentioned above, is a MUSHClient soundpack for Alter Aeon. Its main goal is to make the game easier to play for blind and visually impaired people using a screen reader. Mush-Z currently works with NVDA, Jaws for Windows, Window Eyes and Hal.

Some of its features are:

• Hotkeys to quickly check your hit points, mana, movement, experience, spells that affect your character, and other things.
• Sounds for most important events, including auctions, fighting, skills, spells, notifications, channels, etc.
• Uses variables so you don't have to remake your aliases all the time, useful in groups.
• Makes certain strings shorter, example: "New auction on a simple steel breastplate for 1000 gold, sold by Zhiun." instead of "(auction) starting bid on a simple steel breastplate at 1000 gold. (auction) This item is being sold by Zhiun."
• Filtering of repetitive strings on the mud, such as spellcasting and skills.
• Ability to deposit/withdraw, or give someone all your gold at once.
• Aliases to go to certain areas, also known as speedwalking.
• Sounds for every health condition.
• Prompt monitoring.
• Configurable ability to recast spells when they fall, either for yourself or for group members.
• High quality music and sounds to enhance game play.
• Audio progress bars for your hp, move, and experience, so you get the feel of a visual prompt.
• High speed equipment management.

2. Downloading Mush-Z

2.1 If you don't have Mush-Z installed

Use one of the the links below to download Mush-Z. There are two different downloads you can get: the full version, and the 'lite' version, which contains everything except custom music for different areas. The lite download is quite a bit smaller, and is preferred by players who don't like area music.

• The Full Mush-Z Download is about 500 MB in size.
  
  
• The Lite Mush-Z Download is about 120 MB in size, and contains everything except custom area music.
  
  

2.2 Upgrading an old Mush-Z

First, try to run a Mush-Z update from either the start menu or by running the update.exe directly from the Mush-Z directory. If the updater runs and completes successfully, that's all you need to do.

If you get a message that the server is down when you try to update, you have two options: either uninstall the old version, then install a brand new one, or manually download the new updater and put it in the Mush-Z directory before updating. For versions this old, we recommend uninstalling and reinstalling, however if you'd rather not lose your settings, here's how to download the new installer.

Download this updater file to get the new updater.

To use this updater, you need to download it and put it in the Mush-Z folder. This is as easy as going to your start menu, programs, Mush-Z, and open your worlds folder. From there, go back up one folder using the backspace key on the list of items, and you will be in the Mush-Z folder. Copy and paste the update.exe file you downloaded above and replace the old one.

If you don't want to use the start menu to open your worlds folder, or you have Mush-Z installed somewhere else, go to the Mush-Z folder manually and copy the file there. Mush-Z is usually installed in My Documents/Mush-Z.

3. While you're downloading

The full sound pack is pretty big, so while you download, you might want to browse through our excellent readme file, which explains how to use all of Mush-Z's features. This is also an excellent resource to refer back to if you're trying to figure out or explore new features.

To browse through the list of recent changes, you can also look at the change log while you update.

4. Getting help

To get help for Mush-Z, first take a look at the readme file that comes with it. Most of the common features are described there.

For a cheatsheet of specific commands, take a look at the Mush-Z Commands Readme.

If you're still having problems, you may be able to ask on the 'zt' channel once you're logged in to Alter Aeon. The 'zt' channel is for Mush-Z users to chat on, request features, or get help with Mush-Z.

Lastly, if you have a general problem with MushClient's features, you can open the 'help' menu and browse through their help system. Unfortunately, on some Windows 7 machines, you'll have to install a Microsoft update to allow the MushClient help system to open. You can download this update here for 32 bit systems and here for 64 bit systems.

If you don't know whether your Windows version is 32 or 64 bits, go to your c: drive and look for program files (x86). If there is a folder named program files (x86), you have a 64 bit Windows. Otherwise, if there is only a program files folder, you are on 32 bit Windows.

5. What people are saying

5.1. Nedrik:

Well, I've been using soundpacks for muds ever since 2006, and this is one of the best ones I've ever come across. The ambience, music, and all the other sounds combine to make it a more fully realized environment than just reading text would be. I encourage anyone who is a fan of muds, to try Alter Aeon and Mush-Z, blind or not.

5.2. Fike:

I have started playing Alter Aeon near 2 years now. Honestly, I really enjoy the game, since I am an RPG lover. I have tried many MUDs out there, but none are as accessible as Alter Aeon. I would like to thank you for your great job to provide a pleasant experience for me as a visually impaired gamer.

6. About the Creators

Mush-Z was originally created by Oriol Gomez, a game developer who now has several other games under his belt. You may wish to look at his contributions on the Audio Games Website. Oriol is also known as Kurek and a few other characters on Alter Aeon.

Over time, Mush-Z grew into an awesome community client supported by several volunteers. Other developers include Slej, Dernan, Xvordan, Athlon, and Weyoun. Dentin helps provide infrastructure and server space for the developers.