Strange Bug with Blank Lines in Output

Posted by Luke Cunningham on Mon 10 Apr 2017 11:17 AM — 3 posts, 15,078 views.

Luke Cunningham Mon 10 Apr 2017 11:17 AM #0

My wife is having a very strange unexplained behaviour with MUSHClient connecting to a MUD that we run, and I am more or less at the limit of what I can debug on my own, so I'm reaching out for some help. It could be that the problem is on the MUD Server end but I need some help understanding why it occurs.

So essentially, she randomly started getting maybe 80% of the lines from the MUD as blank lines. Investigating a little bit, the lines that were blank were consistent.

Here is an example of some blank output:

http://i.imgur.com/f5cn3us.png

Here is what it should look like:

http://i.imgur.com/Yulibtb.png

And here is what the debug packets looks like for both cases (identical):


Incoming packet: 48 (841 bytes) at Monday, April 10, 2017, 9:59:28 PM

.[36mWithin A Va   1b 5b 33 36 6d 57 69 74 68 69 6e 20 41 20 56 61
st, Neon Arena.[   73 74 2c 20 4e 65 6f 6e 20 41 72 65 6e 61 1b 5b
0;39m ID[.[32m23   30 3b 33 39 6d 20 49 44 5b 1b 5b 33 32 6d 32 33
8.[0;39m] - .[32   38 1b 5b 30 3b 33 39 6d 5d 20 2d 20 1b 5b 33 32
mWasteland.[0;39   6d 57 61 73 74 65 6c 61 6e 64 1b 5b 30 3b 33 39
m - 9 -2 0 - Ove   6d 20 2d 20 39 20 2d 32 20 30 20 2d 20 4f 76 65
rlay[.[32mDread    72 6c 61 79 5b 1b 5b 33 32 6d 44 72 65 61 64 20
Zone.[0;39m (#16   5a 6f 6e 65 1b 5b 30 3b 33 39 6d 20 28 23 31 36
 rev 0)].....[36   20 72 65 76 20 30 29 5d 0d 0a 0d 0a 1b 5b 33 36
mExits: .[32mNor   6d 45 78 69 74 73 3a 20 1b 5b 33 32 6d 4e 6f 72
th, East, South,   74 68 2c 20 45 61 73 74 2c 20 53 6f 75 74 68 2c
 and West.[0;39m   20 61 6e 64 20 57 65 73 74 1b 5b 30 3b 33 39 6d
....  The surrou   0d 0a 0d 0a 20 20 54 68 65 20 73 75 72 72 6f 75
nding area is bi   6e 64 69 6e 67 20 61 72 65 61 20 69 73 20 62 69
zarre, to say th   7a 61 72 72 65 2c 20 74 6f 20 73 61 79 20 74 68
e least. The flo   65 20 6c 65 61 73 74 2e 20 54 68 65 20 66 6c 6f
ors and walls ar   6f 72 73 20 61 6e 64 20 77 61 6c 6c 73 20 61 72
e...jet black, c   65 0d 0d 0a 6a 65 74 20 62 6c 61 63 6b 2c 20 63
omposed of a str   6f 6d 70 6f 73 65 64 20 6f 66 20 61 20 73 74 72
ange warm metal    61 6e 67 65 20 77 61 72 6d 20 6d 65 74 61 6c 20
coated by a soft   63 6f 61 74 65 64 20 62 79 20 61 20 73 6f 66 74
, velvety fur th   2c 20 76 65 6c 76 65 74 79 20 66 75 72 20 74 68
at...gives sligh   61 74 0d 0d 0a 67 69 76 65 73 20 73 6c 69 67 68
tly underfoot, a   74 6c 79 20 75 6e 64 65 72 66 6f 6f 74 2c 20 61
s if padded. Her   73 20 69 66 20 70 61 64 64 65 64 2e 20 48 65 72
e and there, neo   65 20 61 6e 64 20 74 68 65 72 65 2c 20 6e 65 6f
n lights streak    6e 20 6c 69 67 68 74 73 20 73 74 72 65 61 6b 20
the...floor, the   74 68 65 0d 0d 0a 66 6c 6f 6f 72 2c 20 74 68 65
 ceiling, or the   20 63 65 69 6c 69 6e 67 2c 20 6f 72 20 74 68 65
 walls - green,    20 77 61 6c 6c 73 20 2d 20 67 72 65 65 6e 2c 20
violet, pink and   76 69 6f 6c 65 74 2c 20 70 69 6e 6b 20 61 6e 64
 orange, giving    20 6f 72 61 6e 67 65 2c 20 67 69 76 69 6e 67 20
off a...dim glow   6f 66 66 20 61 0d 0d 0a 64 69 6d 20 67 6c 6f 77
 even in total d   20 65 76 65 6e 20 69 6e 20 74 6f 74 61 6c 20 64
arkness........[   61 72 6b 6e 65 73 73 2e 0d 0d 0a 0d 0d 0a 1b 5b
35mA skinny, pal   33 35 6d 41 20 73 6b 69 6e 6e 79 2c 20 70 61 6c
e white-skinned    65 20 77 68 69 74 65 2d 73 6b 69 6e 6e 65 64 20
young woman with   79 6f 75 6e 67 20 77 6f 6d 61 6e 20 77 69 74 68
 liberty spikes.   20 6c 69 62 65 72 74 79 20 73 70 69 6b 65 73 1b
[0;39m is standi   5b 30 3b 33 39 6d 20 69 73 20 73 74 61 6e 64 69
ng here..[1;34m    6e 67 20 68 65 72 65 2e 1b 5b 31 3b 33 34 6d 20
(wizinvis).[0;39   28 77 69 7a 69 6e 76 69 73 29 1b 5b 30 3b 33 39
m.[31m (link dea   6d 1b 5b 33 31 6d 20 28 6c 69 6e 6b 20 64 65 61
d).[0;39m.....&l   64 29 1b 5b 30 3b 33 39 6d 0d 0d 0a 0d 0a 26 6c
t;You are curren   74 3b 59 6f 75 20 61 72 65 20 63 75 72 72 65 6e
tly in .[32mno p   74 6c 79 20 69 6e 20 1b 5b 33 32 6d 6e 6f 20 70
ain.[0;39m&gt;..   61 69 6e 1b 5b 30 3b 33 39 6d 26 67 74 3b 0d 0a
&lt;Stamina: .[3   26 6c 74 3b 53 74 61 6d 69 6e 61 3a 20 1b 5b 33
2m940/940.[0m |    32 6d 39 34 30 2f 39 34 30 1b 5b 30 6d 20 7c 20
Exertion: .[32mL   45 78 65 72 74 69 6f 6e 3a 20 1b 5b 33 32 6d 4c
ow.[0;39m | You    6f 77 1b 5b 30 3b 33 39 6d 20 7c 20 59 6f 75 20
are standing her   61 72 65 20 73 74 61 6e 64 69 6e 67 20 68 65 72
e&gt;....          65 26 67 74 3b 0d 0a 0d 0a

Interestingly, when she emailed me a zip-up of her Mushclient, I got the same problem. However, emailing her a copy of my mushclient where the problem does not exist does not fix her problem. She has also uninstalled / reinstalled Mushclient several times and attempted to follow steps on the forums to remove it.

What is my next move here? What could possibly be the problem? Help me save my marriage.

Fiendish USA Global Moderator Mon 10 Apr 2017 11:23 AM #1

Please put formatted text in code tags. I've done it for you this time.

Why does your server ever send two 0d in a row?

Nick Gammon Australia Forum Administrator Tue 11 Apr 2017 08:13 PM #2

You can test that offline by copying the text below (converted from your packet debug) and pasting it into Game -> Test Trigger (Shift+Ctrl+F12):



\1b[36mWithin A Vast, Neon Arena\1b[0;39m ID[\1b[32m238\1b[0;39m] - \1b[32mWasteland\1b[0;39m - 9 -2 0 - Overlay[\1b[32mDread Zone\1b[0;39m (#16 rev 0)]\0d\0a\0d\0a\1b[36mExits: \1b[32mNorth, East, South, and West\1b[0;39m\0d\0a\0d\0a  The surrounding area is bizarre, to say the least. The floors and walls are\0d\0d\0ajet black, composed of a strange warm metal coated by a soft, velvety fur that\0d\0d\0agives slightly underfoot, as if padded. Here and there, neon lights streak the\0d\0d\0afloor, the ceiling, or the walls - green, violet, pink and orange, giving off a\0d\0d\0adim glow even in total darkness.\0d\0d\0a\0d\0d\0a\1b[35mA skinny, pale white-skinned young woman with liberty spikes\1b[0;39m is standing here.\1b[1;34m (wizinvis)\1b[0;39m\1b[31m (link dead)\1b[0;39m\0d\0d\0a\0d\0a&lt;You are currently in \1b[32mno pain\1b[0;39m&gt;\0d\0a&lt;Stamina: \1b[32m940/940\1b[0m | Exertion: \1b[32mLow\1b[0;39m | You are standing here&gt;\0d\0a\0d\0a

When I do that I don't see multiple blank lines. What I see is this:


Within A Vast, Neon Arena ID[238] - Wasteland - 9 -2 0 - Overlay[Dread Zone (#16 rev 0)]

Exits: North, East, South, and West

  The surrounding area is bizarre, to say the least. The floors and walls are
jet black, composed of a strange warm metal coated by a soft, velvety fur that
gives slightly underfoot, as if padded. Here and there, neon lights streak the
floor, the ceiling, or the walls - green, violet, pink and orange, giving off a
dim glow even in total darkness.

A skinny, pale white-skinned young woman with liberty spikes is standing here. (wizinvis) (link dead)

&lt;You are currently in no pain&gt;
&lt;Stamina: 940/940 | Exertion: Low | You are standing here&gt;

Clearly you are using MXP because of the < sequences that appear.

My guess at this stage is that she is omitting some lines from output because this doesn't appear in the screenshot:


A skinny, pale white-skinned young woman with liberty spikes is standing here. (wizinvis) (link dead)

Thus you are getting the blank line before that line, and the blank line after that line, but not the line itself.

One possible fix is to install the Omit_Blank_Lines plugin that ships with MUSHclient. That gets rid of *all* blank lines, something you may not particularly like. It might be possible to write a fancier plugin that omits all but the first blank line. See if this is the correct fix at this stage, though.