VWMUD Master 2026
A modernized rebuild of VWMUD Master, a MUD client originally written by
Vaughan Wynne-Jones from 1994-2007 in VB.NET/WinForms. This rebuild targets
.NET 8 using a hexagonal (ports-and-adapters) architecture, while staying
compatible with the original .mud (INI-style config) and .tri
(curly-brace trigger) file formats and scripting DSL - existing character
configs and trigger files keep working unchanged.
Screenshots
| Main window | Timers & Function Keys | Custom Variables |
|---|
 |  |  |
Download
Option 1: winget (recommended)
winget install VaughanWynneJones.VWMUD2026
This installs the app as a portable package and adds a vwmud2026 command
you can run from any shell, and winget upgrade will pick up future
releases automatically. The package is
pending review in the winget-pkgs community repo -
first-time submissions go through manual moderation, so this may take a few
days to become available after each new version ships. Until then, use
Option 2.
Option 2: Manual download
Prebuilt Windows (win-x64) releases are available under
Releases - download the zip, extract, and run
VWMUD2026.exe. Requires the .NET 8 Desktop Runtime
if it isn't already installed.
"Windows protected your PC" / unknown publisher
This build isn't code-signed (a signing certificate is a paid, ongoing
commitment - not yet justified for a free hobby project), so Windows
SmartScreen flags it as coming from an unrecognized publisher on first run.
This happens either way - installing via winget doesn't avoid it, since
the warning is tied to the exe file itself, not how it was delivered. This
is expected for small/free Windows software in general, not a sign anything
is wrong. To run it anyway: click More info, then Run anyway on the
SmartScreen dialog. You'll only see this once per machine.
Documentation
The full trigger/alias/variable scripting reference and a tour of the
current UI is in VWMud2026/docs/vwmudhelp2026.html -
also reachable from the running app's Help > Documentation menu (or F1).
Building from source
dotnet build VWMud2026/VWMud.sln
dotnet test VWMud2026/VWMud.sln
License
Copyright (C) 2026 Vaughan Wynne-Jones.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or (at your
option) any later version.