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Tele-Arena Through Ether

This is the experimental path for running Tele-Arena as a standalone telnet target and driving it with Spree's bbs-door-line profile. It does not use Synchronet. Ether serves the game directly on telnet port 3000.

The important harness detail is line endings: Ether accepts LF for Enter. Keep --telnet-enter lf when using bbs-gym against Ether. The default remains CR because that is what the Synchronet/TW2 path currently expects.

Status

  • Tested with Tele-Arena 5.6d data converted by AreaBuilder.
  • Tested with the Ether Java telnet server on 127.0.0.1:3000.
  • Tested with Codex and Claude CLI via examples/tele_arena_activity.py.
  • Ether runtime fixes are maintained outside this repo in https://github.com/rwightman/ether-arena.
  • Game data, Ether archives, generated data, player files, and logs belong under ignored runtime/tele-arena/.

This repo does not ship Tele-Arena, Ether, converted data, player files, or registration material. Use files you are allowed to run. Ether's own install notes state that Ether does not include the copyrighted Tele-Arena data files. For Java/runtime fixes, use the ether-arena fork.

Sources

1. Install Local Prerequisites

sudo apt install unzip ant default-jdk

The original Ether tooling was built for old Java. For Java 21, use the ether-arena fork. It carries the Java/runtime fixes separately from Spree's terminal-agent harness code.

2. Put Archives Under Runtime

Create the ignored workspace:

mkdir -p runtime/tele-arena/downloads

Download or place these archives there:

runtime/tele-arena/downloads/ether1.00b56.zip
runtime/tele-arena/downloads/AreaBuilder1.00b1.zip
runtime/tele-arena/downloads/TSGARN_MBBSEmu.zip

TSGARN_MBBSEmu.zip is one convenient source for the .MSG files AreaBuilder needs. The original installer can also work if you extract the same message files yourself.

3. Prepare Ether And AreaBuilder

mkdir -p runtime/tele-arena/ether \
  runtime/tele-arena/area-builder

unzip -q runtime/tele-arena/downloads/ether1.00b56.zip \
  -d runtime/tele-arena/ether

unzip -q runtime/tele-arena/downloads/AreaBuilder1.00b1.zip \
  -d runtime/tele-arena/area-builder

For the patched Java source tree, clone the fork under ignored runtime storage:

git clone https://github.com/rwightman/ether-arena.git \
  runtime/tele-arena/ether-arena

The resulting paths should include:

runtime/tele-arena/ether/ether/
runtime/tele-arena/ether-arena/
runtime/tele-arena/area-builder/AreaBuilder/

4. Stage Tele-Arena Message Files

AreaBuilder expects these six files in its data/ directory:

TSGARN-C.MSG
TSGARN-D.MSG
TSGARN-M.MSG
TSGARN-T.MSG
TSGARNDD.MSG
TSGARNDT.MSG

For the MBBSEmu-ready archive, extract them with:

mkdir -p runtime/tele-arena/area-builder/AreaBuilder/data

unzip -j runtime/tele-arena/downloads/TSGARN_MBBSEmu.zip \
  'TSGARN*.MSG' \
  -d runtime/tele-arena/area-builder/AreaBuilder/data

Confirm:

ls runtime/tele-arena/area-builder/AreaBuilder/data/TSGARN*.MSG

5. Convert The Area Data

Run AreaBuilder from its own directory:

cd runtime/tele-arena/area-builder/AreaBuilder

java \
  --add-opens java.base/java.util=ALL-UNNAMED \
  --add-opens java.base/java.text=ALL-UNNAMED \
  --add-opens java.desktop/java.awt.font=ALL-UNNAMED \
  -DTaConfigFile=config/ta.properties \
  -jar AreaBuilder.jar

The generated files land in build/. A successful local conversion produced town.xml, world1.xml, room descriptions, item/mob/spell data, help data, and tamessages.properties.

6. Copy Converted Data Into Ether

From the repository root:

ETHER_HOME=runtime/tele-arena/ether-arena

cp runtime/tele-arena/area-builder/AreaBuilder/build/town.xml \
  runtime/tele-arena/area-builder/AreaBuilder/build/world1.xml \
  runtime/tele-arena/area-builder/AreaBuilder/build/town_room_desc.xml \
  runtime/tele-arena/area-builder/AreaBuilder/build/world_room_desc.xml \
  "$ETHER_HOME/area/"

cp runtime/tele-arena/area-builder/AreaBuilder/build/armor.dat \
  runtime/tele-arena/area-builder/AreaBuilder/build/barriers.dat \
  runtime/tele-arena/area-builder/AreaBuilder/build/cmd_triggers.xml \
  runtime/tele-arena/area-builder/AreaBuilder/build/emotes.dat \
  runtime/tele-arena/area-builder/AreaBuilder/build/equipment.dat \
  runtime/tele-arena/area-builder/AreaBuilder/build/help.dat \
  runtime/tele-arena/area-builder/AreaBuilder/build/mob_weapons.dat \
  runtime/tele-arena/area-builder/AreaBuilder/build/mobs.dat \
  runtime/tele-arena/area-builder/AreaBuilder/build/npcs.dat \
  runtime/tele-arena/area-builder/AreaBuilder/build/spells.dat \
  runtime/tele-arena/area-builder/AreaBuilder/build/tamessages.properties \
  runtime/tele-arena/area-builder/AreaBuilder/build/teleporters.dat \
  runtime/tele-arena/area-builder/AreaBuilder/build/traps.dat \
  runtime/tele-arena/area-builder/AreaBuilder/build/treasures.dat \
  runtime/tele-arena/area-builder/AreaBuilder/build/weapons.dat \
  "$ETHER_HOME/data/"

Set ETHER_HOME=runtime/tele-arena/ether/ether instead if you intentionally want to run the original unpacked runtime.

7. Start Ether

cd runtime/tele-arena/ether-arena
ant jar
java -DTaConfigFile=config/ta.properties -jar ether.jar

Expected startup includes:

PortListener ;Listening to Port 3,000
Genesis ;Server up

If the original Ether jar fails on a modern JDK with XStream or reflection errors, use the ether-arena fork above.

8. Smoke Test The Telnet Prompt

In another shell:

telnet 127.0.0.1 3000

You should see:

Welcome to the Java port of Tele-Arena 5.6d!
Enter your character's name or type NEW:

9. Let An Agent Play Through The Wrapper

From the repository root:

uv run python examples/tele_arena_activity.py \
  --activity bbs-door-line \
  --provider codex \
  --model gpt-5.5 \
  --max-decision-ticks 100

The wrapper delegates to:

uv run bbs-gym run-activity \
  --host 127.0.0.1 \
  --port 3000 \
  --transport telnet \
  --telnet-enter lf \
  --activity bbs-door-line \
  --provider codex \
  --model gpt-5.5

bbs-door-line is the preferred Tele-Arena profile. It allows submit_line for complete line-oriented commands while keeping type_text and press_key available for prompts that behave like single-key BBS inputs. Use bbs-door-safe when testing a door that auto-accepts values before Enter, such as the TW2 JavaScript door.

Claude Code can run through the same wrapper in stateful mode:

uv run python examples/tele_arena_activity.py \
  --activity bbs-door-line \
  --provider claude \
  --model sonnet \
  --agent-id tele-arena-claude \
  --claude-stateful \
  --claude-session-file runtime/claude-sessions/tele-arena-claude.session \
  --max-decision-ticks 100

The trace defaults to:

runtime/logs/tele-arena-codex-bbs-door-line-lf.jsonl

Pretty-print it with:

python scripts/trace_pretty.py \
  runtime/logs/tele-arena-codex-bbs-door-line-lf.jsonl \
  --show-new-text \
  --out runtime/logs/tele-arena-codex-bbs-door-line-lf.pretty.txt

Observed Result

The first successful Codex run created ArenaCodex, completed character creation, entered the north plaza, used HELP, STATUS, INVENTORY, EXITS, and LOOK, navigated to the equipment shop, bought a torch/waterskin/food, visited the guild hall, returned to the plaza, and hung up cleanly at step 100.

A stateful Claude run with bbs-door-line created ArenaLine, completed character creation, bought starter supplies, entered the arena, fought a giant bat, died, recovered in the temple, and continued until the 100-step budget. The same run used submit_line for most complete commands and had no action validation failures.

10. Let Two Agents Play A Match

run-match opens one telnet session per participant. The default sequential scheduler alternates one decision tick per active agent. parallel_barrier collects decisions concurrently and commits them in the scheduled order; parallel_race commits actions as model decisions finish. continuous keeps one decision in flight per active agent and immediately requeues that agent after each committed action, so faster models get more chances to act during the same match wall-clock budget. Inline participant specs use agent_id:provider:model; each participant still gets its own per-agent JSONL trace and model state.

uv run bbs-gym run-match \
  --host 127.0.0.1 \
  --port 3000 \
  --transport telnet \
  --telnet-enter lf \
  --no-agents-config \
  --activity bbs-door-line \
  --participant arena-codex:codex:gpt-5.5 \
  --participant arena-claude:claude:sonnet \
  --codex-stateful \
  --claude-stateful \
  --prompt-layout cache_friendly \
  --log-path runtime/logs/tele-arena-match.jsonl \
  --disable-action hangup \
  --run-objective "Play Tele-Arena as {agent_id}. If asked for a character name, create or log in as {agent_id}. Stay connected; do not hang up or quit. Other active agents: {opponents}. Survive, gain experience and gold, buy and equip useful supplies, spend gold wisely, recover when hurt, find opponents, and defeat them when prepared." \
  --max-rounds 100 \
  --max-decision-ticks 100

The match trace goes to runtime/logs/tele-arena-match.jsonl. Per-agent traces use the same stem, for example tele-arena-match.arena-codex.jsonl and tele-arena-match.arena-claude.jsonl.

For match runs, --max-wall-seconds is match-level. --max-decision-ticks still applies per participant. In continuous mode, --max-rounds caps the total queued action decisions for the whole match rather than full all-agent rounds. Continuous traces use tick instead of round for scheduler events and do not emit round_started / round_completed lifecycle events.

Notes

  • Use --telnet-enter lf for Ether. CR-only caused repeated delayed submits.
  • bbs-door-line is the right starting profile for Tele-Arena because most gameplay commands are typed lines that expect Enter.
  • bbs-door-safe is still useful for doors that often auto-accept typed values before Enter.
  • The wrapper is intentionally thin; pass any extra bbs-gym run-activity arguments after the wrapper arguments and they will be forwarded.
  • Match-specific objectives should carry game strategy. Add --disable-action hangup for competitive runs so agents cannot leave the match with the harness-level hangup action.