My Guide to IRC (SwiftIRC & mIRC)


Richard

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Just a few quick notes. Due to the fact this guide is several years old, there may be a few odd things which are out of date - however most things should not be. Also, do not be put off by the length of this guide - many things towards the end of the guide do not need to be known by the average user and are simply there for anyone interested in making the most out of mIRC.

Introduction to IRC (What in the world is IRC?)

Just like IM, Instant Messaging (MSN), is used to communicate with people, IRC, Internet Relay Chat, is also a method of communicating with people. To put it simple - it's a chatroom. Just like there are many IM services, such as MSN, Yahoo, and Google, there are many IRC networks/servers, such as SwiftIRC, Quakenet, and Freenode. Many Runescape players, including Masors, use the SwiftIRC network to talk to each other. Within a network there a different channels (chat rooms) for example the official SwiftIRC channel is #SwiftIRC, a help channel for Runescape is #rshelp, and the Masors official channel is #Masors.

Connecting to IRC (How do I get onto this IRC you speak of?)

There are 2 ways of connecting to an IRC network, from your web browser, or by downloading a program. To simply connect to SwiftIRC and our channel from your web browser you can goto this page on our site:

http://www.themasors...x.php?/ircChat/

You will find however that this is quite an impractical way of permanently staying in #Masors. If you would like to do what most people do and download a program to allow you to access an IRC network mIRC is your choice! mIRC will offer you more advanced options and once you've set it up it'll probably make your life much more easier.

Setting up mIRC

To download mIRC visit this site and download the free program:

http://www.mirc.com/

Once it's downloaded, install it and run the program! It will come up saying something about you having 30 days to register and pay for the program, however once your 30 days is up you can still fully use the program, so don't worry! Something like this should then appear:

52091174er6.png

Where it says Nickname, enter your desired nickname for SwitIRC. In alternative put in a nickname which will be used if someone else is currently using the the nickname you want to be.

Now click on 'Servers' which you can see on the category selection box to the left. Something similar to this will appear:

2.png

Find on the list SwiftIRC (whilst ignoring the sex related networks :P) and select it.

Once it has been selected you should be back at the Connect screen, all you need to do is click 'Connect' and away you go! (You can also tick 'Invisible Mode' if you would like extra privacy.) All the details of what's happening whilst you connect to SwiftIRC will start wizzing up, don't worry, this is good.

3.png

Then type what is shown in this picture.

/join #masors

4.png

Welcome to #masors! Be sure to have read the IRC Specific section of the Masors rules ( http://www.themasors...clanchat-rules/ ) before talking. If you swear, that includes use of acronyms for swearwords, you will be instantly kicked by a network robot called 'X'. Continually being kicked by X and breaking rules will result in you being banned by X or a channel operator.

What is Runescript, Chanstat and X (Why won't dey talk 2 me)

X is a robot which will kick you if you swear or spam the channel, which I know you won't do, X also does plenty of other duty's in #Masors.

Chanstat is a robot which records statistics for the channel, which you can view here ( http://chanstat.net/...etwork=swiftirc ) or by typing !chanstats whilst in #masors.

Runescript is a special stats bot which we use to help us in our everyday Runescape life; IRC is very lucky to have Runescript. For info on the different commands you can use for this bot visit:

http://www.rscript.org/help

Keeping your Nickname and identity (Amg but can't people pose as me?)

Your nickname is not officially yours until you register it until you use what is called 'NickServ'. If the nickname you chose is already registered within 20 - 60 seconds you will be renamed to 'Unknown'. If that doesn't happen, you can take it! Type:

/ns register Password Password Email Email

Be sure to replace password with a password (Not your runescape one) and email with your real email. Oh and /ns is just short for /msg nickserv.

Follow the instructions in the email sent to you to confirm the Nickname as yours. Now whenever you want to identify yourself with that password just type:

/ns identify Passwordhere

What if i want to register more than 1 nickname, you ask?

Well you wouldn't do the same /ns register command you would change your nickname to what you want to register and type:

/ns group mainnick mainnickspassword

By main nick i mean the nickname you should have just registered.

It's very important that you create a group with all the nicknames you plan to use, e.g. Richcos, Richcos|Away, Richcos|BRB. (There is a max on the number of nicknames you can have in a group, so don't go mad).

Being automatically voiced on #masors (I wanties an automatic +)

The people with @ in front of their name are channel operators. The people with + in front of their name are Voiced on this channel. Being voiced means that if a channel operator ever decides to mute the channel (Setting channel mode +m) to stop a mass amount of people from trying to spam a channel, this will very rarely happen though, you will not be muted and still be able to speak.

To save operators time of having to voice you every time you join you can be added to what is called the 'Access List' and given a level of access which will allow you to be automatically voiced whenever you join the channel (That is providing you have registered and identified your nickname). To be added to the access list just simply ask a channel operator (someone with an @ in front of their name) to be added.

5.png

Chanserv will +v you once you have identified your nick (meaning it will give you a +).

Setting my mIRC to make me automatically identify and join a channel (I'm lazy kthxbai)

This is one out of many benefits of using mIRC - after entering a bit of code mIRC can do all the work for you!

First you need to open the Scripts Editor:

6.png

(I've circled what you need to click for you)

The scripts editor will now load up, you need to be on the tab 'Remotes':

7.png

Copy into there the following code:

on *:CONNECT: {
ns identify passwordgoeshere
join #masors
}

User modes (Say what?)

There are certain 'modes' you can apply to yourself for different functions. For example if i type '/mode Richcos +p' whenever someone types /whois Richcos it will not display what other channels I am in for privacy. If i wanted to cancel this mode I would type '/mode Richcos -p'. I personally also have mode +p added to my Auto ID script too:

on *:CONNECT: {
ns identify passwordgoesheremode
mode Richcos +p
join #masors
}

For more info on different user modes visit:

http://wiki.swiftirc...x.php/UserModes

Highlights (BEEP BEEP!)

Another great feature to mIRC is highlights. A highlight is when someone says a word of choice, normally your name, and mIRC will beep, and/or flash.

First you need to open your address book:

8.png

I've circled it for you.

Now click on the 'Highlight' tab and then 'Add'. This will come up:

9.png

Set the settings you want, click OK, and there you go!

Dialog Scripts (mIRC can do more than just chat!?)

Just like we made a very simple script for when we connect to a network, more advanced scripters make special addons for mIRC, such as a MP3 Player or Image uploader.

To add a dialog script simply open up the mIRC Script Editor, be sure to be on the Remote tab, and start a new script. Like so:

10.png

You can find scripts, such as an MP3 player, at:

http://www.mircscripts.org/

Note: You can use dialog/addon scripts, however do not use scripts which say things in a channel, especially #masors, such as a Greeting Script or such. It will not make you very popular and could get you banned from the channel. Also, do not take credit for other peoples work, that should go without saying.

Using Aliases (Teach me your knowledge of laziness)

An alias in mIRC is basically just a simple command you can make in mIRC to do more complicated things. It could be as complicated as activating some kind of huge script, or as simple as changing your nickname. I'll show you the simplest way of doing aliases.

Firstly, mIRC already has some built in aliases:

/p

This will part you from the channel you are currently in.

/w NAME

This is a short way of doing /whois on someone.

To add your own simple aliases you just have type 1 simple line of text in this format:

/alias /[whatever letter or word you want] /[What command you want it to do]

So for example if I want to make a short way to be away i would type:

/alias /away /nick Richcos|Away

Then all i would have to type is /away!

If you want your script to do multiple things, e.g. change your nickname, identify, then join a channel, you could type:

/alias /test /nick `Richcos | ns identify password | join #masors

To edit and remove aliases open your Scripts Editor and look at the 'Alias' tab. Also ensure that any alias you make isn't already an alias, so you don't accidentally overwrite it.

This isn't really important but if you wanted to have your alias in the 'Remote' tab and not 'Alias' tab you would use this:

alias test { 
nick `Richcos
ns identify password
join #masors
}

________________________

Thank you for reading my guide! Feel free to ask any questions you may have.

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Guest He1een

Nice work. Very easy to understand. Might help get some new faces to show up. happy.gif

*gives Richcos 5 Cool Points*

EDIT: Ok so I'm kinda adding something here, if that's ok.

How to Disable Message Filtering On SwiftKit

On the chat connect screen, click the chat options button:

user posted image

In the "IRC" tab of the chat options menu, deselect the box that says "enable message filtering" and then click apply:

user posted image

If you don't do these things, you won't be able to see links and enter certain channels *cough* due to SwiftKit filtering links and "inappropriate" channel names by default.

Edited by He1een
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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 months later...
  • 1 year later...

First to post in a while, but last night while trying to connect the IRC thingamabob to the nicknamer thingy and the other things on the complicated doohickey IRC I was so frustrated.

Someone sent me the link to this guide, and now I'm like a pro IRCer lolz. Thanks for the help Richard!!

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  • 9 months later...

Bumpity bump. I've updated some of the code in this topic and fixed a few things. This guide is just as relevant as ever, so if you're interested in setting up mIRC I thoroughly recommend you to read it. :)

If you have any IRC related questions I'd be happy to answer them or direct you to someone who can.

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