Q: I can't get it to launch the stars exe. It may be something to do with the fact that the '\' characters are disappearing from the path string. I have tried entering them pairwise '\\', but that doesn't seem to help either. Could you give me an example path so I can see what it should look like. i.e., I don't know if I should have a trailing '\', whether i should append Stars!.exe, etc...

A: Java defaults to Unix-style path names. Try using '/' instead of '\'. Alternately, try '\\' instead of '\'. I prefer for former, but it's up to you - either should work.

Location of stars.exe examples:
  • D:/Jeff's~1/stars/stars.exe *
  • D:\\Jeff's~1\\stars\\stars.exe
Game File Location examples:
  • D:/Jeff's~1/stars/buguni3
  • D:\\Jeff's~1\\stars\\buguni3
*note the DOS 8.3 name. If you have spaces in your path, it may give you trouble. Try using the first 6 letters and "~1" for the directory name. Also note that case DOES matter.
Q: I know I'm an incredible geek, and selfish too, for wanting a superior OS while still running excellent games, but I want to run this on Linux. Will it work?

A: I'm a selfish geek, too. Of course it'll run under Linux. When setting up your "stars.exe" location, use something like "wine -- c:\stars\stars". Of course you have to have your paths set up properly. For more help in setting things up with wine, I can help if I have time. Email me.

Update: I use a simple bash script to run Stars! under Linux. For my Stars! executable, I point to this file: 
#! /bin/bash
wine -- /c/stars/stars.exe "$@"


Mark Montgomery gracefully provided these scripts for running AHC (bash) and Stars! (Perl). Pick yer poison :o): 
 #Lauch Stars Auto Host Client
cd ~/.wine/fake_windows/stars
java -jar ahclient.jar
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
# Launch stars! in wine.
# Script takes 3 arguments so you can have stars load a game and send
# the password if you like.
# The Stars! command for this is "stars.exe gamefile -p gamepass."
# This script will work properly with the Stars! AutoHost Client.
# Just point the stars! executable configuration option of SAHC to this
# script instead of directly to the stars! exe.
# If you need more command line options, just add more $arg# variables.
# Mark D. Montgomery II
# 08/16/2004
# techiem2@techiem2.net

use POSIX;

my ($arg0, $arg1, $arg2, $arg3) = @ARGV;
system "cd ~/.wine/fake_windows";

my $cmd = "wine -- c:/stars/stars.exe $arg0 $arg1 $arg2 $arg3";
my $ret = system $cmd;
exit $ret;
Q: AHC doesn't work (anymore). Why not?

A: Ron recently moved his hosting to a new location. Make sure you get AHC version 2.1 or later.
Q: How do I make those .f files mentioned so I can analyze them?

A: AHC should automatically make the files when you download an m-file. Check the directory where your m-files are - you are lookinng for files of the form <gamename>.F<player number> (e.g., buguni3.F11). If you can't find them, you can create them from within Stars!. Use the Reports->Dump to Text File->Fleets (or ->Planets for planet info) menu item. The .Fxx files are the Fleet reports. The .Pxx reports are for planets.

FUQ (Follow-up Question) It didn't make them automatically. I found the reports option. It makes a gamename.fle file. If I rename it to gamename.f<playernumber> AHC tries to open it but gives a bunch of java errors in the log.

A Ah - it needs the NewReports. If the reports are creating .fle files instead of .Fxx files, you need to add this line in your Stars.ini file (in the Windows director). From http://www.starsfaq.com/fileinfo.htm:

"Adding newreports=1 to the [misc] section will give increased information in your text dumps and change the name of the dump files from gamename.pla to gamename.p## (## being the player number)"