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A note about these questions
On this page I'll try to answer some of the questions specific to RISC OS Angband, and in particular to my ports.
A lot of the information here will be relevant to Kevin Bracey's older ports since my ports are deliberately similar in some regards (for example the way special keypresses are handled). I'll try to explain things in such a way that it doesn't matter whether you're using my ports or Kevin's.
There are some questions that are specific to my ports though. By and large I've addressed those in my FAQ page for the ports.
If you have any questions about playing Angband (and its variants) under RISC OS, please feel free to drop me a mail at musus@acornarcade.com.
Compatibility Issues
Questions about how RISC OS Angband differs, or doesn't, from versions for other machines.
- How compatible is RISC OS Angband with versions for other machines?
- In a word: very. This is largely thanks to the game itself using a standard format for all its files (saved games, high-scores files, game information, etc).
You can, for instance, play during the day on a PC in the office (or whatever), bring your saved game home on a floppy and pick right up where you left off.
- What isn't compatible then?
- The main thing that differs between machines is the way that special kepresses (eg. function keys) are dealt with. I'll explain about this a bit later...
- Are there any differences in the game itself?
- No, or if there are then they are purely cosmetic changes. The actual game itself is the same no matter what machine you are playing it on.
Setting options in .prf files
Questions about the .prf files that allow you to customise Angband.
- What are .prf files?
- .prf files allow you to change things like what the keyboard commands are, what symbols represent the various monsters, etc. and also to set up keyboard shortcuts.
(To get at the .prf files, look in !Angband.Lib.User. With my ports you can just double-click !Angband with Alt held down as a shortcut).
- Do I need to worry about dots and slashes?
- Yes, I'm afraid. In order to be properly compatible with versions for other machines the game uses a unix-like way of specifying all filenames.
What this means is that to referr to a file called user-acn/prf (which is where all your user preferences should go) you'd need to use the filename user-acn.prf
I'll be referring to files by their unix-like names from here down, by the way.
- What do all these files do?!
- First of all, don't worry - only about three of the twenty or so files are directly relevant to RISC OS. The others are just supplied so that you can see the sort of thing that's possible.
The files that are directly relevant are:
- font-acn.prf
This may not be present - don't worry, it's optional. - user-acn.prf
This is the standard place to put things like keyboard shortcuts (called Macros by the game) and option settings. You probably won't have this file unless you create it yourself. - pref-acn.prf
This file handles the basic setting up of things for RISC OS. You shouldn't alter this file if you can help it.
- font-acn.prf
- How can I use function keys, etc. in macros?
- You need to know the Wimp keycode of the key you want to use. You can find this out from a number of sources, including the StrongHelp Wimp manual (available from Guttom Vik's StrongED/StrongHelp page.
Then, it's a simple matter of using ^_keycode\r as the trigger for the macro. The keycode should be written as an upper-case 3 digit hexadecimal number.
Note that &800 should be added for shift- key presses and &400 for ctrl-. These are cumulative, so add &C00 for shift-ctrl-.
- Are there any helper applications to set macros up?
- Well, the game itself does have a macro editing menu (press '@' to get to it) but it isn't very flexible.
Because I wanted to put various spell commands on function keys (so that pressing F1 would cast magic missle for instance) I wrote a little program called Fspell. This generates macros suitable for including in user-acn.prf.
You can get Fspell from my Angband Utilities page.
Miscellany
Little odds and ends...
- Where's my character dump?!
- Angband allows you to save a character dump (basically the information shown on the character screen you get if you press C) to disc. Such character dumps often accompany requests for advice, etc. in the rec.games.roguelike.angband newsgroup.
The file is saved in !Angband.Lib.User (along with the .prf files).
- Is there any point reading rec.games.roguelike.angband? Have they ever heard of Acorn machines?
- Yes.
Actually, whether or not Acorn machines are well known isn't really relevant. What matters is that you're talking about Angband (or one of its variants).
There are some RISC OS users who read (and post to) the group so you won't be alone.