Announce: Nethack 0.51

[Dzz]

Hello everybody!

I have just released version 0.51 of my graphical menu-based port of the classic RPG dungeon crawl "Nethack".

My sincere gratitude goes to all the testers who contributed greatly to making this release possible.

I hope you all enjoy it!

http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,1,1627

For information about the game, see:

http://www.gp2xgamer.com/nethack/index.html

I am not finished working on Nethack although I will pause a little bit now to collect ideas and priorities for the next release. Comments and ideas are always welcome.

 

[Rivroner]

Thank you again
Regards from Spain

 

[shrubberyrobbery]

I remember playing this on my PC a few years ago, but to have a handheld version? wow.

I never noticed or tried any of the earlier releases, but this kicks @ass!

I'm very impressed by how you've managed to compress the ten million different actions down onto the gp2x's few buttons - the context-sensitive menu thing is great. nice smoothly-scrolling auto-centered map as well. This is very slick

 

[Godmil]

YAY! This is pretty cool Thanks. I must admit it's a pretty complex system, but thankfully you seem to be able to just wander about and pick things up as you go

 

[xmart]

Wow, nice!
It's going to take me a while to relearn all the shortcuts though ;-)

 

[Radek]

I remember playing this on my PC a few years ago, but to have a handheld version? wow.

Few years ago I was basically addicted to the ADOM. Liked it more than Nethack but... as I know ADOM too well I will try Nethack again.

I never noticed or tried any of the earlier releases, but this kicks @ass!

I'm very impressed by how you've managed to compress the ten million different actions down onto the gp2x's few buttons - the context-sensitive menu thing is great. nice smoothly-scrolling auto-centered map as well. This is very slick

And such games are really the best!
Quite addictive...

 

[Tobriand]

This game is still amazing. Granted I never got into Nethack before (I was a Valhalla person in graphical roguelikes and a moria one in the asciis) due to, well, mostly lack of a village (I liked the cushion of being able to jump to the surface with the right spell and revive myself, even if it did mean a new random dungeon on return).

Not run into any crashes or bugs as yet, but I'm sure I will... Well, except the obvious mistake of there being a monster easily capable of killing me on the second level... I mean, the indignity!

Idd, anyone want to suggest which class would be sensible to play as? I've currently been going to priests due to restorative (and some smiting) magic whilst being somewhat physically capable, but I'm new to half of the ones Nethack provides!

 

[Ze_ro]

Idd, anyone want to suggest which class would be sensible to play as?

I've found that the most forgiving classes are Barbarian and Valkyrie. Both are strong and durable, which easily makes up for their lack of magic skill. Stay away from the Tourist.

Are there any actual differences between v0.5 and v0.51?

--Zero

 

[Dzz]

Are there any actual differences between v0.5 and v0.51?

I cleared up some confusion dealing with rogues and rangers, and added two shortcuts to make life a little easier for the magic-using classes:

L+A = Cast Spell
L+B = Zap Wand

I have had a request to make some of the controls configurable as the common commands for classes like Archeologist and Tourist are a bit tedious to get to all the time. That's part of what I'll be planning for 0.6.

 

[Tobriand]

Out of interest, as a tourist, is it possible to get The Luggage? Just on the basis that it's the sort of bit of parody that would end up in something like Nethack...

 

[Magnulus]

Out of interest, as a tourist, is it possible to get The Luggage? Just on the basis that it's the sort of bit of parody that would end up in something like Nethack...

If I could get The Luggage as a tourist, I'd totally make a tourist next time.

 

[Daid]

I've made a small change to the version 0.51 that Dzz released. It remembers the last selected option in job/race/sex/alignment instead of the last been option. So if you select random the default selection stays random.

(I usualy play a random valkerie )

New GPE file can be downloaded here: http://daid.mine.nu/pub/Nethack.gpe

 

[Dzz]

I've made a small change to the version 0.51 that Dzz released. It remembers the last selected option in job/race/sex/alignment instead of the last been option. So if you select random the default selection stays random.

(I usualy play a random valkerie )

New GPE file can be downloaded here: http://daid.mine.nu/pub/Nethack.gpe

I'll make version 0.6 work this way as well, it's a good idea.

 

[DaveN]

Another small bug/mistake in the game:

If you haven't got anything that's throwable by default, the 'Throw' command just returns 'Never Mind' instead of a complete list containing all objects avaible.

Example: You've got just a dart and a box. If you select 'Throw', you can select the dart and a option 'Show All'. Now you throw the dart. If you select 'Throw' again, it will just say 'Never Mind' instead of showing the box as a selectable option.

And what's about somekind of a faster scrolling in the menus? Like pressing right will move 5 items down or something..

Next to that it's a fantastic game/port, the app that's running most of the time on my gp2x.

Edit: I think something along the lines 'You haven't got anything to throw.' will be better than the never mind which usually shows up if you cancelled something.

 

[Dzz]

Another small bug/mistake in the game:

If you haven't got anything that's throwable by default, the 'Throw' command just returns 'Never Mind' instead of a complete list containing all objects avaible.

Example: You've got just a dart and a box. If you select 'Throw', you can select the dart and a option 'Show All'. Now you throw the dart. If you select 'Throw' again, it will just say 'Never Mind' instead of showing the box as a selectable option.

And what's about somekind of a faster scrolling in the menus? Like pressing right will move 5 items down or something..

Next to that it's a fantastic game/port, the app that's running most of the time on my gp2x.

Edit: I think something along the lines 'You haven't got anything to throw.' will be better than the never mind which usually shows up if you cancelled something.

Excellent feedback, thanks! Keep these things coming, I'll get them all fixed.

 

[DaveN]

I finally downloaded Slash'em after having always read about it but never played it, and I found a 'Porting' file with it, containing some information how it can be ported. I just had a short look, but if I remember correctly, just some basic nethack files would have to be ported, and the rest are files containing all the data.
So, long story short, would it be possible to use your port with the Slash'em data-files and then recompile the whole thing to play Slash'em on the GP2X? I don't really think it would be important or worth spending some more time working on the port, but if that would be possible, it will be a nice extra.

 

[Daid]

-When you move to a new map it 'hangs' for a second after drawing the map. Does it save something then?

Yes, it is saving crash recovery information. If you have a fast SD card it is not very noticeable. When I add the 'Options' screen like you suggested earlier, I will make the crash recovery stuff an option.

(Quote from PM)

Does the crash recovery work? I was in the middle of a game yesterday, going very well (found a unicorn horn for the first time) then my batteries went dead. How do I recover now?

 

[Dzz]

-When you move to a new map it 'hangs' for a second after drawing the map. Does it save something then?

Yes, it is saving crash recovery information. If you have a fast SD card it is not very noticeable. When I add the 'Options' screen like you suggested earlier, I will make the crash recovery stuff an option.

(Quote from PM)

Does the crash recovery work? I was in the middle of a game yesterday, going very well (found a unicorn horn for the first time) then my batteries went dead. How do I recover now?

It usually seems to work. First thing I'd do is go onto your SD card and grab any files called 1lock.* and make a backup of them. Also grab any .sav file with the same name if one happens to exist. Then try to run Nethack with the same character name. I have not had 100% success but probably 80% or so.

Because the crash recovery cleans up the 1lock.* files multiple crash recoveries may not work as well.

 

[Ze_ro]

The other day I lost a promising Barbarian to dead batteries (Note to self: When the red light comes on, you do NOT have much time left!). The crash recovery worked perfectly after I nuked the batteries, and he went on to the top of my high score list (although I've since bested that score with a Valkyrie). Excellent stuff!

I still notice a few random tile substitutions now and then (especially when dealing with doors it seems), but aside from this and the 8-letter limit on character names, I haven't had any further problems.

--Zero

 

[sephiroth111]

SLASH'EM is nice, but what Add-ons are included in this current port, aside from the gui? also, are there any other tile downloads available?