Nethack

[Rivroner]

¡WOW, a new version! Thanks Dzz

No problem! Go ahead and tell our friends at gp32spain about this release if you want.

Of course Thank you again

 

[Dzz]

Sorry to do this to you guys so fast, but I have a minor update that is probably worth fetching and using:

http://gp2xgamer.com/nethack041.zip

I found and squashed a bug that manifested itself on certain level changes. With this bug fixed, I'm thinking that version 0.5 will be a public release.

Additionally, I have added a crude 'wizard' mode (old-time nethackers will know what this is). To invoke it, simply name your character 'wizard'. Besides the other aspects of Wizard mode, most of the wizard commands are available in a new submenu of the main menu. It's kind of fun to play with but it's cheating and really only used for debugging. Diligent testers could use it to explore more of the dungeon for testing purposes than they would be able to in a normal game. Wizard mode might be a bit buggy but I don't care about that too much since it's just for debugging. I added it so I could investigate the crash reports from level changes.

Thanks again for your testing! We're almost to getting this released!

 

[gaterooze]

I tell you, if I didn't already have a GP2X, I would've bought one just for this. Seriously.

 

[Ze_ro]

Man, this is making amazing progress... this is easily my favorite program on the GP2X

Some issues I've noticed over the last few days:

• The "#chat" command doesn't seem to be available in any of the menus. I haven't gotten very far in this version, but I think this omission would make the character-specific quest levels incompletable. It also means you can't talk to the Oracle.
• The "name" command allows you to name your items, but won't let you name your pet. In fact, when it asks if you want to name a specific object, choosing yes or no both result in an inventory listing.
• I was playing as a monk in v0.3, and I noticed there was some glitch with the tile used for my character with the default tile set. Whenever I stood on a staircase, or a doorway, there would be a few black pixels at the right edge of the tile. Perhaps these pixels are transparent and showing whatever is underneath me? I haven't tried playing a monk in the latest version, so I can't confirm if this still happens.
• While playing as the same monk character, I was kicking a chest to break open the lock. I kicked it four or five times, and then suddenly died. I think what happened was that I sprung a trap, and then some monsters killed me while I was unconscious... however, perhaps there should be a (more?) prompt when experiencing a long string of messages like this? I think this is what vanilla Nethack does.
• With the new target system, can Y also be used to confirm a selection? I think this would make opening doors a bit more convenient.

--Zero

 

[Dzz]

Man, this is making amazing progress... this is easily my favorite program on the GP2X

Thanks for the comments and excellent feedback!

I'll make sure #chat works, and will make 'Y' confirm the direction. I'll have to puzzle through how I want to handle 'more'; in the meantime you can scroll back through the messages with L+VolUp/Down.

 

[Feeg]

Wow. Yeah this is possibly my favourite interface to Nethack, though I would've previously said anything other than text-mode Nethack is for wimps.

It looks as though a problem I encountered in version 0.3 has been fixed - I managed to coax the game to hang when the menu drew beyond the edge of the screen. It appears like there is no possibility of that happening now, is that right?

Thank you for this port Dzz, much appreciated.

 

[Kannibaal]

Ze_ro said perhaps there should be a (more?) prompt when experiencing a long string of messages like this? I think this is what vanilla Nethack does.

I think the more command does not add anything (just more pushes to a key to make sure you have read everything) Maybe it is better to always have the option to scroll through the message windows (Shift - volume keys) even after the "Do you want your possesions identified" message.

A different option would be to have a message "Do you want to see your message history?" after being killed.

When the message window receives more then 4 messagelines of text which scroll out of view maybe the adventurer can be warned by a flickering icon or something like that so that he knows he should scroll through his old messages first?

Marco

 

[Kannibaal]

While in the train I tried a couple of things..

Wizard mode works, selected a barbarian and got the option if I want to die when I was killed.

After that a game with a different name i.e. not wizard, resulted in the new character also being in wizard mode.

I removed all files and installed the latest version again so now my character is not in wizard mode anymore.

The character I now have has better weaponskills according to the messagebox, but there is not yet a way to use the #enhance command (basically a skills list with the option to enhance different weapon and combat skills)

Nethack has 15 years of added functionality in it, so there are probably some hidden options we did not think about.

Keep up the good work Dzz!

Marco

 

[Dzz]

While in the train I tried a couple of things..

Wizard mode works, selected a barbarian and got the option if I want to die when I was killed.

After that a game with a different name i.e. not wizard, resulted in the new character also being in wizard mode.

I removed all files and installed the latest version again so now my character is not in wizard mode anymore.

The character I now have has better weaponskills according to the messagebox, but there is not yet a way to use the #enhance command (basically a skills list with the option to enhance different weapon and combat skills)

Nethack has 15 years of added functionality in it, so there are probably some hidden options we did not think about.

Keep up the good work Dzz!

Marco

The non-wizard name getting wizard mode is a side-effect of crash recovery. If you exit the wizard mode game normally (or exit the one after that got wizard mode), it won't happen again. I'll figure out the right thing to do.

Thanks for the comments about #enhance; I'll look into it. I'm betting there are still other missing things that I'll have to deal with. Thanks for your help finding them!

 

[LordFu]

I haven't seen any issues, yet. Thanks Dzz!

 

[Dzz]

It looks as though a problem I encountered in version 0.3 has been fixed - I managed to coax the game to hang when the menu drew beyond the edge of the screen. It appears like there is no possibility of that happening now, is that right?

Yes, that should not ever happen any more. Thanks for the testing!

I'm expecting to have 0.5 ready in a week or so.

[*]The "name" command allows you to name your items, but won't let you name your pet. In fact, when it asks if you want to name a specific object, choosing yes or no both result in an inventory listing.

Thanks for the heads-up. I need to take a close look at the 'name' function to make it work properly.

---------------------------------------------

Finally, I don't read Spanish very well but I think somebody on gp32spain brought up the issue that you cannot drop gold at present. That's correct, and it will be fixed in 0.5.

 

[Dzz]

Oh, one more thing (sorry to flood the board, but I feel like I'm coming to the end of the tunnel on this project and am excited to get it finished pretty soon):

I am considering changing the keyboard to the QWERTY key order. Any opinions?

 

[Kannibaal]

Oh, one more thing (sorry to flood the board, but I feel like I\'m coming to the end of the tunnel on this project and am excited to get it finished pretty soon):

I am considering changing the keyboard to the QWERTY key order. Any opinions?

YES!

The original input method works, but it is something you have to learn, Qwerty is already something most (should) know.

The only reason not to is people living in country\'s which not support qwerty keyboards. Spanish, German, French?

Marco

 

[DaveN]

I am considering changing the keyboard to the QWERTY key order. Any opinions?

I'm pretty much okay with the one you're using at the moment..

@Kannibaal: The german keyboard is just the 'y' and the 'z' exchanged, so that shouldn't be too much of a difference. I don't know about the other tough, but it could be choosable if that isn't too much work.

Oh, some things I've found:

* Is it possible to throw/use things in the air and on the floor?
* And is it normal that a Valkyr just can 'slip' into a stone for an amount of times and no for all the time? One time I've been stuck in the first floor where there was a stone that just stood there and I couldn't go around it. And I've also kicked a big amount of the room avaible and I've been searching/looking at all the floor. Maybe I just haven't found the other way to get through and I'll have to try it again..
* And already mentioned, but sometimes you just get a message about you want to get your possesions identified and you've got NO idea how you died. And as soon as the message arrives, you aren't able to scroll back and forward.
* Oh, and please implent the "more..." as soon as possible, very important thing.

Else then these small issues, your work is really fantastic ( just to have said that again, I really became addicted to Nethack since I'm able to play it on the Gp2x )

Cheers, David

 

[Dzz]

* Is it possible to throw/use things in the air and on the floor?

I don't think so...

* And is it normal that a Valkyr just can 'slip' into a stone for an amount of times and no for all the time? One time I've been stuck in the first floor where there was a stone that just stood there and I couldn't go around it. And I've also kicked a big amount of the room avaible and I've been searching/looking at all the floor. Maybe I just haven't found the other way to get through and I'll have to try it again..

I don't think anything in my port would change this type of behavior. In situations where a stupid boulder has trapped you, I believe the standard trick is to drop all of your posessions and then you can slip past the boulder. If you have certain items there may be other solutions available... teleportation, etc. If you have a pickaxe it might be possible to use that, I'm not sure.

* And already mentioned, but sometimes you just get a message about you want to get your possesions identified and you've got NO idea how you died. And as soon as the message arrives, you aren't able to scroll back and forward.

I will make sure you can scroll the top text when a dialog is visible for 0.5

* Oh, and please implent the "more..." as soon as possible, very important thing.

I have mixed feelings about "more...". In almost all circumstances I think it's more irritating than helpful. If you can always scroll the text on top, is it really necessary?

Thanks for the comments!

 

[LordFu]

Oh, one more thing (sorry to flood the board, but I feel like I'm coming to the end of the tunnel on this project and am excited to get it finished pretty soon):

I am considering changing the keyboard to the QWERTY key order. Any opinions?

I prefer QWERTY, personally.

 

[Rivroner]

Finally, I don't read Spanish very well but I think somebody on gp32spain brought up the issue that you cannot drop gold at present. That's correct, and it will be fixed in 0.5.

Yes, you have read very well.Thank you for correcting that bug

 

[DaveN]

Just another small thing, my 'Top Ten' list actually contains 11 characters.. Maybe you want to limit it to ten so it won't get too large after playing for some time.

And another thing, I tried the wizard mode and wanted to polymorph me into an other monster. So I've tried some monsters, and finally entered the name correctly after like 5 tries. But the next time, the false entries still are in the 'recent entries' list to scroll through with the volume button. It would be better if just the entries that make a correct action will be saved. That depends on the command, for the 'write' command everything will be saved, but for example the 'wish', 'polymorph' etc. actions will have a limited list.

About the throw up direction, I'm pretty sure that's possible in the original game ( after reading a stupid death with throwing a cockatrice corps in the air and having it landing on your head ), but I may be false.


Oh, finally, thanks for the tipp about dropping the things and then slip through the stone. Haven't thought about that.

 

[Dzz]

Just another small thing, my 'Top Ten' list actually contains 11 characters.. Maybe you want to limit it to ten so it won't get too large after playing for some time.

Actually, there are 25 slots. I have plans to completely change that list in the future, but not for 0.5

And another thing, I tried the wizard mode and wanted to polymorph me into an other monster. So I've tried some monsters, and finally entered the name correctly after like 5 tries. But the next time, the false entries still are in the 'recent entries' list to scroll through with the volume button. It would be better if just the entries that make a correct action will be saved. That depends on the command, for the 'write' command everything will be saved, but for example the 'wish', 'polymorph' etc. actions will have a limited list.

That's a good suggestion. There are about 20 different circumstances where text entry is required, I'm just storing the answers for each one. To do what you suggest I will have to go into the code at each of those points and make a decision about whether to save the result. That should not be too hard, just a little time consuming. I don't think I'll do it for 0.5 but someday.

A more radical idea would be to pre-populate a list with all the answers that make sense -- for polymorph, list all monster names, for scroll or potion names, pre-populate all the names. Besides complaints from purists about it being cheating, the lists might be too long to be convenient. Nobody would want to polymorph into a kobold so having it in the list might be silly....

About the throw up direction, I'm pretty sure that's possible in the original game ( after reading a stupid death with throwing a cockatrice corps in the air and having it landing on your head ), but I may be false.

Thanks, I misunderstood your question before, I thought you were asking if you could throw things that were sitting on the ground. I will look into this and fix it if it is broken.

 

[sparr]

not sure which keyboard you use now since i havent gotten to try your port yet, but you may want to consider FITALY as an optional alternative to QWERTY, it is optimized for touchscreen use and tends to work well via mouse/cursor as well.