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nethack/doc/nethack.txt
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NETHACK(6) NETHACK(6)
NAME
nethack - Exploring The Mazes of Menace
SYNOPSIS
nethack [ -d directory ] [ -n ] [ -p profession ] [ -r race ] [
-[DX] ] [ -u playername ] [ -dec ] [ -ibm ]
nethack [ -d directory ] -s [ -v ] [ -p profession ] [ -r race ]
[ playernames ]
DESCRIPTION
NetHack is a display oriented Dungeons & Dragons(tm) - like game.
The standard tty display and command structure resemble rogue.
Other, more graphical display options exist if you are using
either a PC, or an X11 interface.
To get started you really only need to know two commands. The
command ? will give you a list of the available commands (as
well as other information) and the command / will identify the
things you see on the screen.
To win the game (as opposed to merely playing to beat other peo-
ple's high scores) you must locate the Amulet of Yendor which is
somewhere below the 20th level of the dungeon and get it out.
Nobody has achieved this yet; anybody who does will probably go
down in history as a hero among heroes.
When the game ends, whether by your dying, quitting, or escaping
from the caves, NetHack will give you (a fragment of) the list of
top scorers. The scoring is based on many aspects of your behav-
ior, but a rough estimate is obtained by taking the amount of
gold you've found in the cave plus four times your (real) experi-
ence. Precious stones may be worth a lot of gold when brought to
the exit. There is a 10% penalty for getting yourself killed.
The environment variable NETHACKOPTIONS can be used to initialize
many run-time options. The ? command provides a description of
these options and syntax. (The -dec and -ibm command line
options are equivalent to the decgraphics and ibmgraphics run-
time options described there, and are provided purely for conve-
nience on systems supporting multiple types of terminals.)
Because the option list can be very long (particularly when spec-
ifying graphics characters), options may also be included in a
configuration file. The default is located in your home direc-
tory and named .nethackrc on Unix systems. On other systems, the
default may be different, usually NetHack.cnf. On DOS or Win-
dows, the name is defaults.nh, while on the Macintosh or BeOS, it
is NetHack Defaults. The configuration file's location may be
specified by setting NETHACKOPTIONS to a string consisting of an
@ character followed by the filename.
The -u playername option supplies the answer to the question "Who
are you?". It overrides any name from the options or configura-
tion file, USER, LOGNAME, or getlogin(), which will otherwise be
tried in order. If none of these provides a useful name, the
player will be asked for one. Player names (in conjunction with
uids) are used to identify save files, so you can have several
saved games under different names. Conversely, you must use the
appropriate player name to restore a saved game.
A playername suffix can be used to specify the profession, race,
alignment and/or gender of the character. The full syntax of the
playername that includes a suffix is "name-ppp-rrr-aaa-ggg".
"ppp" are at least the first three letters of the profession
(this can also be specified using a separate -p profession
option). "rrr" are at least the first three letters of the char-
acter's race (this can also be specified using a separate -r race
option). "aaa" are at last the first three letters of the char-
acter's alignment, and "ggg" are at least the first three letters
of the character's gender. Any of the parts of the suffix may be
left out.
-p profession can be used to determine the character profession,
also known as the role. You can specify either the male or female
name for the character role, or the first three characters of the
role as an abbreviation. -p @ has been retained to explicitly
request that a random role be chosen. It may need to be quoted
with a backslash (\@) if @ is the "kill" character (see "stty")
for the terminal, in order to prevent the current input line from
being cleared.
Likewise, -r race can be used to explicitly request that a race
be chosen.
Leaving out any of these characteristics will result in you being
prompted during the game startup for the information.
The -s option alone will print out the list of your scores on the
current version. An immediately following -v reports on all ver-
sions present in the score file. The -s may also be followed by
arguments -p and -r to print the scores of particular roles and
races only. It may also be followed by one or more player names
to print the scores of the players mentioned, by 'all' to print
out all scores, or by a number to print that many top scores.
The -n option suppresses printing of any news from the game
administrator.
The -D or -X option will start the game in a special non-scoring
discovery mode. -D will, if the player is the game administra-
tor, start in debugging (wizard) mode instead.
The -d option, which must be the first argument if it appears,
supplies a directory which is to serve as the playground. It
overrides the value from NETHACKDIR, HACKDIR, or the directory
specified by the game administrator during compilation (usually
/usr/games/lib/nethackdir). This option is usually only useful
to the game administrator. The playground must contain several
auxiliary files such as help files, the list of top scorers, and
a subdirectory save where games are saved.
AUTHORS
Jay Fenlason (+ Kenny Woodland, Mike Thome and Jon Payne) wrote
the original hack, very much like rogue (but full of bugs).
Andries Brouwer continuously deformed their sources into an
entirely different game.
Mike Stephenson has continued the perversion of sources, adding
various warped character classes and sadistic traps with the help
of many strange people who reside in that place between the
worlds, the Usenet Zone. A number of these miscreants are immor-
talized in the historical roll of dishonor and various other
places.
The resulting mess is now called NetHack, to denote its develop-
ment by the Usenet. Andries Brouwer has made this request for
the distinction, as he may eventually release a new version of
his own.
FILES
All files are in the playground, normally
/usr/games/lib/nethackdir. If DLB was defined during the com-
pile, the data files and special levels will be inside a larger
file, normally nhdat, instead of being separate files.
nethack The program itself.
data, oracles, rumors Data files used by NetHack.
options, quest.dat More data files.
help, hh Help data files.
cmdhelp, opthelp, wizhelp More help data files.
*.lev Predefined special levels.
dungeon Control file for special levels.
history A short history of NetHack.
license Rules governing redistribution.
record The list of top scorers.
logfile An extended list of games
played.
xlock.nnn Description of a dungeon level.
perm Lock file for xlock.dd.
bonesDD.nn Descriptions of the ghost and
belongings of a deceased
adventurer.
save A subdirectory containing the
saved games.
ENVIRONMENT
USER or LOGNAME Your login name.
HOME Your home directory.
SHELL Your shell.
TERM The type of your terminal.
HACKPAGER or PAGER Replacement for default pager.
MAIL Mailbox file.
MAILREADER Replacement for default reader
(probably /bin/mail or /usr/ucb/mail).
NETHACKDIR Playground.
NETHACKOPTIONS String predefining several NetHack
options.
In addition, SHOPTYPE is used in debugging (wizard) mode.
SEE ALSO
dgn_comp(6), lev_comp(6), recover(6)
BUGS
Probably infinite.
Dungeons & Dragons is a Trademark of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
6 March 2004 NETHACK(6)