290 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
290 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
NETHACK(6) Games Manual NETHACK(6)
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NAME
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nethack - Exploring The Mazes of Menace
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SYNOPSIS
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nethack [ -d|--directory directory ] [ -w|--windowtype interface ]
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[ --nethackrc:RC-file | --no-nethackrc ] [ -n ] [ -dec | -ibm ]
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[ -u playername ] [ -X | -D ] [ -p profession ] [ -r race ] [ -@ ]
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Also [ -A|-Arc | -B|-Bar | -C|-Cav | -H|-Hea | -K|-Kni | -M|-Mon |
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-P|-Pri | -R|-Rog | -Ran | -S|-Sam | -T|-Tou | -V|-Val | -W|-Wiz ]
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nethack [ -d|--directory directory ] -s|--scores [ -v ]
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[ -p profession ] [ -r race ] [ playernames ]
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nethack [ --usage | --help ] [ --showpaths ]
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[ --version[:copy|:dump|:show] ]
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DESCRIPTION
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NetHack is a display oriented Dungeons & Dragons(tm) - like game. The
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standard tty display and command structure resemble rogue.
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Other, more graphical display options exist for most platforms.
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To get started you really only need to know two commands. The command
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? will give you a list of the available commands (as well as other
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information) and the command / will identify the things you see on the
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screen.
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To win the game (as opposed to merely playing to beat other people's
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high scores) you must locate the Amulet of Yendor which is somewhere
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below the 20th level of the dungeon and get it out. Few people achieve
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this; most never do. Those who have done so go down in history as
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heroes among heroes -- and then they find ways of making the game even
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harder. See the Guidebook section on Conduct if this game has gotten
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too easy for you.
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When the game ends, whether by your dying, quitting, or escaping from
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the caves, NetHack will give you (a fragment of) the list of top scor-
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ers. The scoring is based on many aspects of your behavior, but a
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rough estimate is obtained by taking the amount of gold you've found in
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the cave plus four times your (real) experience. Precious stones may
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be worth a lot of gold when brought to the exit. There is a 10% pen-
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alty for getting yourself killed.
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The environment variable NETHACKOPTIONS can be used to initialize many
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run-time options. The ? command provides a description of these
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options and syntax. (The -dec and -ibm command line options are mutu-
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ally exclusive and are equivalent to the decgraphics and ibmgraphics
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run-time options described there, and are provided purely for conve-
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nience on systems supporting multiple types of terminals.)
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Because the option list can be very long, options may also be included
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in a configuration file. The default is located in your home directory
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and named .nethackrc on UNIX systems (including descendants such as
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linux, NetBSD, and macOS). On Windows, the name is also .nethackrc but
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the location can vary (see --showpaths below). On other systems, the
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default may be different, possibly NetHack.cnf. On MS-DOS, the name is
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defaults.nh in NetHack's directory (folder), while on VMS|OpenVMS it is
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nethack.ini in your home directory. The default configuration file may
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be overridden via the --nethackrc:rc-file command line option or by
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setting NETHACKOPTIONS in your environment to a string consisting of an
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@ character followed by the path and filename.
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The -u playername option supplies the answer to the question "Who are
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you?". It overrides any name from the options or configuration file,
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USER, LOGNAME, or getlogin(), which will otherwise be tried in order.
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If none of these provides a useful name, the player will be asked for
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one. Player names (in conjunction with uids) are used to identify save
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files, so you can have several saved games under different names. Con-
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versely, you must use the appropriate player name to restore a saved
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game.
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A playername suffix can be used to specify the profession, race, align-
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ment and/or gender of the character. The full syntax of the playername
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that includes a suffix is "name-ppp-rrr-aaa-ggg". "ppp" are at least
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the first three letters of the profession (this can also be specified
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using a separate -p profession option). "rrr" are at least the first
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three letters of the character's race (this can also be specified using
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a separate -r race option). "aaa" are at least the first three letters
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of the character's alignment, and "ggg" are at least the first three
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letters of the character's gender. Any of the parts of the suffix may
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be left out.
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-p profession can be used to determine the character profession, also
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known as the role. You can specify either the male or female name for
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the character role, or the first three characters of the role as an
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abbreviation.
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Likewise, -r race can be used to explicitly request that a race be cho-
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sen.
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The -A|-Arc | -B|-Bar | -C|-Cav | -H|-Hea | -K|-Kni | -M|-Mon | -P|-Pri
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| -R|-Rog | -Ran | -S|-Sam | -T|-Tou | -V|-Val | -W|-Wiz options for
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role selection are maintained for compatibility with older versions of
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the program. They are mutually exclusive and the single-letter form
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must be uppercase. Ranger has no single-letter choice because -R is
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already used for the Rogue role.
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-@ tells nethack to choose any omitted characteristics (profes-
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sion/role, race, gender, alignment) randomly without prompting. Other-
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wise, leaving out any of these characteristics will result in you being
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prompted during game startup for the information.
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The -n option suppresses printing of any news from the game administra-
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tor.
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The -X option will start the game in a special non-scoring discovery
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mode (also known as explore mode). -D will start the game in debug
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mode (also known as wizard mode) after changing the character name to
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"wizard", if the player is allowed. Otherwise it will switch to -X.
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Control of who is allowed to use debug mode is done via the "WIZARDS="
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line in nethack's sysconf file.
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The -d or --directory option, which must be the first argument if it
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appears, supplies a directory which is to serve as the playground. It
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overrides the value from NETHACKDIR, HACKDIR, or the directory speci-
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fied by the game administrator during compilation (usually
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/usr/games/lib/nethackdir). This option is usually only useful to the
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game administrator. The playground must contain several auxiliary
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files such as help files, the list of top scorers, and a subdirectory
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save where games are saved.
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The -w or --windowtype interface option can be used to specify which
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interface to use if the program has been built with support for more
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than one. Specifying a value on the command line overrides any value
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specified in the run-time configuration file. NetHack's #version com-
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mand shows available interfaces.
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The --nethackrc:RC-file option will use RC-file instead of the default
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run-time configuration file (typically ~/.nethackrc) and the
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--no-nethackrc option can be used to skip any run-time configuration
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file.
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Some options provide feedback and then exit rather than play the game:
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The -s or --scores option alone will print out the list of your scores
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on the current version. An immediately following -v reports on all
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versions present in the score file. '-s|-s -v' may also be followed by
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arguments -p profession and -r race to print the scores of particular
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roles and races only. Either can be specified multiple times to
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include more than one role or more than one race. When both are speci-
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fied, score entries which match either the role or the race (or both)
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are printed rather than just entries which match both. '-s|-s -v' may
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be followed by one or more player names to print the scores of the
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players mentioned, by 'all' to print out all scores, or by a number to
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print that many top scores. Combining names with role or race or both
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will report entries which match any of those rather than just the ones
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which match all.
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--version or --version:show can be used to cause NetHack to show the
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version number, the date and time that the program was built from its
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source code, and possibly some auxiliary information about that source
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code, then exit. The optional auxiliary information is git commit hash
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(reflecting the source code's most recent modification when extracted
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from the git version control system, if that is in use) if available
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when the program was built. On some platforms such as Windows and
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macOS, a variation, --version:copy, can be used to cause NetHack to
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show the version information, then exit, while also leaving a copy of
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that information in the paste buffer or clipboard for potential inser-
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tion into things like bug reports. On any platform, --version:dump can
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be used to show most of the data used when checking whether a save file
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or bones file is compatible with the program. The program will display
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a line containing five numbers expressed in hexadecimal, then exit.
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--showpaths can be used to cause NetHack to show where it is expecting
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to find various files. Among other things it shows the path to and
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name for the player's run-time configuration file, a text file which
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can be edited to customize aspects of how the game operates.
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--usage or --help will display information similar to this manual page,
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then exit. Use 'nethack --usage | more' to read it a page at a time.
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AUTHORS
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Jay Fenlason (+ Kenny Woodland, Mike Thome and Jon Payne) wrote the
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original hack, very much like rogue (but full of bugs).
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Andries Brouwer continuously deformed their sources into an entirely
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different game.
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Mike Stephenson has continued the perversion of sources, adding various
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warped character classes and sadistic traps with the help of many
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strange people who reside in that place between the worlds, the Usenet
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Zone. A number of these miscreants are immortalized in the historical
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roll of dishonor and various other places.
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The resulting mess is now called NetHack, to denote its development by
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the Usenet. Andries Brouwer has made this request for the distinction,
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as he may eventually release a new version of his own.
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FILES
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Run-time configuration options were discussed above and use a platform
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specific name for a file in a platform specific location. For Unix,
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the name is '.nethackrc' in the user's home directory.
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All other files are in the playground directory, normally
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/usr/games/lib/nethackdir. If DLB was defined during the compile, the
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data files and special levels will be inside a larger file, normally
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nhdat, instead of being separate files.
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nethack The program itself.
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Guidebook | Guidebook.txt NetHack's user manual.
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data, oracles, rumors Data files used by NetHack.
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bogusmon Another data file.
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engrave, epitaph, tribute Still more data files.
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symbols Data file holding sets of specifications
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for how to display monsters, objects, and
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map features.
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options Data file containing a description of the
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build-time option settings.
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help, hh, cmdhelp Help data files. ('cmdhelp' is obsolete.)
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opthelp, optmenu, wizhelp More help data files.
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keyhelp, usagehlp Even more help data files.
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*.lua Predefined special levels, dungeon control
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for special levels, quest texts.
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history A short history of NetHack.
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license Rules governing redistribution.
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record The list of top scorers.
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logfile An extended list of games played
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(optional).
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xlogfile A more detailed version of 'logfile'
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(also optional).
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paniclog Record of exceptional conditions
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discovered during program execution.
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xlock.nn Description of dungeon level 'nn' of
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active game 'x' if there's a limit on the
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number of simultaneously active games.
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UUcccccc.nn Alternate form for dungeon level 'nn'
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of active game by user 'UU' playing
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character named 'cccccc' when there's no
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limit on number of active games.
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perm Lock file for xlock.0 or UUcccccc.0.
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bonD0.nn Descriptions of the ghost and belongings
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of a deceased adventurer who met his or
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her demise on level 'nn'. A subsequent
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character might encounter this old level.
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save/ A subdirectory containing saved games.
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sysconf System-wide options. Required if
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program is built with 'SYSCF' option
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enabled, ignored if not.
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The location of 'sysconf' is specified at build time and can't be
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changed except by updating source file "config.h" and rebuilding the
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program.
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NetHack's Guidebook might not be present if whoever packaged or
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installed the program distribution neglected to include it.
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In a perfect world, 'paniclog' would remain empty.
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ENVIRONMENT
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USER or LOGNAME Your login name.
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HOME Your home directory.
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SHELL Your shell.
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TERM The type of your terminal.
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HACKPAGER or PAGER Replacement for default pager.
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MAIL Mailbox file.
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MAILREADER Replacement for default reader
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(probably /bin/mail or /usr/ucb/mail).
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NETHACKDIR or HACKDIR Playground.
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NETHACKOPTIONS String predefining several NetHack options.
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If the same option is specified in both NETHACKOPTIONS and .nethackrc,
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the value assigned in NETHACKOPTIONS takes precedence.
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SHOPTYPE and SPLEVTYPE can be used in debugging (wizard) mode.
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DEBUGFILES can be used if the program was built with 'DEBUG' enabled.
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SEE ALSO
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recover(6)
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BUGS
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Probably infinite.
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COPYRIGHT
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This file is Copyright (C) Robert Patrick Rankin, 2024 for version
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NetHack-3.7:1.31. NetHack may be freely redistributed. See license
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for details.
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Dungeons & Dragons is a Trademark of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
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NETHACK 25 December 2024 NETHACK(6)
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