Game Interface

Game Screens

Game Options (ESC Button)

This menu allows you to control several options for the game, such as volume, brightness, pages, shouts, etc. You summon it by pressing the Escape button.

Backpack (Ctrl-I)

The backpack is where everything you pick up is stored. You can only hold so many items in your backpack, however, depending on how high your Endurance attribute is.

If you do not have the requirements to equip an item, it will remain in the backpack and you will receive a system message telling you

IMPORTANT: For most items, requirements are based on the unboosted attributes. Even if you are wearing an item that gives you a bonus to an attribute, the boost only affects your performance in the game, not your ability to meet requirements. This is covered in greater details later.

Skills Box (Ctrl-K)

This box contains all the information about your character's skills. Every character starts with the Attack and Dodge skills. As you gain levels, you receive Skill Points (SPs) with which you can improve your skills or learn new ones. These skills are defined later in this document. Note that the + and - buttons to the right do not work.

These Skill Points are also used by mages and priests to learn their respective spells (more on this later).


Users Listing (Ctrl-L)

If you want to know if some of your friends are online right now, simply type Ctrl-L and a scroll will appear with the name of all users currently online. Click with the left mouse button on the up and down arrow icons to move the listing up or down (you can also use the up and down arrow keys on your keyboard to do the same thing). The + and - buttons to the right do not work.

Spellbook (Ctrl-P)

The spellbook contains all of the spells you have learned so far. Spells are listed by names (to the left of the page) and their cost in Mana Points (MPs, to the right of the page). If you want to cast a spell, move your mouse cursor over the spell of your choice and click on it (you can also use the arrow keys to move up and down to select the spell you want). You then click on the Cast button to use it. If you simply want to exit your spellbook, you can click on Close.

Note that the Macro button to the top right of the spellbook does not work.

Character Stats (Ctrl-S)

This box contains vital information about your character. The left part of the box lists your character's current attributes: Strength, Endurance, Agility, Willpower, Wisdom, Intellect, Luck, Magic, Armor Class (AC), Hit Points, Level and current Experience points. The right part of the box displays your character's equipment. You can unequip items by double-clicking on any of the items in the boxes. They will immediately return to your backpack.

Note that some items can boost your attributes. The true value of your attribute is listed to the left; the boosted value is listed between parentheses next to the true value (see image below). Remember, when dealing with attribute requirements, T4C refers to the true value of your attribute, NOT the boosted value. This is true for anything, from item requirements to spell/skill requirements.

Keyboard Commands

Keyboard can be used to talk to other players in your immediate vicinity. Simply type the text you want your character to "speak," and it will appear above your character's head. If you want to highlight parts of the speech, include quotation marks (") before and after the text you want to highlight.

Arrows (Up/Right/Down/Left): Moves your character in that direction. You can combine keys to move diagonally.
ESC
: (Escape button) Exits any window; also, displays game options.
F1: Online help summary.
F2: Automatically drinks a healing potion (if you have some in your backpack).
F3: Automatically drinks a mana potion (if you have some in your backpack).
F4: Automatically lights up a torch (if you have one in your backpack).
F5: Cast "memorized" spell. The memorized spell is the last one you've cast.
F9: Repeats the last command typed on your keyboard.
Ctrl: Hold Ctrl and left click to discharge the last spell you have used. The difference with F5 is that you will remain stationary while casting your last spell.
Shift: Hold shift down and left click the mouse to attack without moving.
Ctrl-C: Toggles the combat mode. You need to toggle combat mode in order to attack NPCs or other players. Your combat mode is on if a small sword is displayed in the lower right corner of your screen.
Ctrl-I: Opens your backpack inventory.
Ctrl-K: Displays your character's skills and special abilities.
Ctrl-L: Listing of the users online on this server.
Ctrl-P: Displays your spellbook.
Ctrl-S: Displays your character's statistics and items already equipped.
Alt-F4: Alternate way of quitting the game. The usual way is through the Escape box's Quit Game button.
:<text>: Shout <text> for everyone to see. You can ignore all shouts by turning the shouting option off in the Game Options menu.
/"<name>" <text>: Page character <name> with message <text>. You can ignore all pages by turning the paging option off in the Game Options menu.

Mouse Commands

Left Button (movement): If the mouse cursor is not over a monster, move in the direction of the arrow.
Left Button (combat): If the mouse cursor is over a monster (sword), attacks that monster.
Left Button (targetting): If mouse cursor is a sword (combat), double-click to target that enemy until it dies. A blue outline will appear around the targetted enemy. This is further explained in the Combat section below.
Right Button (information): Displays the name of the item.

Non-Player Characters

Non-Player Characters (NPCs for short) are the characters controlled by the server. They can provide information, buy or sell some items, or assign quests. You interact with NPCs by first double-clicking on them using your left mouse button. That triggers their conversation mode. You can then talk to them by typing sentences on your keyboard and pressing Enter at the end. If the sentence contains keywords the NPC recognizes, it will respond to them. All NPCs regoznize the words name, work, and bye. Vendors (NPCs who buy and sell items) also recognize buy and sell.

When they respond to you, many NPCs emphasize words in white in their speech. Those are additional keywords which you should type for more information. Be warned, however: not all keywords for an NPC are highlighted in such a manner, nor are they all obvious. Sometimes, saying something to an NPC may trigger an entirely surprising reaction.

Communicating

It is possible to talk with the inhabitants of the land, which are controlled by the computer. Move your mouse cursor over the desired NPC (Non-Playing Character) until it has an outline that means that you have targeted it correctly. Then, double-click with the left mouse button and the NPC will greet you with a phrase. At this point, you may talk to him or her by simply typing what you want to say and by pressing Enter when you are finished. An NPC understands three basic words: name, work and bye. You can fetch the name of an NPC by right clicking on him or her. You might notice that a few of the words in a NPC's conversation are highlighted. It means that these words are keywords that you can say to the NPC and he will go on the subject. Merchants will usually know the words sell and buy while teachers and trainers will know either or both the teach and train words. If the NPC says a text too long, you will have to press enter to scroll down and read the rest of the text.

It is far easier to talk to living players. Simply type your text and press enter, the text will show up on the top of your character's head. Of course, the other characters have to be in the same room as you to read what you said. If you wish to send a message to everybody on the server, simply type colon before the sentence and press "enter". Your text will appear at the upper left corner on all the players' screen.

Shouting and Paging

It is possible to communicate with other players elsewhere in the game. This is not entirely realistic but helps make the game more social. If you do not wish to hear the shouts and pages from other players, you can simply turn it off using the game options window (press Escape).

Shouting is done by typing a : (colon) before any text. The text will be displayed to every user currently online, provided their shouting option is turned on. Paging a specific user to send him or her a private message is done by typing /"name" text where "name" (with the quotation marks) is the name of the person you wish to contact and text the message you wish to send. The quotation marks are optional if the receiver has a one-word name, but if the receiver's name contains spaces (such as "Crashtest Dummy"), the quotation marks are necessary. If the receiver's page option has been turned off, however, he or she will not see your message.

It is considered impolite to repeatedly shout messages that contain racial slurs, offensive or otherwise vulgar comments, and several game operators (game-ops) have rules against that. They may impose sanctions as they see fit, so make sure your shouts are relevants and polite.

It is possible to ignore someone who is harassing you. Just enter that character's name into a file titled "ignore.txt" in your T4C directory, and all messages from that person, either shouted or paged, will be automatically ignored. This is a temporary feature until a more developed chat system is implemented.