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0.0 Table of Contents
********************************************************************************
* *
* General Documentation for the Client Of Win (COW) *
* *
* Comments, suggestions and bug reports to brmbugs@crown.EECS.Berkeley.EDU *
* *
* *
* CREDITS: Chris Guthrie, Ed James, Scott Silvey, and Kevin Smith, *
* Tedd Hadley, Andy McFadden, Eric Mehlhaff, J. Mark Noworolski, *
* Nick Trown, Lars Bernhardsson, Sam Shen, Rick Weinstein, *
* Jeff Nelson, Jeff Waller, Robert Kenney, Steve Sheldon, *
* Dave Gosselin, Heiko Wengler, Kurt Siegl and many others. *
* *
********************************************************************************
Table of Contents
1.0 Overview
2.0 Acknowledgements
3.0 Features
4.0 Xtrekrc
8.0 Compiling
9.0 Guide to Related Valuable information
1.0 Overview
This document describes the COW client, its capabilities, and the client's
features. COW started as the successor of the BRM client after release 3.
BRM started as a merger of the Berkeley client with Rick's Moo
client. Since then, all three clients have developed fairly independant of one
other. Familiarity with netrek is presumed throughout this document. Please
consult section 9.0 for information on the game itself.
COW has an expire function which insures that players obtain new copies
regularly. This alleviates the client's caretakers from having to support
ancient clients. Generally, a client will expire 60 days after its compile
date.
2.0 Acknowledgements
Many people have contributed to COW and many many others contributed
to its ancestor clients. Here is an undoubtedly incomplete list of credits
presented in no particular order. Where possible their typical netrek name is
provided in the hope that you will ogg them:
Scott Silvey
Kevin Smith
Rick Weinstein
J. Mark Noworolski Passing Wind
Tedd Hadley pteroducktyl
Heiko Wengler Musashi
Andy McFadden ShadowSpawn
Chris Guthrie
Ed James
Eric Mehlhaff
Nick Trown Netherworld
Lars Bernhardsson lab
Sam Shen
Rick Videodrome
Jeff Nelson Miles Teg
Jeff Waller
Robert Kenney Zhi'Gau
Steve Sheldon Ceasar
Dave Gosselin Tom Servo
Kurt Siegl 007
Kevin Powell seurat
Alec Habig Entropy
3.0 Features
The COW client has many features that make it stand out from earlier
clients. This section will attempt to describe all of its features, including
those that are common to all clients.
3.1 Command Line Options
This section will describe COW features that are selected from the command
line when the client is invoked. Selecting "-u" for usage or any invalid
option will provide a brief summary of this section ( -help will work too ).
3.1.1 SERVER SELECTION
The "-h server_address" option will allow the user to select a specific
server. The client will look to the .xtrekrc file for a default server should
this option be absent. Examples of server addresses would be 136.165.1.12 or
starbase.louisville.edu.
3.1.2 PORT SPECIFICATION
The "-p port_number" option will allow the user to select a specific port
address. An example of a port_number would be 1111, 2222, or 2592.
3.1.3 DEFAULTS FILE SPECIFICATION
The "-r defaultsfile" option will allow the user to select a defaults file
other than .xtrekrc. The defaults file contains all of the user selectable
defaults ( please see Section 4.0 for more information on .xtrekrc ). Using
this option, two users can run netrek from the same userid / account and still
have unique defaults files.
3.1.4 VERIFICATION OPTIONS
The "-o" option instructs the client to use the old reserved.c verification
to identify itself to the server. Upgraded RSA servers will require that the
client use RSA verification. This is selected using the "-R" option.
3.1.5 RECORD GAME OPTION
The "-f record_file" will record the game into record_file.
3.1.5 METASERVER OPTION
The "-m" option will instruct the client to search the Meta Server at
metaserver.ecst.csuchico.edu, port 3521 and present the user with a list of
available servers. The user may then select the most desirable server
directly from the client.
Alternatively, the "-k" option may be used to show the "known servers",
using the same format as the Meta Server list. The client generates
a list of "known servers" after each call to the meta server but only if
the "metaCache" option is set in your .xtrekrc.
To find out about customising the meta-server, set the Chapter
"MetaServer Options", later in this document.
t
3.1.2 AUTOLOGIN OPTION
The "-A passowrd" allows the client to automatically enter the specified
character password without having to prompt the user. This option is normally
used with the "-C character_name" option, which automatically enters the
character name. The "-C" option must be followed by a character name string.
*** Hockey Lines
Due to popular demand, hockey lines have been added.
For those of you who want to see a hockey rink on the tactical,
just use the features menu (shift-O) and toggle them on.
You get:
Blue lines (blue)
Center line (red)
Side lines, i.e. the rink edges (grey)
Goal lines (red)
Goal boxes (the color of the team)
They are a little awkward at first, but once you get used to them,
you'll wonder how you lived without them.
Since this is a first pass, I'm looking for more input on what
would make them better. Here are some of my comments:
1) Lines are hard coded into the software. They should be
based upon planet location, so the hockey gods can move the
planets around.
2) You either have them all or none. Perhaps the set of
desired lines should be configurable from the xtrekrc. Also,
you cannot change the colors.
3) Lines on the galactic would look pretty
If you have any comments, mail them to kantner@hot.caltech.edu
*** Shell escape tool
You may execute any Unix shell comand within the client. Read your mail
now within the client. To do so, just send a message to the destination
"!" and you get a shell prompt. Enter the comand and it's output will
be displayed in the tools window. Works also with macros to "!".
You may disable it in the .xtrekrc for security reasons with shellTools: off
CAUTION: The client will be blocked for the time the comand is executed.
Also some programs suspend the client if it is started in the background.
*** Fast quit
Hitting 'q' will quit the client out without ever going back to the
team selection window, the normal 'Q' still goes back to the team
selection window.
*** Reread defaults file
You can reread your netrek default file by hitting '&', it is also
possible to enter a new default file name at anytime by sending
a message to 'M' which contains the file name.
*** Phaser window
A seperate window now exists for showing the results of your phasering.
Use the options window to bring it up.
*** New dashboard
Uses sliding bars instead of numbers at the bottom of your screen.
newDashboard: 3
in your .xtrekrc will activate it.
*** Galactic rotation
For those who like to fight with some specific orientation, the
galaxy is now rotate-able. This can be done in the options window.
This works now also with short packages.
*** Gateway
Lots of cool gateway code in this client, unfortunately I don't
use nor do I know what it does other than get past firewalls.
*** Observer support
Many servers allow you to *observe* a game instead of playing, sort of
like watching football. COW supports this feature. Currently in order
to be an observer, all you have to do is connect to the observer port
for a server, generally only INL tournament servers will have observer
ports active. A good guess at the observer ports is 4000 and 5000.
*** Auto torp aiming and dodge
Get outa here...
***************************************************************
4.0 Xtrekrc:
***************************************************************
COW looks for a .xtrekrc file in your home directory. Alternatively
this file may be called home, and it may be in whatever directory
the client is executed from.
A file called "SAMPLE.xtrekrc" should have been included with this
client. Below is an attempt to explain the many,many options you
can include in a .xtrekrc file. Some of this was borrowed from
various other documentation such as MOO documentation.
For other options, see MACROs and Receiver Configurable Distress Calls.
rank.mapped: (on/off)
rank.parent: (window name) ie root, review_all, netrek, etc
rank.geometry: (geometry specification) ie 80x26+554+624
Every window may have these three defaults set for it.
Some windows are resizeable, others are not.
font: fixed
bigfont: lucidasans-24
italicfont: -schumacher-clean-medium-i-normal--10-*-*-*-c-80-iso8859-1
boldfont: -schumacher-clean-bold-r-normal--10-100-*-*-c-60-iso8859-1
Specifies which fonts you want to use,
not sure that all of these are still used in COW
color.white: white
color.black: black
color.red: #ffa0ff
color.green: green
color.yellow: yellow
color.cyan: cyan
color.light grey: light grey
Specify what colors should be used by the client.
This is generic X color specification (right?).
All the possible left hand sides are listed I think.
name: (string of chars) default name
password: (string of chars) default password; if both name and password
are included in your .xtrekrc, COW will attempt to do
an autologin for you.
newDistress: (on/off) right justified distress call or not, default value
is to right justify (on)
showIND: (on/off) mark independent planets with a X drawn over it.
varyShields: (on/off) Shield color and bitmap depends on shield status.
varyHull: (on/off) graphical indication of your hull condition. kinda
like varyShields
cloakChars: (string of one or two chars) what to use for cloakers on
galactic instead of '??'.
enemyPhasers: (integer 0-10) enemy phasers thickness at starting point.
phaserShrink: (integer 0-16) Don't draw the first "phaserShrink"/16 th of
your phaser. This makes it easier to see incomming torps.
theirPhaserShrink: (integer 0-16) "phaserShrink" for other player's ships.
shrinkPhaserOnMiss: (on/off) Use "phaserShrink" and "theirPhaserShrink" even
if a phaser misses.
showstats: (on/off) show stats window
reportkills: (on/off) display kill messages or ignore these
babes: (on/off) The Sexist Feature: shows Kathy Ireland when
you ghostbust
netstats: (on/off) collect network statistics for measuring lag
netstatfreq: (integer) how often to update the network statistics
newPlanetBitmaps: (on/off) new planet bitmaps, less junk to
get in the way of seeing torps
newDashboard: (integer 0-3) new dashboard 1 and 2, has sliding bars instead of
numbers at the bottom of the screen, 3 uses triangle sliders,
definately worth a look.
ignoreCaps: (on/off) ignore the Capslock key.
newPlist: (on/off) new playerlist, instead of total kills, deaths
offense and defense it shows login and stats (off+bomb+planet).
playerlist: (string) The layout for the player list. See below.
playerListStyle: (0-4) The style for the player list. The options are:
(0) Custom player list as defined by the
playerlist variable above,
(1) Old player list,
(2) Traditional COW player list,
(3) Kill watch player list,
(4) BRMH Player list.
If "playerListStyle" is set, newPlist is ignored.
Use the options menu (shift-O) to try the different styles.
sortPlayers: (on/off) Sort the playerlist with the enemy team players
first, then your team and then the neutral players.
sortMyTeamFirst: (on/off) Modifies "sortPlayers" so that your team is sorted
immediately before the enemy teams.
partitionPlist: Add blank lines to a sorted player list to separate the
different teams. This is useful in mono where the teams
can not be distinguished by their color.
keepInfo: (integer) number of updates to keep info windows on the
screen before automatically removing them
logging: (on/off) displays messages to stdout if set.
logfile: (filename) alternatively saves messages to a text file
useRSA: (on/off) default setting for whether the client should use RSA
verification.
tryShort: (on/off) default setting for whether to use short packets.
autoquit: (integer) length of time to wait on team selection screen
before Auto-quit exits for you.
showmotd: (on/off) display motd if in wait queue
keymap: (string of chars) remaps the keyboard, syntax is simply the
key to map onto, followed by the key to map, repeated.
Thus to map the "fire torps" key 't' onto 'f', use
keymap: ft
(See also the sections on control keymaps and ship
dependent keymaps below.)
buttonmap: map the mouse buttons to something else.
i.e. the default mapping is:
1t2p3k
server: bronco.ece.cmu.edu
default server that is called when no -h argument is
specified. The compiled in default server is bronco.ece.cmu.edu
port: 2596
default port that gets called. The compiled default is 2592
server.rio: riovista.berkeley.edu
Allows you to specify a server abbreviation. Thus instead of
using "-h riovista.berkeley.edu" you now use only "-h rio"
port.rio: 4566
default port that gets called for the server abbreviation.
showtractorpressor: toggle showing tractor/pressor beams
UDp control
tryUdp: (on/off) Automaticaly use UDP if on
udpDebug:
udpClientSend:
udpClientRecv:
udpSequenceChk:
extraAlertBorder: Draws border in internal netrek windows, as well
as external ones (which get ignored in X11 with window-managers )
forcemono: if on, the client windows are set to be monochrome
redrawDelay: if >0 synchron screen refresh every n/10 sec
(useful for slow X-terms and high lag).
Can show nothing, resources, or owner on galactic by default.
resource-- showgalactic: 1
2 = nothing
1 = resources
0 = ownership
Can use color pixmaps instead of bitmaps on galactic.
resource-- colorgalactic: off
Use starry background on galactic map.
resource-- showstars: off
Draw a circle in the owning team's color around planets (pixmaps only)
resource-- ownerhalo: off
Can show nothing, resources, or owner on local map by default.
resource-- showlocal: 2
2 = nothing
1 = resources
0 = ownership
Can turn off planet names by default.
resource-- showplanetnames: off
Can sort player list by team. code fixed by Greg. (gc2n@andrew.cmu.edu)
resource-- sortPlayers: on
Can show lock on galactic, local, galactic & local, or none.
resource-- showLock: 3
0 = none
1 = galactic
2 = local
3 = both
Can be set to not continue the visible tractors.
resource-- continuetractors: on
on = continue
off = turns off after 2 updates.
--------------------
Ship dependent keymaps, buttonmaps and .xtrekrc files
You can add one of: sc, dd, ca, bb, as, sb, ga, att, default to the
following default options to override them based on ship type:
rcfile-??: ship specific .xtrekrc file,
keymap-??: ship dependent keymap,
ckeymap-??: ship dependent CTRL keymap,
buttonmap-??: ship dependent buttonmap.
It will automatically reload the specified defaults if you change the
shiptype. If a ship-specific option is not specified, the default
option is used for that ship. For e.g., keymap-sc: will be used
instead of keymap: whenever you switch to an SC.
Used well, this is a very powerful feature. For instance, you might
bind a key to your prefered cruising speed, with a different speed for
each ship type.
Here's part of my keymap as an example.
# default: q = warp 2, w = 1/2 maxwarp, e = maxwarp
ckeymap: q2w#e%
# override some of the above, based on ship type
ckeymap-ca: w4
ckeymap-bb: w3
ckeymap-sb: q1w2
For a more detailed explanation of the interaction between keymaps,
ckeymaps, and their -?? versions, read the later section on "Control
keymaps".
***************************************************************
Connection Types: UDP and TCP explained
***************************************************************
UDP provides an unreliable, packet-based protocol for sending data
across an IP network. There are a variety of ways that a UDP packet
can be lost or discarded, including a failure of the underlying
communication mechanism. UDP implements a checksum over the data
portion of the packet. If the checksum of a received packet is in
error, the packet will be dropped with no indication given to the
user. A queue of received packets is provided for each UDP socket.
This queue has a limited capacity. Arriving datagrams which will not
fit within its high-water capacity are silently discarded.
Guest Rd 71 27 2% / 13%
The stats above show a typically UDP connection. It has loss of
packets but its round-trip times are fairly low.
TCP provides a reliable, flow-controlled, in order transfer of data
across an IP network. There is nothing fundamentally different about
the way UDP and TCP packets travel over the wire. The only real
difference is that TCP will keep sending the same packet over and over
again until it gets an acknowledgement back. As a result, TCP
connects are typically slower than UDP connections and usually require
more bandwidth. TCP is slower because it guarantees that packets will
arrive in order and so a lost packet can hold up later packets.
Example:
Guest Ff 405 669 0% / 0%
^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^^^
The above shows possibly the same connection with UDP turned off.
There is no loss but the round trip times are much higher.
NOTES:
* COW always uses TCP for some things. For example, the text messages
that you can send to other players are implement in TCP to guarentee
that they always arrive. However, if a UDP connection is also
available, it is used for the vast majority of communication.
* COW will fall back to using a TCP only if it fails to open
a UDP link. If you find that you have high lag and no loss, you
probably should display the UDP control window (the default key is
`+') and turn UDP back on by pressing the top button.
* You are recommended to use a TCP connection if you are at the same
site (within a few milliseconds lag) of the server you are playing on.
The main reason for using UDP is to reduce your round trip times.
* The option "tryUdp" can be used to set a preference for using
UDP (tryUdp: on) or TCP only (tryUdp: off).
***************************************************************
Short Packets:
***************************************************************
For a more technical description of short packets, see README.SHORT_PCK.
Short packets are supported by COW. These have been shown
to substantially reduce the volume of traffic between the client
and server, and will improve lag in many situations. Not all
servers support short packets yet, but that is changing rapidly.
COW has a short packet window which is brought up with the ` key.
In this window you can turn short packets on and off as well as
configure it in various ways.
Also in your netrek defaults file you can add the line
tryShort: on
in order to have short packets automatically turned on whenever
you connect to a server which allows it.
Don't forget about the - and | keys for requesting updates.
***************************************************************
5.0 Options:
***************************************************************
Summary of command line options available for COW.
u (existance) prints usage information for the client
C (sting of chars) name to auto-login with
A (sting of chars) password to auto-login with
c (existance) checking - this will check server_port-1 and spew out
a list of all players currently playing on that server - not all
servers are intelligent enough to do this
s (integer) passive port to use, generally only server gods would ever
use this option and even they can get by without it
f (filename) file to record packets in
l (filename) file to log messages
p (integer) port to connect to server
d (sting of chars) display name
m (existance) use meta window instead of selecting a server with
command line options - TRY THIS, IT's COOOOOOL!!
k (existance) use known server window instead of selecting a server
with command line options.
o (existance) use reserved.c blessing for client authentification
R (existance) use RSA blessing for client authentification (default)
h (sting of chars) server name
H (sting of chars) Gateway name
P (existance) log packets, generally don't want to use this
t (sting of chars) title- the name of the window the client makes
r (filename) netrek default file, instead of .xtrekrc
D (existance) debug mode
v (existance) display version/expiration info then exit
***************************************************************
6.0 MACROs, RCD, RCM:
***************************************************************
Three types of macros exist in the COW client: NBT, NEWMACRO, and
SMARTMACRO. NBT is always on, however NEWMACRO and SMARTMACRO can
be turned off by a server which does not allow them.
You may see a list of what macros are in your client by hitting
'X' followed by '?'. At the top of this list it shows which macros
are enabled in the client right now.
NBT macros allow you enter a message in your .xtrekrc which you
send regularly.
macro.x.X: <text here>
#x is any ascii character; it is the "name" of the macro (the key you press
#in macro mode to send the associated macro)
#X can be A,T,F,R,K,O where A=all, T=team, F=fed, R=rom, K=kli, O=ori
#(determines the message board to which the text body of the macro is sent)
Example:
macro.b.T: BOMB!!!!
For more information on NEWMACRO and SMARTMACRO see the NEWMACRO
section below.
***************************************************************
Receiver Configurable Distress Calls (RCD):
***************************************************************
9/2/93 - jmn, jn (no relation 8^)
6/7/95 - updated by ATH
Receiver configurable distress calls have been added to the client
and use a MACRO-like syntax.
In order to change the distress type a line such as the following
should be in your defaults file.
dist.T.taking: (%i) Carrying %a to %l%?%n>-1%{ @ %n%}
or simply
dist.taking: (%i) Carrying %a to %l%?%n>-1%{ @ %n%}
This has the format
dist.[key].[name of distress]: [macro]
Arguments for the macro and SMARTMACRO syntax are exactly the same
as before. Any argument can be used, but usually only those
in the groups "Standard" and "FULLY CAPITALIZED" apply.
Note that if you don't want to ever see a certain distress, use the
macro characters : %*. For example,
dist.free_beer: %*
will allow your client to simply ignore any "free beer" RCD's that get sent.
Below is a table giving the name of each distress, the key it
is assigned to, and the default macro (at the time of this writing).
Note that except for E and F, these are all control keys.
Key Name Default Distress Macro
t taking %T%c->%O (%S) Carrying %a to %l%?%n>-1%{ @ %n%}
o ogg %T%c->%O Help Ogg %p at %l
b bomb %T%c->%O %?%n>4%{bomb %l @ %n%!bomb%}
c space_control %T%c->%O Help Control at %L
1 save_planet %T%c->%O Emergency at %L!!!!
2 base_ogg %T%c->%O Sync with --]> %g <[-- OGG ogg OGG base!!
3 help1 %T%c->%O Help me! %d%% dam, %s%% shd, %f%% fuel %a armies.
4 help2 %T%c->%O Help me! %d%% dam, %s%% shd, %f%% fuel %a armies.
e escorting %T%c->%O ESCORTING %g (%d%%D %s%%S %f%%F)
O ogging %T%c->%O Ogging %h
B bombing %T%c->%O Bombing %l @ %n
C controlling %T%c->%O Controlling at %l
5 asw %T%c->%O Anti-bombing %p near %b.
6 asbomb %T%c->%O DON'T BOMB %l. Let me bomb it (%S)
7 doing1 %T%c->%O (%i)%?%a>0%{ has %a arm%?%a=1%{y%!ies%}%} at %l. %d%% dam, %s%% shd, %f%% fuel
8 doing2 %T%c->%O (%i)%?%a>0%{ has %a arm%?%a=1%{y%!ies%}%} at %l. %d%% dam, %s%% shd, %f%% fuel
f free_beer %T%c->%O %p is free beer
n no_gas %T%c->%O %p @ %l has no gas
h crippled %T%c->%O %p @ %l crippled
9 pickup %T%c->%O %p++ @ %l
0 pop %T%c->%O %l%?%n>-1%{ @ %n%}!
F carrying %T%c->%O %?%S=SB%{Your Starbase is c%!C%}arrying %?%a>0%{%a%!NO%} arm%?%a=1%{y%!ies%}.
@ other2 %T%c->%O (%i)%?%a>0%{ has %a arm%?%a=1%{y%!ies%}%} at %l. (%d%%D, %s%%S, %f%%F)
# other3 %T%c->%O (%i)%?%a>0%{ has %a arm%?%a=1%{y%!ies%}%} at %l. (%d%%D, %s%%S, %f%%F)
E help %T%c->%O Help(%S)! %s%% shd, %d%% dmg, %f%% fuel,%?%S=SB%{ %w%% wtmp,%!%}%E%{ ETEMP!%}%W%{ WTEMP!%} %a armies!
Here is some documentation written by jmn about how receiver
configurable distress calls work:
===========================
Well... here's how it works.... Each RC_DISTRESS compatible client can make
the distress call appear as whatever you like through their .xtrekrc...
If you DONT have a new enough client the server will do a default parsing
of the distress call and you will see it like that. Also if the server is
old then the distress call sent out by each client will appear the way
_the sender_ likes to have them displayed.
Let me summarize with an example:
F0 likes 'F' to say 'Carrying 4 maggots.'
F1 likes 'F' to say 'Carrying 4 armies.'
F2 likes 'F' to say 'Carrying 4 lawyers. 20% fuel'
The server default is 'Carrying 4.'
Note:
Advanced RC_DISTRESS users should note that 'F' can be remapped easily in
at least 2 different ways. For example throught .xtrekrc
dist.(.carrying: %T%c: Carrying %a maggots.
singleMacro: (
(this will make 'X(' or '(' be the same as 'F' used to be)
There will be more documentation on this coming later but basically the
syntax is the same as SMARTMACRO and NEWMACRO.
-----------
On a NEW server:
Case 1: All of them are using a new client.
F1 will ALWAYS see 'Carrying x armies.' No matter who sent it.
Case 2: Only F1 is using an old client.
F1 will see the _server_ set defaults for the carrying call from everybody.
Note that the calls from F0 and F2 will appear in the same format to him on
this server (but may appear in a different format on different servers).
F2 and F0 will see F1's client-defined distress calls.
---------------
On an old server:
F1 will see whatever the sender likes to see (in this case the sender sends
the pre-formatted text instead of the RC_DISTRESS short-hand).
So a 'F' from F2 will appear to everybody as:
'Carrying 4 lawyers. 20% fuel'
a 'F' from F0 will appear to everybody as:
'Carrying 4 maggots.'
===========================
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
8/16/93 - jn
New feature for default file...
rejectMacro: on (on/off) default to off, if on, COW automatically
stops NEWMACROs from being sent when the server
has turned NEWMACROs off. That is any
macro in your defaults file defined by a
mac.*.*: (TEXT) line.
Multiline macros are no-longer allowed at all.
Primarily this is based on network traffic arguments.
***************************************************************
NEWMACRO and SMARTMACRO documentation - Jeff Nelson 6/4/1993
***************************************************************
*WARNING* *WARNING* *WARNING* *WARNING* *WARNING*
These features default ON in the COW client! A server may turn them
off *for you* if they are not allowed at that server. The BRM client will
inform you by sending you a message line like:
BRM: Features enabled: NO_NEWMACRO, NO_SMARTMACRO
If you are not at a server that allows NEWMACRO, then all targetted
macros will be treated as normal NBT macros (no argument substitution,
%a will broadcast as %a). If you are not on a server that allows
SMARTMACRO, then any conditional text or tests will *not* be evaluated,
instead they will be sent as the macro appears in your defaults file!
If you don't like this, complain to the server god!! Make a difference!!
Compilers:
In order to use the below features, NBT and NEWMACRO must be defined.
In addition, SMARTMACRO must be defined to use the most advanced
features.
Here is the idea:
A player should be able to include in his/her macros whatever
reasonable information is available. And configuring its display
in whatever way is desired. In order to do this, the following
syntax is used (while remaining completely compatible with old NBT
macros).
A key is assigned in the defaults file (ie .xtrekrc, etc)
by a line like:
mac.F.T Help! Carrying %a!!
This defines a macro which will send a distress containing
the number of armies a player is carrying to his team.
Note, this is NOT printf syntax! Any attempt to use formatting will
fail miserably. Maybe in the future someone will want to develop
a means of formatting the variables used in macros, but the only
means I can think of are both bulky and ugly.
Here is another example:
mac.f Help! Carrying %a!!
Unlike the first, this macro will not send directly to the team,
instead it requires that you give a third keystroke specifying the
recipient. For example, it could be invoked by:
XfT <- to your team
Xf1 <- to player 1
XfG <- if you are desperate, send to God
XfA <- if you are stupid, send to ALL
Old macros will still work in addition to these, thus be sure there are
no conflicts. These generally cause suprising results. For example,
if this is in your macro file:
mac.E.T Help! I'm carrying!!
macro.E.A You all suck!
mac.E Help! I'm a twink!!
mac.E.T Help! I'm carrying again!!
macro.E.A You all suck even worse NOW!
The suprising results would be that pressing XE would broadcast the
first two messages, and then wait for the destination of the third.
It would be impossible to ever use the last two. Unfortunately, multiline
macros also do not work if they require a destination. There is no
good reason for this, but since multiline macros annoy the hell out
of me, I ain't fixing it. You can still do something like:
mac.D.A: D
mac.D.A: O
mac.D.A: O
mac.D.A: S
mac.D.A: H
This would properly broadcase 5 messages containing 1 character to all.
If you tried to specify the destination for these by using "mac.D:",
only 'D' would be sent.
Also '?' can still not be used as a macro key.
The following definitions will work in a macro:
Standard:
%o 3 charcter team name of sender
%a armies carried by sender
%d sender damage percentage
%s sender shield percentage
%f sender fuel percentage
%w sender wtemp percentage
%e sender etemp percentage
%t team id character of target planet
%T team id character of sender team
%r team id character of target team
%c sender id character
%n armies on target planet
%E 1 if etemped, 0 if not
%W 1 if wtemped, 0 if not
%S sender two character ship type
%p id character of target player
%g id char of target friendly player
%h id char of target enemy player
%P id character of player nearest sender
%G id char of friendly player nearest sender
%H id char of enemy player nearest sender
%l three character name of target planet
%N full name of target planet
%i sender full player name (16 character max)
%u full name of target player (16 character max)
%z 3 letter team id of target planet
%b 3 char name of sender nearest planet
%k kills of sender
%K kills of target player
FULLY CAPITALIZED:
%O three character team name of sender
%L three character name of target planet
%I sender full player name (16 character max)
%U full name of target player (16 character max)
%Z 3 letter team id of target planet
%B 3 char id of sender nearest planet
Ping stats: (may differ slightly from server '!' ping stats)
%v average ping stat round trip time
%V ping stat round trip standard deviation
%y percent total packet loss as calculated by server formula
Miscellanous:
%m the last message you sent
%M the last message you sent in all caps
%w whydead number for RCM
%W whydead text for RCM only
%>nn Tab stop at position nn
As a further extension to NEWMACRO, a macro may now be sent
to any of the following destinations:
%i %I %c send message to self
%u %U %p send message to player nearest mouse
%t %z %Z send message to team of player nearest mouse
%g send message to nearest friendly player to my ship
%h send message to nearest enemy player to my ship
with a syntax like
#useful for INL...
mac.C.%i: CAPTAIN
mac.N.%i: NEWGALAXY
mac.S.%i: START
mac.T.%i: %Z
mac.W.%t: SHUT UP, TWINKS!!
mac.I.%u: %u: det when you escort!
mac.O.%u: (%i) ogging
What this does is allows you to send a macro to a player or
team specified by your mouse location instead of requiring
a 3rd character to be input. Also, it allows you to send
message to yourself without having to actual sit there and
figure out who you are (they tried and failed back in the '60s).
>>>>The above is available when NEWMACRO is defined; from here on,
>>>>SMARTMACRO must be defined *in addition*.
Further, tests may be done within the macro system, the syntax
for these test is as follows.
%? introduces a test
= equivalence
> greater
< less
Expressions are evaluated on a character by character basis until the
test is resolved. The text of the test is then replaced in the macro
by 1 or 0.
Test are then fed to a syntax I call conditional text. The best way
to demonstrate how this works is example.
1%{included if true%!included if false%}
This would print:
included if true
0%{included if true%!included if false%}
included if false
Combining the whole package, a very robust macroing system is
quickly generated. One can easily design or mimic Distress calls,
including the variable NBT distress of the COW client and all the
hardcoded message macroing built into my own client but never released.
Here are a few more samples to work from:
mac.F.T: Help! Carrying %a!!
mac.f: Help! Carrying %a!!
mac.c.T: %p++ near %l
mac.b.T: %?%n>4%{bomb %l at %n%!bomb%}
mac.d.T: %E%{%!%W%{%!I'm fine. How are you? %}%}%E%{ETEMPED!!! %}%W%{WTEMPED!!! %}Carrying %?%a>0%{%a armies!%!NO armies.%}
mac.a.T: %E%{ETEMPED!!! %}%W%{WTEMPED!!! %}Carrying %?%a>0%{%a armies!%!NO armies.%}
mac.R.A: I'm a %?%S=SB%{star base!%!twink!%}
mac.K.A: KissMy%S
mac.t: thanks
mac.y: yes
mac.n: no
mac.B: bye, getting hungry/sleep/horny
mac.e.T: need escort going to %l%?%a>0%{, carrying %a armies!%}
mac.v.%t: %T%c PING stats: Average: %v ms, Stdv: %V ms, Loss: %y%%
#My Favorite:
mac.m: %m
***************************************************************
* Symbolic names for macro destinations - Kurt Siegl 27/4/95
***************************************************************
You always wanted to send a macro directly to the captain, base,
or the second SC bomber?
Symbolic macro keys will solve your problems. Here how it goes:
In the .xtrekrc file you assign a key to a symbolic name:
key.[key].[dest]: [name of key]
If the destination isn't specified the key defaults to team.
Examples:
key.C: captain
key.B.t: base
key.m.A: me
Then you can use that new key in your macros.
Examples:
mac.o.C: Hi Captain let me suggest a base ogg?
mac.a.B: BASE: Free armies for me?
mac.t.m: TIME
Finally during runtime you may change the actual destination
by sending a message:
set [name of key] [destination id]
to the shell ("!") tools. Of corse this may be done with macros as well.
Examples:
mac.^C.!: set captain %g
mac.^m.!: set me %c
You can check the settings on the shell tools window "M".
***************************************************************
Receiver Configurable Server Messages (RCM)
***************************************************************
Short package kill messages may be freely configured using
the macro syntax interpreter where
* the killed person corresponds to the sender,
* the killer corresponds to the target player,
* involved planet (killed by, destroyed, taken) to the target planet,
* damage is int part of kills and shield fraction part.
* whydead goes with wtmp.
All others are undefined.
The format of the messages is:
msg.[name of message]: [RCM macro]
Available messages and their defaults are:
msg.kill: ........
msg.kill:GOD->ALL %i (%S) (%T%c%?%a>0%{+%a armies%!%}) was kill %?%d>0%{%k%!NO CREDIT)%} for %u (%r%p) %?%w>0%{%W%!%}
msg.planet:GOD->ALL %i (%S) (%T%c%?%a>0%{+%a armies%!%} killed by %l (%z) %?%w>0%{%W%!%}
msg.bomb:%N->%Z We are being attacked by %i (%T%c) who is %d%% damaged.
msg.destroy:%N->%Z %N destroyed by %i (%T%c)
msg.take:%N->%O %N taken by %i (%T%c)
msg.ghostbust:GOD->ALL %i (%S) (%T%c) was kill %k for the GhostBusters
BRMH formated kill windows may be optain by something like:
msg.kill: %i (%S) (%T%c%?%a>0%{+%a armies%!%}) %>30 kill %?%d>0%{%k%!NO CREDIT)%} for %u (%r%p) %?%w>0%{%>65%W%!%}
***************************************************************
MetaServer Options
***************************************************************
The MetaServer and the MetaServerCache are provided to help you find a
netrek game to join. Both services provide a list of the popular
netrek servers. The MetaServer is neat because provides information
on the number of players at each site. The MetaServerCache is neat
because it is much faster if you can guess where a game will be.
To access the MetaServer, use the command line switch "-m". For
example "cow -m". To access the MetaServerCache, use the "-k" switch
instead.
1) Where to find the MetaServer:
You can use the options "metaport" and "metaserver" to point COW
to a new MetaServer. The defaults for these options are:
metaport: 3521
metaserver: metaserver.ecst.csuchico.edu
2) How to create a list of known servers for the MetaServerCache:
Before you can use the MetaServerCache, you must give COW a file in
which to cache the information from the MetaServer. Use the .xtrekrc
option "metaCache" to specify this file. The files path will be
relative to your home directory unless you start the file name with a
slash (/).
For example, to set the cache file to "~/.metaCache" use:
metaCache: .metaCache
Unlike the MetaServer, the MetaServerCache will not show the number of
people playing at a server. If a server is contactable, it will be
shown as "Active".
Warning: If "metaCache" is set, COW will also use a second, temporary
file. This file with have the name of the metaCache file with the
last character changed to either a 'T' or an 'R'. Eg, ".metaCache"
becomes ".metaCachT" and "BEAST" becomes "BEASR". Ensure that this
temporary file does not overwrite something important.
3) How much information will be shown:
You can now control the amount of information that the MetaServer
displays for you by setting the "metaStatusLevel" flag. The default
is:
metaStatusLevel: 3
The status levels are coded as follows.
0 Servers which have players but not a wait queue.
1 + Servers with a wait queue.
2 + Servers with nobody playing. (see NOTE1).
3 + Servers which have Timed Out for the MetaServer (see NOTE2).
4 + Servers which the MetaServer has not been able to connect to.
NOTE1: When using the MetaServerCache, "metaStatusLevel" values of
less than 3 are treated as the value 3. This minimum is enforced
because the cache does not attempt to show the number of people
playing at a site.
NOTE2: If you are a long way from the MetaServer, you are advised to
ignore TimeOut errors. For example, the MetaServer in America may
have difficulty contacting to a server in Holland while the link from
England to Holland is very good.
4) The Fallback
If you attempt to contact the MetaServer, and the connection times
out, COW will try to show the MetaServerCache instead.
Similarly, if you attempt to use the MetaServerCache, and your
"metaCache" file does not exist, COW will attempt to call
theMetaServer.
***************************************************************
Player List Options
***************************************************************
1) Configurable Player List:
I've added a new .xtrekrc option called "playerlist" what it allows
you to do is specify which columns of the player list you want to show
and in what order. The following is a table of the available columns.
Spc Let Name Header
--- --- -------------------- -------------------
3 'n' Ship Number " No"
3 'T' Ship Type " Ty"
11 'R' Rank " Rank "
17 'N' Name " Name "
6 'K' Kills " Kills"
17 'l' Login Name " Login "
6 'O' Offense " Offse"
6 'W' Wins " Wins"
6 'D' Defense " Defse"
6 'L' Losses " Loss"
6 'S' Total Rating (stats) " Stats"
6 'r' Ratio " Ratio"
8 'd' Damage Inflicted(DI) " DI"
1 ' ' White Space " "
PLIST1
6 'B' Bombing " Bmbng"
6 'b' Armies Bombed " Bmbed"
6 'P' Planets " Plnts"
6 'p' Planets Taken " Plnts"
17 'M' Display/Host Machine " Host Machine "
7 'H' Hours Played " Hours "
6 'k' Max Kills " Max K"
6 'V' Kills per Hour " KPH"
6 'v' Deaths per Hour " DPH"
PLIST2
9 'w' War staus " War Stat"
3 's' Speed " Sp"
So for example if you just wanted to see names and rank you'd add this
line to your .xtrekrc:
playerlist: NR
In order for this mod to be in effect you must compile with PLIST
defined, otherwise you will get either of the two currently available
defaults. The things shown after PLIST1 are only available if you
have PLIST1 defined, the same goes for the things after PLIST2, but
you must have PLIST defined or neither of these will do anything.
dave
gosselin@ll.mit.edu
NOTE FROM SOURCE KEEPER:
PLIST2 is not active in BRM currently. Some players feel that placing
speed on the playerlist gives a strategic advantage.
NOTE ON SB STATS :
On servers which support the SBHOURS .feature, you will see slightly
different things when you info a SB, or show the SB player on the
playerlist. The usual offense and defense lines are replaced with SB
kills/hour and deaths/hour. The kills, deaths, hours and ratio entries
are all the player's SB stats as long as he is in the SB, and his normal
stats otherwise.
2) Predefined "playerlist" styles:
For your viewing pleasure we have predefined some playerlist layouts
that you might like to try. These predefined styles can be selected
using the "playerListStyle" option in your .xtrekrc or by using the
options menu (shift-O).
The "playerListStyle" options are:
0: Custom style = playerlist
1: Old style = "nTRNKWLr O D d "
2: COW style = "nTR N K lrSd"
3: Kill watch style = "nTK RNlr Sd"
4):BRMH style = "nTR N K l M"
For backward compatability, the option "newPlist" will still select
between the old style playerlist (off) and the COW style playerlist
(on) if the "playerListStyle" option does not appear in your .xtrekrc.
3) The "partitionPlist" option:
Lets face it, the main role of the player list is so that you can keep
track of who has kills.
To make life easier, the player list is sorted so that enemy and
friendly teams are always in the same place in the list. However, in
mono it is not immediatly obvious where one team starts and another
team ends. If the "partitionPlist" option is "on", white space will
be added to the player list to separate your teams from the other
teams and the players entering the game. In color, this option is not
usually required because the teams are distinct anyway.
***************************************************************
7.0 MOO Client Doc:
***************************************************************
Since BRM is based on the Moo client, many of the features
in BRM are derived from it. Here is some documentation
for this client.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Recent updates to the "moo" client.
(sort of a tribute to harvard Admiral Moooooooo!) (aka ryche)
future changes i'm working on:
having the outgoing message you are composing to redraw.
Configurable bitmaps for your cursors and your women,
if you happen to be sick enough not to like Kathy and Steph.
--> RSA soon to be added by bronco gods.
i'm open to suggestions...
Changes to 'original' Mehlhaff client as of Apr 17, 1993:
BRAND NEW FEATURES!!--
o enemy phasers are now dotted lines so people on color
machines have less advantage over us b&w users.
o you can turn the babes off if you want. .netrekrc resource:
babes: on/off
o In color, you can have your shield be color of your warning
status, like your slot number. resource:
warnshields: on/off
o lagmeter now working. \ to see the window and . to see the
netstat window resources:
netstats: on netstatfreq: 5 (how many updates to
the lagmeter per second)
o silly info-borg planet bitmaps are now optional.
resource: newPlanetBitmaps: on/off
o client now responds to pigcall with "ricksmoo ver. 1.08"
will only respond to individual messages. not 5 spaces to ALL.
o added hadley's ping stuff. the "," key brings the window up.
o Windows can now be resized!!
o zorg type XSendEvents will not be accepted by moo.
o moo has no default server compiled in. you must use -h
or the .netrekrc resource
o New Sexist Features: Stephanie Seymour now welcomes you to MOO
when you enter your name. Kathy Ireland informs you if you get
ghostbusted.
o the 'you were killed by' messages now redraw.
sometimes they change the names when they do... not sure why.
o Phaser hits can now be logged in different places.
resource-- PhaserMsg: 2
0 = Don't log phaser hits
1 = Log phasers on all window
2 = Log phasers on team window
3 = Log phasers on indiv window
4 = Log phasers on kill window
5 = Log phasers on review window
the additional phaser window is controlled just like the other
review windows. e.g.:
review_phaser.mapped: on
review_phaser.parent: netrek
review_phaser.geometry: 81x2+0+555
o Changed the 'you were killed by' messages to be more
degrading. (You were SMACKed by a plasma from R3)
o client now tells you what server you have connected
to in the name entry screen, also in the wait queue
o added kill messages to the message logging feature.
o you can change the defaults file you want to read in
by sending the name of the file to 'M' (you->MOO)
currently, you have to put the full path to the file in
but I'll see about ~ completion...
example: F0->MOO /afs/andrew.cmu.edu/cm5m/.netrekrc
then hit & to re read the defaults.
o defaults file can now be re-read in. using the & key.
this way you can change defaults without quitting out.
Currently the only changes that will take effect are
the message macros and the keymap.
o Configurable message macros to the all board. control-jkliop
send to ALL board messages from your .xtrekrc
resource-- message1: your control-j message
message2: your control-k message
message3: your control-l message
message4: your control-i message
message5: your control-o message
message6: your control-p message
o Made the regular info window smaller. the shift-i info window
is bigger. It contains the deleted info from the regular one.
o Made the time-out for entering your name 199 seconds.
Used to be 99.
o Client now calls you by your real rank, not just "Captain!"
o added message logging on/off by default file.
resource-- logging: on
o Added time stamping to logged messages.
o Added message logging. Will log TEAM and ALL board messages,
either to standard out (your xterm, whatever) or, to a file.
usage: moo -l /path/to/messagelog OR in .xtrekrc- logfile: file
the message logging is toggled with the ':' key.
o Player list sorting is now toggleable with the '/' key, which
you can remap like any normal key.
o show shields/don't show shields removed from shift-O window.
if this bothers you, see a pshychiatrist
o show stats/don't show stats removed from shift-O window.
if this bothers you, use shift-S. that's what it's for.
o Removed 'M' key. If this bothers you, see a doctor.
('M' key used to turn off the galactic map)
o Show resources on galactic map by default.
o Update galactic map frequently by default.
o Visible tractor/pressors turn off when tractee cloaks.
o Show My Speed is no longer an option.
o bug in x11window.c fixed.
o beeps twice when you make the queue.
o Small clock is displayed on the far right of tstat window.
o Distress calls show armies carried as last field. (easier to read)
o SB distress call says "HELP!!" (to attract more attention)
o New (better?) cursor for tactical & galactic.
o Option to not continue the visible tractors. (a la Bert's client)
Can write TEAM and ALL messages to a file when you hit ':'
resource-- logfile: /tmp/messagelog
the logfile can also be given on the command line.
Can show nothing, resources, or owner on galactic by default.
resource-- showgalactic: 1
2 = nothing
1 = resources
0 = ownership
Can show nothing, resources, or owner on local map by default.
resource-- showlocal: 2
2 = nothing
1 = resources
0 = ownership
Can turn off planet names by default.
resource-- showplanetnames: off
Can sort player list by team. code fixed by Greg. (gc2n@andrew.cmu.edu)
resource-- sortPlayerlist: on
Can show lock on galactic, local, galactic & local, or none.
resource-- showLock: 3
0 = none
1 = galactic
2 = local
3 = both
Can be set to not continue the visible tractors.
resource-- continuetractors: on
on = continue
off = turns off after 2 updates.
---- OLD README, from Mehlhaff client ---
New key commands:
> increase speed by 1
< decrease speed by 1
} turn on cloaking device.
{ turn off cloaking device.
F send a report of armies carried. This sends a message to your team
saying how many armies you are carrying. Many players used to use
distress signals to quickly convey the same information, lessening
the impact of the distress signal. Distress signals should be for
emergencies, not just common usage.
Changed distress signals:
The distress signal of ships tells your team if you are low on fuel.
Many ships are just as doomed when out of fuel as they are when they are
damaged.
Alternately, if you are flying a starbase, the distress signal
tells instead how your weapon temperature is doing, because starbases
overheat far more often than they run out of fuel.
Also, after the percentage weapon temperature, it will put a 'W' if
your weapons are currently overheated.
Help Window:
Basically, this was done to show what keys were
actually mapped to what functions. Every key function has a line in
the help window. Her'es a sample line:
s gb Toggle shields
||\\_ The 'b' key has been mapped to toggle shields
|| \_ The 'g' key has also been mapped toggle to the shields
|\____This space is always there, as a separator.
\_____This is the default key for this function, and the hook that you
use when defining things to this function. I.e. to set the 'g'
and 'b' mappings mentioned here, you'd have to put 'gsbs' in
your .xtrekrc or your keymap options.
NOTE: This character will appear here, even if it is mapped
to something else.
Featues from the Calvin_bwo client, by Tedd Hadley:
These features had been available in the hadley client for quite some
time. If they bother you, you should bother him.
Lock-on Icon:
A little triangle is put above the icon of planet that you are
locked onto. If you are locked onto a ship, this icon goes on the
bottom.
Message-Warp: The non-warp version.
Hit the 'm' key and start typing. Your cursor changes to the
'text' cursor, and all keystrokes go to the message window. Sending
the mesage or the ESC key ends this. Note, the mouse pointer is not moved,
and in fact, you could even still shoot and/or steer with mouse
events while in 'message' state.
Changed cursors:
The cursor changes in different windows. Of specific importance
is the tactical cursor and how it changes when non-warp message-warp.
Is activated.
New xtrekrc features:
A sample xtrekrc should come with the client, but here are some of the
new xtrekrc options:
buttonmap: map the mouse buttons to something else.
i.e. the default mapping is:
1t2p3k
server: default server that is called when no -h argument is
specified. The compiled in default server is bronco.ece.cmu.edu
port: default port that gets called. The compiled default is 2592
showtractorpressor: toggle showing tractor/pressor beams
UDp control
tryUdp: (on/off) Automaticaly use UDP if on
udpDebug:
udpClientSend:
udpClientRecv:
udpSequenceChk:
extraAlertBorder: Draws border in internal netrek windows, as well
as external ones (which get ignored in X11 with window-managers )
forcemono: if on, the client windows are set to be monochrome
***************************************************************
8.0 Compiling:
***************************************************************
COW has the best and easiest to use installation procedure a client
ever had.
1 *** If you are compiling COW and do not intend to release the client
*** for public distribution with an RSA blessing, simply type:
make
In case you will need some additional flags for your compiler or linker,
edit the "sample_key.def" file and change the corresponding parameters
at the bottom.
2 *** If you are compiling COW with the intention of releasing a client
*** for public distribution with an RSA blessing, read below.
First, please contact brmbugs@crown.EECS.Berkeley.EDU so we know about
the existance of the client and where other people might obtain it.
Make sure that you have MP or GMP available on your system.
If you do not have the GMP installation, you need to obtain it.
It should be available from gatekeeper.dec.com.
To install it do the following:
1) Take the sample_key.def file as a basis to generate an own RSA key
definition file.
2) Edit the Makefile and set KEYDEF to the name of the new generated file.
3) make
If you don't have already a key a new key will be generated.
4) make distkey
Sends a mail to the RSA key keeper to get your key installed
at the servers.
5) you are done! watch that GPA hit the floor!!
brmbugs@crown.EECS.Berkeley.EDU always likes to receive bug reports for
the client and if you have any suggestion for how to improve the
Makefiles or this description, please email us. Remember that
fixes are the best way to complain. Working patches should be sent to:
brmbugs@crown.EECS.Berkeley.EDU
***************************************************************
9.0 NEW STUFF:
***************************************************************
The following are additions to BRM made after the time of
the writing of the above document. The most recent changes
are at the bottom.
From: powell@csl.biosci.arizona.edu (Kevin R. Powell)
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 93 18:26:04 MST
--------Mouse Extensions--------
The new mouse extensions expand the ways in which you interact with
the mouse. The mouse extensions come in 3 distinct areas of functionality.
The mouse handling has been expanded in the following ways:
1. Continuous tracking has been added to the mouse code.
2. Shift and control keys now extend the number of commands
that can be issued from a single mouse button.
3. Any mouse button may now be used as a sort of shift
key. Multiple function can be assigned to any key
by pressing while a mouse button is down.
Note that the first 2 extensions in the above list do not affect the normal
behavior of the mouse a great deal. They just add more functionality, while
the 3 extension, does some bizarre things with the way you deal with the
mouse:)
--------Continuous tracking--------
Continuous tracking allows you to cause multiple commands to be issued to the
server when dragging the mouse with a button down. For instance you can
drag the mouse while pressing button 3 (which defaults to set_course). This
provides more feedback for the user, and allows for smoother control.
The xtrekrc value continuousMouse controls whether or not this extension is
enabled, the default value is on.
Example xtrekrc value:
# This enables continuous mouse tracking
continuousMouse: on
--------Shift and control mouse buttons--------
The shift and control keys can be used to modify the default function
assigned to a button. The shift key acts as a switch which brings an
alternate mapping to the mouse buttons. In a simliar way control and
shift + control act to switch mappings again.
You should be able to use button remapping by the normal mechanism, but you
will need to include buttons 1-c instead of the normal 1-3.
Breakdown of values:
Normal buttons 1, 2, 3,
<shift + button 1, 2, or 3> maps to 4, 5, 6,
<control + button 1, 2, or 3> maps to 7, 8, 9,
<shift + control + button 1, 2, or 3> maps to a, b, and c.
The xtrekrc value shiftedMouse controls whether or not this extension is
enabled, the default value is on.
Example xtrekrc values:
# This enables shift/control/shift+control modifiers to the mousebuttons
shiftedMouse: on
# This remaps all the possible mouse buttons
buttonmap: 1t2p3k4c5s6y7E8z9xaFbdcD
--------Mouse buttons as shift--------
Mouse buttons 1-3 can be remapped to enable an alternate key set. This is
similar to how the shift key works. When you press the shift key it causes
the keys to respond differently (i.e., the letters are capitalized.) This
mouse extension does something very similar making the mouse buttons 1-3
act like shift keys. Each button "shifts" or causes a new set of key
mappings to come into affect. For people who are used to complicated key
mappings this extension may actually be useful:)
This extension can in some ways be viewed as the natural extension of the
shift/control key + button combinations. Instead of the keyboard remapping
the mouse, the mouse now remaps the keyboard. Each key on the keyboard now
has several possible mappings.
In the xtrekrc example below the 'a' key has the following functions: by
itself it does nothing, with button 1 it is fire_torpedoe, and with button 2
it is set_speed warp 2. Likewise s is shield toggle with no mouse buttons,
phaser with button 1, and warp 3 with button 2. Note that it is possible
to remap all the buttons (1-3) this way.
The xtrekrc value mouseAsShift controls whether or not this extension is
enabled, the default value is off.
Example xtrekrc values:
# experimental mouse a shift-like function
mouseAsShift: on
b1keymap: atspdc
b2keymap: a2s3d#
# I use the 3rd button as set, I like it on th mouse
#b3keymap: a2s3d#
--------Availability--------
These mouse mods will be available in iBRM v1.00a and in the future in
BRM v3.xx. The BRM group is currently modifying the much of the code
that the mouse extensions also effect. So to avoid conflicting patches I am
waiting for the completion of the above mentioned code. I will then splice
my mouse code into the BRM group's code, and submit it to them. We'll see
if it makes it in:)
----
The following things are on by default:
1. continuous mouse code
2. shift/control mouse code
The stuff which is off:
1. mouse as shift
2. ignore signals
To turn on ignore signals on the command line use the -i (i.e. brm -i ...).
To turn on ignore signals in the .xtrekrc add the following line:
ignoreSignals: on
The dashboard is enabled by:
newdashboard2: on
Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Kevin
aka ingres, seurat, The Tick
powell@cs.arizona.edu
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Added xtrekrc option which turns the motion mouse feature off,
motion mouse still defaults to on. - jn 9/19/93
motionMouse: off
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GHOST START
After a client dies, or even if you kill the client on purpose,
you can recover the game and continue playing. In fact the
server won't have any idea that anything but bad lag (called
a ghostbust) has occurred.
The benefits of this feature include the ability to change
displays, recompile code (if you happen to be a code hack),
or simply recover from a core dump.
In order to use it, you have to pay attention to two numbers
which are displayed when you connect to the server. A line
like this appears:
*** socket 11323, player 0 ***
This indicates which player slot you have been assigned, and
which socket number has been chosen as your ghostbust socket.
Now in order to restart, just do:
brm -G 0 -s 11323
The important options are -G followed by the player slot you
occupy, and -s followed by the ghostbust socket. Notice that
you don't even specify a server!
This feature may NOT work on all servers. Many server gods use
server code which is too old to support this feature. Also,
keep an eye out for small details that are off. It is NOT
logically possible to account for everything with this feature.
Such things as the motd are not resent by the server when you
connect, so you won't have that around anymore. Further, the
client won't know who it is even connected to (see above), thus
don't be shocked if the client claims you are connected to a
bogus server.
WARNING: Some servers have *very* short ghostbust timeout
periods. You must reconnect before this timeout expires or
your slot will be given to someone else, you won't be able
to reconnect. On most servers it is around 6 minutes long.
Note to experts: The server will reverify clients using whatever
available means it has, including RSA or reserved.c when a ghostbust
occurs and therefore whenever this feature is used.
--------TNG Bitmaps--------
TNG bitmaps are an extension that allows for a different set of Federation
bitmaps. These bitmaps are more in the with the next generation style
ships.
The xtrekrc value useTNGBitmaps enables this extension, the default value
is off.
Example xtrekrc value:
# This enables TNG bitmaps
useTNGBitmaps: on
--------Warn Hull--------
The warnHull extension is a direct analogue of the varyShields extension to
BRM client. Like varyShields, warnHull tries to keep the player informed of
the state of your hull by using a bitmap. The bitmap consists of eight pixels
arranged around your ship in a circle just outside you shields (see diagrams
below). When warnHull is on your ship looks like it has small spikes sticking
out of the shields:)
The xtrekrc value warnHull enables this extension, the defaults value is off.
Example xtrekrc value:
warnHull: on
It works by using 8 pixels arrayed at the 4 cardinal point of the compass and
4 more at equal intervals between them.
o
o o
o o ; 100% neato diagram 1:)
o o
o
So as the hull is damaged, the pixels disappear for every 12% of damage
accumulated (clockwise from the top).
o
o ; <76% neato diagram 2:)
o o
o
--------New Dashboard 2--------
The new dashboard besides defaulting to green (a much more informative color
I believe:) uses different levels (fuel, hull damage etc) for green-to-
yellow-to-red transitions. It also defaults to displaying how much hull
and shields you have left, not how much you have lost (i.e. this is an
optimistic dashboard, it sees the cup as half full:)
The default value of newdashboard2 is off.
Example xtrekrc value:
newdashboard2: on
--------Ignore Signals--------
Ignore signals ignores segmentation faults and bus faults and **tries** to
reset the game so you can continue. It is meant to be used when playing that
really important game:) You may never actually see it function, or at least
we hope so. You can probably keep it safely on. You will see a message like:
"Caught signal SIGSEGV or SIGBUS; attempting to continue" if a segmentation
or bus fault occurs.
The default value of ignoreSignals is off.
Example xtrekrc value:
ignoreSignals: on
The command line option: '-i' enables this feature as well. You will see
a message like: "Ignoring signals SIGSEGV and SIGBUS" when this features is
enabled by the xtrekrc value or the command line option.
--------Personalized Cursors--------
The personalized cursor extensions allows the user to specify their own
cursors for the map, local, text, menus and info list windows.
Tell me if you have problems, I need feedback on this because I know of at
least one X terminal which this doesn't work properly for. It works fine on
my sun:)
For infoCursorDef, textCursorDef, arrowCursorDef an optional mask may
be specified. To specify a mask, first create your new cursor, say called
mycursor, then create the mask and call it mycursor.mask. They both need to
be on the same path. Cursor and mask *must* be the same size, if not the
cursor cannot be used (why anybody would want to do this makes no sense,
but...:)
These are the xtrekrc values:
localCursorDef: /usr/me/.local.xbm
mapCursorDef: /usr/me/.map.xbm
infoCursorDef: /usr/me/.info.xbm
textCursorDef: /usr/me/.text.xbm # the mask would be called /usr/me/.text.xbm.mask
arrowCursorDef: /usr/me/.arrow.xbm
--------------------------------------------------------------------
From: powell@csl.biosci.arizona.edu (Kevin R. Powell)
--------Control keymaps--------
Control keymaps (ckeymap) handle the remapping of keys in an
analoguous manner to the normal keymap (keymap). The control keymap
also allows the user to map both *upper* and *lower* case letters keys
when pressed with the control key. This means that ^u and ^U are
*different* keys when it come to mapping them.
Any combination of normal keys and control keys can be mapped to one
another. In other words, you can map from control key to control key,
control key to normal key, normal key to normal key, and normal key
to control key.
New format for ckeymap is:
c = any printable ascii character.
^ = introduce control mapping (the key '^' not control + key.)
Each entry is a pair, like:
cc # regular format
c^c # regular->control
^cc # control->regular
^c^c # control->control
Example ckeymap:
ckeymap: ^a%r^b^m^ca%d5 tfDFf^^E
Special case:
The '^' must be mapped with a double ^ ("^^") in either the bound or
binding key position.
Notes:
* If you experience difficulties (you shouldn't) you might wish to use
a normal keymap and a new ckeymap in combination. Both are read in,
the keymap first then the ckeymap. This means that if a key is
defined in both the keymap and ckeymap, the ckeymap's definition
will be the one used.
* If you wish to use ckeymaps in conjunction with keymaps based on
ship type (keymap-??, etc.), note that ckeymap still overrides
keymap-??. For e.g., if you define a key in ckeymap and in
keymap-bb, the ckeymap binding hides the other binding. You should
use ckeymap-bb instead.
* Since ckeymaps are a superset of keymaps, you might consider using
ckeymaps in all situations where you would use keymaps. This will
make things a lot simpler for you. (But keep in mind that `^' has a
special meaning in ckeymaps!)
Analogously, control keys may be used for buttonmap, singleMacro and
all macro and RCD definitions.
----------------
Rabbit Ear Bitmaps
How to use rabbit ear bitmaps. A new resource value called
whichNewPlanetBitmaps is used to enable rabbit ear bitmaps. You must also
have the newPlanetBitmaps enabled as well for whichNewPlanetBitmaps to have
any effect.
Resources:
# newPlanetBitmaps automatically sets whichNewPlanetBitmaps to 1 if
# no whichNewPlanetBitmaps resource is set.
newPlanetBitmaps: on
# newPlanetBitmaps must be on for the following to work
whichNewPlanetBitmaps: (integer) choose which planet bitmaps to use
0 = normal old style bitmaps
1 = default moobitmaps
2 = rabbit ear bitmaps
----------------
Documentation Window
The documentation window is used to view documentation while actually
playing. In order to do this you must either have the COW.DOC file in
the directory you are running the client from or you must set the
documentation resource value with the full path to the file with the
documentation. Control-y brings this window up.
The 'f', 'b' keys scroll forward and back by 28 lines, like the motd
window. While 'F' and 'B' keys scroll by 4 lines.
Resources:
documentation: /home/kensho/powell/misc/netrek/brm3002/myCOW.DOC
----------------
Xtrekrc File Window
The xtrekrc file window is used to view your current xtrekrc file online.
It is currently very stupid in that if you used the command line
option '-r' to specify your xtrekrc file, this viewer will not find
it (it currently hard wired for $HOME/.xtrekrc:( Control-X (that
is control-shift-x) will bring up this window.
The 'f', 'b' keys scroll forward and back by 28 lines, like the motd
window. While 'F' and 'B' keys scroll by 4 lines.
----------------
Kevin
----------------
Race Colors
For those of you who like different colors than the defaults, but are
tired of going on "Purple Alert", here is a patch that allows you to
define race colors separately from the alert colors.
The new .xtrekrc options are:
#resource example value
#-------- --------------
color.Ind: light grey
color.Fed: yellow
color.Rom: tomato
color.Kli: green2
color.Ori: light steel blue
If a color is not set, it defaults to the usual. (ie, if you omit
color.Ori above, the orions will be color.cyan, which defaults to cyan)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
BEEPLITE.DOC
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Local weenies cheat. They talk to each other. Those of us who have
never met another netrek player are forced to relie heavily on the
message window.
In order to even the playing field, the current feature was proposed.
This feature causes certain types of RCD messages to beep or even
highlite specific objects on the screen. This is done via a
macro-like interface which is highly configurable. Further, bitmaps
used to highlite can be substituted with your preferences.
*** TURNING BEEPING AND HIGHLITING ON
In order to turn message beeping and highliting on, you must include the
following in your .xtrekrc.
UseLite: on
The above leaves you with the feature on, but nothing is automatically
setup. If you want to configure it yourself, go to the "CONFIGURING
VIA XTREKRC" section. You can include a set of reasonable defaults,
instead of bothering to learn to configure it yourself by including
the lines.
DefLite: on
At any time, you can extend these simply by including some of the
configuration syntax in your .xtrekrc as described in the "CONFIGURING VIA
XTREKRC" section.
WARNING: Use beep _sparingly_, people (including you) will get sick
very quickly of hearing your workstation beep every 5 seconds.
*** CONFIGURING VIA XTREKRC
Message beeps are configured as on and off. They are turned on if the
proper line is in your .xtrekrc. Otherwise they are left off.
Message lites are configured in a way very similar to macros.
However, in addition to the original set of macro arguments, a new
class of arguments is introduced to handle the highliting.
To configure message highliting, include something like the line below.
Here "name of distress" is the RCD message type. "macro" is the macro
style syntax specifying what is to be highlited.
lite.[name of distress]: [macro]
Below are the configurations which are equivalent to the defaults
which are setup for you if using DefLite. These provide good
examples for how the system works.
lite.taking: /c/l
lite.base_ogg: /g/m
lite.pickup: /h
lite.help: %?%S=SB%{/c%}
The above does the following,
"taking" message highlites the planet and taker
"base_ogg" message highlites the person to sync and your ship
(to REALLY get your attention)
"pickup" message highlites the enemy who picked up
"help" tests to see if the player sending the distress is a base, if so
he is highlited
You might like to change the last one to:
lite.help: %?%S=SB%{/c%}%?%a>0%{/c%}
This will highlite bases who distress AND carriers who distress.
Using TTS you may change the pickup macro to:
lite.pickup: /h/|%p++ @ %l|
This sends a big ++ message on the tactical map in addition to the light.
Note that all the MACRO parsing routines are run on these, and plain
text left over is ignored. Only the highlite argument matter.
The following are the arguments for highliting.
/c /i /I sender
/m /M _your_ ship
/p target player
/g target friendly player
/h target enemy player
/P player nearest sender
/G friendly player nearest sender
/H enemy player nearest sender
/b planet nearest sender
/l target planet
The following are the arguments for sounds.
/0 Standard window beep (incoming message sound if sound is on)
/1 - /9 Play nt_message1 - nt_message9 sound.
Tactical Text Solution for the Tactical Tunnel Syndrome (TTS):
/| .. | displays Text in between via TTS.
Additional defaults:
planetCycleTime: highlighting time for planets
playerCycleTime: highlighting time for players
tts_color: color of TTS message (should be dark)
tts_font: Font (large prefered)
tts_max_len: Max length of a message
tts_time: Time a TTS message is displayed
tts_pos: y location of the TTS message
