NAME

     dMagnetic — A Magnetic Scrolls Interpreter

INTRODUCTION

     You wake up on a sunny August morning with birds singing, and the air fresh and clear.
     However, your joints are stiff and you have not woken up in your bedroom as you would have
     expected. Trying to recall what happened the night before, you manage to piece together a
     few brief glimpses to give the following account...

SYNOPSIS

     dMagnetic [-mag MAGFILE.mag] [-gfx GFXFILE.gfx]
     dMagnetic [-msdosdir DIRECTORY/] [-vmode high_ansi2]
     dMagnetic [-tworsc DIRECTORY/TWO.RSC] [-vmode high_ansi]
     dMagnetic [-ini ini-file] [GAME]
     dMagnetic [-ini ini-file] [GAME] [-vrows ROWS] [-vcols COLUMNS]
     dMagnetic [-ini ini-file] [GAME] [-vmode none]
     dMagnetic [-ini ini-file] [GAME] [-vmode monochrome]
     dMagnetic [-ini ini-file] [GAME] [-vmode low_ansi]
     dMagnetic [-ini ini-file] [GAME] [-vmode high_ansi]
     dMagnetic [-ini ini-file] [GAME] [-vmode high_ansi2]
     dMagnetic [-ini ini-file] [GAME] [-vmode sixel] [-sres 1024x768]
     dMagnetic [-ini ini-file] [GAME] [-valign left]
     dMagnetic [-vlog LOGFILE] [-vecho]
     dMagnetic [-help] [-helpini] [-v] [-bsd]

DESCRIPTION

     dMagnetic is an interpreter for classic text adventure games, or interactive fiction, such
     as "The Pawn" or "The Guild of Thieves". The following games are being supported:

     The Pawn

     The Guild of Thieves

     Jinxter

     Fish!

     Myth

     Corruption

     Wonderland

GAME BINARIES

     Currently, binaries in the .mag and .gfx format from the magnetic scrolls memorial at
     https://msmemorial.if-legends.org/memorial.php are being supported.  Once downloaded, their
     position has to be made available to dMagnetic by editing dMagnetic.ini first.

STARTING THE GAME

     Once the game(s) have been downloaded, the .mag and .gfx files can be provided via

     dMagnetic -mag pawn.mag -gfx pawn.gfx

     Alternatively, binaries from the MSDOS version of "The Pawn" or "The Guild of Thieves" can
     be used. The directory, in which they are, has to be provided via

     dMagnetic -msdosdir DIRECTORY/ -vmode high_ansi

     It is recommended to use the [-vmode high_ansi2] option, since this renders the half-tone
     images slightly different.

     A third option is to use the resource files from "Wonderland" or the magnetic scrolls
     collection. For this, the location of the file ending with "TWO.RSC" has to be provided.

     dMagnetic -tworsc DIRECTORY/TWO.RSC -vmode high_ansi
     dMagnetic -tworsc DIRECTORY/GTWO.RSC -vmode high_ansi
     The names of the other resource files is being calculated from that.

     It is also possible to edit the dMagnetic.ini file and start a specific game, by using one
     of

     dMagnetic -ini dMagnetic.ini pawn
     dMagnetic -ini dMagnetic.ini guild
     dMagnetic -ini dMagnetic.ini jinxter
     dMagnetic -ini dMagnetic.ini corruption
     dMagnetic -ini dMagnetic.ini fish
     dMagnetic -ini dMagnetic.ini myth
     dMagnetic -ini dMagnetic.ini wonderland

     When you see the prompt, the game is ready to accept your commands. For example EXAMINE
     CLOTHES. Or GO EAST. Or ASK KRONOS ABOUT THE WRISTBAND.

LEAVING THE GAME

     Type in "QUIT". Duh!

SAVING/LOADING PROGRESS

     The game can be saved at any type by typing SAVE, and loaded by typing LOAD. Followed by a
     filename.

     SAVE myprogress1.sav
     LOAD myprogress1.sav

TEXT ALIGNMENT

     Changing the alignment of the output text can be done with the .ini file or the commandline.
     dMagnetic -valign left
     dMagnetic -valign block
     dMagnetic -valign right

GRAPHIC MODES

     dMagnetic has been developed with ANSI-consoles in mind. To select a video output that best
     suits your needs, please try one of the following

     dMagnetic [-ini ini-file] [GAME] [-vmode none]
     dMagnetic [-ini ini-file] [GAME] [-vmode monochrome]
     dMagnetic [-ini ini-file] [GAME] [-vmode low_ansi]
     dMagnetic [-ini ini-file] [GAME] [-vmode high_ansi]
     dMagnetic [-ini ini-file] [GAME] [-vmode high_ansi2]

     To change the number of rows/columns to render the images, use

     dMagnetic [-ini ini-file] [GAME] [-vcols COLUMNS]
     dMagnetic [-ini ini-file] [GAME] [-vrows ROWS]

     Sixels are a signalling mode for some terminal emulators (like mlterm, or xterm -ti vt340 ,
     for example), that offer the possibility of drawing high resolution images. It can be
     selected with

     dMagnetic [-ini ini-file] [GAME] [-vmode sixel] [-sres 1024x768]

     where the -sres option offers a way to scale the images. The maximum allowed width is 1024
     pixels.

GRAPHICS IN WONDERLAND AND THE MAGNETIC SCROLLS COLLECTION

     Before you can see the beautiful graphics in "Wonderland", or from the Magnetic Scrolls
     Collection, you have to type in "graphics" to enable them.

COMMAND LINE OPTIONS

     [-bsd]
     Shows the license.

     [--help]
     Shows the detailed help.

     [--helpini]
     Shows an example for a working dMagnetic.ini file.

     [-mag MAGFILE.mag] [-gfx GFXFILE.gfx]

     [-msdosdir DIRECTORY/]

     [-tworsc DIRECTORY/TWO.RSC]
     dMagnetic is a Magnetic Scrolls Interpreter. To actually play the games, their binaries have
     to be provided. Either in the .mag and .gfx format from https://msmemorial.if-
     legends.org/magnetic.php, as the name of the directory in which the original MS-DOS version
     can be found, or as the location and the name of the second resource file TWO.RSC.

     [-ini dMagnetic.ini pawn]
     [-ini dMagnetic.ini guild]
     [-ini dMagnetic.ini jinxter]
     [-ini dMagnetic.ini corruption]
     [-ini dMagnetic.ini fish]
     [-ini dMagnetic.ini pawn]
     [-ini dMagnetic.ini myth]
     [-ini dMagnetic.ini wonderland]
     An alternative way to provide the location of the .mag and .gfx, or the directory name, is
     through a dMagnetic.ini file. See helpini or dMagneticini(5) for an example of a working
     dMagnetic.ini file.
     IT SHOULD BE NOTED that the default location for dMagnetic.ini is in the user's home
     directory. If the file is located there, "The Pawn", for example, can be started by typing
     dMagnetic pawn

     [-rmode pseudo] [-rseed SEED]
     [-rmode real]
     Certain elements of the game rely on chance. For this, the virtual machine within dMagnetic
     offers two possibilities: Playing against a "pseudo" random generator, which results in a
     certain degree of determinism. On the other hand, playing with "real" random values from the
     operating system, allows for a completely new experience.

     [-vrows ROWS]
     [-vcols COLUMNS]
     dMagnetic has been designed with terminal windows as main output in mind. The terminal
     window has a fixed number of rows and columns to print out text. Its size is limited, but it
     is used by dMagnetic to render the beautiful BEAUTIFUL pictures as well. To restrict the
     space in which they are rendered (in glorious ANSI art), those command set the upper limits.

     [-vecho]
     When trying to run dMagnetic and redirecting the output into a file, the inputs are missing.
     This option reprints what was typed in, to allow for a spoilery script.

     [-vlog LOGFILE.log]
     Sort of a travel journal, this option lets you write the commands that where typed into a
     file.

     [-vmode none]
     [-vmode monochrome]
     [-vmode low_ansi]
     [-vmode high_ansi]
     [-vmode high_ansi2]
     [-vmode sixel] [-sres 1024x768]
     This option allows for selecting a different mode to render the images, should the actual
     one prove to be unsuitable for the preferred terminal program.

     [-version]
     Shows the current version of dMagnetic

BUGS

     Report bugs to <dettus@dettus.net>.  Make sure to include DMAGNETIC somewhere in the
     subject.

AUTHOR

     Written by Thomas Dettbarn

SEE ALSO

     dMagneticini(5)