Provided by: crossfire-client_1.71.0-1.1_amd64 
NAME
crossfire-client-gtk2 - second generation GTK client for Crossfire servers.
SYNOPSIS
crossfire-client-gtk2 [-cache|-nocache] [-darkness|-nodarkness] [-display display]
[-download-all-faces] [-echo|-noecho] [-faceset name] [-fasttcpsend|-nofasttcpsend] [-fog]
[-help] [-iconscale percentage] [-loglevel level] [-mapscale percentage] [-mapsize xXy]
[-opengl|-pixmap|-sdl] [-port number] [-server name] [-showicon] [-smooth|-nosmooth]
[-sound|-nosound] [-sound_server executable] [-splash|-nosplash] [-resists value] [-split]
[-splitinfo] [-timemapredraw] [-triminfowindow|-notriminfowindow] [-updatekeycodes]
[-window_xml path] [-dialog_xml path]
DESCRIPTION
crossfire-client-gtk2 is a GTK program for connecting to Crossfire servers. Crossfire is
a multiplayer graphical adventure game that mixes aspects of Gauntlet (TM), Nethack,
Moria, and Ultima (TM).
This man page describes options for the second generation gtk client (crossfire-client-
gtk2) for the Crossfire game server. There are many other clients, and each is unique.
This documentation is not intended to cover them.
OPTIONS
-cache|-nocache
Determines if the client will cache images for future runs. With -nocache, when
the server is about to reference an image that the client has yet to receive, it
sends that image along to the client. These downloaded images are discarded once
the client exists. With -cache, the server sends information about the image it is
about to reference. The client can then check its local cache (stored in
~/.crossfire/image-cache) - if it has the image, it creates it off the disk. If it
does not have it, it requests it from the server and then stores it in its cache.
In the brief time between the request of the image and it actually receives it,
that image will be represented by a ? in the map.
-cache option is strongly recommended anytime when your link to the server is
slower than home directory access - this is likely to be the case except in case of
NFS mounted home directories on the server on the local LAN.
-darkness|-nodarkness
Controls whether the server sends darkness information to the client or not.
Turning off darkness results in a savings off bandwidth for maps that use darkness
code (currently, very few maps use darkness code). Turning off darkness may also
be desirable as in some graphics mode the quality of darkness may not add much to
the map.
-display <display>
The display to open the windows on. If this option is not given, it will use the
DISPLAY environmental variable to determine the display.
-download_all_faces
The client will get all the checksums from the server, and download any images
necessary before starting play. This saves a small amount of bandwidth, but more
importantly reduces possible latency during important play when it may not be
desirable.
-echo|-noecho
Echo commands as they are entered. Normally, commands bound to keys are just sent
to the server without any echoing on the client of what that command actually was.
This option causes the commands to also be printed in the information window as
they are sent to the server.
-faceset <name>
Uses faceset <name> if available on the server. What facesets are available on
each server may differ. The client will request the information about the
different facesets available on the server, and try to find the one that matches
best. The default is the standard set. At current time (March 2002), the only one
typically available is the classic set.
-fasttcpsend|-nofasttcpsend
Send or do not send data immediately to the server. This setting may decrease
latency if set at the expense of greater outgoing bandwidth use.
-fog Enables fog of war code. In this mode, spaces which have been seen before but are
no longer visible will still be shown on the game window half darkened. The data
in these spaces is not up to date since it is currently out of site. This has no
effect on bandwidth, but may consume more CPU time.
-help Prints out a brief description of the options to standard output.
-iconscale percentage
Causes the images for the inventory icons to be scaled some percentage value.
Minimum value is 25%. Setting this to 50% is very useful - doubles amount of data
visible in the inventory window.
-loglevel level
Set default logging level with 0 being most verbose.
-mapscale percentage
Causes the images for the map surface (-mapscale) to be scaled some percentage
value. Minimum value is 25%. This value does not need to be the same as the
iconscale value. Scaling down the size of the map images can be useful when
playing on low resolution screens. Smaller images will also consume less CPU as
there will be less information to draw.
-mapsize XxY
Sets the desired viewable map window. X and Y are number of tiles. Note that
larger map sizes are likely to consume more bandwidth, CPU time, as well as just
screen real estate.
The maximum map size may vary server to server. The client will try to negotiate
the largest viewable map in each dimension. Note that there is no requirement that
the viewable map be square.
Due to performance issues, it is strongly suggested that experimentation is done
with this value to find a size that gets acceptable performance n(simple test - go
to the start town, run in some direction, stop running and see how long it takes
before the client stops moving you).
-opengl | -pixmap | -sdl
The graphics drawing mode to use. The -opengl and -sdl options may only be used of
the client was compiled with support for those mode. Generally, -opengl provides
the best quality, followed by -sdl, and then -pixmap.
-sdl Using this option allows for more complex graphics - true alpha channel,
improved darkness handling. Performance may be worse when using this option - this
depends on many factors. Like the mapsize option above, it is suggested the
experimentation is done to make performance is still acceptable. This option does
not affect bandwidth - it only affects CPU performance.
-port number
The port number of the server to connect to. By default, it will use port 13327
(standard port). However, certain servers may use other ports.
-resists value
Control look of resistances.
-server name
Sets the server to play on. If no option is given, it will default to localhost.
-showicon
This shows a little icon next to items in your inventory that contains a brief
description of some of the item properties (magic, cursed, equipped, etc.) This
can make spotting some items easier, but some players may not like the extra space
these icons take up or the
-smooth | -nosmooth
This option causes map tile edges to be blended together so that the map has a less
artificially tiled appearance. Use of this option incurs greater CPU and bandwidth
usage.
-sound|-nosound
Enable/Disables sound effects. Disabling sound has a minor savings on bandwidth.
It is most useful if you do not want sound, due to lack of hardware or lack of
desire for sound. Default is sound enabled.
-sound_server <executable>
This is the name of the sound server process to execute. If the path starts with a
slash, this is the absolute path to the executable. Otherwise, the value of BINDIR
(install location of client executable) will be prepended. This defaults to
cfsndserv. Changing this value may be necessary if the default sound daemon does
not work as expected.
Note that the input that the executable takes is special, requiring an executable
especially designed for crossfire to work. You can not point generic sound playing
programs and expect it to work.
-splash|-nosplash
Enable/Disables splash screen. When enabled, a window with a Crossfire logo is
displayed while the client is starting up. Default is the splash screen is
enabled.
-split|-nosplit
-split starts the windows up in split windows mode. In split windows mode, 6
separate windows are created - these individual windows can then be moved around
and resized as desired. -nosplit starts the game up with a single window - this is
the default. The option is useful if your saved defaults are set for -split (see
Saved Defaults further down).
-splitinfo
This splits the information pane window into two sub windows. One contains all the
attack messages and otherwise fairly mundane information, and the other contains
important messages, like changes in protection values, levels, etc.
-timemapredraw
Prints out debugging time information to stderr. This timing information can be
useful when trying to find performance problems, or just how different client
options change the time it takes for the map to get drawn, which is the biggest CPU
consumer in the client.
-triminfowindow | -notriminfowindw
Causes the information window to get 'trimmed', eg, remove text so that the total
contents of the information window remains roughly the same size (20,000 bytes or
so). As of 2001-11-03, using this option resulted in client periodically crashing.
The problem appears to be within gtk, so using this is not encouraged. However,
the problems in gtk may get fixed, or this may be more reliable on other platforms
so is included.
-updatekeycodes
The standard behaviour when a player uses the bind command to bind new actions is
that they keycode is saved with that binding. Keycodes are specific to keyboards -
a sun keyboard will generate a different keycode compared to a PC style keyboard.
In most cases, it is not always desirable to have the keycodes get updated, as this
may make some bindings unavailable. Using this option will force custom
keybindings to get updated for the current keyboard when the client is run.
-window_xml window_layout
This client is uses libglade to allow the main client window to be customized.
This option is used to specify how the main game window looks. Various layout
options are usually supplied with the client. The default window layout is gtk-
v2.glade.
-dialog_xml window_layout
This client is uses libglade to allow the various client dialogs to be customized.
This option is used to specify the appearance of the various dialog used by the
client. Presently there are no alternate dialog layouts supplied with the client.
The default dialog layout setting is dialogs.glade.
SAVED DEFAULTS
Once you have logged onto a server, you may enter extended commands by typing '
(apostrophe) followed by the extended commands. One of these extended commands is
savedefaults. This command saves many of the options listed above. Note that the saved
defaults are read first, so using the command line switches can be used to override
settings in the gdefaults2 file.
The settings are saved into ~/.crossfire/gdefaults2.
You can enter savewinpos as an extended command. By default, this saves the current
window positions and sizes to the file ~/.crossfire/gtk-v2.pos. The actual file name is
based on the name of the window layout file (see the -window_xml option). So, for
example, if -window_xml caelestis.glade is used, window positions are actually saved to
~/.crossfire/caelestis.pos. Next time you run the client, with this window layout
selected, it will restore the window layout as specified.
PLAYING WITH THE CLIENT
This is by far a complete tutorial of gameplay. This section is to provide a basic
introduction to logging in and doing a few very basic actions.
The first thing to do after the client successfully connects to a server is to enter a
character name. There are some restrictions to the name you can choose, but alphanumeric
characters are all safe.
After entering the name, you will then be prompted for a password. If creating a new
character, enter whatever you want your password to be. If you get a 'login incorrect'
someone else already has that character name with a different password - try another name.
If no one has used that name, you will be prompted for the password again to confirm it.
You now start the character creation process. It is beyond the scope of the document to
fully describe the pros and cons of different stats and classes. The creation process has
different options for swapping stats and choosing a class.
Once you have chosen your class, you will find yourself in a nexus that allows you to
select a map on which to start playing. The best place to start is directly above you as
it contains a miniature map that is designed to be a tutorial on the basics of playing
Crossfire. More experienced players may elect to skip this training map and may start
playing in either Scorn or Navar. Navar is only recommended for experienced players.
The arrow keys will move you in the various directions.
If starting in Scorn, there will be a red building almost directly above you - this is the
inn where you save your character. There are some signs to your right. To read them,
move on top of them and press the 'a' key. This applies the object below you - in the
case of signs, it reads it. In the case of buildings, it will cause you to enter the
building.
To the left of the signs are two small buildings - these are more beginner dungeons.
Enter them, and follow the directions on the signs. They provide another pretty good
tutorial on some of the basic actions and features of the game.
To enter extended commands, type the ' (apostrophe) followed by the command. An example
would be 'help (apostrophe followed by the help command). Enter command to execute the
command.
USEFUL EXTENDED COMMANDS
savewinpos savedefaults
These commands were described in the SAVED DEFAULTS options above.
scroll This toggles whether or the information windows scrolls when it gets to the bottom
of the window or wraps to the top. Wrapping is slightly less CPU intensive, but is
generally harder to read.
bind unbind
bind is used to add new keybindings. Do you want to be able to press one key to
cast a fireball? This is what the bind command does. ´help bind gives much more
detailed information. Once a command is bound, it is stored in ~/.crossfire/keys
and will be used in future plays.
scroll crossfire-client-x11 only. Toggles between scroll and wrap mode. In wrap mode,
when text gets to the bottom of the message window, it starts new messages at the
top. Scroll is only really useful on very slow systems where the performance hit
of scrolling the window is too costly.
magicmap
Displays the data from the last time the magic mapping spell was cast. This
information can be completely useless if you are now on another map.
cwindow <number>
Specifies the number of unprocessed commands to the server. The server processes
player commands as the character has actions to perform them - having this number
too high can result in extended lengths of time that after you stop entering
commands the character is still performing actions. Having this value too low on
slow links can result in the character sitting idle even though they have an action
coming to them.
FILES
~/.crossfire
This is a directory that is created that is used to store various files.
~/.crossfire/gdefaults2
This contains default settings. This file can in theory be edited by hand - just
be careful to keep the same case and whitespace.
~/.crossfire/image-cache
This directory is used for the image cache if -cache is being used.
~/.crossfire/keys
This contains keybindings you have edited. This file can also be theoretically
edited - changing existing entries is much safer than trying to figure out the
syntax for new entries.
~/.crossfire/*.pos
Window layout positions and sizes to use. The actual file name is based upon the
name of the window layout file in use (-window_xml). The file may be edited by
hand.
Please let the maintainers know about any bugs found in the client.
AUTHOR
Copyright (C) 2008 Mark Wedel & Crossfire Development Team GTK port by David Sundqvist
(azzie@netpolicy.com) SDL support added by Scott MacFiggen (smurf@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU)
LibGlade port by Kevin Bulgrien (kbulgrien@att.net)
There are a great many other contributors to both the client and server that are not
mentioned here.
crossfire-client-gtk2()