Provided by: frotz_2.44-0.1build1_amd64 bug

NAME

       frotz - interpreter for Infocom and other Z-Machine games

SYNOPSIS

       frotz [options] file

DESCRIPTION

       Frotz  is a Z-Machine interpreter.  The Z-machine is a virtual machine designed by Infocom
       to run all of their text adventures.   It  went  through  multiple  revisions  during  the
       lifetime  of  the  company,  and  two further revisions (V7 and V8) were created by Graham
       Nelson after the company's demise.  The specification is now quite well  documented;  this
       version of Frotz supports version 1.0.

       This  version  of  Frotz  fully  supports  all  these versions of the Z-Machine except for
       version 6.  Version 6 is semi-supported by displaying the outlines of V6 graphics with the
       picture number in the bottom-right corner.

OPTIONS

       -a     Watch  attribute  setting.   Setting  and clearing of attributes on objects will be
              noted in debugging messages.

       -A     Watch attribute testing.  Every time the z-machine tests an  attribute  value,  the
              test and the result will be reported.

       -b <colorname>
              Sets the default background color.  <colorname> corresponds to one of the Z-machine
              colors, which are as follows:
              black red green yellow blue magenta cyan white
              If color support is disabled or not available on your terminal,  this  option  does
              nothing.

       -c N   Sets  the number of context lines used.  By default, after a ``[MORE]'' prompt, and
              assuming there is enough output pending, Frotz will allow all the currently visible
              lines  to  scroll off the screen before prompting again.  This switch specifies how
              many lines of text Frotz will hold over and display at the top of the next screen.

       -d     Disable color.

       -e     Enable sound.  If you've disabled sound in a config file and  want  to  hear  sound
              effects, use this.

       -f <colorname>
              Sets the default foreground color.  <colorname> corresponds to one of the Z-machine
              colors, which are as follows
              black red green yellow blue magenta cyan white
              If color support is disabled or is not available on your terminal, this option does
              nothing.

       -F     Force  color  mode.  If you've disabled color in a config file and want to Frotz to
              display colors, use this.

       -h N   Manually sets the screen height.  Though  most  curses  libraries  are  intelligent
              enough  to  determine  the  current  width  from  the terminal, it may sometimes be
              necessary to use this option to override the default.

       -i     Ignore fatal errors.  If a Z-Machine interpreter encounters a zcode error  such  as
              division-by-zero  or  addressing an illegal object, the proper response is to abort
              execution.  This is done because the zcode program doesn't have  a  clear  idea  of
              what  is  going on.  There are some games out there that cause fatal errors because
              the authors were careless and used an interpreter that didn't  properly  check  for
              errors.   This  option  is  intended  to  get  around such bugs, but be warned that
              Strange Things may happen if fatal errors are not caught.

       -l N   Sets the left margin, for those who might have specific formatting needs.

       -o     Watch object movement.  This option enables debugging messages from the interpreter
              which describe the moving of objects in the object tree.

       -O     Watch object location.  These debugging messages detail the locations of objects in
              the object tree.

       -p     Plain ASCII output only.  This inhibits the output of accented  letters  and  other
              characters   from  the  Latin-1  character  set,  replacing  them  with  reasonable
              alternatives.  This may be necessary on devices lacking these characters.

       -P     Alter the piracy opcode.  The piracy opcode was never used by Infocom.  This switch
              is really only useful for those who like to toy around with Z-code.

       -q     Quiet.  Turns off sound effects.  Useful when running Frotz on a remote machine and
              you don't want to bother whoever's near the console with weird noises.

       -r N   Sets the right margin.

       -s N   Set the random number seed value.  The given seed value is used as the initial seed
              value  on  every  restart. This is helpful for testing games like Curses which make
              random decisions before the first input (such that  the  hot  key  Alt-S  does  not
              really help).

       -S N   Set  the  transcript  width.   By default your transscript files are formatted to a
              width of 80 columns per line, regardless of the current screen width.  This  switch
              allows  you to change this setting. In particular, use -S 0 to deactivate automatic
              line splitting in transscript files.

       -t     Sets the z-machine's Tandy bit, which may affect the behavior  of  certain  Infocom
              games.   For  example,  Zork  I  pretends  not to have sequels, and Witness has its
              language toned down.

       -u N   Sets the number of slots available for Frotz's multiple undo  hotkey  (see  below).
              This defaults to twenty, which should be sufficient for most purposes.  Setting too
              high a number here may be dangerous on machines with limited memory.

       -w N   Manually sets the screen width.  Again, this should  not  be  necessary  except  in
              special circumstances.

       -x     Expand the abbreviations "g", "x", and "z" to "again", "examine", and "wait".  This
              switch is for use with old Infocom games that lack these common abbreviations which
              were  introduced  in  later games.  Use it with caution: A few games might use "g",
              "x" or "z" for different purposes.

       -Z N   Error checking mode.
              0 = don't report errors.
              1 = report first instance of an error.
              2 = report all errors.
              3 = exit after any error.
              Default is 1 (report first instance of an error).

CONFIGURATION FILES

       On startup, frotz will  first  check  the  system's  frotz.conf  then  $HOME/.frotzrc  for
       configuration information.  The configuration file uses a simple syntax of
       <variable> <whitespace> <value>

       Color names may be any of the following:
       black | red | green | blue | magenta | cyan | white

       ascii   on | off
       Use plain ASCII only.  Default is "off".

       background   <colorname>
       Set background color.  Default is terminal's default background color.

       color   yes | no
       Use color text.  Default is "yes" if supported.

       errormode   never | once | always | fatal
       Set error reporting mode.
       never Don't report any errors except for fatal ones.
       once Report only the first instance of an error.
       always Report every instance of an error.
       fatal Abort on any error, even non-fatal ones.
       Default is "once".

       expand_abb   on | off
       Expand  abbreviations.   Default  is  off.   Expand the abbreviations "g", "x", and "z" to
       "again", "examine", and "wait".  This switch is for use with old Infocom games  that  lack
       these  common abbreviations which were introduced in later games.  Use it with caution.  A
       few games might use the "g", "x", or "z" for different purposes.

       foreground   <colorname>
       Set foreground color.  Default is terminal's default forground color.

       ignore_fatal   on | off
       Ignore fatal errors.  If  a  Z-Machine  interpreter  encounters  a  zcode  error  such  as
       division-by-zero  or  addressing  an  illegal  object,  the  proper  response  is to abort
       execution.  This is done because the zcode program doesn't have a clear idea  of  what  is
       going on.  There are some games out there that cause fatal errors because the authors were
       careless and used an interpreter that didn't properly check for errors.   This  option  is
       intended  to  get  around such bugs, but be warned that Strange Things may happen if fatal
       errors are not caught.
       Default is "off"

       piracy   on | off
       Alter the piracy opcode.  Default is off.  The piracy opcode was never  used  by  Infocom.
       This option is only useful for those who like to toy around with Z-code.

       randseed   <integer>
       Set random number seed.  Default comes from the Unix epoch.

       sound   on | off
       Turn sound effects on or off.  Default is "on".

       tandy   on | off
       Set  the machine's Tandy bit.  This may affect the behavior of certain Infocom games.  For
       example, Zork I pretends not to have sequels, and Witness has  its  language  toned  down.
       Default is "off".

       undo_slots   <integer>
       Set number of undo slots.  Default is 500.

       zcode_path   /path/to/zcode/files:/another/path
       Set  path  to  search  for  zcode  game  files.  This is just like the $PATH environmental
       variable except that you can't put environmental  variables  in  the  path  or  use  other
       shortcuts.   For example, "$HOME/games/zcode" is illegal because the shell can't interpret
       that $HOME variable.

       The following options are really only useful for weird terminals, weird  curses  libraries
       or if you want to force a certain look (like play in 40-column mode).

       context_lines   <integer>
       Set the number of context lines used.  By default, after a ``[MORE]'' prompt, and assuming
       there is enough output pending, frotz will allow all the currently visible lines to scroll
       off the screen before prompting again.  This switch specifies how many lines of text frotz
       will hold over and display at the top of the next screen.  Default is "0".

       left_margin   <integer>
       Set the left margin.  This is for those who might have special formatting needs.

       right_margin   <integer>
       Set the right margin.  This is for those who might have special formatting needs.

       screen_height   <integer>
       Manually set screen height.  Most curses libraries are intelligent enough to determine the
       current width of the terminal.  You may need to use this option to override the default.

       screen_width   <integer>
       Manually  set  screen  width.   Again,  this  should  not  be  necessary except in special
       circumstances.

       script_width   <integer>
       Set the transcript width.  Default is 80 columns  per  line,  regardless  of  the  current
       screen  width.  This switch allows you to change this setting.  You may set this to "0" to
       deactivate automatic line-splitting in transcript files.

       The following options are mainly useful for debugging or cheating.

       attrib_set   on | off
       Watch attribute setting.  Setting and clearing of attributes on objects will be  noted  in
       debugging messages.  Default is "off"

       attrib_test   on | off
       Watch  attribute testing.  Every time the z-machine tests an attribute value, the test and
       the result will be reported.  Default is "off".

       obj_loc   on | off
       Watch object location.  These debugging messages detail the locations of  objects  in  the
       object tree.  Default is "off".

       obj_move   on | off
       Watch  object movement.  This option enables debugging messages from the interpreter which
       describe the movement of objects in the object tree.  Default is "off".

ENVIRONMENT

       If the ZCODE_PATH environmental variable is defined, frotz will search that path for  game
       files.  If that doesn't exist, INFOCOM_PATH will be searched.

FURTHER INFORMATION

       A  git(1)  repository  of  all versions of Unix Frotz back to 2.32 is available for public
       perusal here:
       https://github.com/DavidGriffith/frotz/.

       The bleeding edge of Frotz development may be followed there.  A wiki summarising Frotz is
       also there at this URL:
       https://github.com/DavidGriffith/frotz/wiki/

       Source tarballs are available at the IF Archive or any of its many mirrors:
       http://www.ifarchive.org/

       Most distributions of Linux and BSD include Frotz in their package repositories.

CAVEATS

       The Z Machine itself has trouble with the concept of resizing a terminal.  It assumes that
       once the screen height and width are set, they will never change; even across saves.  This
       made  sense  when  24x80 terminals were the norm and graphical user interfaces were mostly
       unknown.  I'm fairly sure there's a way around this problem, but for now, don't resize  an
       xterm  in which frotz is running.  Also, you should try to make sure the terminal on which
       you restore a saved game has the same dimensions as the one on which you saved the game.

       You  can  use  a  path  like  "/usr/local/games/zcode:$HOME/zcode"  with  $ZCODE_PATH   or
       $INFOCOM_PATH  because  the  shell  will digest that $HOME variable for you before setting
       $ZCODE_PATH. While  processing  frotz.conf  and  $HOME/.frotzrc,  a  shell  is  not  used.
       Therefore  you  cannot  use  environmental  variables in the "zcodepath" option within the
       config files.

       This manpage is not intended to tell users HOW to play interactive fiction.  Refer to  the
       file  HOW_TO_PLAY  included  in the Unix Frotz documentation or visit one of the following
       sites:
       http://www.microheaven.com/ifguide/
       http://www.brasslantern.org/beginners/
       http://www.musicwords.net/if/how_to_play.htm

       If you prefer a PDF file of how to play, here is one:
       http://inform-fiction.org/I7Downloads/Examples/dm/IntroductionToIF.pdf

BUGS

       This program has no bugs.  no bugs.  no bugs.  no *WHAP* thank  you.   If  you  find  one,
       please report it to the Github site referenced above in FURTHER INFORMATION.

AUTHORS

       Frotz was written by Stefan Jokisch for MSDOS in 1995-7.
       The Unix port was done by Galen Hazelwood.
       The Unix port is currently maintained by David Griffith <dave@661.org>.

SEE ALSO

       dfrotz(6) nitfol(6) rezrov(6) jzip(6) xzip(6) inform(1)

                                               2.44                                      FROTZ(6)