bionic (6) chocolate-strife.6.gz
NAME
chocolate-strife - historically compatible strife engine
SYNOPSIS
chocolate-strife [OPTIONS]
DESCRIPTION
Chocolate Strife is an accurate and complete recreation of Rogue Entertainment's "Strife: Quest for the
Sigil". It was created through more than two years of reverse engineering effort with the blessings of
the original programmers of the game (see the section HISTORY below).
GENERAL OPTIONS
-cdrom [windows only] Save configuration data and savegames in c:\strife.cd, allowing play from CD.
-config <file>
Load main configuration from the specified file, instead of the default.
-devparm
Developer mode. Implies -nograph.
-dumpsubstconfig <filename>
Read all MIDI files from loaded WAD files, dump an example substitution music config file to the
specified filename and quit.
-extraconfig <file>
Load additional configuration from the specified file, instead of the default.
-fast Monsters move faster.
-file <files>
Load the specified PWAD files.
-flip Flip player gun sprites (broken).
-iwad <file>
Specify an IWAD file to use.
-loadgame <s>
Load the game in slot s.
-mb <mb>
Specify the heap size, in MiB (default 16).
-mmap Use the OS's virtual memory subsystem to map WAD files directly into memory.
-nograph
Disable graphical introduction sequence
-nomonsters
Disable monsters.
-nomusic
Disable music.
-nosfx Disable sound effects.
-nosound
Disable all sound output.
-novoice
Disable voice dialog and show dialog as text instead, even if voices.wad can be found.
-random
Items respawn at random locations
-respawn
Respawn monsters after they are killed.
-savedir <directory>
Specify a path from which to load and save games. If the directory does not exist then it will
automatically be created.
-skill <skill>
Set the game skill, 1-5 (1: easiest, 5: hardest). A skill of 0 disables all monsters.
-turbo <x>
Turbo mode. The player's speed is multiplied by x%. If unspecified, x defaults to 200. Values
are rounded up to 10 and down to 400.
-warp x
Start a game immediately, warping to level x.
-work Set Rogue playtesting mode (godmode, noclip toggled by backspace)
COMPATIBILITY
-donut <x> <y>
Use the specified magic values when emulating behavior caused by memory overruns from improperly
constructed donuts. In Vanilla Strife this can differ depending on the operating system. The
default (if this option is not specified) is to emulate the behavior when running under Windows
98.
-gameversion <version>
Emulate a specific version of Strife. Valid values are "1.2" and "1.31".
-setmem <version>
Specify DOS version to emulate for NULL pointer dereference emulation. Supported versions are:
dos622, dos71, dosbox. The default is to emulate DOS 7.1 (Windows 98).
-spechit <n>
Use the specified magic value when emulating spechit overruns.
DEMO OPTIONS
-maxdemo <size>
Specify the demo buffer size (KiB)
-playdemo <demo>
Play back the demo named demo.lmp.
-record <x>
Record a demo named x.lmp.
-solo-net
Play back a demo recorded in a netgame with a single player.
-strictdemos
When recording or playing back demos, disable any extensions of the vanilla demo format - record
demos as vanilla would do, and play back demos as vanilla would do.
-timedemo <demo>
Play back the demo named demo.lmp, determining the framerate of the screen.
DISPLAY OPTIONS
-1 Don't scale up the screen. Implies -window.
-2 Double up the screen to 2x its normal size. Implies -window.
-3 Double up the screen to 3x its normal size. Implies -window.
-fullscreen
Run in fullscreen mode.
-geometry <WxY>
Specify the dimensions of the window. Implies -window.
-height <y>
Specify the screen height, in pixels. Implies -window.
-noblit
Disable blitting the screen.
-nodraw
Disable rendering the screen entirely.
-nograbmouse
Don't grab the mouse when running in windowed mode.
-nomouse
Disable the mouse.
-width <x>
Specify the screen width, in pixels. Implies -window.
-window
Run in a window.
NETWORKING OPTIONS
-altdeath
Start a deathmatch game. Weapons do not stay in place and all items respawn after 30 seconds.
-autojoin
Automatically search the local LAN for a multiplayer server and join it.
-avg Austin Virtual Gaming: end levels after 20 minutes.
-connect <address>
Connect to a multiplayer server running on the given address.
-dedicated
Start a dedicated server, routing packets but not participating in the game itself.
-dup <n>
Reduce the resolution of the game by a factor of n, reducing the amount of network bandwidth
needed.
-extratics <n>
Send n extra tics in every packet as insurance against dropped packets.
-left Run as the left screen in three screen mode.
-localsearch
Search the local LAN for running servers.
-newsync
Use new network client sync code rather than the classic sync code. This is currently disabled by
default because it has some bugs.
-nodes <n>
Autostart the netgame when n nodes (clients) have joined the server.
-port <n>
Use the specified UDP port for communications, instead of the default (2342).
-privateserver
When running a server, don't register with the global master server. Implies -server.
-query <address>
Query the status of the server running on the given IP address.
-right Run as the right screen in three screen mode.
-search
Query the Internet master server for a global list of active servers.
-server
Start a multiplayer server, listening for connections.
-servername <name>
When starting a network server, specify a name for the server.
-solo-net
Start the game playing as though in a netgame with a single player. This can also be used to play
back single player netgame demos.
-timer <n>
For multiplayer games: exit each level after n minutes.
DEHACKED AND WAD MERGING
-aa <files>
Equivalent to "-af <files> -as <files>".
-af <files>
Simulates the behavior of NWT's -af option, merging flats into the main IWAD directory. Multiple
files may be specified.
-as <files>
Simulates the behavior of NWT's -as option, merging sprites into the main IWAD directory.
Multiple files may be specified.
-deh <files>
Load the given dehacked patch(es)
-merge <files>
Simulates the behavior of deutex's -merge option, merging a PWAD into the main IWAD. Multiple
files may be specified.
-nocheats
Ignore cheats in dehacked files.
-nwtmerge <files>
Simulates the behavior of NWT's -merge option. Multiple files may be specified.
IWAD SEARCH PATHS
To play, an IWAD file is needed. This is a large file containing all of the levels, graphics, sound
effects, music and other material that make up the game. IWAD files are named according to the game; the
standard names are:
doom.wad, doom1.wad, doom2.wad, tnt.wad, plutonia.wad
Doom, Doom II, Final Doom
heretic.wad, heretic1.wad, hexen.wad, strife1.wad
Heretic, Hexen and Strife (commercial Doom engine games).
hacx.wad, chex.wad
Hacx and Chex Quest - more obscure games based on the Doom engine.
freedm.wad, freedoom1.wad, freedoom2.wad
The Freedoom open content IWAD files.
The following directory paths are searched in order to find an IWAD:
Current working directory
Any IWAD files found in the current working directory will be used in preference to IWADs found in
any other directories.
DOOMWADDIR
This environment variable can be set to contain a path to a single directory in which to look for
IWAD files. This environment variable is supported by most Doom source ports.
DOOMWADPATH
This environment variable, if set, can contain a colon-separated list of directories in which to
look for IWAD files, or alternatively full paths to specific IWAD files.
$HOME/.local/share/games/doom
Writeable directory in the user's home directory. The path can be overridden using the
XDG_DATA_HOME environment variable (see the XDG Base Directory Specification).
/usr/local/share/games/doom, /usr/share/games/doom
System-wide locations that can be accessed by all users. The path /usr/share/games/doom is a
standard path that is supported by most Doom source ports. These paths can be overridden using the
XDG_DATA_DIRS environment variable (see the XDG Base Directory Specification).
The above can be overridden on a one-time basis by using the -iwad command line parameter to provide the
path to an IWAD file to use. This parameter can also be used to specify the name of a particular IWAD to
use from one of the above paths. For example, '-iwad doom.wad' will search the above paths for the file
doom.wad to use.
ENVIRONMENT
This section describes environment variables that control Chocolate Strife's behavior.
DOOMWADDIR, DOOMWADPATH
See the section, IWAD SEARCH PATHS above.
PCSOUND_DRIVER
When running in PC speaker sound effect mode, this environment variable specifies a PC speaker
driver to use for sound effect playback. Valid options are "Linux" for the Linux console mode
driver, "BSD" for the NetBSD/OpenBSD PC speaker driver, and "SDL" for SDL-based emulated PC
speaker playback (using the digital output).
OPL_DRIVER
When using OPL MIDI playback, this environment variable specifies an OPL backend driver to use.
Valid options are "SDL" for an SDL-based software emulated OPL chip, "Linux" for the Linux
hardware OPL driver, and "OpenBSD" for the OpenBSD/NetBSD hardware OPL driver.
Generally speaking, a real hardware OPL chip sounds better than software emulation; however,
modern machines do not often include one. If present, it may still require extra work to set up
and elevated security privileges to access.
FILES
$HOME/.local/share/chocolate-doom/strife.cfg
The main configuration file for Chocolate Strife. See strife.cfg(5).
$HOME/.local/share/chocolate-doom/chocolate-strife.cfg
Extra configuration values that are specific to Chocolate Strife and not present in Vanilla
Strife. See chocolate-strife.cfg(5).
SEE ALSO
chocolate-doom(6), chocolate-server(6), chocolate-setup(6)
HISTORY
The source code for Strife was lost, which means, unlike the code for all the other commercial DOOM-
engine games, it cannot be released. The only access we have to the code is the binary executable file.
Reverse engineering tools were employed to disassemble and decompile the executables, which were cross-
referenced against the Linux DOOM and DOS Heretic sources and painstakingly combed over multiple times,
instruction-by-instruction, to ensure that the resulting Chocolate-Doom-based executable is as close as
possible to the original.
LEGALITY
Reverse engineering is a protected activity so long as the original code is not used directly in the
product. Due to the vast amount of information lost through the process of compilation, and the need to
refactor large portions of code in order to eliminate non-portable idioms or to adapt them properly to
Chocolate Doom's framework, the resulting code behaves the same, but is not the *same* code.
In addition, James Monroe and John Carmack have both stated that they have no objections to the project.
Because they are the original authors of the code, and neither Rogue nor their publisher, Velocity, Inc.,
exist any longer as legal entities, this is effectively legal permission.
BUGS
Chocolate Strife is almost, but not entirely perfect, in recreating the behavior of Vanilla Strife. Help
us by reporting any discrepancies you might notice between this executable and the vanilla DOS program.
However, do *not* report any glitch that you can replicate in the vanilla EXE as a bug. The point of
Chocolate Strife, like Chocolate Doom before it, is to be as bug-compatible with the original game as
possible. Also be aware that some glitches are impossible to compatibly recreate, and wherever this is
the case, Chocolate Strife has erred on the side of not crashing the program, for example by initializing
pointers to NULL rather than using them without setting a value first.
AUTHORS
Chocolate Strife is part of the Chocolate Doom project. It was reverse engineered from the DOS versions
of Strife by James Haley and Samuel Villarreal. Chocolate Doom was written and maintained by Simon
Howard, and is based on the LinuxDoom source code released by Id Software.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © id Software Inc. Copyright © 2005-2013 Simon Howard, James Haley, Samuel Villarreal.
This is free software. You may redistribute copies of it under the terms of the GNU General Public
License <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
chocolate-strife(6)