1cfclient() cfclient()
2
6 cfclient - X11 client program for crossfire servers.
7 gcfclient - gtk client program for crossfire servers.
8
10 client [-server server] [-port number] [-display display] [-split|-nos‐
11 plit] [-echo] [-pix|-xpm|-png] [-showicon] [-scrollines number] [-sync]
12 [-help] [-cache|-nocache]
13
15 Cfclient/gcflient is an X11 program for connecting to crossfire
16 servers. Crossfire is a multiplayer graphical adventure game that
17 mixes aspects of Gauntlet (TM), nethack, moria, and Ultima (TM).
18 This man page describes options for the X11 client of crossfire
20 (cfclient). Many of these options should also be valid for the gtk
21 version (gcfclient). The configure/make process will build the gtk
22 version if it finds the necessary libraries, otherwise it will build
23 the X11 version.
24
27 -server <server>
28 Sets the server to play on. If no option is given, it will
29 default to localhost.
30 -port <number>
32 The port number of the server to connect to. By default, it
33 will use port 13327 (standard port). However, certain servers
34 may use other ports.
35 -display <display>
37 The display to open the windows on. If this option is not
38 given, it will use the DISPLAY environmental variable to deter‐
39 mine the display.
40 -split|-nosplit
42 -split starts the windows up in split windows mode. In split
43 windows mode, 6 seperate windows are created - these individual
44 windows can then be moved around and resized as desired. -nos‐
45 plit starts the game up with a single window - this is the
46 default. The option is useful if your saved defaults are set
47 for -split (see Saved Defaults further down).
48 -font <name>
50 Use the given font instead of the default 8x13. Only fixed
51 width fonts will work properly.
52 -noautorepeat
54 Disable autorepeat on directional keys. This may be useful when
55 playing on a distant remote server. This flag may be toggled
56 while playing with the 'autorepeat' command.
57 -echo Echo commands as they are entered. Normally, commands bound to
59 keys are just sent to the server without any echoing on the
60 client of what that command actually was. This option causes
61 the commands to also be printed in the information window as
62 they are sent to the server.
63 -mapsize XxY
65 Sets the desired viewable map window. X and Y are number of
66 tiles. Note that larger map sizes are likely to consume more
67 bandwidth, cpu time, as well as just screen real estate.
68 The maximum map size may vary server to server. The client will
70 try to negotiate the largest viewable map in each dimension.
71 Note that there is no requirement that the viewable map be
72 square.
73 Due to performance issues, it is strongly suggested that expire‐
75 mentation is done with this value to find a size that gets
76 acceptable performance (simple test - go to the start town, run
77 in some direction, stop running and see how long it takes before
78 the client stops moving you).
79 -pix|-xpm|-png
81 This determines the graphic image types to use. -pix uses
82 pixmap images - these are two color images with no masking (one
83 image per space.). -xpm uses XPM format images - these are
84 multi colored images with masking, so multiple images per space
85 can be displayed. XPM images require more local processing
86 power (unless you are on a very old machine, this should not be
87 an issue), the installation of the XPM library, and also require
88 more bandwidth to download (however, see the -cache option fur‐
89 ther down.) Png have all the same features of XPM, but are
90 slightly larger (32x32 instead of 24x24), appear better, and do
91 the the efficiency of the png format, actually take less band‐
92 width to transmit than the xpm images. Using the png images
93 require that the client has been compiled with png support.
94 -pngximage
96 gcfclient only. This option is only meaningful if png graphics
97 are being used. It uses a GdkRgb structure - this allows much
98 better effects (especially darkness). Performance may be worse
99 when using this option - this depends on many factors. Like the
100 mapsize option above, it is suggested the experimentation is
101 done to make performance is still acceptable. This option does
102 not affect bandwidth - it only affects cpu performancs.
103 -sdl gcfclient only. Will only be available if the SDL library was
105 available when the client was compiles. This is similar to
106 -pngximage above - it still uses png images, but uses the SDL
107 library to actualy draw them to the screen. This is slightly
108 faster than -pngximage - if you have SDL, you should use this
109 instead of -pngximage.
110 -showicon
112 This shows a little icon next to items in your inventory that
113 contains a brief description of some of the item properties
114 (magic, cursed, equipped, etc.) This can make spotting some
115 items easier, but some players may not like the extra space
116 these icons take up or the
117 -scollines <lines>
119 This is the number of lines to use in the information window.
120 By default, the size of the window is used (no scrollback abil‐
121 ity). With this option, a scrollbar will be created and it is
122 then possible to scroll back through old messages. It is
123 strongly recommended you set this to some value, since some
124 areas output more data than will fit in the output window at one
125 time.
126 -sync Runs the server in synchronous display mode. This option tends
128 only to be useful in debugging purposes - using this will slow
129 down the display and not gain anything for the typical player.
130 -help Prints out a brief description of the options to standard out‐
132 put.
133 -cache|-nocache
135 Determines if the client will cache images for future runs.
136 With -nocache, when the server is about to referance an image
137 that the client has yet to receive, it sends that image along to
138 the client. These downloaded images are discarded once the
139 client exists. With -cache, the server sends information about
140 the image it is about to referance. The client can then check
141 its local cache (stored in ~/.crossfire/images) - if it has the
142 image, it creates it off the disk. If it does not have it, it
143 requests it from the server and then stores it in its cache. In
144 the brief time between the request of the image and it actually
145 receives it, that image will be represented by a ? in the map.
146 -cache option is strongly recommended anytime when your link to
148 the server is slower than home directory access - this is likely
149 to be the case except in case of nfs mounted home directories on
150 the server on the local lan.
151 -darkness|-nodarkness
153 Controls whether the server sends darkness information to the
154 client or not. Turning off darkness results in a savings off
155 bandwidth for maps that use darkness code (currently, very few
156 maps use darkness code). Turning off darkness may also be
157 desirable as in some graphics mode the quality of darkness may
158 not add much to the map.
159 -updatekeycodes
161 The standard behaviour when a player uses the bind command to
162 bind new actions is that they keycode is saved with that bind‐
163 ing. Keycodes are specific to keyboards - a sun keyboard will
164 generate a different keycode compared to a PC style keyboard.
165 In most cases, it is not always desirable to have the keycodes
166 get updated, as this may make some bindings unavailable. Using
167 this option will force custom keybindings to get updated for the
168 current keyboard when the client is run.
169
172 Once you have logged into the server, you can enter extended commands
173 by typing ' (apostrophe) followed by the extended commands. One of
174 these extended commands is savedefaults. This will save the server,
175 port, image type, split windows mode, scrolllines, showicon, and cache
176 options into ~/.crossfire/defaults.
177 If you are using split windows mode, you can enter savewinpos as an
179 extended command. This will save the current window positions and
180 sizes into ~/.crossfire/winpos. Next time you run the server in split
181 mode, it will load these values and resize and move the windows as
182 specified.
183
186 This is by far a complete tutorial of gameplay. This section is to
187 provide a basic introduction to logging in and doing a few very basic
188 actions.
189 The first thing that will happen after the client successfully connects
191 to the server is you will be prompted for a name. There are some
192 restrictions to the name you can choose, but alphanumeric characters
193 are all safe.
194 After entering the name, you will then be prompted for a password.
196 When creating a new character, enter whatever you want your password to
197 be. If you get a 'login incorrect' someone else already has that char‐
198 acter name with a different password - try another name. If no one has
199 used that name, you will be prompted for the password again to confirm
200 it.
201 You now start the character creation process. It is beyond the scope
203 of the document to fully describe the pros and cons of different stats
204 and classes. The creation process has different options for swapping
205 stats and choosing a class.
206 Once you have chosen your class, you will be in the middle of a town.
208 The arrow keys will move you in the various directions. There will be
209 a red building almost directly above you - this is the inn where you
210 save your character. There are some signs to your right. To read
211 them, move on top of them and press the 'a' key. This applies the
212 object below you - in the case of signs, it reads it. In the case of
213 buildings, it will cause you to enter the building.
214 To the left of the signs is a small building - this is the beginner
216 dungeon. Enter it, and follow the directions on the signs. It pro‐
217 vides a pretty good tutorial on some of the basic actions and features
218 of the game.
219 To enter extended commands, type the ' (apostrophe) followed by the
221 command. An example would be 'help (apostrophe followed by the help
222 command). Enter command to execute the command.
223
226 savewinpos savedefaults
227 These commands were described in the SAVED DEFAULTS options
228 above.
229 scroll This toggles whether or the information windows scrolls when it
231 gets to the bottom of the window or wraps to the top. Wrapping
232 is slighly less cpu intensive, but is generally harder to read.
233 bind unbind
235 bind is used to add new keybindings. Do you want to be able to
236 press one key to cast a fireball? This is what the bind command
237 does. is bound, it is stored in ~/.crossfire/keys and will be
238 used in future plays.
239 scroll Cfclient only. Toggles between scroll and wrap mode. In wrap
241 mode, when text gets to the bottom of the message window, it
242 starts new messages at the top. Scroll is only really useful on
243 very slow systems where the performance hit of scrolling the
244 window is too costly.
245 magicmap
247 Displays the data from the last time the magic mapping spell was
248 cast. This information can be completely useless if you are now
249 on another map.
250 cwindow <number>
252 Specifies the number of unprocessed commands to the server. The
253 server processes player commands as the character has actions to
254 perform them - having this number too high can result in
255 extended lengths of time that after you stop entering commands
256 the character is still performing actions. Having this value
257 too low on slow links can result in the character sitting idle
258 even though they have an action comming to them.
259 autorepeat
261 Toggle the autorepeat handling for directional keys. When dis‐
262 abled artifical keystrokes generated by the autorepeat of the X-
263 server are not sent to the Crossfire server.
264
267 ~/.crossfire
268 This is a directory that is created that is used to store vari‐
269 ous files.
270 ~/.crossfire/defaults
272 This contains default setttings. This file can in theory be
273 edited by hand - just be careful to keep the same case and
274 whitespace.
275 ~/.crossfire/images
277 This directory is used for the image cache if -cache is being
278 used.
279 ~/.crossfire/keys
281 This contains keybindings you have edited. This file can also
282 be theoretically edited - changing existing entries is much
283 safer than trying to figure out the syntax for new entries.
284 ~/.crossfire/winpos
286 Window positions and sizes to use in split window mode. This
287 file can also be edited by hand.
288 Please let me know about any bugs you find in the client.
291
293 Copyright (C) 1994,2000 Mark Wedel (mwedel@sonic.net) GTK port by David
294 Sundqvist (azzie@netpolicy.com) SDL support added by Scott MacFiggen
295 (smurf@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU)
296 There are a great many other contributors to both the client and server
298 that are not mentioned here.
299 cfclient()