Original version - Eric S. Raymond
(Edited and expanded for 3.7 by Mike Stephenson and others)
- February 27, 2022
+ May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
you have seen on the current dungeon level; as you explore more
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
you have available for spell casting. Again, resting will
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
scribe things that are impossible to represent visually. If you
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
it out); this is often useful to give yourself a breather.
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
that command.)
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
(R)UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group.
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
with the map.
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
ble. In either case, otherwise compatible stacks with a
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
is `M-d'.
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
Show a menu of possible actions directed at your current
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
Pay your shopping bill. Default key is `p'.
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
Show the amulet currently worn. Default key is `"'.
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
key is `X', and also `M-2' if number_pad is off.
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
monsters cannot open closed doors, although a few don't need to
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
NetHack, the goal is to push boulders into pits or holes until
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
sters such as a shopkeeper or the Oracle of Delphi can produce
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
to pick it up. In NetHack, this is accomplished by using the `,'
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
your hand when wielded, so you cannot unwield them. Any cursed
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
be thrown by hand, but can be thrown much farther and will be
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
primary one is not, simply use `w' to wield the primary. Lastly,
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
subtract from your armor class. For example, a +1 chain mail
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
which can be used to determine what another object is, whether it
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
tainly cause a catastrophic release of magical energies.
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
and you will need to relearn it.
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
unwieldy objects. You must set one down before unlocking it by
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
tion of suppressing auto-pickup at the destination.
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
#conduct command or at the end of the game. When you perform an
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
compatible with a vegan diet. Slime molds or player-defined
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
of disclosed conduct even if you haven't done anything
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
Amulet - Acquired the fabled Amulet of Yendor.
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
Boolean options toggle a setting on or off, while compound
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
"Modifying NetHack Symbols" section.
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
the `t' (throw) command is executed instead. Persistent.
autounlock
- Walking into a locked door or looting a locked container while
- carrying an unlocking tool (such as a key) will ask whether to
- use that tool to unlock the door or container (default true).
- Persistent.
+ Controls what action to take when attempting to walk into a
+ locked door or to loot a locked container. Takes a plus-sign
+ separated list of values:
+
+ Untrap - prompt about whether to attempt to find a trap; it
+ might fail to find one even when present; if it
+ does find one, it will ask whether you want to try
+ to disarm the trap; if you decline, your character
+ will forget that the door or box is trapped;
+ Apply-Key - if carrying a key or other unlocking tool, prompt
+ about using it;
+ Kick - kick the door (if you omit untrap or decline to at-
+ tempt untrap and you omit apply-key or you lack a
+ key or you decline to use the key; has no effect on
+ containers);
+ Force - try to force a container's lid with your currently
+ wielded weapon (if you omit untrap or decline to
+ attempt untrap and you omit apply-key or you lack a
+ key or you decline to use the key; has no effect on
+ doors);
+ None - none of the above; can't be combined with the other
+ choices.
+
+ Omitting the value is treated as if autounlock:apply-key. Pre-
+ ceding autounlock with `!' or "no" is treated as autoun-
+ lock:none.
+
+ Applying a key might set off a trap if the door or container is
+ trapped. Successfully kicking a door will break it and wake up
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 62
+
+
+
+ nearby monsters. Successfully forcing a container open will
+ break its lock and might also destroy some of its contents or
+ damage your weapon or both.
+
+ The default is Apply-Key. Persistent.
blind
Start the character permanently blind (default false). Persis-
Save game state after each level change, for possible recovery
after program crash (default on). Persistent.
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 62
-
-
-
clicklook
Allows looking at things on the screen by navigating the mouse
over them and clicking the right mouse button (default off).
sponse of `n' for each candidate). Persistent. The possibili-
ties are:
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 63
+
+
+
i - disclose your inventory;
a - disclose your attributes;
v - summarize monsters that have been vanquished;
Order of the disclosure categories does not matter, program
display for end-of-game disclosure follows a set sequence.
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 63
-
-
-
(for example "disclose:yi na +v -g o") The example sets inven-
tory to prompt and default to yes, attributes to prompt and de-
fault to no, vanquished to disclose without prompting, genocid-
tional interface except that it does not require that you hit
Enter. It is implemented for the tty interface (default off).
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 64
+
+
+
For the X11 interface, which always uses a menu for choosing an
extended command, it controls whether the menu shows all avail-
able commands (on) or just the subset of commands which have
Apples, oranges, pears, bananas, and melons already exist in
NetHack, so don't use those.
-
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 64
-
-
-
gender
Your starting gender (gender:male or gender:female). You may
specify just the first letter. Although you can still denote
the `/' command, ask if you want to see it (default on). Turn-
ing help off makes just looking at things faster, since you
aren't interrupted with the "More info?" prompt, but it also
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 65
+
+
+
means that you might miss some interesting and/or important in-
formation. Persistent.
available for TTY and Windows GUI, and only when statushilites
is on.
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 65
-
-
-
horsename
Name your starting horse (for example "horsename:Trigger").
Cannot be set with the `O' command.
Show corridor squares seen by night vision or a light source
held by your character as lit (default off). Persistent.
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 66
+
+
+
lootabc
When using a menu to interact with a container, use the old
`a', `b', and `c' keyboard shortcuts rather than the mnemonics
Controls the interface used when you need to choose various ob-
jects (in response to the Drop command, for instance). The
value specified should be the first letter of one of the fol-
- lowing: traditional, combination, full, or partial.
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 66
-
-
-
- Persistent.
+ lowing: traditional, combination, full, or partial. Persis-
+ tent.
Traditional was the only interface available for very early
versions; it consists of a prompt for object class characters,
menu_first_page
Key to jump to the first page in a menu. Default `^'.
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 67
+
+
+
menu_headings
Controls how the headings in a menu are highlighted. Values
are "none", "bold", "dim", "underline", "blink", or "inverse".
Key to search for some text and toggle selection state of
matching menu items. Default `:'.
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 67
-
-
-
menu_select_all
Key to select all items in a menu. Default `.'.
Prompt for new form whenever any monster changes shape (default
off). Debug mode only.
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 68
+
+
+
mouse_support
Allow use of the mouse for input and travel. Valid settings
are:
Set your character's name (defaults to your user name). You
can also set your character's role by appending a dash and one
or more letters of the role (that is, by suffixing one of -A -B
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 68
-
-
-
-C -H -K -M -P -Ra -Ro -S -T -V -W). If -@ is used for the
role, then a random one will be automatically chosen. Cannot
be set with the `O' command.
Valid settings are:
0 - move by letters; "yuhjklbn"
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 69
+
+
+
1 - move by numbers; digit `5' acts as `G' movement prefix
2 - like 1 but `5' works as `g' prefix instead of as `G'
3 - by numbers using phone key layout; 123 above, 789 below
quit - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm quitting
the game or switching into non-scoring explore
mode;
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 69
-
-
-
die - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm dying
(not useful in normal play; applies to explore
mode);
commands even when wearing just one applicable
item.
swim - prevent walking into water or lava.
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 70
+
+
+
all - turn on all of the above.
By default, the pray choice is enabled, the others disabled.
three, depending upon terminal hardware or terminal emulation
software.
-
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 70
-
-
-
Currently multiple highlight-style letters can be combined by
simply stringing them together (for example, "bk"), but in the
future they might require being separated by plus signs (such
or overLoaded), you will be asked if you want to continue.
(Default `S'). Persistent.
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 71
+
+
+
pickup_thrown
If this option is on and autopickup is also on, try to pick up
things that you threw, even if they aren't in pickup_types or
size will always be at least that big; default value is 5.
Persistent.
-
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 71
-
-
-
playmode
Values are "normal", "explore", or "debug". Allows selection
of explore mode (also known as discovery mode) or debug mode
ever clairvoyance randomly activates. Some situations, such as
being underwater or engulfed, ignore this option. It does not
affect the clairvoyance spell where pausing to examine revealed
- objects or monsters is less intrusive. Default is off. Per-
- sistent.
+ objects or monsters is less intrusive. Default is off.
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 72
+
+
+
+ Persistent.
race
Selects your race (for example, "race:human"). Default is ran-
the map. Not all ports support run length compression. It has
no effect on reading an existing save file.
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 72
-
-
-
runmode
Controls the amount of screen updating for the map window when
engaged in multi-turn movement (running via shift+direction or
safe_wait
Prevents you from waiting or searching when next to a hostile
- monster (default on). Persistent.
- sanity_check
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 73
+
+
+
+ monster (default on). Persistent.
+
+ sanity_check
Evaluate monsters, objects, and map prior to each turn (default
off). Debug mode only.
sortdiscoveries
Controls the sorting behavior for the output of the `\' and ``'
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 73
-
-
-
commands. Persistent.
The possible values are:
The possible values are:
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 74
+
+
+
full - always sort the lists;
loot - only sort the lists that don't use inventory letters,
like with the #loot and pickup commands;
alert notification messages about feature changes for that and
prior versions (for example "suppress_alert:3.3.1").
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 74
-
-
-
symset
This option may be used to select one of the named symbol sets
found within "symbols" to alter the symbols displayed on the
toptenwin
Put the ending display in a NetHack window instead of on stdout
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 75
+
+
+
(default off). Setting this option makes the score list visi-
ble when a windowing version of NetHack is started without a
parent window, but it no longer leaves the score list around
n - none (no coordinates shown) [default].
The whatis_coord option is also used with the "/m", "/M", "/o",
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 75
-
-
-
and "/O" sub-commands of `/', where the "none" setting is over-
ridden with "map".
through next and previous targets, use a menu instead to pick a
target. (default off)
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 76
+
+
+
whatis_moveskip
When getting a location on the map, and using shifted movement
keys or meta-digit keys to fast-move, instead of moving 8 units
the contents. Not all ports support zero-comp compression. It
has no effect on reading an existing save file.
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 76
-
-
-
9.5. Window Port Customization options
Here are explanations of the various options that are used
ascii_map
If NetHack can, it should display the map using simple charac-
ters (letters and punctuation) rather than tiles graphics. In
- some cases, characters can be augmented with line-drawing sym-
- bols; use the symset option to select a symbol set such as
+ some cases, characters can be augmented with line-drawing
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 77
+
+
+
+ symbols; use the symset option to select a symbol set such as
DECgraphics or IBMgraphics if your display supports them. Set-
ting ascii_map to True forces tiled_map to be False.
font_status
If NetHack can, it should use a font by the chosen name for the
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 77
-
-
-
status window.
font_text
If NetHack can, it should try and display on the entire screen
rather than in a window.
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 78
+
+
+
guicolor
Use color text and/or highlighting attributes when displaying
some non-map data (such as menu selector letters). Curses in-
so enhances performance of the tile graphics, but uses more
memory. (default on). Cannot be set with the `O' command.
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 78
-
-
-
scroll_amount
If NetHack can, it should scroll the display by this number of
cells when the hero reaches the scroll_margin.
When set to 3, the tty interface moves some fields around and
mainly shows status conditions on their own line. A display
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 79
+
+
+
capable of showing at least 25 lines is recommended. The value
can be toggled back and forth during the game with the `O' com-
mand.
Specify the name of an alternative tile file to override the
default.
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 79
-
-
-
Note: the X11 interface uses X resources rather than NetHack's
options to select an alternate tile file. See NetHack.ad, the
sample X "application defaults" file.
If NetHack can, it should display this number of messages at a
time in the message window.
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 80
+
+
+
windowborders
Whether to draw boxes around the map, status area, message
area, and persistent inventory window if enabled. Curses in-
windowcolors
If NetHack can, it should display windows with the specified
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 80
-
-
-
foreground/background colors. Windows GUI only. The format is
OPTION=windowcolors:wintype foreground/background
altkeyhandling
Select an alternate way to handle keystrokes (Win32 tty NetHack
only). The name of the handling type is one of "default",
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 81
+
+
+
"ray", "340".
altmeta
chines with an IBM PC compatible BIOS ROM (default off, OS/2,
PC, and ST NetHack only).
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 81
-
-
-
flush
(default off, Amiga NetHack only).
the `O' command.
video
- Set the video mode used (PC NetHack only). Values are "autode-
- tect", "default", "vga", or "vesa". Setting "vesa" will cause
- the game to display tiles, using the full capability of the VGA
- hardware. Setting "vga" will cause the game to display tiles,
- fixed at 640x480 in 16 colors, a mode that is compatible with
- all VGA hardware. Third party tilesets will probably not work.
- Setting "autodetect" attempts "vesa", then "vga", and finally
- sets "default" if neither of those modes works. Cannot be set
- with the `O' command.
+ Set the video mode used (PC NetHack only). Values are
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 82
+
+
+
+ "autodetect", "default", "vga", or "vesa". Setting "vesa" will
+ cause the game to display tiles, using the full capability of
+ the VGA hardware. Setting "vga" will cause the game to display
+ tiles, fixed at 640x480 in 16 colors, a mode that is compatible
+ with all VGA hardware. Third party tilesets will probably not
+ work. Setting "autodetect" attempts "vesa", then "vga", and
+ finally sets "default" if neither of those modes works. Cannot
+ be set with the `O' command.
video_height
Set the VGA mode resolution height (MS-DOS only, with
command.
videoshades
- Set the intensity level of the three gray scales available
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 82
-
-
-
- (default dark normal light, PC NetHack only). If the game dis-
- play is difficult to read, try adjusting these scales; if this
- does not correct the problem, try !color. Cannot be set with
- the `O' command.
+ Set the intensity level of the three gray scales available (de-
+ fault dark normal light, PC NetHack only). If the game display
+ is difficult to read, try adjusting these scales; if this does
+ not correct the problem, try !color. Cannot be set with the
+ `O' command.
9.7. Regular Expressions
autopickup_exception
Sets an exception to the pickup_types option. The autopick-
up_exception option should be followed by a regular expression
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 83
+
+
+
to be used as a pattern to match against the singular form of
the description of an object at your location.
The first example above will result in autopickup of any
type of arrow. The second example results in the exclusion of
- any corpse from autopickup. The last example results in the
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 83
-
-
-
- exclusion of items known to be cursed from autopickup.
+ any corpse from autopickup. The last example results in the ex-
+ clusion of items known to be cursed from autopickup.
9.9. Changing Key Bindings
The menu control or accelerator keys can also be rebound via
OPTIONS lines in the configuration file. You cannot bind ob-
ject symbols or selection letters into menu accelerators. Some
- interfaces only support some of the menu accelerators.
- Special command keys
- Below are the special commands you can rebind. Some of them
- can be bound to same keys with no problems, others are in the
- same "context", and if bound to same keys, only one of those
- commands will be available. Special command can only be bound
- to a single key.
- count
- Prefix key to start a count, to repeat a command this many
- times. With number_pad only. Default is `n'.
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- getdir.help
- When asked for a direction, the key to show the help. Default
- is `?'.
- getdir.self
- When asked for a direction, the key to target yourself. De-
- fault is `.'.
- getdir.self2
- When asked for a direction, the key to target yourself. De-
- fault is `s'.
- getpos.autodescribe
- When asked for a location, the key to toggle autodescribe.
+ NetHack Guidebook 84
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ interfaces only support some of the menu accelerators.
+ Special command keys
+ Below are the special commands you can rebind. Some of them
+ can be bound to same keys with no problems, others are in the
+ same "context", and if bound to same keys, only one of those
+ commands will be available. Special command can only be bound
+ to a single key.
+ count
+ Prefix key to start a count, to repeat a command this many
+ times. With number_pad only. Default is `n'.
- NetHack Guidebook 84
+ getdir.help
+ When asked for a direction, the key to show the help. Default
+ is `?'.
+ getdir.self
+ When asked for a direction, the key to target yourself. De-
+ fault is `.'.
+ getdir.self2
+ When asked for a direction, the key to target yourself. De-
+ fault is `s'.
- Default is `#'.
+ getpos.autodescribe
+ When asked for a location, the key to toggle autodescribe. De-
+ fault is `#'.
getpos.all.next
When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest inter-
When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest mon-
ster. Default is `m'.
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 85
+
+
+
getpos.mon.prev
When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
monster. Default is `M'.
Toggles between no filtering, in view only, and in the same
area only. Default is `"'.
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 85
-
-
-
getpos.pick
When asked for a location, the key to choose the location, and
possibly ask for more info. Default is `.'.
When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest unex-
plored location. Default is `x'.
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 86
+
+
+
getpos.unexplored.prev
When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
unexplored location. Default is `X'.
The pattern should be a regular expression.
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 86
-
-
-
Allowed types are:
show - show message normally;
matching rule is used. Put the general case first, exceptions
below them.
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 87
+
+
+
9.11. Configuring Menu Colors
Some platforms allow you to define colors used in menu lines
inverse. "Normal" is a synonym for "none". Note that the
platform used may interpret the attributes any way it wants.
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 87
-
-
-
Here's an example of menu colors using NetHack's internal pat-
tern matching facility:
plicit_uncursed option off so that all items known to be uncursed
are actually displayed with the "uncursed" description.
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 88
+
+
+
9.12. Configuring User Sounds
Some platforms allow you to define sound files to be played
MESG - message window mapping (the only one supported in
3.7);
+ msgtype - optional; message type to use, see "Configuring
+ Message Types"
pattern - the pattern to match;
sound file - the sound file to play;
- volume - the volume to be set while playing the sound
+ volume - the volume to be set while playing the sound
file;
- sound index - optional; the index corresponding to a sound
+ sound index - optional; the index corresponding to a sound
file.
The pattern should be a POSIX extended regular expression.
+ For example:
+
+ SOUNDDIR=C:\nethack\sounds
+ SOUND=MESG "This door is locked" "lock.wav" 100
+ SOUND=MESG hide "^You miss the " "swing.wav" 75
+
9.13. Configuring Status Hilites
Your copy of NetHack may have been compiled with support for
- "Status Hilites". If so, you can customize your game display by
+ "Status Hilites". If so, you can customize your game display by
setting thresholds to change the color or appearance of fields in
+ the status display.
+ The format for defining status colors is:
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ OPTION=hilite_status:field-name/behavior/color&attributes
+ For example, the following line in your configuration file
+ will cause the hitpoints field to display in the color red if
+ your hitpoints drop to or below a threshold of 30%:
+ OPTION=hilite_status:hitpoints/<=30%/red/normal
- NetHack Guidebook 88
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- the status display.
- The format for defining status colors is:
- OPTION=hilite_status:field-name/behavior/color&attributes
+ NetHack Guidebook 89
- For example, the following line in your configuration file
- will cause the hitpoints field to display in the color red if
- your hitpoints drop to or below a threshold of 30%:
- OPTION=hilite_status:hitpoints/<=30%/red/normal
(That example is actually specifying red&normal for <=30% and no-
color&normal for >30%.)
- For another example, the following line in your configura-
- tion file will cause wisdom to be displayed red if it drops and
+ For another example, the following line in your configura-
+ tion file will cause wisdom to be displayed red if it drops and
green if it rises:
OPTION=hilite_status:wisdom/down/red/up/green
- Allowed colors are black, red, green, brown, blue, magenta,
+ Allowed colors are black, red, green, brown, blue, magenta,
cyan, gray, orange, light-green, yellow, light-blue, light-magen-
- ta, light-cyan, and white. And "no-color", the default fore-
+ ta, light-cyan, and white. And "no-color", the default fore-
ground color on the display, which is not necessarily the same as
black or white or any of the other colors.
- Allowed attributes are none, bold, dim, underline, blink,
- and inverse. "Normal" is a synonym for "none"; they should not
+ Allowed attributes are none, bold, dim, underline, blink,
+ and inverse. "Normal" is a synonym for "none"; they should not
be used in combination with any of the other attributes.
To specify both a color and an attribute, use `&' to combine
- them. To specify multiple attributes, use `+' to combine those.
+ them. To specify multiple attributes, use `+' to combine those.
For example: "magenta&inverse+dim".
- Note that the display may substitute or ignore particular
- attributes depending upon its capabilities, and in general may
- interpret the attributes any way it wants. For example, on some
+ Note that the display may substitute or ignore particular
+ attributes depending upon its capabilities, and in general may
+ interpret the attributes any way it wants. For example, on some
display systems a request for bold might yield blink or vice ver-
sa. On others, issuing an attribute request while another is al-
- ready set up will replace the earlier attribute rather than com-
- bine with it. Since NetHack issues attribute requests sequen-
+ ready set up will replace the earlier attribute rather than com-
+ bine with it. Since NetHack issues attribute requests sequen-
tially (at least with the tty interface) rather than all at once,
the only way a situation like that can be controlled is to speci-
fy just one attribute.
- You can adjust the appearance of the following status
+ You can adjust the appearance of the following status
fields:
title dungeon-level experience-level
strength gold experience
dexterity hitpoints HD
constitution hitpoints-max time
intelligence power hunger
+ wisdom power-max carrying-capacity
+ charisma armor-class condition
+ alignment score
+ The pseudo-field "characteristics" can be used to set all six
+ of Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, and Cha at once. "HD" is "hit
+ dice", an approximation of experience level displayed when
+ polymorphed. "experience", "time", and "score" are condition-
+ ally displayed depending upon your other option settings.
+ Instead of a behavior, "condition" takes the following condi-
+ tion flags: stone, slime, strngl, foodpois, termill, blind,
+ deaf, stun, conf, hallu, lev, fly, and ride. You can use
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack Guidebook 89
+ NetHack Guidebook 90
- wisdom power-max carrying-capacity
- charisma armor-class condition
- alignment score
- The pseudo-field "characteristics" can be used to set all six
- of Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, and Cha at once. "HD" is "hit
- dice", an approximation of experience level displayed when
- polymorphed. "experience", "time", and "score" are condition-
- ally displayed depending upon your other option settings.
-
- Instead of a behavior, "condition" takes the following condi-
- tion flags: stone, slime, strngl, foodpois, termill, blind,
- deaf, stun, conf, hallu, lev, fly, and ride. You can use "ma-
- jor_troubles" as an alias for stone through termill, "mi-
+ "major_troubles" as an alias for stone through termill, "mi-
nor_troubles" for blind through hallu, "movement" for lev, fly,
and ride, and "all" for every condition.
* "always" will set the default attributes for that field.
- * "up", "down" set the field attributes for when the field
- value changes upwards or downwards. This attribute times
+ * "up", "down" set the field attributes for when the field
+ value changes upwards or downwards. This attribute times
out after statushilites turns.
* "changed" sets the field attribute for when the field val-
- ue changes. This attribute times out after statushilites
- turns. (If a field has both a "changed" rule and an "up"
- or "down" rule which matches a change in the field's val-
+ ue changes. This attribute times out after statushilites
+ turns. (If a field has both a "changed" rule and an "up"
+ or "down" rule which matches a change in the field's val-
ue, the "up" or "down" one takes precedence.)
- * percentage sets the field attribute when the field value
- matches the percentage. It is specified as a number be-
- tween 0 and 100, followed by `%' (percent sign). If the
- percentage is prefixed with `<=' or `>=', it also matches
- when value is below or above the percentage. Use prefix
- `<' or `>' to match when strictly below or above. (The
- numeric limit is relaxed slightly for those: >-1% and
- <101% are allowed.) Only four fields support percentage
- rules. Percentages for "hitpoints" and "power" are
- straightforward; they're based on the corresponding maxi-
- mum field. Percentage highlight rules are also allowed
+ * percentage sets the field attribute when the field value
+ matches the percentage. It is specified as a number be-
+ tween 0 and 100, followed by `%' (percent sign). If the
+ percentage is prefixed with `<=' or `>=', it also matches
+ when value is below or above the percentage. Use prefix
+ `<' or `>' to match when strictly below or above. (The
+ numeric limit is relaxed slightly for those: >-1% and
+ <101% are allowed.) Only four fields support percentage
+ rules. Percentages for "hitpoints" and "power" are
+ straightforward; they're based on the corresponding maxi-
+ mum field. Percentage highlight rules are also allowed
for "experience level" and "experience points" (valid when
the showexp option is enabled). For those, the percentage
is based on the progress from the start of the current ex-
perience level to the start of the next level. So if lev-
- el 2 starts at 20 points and level 3 starts at 40 points,
- having 30 points is 50% and 35 points is 75%. 100% is
- unattainable for experience because you'll gain a level
+ el 2 starts at 20 points and level 3 starts at 40 points,
+ having 30 points is 50% and 35 points is 75%. 100% is
+ unattainable for experience because you'll gain a level
and the calculations will be reset for that new level, but
- a rule for =100% is allowed and matches the special case
+ a rule for =100% is allowed and matches the special case
of being exactly 1 experience point short of the next lev-
el.
+ * absolute value sets the attribute when the field value
+ matches that number. The number must be 0 or higher, ex-
+ cept for "armor-class' which allows negative values, and
+ may optionally be preceded by `='. If the number is pre-
+ ceded by `<=' or `>=' instead, it also matches when value
+ is below or above. If the prefix is `<' or `>', only
+ match when strictly above or below.
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ * text match sets the attribute when the field value matches
+ the text. Text matches can only be used for "alignment",
+ "carrying-capacity", "hunger", "dungeon-level", and "ti-
+ tle". For title, only the role's rank title is tested;
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack Guidebook 90
+ NetHack Guidebook 91
+
- * absolute value sets the attribute when the field value
- matches that number. The number must be 0 or higher, ex-
- cept for "armor-class' which allows negative values, and
- may optionally be preceded by `='. If the number is pre-
- ceded by `<=' or `>=' instead, it also matches when value
- is below or above. If the prefix is `<' or `>', only
- match when strictly above or below.
- * text match sets the attribute when the field value matches
- the text. Text matches can only be used for "alignment",
- "carrying-capacity", "hunger", "dungeon-level", and "ti-
- tle". For title, only the role's rank title is tested;
the character's name is ignored.
- The in-game options menu can help you determine the correct
+ The in-game options menu can help you determine the correct
syntax for a configuration file.
- The whole feature can be disabled by setting option sta-
+ The whole feature can be disabled by setting option sta-
tushilites to 0.
Example hilites:
NetHack can load entire symbol sets from the symbol file.
- The options that are used to select a particular symbol set
+ The options that are used to select a particular symbol set
from the symbol file are:
symset
Set the name of the symbol set that you want to load.
roguesymset
- Set the name of the symbol set that you want to load for dis-
+ Set the name of the symbol set that you want to load for dis-
play on the rogue level.
- You can also override one or more symbols using the SYMBOLS
- and ROGUESYMBOLS configuration file options. Symbols are speci-
+ You can also override one or more symbols using the SYMBOLS
+ and ROGUESYMBOLS configuration file options. Symbols are speci-
fied as name:value pairs. Note that NetHack escape-processes the
- value string in conventional C fashion. This means that \ is a
- prefix to take the following character literally. Thus \ needs
- to be represented as \\. The special prefix form \m switches on
- the meta bit in the symbol value, and the ^ prefix causes the
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 91
-
-
-
+ value string in conventional C fashion. This means that \ is a
+ prefix to take the following character literally. Thus \ needs
+ to be represented as \\. The special prefix form \m switches on
+ the meta bit in the symbol value, and the ^ prefix causes the
following character to be treated as a control character.
NetHack Symbols
A S_angel (angelic being)
a S_ant (ant or other insect)
^ S_anti_magic_trap (anti-magic field)
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 92
+
+
+
[ S_armor (suit or piece of armor)
[ S_armour (suit or piece of armor)
^ S_arrow_trap (arrow trap)
S_expl_mc (explosion middle center)
| S_expl_mr (explosion middle right)
\ S_expl_bl (explosion bottom left)
-
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 92
-
-
-
- S_expl_bc (explosion bottom center)
/ S_expl_br (explosion bottom right)
e S_eye (eye or sphere)
{ S_fountain (fountain)
F S_fungus (fungus or mold)
* S_gem (gem or rock)
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 93
+
+
+
S_ghost (ghost)
H S_giant (giant humanoid)
G S_gnome (gnome)
O S_ogre (ogre)
o S_orc (orc)
p S_piercer (piercer)
-
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 93
-
-
-
^ S_pit (pit)
# S_poisoncloud (poison cloud)
^ S_polymorph_trap (polymorph trap)
= S_ring (ring)
` S_rock (boulder or statue)
r S_rodent (rodent)
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 94
+
+
+
^ S_rolling_boulder_trap (rolling boulder trap)
. S_room (floor of a room)
/ S_rslant (diagonal beam [zap animation])
- S_tuwall (wall)
U S_umber (umber hulk)
S_unexplored (unexplored terrain)
-
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 94
-
-
-
u S_unicorn (unicorn or horse)
< S_upladder (ladder up)
< S_upstair (staircase up)
^ S_vibrating_square (vibrating square)
. S_vodbridge (vertical lowered drawbridge)
- S_vodoor (open door in vertical wall)
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 95
+
+
+
v S_vortex (vortex)
| S_vwall (vertical wall)
/ S_wand (wand)
Notes:
* Several symbols in this table appear to be blank. They are the
- space character, except for S_pet_override and S_hero_override
- which don't have any default value and can only be used if en-
+ space character, except for S_pet_override and S_hero_override
+ which don't have any default value and can only be used if en-
abled in the "sysconf" file.
- * S_rock is misleadingly named; rocks and stones use S_gem.
- Statues and boulders are the rock being referred to, but since
- version 3.6.0, statues are displayed as the monster they de-
- pict. So S_rock is only used for boulders and not used at all
+ * S_rock is misleadingly named; rocks and stones use S_gem.
+ Statues and boulders are the rock being referred to, but since
+ version 3.6.0, statues are displayed as the monster they de-
+ pict. So S_rock is only used for boulders and not used at all
if overridden by the more specific S_boulder.
- 9.15. Configuring NetHack for Play by the Blind
+ 9.15. Customizing Map Glyph Representations Using Unicode
- NetHack can be set up to use only standard ASCII characters
- for making maps of the dungeons. This makes the MS-DOS versions
- of NetHack completely accessible to the blind who use speech
- and/or Braille access technologies. Players will require a good
- working knowledge of their screen-reader's review features, and
- will have to know how to navigate horizontally and vertically
- character by character. They will also find the search capabili-
- ties of their screen-readers to be quite valuable. Be certain to
- examine this Guidebook before playing so you have an idea what
- the screen layout is like. You'll also need to be able to locate
- the PC cursor. It is always where your character is located.
+ If your platform or terminal supports the display of UTF-8
+ character sequences, you can customize your game display by as-
+ signing Unicode codepoint values and red-green-blue colors to
+ glyph representations. The customizations can be specified for
+ use with a symset that has a UTF8 handler within the symbols file
+ such as the enhanced1 set, or individually within your nethack.rc
+ file.
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ The format for defining a glyph representation is:
+ OPTIONS=glyph:glyphidU+nnnn/R-G-B
+ The window port that is active needs to provide support for
+ displaying UTF-8 character sequences and explicit red-green-blue
+ colors in order for the glyph representation to be visible. For
+ example, the following line in your configuration file will cause
+ the glyph representation for glyphid G_pool to use Unicode code-
+ point U+224B and the color represented by R-G-B value 0-0-160
+ OPTIONS=glyph:G_pool/U+224B/0-0-160
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack Guidebook 95
- Merely searching for an @-sign will not always find your charac-
+ NetHack Guidebook 96
+
+
+
+ The list of acceptable glyphid's can be produced by nethack
+ --dumpglyphids. Individual NetHack glyphs can be specified using
+ the G_ prefix, or you can use an S_ symbol for a glyphid and
+ store the custom representation for all NetHack glyphs that would
+ map to that particular symbol.
+
+ You will need to select a symset with a UTF8 handler to enable
+ the display of the customizations, such as the Enhanced symset.
+
+ 9.16. Configuring NetHack for Play by the Blind
+
+ NetHack can be set up to use only standard ASCII characters
+ for making maps of the dungeons. This makes the MS-DOS versions
+ of NetHack completely accessible to the blind who use speech
+ and/or Braille access technologies. Players will require a good
+ working knowledge of their screen-reader's review features, and
+ will have to know how to navigate horizontally and vertically
+ character by character. They will also find the search capabili-
+ ties of their screen-readers to be quite valuable. Be certain to
+ examine this Guidebook before playing so you have an idea what
+ the screen layout is like. You'll also need to be able to locate
+ the PC cursor. It is always where your character is located.
+ Merely searching for an @-sign will not always find your charac-
ter since there are other humanoids represented by the same sign.
- Your screen-reader should also have a function which gives you
- the row and column of your review cursor and the PC cursor.
- These co-ordinates are often useful in giving players a better
+ Your screen-reader should also have a function which gives you
+ the row and column of your review cursor and the PC cursor.
+ These co-ordinates are often useful in giving players a better
sense of the overall location of items on the screen.
- NetHack can also be compiled with support for sending the
- game messages to an external program, such as a text-to-speech
- synthesizer. If the "#version" extended command shows "external
- program as a message handler", your NetHack has been compiled
+ NetHack can also be compiled with support for sending the
+ game messages to an external program, such as a text-to-speech
+ synthesizer. If the "#version" extended command shows "external
+ program as a message handler", your NetHack has been compiled
with the capability. When compiling NetHack from source on Linux
- and other POSIX systems, define MSGHANDLER to enable it. To use
- the capability, set the environment variable NETHACK_MSGHANDLER
+ and other POSIX systems, define MSGHANDLER to enable it. To use
+ the capability, set the environment variable NETHACK_MSGHANDLER
to an executable, which will be executed with the game message as
the program's only parameter.
- The most crucial settings to make the game more accessible
+ The most crucial settings to make the game more accessible
are:
symset:plain
Show menus on a cleared screen and aligned to the left edge.
number_pad
- A lot of speech access programs use the number-pad to review
+ A lot of speech access programs use the number-pad to review
the screen. If this is the case, disable the number_pad option
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 97
+
+
+
and use the traditional Rogue-like commands.
paranoid_confirmation:swim
Prevent walking into water or lava.
autodescribe
- Automatically describe the terrain under the cursor when tar-
+ Automatically describe the terrain under the cursor when tar-
geting.
mention_walls
- Give feedback messages when walking towards a wall or when
+ Give feedback messages when walking towards a wall or when
travel command was interrupted.
whatis_coord:compass
- When targeting with cursor, describe the cursor position with
+ When targeting with cursor, describe the cursor position with
coordinates relative to your character.
whatis_filter:area
- When targeting with cursor, filter possible locations so only
- those in the same area (eg. same room, or same corridor) are
+ When targeting with cursor, filter possible locations so only
+ those in the same area (eg. same room, or same corridor) are
considered.
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 96
-
-
-
whatis_moveskip
- When targeting with cursor and using fast-move, skip the same
+ When targeting with cursor and using fast-move, skip the same
glyphs instead of moving 8 units at a time.
nostatus_updates
- Prevent updates to the status lines at the bottom of the
- screen, if your screen-reader reads those lines. The same in-
+ Prevent updates to the status lines at the bottom of the
+ screen, if your screen-reader reads those lines. The same in-
formation can be seen via the "#attributes" command.
- 9.16. Global Configuration for System Administrators
+ 9.17. Global Configuration for System Administrators
- If NetHack is compiled with the SYSCF option, a system ad-
- ministrator should set up a global configuration; this is a file
+ If NetHack is compiled with the SYSCF option, a system ad-
+ ministrator should set up a global configuration; this is a file
in the same format as the traditional per-user configuration file
(see above). This file should be named sysconf and placed in the
- same directory as the other NetHack support files. The options
+ same directory as the other NetHack support files. The options
recognized in this file are listed below. Any option not set us-
- es a compiled-in default (which may not be appropriate for your
+ es a compiled-in default (which may not be appropriate for your
system).
- WIZARDS = A space-separated list of user names who are allowed
+ WIZARDS = A space-separated list of user names who are allowed
to play in debug mode (commonly referred to as wizard mode). A
value of a single asterisk (*) allows anyone to start a game in
debug mode.
SHELLERS = A list of users who are allowed to use the shell es-
cape command (!). The syntax is the same as WIZARDS.
- EXPLORERS = A list of users who are allowed to use the explore
+ EXPLORERS = A list of users who are allowed to use the explore
mode. The syntax is the same as WIZARDS.
- MAXPLAYERS = Limit the maximum number of games that can be run-
- ning at the same time.
- SAVEFORMAT = A list of up to two save file formats separated by
- space. The first format in the list will written as well as
- read. The second format will be read only if no save file in
- the first format exists. Valid choices are "historical" for
- binary writing of entire structs, "lendian" for binary writing
- of each field in little-endian order, "ascii" for writing the
- save file content in ascii text.
- BONESFORMAT = A list of up to two bones file formats separated
- by space. The first format in the list will written as well as
- read. The second format will be read only if no bones files in
- the first format exist. Valid choices are "historical" for bi-
- nary writing of entire structs, "lendian" for binary writing of
- each field in little-endian order, "ascii" for writing the
- bones file content in ascii text.
- SUPPORT = A string explaining how to get local support (no de-
- fault value).
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack Guidebook 98
+ MAXPLAYERS = Limit the maximum number of games that can be run-
+ ning at the same time.
- NetHack Guidebook 97
+ SAVEFORMAT = A list of up to two save file formats separated by
+ space. The first format in the list will written as well as
+ read. The second format will be read only if no save file in
+ the first format exists. Valid choices are "historical" for
+ binary writing of entire structs, "lendian" for binary writing
+ of each field in little-endian order, "ascii" for writing the
+ save file content in ascii text.
+ BONESFORMAT = A list of up to two bones file formats separated
+ by space. The first format in the list will written as well as
+ read. The second format will be read only if no bones files in
+ the first format exist. Valid choices are "historical" for bi-
+ nary writing of entire structs, "lendian" for binary writing of
+ each field in little-endian order, "ascii" for writing the
+ bones file content in ascii text.
+ SUPPORT = A string explaining how to get local support (no de-
+ fault value).
- RECOVER = A string explaining how to recover a game on this
+ RECOVER = A string explaining how to recover a game on this
system (no default value).
- SEDUCE = 0 or 1 to disable or enable, respectively, the SEDUCE
+ SEDUCE = 0 or 1 to disable or enable, respectively, the SEDUCE
option. When disabled, incubi and succubi behave like nymphs.
- CHECK_PLNAME = Setting this to 1 will make the EXPLORERS, WIZ-
+ CHECK_PLNAME = Setting this to 1 will make the EXPLORERS, WIZ-
ARDS, and SHELLERS check for the player name instead of the us-
er's login name.
CHECK_SAVE_UID = 0 or 1 to disable or enable, respectively, the
- UID (used identification number) checking for save files (to
- verify that the user who is restoring is the same one who
+ UID (used identification number) checking for save files (to
+ verify that the user who is restoring is the same one who
saved).
The following four options affect the score file:
ENTRYMAX = Maximum number of entries in the score file.
- POINTSMIN = Minimum number of points to get an entry in the
+ POINTSMIN = Minimum number of points to get an entry in the
score file.
- PERS_IS_UID = 0 or 1 to use user names or numeric userids, re-
+ PERS_IS_UID = 0 or 1 to use user names or numeric userids, re-
spectively, to identify unique people for the score file.
- MAX_STATUENAME_RANK = Maximum number of score file entries to
+ MAX_STATUENAME_RANK = Maximum number of score file entries to
use for random statue names (default is 10).
- ACCESSIBILITY = 0 or 1 to disable or enable, respectively, the
- ability for players to set S_pet_override and S_hero_override
+ ACCESSIBILITY = 0 or 1 to disable or enable, respectively, the
+ ability for players to set S_pet_override and S_hero_override
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 99
+
+
+
symbols in their configuration file.
- PORTABLE_DEVICE_PATHS = 0 or 1 Windows OS only, the game will
- look for all of its external files, and write to all of its
- output files in one place rather than at the standard loca-
+ PORTABLE_DEVICE_PATHS = 0 or 1 Windows OS only, the game will
+ look for all of its external files, and write to all of its
+ output files in one place rather than at the standard loca-
tions.
DUMPLOGFILE = A filename where the end-of-game dumplog is
- saved. Not defining this will prevent dumplog from being cre-
- ated. Only available if your game is compiled with DUMPLOG.
+ saved. Not defining this will prevent dumplog from being cre-
+ ated. Only available if your game is compiled with DUMPLOG.
Allows the following placeholders:
%% - literal `%'
%n - player name
%N - first character of player name
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 98
-
-
-
- LIVELOG = A bit-mask of types of events that should be written
+ LIVELOG = A bit-mask of types of events that should be written
to the livelog file if one is present. The sample sysconf file
- accompanying the program contains a comment which lists the
- meaning of the various bits used. Intended for server systems
- supporting simultaneous play by multiple players (to be clear,
+ accompanying the program contains a comment which lists the
+ meaning of the various bits used. Intended for server systems
+ supporting simultaneous play by multiple players (to be clear,
each one running a separate single player game), for displaying
their game progress to observers. Only relevant if the program
- was built with LIVELOG enabled. When available, it should be
- left commented out on single player installations because over
+ was built with LIVELOG enabled. When available, it should be
+ left commented out on single player installations because over
time the file could grow to be extremely large unless it is ac-
tively maintained.
10. Scoring
- NetHack maintains a list of the top scores or scorers on
+ NetHack maintains a list of the top scores or scorers on
your machine, depending on how it is set up. In the latter case,
- each account on the machine can post only one non-winning score
- on this list. If you score higher than someone else on this
- list, or better your previous score, you will be inserted in the
- proper place under your current name. How many scores are kept
+ each account on the machine can post only one non-winning score
+ on this list. If you score higher than someone else on this
+ list, or better your previous score, you will be inserted in the
+ proper place under your current name. How many scores are kept
can also be set up when NetHack is compiled.
- Your score is chiefly based upon how much experience you
+ Your score is chiefly based upon how much experience you
gained, how much loot you accumulated, how deep you explored, and
how the game ended. If you quit the game, you escape with all of
- your gold intact. If, however, you get killed in the Mazes of
+ your gold intact. If, however, you get killed in the Mazes of
Menace, the guild will only hear about 90% of your gold when your
- corpse is discovered (adventurers have been known to collect
- finder's fees). So, consider whether you want to take one last
- hit at that monster and possibly live, or quit and stop with
- whatever you have. If you quit, you keep all your gold, but if
+ corpse is discovered (adventurers have been known to collect
+ finder's fees). So, consider whether you want to take one last
+ hit at that monster and possibly live, or quit and stop with
+ whatever you have. If you quit, you keep all your gold, but if
you swing and live, you might find more.
- If you just want to see what the current top players/games
- list is, you can type nethack -s all on most versions.
- 11. Explore mode
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack is an intricate and difficult game. Novices might
- falter in fear, aware of their ignorance of the means to survive.
- Well, fear not. Your dungeon comes equipped with an "explore" or
- "discovery" mode that enables you to keep old save files and
- cheat death, at the paltry cost of not getting on the high score
- list.
- There are two ways of enabling explore mode. One is to
- start the game with the -X command-line switch or with the play-
- mode:explore option. The other is to issue the "#exploremode"
- extended command while already playing the game. Starting a new
- game in explore mode provides your character with a wand of wish-
- ing in initial inventory; switching during play does not. The
- other benefits of explore mode are left for the trepid reader to
- discover.
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
+ NetHack Guidebook 100
+ If you just want to see what the current top players/games
+ list is, you can type nethack -s all on most versions.
- NetHack Guidebook 99
+ 11. Explore mode
+ NetHack is an intricate and difficult game. Novices might
+ falter in fear, aware of their ignorance of the means to survive.
+ Well, fear not. Your dungeon comes equipped with an "explore" or
+ "discovery" mode that enables you to keep old save files and
+ cheat death, at the paltry cost of not getting on the high score
+ list.
+ There are two ways of enabling explore mode. One is to
+ start the game with the -X command-line switch or with the play-
+ mode:explore option. The other is to issue the "#exploremode"
+ extended command while already playing the game. Starting a new
+ game in explore mode provides your character with a wand of wish-
+ ing in initial inventory; switching during play does not. The
+ other benefits of explore mode are left for the trepid reader to
+ discover.
11.1. Debug mode
Debug mode, also known as wizard mode, is undocumented aside
- from this brief description and the various "debug mode only"
- commands listed among the command descriptions. It is intended
+ from this brief description and the various "debug mode only"
+ commands listed among the command descriptions. It is intended
for tracking down problems within the program rather than to pro-
- vide god-like powers to your character, and players who attempt
- debugging are expected to figure out how to use it themselves.
- It is initiated by starting the game with the -D command-line
+ vide god-like powers to your character, and players who attempt
+ debugging are expected to figure out how to use it themselves.
+ It is initiated by starting the game with the -D command-line
switch or with the playmode:debug option.
- For some systems, the player must be logged in under a par-
- ticular user name to be allowed to use debug mode; for others,
- the hero must be given a particular character name (but may be
- any role; there's no connection between "wizard mode" and the
- Wizard role). Attempting to start a game in debug mode when not
- allowed or not available will result in falling back to explore
+ For some systems, the player must be logged in under a par-
+ ticular user name to be allowed to use debug mode; for others,
+ the hero must be given a particular character name (but may be
+ any role; there's no connection between "wizard mode" and the
+ Wizard role). Attempting to start a game in debug mode when not
+ allowed or not available will result in falling back to explore
mode instead.
12. Credits
- The original hack game was modeled on the Berkeley UNIX
- rogue game. Large portions of this document were shamelessly
- cribbed from A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom, by Michael C. Toy
- and Kenneth C. R. C. Arnold. Small portions were adapted from
+ The original hack game was modeled on the Berkeley UNIX
+ rogue game. Large portions of this document were shamelessly
+ cribbed from A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom, by Michael C. Toy
+ and Kenneth C. R. C. Arnold. Small portions were adapted from
Further Exploration of the Dungeons of Doom, by Ken Arromdee.
NetHack is the product of literally scores of people's work.
- Main events in the course of the game development are described
+ Main events in the course of the game development are described
below:
- Jay Fenlason wrote the original Hack, with help from Kenny
+ Jay Fenlason wrote the original Hack, with help from Kenny
Woodland, Mike Thome, and Jon Payne.
- Andries Brouwer did a major re-write while at Stichting
- Mathematisch Centrum (now Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica), trans-
- forming Hack into a very different game. He published the Hack
- source code for use on UNIX systems by posting that to Usenet
- newsgroup net.sources (later renamed comp.sources) releasing ver-
- sion 1.0 in December of 1984, then versions 1.0.1, 1.0.2, and fi-
- nally 1.0.3 in July of 1985. Usenet newsgroup net.games.hack
- (later renamed rec.games.hack, eventually replaced by
- rec.games.roguelike.nethack) was created for discussing it.
-
- Don G. Kneller ported Hack 1.0.3 to Microsoft C and MS-DOS,
- producing PC HACK 1.01e, added support for DEC Rainbow graphics
- in version 1.03g, and went on to produce at least four more ver-
- sions (3.0, 3.2, 3.51, and 3.6; note that these are old Hack ver-
- sion numbers, not contemporary NetHack ones).
-
- R. Black ported PC HACK 3.51 to Lattice C and the Atari
- 520/1040ST, producing ST Hack 1.03.
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack Guidebook 101
- NetHack Guidebook 100
+ Andries Brouwer did a major re-write while at Stichting
+ Mathematisch Centrum (now Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica), trans-
+ forming Hack into a very different game. He published the Hack
+ source code for use on UNIX systems by posting that to Usenet
+ newsgroup net.sources (later renamed comp.sources) releasing ver-
+ sion 1.0 in December of 1984, then versions 1.0.1, 1.0.2, and fi-
+ nally 1.0.3 in July of 1985. Usenet newsgroup net.games.hack
+ (later renamed rec.games.hack, eventually replaced by
+ rec.games.roguelike.nethack) was created for discussing it.
+ Don G. Kneller ported Hack 1.0.3 to Microsoft C and MS-DOS,
+ producing PC HACK 1.01e, added support for DEC Rainbow graphics
+ in version 1.03g, and went on to produce at least four more ver-
+ sions (3.0, 3.2, 3.51, and 3.6; note that these are old Hack ver-
+ sion numbers, not contemporary NetHack ones).
+ R. Black ported PC HACK 3.51 to Lattice C and the Atari
+ 520/1040ST, producing ST Hack 1.03.
Mike Stephenson merged these various versions back together,
- incorporating many of the added features, and produced NetHack
- version 1.4 in 1987. He then coordinated a cast of thousands in
+ incorporating many of the added features, and produced NetHack
+ version 1.4 in 1987. He then coordinated a cast of thousands in
enhancing and debugging NetHack 1.4 and released NetHack versions
- 2.2 and 2.3. Like Hack, they were released by posting their
- source code to Usenet where they remained available in various
- archives accessible via ftp and uucp after expiring from the
+ 2.2 and 2.3. Like Hack, they were released by posting their
+ source code to Usenet where they remained available in various
+ archives accessible via ftp and uucp after expiring from the
newsgroup.
- Later, Mike coordinated a major re-write of the game, head-
- ing a team which included Ken Arromdee, Jean-Christophe Collet,
- Steve Creps, Eric Hendrickson, Izchak Miller, Eric S. Raymond,
- John Rupley, Mike Threepoint, and Janet Walz, to produce NetHack
+ Later, Mike coordinated a major re-write of the game, head-
+ ing a team which included Ken Arromdee, Jean-Christophe Collet,
+ Steve Creps, Eric Hendrickson, Izchak Miller, Eric S. Raymond,
+ John Rupley, Mike Threepoint, and Janet Walz, to produce NetHack
3.0c.
- NetHack 3.0 was ported to the Atari by Eric R. Smith, to
- OS/2 by Timo Hakulinen, and to VMS by David Gentzel. The three
+ NetHack 3.0 was ported to the Atari by Eric R. Smith, to
+ OS/2 by Timo Hakulinen, and to VMS by David Gentzel. The three
of them and Kevin Darcy later joined the main NetHack Development
Team to produce subsequent revisions of 3.0.
- Olaf Seibert ported NetHack 2.3 and 3.0 to the Amiga. Norm
- Meluch, Stephen Spackman and Pierre Martineau designed overlay
- code for PC NetHack 3.0. Johnny Lee ported NetHack 3.0 to the
- Macintosh. Along with various other Dungeoneers, they continued
- to enhance the PC, Macintosh, and Amiga ports through the later
+ Olaf Seibert ported NetHack 2.3 and 3.0 to the Amiga. Norm
+ Meluch, Stephen Spackman and Pierre Martineau designed overlay
+ code for PC NetHack 3.0. Johnny Lee ported NetHack 3.0 to the
+ Macintosh. Along with various other Dungeoneers, they continued
+ to enhance the PC, Macintosh, and Amiga ports through the later
revisions of 3.0.
- Version 3.0 went through ten relatively rapidly released
- "patch-level" revisions. Versions at the time were known as 3.0
- for the base release and variously as "3.0a" through "3.0j",
- "3.0 patchlevel 1" through "3.0 patchlevel 10", or "3.0pl1"
+ Version 3.0 went through ten relatively rapidly released
+ "patch-level" revisions. Versions at the time were known as 3.0
+ for the base release and variously as "3.0a" through "3.0j",
+ "3.0 patchlevel 1" through "3.0 patchlevel 10", or "3.0pl1"
through "3.0pl10" rather than 3.0.0 and 3.0.1 through 3.0.10; the
three component numbering scheme began to be used with 3.1.0.
- Headed by Mike Stephenson and coordinated by Izchak Miller
- and Janet Walz, the NetHack Development Team which now included
- Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jean-Christophe Collet, Kevin Darcy,
- Matt Day, Timo Hakulinen, Steve Linhart, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin,
- Eric Raymond, and Eric Smith undertook a radical revision of 3.0.
- They re-structured the game's design, and re-wrote major parts of
- the code. They added multiple dungeons, a new display, special
- individual character quests, a new endgame and many other new
- features, and produced NetHack 3.1. Version 3.1.0 was released
- in January of 1993.
- Ken Lorber, Gregg Wonderly and Greg Olson, with help from
- Richard Addison, Mike Passaretti, and Olaf Seibert, developed
- NetHack 3.1 for the Amiga.
- Norm Meluch and Kevin Smolkowski, with help from Carl Sche-
- lin, Stephen Spackman, Steve VanDevender, and Paul Winner, ported
- NetHack 3.1 to the PC.
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack Guidebook 102
- NetHack Guidebook 101
+ Headed by Mike Stephenson and coordinated by Izchak Miller
+ and Janet Walz, the NetHack Development Team which now included
+ Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jean-Christophe Collet, Kevin Darcy,
+ Matt Day, Timo Hakulinen, Steve Linhart, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin,
+ Eric Raymond, and Eric Smith undertook a radical revision of 3.0.
+ They re-structured the game's design, and re-wrote major parts of
+ the code. They added multiple dungeons, a new display, special
+ individual character quests, a new endgame and many other new
+ features, and produced NetHack 3.1. Version 3.1.0 was released
+ in January of 1993.
+ Ken Lorber, Gregg Wonderly and Greg Olson, with help from
+ Richard Addison, Mike Passaretti, and Olaf Seibert, developed
+ NetHack 3.1 for the Amiga.
+ Norm Meluch and Kevin Smolkowski, with help from Carl Sche-
+ lin, Stephen Spackman, Steve VanDevender, and Paul Winner, ported
+ NetHack 3.1 to the PC.
Jon W{tte and Hao-yang Wang, with help from Ross Brown, Mike
- Engber, David Hairston, Michael Hamel, Jonathan Handler, Johnny
- Lee, Tim Lennan, Rob Menke, and Andy Swanson, developed NetHack
+ Engber, David Hairston, Michael Hamel, Jonathan Handler, Johnny
+ Lee, Tim Lennan, Rob Menke, and Andy Swanson, developed NetHack
3.1 for the Macintosh, porting it for MPW. Building on their de-
velopment, Bart House added a Think C port.
Timo Hakulinen ported NetHack 3.1 to OS/2. Eric Smith port-
- ed NetHack 3.1 to the Atari. Pat Rankin, with help from Joshua
- Delahunty, was responsible for the VMS version of NetHack 3.1.
+ ed NetHack 3.1 to the Atari. Pat Rankin, with help from Joshua
+ Delahunty, was responsible for the VMS version of NetHack 3.1.
Michael Allison ported NetHack 3.1 to Windows NT.
- Dean Luick, with help from David Cohrs, developed NetHack
+ Dean Luick, with help from David Cohrs, developed NetHack
3.1 for X11. It drew the map as text rather than graphically but
- included nh10.bdf, an optionally used custom X11 font which has
- tiny images in place of letters and punctuation, a precursor of
- tiles. Those images don't extend to individual monster and ob-
- ject types, just replacements for monster and object classes (so
- one custom image for all "a" insects and another for all "[" ar-
+ included nh10.bdf, an optionally used custom X11 font which has
+ tiny images in place of letters and punctuation, a precursor of
+ tiles. Those images don't extend to individual monster and ob-
+ ject types, just replacements for monster and object classes (so
+ one custom image for all "a" insects and another for all "[" ar-
mor and so forth, not separate images for beetles and ants or for
cloaks and boots).
- Warwick Allison wrote a graphically displayed version of
- NetHack for the Atari where the tiny pictures were described as
- "icons" and were distinct for specific types of monsters and ob-
+ Warwick Allison wrote a graphically displayed version of
+ NetHack for the Atari where the tiny pictures were described as
+ "icons" and were distinct for specific types of monsters and ob-
jects rather than just their classes. He contributed them to the
- NetHack Development Team which rechristened them "tiles", origi-
- nal usage which has subsequently been picked up by various other
- games. NetHack's tiles support was then implemented on other
- platforms (initially MS-DOS but eventually Windows, Qt, and X11
+ NetHack Development Team which rechristened them "tiles", origi-
+ nal usage which has subsequently been picked up by various other
+ games. NetHack's tiles support was then implemented on other
+ platforms (initially MS-DOS but eventually Windows, Qt, and X11
too).
The 3.2 NetHack Development Team, comprised of Michael Alli-
son, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Steve Creps, Kevin
Darcy, Timo Hakulinen, Steve Linhart, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Er-
- ic Smith, Mike Stephenson, Janet Walz, and Paul Winner, released
- version 3.2.0 in April of 1996.
+ ic Smith, Mike Stephenson, Janet Walz, and Paul Winner, released
- Version 3.2 marked the tenth anniversary of the formation of
- the development team. In a testament to their dedication to the
- game, all thirteen members of the original NetHack Development
- Team remained on the team at the start of work on that release.
- During the interval between the release of 3.1.3 and 3.2.0, one
- of the founding members of the NetHack Development Team, Dr.
- Izchak Miller, was diagnosed with cancer and passed away. That
- release of the game was dedicated to him by the development and
- porting teams.
- Version 3.2 proved to be more stable than previous versions.
- Many bugs were fixed, abuses eliminated, and game features tuned
- for better game play.
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
- During the lifespan of NetHack 3.1 and 3.2, several enthusi-
- asts of the game added their own modifications to the game and
- made these "variants" publicly available:
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack Guidebook 103
+ version 3.2.0 in April of 1996.
- NetHack Guidebook 102
+ Version 3.2 marked the tenth anniversary of the formation of
+ the development team. In a testament to their dedication to the
+ game, all thirteen members of the original NetHack Development
+ Team remained on the team at the start of work on that release.
+ During the interval between the release of 3.1.3 and 3.2.0, one
+ of the founding members of the NetHack Development Team, Dr.
+ Izchak Miller, was diagnosed with cancer and passed away. That
+ release of the game was dedicated to him by the development and
+ porting teams.
+ Version 3.2 proved to be more stable than previous versions.
+ Many bugs were fixed, abuses eliminated, and game features tuned
+ for better game play.
+ During the lifespan of NetHack 3.1 and 3.2, several enthusi-
+ asts of the game added their own modifications to the game and
+ made these "variants" publicly available:
- Tom Proudfoot and Yuval Oren created NetHack++, which was
- quickly renamed NetHack-- when some people incorrectly assumed
- that it was a conversion of the C source code to C++. Working
- independently, Stephen White wrote NetHack Plus. Tom Proudfoot
+ Tom Proudfoot and Yuval Oren created NetHack++, which was
+ quickly renamed NetHack-- when some people incorrectly assumed
+ that it was a conversion of the C source code to C++. Working
+ independently, Stephen White wrote NetHack Plus. Tom Proudfoot
later merged NetHack Plus and his own NetHack-- to produce SLASH.
- Larry Stewart-Zerba and Warwick Allison improved the spell cast-
- ing system with the Wizard Patch. Warwick Allison also ported
+ Larry Stewart-Zerba and Warwick Allison improved the spell cast-
+ ing system with the Wizard Patch. Warwick Allison also ported
NetHack to use the Qt interface.
- Warren Cheung combined SLASH with the Wizard Patch to pro-
- duce Slash'EM, and with the help of Kevin Hugo, added more fea-
- tures. Kevin later joined the NetHack Development Team and in-
+ Warren Cheung combined SLASH with the Wizard Patch to pro-
+ duce Slash'EM, and with the help of Kevin Hugo, added more fea-
+ tures. Kevin later joined the NetHack Development Team and in-
corporated the best of these ideas into NetHack 3.3.
The final update to 3.2 was the bug fix release 3.2.3, which
- was released simultaneously with 3.3.0 in December 1999 just in
- time for the Year 2000. Because of the newer version, 3.2.3 was
- released as a source code patch only, without any ready-to-play
+ was released simultaneously with 3.3.0 in December 1999 just in
+ time for the Year 2000. Because of the newer version, 3.2.3 was
+ released as a source code patch only, without any ready-to-play
distribution for systems that usually had such.
- (To anyone considering resurrecting an old version: all
- versions before 3.2.3 had a Y2K bug. The high scores file and
- the log file contained dates which were formatted using a two-
- digit year, and 1999's year 99 was followed by 2000's year 100.
- That got written out successfully but it unintentionally intro-
- duced an extra column in the file layout which prevented score
- entries from being read back in correctly, interfering with in-
- sertion of new high scores and with retrieval of old character
- names to use for random ghost and statue names in the current
+ (To anyone considering resurrecting an old version: all
+ versions before 3.2.3 had a Y2K bug. The high scores file and
+ the log file contained dates which were formatted using a two-
+ digit year, and 1999's year 99 was followed by 2000's year 100.
+ That got written out successfully but it unintentionally intro-
+ duced an extra column in the file layout which prevented score
+ entries from being read back in correctly, interfering with in-
+ sertion of new high scores and with retrieval of old character
+ names to use for random ghost and statue names in the current
game.)
- The 3.3 NetHack Development Team, consisting of Michael Al-
- lison, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Steve Creps,
- Kevin Darcy, Timo Hakulinen, Kevin Hugo, Steve Linhart, Ken Lor-
- ber, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Eric Smith, Mike Stephenson, Janet
- Walz, and Paul Winner, released 3.3.0 in December 1999 and 3.3.1
- in August of 2000.
+ The 3.3 NetHack Development Team, consisting of Michael Al-
+ lison, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Steve Creps,
+ Kevin Darcy, Timo Hakulinen, Kevin Hugo, Steve Linhart, Ken
- Version 3.3 offered many firsts. It was the first version to
- separate race and profession. The Elf class was removed in pref-
- erence to an elf race, and the races of dwarves, gnomes, and orcs
- made their first appearance in the game alongside the familiar
- human race. Monk and Ranger roles joined Archeologists, Barbar-
- ians, Cavemen, Healers, Knights, Priests, Rogues, Samurai,
- Tourists, Valkyries and of course, Wizards. It was also the
- first version to allow you to ride a steed, and was the first
- version to have a publicly available web-site listing all the
- bugs that had been discovered. Despite that constantly growing
- bug list, 3.3 proved stable enough to last for more than a year
- and a half.
- The 3.4 NetHack Development Team initially consisted of
- Michael Allison, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Kevin
- Hugo, Ken Lorber, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Mike Stephenson, Janet
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack Guidebook 104
- NetHack Guidebook 103
+ Lorber, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Eric Smith, Mike Stephenson,
+ Janet Walz, and Paul Winner, released 3.3.0 in December 1999 and
+ 3.3.1 in August of 2000.
+ Version 3.3 offered many firsts. It was the first version to
+ separate race and profession. The Elf class was removed in pref-
+ erence to an elf race, and the races of dwarves, gnomes, and orcs
+ made their first appearance in the game alongside the familiar
+ human race. Monk and Ranger roles joined Archeologists, Barbar-
+ ians, Cavemen, Healers, Knights, Priests, Rogues, Samurai,
+ Tourists, Valkyries and of course, Wizards. It was also the
+ first version to allow you to ride a steed, and was the first
+ version to have a publicly available web-site listing all the
+ bugs that had been discovered. Despite that constantly growing
+ bug list, 3.3 proved stable enough to last for more than a year
+ and a half.
- Walz, and Paul Winner, with Warwick Allison joining just before
+ The 3.4 NetHack Development Team initially consisted of
+ Michael Allison, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Kevin
+ Hugo, Ken Lorber, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Mike Stephenson, Janet
+ Walz, and Paul Winner, with Warwick Allison joining just before
the release of NetHack 3.4.0 in March 2002.
- As with version 3.3, various people contributed to the game
+ As with version 3.3, various people contributed to the game
as a whole as well as supporting ports on the different platforms
that NetHack runs on:
Pat Rankin maintained 3.4 for VMS.
- Michael Allison maintained NetHack 3.4 for the MS-DOS plat-
+ Michael Allison maintained NetHack 3.4 for the MS-DOS plat-
form. Paul Winner and Yitzhak Sapir provided encouragement.
- Dean Luick, Mark Modrall, and Kevin Hugo maintained and en-
+ Dean Luick, Mark Modrall, and Kevin Hugo maintained and en-
hanced the Macintosh port of 3.4.
- Michael Allison, David Cohrs, Alex Kompel, Dion Nicolaas,
- and Yitzhak Sapir maintained and enhanced 3.4 for the Microsoft
+ Michael Allison, David Cohrs, Alex Kompel, Dion Nicolaas,
+ and Yitzhak Sapir maintained and enhanced 3.4 for the Microsoft
Windows platform. Alex Kompel contributed a new graphical inter-
- face for the Windows port. Alex Kompel also contributed a Win-
+ face for the Windows port. Alex Kompel also contributed a Win-
dows CE port for 3.4.1.
Ron Van Iwaarden was the sole maintainer of NetHack for OS/2
- the past several releases. Unfortunately Ron's last OS/2 machine
- stopped working in early 2006. A great many thanks to Ron for
+ the past several releases. Unfortunately Ron's last OS/2 machine
+ stopped working in early 2006. A great many thanks to Ron for
keeping NetHack alive on OS/2 all these years.
- Janne Salmijarvi and Teemu Suikki maintained and enhanced
- the Amiga port of 3.4 after Janne Salmijarvi resurrected it for
+ Janne Salmijarvi and Teemu Suikki maintained and enhanced
+ the Amiga port of 3.4 after Janne Salmijarvi resurrected it for
3.3.1.
Christian "Marvin" Bressler maintained 3.4 for the Atari af-
ter he resurrected it for 3.3.1.
- The release of NetHack 3.4.3 in December 2003 marked the be-
- ginning of a long release hiatus. 3.4.3 proved to be a remarkably
- stable version that provided continued enjoyment by the community
- for more than a decade. The NetHack Development Team slowly and
- quietly continued to work on the game behind the scenes during
- the tenure of 3.4.3. It was during that same period that several
- new variants emerged within the NetHack community. Notably
- sporkhack by Derek S. Ray, unnethack by Patric Mueller, nitrohack
- and its successors originally by Daniel Thaler and then by Alex
- Smith, and Dynahack by Tung Nguyen. Some of those variants con-
- tinue to be developed, maintained, and enjoyed by the community
- to this day.
- In September 2014, an interim snapshot of the code under de-
- velopment was released publicly by other parties. Since that
- code was a work-in-progress and had not gone through the process
- of debugging it as a suitable release, it was decided that the
- version numbers present on that code snapshot would be retired
- and never used in an official NetHack release. An announcement
- was posted on the NetHack Development Team's official nethack.org
- website to that effect, stating that there would never be a
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- NetHack Guidebook 104
+ NetHack Guidebook 105
+ The release of NetHack 3.4.3 in December 2003 marked the be-
+ ginning of a long release hiatus. 3.4.3 proved to be a remarkably
+ stable version that provided continued enjoyment by the community
+ for more than a decade. The NetHack Development Team slowly and
+ quietly continued to work on the game behind the scenes during
+ the tenure of 3.4.3. It was during that same period that several
+ new variants emerged within the NetHack community. Notably
+ sporkhack by Derek S. Ray, unnethack by Patric Mueller, nitrohack
+ and its successors originally by Daniel Thaler and then by Alex
+ Smith, and Dynahack by Tung Nguyen. Some of those variants con-
+ tinue to be developed, maintained, and enjoyed by the community
+ to this day.
+
+ In September 2014, an interim snapshot of the code under de-
+ velopment was released publicly by other parties. Since that
+ code was a work-in-progress and had not gone through the process
+ of debugging it as a suitable release, it was decided that the
+ version numbers present on that code snapshot would be retired
+ and never used in an official NetHack release. An announcement
+ was posted on the NetHack Development Team's official nethack.org
+ website to that effect, stating that there would never be a
3.4.4, 3.5, or 3.5.0 official release version.
- In January 2015, preparation began for the release of
+ In January 2015, preparation began for the release of
NetHack 3.6.
- At the beginning of development for what would eventually
- get released as 3.6.0, the NetHack Development Team consisted of
- Warwick Allison, Michael Allison, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs,
- Jessie Collet, Ken Lorber, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Mike Stephen-
- son, Janet Walz, and Paul Winner. In early 2015, ahead of the
+ At the beginning of development for what would eventually
+ get released as 3.6.0, the NetHack Development Team consisted of
+ Warwick Allison, Michael Allison, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs,
+ Jessie Collet, Ken Lorber, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Mike Stephen-
+ son, Janet Walz, and Paul Winner. In early 2015, ahead of the
release of 3.6.0, new members Sean Hunt, Pasi Kallinen, and Derek
S. Ray joined the NetHack Development Team.
Near the end of the development of 3.6.0, one of the signif-
- icant inspirations for many of the humorous and fun features
- found in the game, author Terry Pratchett, passed away. NetHack
+ icant inspirations for many of the humorous and fun features
+ found in the game, author Terry Pratchett, passed away. NetHack
3.6.0 introduced a tribute to him.
3.6.0 was released in December 2015, and merged work done by
- the development team since the release of 3.4.3 with some of the
+ the development team since the release of 3.4.3 with some of the
beloved community patches. Many bugs were fixed and some code was
restructured.
- The NetHack Development Team, as well as Steve VanDevender
+ The NetHack Development Team, as well as Steve VanDevender
and Kevin Smolkowski, ensured that NetHack 3.6 continued to oper-
ate on various UNIX flavors and maintained the X11 interface.
- Ken Lorber, Haoyang Wang, Pat Rankin, and Dean Luick main-
+ Ken Lorber, Haoyang Wang, Pat Rankin, and Dean Luick main-
tained the port of NetHack 3.6 for Mac OSX.
- Michael Allison, David Cohrs, Bart House, Pasi Kallinen,
- Alex Kompel, Dion Nicolaas, Derek S. Ray and Yitzhak Sapir main-
+ Michael Allison, David Cohrs, Bart House, Pasi Kallinen,
+ Alex Kompel, Dion Nicolaas, Derek S. Ray and Yitzhak Sapir main-
tained the port of NetHack 3.6 for Microsoft Windows.
- Pat Rankin attempted to keep the VMS port running for
- NetHack 3.6, hindered by limited access. Kevin Smolkowski has up-
- dated and tested it for the most recent version of OpenVMS (V8.4
- as of this writing) on Alpha and Integrity (aka Itanium aka IA64)
- but not VAX.
- Ray Chason resurrected the MS-DOS port for 3.6 and contrib-
- uted the necessary updates to the community at large.
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
- In late April 2018, several hundred bug fixes for 3.6.0 and
- some new features were assembled and released as NetHack 3.6.1.
- The NetHack Development Team at the time of release of 3.6.1 con-
- sisted of Warwick Allison, Michael Allison, Ken Arromdee, David
- Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Pasi Kallinen, Ken Lorber, Dean Luick,
- Patric Mueller, Pat Rankin, Derek S. Ray, Alex Smith, Mike
- Stephenson, Janet Walz, and Paul Winner.
- In early May 2019, another 320 bug fixes along with some en-
- hancements and the adopted curses window port, were released as
- 3.6.2.
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+ NetHack Guidebook 106
+ Pat Rankin attempted to keep the VMS port running for
+ NetHack 3.6, hindered by limited access. Kevin Smolkowski has up-
+ dated and tested it for the most recent version of OpenVMS (V8.4
+ as of this writing) on Alpha and Integrity (aka Itanium aka IA64)
+ but not VAX.
- NetHack Guidebook 105
+ Ray Chason resurrected the MS-DOS port for 3.6 and contrib-
+ uted the necessary updates to the community at large.
+ In late April 2018, several hundred bug fixes for 3.6.0 and
+ some new features were assembled and released as NetHack 3.6.1.
+ The NetHack Development Team at the time of release of 3.6.1 con-
+ sisted of Warwick Allison, Michael Allison, Ken Arromdee, David
+ Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Pasi Kallinen, Ken Lorber, Dean Luick,
+ Patric Mueller, Pat Rankin, Derek S. Ray, Alex Smith, Mike
+ Stephenson, Janet Walz, and Paul Winner.
+ In early May 2019, another 320 bug fixes along with some en-
+ hancements and the adopted curses window port, were released as
+ 3.6.2.
- Bart House, who had contributed to the game as a porting
+ Bart House, who had contributed to the game as a porting
team participant for decades, joined the NetHack Development Team
in late May 2019.
- NetHack 3.6.3 was released on December 5, 2019 containing
+ NetHack 3.6.3 was released on December 5, 2019 containing
over 190 bug fixes to NetHack 3.6.2.
NetHack 3.6.4 was released on December 18, 2019 containing a
security fix and a few bug fixes.
- NetHack 3.6.5 was released on January 27, 2020 containing
+ NetHack 3.6.5 was released on January 27, 2020 containing
some security fixes and a small number of bug fixes.
NetHack 3.6.6 was released on March 8, 2020 containing a se-
12.1. Special Thanks
On behalf of the NetHack community, thank you very much once
- again to M. Drew Streib and Pasi Kallinen for providing a public
- NetHack server at nethack.alt.org. Thanks to Keith Simpson and
+ again to M. Drew Streib and Pasi Kallinen for providing a public
+ NetHack server at nethack.alt.org. Thanks to Keith Simpson and
Andy Thomson for hardfought.org. Thanks to all those unnamed dun-
- geoneers who invest their time and effort into annual NetHack
- tournaments such as Junethack, The November NetHack Tournament,
- and in days past, devnull.net (gone for now, but not forgotten).
+ geoneers who invest their time and effort into annual NetHack
+ tournaments such as Junethack, The November NetHack Tournament,
+ and in days past, devnull.net (gone for now, but not forgotten).
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 107
12.2. Dungeoneers
- From time to time, some depraved individual out there in
- netland sends a particularly intriguing modification to help out
+ From time to time, some depraved individual out there in
+ netland sends a particularly intriguing modification to help out
with the game. The NetHack Development Team sometimes makes note
- of the names of the worst of these miscreants in this, the list
+ of the names of the worst of these miscreants in this, the list
of Dungeoneers:
Adam Aronow J. Ali Harlow Mikko Juola
Bill Dyer Jon W{tte Ray Chason
Boudewijn Waijers Jonathan Handler Richard Addison
Bruce Cox Joshua Delahunty Richard Beigel
-
-
-
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
-
-
-
-
-
- NetHack Guidebook 106
-
-
-
Bruce Holloway Karl Garrison Richard P. Hughey
Bruce Mewborne Keizo Yamamoto Rob Menke
Carl Schelin Keith Simpson Robin Bandy
- Brand and product names are trademarks or registered trade-
+
+
+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+ NetHack Guidebook 108
+
+
+
+ Brand and product names are trademarks or registered trade-
marks of their respective holders.
- NetHack 3.7 February 27, 2022
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+
+ NetHack 3.7 May 7, 2022
projects / nethack / commitdiff