return to the game. Default key is `!'.
#showgold
- Report the gold in your inventory and if you are inside a
- shop, report any credit or debt you have in that shop. Does
- not report on any gold inside containers you're carrying.
- Default key is `$'.
+ Report the gold in your inventory, including gold you know
+ about in containers you're carrying. If you are inside a
+ shop, report any credit or debt you have in that shop. De-
+ fault key is `$'.
#showspells
List and reorder known spells. Default key is `+'.
not accept it.)
The `$' command, which reports the amount of gold you are
- carrying (in inventory, not inside bags or boxes), will also show
- current shop debt or credit, if any. The "Iu" command lists un-
- paid items (those which still belong to the shop) if you are car-
- rying any. The "Ix" command shows an inventory-like display of
- any unpaid items which have been used up, along with other shop
- fees, if any.
+ carrying, will also show current shop debt or credit, if any.
+ The "Iu" command lists unpaid items (those which still belong to
+ the shop) if you are carrying any. The "Ix" command shows an in-
+ ventory-like display of any unpaid items which have been used up,
+ along with other shop fees, if any.
5.4.1. Shop idiosyncrasies
* The price of a given item can vary due to a variety of factors.
- * A shopkeeper treats the spot immediately inside the door as if
+ * A shopkeeper treats the spot immediately inside the door as if
it were outside the shop.
- * While the shopkeeper watches you like a hawk, he or she will
+ * While the shopkeeper watches you like a hawk, he or she will
generally ignore any other customers.
- * If a shop is "closed for inventory," it will not open of its
+ * If a shop is "closed for inventory," it will not open of its
own accord.
* Shops do not get restocked with new items, regardless of inven-
tory depletion.
+
NetHack 3.7 October 27, 2022
5.5. Movement feedback
- Moving around the map usually provides no feedback--other
- than drawing the hero at the new location--unless you step on an
- object or pile of objects, or on a trap, or attempt to move onto
- a spot where a monster is located. There are several options
+ Moving around the map usually provides no feedback--other
+ than drawing the hero at the new location--unless you step on an
+ object or pile of objects, or on a trap, or attempt to move onto
+ a spot where a monster is located. There are several options
which can be used to augment the normal feedback.
- The pile_limit option controls how many objects can be in a
+ The pile_limit option controls how many objects can be in a
pile--sharing the same map location--for the game to state "there
- are objects here" instead of listing them. The default is 5.
+ are objects here" instead of listing them. The default is 5.
Setting it to 1 would always give that message instead of listing
any objects. Setting it to 0 is a special case which will always
list all objects no matter how big a pile is. Note that the num-
- ber refers to the count of separate stacks of objects present
- rather than the sum of the quantities of those stacks (so 7 ar-
- rows or 25 gold pieces will each count as 1 rather than as 7 and
- 25, respectively, and total to 2 when both are at the same loca-
+ ber refers to the count of separate stacks of objects present
+ rather than the sum of the quantities of those stacks (so 7 ar-
+ rows or 25 gold pieces will each count as 1 rather than as 7 and
+ 25, respectively, and total to 2 when both are at the same loca-
tion).
- The "nopickup" command prefix (default `m') can be used be-
- fore a movement direction to step on objects without attempting
+ The "nopickup" command prefix (default `m') can be used be-
+ fore a movement direction to step on objects without attempting
auto-pickup and without giving feedback about them.
- The mention_walls option controls whether you get feedback
- if you try to walk into a wall or solid stone or off the edge of
- the map. Normally nothing happens (unless the hero is blind and
+ The mention_walls option controls whether you get feedback
+ if you try to walk into a wall or solid stone or off the edge of
+ the map. Normally nothing happens (unless the hero is blind and
no wall is shown, then the wall that is being bumped into will be
- drawn on the map). This option also gives feedback when rushing
+ drawn on the map). This option also gives feedback when rushing
or running stops for some non-obvious reason.
- The mention_decor option controls whether you get feedback
- when walking on "furniture." Normally stepping onto stairs or a
- fountain or an altar or various other things doesn't elicit any-
- thing unless it is covered by one or more objects so is obscured
- on the map. Setting this option to true will describe such
- things even when they aren't obscured. Doorless doorways and
- open doors aren't considered worthy of mention; closed doors (if
- you can move onto their spots) and broken doors are. Assuming
- that you're able to do so, moving onto water or lava or ice will
- give feedback if not yet on that type of terrain but not repeat
- it (unless there has been some intervening message) when moving
+ The mention_decor option controls whether you get feedback
+ when walking on "furniture." Normally stepping onto stairs or a
+ fountain or an altar or various other things doesn't elicit any-
+ thing unless it is covered by one or more objects so is obscured
+ on the map. Setting this option to true will describe such
+ things even when they aren't obscured. Doorless doorways and
+ open doors aren't considered worthy of mention; closed doors (if
+ you can move onto their spots) and broken doors are. Assuming
+ that you're able to do so, moving onto water or lava or ice will
+ give feedback if not yet on that type of terrain but not repeat
+ it (unless there has been some intervening message) when moving
from water to another water spot, or lava to lava, or ice to ice.
- Moving off of any of those back onto "normal" terrain will give
- one message too, unless there is feedback about one or more ob-
+ Moving off of any of those back onto "normal" terrain will give
+ one message too, unless there is feedback about one or more ob-
jects, in which case the back on land circumstance is implied.
- The confirm and safe_pet options control what happens when
- you try to move onto a peaceful monster's spot or a tame one's
+ The confirm and safe_pet options control what happens when
+ you try to move onto a peaceful monster's spot or a tame one's
spot.
- The "nopickup" command prefix (default `m') is also the
+ The "nopickup" command prefix (default `m') is also the
move-without-attacking prefix and can be used to try to step onto
- a visible monster's spot without the move being considered an
+ a visible monster's spot without the move being considered an
NetHack 3.7 October 27, 2022
- attack (see the Fighting subsection of Monsters below). The
- "fight" command prefix (default `F'; also `-' if number_pad is
+ attack (see the Fighting subsection of Monsters below). The
+ "fight" command prefix (default `F'; also `-' if number_pad is
on) can be used to force an attack, when guessing where an unseen
- monster is or when deliberately attacking a peaceful or tame
+ monster is or when deliberately attacking a peaceful or tame
creature.
The run_mode option controls how frequently the map gets re-
5.6. Rogue level
- One dungeon level (occurring in mid to late teens of the
- main dungeon) is a tribute to the ancestor game hack's inspira-
+ One dungeon level (occurring in mid to late teens of the
+ main dungeon) is a tribute to the ancestor game hack's inspira-
tion rogue.
- It is usually displayed differently from other levels: pos-
- sibly in characters instead of tiles, or without line-drawing
+ It is usually displayed differently from other levels: pos-
+ sibly in characters instead of tiles, or without line-drawing
symbols if already in characters; also, gold is shown as * rather
- than $ and stairs are shown as % rather than < and >. There are
- some minor differences in actual game play: doorways lack doors;
- a scroll, wand, or spell of light used in a room lights up the
- whole room rather than within a radius around your character.
- And monsters represented by lower-case letters aren't randomly
+ than $ and stairs are shown as % rather than < and >. There are
+ some minor differences in actual game play: doorways lack doors;
+ a scroll, wand, or spell of light used in a room lights up the
+ whole room rather than within a radius around your character.
+ And monsters represented by lower-case letters aren't randomly
generated on the rogue level.
- The slight strangeness of this level is a feature, not a
+ The slight strangeness of this level is a feature, not a
bug....
6. Monsters
- Monsters you cannot see are not displayed on the screen.
- Beware! You may suddenly come upon one in a dark place. Some
- magic items can help you locate them before they locate you
+ Monsters you cannot see are not displayed on the screen.
+ Beware! You may suddenly come upon one in a dark place. Some
+ magic items can help you locate them before they locate you
(which some monsters can do very well).
- The commands `/' and `;' may be used to obtain information
- about those monsters who are displayed on the screen. The com-
- mand "#name" (by default bound to `C'), allows you to assign a
- name to a monster, which may be useful to help distinguish one
- from another when multiple monsters are present. Assigning a
+ The commands `/' and `;' may be used to obtain information
+ about those monsters who are displayed on the screen. The com-
+ mand "#name" (by default bound to `C'), allows you to assign a
+ name to a monster, which may be useful to help distinguish one
+ from another when multiple monsters are present. Assigning a
name which is just a space will remove any prior name.
The extended command "#chat" can be used to interact with an
adjacent monster. There is no actual dialog (in other words, you
don't get to choose what you'll say), but chatting with some mon-
- sters such as a shopkeeper or the Oracle of Delphi can produce
+ sters such as a shopkeeper or the Oracle of Delphi can produce
useful results.
6.1. Fighting
- If you see a monster and you wish to fight it, just attempt
- to walk into it. Many monsters you find will mind their own
+ If you see a monster and you wish to fight it, just attempt
+ to walk into it. Many monsters you find will mind their own
business unless you attack them. Some of them are very dangerous
when angered. Remember: discretion is the better part of valor.
- In most circumstances, if you attempt to attack a peaceful
- monster by moving into its location, you'll be asked to confirm
- your intent. By default an answer of `y' acknowledges that in-
- tent, which can be error prone if you're using `y' to move. You
+ In most circumstances, if you attempt to attack a peaceful
+ monster by moving into its location, you'll be asked to confirm
+ your intent. By default an answer of `y' acknowledges that in-
+ tent, which can be error prone if you're using `y' to move. You
can set the paranoid_confirmation option to require a response of
"yes" instead.
- If you can't see a monster (if it is invisible, or if you
- are blinded), the symbol `I' will be shown when you learn of its
- presence. If you attempt to walk into it, you will try to fight
- it just like a monster that you can see; of course, if the mon-
+ If you can't see a monster (if it is invisible, or if you
+ are blinded), the symbol `I' will be shown when you learn of its
+ presence. If you attempt to walk into it, you will try to fight
+ it just like a monster that you can see; of course, if the mon-
ster has moved, you will attack empty air. If you guess that the
- monster has moved and you don't wish to fight, you can use the
- `m' command to move without fighting; likewise, if you don't re-
+ monster has moved and you don't wish to fight, you can use the
+ `m' command to move without fighting; likewise, if you don't re-
member a monster but want to try fighting anyway, you can use the
`F' command.
6.2. Your pet
You start the game with a little dog (`d'), kitten (`f'), or
- pony (`u'), which follows you about the dungeon and fights mon-
- sters with you. Like you, your pet needs food to survive. Dogs
- and cats usually feed themselves on fresh carrion and other
- meats; horses need vegetarian food which is harder to come by.
- If you're worried about your pet or want to train it, you can
+ pony (`u'), which follows you about the dungeon and fights mon-
+ sters with you. Like you, your pet needs food to survive. Dogs
+ and cats usually feed themselves on fresh carrion and other
+ meats; horses need vegetarian food which is harder to come by.
+ If you're worried about your pet or want to train it, you can
feed it, too, by throwing it food. A properly trained pet can be
very useful under certain circumstances.
- Your pet also gains experience from killing monsters, and
- can grow over time, gaining hit points and doing more damage.
- Initially, your pet may even be better at killing things than
+ Your pet also gains experience from killing monsters, and
+ can grow over time, gaining hit points and doing more damage.
+ Initially, your pet may even be better at killing things than
you, which makes pets useful for low-level characters.
- Your pet will follow you up and down staircases if it is
- next to you when you move. Otherwise your pet will be stranded
- and may become wild. Similarly, when you trigger certain types
- of traps which alter your location (for instance, a trap door
- which drops you to a lower dungeon level), any adjacent pet will
+ Your pet will follow you up and down staircases if it is
+ next to you when you move. Otherwise your pet will be stranded
+ and may become wild. Similarly, when you trigger certain types
+ of traps which alter your location (for instance, a trap door
+ which drops you to a lower dungeon level), any adjacent pet will
accompany you and any non-adjacent pet will be left behind. Your
- pet may trigger such traps itself; you will not be carried along
+ pet may trigger such traps itself; you will not be carried along
with it even if adjacent at the time.
6.3. Steeds
- Some types of creatures in the dungeon can actually be rid-
+ Some types of creatures in the dungeon can actually be rid-
den if you have the right equipment and skill. Convincing a wild
- beast to let you saddle it up is difficult to say the least.
- Many a dungeoneer has had to resort to magic and wizardry in or-
+ beast to let you saddle it up is difficult to say the least.
+ Many a dungeoneer has had to resort to magic and wizardry in or-
der to forge the alliance. Once you do have the beast under your
- control however, you can easily climb in and out of the saddle
+ control however, you can easily climb in and out of the saddle
with the "#ride" command. Lead the beast around the dungeon when
riding, in the same manner as you would move yourself. It is the
beast that you will see displayed on the map.
- Riding skill is managed by the "#enhance" command. See the
+ Riding skill is managed by the "#enhance" command. See the
section on Weapon proficiency for more information about that.
Use the `a' (apply) command and pick a saddle in your inven-
- tory to attempt to put that saddle on an adjacent creature. If
+ tory to attempt to put that saddle on an adjacent creature. If
successful, it will be transferred to that creature's inventory.
Use the "#loot" command while adjacent to a saddled creature
- to try to remove the saddle from that creature. If successful,
+ to try to remove the saddle from that creature. If successful,
it will be transferred to your inventory.
6.4. Bones levels
- You may encounter the shades and corpses of other adventur-
+ You may encounter the shades and corpses of other adventur-
ers (or even former incarnations of yourself!) and their personal
- effects. Ghosts are hard to kill, but easy to avoid, since
- they're slow and do little damage. You can plunder the deceased
- adventurer's possessions; however, they are likely to be cursed.
+ effects. Ghosts are hard to kill, but easy to avoid, since
+ they're slow and do little damage. You can plunder the deceased
+ adventurer's possessions; however, they are likely to be cursed.
Beware of whatever killed the former player; it is probably still
lurking around, gloating over its last victory.
6.5. Persistence of Monsters
Monsters (a generic reference which also includes humans and
- pets) are only shown while they can be seen or otherwise sensed.
- Moving to a location where you can't see or sense a monster any
- more will result in it disappearing from your map, similarly if
+ pets) are only shown while they can be seen or otherwise sensed.
+ Moving to a location where you can't see or sense a monster any
+ more will result in it disappearing from your map, similarly if
it is the one who moved rather than you.
- However, if you encounter a monster which you can't see or
- sense--perhaps it is invisible and has just tapped you on the
- noggin--a special "remembered, unseen monster" marker will be
- displayed at the location where you think it is. That will per-
- sist until you have proven that there is no monster there, even
- if the unseen monster moves to another location or you move to a
- spot where the marker's location ordinarily wouldn't be seen any
+ However, if you encounter a monster which you can't see or
+ sense--perhaps it is invisible and has just tapped you on the
+ noggin--a special "remembered, unseen monster" marker will be
+ displayed at the location where you think it is. That will per-
+ sist until you have proven that there is no monster there, even
+ if the unseen monster moves to another location or you move to a
+ spot where the marker's location ordinarily wouldn't be seen any
more.
7. Objects
When you find something in the dungeon, it is common to want
to pick it up. In NetHack, this is accomplished by using the `,'
command. If autopickup option is on, you will automatically pick
- up the object by walking over, unless you move with the `m' pre-
+ up the object by walking over, unless you move with the `m' pre-
fix.
- If you're carrying too many items, NetHack will tell you so
- and you won't be able to pick up anything more. Otherwise, it
- will add the object(s) to your pack and tell you what you just
+ If you're carrying too many items, NetHack will tell you so
+ and you won't be able to pick up anything more. Otherwise, it
+ will add the object(s) to your pack and tell you what you just
picked up.
- As you add items to your inventory, you also add the weight
- of that object to your load. The amount that you can carry de-
- pends on your strength and your constitution. The stronger and
- sturdier you are, the less the additional load will affect you.
+ As you add items to your inventory, you also add the weight
+ of that object to your load. The amount that you can carry de-
+ pends on your strength and your constitution. The stronger and
+ sturdier you are, the less the additional load will affect you.
There comes a point, though, when the weight of all of that stuff
- you are carrying around with you through the dungeon will encum-
+ you are carrying around with you through the dungeon will encum-
ber you. Your reactions will get slower and you'll burn calories
- faster, requiring food more frequently to cope with it. Eventu-
- ally, you'll be so overloaded that you'll either have to discard
+ faster, requiring food more frequently to cope with it. Eventu-
+ ally, you'll be so overloaded that you'll either have to discard
some of what you're carrying or collapse under its weight.
- NetHack will tell you how badly you have loaded yourself.
- If you are encumbered, one of the conditions Burdened, Stressed,
- Strained, Overtaxed, or Overloaded will be shown on the bottom
+ NetHack will tell you how badly you have loaded yourself.
+ If you are encumbered, one of the conditions Burdened, Stressed,
+ Strained, Overtaxed, or Overloaded will be shown on the bottom
line status display.
When you pick up an object, it is assigned an inventory let-
- ter. Many commands that operate on objects must ask you to find
- out which object you want to use. When NetHack asks you to
+ ter. Many commands that operate on objects must ask you to find
+ out which object you want to use. When NetHack asks you to
choose a particular object you are carrying, you are usually pre-
- sented with a list of inventory letters to choose from (see Com-
+ sented with a list of inventory letters to choose from (see Com-
mands, above).
- Some objects, such as weapons, are easily differentiated.
- Others, like scrolls and potions, are given descriptions which
- vary according to type. During a game, any two objects with the
- same description are the same type. However, the descriptions
+ Some objects, such as weapons, are easily differentiated.
+ Others, like scrolls and potions, are given descriptions which
+ vary according to type. During a game, any two objects with the
+ same description are the same type. However, the descriptions
will vary from game to game.
When you use one of these objects, if its effect is obvious,
- NetHack will remember what it is for you. If its effect isn't
- extremely obvious, you will be asked what you want to call this
- type of object so you will recognize it later. You can also use
- the "#name" command, for the same purpose at any time, to name
- all objects of a particular type or just an individual object.
- When you use "#name" on an object which has already been named,
- specifying a space as the value will remove the prior name in-
+ NetHack will remember what it is for you. If its effect isn't
+ extremely obvious, you will be asked what you want to call this
+ type of object so you will recognize it later. You can also use
+ the "#name" command, for the same purpose at any time, to name
+ all objects of a particular type or just an individual object.
+ When you use "#name" on an object which has already been named,
+ specifying a space as the value will remove the prior name in-
stead of assigning a new one.
7.1. Curses and Blessings
- Any object that you find may be cursed, even if the object
+ Any object that you find may be cursed, even if the object
is otherwise helpful. The most common effect of a curse is being
- stuck with (and to) the item. Cursed weapons weld themselves to
- your hand when wielded, so you cannot unwield them. Any cursed
- item you wear is not removable by ordinary means. In addition,
- cursed arms and armor usually, but not always, bear negative en-
+ stuck with (and to) the item. Cursed weapons weld themselves to
+ your hand when wielded, so you cannot unwield them. Any cursed
+ item you wear is not removable by ordinary means. In addition,
+ cursed arms and armor usually, but not always, bear negative en-
chantments that make them less effective in combat. Other cursed
objects may act poorly or detrimentally in other ways.
- Objects can also be blessed instead. Blessed items usually
+ Objects can also be blessed instead. Blessed items usually
work better or more beneficially than normal uncursed items. For
- example, a blessed weapon will do slightly more damage against
+ example, a blessed weapon will do slightly more damage against
demons.
Objects which are neither cursed nor blessed are referred to
- as uncursed. They could just as easily have been described as
- unblessed, but the uncursed designation is what you will see
- within the game. A "glass half full versus glass half empty"
+ as uncursed. They could just as easily have been described as
+ unblessed, but the uncursed designation is what you will see
+ within the game. A "glass half full versus glass half empty"
situation; make of that what you will.
There are magical means of bestowing or removing curses upon
- objects, so even if you are stuck with one, you can still have
- the curse lifted and the item removed. Priests and Priestesses
- have an innate sensitivity to this property in any object, so
- they can more easily avoid cursed objects than other character
+ objects, so even if you are stuck with one, you can still have
+ the curse lifted and the item removed. Priests and Priestesses
+ have an innate sensitivity to this property in any object, so
+ they can more easily avoid cursed objects than other character
roles. Dropping objects onto an altar will reveal their bless or
curse state provided that you can see them land.
- An item with unknown status will be reported in your inven-
+ An item with unknown status will be reported in your inven-
tory with no prefix. An item which you know the state of will be
- distinguished in your inventory by the presence of the word
- cursed, uncursed, or blessed in the description of the item. In
- some cases uncursed will be omitted as being redundant when
+ distinguished in your inventory by the presence of the word
+ cursed, uncursed, or blessed in the description of the item. In
+ some cases uncursed will be omitted as being redundant when
enough other information is displayed. The implicit_uncursed op-
- tion can be used to control this; toggle it off to have uncursed
+ tion can be used to control this; toggle it off to have uncursed
be displayed even when that can be deduced from other attributes.
Sometimes the bless or curse state of objects is referred to
as their "BUC" attribute, for Blessed, Uncursed, or Cursed state,
- or "BUCX" for Blessed, Uncursed, Cursed, or unknown. (The term
+ or "BUCX" for Blessed, Uncursed, Cursed, or unknown. (The term
beatitude is occasionally used as well.)
7.2. Weapons (`)')
- Given a chance, most monsters in the Mazes of Menace will
- gratuitously try to kill you. You need weapons for self-defense
- (killing them first). Without a weapon, you do only 1-2 hit
- points of damage (plus bonuses, if any). Monk characters are an
- exception; they normally do more damage with bare (or gloved)
+ Given a chance, most monsters in the Mazes of Menace will
+ gratuitously try to kill you. You need weapons for self-defense
+ (killing them first). Without a weapon, you do only 1-2 hit
+ points of damage (plus bonuses, if any). Monk characters are an
+ exception; they normally do more damage with bare (or gloved)
hands than they do with weapons.
There are wielded weapons, like maces and swords, and thrown
- weapons, like arrows and spears. To hit monsters with a weapon,
- you must wield it and attack them, or throw it at them. You can
- simply elect to throw a spear. To shoot an arrow, you should
- first wield a bow, then throw the arrow. Crossbows shoot cross-
+ weapons, like arrows and spears. To hit monsters with a weapon,
+ you must wield it and attack them, or throw it at them. You can
+ simply elect to throw a spear. To shoot an arrow, you should
+ first wield a bow, then throw the arrow. Crossbows shoot cross-
bow bolts. Slings hurl rocks and (other) stones (like gems).
- Enchanted weapons have a "plus" (or "to hit enhancement"
- which can be either positive or negative) that adds to your
- chance to hit and the damage you do to a monster. The only way
+ Enchanted weapons have a "plus" (or "to hit enhancement"
+ which can be either positive or negative) that adds to your
+ chance to hit and the damage you do to a monster. The only way
to determine a weapon's enchantment is to have it magically iden-
- tified somehow. Most weapons are subject to some type of damage
+ tified somehow. Most weapons are subject to some type of damage
like rust. Such "erosion" damage can be repaired.
- The chance that an attack will successfully hit a monster,
- and the amount of damage such a hit will do, depends upon many
- factors. Among them are: type of weapon, quality of weapon
+ The chance that an attack will successfully hit a monster,
+ and the amount of damage such a hit will do, depends upon many
+ factors. Among them are: type of weapon, quality of weapon
NetHack 3.7 October 27, 2022
(enchantment and/or erosion), experience level, strength, dexter-
ity, encumbrance, and proficiency (see below). The monster's ar-
mor class--a general defense rating, not necessarily due to wear-
- ing of armor--is a factor too; also, some monsters are particu-
+ ing of armor--is a factor too; also, some monsters are particu-
larly vulnerable to certain types of weapons.
- Many weapons can be wielded in one hand; some require both
- hands. When wielding a two-handed weapon, you can not wear a
- shield, and vice versa. When wielding a one-handed weapon, you
- can have another weapon ready to use by setting things up with
- the `x' command, which exchanges your primary (the one being
- wielded) and alternate weapons. And if you have proficiency in
- the "two weapon combat" skill, you may wield both weapons simul-
+ Many weapons can be wielded in one hand; some require both
+ hands. When wielding a two-handed weapon, you can not wear a
+ shield, and vice versa. When wielding a one-handed weapon, you
+ can have another weapon ready to use by setting things up with
+ the `x' command, which exchanges your primary (the one being
+ wielded) and alternate weapons. And if you have proficiency in
+ the "two weapon combat" skill, you may wield both weapons simul-
taneously as primary and secondary; use the `X' command to engage
- or disengage that. Only some types of characters (barbarians,
+ or disengage that. Only some types of characters (barbarians,
for instance) have the necessary skill available. Even with that
- skill, using two weapons at once incurs a penalty in the chance
+ skill, using two weapons at once incurs a penalty in the chance
to hit your target compared to using just one weapon at a time.
- There might be times when you'd rather not wield any weapon
- at all. To accomplish that, wield `-', or else use the `A' com-
- mand which allows you to unwield the current weapon in addition
+ There might be times when you'd rather not wield any weapon
+ at all. To accomplish that, wield `-', or else use the `A' com-
+ mand which allows you to unwield the current weapon in addition
to taking off other worn items.
- Those of you in the audience who are AD&D players, be aware
+ Those of you in the audience who are AD&D players, be aware
that each weapon which existed in AD&D does roughly the same dam-
- age to monsters in NetHack. Some of the more obscure weapons
+ age to monsters in NetHack. Some of the more obscure weapons
(such as the aklys, lucern hammer, and bec-de-corbin) are defined
in an appendix to Unearthed Arcana, an AD&D supplement.
- The commands to use weapons are `w' (wield), `t' (throw),
- `f' (fire), `Q' (quiver), `x' (exchange), `X' (twoweapon), and
+ The commands to use weapons are `w' (wield), `t' (throw),
+ `f' (fire), `Q' (quiver), `x' (exchange), `X' (twoweapon), and
"#enhance" (see below).
7.2.1. Throwing and shooting
- You can throw just about anything via the `t' command. It
- will prompt for the item to throw; picking `?' will list things
- in your inventory which are considered likely to be thrown, or
+ You can throw just about anything via the `t' command. It
+ will prompt for the item to throw; picking `?' will list things
+ in your inventory which are considered likely to be thrown, or
picking `*' will list your entire inventory. After you've chosen
- what to throw, you will be prompted for a direction rather than
- for a specific target. The distance something can be thrown de-
+ what to throw, you will be prompted for a direction rather than
+ for a specific target. The distance something can be thrown de-
pends mainly on the type of object and your strength. Arrows can
- be thrown by hand, but can be thrown much farther and will be
+ be thrown by hand, but can be thrown much farther and will be
more likely to hit when thrown while you are wielding a bow.
Some weapons will return when thrown. A boomerang--provided
- it fails to hit anything--is an obvious example. If an aklys
+ it fails to hit anything--is an obvious example. If an aklys
(thonged club) is thrown while it is wielded, it will return even
when it hits something. A sufficiently strong hero can throw the
warhammer Mjollnir; when thrown by a Valkyrie it will return too.
- However, aklyses and Mjollnir occasionally fail to return. Re-
- turning thrown objects occasionally fail to be caught, sometimes
+ However, aklyses and Mjollnir occasionally fail to return. Re-
+ turning thrown objects occasionally fail to be caught, sometimes
even hitting the thrower, but when caught they become re-wielded.
- You can simplify the throwing operation by using the `Q'
- command to select your preferred "missile", then using the `f'
- command to throw it. You'll be prompted for a direction as
- above, but you don't have to specify which item to throw each
+ You can simplify the throwing operation by using the `Q'
+ command to select your preferred "missile", then using the `f'
+ command to throw it. You'll be prompted for a direction as
+ above, but you don't have to specify which item to throw each
time you use `f'. There is also an option, autoquiver, which has
NetHack choose another item to automatically fill your quiver (or
- quiver sack, or have at the ready) when the inventory slot used
- for `Q' runs out. If your quiver is empty, autoquiver is false,
+ quiver sack, or have at the ready) when the inventory slot used
+ for `Q' runs out. If your quiver is empty, autoquiver is false,
and you are wielding a weapon which returns when thrown, you will
- throw that weapon instead of filling the quiver. The fire com-
- mand also has extra assistance, if fireassist is on it will try
+ throw that weapon instead of filling the quiver. The fire com-
+ mand also has extra assistance, if fireassist is on it will try
to wield a launcher matching the ammo in the quiver.
- Some characters have the ability to throw or shoot a volley
- of multiple items (from the same stack) in a single action.
+ Some characters have the ability to throw or shoot a volley
+ of multiple items (from the same stack) in a single action.
Knowing how to load several rounds of ammunition at once--or hold
- several missiles in your hand--and still hit a target is not an
- easy task. Rangers are among those who are adept at this task,
- as are those with a high level of proficiency in the relevant
- weapon skill (in bow skill if you're wielding one to shoot ar-
+ several missiles in your hand--and still hit a target is not an
+ easy task. Rangers are among those who are adept at this task,
+ as are those with a high level of proficiency in the relevant
+ weapon skill (in bow skill if you're wielding one to shoot ar-
rows, in crossbow skill if you're wielding one to shoot bolts, or
in sling skill if you're wielding one to shoot stones). The num-
- ber of items that the character has a chance to fire varies from
- turn to turn. You can explicitly limit the number of shots by
- using a numeric prefix before the `t' or `f' command. For exam-
- ple, "2f" (or "n2f" if using number_pad mode) would ensure that
+ ber of items that the character has a chance to fire varies from
+ turn to turn. You can explicitly limit the number of shots by
+ using a numeric prefix before the `t' or `f' command. For exam-
+ ple, "2f" (or "n2f" if using number_pad mode) would ensure that
at most 2 arrows are shot even if you could have fired 3. If you
- specify a larger number than would have been shot ("4f" in this
- example), you'll just end up shooting the same number (3, here)
+ specify a larger number than would have been shot ("4f" in this
+ example), you'll just end up shooting the same number (3, here)
as if no limit had been specified. Once the volley is in motion,
- all of the items will travel in the same direction; if the first
- ones kill a monster, the others can still continue beyond that
+ all of the items will travel in the same direction; if the first
+ ones kill a monster, the others can still continue beyond that
spot.
7.2.2. Weapon proficiency
You will have varying degrees of skill in the weapons avail-
- able. Weapon proficiency, or weapon skills, affect how well you
- can use particular types of weapons, and you'll be able to im-
- prove your skills as you progress through a game, depending on
+ able. Weapon proficiency, or weapon skills, affect how well you
+ can use particular types of weapons, and you'll be able to im-
+ prove your skills as you progress through a game, depending on
your role, your experience level, and use of the weapons.
- For the purposes of proficiency, weapons have been divided
- up into various groups such as daggers, broadswords, and
- polearms. Each role has a limit on what level of proficiency a
- character can achieve for each group. For instance, wizards can
- become highly skilled in daggers or staves but not in swords or
+ For the purposes of proficiency, weapons have been divided
+ up into various groups such as daggers, broadswords, and
+ polearms. Each role has a limit on what level of proficiency a
+ character can achieve for each group. For instance, wizards can
+ become highly skilled in daggers or staves but not in swords or
bows.
- The "#enhance" extended command is used to review current
- weapons proficiency (also spell proficiency) and to choose which
+ The "#enhance" extended command is used to review current
+ weapons proficiency (also spell proficiency) and to choose which
skill(s) to improve when you've used one or more skills enough to
- become eligible to do so. The skill rankings are "none" (some-
+ become eligible to do so. The skill rankings are "none" (some-
times also referred to as "restricted", because you won't be able
- to advance), "unskilled", "basic", "skilled", and "expert". Re-
+ to advance), "unskilled", "basic", "skilled", and "expert". Re-
stricted skills simply will not appear in the list shown by "#en-
hance". (Divine intervention might unrestrict a particular
skill, in which case it will start at unskilled and be limited to
- basic.) Some characters can enhance their barehanded combat or
+ basic.) Some characters can enhance their barehanded combat or
martial arts skill beyond expert to "master" or "grand master".
Use of a weapon in which you're restricted or unskilled will
incur a modest penalty in the chance to hit a monster and also in
- the amount of damage done when you do hit; at basic level, there
- is no penalty or bonus; at skilled level, you receive a modest
- bonus in the chance to hit and amount of damage done; at expert
- level, the bonus is higher. A successful hit has a chance to
- boost your training towards the next skill level (unless you've
- already reached the limit for this skill). Once such training
- reaches the threshold for that next level, you'll be told that
- you feel more confident in your skills. At that point you can
- use "#enhance" to increase one or more skills. Such skills are
- not increased automatically because there is a limit to your to-
- tal overall skills, so you need to actively choose which skills
+ the amount of damage done when you do hit; at basic level, there
+ is no penalty or bonus; at skilled level, you receive a modest
+ bonus in the chance to hit and amount of damage done; at expert
+ level, the bonus is higher. A successful hit has a chance to
+ boost your training towards the next skill level (unless you've
+ already reached the limit for this skill). Once such training
+ reaches the threshold for that next level, you'll be told that
+ you feel more confident in your skills. At that point you can
+ use "#enhance" to increase one or more skills. Such skills are
+ not increased automatically because there is a limit to your to-
+ tal overall skills, so you need to actively choose which skills
to enhance and which to ignore.
7.2.3. Two-Weapon combat
Some characters can use two weapons at once. Setting things
- up to do so can seem cumbersome but becomes second nature with
+ up to do so can seem cumbersome but becomes second nature with
use. To wield two weapons, you need to use the "#twoweapon" com-
- mand. But first you need to have a weapon in each hand. (Note
- that your two weapons are not fully equal; the one in the hand
- you normally wield with is considered primary and the other one
+ mand. But first you need to have a weapon in each hand. (Note
+ that your two weapons are not fully equal; the one in the hand
+ you normally wield with is considered primary and the other one
is considered secondary. The most noticeable difference is after
- you stop--or before you begin, for that matter--wielding two
+ you stop--or before you begin, for that matter--wielding two
weapons at once. The primary is your wielded weapon and the sec-
- ondary is just an item in your inventory that's been designated
+ ondary is just an item in your inventory that's been designated
as alternate weapon.)
If your primary weapon is wielded but your off hand is empty
- or has the wrong weapon, use the sequence `x', `w', `x' to first
- swap your primary into your off hand, wield whatever you want as
- secondary weapon, then swap them both back into the intended
+ or has the wrong weapon, use the sequence `x', `w', `x' to first
+ swap your primary into your off hand, wield whatever you want as
+ secondary weapon, then swap them both back into the intended
hands. If your secondary or alternate weapon is correct but your
primary one is not, simply use `w' to wield the primary. Lastly,
- if neither hand holds the correct weapon, use `w', `x', `w' to
+ if neither hand holds the correct weapon, use `w', `x', `w' to
first wield the intended secondary, swap it to off hand, and then
wield the primary.
- The whole process can be simplified via use of the push-
+ The whole process can be simplified via use of the push-
weapon option. When it is enabled, then using `w' to wield some-
- thing causes the currently wielded weapon to become your alter-
+ thing causes the currently wielded weapon to become your alter-
nate weapon. So the sequence `w', `w' can be used to first wield
the weapon you intend to be secondary, and then wield the one you
- want as primary which will push the first into secondary posi-
+ want as primary which will push the first into secondary posi-
tion.
- When in two-weapon combat mode, using the `X' command tog-
- gles back to single-weapon mode. Throwing or dropping either of
+ When in two-weapon combat mode, using the `X' command tog-
+ gles back to single-weapon mode. Throwing or dropping either of
the weapons or having one of them be stolen or destroyed will al-
so make you revert to single-weapon combat.
Lots of unfriendly things lurk about; you need armor to pro-
tect yourself from their blows. Some types of armor offer better
- protection than others. Your armor class is a measure of this
+ protection than others. Your armor class is a measure of this
protection. Armor class (AC) is measured as in AD&D, with 10 be-
- ing the equivalent of no armor, and lower numbers meaning better
- armor. Each suit of armor which exists in AD&D gives the same
+ ing the equivalent of no armor, and lower numbers meaning better
+ armor. Each suit of armor which exists in AD&D gives the same
protection in NetHack.
- Here is a list of the armor class values provided by suits
+ Here is a list of the armor class values provided by suits
of armor:
Dragon scale mail 1
Plate mail, Crystal plate mail 3
Leather jacket 9
none 10
- You can also wear other pieces of armor (cloak over suit,
- shirt under suit, helmet, gloves, boots, shield) to lower your
- armor class even further. Most of these provide a one or two
- point improvement to AC (making the overall value smaller and
- eventually negative) but can also be enchanted. Shirts are an
- exception; they don't provide any protection unless enchanted.
+ You can also wear other pieces of armor (cloak over suit,
+ shirt under suit, helmet, gloves, boots, shield) to lower your
+ armor class even further. Most of these provide a one or two
+ point improvement to AC (making the overall value smaller and
+ eventually negative) but can also be enchanted. Shirts are an
+ exception; they don't provide any protection unless enchanted.
Some cloaks also don't improve AC when unenchanted but all cloaks
offer some protection against rust or corrosion to suits worn un-
der them and against some monster touch attacks.
- If a piece of armor is enchanted, its armor protection will
- be better (or worse) than normal, and its "plus" (or minus) will
- subtract from your armor class. For example, a +1 chain mail
+ If a piece of armor is enchanted, its armor protection will
+ be better (or worse) than normal, and its "plus" (or minus) will
+ subtract from your armor class. For example, a +1 chain mail
would give you better protection than normal chain mail, lowering
- your armor class one unit further to 4. When you put on a piece
- of armor, you immediately find out the armor class and any
+ your armor class one unit further to 4. When you put on a piece
+ of armor, you immediately find out the armor class and any
"plusses" it provides. Cursed pieces of armor usually have nega-
tive enchantments (minuses) in addition to being unremovable.
- Many types of armor are subject to some kind of damage like
- rust. Such damage can be repaired. Some types of armor may in-
+ Many types of armor are subject to some kind of damage like
+ rust. Such damage can be repaired. Some types of armor may in-
hibit spell casting.
- The nudist option can be set (prior to game start) to at-
- tempt to play the entire game without wearing any armor (a self-
+ The nudist option can be set (prior to game start) to at-
+ tempt to play the entire game without wearing any armor (a self-
NetHack 3.7 October 27, 2022
imposed challenge which is extremely difficult to accomplish).
The commands to use armor are `W' (wear) and `T' (take off).
- The `A' command can be used to take off armor as well as other
- worn items. Also, `P' (put on) and `R' (remove) which are nor-
- mally for accessories can be used for armor, but pieces of armor
+ The `A' command can be used to take off armor as well as other
+ worn items. Also, `P' (put on) and `R' (remove) which are nor-
+ mally for accessories can be used for armor, but pieces of armor
won't be shown as likely candidates in a prompt for choosing what
to put on or remove.
7.4. Food (`%')
- Food is necessary to survive. If you go too long without
- eating you will faint, and eventually die of starvation. Some
- types of food will spoil, and become unhealthy to eat, if not
+ Food is necessary to survive. If you go too long without
+ eating you will faint, and eventually die of starvation. Some
+ types of food will spoil, and become unhealthy to eat, if not
protected. Food stored in ice boxes or tins ("cans") will usual-
- ly stay fresh, but ice boxes are heavy, and tins take a while to
+ ly stay fresh, but ice boxes are heavy, and tins take a while to
open.
When you kill monsters, they usually leave corpses which are
- also "food." Many, but not all, of these are edible; some also
- give you special powers when you eat them. A good rule of thumb
+ also "food." Many, but not all, of these are edible; some also
+ give you special powers when you eat them. A good rule of thumb
is "you are what you eat."
Some character roles and some monsters are vegetarian. Veg-
- etarian monsters will typically never eat animal corpses, while
- vegetarian players can, but with some rather unpleasant side-ef-
+ etarian monsters will typically never eat animal corpses, while
+ vegetarian players can, but with some rather unpleasant side-ef-
fects.
- You can name one food item after something you like to eat
+ You can name one food item after something you like to eat
with the fruit option.
The command to eat food is `e'.
7.5. Scrolls (`?')
- Scrolls are labeled with various titles, probably chosen by
+ Scrolls are labeled with various titles, probably chosen by
ancient wizards for their amusement value (for example "READ ME,"
- or "THANX MAUD" backwards). Scrolls disappear after you read
+ or "THANX MAUD" backwards). Scrolls disappear after you read
them (except for blank ones, without magic spells on them).
- One of the most useful of these is the scroll of identify,
+ One of the most useful of these is the scroll of identify,
which can be used to determine what another object is, whether it
- is cursed or blessed, and how many uses it has left. Some ob-
- jects of subtle enchantment are difficult to identify without
+ is cursed or blessed, and how many uses it has left. Some ob-
+ jects of subtle enchantment are difficult to identify without
these.
A mail daemon may run up and deliver mail to you as a scroll
- of mail (on versions compiled with this feature). To use this
- feature on versions where NetHack mail delivery is triggered by
- electronic mail appearing in your system mailbox, you must let
+ of mail (on versions compiled with this feature). To use this
+ feature on versions where NetHack mail delivery is triggered by
+ electronic mail appearing in your system mailbox, you must let
NetHack know where to look for new mail by setting the "MAIL" en-
vironment variable to the file name of your mailbox. You may al-
- so want to set the "MAILREADER" environment variable to the file
+ so want to set the "MAILREADER" environment variable to the file
name of your favorite reader, so NetHack can shell to it when you
- read the scroll. On versions of NetHack where mail is randomly
- generated internal to the game, these environment variables are
+ read the scroll. On versions of NetHack where mail is randomly
+ generated internal to the game, these environment variables are
ignored. You can disable the mail daemon by turning off the mail
option.
7.6. Potions (`!')
- Potions are distinguished by the color of the liquid inside
+ Potions are distinguished by the color of the liquid inside
the flask. They disappear after you quaff them.
- Clear potions are potions of water. Sometimes these are
+ Clear potions are potions of water. Sometimes these are
blessed or cursed, resulting in holy or unholy water. Holy water
- is the bane of the undead, so potions of holy water are good
- things to throw (`t') at them. It is also sometimes very useful
+ is the bane of the undead, so potions of holy water are good
+ things to throw (`t') at them. It is also sometimes very useful
to dip ("#dip") an object into a potion.
The command to drink a potion is `q' (quaff).
7.7. Wands (`/')
- Wands usually have multiple magical charges. Some types of
+ Wands usually have multiple magical charges. Some types of
wands require a direction in which to zap them. You can also zap
- them at yourself (just give a `.' or `s' for the direction). Be
- warned, however, for this is often unwise. Other types of wands
- don't require a direction. The number of charges in a wand is
+ them at yourself (just give a `.' or `s' for the direction). Be
+ warned, however, for this is often unwise. Other types of wands
+ don't require a direction. The number of charges in a wand is
random and decreases by one whenever you use it.
- When the number of charges left in a wand becomes zero, at-
- tempts to use the wand will usually result in nothing happening.
+ When the number of charges left in a wand becomes zero, at-
+ tempts to use the wand will usually result in nothing happening.
Occasionally, however, it may be possible to squeeze the last few
- mana points from an otherwise spent wand, destroying it in the
- process. A wand may be recharged by using suitable magic, but
- doing so runs the risk of causing it to explode. The chance for
- such an explosion starts out very small and increases each time
+ mana points from an otherwise spent wand, destroying it in the
+ process. A wand may be recharged by using suitable magic, but
+ doing so runs the risk of causing it to explode. The chance for
+ such an explosion starts out very small and increases each time
the wand is recharged.
In a truly desperate situation, when your back is up against
- the wall, you might decide to go for broke and break your wand.
- This is not for the faint of heart. Doing so will almost cer-
+ the wall, you might decide to go for broke and break your wand.
+ This is not for the faint of heart. Doing so will almost cer-
tainly cause a catastrophic release of magical energies.
- When you have fully identified a particular wand, inventory
- display will include additional information in parentheses: the
- number of times it has been recharged followed by a colon and
+ When you have fully identified a particular wand, inventory
+ display will include additional information in parentheses: the
+ number of times it has been recharged followed by a colon and
then by its current number of charges. A current charge count of
-1 is a special case indicating that the wand has been cancelled.
- The command to use a wand is `z' (zap). To break one, use
+ The command to use a wand is `z' (zap). To break one, use
the `a' (apply) command.
7.8. Rings (`=')
- Rings are very useful items, since they are relatively per-
- manent magic, unlike the usually fleeting effects of potions,
+ Rings are very useful items, since they are relatively per-
+ manent magic, unlike the usually fleeting effects of potions,
scrolls, and wands.
Putting on a ring activates its magic. You can wear at most
two rings at any time, one on the ring finger of each hand.
- Most worn rings also cause you to grow hungry more rapidly,
+ Most worn rings also cause you to grow hungry more rapidly,
the rate varying with the type of ring.
- When wearing gloves, rings are worn underneath. If the
- gloves are cursed, rings cannot be put on and any already being
- worn cannot be removed. When worn gloves aren't cursed, you
- don't have to manually take them off before putting on or remov-
- ing a ring and then re-wear them after. That's done implicitly
+ When wearing gloves, rings are worn underneath. If the
+ gloves are cursed, rings cannot be put on and any already being
+ worn cannot be removed. When worn gloves aren't cursed, you
+ don't have to manually take them off before putting on or remov-
+ ing a ring and then re-wear them after. That's done implicitly
to avoid unnecessary tedium.
The commands to use rings are `P' (put on) and `R' (remove).
7.9. Spellbooks (`+')
Spellbooks are tomes of mighty magic. When studied with the
- `r' (read) command, they transfer to the reader the knowledge of
- a spell (and therefore eventually become unreadable)--unless the
+ `r' (read) command, they transfer to the reader the knowledge of
+ a spell (and therefore eventually become unreadable)--unless the
attempt backfires. Reading a cursed spellbook or one with mystic
runes beyond your ken can be harmful to your health!
- A spell (even when learned) can also backfire when you cast
- it. If you attempt to cast a spell well above your experience
- level, or if you have little skill with the appropriate spell
- type, or cast it at a time when your luck is particularly bad,
- you can end up wasting both the energy and the time required in
+ A spell (even when learned) can also backfire when you cast
+ it. If you attempt to cast a spell well above your experience
+ level, or if you have little skill with the appropriate spell
+ type, or cast it at a time when your luck is particularly bad,
+ you can end up wasting both the energy and the time required in
casting.
- Casting a spell calls forth magical energies and focuses
- them with your naked mind. Some of the magical energy released
- comes from within you. Casting temporarily drains your magical
+ Casting a spell calls forth magical energies and focuses
+ them with your naked mind. Some of the magical energy released
+ comes from within you. Casting temporarily drains your magical
power, which will slowly be recovered, and causes you to need ad-
- ditional food. Casting of spells also requires practice. With
- practice, your skill in each category of spell casting will im-
- prove. Over time, however, your memory of each spell will dim,
+ ditional food. Casting of spells also requires practice. With
+ practice, your skill in each category of spell casting will im-
+ prove. Over time, however, your memory of each spell will dim,
and you will need to relearn it.
Some spells require a direction in which to cast them, simi-
- lar to wands. To cast one at yourself, just give a `.' or `s'
+ lar to wands. To cast one at yourself, just give a `.' or `s'
for the direction. A few spells require you to pick a target lo-
- cation rather than just specify a particular direction. Other
+ cation rather than just specify a particular direction. Other
spells don't require any direction or target.
Just as weapons are divided into groups in which a character
- can become proficient (to varying degrees), spells are similarly
+ can become proficient (to varying degrees), spells are similarly
NetHack 3.7 October 27, 2022
grouped. Successfully casting a spell exercises its skill group;
- using the "#enhance" command to advance a sufficiently exercised
- skill will affect all spells within the group. Advanced skill
- may increase the potency of spells, reduce their risk of failure
+ using the "#enhance" command to advance a sufficiently exercised
+ skill will affect all spells within the group. Advanced skill
+ may increase the potency of spells, reduce their risk of failure
during casting attempts, and improve the accuracy of the estimate
- for how much longer they will be retained in your memory. Skill
- slots are shared with weapons skills. (See also the section on
+ for how much longer they will be retained in your memory. Skill
+ slots are shared with weapons skills. (See also the section on
"Weapon proficiency".)
Casting a spell also requires flexible movement, and wearing
various types of armor may interfere with that.
- The command to read a spellbook is the same as for scrolls,
+ The command to read a spellbook is the same as for scrolls,
`r' (read). The `+' command lists each spell you know along with
its level, skill category, chance of failure when casting, and an
- estimate of how strongly it is remembered. The `Z' (cast) com-
+ estimate of how strongly it is remembered. The `Z' (cast) com-
mand casts a spell.
7.10. Tools (`(')
Tools are miscellaneous objects with various purposes. Some
- tools have a limited number of uses, akin to wand charges. For
- example, lamps burn out after a while. Other tools are contain-
+ tools have a limited number of uses, akin to wand charges. For
+ example, lamps burn out after a while. Other tools are contain-
ers, which objects can be placed into or taken out of.
- Some tools (such as a blindfold) can be worn and can be put
- on and removed like other accessories (rings, amulets); see
- Amulets. Other tools (such as pick-axe) can be wielded as
+ Some tools (such as a blindfold) can be worn and can be put
+ on and removed like other accessories (rings, amulets); see
+ Amulets. Other tools (such as pick-axe) can be wielded as
weapons in addition to being applied for their usual purpose, and
- in some cases (again, pick-axe) become wielded as a weapon even
+ in some cases (again, pick-axe) become wielded as a weapon even
when applied.
The blind option can be set (prior to game start) to attempt
7.10.1. Containers
- You may encounter bags, boxes, and chests in your travels.
- A tool of this sort can be opened with the "#loot" extended com-
- mand when you are standing on top of it (that is, on the same
- floor spot), or with the `a' (apply) command when you are carry-
- ing it. However, chests are often locked, and are in any case
- unwieldy objects. You must set one down before unlocking it by
+ You may encounter bags, boxes, and chests in your travels.
+ A tool of this sort can be opened with the "#loot" extended com-
+ mand when you are standing on top of it (that is, on the same
+ floor spot), or with the `a' (apply) command when you are carry-
+ ing it. However, chests are often locked, and are in any case
+ unwieldy objects. You must set one down before unlocking it by
using a key or lock-picking tool with the `a' (apply) command, by
- kicking it with the `^D' command, or by using a weapon to force
+ kicking it with the `^D' command, or by using a weapon to force
the lock with the "#force" extended command.
Some chests are trapped, causing nasty things to happen when
7.11. Amulets (`"')
- Amulets are very similar to rings, and often more powerful.
+ Amulets are very similar to rings, and often more powerful.
Like rings, amulets have various magical properties, some benefi-
cial, some harmful, which are activated by putting them on.
- Only one amulet may be worn at a time, around your neck.
- Like wearing rings, wearing an amulet affects your metabolism,
+ Only one amulet may be worn at a time, around your neck.
+ Like wearing rings, wearing an amulet affects your metabolism,
causing you to grow hungry more rapidly.
- The commands to use amulets are the same as for rings, `P'
- (put on) and `R' (remove). `A' can be used to remove various
- worn items including amulets. Also, `W' (wear) and `T' (take
- off) which are normally for armor can be used for amulets and
- other accessories (rings and eyewear), but accessories won't be
- shown as likely candidates in a prompt for choosing what to wear
+ The commands to use amulets are the same as for rings, `P'
+ (put on) and `R' (remove). `A' can be used to remove various
+ worn items including amulets. Also, `W' (wear) and `T' (take
+ off) which are normally for armor can be used for amulets and
+ other accessories (rings and eyewear), but accessories won't be
+ shown as likely candidates in a prompt for choosing what to wear
or take off.
7.12. Gems (`*')
- Some gems are valuable, and can be sold for a lot of gold.
- They are also a far more efficient way of carrying your riches.
+ Some gems are valuable, and can be sold for a lot of gold.
+ They are also a far more efficient way of carrying your riches.
Valuable gems increase your score if you bring them with you when
you exit.
Other small rocks are also categorized as gems, but they are
- much less valuable. All rocks, however, can be used as projec-
- tile weapons (if you have a sling). In the most desperate of
+ much less valuable. All rocks, however, can be used as projec-
+ tile weapons (if you have a sling). In the most desperate of
cases, you can still throw them by hand.
7.13. Large rocks (``')
- Statues and boulders are not particularly useful, and are
- generally heavy. It is rumored that some statues are not what
+ Statues and boulders are not particularly useful, and are
+ generally heavy. It is rumored that some statues are not what
they seem.
- Boulders occasionally block your path. You can push one
+ Boulders occasionally block your path. You can push one
forward (by attempting to walk onto its spot) when nothing blocks
- its path, or you can smash it into a pile of small rocks with
- breaking magic or a pick-axe. It is possible to move onto a
- boulder's location if certain conditions are met; ordinarily one
- of those conditions is that pushing it any further be blocked.
- Using the move-without-picking-up prefix (default key `m') prior
- to the direction of movement will attempt to move to a boulder's
+ its path, or you can smash it into a pile of small rocks with
+ breaking magic or a pick-axe. It is possible to move onto a
+ boulder's location if certain conditions are met; ordinarily one
+ of those conditions is that pushing it any further be blocked.
+ Using the move-without-picking-up prefix (default key `m') prior
+ to the direction of movement will attempt to move to a boulder's
location without pushing it in addition to the prefix's usual ac-
tion of suppressing auto-pickup at the destination.
- Very large humanoids (giants and their ilk) have been known
+ Very large humanoids (giants and their ilk) have been known
to pick up boulders and use them as missile weapons.
- Unlike boulders, statues can't be pushed, but don't need to
- be because they don't block movement. They can be smashed into
+ Unlike boulders, statues can't be pushed, but don't need to
+ be because they don't block movement. They can be smashed into
rocks though.
- For some configurations of the program, statues are no
- longer shown as ``' but by the letter representing the monster
+ For some configurations of the program, statues are no
+ longer shown as ``' but by the letter representing the monster
they depict instead.
7.14. Gold (`$')
- Gold adds to your score, and you can buy things in shops
- with it. There are a number of monsters in the dungeon that may
+ Gold adds to your score, and you can buy things in shops
+ with it. There are a number of monsters in the dungeon that may
be influenced by the amount of gold you are carrying (shopkeepers
aside).
- Gold pieces are the only type of object where bless/curse
- state does not apply. They're always uncursed but never de-
- scribed as uncursed even if you turn off the implicit_uncursed
- option. You can set the goldX option if you prefer to have gold
- pieces be treated as bless/curse state unknown rather than as
- known to be uncursed. Only matters when you're using an object
+ Gold pieces are the only type of object where bless/curse
+ state does not apply. They're always uncursed but never de-
+ scribed as uncursed even if you turn off the implicit_uncursed
+ option. You can set the goldX option if you prefer to have gold
+ pieces be treated as bless/curse state unknown rather than as
+ known to be uncursed. Only matters when you're using an object
selection prompt that can filter by "BUCX" state.
7.15. Persistence of Objects
Normally, if you have seen an object at a particular map lo-
- cation and move to another location where you can't directly see
- that object any more, it will continue to be displayed on your
- map. That remains the case even if it is not actually there any
- more--perhaps a monster has picked it up or it has rotted away--
- until you can see or feel that location again. One notable ex-
- ception is that if the object gets covered by the "remembered,
- unseen monster" marker. When that marker is later removed after
+ cation and move to another location where you can't directly see
+ that object any more, it will continue to be displayed on your
+ map. That remains the case even if it is not actually there any
+ more--perhaps a monster has picked it up or it has rotted away--
+ until you can see or feel that location again. One notable ex-
+ ception is that if the object gets covered by the "remembered,
+ unseen monster" marker. When that marker is later removed after
you've verified that no monster is there, you will have forgotten
- that there was any object there regardless of whether the unseen
- monster actually took the object. If the object is still there,
+ that there was any object there regardless of whether the unseen
+ monster actually took the object. If the object is still there,
then once you see or feel that location again you will re-discov-
er the object and resume remembering it.
The situation is the same for a pile of objects, except that
- only the top item of the pile is displayed. The hilite_pile op-
- tion can be enabled in order to show an item differently when it
+ only the top item of the pile is displayed. The hilite_pile op-
+ tion can be enabled in order to show an item differently when it
is the top one of a pile.
8. Conduct
- As if winning NetHack were not difficult enough, certain
- players seek to challenge themselves by imposing restrictions on
- the way they play the game. The game automatically tracks some
- of these challenges, which can be checked at any time with the
- #conduct command or at the end of the game. When you perform an
- action which breaks a challenge, it will no longer be listed.
- This gives players extra "bragging rights" for winning the game
- with these challenges. Note that it is perfectly acceptable to
- win the game without resorting to these restrictions and that it
- is unusual for players to adhere to challenges the first time
+ As if winning NetHack were not difficult enough, certain
+ players seek to challenge themselves by imposing restrictions on
+ the way they play the game. The game automatically tracks some
+ of these challenges, which can be checked at any time with the
+ #conduct command or at the end of the game. When you perform an
+ action which breaks a challenge, it will no longer be listed.
+ This gives players extra "bragging rights" for winning the game
+ with these challenges. Note that it is perfectly acceptable to
+ win the game without resorting to these restrictions and that it
+ is unusual for players to adhere to challenges the first time
they win the game.
- Several of the challenges are related to eating behavior.
- The most difficult of these is the foodless challenge. Although
+ Several of the challenges are related to eating behavior.
+ The most difficult of these is the foodless challenge. Although
creatures can survive long periods of time without food, there is
- a physiological need for water; thus there is no restriction on
- drinking beverages, even if they provide some minor food bene-
- fits. Calling upon your god for help with starvation does not
+ a physiological need for water; thus there is no restriction on
+ drinking beverages, even if they provide some minor food bene-
+ fits. Calling upon your god for help with starvation does not
violate any food challenges either.
- A strict vegan diet is one which avoids any food derived
+ A strict vegan diet is one which avoids any food derived
from animals. The primary source of nutrition is fruits and veg-
etables. The corpses and tins of blobs (`b'), jellies (`j'), and
- fungi (`F') are also considered to be vegetable matter. Certain
- human food is prepared without animal products; namely, lembas
- wafers, cram rations, food rations (gunyoki), K-rations, and C-
- rations. Metal or another normally indigestible material eaten
+ fungi (`F') are also considered to be vegetable matter. Certain
+ human food is prepared without animal products; namely, lembas
+ wafers, cram rations, food rations (gunyoki), K-rations, and C-
+ rations. Metal or another normally indigestible material eaten
while polymorphed into a creature that can digest it is also con-
- sidered vegan food. Note however that eating such items still
+ sidered vegan food. Note however that eating such items still
counts against foodless conduct.
- Vegetarians do not eat animals; however, they are less se-
- lective about eating animal byproducts than vegans. In addition
+ Vegetarians do not eat animals; however, they are less se-
+ lective about eating animal byproducts than vegans. In addition
to the vegan items listed above, they may eat any kind of pudding
(`P') other than the black puddings, eggs and food made from eggs
- (fortune cookies and pancakes), food made with milk (cream pies
+ (fortune cookies and pancakes), food made with milk (cream pies
and candy bars), and lumps of royal jelly. Monks are expected to
observe a vegetarian diet.
- Eating any kind of meat violates the vegetarian, vegan, and
- foodless conducts. This includes tripe rations, the corpses or
- tins of any monsters not mentioned above, and the various other
- chunks of meat found in the dungeon. Swallowing and digesting a
+ Eating any kind of meat violates the vegetarian, vegan, and
+ foodless conducts. This includes tripe rations, the corpses or
+ tins of any monsters not mentioned above, and the various other
+ chunks of meat found in the dungeon. Swallowing and digesting a
monster while polymorphed is treated as if you ate the creature's
- corpse. Eating leather, dragon hide, or bone items while poly-
- morphed into a creature that can digest it, or eating monster
+ corpse. Eating leather, dragon hide, or bone items while poly-
+ morphed into a creature that can digest it, or eating monster
brains while polymorphed into a mind flayer, is considered eating
an animal, although wax is only an animal byproduct.
- Regardless of conduct, there will be some items which are
- indigestible, and others which are hazardous to eat. Using a
+ Regardless of conduct, there will be some items which are
+ indigestible, and others which are hazardous to eat. Using a
swallow-and-digest attack against a monster is equivalent to eat-
- ing the monster's corpse. Please note that the term "vegan" is
- used here only in the context of diet. You are still free to
- choose not to use or wear items derived from animals (e.g.
- leather, dragon hide, bone, horns, coral), but the game will not
- keep track of this for you. Also note that "milky" potions may
+ ing the monster's corpse. Please note that the term "vegan" is
+ used here only in the context of diet. You are still free to
+ choose not to use or wear items derived from animals (e.g.
+ leather, dragon hide, bone, horns, coral), but the game will not
+ keep track of this for you. Also note that "milky" potions may
be a translucent white, but they do not contain milk, so they are
- compatible with a vegan diet. Slime molds or player-defined
- "fruits", although they could be anything from "cherries" to
+ compatible with a vegan diet. Slime molds or player-defined
+ "fruits", although they could be anything from "cherries" to
"pork chops", are also assumed to be vegan.
An atheist is one who rejects religion. This means that you
- cannot #pray, #offer sacrifices to any god, #turn undead, or
- #chat with a priest. Particularly selective readers may argue
- that playing Monk or Priest characters should violate this
+ cannot #pray, #offer sacrifices to any god, #turn undead, or
+ #chat with a priest. Particularly selective readers may argue
+ that playing Monk or Priest characters should violate this
NetHack 3.7 October 27, 2022
- conduct; that is a choice left to the player. Offering the
- Amulet of Yendor to your god is necessary to win the game and is
+ conduct; that is a choice left to the player. Offering the
+ Amulet of Yendor to your god is necessary to win the game and is
not counted against this conduct. You are also not penalized for
- being spoken to by an angry god, priest(ess), or other religious
+ being spoken to by an angry god, priest(ess), or other religious
figure; a true atheist would hear the words but attach no special
meaning to them.
- Most players fight with a wielded weapon (or tool intended
+ Most players fight with a wielded weapon (or tool intended
to be wielded as a weapon). Another challenge is to win the game
- without using such a wielded weapon. You are still permitted to
- throw, fire, and kick weapons; use a wand, spell, or other type
+ without using such a wielded weapon. You are still permitted to
+ throw, fire, and kick weapons; use a wand, spell, or other type
of item; or fight with your hands and feet.
- In NetHack, a pacifist refuses to cause the death of any
- other monster (i.e. if you would get experience for the death).
- This is a particularly difficult challenge, although it is still
+ In NetHack, a pacifist refuses to cause the death of any
+ other monster (i.e. if you would get experience for the death).
+ This is a particularly difficult challenge, although it is still
possible to gain experience by other means.
- An illiterate character does not read or write. This in-
+ An illiterate character does not read or write. This in-
cludes reading a scroll, spellbook, fortune cookie message, or t-
shirt; writing a scroll; or making an engraving of anything other
- than a single "X" (the traditional signature of an illiterate
- person). Reading an engraving, or any item that is absolutely
- necessary to win the game, is not counted against this conduct.
- The identity of scrolls and spellbooks (and knowledge of spells)
- in your starting inventory is assumed to be learned from your
+ than a single "X" (the traditional signature of an illiterate
+ person). Reading an engraving, or any item that is absolutely
+ necessary to win the game, is not counted against this conduct.
+ The identity of scrolls and spellbooks (and knowledge of spells)
+ in your starting inventory is assumed to be learned from your
teachers prior to the start of the game and isn't counted.
There is a side-branch to the main dungeon called "Sokoban,"
- briefly described in the earlier section about Traps. As men-
+ briefly described in the earlier section about Traps. As men-
tioned there, the goal is to push boulders into pits and/or holes
- to plug those in order to both get the boulders out of the way
+ to plug those in order to both get the boulders out of the way
and be able to go past the traps. There are some special "rules"
- that are active when in that branch of the dungeon. Some rules
- can't be bypassed, such as being unable to push a boulder diago-
+ that are active when in that branch of the dungeon. Some rules
+ can't be bypassed, such as being unable to push a boulder diago-
nally. Other rules can, such as not smashing boulders with magic
- or tools, but doing so causes you to receive a luck penalty. No
- message about that is given at the time, but it is tracked as a
- conduct. The #conduct command and end of game disclosure will
- report whether you have abided by the special rules of Sokoban,
- and if not, how many times you violated them, providing you with
+ or tools, but doing so causes you to receive a luck penalty. No
+ message about that is given at the time, but it is tracked as a
+ conduct. The #conduct command and end of game disclosure will
+ report whether you have abided by the special rules of Sokoban,
+ and if not, how many times you violated them, providing you with
a way to discover which actions incur bad luck so that you can be
better informed about whether or not to avoid repeating those ac-
- tions in the future. (Note: the Sokoban conduct will only be
- displayed if you have entered the Sokoban branch of the dungeon
+ tions in the future. (Note: the Sokoban conduct will only be
+ displayed if you have entered the Sokoban branch of the dungeon
during the current game. Once that has happened, it becomes part
- of disclosed conduct even if you haven't done anything interest-
- ing there. Ending the game with "never broke the Sokoban rules"
+ of disclosed conduct even if you haven't done anything interest-
+ ing there. Ending the game with "never broke the Sokoban rules"
conduct is most meaningful if you also manage to perform the "ob-
tained the Sokoban prize" achievement (see Achievements below).)
- There are several other challenges tracked by the game. It
+ There are several other challenges tracked by the game. It
is possible to eliminate one or more species of monsters by geno-
- cide; playing without this feature is considered a challenge.
+ cide; playing without this feature is considered a challenge.
NetHack 3.7 October 27, 2022
When the game offers you an opportunity to genocide monsters, you
- may respond with the monster type "none" if you want to decline.
- You can change the form of an item into another item of the same
- type ("polypiling") or the form of your own body into another
- creature ("polyself") by wand, spell, or potion of polymorph;
- avoiding these effects are each considered challenges. Polymor-
- phing monsters, including pets, does not break either of these
- challenges. Finally, you may sometimes receive wishes; a game
- without an attempt to wish for any items is a challenge, as is a
- game without wishing for an artifact (even if the artifact imme-
- diately disappears). When the game offers you an opportunity to
- make a wish for an item, you may choose "nothing" if you want to
+ may respond with the monster type "none" if you want to decline.
+ You can change the form of an item into another item of the same
+ type ("polypiling") or the form of your own body into another
+ creature ("polyself") by wand, spell, or potion of polymorph;
+ avoiding these effects are each considered challenges. Polymor-
+ phing monsters, including pets, does not break either of these
+ challenges. Finally, you may sometimes receive wishes; a game
+ without an attempt to wish for any items is a challenge, as is a
+ game without wishing for an artifact (even if the artifact imme-
+ diately disappears). When the game offers you an opportunity to
+ make a wish for an item, you may choose "nothing" if you want to
decline.
8.1. Achievements
- End of game disclosure will also display various achieve-
- ments representing progress toward ultimate ascension, if any
- have been attained. They aren't directly related to conduct but
- are grouped with it because they fall into the same category of
- "bragging rights" and to limit the number of questions during
- disclosure. Listed here roughly in order of difficulty and not
+ End of game disclosure will also display various achieve-
+ ments representing progress toward ultimate ascension, if any
+ have been attained. They aren't directly related to conduct but
+ are grouped with it because they fall into the same category of
+ "bragging rights" and to limit the number of questions during
+ disclosure. Listed here roughly in order of difficulty and not
necessarily in the order in which you might accomplish them.
<Rank> - Attained rank title <Rank>.
Mines' End - Explored to the bottom of the Gnomish Mines
and found a special item there.
Medusa - Defeated Medusa.
- Tune - Discovered the tune that can be used to open and
+ Tune - Discovered the tune that can be used to open and
close the drawbridge on the Castle level.
Bell - Acquired the Bell of Opening.
Gehennom - Entered Gehennom.
- Achievements are recorded and subsequently reported in the
- order in which they happen during your current game rather than
+ Achievements are recorded and subsequently reported in the
+ order in which they happen during your current game rather than
the order listed here.
- There are nine <Rank> titles for each role, bestowed at ex-
+ There are nine <Rank> titles for each role, bestowed at ex-
perience levels 1, 3, 6, 10, 14, 18, 22, 26, and 30. The one for
- experience level 1 is not recorded as an achievement. Losing
- enough levels to revert to lower rank(s) does not discard the
+ experience level 1 is not recorded as an achievement. Losing
+ enough levels to revert to lower rank(s) does not discard the
corresponding achievement(s).
- There's no guaranteed Novel so the achievement to read one
+ There's no guaranteed Novel so the achievement to read one
might not always be attainable (except perhaps by wishing). Sim-
- ilarly, the Big Room level is not always present. Unlike with
+ ilarly, the Big Room level is not always present. Unlike with
the Novel, there's no way to wish for this opportunity.
The "special items" hidden in Mines' End and Sokoban are not
- unique but are considered to be prizes or rewards for exploring
- those levels since doing so is not necessary to complete the
+ unique but are considered to be prizes or rewards for exploring
+ those levels since doing so is not necessary to complete the
game. Finding other instances of the same objects doesn't record
the corresponding achievement.
- The Medusa achievement is recorded if she dies for any rea-
- son, even if you are not directly responsible, and only if she
+ The Medusa achievement is recorded if she dies for any rea-
+ son, even if you are not directly responsible, and only if she
dies.
- The 5-note tune can be learned via trial and error with a
- musical instrument played closely enough--but not too close!--to
- the Castle level's drawbridge or can be given to you via prayer
+ The 5-note tune can be learned via trial and error with a
+ musical instrument played closely enough--but not too close!--to
+ the Castle level's drawbridge or can be given to you via prayer
boon.
Blind and Nudist are also conducts, and they can only be en-
- abled by setting the correspondingly named option in NETHACKOP-
+ abled by setting the correspondingly named option in NETHACKOP-
TIONS or run-time configuration file prior to game start. In the
case of Blind, the option also enforces the conduct. They aren't
really significant accomplishments unless/until you make substan-
9. Options
- Due to variations in personal tastes and conceptions of how
+ Due to variations in personal tastes and conceptions of how
NetHack should do things, there are options you can set to change
how NetHack behaves.
9.1. Setting the options
- Options may be set in a number of ways. Within the game,
+ Options may be set in a number of ways. Within the game,
the `O' command allows you to view all options and change most of
- them. You can also set options automatically by placing them in
- a configuration file, or in the NETHACKOPTIONS environment vari-
+ them. You can also set options automatically by placing them in
+ a configuration file, or in the NETHACKOPTIONS environment vari-
able. Some versions of NetHack also have front-end programs that
- allow you to set options before starting the game or a global
+ allow you to set options before starting the game or a global
configuration for system administrators.
The default name of the configuration file varies on differ-
ent operating systems.
- On UNIX, Linux, and macOS it is ".nethackrc" in the user's
+ On UNIX, Linux, and macOS it is ".nethackrc" in the user's
home directory. The file may not exist, but it is a normal ASCII
text file and can be created with any text editor.
- On Windows, it is ".nethackrc" in the folder "\%USERPRO-
- FILE%\NetHack\3.7". The file may not exist, but it is a normal
- ASCII text file can can be created with any text editor. After
- running NetHack for the first time, you should find a default
- template for the configuration file named ".nethackrc.template"
+ On Windows, it is ".nethackrc" in the folder "\%USERPRO-
+ FILE%\NetHack\3.7". The file may not exist, but it is a normal
+ ASCII text file can can be created with any text editor. After
+ running NetHack for the first time, you should find a default
+ template for the configuration file named ".nethackrc.template"
in "\%USERPROFILE%\NetHack\3.7". If you had not created the con-
- figuration file, NetHack will create the configuration file for
+ figuration file, NetHack will create the configuration file for
you using the default template file.
- On MS-DOS, it is "defaults.nh" in the same folder as
+ On MS-DOS, it is "defaults.nh" in the same folder as
nethack.exe.
- Any line in the configuration file starting with `#' is
+ Any line in the configuration file starting with `#' is
treated as a comment and ignored. Empty lines are ignored.
- Any line beginning with `[' and ending in `]' is a section
+ Any line beginning with `[' and ending in `]' is a section
marker (the closing `]' can be followed by whitespace and then an
- arbitrary comment beginning with `#'). The text between the
- square brackets is the section name. Section markers are only
- valid after a CHOOSE directive and their names are case insensi-
+ arbitrary comment beginning with `#'). The text between the
+ square brackets is the section name. Section markers are only
+ valid after a CHOOSE directive and their names are case insensi-
tive. Lines after a section marker belong to that section up un-
- til another section starts or a marker without a name is encoun-
+ til another section starts or a marker without a name is encoun-
tered or the file ends. Lines within sections are ignored unless
a CHOOSE directive has selected that section.
- You can use different configuration directives in the file,
+ You can use different configuration directives in the file,
some of which can be used multiple times. In general, the direc-
tives are written in capital letters, followed by an equals sign,
followed by settings particular to that directive.
Here is a list of allowed directives:
OPTIONS
- There are two types of options, boolean and compound options.
- Boolean options toggle a setting on or off, while compound op-
- tions take more diverse values. Prefix a boolean option with
- "no" or `!' to turn it off. For compound options, the option
+ There are two types of options, boolean and compound options.
+ Boolean options toggle a setting on or off, while compound op-
+ tions take more diverse values. Prefix a boolean option with
+ "no" or `!' to turn it off. For compound options, the option
name and value are separated by a colon. Some options are per-
sistent, and apply only to new games. You can specify multiple
OPTIONS directives, and multiple options separated by commas in
- a single OPTIONS directive. (Comma separated options are pro-
+ a single OPTIONS directive. (Comma separated options are pro-
cessed from right to left.)
Example:
OPTIONS=!legacy,autopickup,pickup_types:$"=/!?+
HACKDIR
- Default location of files NetHack needs. On Windows HACKDIR
- defaults to the location of the NetHack.exe or NetHackw.exe
- file so setting HACKDIR to override that is not usually neces-
+ Default location of files NetHack needs. On Windows HACKDIR
+ defaults to the location of the NetHack.exe or NetHackw.exe
+ file so setting HACKDIR to override that is not usually neces-
sary or recommended.
LEVELDIR
- The location that in-progress level files are stored. Defaults
+ The location that in-progress level files are stored. Defaults
to HACKDIR, must be writable.
SAVEDIR
- The location where saved games are kept. Defaults to HACKDIR,
+ The location where saved games are kept. Defaults to HACKDIR,
must be writable.
BONESDIR
- The location that bones files are kept. Defaults to HACKDIR,
+ The location that bones files are kept. Defaults to HACKDIR,
must be writable.
LOCKDIR
Defaults to HACKDIR, must be writable.
TROUBLEDIR
- The location that a record of game aborts and self-diagnosed
+ The location that a record of game aborts and self-diagnosed
game problems is kept. Defaults to HACKDIR, must be writable.
AUTOCOMPLETE
Enable or disable an extended command autocompletion. Autocom-
- pletion has no effect for the X11 windowport. You can specify
- multiple autocompletions. To enable autocompletion, list the
- extended command. Prefix the command with "!" to disable the
+ pletion has no effect for the X11 windowport. You can specify
+ multiple autocompletions. To enable autocompletion, list the
+ extended command. Prefix the command with "!" to disable the
autocompletion for that command.
Example:
AUTOCOMPLETE=zap,!annotate
AUTOPICKUP_EXCEPTION
- Set exceptions to the pickup_types option. See the "Configur-
+ Set exceptions to the pickup_types option. See the "Configur-
ing Autopickup Exceptions" section.
BINDINGS
- Change the key bindings of some special keys, menu accelera-
- tors, extended commands, or mouse buttons. You can specify
+ Change the key bindings of some special keys, menu accelera-
+ tors, extended commands, or mouse buttons. You can specify
multiple bindings. Format is key followed by the command, sep-
arated by a colon. See the "Changing Key Bindings" section for
more information.
CHOOSE
- Chooses at random one of the comma-separated parameters as an
+ Chooses at random one of the comma-separated parameters as an
active section name. Lines in other sections are ignored.
Example:
[] #end of CHOOSE
OPTIONS=!rest_on_space
- If [] is present, the preceding section is closed and no new
- section begins; whatever follows will be common to all sec-
- tions. Otherwise the last section extends to the end of the
+ If [] is present, the preceding section is closed and no new
+ section begins; whatever follows will be common to all sec-
+ tions. Otherwise the last section extends to the end of the
options file.
MENUCOLOR
ing Menu Colors" section.
MSGTYPE
- Change the way messages are shown in the top status line. See
+ Change the way messages are shown in the top status line. See
the "Configuring Message Types" section.
ROGUESYMBOLS
- Custom symbols for for the rogue level's symbol set. See SYM-
+ Custom symbols for for the rogue level's symbol set. See SYM-
BOLS below.
SOUND
tion.
SOUNDDIR
- Define the directory that contains the sound files. See the
+ Define the directory that contains the sound files. See the
"Configuring User Sounds" section.
SYMBOLS
- Override one or more symbols in the symbol set used for all
- dungeon levels except for the special rogue level. See the
+ Override one or more symbols in the symbol set used for all
+ dungeon levels except for the special rogue level. See the
"Modifying NetHack Symbols" section.
Example:
SYMBOLS=S_boulder:0,S_golem:7
WIZKIT
- Debug mode only: extra items to add to initial inventory.
- Value is the name of a text file containing a list of item
- names, one per line, up to a maximum of 128 lines. Each line
+ Debug mode only: extra items to add to initial inventory.
+ Value is the name of a text file containing a list of item
+ names, one per line, up to a maximum of 128 lines. Each line
NetHack 3.7 October 27, 2022
9.3. Using the NETHACKOPTIONS environment variable
- The NETHACKOPTIONS variable is a comma-separated list of
- initial values for the various options. Some can only be turned
- on or off. You turn one of these on by adding the name of the
- option to the list, and turn it off by typing a `!' or "no" be-
- fore the name. Others take a character string as a value. You
- can set string options by typing the option name, a colon or
+ The NETHACKOPTIONS variable is a comma-separated list of
+ initial values for the various options. Some can only be turned
+ on or off. You turn one of these on by adding the name of the
+ option to the list, and turn it off by typing a `!' or "no" be-
+ fore the name. Others take a character string as a value. You
+ can set string options by typing the option name, a colon or
equals sign, and then the value of the string. The value is ter-
minated by the next comma or the end of string.
% setenv NETHACKOPTIONS "color,\!leg,name:Blue Meanie,fruit:lime"
- in csh (note the need to escape the `!' since it's special to
+ in csh (note the need to escape the `!' since it's special to
that shell), or the pair of commands
$ NETHACKOPTIONS="color,!leg,name:Blue Meanie,fruit:lime"
The NETHACKOPTIONS value is effectively the same as a single
OPTIONS directive in a configuration file. The "OPTIONS=" prefix
- is implied and comma separated options are processed from right
+ is implied and comma separated options are processed from right
to left. Other types of configuration directives such as BIND or
MSGTYPE are not allowed.
Instead of a comma-separated list of options, NETHACKOPTIONS
- can be set to the full name of a configuration file you want to
- use. If that full name doesn't start with a slash, precede it
- with `@' (at-sign) to let NetHack know that the rest is intended
- as a file name. If it does start with `/', the at-sign is op-
+ can be set to the full name of a configuration file you want to
+ use. If that full name doesn't start with a slash, precede it
+ with `@' (at-sign) to let NetHack know that the rest is intended
+ as a file name. If it does start with `/', the at-sign is op-
tional.
9.4. Customization options
Here are explanations of what the various options do. Char-
- acter strings that are too long may be truncated. Some of the
+ acter strings that are too long may be truncated. Some of the
options listed may be inactive in your dungeon.
- Some options are persistent, and are saved and reloaded
+ Some options are persistent, and are saved and reloaded
along with the game. Changing a persistent option in the config-
uration file applies only to new games.
acoustics
- Enable messages about what your character hears (default on).
+ Enable messages about what your character hears (default on).
Note that this has nothing to do with your computer's audio ca-
pabilities. Persistent.
align
- Your starting alignment (align:lawful, align:neutral, or
- align:chaotic). You may specify just the first letter. The
- default is to randomly pick an appropriate alignment. If you
+ Your starting alignment (align:lawful, align:neutral, or
+ align:chaotic). You may specify just the first letter. The
+ default is to randomly pick an appropriate alignment. If you
prefix the value with `!' or "no", you will exclude that align-
- ment from being picked randomly. Cannot be set with the `O'
+ ment from being picked randomly. Cannot be set with the `O'
command. Persistent.
autodescribe
- Automatically describe the terrain under cursor when asked to
+ Automatically describe the terrain under cursor when asked to
get a location on the map (default true). The whatis_coord op-
tion controls whether the description includes map coordinates.
into a place that can be dug (default false). Persistent.
autoopen
- Walking into a closed door attempts to open it (default true).
+ Walking into a closed door attempts to open it (default true).
Persistent.
autopickup
- See pickup_types and also autopickup_exception for ways to re-
+ See pickup_types and also autopickup_exception for ways to re-
fine the behavior.
Note: prior to version 3.7, the default for autopickup was on.
autoquiver
- This option controls what happens when you attempt the `f'
- (fire) command when nothing is quivered or readied (default
- false). When true, the computer will fill your quiver or
- quiver sack or make ready some suitable weapon. Note that it
- will not take into account the blessed/cursed status, enchant-
+ This option controls what happens when you attempt the `f'
+ (fire) command when nothing is quivered or readied (default
+ false). When true, the computer will fill your quiver or
+ quiver sack or make ready some suitable weapon. Note that it
+ will not take into account the blessed/cursed status, enchant-
ment, damage, or quality of the weapon; you are free to manual-
- ly fill your quiver or quiver sack or make ready with the `Q'
+ ly fill your quiver or quiver sack or make ready with the `Q'
command instead. If no weapon is found or the option is false,
the `t' (throw) command is executed instead. Persistent.
autounlock
- Controls what action to take when attempting to walk into a
- locked door or to loot a locked container. Takes a plus-sign
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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);
choices.
Omitting the value is treated as if autounlock:apply-key. Pre-
- ceding autounlock with `!' or "no" is treated as autoun-
+ 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
- nearby monsters. Successfully forcing a container open will
- break its lock and might also destroy some of its contents or
+ 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).
+ Start the character permanently blind (default false).
NetHack 3.7 October 27, 2022
Persistent.
bones
- Allow saving and loading bones files (default true). Persis-
+ Allow saving and loading bones files (default true). Persis-
tent.
boulder
- Set the character used to display boulders (default is the
+ Set the character used to display boulders (default is the
"large rock" class symbol, ``').
catname
- Name your starting cat (for example "catname:Morris"). Cannot
+ Name your starting cat (for example "catname:Morris"). Cannot
be set with the `O' command.
character
- Synonym for "role" to pick the type of your character (for ex-
+ Synonym for "role" to pick the type of your character (for ex-
ample "character:Monk"). See role for more details.
checkpoint
- Save game state after each level change, for possible recovery
+ Save game state after each level change, for possible recovery
after program crash (default on). Persistent.
cmdassist
- Have the game provide some additional command assistance for
- new players if it detects some anticipated mistakes (default
+ Have the game provide some additional command assistance for
+ new players if it detects some anticipated mistakes (default
on).
confirm
- Have user confirm attacks on pets, shopkeepers, and other
+ Have user confirm attacks on pets, shopkeepers, and other
peaceable creatures (default on). Persistent.
dark_room
Show out-of-sight areas of lit rooms (default on). Persistent.
disclose
- Controls what information the program reveals when the game
- ends. Value is a space separated list of prompting/category
- pairs (default is "ni na nv ng nc no", prompt with default re-
+ Controls what information the program reveals when the game
+ ends. Value is a space separated list of prompting/category
+ pairs (default is "ni na nv ng nc no", prompt with default re-
sponse of `n' for each candidate). Persistent. The possibili-
ties are:
c - display your conduct; also achievements, if any;
o - display dungeon overview.
- Each disclosure possibility can optionally be preceded by a
- prefix which lets you refine how it behaves. Here are the
+ Each disclosure possibility can optionally be preceded by a
+ prefix which lets you refine how it behaves. Here are the
valid prefixes:
+ - disclose it without prompting;
- - do not disclose it and do not prompt.
- The listing of vanquished monsters can be sorted, so there are
+ The listing of vanquished monsters can be sorted, so there are
two additional choices for `v':
? - prompt you and default to ask on the prompt;
# - disclose it without prompting, ask for sort order.
Asking refers to picking one of the orderings from a menu. The
- `+' disclose without prompting choice, or being prompted and
+ `+' disclose without prompting choice, or being prompted and
answering `y' rather than `a', will default to showing monsters
in the traditional order, from high level to low level.
Omitted categories are implicitly added with `n' prefix. Spec-
ified categories with omitted prefix implicitly use `+' prefix.
- Order of the disclosure categories does not matter, program
+ Order of the disclosure categories does not matter, program
display for end-of-game disclosure follows a set sequence.
- (for example "disclose:yi na +v -g o") The example sets inven-
+ (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-
ed to not disclose and not prompt, conduct to implicitly prompt
and default to no, and overview to disclose without prompting.
- Note that the vanquished monsters list includes all monsters
+ Note that the vanquished monsters list includes all monsters
killed by traps and each other as well as by you. And the dun-
geon overview shows all levels you had visited but does not re-
veal things about them that you hadn't discovered.
set with the `O' command.
extmenu
- Changes the extended commands interface to pop-up a menu of
+ Changes the extended commands interface to pop-up a menu of
available commands. It is keystroke compatible with the tradi-
- tional interface except that it does not require that you hit
+ tional interface except that it does not require that you hit
Enter. It is implemented for the tty interface (default off).
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
+ able commands (on) or just the subset of commands which have
traditionally been considered extended ones (off).
female
- An obsolete synonym for "gender:female". Cannot be set with
+ An obsolete synonym for "gender:female". Cannot be set with
the `O' command.
fireassist
- This option controls what happens when you attempt the `f'
+ This option controls what happens when you attempt the `f'
(fire) and don't have an appropriate launcher, such as a bow or
- a sling, wielded. If on, you will automatically wield the
+ a sling, wielded. If on, you will automatically wield the
launcher. Default is on.
fixinv
- An object's inventory letter sticks to it when it's dropped
- (default on). If this is off, dropping an object shifts all
+ An object's inventory letter sticks to it when it's dropped
+ (default on). If this is off, dropping an object shifts all
the remaining inventory letters. Persistent.
force_invmenu
- Commands asking for an inventory item show a menu instead of a
+ Commands asking for an inventory item show a menu instead of a
text query with possible menu letters. Default is off.
fruit
- Name a fruit after something you enjoy eating (for example
- "fruit:mango") (default "slime mold"). Basically a nostalgic
- whimsy that NetHack uses from time to time. You should set
- this to something you find more appetizing than slime mold.
- Apples, oranges, pears, bananas, and melons already exist in
+ Name a fruit after something you enjoy eating (for example
+ "fruit:mango") (default "slime mold"). Basically a nostalgic
+ whimsy that NetHack uses from time to time. You should set
+ this to something you find more appetizing than slime mold.
+ Apples, oranges, pears, bananas, and melons already exist in
NetHack, so don't use those.
gender
- Your starting gender (gender:male or gender:female). You may
- specify just the first letter. Although you can still denote
+ Your starting gender (gender:male or gender:female). You may
+ specify just the first letter. Although you can still denote
your gender using the "male" and "female" options, the "gender"
- option will take precedence. The default is to randomly pick
- an appropriate gender. If you prefix the value with `!' or
- "no", you will exclude that gender from being picked randomly.
+ option will take precedence. The default is to randomly pick
+ an appropriate gender. If you prefix the value with `!' or
+ "no", you will exclude that gender from being picked randomly.
Cannot be set with the `O' command. Persistent.
goldX
- When filtering objects based on bless/curse state (BUCX),
- whether to treat gold pieces as X (unknown bless/curse state,
- when "on") or U (known to be uncursed, when "off", the de-
- fault). Gold is never blessed or cursed, but it is not de-
+ When filtering objects based on bless/curse state (BUCX),
+ whether to treat gold pieces as X (unknown bless/curse state,
+ when "on") or U (known to be uncursed, when "off", the de-
+ fault). Gold is never blessed or cursed, but it is not de-
scribed as "uncursed" even when the implicit_uncursed option is
"off".
help
- If more information is available for an object looked at with
+ If more information is available for an object looked at with
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
+ ing help off makes just looking at things faster, since you
+ aren't interrupted with the "More info?" prompt, but it also
means that you might miss some interesting and/or important in-
formation. Persistent.
herecmd_menu
- When using a windowport that supports mouse and clicking on
- yourself or next to you, show a menu of possible actions for
- the location. Same as "#herecmdmenu" and "#therecmdmenu" com-
+ When using a windowport that supports mouse and clicking on
+ yourself or next to you, show a menu of possible actions for
+ the location. Same as "#herecmdmenu" and "#therecmdmenu" com-
mands.
hilite_pet
- Visually distinguish pets from similar animals (default off).
- The behavior of this option depends on the type of windowing
+ Visually distinguish pets from similar animals (default off).
+ The behavior of this option depends on the type of windowing
NetHack 3.7 October 27, 2022
you use. In text windowing, text highlighting or inverse video
- is often used; with tiles, generally displays a heart symbol
+ is often used; with tiles, generally displays a heart symbol
near pets.
- With the curses interface, the petattr option controls how to
- highlight pets and setting it will turn the hilite_pet option
+ With the curses interface, the petattr option controls how to
+ highlight pets and setting it will turn the hilite_pet option
on or off as warranted.
hilite_pile
- Visually distinguish piles of objects from individual objects
+ Visually distinguish piles of objects from individual objects
(default off). The behavior of this option depends on the type
- of windowing you use. In text windowing, text highlighting or
- inverse video is often used; with tiles, generally displays a
+ of windowing you use. In text windowing, text highlighting or
+ inverse video is often used; with tiles, generally displays a
small plus-symbol beside the object on the top of the pile.
hitpointbar
- Show a hit point bar graph behind your name and title. Only
- available for TTY and Windows GUI, and only when statushilites
+ Show a hit point bar graph behind your name and title. Only
+ available for TTY and Windows GUI, and only when statushilites
is on.
horsename
- Name your starting horse (for example "horsename:Trigger").
+ Name your starting horse (for example "horsename:Trigger").
Cannot be set with the `O' command.
ignintr
implicit_uncursed
Omit "uncursed" from object descriptions when it can be deduced
- from other aspects of the description (default on). Persis-
+ from other aspects of the description (default on). Persis-
tent.
If you use menu coloring, you may want to turn this off.
on). Persistent.
lit_corridor
- Show corridor squares seen by night vision or a light source
+ Show corridor squares seen by night vision or a light source
held by your character as lit (default off). Persistent.
lootabc
- When using a menu to interact with a container, use the old
- `a', `b', and `c' keyboard shortcuts rather than the mnemonics
+ When using a menu to interact with a container, use the old
+ `a', `b', and `c' keyboard shortcuts rather than the mnemonics
`o', `i', and `b' (default off). Persistent.
mail
Enable mail delivery during the game (default on). Persistent.
male
- An obsolete synonym for "gender:male". Cannot be set with the
+ An obsolete synonym for "gender:male". Cannot be set with the
`O' command.
mention_decor
- Give feedback when walking onto various dungeon features such
- as stairs, fountains, or altars which are ordinarily only de-
- scribed when covered by one or more objects (default off).
+ Give feedback when walking onto various dungeon features such
+ as stairs, fountains, or altars which are ordinarily only de-
+ scribed when covered by one or more objects (default off).
Persistent.
mention_walls
- Give feedback when walking against a wall (default off). Per-
+ Give feedback when walking against a wall (default off). Per-
sistent.
menucolors
- Enable coloring menu lines (default off). See "Configuring
+ Enable coloring menu lines (default off). See "Configuring
Menu Colors" on how to configure the colors.
menustyle
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. Persis-
+ 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. Persis-
tent.
- Traditional was the only interface available for very early
- versions; it consists of a prompt for object class characters,
- followed by an object-by-object prompt for all items matching
- the selected object class(es). Combination starts with a
- prompt for object class(es) of interest, but then displays a
- menu of matching objects rather than prompting one-by-one.
- Full displays a menu of object classes rather than a character
- prompt, and then a menu of matching objects for selection.
- Partial skips the object class filtering and immediately dis-
+ Traditional was the only interface available for very early
+ versions; it consists of a prompt for object class characters,
+ followed by an object-by-object prompt for all items matching
+ the selected object class(es). Combination starts with a
+ prompt for object class(es) of interest, but then displays a
+ menu of matching objects rather than prompting one-by-one.
+ Full displays a menu of object classes rather than a character
+ prompt, and then a menu of matching objects for selection.
+ Partial skips the object class filtering and immediately dis-
plays a menu of all objects.
menu_deselect_all
Key to jump to the first page in a menu. Default `^'.
menu_headings
- Controls how the headings in a menu are highlighted. Values
- are "none", "bold", "dim", "italic", "underline", "blink", or
+ Controls how the headings in a menu are highlighted. Values
+ are "none", "bold", "dim", "italic", "underline", "blink", or
"inverse". Not all ports can actually display all types.
menu_invert_all
Key to go to the next menu page. Default `>'.
menu_objsyms
- Show object symbols in menu headings in menus where the object
+ Show object symbols in menu headings in menus where the object
symbols act as menu accelerators (default off).
menu_overlay
- Do not clear the screen before drawing menus, and align menus
- to the right edge of the screen. Only for the tty port. (de-
+ Do not clear the screen before drawing menus, and align menus
+ to the right edge of the screen. Only for the tty port. (de-
fault on)
menu_previous_page
Key to go to the previous menu page. Default `<'.
menu_search
- Key to search for some text and toggle selection state of
+ Key to search for some text and toggle selection state of
matching menu items. Default `:'.
menu_select_all
Key to select all items on this page of a menu. Default `,'.
menu_shift_left
- Key to scroll a menu--one which has been scrolled right--back
- to the left. Implemented for perm_invent only by curses and
+ Key to scroll a menu--one which has been scrolled right--back
+ to the left. Implemented for perm_invent only by curses and
X11. Default `{'.
menu_shift_right
- Key to scroll a menu which has text beyond the right edge to
+ Key to scroll a menu which has text beyond the right edge to
the right. Implemented for perm_invent only by curses and X11.
Default `}'.
off). Debug mode only.
mouse_support
- Allow use of the mouse for input and travel. Valid settings
+ Allow use of the mouse for input and travel. Valid settings
are:
0 - disabled
1 - enabled and make OS adjustments to support mouse use
2 - like 1 but does not make any OS adjustments
- Omitting a value is the same as specifying 1 and negating
+ Omitting a value is the same as specifying 1 and negating
mouse_support is the same as specifying 0.
msghistory
- The number of top line messages to keep (and be able to recall
+ The number of top line messages to keep (and be able to recall
with `^P') (default 20). Cannot be set with the `O' command.
msg_window
- Allows you to change the way recalled messages are displayed.
- Currently it is only supported for tty (all four choices) and
- for curses (`f' and `r' choices, default `r'). The possible
+ Allows you to change the way recalled messages are displayed.
+ Currently it is only supported for tty (all four choices) and
+ for curses (`f' and `r' choices, default `r'). The possible
values are:
s - single message (default; only choice prior to 3.4.0);
f - full window, oldest message first;
r - full window reversed, newest message first.
- For backward compatibility, no value needs to be specified
- (which defaults to "full"), or it can be negated (which
+ For backward compatibility, no value needs to be specified
+ (which defaults to "full"), or it can be negated (which
defaults to "single").
name
- Set your character's name (defaults to your user name). You
- can also set your character's role by appending a dash and one
+ 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
- -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
+ -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.
news
Send padding nulls to the terminal (default on). Persistent.
number_pad
- Use digit keys instead of letters to move (default 0 or off).
+ Use digit keys instead of letters to move (default 0 or off).
Valid settings are:
0 - move by letters; "yuhjklbn"
4 - combines 3 with 2; phone layout plus MS-DOS compatibility
-1 - by letters but use `z' to go northwest, `y' to zap wands
- For backward compatibility, omitting a value is the same as
- specifying 1 and negating number_pad is the same as specifying
- 0. (Settings 2 and 4 are for compatibility with MS-DOS or old
+ For backward compatibility, omitting a value is the same as
+ specifying 1 and negating number_pad is the same as specifying
+ 0. (Settings 2 and 4 are for compatibility with MS-DOS or old
PC Hack; in addition to the different behavior for `5', `Alt-5'
acts as `G' and `Alt-0' acts as `I'. Setting -1 is to accommo-
- date some QWERTZ keyboards which have the location of the `y'
- and `z' keys swapped.) When moving by numbers, to enter a
+ date some QWERTZ keyboards which have the location of the `y'
+ and `z' keys swapped.) When moving by numbers, to enter a
count prefix for those commands which accept one (such as "12s"
- to search twelve times), precede it with the letter `n'
+ to search twelve times), precede it with the letter `n'
NetHack 3.7 October 27, 2022
("n12s").
packorder
- Specify the order to list object types in (default
+ Specify the order to list object types in (default
"")[%?+!=/(*`0_"). The value of this option should be a string
containing the symbols for the various object types. Any omit-
ted types are filled in at the end from the previous order.
paranoid_confirmation
- A space separated list of specific situations where alternate
+ A space separated list of specific situations where alternate
prompting is desired. The default is "paranoid_confirma-
tion:pray swim".
- Confirm - for any prompts which are set to require "yes"
- rather than `y', also require "no" to reject in-
+ Confirm - for any prompts which are set to require "yes"
+ rather than `y', also require "no" to reject in-
stead of accepting any non-yes response as no
quit - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm quitting
- the game or switching into non-scoring explore
+ the game or switching into non-scoring explore
mode;
- die - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm dying
- (not useful in normal play; applies to explore
+ die - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm dying
+ (not useful in normal play; applies to explore
mode);
- bones - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm saving
+ bones - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm saving
bones data when dying in debug mode;
- attack - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm attack-
+ attack - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm attack-
ing a peaceful monster;
wand-break - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm breaking
a wand;
- eating - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm whether
+ eating - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm whether
to continue eating;
Were-change - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm changing
- form due to lycanthropy when hero has polymorph
+ form due to lycanthropy when hero has polymorph
control;
- pray - require `y' to confirm an attempt to pray rather
+ pray - require `y' to confirm an attempt to pray rather
than immediately praying; on by default;
- Remove - require selection from inventory for `R' and `T'
- commands even when wearing just one applicable
+ Remove - require selection from inventory for `R' and `T'
+ commands even when wearing just one applicable
item.
swim - prevent walking into water or lava.
all - turn on all of the above.
- By default, the pray choice is enabled, the others disabled.
- To disable it without setting any of the other choices, use
+ By default, the pray choice is enabled, the others disabled.
+ To disable it without setting any of the other choices, use
"paranoid_confirmation:none". To keep it enabled while setting
- any of the others, include it in the list, such as "para-
+ any of the others, include it in the list, such as "para-
noid_confirmation:attack pray Remove".
perm_invent
- If true, always display your current inventory in a window.
- This only makes sense for windowing system interfaces that im-
+ If true, always display your current inventory in a window.
+ This only makes sense for windowing system interfaces that im-
plement this feature.
petattr
- Specifies one or more text highlighting attributes to use when
+ Specifies one or more text highlighting attributes to use when
NetHack 3.7 October 27, 2022
- showing pets on the map. Effectively a superset of the
+ showing pets on the map. Effectively a superset of the
hilite_pet boolean option. Curses interface only; value is one
or more of the following letters.
l - Left line indicator
r - Right line indicator
- Some of those choices might not work, particularly the final
- three, depending upon terminal hardware or terminal emulation
+ Some of those choices might not work, particularly the final
+ three, depending upon terminal hardware or terminal emulation
software.
- 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
- as "b+k", which works already). When using the `n' choice, it
- should be specified on its own, not in combination with any of
+ 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
+ as "b+k", which works already). When using the `n' choice, it
+ should be specified on its own, not in combination with any of
the other letters.
pettype
- Specify the type of your initial pet, if you are playing a
- character class that uses multiple types of pets; or choose to
- have no initial pet at all. Possible values are "cat", "dog",
+ Specify the type of your initial pet, if you are playing a
+ character class that uses multiple types of pets; or choose to
+ have no initial pet at all. Possible values are "cat", "dog",
"horse", and "none". If the choice is not allowed for the role
- you are currently playing, it will be silently ignored. For
- example, "horse" will only be honored when playing a knight.
+ you are currently playing, it will be silently ignored. For
+ example, "horse" will only be honored when playing a knight.
Cannot be set with the `O' command.
pickup_burden
- When you pick up an item that would exceed this encumbrance
- level (Unencumbered, Burdened, streSsed, straiNed, overTaxed,
- or overLoaded), you will be asked if you want to continue.
+ When you pick up an item that would exceed this encumbrance
+ level (Unencumbered, Burdened, streSsed, straiNed, overTaxed,
+ or overLoaded), you will be asked if you want to continue.
(Default `S'). Persistent.
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
+ 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
match an autopickup exception. Default is on. Persistent.
pickup_types
Default is all types. Persistent.
The value is a list of object symbols, such as pickup_types:$?!
- to pick up gold, scrolls, and potions. You can use autopick-
- up_exception configuration file lines to further refine au-
+ to pick up gold, scrolls, and potions. You can use autopick-
+ up_exception configuration file lines to further refine au-
topickup behavior.
- There is no way to set pickup_types to "none". (Setting it to
- an empty value reverts to "all".) If you want to avoid auto-
+ There is no way to set pickup_types to "none". (Setting it to
+ an empty value reverts to "all".) If you want to avoid auto-
matically picking up any types of items but do want to have au-
topickup on in order to have autopickup_exception settings con-
trol what you do and don't pick up, you can set pickup_types to
- `.'. That is the type symbol for venom and you won't come
+ `.'. That is the type symbol for venom and you won't come
across any venom items so won't unintentionally pick such up.
pile_limit
- When walking across a pile of objects on the floor, threshold
- at which the message "there are few/several/many objects here"
- is given instead of showing a popup list of those objects. A
- value of 0 means "no limit" (always list the objects); a value
- of 1 effectively means "never show the objects" since the pile
- size will always be at least that big; default value is 5.
+ When walking across a pile of objects on the floor, threshold
+ at which the message "there are few/several/many objects here"
+ is given instead of showing a popup list of those objects. A
+ value of 0 means "no limit" (always list the objects); a value
+ of 1 effectively means "never show the objects" since the pile
+ size will always be at least that big; default value is 5.
Persistent.
playmode
- Values are "normal", "explore", or "debug". Allows selection
- of explore mode (also known as discovery mode) or debug mode
+ Values are "normal", "explore", or "debug". Allows selection
+ of explore mode (also known as discovery mode) or debug mode
(also known as wizard mode) instead of normal play. Debug mode
- might only be allowed for someone logged in under a particular
- user name (on multi-user systems) or specifying a particular
+ might only be allowed for someone logged in under a particular
+ user name (on multi-user systems) or specifying a particular
character name (on single-user systems) or it might be disabled
- entirely. Requesting it when not allowed or not possible re-
+ entirely. Requesting it when not allowed or not possible re-
sults in explore mode instead. Default is normal play.
pushweapon
- Using the `w' (wield) command when already wielding something
- pushes the old item into your alternate weapon slot (default
- off). Likewise for the `a' (apply) command if it causes the
+ Using the `w' (wield) command when already wielding something
+ pushes the old item into your alternate weapon slot (default
+ off). Likewise for the `a' (apply) command if it causes the
applied item to become wielded. Persistent.
quick_farsight
- When set, usually prevents the "you sense your surroundings"
- message where play pauses to allow you to browse the map when-
+ When set, usually prevents the "you sense your surroundings"
+ message where play pauses to allow you to browse the map when-
ever clairvoyance randomly activates. Some situations, such as
- being underwater or engulfed, ignore this option. It does not
+ 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-
+ objects or monsters is less intrusive. Default is off. Per-
sistent.
race
Selects your race (for example, "race:human"). Default is ran-
- dom. If you prefix the value with `!' or "no", you will ex-
+ dom. If you prefix the value with `!' or "no", you will ex-
clude that race from being picked randomly. Cannot be set with
the `O' command. Persistent.
rest_on_space
- Make the space bar a synonym for the `.' (#wait) command (de-
+ Make the space bar a synonym for the `.' (#wait) command (de-
fault off). Persistent.
role
- Pick your type of character (for example "role:Samurai");
+ Pick your type of character (for example "role:Samurai");
NetHack 3.7 October 27, 2022
synonym for "character". See "name" for an alternate method of
- specifying your role. Normally only the first letter of the
- value is examined; `r' is an exception with "Rogue", "Ranger",
+ specifying your role. Normally only the first letter of the
+ value is examined; `r' is an exception with "Rogue", "Ranger",
and "random" values. If you prefix the value with `!' or "no",
- you will exclude that role from being picked randomly. Cannot
+ you will exclude that role from being picked randomly. Cannot
be set with the `O' command. Persistent.
roguesymset
- This option may be used to select one of the named symbol sets
- found within "symbols" to alter the symbols displayed on the
+ This option may be used to select one of the named symbol sets
+ found within "symbols" to alter the symbols displayed on the
screen on the rogue level.
rlecomp
When writing out a save file, perform run length compression of
- the map. Not all ports support run length compression. It has
+ the map. Not all ports support run length compression. It has
no effect on reading an existing save file.
runmode
- Controls the amount of screen updating for the map window when
- engaged in multi-turn movement (running via shift+direction or
- control+direction and so forth, or via the travel command or
+ Controls the amount of screen updating for the map window when
+ engaged in multi-turn movement (running via shift+direction or
+ control+direction and so forth, or via the travel command or
mouse click). The possible values are:
teleport - update the map after movement has finished;
crawl - like walk, but pause briefly after each step.
This option only affects the game's screen display, not the ac-
- tual results of moving. The default is "run"; versions prior
- to 3.4.1 used "teleport" only. Whether or not the effect is
+ tual results of moving. The default is "run"; versions prior
+ to 3.4.1 used "teleport" only. Whether or not the effect is
noticeable will depend upon the window port used or on the type
of terminal. Persistent.
safe_pet
- Prevent you from (knowingly) attacking your pets (default on).
+ Prevent you from (knowingly) attacking your pets (default on).
Persistent.
safe_wait
- Prevents you from waiting or searching when next to a hostile
+ Prevents you from waiting or searching when next to a hostile
monster (default on). Persistent.
sanity_check
off). Debug mode only.
scores
- Control what parts of the score list you are shown at the end
- (for example "scores:5 top scores/4 around my score/own
+ Control what parts of the score list you are shown at the end
+ (for example "scores:5 top scores/4 around my score/own
scores"). Only the first letter of each category (`t', `a', or
`o') is necessary. Persistent.
off). Persistent.
showrace
- Display yourself as the glyph for your race, rather than the
- glyph for your role (default off). Note that this setting af-
- fects only the appearance of the display, not the way the game
+ Display yourself as the glyph for your race, rather than the
+ glyph for your role (default off). Note that this setting af-
+ fects only the appearance of the display, not the way the game
treats you. Persistent.
showscore
The possible values are:
- o - list object types by class, in discovery order within each
+ o - list object types by class, in discovery order within each
class; default;
- s - list object types by sortloot classification: by class, by
- sub-class within class for classes which have substantial
- groupings (like helmets, boots, gloves, and so forth for
- armor), with object types partly-discovered via assigned
+ s - list object types by sortloot classification: by class, by
+ sub-class within class for classes which have substantial
+ groupings (like helmets, boots, gloves, and so forth for
+ armor), with object types partly-discovered via assigned
name coming before fully identified types;
c - list by class, alphabetically within each class;
a - list alphabetically across all classes.
- Can be interactively set via the `O' command or via using the
+ Can be interactively set via the `O' command or via using the
`m' prefix before the `\' or ``' command.
sortloot
The possible values are:
full - always sort the lists;
- loot - only sort the lists that don't use inventory letters,
+ loot - only sort the lists that don't use inventory letters,
like with the #loot and pickup commands;
none - show lists the traditional way without sorting; default.
sortpack
- Sort the pack contents by type when displaying inventory (de-
+ Sort the pack contents by type when displaying inventory (de-
fault on). Persistent.
sparkle
Display a sparkly effect when a monster (including yourself) is
- hit by an attack to which it is resistant (default on). Per-
+ hit by an attack to which it is resistant (default on). Per-
sistent.
Boldface monsters and "--More--" (default off). Persistent.
statushilites
- Controls how many turns status hilite behaviors highlight the
- field. If negated or set to zero, disables status hiliting.
+ Controls how many turns status hilite behaviors highlight the
+ field. If negated or set to zero, disables status hiliting.
See "Configuring Status Hilites" for further information.
status_updates
- Allow updates to the status lines at the bottom of the screen
+ Allow updates to the status lines at the bottom of the screen
(default true).
suppress_alert
- This option may be set to a NetHack version level to suppress
- alert notification messages about feature changes for that and
+ This option may be set to a NetHack version level to suppress
+ alert notification messages about feature changes for that and
prior versions (for example "suppress_alert:3.3.1").
symset
- This option may be used to select one of the named symbol sets
- found within "symbols" to alter the symbols displayed on the
- screen. Use "symset:default" to explicitly select the default
+ This option may be used to select one of the named symbol sets
+ found within "symbols" to alter the symbols displayed on the
+ screen. Use "symset:default" to explicitly select the default
symbols.
time
- Show the elapsed game time in turns on bottom line (default
+ Show the elapsed game time in turns on bottom line (default
off). Persistent.
timed_delay
- When pausing momentarily for display effect, such as with ex-
- plosions and moving objects, use a timer rather than sending
+ When pausing momentarily for display effect, such as with ex-
+ plosions and moving objects, use a timer rather than sending
extra characters to the screen. (Applies to "tty" and "curses"
- interfaces only; "X11" interface always uses a timer based de-
- lay. The default is on if configured into the program.) Per-
+ interfaces only; "X11" interface always uses a timer based de-
+ lay. The default is on if configured into the program.) Per-
sistent.
tombstone
toptenwin
Put the ending display in a NetHack window instead of on stdout
- (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
+ (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
after game end on a terminal or emulating window.
travel
Allow the travel command via mouse click (default on). Turning
this option off will prevent the game from attempting unintend-
- ed moves if you make inadvertent mouse clicks on the map win-
- dow. Does not affect traveling via the `_' ("#travel") com-
+ ed moves if you make inadvertent mouse clicks on the map win-
+ dow. Does not affect traveling via the `_' ("#travel") com-
mand. Persistent.
verbose
- Provide more commentary during the game (default on). Persis-
+ Provide more commentary during the game (default on). Persis-
tent.
whatis_coord
- When using the `/' or `;' commands to look around on the map
- with autodescribe on, display coordinates after the descrip-
- tion. Also works in other situations where you are asked to
+ When using the `/' or `;' commands to look around on the map
+ with autodescribe on, display coordinates after the descrip-
+ tion. Also works in other situations where you are asked to
pick a location.
The possible settings are:
whatis_filter
When getting a location on the map, and using the keys to cycle
- through next and previous targets, allows filtering the possi-
+ through next and previous targets, allows filtering the possi-
ble targets.
n - no filtering [default]
v - in view only
a - in same area only
- The area-filter tries to be slightly predictive--if you're
+ The area-filter tries to be slightly predictive--if you're
standing on a doorway, it will consider the area on the side of
the door you were last moving towards.
- Filtering can also be changed when getting a location with the
+ Filtering can also be changed when getting a location with the
"getpos.filter" key.
whatis_menu
- When getting a location on the map, and using a key to cycle
+ When getting a location on the map, and using a key to cycle
through next and previous targets, use a menu instead to pick a
target. (default off)
whatis_moveskip
- When getting a location on the map, and using shifted movement
+ When getting a location on the map, and using shifted movement
keys or meta-digit keys to fast-move, instead of moving 8 units
at a time, move by skipping the same glyphs. (default off)
windowtype
When the program has been built to support multiple interfaces,
- select which one to use, such as "tty" or "X11" (default de-
+ select which one to use, such as "tty" or "X11" (default de-
pends on build-time settings; use "#version" to check). Cannot
be set with the `O' command.
- When used, it should be the first option set since its value
- might enable or disable the availability of various other op-
- tions. For multiple lines in a configuration file, that would
- be the first non-comment line. For a comma-separated list in
+ When used, it should be the first option set since its value
+ might enable or disable the availability of various other op-
+ tions. For multiple lines in a configuration file, that would
+ be the first non-comment line. For a comma-separated list in
NETHACKOPTIONS or an OPTIONS line in a configuration file, that
would be the rightmost option in the list.
off). Debug mode only.
zerocomp
- When writing out a save file, perform zero-comp compression of
- the contents. Not all ports support zero-comp compression. It
+ When writing out a save file, perform zero-comp compression of
+ the contents. Not all ports support zero-comp compression. It
has no effect on reading an existing save file.
9.5. Window Port Customization options
- Here are explanations of the various options that are used
- to customize and change the characteristics of the windowtype
+ Here are explanations of the various options that are used
+ to customize and change the characteristics of the windowtype
that you have chosen. Character strings that are too long may be
- truncated. Not all window ports will adjust for all settings
- listed here. You can safely add any of these options to your
- configuration file, and if the window port is capable of adjust-
- ing to suit your preferences, it will attempt to do so. If it
- can't it will silently ignore it. You can find out if an option
- is supported by the window port that you are currently using by
+ truncated. Not all window ports will adjust for all settings
+ listed here. You can safely add any of these options to your
+ configuration file, and if the window port is capable of adjust-
+ ing to suit your preferences, it will attempt to do so. If it
+ can't it will silently ignore it. You can find out if an option
+ is supported by the window port that you are currently using by
checking to see if it shows up in the Options list. Some options
- are dynamic and can be specified during the game with the `O'
+ are dynamic and can be specified during the game with the `O'
command.
align_message
- Where to align or place the message window (top, bottom, left,
+ Where to align or place the message window (top, bottom, left,
or right)
align_status
- Where to align or place the status window (top, bottom, left,
+ Where to align or place the status window (top, bottom, left,
or right).
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
+ 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
DECgraphics or IBMgraphics if your display supports them. Set-
ting ascii_map to True forces tiled_map to be False.
monsters, objects, and dungeon features (default on).
eight_bit_tty
- If NetHack can, it should pass eight-bit character values (for
- example, specified with the traps option) straight through to
+ If NetHack can, it should pass eight-bit character values (for
+ example, specified with the traps option) straight through to
NetHack 3.7 October 27, 2022
map window.
font_menu
- If NetHack can, it should use a font by the chosen name for
+ If NetHack can, it should use a font by the chosen name for
menu windows.
font_message
status window.
font_text
- If NetHack can, it should use a font by the chosen name for
+ If NetHack can, it should use a font by the chosen name for
text windows.
font_size_map
- If NetHack can, it should use this size font for the map win-
+ If NetHack can, it should use this size font for the map win-
dow.
font_size_menu
If NetHack can, it should use this size font for menu windows.
font_size_message
- If NetHack can, it should use this size font for the message
+ If NetHack can, it should use this size font for the message
window.
font_size_status
- If NetHack can, it should use this size font for the status
+ If NetHack can, it should use this size font for the status
window.
font_size_text
If NetHack can, it should use this size font for text windows.
fullscreen
- If NetHack can, it should try and display on the entire screen
+ If NetHack can, it should try and display on the entire screen
rather than in a window.
guicolor
- Use color text and/or highlighting attributes when displaying
- some non-map data (such as menu selector letters). Curses in-
+ Use color text and/or highlighting attributes when displaying
+ some non-map data (such as menu selector letters). Curses in-
terface only; default is on.
large_font
If NetHack can, it should use a large font.
map_mode
- If NetHack can, it should display the map in the manner
+ If NetHack can, it should display the map in the manner
NetHack 3.7 October 27, 2022
specified.
player_selection
- If NetHack can, it should pop up dialog boxes, or use prompts
+ If NetHack can, it should pop up dialog boxes, or use prompts
for character selection.
popup_dialog
preload_tiles
If NetHack can, it should preload tiles into memory. For exam-
- ple, in the protected mode MS-DOS version, control whether
- tiles get pre-loaded into RAM at the start of the game. Doing
- so enhances performance of the tile graphics, but uses more
+ ple, in the protected mode MS-DOS version, control whether
+ tiles get pre-loaded into RAM at the start of the game. Doing
+ so enhances performance of the tile graphics, but uses more
memory. (default on). Cannot be set with the `O' command.
scroll_amount
- If NetHack can, it should scroll the display by this number of
+ If NetHack can, it should scroll the display by this number of
cells when the hero reaches the scroll_margin.
scroll_margin
- If NetHack can, it should scroll the display when the hero or
- cursor is this number of cells away from the edge of the win-
+ If NetHack can, it should scroll the display when the hero or
+ cursor is this number of cells away from the edge of the win-
dow.
selectsaved
- If NetHack can, it should display a menu of existing saved
+ If NetHack can, it should display a menu of existing saved
games for the player to choose from at game startup, if it can.
Not all ports support this option.
softkeyboard
- Display an onscreen keyboard. Handhelds are most likely to
+ Display an onscreen keyboard. Handhelds are most likely to
support this option.
splash_screen
it starts up (default yes).
statuslines
- Number of lines for traditional below-the-map status display.
+ Number of lines for traditional below-the-map status display.
Acceptable values are 2 and 3 (default is 2).
- When set to 3, the tty interface moves some fields around and
- mainly shows status conditions on their own line. A display
+ When set to 3, the tty interface moves some fields around and
+ mainly shows status conditions on their own line. A display
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.
- The curses interface does likewise if the align_status option
- is set to top or bottom but ignores statuslines when set to
+ The curses interface does likewise if the align_status option
+ is set to top or bottom but ignores statuslines when set to
left or right.
- The Qt interface already displays more than 3 lines for status
- so uses the statuslines value differently. A value of 3
+ The Qt interface already displays more than 3 lines for status
+ so uses the statuslines value differently. A value of 3
NetHack 3.7 October 27, 2022
- renders status in the Qt interface's original format, with the
+ renders status in the Qt interface's original format, with the
status window spread out vertically. A value of 2 makes status
be slightly condensed, moving some fields to different lines to
eliminate one whole line, reducing the height needed.
term_cols and
term_rows
- Curses interface only. Number of columns and rows to use for
+ Curses interface only. Number of columns and rows to use for
the display. Curses will attempt to resize to the values spec-
- ified but will settle for smaller sizes if they are too big.
+ ified but will settle for smaller sizes if they are too big.
Default is the current window size.
tile_file
- Specify the name of an alternative tile file to override the
+ Specify the name of an alternative tile file to override the
default.
- Note: the X11 interface uses X resources rather than NetHack's
- options to select an alternate tile file. See NetHack.ad, the
+ 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.
tile_height
- Specify the preferred height of each tile in a tile capable
+ Specify the preferred height of each tile in a tile capable
port.
tile_width
Specify the preferred width of each tile in a tile capable port
tiled_map
- If NetHack can, it should display the map using tiles graphics
- rather than simple characters (letters and punctuation, possi-
- bly augmented by line-drawing symbols). Setting tiled_map to
+ If NetHack can, it should display the map using tiles graphics
+ rather than simple characters (letters and punctuation, possi-
+ bly augmented by line-drawing symbols). Setting tiled_map to
True forces ascii_map to be False.
use_darkgray
Use bold black instead of blue for black glyphs (TTY only).
use_inverse
- If NetHack can, it should display inverse when the game speci-
+ If NetHack can, it should display inverse when the game speci-
fies it.
vary_msgcount
- If NetHack can, it should display this number of messages at a
+ If NetHack can, it should display this number of messages at a
time in the message window.
windowborders
- Whether to draw boxes around the map, status area, message
- area, and persistent inventory window if enabled. Curses in-
+ Whether to draw boxes around the map, status area, message
+ area, and persistent inventory window if enabled. Curses in-
terface only. Acceptable values are
3 - on, except forced off for perm_invent
4 - auto, except forced off for perm_invent
- (The 26x82 size threshold for `2' refers to number of rows and
- columns of the display. A width of at least 110 columns
+ (The 26x82 size threshold for `2' refers to number of rows and
+ columns of the display. A width of at least 110 columns
(80+2+26+2) is needed to show borders if align_status is set to
left or right.)
- The persistent inventory window, when enabled, can grow until
- it is too big to fit on most displays, resulting in truncation
- of its contents. If borders are forced on (1) or the display
+ The persistent inventory window, when enabled, can grow until
+ it is too big to fit on most displays, resulting in truncation
+ of its contents. If borders are forced on (1) or the display
is big enough to show them (2), setting the value to 3 or 4 in-
- stead will keep borders for the map, message, and status win-
- dows but have room for two additional lines of inventory plus
+ stead will keep borders for the map, message, and status win-
+ dows but have room for two additional lines of inventory plus
widen each inventory line by two columns.
windowcolors
- If NetHack can, it should display windows with the specified
+ If NetHack can, it should display windows with the specified
foreground/background colors. Windows GUI only. The format is
OPTION=windowcolors:wintype foreground/background
- where wintype is one of "menu", "message", "status", or
- "text", and foreground and background are colors, either a hexa-
- decimal \'#rrggbb', one of the named colors (black, red, green,
- brown, blue, magenta, cyan, orange, brightgreen, yellow, bright-
- blue, brightmagenta, brightcyan, white, trueblack, gray, purple,
- silver, maroon, fuchsia, lime, olive, navy, teal, aqua), or one
- of Windows UI colors (activeborder, activecaption, appworkspace,
- background, btnface, btnshadow, btntext, captiontext, graytext,
- greytext, highlight, highlighttext, inactiveborder, inactivecap-
- tion, menu, menutext, scrollbar, window, windowframe, window-
+ where wintype is one of "menu", "message", "status", or
+ "text", and foreground and background are colors, either a hexa-
+ decimal \'#rrggbb', one of the named colors (black, red, green,
+ brown, blue, magenta, cyan, orange, brightgreen, yellow, bright-
+ blue, brightmagenta, brightcyan, white, trueblack, gray, purple,
+ silver, maroon, fuchsia, lime, olive, navy, teal, aqua), or one
+ of Windows UI colors (activeborder, activecaption, appworkspace,
+ background, btnface, btnshadow, btntext, captiontext, graytext,
+ greytext, highlight, highlighttext, inactiveborder, inactivecap-
+ tion, menu, menutext, scrollbar, window, windowframe, window-
text).
wraptext
9.6. Platform-specific Customization options
- Here are explanations of options that are used by specific
+ Here are explanations of options that are used by specific
platforms or ports to customize and change the port behavior.
altkeyhandling
Select an alternate way to handle keystrokes (Win32 tty NetHack
- only). The name of the handling type is one of "default",
+ only). The name of the handling type is one of "default",
"ray", "340".
altmeta
altmeta
On other (non-Amiga) systems where this option is available, it
- can be set to tell NetHack to convert a two character sequence
- beginning with ESC into a meta-shifted version of the second
+ can be set to tell NetHack to convert a two character sequence
+ beginning with ESC into a meta-shifted version of the second
character (default off).
- This conversion is only done for commands, not for other input
+ This conversion is only done for commands, not for other input
prompts. Note that typing one or more digits as a count prefix
- prior to a command--preceded by n if the number_pad option is
+ prior to a command--preceded by n if the number_pad option is
set--is also subject to this conversion, so attempting to abort
- the count by typing ESC will leave NetHack waiting for another
- character to complete the two character sequence. Type a sec-
- ond ESC to finish cancelling such a count. At other prompts a
+ the count by typing ESC will leave NetHack waiting for another
+ character to complete the two character sequence. Type a sec-
+ ond ESC to finish cancelling such a count. At other prompts a
single ESC suffices.
BIOS
Use BIOS calls to update the screen display quickly and to read
- the keyboard (allowing the use of arrow keys to move) on ma-
- chines with an IBM PC compatible BIOS ROM (default off, OS/2,
+ the keyboard (allowing the use of arrow keys to move) on ma-
+ chines with an IBM PC compatible BIOS ROM (default off, OS/2,
PC, and ST NetHack only).
flush
(default on, Mac NetHack only).
rawio
- Force raw (non-cbreak) mode for faster output and more bullet-
- proof input (MS-DOS sometimes treats `^P' as a printer toggle
- without it) (default off, OS/2, PC, and ST NetHack only).
- Note: DEC Rainbows hang if this is turned on. Cannot be set
+ Force raw (non-cbreak) mode for faster output and more bullet-
+ proof input (MS-DOS sometimes treats `^P' as a printer toggle
+ without it) (default off, OS/2, PC, and ST NetHack only).
+ Note: DEC Rainbows hang if this is turned on. Cannot be set
with the `O' command.
subkeyvalue
- (Win32 tty NetHack only). May be used to alter the value of
+ (Win32 tty NetHack only). May be used to alter the value of
keystrokes that the operating system returns to NetHack to help
- compensate for international keyboard issues. OPTIONS=subkey-
- value:171/92 will return 92 to NetHack, if 171 was originally
+ compensate for international keyboard issues. OPTIONS=subkey-
+ value:171/92 will return 92 to NetHack, if 171 was originally
going to be returned. You can use multiple subkeyvalue assign-
- ments in the configuration file if needed. Cannot be set with
+ ments in the configuration file if needed. Cannot be set with
the `O' command.
video
Set the video mode used (PC NetHack only). Values are "autode-
- tect", "default", "vga", or "vesa". Setting "vesa" will cause
+ 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
+ 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
NetHack 3.7 October 27, 2022
- sets "default" if neither of those modes works. Cannot be set
+ 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
+ Set the VGA mode resolution height (MS-DOS only, with
video:vesa)
video_width
- Set the VGA mode resolution width (MS-DOS only, with
+ Set the VGA mode resolution width (MS-DOS only, with
video:vesa)
videocolors
- Set the color palette for PC systems using NO_TERMS (default
- 4-2-6-1-5-3-15-12-10-14-9-13-11, (PC NetHack only). The order
- of colors is red, green, brown, blue, magenta, cyan,
- bright.white, bright.red, bright.green, yellow, bright.blue,
- bright.magenta, and bright.cyan. Cannot be set with the `O'
+ Set the color palette for PC systems using NO_TERMS (default
+ 4-2-6-1-5-3-15-12-10-14-9-13-11, (PC NetHack only). The order
+ of colors is red, green, brown, blue, magenta, cyan,
+ bright.white, bright.red, bright.green, yellow, bright.blue,
+ bright.magenta, and bright.cyan. Cannot be set with the `O'
command.
videoshades
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
+ 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
- Regular expressions are normally POSIX extended regular ex-
- pressions. It is possible to compile NetHack without regular ex-
- pression support on a platform where there is no regular expres-
- sion library. While this is not true of any modern platform, if
- your NetHack was built this way, patterns are instead glob pat-
+ Regular expressions are normally POSIX extended regular ex-
+ pressions. It is possible to compile NetHack without regular ex-
+ pression support on a platform where there is no regular expres-
+ sion library. While this is not true of any modern platform, if
+ your NetHack was built this way, patterns are instead glob pat-
terns. This applies to Autopickup exceptions, Message types, Menu
colors, and User sounds.
You can further refine the behavior of the autopickup option
beyond what is available through the pickup_types option.
- By placing autopickup_exception lines in your configuration
- file, you can define patterns to be checked when the game is
+ By placing autopickup_exception lines in your configuration
+ file, you can define patterns to be checked when the game is
about to autopickup something.
autopickup_exception
- Sets an exception to the pickup_types option. The autopick-
- up_exception option should be followed by a regular expression
- to be used as a pattern to match against the singular form of
+ Sets an exception to the pickup_types option. The autopick-
+ up_exception option should be followed by a regular expression
+ to be used as a pattern to match against the singular form of
the description of an object at your location.
- In addition, some characters are treated specially if they oc-
+ In addition, some characters are treated specially if they oc-
cur as the first character in the pattern, specifically:
< - always pickup an object that matches rest of pattern;
> - never pickup an object that matches rest of pattern.
- The autopickup_exception rules are processed in the order in
- which they appear in your configuration file, thus allowing a
+ The autopickup_exception rules are processed in the order in
+ which they appear in your configuration file, thus allowing a
later rule to override an earlier rule.
- Exceptions can be set with the `O' command, but because they
- are not included in your configuration file, they won't be in
- effect if you save and then restore your game. autopickup_ex-
+ Exceptions can be set with the `O' command, but because they
+ are not included in your configuration file, they won't be in
+ effect if you save and then restore your game. autopickup_ex-
ception rules and not saved with the game.
Here are some examples:
autopickup_exception=">*corpse"
autopickup_exception=">* cursed*"
- 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 ex-
+ 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 ex-
clusion of items known to be cursed from autopickup.
9.9. Changing Key Bindings
- It is possible to change the default key bindings of some
- special commands, menu accelerator keys, and extended commands,
- by using BIND stanzas in the configuration file. Format is key,
- followed by the command to bind to, separated by a colon. The
+ It is possible to change the default key bindings of some
+ special commands, menu accelerator keys, and extended commands,
+ by using BIND stanzas in the configuration file. Format is key,
+ followed by the command to bind to, separated by a colon. The
key can be a single character ("x"), a control key ("^X", "C-x"),
- a meta key ("M-x"), a mouse button, or a three-digit decimal
+ a meta key ("M-x"), a mouse button, or a three-digit decimal
ASCII code.
For example:
BIND=v:loot
Extended command keys
- You can bind multiple keys to the same extended command. Un-
- bind a key by using "nothing" as the extended command to bind
- to. You can also bind the "<esc>", "<enter>", and "<space>"
+ You can bind multiple keys to the same extended command. Un-
+ bind a key by using "nothing" as the extended command to bind
+ to. You can also bind the "<esc>", "<enter>", and "<space>"
keys.
Menu accelerator keys
- The menu control or accelerator keys can also be rebound via
- OPTIONS lines in the configuration file. You cannot bind ob-
+ 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
+ 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
+ Prefix key to start a count, to repeat a command this many
times. With number_pad only. Default is `n'.
getdir.help
- When asked for a direction, the key to show the help. Default
+ When asked for a direction, the key to show the help. Default
is `?'.
getdir.mouse
- When asked for a direction, the key to initiate a simulated
- mouse click. You will be asked to pick a location. Use move-
- ment keystrokes to move the cursor around the map, then type
- the getpos.pick.once key (default `,') or the getpos.pick key
- (default `.') to finish as if performing a left or right
- click. Only useful when using the #therecmdmenu command. De-
+ When asked for a direction, the key to initiate a simulated
+ mouse click. You will be asked to pick a location. Use move-
+ ment keystrokes to move the cursor around the map, then type
+ the getpos.pick.once key (default `,') or the getpos.pick key
+ (default `.') to finish as if performing a left or right
+ click. Only useful when using the #therecmdmenu command. De-
fault is `_'.
getdir.self
- When asked for a direction, the key to target yourself. De-
+ When asked for a direction, the key to target yourself. De-
fault is `.'.
getdir.self2
- When asked for a direction, an alternate key to target your-
+ When asked for a direction, an alternate key to target your-
self. Default is `s'.
getpos.autodescribe
esting thing. Default is `a'.
getpos.all.prev
- When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
+ When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
interesting thing. Default is `A'.
getpos.door.next
- When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest door
+ When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest door
or doorway. Default is `d'.
getpos.door.prev
- When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
+ When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
door or doorway. Default is `D'.
getpos.help
- When asked for a location, the key to show help. Default is
+ When asked for a location, the key to show help. Default is
NetHack 3.7 October 27, 2022
`?'.
getpos.mon.next
- When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest mon-
+ When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest mon-
ster. Default is `m'.
getpos.mon.prev
- When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
+ When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
monster. Default is `M'.
getpos.obj.next
- When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest ob-
+ When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest ob-
ject. Default is `o'.
getpos.obj.prev
- When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
+ When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
object. Default is `O'.
getpos.menu
- When asked for a location, and using one of the next or previ-
- ous keys to cycle through targets, toggle showing a menu in-
+ When asked for a location, and using one of the next or previ-
+ ous keys to cycle through targets, toggle showing a menu in-
stead. Default is `!'.
getpos.moveskip
- When asked for a location, and using the shifted movement keys
- or meta-digit keys to fast-move around, move by skipping the
+ When asked for a location, and using the shifted movement keys
+ or meta-digit keys to fast-move around, move by skipping the
same glyphs instead of by 8 units. Default is `*'.
getpos.filter
When asked for a location, change the filtering mode when using
- one of the next or previous keys to cycle through targets.
- Toggles between no filtering, in view only, and in the same
+ one of the next or previous keys to cycle through targets.
+ Toggles between no filtering, in view only, and in the same
area only. Default is `"'.
getpos.pick
- When asked for a location, the key to choose the location, and
- possibly ask for more info. When simulating a mouse click af-
- ter being asked for a direction (see getdir.mouse above), the
+ When asked for a location, the key to choose the location, and
+ possibly ask for more info. When simulating a mouse click af-
+ ter being asked for a direction (see getdir.mouse above), the
key to use to respond as right click. Default is `.'.
getpos.pick.once
- When asked for a location, the key to choose the location, and
+ When asked for a location, the key to choose the location, and
skip asking for more info. When simulating a mouse click after
- being asked for a direction, the key to respond as left click.
+ being asked for a direction, the key to respond as left click.
Default is `,'.
getpos.pick.quick
When asked for a location, the key to choose the location, skip
- asking for more info, and exit the location asking loop. De-
+ asking for more info, and exit the location asking loop. De-
fault is `;'.
getpos.pick.verbose
- When asked for a location, the key to choose the location, and
+ When asked for a location, the key to choose the location, and
show more info without asking. Default is `:'.
fault is `@'.
getpos.unexplored.next
- When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest unex-
+ When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest unex-
plored location. Default is `x'.
getpos.unexplored.prev
- When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
+ When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
unexplored location. Default is `X'.
getpos.valid
- When asked for a location, the key to go to show valid target
+ When asked for a location, the key to go to show valid target
locations. Default is `$'.
getpos.valid.next
- When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest valid
+ When asked for a location, the key to go to next closest valid
location. Default is `z'.
getpos.valid.prev
- When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
+ When asked for a location, the key to go to previous closest
valid location. Default is `Z'.
9.10. Configuring Message Types
You can change the way the messages are shown in the message
area, when the message matches a user-defined pattern.
- In general, the configuration file entries to describe the
+ In general, the configuration file entries to describe the
message types look like this: MSGTYPE=type "pattern"
type - how the message should be shown;
show - show message normally;
hide - never show the message;
stop - wait for user with more-prompt;
- norep - show the message once, but not again if no other mes-
+ norep - show the message once, but not again if no other mes-
sage is shown in between.
- Here's an example of message types using NetHack's internal
+ Here's an example of message types using NetHack's internal
pattern matching facility:
MSGTYPE=stop "You feel hungry."
MSGTYPE=hide "You displaced *."
- specifies that whenever a message "You feel hungry" is shown,
- the user is prompted with more-prompt, and a message matching
+ specifies that whenever a message "You feel hungry" is shown,
+ the user is prompted with more-prompt, and a message matching
"You displaced <something>." is not shown at all.
- The order of the defined MSGTYPE lines is important; the last
- matching rule is used. Put the general case first, exceptions
+ The order of the defined MSGTYPE lines is important; the last
+ matching rule is used. Put the general case first, exceptions
below them.
9.11. Configuring Menu Colors
Some platforms allow you to define colors used in menu lines
- when the line matches a user-defined pattern. At this time the
+ when the line matches a user-defined pattern. At this time the
tty, curses, win32tty and win32gui interfaces support this.
- In general, the configuration file entries to describe the
+ In general, the configuration file entries to describe the
menu color mappings look like this:
MENUCOLOR="pattern"=color&attribute
pattern - the pattern to match;
- color - the color to use for lines matching the pat-
+ color - the color to use for lines matching the pat-
tern;
- attribute - the attribute to use for lines matching the
- pattern. The attribute is optional, and if
+ attribute - the attribute to use for lines matching the
+ pattern. The attribute is optional, and if
left out, you must also leave out the preced-
- ing ampersand. If no attribute is defined,
+ ing ampersand. If no attribute is defined,
no attribute is used.
The pattern should be a regular expression.
- Allowed colors are black, red, green, brown, blue, magenta,
- cyan, gray, orange, light-green, yellow, light-blue, light-ma-
- genta, light-cyan, and white. And no-color, the default fore-
- ground color, which isn't necessarily the same as any of the
+ Allowed colors are black, red, green, brown, blue, magenta,
+ cyan, gray, orange, light-green, yellow, light-blue, light-ma-
+ genta, light-cyan, and white. And no-color, the default fore-
+ ground color, which isn't necessarily the same as any of the
other colors.
- Allowed attributes are none, bold, dim, italic, underline,
- blink, and inverse. "Normal" is a synonym for "none". Note
- that the platform used may interpret the attributes any way it
+ Allowed attributes are none, bold, dim, italic, underline,
+ blink, and inverse. "Normal" is a synonym for "none". Note
+ that the platform used may interpret the attributes any way it
wants.
- Here's an example of menu colors using NetHack's internal pat-
+ Here's an example of menu colors using NetHack's internal pat-
tern matching facility:
MENUCOLOR="* blessed *"=green
MENUCOLOR="* cursed *"=red
MENUCOLOR="* cursed *(being worn)"=red&underline
- specifies that any menu line with " blessed " contained in it
- will be shown in green color, lines with " cursed " will be
- shown in red, and lines with " cursed " followed by "(being
- worn)" on the same line will be shown in red color and under-
+ specifies that any menu line with " blessed " contained in it
+ will be shown in green color, lines with " cursed " will be
+ shown in red, and lines with " cursed " followed by "(being
+ worn)" on the same line will be shown in red color and under-
lined. You can have multiple MENUCOLOR entries in your config-
- uration file, and the last MENUCOLOR line that matches a menu
+ uration file, and the last MENUCOLOR line that matches a menu
line will be used for the line.
Note that if you intend to have one or more color specifica-
- tions match " uncursed ", you will probably want to turn the
+ tions match " uncursed ", you will probably want to turn the
NetHack 3.7 October 27, 2022
- implicit_uncursed option off so that all items known to be un-
+ implicit_uncursed option off so that all items known to be un-
cursed are actually displayed with the "uncursed" description.
9.12. Configuring User Sounds
- Some platforms allow you to define sound files to be played
- when a message that matches a user-defined pattern is delivered
+ Some platforms allow you to define sound files to be played
+ when a message that matches a user-defined pattern is delivered
to the message window. At this time the Qt port and the win32tty
and win32gui ports support the use of user sounds.
- The following configuration file entries are relevant to
+ The following configuration file entries are relevant to
mapping user sounds to messages:
SOUNDDIR
The directory that houses the sound files to be played.
SOUND
- An entry that maps a sound file to a user-specified message
- pattern. Each SOUND entry is broken down into the following
+ An entry that maps a sound file to a user-specified message
+ pattern. Each SOUND entry is broken down into the following
parts:
MESG - message window mapping (the only one supported in
3.7);
- msgtype - optional; message type to use, see "Configuring
+ 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.
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.
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
+ 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%:
(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
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-
+ 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-
+ 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-
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
+ * 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 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
+ 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
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. Customizing Map Glyph Representations Using Unicode
- 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
+ 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.
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
+ 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
+ the glyph representation for glyphid G_pool to use Unicode
NetHack 3.7 October 27, 2022
OPTIONS=glyph:G_pool/U+224B/0-0-160
- The list of acceptable glyphid's can be produced by nethack
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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 even the MS-DOS ver-
- sions of NetHack (which use special line-drawing characters by
+ NetHack can be set up to use only standard ASCII characters
+ for making maps of the dungeons. This makes even the MS-DOS ver-
+ sions of NetHack (which use special line-drawing characters by
default) 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 capabilities of their
- screen-readers to be quite valuable. Be certain to examine this
+ to know how to navigate horizontally and vertically character by
+ character. They will also find the search capabilities of their
+ screen-readers to be quite valuable. Be certain to examine this
Guidebook before playing so you have an idea what the screen lay-
out is like. You'll also need to be able to locate the PC cursor.
- It is always where your character is located. Merely searching
+ It is always where your character is located. Merely searching
for an @-sign will not always find your character since there are
- other humanoids represented by the same sign. Your screen-reader
+ 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 of-
- ten useful in giving players a better sense of the overall loca-
+ ten useful in giving players a better sense of the overall loca-
tion 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
and use the traditional Rogue-like commands.
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.
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.
9.17. 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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-
+ 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
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
- 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
+ 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 is an intricate and difficult game. Novices might
+ 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
+ "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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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-
+ 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
+ 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,
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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-
+ 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
+ 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
NetHack 3.7 October 27, 2022
- platforms (initially MS-DOS but eventually Windows, Qt, and X11
+ 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
+ ic Smith, Mike Stephenson, Janet Walz, and Paul Winner, released
version 3.2.0 in April of 1996.
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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ (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
NetHack 3.7 October 27, 2022
- insertion of new high scores and with retrieval of old character
- names to use for random ghost and statue names in the current
+ insertion 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
+ 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.
Version 3.3 offered many firsts. It was the first version to
- separate race and profession. The Elf class was removed in pref-
+ 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
+ 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
- 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-
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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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-
+ 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.
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
- Andy Thomson for hardfought.org. Thanks to all those unnamed
+ 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
NetHack 3.7 October 27, 2022
- dungeoneers 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).
+ dungeoneers 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).
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
- Brand and product names are trademarks or registered trade-
+ Brand and product names are trademarks or registered trade-
marks of their respective holders.
projects / nethack / commitdiff