A horrific noob's commentated 'band adventures

[backwardsEric]

Why *are* ^i and ^m hard-coded to Tab and Enter, anyway?

It's tied to the layout of ASCII encoding and (I'm guessing here) the way teletypes (and the terminals and terminal emulators that followed them) work. To get one of the control codes (0 to 31 in ASCII) which didn't have a dedicated key on the keyboard, one would hit ctrl + key. Behind the scenes, that would take the code for key and blank out the most significant 3 bits (equivalent to a bitwise-and with 0x1f or subtracting 64 from the code for an uppercase letter or 96 from the code for a lowercase letter) to get the control code. So,

I (0x49 hexadecimal or 73 decimal in ASCII) or i (0x69 hexadecimal or 105 decimal in ASCII) -> horizontal tab (0x09 hexadecimal or 9 decimal in ASCII)

M (0x4d hexadecimal or 77 decimal in ASCII) or m (0x6d hexadecimal or 109 decimal in ASCII) -> carriage return (0x0d hexadecimal or 13 decimal in ASCII)

G (0x47 hexadecimal or 71 decimal in ASCII) or g (0x67 hexadecimal or 103 decimal in ASCII) -> audible bell (0x07 hexadecimal or 7 decimal in ASCII)

[smbhax]

Man! It's interesting that the old VI keys, which became the "roguelike" keys, fit right between G, I, and M! Did they need to avoid those CTRL key clashes for text editing? That would explain why the key position is shifted one over from the standard right-hand typing position, I suppose.

Update: I tried looking this up, and as far as I can tell from VI editor key reference guides like https://www.atmos.albany.edu/daes/at...heat_sheet.pdf , they did use ^h for backing up one character in "input" mode, so I suppose there's some correspondence there, but maybe that could have just as well have been on ^j if things had been shifted over one to match standard typing hand position. Nothing assigned to ^j or ^k. ^l redraws the screen, which maybe didn't necessarily need to line up with the right navigation key, I wouldn't have thought.

So it doesn't seem like our roguelike keys neatly fit in between those ASCII CTRL mappings in VI for that particular purpose--and oh I guess it wouldn't have mattered there for I and M anyhow, since VI didn't use diagonal movement keys. Oh well so much for that theory. ; _)

And there's a ^g! ("Display current line number and file information.")

[Pete Mack]

Vi commands are* hjkl for local movement. (It is bimodal between edit mode and command modes.) Caps and control are rogue (and later) generalizations. And yeah, they are still useful for touch-typists who eschew the numpad.

* no 'were' anout it--vi is still widely used--it's even an Android and OSX app. They actually go back to some mid-to-late-70s era glass screen terminal, currently in use only at Unix museums.

[smbhax]

Great, let's get more VI users into Angband. = D

[Julian]

Great, let's get more VI users into Angband. = D

It’s compatible with Nethack, which is perhaps more useful.

[Julian]

Update: I tried looking this up, and as far as I can tell from VI editor key reference guides like https://www.atmos.albany.edu/daes/at...heat_sheet.pdf , they did use ^h for backing up one character in "input" mode, so I suppose there's some correspondence there, but maybe that could have just as well have been on ^j if things had been shifted over one to match standard typing hand position. Nothing assigned to ^j or ^k. ^l redraws the screen, which maybe didn't necessarily need to line up with the right navigation key, I wouldn't have thought.

Since ^h is backspace and ^j is line feed, I suspect the choice of home-row keys for vi (or perhaps ed — I don’t know how navigation worked in ed) was deliberate to match them.

[smbhax]

It’s compatible with Nethack, which is perhaps more useful.

Well as long as they end up playing the roguelike keyset in Angband so more people besides me will report roguelike keyset issues. ^ _^

Since ^h is backspace and ^j is line feed, I suspect the choice of home-row keys for vi (or perhaps ed — I don’t know how navigation worked in ed) was deliberate to match them.

Oh that makes sense. That key list I dug up for VI omitted ^j... Ah, this one has it: https://hea-www.harvard.edu/~fine/Tech/vi.html

[smbhax]

https://youtu.be/1CC-Y2c5sRU

0:00 - town - back to Recall scrolls ;_;
9:01 - L34 - stone giants, serpents, mages
14:35 - keymap kerfuffle
27:30 - reset to default Roguelike keys 'p'
35:09 - The Ant Queen
45:33 - L35 & wrap!

Back to Word of Recall scrolls (one got toasted by The Ant Queen's giant fire ants! 'o') until I can find another Rod of, and eventually, back to the default Roguelike keyset: my shifted-one-right keymap attempt ended up failing because a) I'd forgotten m and M are sorta needed (magic and Map) shortcuts, and those were being stomped by my down-right movement key; and more immediately, b) m is a toggle option in x (eXamine) lookaround mode, which stomps my keymap, so I couldn't look down-right!

(Is "lookaround mode toggle option stomps movement key keymap" a bug? I can see why you might want a submenu option to stomp a keymap in a lot of submenus, where you can't engage in normal gameplay, but in lookaround mode, you still need to use the movement keys.)

By the end I didn't screw up using my split-B key to move down-left about three times in a row, so maybe I can manage this split keyboard okay without it getting me killed too often. = oo

[smbhax]

I was rampaging around in multiple versions of the game from the same save file while trying to gauge input and sound delay in the SDL2 front-end. Did get killed in the I think standard Windows version being zapped three times quick by a shaman's Cause Critical Wounds or something while not paying attention. ; ) And only noticed afterwards from the screenshot of where I finally stopped, to continue from normally in the MSYS2-compiled version, that I'd just happened to end my rampage just short of waking a certain



ancient multi-hued dragon: just a level 53 monster on dungeon level 36! = oo (After somebody dropped me down a floor (or two?) during my delay-testing rampage, and other somebody or others drained my clevel from 33 to 32. ; )

Sooo... Prrobably gonna run away here. = oo

Well, yeah from a creature 20 levels higher I guess. But maybe what I think I know about AMHDs is out of date: in RogueLOVE's old YouTube Moria play-through, AMHDs could kill the player in one poison gas breath attack--there was no resistance to it back then. There is now in Angband though? I have Poison resistance with my shield. Would that apply?

Probably wouldn't save me much from a 21 level difference I suppose. ^) ^

[smbhax]

@Shockbolt's beholders are cute ^ _^

[smbhax]

https://youtu.be/HoSvVNSILf4

0:00 - start
1:02 - standard Windows version
1:35 - tilesets
9:43 - WSL Ubuntu SDL2 version
24:43 - Cygwin/X SDL2 version
36:48 - MSYS2 updater demo
42:46 - MSYS2 SDL2 version
47:35 - L36 - ancient multi-hued dragon = o
1:02:55 - town - enchanting a staff and armor
1:17:21 - new L36
1:21:31 - ogres
1:24:26 - a summoning chest & Nar the dwarf
1:30:08 - boots of speed & an artifact dagger
1:35:50 - impact hounds & force breath

Accidentally teleported myself back to town--gotta get those !r inscriptions going! : P--but well that's one way to make sure I don't run back into the amhd I suppose. =p Given that I've been using an enchanted rapier to this point, the artifact dagger I found is a nice step up. : )

a) the Dagger 'Brangolf' (1d4) (+9,+18)
Taken from a chest found at 1800 feet (level 36)

Provides resistance to Lightning, Fire, Cold.
Provides protection from fear, confusion.
Cannot be harmed by Acid.
Grants the ability to see invisible things.

Combat info:
4.7 blows/round.
With +0 STR and +2 DEX you would get 5.0 blows
Average damage/round: 245.6.
Average thrown damage: 63.3.

[smbhax]

https://youtu.be/abDcOJWnlLo

0:00 - start
3:20 - about the latest MSYS2 code fixes
10:59 - moving status to the sidebar
37:04 - rubble tile hack
53:53 - drank a dumb potion 'p'
1:00:41 - L36
1:07:52 - ^c 'p'
1:17:38 - trapper
1:31:24 - Defender rapier
1:51:24 - a really weird secret corridor
2:00:25 - long tunnel + nexus hounds ;_;
2:32:05 - reading last Enchant scroll changes target item key assignment
2:59:01 - loot & buffs

Master vampires and white wraiths for Halloween. : ]

Ah one thing I missed about the Rapier (Defender) was its AC boost: +2, I guess?

Oh, ammo details say "average damage/round" not "/shot" so I guess it ISN'T necessary or correct to look up shots/round in the Character sheet and multiply that by the avg damage shown in the ammo details--so this bow ISN'T doing 40% or whatever less damage than the old crossbow. Sweet. (I guess I could test that but it's a pain and I don't want to. :P) I find it delightfully amusing that the DEX bonus on my newly adapted missile weapon gives me a huge melee damage boost. ^ D^ MAN those DEX boosts really do shoot melee damage up something fierce, crrrraaaayzay. : D

Also, a katana feels cooler than using a little ol' dagger or whatever--and finally I have melee weapon options larger than those little knives I'd been using up to this point because their attack speed trumped everything else.

After a hideously long period of shuffling things around and scratching my head, I've now got protection or whatever from blindness, confusion, and traps (immunity!)! Along with fear (I get from from being a level 30+ fighter anyway), paralysis of course, and I think most of the usual resists. Now if only I had a good piece of gear that gave nexus protection; happened across those nexus resist store boots by chance but I would prefer not to have to lug them around...I guess we'll see how many more nexus breathers I run across. Darn those hounds in that long tunnel!!! ; D

Actually I guess what I really want is teleport protection--darn those mages, too! : PP

backwardsEric gave me a tip on preventing myself from risking killing my character when accidentally hitting ^c instead of ^x (Save): save a blank (or otherwise harmless) keymap over it! : )

[smbhax]

You have picked the lock.
                    #     # # ' #
Half-Elf            ##### # # # #
Warrior                 # # # # #
Warrior(4th)            # # # # #
                        # # # # ###############################################
STR :  18/08            # # # #
INT :     12            # # # #################################################
WIS :      9            # # # #                    ###############
DEX :     15            # # # #                    #             #
CON :     15            # # # #                 #### ########### #
CHR :     15            # # # #                 #   ^#         # #
                        # # # #                 # ####         # #
LEV :     11 ############ ###'############      # #            # #
EXP :    614     '                       #      # #            # #
MANA:      0 #####                       #      # # ############.########
MHP :    124 #####                       #    ###'# #...................#######
CHP :    101                                    '@. .....................
             #####                       #    ###'# #...................#######
AC  :      8     #                       +          #######$####'####$###
GOLD:    837     ############## ### ### ##               ####### #
                            #'#'### # # #                #     # #
                            #    ##'# #'#                # ### # #
                                                                 250 feet

(I'd use the "pre" tag to post the ASCII, but unlike "code," it seems to double-space everything. Maybe I'm doing it wrong.)

Hand got irritated hitting keys repeatedly for lock pick and search checks in Umoria--it doesn't auto-repeat until success like Angband; you can do like "11s" or "11o" to repeat a fixed number of times, but that's still more typing : p--so I commented their failure checks out of my src/player.cpp. And to save myself another frequent extra key-press, I made a blank "Rest for how long?" entry do the same as entering an asterisk, ie rest until reaching full mana & health. Lines changed:

204 added "|| !rest_str[0]" to rest duration input check
682-684 removed search failure
1229-1238 removed now-unused lock-picking skill
1244, 1249, 1254-1261 removed door failure
1280, 1287-1289 removed chest failure

[smbhax]

After some mucking about, made Umoria inventory lists auto-open and auto-close by messing with src/ui_inventory.cpp:

377, 399 commented out conditional to auto-show Take off item list
396, 398, 400 commented out ifs (but not else) to auto-show Drop item list
426, 428 commented out conditional to auto-show Wear/Wield item list
644 added global "bool ui_inv_done = false;" to track use of Take off/Drop/Wear/Wield
673 added two lines below for successful Take off command:
terminalRestoreScreen();
ui_inv_done = true;
728 added two lines below for successful Wear command:
terminalRestoreScreen();
ui_inv_done = true;
838 added two lines below for successful Drop command:
terminalRestoreScreen();
ui_inv_done = true;
1065 changed if to else if, added two new lines above:
if (ui_inv_done == true) {
command = ESCAPE;
1095 added "ui_inv_done == false &&" to the if condition for the old terminalRestoreScreen();
1097 changed } to
} else if (ui_inv_done == true) {
ui_inv_done = false;
}
1182 added two new lines below this one to auto-show the other item lists (Quaff, Read, etc):
menuActive = true;
terminalSaveScreen();

See also post 93 in this thread, auto-opening spell lists: http://angband.oook.cz/forum/showthr...4&postcount=93

[smbhax]

Wielding a mace I'd forgotten I'd never ID'd from long ago on the dungeon floor and which, of course, turned out to be cursed--and me a poor clvl 10-ish Half-Elf Warrior who hadn't been mining and didn't have enough cash left for a remove curse scroll (eventually found a Remove Curse staff but didn't have the brainpower stats to make it work ; D)--marked the start of a formidable run of Poor Life Choices in Umoria:

- Testing UI tweaks in town, carelessly read an un-ID'd scroll that turned out to be Aggravate Monster
- Further UI testing included hundreds of turns of resting to increase my hunger so I could test eating without being too full : P
- That done, went about selling my disposable belongings to try to afford that Remove Curse scroll. Didn't quite get enough cash ;_:
- Meanwhile, and more more townspeople began appearing, with the tougher types attacking me
- Crowd eventually surrounded me coming out of a shop; after a protracted battle in which their numbers kept replenishing and they were at least two-deep around me, on the verge of being torn to pieces I resorted to using my one Phase Door scroll followed by Recall, and running around town until being mercifully yanked down to the peace and quiet of the dungeon
- 300 feet down, things seemed fine at first but I'd used all my missiles up (they sure to get lost a lot) in my previous plunge, and my remaining Recall scroll (darn things are $$!) got destroyed fighting hand-to-hand against monsters with item-destructive effects somewhere along the way, probably burned up in what turned out to be a lengthy battle against flamey breeder things of some type
- Rot monsters got the last ration I had had left after the hunger message UI testing and not thinking I needed more 'cause I had Recall if I got really hungry, right? Nottttt smart no.
- Looking for stairs out. Terrible luck finding them or is this just Umoria-normal?? Start skipping fights and even items laying around as increasing panic sets in.
- Trip over a strength-draining trap...multiple times without thinking. More times after thinking oh hey wait there IS a disarm command in Umoria, right? And of course it pushes you into the trap on failure, which I kept doing. Really not thinking straight.
- 250 feet. Weak.
- 200 feet, finally. Fainting spells begin, so gently at first. Where can the stairs BE.
- Weaker still. Struggling to stay conscious. Fleeing from rats.
- No food. No stairs. Can't stay awa