Competition 140

[Nick]

The next competition is now kind of available from the competition page - it is a PWMAngband character.

PowerWyrm will provide details in this thread of what to do to get involved in this groundbreaking innovation in Angband competition play.

[mtadd]

Is there a working link to the PWMAngband download that somebody can post?

[PowerWyrm]

See my sig.

[PowerWyrm]

The version that will be played is the currently stable 1.1.9 build 4. It is based on MAngband 1.2 + extra additions + features ported from Angband 3.4.x series.

First thing: the character dump format for ladder entries. See attached file.

[PowerWyrm]

Now I need to choose a character type and birth options...

Three combos come to my mind: a caster, a melee character, or a challenge game. High-elf Sorceror is easy to play, a pure caster, you just need to maintain a keymap set for your spells and cast directly using a single key. Dragon Monk is another good choice, because meleeing is easier in real-time (you get an auto-retaliator that does the job for you), and it would give the choice to play a different race/class combination than the usual V combo. My last choice would be a Hobbit Summoner, a new class specific to 1.1.9, but this class is the ultimate challenge (unless you consider playing a "Yeek" Summoner who would get -10 to all stats) because of it's difficulty and would probably be frustrating.

I'll go for the easy route, and if this competition draws attention, it'll be time to play a challenge game another time (I'll try to implement on-demand character dumps for the next release). So a Dragon Monk it'll be... If you want a brief description of the race, check here: http://www.mangband.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1409. If you want a brief description of the class, check here: http://www.mangband.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1866.

Ok now for the birth options... Some of them are server options, and I'd like to set LIMIT_STAIRS = 1 (disconnected stairs) and leaving all other options by default. See attached file.

For the client options, I'll only set birth_no_selling = yes. I'll generate a starting character and server file, please don't change birth options before starting playing (in PWMAngband, birth options can be changed until the character gains 1xp).

[PowerWyrm]

Ok let's go... Here is a list of what needs to be done to play the comp char:

- download PWMAngband server files: http://sdrv.ms/11j6Phg
- unzip the contents in a PWMAngband directory
- download PWMAngband client files: http://sdrv.ms/11j6NGq
- unzip the contents (except the /lib subdirectory, because it's the same as the one from the server files) in the same PWMAngband directory
- replace mangband.cfg by the file attached to the previous post (rename mangband.cfg.txt to mangband.cfg)
- replace mangclient.ini by the file attached to this post (mangclient.ini.txt -- rename)
- copy the files from the attached zip (save.zip: contains account + server + Drakon) in the /lib/save subdirectory
- copy the attached Drakon.prf file (Drakon.prf.txt -- rename) in the /lib/user subdirectory (standard set of game options)
- launch mangband.exe (server)
- launch mangclient.exe (WIN port -- if you want, you can check the other two ports available, SDL or GCU)
- if you want to play with tiles, choose whatever suits you in Options/Graphics (this must be done on the first screen before starting to play -- the complete opposite of what's done in Vanilla)
- the account has already been set (Drakon/pass), so press Enter twice
- if everything goes well, you should see a list of current characters, which of course contains only one character, Drakon, so press a) to select that character
- press Enter to enter the game and start playing
- if everything goes well again, you should see a little blue "d" in the middle of the building labeled "8" (the Tavern -- in PWMAngband, houses are separate from the main town area which contains the shops and the Tavern, and they need to be "bought"); that little "d" is your character!
- if you want to change UI options (windows displayed, font), do it now (I usually use all windows, but for this comp char, you won't need Term 4 which is linked to in-game chat)
- you can also change client options (press "="; the Options Menu should not be unfamiliar to Angband 3.4 players), but don't change birth options
- play and have fun!
- when you die (or win), go to /lib/apex: a file named Drakon.txt should be there... it's your dump; post it on the ladder and see how other players are doing
- if you want to play again once you die, launch mangclient.exe, press Enter twice, press a) to choose the now deceased character Drakon, press Enter again to validate the password, press c) to reroll the character and y) for quick-start; press Enter twice to enter the game and resume playing

This should be it... I'll check this thread periodically to see if I missed something.

[Roch]

I can get the game running, the drakon character in the Tavern, but movement is excruciatingly slow, something like a move per minute. Any tips?

[PowerWyrm]

I can get the game running, the drakon character in the Tavern, but movement is excruciatingly slow, something like a move per minute. Any tips?

Strange, you should not have such problem if you play locally... Is it pressing a direction key that takes forever or just any key? What happens if you try to run ('.' + dir)? What's your config?

[Roch]

Running ('.' + dir) results in: nothing for about 20 seconds, then the d moves one square followed by a six second delay, then another square, then a six second delay, then another square, etc. til the end of the run. Other keys bring up menus appropriately. I'm on a windows 7 machine. For what it's worth, the server window contains messages including: "timer delay 1000 ms timer resolution is 1 ms." Early in the messages there is an error message: "Error : cannot open file mangband.cfg" but that is followed by many messages about initializing arrays, "create TCP socket," and finally "Drakon : server is running version 1.1.9 (build 4)." On the info portion of the UI, in the upper left of the screen is gray text "LAG: [ ------ ]" I don't know what that means.

[Derakon]

By any chance is there a millisecond vs. second confusion in some system call? E.g. the game is providing sleep times in milliseconds, but they're interpreted as seconds by the server?

[Thraalbee]

This has happened to me a few times in more than one variant. A windows reboot always solved it. Logout probably works too, was a while ago last time so I don't quite remember if that was enough or not.

[Roch]

Restart didn't fix it. Am I the only one seeing this?

[Nick]

Restart didn't fix it. Am I the only one seeing this?

I followed all the instructions, and it's working fine for me (win 7 64-bit VM); running between two houses takes about a second.

[Roch]

Ok, thanks. Maybe I'll just start over from scratch.

[PowerWyrm]

Running ('.' + dir) results in: nothing for about 20 seconds, then the d moves one square followed by a six second delay, then another square, then a six second delay, then another square, etc. til the end of the run. Other keys bring up menus appropriately. I'm on a windows 7 machine. For what it's worth, the server window contains messages including: "timer delay 1000 ms timer resolution is 1 ms." Early in the messages there is an error message: "Error : cannot open file mangband.cfg" but that is followed by many messages about initializing arrays, "create TCP socket," and finally "Drakon : server is running version 1.1.9 (build 4)." On the info portion of the UI, in the upper left of the screen is gray text "LAG: [ ------ ]" I don't know what that means.

That's your problem: "Error : cannot open file mangband.cfg". I suppose you forgot to rename mangband.cfg.txt to mangband.cfg, or didn't copy it in the correct directory (it should be at the root with the .exe files).

The result is this: "timer delay 1000 ms timer resolution is 1 ms.". This means you play with FPS=1 (one frame per second), instead of the default FPS=75 which is defined in mangband.cfg, making your game playing at 1/75 the normal speed.