Experiences with new Angband 4.2.5 and questions about Identifying and Variants

[Michaelyx]

If I save a previously created copy back into /lib/usr/save it is ignored. And when I accidentally moved the entire save folder with mv I was still able to start and continue the game. How can that be?

[Nick]

If I save a previously created copy back into /lib/usr/save it is ignored. And when I accidentally moved the entire save folder with mv I was still able to start and continue the game. How can that be?

OK. Have you looked in ~/.angband/Angband/save/ ?

[Michaelyx]

Thank you for your support!

First a correction: There was a typo in my last posting; the folder should be called lib/user/save.

The current save file is also not in ~/.angband/Angband/save/.
I couldn't find anything with find -name either. Is it possible that the save files are named differently in the current version of Angband?
I don't think it's anything special in a roguelike game that there is no "personal" save file. The seemingly unnecessary lib/user/save folder irritates me.
Maybe someone can shed some light on this.

[PowerDiver]

Maybe try locate instead of find.

locate <capitalized username> | grep save

For example, my username is eddie but the current 4.2.5 savefile is Eddie. In the old days, it was 1000.Eddie.

[Michaelyx]

Locate is not installed in Ubuntu 24.0.4 LTS

$ locate Orome | grep save
Der Befehl 'locate' wurde nicht gefunden, kann aber installiert werden mit:
sudo apt install plocate
​

Do you meen plocate would be worth a try? In the wiki mlocate is suggested.
I'm not sure about the advantages and don't want to install programs if not necessary.

[Michaelyx]

After I deleted all the older installations from the neighboring folders, Angband no longer works. When starting, the following error message occurs:

"Fatal Error - cannot load image '/home/michaelyx/Downloads/Angband_git/angband_20_1/lib/icons/att-128.png': Couldn't open /home/michaelyx/Downloads/Angband_git/angband_20_1/lib/icons/att-18.png"

The startup process then stops - the terminal says:

michaelyx@michaelyx-HP-EliteBook-840-G5:~/Downloads/angband_last$ src/angband -msdl2
angband: main-sdl2.c:6848: free_globals: Assertion `!a->subwindows[i].inited' failed.
Aborted (memory dump written)

[Michaelyx]

I need your help again: I now have several installations of Angband next to each other in different folders.
I zipped the non-current installation folders to search for the missing save file. On startup "my Angband" produces an error:

"Fatal Error - cannot load image '/home/michaelyx/Downloads/Angband_git/angband_20_1/lib/icons/att-128.png': Couldn't open /home/michaelyx/Downloads/Angband_git/angband_20_1/lib/icons/att-18.png"

The startup process then stops - the terminal says:

michaelyx@michaelyx-HP-EliteBook-840-G5:~/Downloads/angband_last$ src/angband -msdl2
angband: main-sdl2.c:6848: free_globals: Assertion `!a->subwindows[i].inited' failed.
Aborted (memory dump written)
​

"my Angband" is obviously using a file from another Angband installation. I checked, this file is present in both installations. If I unzip the folders again, the error is gone - angband starts.

I deleted "my Angband" downloaded a new version from Git and recompiled:
1. Load angband:
a) cd ~/Downloads
b) git clone git://github.com/angband/angband
c) mv angband angband_24_01
2. Compile the sourcecode:
a) cd ~/Downloads/angband_24_01
b) ./autogen.sh
c) ./configure --with-no-install --enable-sdl2
d) make
e) sudo make install
3. Start: src/angband -msdl2

Unfortunately the error remains. The recompiled version uses the same file from the wrong folder. Does anyone have an idea how to fix this error?

[PowerDiver]

Another question: Are multiple installations of Angand possible on one Ubuntu? E.g. to test the new version. What needs to be taken into account in order not to endanger the existing installation and, for example, accidentally overwrite save files.

You should always configure using --with-no-install until you are sure what you are doing. Then, everything is stored in that directory tree. You can use each install independently. You are making a mistake doing sudo make install when you aren't 100% sure of what you are doing. That is copying stuff to the system directories.

[PowerDiver]

When I was mucking about a couple days ago, I got my ~/.angband/Angband stuff into an inconsistent state. You might try renaming that and running again. A new one will be created. There is stuff in there that is accessed by the different installations. If that works to allow startup, you can then check what you want to copy over. E.g. lore.txt contains your monster knowledge. There are also some things that look like startup configs, in particular sdl2init.txt

Another possibility is that the sudo make install did stuff in a way that is inconsistent with a local install. You might try starting over from the download and omit that.

[Michaelyx]

Thank you! That gave me the crucial clue: Now Angband starts again!
I had copied the sdl2ini.txt from a previous installation to get the windows in the right place and forgot to adapt the path to: window-wallpaper-path:0:/home/michaelyx/Downloads/angband_24_01/lib/icons/att-128.png in the file for the new installation.

Unfortunately, I haven't made any progress with using or finding personal save files in my Installation yet.

OK. Have you looked in ~/.angband/Angband/save/ ?

No save folder is created in ~/.angband/angband.
I recognised there is no way to open or load a character file in my installation. Once the birth process is complete, Angband will automatically start with that character every time you reboot.
Any idea how fix this so I can use personal save files?

[backwardsEric]

I recognised there is no way to open or load a character file in my installation. Once the birth process is complete, Angband will automatically start with that character every time you reboot.
Any idea how fix this so I can use personal save files?

If the save file you want to use is not already in the save folder, put it there. Then you can use

angband -u<name_of_the_save_file_to_use> -msdl2

(replace <name_of_the_save_file_to_use> with that save file's name) to load that save file rather than the one it defaults to.

angband -l

will list the save files that are available for use with the -u option.

[PowerDiver]

lib/save is in the same directory as src, presumably /home/michaelyx/Downloads/Angband_git/angband_20_1/lib/save

[Michaelyx]

Thank you for your help!
Using the old save files now works for me - like this:
Before copying the save files, you should start Angband at least once and create your first character. Angband then creates the lib/save folder and in it an initial save file with the user name (not the chosen character name!). Each additional save file created this way will have the character name (which you enter during the birth process). Now the old backup files can be copied to the lib/save folder and selected in the window the next time you start “Angband -c”.
In the version of Angband installed via the package repository, all save files must also begin with the suffix “1000”. and the folder is there by default: /var/games/angband/save. Otherwise this worked straight away.

[PowerDiver]

The 1000 prefix is a userid specifier. By default, the first [non system] user created is 1000 in every linux distro I've used. If you ever have multiple different accounts on your box, or if you muck with userid numbers, there would be a different prefix on each savefile for other users.

[Michaelyx]

THX for your help!

Two more questions:
1.With the current version of Angband from git installed in Ubuntu, Options are not accessible through the = command. The * key also has no function, e.g. when picking up objects - selecting: all. How can I change the keyboard layout?

2. To easily start from a new terminal: It was recommended to start from the installation directory with: src/angband -c -msdl2 What speaks against starting from an other directory with a link like this: ~/Downloads/angband_28_01/src/angband -c -msdl2