FAangband 1.0

[Dark]

I'm glad other people find the lists helpful, ---- sometimes I am concerned that accessibility functions in games are a bit superfluous to most players who don't need them.

I didn't actually know the monster list was in Fa. This is either because I was playing an earlier version, or because I was looking at the wrong part of the screen, ---- either of which are possible.

In that case though, I'll be glad to give Fa another try.

[Seany C]

Yep, monster lists are important - I'm struggling in the Heng competition without one.

What works for me is setting up four windows - the main one (obviously) lower-right, Term 1 with inventory - lower left, Term 2 - monster recall - upper right and Term 3 - monster list - upper left. The functionality to set them up is already in FAA, happily...

[finius]

Can't access macro menu

I'm playing 1.0.3 and cannot access the interact with macros menu with the @ key. Am I missing something?

[Nick]

I'm playing 1.0.3 and cannot access the interact with macros menu with the @ key. Am I missing something?

The interact with commands (macros, visuals, colours) are now on the option screen - so = then m will get you to macros.

[finius]

The interact with commands (macros, visuals, colours) are now on the option screen - so = then m will get you to macros.

Ah, there it is Thanks much!

[sanders]

spells

been readdicted to faangband lately. on my way to kill glaurung with a high elf mage "gloth" ive found the spellbooks "magical defenses" and "escapes and trickery" the spells are great, but the descriptions dont match the effect of casting some of them-it seems if i cast "b) door creation" instead i get "c) stair creation" this happens to several spells in both books it treats some spells like the next one down on the list. love the new edition of the game it just keeps getting funner thanks

[Nick]

ive found the spellbooks "magical defenses" and "escapes and trickery" the spells are great, but the descriptions dont match the effect of casting some of them-it seems if i cast "b) door creation" instead i get "c) stair creation" this happens to several spells in both books it treats some spells like the next one down on the list.

Which version do you have? This was a problem that I thought was fixed in 1.0.2; if you have one before that, try getting the latest (1.0.3).

[sanders]

aha of course. thanks

[joelsanda]

Save data location in Windows

In Windows the save file location is: /Program Files/FAangband103/lib/save.

There are a few issues with this:

It's tough to back this data up (if it were placed in My Documents, for example, backup is a one-step process along with the rest of my files).

I can't make a copy of my save file to restore if I starve to death somewhere ;-)

In Windows 7 the OS prevents direct user access to the contents of the /save/ directory as the files in that directory are locked and invisible, since they're owned by FAangband. The only way to view the files in /save/ is within FAangband's save and open dialog window. Explorer (even after changing folder permissions) will not show the contents of the folder.

I've tried mucking with permissions in that directory and just can't get it dialed in. Some Google searches suggest this 'feature' of Windows 7 has the durability of executive bonuses on Wall Street here in the U.S. :-/

Any chance you can move the /save/ directory to My Documents for Windows at some point down the road? The obvious work around is to exit the game, restart and then use the Open dialog to view the /save/ directory, right-click the save file, and then paste it into /My Documents/.

If I save the game using File | Save to a directory in /My Documents/ the file is written there by subsequent saves go back to /Program Files/FAangband103/lib/save.

Is there a setting somewhere I can hand edit to permanently change the save location?

Thanks for considering this, but especially for releasing FAangband :-)

[buzzkill]

That sucks. I thought that this was exactly the type of Vista bullcarp that Win7 was devoid of. I'd prefer the OS get fixed rather than moving the save file. I like all the files in the same directory for flash drive portability.

As long as were on the topic of file placement, why not put all directories that contain 'user-created' files (user, bone, apex, save, maybe others) in one directory, rather than the many that they now inhabit. Something like lib/user/save, lib/user/bone, and so on. It would make upgrading from version to version that much easier, and aside form the effort to implement it, I don't see a reason not to.

[joelsanda]

That sucks. I thought that this was exactly the type of Vista bullcarp that Win7 was devoid of. I'd prefer the OS get fixed rather than moving the save file. I like all the files in the same directory for flash drive portability.

Isn't this proper for *nix OSes? Keep all user generated files in a user's home directory so there's never any question about what the user has modified? I suppose that's why I'd rather FAangband store everything, at least in Windows, in C: users/$user. But I see your point about flash portability - if I didn't play this in a netbook I'd probably do the same thing!

As long as were on the topic of file placement, why not put all directories that contain 'user-created' files (user, bone, apex, save, maybe others) in one directory, rather than the many that they now inhabit. Something like lib/user/save, lib/user/bone, and so on. It would make upgrading from version to version that much easier, and aside form the effort to implement it, I don't see a reason not to.

This would be *very* nice and it provides a handy way to recover from starvation or something like that ;-)

[Nick]

I've had problem with permissions in Windows before - usually related to not having admin privileges. Does it work if you just put the whole FAangband directory in My Documents?

I should have a copy of 7 to test stuff in myself soon, and I'll make it so that something works. Every new version of Windows breaks something

[joelsanda]

I've had problem with permissions in Windows before - usually related to not having admin privileges. Does it work if you just put the whole FAangband directory in My Documents?

Yep - works and the files in lib/save display in the directory, so I'm able to backup my character. Worked well enough for my Beorning 2nd level ranger to get entangled on the end of a dark elf sword :-)

I was testing some Windows software in XP and Vista a few years back - boy the permissions differences between those pushed our test case writing skills to the limit and exceeded the developers' patience!

[Arralen]

There's a most easy solution to the problem:

Do not install software to c:\programs (or even c:\ in general), that does not "belong to the system". Partition your HDD up in 2 or more "drives" and install games (and other software that writes to it's installation directory) to d:\games\* for example - you shouldn't have any problems then, unless you start applying special access right restrictions all by yourself ...

[SaThaRiel]

Im building some PKGBUILDs for Archlinux atm, so Users can install packages quite easily.
Doing the one for FAAngband i receive the following warnings when compiling

spells1.c: In function ‘thrust_away’:
spells1.c:435: warning: suggest parentheses around operand of ‘!’ or change ‘&’ to ‘&&’ or ‘!’ to ‘~’
spells1.c:450: warning: suggest parentheses around operand of ‘!’ or change ‘&’ to ‘&&’ or ‘!’ to ‘~’
spells1.c:451: warning: suggest parentheses around operand of ‘!’ or change ‘&’ to ‘&&’ or ‘!’ to ‘~’
spells1.c:466: warning: suggest parentheses around operand of ‘!’ or change ‘&’ to ‘&&’ or ‘!’ to ‘~’
spells1.c: In function ‘project_t’:
spells1.c:7288: warning: suggest parentheses around operand of ‘!’ or change ‘&’ to ‘&&’ or ‘!’ to ‘~’

Is this a problem?

Edit: Actually it seems to be aproblem. FAAngband doesnt run...must check.