Few questions. Hengband related. And Ubuntu.

[Arendil]

I'm not entirely sure if it should be here or in Development sub-forum. Source question originated from compiling Hengband.

So here it goes:

Hengband gameplay:

1) Is Death Scythe any good? Or is it only for berserkers? Or useless and just for flavor?

Hengband gameplay, general/Ubuntu:
I recently started to use my dual boot Ubuntu a bit more. So, for advanced users some of the below may be stupid. Indulge me, please. Still, compiling Hengband was trivial.
Sidenote: I only use ASCII. No graphic. Center on character even while running option.

2) It seems that gameplay is a bit laggy compared to one under Windows. For example opening the inventory takes a half (a quarter?) of a second or so. Character running seems slower too. Is it normal?

3) Keyboard. I got used to using Shift+dir to run and Ctlr+dir to alter. But it doesn't work on my Ubuntu-compiled version, and I'm forced to use ".+dir" and different commands to dig, and tunnel. Which is annoying as hell. Is there any simple method to alter controls?

4) Saves. That may be really stupid question, but how can I play with few characters at the same time? If one save does exist, game loads it automatically. Is there any simple way to create few characters at the same time and switch between them? So far the only way for me is to cheat, i.e. backup save and delete it from the save directory.

Browsing Hengband code:

5) In a function fire_ball the last number is a radius, right? Still there are few cases when it is something like "-(plev/15) -1". Unless I miss something obvious that number is negative. So what does it mean to have a ball with radius < 0? Unless it is a bug...

Any help appreciated.
Cheers.

[Nick]

I can give some Ubuntu pointers, but haven't played Heng - I have just tested Entro, though. Also, I'm using a laptop, and the original keyset.

2) It seems that gameplay is a bit laggy compared to one under Windows. For example opening the inventory takes a half (a quarter?) of a second or so. Character running seems slower too. Is it normal?

Not at all laggy for me. Are you using the x11 front end?

3) Keyboard. I got used to using Shift+dir to run and Ctlr+dir to alter. But it doesn't work on my Ubuntu-compiled version, and I'm forced to use ".+dir" and different commands to dig, and tunnel. Which is annoying as hell. Is there any simple method to alter controls?

Again, works fine for me. This could be a .prf file issue - downloading Entro and trying its .prf files may help (probably pref-x11.prf), or maybe putting num lock on (or off).

4) Saves. That may be really stupid question, but how can I play with few characters at the same time? If one save does exist, game loads it automatically. Is there any simple way to create few characters at the same time and switch between them? So far the only way for me is to cheat, i.e. backup save and delete it from the save directory.

Using the -uWhatever switch will name your savefile (probably) 1000.Whatever - normally it is 1000.<your username>. Repeat as many times as you like with more imaginative names.

[Arendil]

Thanks Nick. I will try that in a few hours.

Concerning Ubuntu I have one more question. To run hengband I have to use terminal and from main directory type something like "./hengband -- -1". How can I put this command in a desktop shortcut? I tried "/actual PATH/./hengband -- -1" and "/actual PATH/hengband" but both doesn't work. Created shortcut with "start in terminal" option, obviously.

[pav]

Write a one-line shell script (.sh) and create a shortcut to that script.

[Arendil]

Thanks pav, but it doesn't work. Result is the same as before - terminal opens and immediately closes.

All right guys, I have to admit that I barely know anything about configuring. I just downloaded Hengband source, configured to disable japanese with a predefined line from readme, make install and run.
It works fine, except few things doesn't work, like running with Shift, altering with Ctlr, resting a turn with '5' on numerical (only 'g'), and cursor seems to randomly dissapear.

There is pref-x11.prf in pref folder, and some mentions to x11 in configure, but I have no idea if I use x11 front end or not......