385 lines
8.8 KiB
Groff
385 lines
8.8 KiB
Groff
.\" -*- nroff -*-
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.TH FROTZ 6 2.43
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.SH NAME
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dfrotz \- interpreter for Infocom and other Z-Machine games (dumb interface)
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.SH SYNOPSIS
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.B dfrotz
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.RI [ options "] " file
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.SH DESCRIPTION
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.B Frotz
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is a Z-Machine interpreter. The Z-machine is a virtual machine designed
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by Infocom to run all of their text adventures. It went through multiple
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revisions during the lifetime of the company, and two further revisions
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(V7 and V8) were created by Graham Nelson after the company's demise.
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The specification is now quite well documented; this version of Frotz
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supports version 1.0.
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.P
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This version of Frotz fully supports all these versions of the Z-Machine
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except for version 6. Version 6 is semi-supported by displaying the
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outlines of V6 graphics with the picture number in the bottom-right
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corner.
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.P
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This manpage is for Frotz with the dumb interface. No sound-effect or
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colors are supported.
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.SH OPTIONS
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.TP
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.B \-a
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Watch attribute setting. Setting and clearing of attributes on objects
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will be noted in debugging messages.
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.TP
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.B \-A
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Watch attribute testing. Every time the z-machine tests an attribute
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value, the test and the result will be reported.
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.TP
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.B \-h N
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Manually sets the screen height. Though most curses libraries are intelligent
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enough to determine the current width from the terminal, it may sometimes
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be necessary to use this option to override the default.
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.TP
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.B \-i
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Ignore fatal errors. If a Z-Machine interpreter encounters a zcode error
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such as division-by-zero or addressing an illegal object, the proper
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response is to abort execution. This is done because the zcode program
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doesn't have a clear idea of what is going on. There are some games out
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there that cause fatal errors because the authors were careless and used
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an interpreter that didn't properly check for errors. This option is
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intended to get around such bugs, but be warned that Strange Things may
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happen if fatal errors are not caught.
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.TP
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.B \-o
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Watch object movement. This option enables debugging messages from the
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interpreter which describe the moving of objects in the object tree.
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.TP
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.B \-O
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Watch object location. These debugging messages detail the locations of
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objects in the object tree.
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.TP
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.B \-p
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Plain ASCII output only. This inhibits the output of accented letters
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and other characters from the Latin-1 character set, replacing them with
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reasonable alternatives. This may be necessary on devices lacking these
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characters.
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.TP
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.B \-P
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Alter the piracy opcode. The piracy opcode was never used by Infocom.
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This switch is really only useful for those who like to toy around with
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Z-code.
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.TP
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.B \-Q
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No Quetzal. By default, Frotz uses the new Quetzal save format when you
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save your game. If for some reason you want to save and restore using the
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old Frotz format, use this flag.
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.TP
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.B \-R \exxx
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Set runtime options. This option may be used repeatedly.
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.TP
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.B \-s N
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Set the random number seed value. The given seed value is used as the initial
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seed value on every restart. This is helpful for testing games like
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.B Curses
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which make random decisions before the first input (such that the hot
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key Alt\-S does not really help).
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.TP
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.B \-S N
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Set the transcript width. By default your transscript files are formatted
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to a width of 80 columns per line, regardless of the current screen width.
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This switch allows you to change this setting. In particular, use \-S 0
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to deactivate automatic line splitting in transscript files.
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.TP
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.B \-t
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Sets the z-machine's
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.I Tandy bit,
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which may affect the behavior of certain Infocom games. For example,
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Zork I pretends not to have sequels, and Witness has its language
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toned down.
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.TP
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.B \-u N
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Sets the number of slots available for Frotz's multiple undo hotkey (see
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below). This defaults to twenty, which should be sufficient for most
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purposes. Setting too high a number here may be dangerous on machines
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with limited memory.
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.TP
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.B \-w N
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Manually sets the screen width. This should not be necessary except in
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special circumstances.
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.TP
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.B \-x
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Expand the abbreviations "g", "x", and "z" to "again", "examine", and
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"wait". This switch is for use iwth old Infocom games that lack these
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common abbreviations which were introduced in later games. Use it with
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caution: A few games might use "g", "x" or "z" for different purposes.
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.TP
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.B \-Z N
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Error checking mode.
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.br
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0 = don't report errors.
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.br
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1 = report first instance of an error.
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.br
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2 = report all errors.
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.br
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3 = exit after any error.
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.br
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Default is 1 (report first instance of an error).
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.SH CONFIGURATION
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Unline it's curses-using sibling,
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.B dfrotz
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does not use configuration files. All configuration is done on the
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command line or while
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.B dfrotz
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is running.
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.P
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.SS General Commands
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.TP
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.B \ehelp
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Show help message.
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.TP
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.B \eset
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Show the current values of runtime settings.
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.TP
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.B \es
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Show the current contents of the whole screen.
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.TP
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.B \ed
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Discard the part of the input before the cursor.
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.TP
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.B \ewN
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Advance clock N/10 seconds, possibly causing the current and subsequent
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inputs to timeout.
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.TP
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.B \ew
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Advance clock by the amount of real time since this input started (times
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the current speed factor).
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.TP
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.B \et
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Advance clock just enough to timeout the current input
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.SS Reverse-Video Display Method Settings
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.TP
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.B \ern
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none
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.TP
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.B \erc
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CAPS
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.TP
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.B \erd
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doublestrike
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.TP
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.B \eru
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underline
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.SS Output Compression Settings
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.TP
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.B \ecn
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none: show whole screen before every input.
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.TP
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.B \ecm
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max: show only lines that have new nonblank characters.
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.TP
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.B \ecs
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spans: like max, but emit a blank line between each span of screen lines
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shown.
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.TP
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.B \echN
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Hide top N lines (orthogonal to above modes).
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.SS Misc Settings
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.TP
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.B \esfX
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Set speed factor to X. (0 = never timeout automatically).
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.TP
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.B \emp
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Toggle use of MORE prompts
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.TP
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.B \eln
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Toggle display of line numbers.
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.TP
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.B \elt
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Toggle display of the line type identification chars.
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.TP
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.B \evb
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Toggle visual bell.
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.TP
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.B \epb
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Toggle display of picture outline boxes.
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.TP
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(Toggle commands can be followed by a 1 or 0 to set value ON or OFF.)
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.SS Character Escapes
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.TP
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.B \e\e
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backslash
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.TP
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.B \e#
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backspace
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.TP
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.B \e[
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escape
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.TP
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.B \e_
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return
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.TP
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.B \e<
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cursor-left
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.TP
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.B \e>
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cursor-right
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.TP
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.B \e^
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cursor-up
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.TP
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.B \e.
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cursor-down
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.TP
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.B \e1..\e0
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f1..f10
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.TP
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.B \eD..\eX
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Standard Frotz hotkeys.
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.TP
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use \eH (help) to see the list of hotkeys.
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.SS Line Type Identification Characters
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.SS Input lines (untimed)
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.TP
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.B >
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A regular line-oriented input
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.TP
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.B )
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A single-character input
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.TP
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.B }
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A line input with some input before the cursor. Use \ed to discard it.
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.SS Input lines (timed)
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.TP
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.B T
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A regular line-oriented input
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.TP
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.B t
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A single-character input
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.TP
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.B D
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A line input with some input before the cursor. Use \ed to discard it.
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.SS Output lines
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.TP
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.B ]
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Output line that contains the cursor.
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.TP
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.B .
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A blank line emitted as part of span compression.
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.TP
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.B \~
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(blank) Any other output line.
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.SH ENVIRONMENT
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Unline it's curses-using sibling,
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.B dfrotz
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does not search any path for game files.
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.PP
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Latest information on Unix Frotz is here:
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.br
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http://www.cs.csubak.edu/~dgriffi/proj/frotz/
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.PP
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The latest release of Unix Frotz is here:
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.br
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ftp://ftp.ifarchive.org/if-archive/infocom/interpreters/frotz/
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.PP
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See this website for a list of mirrors:
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.br
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http://www.ifarchive.org
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.PP
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See this website for more information on Infocom past, present, and
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future; and where to get new Z-Machine games and the old ones by Infocom:
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.br
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http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/
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.PP
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Frotz for other platforms (very old and out of date):
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.br
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http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/3222/frotz.html
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.SH CAVEATS
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.PP
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The Z Machine itself has trouble with the concept of resizing a terminal.
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It assumes that once the screen height and width are set, they will never
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change; even across saves. This made sense when 24x80 terminals were the
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norm and graphical user interfaces were mostly unknown. I'm fairly sure
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there's a way around this problem, but for now, don't resize an xterm in
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which frotz is running. Also, you should try to make sure the terminal
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on which you restore a saved game has the same dimensions as the one on
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which you saved the game.
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.PP
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This manpage is not intended to tell users HOW to play interactive
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fiction. Refer to the file HOW_TO_PLAY included in the Unix Frotz
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documentation or visit one of the following sites:
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.br
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http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/faq.html
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.br
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http://www.cs.csubak.edu/~dgriffi/proj/frotz/HOW_TO_PLAY
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.br
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http://www.ifarchive.org
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.SH BUGS
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This program has no bugs. no bugs. no bugs. no *WHAP* thank you.
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.br
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Well, if you insist, you can look at
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http://www.cs.csubak.edu/~dgriffi/proj/frotz/BUGS or see the BUGS file
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in the Unix Frotz tarball
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.SH AUTHORS
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.B Frotz
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was written by Stefan Jokisch in 1995-7.
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.br
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The Unix port was done by Galen Hazelwood.
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.br
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Currently the Unix port is maintained by David Griffith.
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.SH "SEE ALSO"
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.BR frotz (6)
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.BR nitfol (6)
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.BR rezrov (6)
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.BR jzip (6)
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.BR xzip (6)
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.BR inform (1)
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