A roguelike game based on NetHack

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Development

Source code

There is an archive of the sorce code for NitroHack 4.0.4 on the downloads page.

The source code for NitroHack is hosted on GitHub.

github.com/DanielT/NitroHack

The build process uses cmake to generate Makefiles and Visual Studio Projects.

In order to build NitroHack (the text UI) you need ncursesw, ie ncurses with wide character support.

To build the network server and client library you also need jansson, a JSON handling library.

Finally, the network server uses PostgreSQL to store stuff and needs to link to the PostgreSQL client library, libpq.

Bugs

Report bugs online here or send a bug report to daniel@dthaler.de .

Changelog for 4.0.4

This release fixes all 5 bugs discovered since 4.0.3.

Changes

• Fix a crash when the inventory action menu is canceled with ESC
• Fix a crash after activating a figurine
• Fix corrupted blinking characters on linux
• Fix adding shops to the overview list
• Fix character selection with a random character

Changelog for 4.0.3

4.0.3 fixes several issues, but saves remain compatible with 4.0.2. In particular, bones files now work.

Changes

NitroHack Bugs fixed

• keymap dialog crashed the game when opened the 2nd time
• make sure hackdir is set up correctly on Windows
• don't use exotic unicode for branch stairs on windows
• make sure the window is updated before getting input when using pdcurses
• Fix bones file loading
• fix fruit count in bones files
• fix display on japanese windows
• fix a crash when saving after a bones level was loaded

Vanilla bugs fixed

• Fix C343-72: confusing messages when you stop levitating while on a flying steed (Edoardo Spadolini)
• Fix C343-174: Drum of earthquake gives inappropriate messages (Patric Müller)

Changelog for 4.0.2

Once again several bugs were fixed in the save format, making old games incompatible. Additionally, many crashes were fixed.

Changes

NitroHack bugs fixed

• Fix menu accelerators for C/#name (Alex Smith)
• Fix display for long travels when runmode != teleport (Alex Smith)
• skip over control characters and extra '\0' bytes in the log section
• fix detection by adding an explicit call to doupdate in curses_pause()
• binary save format fix: correcly save and restore usteed and ustuck
• make recovery from crashed game logs more robust
• binary save format fix: mon->meating was not saved
• fix writing topten entry into the finished game log
• fix: the weight of items in a carried container was not shown
• save & restore stealing state
• fix a double-free crash when attempting to load a damaged save
• fix a crash in the log replay code
• fix a crash during level creation
• fix a crash during farlook, caused by accessing deallocated objects
• fix crash while restoring games with invalid data after the log
• net client: don't hang in read() if the connection fails completely
• binary save format fix: save and restore digging state

Vanilla bugs fixed

• Fix C343-246 Engraving with an empty wand (Alex Smith, based on a patch by bcd@pvv.org)
• Fix C343-129 Cancelling objects in or near a shop
• Fix C343-176 Disintegration breath on monsters is not handled properly
• make sure attribute bonuses are always correct

Features

• Show price of items in shops without #chatting (Patric Müller)
• Add branch stairs as distinct from stairs and from ladders (Alex Smith)
• Auto-ID/Pre-ID: jumping boots, potions of oil, starting inventory (Alex Smith)
• Merge W/T and R/P (Alex Smith)
• Change default keybindings to AceHack-style (Alex Smith)
• Allow closing doors with o (Alex Smith)
• Show the version number on the main menu screen
• server: offer to remove saves that won't load from the list
• offer to delete damaged saves for local games
• add an "account" menu to allow changing password and email address
• reduce cursor flicker
• improved map blinking
• improve the local replay selection dialog
• during player selection, make enter default to random, not quit
• Add error recovery if the client and server state don't match
• add a default set of autopickup rules
• api/protocol change: drawing info now provides more info
• better space usage in the sidebar
• Add "unidentified items" as a new category for loot and menudrop

Changelog for 4.0.1

4.0.1 fixes several game-breaking bugs. Since the save format also had bugs, saves from 4.0.0 will most likely not work with 4.0.1. This depends on whether any of the buggy code was hit in the saved game.

Changes

Alex Smith (3):

• Fix reversal of up and down ladders
• Fix off-by-one error in farlooking traps
• Merge branch 'master' of https://github.com/DanielT/NitroHack

Daniel Thaler (57):

• create the unix socket as world writeable
• server: better log messages for auth failures
• fix a crash in the final disclosure if creating the dump file fails
• fix a crash when displaying a remote top ten list
• don't reenable the cursor unconditionally when leaving a menu
• only add log entries about new connections if any data is received
• completed games should be marked as done, not crashed
• make the filename buffers in dgn_main.c large enough to hold paths
• Warn players about plain text password trnasmission
• fix race in unix socket auth
• The shell script should set LD_LIBRARY_PATH to LIBDIR, not BINDIR
• don't retry sending connect and disconnect commands
• fix a potential crash bug in cmd_display_objects when handling lots of items
• fix inverted up/down at direction prompts
• call nonl(), so that ^J and return have distinct key codes
• reduce the number of screen updates by using wnoutrefresh
• fix the replay status display when the widow frame is disabled
• replay timetest uses gettimeofday instead of clock_gettime
• put location info under the inventory in the sidebar
• don't use MSG_NOSIGNAL, mask SIGPIPE explicitly instead
• fix '<' and '>' as targets for travel and teleport
• allow ESC when choosing a travel destination
• fix multi-move commands g and G
• update the saveinfo utility to work with the current save format
• start a new line in the message area for every action
• show "Bad command" in the message area rather than in a dialog
• Fix ^J vs return on windows, too
• add pdcurses' alternate names for the even keypad keys to the default keymap
• improve shift+ cursor movement at the edge of the map
• fix secondary accel keys in menus
• improve the key binding dialog slightly
• don't count headings when showing "X more omitted"
• fix an error in the binary save format which could cause crashes
• show fewer error messages if a binary save has the wrong format
• correct directory separator for Windows
• change save parsing so that toggling autopickup doesn't break saves
• increase the length of the basename array in dgn_main, too
• fix topten on windows
• fix: go up/down without suitable stairs should not use a move
• accept command input when multi > 0
• implement server messages
• make ist possible to dismiss menus with space
• relax server side command parsing for better forward compatibility
• fix carrying containers up or down stairs
• generate a log message for an improbable client/server communication error
• catch SIGSEGV on the server in order to report an error before exiting
• allow cancelling farlook with ESC
• limit the number of times the client will attempt to resend a command
• zero out the struct sigaction used to ignore SIGPIPE
• don't show a useless second message after server errors
• don't attempt to save the game after sigsegv
• make it possible to view running games (but not "live")
• Move version information into the public header
• return the server version in the authentication response
• be paranoid about the json parsing mode
• update nsis script to make record and logfile writable on windows
• bump the version number of the debs

Changelog for 4.0.0

Back end features:

• NitroHack network protocol

  NitroHack supports network play without telnet or ssh over its own protocol. The protocol is based on JSON and should make it very easy to implement a browser-based NitroHack client (TODO!).

• New save game format

  The old format was mostly just a dump of the data structures from memory onto disk.

  The new format has 2 sections:

  1. A log of the initial random seed and every game action performed afterwards. This allows a perfect reconstruction of the game.
  2. A binary save appended after the log. It uses a fixed-width, fixed-endian architecture and compiler independent format, but is otherwise a direct descendant of the old save format. This format was kept mostly so that bones files could be created in it, but it is also used in the savegames for slightly improved loading speed.

  The log file is written continuously, so the "INSURANCE" option and the recover utility are gone - a crashed game can always be restored by replaying the log. After the game ends, the log marked as closed and kept.

• Built in game replay viewing (aka new and improved ttyrec)

  The reason for keeping logs of finished games. Once there was a way to reconstruct the state of the game at any point it would have been silly not to use it for game viewing.

  Since the replay mode is based on abstract game commands rather than directly recorded screen output, it is completely feasible to replay a that was played on a unix tty in a windows tile port or vice versa. A viewer for games is built into the new nethack UI. You can perform commands that don't affect the game state (like view inventory) while viewing a game replay.

• New options code

  Options changed ingame are written back to the options file, which you are not supposed to edit by hand any more. The options have moved from ~/.nethackrc to ~/.config/NitroHack/NitroHack.conf (for game options) and ~/.config/NitroHack/curses.conf for the options of the curses UI. Logs of active and completed games are also under ~/.config/NitroHack/

• Birth options

  Want to play without Elbereth? It is now possible to do so without recompiling. ELBERETH, REINCARNATION, SEDUCE and bones files have become a new kind of option: birth options, which can only be set before the character is created.

• Full separation of user interface code from game code.

  The core game code has moved into a library (libnitrohack.so or nitrohack.dll). The game library exposes an API of exactly 23 functions and is largely OS independent. The display code is part of the OS/platform dependent executable and must provide a list of callbacks (windowprocs) to the game. There is no shared global state between the two.

  This was a prerequisite for the network protocol, which encodes the api calls and callbacks almost literally.

  With this change, the days of multiple window port binaries are over. It now makes much more sense to have separate programs, for example nitrohack-qt and xnitrohack.

  The NitroHack network server is technically a UI port and uses the same mechanisms.

• rewritten input system

  The came core never, ever requests a key from the UI. All interactions happen on an abstract level: The ui sends commands to the core as a string ("wait", "move", etc.), the game my request a direction or a position (etc).

  This allows the UI to perform key mapping safely, because it is never necessary to guess what context some request for input occurs in.

• All-new curses based text mode UI

  All the old window ports became obsolete due to the extensive API changes. A new UI based on curses (ncurses on unix, pdcurses on windows) has been written. It is a significant upgrade compared to the old tty port in terms of usability and features:

  • unicode display, with customizable display chars
  • configurable keymap, with a configuration dialog
  • full arrow key and function key use
  • multiple visible message lines
  • improved status
  • permanent inventory display (if your terminal is wide)
  • Inventory menu with item actions
  • real line editing

• Layered drawing

  The game core provides a set of display items for each location to the UI, rather than a single display char. For example a monster on an item on a trap can be represented logically.

  The curses UI displays the alternatives by blinking between them (unless you disable blinking in the options).

• Mersenne twister random number generator

  An OS independent RNG with known state was required in order to make game logs replayable. The mersenne twister is the best choice.

• Re-runnable game core.

  Several of the main data structures have been made const, all others are carefully re-initialized when a game is started or loaded. This makes it possible to have a main menu for starting games, viewing the top ten or changing options.

  Previously this was not possible, as the altered global state from one game would have affected a second, so quitting was the only option. NitroHack now uses an exception mechanism based on setjmp/longjmp to escape from deep callchains when the game ends or panics.

• No more level files and no more lock files.

  All levels are now kept in memory at all times. This makes a lot of locking unnecessary. It also allows viewing of levels you are not currently on.

  The only remaining locking is of active game logs via OS mechanisms which are not based on files: fcntl on UNIX and LockFile on Windows. (For a game where all levels have been visited, this change could result in up to 5 Mb of extra memory use! The horror!!)

• No more support for antique systems and compilers

  Support for everything that belongs in a computer history museum has been removed: BE, DOS, Classic Mac, Atari, VMS, Ultrix, etc...

  The list of supported compilers has likewise been reduced to gcc, clang and msvc (and probably Intel's compiler, too).

  This allowed the removal of lots and lots of crufty code and compat macros. All current compilers support "void" and "static", so wrapping them in #defines is not necessary any more.

• Code cleanups

  The number of "#ifdef FOO" has been cut down from 1938 to just 51. That makes the code much more readable, because the indentation isn't being interrupted every couple of lines. To this end almost all compile options that didn't becom birth options were enabled unconditionally or removed due to being obsolete. All functions have been converted to use standard prototypes rather than K&R declarations. Ugly things like prototype widening and the follow-on <FOO>_P #defines went away. Tools like git diff can now correctly show what function a line is in.

  All instances of the keyword "register" have been removed - optimizing compilers handle this for us. Likewise NEARDATA; that only made sense on 16-bit computers.

• New build system: Cmake

  This replaces some of the ugliest Makefiles known to man (I kid). On Linux you get safe parallel builds with pretty colorized output, on Windows the generated Visual Studio 2010 project builds without problems.

Game features:

• Autopickup rules

  Real rule sets that control what gets picked up replace the pickup list + exceptions system. Rules can match based on the name, object type and BUC status.

  The following rule set picks up all food as well as lizard corpses, but no other corpses:

  1. IF name matches "*lizard*" AND type is "food": < GRAB

  2. IF name matches "*corpse*" AND type is "food":   LEAVE >

  3. IF type is "food":                             < GRAB

  Rules are evaluated in order until a matching rule is found. If no rule matches, the item is left behind by default.

• Character history tracking

  NitroHack will automatically track the following items (with a turn timestamp) for use in your ascension posts:

  • new depth reached
  • new experience level reached
  • wishes with the exact wish text
  • killed a unique monster
  • lifesaved
  • crowning
  • artifact gifts
  • basic quest status
  • major oracle consultations
  • performed the invocation
  • gained/lost the amulet of yendor (only shown if the amulet is identified)

  You can view your heroic deeds with #history

• Dungeon overview + dungeon annotations

  This change was inspired by the "Dungeon Map Overview 3" patch (by Hojita Discordia) as found in UnNetHack.

  You can now #annotate a level to name/describe it.

  / Ctrl+O will show a menu of all the levels you remember
  including your annotations and significant features (shops, altars, ...)

  You can select a level from the overview menu to view your memory of it.

• Dump log

  Inspired by Jukka Lahtinen's dumplog patch.

  When you die, a dump log containing the following information will be created:

  • Final (ascii) screenshot
  • Player stats
  • Full inventory, including listings of the contents of containers
  • Player attributes
  • Known spells
  • Skills
  • Conducts
  • Vanquished opponents
  • Final messages
  • dungeon overview
  • heroic deeds

• Sorted loot display

  Based on code by Jukka Lahtinen and Patric Müller in UnNetHack.

  Item types are sorted depending on:

  1. item name
  2. enchantment
  3. BUC
  4. erodeproofing
  5. erosion
  6. greasedness

• Miscellaneous changes, in no particular order

  • You can use adjust to split stacks (Sam Dennis)
  • Top ten saves 10000 entries by default
  • Unexplored locations, stone and dark rooms are all logically different in the drawing code (but only dark rooms are shown differently)
  • object class symbols are shown in menu headers
  • you may choose to always show uncursed status in the options (Pasi Kallinen)
  • you will be prompted to quiver if firing with an empty quiver (Jukka Lahtinen)
  • thrown or fired items will always be picked up automatically if you set pickup_thrown in the options (Roderick Schertler)
  • reading spellbooks early is allowed (Alex Smith)
  • naming of monsters, items & item types via menu (from NAO)
  • Improved the died while helpless descriptions (Pasi Kallinen)
  • monster targeting with m when a position is requested (inspired by Pasi Kallinen's patch)
  • Very long message history (20k messages)
  • Removing armor and accessories will always trigger a prompt, even if there is only one possible choice.
  • Open doors when the player walks into them (AceHack)
  • extinct species are shown together with genocided species (based on a patch by Jukka Lahtinen)

• Fix about 10% of all known NetHack bugs

  • C343- 2 Wielded silver arrows don't cause silver damage on some silver-haters. (Alex Smith)
  • C343- 7 When a steed pushes a boulder into a pool, the message misuses "you". (Alex Smith)
  • C343- 8 Plural of Nazgul is Nazgul - not Nazguls. (Patric Müller)
  • C343- 12 You can't use '>' to enter a pit. (Patric Müller)
  • C343- 15 You can get a message that an invisible monster looks much better. (Alex Smith)
  • C343- 18 Scaring a mimicing mimic gives an incorrect "turns to flee" message. (Alex Smith)
  • C343- 30 Cursed scroll of destroy armor on cursed armor doesn't always interact correctly. (Alex Smith)
  • C343- 50 A sleeping steed may answer a #chat. (Alex Smith)
  • C343- 54,-55 "Ulch" message fixes. (Alex Smith)
  • C343- 74 Entering a long running, uninterruptible command after stoning starts will kill you. (Patric Müller)
  • C343- 88 Polymorphing a statue into a boulder can leave an incorrect display. (Alex Smith)
  • C343- 94,SC343-8 Probing a re-animated statue may cause a panic. (Patric Müller)
  • C343-100 Game may crash if thrown potion hits bars before a monster. (Patric Müller)
  • C343-109 There is a grammar error in the Tourist leader's greeting. (Alex Smith)
  • C343-111 Grammar of some graveyard sounds messages is wrong in some cases. (Alex Smith)
  • C343-116 Grammar error in messages related to choking on gold. (Patric Müller)
  • C343-123 Plural of "mother-in-law" is incorrect. (Alex Smith)
  • C343-136 A samurai quest guardian message uses "ninja" where "ronin" is intended. (Patric Müller)
  • C343-160 The name "leather spellbook" is misleading. (Alex Smith)
  • C343-171 Silver weapon damage message is sometimes missing when hero is polymorphed. (Patric Müller)
  • C343-179 If a potion of acid is destroyed by water, the game may crash. (Patric Müller)
  • C343-189 Temple donations and protection lost to gremlin attack interact incorrectly. (Patric Müller)
  • C343-211 Engraving under water gives a poorly worded message. (Patric Müller)
  • C343-218 Applying a wielded cream pie can crash the game. (Patric Müller)
  • C343-222 It's possible to end up wielding a cockatrice corpse when no longer polymorphed. (Arthur O'Dwyer)
  • C343-231 Time is distorted while sinking into lava.
  • C343-235 Casting spell of protection gives incorrect message if hero is swallowed or in rock. (Patric Müller)
  • C343-248 You can't put candles in a candelabrum while underwater (Sgeo)
  • C343-252 There is a typo in the quote from "The Count of Monte Cristo." (Patric Müller)
  • C343-258 Grammar error in samurai quest: "wakarimasu?" instead of "wakarimasu ka?" (Patric Müller)
  • C343-259 "Dr. Dolittle" is spelled incorrectly. (Patric Müller)
  • C343-270 Dying in a shop while wielding two weapons may cause a warning message. (Patric Müller)
  • C343-275 If a lit, wielded, candle or potion of oil burns out, the game may crash. (Patric Müller)
  • C343-276 If a figurine auto-transforms while wielded or worn, the game may crash. (Patric Müller)
  • C343-298 Kicking at "empty space" uses no time.
  • C343-318 Opening or closing the castle drawbridge using music takes no time. (Alex Smith)
  • C343-324 Bisecting a long worm with 1hp crashes the game. (Patric Müller)
  • C343-356 Wearing an amulet of restful sleep confuses internal sleep state bookkeeping. (L's "Gremlin's Curse")
  • C343-386 Pearl rings can rust. (Alex Smith)
  • C343-398 The game may crash if a wielded potion of polymorph is drunk. (Alex Smith)
  • C343-399 Messages referring to a named vault guard have grammatical errors. (Alex Smith)
  • SC343-12 Calling high priests on Astral reveals their identity.
  • SC343-20 Hangup save while picking up gold in a shop may duplicate the gold. (Patric Müller)

  My sources for these fixes were UnNetHack, AceHack, the Patchdb.

© 2012 Daniel Thaler