gcfclient - gtk client program for crossfire servers.

gcfclient [-server server] [-port number] [-display display] [-split|-nosplit] [-download_all_faces] [-echo] [faceset name] [-showicon] [-scrollines number] [-sync] [-help] [-cache|-nocache] [-darkness|-nodarkness] [-nosound] [-nosplash] [-updatekeycodes] [-nopopups] [-splitinfo] [-mapsize xXy] [-sdl] [-mapscale percentage] [-iconscale percentage] [-triminfo] [-timemapredraw]

gcflient is an gtk program for connecting to crossfire servers. Crossfire is a multiplayer graphical adventure game that mixes aspects of Gauntlet (TM), nethack, moria, and Ultima (TM).

This man page describes options for the gtk client of crossfire (gcfclient). Other clients of crossfire may not support all these options or may support other options - man pages specific to those versions should be referenced.

-cache|-nocache

Determines if the client will cache images for future runs. With -nocache, when the server is about to referance an image that the client has yet to receive, it sends that image along to the client. These downloaded images are discarded once the client exists. With -cache, the server sends information about the image it is about to referance. The client can then check its local cache (stored in ~/.crossfire/images) - if it has the image, it creates it off the disk. If it does not have it, it requests it from the server and then stores it in its cache. In the brief time between the request of the image and it actually receives it, that image will be represented by a ? in the map.

-cache option is strongly recommended anytime when your link to the server is slower than home directory access - this is likely to be the case except in case of nfs mounted home directories on the server on the local lan.

-darkness|-nodarkness

Controls whether the server sends darkness information to the client or not. Turning off darkness results in a savings off bandwidth for maps that use darkness code (currently, very few maps use darkness code). Turning off darkness may also be desirable as in some graphics mode the quality of darkness may not add much to the map.

-display <display>

The display to open the windows on. If this option is not given, it will use the DISPLAY environmental variable to determine the display.

-download_all_faces

The client will get all the checksums from the server, and download any images necessary before starting play. This saves a small amount of bandwidth, but more importantly reduces possible latency during important play when it may not be desirable.

-echo|-noecho

Echo commands as they are entered. Normally, commands bound to keys are just sent to the server without any echoing on the client of what that command actually was. This option causes the commands to also be printed in the information window as they are sent to the server.

-faceset <name>

Uses faceset <name> if available on the server. What facesets are available on each server may differ. The client will request the information about the different facesets available on the server, and try to find the one that matches best. The default is the standard set. At current time (March 2002), the only one typically available is the classic set.

-fog

Enables fog of war code. In this mode, spaces which have been seen before but are no longer visible will still be shown on the game window half darkened. The data in these spaces is not up to date since it is currently out of site. This has no effect on bandwidth, but may consume more cpu time.

-help

Prints out a brief description of the options to standard output.

-iconscale

Causes the images for the inventory icons to be scaled some percentage value. Minimum value is 25%. Setting this to 50% is very useful - doubles amount of data visible in the inventory window.

-keepcache

Causes the client not to download upated images from the server if it already has an image of the same name previously cached. By default, if the server has a newer image, the client will download it and replace the cached version with it. Using this option can be useful if your cache has been populated with a set of images you prefer over the one on the server, or if you play on multiple servers and they have different image sets and you don't want to keep downloading the images over and over again as you switch between servers.

-mapscale

Causes the images for the map surface (-mapscale) to be scaled some percentage value. Minimum value is 25%. This value does not need to be the same as the iconscale value. Scaling down the size of the map images can be useful when playing on low resolution screens. Smaller images will also consume less cpu as it will be less information to draw.

-mapsize XxY

Sets the desired viewable map window. X and Y are number of tiles. Note that larger map sizes are likely to consume more bandwidth, cpu time, as well as just screen real estate.

The maximum map size may vary server to server. The client will try to negotiate the largest viewable map in each dimension. Note that there is no requirement that the viewable map be square.

Due to performance issues, it is strongly suggested that expirementation is done with this value to find a size that gets acceptable performance n(simple test - go to the start town, run in some direction, stop running and see how long it takes before the client stops moving you).

-popops|-nopopups

This enables/disables pop up windows that otherwise appear for certain input. When disabled, the input will be taken from text entries in the basic text pane. The default is that popups are enabled.

-port <number>

The port number of the server to connect to. By default, it will use port 13327 (standard port). However, certain servers may use other ports.

-sdl

This option will only be available if the SDL library was available when the client was compiles. Using this option allows for more complex graphics - true alpha channel, improved darkness handling. Performance may be worse when using this option - this depends on many factors. Like the mapsize option above, it is suggested the experimentation is done to make performance is still acceptable. This option does not affect bandwidth - it only affects cpu performance. If this option is not used, GdkPixmaps will be used instead.

-server <server>

Sets the server to play on. If no option is given, it will default to localhost.

-showicon

This shows a little icon next to items in your inventory that contains a brief description of some of the item properties (magic, cursed, equipped, etc.) This can make spotting some items easier, but some players may not like the extra space these icons take up or the

-sound|-nosound

Enable/Disables sound effects. Disabling sound has a minor savings on bandwidth. It is most useful if you do not want sound, due to lack of hardware or lack of desire for sound. Default is sound is enabled.

-sound_server <executable>

This is the name of the sound server process to execute. If the path starts with a slash, this is the absolute path to the executable. Otherwise, the value of BINDIR (install location of client executable) will be prepended. This defaults to cfsndserv. Changing this value may be necessary if the default sound daemon does not work as expected.

Note that the input that the executable takes is special, requiring an executable especially designed for crossfire to work. You can not point generic sound playing programs and expect it to work.

-splash|-nosplash

Enable/Disables splash screen. When enabled, a window with a Crossfire logo is displayed while the client is starting up. Default is the splash screen is enabled.

-split|-nosplit

-split starts the windows up in split windows mode. In split windows mode, 6 seperate windows are created - these individual windows can then be moved around and resized as desired. -nosplit starts the game up with a single window - this is the default. The option is useful if your saved defaults are set for -split (see Saved Defaults further down).

-splitinfo

This splits the information pane window into two sub windows. One contains all the attack messages and otherwise fairly mundane information, and the other contains important messages, like changes in protection values, levels, etc.

-sync

Runs the server in synchronous display mode. This option tends only to be useful in debugging purposes - using this will slow down the display and not gain anything for the typical player.

-timemapredraw

Prints out debugging time information to stderr. This timing information can be useful when trying to find performance problems, or just how different client options change the time it takes for the map to get drawn, which is the biggest cpu consumer in the client.

-triminfowindow | -notriminfowindw

Causes the information window to get 'trimmed', eg, remove text so that the total contents of the information window remains roughly the same size (20,000 bytes or so). As of 2001-11-03, using this option resulted in client periodically crashing. The problem appears to be within gtk, so using this is not encouraged. However, the problems in gtk may get fixed, or this may be more reliable on other platforms so is included.

-updatekeycodes

The standard behaviour when a player uses the bind command to bind new actions is that they keycode is saved with that binding. Keycodes are specific to keyboards - a sun keyboard will generate a different keycode compared to a PC style keyboard. In most cases, it is not always desirable to have the keycodes get updated, as this may make some bindings unavailable. Using this option will force custom keybindings to get updated for the current keyboard when the client is run.

-pix|-xpm|-png

These options are obsolete. Currently, the client only supports png graphics, and the other options are no longer valid.

Once you have logged into the server, you can enter extended commands by typing ' (apostrophe) followed by the extended commands. One of these extended commands is savedefaults. This will save many of the options listed above. Note that the saved defaults are read first, so using the command line switches can be used to override settings in the gdefaults file.

The settings are saved into ~/.crossfire/gdefaults.

If you are using split windows mode, you can enter savewinpos as an extended command. This will save the current window positions and sizes into ~/.crossfire/winpos. Next time you run the server in split mode, it will load these values and resize and move the windows as specified.

This is by far a complete tutorial of gameplay. This section is to provide a basic introduction to logging in and doing a few very basic actions.

The first thing that will happen after the client successfully connects to the server is you will be prompted for a name. There are some restrictions to the name you can choose, but alphanumeric characters are all safe.

After entering the name, you will then be prompted for a password. When creating a new character, enter whatever you want your password to be. If you get a 'login incorrect' someone else already has that character name with a different password - try another name. If no one has used that name, you will be prompted for the password again to confirm it.

You now start the character creation process. It is beyond the scope of the document to fully describe the pros and cons of different stats and classes. The creation process has different options for swapping stats and choosing a class.

Once you have chosen your class, you will be in the middle of a town. The arrow keys will move you in the various directions. There will be a red building almost directly above you - this is the inn where you save your character. There are some signs to your right. To read them, move on top of them and press the 'a' key. This applies the object below you - in the case of signs, it reads it. In the case of buildings, it will cause you to enter the building.

To the left of the signs is a small building - this is the beginner dungeon. Enter it, and follow the directions on the signs. It provides a pretty good tutorial on some of the basic actions and features of the game.

To enter extended commands, type the ' (apostrophe) followed by the command. An example would be 'help (apostrophe followed by the help command). Enter command to execute the command.

savewinpos savedefaults

These commands were described in the SAVED DEFAULTS options above.

scroll

This toggles whether or the information windows scrolls when it gets to the bottom of the window or wraps to the top. Wrapping is slighly less cpu intensive, but is generally harder to read.

bind unbind

bind is used to add new keybindings. Do you want to be able to press one key to cast a fireball? This is what the bind command does. is bound, it is stored in ~/.crossfire/keys and will be used in future plays.

scroll

Cfclient only. Toggles between scroll and wrap mode. In wrap mode, when text gets to the bottom of the message window, it starts new messages at the top. Scroll is only really useful on very slow systems where the performance hit of scrolling the window is too costly.

magicmap

Displays the data from the last time the magic mapping spell was cast. This information can be completely useless if you are now on another map.

cwindow <number>

Specifies the number of unprocessed commands to the server. The server processes player commands as the character has actions to perform them - having this number too high can result in extended lengths of time that after you stop entering commands the character is still performing actions. Having this value too low on slow links can result in the character sitting idle even though they have an action comming to them.

~/.crossfire

This is a directory that is created that is used to store various files.

~/.crossfire/gdefaults

This contains default setttings. This file can in theory be edited by hand - just be careful to keep the same case and whitespace.

~/.crossfire/images

This directory is used for the image cache if -cache is being used.

~/.crossfire/keys

This contains keybindings you have edited. This file can also be theoretically edited - changing existing entries is much safer than trying to figure out the syntax for new entries.

~/.crossfire/winpos

Window positions and sizes to use in split window mode. This file can also be edited by hand.

Please let me know about any bugs you find in the client.

Copyright (C) 1994,2001 Mark Wedel & Crossfire Development Team GTK port by David Sundqvist (azzie@netpolicy.com) SDL support added by Scott MacFiggen (smurf@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU)

There are a great many other contributors to both the client and server that are not mentioned here.