XTREKRC HINTS Thoughts on customizing your .xtrekrc file ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 2 Dec 90 09:12:49 -0500 (EST) From: Pythagoras Christian Watson To: Bulletin Board Administration Subject: Re: Key bindings One of two ways: 1) While playing netrek, bring up the options window (shift-o unless you rebound it of course :-). You will find an option labelled "Keymap:". Simply place your cursor in this little section of the options window and enter a new keymap. The server will nicely keep this information for you until the next time that you enter a new keymap. The format of the key map is simple. It consists of a string of characters in groups of two. The first of the two characters is the key to be rebound and the second is the default key that normally does the action that you wish to rebind. Note: if you switch the torps and tractor beam keys using the remap sequence 'tTTt' or 'TttT' and at some later time wish to switch them back, then the sequence is 'ttTT' or 'TTtt'. 2) The other way is to have a .xtrekrc (which is read automatically) or some other file which you have to specifically tell netrek about. Somewhere in this file you have a line like the following: keymap:[some amount of whitespace][the keymap sequence] For instance, mine is: keymap: tTTtrRRr fueq4w5e6atmw Have fun!!! Py Live long and may all your kernels pop. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Dec 90 17:44:54 -0500 (EST) From: Lui Sieh To: Bulletin Board Administration Subject: Re: Key bindings This prompts me to ask for all those out there who use extensive key bindings for your game. What is the optimal setting? It looks like r,t,y,u, and any numbers plus perhaps the space bar might be optimal. I was wondering if it really helps ones game. -Lui (soon to be locked out) ------------------------------ Yike, that was too long. On to keymaps. I find changing the keys very helpful, because by default the keys are not where you need them. As a test, try hitting -t without looking away from the screen; unless you are very good, you'll probably miss about half the time. The best thing to do is figure out which keys you use most: torps(maybe), shields, repair, etc. Then just drop your hand on the keyboard; where your fingers fall is where you want those keys to be. Warp speeds along the top, put shields under one finger and torps under another. The best possible arrangment is one where you can hit all the keys, accurately, without ever looking away from the screen. The first time you try a new keymap, you'll die horribly, because you keep hitting the wrong keys. After a little while, you will notice a major improvement. Also, before you try a new keymap, check the help window to see if there are any keys you are mapping over; it's very bad if, in the middle of the game, you realize that you don't have an important command available (like war, or cloak). I had a bad bit where I mapped over help, and couldn't find out the key for some obscure command. You're probably safest in using the .xtrekrc file to specify your keymap, since then you can change it without being in the game. (It would be gruesome if you mapped over the options key). Oh well, just some random comments. -Andrew (jm79): Grey Elf P.S. stuff. ------------------------------ Article 155 of alt.games.xtrek: From: tom@earthquake.Berkeley.EDU (Tom Holub) Newsgroups: alt.games.xtrek Subject: Changing your fonts Date: 10 Sep 91 03:44:08 GMT Little known fact; Xtrek recognizes a .xtrekrc file that you can set a bunch of defaults in, including font aliases. If you're playing on a machine that has screwed up bold fonts (like a lot of X11R4's), you can use it to choose a better bold font, as well. A sample follows [most of .xtrekrc file deleted -- JCH] font: 6x10 boldfont: lucidasanstypewriter-bold-10 italicfont: 6x10i bigfont: -adobe-times-bold-r-normal--34-240-100-100-p-177-iso8859-1 ------------------------------ Newsgroups: alt.games.xtrek From: jch+@cs.cmu.edu (Jonathan Hardwick) Subject: Re: .xtrekrc Date: Thu, 13 Feb 92 18:21:00 GMT In article <21295@dog.ee.lbl.gov> envmhs@bea.lbl.gov (Max H. Sherman) writes: > Is there a way to get all your message/review windows to only > be mapped when the main window gets mapped? (i.e. > just like the option "showstats" will do with the graphic > stats window). I would like not to have all of my review > windows sit there while I am in the queue. Make sure all your message/review windows have the "netrek" window as their parent, eg review_foo.parent: netrek and then use netrek.mapped: off to only map netrek and all its child windows when you're off the wait queue (which I think you're already doing, right?) This works for me. Your milage may vary, esp. with different window managers and the KSU client (at least, it didn't work with my existing .xtrekrc the last time I tried it -- has it been fixed?). Hopefully the Next Great Blessed Release will include Richard Caley's patches to make the standard client a better X citizen. ------------------------------ Newsgroups: alt.games.xtrek From: jch+@cs.cmu.edu (Jonathan Hardwick) Subject: Re: .xtrekrc Date: Thu, 13 Feb 92 21:49:40 GMT In article <1992Feb13.182100.24201@cs.cmu.edu> I wrote: > This works for me. Your milage may vary, esp. with different window > managers and the KSU client (at least, it didn't work with my existing > .xtrekrc the last time I tried it -- has it been fixed?). Randy points out that this is because the KSU people saw fit to change the root window name from netrek to Netrek II -- The Next Generation which means that you have to set up a different .xtrekrc with that string (inside double quotes) for the window name if you're going to get reasonable window behaviour. Nice one, guys, real nice... ------------------------------ From: leonard@mimsy.umd.edu (Leonard Dickens) Newsgroups: alt.games.xtrek Subject: Re: What do YOU want in the client? Date: 27 Feb 92 20:09:33 GMT >It would be nice if the stats reported upon genocide were done in a less >volitile manner; they usually scroll away before you can even do more >than glance at them. A quick and dirty way to get this info with the current blessed client is to set the size of the total message window to be very large. From my .xtrekrc: # The main window netrek.geometry: +0+0 # Main message window review.geometry: 82x86+0+20 (For non-x hackers, this means: make the message window 82 chars wide and 86 lines long, and put it at location 0,20; 0,20 is almost the upper left of the screen.) This puts the top half or so of the message window *below* the main window, which is fine because that is almost always useless info, being pretty old. Upon genocide, I use the wm to raise the message window to see the stats. The reason I do not use 82x88+0+0 or so is that my wm puts borders on the message windows, taking up a line and a half worth of space. -Leonard ------------------------------ Newsgroups: alt.games.xtrek,rec.games.netrek From: terence@bronco.ece.cmu.edu (Terence Chang) Subject: Can't run client Date: Wed, 1 Apr 1992 22:41:36 GMT An Empirical Guide to Getting (X11R4) Clients Working ===================================================== [ If your client complains "Who is foo.edu?" where foo.edu is a known machine: ] Switch to numeric addresses (use "nslookup foo.edu" to get the address, then run the client with "-h 128.1.2.3"). [ To fix font selection, try in your .xtrekrc either: ] font: -*-clean-medium-r-normal--10-100-75-75-c-60-* boldfont: -*-clean-bold-r-normal--10-100-75-75-c-60-* italicfont: -*-clean-bold-r-normal--10-100-75-75-c-60-* [ Or, if that doesn't work, something like: ] font: 6x10 boldfont: clB6x10 italicfont: clB6x10 [ For MWM users wanting automatic window placement, in your .Xdefaults (or for CMU Andrew machines, in your .Xresources): ] [ Disclaimer: This may not work, depending on the political X correctness of the source code used in your client. ] mwm*clientAutoPlace: false mwm*interactivePlacement: false [ and if you don't want title bars (you may have to add Untitled to the list below): ] mwm*netrek.clientDecoration: none mwm*stats.clientDecoration: none mwm*player.clientDecoration: none mwm*review.clientDecoration: none [ For TWM users wanting automatic window placement, in your .twmrc: ] [ Disclaimer: this may not work, depending on the political X correctness of the source code used in your client. ] UsePPosition "on" [ and if you don't want title bars (you may have to add Untitled) to the list below: ] NoTitle { "netrek" "stats" "player" "review" } ------------------------------ Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek,alt.games.xtrek Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1992 15:36:48 -0500 From: "Julian L. Ho" Subject: Re: Can't run client Instead of 'netrek', 'stats', 'player', and 'review', just use 'NEtrek'... it catches all the windows used by netrek, even if you change which ones the window manager sees (my wm only sees 'netrek', 'local', and 'map', because of "parent" directives in my .xtrekrc). ------------------------------ Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 20:38:38 -0400 From: "Julian L. Ho" Subject: differences in UDP and old client the class name of the UDP client is different than that of the old client. it used to be "NEtrek", now it is "Netrek". I don't understand the change, since X seems to be case sensitive on this point... but there it is. Ensign ensign ------------------------------ Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek From: mummert+@AUK.WARP.CS.CMU.EDU (Todd Mummert) Subject: Re: REALLY uneven teams Date: Wed, 10 Jun 92 05:22:20 GMT >>>>> On 10 Jun 92 00:58:00 GMT, gdearing@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Gregory D Dearing) said: Greg> That could just create a situation of "Cool, there are four admirals Greg> on that team; I want to be rom." IMO, it could probably worsen the Greg> situation. That situation is already there and, since most everyone with a clue already knows, I'll go ahead and explain how... The following three lines in your .xtrekrc file will map the player window when the netrek parent is first created (prior to having to choose a team): player.parent: netrek player.geometry: +0+654 player.mapped: on make sure that this window fits entirely within the constraints of the netrek window. Now, I believe, that this window is not *normally* updated when you are at the team selection window. However, by iconifying de-iconifying the netrek window, the playerlist will be updated. "Arrgghh!!!," you say. "Nay.," say the gods. In fact, I proposed that this *feature* be removed from the NBR, but my proposal was voted down. The real question is whether knowing the make-up of the teams encourages good players to try to balance out the teams. Nope, nohow, noway. Why? because noone wants to play with idiots, they do want to play with their friends, etc...hell, I do the same thing all the time. You know the old saying, "Pigs of a feather...." Borgeoisie Pig ------------------------------ Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek From: hde+@CS.CMU.EDU (Herbert Enderton) Subject: Re: Blessed UDP client problem Date: Wed, 29 Apr 92 16:45:12 GMT With my keymap I don't click on the mouse at all, except sometimes for phasers (usually I use a key for them too). That way I don't bother my officemates with incessant clicking, and my mouse will last longer too. No joke, I broke the right button on a mouse from constant use last summer. If anybody feels like making the switch over to click-less play, here's a plausible keymap (probably better than mine, but untested): 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ) ! @ l [ % p f i u i o p [ ] k d 3 t D h j k l ; ' \ z x ] 8 T b n m , . / space is y Besides the obvious idea of having the essential combat commands under the fingers, I've tried to put mutually-exclusive commands on the same finger. So the pinky does lock-on, change-course, and beaming. The ring finger handles the shields (separate shields-up `]' and shields down `[') and detonating torps. The middle finger is for changing speeds (your choices for speeds might be different), and the index finger is for firing and aborting torps, plus some stuff I couldn't fit in elsewhere. Ideally one should hit the tractor key with the thumb (since the pressor key is space bar), but that might be too awkward. I figure you can use some shifted keys for war windows, docking permission, refitting, repairing, transwarp, and request-full-update; the details are left to the reader :-) -- Red Shirt ------------------------------ Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek From: hde+@CS.CMU.EDU (Herbert Enderton) Subject: Re: Blessed UDP client problem Date: Wed, 29 Apr 92 16:53:22 GMT Oops, I left off a cloak key. Put it on the index finger along with the torping keys, since they're mutually exclusive. Make plasma-ing a shifted key to make room. There are probably other bugs in that keymap, but you get the idea. --Bert ------------------------------ Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek From: jch+@cs.cmu.edu (Jonathan Hardwick) Subject: Re: Server gods and keymaps Date: Tue, 30 Jun 92 16:27:33 GMT mobius@wam.umd.edu writes > Unless someone knows how to unmap the keys, I'm like screwed. > Right now I have NO tractor beam nor pressor beam, and NO phasers. Really, > because I could not unmap the keys on several severs. The more I map, it > gets worst. I'm posting rather than mailing because this seems to be a popular problem (and people don't read the solution in the archives :-{, nor the solution pointed out recently on this very newsgroup :-{ :-{). To restore a key to its original meaning, just "map it to itself". In other words, to restore all of the original keybindings, you'd need to enter the following mappings: bbccddeeffhhiikklloopprrssttuuwwxxyyzz BBCCDDEEIILLOO MMNNPPRRSSTTUUVV??[[]]**00112233445566778899))!!@@%%## (is that all the default keys?). To do this on-the-fly, open up the options window ('O') and enter the mappings directly into the little line provided, 6 at a time. If you've remapped 'O' to something-you- can't-find, or you've got lots of servers to reset your keymaps on, use a keymap line in your .xtrekrc. I just tested the two lines above entered as a single keymap line, and it worked fine. But unless you've screwed up everything in sight on lots of servers, it's generally quickest to just remap the keys you've munged to themselves, and then, once everything works, remap to your customized layout. If you can't remember what the original key mappings are, either take a look at the help listing ('h', remap to itself if necessary), or take a look at the list in "help-sheet.Z" from the archives. Gods can play with your keymaps, but there's no reason to bother them unless you've hosed your favourite character's keymap and you can't use an editor. ------------------------------ From: fadden@uts.amdahl.com (Andy McFadden) Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek Subject: Re: NBR: fix client/info bug Date: 8 Jul 92 21:19:34 GMT Just FYI, there's a little-known key action mapped to the spacebar which removes most of the pop up windows (notably the info windows). Since most people map space to det or raise shields, and I don't believe it appears in the help screen, nobody knows about it... fadden@uts.amdahl.com (Andy McFadden) ------------------------------ Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek Date: Mon, 20 Jul 1992 07:33:51 -0400 From: Michael Reed Subject: Re: ARGHHH! Stupid Ori/Quit proximity! This happened to me entirely too often for my tastes, as well as hitting Shift-q instead of shift-2. My solution (in the .xtrekrc, thanks to Dave Swasey (ensign__)): quit.parent: map quit.geometry: +0+0 Also, binding nothing (some unused key) to shift-Q. Mind you, when I have to quit, I either die and click on the now-moved quit-box, or do a Shift-O to reset the shift q keybinding. . . :-) Lestrade lestrade+@cmu.edu mr10+@andrew.cmu.edu ------------------------------ From: sjsmith@cs.umd.edu (Stephen Joseph Smith) Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek Subject: Re: ARGHHH! Stupid Ori/Quit proximity! Date: 20 Jul 92 14:05:08 GMT I played around with the window placements just this morning, as I occasionally have clicked on quit mistakenly (big problem with a queue.) Thanks to Terence for the idea in his post. My solution is to put the race-selection windows in their logical places (Rom at top-left, Kli at top-right, etc.), leaving the bottom-middle open for the quit window: # quit.parent is still local by default quit.geometry: +200+400 fed.geometry: +0+400 rom.geometry: +0+0 kli.geometry: +400+0 ori.geometry: +400+400 The disadvantage to these placements is that Scott Silvey's name and Kevin Smith's e-mail address are slightly covered up. NBR PROPOSAL: That Scott Silvey's name and Kevin Smith's e-mail address, and all the stuff at the top of the local window on start-up, be moved and formatted nicely so I don't have this problem. If you don't like the quit window at the bottom-middle of the local window, you can't use Lestrade's suggestion along with mine, because then the Kli selection window is back next to the Quit window, so just do # Put the quit window on the map window, out of the way quit.parent: map # quit window on bottom-right quit.geometry: +400+400 # quit window on middle-right quit.geometry: +400+200 # quit window on top-right quit.geometry: +400+0 # quit window on middle-left quit.geometry: +0+200 Yours in window hacking, -=+=- Stephen Joseph Smith ------------------------------ From: mcp@cs.umd.edu (Mike Polek) Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek Subject: Re: Xtrekrc font settings for warring races Date: 3 Aug 92 18:36:04 GMT I don't know about anyone else, but on my black-and-white DEC3100, I find it tough to read the players list for important things when I'm the one in bold. I mean, do I really need that info for ME? ...NOT! Therefore, I scramble the fonts a bit.... an excerpt from my .xtrekrc file: #enemies font: terminal_bold_narrow14 #me and team planets boldfont: -*-*-medium-r-*-*-10-*-*-*-*-60-*-* #used in startup screen bigfont: -*-*-*-*-*-*-24-*-*-*-*-*-*-* #neutrals italicfont: 6x10 So neutral stuff is just plain old 6x10 font, as are my teams' ships. Planets we own look sort of italic (it's an oblique font). But most importantly, enemies, cloakers, and enemy planets appear in boldface. It makes reading the ogg-list off the player list simple. It does take some getting used to, and differentiating owned planets vs. third race can be a little tough, since the normal and oblique fonts are kinda close, but hey... it works for me. Cheers, (INL) ------------------------------ From: wansari@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Waheed A Ansari) Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek Subject: Re: .xtrekrc question Date: 15 Aug 92 03:23:04 GMT I use the following to specify the wait window geometry in my .xtrekrc: wait.geometry: 180x60+850+180 count.geometry: 115x40+60+15 waitquit.geometry: 50x40 The main window here is "wait", and 180x60 is its default size, if you are using the bronco UDP v 1.0 client. The "Xtrek: Game is full." message is 15 pixels high. Change the +850+180 to the coordinates you desire. Waheed ------------------------------ Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek From: spot@CS.CMU.EDU (Scott Draves) Subject: Re: More worst moments ... Date: Tue, 11 Aug 92 19:56:27 GMT Paul> You know, I lose more ships on account of Paul> finger-to-keyboard-interface failure... the simple way to prevent almost all such fumbles is to get a keymap where you do not have to move your hand at all. one hand stays in fixed position on kbd, the other stays on the mouse. and fire torps from the kbd. eg: keymap: q3w4e5r7t%adsydTftglzzxxvDbb sWwZeRrFiCVVBQQEEGRhf # unshifted shifted # 3 4 5 7 % Q w E r . # d y T t l . . D i R # z x c D b e . V B . # sssssssss (space bar) so my left and sits on "asdf" = "det/pressor/tractor/torp" ------------------------------ Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 04:41:32 -0400 From: Rick Subject: Re: the endless quest for the perfect keymap Keymap for Admiral FLATLINER (Exxon Valdez): keymap: tTTtrRRr d1@vDWwwD Admiral Balton: keymap: tTTtrRRr u`d0)-!=%ev@nRQ~WwRr_Q y++F=Izkuzyf EERROOooii00QR|Qmm2mIINNxxccPPLLSS Admiral MUCUS PIG: keymap: addttTsurRRrq4w5e6mw DDe Admiral EEK!!: keymap: tT yydgcfTsuefFerRRr0)jDht-@kD Admiral Vodkan (Beck): keymap: tTTtrRRr djD-!=@0) Admiral Warlock: keymap: rf ]f eihTsDfDpwRrguwRgd Admiral Non-Stop!!: keymap: aTsy dqR`!0%eEEeww??rrDDccvvdDfDgfBesides kill messages, it will be useful if you miss a couple of messages >and you would like to go back to the previous screen. This can happen on >your "Team" window if someone from your team, sends alot of distress >calls very quickly, causing some of the previous team messages to scroll >up into oblivion. One of the ways I get around this problem is to make the kill window large (30 lines), but put all but 5 lines underneath the player list window. Similarly, my all window is 30 lines long, but most of those are covered up by my team and personal messages. Thus, usually I just look at the bottom five lines of the kill or all boards, but if I want to look back at the kill list, or see who entered the game a while back (or see the stats after a genocide) I can bring the window to the foreground to see all the lines. (I have a function key bound to "bring this window to foreground, or demote to the background"). If you're concerned about team messages, you could make a stack of personal, team, and all messages, the 3 windows would have size 10, 20, and 30 lines, but would be stacked up so that 10 lines from each window would be available. It could get a little confusing, though, once you've moved them up and down, to get all three windows restacked correctly (much easier with 2). Still, it works for me. This isn't to say that your idea isn't a good one, though. -Grey Elf ------------------------------ Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek From: cks@hawkwind.utcs.toronto.edu (Chris Siebenmann) Subject: Re: A pair of idiot-caliber questions (maybe...) Date: 7 Nov 92 11:51:34 GMT jecoleb@eos.ncsu.edu writes: [about the berkeley client:] | It seems that every few minutes the "Update galactic map ___" toggle | spontaneously reverts to DON'T update without so much as a by-your-leave. I am surprised more people haven't hit this. 'M' will toggle galactic map updates if not remapped; it is, of course, ever so close to 'm' to start typing a message. I had to read the source to find this (I thought it was a bug, and I was all ready to go hacking with blunt objects). 'N' will toggle planet names, by the way. I remapped 'M' posthaste once I found this out, needless to say. People who don't have a keymap are probably working too hard. cks@hawkwind.utcs.toronto.edu ...!{utgpu,utzoo,watmath}!utgpu!cks ------------------------------ From: mehlhaff@scotch.Berkeley.EDU (Eric Mehlhaff) Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek Date: 22 Jun 1993 20:29:02 GMT [ lots of drivel deleted] I'm sure this is nice and all, but its not an ITALIC 6x10 font, it's an UNERLINED 6x10 font. Someone asks for apples and you try to sell them oranges. The closest thing to a 6x10 italic font I've found thus far that is commonly available is this one: -schumacher-clean-medium-i-normal--12-120-75-75-c-60-*-* It comes with X11R4 and later X distributions, and has worked fine for me. ------------------------------ Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek From: ahabig@bigbang.astro.indiana.edu (Alec Habig) Subject: BRM resources Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1993 20:12:55 GMT Over a couple years of continually collecting the latest greatest clients, I've gotten what I hope is a reasonably complete set of X resources to put in the .xtrekrc. Since this information is not out there in any one place, I thought I'd post it. This is garnered from many READMEs, and grepping source code. However, if anything is wrong, or there's other cool stuff, please let me know! I also suspect that many of these settings are no longer supported in BRM but are relics. Note that I'm not posting any distress or macro settings, as these are quite well explained elsewhere. Alec (Entropy) # Moo Client options : # Login Stuff #name: (string of chars) default name name: Entropy #password: (string of chars) default password; if both name and password # are included in your .xtrekrc, BRM will attempt to do # an autologin for you. password: haha, not here #useRSA: (on/off) default setting for whether the client should use RSA # verification. useRSA: on #keymap: (string of chars) remaps the keyboard, syntax is simply the # key to map onto, followed by the key to map, repeated. # Thus to map the "fire torps" key 't' onto 'f', use keymap: ft keymap: tTTt dq#w%WwdDa[s]/eeTglu;juryXrRR|/ #buttonmap: map the mouse buttons to something else. # i.e. the default mapping is: # 1t2p3k #buttonmap: 1t2p3k #autoquit: (integer) length of time to wait on team selection screen # before Auto-quit exits for you. #autoquit: 100 #keeppeace: (on/off) Retain peace status upon death keeppeace: on #defaultShip: 2 char ship name, if you want something other than a CA #defaultShip: DD # Planet Display Styles #showIND: (on/off) mark independent planets with a X drawn over it. showIND: on #Can show nothing, resources, or owner on galactic by default. #resource-- showgalactic: 1 # 2 = nothing # 1 = resources # 0 = ownership showgalactic: 1 #Can show nothing, resources, or owner on local map by default. #resource-- showlocal: 2 # 2 = nothing # 1 = resources # 0 = ownership showlocal: 1 #showplanetnames:(on/off) Can turn off planet names by default. showplanetnames: on #newPlanetBitmaps:(on/off) new planet bitmaps, less junk to # get in the way of seeing torps newPlanetBitmaps: off # Shield Info Stuff #showshields: (on/off) draw shields on ships showshields: on #varyShields: (on/off) Shield color and bitmap depends on shield status. varyShields: on #warnshields: (on/off) shields become color of alert window warnshields: off # Visable Lock On Stuff #Can show lock on galactic, local, galactic & local, or none. #resource-- showLock: 3 #0 = none #1 = galactic #2 = local #3 = both showLock: 3 #fillTriangle: (on/off) a hollow or solid lock triangle? fillTriangle: off # Tractor Beam Stuff #showtractorpressor: toggle showing tractor/pressor beams showTractorPressor: on #Can be set to not continue the visible tractors. #resource-- continuetractors: on #on = continue #off = turns off after 2 updates. continuetractor: on # UDP control, communications in general #tryUdp: (on/off) Automaticaly use UDP if on #udpDebug: #udpClientSend: #udpClientRecv: #udpSequenceChk: tryUdp: on #udpDebug: 0 udpClientSend: 1 udpClientReceive: 1 udpSequenceCheck: on #tryShort: (on/off) default setting for whether to use short packets. tryShort: on #updatespersec: (integer) number of updates per sec to get from server updatespersec: 4 #netstats stuff for ping window #netstats: (on/off) collect network statistics for measuring lag #netstatfreq: (integer) how often to update the network statistics netstats: on netstatfreq: 4 # MOTD stuff: #showmotd: (on/off) display motd if in wait queue #waitmotd: (on/off) same thing waitMotd: off WaitMotd.mapped: on showmotd: off #motd.savefile: filename to dump MOTD to when you ^s in the window motd.savefile: ~/tmp/netrek_motd # Phaser Damage Report Options #Phaser hits can be logged in different places. #resource-- showPhaser: (integer) # 0 = don't show # 1 = show on kill window # 2 = show on phaser window # 3 = show on total review window only #review_phaser.mapped: on #review_phaser.parent: netrek #review_phaser.geometry: 81x2+0+555 showPhaser: 1 phaserWindow: off # Messaging Stuff: #logging: (on/off) displays messages to stdout if set. logging: off #logMessage: (on/off) saves messages to logfile if on logMessage: off #recordFile: (for game recording?) #recordFile: /dev/null #logfile: (filename) alternatively saves messages to a text file logFile: /dev/null #newDistress: (on/off) right justified distress call or not, default value # is to right justify (on) newDistress: off #reportkills: (on/off) display kill messages or ignore these reportkills: on #rejectMacro: (on/off) stops NEWMACROs from being sent rejectMacro: off #warp: (on/off) enable message warp (I think) #warp: # Tactical Information Stuff: #newPlist: (on/off) new playerlist, instead of total kills, deaths # offense and defense it shows login and stats (off+bomb+planet). newPlist: off #sortPlayers: (on/off) Can sort player list by team. sortPlayers: on #showstats: (on/off) show stats window showstats: off #keepInfo: (integer) length of time to keep info windows on the # screen before automatically removing them keepInfo: 4 #cloakChars: (string of one or two chars) what to use for cloakers on # galactic instead of '??'. cloakChars: () #newDashboard: (on/off) new dashboard, has sliding bars instead of # numbers at the bottom of the screen, definately worth # a look newDashboard: on #extraAlertBorder: Draws border in internal netrek windows, as well as # external ones (which get ignored in X11 with # window-managers) extraAlertBorder: on #galacticFrequent: update galactic map frequently galacticFrequent: on # Visual Icing #forcemono: (on/off) set client windows to be monochrome #forceMonochrome: off #ROMVLVS: (on/off) use ROMVLVS Rom Ca bitmaps ROMVLVS: on #enemyPhasers: (integer 0-10) enemy phasers thickness at starting point. #enemyPhasers: 5 #babes: (on/off) The Sexist Feature: shows Kathy Ireland when # you ghostbust babes: on #ForMorons: (on/off) info-borg moron mode ForMorons: off # Server Stuff #Default Server/Port setting #server: bronco.ece.cmu.edu # default server that is called when no -h argument is # specified. The compiled in default server is bronco.ece.cmu.edu server: bigbang.astro.indiana.edu #port: 2596 # default port that gets called. The compiled default is 2592 port: 2592 #Server Alias Examples: #server.rio: riovista.berkeley.edu # Allows you to specify a server abbreviation. Thus instead of # using "-h riovista.berkeley.edu" you now use only "-h rio" #port.rio: 4566 # default port that gets called for the server abbreviation. #useRSA.riovista.berkeley.edu: (on/off) # auto use RSA at this server server.bigbang: bigbang.astro.indiana.edu port.bigbang: 2592 useRSA.bigbang.astro.indiana.edu: on ------------------------------ From: leonard@cs.umd.edu (Leonard Dickens) Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek Subject: Re: Minimalist (?) Keymap Bav writes: >"Robert W. Hill" writes: >>Hard to beat jon's minimal keymap, but keep in mind that mine >>remaps 3 keys to maxwarp! Other than that, I remap det own and tractor. > >Hear that, Leonard? You listening? And you thought all the great players >had huge keymaps... Jeez, my idols are crumbling all about me. Only this week I meet Mr Wiz, and HE TOO has no keymap to speak of! How can you guys LOOK at the mirror each morning knowing that you are THROWING AWAY a huge advantage? >bav's keymap: tT ay qt wX Ww vi > ******** post-Wreck additions Well, it's nice to know I had SOME impact on you, even if it is thus far minimal. GET A DAMN KEYMAP!! YOU WILL PLAY BETTER! Since everyone is posting theirs, I will post mine too. However, I will also add a few criteria for what makes a good keymap. First, I have to plug home position for the key hand. This allows you to use (and learn) touch typing skills on at least that one hand, which is useful both in and out of netrek. (I find that I can touch type most left-hand stuff after 2 years of trek. When I started, I was a three-finger typist on both hands.) I realize that shifting home position can be useful in the sense that it opens up more keys for your pinky to use, but in fact you can get pretty much everything you need in the 15 keys that are normal for home position. Second, realize how your hand works. Specifically, your index finger is by far your most dextrous finger, and thus the most important stuff should go under it -- up to a point. The tradeoff here is that you need to multiplex some functions in combat. Having tractor and pressor under the index is fine, so long as you do not ALSO have torp, phaser and shields there. Another feature of your hand is digit independence. Your thumb works completely independently of your other fingers, whereas their motions influence each other to degrees. (Try typing 'x' and 'e' at the same time for a demo of this.) This means that the spacebar is special -- it should be allocated to a VERY important function that is VERY time critical, and which needs to be done is parallel with many other actions. In my opinion, det torps is by far the best function to have there. (Note that I DO play base, and did even more when I made my keymap.) Anyway, here it is... # This is my keymap # The mapping is as follows: # lowercase: # qwert tractor speed3 maxspeed info distress # asdfgh pressor lock det-own shields-up shields-down # zxcvb beamup beamdown cloak plasma bomb # [space] det-enemy # Capital: # QWER quit war docking refit # keymap: qyw3e%ritEaTsldDf]g[hRzzxxccvfbb dEeRrWwOO00112233445566778899 -Leonard ------------------------------ From: nelson@math.arizona.edu (Jeff Nelson) Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek Subject: (none) Changes to MACRO: 9/10/93 - jn By pressing a single character you can now invoke a macro. Put a line in your defaults file like the following. singleMacro: EFTc This will make whatever macros normally assigned to keys E, F, T, and c, be invoked immediately, without needing a 'X' before them to enter macro mode. 9/2/93 - jmn, jn (no relation 8^) Receiver configurable distress calls have been added to the client and use a MACRO-like syntax. In order to change the distress type a line such as the following should be in your defaults file. dist.T.taking: (%i) Carrying %a to %l%?%n>-1%{ @ %n%} This has the format dist.[key].[name of distress]: [macro] Arguments for the macro and SMARTMACRO syntax are exactly the same as before. Any argument can be used, but usually only those in the groups "Standard" and "FULLY CAPITALIZED" apply. Below is a table giving the name of each distress, the key it is assigned to, and the default macro (at the time of this writing). Key Name Default Distress Macro T taking %T%c: (%i) Carrying %a to %l%?%n>-1%{ @ %n%} o ogg %T%c: Help Ogg %p at xx b bomb %T%c: %?%n>4%{bomb %l @ %n%!bomb%} c space_control %T%c: Help Control at %l 1 help1 %T%c: Help me! %d%% dam, %s%% shd, %f%% fuel %a lawyers. 2 help2 %T%c: Help me! %d%% dam, %s%% shd, %f%% fuel %a lawyers. 3 help3 %T%c: Help me! %d%% dam, %s%% shd, %f%% fuel %a lawyers. 4 help4 %T%c: Help me! %d%% dam, %s%% shd, %f%% fuel %a lawyers. e escorting %T%c: Escorting %p O ogging %T%c: Ogging %p B bombing %T%c: Bombing %l @ %n C controlling %T%c: Controlling at %l 5 doing1 %T%c: @%b %d%% dam, %s%% shd, %f%% fuel %a lawyers. 6 doing2 %T%c: @%b %d%% dam, %s%% shd, %f%% fuel %a lawyers. 7 doing3 %T%c: @%b %d%% dam, %s%% shd, %f%% fuel %a lawyers. 8 doing4 %T%c: @%b %d%% dam, %s%% shd, %f%% fuel %a lawyers. f free_beer %T%c: %p is free beer n no_gas %T%c: %p no gas h crippled %T%c: %p crippled 9 pickup %T%c: %p++ @ %l 0 pop %T%c: %l%?%n>-1%{ @ %n%}! F carrying %T%c@%b: %d%% dam, %s%% shd, %f%% fuel %a lawyers. @ other2 %T%c: @%b %d%% dam, %s%% shd, %f%% fuel %a lawyers. # other3 %T%c: @%b %d%% dam, %s%% shd, %f%% fuel %a lawyers. E help %T%c@%b: %?%S=SB%{SB%!%} Help! %d%% dam, %s%% shd, %f%% fuel %E%{ETEMPED!!! %}%W%{WTEMPED!!! %}%?%a>0%{%a armies!!%!%} Here is some documentation written by jmn about how receiver configurable distress calls work: Well... here's how it works.... Each RC_DISTRESS compatible client can make the distress call appear as whatever you like through their .xtrekrc... If you DONT have a new enough client the server will do a default parsing of the distress call and you will see it like that. Also if the server is old then the distress call sent out by each client will appear the way _the sender_ likes to have them displayed. Let me summarize with an example: F0 likes 'F' to say 'Carrying 4 maggots.' F1 likes 'F' to say 'Carrying 4 armies.' F2 likes 'F' to say 'Carrying 4 lawyers. 20% fuel' The server default is 'Carrying 4.' Note: Advanced RC_DISTRESS users should note that 'F' can be remapped easily in at least 2 different ways. For example throught .xtrekrc dist.(.carrying: %T%c: Carrying %a maggots. singleMacro: ( (this will make 'X(' or '(' be the same as 'F' used to be) There will be more documentation on this coming later but basically the syntax is the same as SMARTMACRO and NEWMACRO. On a NEW server: Case 1: All of them are using a new client. F1 will ALWAYS see 'Carrying x armies.' No matter who sent it. Case 2: Only F1 is using an old client. F1 will see the _server_ set defaults for the carrying call from everybody. Note that the calls from F0 and F2 will appear in the same format to him on this server (but may appear in a different format on different servers). F2 and F0 will see F1's client-defined distress calls. On an old server: F1 will see whatever the sender likes to see (in this case the sender sends the pre-formatted text instead of the RC_DISTRESS short-hand). So a 'F' from F2 will appear to everybody as: 'Carrying 4 lawyers. 20% fuel' a 'F' from F0 will appear to everybody as: 'Carrying 4 maggots.' 8/16/93 - jn New feature for default file... rejectMacro: on (on/off) default to off, if on, BRM automatically stops NEWMACROs from being sent when the server has turned NEWMACROs off. That is any macro in your defaults file defined by a mac.*.*: (TEXT) line. Multiline macros are no-longer allowed at all. Primarily this is based on network traffic arguments. NEWMACRO and SMARTMACRO documentation - Jeff Nelson 6/4/1993 *WARNING* *WARNING* *WARNING* *WARNING* *WARNING* These features default OFF in the BRM client! A server will turn them on *for you* if they are allowed at that server. The BRM client will inform you by sending you a message line like: BRM: Features enabled: NEWMACRO, SMARTMACRO If you are not at a server that allows NEWMACRO, then all targetted macros will be treated as normal NBT macros (no argument substitution, %a will broadcast as %a). If you are not on a server that allows SMARTMACRO, then any conditional text or tests will *not* be evaluated, instead they will be sent as the macro appears in your defaults file! If you don't like this, complain to the server god!! Make a difference!! Compilers: In order to use the below features, NBT and NEWMACRO must be defined. In addition, SMARTMACRO must be defined to use the most advanced features. Here is the idea: A player should be able to include in his/her macros whatever reasonable information is available. And configuring its display in whatever way is desired. In order to do this, the following syntax is used (while remaining completely compatible with old NBT macros). A key is assigned in the defaults file (ie .xtrekrc, etc) by a line like: mac.F.T Help! Carrying %a!! This defines a macro which will send a distress containing the number of armies a player is carrying to his team. Note, this is NOT printf syntax! Any attempt to use formatting will fail miserably. Maybe in the future someone will want to develop a means of formatting the variables used in macros, but the only means I can think of are both bulky and ugly. Here is another example: mac.f Help! Carrying %a!! Unlike the first, this macro will not send directly to the team, instead it requires that you give a third keystroke specifying the recipient. For example, it could be invoked by: XfT <- to your team Xf1 <- to player 1 XfG <- if you are desperate, send to God XfA <- if you are stupid, send to ALL Old macros will still work in addition to these, thus be sure there are no conflicts. These generally cause suprising results. For example, if this is in your macro file: mac.E.T Help! I'm carrying!! macro.E.A You all suck! mac.E Help! I'm a twink!! mac.E.T Help! I'm carrying again!! macro.E.A You all suck even worse NOW! The suprising results would be that pressing XE would broadcast the first two messages, and then wait for the destination of the third. It would be impossible to ever use the last two. Unfortunately, multiline macros also do not work if they require a destination. There is no good reason for this, but since multiline macros annoy the hell out of me, I ain't fixing it. You can still do something like: mac.D.A: D mac.D.A: O mac.D.A: O mac.D.A: S mac.D.A: H This would properly broadcase 5 messages containing 1 character to all. If you tried to specify the destination for these by using "mac.D:", only 'D' would be sent. Also '?' can still not be used as a macro key. The following definitions will work in a macro: Standard: %a armies carried by sender %d sender damage percentage %s sender shield percentage %f sender fuel percentage %w sender wtemp percentage %e sender etemp percentage %t team id character of target planet %T team id character of sender team %c sender id character %n armies on target planet %E 1 if etemped, 0 if not %W 1 if wtemped, 0 if not %S sender two character ship type %p id character of target player %g id char of target friendly player %h id char of target enemy player %P id character of player nearest sender %G id char of friendly player nearest sender %H id char of enemy player nearest sender %l three character name of target planet %i sender full player name (16 character max) %u full name of target player (16 character max) %z 3 letter team id of target planet %b sender nearest planet FULLY CAPITALIZED: %L three character name of target planet %I sender full player name (16 character max) %U full name of target player (16 character max) %Z 3 letter team id of target planet %B sender nearest planet Ping stats: (may differ slightly from server '!' ping stats) %v average ping stat round trip time %V ping stat round trip standard deviation %y percent total packet loss as calculated by server formula Miscellanous: %m the last message you sent %M the last message you sent in all caps As a further extension to NEWMACRO, a macro may now be sent to any of the following destinations: %i %I %c send message to self %u %U %p send message to player nearest mouse %t %z %Z send message to team of player nearest mouse %g send message to nearest friendly player to my ship %h send message to nearest enemy player to my ship with a syntax like #useful for INL... mac.C.%i: CAPTAIN mac.N.%i: NEWGALAXY mac.S.%i: START mac.T.%i: %Z mac.W.%t: SHUT UP, TWINKS!! mac.I.%u: %u: det when you escort! mac.O.%u: (%i) ogging What this does is allows you to send a macro to a player or team specified by your mouse location instead of requiring a 3rd character to be input. Also, it allows you to send message to yourself without having to actual sit there and figure out who you are (they tried and failed back in the '60s). >>>>The above is available when NEWMACRO is defined; from here on, >>>>SMARTMACRO must be defined *in addition*. Further, tests may be done within the macro system, the syntax for these test is as follows. %? introduces a test = equivalence > greater < less Expressions are evaluated on a character by character basis until the test is resolved. The text of the test is then replaced in the macro by 1 or 0. Test are then fed to a syntax I call conditional text. The best way to demonstrate how this works is example. 1%{included if true%!included if false%} This would print: included if true 0%{included if true%!included if false%} included if false Combining the whole package, a very robust macroing system is quickly generated. One can easily design or mimic Distress calls, including the variable NBT distress of the BRM client and all the hardcoded message macroing built into my own client but never released. Here are a few more samples to work from: mac.F.T: Help! Carrying %a!! mac.f: Help! Carrying %a!! mac.c.T: %p++ near %l mac.b.T: %?%n>4%{bomb %l at %n%!bomb%} mac.d.T: %E%{%!%W%{%!I'm fine. How are you? %}%}%E%{ETEMPED!!! %}%W%{WTEMPED!!! %}Carrying %?%a>0%{%a armies!%!NO armies.%} mac.a.T: %E%{ETEMPED!!! %}%W%{WTEMPED!!! %}Carrying %?%a>0%{%a armies!%!NO armies.%} mac.R.A: I'm a %?%S=SB%{star base!%!twink!%} mac.K.A: KissMy%S mac.t: thanks mac.y: yes mac.n: no mac.B: bye, getting hungry/sleep/horny mac.e.T: need escort going to %l%?%a>0%{, carrying %a armies!%} mac.v.%t: %T%c PING stats: Average: %v ms, Stdv: %V ms, Loss: %y%% #My Favorite: mac.m: %m ------------------------------ From: dgosseli@cs.uml.edu (Dave Gosselin) Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek Subject: Re: Advice on Keymap In article <29skcp$nb1@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU> you write: >>A while back someone from CMU posted all the bronco admiral's keymaps >>but it was in some gibberish that I did not understand. Could we do something >>like this again but in a more explicit format. And, to any one who has >>made succesful keymap modifications, your advice is appreciated as well. > >>When getting used to the new key map should you play with it exclusively, or >>only when you are not TOO worried about being very serious about the game? > > Play with it all the time. As Well I'm not an Admiral (but I play one on TV 8-). I do have some advice (I also sent e-mail, but this comes up so frequently I figured I post it too). My advice is to decide what you want for a keymap and slowly map your keys to it. By this, I mean sit down with a pen and paper and say "What mapping do I think would be ideal, write it out". Then look at your current (the one you are used to) keymap and pick one or two keys to map to the locations you decided they should be in. Then play with this keymap exculsively. Once you feel comfortable with the changes pick another couple of keys and repeat. After a relatively short amount of time you should be able to get to the keymap you want without majorly screwing your play. As far as the design of your keymap I'll tell you the things which drove my keymap design. The first thing I wanted was to have 98% of all the keys I use to be accessible from my left hand. Since I can touch type this meant I needed everything to the left half of the keyboard. The second thing I wanted was to have each finger responsible for a different type of action. In my case pinky does speed control, ring does shields and beaming (both mutually exclusive), index does torps (det my own) and cloak, and index does tractor pressor and lock. In this way I can do 7 or so things in quick sucession. Another thing to think about (which has just recently been mentioned) is trying to make the home row of keys into a good defensive set (I haven't modified my keymap to do this, yet). Say for example you had det others, shields up, pressor, torps, all on the home row. If you are being ogged you can just repeatedly press all these keys quickly. Hope this helps. I've included the keymap I use below with comments on what everything is remapped to. Some of these features (RCD & control maps) are only available from BRM. ############################################################################### # my keymap # # q = warp 1, w = beam up, e = det own, r = pressor, t = tractor # a = maxwarp, s = shield tog, d = torps, f = tractor, g = plasma # z = 1/2 speed x = beam down, c = cloak v = lock # SPACE == det enemy torps # # Q = repair W = War E = distress R = repair T = Escort Call # A = info D = Macro F = army call G = Pickup Call # X = Macro V = Pop Call B = Pop Call # # n = refit (new ship) # | = quit # / = docking # # # everything else is the default (I think) # # Supposedly you can now map control keys (hopefully they aren't sent # to the server, which has caused major problems in the past) # I haven't had a chance to decide how I want to use them yet but # maybe I will soon. keymap: wweerrTTyyddDDffzzxxccbbXXOOq2wzeDr^tTa%ssdtfTgf dAiDXWw/enrRRz#xxvl|QQROO # There is now a control key map feautre: # # New format for ckeymap is: # c = any printable ascii character. # ^ = introduce control mapping (the key '^' not control + key.) # # Each entry is a pair, like: e# cc # regular format # c^c # regular->control # ^cc # control->regular # ^c^c # control->control # # Example ckeymap: # ckeymap: ^a%r^b^m^ca%d5 tfDFf^^E # # Special case: # The '^' must be mapped with a double ^ ("^^") in either the bound or # binding key position. # # Notes: # If you experience difficulties (you shouldn't) you might wish to use a # normal keymap and a new ckeymap in combination. Both are read in, the # keymap first then the ckeymap. This means that if a key which is defined # in both the keymap and ckeymap, the ckeymap's definition will be the one # used. ckeymap: T^tG^9V^0B^0 # Ok the button map can now use shift and or control modifiers: # maps to 4, 5, 6 # maps to 7, 8, 9 # maps to a, b, and c # # I don't use all the modifiers but it makes the nice effect # of having macros on the mouse buttons.... shiftedMouse: on buttonmap: 1t2p3k4V5T6V7V8T9G # You can also use the mouse buttons as another modification on the # normal keys (kinda like a shift or a control). So you'd hold down # say button one on the mouse and a whould do something different. # # Again I haven't had the time to muck around with it much yet mouseAsShift: off b1keymap: atspdc b2keymap: a2s3d# b3keymap: a2s3d# dave Rear Administrator Hanz for Saturday Night Live! The ZombieZamboni for the Dead Wings aka: Tom Servo, BermudaTriangle, Drake Tungsten gosselin@ll.mit.edu ------------------------------ Newsgroups: alt.games.netrek,rec.games.netrek From: siegl@risc.uni-linz.ac.at (Kurt Siegl) Subject: Re: BRMH client on linux Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1993 08:38:06 GMT fisseha@egr.msu.edu (Yonas Fisseha) writes: > Anyone play netrek on linux? i just tried the BRMH1.7 client, and it > works super over my 14.4K slip line. but the only thing is, i have a > 15inch monitor, so i cant see the entire netrek window at once, i only > get part of it (like 75% at a time), and i have to scroll to see the > rest. this kinda sux. does anyone know how i can shrink the netrek > window a bit (is this evern possible)? It is possible if you split tactical and galactical map into 2 windows and overlay them. If you use galaxy rotation to play always in vertical direction you can get all importaint information on one screen. The problem is the message window. It's only 4 lines long for all messages, so you have to read them constantly, but good players will do that anyway. Here are my geometry settings for an 800x600 PC screen. Kurt (007) ================ 007 .xtrekrc-pc geometry settings ======================== netrek.geometry: 500x710+0+0 netrek.mapped: off war.parent: netrek war.geometry: +10+10 #help.parent: netrek #help.geometry: +0+547 #map.geometry: 540x523+479+0 map.geometry: 540x623+479+0 map.mapped: off map.parent: root planet.parent: map message.parent: netrek message.geometry: 496x20+0+500 message.mapped: on warn.parent: netrek warn.geometry: 496x23+0+523 warn.mapped: on review_your.parent: netrek review_your.geometry: 81x1+0+547 review_your.mapped: off review_team.parent: netrek review_team.geometry: 81x1+0+560 review_team.mapped: off review_all.parent: netrek review_all.geometry: 81x1+0+570 review_all.mapped: off review_kill.parent: netrek review_kill.geometry: 81x1+0+590 review_kill.mapped: off review.parent: netrek review.geometry: 81x4+0+547 review.mapped: on stats.parent: netrek stats.geometry: 160x94+332+480 player.parent: map #player.geometry: +2+520 #player.geometry: +500+482 player.geometry: 37x20+80+400 player.mapped: on playerlist: TnKNdlR tstat.parent: map tstat.geometry: 500x43+1+540 tstat.mapped: on option.parent: netrek option.geometry: +1+1 ------------------------------ End of XTREKRC HINTS ********************