PC HACK version 3.6 for MSDOS(tm) computers
--------------------------------------------

Oct 22, 1986


============================================================================
Bob,
In general, TERMCAP is a description of which character sequences
to send to a terminal to get a particular result. A TERMCAP file maps
logical operations (like turning bold on or off) into the character
sequences. HACK uses several of these logical operations, like "ti"
(terminal initialization) and "te" (terminal end). The character
sequences can be anything, in particular escape sequences such as
the ANSI.SYS driver uses. So, HACK works just like it did before by
sending escape sequences to ANSI.SYS (or NANSI, or FANSI), but now it
is possible to configure it with the TERMCAP file.

Don

============================================================================
Configuration Details
---------------------

** IMPORTANT **
PC HACK requires ANSI.SYS or NANSI.SYS to be installed. You need to
have a line like:
device=nansi.sys
in your config.sys file. ANSI.SYS should have been supplied with
your version of DOS. NANSI.SYS is an improved version and is
supplied with the PC HACK files.
***************

HARD DISK SYSTEMS:
Basically, people with HardDisks will want to create the directory:
\GAMES\HACK for the PC HACK support files (of course, you can
choose your own directory name, but for this short discussion,
assume this name). Copy all files except HACK.EXE, HACK.CNF and
TERMCAP into \GAMES\HACK. Copy HACK.EXE, HACK.CNF and TERMCAP into
a directory accessible by the PATH environment variable (you might
use \GAMES).

Edit the HACK.CNF file to remove the comment characters `#'
from the "hard disk configuration" and put comment characters
in front of each line of the "2-floppy configuration"
section. Change OPTIONS to put in your player name and other
options. If you are using a directory other than \GAMES\HACK,
change HACKDIR to your directory choice.

At the MSDOS prompt type:
C> hack
and you should be playing.



FLOPPY DISKS:
Format a system disk (format /s) and put these required files
- NANSI.SYS, HACK.EXE, HACK.CNF, TERMCAP, and RECORD - on it (this
disk is called the "GAME" disk and will be booted from drive A).
Create a CONFIG.SYS file on the GAME disk and put the following
line in it:
device=nansi.sys

The optional PC HACK files - HELP, HH, RUMORS, DATA - make the
game more interesting. HELP and HH are used when you do the
help command, '?'; RUMORS is used when you eat a fortune
cookie; DATA is used when you do the whatis command, '/'. Copy
as many of these onto the GAME disk as you have room for. Try
to have at least RUMORS and DATA on it.

Format a second disk without putting the system on it and use
it in drive B. This "LEVELS" disk will contain bones files
from prior games (if any), the temporary levels of the current
game, and the save file. Format a third disk called "SAVE"
which may have to be swapped in for the GAME disk on drive A if
your save game gets too large for storing on the LEVELS disk.
The SAVE disk must have a copy of COMMAND.COM on it, but it
doesn't have to have the DOS system on it.


============================================================================
PC HACK 3.6 Overview
- a bug with hell hounds has been fixed.

- PC HACK now uses a TERMCAP file which describes the escape
sequences to send to the console driver to change display modes.
With TERMCAP, you can redefine the *colors* HACK uses for display.

============================================================================
PC HACK 3.5 Overview

Mostly, this is a bugfix version. The bugs were:

- Rest_on_space was accidentally removed.

- The game did not prompt you to put the game disk back in
after completing a save, so the bones files could not be copied
back to the LEVELS directory.

- After saving then restoring a game the object descriptions would
be screwed up. You could have two orange potions which did different
things.

One new restriction has been added:

- There must be a copy of COMMAND.COM where COMSPEC says it is for
the entire game. This is because the DOS copy command is used for
moving bones files to and from the RAMdisk.


============================================================================
PC HACK
This is the complete PC implementation of UNIX version of HACK 1.03.
There are a few enhancements:

1) PC HACK can use graphics characters for the dungeon. This *is*
supported on DEC Rainbows.

2) Floppy, RAMdisk, and HardDisk support. A RAMdisk makes the game
much faster, especially for floppy-only systems.

3) A bunch of new options. Pack sorting, confirmation before
hitting tame monsters, turning the bell off, whether you pick up
everything you step on. Numeric keypad for moving on IBM BIOS
compatible computers.

4) Protection against disk full problems.

The documentation HACK.DOC is formatted for 66 line paper in
case you want to print it out. The simplest way to print the
documentation is:

copy hack.doc prn:


============================================================================
To: All beginner HACKERS
Re: An overview and some hints

The file HINTS.DOC is meant for people who have never played HACK
or ROGUE before and want a description of what they can do in HACK.
Since the major fun in HACK is discovery and surprise, there are
not many details in HINTS.DOC

============================================================================
RAMdisk

If you have a RAMdisk, PC HACK can use it for a quieter and faster
game. In HACK.CNF put a line like:

RAMDISK = d:

`d' is a drive letter, usually C or D. The colon `:' is required.

============================================================================
DEC Rainbow users

You must *NOT* use the `rawio' option. If you do, your computer
will hang. If some kind DEC Rainbow user could send me the
details of the MSDOS IOCTL call I could put `rawio' in for
DECs too.

You can use the "line-graphics character set" for displaying
the dungeon. Since DECs only use 7-bit characters (decimal
value 0 - 127), take the decimal value of the line-graphic
character you want and add 128 to it. Now it will have
decimal value from 128 - 255 and PC HACK will recognize that
you want a character from the line-graphic character set and
will output the appropriate character.

In order for PC HACK to treat the graphics characters properly,
you must use the `DECRainbow' option.

============================================================================

D. G. Kneller
UUCP: ...ucbvax!ucsfcgl!kneller
ARPANET: [email protected]
BITNET: [email protected]
USmail: 2 Panoramic Way #204
Berkeley, CA 94704