Programmable Angband - PAngband

Current version: 0.1.1

Last update: 19th January 1999

Author: Keldon Jones

Based on: Angband 2.8.3

Downloads:

PAngband 0.1.1
System / Comments	Compiled by	Size	Date
Source code (Mirror)	Keldon Jones	964 kByte	19th Jan 1999
For compilation instructions see my Compile Page. You also may need the graphical tiles (488 kByte) for compiling versions with support for graphics.
Windows 95/98/NT (Mirror)	Robert Rühlmann	935 kByte	24th Feb 1999
Self-extracting archive for easy installation. Supports ASCII mode, 8x8 tiles, Adam Bolt's 16x16 tiles, info windows, and sound.
MS-DOS (386 or better) (Mirror)	Robert Rühlmann	1307 kByte	3rd March 1999
Supports ASCII mode, 8x8 tiles, Adam Bolt's 16x16 tiles, info windows, sound, and music.

• Python home page

• I had somehow been using a "beta" version of 2.8.3 as the base version. Now been changed to the normal 2.8.3.
• The "f_info.txt" file has a new "flags" line, in which each feature can be assigned flags like "PERMANENT", "BLOCK_MOVEMENT", "BLOCK_SIGHT", and a few others. This, coupled with lots of code changes, should allow for easy creation of interesting feature types. Water, for instance, may block movement but not sight, which was previously difficult to do.
• Some new object types (tvals) were created -- TV_PERMA_LITE and TV_MUSHROOM, each of which contain the obvious objects. This was done mainly to facilitate the following:
• A new "t_info.txt" file is read on startup, which contains info about each class of objects (food, lights, body armor, rings, wands, etc). This file contains info on which equipment slot the item goes in, the default color to display in the inventory, and most interesting, a "template" which states how the item is to be described in messages and in inventory listings.
• The "object_desc" function was completely re-written, making it much more generic and able to handle new tvals without source code changes.
• My patch for automatically re-reading *_info.txt files is included.
• Rods now use the "timeout" field instead of the "pval" field for holding how much time is left to charge, just like artifacts do.
• Information about number of attacks each player class is granted is now held in pc_info.txt instead of hard-coded in xtra2.c.
• The "EASY_KNOW" flag has been added to k_info.txt.

• The "usleep(useconds)" script-command in module io doesn't work in the Windows version, since the usleep() function used in the source is non-standard.
• The "Farmer Maggot" example is set as default script extension when starting the game. (Look at "examples/maggot/readme" for infos about this script extension)
• Several script files have been added to the lib/scrpt directory to allow PAngband to run on systems without a Python installation. (the files are: pickle.py, strings.py, types.py, exceptions.py, StringIO.py, and copy_reg.py) These files can be found in the "lib/standard/scpt" folder as well.
• An "error.py" script has been added and is imported by the init.py scripts. The new script redirects all output from Python "print" statements and error-messages to the build-in msg_print() function of Angband. All error messages are also logged in the file "error.txt" in the root-directory of the current drive.
• The graphical tiles will look *weird*, because they are not adjusted for the new and rearranged terrains and monsters.

I've only tried compiling it under UNIX. While it's probably possible to persuade it to compile under Windows or a Mac or something else, it'll almost certainly be a real bitch.

To compile you'll first need to get and install Python. Configure, compile, and install it system-wide. Then edit the Makefile to add an include directory where the Python headers are and add the directory of the "libpython.a" file to the linker flags.

If you didn't understand the above, you should probably wait for a future version, which will hopefully be friendlier about installation. Once you get it compiled and working, there are a few example scripts that you can try out in the examples directory. Each has a README. To use them, copy the files there to the appropriate place in the lib directory. Be sure to remove the lib/data/*.raw files if you change or replace a lib/edit/*.txt file.

If you run into problems that you think I can help with, send me a note. I'll try to be better about replying to mail than I have been recently... (sorry about all that). Since there is no real documentation available yet you're pretty much on your own.

Hope you guys have fun with it and don't have too many problems.

© 1997/98 by Robert Rühlmann, rr9@thangorodrim.net