Angband Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting

[picture by Angus McBride] Angband is a very complex game, with hundreds of versions on dozens of systems. While I have installed, compiled and run it on many systems from MS-DOS, Windows 95 and Linux over Amigas to DECstations, I can't help with all problems, but I will try to write down solutions to most of the problems I have encountered. Many questions have been answered many times on the Angband newsgroup - rec.games.roguelike.angband and are already in the FAQ (a collection of Frequently Answered Questions).
If you have any problems with Angband (or solutions to problems) mail them to me.

How can I open the Zip/Tar/GZ-archives I have downloaded ?
You need an utility like pkunzip.exe to open a zip-file and untgz.exe for opening tar.gz-, or tgz-files with MS-DOS. If you use Windows95, Winzip is the best program for all kinds of archives. Also take a look at the next point:
Problem : Angband stops with "Fatal Error".
Take a look at your angband-directory, it should contain a lib subdirectory. If the lib-directory is missing, retry extracting the archive with "pkunzip -d angband.zip". This should create the proper subdirectories. If the error still remains you should check the lib subdirectory. Some zip-programs don't create empty subdirectories. Your lib folder should contain at least the following subdirectories : apex, bone, data, edit, file, help and save. If any of them is missing you should create them.
Problem : Angband stops with "Load error: no DPMI"
You have a MS-DOS version of Angband that needs a 32-bit DOS-Extender like CWSDPMI. Simply copy the CWSDPMI.EXE into your Angband directory and run Angband again. CWSDPMI.EXE will be started automatically.
How do I do a char dump ?
Press 'C' to go to the character screen and then press 'f'. Angband will prompt you for a filename. The file containing the dump should appear in the 'lib/user' subdirectory.
Can I play DOS-Angband from a 3.5' floppy ?
Yes, you can ! All you have to do is to delete the spoiler files from the lib/info-directory. This frees up enough disk-space for running Angband and saving the character. If you still need more space (for some of the bigger variants) you can delete the files in the lib/edit-directory (around 280 kB). The *_info.txt files are no longer needed after the *.raw files in the lib/data-directory are generated at the first start of Angband. If you don't need the readme, and help files you can free up another 200 kB. You can also delete 'lib/xtra/graf/backgrnd.bmp', if you don't want the window backgrounds and 'lib/xtra/graf/8x8.bmp', if you don't need graphical tiles.
How can I activate the graphics ?
To activate the graphics run Angband with the "-g" option (Angband.exe -g).
I want the old pseudo-Ascii terminal from the old DOS versions back !
If you really want the old terminal code, just start Angband with the '-mibm' option (Angband.exe -mibm).
How can I activate the extra terminal windows ?
The windows of a version with support for the extra terminal windows can be activated from the Angband options screen ( press the '=' key to get there). Just toggle the display you want for Term-1, Term-2, etc. in the Window flags menu.
How can I deactivate the background images in the DOS version ?
The "stone background" can be disabled by deleting the backgrnd.bmp file from the 'lib/xtra/graf' folder. It's recommended to disable the background images on systems with less than 8 MByte memory to speed up the game.