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This package contains sources of my 770 points version of Adventure
together with all relevant A-code tool sources, sufficient for building
games executables from source. Please see A-code documentation, provided in
both the PDF and the ePub formats.
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Package contents:
adv770-2.31 Container directory
README this file
LICENCE licence file applying to this whole package
adv770-2.31 Adv770 sources
*.acd A-code sources
opt Directory for optional A-code modules
debug.acd Optional debug ("wizard mode") code
C A-code sources already translated into C
*.c C sources
*.h Header files
extras Additional bits
adv770.png Suggested game icon
adv770_console.png Suggested console mode game icon
... Various bits for building a QT5 executable
acode-12.89 A-code system sources and utilities
acdc-12.47 Sources of the A-code-to-C translator
build Basic shell script for building the acdc translator
*.c acdc C sources
*.h acdc header files
kernel-12.89 Kernel sources
*.c Kernel C sources
*.h Kernel header file(s)
extras Kenrel extra bits for special builds
... Bits for QT, HTML/JS and library test builds
bin Linux (and Unix and MacOS?) game building utilities
advbld Bash script for building adv770 in various modes
lib.sh Library of bash functions used by advbld
sortxrefs Perl script for post-processing A-code cross-reference
doc A-code documentation
acode-12.89.pdf PDF version of A-code documentation
acode-12.89.epub ePub version of A-code documentation
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Game executable command line options
A-code 12
This document describes command line options available when running any
A-code game built using A-code 12 engine. The behaviour of the game is
generally regulated by the self-documented file acode.conf, which can be
found in the acode directory, automatically created in player's home
directory. Where command line options refer to particular aspects covered
by the configuration file, they override the configuration file settings.
Conventions:
* Angle brackets <string> denote a symbolic string to be replaced by
something appropriate. E.g. <filename> is to be replaced by a file
name (with no surrounding angle brackets).
* Square brackets [ ] denote something optional. So e.g.
-l[<log_file>] means that the name of the log file may be omitted.
* Braces { } denote a list of permissible values, separated by vertical
bars |. E.g. -b[{0|1|2}] means the -b may be optionally (square
brackets!) followed by one of the three digits zero,one or two.
* Where a value can be specified with a command line option, the syntax
shown is that of the value abutting directly to the option specification
letter. However, an equality sign = can be placed between the two, so
that -b0 is equivalent to -b=0.
* Some options can have either word or numerical values; the two styles are
shown on two separate lines and are exactly equivalent.
* Options *cannot* be concatenated. E.g. you cannot abbreviate -C -n as
-Cn.
The following command line options are valid for both the browser and the
console display modes:
-n
Force a new game. By default, if a previous game session got somehow
forcibly interrupted (e.g. by the game process being killed for whatever
reason), the interrupted session is automatically resumed when the game
is restarted. The -n option overrides this behaviour and forces the
interrupted session to be forgotten.
-b[{no|yes|all}]
-b[{0|1|2}]
Set or invert the blank line setting. If set to zero blank lines are
inserted before and after each prompt. If the value is 1, blank lines
around '?' prompts are suppressed, resulting in a more compact display.
If the value is 2, then ALL blank lines are suppressed, for
super-compact, but less readable output. If no value is specified, the
new setting is 0 or 1, inverting the A-code default for this game. In
old-style A-code (Adv550), which does not distinguish between replies to
queries and general commands, this only affects presence/absence of a
blank line after the prompt line, and never before it.
[-r]<dumpfile>
Restore game from dump. Ignored if the game does not support game dump
files being specified on the command line. The -r optional in that any
command line argument which does not begin with a dash will be
interpreted as the name of the dumpfile to restore on invocation.
-l[<logfile>]
Log the game. Specifies the file into which a session log is to be
written. The log is human-readable, but has some additional features
allowing it to be used subsequently for replaying the session. If the
nominated logfile already exists, it gets appended to. If no logfile is
specified the name of the game is used, suffixed with .log.
-u{off|on|none}
-u{0|1|none}
Set the initial state of undo-history collection. Ignored if the game
does not support undo. If the value is zero, the default undo status is
OFF. If the value is one, the default undo status is ON. The "none" state
implies OFF and disallows undo functionality being subsequently switched
on from within the game. The default state is ON for games which define
the verb UNDO, and "none" otherwise.
-B[<browser>]
Force browser-based display, optionally nominating a particular browser.
Browsers can be specified by their pathname, or by their name.
-C
Force console display, i.e. do not use the browser interface.
-v
Show the game, kernel and acdc version numbers and exit.
-h
Print command line usage summary.
The following options are only meaningful in the console display mode, and
therefore force the console mode even if the -B option is used.
-o<baudrate>
Set the output speed as specified by the argument. This option forces
"dumb" mode console display (i.e. with no command editing) even if the
browser display is explicitly requested via the -B option. Baud rate is
specified in bits per second, and taking into the account control and
parity bits, the output speed in characters per second is simply the baud
rate divided by 10. The game coerces the specified baud rate to the
nearest lower standard value (one of 110, 300, 600, 1200, 2400, 4800 and
9600), except that anything below 110 (the speed of a teletype) is also
treated as 110. The default value is 300 -- the speed of a DECwriter.
Note, however, that under DOS and Windows any baud rate above 600 results
in no slowdown at all.
-j[{off|on}]
-j[{0|1}]
Set text mode to wrap (0) or justify (1). If no value is specified,
invert the default A-code setting for this game. In wrap mode, text is
simply broken into lines according to the screen width (see the -s option
below). With justification turned on, each line is right-justified. All
of this presupposes a fixed font being in use. For variable font devices,
which tend to do their own wrapping, the default screen width should be
set to zero, meaning "infinite", and the margin should be specified as
zero too. If no value is supplied, the effect is to invert the game's
default setting. This option is ignored by games written in the "old
style" A-code (i.e. by adv550).
-s<W>.<H>[.<M>]
Set screen size (width in fixed font characters, height in lines, and
margin in fixed font blanks). The default screen dimension is 80x24-1,
the margin being set to 1 character. The -s option allows a different
screen size (and optionally margin) to be specified. Screen width of zero
means "infinite" width. Note that the line length cannot be set to less
than 16 characters and the minimal number of lines per screen is 5.
-p[{off|on}]
-p[{0|1}]
Pause on exit. Requests that after printing the final exit message the
game should prompt the player for a <CR>, before exiting. This feature is
intended for players who wish to play console version of the game, in a
window which closes as soon as the game exits.
The functionality of the -s, -u and -j options is also provided via kernel
hooks (see procedure special() in the kernel source file adv00.c), so that
the game may -- at author's discretion -- offer the player commands for
toggling the justification switch, switching on and off the change history,
and altering screen size and margin.
Any unknown or suppressed keywords are quietly ignored.
Mike Arnautov
mla@mipmip.org
19 May 2022
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