NetHack is Copyright (C) Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam 
and M. Stephenson. NetHack may be freely redistributed.  
See license for details.

                  Installing NetHack 3.4.1 for DOS
                 ==================================
          (last revision: $Date: 2003/02/22 01:18:13 $)


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Hello ..., Welcome to NetHack!
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The Version 3.4.1 official binary distribution of
NetHack 3.4.1 will run on a 386 or higher PC compatible 
running DOS (or in a Windows DOS box).

Save and bones files created with versions of NetHack
prior to 3.4.0 will not work with 3.4.1.


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How to set up the game:
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In order to install this particular version of NetHack, you will need a PC
compatible that has a 386 or higher processor running DOS or Windows.

For this protected-mode binary (nh341dos.zip) you will need at least
3 MB of extended memory available for use by DPMI programs, and
just over 2 MB of disk space.

NetHack consumes a lot of RAM and the more it has available
the faster it runs; it is therefore recommended that you do NOT use
it in conjunction with large memory-resident programmes, or RAM
disks that consume significant amounts of base memory.

The most straightforward method of setting up the game is to put all of
the NetHack files into a single directory - C:\GAMES\NETHACK would be
a typical choice.  Invoke the NETHACK.EXE executable in this directory 
to run NETHACK.

At this point, on a thoroughly clonal machine, you should have a
playable game, but you quite likely want to poke around in DEFAULTS.NH
with a text editor to set up pragmatic things (like where to
store saved games), aesthetic things (like whether to use traditional
ASCII characters or graphical tiles), and Fun Stuff (like the name of 
your character and your pet).  If your machine is not a solid clone, 
this step can save your metaphorical bacon by eliminating some otherwise 
reasonable assumptions about how things work inside....
    With luck the comments in DEFAULTS.NH should be adequate to
figuring out how things work.


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Contacts:
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If you discover a bug and wish to report it, or if you have comments
or suggestions we recommend using our "Contact Us" web page at:
        http://www.nethack.org/common/contact.html

If you don't have access to the web, or you want to send us a patch
to the NetHack source code feel free to drop us a line c/o:
        DevTeam (at) nethack.org

Happy NetHacking!

Please mention which of the 'official' nh3.4.1 binaries you are using, 
and whether you use a disk cache, ramdisk, EMS or other such
dis-enhancement as well as the EXACT error message and diagnostic code.

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Frequently asked questions:
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You asked:

    I try to start up NetHack on my 8088 machine, but all I
    get back is the dos prompt.

Our installation expert replies:

It's like this, NetHack has become so large, and contains so
many feature laden adventures that it requires more processor
power than your machine can muster.  Rather than cripple the
game for the rest of us, we chose to support only those machines
upon which the game was playable.  Sure we could make it so it
would run on your machine, but it would take 3 minutes a move and
you would just gripe more.

You asked:

    Wow this is a really neat game.  Is there any way to explore it
    without dying so much?

Our staff schizophrenic replies:

Gentle Reader, I fear this is a most delicate question.  It is a
frequent theme in fantasy literature that it is far easier to be
granted a wish than it is to decide upon a good wish to make.  But I
am no djinn, and I am willing to advise you on this point as well.
And so I shall make the observation that, no matter what transpires,
you will always die the same amount, viz: once.  (Unless of course
some sort of magic intervenes.)  Perhaps what you want is a way to
avoid dying so soon?
    As it happens, this latter can be accomplished.  Death, as it
transpires, is characterisable as _finitely avoidable_ in NetHack, for
there is a Mystic Prompt known to those who have read the Man Page of
Doom, the words of which, it is sometimes whispered, are as follows:
        Die? [yn]
The benefit of being asked this question at the, shall we say,
appropriate, crucial moments is available -- for a price.
Classically, an acceptable consideration would be the player's soul;
but since according to the hallowed doctrines of most major religions,
@-signs don't have souls to sell, we will be contented with your
score....  For lo!  The game contains an X command, and by the
strangely inexplicable power of the elder gods this X standeth for the
word Discover (or EXplore, in the ancient tongue), and the typing of
this Mystic Device shall effect the deal as described above,
paragraphs 2 and 3.
    Furthermore, and alternately, IF YOU ORDER IMMEDIATELY at the
outset of a game, AS AN ADDED FREE BONUS YOU WILL RECEIVE A GENUINE
HAND-CRAFTED WAND OF THREE WISHES!  Just type NETHACK -X on the
command line and, since NetHack is freely distributable, SEND NO MONEY
NOW.  As a variation on this theme, the -D flag will put the game into
its debugging mode, IF you are a wizard... "Speak, wizard, and enter",
to paraphrase the Old Master.


You asked:

    Ok the game works.  Where do I begin to learn how to play?

A passing strange person replies:

Of course it works.  What do you think I am, a radio?
    Once you've got into the game, some good commands to try (and
they don't even count as moves!) are ? and /.  At risk of sounding
like a marketing blurb, the HELP key (which on your terminal will be
marked with a question mark - and be warned that you may have to
depress the shift key to activate this function!) gives you instant
access to our online help facility.  It's kind of a menu with lovely
options like "c" (where you get to see MY NAME in the history of
NetHack!), "i" (which gives you all the important legal blurb which
tells you about your rights and responsibilities as a NetHack
licensee), and the more boring items "a" and "b" which merely explain
all the commands and the display symbols and uninteresting stuff like
that.  What the hell.  It's there, you can use it.
    The / key is pretty good, too.  If there's something on the
screen that you don't know what it is, well, it's probably a letter or
a symbol or something.  That's wisdom, see?  But to get onto the
Eternal Verities, suppose you want to know what it MEANS?  Aha!  Hit
/, say "y", I want to specify it by cursor (cursors are blinking
underscores, and if you're British like me you can curse them with
your numeric bloody keypad, too -- Americans needn't understand this
joke), whatever it is, and then you can point out the object of your
confusion and have it explicated in frabjous detail.  Helps you avoid
getting your face et, sometimes, that.  Always nice, not having your
face et.
    Oh, right, I almost forgot.  There's the Guidebook, too, for
the quiche-eaters in our midst....  You may have got one with your
game. (GUIDEBOO.TXT)


You asked:

    Are ASCII characters my only choice for representing things
on the display?

A worker tiling our floor responds:

I've been in this business for twenty years.  All the people 
today want to change things!  There's a lot to be said for the 
traditional way of doing things.  On the other hand I can 
provide you with a set of NetHack tiles, that will give 
your display a completely different look.
If you want to try tiles on the NetHack display, and you have 
a VGA display adaptor, place an OPTION=video:autodetect line 
into the DEFAULTS.NH file.


You asked:

    Can I run this game on a two floppy PC?

Our entire staff choruses:

NO!
    Basically the game has gotten too huge.  Well, if you had
really LARGE floppies, and a lot of EMS so that it doesn't have to
swap code in from disk all the time (which would be REALLY slow), I
suppose you could, a bit, maybe.  There's some support for it, since
it used to be feasible, but really, today, I wouldn't want to try.
And the problem is exacerbated by the fact that because of the
overlays the game file is kept open all the time, so you aren't free
to swap disks once the game is loaded.
    Sorry 'bout that.
    It *might* still be possible to compile a stripped-down
version of the game that wouldn't need to be overlaid....  But we
haven't tried even that approach for a long time, and there are no
guarantees at all.  Of course, if you succeed in pulling it off, let
us know; but don't get your hopes up.


You asked:

    What has been done to speed up the game?

Our High Priest replies:

These days? Buy a new clone from Jim's PC shop and be done with it.
After all, NetHack _is_ the reason that you acquired a computer in
the first place, isn't it...ISN'T IT!?

You asked:

    What is the minimum amount of memory I can run PC NetHack in?

An arrogant experimentalist replies:

"Can" is such an interesting term.  I've noticed your distinct
propensity to word your questions in the vaguest manner possible.  Do
you always have this problem, or only when I put the words into your
mouth?

Our testing, no means complete mind you, is that you need at least
3 meg of memory to make it playable.  540K of free base ram as well.

You asked:

    What's this about a 386 specific protected-mode version of NetHack?

The winner of our Richard Stallman thinkalike contest responds:

Fight look and feel!  Break free from the commercial software
prison.  Run the protected-mode version of Nethack compiled with DJGPP,
the gnu licensed c compiler.  Nethack in protected mode,
no overlays, no funky memory managers.  Even works under Windows
and any other DPMI environment.

Available with source, free from your local archive site.  Get
yours today!

You asked:

    I was playing along with my 400 hitpoint level 8 Barbarian
    named Gorp and my dog Gumby, having a wonderful evening bashing
    heads, eating eye corpses, and generally running amok in the dungeon
    and all of a sudden the (1) the lights go out, (2) I hit the power
    cord with my sword, (3) lightning struck, or (4) the game actually
    crashed.  Now what do I do?

Our resident disaster recovery expert replies:

WHAT?  Damn, hmmm, lets see now.  Where is the plan, you
know what I mean, the PLAN!  Wait, now calm down, let me think.
Hmm.  Hmm.  Oh yea!  You have INSURANCE don't you.  I mean you
compiled the game with INSURANCE didn't you.  Well then you are
in safe hands, so to speak.  Included at no extra charge to you
is a smaller programme called recover.exe.  Its sole purpose in
life is to save your behind in cases like this.  Don't go
getting the idea that you can cheat by turning off your machine
just when you are about to die and using it to resurrect your
Wizard.  The recover program can tell you are cheating and will
delete your high score list and give you bad luck for twenty 
games.  
    To use it after a crash just go to your NETHACK directory and
check to see if you have a bunch of files ending in a number.
Like so: ELVIS.0 ELVIS.1 ELVIS.2 and so on.  

Just run NetHack again specifying exactly the same character name
as you did before.  The game should prompt you:
    "Recover?"
Answer yes.

Good enough?


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DISCLAIMERS:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Throughout this document, the word "NetHack" refers to a rather jolly
game involving a small @-sign getting its face et by dragons, and is
in no way to be construed as relating to the theory or practise of
gaining unauthorised use of or access to data or data processing
equipment (except maybe if a few of us play the game at work,
something which I want to go on record as saying is very, very naughty
indeed and not the sort of thing you want to get involved with at
all), and if any security-establishment types are reading this,
remember it's YOU folks who do the cloak-and-dagger stuff, we're
responsible professionals with real jobs and self respect and stuff
like that.

Secondly, all references to animal sacrifice, Donny Osmond, dynamic
linking, Microsoft Corporation, okapi, claviprondrophony and so forth
are made purely for the entertainment of the reader and if you think
we meant something by it, that's your problem.  Research has shown
that what people say and what they mean have so little to do with each
other that you can actually get PAID to figure out why people say,
"can you reach the salt?" when as a matter of fact they don't give a
pair of dingo's kidneys what the answer to the question is, so long as
someone provides them with some small white crystals in the near
future and look! you came up with *that* interpretation all by
yourself now didn't you.
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Special thanks to stephen p spackman who wrote the original version
of this text and who will live forever in our memories.  (Nope, he
isn't dead, just moved on to a higher calling).
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This document is Copyright (C) 1991 Stephen P Spackman and Kevin D
Smolkowski (1993).  It constitutes part of the documentation of the PC
version of the NetHack game, and may be distributed freely subject to the
same terms set forth in the NetHack license.  Thank you for having a very
nice day indeed.  Hack On!