This document explains all of the options in the latest version of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. These options are set in the init.txt file located in the Crawl directory (the directory containing crawl.exe on Windows and DOS). On Unix systems, you need to set options in the ~/.crawlrc file (a file named .crawlrc in your home directory). The contents of this text are: 1- Starting Screen. name, remember_name, weapon, book, chaos_knight, death_knight, priest, race, class, random_pick 2- File System and Sound. crawl_dir, morgue_dir, save_dir, sound 3- Lua files. lua_file, base.lua, stash.lua, wield.lua, kills.lua, runrest.lua, gearset.lua, eat.lua, trapwalk.lua 4- Interface. 4-a Dropping and Picking up. autopickup, autopickup_exceptions, default_autopickup, safe_autopickup, autopickup_no_burden, safe_zero_exp, pickup_thrown, pickup_dropped, assign_item_slot, drop_mode, pickup_mode, drop_filter 4-b Targeting. target_zero_exp, target_oos, target_los_first, confirm_self_target, default_target, target_unshifted_dirs 4-c Passive Sightings (Detection and Rememberance). detected_monster_colour, detected_item_colour, remembered_monster_colour, colour_map, clean_map 4-d Branding (Item and Monster Highlighting). heap_brand, friend_brand, stab_brand, may_stab_brand 4-e Level Map Functions. level_map_cursor_step, level_map_title, item_colour 4-f Travel and Exploration. travel_delay, travel_avoid_terrain, travel_exclude_radius2, travel_stop_message, explore_greedy, explore_stop, runrest_ignore_message, runrest_ignore_poison, trapwalk_safe_hp, tc_reachable, tc_dangerous, tc_excluded, tc_exclude_circle 4-g Stashes. stash_tracking, stash_filter 4-h Command Enhancements. auto_list, lowercase_invocations, easy_open, easy_butcher, easy_unequip, easy_confirm, easy_quit_item_prompts, easy_exit_menu, default_autoprayer, sort_menus 4-i Message and Display Improvements. hp_warning, mp_warning, hp_colour, mp_colour, always_greet, terse_hand, delay_message_clear, menu_colour, message_colour, increasing_skill_progress, show_turns 4-j Missiles. fire_items_start, fire_order 4-k Message Channels. plain, prompt, god, pray, duration, danger, food, warning, recovery, multiturn, talk, intrinsic_gain, mutation, monster_spell, monster_enchant, monster_damage, rotten_meat 4-l Inscriptions. autoinscribe 4-m Macro related Options. flush.failure, flush.command, flush.message 5- Character Dump. 5-a Items and Kills. kill_map, dump_kill_places, dump_item_origins, dump_item_origin_price, dump_message_count, dump_order 5-b Notes. use_notes, note_items, ood_interesting, note_hp_percent, note_skill_levels, note_skill_max, note_monsters, note_messages, note_all_spells 6- Miscellaneous. 6-a All OS. macro_meta_entry, wiz_mode, colours, char_set, cset_ascii, cset_ibm, cset_dec, feature, classic_item_colours 6-b DOS and Windows. dos_use_background_intensity 6-c Unix background, use_fake_cursor -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are basically three types of Crawl options: true/false values (booleans), numbers, and lists. An option is most often specified with its default value (if there is one); this should also explain which of the above-mentioned types it is. Each option should have some remarks on how it's typically used - beware that this depends strongly on your playing style and sometimes also on hardware or operating system. Note that the init.txt coming with regular distributions has all boolean options commented out. The commented-out values are always the _non-defaults_, so you can toggle boolean options by just uncommenting them. Some options need a path as an argument; here you have to use a filesystem path suitable for your system. Other options accept regular expressions (regexes): here you can simply use ordinary strings, adapt the suggested regexes to your needs or search the internet for regex syntax. For long option names, you can define option aliases by doing: alias := long_option_name For instance, you can use: ae := autopickup_exceptions and thereafter use "ae" instead of "autopickup_exceptions": ae = >decay, >degeneration If you get stuck or some things just won't seem to work properly, please ask for help on the newsgroup rec.games.roguelike.misc. Please flag queries with '-crawl-', as other roguelikes are also discussed there. 1- Starting Screen. ==================== The following options are a convenience to help you quickly start your game of Crawl. name = Delilah If set, that's the name all your Crawl characters will get. remember_name = false Crawl remembers the options (class, race etc.) you used to create your last character. You may recycle them in the starting screen for a new character. If this option is set to true, Crawl will also remember the last name you used. If you use this option and want to enter a name _after_ choosing your race and class, you must enter . at the initial name prompt - hitting Enter at the name prompt will simply reuse your old name if remember_name is set. weapon = (random | short sword | hand axe | spear | mace | trident) Specifying the weapon option allows you to bypass the weapon selection screen. Note that tridents are restricted to only merfolk and gladiators, but you'll get the standard query in illegal cases. book = (flame | fire | ice | cold | summ | summoning | random) Several spellcasting classes can choose their starting spellbook. Note flame=fire and ice=cold and summ=summoning. chaos_knight = (Xom | Makhleb | random) death_knight = (necromancy | Yredelemnul | random) priest = (Zin | Yredelemnul | random) The above three make in advance the additional choices for Chaos Knights, Death Knights, and Priests. race = (Human |...| Merfolk | random) The usual abbrevations (Hu, El, HE, etc.) work. class = (Fighter |...| Wanderer | random) Here again the abbrevations (Fi, Wi, Pr, etc.) can be used. random_pick = false The random_pick option will randomly generate a character. The above options (weapons and class options) will override where appropriate. 2- File System. ================ crawl_dir= Directory for reading macro.txt and init.txt, and dumping characters. It should end with the path delimiter. morgue_dir = Directory where morgue dumps (morgue*.txt and morgue*.lst) files are written. save_dir = Directory where saves and bones are stored. This option may be ignored depending on the settings used to compile Crawl, but should be honoured for the official Crawl binaries. sound = : Plays the sound file if a message contains regex. The regex should not include commas or colons. For example sound = LOW HITPOINT WARNING:sound\sounds2\danger3.wav Getting appropriate sound files may be difficult. Check other roguelikes or old computer rpg's. Alternatively, ask for help at the newsgroup rec.games.roguelike.misc. 3- Lua files. ============== Lua files are scripts which can provide existing commands with a new meaning or even create new commands (to be used in macros). If you don't know a specific reason not to include some or all lua files, you'll do best to just include them all. lua_file = The currently available lua's are base.lua -- needed for other lua scripts stash.lua -- annotates the stash file for better searching (Ctrl-F) Searching for 'Long blades' will also turn up all weapons with the long blade skill. Similarly, you can use 'altar', 'portal' etc. Also, you can now look for spellbooks ('book'), artifacts ('artifact'), ego items ('ego'). wield.lua -- shows more intelligent options when using 'w?' kills.lua -- improves the Vanquished Creatures list in dump files; currently gives three lists (Vanquished, Friendly, Others) runrest.lua -- allows to remove certain stop condition when running New options: runrest_ignore_poison, runrest_ignore_message gearset.lua -- provides commands for switching of complete sets via macro New macroable functions: rememberkit, swapkit eat.lua -- prompts to eat chunks in inventory. trapwalk.lua -- allows travel to cross certain traps if you have enough hp. 4- Interface. ============== 4-a Picking up and Dropping. -------------------------------- autopickup = $?!+"/% The above is the default list. The valid symbols are ) Weapons ( Missiles [ Armour / Wands % Food ? Scrolls " or = Jewellery ! Potions + or : Books \ or | Staves 0 Orbs } Misc items X Corpses $ Gold Note that _whether_ items are picked up automatically or not, is controlled by the in-game toggle Ctrl-A. Also note that picking up takes a turn, but only one turn (regardless of the number of items). If you teleport or blink onto a square with interesting items, these will not be picked up. autopickup_exceptions = don't-pickup-regex, ... A set of regexes that force matching items to be picked up (if prefixed with <), or never picked up (if prefixed with >). Excludes (>) take precedence over includes (<), so if the same item is matched by both an exclude and an include, it will not be subject to autopickup. An example: autopickup_exceptions = and the match expression is significant, so this is a mistake: autopickup_exceptions = < ebony casket autopickup_exceptions replace the older ban_pickup. Using autopickup_exceptions = >decay, >degeneration is the same as using ban_pickup = decay, degeneration If the regexes are not prefixed with < or >, > is implied, so the option setting above can also be written as autopickup_exceptions = decay, degeneration You can use multiple autopickup_exceptions lines. Some examples: autopickup_exceptions = degeneration, decay, potions? of confusion, autopickup_exceptions = potions? of slowing, potions? of paralysis autopickup_exceptions = potions? of strong poison,potions? of poison autopickup_exceptions = inaccuracy autopickup_exceptions = scrolls? of paper, immolation, curse armour, autopickup_exceptions = curse weapon, forgetfulness, uselessness, autopickup_exceptions = noise, torment default_autopickup = true When set false, the game starts with autopickup turned off. You can still toggle autopickup in-game with Ctrl-A. safe_autopickup = true When set, autopickup will not operate if there are visible unfriendly monsters (or statues.) If safe_zero_exp is set (the default), zero-XP monsters are considered friendly. autopickup_no_burden = false When set, autopickup will not pick up items which would increase your burden status (from unencumbered to burdened, or from encumbered to overloaded.) safe_zero_exp = true If set, presence of only zero experience monsters (like plants) will cause autopickups, even if safe_autopickup=true is set. This option also settles whether autoprayer considers such monsters risky. pickup_thrown = true pickup_thrown=true causes autopickup to pick up thrown/fired missiles, which can make life much easier for hunter types. If you use this, be aware that autopickup uses a turn - use Ctrl-A to turn it off while you're fighting, or use safe_autopickup=true. pickup_dropped = false Pickup_dropped lets autopickup affect objects you've dropped. Set to false to block autopickup for dropped objects. This can be convenient. assign_item_slot = (forward | backward) When picking up items, the inventory slot into which the item goes is normally the first free slot from a-zA-Z (this is the default "forward" behaviour). Setting assign_item_slot to "backward" changes the slot assignment to the first letter after the last slot. For instance, if you have items on 'a' and 'c', then with assign_item_slot = forward, the next item will go into 'b', assign_item_slot = backward, the next item will go to 'd' instead. With "backward", items dropped/fired and picked up later are more likely to get their old slot back. drop_mode = (multi | single) Single is the classic behaviour; when you select an inventory letter, that item will be dropped immediately. Multidrop allows you to select multiple items to be dropped. (You can also switch to multidrop from the classic drop menu using the '@' key). Multidrop can be very convenient, but be aware that every item dropped takes one turn. (This is different from picking up.) When selecting multidrops, the top right corner shows the estimated number of turns. The order in which items get dropped is from top to bottom in the inventory listing, but equipped items will be dropped last, and may be dropped out of order. pickup_mode = (multi | single | auto:X) Single is the classical behaviour (and default): when picking up items, you are prompted for them one by one. Multi makes a menu appear, where you can choose which items to pick up. Note that no matter how many items you choose, picking up will always take one turn. If pickup_mode is auto:X, where X is some number (for example, auto:5), then pickup will give a menu if there are at least X items on your square, and will prompt one by one otherwise. drop_filter = When selecting items using the global (de)select keys (',' or '-') in a multidrop menu, you can choose to select only items that match a search regex using this option. For instance, to quickly select carrion and rotting chunks of meat, you could use: drop_filter = skeleton, rotting, corpse Other choices can come in handy as well, e.g. if you want to sacrifice regularly all weapons except axes, use: drop_filter = axe, broadaxe When a drop_filter is set, using the select/deselect keys will set/ clear selection of items that match the filter expression(s). 4-b Targeting. ------------------- target_zero_exp = false Set to false to disable targeting zero exp monsters (i.e. plants) in hostile targeting mode. This is usually convenient to do. target_oos = true When cycling through items with 'x' look-around, setting target_oos to true allows you to jump the cursor to dungeon features (<> for stairs, Tab for shops, ^ for traps) and stashes (with the '*' and '/' keys) that are outside line-of-sight but in the main view. This is most sensibly used in connection with stash_tracking=all (see 4-g). Also see also target_los_first below. target_los_first = true When cycling through items/features with the 'x' look-around command, setting target_los_first to true will force the cursor to squares in line-of-sight before going to squares outside LOS. confirm_self_target = true Setting this to true will make Crawl ask for confirmation whenever selecting the character as the target of a non-friendly-targeted spell (i.e., something other than haste, healing or invisibility.) default_target = false If set to true, targeting will start on either your previous target (if it is still visible) or the closest monster (if not) rather than on the character. If no monsters are in view, targeting will start on the character regardless. target_unshifted_dirs = false If set to true, targeting will use the old Stone Soup 0.1 / Crawl 4.0 targeting keymap where unshifted direction keys fire in that direction immediately. The default is to use the new targeting keymap where unshifted direction keys move the targeting cursor (and shifted directions fire in the given direction immediately). 4-c Passive Sightings (via detection and rememberance). ----------------------------------------------------------- detected_monster_colour = darkgrey Monsters found by detect creatures will be coloured this colour; e.g. detected_monster_colour = lightred detected_item_colour = darkgrey Items found by detect items will be given this colour, for example detected_item_colour = green colour_map = true Colours out of sight map features on the playing screen. clean_map = false Cleans up out of sight monsters and clouds on the map. This is like pressing Ctrl-C (clearing both main screen and level map) all the time. Setting this to true can be disconcerting for summoners. 4-d Branding (Item and monster highlighting). ------------------------------------------------- Branding refers to displaying particular monsters (e.g. summons) or items in a special way; special as in reversing fore- and background. There are several branding choices (these will not work everywhere; it depends on OS and terminal): standout -- often the same as reverse, might be underline or dim bold -- used by colour curses for brightening foreground colours blink -- used by colour curses for brightening background colours reverse -- this will probably work dim -- probably no effect underline -- this will probably work highlight:colour -- set background colour of branded monsters to "colour" The last can be abbreviated to hi:colour. See part Technical (6-) for dos_use_background_intensity under Windows and DOS. By default, there is no branding activated. heap_brand Brand heaps of items (more than one item or stack). For example heap_brand = reverse friend_brand Brand friends in some way. This is very helpful for summoners. E.g. friend_brand = hi:green shows friends with a green background. If the friend is itself green, it'll show up as black on green. stab_brand Some deities object to you stabbing monsters. Certain classes specialise in stabbing monsters. Still other characters are happy if they spot a monster before the monster spots them. In all these cases, it helps to identify monsters that are unaware of the character (and hence susceptible to being stabbed) without using the 'x' command. All the normal 'brand' options apply. For example stab_brand = hi:blue may_stab_brand Stabbing may be possible even if the monster is not asleep (if it's confused or distracted, for instance). This option brands monsters that you *might* be able to stab. Primarily useful for worshippers of The Shining One. Purists may consider this unnecessarily spoily. 4-e Level Map Functions. ---------------------------- level_map_cursor_step = 7 How many squares the cursor moves on the level map when using Shift-direction or * direction. level_map_title = true Whether to show the level name at the top of the level map screen. item_colour = true Colours items on level-map. 4-f Travel and Exploration. ------------------------------- travel_delay = 20 How long travel waits after each move (milliseconds). Depends on platform. Setting to -1 will jump to end of travel - you will not see the individual moves. travel_avoid_terrain = (shallow water | deep water) Prevent travel from routing through shallow water. By default, this option is commented out. For merfolk and/or characters with permanent levitation, travel_avoid_terrain = shallow water, deep water will prevent travel or explore from going through any water. travel_exclude_radius2 = 68 The square of the radius around travel-excluded squares where travel will refuse to go. Set to zero if you want to exclude single squares. The default of 68 ensures that travel won't enter line-of-sight of any dangerous thing at the travel-exclusion center. travel_stop_message = Travel will always stop upon hitpoint loss, confusion, stat drain, getting encumbered, catching sight of a non-friendly monster, and teleporting. In addition, a message containing one of the expressions in travel_stop_message will stop travel. For example, travel_stop_message = Something appears stops travel if Xom grants us a gift suddenly. To limit a substring match to a message channel, prefix the substring with the channel name and a colon (see section 4-k below on Message Channels). For instance, if you want travel to stop when you're hit by divine retribution, you could use: travel_stop_message = god:wrath finds you If you'd like to stop travel for any message sent to a particular channel, use a travel_stop_message line with that message channel name and a colon alone. For example, if you've an amulet of the gourmand, and are hankering after rotten meat, or you're playing a ghoul: travel_stop_message = rotten_meat: Stop travel for any god messages (including prayer) travel_stop_message = god: Multiple travel_stop_message lines can be used. explore_greedy = false Greedy explore travels to items that are eligible for autopickup in addition to exploring the level, but is otherwise identical to regular explore. Greedy explore is only available with stash_tracking = all (for any other value of stash_tracking, normal explore behaviour is used). Greedy explore is also best with pickup_dropped = false. Explore greed is disabled if you're temporarily unable to pick up items (from uncontrolled levitation, for instance). Default is false (no greedy explore) and using greedy explore may slow down the performance. explore_stop = items,stairs,shops,altars Explore will stop for one of these conditions. Whatever you set this option to, anything that stops travel will also stop explore. Multiple explore_stop lines are *not* cumulative! The last explore_stop line will override all previous explore_stop lines. runrest_ignore_message = This only works if runrest.lua has been sourced already in init.txt. Any message containing the string will *not* stop your run. E.g. runrest_ignore_message = offer a prayer,prayer is over runrest_ignore_message = pleased with you,exalted (useful in conjunction with autoprayer.) runrest_ignore_poison = : This only works if runrest.lua has been sourced already in init.txt. Poison damage of x will be ignored if you have at least y hp if you've defined a runrest_ignore_poison = x:y option. Running here means shift-running and resting only. Only one runrest_ignore_poison line is considered. Note that for this work, you should also tell Crawl to ignore the "You feel sick" messages. For example, runrest_ignore_message = You feel.*sick runrest_ignore_poison = 4:100 trapwalk_safe_hp = :, ... This only works if trapwalk.lua has been sourced already in init.txt. Any square containing one of the listed trap types will be considered safe for travel if your hp is greater than or equal to the number connected to the trap in question. All the existing trap types can be used, but in practice only the mechanical traps (dart, bolt, arrow, needle, spear, axe, blade) make sense. Note that travel tries to avoid traps if this is easily possible. Defaults to none. For example, trapwalk_safe_hp = dart:15, needle:25, spear:50 tc_reachable = blue tc_dangerous = cyan tc_excluded = lightmagenta tc_exclude_circle = red The above four settle the colouring of the level map ('X'). They are reachable: all squares reachable without problems (perhaps via stairs) dangerous: squares which are only connected to your place via traps excluded: the colour for the centre of travel exclusions (Ctrl-X) excluded_circle: the colour for travel exclusions apart from centre 4-g Stashes. ---------------- stash_tracking = (all | explicit | dropped) A stash is a heap of items tracked by Crawl. You can search in your stashes with Ctrl-F. This options rules how stashes are generated. When stash_tracking is set to 'all' (the default), the game marks any square where it sees any object as a stash. That gives you a comprehensive list of everything your character sees in the dungeon, but may slow the game down and use too much memory on older computers. With 'explicit', you have to explicitly tell the game what squares you want it to keep track of. You do that by stepping onto the square containing your stash of goodies and hitting Ctrl+S. The game will now keep track of what's on the square, when you add and remove stuff from your stash. If you remove everything from that square, the game will stop tracking the square altogether. You can also erase a stash square with Ctrl-E. When stash_tracking is set to 'dropped', any square where you drop something becomes a stash, and the game keeps track of all such squares. You can still use Ctrl-S and Ctrl-E as above. 4-h Command Enhancements. ----------------------------- auto_list = true Change to true if you want to automatically list appropriate inventory items for commands like eat and read. This is like immediately hitting '?', and can be confusing to beginners because they won't get to see the prompts. This option does not apply to spell casting... Conjurers would probably find that really annoying. lowercase_invocations = true Set this option to true if you prefer to have invocations on 'a'-'e' instead of the older 'A'-'E'. Note that you can change the letters of invocations (and other abilites) with the '=' command. easy_open = false Open doors by moving on to them. Highly convenient. Note that travel and exploration will automatically open doors depending on this option. easy_butcher = true If true, auto-switch to uncursed short blade for butchery. For such tools any special messages are ignored. If false, you have to wield the tool manually. easy_unequip = true Allows auto removal of armour and jewellery when dropping it. easy_confirm = (none | safe | all) Make confirmation questions easier to answer: none = force capitals on Y/N questions safe = force only on questions that will end game (default) all = never force capitals WARNING TO KEYPAD USERS: The number 7 is mapped to the letter 'y', which can result in accidentally answering yes to questions; it is suggested that you use a value of 'none' or 'safe' easy_quit_item_prompts = true Setting this option to true allows the quitting of item listing with Space (as well as Escape, which always works). These lists are essentially all of those that are requesting an inventory item and accept '?' and '*'. The identify list will never easy quit. easy_exit_menu = true In multidrop (and pickup) menus, paging past the end will drop out of the menu if easy_exit_menu is true. default_autoprayer = false When set to true, the game will start with automatic prayers. This option can be toggled in-game with Ctrl-V. Letting Crawl pray throughout and automatically can be useful for gods like Trog and Makhleb, who constantly demand kills from their followers. Automatic prayers take a turn like manual prayers and happen only if - there is no hostile monster in sight - some further conditions (like not standing at an altar) Note that even when you're praying, you can renew prayer anytime. Also note the option safe_zero_exp (see 4-a) decides whether zero experience monsters (like plants) are considered hostile. If you use autoprayer, you might want to set runrest_ignore_message to ignore the prayer messages (see the documentation for runrest_ignore_message). sort_menus = (true | false | auto:X) When set to true, items are sorted by description in inventory and pickup menus. When set to false (the default), items are ordered by equipment slot. When set to a number - using a syntax of the form sort_menus = auto:5 - items are sorted by their description if the total number of items in that category is at least that number; in the example, having 4 kinds of potions would not sort them, but having 5 would. 4-i Messages and Display Enhancements. ------------------------------------------ hp_warning = 10 hp_warning gives "* * * LOW HITPOINT WARNING * * *" on the danger channel when the player takes damage and their hitpoints are less than this percentage of their maximum (use 0 to turn off these messages). mp_warning = 0 mp_warning gives "* * * LOW MAGIC WARNING * * *" on the danger channel when the player's magic points drop below this percentage of their maximum (use 0 to turn off these messages). hp_colour = lightgrey, 50:yellow, 25:red hp_colour colours your HP appropriately in the display. In the default setting, your HP will appear in red if at less then 25%, yellow if at less than 50%, and lightgrey otherwise. mp_colour = lightgrey, 50:yellow, 25:red mp_colour does to MP what hp_colour does to HP. terse_hand = true Set this to false to have the "in hand" description on the main screen the same as the inventory. The default setting of true will give the newer more terse description that should fit the limited space better. delay_message_clear = false Setting this option to true will delay the clearing of messages until the message space is full (default is false which results in clearing between player actions). always_greet = true always_greet will give the race/class and god messages everytime the game is started. menu_colour = : This prints a line (of the inventory, a menu, or the discoveries screen) containing regex in the stated colour. There can be several statements in a list, or also several menu_colour lines. When using several menu_colour lines, the colour of the _first_ matching regex is applied. For a list of colours, check the colour option in 6-a. To colour worn stuff and highlight cursed items, take menu_colour = lightred: cursed.*(worn|neck|hand|weapon) menu_colour = green:(worn|neck|hand|weapon) menu_colour = red: cursed If you frequently die because you forget to use emergency items, try menu_colour = cyan:(potions? of heal wounds|teleportation) menu_colour = lightcyan:(blinking|wand of (fire|cold|draining)) To quickly check what potions were trashed by a mummy curse, use menu_colour = lightred:potions? of (degeneration|decay) If you like to see rotten chunks and corpses at a glance, use menu_colour = red: rotten. menu_colour can also be applied to colour the in-game notes (to be read with '?:'). The following line will show level ups in white: menu_colour = white:Reached XP level message_colour = :[:] message_colour allows you to override colours for individual messages. For instance, if you find the low hp warning to be insufficiently attention grabbing, you could do something like message_colour = yellow:LOW HITPOINT WARNING You can also narrow the message match to a specific channel: message_colour = lightred:god:xom If you don't want to see a message at all, you can mute it: message_colour = mute:You start resting increasing_skill_progress = true This affects the appearance of the skills screen ('m'). With the default true, the progress for getting new levels is shown with increasing percentiles, so that immediately after level up it will read (0%). With false, you get the old behaviour which counts backwards from 10. show_turns = true This option controls whether the turn counter (of turns elapsed) is displayed in the main view. 4-j Missiles. ----------------- fire_items_start = a Sets the first inventory item to consider. Default is a, many use c. fire_order = launcher, dart, stone, dagger, spear, handaxe, club The list should be on one line of items, with commas between items. 'launcher' refers to firing the appropriate missile for the wielded weapon (ie crossbow, bow, sling, blowgun). You'll almost certainly want it first, as it'll be ignored when you're not wielding a ranged weapon. The default is fire_order = launcher, dart To quickly experiment with a weapon-throwing character - e.g. to make your Berserker actually use those three spears he carries around, try a line similar to: fire_order = launcher, dagger, spear, handaxe, stone, dart 4-k Message Channels. ------------------------- Crawl communicates to the players with its message window. Every message belongs to one of the so-called channels. The behaviour of each channel can be changed with the option channel.CHANNEL_NAME = (COLOUR | mute | default | on | off | plain) CHANNEL_NAME can currently be one of these: plain = regular text (and things "uncoloured") prompt = input prompts to the player god = messages from the gods pray = standard praying messages (start/end of prayer) duration = messages about character spells/effects wearing off danger = serious threats to the characters existence food = warnings about food warning = various other warnings recovery = recovery from disease/stat loss/poison conditions multiturn = indicates long actions (wearing armour, dissecting etc.) talk = monsters talking (acting) intrinsic_gain = level/stat/species power gains mutation = gain/lose mutations monster_spell = messages about monsters gesturing and casting spells monster_enchant = messages pertaining to monster enchantments (up or down) monster_damage = messages telling how damaged a monster is rotten_meat = messages about chunks/corpses becoming rotten The channel options are mute = show no messages from channel (dangerous, be careful!) default = turn channel on to it's default scheme alternate = turn channel on to it's alternate "colourful" scheme on = same as default plain = make channel the same colour as the "plain" channel (won't do anything silly like "mute" if plain == mute, though) off = same as plain COLOUR can be any of the colours described in section 6-a (colours option). The only multi-colour channels currently are monster_damage and god. All other channels are defaulted to on, except for multiturn, which defaults to mute. Note that the template init.txt sets channel.multiturn = on in order to help new players. You may want to comment out this option, if the messages are too verbose. 4-l Inscriptions. --------------------- In Crawl, items can be manually inscribed with the '{' command. This adds a note in curly braces to the item inscription. Several inscriptions are functional, namely all containing one of the following @w9 -- now typing 'w9' will wield this item @*9 -- now any action command followed by '9' will use this item !w -- before wielding this item, Crawl will ask for confirmation !* -- any action with this item causes a prompt =g -- item will be picked up automatically if autopickup is on =k -- item will be ignored in all listings on the ground (it can still be picked up if it's the only item on the ground) (in the example 'w' could be any sensible command and '9' could be any digit). An item may contain more than one shortcut. autoinscribe = : Any item whose description contains the regex will be automatically inscribed (if autopickup is toggled on). For example, marking all royal jellies and honeycombs eases the Hive (if food is not in the autopickup option): autoinscribe = royal jell:=g autoinscribe = honeycomb:=g Another use of autoinscription is making sure that you don't lose charges of important wands accidentally, as in autoinscribe = wand of healing:!z 4-m Macro related Options. ------------------------------ flush.failure = true flush.command = false flush.message = false These are useful when using macros. Setting one of these sub-options to true will cause the entire input buffer to be dumped and thus effectively stop the macro. The sub-options currently are failure -- when spells/abilities get miscast command -- whenever the game is about to get the next command message -- whenever the game outputs a non-mute message 5- Character Dump. =================== 5-a Items and Kills. ------------------------ The character dump or morgue files end with a list of all monsters that perished while the character was active. By default, dead monsters are grouped in three parts: Vanquished Creatures -- monsters killed by the character Collateral Kills -- kills of friendly monsters Others -- all other casualties (e.g. traps, hostile monsters) kill_map = friend:you, other:you will merge friendly and other kills into the main vanquished creatures list. Note that the merging is only for display (the game still maintains three separate lists internally) and that kill places (see below) may be in the wrong order for merged entries. The default is an empty list. dump_kill_places = (none | all | single) In the Vanquished Creatures list, this option controls how the locations of each kill are displayed. Use 'none' to suppress place display altogether, 'all' to display all known (up to 5) kill places, anything else to the default of showing kill places only for single kills dump_item_origins = artifacts, rods The game remembers where you find items. If you want this item origin memory listed in your dumps, use this option to select which items get annotated. Available selectors are: artifacts, ego_arm, ego_weap, jewellery, runes, rods, staves, books, all, none. If you use multiple dump_item_origins lines, the last line takes effect; all preceding lines are ignored. If you don't want any items to be annotated, set dump_item_origins to none, and set dump_item_origin_price to -1. dump_item_origin_price = 100 Item origins are dumped if the price of the item is greater than or equal to this amount. Set this to -1 to prevent selection by price. dump_message_count = 7 The number of last messages to be displayed in character dump files. dump_order = header,stats,misc,notes,inventory,skills dump_order += spells,overview,mutations,messages,screenshot,kills Controls the order of sections in the dump. You can use multiple dump_order lines - all lines but the first must use dump_order += 5-b Notes. -------------- Crawl can automatically log certain events during play. You can read these in the dump or morgue files. Below are options for tweaking this behaviour. use_notes = true Set to true to get note-taking. The following events are logged: - Gaining or losing a level - Entering a dungeon level for the first time - Memorizing a spell of higher level than any learned before - Becoming a worshipper of a god - Abandoning a god - Receiving a gift from a god (except Xom) - Being able to invoke a godly power for the first time - Identifying items (see below) - Killing OOD or unique monsters (see below) - Reaching critical HP levels (see below) - Gaining or losing mutations - Reaching significant levels in a skill (see below) You can use the command ':' for manually adding notes. note_items = When an item is identified, it will be noted if it is an artifact (fixed, unrand, or random) or if its short description matches a regex. E.g. note_items = rod,book,rune,acquirement ood_interesting = 8 Monsters which are out of depth (OOD for short) for their current level, e.g. a dragon on level 2, will be noted if they are out of depth by at least ood_interesting levels. To disable OOD monster noting, set ood_interesting to 500; the default is 8. Unique monsters are always noted, regardless of this setting. OOD monsters are only noted in the main dungeon. note_hp_percent = 5 If your HP falls below a certain note_hp_percentage of your max HP, a note will be taken. There is some code to avoid repetitions of notes based on the same incident. note_skill_levels = 1,5,13,27 This sets which skill levels are noteworthy. You can have multiple note_skill_levels lines. The default is nothing (no notes.) note_skill_max = false Setting this option will cause a note whenever a new maximum in skill levels is reached. If note_skill_max is true and note_skill_levels is nonempty, notes will be taken whenever either of the criteria are met. note_monsters = Monsters whose name matches an item in this comma-separated list are considered interesting. You can have multiple note_monsters lines. E.g. note_monsters = Klown,orb of fire note_messages = Messages which match an item in this comma-separated list are considered interesting. You can have multiple note_messages lines. E.g. note_messages = Something interferes note_messages = protects you from harm If you want all banishments to the Abyss noted, use note_messages = [bB]anish.*Abyss If you want a note when your draconian scales turn , use note_messages = Your scales start note_all_spells = true Will add a note for each spell memorised. 6- Miscellaneous. ============== 6-a All OS. --------------- macro_meta_entry = true macro_meta_entry lets you specify non-printable keycodes like \{3} when creating a macro. For instance, if you want to keymap 0 to Escape, you'd use a target keycode of \{27}. colour.OLDCOLOUR = NEWCOLOUR Useful for terminals where some colours are hard to read (and cannot be adjusted), as well as for creating a custom scheme, especially when used with the background option on a terminal with a non-black background. Format is colour.OLDCOLOUR = NEWCOLOUR, later rules take preference and the NEWCOLOUR is always literal (ie. it won't re-evaluate to a different colour). The colours are: black, blue, green, cyan, red, magenta, brown, lightgrey, darkgrey, lightblue, lightgreen, lightcyan, lightred, lightmagenta, yellow, white with lightgray = lightgrey, darkgray = darkgrey. Some examples: colour.lightgray = black colour.lightcyan = cyan colour.yellow = brown wiz_mode = (no | never | yes) Wizard mode options (available only in WIZARD compiles): yes -- start games in wizard mode (game will not be scored) no -- still allows player to enter wizard mode after start of game never -- never allow a wizard command to be used char_set = (ascii | ibm | dec) Chooses different character sets for the game play screen. DOS and Windows users will want to use the IBM character set, Unix users will prefer DEC or plain ASCII. cset_ascii, cset_ibm, cset_dec, cset_any Can be used to change individual characters in a specific character set (the character set used for display is determined by the char_set option). The syntax is the same for all of these; cset_any changes characters in all character sets. cset_XXX = a list of these is allowed, as well. The possible entries for dungeon_character_name are: wall, wall_magic, floor, floor_magic, door_open, door_closed, trap, stairs_down, stairs_up, altar, arch, fountain, wavy, statue, invis_exposed, item_detected, item_orb, item_weapon, item_armour, item_wand, item_food, item_scroll, item_ring, item_potion, item_missile, item_book, item_stave, item_miscellany, item_corpse, item_gold, item_amulet, cloud Most of these are self-explanatory. "arch" is used for shops and portals. "floor_magic" and "wall_magic" are used to display magic-mapped squares on the level map. "invis_exposed" is the character for water creatures submerged in shallow water, or invisible creatures wading in shallow water. Symbols can be specified using a letter, or by a number (decimal code). For an example on IBM displays, cset_ibm = wall:219, arch:0 shows walls as solid blocks and shops and portals as '0'. feature = { , , , , } where is a regular expression describing a dungeon feature. This regex should match the description when using the 'x' command. In case the regex matches several descriptions, all such features are affected. The list in {...} specifies the appearance of the dungeon feature(s), and should be self-explanatory. can be used to override the above cset options, or also to distinguish among subtypes of a character. 'magic' always refers to magic mapping. So the entry determines what symbol will be used for features only detected via magic mapping. Leading parameters in the {...} list can be omitted by leaving them blank and using placeholder commas. Trailing parameters can be omitted without placeholder commas. Multiple feature option lines can be used, as can multiple feature descriptions strung together on the same line separated by semicolons. Examples: feature = rock wall { , , red } # shows rock walls in red feature = metal wall {#} # use '#' for metal walls classic_item_colours = false Crawl uses 4.0 b26/0.1.x-like item colours if classic_item_colours is set to true. The default (false) is to use the new 0.2 item colours. This option will not affect the colour of existing items, only items generated after the option is set. 6-b DOS and Windows. ------------------------ dos_use_background_intensity = false On DOS and Windows, if you're using a console that can do high-intensity background colours, set this option to true for superior friend-branding. If your console doesn't like this option, some friendly monsters will appear as blinking characters (and setting this option to false may be advisable to preserve your sanity in such cases). 6-c Unix ------------ background = Sets the default background colour by name (defaults to BLACK). This may be useful if you're using a terminal with a background colour other than black (such as an xterm), but this option is still experimental and the results may not be very good. use_fake_cursor = false If true, Crawl draws the cursor explicitly on the level-map and targeting screens instead of relying on the term to draw the cursor. Use this if your term cannot show a cursor over darkgrey/black squares.