how do I play nethack?????
 

Ok, so I have downloaded the nethack rpm.

I have installed it - it appears in /usr/games/lib/nethack and /usr/games/nethack

It is shown as an executable file.

If I try to run it in a "run command" box but nothing seems to open/happen.

Searching the forum gives various stuff - none of it helpful - If I try the "./nethack" in a terminal I just get the no such file or directory.

Any Ideas would be much appreciated - I know it can be run graphically, but how ???

regards

John

just type "nethack" in the terminal without the ./ and see what messages it gives

Ok DrOzz,

I have tried that and it seems to start the game in terminal mode, so logically, how would I start it in graphic mode, similar to the version that was available in mandrake 8.2 (but then dropped from 9.0)?

I have tried following the info in the .txt files, but that is pretty meaningless to a "gui drone" like me.

any ideas please?

regards

John

Just to confuse things a little,

I think I might be asking about the "falcons eye" version of nethack.

I will post back when I have got it downloaded (things seem to be slow at the moment - not suprising given the time of day!)

And confirm that I have got it sorted or ask again.

regards

John

I still play the classic version of nethack; just remember that it uses vi's cursor movement keys to move ;)

nethack falcons eye?????
 

Ok, so it's back to the original question.

How do I play it?

So far, I have downloaded it to my home directory, and as far as I can tell I have unpacked it to my /home/tmp directory.

BUT, I'm not really sure. On checking the "how to install programmes" thread in the linux general forum, it explains about unpacking .tar.gz and .tgz but the available version of nethack/falcons eye 3.4.0 and 1.9.3 respectively are downloaded from the mirror's as a .zip file.

So when "right clicking" on it, I have told "ark" to extract it to the /home/tmp directory, from there I am totally lost. There are so many files, I haven't got a clue what to do with them next.

And to make things worse, I have also downloaded it in window$ as a zip file, and unzipped it, and the bastard won't run either (and even after looking at the readme and other files - there doesn't seem to be any way of working out what I need to do to get it running!).

So does anyone have any ideas what I need to do next (I'm running mdk 9.1 and eckspee!!!)

regards

John:confused:

Ok, I have played the PS2 version of .Hack and liked it so I tried this....
I found a Nethack shell script under /usr/games/
I ran it via terminal.... it is text, not visual (this is the newest version).

Man, I've played the DOS before of this.....

Wait a second here,
The rpm installed to /usr/games/
There is more for Nethack in there....
I see what you mean now bigjohn.

that's part of the reason that I'm totally confused.

I'm presuming that I need to config the "unix" version files somehow, but how and which files have stumped me.

I don't quite follow why "they" haven't made it available in tar.gz or tgz format then it would be just follow the configure, make and make install route.

The reason that I want to try the "falcons eye" version is that the basic and terminal versions are either too small on screen or confusing.

I also know that the "purest's" will roast me for saying this but I really don't like using command line input, it takes up a lot of time trying to learn it, and even more effort/time trying to remember the commands.

Hence, at least for me, I find gui much much more intuitive/straight forward - probably because I am just a "jumped up wind0w$ drone" (well, someones got to be haven't they!).

So any ideas are still much appreciated.

regards

John:confused:

OK, so the latest in the saga is that I have managed to get nethack falcons eye working under wind0w$. :)

This was achieved by shortening the games file name to nethack - it was by luck that I worked this out as I was scraping the barrel for ideas.

So all I have got to do now is get it working under linux.

regards

John:confused:

Yeah, I have gotten it under windows before, (don't think it was Falcon's Eye) and it worked.....

Note: I don't like command line either!!!

Doesn't it use the keypad also?

But that's awesome!! I've been wanting to play nethack from the command line on my laptop but it was awkward because I had no keypad.....I just tried it....thanks for the tip! :D

On the topic of falcon's eye, I can see how people would like the eye-candy, but playing it on the commandline or the terminal just totally lets you get into the true spirit of the game....its just so addictive once you get into it.

(I used to play larn back in my DOS days, so when I discovered Nethack 6-7 years ago when I started playing with linux, I was soooo jazzed about it...)

To be honest, the only DOS game I ever had a go at was the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.

That, I could follow, because it was like question and answer (well, sarcastic answer) and quite funny.

With nethack, I just can't find any enthusiasm for something that uses number keys and obscure punctuation for game instructions/functions.

I suppose I am a child of the GUI!

Hence the remaining question, how do I install from zip files? I have unzipped it (Ithink) using ark, but how do I configure it, check the installation and start the game ??

any ideas much appreciated.

regards

John

Do you mean installing from source-code? Where did you get the file?

I remember downloading a new version a few months back and let me tell you, ./configure, make and make install just doesn't seem to be good enough for them....it was rather convoluted with the 3 or 4 file edits I had to do...

For that though there are detailed instructions on their site somewhere...