Install Steps:
0) Prerequisites:
You will need the XPM library to compile the client.
If you want to run the gtk client, you will need to install the gtk
libraries.
If you want png support, you will need to install the png
library.
If you want sdl support ( recommended) you will need both gtk and png
as well as the main SDL library and the SDL_image library, both of
which can be found at http://www.libsdl.org if not already installed
on your system.
1) type './configure' to configure for your OS/system. Most options
normally understood by configure should be available.
The configure script will try to make all the right decisions. It will
search for the needed libraries and headers. You may need to give
hints on the locations of some files (png library, gtk library).
If configure finds gtk libraries, it will build the gcfclient in addition
to the cfclient. If you don't want this (only cfclient), use the
--disable-gtk (there is no way to disable the cfclient at this time -
if you are able to compile the gtk client, you also have all the tools for
for the cfclient).
If SDL libraries are found on your system, SDL support is automatically
compiled it (Note: only the gcfclient supports sdl). Use --disable-sdl
if you don't want this.
The system will use the new sound system if available (this is a separate
sound daemon). If you want to use the built-in sound system, use
the --enable-old-sound. See sound notes further down.
To specify additional places to find header files, use the
--with-includes=value - this includes any -I or other options to provide
the compiler. Example:
./configure --with-includes="-I/usr/local/include -I/opt/xpm/include"
Similarly, there is a --with-ldflags option. Example:
./configure --with-ldflags="-L/usr/local/lib -R/usr/local/lib"
-R is used on many systems to specify run location for libraries so
you don't need to set LD_LIBRARY_PATH.
Generally, if you are setting --with-includes, your probably need to
set --with-ldflags, as if one is not in a standard place, the other
probably is not either.
The client works with the 0.5 version of the ALSA sound system.
If you are using a newer version and are having troubles compiling,
try running configure with the '--disable-alsa' option.
2) Type 'make depend; make' to compile the client. If you get link errors,
it may be because you have an older version of the gtk libraries. If
you get errors like 'can't find target client.c', your make program
isn't very good and use should get/use gnu make instead.
3) Type 'make install' to install the binaries.
4) The client can be run by typing 'cfclient' for the X11 version, gcfclient
for the gtk client, gcfclient -sdl for the SDL version.
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Converting keybindings from old save files for use with the client:
1) You will need to get a copy of your character file.
2) Type "mkdir ~/.crossfire". This will automatically be done the first
time you run the client.
3) Type awk 'BEGIN {ORS=" "} /^key /
{for (i=2; i<=NF; i++) print $i;printf "\n"}'
infile > ~/.crossfire/keys
(Note that this should all be entered on one line, but is broken up
here to be more readable.)
'infile' is the name of the character file.
Note that the client use global keybindings, and not per character. This
means that the same keybindings will be for all characters you play with the
client.
The gtk client and x11 client both use the same keybindings file.
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Sound support:
If you wnat sound support (only useful if you have a system that has good
sound hardware), you will also need to get some sounds for the program.
You will need the raw sound files - the .au files no longer work with the
client.
The sounds file determines what file is played for what sound. The default
location for the sound files is <prefix>/share/cfclient/sounds. <prefix>
is the -prefix= option given when running configure, default of /usr/local.
You can set this to another directory at the configure stage by using
--with-sound-dir=/some/directory. This file is only used for compiled in
defaults. If you have a ~/.crossfire/sounds file (some format), that file
will be used instead of the built in defaults.
Sound are now played by separate process invoked from crossfire client.
The process - called sound server - adjusts sounds' volume according to
relative position of player and sound source on map and mixes the sounds
together, so many sounds can be played simultaneously.
CONFIG FILE
The config file ~/.crossfire/sndconfig contains some configurable settings. If
there is no such file, one with default settings will be created.
The file contains following fields:
stereo: 1 means stereo sound, 0 - mono
bits: bitrate of generated sound - 8 or 16
16 means better quality, especially when more sounds
are to be played simultaneously, but takes more memory
signed: if we should sent signed data to the soundcard. 1 means yes.
frequency: speed of playing data. This should be 11025, or sound pitch
will change
buffers: how many buffers to allocate
buflen: how big the buffers should be. buffers*buflen shouldn't be
smaller than the longest sound to be played.
simultaneously: home many sound can be played at the same time. When this
setting is bigger, each sound volume will decrease.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
The sound server gets information about sounds to be played on standard input.
The information is a line:
<sound number> <sound type> <relative x> <relative y>
All those numbers are hex.
The file ~/.crossfire/sounds contains description of sound numbers and types.
For example:
3 0 5 0
Means that normal sound SOUND_FUMBLE spell should be played as it's source was
5 units to the right of player.
Sounds are mixed in special buffers, which are in fact one buffer, which should
be big enough for the biggest sound to be played.
The buffers, if contain anything, are sent one by one to the sound device.
Each buffer is cleaned after playing.
Sounds data is multiplied by some ratio (<1) evaluated from it's position and
volume and added to the buffers, starting from the next after the one being
played.
So bigger buffer means bigger delay, before the sound is actually played, but
the smaller buffer is, the bigger is possibility, we won't succeed filling the
next buffer, before last is played.
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IMAGES
The client will get any images that it is missing from the server. This
can include the entire image set.
To decrease bandwidth used when actually playing the sounds, it is suggested
you download the image archive and install it. The default location
for the archive is <prefix>/share/cfclient/, where <prefix> is determined
by the -prefix= option given when running configure.
The mechanism the client uses to find a matching image file when the
server tells it an image name is thus:
1) Look in ~/.crossfire/gfx. If an image is found here, irrespective of the
set and checksum of the image on the server, it will be used. The only
way images are placed into the gfx directory is by the user actually
copying them to that directory. The gfx directory allows a user to override
images with versions he prefers.
2) Look in ~/.crossfire/image-cache then <prefix>/share/cfclient/crossfire-images.
If the checksum matches the image from the
respective directory is used. Note that if the checksums match, it really doesn't
matter what image location we use, as it is the same image.
4) Get the image from the server. If -cache is set, a copy of it is put into
~/.crossfire/image-cache.
