This file contains the most recent changes to the COW client, with example
.xtrkrc options to deal with them, and the clips from the documentation that
explain them. If you're upgrading from an old version of COW, this file should
make it a painless experience.
*****************************************************************
1) Change Log
*****************************************************************
1.02 pl2 Feb. 20, 1995
- One year expire time [siegl]
- put back sortPlayers option for unsorted playerlist [Soutter]
- send full update request when joining [siegl]
- Fixed some bugs with galactic map updates [Soutter]
- Fixed some bugs with color map allocations [siegl]
- Added sample xtrekrc file to the docs [siegl]
- audio.c: replaced SIGCLD with SIGCHLD [ahabig]
- config.h.in: include stdio.h for suns [gosselin]
1.02 pl1 Feb. 9, 1995
- phaserShrink option to remove the bottom of your phaser [Soutter]
- change TTS Y-location [Joseph]
- Ignore Caps_Lock on key events [sheldon (taken from SWINE)]
- Race Colors [Kellen]
- removed message handler for Dashboard [Siegl]
- fixed multi-line macro bug [Soutter]
- metserver window rewritten [Soutter,Kellen]
- playerlist window rewritten [Soutter]
- The player list is now always sorted and so the "sortPlist"
option has been removed [Soutter]
- The key "/" now changes the playerlist style rather than selecting
between sorted and unsorted player lists [Soutter]
- Reimplemented the option "showPlanetOwner". [Soutter]
- New layout for the option menus [Soutter].
- Removed the options "mapmode" and "showShields". Effectively,
these options are now treated as always being true [Soutter]
- Added range checking on the options "showlocal", "showgalactic", and
"showLock" [Soutter]
- Redraw the galactic map when you change teams [Soutter].
- All handlers (both for X events and for packets) now return a void
rather than an integers. This fixes some compiler errors [Soutter].
*****************************************************************
2) Cut and past changes to make COW work like it used to.
*****************************************************************
sortPlayers: on
#
# The default for "sortPlayers" is a bit strange and so we recommend
# that you set the "sortPlayers" option in your .xtrekrc. The following
# will impose the old default.
#
ignoreCaps: off
#
# By default, the caps lock key is now ignored. If you would like
# the old behaviour then set "ignoreCaps" to "off".
#
*****************************************************************
3) Cut and past changes to turn on *all* new features.
*****************************************************************
phaserShrink: 10
#
# possible values: 0-16
#
# Don't draw the first <phaserShrink>/16 th of your phaser. This makes
# it easier to see incoming torps.
#
# Most people who tested this feature really like it (even thought it
# sounds weird).
#
playerListStyle: 3
#
# possible values: 0-4
#
# This is a new way of choosing which playerlist you want, although
# newPlist still works. Options are:
#
# (0) Custom player list as defined by the
# playerlist variable above,
# (1) Old player list,
# (2) Traditional COW player list,
# (3) Kill watch player list,
# (4) BRMH Player list.
#
# If "playerListStyle" is set, newPlist is ignored.
# Use the options menu (shift-O) to try the different styles.
#
# The "Kill watch player list" is a new built in style. It makes scanning
# kills easier and it shows the kind of thing klew players were already
# doing with the "playerlist" option.
#
partitionPlist: on
#
# Add blank lines to a sorted player list to separate the
# different teams.
#
metaCache: .metaCache
#
# Enable caching of meta-server information into the file
# "$HOME/.metaCache".
#
# Use "cow -k" to use the cached information rather than waiting
# to contact the metaServer.
#
# For more details, see the "MetaServer Options" manual in
# section (4).
#
metaStatusLevel: 4
#
# Select the level of detail to be displayed on the meta-server window.
#
# The status levels are coded as follows.
#
# 0 Servers which have players but not a wait queue.
# 1 + Servers with a wait queue.
# 2 + Servers with nobody playing. (see NOTE1).
# 3 + Servers which have Timed Out for the MetaServer (see NOTE2).
# 4 + Servers which the MetaServer has not been able to connect to.
#
ignoreCaps: on
#
# By default, the caps lock key is now ignored and so this is not
# strictly necessary.
#
showPlanetOwner: on
#
# showPlanetOwner is an old feature that has been reimplemented.
# When on, the appropriate race letter is drawn next to each
# planet on the galactic.
#
tts_time: 25
#tts_max_len:
#tts_font:
#tts_color: ivory
tts_pos: 20
#
# Some of these are new TTS options. This set of parameters moves any TTS
# messages to near the top of the screen. tts_pos is # of pixels down from the
# top to print the message, the other parameters allow control of how the text
# looks.
color.Rom: tomato
color.Kli: green2
color.Ori: light steel blue
color.Fed: goldenrod
color.Ind: aliceblue
#
# You can use these resources to change the colors of the race's bitmaps,
# without messing up the border colors and things from the old style
# "color.red" resources.
****************************************************************
4) New manual sections
****************************************************************
MetaServer Options
==================
The MetaServer and the MetaServerCache are provided to help you find a
netrek game to join. Both services provide a list of the popular
netrek servers. The MetaServer is neat because provides information
on the number of players at each site. The MetaServerCache is neat
because it is much faster if you can guess where a game will be.
To access the MetaServer, use the command line switch "-m". For
example "cow -m". To access the MetaServerCache, use the "-k" switch
instead.
1) Where to find the MetaServer:
You can use the options "metaport" and "metaserver" to point COW
to a new MetaServer. The defaults for these options are:
metaport: 3521
metaserver: metaserver.ecst.csuchico.edu
2) How to create a list of known servers for the MetaServerCache:
Before you can use the MetaServerCache, you must give COW a file in
which to cache the information from the MetaServer. Use the .xtrekrc
option "metaCache" to specify this file. The files path will be
relative to your home directory unless you start the file name with a
slash (/).
For example, to set the cache file to "~/.metaCache" use:
metaCache: .metaCache
Unlike the MetaServer, the MetaServerCache will not show the number of
people playing at a server. If a server is contactable, it will be
shown as "Active".
3) How much information will be shown:
You can now control the amount of information that the MetaServer
displays for you by setting the "metaStatusLevel" flag. The default
is:
metaStatusLevel: 3
The status levels are coded as follows.
0 Servers which have players but not a wait queue.
1 + Servers with a wait queue.
2 + Servers with nobody playing. (see NOTE1).
3 + Servers which have Timed Out for the MetaServer (see NOTE2).
4 + Servers which the MetaServer has not been able to connect to.
NOTE1: When using the MetaServerCache, "metaStatusLevel" values of
less than 3 are treated as the value 3. This minimum is enforced
because the cache does not attempt to show the number of people
playing at a site.
NOTE2: If you are a long way from the MetaServer, you are advised to
ignore TimeOut errors. For example, the MetaServer in America may
have difficulty contacting to a server in Holland while the link from
England to Holland is very good.
4) The Fallback
If you attempt to contact the MetaServer, and the connection times
out, COW will try to show the MetaServerCache instead.
Similarly, if you attempt to use the MetaServerCache, and your
"metaCache" file does not exist, COW will attempt to call
theMetaServer.
Player List Options
===================
1) Configurable Player List:
I've added a new .xtrekrc option called "playerlist" what it allows
you to do is specify which columns of the player list you want to show
and in what order. The following is a table of the available columns.
Spc Let Name Header
--- --- -------------------- -------------------
3 'n' Ship Number " No"
3 'T' Ship Type " Ty"
11 'R' Rank " Rank "
17 'N' Name " Name "
6 'K' Kills " Kills"
17 'l' Login Name " Login "
6 'O' Offense " Offse"
6 'W' Wins " Wins"
6 'D' Defense " Defse"
6 'L' Losses " Loss"
6 'S' Total Rating (stats) " Stats"
6 'r' Ratio " Ratio"
8 'd' Damage Inflicted(DI) " DI"
1 ' ' White Space " "
PLIST1
6 'B' Bombing " Bmbng"
6 'b' Armies Bombed " Bmbed"
6 'P' Planets " Plnts"
6 'p' Planets Taken " Plnts"
17 'M' Display/Host Machine " Host Machine "
7 'H' Hours Played " Hours "
6 'k' Max Kills " Max K"
6 'V' Kills per Hour " KPH"
6 'v' Deaths per Hour " DPH"
PLIST2
9 'w' War staus " War Stat"
3 's' Speed " Sp"
So for example if you just wanted to see names and rank you'd add this
line to your .xtrekrc:
playerlist: NR
In order for this mod to be in effect you must compile with PLIST
defined, otherwise you will get either of the two currently available
defaults. The things shown after PLIST1 are only available if you
have PLIST1 defined, the same goes for the things after PLIST2, but
you must have PLIST defined or neither of these will do anything.
dave
gosselin@ll.mit.edu
NOTE FROM SOURCE KEEPER:
PLIST2 is not active in BRM currently. Some players feel that placing
speed on the playerlist gives a strategic advantage.
NOTE ON SB STATS :
On servers which support the SBHOURS .feature, you will see slightly
different things when you info a SB, or show the SB player on the
playerlist. The usual offense and defense lines are replaced with SB
kills/hour and deaths/hour. The kills, deaths, hours and ratio entries
are all the player's SB stats as long as he is in the SB, and his normal
stats otherwise.
2) Predefined "playerlist" styles:
For your viewing pleasure we have predefined some playerlist layouts
that you might like to try. These predefined styles can be selected
using the "playerListStyle" option in your .xtrekrc or by using the
options menu (shift-O).
The "playerListStyle" options are:
0: Custom style = playerlist
1: Old style = "nTRNKWLr O D d "
2: COW style = "nTR N K lrSd"
3: Kill watch style = "nTK RNlr Sd"
4):BRMH style = "nTR N K l M"
For backward compatability, the option "newPlist" will still select
between the old style playerlist (off) and the COW style playerlist
(on) if the "playerListStyle" option does not appear in your .xtrekrc.
3) The "partitionPlist" option:
Lets face it, the main role of the player list is so that you can keep
track of who has kills.
To make life easier, the player list is sorted so that enemy and
friendly teams are always in the same place in the list. However, in
mono it is not immediatly obvious where one team starts and another
team ends. If the "partitionPlist" option is "on", white space will
be added to the player list to separate your teams from the other
teams and the players entering the game. In color, this option is not
usually required because the teams are distinct anyway.
Race Colors README
------------------
You can now change the color in which a given race is drawn *without*
having to also change other objects currently drawn in the same color.
The race color defaults to the color in which the race is normally drawn
(ie, Roms are drawn in color.red, which itself defaults to red).
This option defaults transparently to off and uses up NO CPU time in
normal play. (so there :-b)
resource default resource default color
---------- ------------------ -------------
color.Ind: color.light grey light grey
color.Fed: color.yellow yellow
color.Rom: color.red red
color.Kli: color.green green
color.Ori: color.cyan cyan
###############################################################
# Example .xtrekrc lines
color.Rom: tomato
color.Kli: green2
color.Ori: light steel blue
