Angband Borg Screen Saver =========================== by Robert Ruehlmann < rr9@angband.org > Version 1.1 (9th August 2000) Uses Andrew P. White's APWBorg. (see http://itctel.com/~apwhite/andrew.html). Description: ------------ A screensaver that runs the Angband 2.9.3 Windows version with the APW Borg and automatically restarts the Borg when the character dies (continuous play mode). The borg engine is updated almost daily, so visit Dr. White's page and obtain the most recent version of the borg. You may also down-load an up to date executable of the screensaver from that page. Note that the Angband display is not always dynamic and may not protect your monitor from burning-in of images. While this is highly unlikely with modern monitors you might want to configure the energy saving settings for your monitor so that it turns itself off after some time of inactivity. The screensaver will also keep the processor and hard-disk busy. Power-saving features that depend on inactivity of these parts won't be effective while the screensaver is running. You have been warned. Installation: ------------- Copy angband.scr and this angband.ini into your Windows directory. Make sure you have the Windows version of Angband installed. If you don't have it yet, then download it from http://thangorodrim.angband.org/ and install it. Open angband.ini with a text-editor and modify "AngbandPath" so that it points to the directory where Angband for Windows is installed. Note that the path has to end with a backslash ('\'). The "SaverFile" variable should contain the name of the character you want to use for the screensaver. A random character will be automatically created if the character doesn't exist yet. Note that the savefile will be marked as cheater and won't get an highscore entry! Select the screensaver in the Windows display properties and test it! Technical stuff: ---------------- The screensaver is basically just a renamed Windows Angband executable. The main-win.c file has been heavily modified to allow the game to act as screensaver. "SCORE_BORGS" has been turned on so that normal Borgs (but not Borgs used with the continuous play mode turned on like in the screensaver!) will get highscore entries. The screensaver uses the angband.ini of the normal Angband installation to determine the screen-layout, as well as the graphics and sound settings. My "ALLOW_BORG_GRAPHICS" code that is included in the APW Borg has been turned on, so the Borg runs nicely with the various graphics and "view_foo_lite" lighting settings. The screensaver can be used as normal Angband executable by renaming it to angband.exe and replacing the old exe in the Angband 2.9.2 installation directory with it. The screensaver tries to be "nice" and only uses processor cycles when the processor would be idle otherwise. It shouldn't slow down other processes that might be running. The user can also switch that feature on with the "Options/Low priority" menu-entry when using the screensaver as normal Angband executable (very useful for running Borgs in the background). Known problems: --------------- - No preview of the screensaver when in the Windows display properties. - Password protection doesn't work yet (note that Windows NT seems to handle password protection itself, so this might be no problem on NT and maybe Windows 2000 machines). - Configuration of the screenserver should be possible with a dialog instead of an ini-file. - Selecting "Show scores" while the Borg is running will probably crash the Borg since it can't parse the score-screen. - The screensaver probably won't work correctly with other Borgs that don't provide a continuous play mode compatible with the APW code. - Running the same savefile twice at the same time (for example by running a normal game and the screensaver with the same savefile) might lead to problems. - The size of some info windows can increase when exiting the "pseudo- screensaver" mode started from the options menu. - The Borg is a very complicated piece of code and contains lots of bugs. Expect slowdowns, loops, crashes, and other problems. If you encounter a suspect bug, first consult the APWBorg Webpage for a updated screen- saver, and check the Daily Log of Changes to see if your bug has been fixed. If not, then send the bug and savefile to Dr. White at apwhite@itctel.com Links: ------ APW-Borg homepage: http://itctel.com/~apwhite/andrew.html Angband (and Angband screensaver) homepage: http://thangorodrim.angband.org/