Doctor Kildeer's Guide to NetHack

Program Options

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Due to variations in personal tastes and conceptions of how NetHack should do things, there are options you can set to change how NetHack behaves. Options may be set in a number of ways. Within the game, the O command allows you to view all options and change most of them. You can also set options automatically by placing them in the NETHACKOPTIONS environment variable or a configuration file. Some versions of NetHack also have front-end programs that allow you to set options before starting the game.

Any line in the configuration file starting with "OPTIONS=" may be filled out with options in the same syntax as in NETHACKOPTIONS. Any line starting with "GRAPHICS=", "MONSTERS=", or "OBJECTS=" is taken as defining the graphics, monsters, or objects options in a different syntax, a sequence of decimal numbers giving the character position in the current font to be used in displaying each entry. Such a sequence can be continued to multiple lines by putting a '\' at the end of each line to be continued. Any line starting with '#' is treated as a comment.

The default name of the configuration file varies on different operating systems, but NETHACKOPTIONS can also be set to the full name of a file you want to use.


Options Reference

Here are explanations of what the various options do. Character strings longer than fifty characters are truncated. Some of the options listed may be inactive in your dungeon.

BIOS Use BIOS calls to update the screen display quickly and to read the keyboard (allowing the use of arrow keys to move) on machines with an IBM PC compatible BIOS ROM (default off; OS/2, PC, and ST NetHack only).
catname Name your starting cat (ex. "catname:Morris"). Cannot be set with the O command.
checkpoint Save game state after each level change, for possible recovery after program crash (default on).
color Use color for different monsters, objects, and dungeon features (default on for microcomputers).
confirm Have user confirm attacks on pets, shopkeepers, and other peaceable creatures (default on).
DECgraphics Use a predefined selection of characters from the DEC VT-xxx/DEC Rainbow/ ANSI line-drawing character set to display the dungeon instead of having to define a full graphics set yourself (default off). Cannot be set with the O command.
disclose Offer to identify your inventory and intrinsics when the game ends (default on).
dogname Name your starting dog (ex. "dogname:Fang"). Cannot be set with the O command.
female Set your sex (default off). Cannot be set with the O command.
fixinv An object's inventory letter sticks to it when it's dropped (default on). If this is off, dropping an object shifts all the remaining inventory letters.
fruit Name a fruit after something you enjoy eating (ex. "fruit:mango") (default "slime mold". Basically a nostalgic whimsy that NetHack uses from time to time. You should set this to something you find more appetizing than slime mold. Apples, oranges, pears, bananas, and melons already exist in NetHack, so don't use those.
graphics

Set the graphics symbols for screen displays (default " |————||.-|++.##<><>\^"_\\#{}.}..## #}|-\\/*!)(0#@*/-\\||\\-//-\\| |\\-/"). If specified, the graphics option should come last, followed by a string of 1-69 characters to be used instead of the default map-drawing characters. The dungeon map will use the characters you specify instead of the default symbols. Remember that you may need to escape some of these characters if, for example, you use csh. The DECgraphics and IBMgraphics options use predefined selections of graphics symbols, so you need not go to the trouble of setting up a full graphics string for these common cases. These two options also set up proper handling of graphics characters for such terminals, so you should specify them as appropriate even if you override the selections with your own graphics string.

Note that this option string is now escape-processed in conventional C fashion. This means that '\' is a prefix to take the following character literally, and not as a special prefix. Your graphics strings for NetHack 2.2 and older versions may contain a '\'; it must be doubled for the same effect now. The special escape form '\m' switches on the meta bit in the following character, and the '^' prefix causes the following character to be treated as a control character (so any '^' in your old graphics strings should be changed to '\^' now). Also note that there are more symbols in a different order than used for NetHack 3.0.

The order of the symbols is: solid rock, vertical wall, horizontal wall, upper left corner, upper right corner, lower left corner, lower right corner, cross wall, upward T wall, downward T wall, leftward T wall, rightward T wall, no door, vertical open door, horizontal open door, vertical closed door, horizontal closed door, floor of a room, dark corridor, lit corridor, stairs up, stairs down, ladder up, ladder down, trap, web, altar, throne, kitchen sink, fountain, pool or moat, ice, lava, vertical lowered drawbridge, horizontal lowered drawbridge, vertical raised drawbridge, horizontal raised drawbridge, air, cloud, under water, vertical beam, horizontal beam, left slant, right slant, digging beam, camera flash beam, left boomerang, right boomerang, four glyphs giving the sequence for magic resistance displays; the eight surrounding glyphs for swallowed display; nine glyphs for explosions. An explosion consists of three rows (top, middle, and bottom) of three characters. The explosion is centered in the center of this 3 by 3 array.

You might want to use '+' for the corners and T walls for a more aesthetic, boxier display. Note that in the next release, new symbols may be added, or the present ones rearranged.Cannot be set with the O command.

help If more information is available for an object looked at with the / command, ask if you want to see it (default on). Turning help off makes just looking at things faster, since you aren't interrupted with the "More info?" prompt, but it also means that you might miss some interesting and/or important information.
hilite_pet Highlight pets when color is turned off (default off).
IBMgraphics Use a predefined selection of IBM extended ASCII characters to display the dungeon instead of having to define a full graphics set yourself (default off). Cannot be set with the O command.
ignintr Ignore interrupt signals, including breaks (default off).
legacy Display an introductory message when starting the game (default on).
lit_corridor Show corridor squares seen by night vision or a light source held by your character as lit (default off).
male Set your sex (default on, most hackers are male). Cannot be set with the O command.
monsters

Set the characters used to display monster classes (default "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ@ \&;:~]"). This string is subjected to the same processing as the graphics option.

The order of the symbols is ant or other insect, blob, cockatrice, dog or other canine, eye or sphere, feline, gremlin, humanoid, imp or minor demon, jelly, kobold, leprechaun, mimic, nymph, orc, piercer, quadruped, rodent, spider, trapper or lurker above, unicorn, vortex, worm, xan or other mythical/fantastic insect, light, zruty, angelic being, bat, centaur, dragon, elemental, fungus or mold, gnome, giant humanoid, invisible stalker, jabberwock, Keystone Kop, lich, mummy, naga, ogre, pudding or ooze, quantum mechanic, rust monster, snake, troll, umber hulk, vampire, wraith, xorn, yeti or ape or other large beast, zombie, human, ghost, golem, demon, sea monster, lizard, long worm tail, and mimic. Cannot be set with the O command.

msghistory The number of top line messages to save (and recall with Á-P) (default 20). Cannot be set with the O command.
name Set your character's name (defaults to your user name). You can also set your character class by appending a dash and the first letter of the character class (that is, by suffixing one of -A -B -C -E -H -K -P -R -S -T -V -W). Cannot be set with the O command.
news Read the NetHack news file, if present (default on). Since the news is shown at the beginning of the game, there's no point in setting this with the O command.
null Send padding nulls to the terminal (default off).
number_pad Use the number keys to move instead of yuhjklbn (default off).
objects

Set the characters used to display object classes (default "])[="(%!?+/$*`0_."). This string is subjected to the same processing as the graphics option.

The order of the symbols is illegal-object (should never be seen), weapon, armor, ring, amulet, tool, food, potion, scroll, spell book, wand, gold, gem or rock, boulder or statue, iron ball, chain, and venom. Cannot be set with the O command.

packorder Specify the order to list object types in (default "\")[%?+/=!(*`0_"). The value of this option should be a string containing the symbols for the various object types.
pettype Specify the type of your initial pet, if you are playing a character class that uses both types of pets. Possible values are "cat" and "dog". Cannot be set with the O command.
pickup Pick up things you move onto by default (default on).
rawio Force raw (non-cbreak) mode for faster output and more bulletproof input (MS-DOS sometimes treats Á-P as a printer toggle without it) (default off). Note: DEC Rainbows hang if this is turned on. Cannot be set with the O command.
rest_on_space Make the bar a synonym for the . (rest) command (default off).
safe_pet Prevent you from (knowingly) attacking your pets (default on).
scores Control what parts of the score list you are shown at the end (ex. "scores:5 top scores/4 around my score/own scores"). Only the first letter of each category ('t', 'a', or 'o') is necessary.
showexp Show your accumulated experience points on bottom line (default off).
showscore Show your approximate accumulated score on bottom line (default off).
silent Suppress terminal beeps (default on).
sortpack Sort the pack contents by type when displaying inventory (default on).
standout Boldface monsters and "—More—" (default off).
time Show the elapsed game time in turns on bottom line (default off).
tombstone Draw a tombstone graphic upon your death (default on).
verbose Provide more commentary during the game (default on).
windowtype Select which windowing system to use, such as "tty" or "X11" (default depends on version). Cannot be set with the O command.

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