Pref file handling

[PaulBlay]

The sheer number of pref files is rather daunting and I can't help thinking there's probably a lot of stuff I could set in them to make my playing Angband easier if I only knew what I was doing.

[EDIT]I (belatedly) found http://www.thangorodrim.net/help/macrofaq.txt which includes

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3.4 Pref files
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Preference files save commands such as macros and keymaps which are
used to customize the game. They are used to implement the "original"
and "roguelike" keysets. They provide default appearances for items.

They also implement the default behaviors which make Angband look and
play the same (for the most part) on different systems.

Pref files can be saved with the name of a player name, class, and
race, and anytime a player with a matching characteristic is loaded,
the appropriate pref file is loaded. This makes some customizations
transparent and automatic.

Pref files let you do some things that could otherwise only reasonably
be done by changing the info files or source, such as changing the
appearance of a given terrain feature, or the symbol used for the
player.

Pref files let you set up and save your favorite game options, and
have them available for new characters without having to redo them.

That sort of stuff should be in help file(s), IMO.

[PaulBlay]

Suggestion for 'c) Modify colors'.

1. Have a 'BEFORE' and 'AFTER' line of the ### ### ### color examples.
2. Add '?' to the commands and show the following help text (color.txt) when it's pressed.

=== Color help ===
Command help.

n  Next color                           N  Previous color
k  +1 to K (8-bit black plane)          K  -1 to K
r  +1 to R (red value)                  R  -1 to R
g  +1 to G (green value)                G  -1 to G
b  +1 to B (blue value)                 B  -1 to B
?  Display this help text

BEFORE Shows example of color before modification.
AFTER Shows example of color after modification

Note that if you do not Dump colors modifications will be lost when you exit 
Angband.

Color names: 0 Dark, 1 White, 2 Slate, 3 Orange, 4 Red, 5 Green, 6 Blue, 
7 Umber, 8 Light Dark, 9 Light Slate, 10 Violet, 11 Yellow, 12 Light Red, 
13 Light Green, 14 Light Blue, 15 Light Umber

[Pete Mack]

That command is kind of obsolete. It is much easier touse the 'v; command in the knolwledge menus.

[PaulBlay]

Originally Posted by Pete Mack

That command is kind of obsolete. It is much easier touse the 'v; command in the knolwledge menus.

And where would that be? ~ (Knowledge) has displays from 'a' (object knowledge) to 'h' (character history) as far as I can see.

[Pete Mack]

Try "feature knowledge" to edit the colors for permanent walls, for example.

[PaulBlay]

Originally Posted by Pete Mack

Try "feature knowledge" to edit the colors for permanent walls, for example.

That's not what I want to do. What I want to do is change globally the two darkest colours because they're too difficult to see on my computer screen. While I could (I suppose) track down every feature (and monster?) that uses them and change them one at a time it would make a lot more sense to use something like the "modify colors" thing (assuming it works).

It's not that big a deal because I can use the bold font to make things easier to see, but I don't see what makes modifying colors 'obsolete'.

[half]

k  +1 to K (8-bit black plane)          K  -1 to K

What does this part do? I tried it and saw no effect.

[PaulBlay]

Originally Posted by half

k  +1 to K (8-bit black plane)          K  -1 to K

What does this part do? I tried it and saw no effect.

As far as I can tell it's used in printers to distinguish black and white text / line-art from black and white that is part of graphics. Maybe its used by some b/w portable systems? I don't know.

[Pete Mack]

@paul- Sorry, I misunderstood your original post.

[PaulBlay]

Originally Posted by Pete Mack

@paul- Sorry, I misunderstood your original post.

Oh, I'm with you now. The first post has relatively little connection with the second. I thought you were talking about the second not the first.

Basically I had a rather different first post before I found something that appeared to make what I'd written obsolete so I changed it. Then I didn't want to start another thread for such a similar point so I put my second post in the same thread.

Sorry if it got a bit confusing.