FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What's the difference between the Free and Deluxe ADOM versions?
A: In general everything that was part of the original ADOM stays free. Plus all extra content added until the Steam release. Plus sound/music, interface and graphics. The Deluxe version contains all new features such as new game modes, extra gameplay customization, quality-of-life improvements, etc. See below for a more detailed list:

FeatureADOM Classic (Free)ADOM Deluxe (Steam)ADOM Deluxe (GOG)
Full story, quests and content
Graphics, sound & music, UI
Tutorial mode
ASCII display (= text-only)
Customizable monster lethality
Customizable treasure rate
Disable permadeath (optional)
Disable hunger (optional)
Disable corruption (optional)
Challenge mode (weekly special games)
Exploration mode (dozens of wishes at start)
Collaborative mode
Player ghosts
Player ghosts exchange (between players)
Global highscores
Point-based character generation
Free star sign selection
Multiple highscores
Achievements
Cloud saves
More regular updates

Q: What platforms is ADOM available on?
A: The Steam/GOG version runs on any platform that Steam/GOG supports - Windows, macOS and Linux/SteamOS. The free version (esp. in ASCII mode, tiles not guaranteed) is wildly compatible and runs on things like Raspberry Pi, NetBSD, FreeBSD, OpenBSD or AmigaOS.

Q: Is there a price set for ADOM on Steam/GOG?
A: USD 14.99; GBP 12.99; 14,99 EUR; and more prices in other currencies. These might change slightly over time but we have no intention of travelling to bigger and bigger discounts as we will continue to develop ADOM for the foreseeable future. So in terms of value your value for buying the game will continue to improve all the time - thus decreasing the price does not seem to be a reasonable approach.

Q: Can I play in good ole' ASCII?
A: Yes, the option to play in ASCII mode will always be there. You can also easily switch between modes with a single keystroke (F10)!

Q: Will there be Steam Workshop support?
A: We are discussing various options for workshop support, yes. There won't be anything in it in the very first version(s) but as we intend to continue developing ADOM for a long while I'm very hopeful for support a little bit later.

Q: Is ADOM available in English only?
A: Yes, only in English. Translating ADOM most likely is technically impossible as it never was designed for that.

Q: Can I still play ADOM for free?
A: In summary: there always will be a free version (ADOM Classic) and there will be a Steam/GOG version (ADOM Deluxe). More commercial options probably will follow later on.

The basic idea behind the Steam/GOG version is to provide "Deluxe" features and put great focus on community features (shared and global highscores, achievements, maybe in game chat, etc.).
Check out this discussion for more info:
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/adom-fans/discussions/0/540741131779315041

Q: So, where can I get more info on your progress and get involved in the community?
A: Check out the blog at www.ancientdomainsofmystery.com and forums at www.adom.de/forums

There's also a Steam group for ADOM fans:
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/adom-fans#

You can also check the history and list of changes on the changelog.

Q: I have a brilliant feature in mind that you simply must implement! Also, I found a bug.
A: Check out the ADOM Issue Tracker at www.adom.de/bugs. Don't forget to use the search function before making new requests or reporting bugs. :)



All platforms


Q: My game just crashed. How do I recover my saved game (character)?
A: ADOM stores several backups of your saved game to prevent you from losing your character.

The backups are located in the saved game directory. Its location depends on your operating system. Please check the appropriate sections of this FAQ if you are unsure where to find this directory.

Each of the backup files start with your (shortened) character name and end with either the .bak or .au1 to .au5 file extensions.
If ADOM crashes and your normal saved game (.svg) is lost, it uses the backup .bak file the next time you start ADOM.

Note: At the moment, in case of a crash, only the .bak file is used for recovery. ADOM doesn't use the .au files right now, even though they may be more recent. You may want to recover the saved game manually in this case.

To manually recover your saved game, copy the .au file with the most recent date and overwrite your .svg file.

Q: How can I access beta versions on Steam?
A: To access beta versions of ADOM you need to take the following steps:

  1. Start Steam and log in
  2. Go to your games library
  3. Right-click on the ADOM entry
  4. Select the bottom entry of the context menu ("Eigenschaften" in Germany, probably something like "Properties" in English, etc.). Go to the "Betas" tab in the properties window
  5. Select "beta - Public beta test" as the game version you want to use
  6. Close the window with the button in the bottom right corner
  7. Start ADOM - the beta version will be downloaded and ready for play

Please remember to switch back to the stable branch when you are done with beta testing!

Q: How can I access beta versions on GOG?
A: To access beta versions of ADOM you need to take the following steps:

  1. Start GOG Galaxy
  2. Select "ADOM (Ancient Domains of Mystery)" from your game list
  3. Click on the "More" button and select "Settings"
  4. Make sure the "Beta Channels" setting on the right is set to "ON"
  5. Select the "Beta" channel from the Channel list
  6. Wait until Galaxy has finished downloading the beta version
  7. Start ADOM

Please remember to switch back to the stable branch when you are done with beta testing!



Windows (ADOM Classic, without NotEye)


Q: Where does the Windows version store the saved games?
A: ADOM 1.2.0 Prerelease >= 15 stores the saved games (and additional files like the highscore) in the directory:

%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\ADOM\<data>     (Windows XP)
%USERPROFILE%\Eigene Dateien\ADOM\<data>    (Windows XP)

%USERPROFILE%\Documents\ADOM\<data>       (Windows 7)
%USERPROFILE%\Eigene Dokumente\ADOM\<data>   (Windows 7)

You need to replace <data> with either adom_dat for the Classic, adom_steam for the Steam and adom_gog for the GOG version.

ADOM 1.2.0 Prerelease < 15 stores the saved games in the local appdata directory. This folder is hidden by default, so you may have to make it visible before you can accesss it. Examples:

%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\ADOM\<data>
%USERPROFILE%\Lokale Einstellungen\Anwendungsdaten\ADOM\<data>


ADOM 1.1.1 stores the saved games in the ADOM directory.

If you want the old behaviour back when using ADOM 1.2.0, you can use the environment variable ADOM_HOME by setting it to the directory where ADOM is installed. E.g. if ADOM is installed in the directory D:\ADOM you can set the variable with the command set ADOM_HOME=D:\ADOM (you can also set this in the "environment variables" configuration dialog of Windows).

You can also use the following batch file, just create a file called adom_start.bat in the ADOM directory and copy the contents in there. Use this instead of the adom.exe to start the game.

@set ADOM_HOME=%cd%
@start Adom

Q: Can I change the font size on the classic ADOM version for Windows?
A: Yes, you can change both the font name and font size. Start a text editor (e.g. Notepad) and open the following file:

%USERPROFILE%\Documents\ADOM\<data>\adom.cfg     (for Prerelease >= 15)
%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\ADOM\<data>\adom.cfg     (for Prerelease < 15)

Replace <data> with the correct data directory (please check the question above for a list of options).

Now scroll down to the bottom of the file and enter the following lines:

Font_Name = Courier New
Font_Size = 20


Save the file and restart ADOM. It now should use the selected font and font size. Make sure that you use a fixed size font (e.g. Courier, Courier New Bold) or the screen may look garbled.



macOS (ADOM Classic, without NotEye)


Q: Where are the saved games stored on macOS?
A: The files are stored in a hidden directory, but you can use Finder to access the files. Start Finder, press the [Shift] + [Command] + [G] key combination and enter the following text:

For versions >= 3.3.0:

/Users/<user>/Library/ADOM/<data>

where you replace <user> with your user login and <data> with either adom_data for the Classic, adom_steam for the Steam and adom_gog for the GOG version. Now press [Enter] and you're done.

For versions < 3.3.0 use:

/Users/<user>/<data>

where you replace <user> with your user login and <data> with either .adom.data (Classic), .adom.steam (Steam) and .adom.gog (GOG). Please note the dot at the start of each directory name!

Q: Can I change the font size on the classic ADOM version for macOS?
A: Yes, you can change both the font name and font size. Open the "terminal" application and enter the following line into the window:

open -e ~/Library/ADOM/adom_data/adom.cfg   (for versions >= 3.3.0)
open -e ~/.adom.data/adom.cfg          (for versions < 3.3.0)

For ADOM 1.2.0 Prerelease < 11 please use the following command instead:

open -e ~/.adom.data/.adom.cfg

Now scroll down to the bottom of the file and enter the following lines:

Font_Name = Courier New Bold
Font_Size = 20


Save the file ([Command] + [S]) and restart ADOM. It now should use the selected font and font size. Make sure that you use a fixed size font (e.g. Courier, Courier New Bold) or the screen may look garbled.



Linux


Q: Where are the saved games stored on Linux?
A: The files are stored in a hidden directory in your user home directory. On most distributions this is:

/home/<user>/<data>

where you replace <user> with your user login and <data> with either .adom.data (Classic), .adom.steam (Steam) and .adom.gog (GOG). Please note the dot at the start of each directory name!

Q: The classic version does not start on Linux.
A: ADOM requires the ncurses library to work. Please install it manually. How this is done depends on your distribution. For example on Ubuntu you could use:

sudo apt-get install libncurses5

Q: My Linux distribution is not listed. Does it work nonetheless?
A: Please try the Ubuntu and Debian releases first. If both of them don't work, please inform us about it. We might build additional releases for your distribution in this case.

Q: I'm using the specific release for my distribution, but it still doesn't work.
A: All binaries where built using up to date releases of the distributions. If you are using older versions, you might want to consider updating your distribution. If this is no option for you, it might be possible to create a workaround. Please contact us.

Q: I'm getting the error message: Could not read in the last game counter.
A: You've probably installed ADOM 1.2.0 on a system with a previous installation of ADOM 1.1.1. Please delete the file adom.cnt in the .adom.data directory.