Beginner information

This is a thread detailing information and other online sources of information for ADOM beginners, who us grizzled veterans affectionately refer to as "newbies". The first post will detail basic information and relatively spoiler-free sources. The second post will detail spoiler-rich sources, information about submitting bug reports and RFEs and answers to other questions which might come up. At the very end of the second post there is some information for people returning to the game after a long break. These posts will be updated as new sources are suggested. Without further ado:

Beyond basic

- Press > or h to enter a location on the starting map (hamlet, village, wilderness square, cave, tunnel etc.)
- Press C to chat with creatures. Move into creatures to attack them with fists or wielded weapons/items.
- Press l at any time for the look command.
- Press S to save your game. Because ADOM is a roguelike game, saving is more of a "take a break" or "go to sleep" functionality: this means that you cannot "go back in game time" by loading a previous savegame and you cannot restore your game if you die. The only purpose of saving the game is being able to take a break and come back later.
- Press ? at any time within the game to bring up the examine/look command, a complete list of the keybindings, the manual and the readme (FAQ). The readme only has information regarding gameplay in sections IV.D and V. Reading (and coming back to) the list of keybindings until you're used to them and reading the manual at least once will make your ADOM life more enjoyable and survivable. (If you happen to suffer from a fatal allergy brought on by prolongued exposure to manuals, make sure you at least read the "How to Start" section.)
- The latest and greatest free version of the game is 3.3.3.

Resources with no or minimal spoilers

HTML manual

The ADOM FAQ

Other useful online resources

Official ADOM download site / installation/configuration FAQ
ADOM Deluxe on Steam
ADOM Deluxe on GOG
Official ADOM blog

My keyboard doesn't have a numpad. How do I move diagonally?

Check this thread or this other one for suggestions on what to do. If after that you are looking to change the default keybindings by editing adom.kbd, see anon 123's post below for help with that.

If you are playing the version with NotEye, there is another alternative, enabled by default: you can press Shift and the left-right arrow keys to move northwest and northeast and Ctrl and the left-right arrow keys to move southwest and southeast.

How do I change the font/make the font bigger/make the window bigger/play fullscreen?

On the Windows and OSX versions you can indeed change the font or make it bigger. If you make the font bigger, it will make the window bigger. Playing the game in fullscreen might require that you run the game from within an emulator if you are running an older version without NotEye. Refer to anon123's post below and to this thread and this other thread.

How do I turn the sounds and music off in the version with NotEye?

Press Ctrl+m to open the NotEye menu and v for the sound menu, then enter 0 for the sound and/or music levels.

What is the difference between the free version and the Deluxe version?

This question is answered at the top of this FAQ.

Spoiler-rich resources

Silfir's ADOM tutorial

The ADOM Guidebook

Improved ADOM Guidebook

ADOM Wiki at ancardia.wikia.com

The ADOM Hall of Fame / forums

Official ADOM newsgroup (rec.games.roguelike.adom) / FAQ

ADOM Guides

Guide to being a bard by Darren Grey

Seeka's ADOM Page

Farmer Greg's herb garden

Submitting bug reports and RFEs

To submit a bug report or an RFE (request for enhancement; a fancy name for feature request, that is, suggesting a feature to be added to the game), head on over to the ADOM issue tracker. Before submitting a bug report or RFE, please first consult sections III and VII of the readme (accessible in-game by pressing ? and selecting FAQ). Then use the search function on the issue tracker ("Search this Project") to check if the bug (or feature) has already been reported (or requested) before.

If you are looking to submit an RFE I also suggest checking this list of features previously submitted and rejected (you can also check this other list). If you still have a question after doing this or want to get some feedback on your RFE before submitting it, you can talk about it on this section of the forums. Our users will be happy to discuss it with you and then you can decide to move ahead to submitting it on the issue tracker.

When clicking on "Post new issue", make sure you properly select "Bug" if it's a bug report and "Feature" if it's an RFE.

For more information, read "What makes a good issue description?" here.

What do all these abbreviations mean? VD, DD, SMC, CoC... help!

"VD" does not mean "venereal disease" in our fine gaming community, but "village dungeon", aka carpenter dungeon, so called because it's the one where the village elder tells you to go look for the carpenter. For a list of other common abbreviations in the ADOM world, follow this link.

I'm far from a beginner, but I'm coming back to the game after some time away. What's changed?

Check this thread for spoily information about what's changed from 1.1.1 to 1.2.0p5. For spoilers on what has changed so far after p5, check this other thread. You can also check the equally spoily changelog.

Stickied :)

You should also point out where to report bugs / suggest features.

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Originally Posted by Grey

Stickied :)

You should also point out where to report bugs / suggest features.

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Thanks! Done.

Very good idea, having a FAQ thread stickied in the forums :-)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aerol

Before submitting a bug report or RFE, please first consult the relevant parts of the readme (accessible in-game by pressing ? and selecting the mini-faq). Then use the search function on the issue tracker for checking if the issue has already been reported before. I also suggest checking this list of features previously submitted and rejected.

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Here is a great page for searching projects, with a lot of detailed options.

Indeed a good idea. What do you think of linking to the online version of TECHSTAT.DOC in the second post? It contains a lot of very interesting (and spoily) information, but is often overlooked because the file is no longer shipped with new releases.

http://www.adom.de/adom/history.php3

Stingray suggested that I write something about the configuration files, so here I go :)

Which files are created and/or used by the game?

• savedg (directory; contains all your saved games)
  
  *.svg - the SaVeGame files for characters you aren't currently playing.
• tmpdat (directory; contains temporary files created by the game)
  
  #### (directory; 1.2.0pr4+; is named after the PID of the ADOM process and contains the temporary files, do not edit or delete while you're playing)
  adtl*_* (1.1.1; temporary files, do not edit or delete while you're playing)
• HISCORE - a binary file containing all your high score entries. They can be merged and deleted using this program.
• adom.cfg - the main configuration file.
• adom.cnt - a 4-byte file which keeps track of how many PCs you've ever generated. ADOM uses this information to allow or restrict access to a certain in-game location.
• adom.kbd - the keyboard mapping file. You can edit it to remap controls to your taste using any text editor. Make sure you read the instructions inside.
• adom.ver - a 4-byte file which keeps track of which version was the last to run. Used by the game to be aware of new versions and display relevant information upon startup.
• adom.msg - a list of in-game messages that should be colored differently or supressed. The syntax is the same as ADOM Sage's sage.msg and is explained in appendix E of the manual.
• adom.prc (1.1.1 and 1.2.0 up to pr3) - a lock to prevent more than one instance of the game from running simultaneously. You will have to delete this manually if the game or your computer crashes, or use my batch file if you're playing 1.2.0 on Windows. 1.2.0pr4 and above do away with this and allow running multiple instances.

Where can I find these files?

• Windows: it depends on which version you're running.
  
  
  1.1.1: they're under the adom_dat directory in the same place as the executable.
  1.2.0 up to Prerelease 15: under %localappdata%\ADOM\adom_dat ^*.
  1.2.0 Prerelease 15 and above: inside the "ADOM" directory in My Documents.
  
  ^*: this is inside a hidden directory, which may make location difficult. To reveal hidden files and folders, do this: open a Windows Explorer window, press Alt to bring up the menu, then click on Tools -> Folder Options. Go to the "View" tab, click on the "Show hidden files, folders and drives" radio button, then scroll down and untick "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)", confirming your decision when prompted. Press OK. Now hidden directories should be visible. Or you can copy the path, paste it in the Explorer's address bar, and press Enter.
  
  It is also possible to define a directory of your own for this purpose. Go to System Properties -> Advanced -> Environment Variables -> click 'New' at the top, enter ADOM_HOME as the name and the full directory path as the value, and press OK.
  
  Note this variable is read by all versions of the game, which means 1.1.1 and 1.2.0 will try to share the same data directory if it is set, and that's usually a bad idea. You can write a batch file to run 1.1.1 without problems:
  
  Code:

  ---

  @set ADOM_HOME=
@start Adom_winbeta4

  ---

  You can do the same thing to return to 1.1.1 behavior in 1.2.0, with a slightly different code:
  
  Code:

  ---

  @set ADOM_HOME=%cd%
@start Adom

  ---

• DOS: under the adom_dat directory in the same place as the executable.
• Linux: ~/.adom.data/ (as far as I know)
• Mac OS: read this.

Note that on platforms other than Windows, you can run adom -d to display the directories being used.

Which adom.cfg settings are usually changed?

• Base_Delay_Factor: this defines the delay between each "step" in the animations of bolts, missiles and a few other effects. If you don't like waiting for each arrow to travel from @ to your target in the screen, or each fire bolt to hit its maximum reach tile by tile, set this to 1 (lower values are faster). The line already exists by default, you'll only have to edit the number.
  
• Show_Experience: this displays how many experience points you gain from each kill. Useful to quantify how much XP every monster is worth, and easily notice deaths attributed to you that take place outside your line of sight. ("You hear a thudding sound. [+203xp]" ;)) Add a line reading Show_Experience=True to enable it.
  
• Auto_Pickup: the presence of this line enables auto-pickup, a feature letting your character automatically pick certain items up from the floor (as the name suggests) by walking over them, without using an additional turn.
  
  As per the manual:
  
  Quote:

  ---

  Auto_Pickup [string made up from the following characters]
  
  [ Armor, shields, cloaks, boots, girdles, gauntlets and helmets, * Gems and rocks, ] Tools, ' Necklaces, ( Melee weapons, } Missile weapons, / Missiles, = Rings, \ Wands, ! Potions, ? Scrolls, ~ Bracers, % Food, $ Gold , { Instruments , " Books

  ---

  For example, Auto_Pickup=[*o]'(}/=\!?~%${" means you will automatically take everything from the floor... typically not desirable barring certain circumstances, as you will gather a lot of junk and easily get very burdened. Auto_Pickup="?' will only take books, scrolls and amulets; Auto_Pickup=!% potions and food. The right value for this setting is up to you!
  
• Recovery: this is how many turns your character will rest for when using the 'w5' command. The default is 50 turns. There's a hard cap of 500 turns no matter how high you set it, and the game will always stop waiting under certain circumstances, e.g. monsters getting close to you, hunger, and anything else that requires your attention.
  
• Questioned_Attributes: this controls whether the ability to influence your character's attributes upon generation by answering questions is available. If True, the game lets you choose between this system and random generation. If False, it skips the choice and always generates stats randomly. If you don't like the question system, set this to False.
  
• Colored_Messages: enables or disables the ability to color, suppress and replace in-game messages (controlled by adom.msg). This is largely desirable because it draws your attention to important events and removes spam, but you can turn it off if you don't like it.
  
• Stop_Walking_At_Corners: controls whether the PC turns around corners when using the walk commands. This can be useful to avoid walking right past the secret door of some vault designs, or for visually impaired players. It's set to false by default.
  
• Uncursed_String: if you don't like the word "uncursed" that the game uses to describe items that are neither blessed nor cursed, you can change it to whatever you wish using this.

Note: all variables can be set and changed during gameplay by using the ':=' command, then typing them as in the config file and pressing Enter.

How to change the font used by the game?

As of 1.2.0pr3, user-defined fonts are an official feature. There are two adom.cfg parameters you can use.

• Font_Name: the name of the font you want to use as it shows up in your OS; e.g. Lucida Console
• Font_Size: the font's size in pixels.

To use the same font as in the DOS version of the game, you have to download a lookalike called "Perfect DOS VGA 437" - get it here.

Note: don't use a non-monospaced font, as the game will not look correctly. Also, you can't change fonts or sizes while the game is running using the ':=' command.

Under 1.1.1 winbeta4, these settings do not exist, but an unofficial patch can achieve the same result.

Updated with readme, Adom strategy guide and two gameplay demos. Thanks to Alucard for the hosting!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by anon123

Stingray suggested that I write something about the configuration files, so here I go :)

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You should probably also mention Questioned_Attributes under usually changed settings :) Great job otherwise!

I would never disable the question system. I fell in love with it the second I saw it, and that was probably one of the many things which made me switch from Nethack to ADOM. Maybe that's why I forgot ;) I remember the days prior to reading spoilers, when I'd make actual choices as opposed to whatever answers give me the most desirable stat increases... oh well.

Anyway, I added that and made a few fixes :)

Updated with two more spoily resources and information about challenge games and private prerelease access.

Updated with another spoily wiki.

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The ADOM strategy guide: despite a few innacuracies (I'm working on a revision), this still remains a good strategy and general gameplay resource for beginners, and is relatively light on spoilers. Especially recommended are sections 3 to 9 and 12.

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Not sure I'd recommend this guide to beginners. It suggests using two weapon combat and avoiding shields!

Here's an old Guide to Bards that may prove handy to some:

http://adom.brinkster.net/forum/mess...ge=1&tmp=61395

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Grey

Here's an old Guide to Bards that may prove handy to some:

http://adom.brinkster.net/forum/mess...ge=1&tmp=61395

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Added, though I have a bone to pick with what you said about troll bards :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JellySlayer

Not sure I'd recommend this guide to beginners. It suggests using two weapon combat and avoiding shields!

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That's one of the things I'm revising - section 2 is the most laden with innacuracies and not too good advice, but the parts of the guide I specifically recommended are good, and helped me stay alive. Section 12 especially is really good.

Updated with downloadable versions of manual.doc and of the HTML manual. This latter downloadable version is taken (and credited as such) from the IGB, with only two changes: link to the IGB removed (as it would be a dead link since only the manual is downloaded, and also given its spoily nature), background image removed (the background is plain white now).

What does a beginner really need? information about challenge games?

Not really, I think the bare necessities of ADOM life are

adomfaq.txt that comes with the game
(yes, it's pure Text, not so long, but beginner, take my advice and read it!)

and

Silfirs Tutorial with his orcbarb

http://adom.brinkster.net/forum/messages.asp?thread=6134&start=59495&page=1&tmp=59 566

later on (after a couple of well deserved deaths)
the beginner can take a stroll through the Manual.doc for further ideas

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nobbse

Silfirs Tutorial with his orcbarb

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Drake. :) But yes, totally.

Added Silfir's tutorial. I give some information about challenge games because it's a question that'll come up eventually and I provide an extra link with information not included in the Adom FAQ. Which brings me to: the FAQ could use a new maintainer...

Updated the second post with a section about common abbreviations in the Adom world.

The challenge game section in the second post will be consolidated into the new upcoming version of the Adom FAQ, which I am in the process of rewriting.

Updated the second post with some pointers to where to find information about newer versions for veterans returning to the game after a while.

Updated the first post with a little information at the end aimed at helping numpad-impaired players. Feedback is appreciated as I'm not very knowledgeable about that - I use a big clunky MS Natural Keyboard to play.

Edit: information added about font type/size/screen size/fullscreen. Feedback is also appreciated.

Updated the first post with information about turning sound off in the versions with NotEye.

anon123: here are a couple tips that could be added to your post about files used by Adom.

- on the DOS version the data directory is also adom_dat within the main Adom folder (the old behavior has not changed).
- if you want to find out where all your Adom folders are you can run "adom -d" from the command line.

Thanks for that. When you made your other post, I realized there are recent changes to ADOM that need acknowledging in my FAQ (settings are inside My Documents under Windows now, adom.msg was added, there are more config values worth looking at, et cetera).

Will get on all of this tomorrow.

@aerol: Just in case you are not yet in the ADOM credits (my memory totally starts to fail me on these things) please send me your real name to creator(at)ancientdomainsofmystery.com. I have added hints to the new tutorial mode in ADOM that use some of your texts from the game commands you recommend (if that's ok for you - rewriting them just for the sake of it seemed very stupid ;-) ).

It's good idea, having a FAQ thread stickied in the forums

Quote:

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Originally Posted by anon123

It is also possible to define a directory of your own for this purpose. Go to System Properties -> Advanced -> Environment Variables -> click 'New' at the top, enter ADOM_HOME as the name and the full directory path as the value, and press OK.

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It would be nice to add here that you need to reboot the computer for this change to take effect.

Under Windows 7, a reboot isn't necessary. Programs you were already running will keep the old environment, but anything you open afterwards will see the ADOM_HOME variable.

If you're using a different version of Windows where a reboot is mandatory, please let me know and I'll add that detail.

Has anybody ever tested the following?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aerol

Has anybody ever tested the following?

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Doesn't latest version allow something like that by default?

On the versions with NotEye, yes. But some people prefer to play without it while still finding some way to play fullscreen.

Manual links are kaput.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Barleyman

Manual links are kaput.

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Thanks for the heads up; has been fixed. Looks like they moved some things around behind the scenes at ancardia.com.

Hi everyone. I am new to this forum :)

Welcome tomplatz!

Greetings and salutations.

Some general updating and cleaning up dead links.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by adamsmitt

Hi everyone. It would be great to have that manual link again.

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Do you mean the downloadable manual?